Quote of the Day

This one comes by way of a Maureen Dowd column, marking the first time in at least two years that I've found anything she wrote interesting. Anyhow, she quotes GOP strategist, Alex Castellanos, as saying: "Republicans being against sex is not good. Sex is popular." Alex may look like the bad guy in "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly," but he's got a point.

Rep. Hoekstra Warns Michigan of Yellow Peril

If we lived in a different media market, we would have seen a Super Bowl ad that has the political world talking. No, I'm not talking about Will Ferrell's ad for Milwaukee's Best beer. I'm talking about Rep. Pete Hoekstra taking a page late 19th century nativist politics, and airing this:



Hoekstra seems to have spent most of the day basically telling people that they're wrong to see this as racist. My big question is how he found an actor willing to play that role.

Jan Brewer's "Reality"

My favorite line about denying reality came from an episode of "Mythbusters," when one of the stars responded to scientific evidence that his theory of a phenomenon was wrong said, "I reject your reality and substitute one of my own." Governor Brewer definitely seems to ascribe to that line.

After running around the airwaves trying to characterize her tarmac encounter with the President as a "tense" one in which she felt "a little bit threatened," witnesses of the event are starting to punch holes in her story. TPM has the details here and here, and offers an article chronicling the Governor's troubled relationship with the truth.

Bottom line: Jan Brewer's a clown. The sad thing is, FOX is going to try to run with this as a great example of a scrappy Tea Partier standing up to the tyrant-in-chief thus continuing their tradition of producing the most ill-informed viewers of any media outlet.

Oh please, let's throw more crazy into the mix

the republicans are just not happy. bill kristol wants a new candidate:

Two months ago, I wrote an editorial headlined “Evitable.” The subhead captured the thrust of the piece: “It might not be Mitt. It could be Newt. It could be someone else.”

The editorial concluded:

“Or, if Iowa (January 3), New Hampshire (January 10) and South Carolina (January 21) produce fragmented results, and the state of the race is disheartening to Republicans, a late January entry [I'd now say an early February entry] by another candidate isn't out of the question, either

ross douthat agrees:

And do you know what? He’s (bill kristol) been right all along. Right that the decisions by various capable Republicans to forgo a presidential run this year have been a collective disgrace; right that Republican primary voters deserve a better choice than the one being presented to them; and right, as well, that even now it isn’t too late for one of the non-candidates to change their mind and run.

runmitchrun.com

DNC Hitting Romney Hard on Taxes

Check this out. I know we're all concerned that this issue is peaking too soon but this is really strong stuff:

I Said to Keep This Kind of Thing Behind Closed Doors!

Via TPM, here's a fun little exchange between Romney and some puny 99-percenter who had the temerity to raise the issue of income inequality. Mitt's a good enough campaigner that I think he'll probably work to lock up this kind of reaction but this definitely echoes his frustrated "corporations are people" outburst. And, it just keeps piling on this issue. Here's hoping for plenty more of it.

Romney's Taxes

I'm sure that you all saw that Romney was challenged directly at that last GOP debate about his tax returns. It was all kinds of awesome. For details on the exchange, check out the Washington Monthly's post. In short, Romney stumbled his way to the following: 1) he admitted that his effective tax rate last year was about 15 percent, 2) that he will release his 2011 return in April when he files it, and 3) that while most of his income comes from investments and such piled up at Bain, he does get "speaker's fees from time to time, but not very much."

Let's look at those points individually. First, as you can see here, his effective tax rate is equal to that paid by people who make somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 to $74,000 a year. I'm not positive but I think most people in that bracket have fewer than Romney's 11 homes.

Second, the timing and depth of his promise is already coming under attack because it's so weak. Check out Matt Lauer's exchange with Chris Christie, who has been a Romney stalwart but seems to have found himself unable to defend this. Bottom line: Romney's promising to release less than other candidates have done and everyone sees through the fact that he's only willing to release them after the GOP primaries are done.

Finally, we come to Romney's "not very much" income gained through speaking fees. Conservatively, Romney made an estimated $362,000 in speaking fees in 2011. Not very much indeed.

This issue definitely has legs and Romney knows it (but not enough to talk about $362,000 without acknowledging that very few Americans make that much in a year). This is going to get better and better.

Can Romney Lock Up the Nomination Before He Sinks Himself?

By now you've surely all seen Romney's latest gaffe. If I were Romney, I'd like firing people, too. He's made a lot of money doing it. Of course, people are taking his quote out of context but even a generous reading of this shows Romney to be awfully out of touch.

