If that doesn’t express the internal and external conflicts with which conservatives and Republicans are struggling, I don’t know what does. Just check out BlogNetNews.com Rightysphere results for “The Messiah” versus A Google search on “apologize Limbaugh.” Complete, total, utter, abject absence of looking in the mirror. (I know – so many opportunities to make jokes about what they’d see re: Limbaugh’s image at CPAC.) Read the rest of the post at Writes Like She Talks.

From JTA: The Obama administration has decided to boycott the so-called Durban II conference out of concerns for anti-Semitism. Multiple sources on a conference call with the White House on Friday told JTA that the Obama administration had opted not to attend any further preparatory meetings ahead of the planned U.N. conference against racism in Geneva in April. The conference reprises the 2001 conference in Durban, South Africa that devolved into an anti-Jewish free-for-all. Canada and Israel have...

This morning, I posted about how, yesterday, Rush Limbaugh called for a women’s summit because of the uniquely high gender gap reported by Public Policy Polling. Limbaugh wanted to find out, through a summit: what it is I must do to close the gender gap — or, if not what it is I must do to close the gender gap, what it is I’ve done that has caused the gender gap; assuming the gender gap is true and that the poll is true. So, this evening, I forced myself to read the entire transcript that...

First, here’s the information from Public Policy Polling. In addition to the gender gap discussed below, the poll indicates that few people think Rush Limbaugh should have much influence: Even if voters are pretty split on whether they like Limbaugh or not, there’s more of a consensus on how much sway they think he should hold in American politics, which is not much. Only 23% of respondents said Limbaugh should have ‘a lot’ of influence and the most common answer, given by 42% of respondents,...

If you like live, you will love tonight’s live-blog of the Presidential Address to Congress. Please go to this post at my blog, Writes Like She Talks, to participate.  Everyone is welcome and there are already dozens of people in the room, several of whom have been conversing for 30-40 minutes already.

Strange long path but now confirmed by the U.S. Senate.  Congratulations. It was not unanimous but 80-17. Here’s more from NPR.

Am I the only one who is amazed at how, only six months ago, John McCain and Sarah Palin were the image of the Republican Party and wanted to be and were supported by their party to be the image of the White House and now, Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal are the image? Frankly, the choice of Steele as chair and Jindal as the person to deliver the GOP response to President Obama’s speech this evening, could not be more emblematic of just...

I’ve had the idea for a post about this subject in my head since yesterday morning, but the New York Times release of this NYT/CBS poll about support for President Obama and disdain for Republican rejectionism has made push come to shove and I really need to write it now. First, from the poll (the full pdf is here): Americans are under no illusions that the country’s problems will be resolved quickly, but the poll suggested they would be particularly patient when it comes to the economy,...

From JTA: Israeli President Shimon Peres invited Benjamin Netanyahu to form the next government. After hearing from Peres Friday, Netanyahu, who leads the Likud Party, immediately invited Tzipi Livni, the leader of the Kadima Party, and Ehud Barak, the leader of the Labor Party, to form a national unity government. Such a government would help Netanyahu hew to a centrist foreign policy and sustain peace negotiations with the Palestinians and the Syrians. Barak and Livni have said they favor going...

And I have it officially and had it but, unlike the MSM that could not restrain itself, I abided by the rules.  Oh those rascally traditional journalists with all their fancy expensive filters. Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner – come on down as the first announced Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican George Voinovich. And Toto too, now as Governor Ted Strickland’s second in charge, Lee Fisher, will announce tonight. Here’s Brunner’s...

A pattern seems to be emerging.  From The Fix’s line on U.S. Senate races: 1. New Hampshire (R): After much sturm und drang over the past week, we are left with one indisputable fact: the New Hampshire Senate seat is open in 2010. Rep. Paul Hodes is already in the race for Democrats and he as well as national Democrats are hoping that Rep. Carol Shea Porter, who retains a significant grassroots following in the state, decides against a primary challenge. Former Sen. John Sununu is regarded as...

Finally, good news, as reported in The Nation: The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, where the [nomination of California Congresswoman Hilda] Solis had been stalled, voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday evening to recommend confirmation of the congresswoman. Solis, a labor ally who whose confirmation process was delayed by conservative Republicans who objected to her union ties and progressive politics, got the committee O.K. on a voice vote. Only two Republican members of the...

I’ve got permission to do a live-blog of a call this afternoon described as follows: On Wednesday, February 11, at 4:00 p.m. ET Jared Bernstein, Chief Economist for the Vice President, will discuss the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan on a press conference call with progressive media and bloggers.  Bernstein will discuss the impacts of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan and answer questions. I’ll be on the call.  If you’re interested, please stop by here to follow...

