David Corn

Good news for Sarah Palin:

Whom do you trust?

posted at 12:41 pm on July 10, 2009 by Ed Morrissey

If Barack Obama has reason to worry about sliding poll numbers, the Democrats as a party might shortly enter panic mode. In the space of a few months, they have tossed aside their credibility on most of the issues, according to a Rasmussen poll, including their onetime strong suit, the economy. Now Republicans have overtaken them on eight of ten issues, and threaten to eclipse them on health care and education as well:

Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on eight out of 10 key electoral issues, including, for the second straight month, the top issue of the economy. They’ve also narrowed the gap on the remaining two issues, the traditionally Democratic strong suits of health care and education.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that voters trust the GOP more on economic issues 46% to 41%, showing little change from the six-point lead the party held last month. This is just the second time in over two years of polling the GOP has held the advantage on economic issues. The parties were close on the issue in May, with the Democrats holding a one-point lead.

Voters not affiliated with either party trust Republicans more to handle the economy by a 46% to 32% margin.

That last point is the big takeaway. For decades, the Democrats have led on the economy, mostly by being on the outside of power in DC. They promise boatloads of benefits without explaining the costs, and demonize Republicans for exercising fiscal responsibility (occasions that had admittedly become rare) through anecdotal stories of people ignored by the government. Now that they hold all the strings, the costs for their expansive and overwhelming agenda can no longer remain hidden, and people — most critically independents — are reeling away from the Democrats.

The data on health care and education show how poorly the Democrats have performed. On both questions, their overall edge falls in the margin of error in the polling; education, Democrats lead by three points (41%-38%) and on health care, four points (46%-42%). On Social Security, the gap goes to 42%-37% GOP, with independents evenly split. In Ethics in Government, the results have gone back to a statistical tie, with the GOP up by a point (34%-33%). A majority of independents are not sure, which gives an indication of how far both parties have fallen on that measure.

But the economy is the bellwether of Democratic woes in 2010. Men trust the GOP more by a 14-point margin (52%-38%) while women provide a statistical dead heat (43%-42% Democrat). That suggests that so-called soccer moms may provide a big backlash to Democrats simply by erasing the gender gap at the polls in the midterms. Among age demographics, only the youngest voters trust Democrats more than Republicans, and only by a 45%-36% margin. Voters under $40K per year trust Democrats more, but the voters in all other income demographics trust Republicans, with a 63%-26% split among those earning $75K-$100K.

The political class question is most revealing. Those who consider themselves apart from the political class trust Republicans more on the economy by a wide margin (58%-28%), while those inside the political class support Democrats … 99%-1%. No, that is not a typo. It’s a demonstration of the slavish devotion to Democrats within the political class, and the breakout indicates that the Democrats have more trouble than even this poll shows on voter trust.

From Wikipedia...

Ed Morrissey is an American conservative blogger, columnist, motivational speaker, and talk show host. [1] He goes by the nickname Captain Ed and he currently lives in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.[2] He wrote his original blog, "Captain's Quarters", from October 2003 to February 2008. He now works full-time as a blogger for Hot Air.[3][1] He also participates in Bloggingheads.tv[4] His opinion articles have appeared in the New York Sun, the New York Post, and the Daily Standard.[1]

Consider the source...Ed Morrissey and Rasmussen Polls...

Gallup vs. Rasmussen
March 21, 2009, 10:08PM

As I compose this entry, President Obama has an approval rating of 64% in the Gallup tracking poll, in contrast to the 55% he receives in the Rasmussen daily tracking poll.

Even more striking is the difference in the disapproval figures: 26% in Gallup versus 44% in Rasmussen.

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/truthseeker77/2009/03/gallup-vs-rasmussen.php

Rasmussen is a decidedly right leaning poll. Gallup tends to run a bit more neutral, while Research 2000 runs to the left, hence the the DKos/Research 2000 poll as of 3/19 showing Obama with a 69% approval rating. My suggestion combine all three and average and you probably have something closer to the actual numbers or 63% (62.67%)

Consider the source...

