You have to wonder where it will end. But it just seems to continue. First there was Rush Limbaugh’s verbal assault on law student Sandra Fluke because she dared to see things differently than he does, which sparked a furor largely but not entirely on the left and from the center and from some GOPers. And now we have (WARNING ADULT CONTENT) this: GBTV host S.E. Cupp is the subject of a very explicit, admittedly doctored obscene photo in Hustler – because they don’t like her views....

A North Carolina pastor has suggested that gays and lesbians should be placed in concentration camps. Details from Newsy.com: And here’s a link to Google News that gives you more stories on this subject.

Remember what I’ve often pointed out here and in my Cagle column about the conventional wisdom: it truly “in the moment” — the assured assertions that X, Y, and Z will happen or are very likely to happen. Now there is a conventional wisdom shift, one that will likely help shape the press and analysts narratives in the weeks to come. After months of privately and publically saying they didn’t think that now-presumptive Republican nominee could win, now GOPers think he...

If someone shoots a person wearing a hoodie, could it be partially explained because it made the person look like a menacing gangster? Apparently that continues to be the view of Fox News’ fading, mustachioed news personality Geraldo Rivera, who is at it again. Rivera seems stuck in defending- racial- profiling mode as he again calls hoodies provocative “thug gear.” Rivera’s exercise in wardrobe defining is not as it seems at first glance, although if it was true, hoodie...

A new Quinnipiac University Poll in Florida reflects two overall trends: Romney is starting to pull ahead or gaining on Barack Obama in many polls and independent voters are moving towards Romney. It’s early in campaign 2012 but, nonetheless, in terms of negative political news, party cohesiveness and polling Romney and the GOP seem to be on the upswing and Obama and the Democrats on the defensive. The poll: Mitt Romney has broken into a slight lead in Florida over President Barack Obama, according...

Two new polls should Republicans smile and Democrats highly nervous. Both the Washington Post/ABC News Poll and NBC/Wall Street Journal pols are showing an ever-tightening race. Look for the conventional wisdom to now do more than lip service to the conventional wisdom that Barack Obama, in fact, may be the underdog in this race — particularly as his party now seems split over the Bain Capital issue use. Whoever would have thought that this early in the game a)the Democrats would appear to...

Our political Quote of the Day comes from CBS’s Bob Schieffer, who, as I’ve said before, was really person who should have succeeded Walter Cronkite: “But you know, I tell you something, Imus — what I find really interesting. What’s going on here, frankly, is you know, Mitt Romney, is not the robber baron that the Obama folks would have you believe any more than Obama is a European socialist as the Romney folks would have you believe.” Schieffer went on to explain that there has...

This just in! It’s a story that will bust this town wide open. Actually, it’s just one more example of meaningless, silly and credibility-destroying politics and partisanship has become. I mean, really…

Camp Obama has had a lot of bad political news recently (Corey Booker, a slew of polls, Romney catching up in funding) and this is more of it: Colin Powell is balking at endorsing Obama (understandable this early in the season since he always holds out) and says Mitt Romney is a “good man” (a phrase unhelpful to Obama’s team and a sign that Powell could indeed endorse someone who was once considered a moderate Republican): Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday that...

NBC’s Political Director Chuck Todd has just perfectly summarized the two key arguments that will be made in the 2012 campaign election: Barack Obama will argue that Mitt Romney doesn’t have the values to be President. Mitt Romney will argue that Obama doesn’t have the skills to be President. And, yes, there will assuredly be plenty of big issues popping up, manufactured partisan issues, tiresome spinners and talking points (clearly) reciting their talking points list and hurredly...

TMV’s Info U Can Use Dept: Shucking an Oyster, a video by Pete Van de Putte: FOOTNOTE: I’ve known Pete Van de Putte of Texas for years. He has a delightful sense of humor and is owner of the famous Dixie Flag Manufacturing Company that makes superb flags and banners (I had one made years ago for my non-blogging incarnation and used it for many years at trade shows.)

I’ve done a few posts on the controversy over Newark Mayor Corey Booker’s comments about Bain Capital being a “nauseating” issue and also reviewed a DVD of the movie “Street Fight” 5 years ago about his early political career. He is one of the country’s most fascinating up and coming (but not up and coming as much due to his comments) mayors. And now I think I’ve found the perfect birthday gift for him — and it’s incredibly cheap: You...

Embattled Newark Mayor Corey Booker — seemingly doing more back steps than Ginger Rogers did with Fred Astaire — has been working mightily to undo the damage many feel he has done to Barack Obama’s campaign. Analysts differ. Were his comments defending Mitt Romney on Bain Capital’s use as an issue a political mistake? Due to his own Wall Street ties? Did it reflect his ambition? Was this a rising Democratic Party start halting his own rise by losing sight of the main prize...

Here’s a video of Barack Obama’s explanation of why the issue of Bain Capital is not a distraction but at the center of a philosophical debate at play in election 2012. The issue has now gotten enmeshed in talking points on both sides. Here’s Obama’s explanation so you can judge for yourself:

There is some good news today: Rush Limbaugh took a significant ratings hit in some key radio markets last month in the wake of the Sandra Fluke controversy. The conservative radio host’s ratings fell 27 percent in the key 25-54 demo in New York City, 31 percent in Houston-Galveston, 40 percent in Seattle-Tacoma, and 35 percent in Jacksonville, according to a selection of the March 29-April 25 Arbitron ratings provided by an industry source. Limbaugh’s detractors attribute the losses...

Yesterday I did this post about how refreshing it was that Newark Mayor Corey Booker seemingly deserved to be displayed in a museum for his criticism of the Obama’s use of the Bain Capital issue against presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney. And I was not doing so as a conservative Republican blogger (I am not one) or someone who is an activist for anyone in this campaign (I’m not). But as an independent voter who has concluded that our partisanship is erasing any vestige of credibility...

Mr.Reince Priebus of the RNC: there are many ways to lose your credibility with independent voters when you open your mouth in the future and this is one of them. It is beyond transparent, patently false partisan, CYA spin. (So Sean Hannity is a mole? Wait: Rush Limbaugh has the answer: it was all the Clinton’s doing.)

I’ve gotten so utterly tired of the professional partisan bloviators on both sides on cable and talk radio and of the partisan spinners that cable shows invite on knowing that they are going to try to cram through as many talking points as they can for their party and candidate. The partisan spinners make everyone who follows politics an ace psychic since you can tell precisely what is going to come out of their mouths on any given question. They’re like elementary school students reciting...

The day many families of the 270 victims killed in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has been waiting for has arrived: if will never be closure for those who look at photos of the innocent men, women and kids murdered in a political lives that cost lives and forever changed others — but it is the closing of a chapter. Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the Lockerbie bombing is dead of cancer in Libya, where he was released on humanitarian grounds in an act that drew howls of protest...

The Historic SpaceX launch was scrubbed at the last minute. Newsy.com reports: