Miss California and White House Press Secetary Robert Gibbs: here’s why.
Are Plug In Hybrids The Wave Of The Future or not?
A Debate Rages Over Whether All The Torture Photos Should Be Released And Posted and Andrew Sullivan argues they should.
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge May Run Against Newly-Minted (And Reined-In) Democrat Arlen Specter but does Ridge have a “Santorum problem”?
Specter Seems To Be Experiencing “The Law Of Unintended Consequences” writes RCP’s Sean Trende:
In theory, the switch made perfect sense. Arlen Specter would switch parties, have the primary field cleared for him, romp over Pat Toomey in the general election, then continue his Senate career as before. What could possibly go wrong?
Go to the link and read it all.
But Are The Demmies Making A Huge Mistake By Disciplining Specter? US News & World Reports’ Peter Roff argues that they are. Here’s a small part of his must-read analysis:
At the end of the day it may emerge that, until the next election, Arlen Specter is the most important member of the U.S. Senate. His vote may and probably will determine whether the Democrats and President Obama get their way on a number of issues important to them and to their coalition—including card check, the forthcoming Supreme Court nomination, and efforts to increase federal spending even more. Setting out to deliberately antagonize him—more than that to humiliate him—seems, at the very least, foolish. They should want to keep him in the corral, and that means making efforts to appease him. Instead, they seem determined by their actions to keep him on the fence, as if somehow he needs them more than they need him.
That’s the wrong political calculation and, for the Democrats, it may prove a fatal one for many of their legislative ambitions.
A Reason Why The GOP Is Losing Independent and Moderate Voters: Conservative talk remains highly popular with conservative Republicans in the United States. It has become not just a place to discuss ideas but to vent feelings. But it also serves as a kind of attitudinal clearing house. And when someone who is not a member of the choir tunes in it can be truly off-putting. Most attention has focused on Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michael Savage (who is rightfully upset about being banned from the UK in a group that includes terrorists and KKKers which the acid tongued and bombastic Savage is not). But now Sean Hannity seems to be pushing the envelope as he jumps the shark. Read THIS and THIS.
Colin Powell Says “Ditto”: But it’s not just yours truly who feels conservative talk has is hurting the GOP and the idea that Americans can talk politics without hating and demonizing those who disagree with them, here’s what Colin Powell said on Monday:
Powell, secretary of State during the first term of former President George W. Bush, made waves last year when he came out for the Democratic presidential candidate, then-Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. Powell described the 2008 GOP candidate, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, as “a beloved friend” but said he told him last summer that the party had developed a reputation for being mean-spirited and driven more by social conservatism than the economic problems that Americans faced. Powell also criticized other GOP leaders, for bowing too much to the right.
He blasted radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, saying he does not believe that Limbaugh or conservative icon Ann Coulter serve the party well. He said the party lacks a “positive” spokesperson. “I think what Rush does as an entertainer diminishes the party and intrudes or inserts into our public life a kind of nastiness that we would be better to do without,” Powell said…..Powell said he does not want Republicans to turn into Democrats but rather to build a vibrant party.
Limbaugh Responded STRONGLY by among other things telling Powell he should get out of the party and only voted for Obama because of his race.
LIMBAUGH: [Powell] is out there saying I am killing the Republican party while he endorsed and voted for Obama. … He’s just mad at me because I’m the one person in the country who had the guts to explain his endorsement of Obama. It was purely and solely based on race! There can be no other explanation for it. What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat instead of claiming to be a Republican interested in reforming the Republican party. What Colin Powell needs to do is close the loop and become a Democrat instead of claiming to be a Republican interested in reforming the Republican party.
Now let me get this straight: The Republican leadership, Congressional members and many Republicans who are want to get non-Republicans to vote for their party openly embrace as a de facto leader someone who is telling moderates to go take a hike and suggesting that Obama’s only quality that made Powell want him was his race? And this is happening a time when the party is hemorrhaging moderates, independent voters and young voters and has a huge mountain to climb to even regain a respectable share of the African-American vote? Who wrote this strategy? The Hemlock Society?
Is There A Harbinger For What’s To Come With The GOP When You Look At What Happened With Canada’s Tory Party? BJ Bjornson writing in Newshoggers:
Long story short, the Tory party that came out of the Canadian wilderness wasn’t a kinder, gentler, more moderate and forward-looking version of the one that fell from grace, but a more regressive and ideological one. The moderate conservatives all but vanished as their own political force, ultimately splitting themselves between the Liberal and Conservative parties, becoming the Canadian version of “Blue Dogs” and “Traitors”, if you will.
Which path will the US Republicans take, that of the British or Canadian Tories? I really can’t hazard a guess, except to say that they will recover one way or the other, and it wouldn’t be unlike them to try and put a moderate face on a more extreme agenda.
That’s the ending…Read this solid, must-read post from beginning to end.
A Learned Opinion On The Present Plight Of The GOP from Ron Paul.
So Who Will Be President of Oklahoma? (Chuck Norris already lives in Texas and will be the President there..) A battle royal in Oklahoma over it asserting its sovereignty. (Here in California we have a better argument for declaring our independence and truly looking like a separate country. Our Governor already talks with a foreign accent..)
Elizabeth Edwards Explains how she survived her husband’s affair..
What Is The Chrysler Bailout REALLY About? Two views here. And some more thoughts at Wizbang. And Balloon Juice.
Joe The Plumber And Bigotry: Political Scientist Steven Taylor says that despite all the partisan finessing of it, there is no other word for it.
Tea Parties And Economic Predictions For 2012 HERE.
Comedians Supposedly Don’t Find A Lot Of Things Funny About Obama but here’s a long list of suggestions…
Liberalism And Socialism: So what’s the difference?
THIS JUST IN! More on Michael Savage being banned in the UK..(with a roundup).
When Will Obama Name His Supreme Court Pick? Some reports say by the end of this week.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.