Or maybe use updated info?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gallup Poll - Politics News

Obama Job Approval Drifts Down to 58% So Far in July

July 10, 2009

U.S. President Barack Obama’s job approval rating is at 58% for the first eight days of July, down from an average of 61% for June. His approval rating among independents is down to 53% so far in July, from 59% in June, while dropping two points among Republicans and gaining a point among Democrats.

~~~~

Barry's slip and slidin downward spiral!

Why the stark difference between Rasmussen and, say, Democracy Corps? Both are applying a likely voter methodology, whereas Gallup and most of the other polls on the stimulus are surveying all adults. I understand the argument that likely voters are the ones who matter from the standpoint of electoral politics -- but determining who is and who isn't a likely voter when there is no election at hand is a little abstract for my tastes. (Are these people who are likely to vote 2010? In 2012? People who were likely to have voted in 2008? Or what?) This is one situation where I'd trend to prefer the major news orgs' polling, as they tend to place more emphasis on just this sort of issue-based polling as opposed to the horse race stuff.

fivethirtyeight.com/2009/02/stimulus-still-popular-after-all-these.html

Nate Silver has a proven track record. I tend to believe him.

Obama's Books Banned From US Prisons-- TOO RADICAL

But, he's a moderate.
Thank You State-Run Media For Vetting This Radical Before the Election.

Barack Obama's books were recently banned from the US government's most secure prison.
The radical language in the books make them "potentially detrimental to national security."
The AP reported:

The federal government's most secure prison has determined that two books written by President Barack Obama contain material "potentially detrimental to national security" and rejected an inmate's request to read them.

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali is serving a 30-year sentence at the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colorado, for joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate then-President George W. Bush. Last year, Abu Ali requested two books written by Obama: "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope."

But prison officials, citing guidance from the FBI, determined that passages in both books contain information that could damage national security.

A prison spokeswoman referred questions to the FBI, where a spokeswoman was looking into the matter Thursday evening.

The documents detailing the prison's rejection of Obama's books are included in court papers for a resentencing hearing scheduled later this month for Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen.

The rejection is just one indication of the harsh conditions imposed on inmates at the supermax prison, according to Abu Ali's lawyer, Joshua Dratel...

Prison officials cite specific pages - but not specific passages - in the books that they deem objectionable. They include one page in Obama's 1995 book, "Dreams from My Father," and 22 separate pages in his policy-oriented 2006 book, "The Audacity of Hope." It was not immediately obvious what passages might have been deemed problematic, though nearly half of the pages cited are in a chapter devoted to foreign affairs.

~~~~~

And you guys were worried that the Iraq war was recruiting terrorists..

Hahaha

Independents begin to edge away from President Obama

President Obama's job approval rating hits a -- still healthy -- low of 56 percent.

POLITICO

In a potentially alarming trend for the White House, independent voters are deserting President Barack Obama nationally and especially in key swing states, recent polls suggest.

Obama’s job approval rating hit a — still healthy — low of 56 percent in the Gallup Poll on Wednesday. And pollsters are debating whether Obama’s expansive and expensive policy proposals or the ground-level realities of a still-faltering economy are driving the falling numbers.

But a source of the shift appears to be independent voters, who seem to be responding to Republican complaints of excessive spending and government control.

“This is a huge sea change that is playing itself out in American politics,” said Democratic pollster Doug Schoen. “Independents who had become effectively operational Democrats in 2006 and 2008 are now up for grabs and are trending Republican.

“They’re saying, ‘Costing too much, no results, see the downside, not sure of the upside,’” he said.

The White House denies there’s been any real shift.

“The independent numbers I have seen, public and private, have been relatively steady,” Obama’s senior political adviser, David Axelrod, said in an e-mail.

Another political adviser dismissed small state polls as statistically questionable and pointed out that Obama’s own numbers remain strong, by historical standards — with an average 59 percent approval rating among independents in June, according to Gallup.

Pollsters from both parties debate the numbers’ meaning, but averages of public polls

have shown a gentle downward trend.

Obama retains extremely strong support from Democrats, and earlier this year lost much of the Republican support that followed a giddy Inauguration. It is the independents who appear to be currently on the move: Obama dropped 6 percentage points last week from the week before in Gallup’s tracking poll, and Quinnipiac University

found a 5-percentage-point drop in approval from independents between early June and early July. Recent state polling shows drops over longer periods.

A Quinnipiac University poll of voters in economically troubled Ohio, released Tuesday, showed Obama’s approval rating slipping 8 points, to below 50 percent, from a poll two months earlier, with a plurality of 48 percent of independent voters disapproving of his job performance. A Public Policy Polling survey in Virginia found Obama’s approval and disapproval numbers effectively tied, with independents disapproving of the president’s job performance, 52 percent to 38 percent.