Even so, is there enough time in the nomination calendar for Romney's foot-in-mouth disease to derail him? It will be interesting to see how things go down in New Hampshire today. Nate's latest projections have Romney winning by a good margin but his projected percentage has slipped into the 30s. I, for one, hope that he slips down into the mid-30s with Santorum and Gingrich showing strong enough to press on to SC and FL.

In any case, I guess the most important question is: should we as Obama backers hope that Romney wins and saves a couple of prime gaffes for the general?

Newt on the Attack

As promised, Newt is pursuing a scorched earth campaign against Romney in New Hampshire. One salvo is a 30-minute film and a pro-Newt PAC has produced. Here's the hard-hitting trailer:

More on Those Shady Cheesehead Repugs

Despite their best nefarious efforts (you know, running fake candidates against Dems in state senate primaries) it really seems like the Wisconsin GOP may be on their way to losing the state senate. As Jonathan Chait on TNR reports, they are getting pretty desperate. In an interesting twist, if the Dems pull off regaining the state senate, they'll be able to play a role in the state's redistricting, making it harder for the GOP to protect controversial U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan. Interesting things afoot in the land of milk and cheese.

In other news that you all probably saw, Ilsa, Penny, and George are regaining a rather esteemed colleague. You think the WH will try to get Paul Krugman as a replacement? Yeah, I don't think so either but it would be cool.

Enough already

just when i think repugs can't possibly get any more devious, shit like this happens and i'm reminded that there is pretty much nothing they won't do to win.

Eric Cantor is a Snivelly Little A-Hole

Here, let Jon Stewart explain:

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Department of Unneccessary Clarifications

It turns out that Mitt Romney is a Twilight fan. In sharing this news, Romney offered some clarification:

I mean, I like the Twilight series. I thought it was fun. I don’t like vampires personally, I don’t know any, but you know my granddaughter was reading it and I thought, ‘Well this looks like fun,’ so I read that.

Thanks for reassuring us all that you neither like vampires nor count any in your circle of friends. This is a bold stance and could cost him the coveted walking dead vote (they always turn out in Chicago) but principles are principles.

I'm bummed, though, that the reporter didn't follow up for the scoop of whether Mitt likes Edward or Jacob. Hopefully, that will come out in the debates.

Today's Latest on the GOP Field

As if we needed more proof of our brilliant politically analytical minds, the blogosphere is basically having the conversation we've been having for the past couple days. To that end, the Washington Monthly has a good post today about how Repug insiders are freaking out about the current field. For lack of better options, they are apparently lining up for Mitch Daniels but hoping that he will be "an adrenaline boost." I wonder how those conversations are going: "Once they hear him talk about his days as OMB Director, they crowds will go wild!"

Anyhow, I guess they're also trying very hard behind the scenes to get Chris Christie and/or Rick Perry into the race. But, both of those guys have said they're not running. One of them could emerge as the Clinton-style dark horse, though. They're not perfect candidates but they are certainly more interesting than most of the other candidates.

As a final note, the Washington Monthly points out that this concern among the GOP establishment could have serious cascading effects on the whole race. If those folks aren't engaged, there won't be as much money flowing into GOP coffers. That would be cool.

More on the GOP Field

There are a couple fun new updates on the GOP presidential field. First, the nastiness seems to have ramped up a bit as The Daily Caller, a conservative online rag run by well-known douche bag Tucker Carlson, ran a hit piece on Michelle Bachmann. The Washington Monthly flagged it and highlighted how interesting it is that the Daily Caller ran the piece at all. They surmise that it comes from some oppo research by one of the rival campaigns with the implication that the Daily Caller, and maybe the conservative establishment, wants Bachmann out of the race toot sweet.

The Washington Monthly also has an interesting summary of Newt Gingrich's extreme ping-ponging on the Ryan budget plan. Newt kind of seems like a squirrel caught in the middle of the road trying to figure out the best way to scurry away from an on-coming car. Speaking of Newt, Mother Jones re-released an article they wrote on him in 1984. Even without the last 27 years of skullduggery, Newt sure has a lot of baggage. He really doesn't seem like a viable candidate but since his ego is Trumpesque, he probably doesn't know that.

Finally, Nate has a very long and detailed piece on the impact of Huckabee's departure from the field. He doesn't really come out and say it but it seems to hint at things falling in place for Romney, i.e., the Repug John Kerry.

GOP Field Thinning Already

I'm sure you all noticed the monumental announcement that The Donald will not be running for president. I like to think that after a couple weeks of sputtering while trying to come up with some kind of comeback to Obama's thorough Correspondents' Dinner take-down Trump just hung his head and gave up the ghost. He did his best to try to maintain his ridiculous egoism ("I maintain the strong conviction that if I were to run, I would be able to win the primary and ultimately, the general election...however, business is my greatest passion and I am not ready to leave the private sector.") but it came off pretty hollow.