You have got to be kidding me: Senate Democratic leadership has announced who will be serving on the conference committee to iron out differences in the House and Senate versions of the stimulus bill. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont. Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Thad Cochran, R-Miss. Both Finance and Appropriations were heavily...

UPDATE: 2/12/09: Here’s the video of Courtney Martin on O’Reilly’s show. He tells her that if she can show that she called out sexism against Sarah Palin, he’ll apologize.  Here is one instance of when Martin did that (O’Reilly didn’t do his homework before making the bet) and this instance is of Martin calling out sexism levied against Palin by…O’Reilly.  Be prepared for O’Reilly to say he wasn’t being sexist enough to be called out for...

These can change – I’ve seen it, it happens. But this is the most current spread for now. What I don’t get is: Livni had the most last time too – but couldn’t form the coalition and that’s what got us to today. So, now what? According to Jameel: 10:27 PM What happens next: [that's 3:27EST] 1. Final Results to be announced by 6 AM [11pmEST] 2. President Shimon Peres will then go from party to party and ask if they will form a government with the leader of the...

Chris Baker might come to owe me dinner, because wisely I didn’t bet that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher will not run against each other in a Democratic primary to be the party’s nominee to fill retiring U.S. Senator George Voinovich’s seat. I only wagered that Brunner and Ohio congressman, Tim Ryan, wouldn’t be facing off. Still, I didn’t think the Brunner-Fisher scenario was as likely to materialize as it now seems to be. First,...

If you’re like me, you’ve heard and read enough from the pundits and politicians about the stimulus bills.  Look, when a country is where we are economically, no solution is going to be one that everyone can support because we know we don’t all agree on solutions and we know we don’t know what will happen – no matter who tells you otherwise. Today, starting at 12noon, you can participate in a discussion with people like yourself and others about the stimulus.  Here’s...

With the Lilly Ledbetter Act now law, and the first piece of congressional legislation signed by President Barack Obama at that, it’s time to consider who will lead the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau in its fulfillment of its mission: Mission Statement To improve the status of wage-earning women, improve their working conditions, increase their efficiency, and advance their opportunities for profitable employment. Vision Statement The Women’s Bureau promotes 21st...

Nicholas Kristof is feeling empowered, having had a hand in the creation of a new focus of a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee, global women’s issues.  And I like what he’s doing with that feeling: tonight, he tells us in his blog that tomorrow, the New York Times will feature this column by him, “Mistresses of the Universe,” in which he discusses the following: Banks around the world desperately want bailouts of billions of dollars, but they also have another need...

From a blog post by Nicholas Kristof at the New York Times: The U.S. Senate is taking a welcome step: empowering a subcommittee specifically charged with global women’s issues. It’s the first time a subcommittee has had that mandate, and it will be led by Barbara Boxer of California, who will surely use her voice and spotlight to do some good on these issues. … Issues like trafficking and maternal mortality and sexual violence finally seem to be getting some traction. Eve Ensler has helped...

Other than my extreme distaste for Mark Naymik’s use of the word “delicious” in this Plain Dealer column about Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and the Democratic options for filling retiring U.S. Senator and Republican George Voinovich’s seat, it does a decent job outlining the reality that, when you say yes to one thing, you are pretty much saying no to something else – implicitly. That’s a tactic Strickland...

What do you think this image means? Yesterday, at Fem2pt0, I got to listen to Stanislaus Magniant from Linkfluence describe precisely what that image, and numerous network maps that can be derived from the information that created that image, means – by itself, in relation to the progressive blogosphere, the conservative blogosphere, the entire political blogosphere and conversation around specific issues like the family planning component that was dropped from the house stimulus bill. The...

Here’s an interesting exchange in an NPR story on the Michael Steele selection for chair of the Republican National Committee: The consensus emerging from Friday’s gathering was that though the party clearly needs some major cosmetic surgery, its basic tenets are just fine. “Our core beliefs don’t differ from most Americans’,” said Kevin DeWine, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. “But obviously there’s a disconnect between our image and our issues.” “We’ve...

I’ve never hidden my dislike for George Bush’s creation of the White House Office on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, renamed under Obama as the Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. I also dissented when candidate Barack Obama talked about expanding the role of that office, should he be elected. But while I have my own skepticism, I’ve also wondered, where is the conservative outrage over that office’s creation and now expansion in its diatribes about...