“That is fairly consistent with all our polling around the country — Obama tends to be really well-liked personally, but he’s starting to lose a majority of the independents,” said Public Policy’s Dean Debnam. Democrats have “had long enough in some voters’ minds that they’re getting blame for nothing happening, and Republicans are scaring them around health care and tax increases.”

Pollsters differ on the degree to which the independents’ migration is driven by Obama’s policies, rather than the broader economic downturn. “Local politics is local politics, and I don’t see an awful lot of spillover from D.C. into the state races,” said Debnam.

And Obama, of course, isn’t up for reelection anytime soon, and even nervous Democratic congressmen can keep their fingers crossed for economic recovery over the next year.

“It’s been more or less inevitable that we’re going to see some decline in numbers for Democrats,” said Mark Mellman, another Democratic pollster. “For most folks, there’s not an election until 2010, and most economists suggest that by the time we get to 2010, we’re going to see the beginnings of an uptick in the economy.”

Obama Leading Pawlenty by 11 Points in His Own Back Yard

[...]

Speaking of governors in the news, in the same poll Obama bests soon-to-be-former Gov. Sarah Palin in a hypothetical 2012 presidential matchup by an even wider margin, 56 percent to 35 percent. The fuller poll results show that Palin receives lower net approval from Minnesota women (34 percent approving, 56 percent disapproving) than men (44 percent, 49 percent).

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/07/obama-leading-pawlenty-by-11-points-in.html

David Brooks: A Republican Senator 'Had His Hand On My Inner Thigh' For A 'Whole' Dinner Party (VIDEO)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/10/david-brooks-a-republican_n_229806.html

Palin's Ayers Line Was Scripted By McCain Campaign

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/10/palins-ayers-line-was-scr_n_229673.html

WATCH: Interview With Sarah Palin's Former Speechwriter

He's the man behind the magic but now he's out of a job. Watch our exclusive interview with Palin wordsmith Dan Tubagoo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_IuhYsauyg

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lee-stranahan/watch-interview-with-sara_b_229704.html

Beyond the Palin

Why the GOP is falling out of love with gun-toting, churchgoing, working-class whites.

[...]

For decades it has remained a Republican article of faith: white, lower-middle-class, "heartland" masses, fundamentally socially conservative, were an inexhaustible electoral resource. So much so that Bill Clinton made re-earning their trust—he called them the Americans who "worked hard and played by the rules"—the central challenge in rebuilding Democratic fortunes in the 1990s. And in 2008 the somewhat aristocratic John McCain seemed to regard bringing these folks back into the Republican fold so imperative that he was moved to make the election's most exciting strategic move: drafting churchgoing, gun-toting unknown Sarah Palin onto the GOP ticket.

But beneath the surface, some Republicans have been chafing at the ideological wages of right-wing populism. In intel-lectual circles, writers like David Brooks and Richard Brookhiser have argued for a conservatism inspired by Alexander Hamilton, the least democratic of the Founding Fathers, over one spiritually rooted in Thomas Jefferson, the most democratic. After Barack Obama's victory, you heard thinkers like author and federal judge Richard Posner lamenting on his blog that "the face of the Republican Party had become Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber. Conservative intellectuals had no party."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/206098

Don't worry about Palin. She will never be able to fly under the radar considering how polarizing she is.

Same thing happened to Hillarry Clintin's bib for the Whitehouse.

Sunday Morning Vacation Beach Blogging . . . as Tiger sez, "this is the life." Actually he says "this is the wife."

The GOP is in a pickle. Palin's position is similar to former President Bush's. Politicians in office don't want either one of them campaigning for them unless it's in an "undisclosed location" someplace far, far away.
http://tinyurl.com/nlv5yx

“We just want him to raise money. Late at night. In an undisclosed location.”
— An aide to Illinois gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka (R), quoted in the Washington Post, when asked if Topinka wanted President Bush to campaign for her.
==+==

The GOP base, however, has a serious boner for Lady Gaga.
Palin's Popularity in the GOP Soars After Quitting
http://tinyurl.com/lrpehp

==+==
Do these elected officials piss off the indies (who HATE Palin) or the GOP who loves her? Unless they live in a straight-up backwards GOP district, they're scrood.