This follows charming-but-dim, religiously bigoted, homophobic Mike Huckabee's decision to drop out of the race this weekend. I think he really dropped out because he's making too much money on Fox. It's a good thing because his other recently proposed endeavor, shilling arch-conservative "educational" propaganda, is patently ridiculous. I mean, seriously, Mike. This is my world you're trying to enter into. My publishing cronies and I will crush you in your first sales campaign!

Anyhow, the field is narrowing. I think that Palin will eventually bail, too, given that she would have to give up her fat Fox News paychecks. That still leaves a decent-sized crowd but only Bachmann and Hermain Cain will represent the truly lunatic fringe. Well, maybe Santorum, too. That's good but we were promised much more crazy.

Interesting Perspective on the Train Wreck That is Sarah Palin

The latest issue of the Atlantic has a really interesting article on Sarah Palin. In it the author cuts through the hype to look at her accomplishments during her brief tenure as Alaska governor. It's actually impressive. She worked against corrupt oil company interests and with Alaska Dems to ram through two initiatives, a gas pipeline and an increase in the oil company tax, that have undoubtedly helped out the state. He further argues that had she actually embraced her reformist past, she could have been a much different figure in American politics. But, beginning with her RNC speech she made a distinct shift into rabidly conservative attack politics (which baffled many in Alaska).

Don't get me wrong, he definitely looks at her limitations (mainly her penchant for personalizing politics and pursuing everything like it's a vendetta) but rather than tearing after her he sort of shakes his head in disbelief. Why did she decide to go all out ultra-conservative populist when her record was more good government reformer?

To me, it just highlights why she's such a scary, horrifying politician. She could be just blowing where the political wind takes her but I think the conservatism on display now is truer to her actual beliefs. Maybe she was a reformer in Alaska because she actually understood the issues at stake, which would make her apparent refusal to study national issues a little more troubling. Or, perhaps she looked at Barack and all he stood for and it set of some ultra-conservative sense of aggrievedness that set her on her ugly, populist course. Whatever her true motivations, I find her disturbing.

White House Will Not Release OBL Photos

I hesitate to actually post this, not because of the subject matter, but because I kind of want the Michelle dancing video to always be front and center on this blog. But, you know I can't keep my mouth shut.

As you undoubtedly saw by now, the White House said it will not release their photos of a dead Osama bin Laden. While for a while I thought I really wanted them to be released, I am now glad that they won't be released. Ultimately, I was swayed by posts, like this one, arguing that the pictures would end up as the gruesome replacement to our celebrations as the lasting image of the strike.

That said, I think the pictures will eventually leak. Heck, they're apparently already circulating around the Senate so it's probably only a matter of time before some drunken staffer tries to impress his friends with them at the Hawk and Dove and momentum takes over.

Finally, you probably also saw that Mama Grizzly said that Obama is "pussy footing around" by not releasing the photos as part of what TPM calls her "Self-Marginalization Tour." That's just a preview of what we could expect of Palin, Bachman, and the Donald are ever in the same debate.

The Audacity of Torture Proponents

There's obviously an 800-pound gorilla of an issue right now, Osama's death, that we haven't commented on. To be honest, I'm still not entirely sure how to address it. I'm happy he's dead and think the world is a better place without him, but the euphoric celebration that followed the announcement struck me as odd. I know that those celebrations Sunday night were actually mixtures of joy, relief, and remembrance, but the joy seemed to overwhelm everything. I don't know.

But, while my feelings about how to react to Osama's death are mixed, I know exactly how I feel about the current and former officials who are crowing that "enhanced interrogation" led to us catching him. It's not surprising that Cheney and co. would be saying this but every time this comes up I still find myself gaping in awe that people feel like it's okay to support torture. Thus, I highly recommend the Daily Kos summary of the facts behind this that show that standard interrogation led us to Osama while torture helped the warmongering Bushies to accumulate false intelligence they could use to support the Iraq War.

Oh Snap!

Former Bush Treasury Secretary, Paul O'Neill, made the following comparison today:

The people who are threatening not to pass the debt ceiling are our version of al Qaeda terrorists. Really.

Now, O'Neill can't be too sympatico with the extreme right considering that he basically dished a whole bunch of negative things about the Bush White House to Ron Suskind but still. Wow.

In other news, the Onion once again cuts right to the core of an issue in the media with this little piece on Trump.