When John McCain chose her as his running mate, she was virtually unknown. Now, twelve months later, Sarah Palin is sifting through more than 1070 invitations for paid appearances and speeches as well as a thick folder of offers for “network and pundit gigs, documentaries and business opportunities.” This makes her one of the 21st century’s first publicity saints, a status I once explained...

It’s often edifying when Republicans show their true colors, even if they’re not exactly “beautiful like a rainbow.” On health-care reform specifically, Republicans on Capitol Hill have for the most part either been obstructionists or outright opponents, spinning about “socialism” and “death panels” with all the strength they could muster, much of it latching on...

Our linkfest taking you to sites with varying opinions. Is Jenna Bush Being Treated Like Royalty? There were some rumblings about how GWB daughter Jenna Bush is being treated like royalty after she got a non-political gig on ABC’s Good Morning America. But as Jules Crittenden points out here such criticism often seems to downplay or ignore the role of the Kennedys as seeming American royalty. Pointing...

For the first time in my life, professional pollsters tracked me down and actually asked my opinion on what they considered vital questions on the state of the union. Naturally, I was flattered. But the conversation went downhill in a hurry. It was a legitimate poll conducted by Pew Research Center of Princeton, New Jersey, and I suspect the woman conducting the poll was a college student. I am also guessing...

In these days where the word Nazi is being used as a political tool to describe “offenses” that don’t even come close to approaching the crimes committed, and when idiot Americans are offering the “Heil Hitler” salute to an elderly Jewish man who disagrees with their politics, we need to remember history. World War II didn’t start with the invasion of Poland on September 1,...

Congress is coming back to “work” this week after their peaceful August sojourns and Nancy Pelosi has a tough decision waiting for her. How will she justify (assuming she does) allowing Congressman Charlie Rangel (D. NY) to continue on as Chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means committee? For those who missed it, Rangel has been facing one instance after another of large sums of money and...

The Associated Press writes yesterday that for the first time in 35 years, Atlanta could elect a white mayor: After 35 years, next Atlanta mayor could be white By ERRIN HAINES (AP) ATLANTA — The city that became a post-civil rights movement emblem of the political power held by African-Americans could have a white mayor for the first time in a generation — a possibility that has some in the black community...

Team Obama is in full campaign mode, firing off e-mails and organizing events to push ahead for health care reform, but nobody knows exactly where the goal line is. According to the Washington Post, “President Obama’s supporters hope to recapture the energy of last year’s triumphant election campaign in a bid to regain control of the health-care debate, planning more than 2,000 house parties,...

The special election to fill Senator Kennedy’s vacant senate seat has been set for January 19th, 2010 (a date which oddly enough was predicted right here at TMV). This would presumably mean special primaries sometime in December (one source cites December 8th), unless the parties go the convention route. Speculation is growing the new Senator could be Joe Kennedy. Also there is a move to change the law...

David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

‘HEADWINDS’ The fascinating planetary split on whether or not it was correct to release Lockerbie bombing convict Abdul Basset Ali Al-Megrahi continues with this article by columnist Joao Pereira Coutinho who writes for the Brazilian newspaper Folha. For Folha, Coutinho writes in a sarcastic rejoinder to the release: “For ‘compassionate’ reasons, the Scottish government –...

Ryan Sager offers a tutorial, the content of which should probably be intuitive but, in the twisted present, is not necessarily so. H/t Patrick Appel.

He’s not big on unwed mothers or no-fault divorce either. The Left is having a field day with Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell‘s law school thesis (PDF) from CBN University. Founded by Pat Robertson and named for his Christian Broadcasting Network, the school is now known as Regent University. TPMMuckraker has the juiciest excerpts and this DNC statement out today: In Bob...

I was born and raised in Orange County, Calif., the hotbed of right-wing political conservatism. As a young reporter on The Tustin News I met and admired James. B. Utt, my congressman and probably the most conservative Republican to ever walk the halls of the House of Representatives. The closest clone to Utt in today’s Congress would be Ron Paul. But Utt was a flaming liberal compared to the ultra wing-nuts...

An article in the Washington Times this morning, titled “EXCLUSIVE: Lack of translators hurts U.S. war on terror,” caught my attention. Not because it is a surprise that our nation is woefully short of linguists and translators. Not because such shortage does indeed hobble our ability to effectively fight the war on terrorism, especially in the Pakistan-Afghanistan regions. It caught my attention...

The toxic and putrid combination of early 21st century hate/demonization politics and the language of outright violence continues to escalate: Parishioners leaving the Faithful Word Baptist Church in the East Valley Sunday carried not just their Bibles, but guns as well. Pastor Steven Anderson said he and his congregation have received death threats after a controversial sermon earlier this month. “Guns...

That is the title of Norman Podhoretz’s new book. It won’t be out until September 8th, but the current issue of Commentary presents a symposium on the book, with contributions from prominent Jewish authors, mostly conservatives. Best I can tell from the symposium, the main thrust of Podhoretz’s argument is that American Jews have confused the Torah of Judaism with “the Torah of liberalism”....

The Moral Question by Betsy Newmark In Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, he poses the moral question of whether a person could or should kill one person if it would benefit humanity. Would you agree to the death of an unknown person in China if no one would know and the Chinaman’s wealth could be used to benefit you and your family. Raskolnikov goes beyond the death of a stranger in China to the...

What Would Jesus Heckle? by Doug Bursch Host of The Family Spiritual Show I wanted to write today’s column about angry town hall hecklers, spurious email forwards, and the morally bankrupt dialogue permeating so much of our political discourse. I wanted to address some of the inexcusable name calling and derogatory labeling, the reckless use of words such as socialist and Nazi, and the fear mongering and...

WASHINGTON — President Obama can still secure major health care legislation this year if he learns from his mistakes in recent months and spends more time reminding Americans why they were once eager for fundamental change. His White House lost sight of the need to make a strong case that reform would deliver specific benefits to the insured as well as the uninsured. Absent a consistent set of...

Bill Bradley has an interesting, if not entirely realistic op-ed in the New York Times this week which seeks to address the virtues of bipartisan spirit in Congress. He does so by drawing parallels between the current health care debate and the landmark tax reform passed in the 80′s by Reagan and a divided Congress. It’s an admirable, if somewhat pie in the sky, nostalgic view. In 1986, before President...

Judging by these articles from Dutch and German newspapers we posted during the weekend, it doesn’t look like Europeans have much sympathy for Dick Cheney’s view of the virtues of ‘enhanced interrogation techniques,’ or dire Republican warnings about ‘socialized medicine.’ The first, an editorial from Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland, counsels President Obama that...

If Dick Cheney (channeled through Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus) didn’t want the CIA to be hung out to dry, perhaps he shouldn’t have thrown the CIA in the washer and left them by the clothesline with a bag of clothes pins:

Health Care. So it seems like every one has put Mr Obama’s whole presidency down to this one issue. If he fails to pass a bill before his first term, he’s a failure. If he passes a bill without the public option, he’s a failure. If he passes a bill with the public option but gets no republican support, he’s a partisan failure who has failed to deliver on his pledge of being a bipartisan president. Obama...

In case you missed it this morning, be sure to catch the video replay of the round table discussion on today’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.(We’ll update with the video here as soon as they post it.) ABC jumps on the same broken bandwagon as MSNBC and several other outlets and, for reasons which escape most viewers, allows loudmouthed “pundit” Liz Cheney on the show. The results,...