Hey, either way, they're dead. But like as a freshly-beheaded chicken, they flop around as if they still have life. Dead. Man. Walking.

The Conservative Clown Show moves the tent, but the show never ends.

"Since resigning as governor, many say Sarah Palin is now going to spend some time working on her memoirs. Alaskans are saying they can't wait to start reading Palin's memoirs and then quit halfway through."
--Conan O'Brien

"Senator John McCain says he's been using Twitter to share his opinions on this year's Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Apparently, no one has the heart to tell McCain that he's been Twittering on his garage door opener."
--Conan O'Brien

"President Obama's in Italy to attend the G-8 summit, and he praised the Italians for being our 'great allies.' He went on to say, 'Except, of course, for any time we've ever been to war.'"
--Conan O'Brien

"This is weird. It's been reported that Saddam Hussein's gun will be on display in George W. Bush's presidential library. Apparently, the gun will be on display right next to the book."
--Conan O'Brien

"Anybody here from Minnesota? Congratulations, you have a brand new senator, our old friend, Al Franken. Al is an interesting guy. Went from being a comedian to politician. George Bush, the other way around."
--David Letterman

"Palin, she's stepping down. Then the next day, there was footage of her she went fishing. Is it just me, or is anybody else here having naughty thoughts about Sarah Palin in those waders? All right. I'm just apologizing for that right now. ... In fact, she looked so great, Russia was watching her."
--David Letterman

"Finally, the courts ruled that Al Franken defeated the incumbent, Norm Coleman. Here, we have a report right here. Al Franken being sworn in
ON SCREEN: footage of Franken swearing-in ceremony at the Capitol. An announcer says, "Al Franken is proud to have finally become Minnesota's junior senator. However, due to the unrelenting media scrutiny, Senator Franken has decided to resign and go fishing in Alaska."
--David Letterman

"North Korea has gone nuts. I don't know what is going on over there. There was a huge computer attack. Was your computer okay? We had a big computer attack from — they don't know what happened. They shut down the U.S. Treasury Department website. Man! I was stunned. I said, 'Whoa! The U.S. still has a Treasury Department?'"
--David Letterman

"President Obama is in Russia. He met with Putin. Meanwhile, in Arizona, John McCain was chasing kids off his lawn."
--David Letterman

"And people are puzzled by this. They say, 'Well Governor, Sarah, what are you going to do? What's going to happen?' And insiders believe that she hopes to be the next 'Octomom.' But I don't know."
--David Letterman

"Yesterday, President Obama met with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev. This morning, he met with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Then, this afternoon, he met with former President Mikhail Gorbachev. At the end of each meeting, Obama would twist the Russian leader at their waist, then the next slightly smaller leader would pop out."
--Conan O'Brien

==+==
Until the Conservatives stop being the punchline of every Late Nite joke, they are stuck with clowns like Palin with the extra large Manolo Blahniks.

I was amused by an empoyee of the BOP judging Obama's books to be too radical to be read by prisoners.

Having interacted with some BOP employees nearly 2 deacdes ago I learned quckly that the law means nothing to them unless it is being read in their presence by judge capable of making them residents of the place they were in charge of.

I showed an employee of the BOP, Bureau Of Prisons, a page out of the Code of Federal Regualtions which ordered all employees to take an action that the employee chose to ignore. I was informed that only a federal judge can force the Bureau to obey the law and I was not a federal judge. When I did get a judge to talk the matter over with the emplyee I was called a commie pinko bastard and a poor loser. I was clearly informed that it unfair of me to insist on the Bureau obeying the law as written. Such is life when you deal with idiot Republicans. That same person insisted that all of America's problems were the fault of Bill Clinton who had been freshly inaugurated for the first time about 30 days previously. (It was at that point that I knew there was no hope for this nation if Republicans ever regained power and I was right. The Cheney/Bush administration, and it was Cheney who ran the country, failed America miserably. Cheney made Spiro Agnew appear like an honest innocent choir boy.

"Such is life when you deal with idiot Republicans"

Amen to that!

FLORIDA ELECTION OFFICIALS CONFIRM IRAN RESULTS

more at ...
http://www.ironictimes.com/

Sarah who? What is it about Sarah Palin that Conservatives can't get enough of? The men seem particularly keen on her.

"Say what you will about Governor Palin, no one else in politics brightens your day in quite the same way. The interview reflects her generous, good-humored personality, as well,"
- John Hinderaker, looking at pictures of Palin in running spandex.
http://tinyurl.com/mwk3kd
==+==

"I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it."
--Rich Lowry:
http://tinyurl.com/4a4fpv

Beauty pageant contestants, much like former actors can be charming and charismatic but that in no way implies competence. Reagan could give a nice speech and Palin can rabble rouse but neither was ever competent at management.

Getting a crowd excited was one of Adolf's specialities but running a government and a military were well beyond his skill level. Much damage ensued and many died only to show that charisma remains a very distant acquaintace to competence.

Last one that had both was Bill Clinton which is why the GOP so viciously attacked him. They have had no one like him for nearly a century and seem unable to attract anyone with such a personality.

Who isn't so hot on Palin? Andrew Sullivan. He's gay; so he may be immune to her charms.

Who else doesn't like her? Ultra-conservative nutballette, Peggy Noonan. She seems immune to Palin's "charms" much the same way Sullivan is.
source: http://tinyurl.com/ll833p

"In television interviews she was out of her depth in a shallow pool. She was limited in her ability to explain and defend her positions, and sometimes in knowing them. She couldn't say what she read because she didn't read anything. She was utterly unconcerned by all this and seemed in fact rather proud of it: It was evidence of her authenticity. . . . She wasn't thoughtful enough to know she wasn't thoughtful enough. Her presentation up to the end has been scattered, illogical, manipulative and self-referential to the point of self-reverence."

Noonan ticks off the GOP myths of Palin that they fell for and points out the painful reality about the Belly-up Barracuda:

Myth 1: "I love her because she's so working-class."
Truth: She is not working class, never was, and even she, avid claimer of advantage that she is, never claimed to be and just lets others say it

Myth 2: "The elites hate her."
Truth: The elites made her. . . . It was the elites, from [GOP] party operatives to public intellectuals, who advanced her and attacked those who said she lacked heft. She is is a complete elite confection. She might as well have been a bonbon.

Myth 3: "She makes the Republican Party look inclusive."
Truth: She makes the party look stupid, a party of the easily manipulated.

Myth 4: "Now she can prepare herself for higher office by studying up, reading in, boning up on the issues."
Truth: Mrs. Palin's supporters have been ordering her to spend the next two years reflecting and pondering. But she is a ponder-free zone.

Myth 5: "The media did her in."
Truth: Her lack of any appropriate modesty did her in.

Myth 6: "Turning to others (other candidates) means the media won!"
Truth: No, . . . She hurts, as they say, the Republican brand, with her mess and her rhetorical jabberwocky and her careless causing of division. Really, she is the most careless sower of discord since George W. Bush, who fractured the party and the movement that made him.
==+==

Why isn't Noonan charmed by the starbursts, winks and form-fitting spandex pants? Hmmm.

Who else doesn't see starbursts? This guy, Dan Riehl:

"Fact: The notion that to go on and fight would have bankrupted the family does not hold water. She already has a legal defense fund and the ability to raise more money than any other Republican on the national scene. She may have not wanted to do it and that's fine. But the fact is, she could have and didn't."

"Fact: She quit. Say what you want, for all his supposed faults and perhaps mis-steps, former president Bush never quit on Iraq, Afghanistan, or the war against terror, though he could have easily rationalized the decision given the political realities. Whether Palin quit because she marches to a different drum, or not, the fact remains, she left the field of battle of her own accord. A state governorship is too important a position to permit one to do that and dismiss it because the opposition was simply so outrageous."

"Fact: The distraction the many bogus ethics charges presented Palin and Alaska was not her doing. Nor was it her responsibility to just walk away as a favor for the state. Her responsibility was to do her job, come what may, and she didn't choose to do it. That is not in dispute."
==+==
source: http://tinyurl.com/mnjg5s
Dan Riehl. A conservative that isn't charmed by the starbursts? IS this guy gay too? (Not that there's anything wrong with being gay, obviously.)

Andrew Sullivan unearths one of the Conservative knuckle-draggers that isn't charmed by Palin's winks and starbursts: Ace of Spades.

Sullivan sez: "Some of you may have come across a neo-fascist blogger, Ace of Spades, who makes Glenn Beck seem like Jim Lehrer. All of this is to say: even he can't quite put up with the degenerate dorks who now constitute much of the Republican base. Here he is inveighing against the commenters he has spent the last few years whipping into an anti-elitist frenzy:"

Ace sez: "And I do think I am taking off the week. You guys only seem to want to talk about sarah palin and furthermore you only want to hear the same thing -- she's running, this is a great move, she's now perfectly poised for the race, etc. It's nonsense. And I hardly need to blog about it, because you all seem to know the words to the song. So you don't need me as part of the chorus. You can sing the same words well enough without me. I am really tired of this relentless nonsense and occasional nastiness whenever someone is believed to have departed from the conservativey correct line."
==+==
source: http://tinyurl.com/myq466

WTF? Maybe ace didn't see the runner's world photo shoot? I don't know.

Ok. So some of the GOP is scared shitless over the posibility of the Belly-up Barracuda stinking up their congressional districts. That's alright, she'll just stump for the Democrats:

"The Washington Times reports that Palin plans to stump for conservative issues and even for Democrats who share her values on limited government, strong defense and energy independence."

"I will go around the country on behalf of candidates who believe in the right things, regardless of their party label or affiliation," she said in an interview, "People are so tired of the partisan stuff -- even my own son is not a Republican."
==+==
source: http://tinyurl.com/mxcpuo

Noonan was right. Palin is such a doofus that she doesn't even realize that she's ALREADY doing more for Democrats than she could ever imagine. All she has to do to improve the standing of Democrats all over the country is open her mouth to speak. Democrats need to set up and pay for a speaking tour for this lady. The Quittah from Wasilla is political platinum for Dems.

Palin is like a very pretty gal you look at through a safety window at a psych ward. . .

Nice to look at but nobody in their right mind would want to be on the other side of the glass.

IMO

Meghan McCain tries to slow the GOP trainwreck by standing on the tracks and waving her arms frantically screaming: "Do NOT Elect a Racist."
McCain's article: http://tinyurl.com/m6otyv

McCain frets: "The definition of insanity is repeating the same actions over and over again and expecting different results. What exactly do the Young Republicans expect to achieve by electing a 38-year-old woman who thinks racial epithets are acceptable? Also, did I mention that she’s 38? And she’s going to be the leader of an organization with the word “young” in the title? Is it so implausible that people in their 20s (or even early 30s) could join the Republican Party—or have we just completely given up on their vote? Are we expecting “young” people in the Republican Party to soon be entering their 40s?"
==+==

Well, hell, compared to their candidates, 40 is pretty freakin' young. Why are the "Young" Reds choosing a female racist to lead them? She must wink a lot and look hot in stretch pants. Works for Palin....

This is why I prefer blogs to primary news sources. They take the news and put a vicious spin on it:

Revenge is a dish best served with a kick in the nuts
By: TBogg Wednesday July 8, 2009 10:55 pm
source: http://tinyurl.com/ly3epy

Tbogg sez: "Ever since David Frum lost his job with the Bush Administration because his nitwit wife couldn't keep her goddamn mouth shut, he's been itching to stick it to the Republicans. Now that all of the potential 2012 Republican nominees are dropping like flies because they're either fucking nuts or nuts about fucking , Frum has decided to go after the last (Mor)man standing:"

Frum sez: "There are two Romneys: the pragmatic, results-oriented candidate who got himself elected Republican governor of Massachusetts -- and the phoney hyper-ideological ex-candidate who addressed the Republican convention in St. Paul in 2008:"

Tbogg slams the door with: "Back off Canadian-boy. Giving shit to Mitt! is our job."

One reason that the GOP is so enamored of Palin might be because they are a party lacking REAL leaders, REAL ideas, and a REAL direction. They are so desperately lacking in political energy that they are looking for literally ANYTHING to give them a boost. The strategery on the right is hilarious:

GOP unifies against any more stimulus spending
source: http://tinyurl.com/le7kb8

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans lined up Sunday in opposition to a second economic stimulus package, a rare demonstration of unity from an out-of-power political party in search of a rallying cry against President Barack Obama.
==+==

Get that? They are AGAINST Obama. They want to made damn sure that Obama doesn't get that second stimulus. They have banded together to make a stand like the XMen or something.

As the article states: "Republicans, though, were not willing to sit by idly."

No sir, they are men (and 3 or 4 women) of action!

Headline: Obama rejects 2nd stimulus: Give recovery time
source: http://tinyurl.com/m8vgco

Get that? The GOP finally takes a stand against Obama that turns out to be exactly the agenda that Obama is pushing. They trip over their own clown shoes. Too Funny.

This is why Newt isn't on the top 10 list of GOP candidates for president in '12:

Republican Newt Gingrich Calls for Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Resign
'Democrats Should Get a New Speaker,' Gingrich Tells 'Good Morning America'
By HUMA KHAN and JONATHAN KARL
May 20, 2009

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich today called on current speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to resign, saying her accusation that the CIA lied to her threatens national security.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich weighs in on the Pelosi firestorm.

"She really disqualified herself to be the speaker," Gingrich said on "Good Morning America" today. "She has a unique responsibility for national security. ... She made this allegation that smears everyone who's trying to defend her."

Leaving her in her place would be "very dangerous for the country," Gingrich added.

Gingrich said on "GMA" that Pelosi is the one who misinformed the American people.

"What she said Thursday was a stunning dishonest statement about a major American institution that has a key role in our survival," he said. "I think the Democrats should get a new speaker."

In his weekly newsletter to supporters published in the conservative publication Human Events, the prominent GOP figure said Democrats "owe it to their country" to replace Pelosi as the speaker.

"The person who is No. 2 in line to be commander in chief can't have contempt for the men and women who protect our nation. America can't afford it," Gingrich wrote.

The Republican National Committee has even produced a video ridiculing the press conference where Pelosi accused the CIA of lying.
==+==
source: http://tinyurl.com/p5ye38

That was about two months ago. The GOP was hopping mad that Pelosi would accuse the CIA of lying.

Can Gingrich call "oopsies" on that whole incident?

Cheney Is Linked to Concealment of C.I.A. Project

By SCOTT SHANE
Published: July 11, 2009

"The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday."

"A report that former Vice President Dick Cheney was behind the decision to conceal a C.I.A. program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it."

"The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it, suggesting that the Bush administration had put a high priority on the program and its secrecy."
==+==

And how does the Conservative Clown Show react to being lied to?

"Mr. Hoekstra, the intelligence committee’s ranking Republican, said he would not judge the agency harshly in the case of the unidentified program, because it was not fully operational. But he said that in general, the agency had not been as forthcoming as the law required."

“We have to pull the information out of them to get what we need,” Mr. Hoekstra said.
==+==
Good ol' GOP straighttalkers. Hoekstra says the CIA didn't comply with THE LAW; but he won't judge the agency harshly. Why get all bent out of shape over lawlessness in his own party, eh?

Sarah Palin Underweight, Anxious, Needed "Emergency Help" For Thinning Hair: New York Times

[...]

Friends worried that she appeared anxious and underweight. Her hair had thinned to the point where she needed emergency help from her hairdresser and close friend, Jessica Steele.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/13/sarah-palin-underweight-a_n_230435.html

*****

(hairdresser and meth connection . . .)

Burning Latinos to keep Rush happy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPgINdA56Jk

Translation

In Spanish:

"Sonia Sotomayor is set to be the first Latina, and the first Puerto Rican, to serve on the US Supreme Court. It is a proud moment for our community. Yet Republican leaders insist on attacking her:"
In English:

In English:
"She doesn't have any intellectual depth. She's got a -- she's an angry woman, she's a bigot. She's a racist."
In Spanish:

In Spanish:
That's Republican leader Rush Limbaugh calling Judge Sotomayor a racist and a bigot.
It's insulting to all Latinos and Americans.

We asked Republican Congressman XXX if he would denounce Limbaugh's words. He refused to reply. Let's put a stop to the hate. Call Congressman XXX today at XXX and tell him to condemn this language.

This ad was paid for by Presente Action.

-------

Presente.org is raising money to expand the ad buy and keep it up on the air. There are two versions currently running, targetting Florida Reps. Adam Putnam and and John Mica. And sure, while House members don't have a say in the matter, here's the reality of the Sotomayor hearings -- the inevitable GOP hate and hysteria from all corners will continue eroding that party's standing among the fast-growing Latino demographic.

Given that she's a shoo-in for confirmation, electoral irrelevance seems poor consolation for placating the Rush Limbaugh base

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/13/752950/-Burning-Latinos-to-keep-Rush-happy