The best candidates deliver votes that the nominee might not otherwise receive without convincing others to flee. Not too many safe choices fit the bill, and anyone who does would probably be considered a dark horse.

One name that hasn't received much attention — yet — is that of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer.

After reviewing the official complaints against two of the players—Darlene Wink and Kelly Rindfleisch—a pattern emerges that is almost defiant in nature. After all, in 2005, the Wisconsin caucus scandal forced 2 Democrats and 1 Republican to resign for campaigning on the public's time. Yet here we are back in 2012, with incontrovertible evidence that Republicans are not only continuing the practice, but they've refined it to an art form.

Public Policy Polling (D) released new numbers on Tuesday showing President Barack Obama up on former Mass Gov. Mitt Romney by three points. The two men were tied last month at 45 percent in PPP’s polling in the most competitive pairing between the President and any of his possible GOP foes: the rest of the field is down by between 6 and 11 percent.

In the near-absence of any sign that Sarah Palin is actively considering a GOP primary campaign, the good folks at Conservatives4Palin come up with this alternative scenario to keep hope alive:

[T]he possibility of an independent run does make sense and to delay the anouncement of her candidacy may simply be part of a bigger plan. Sarah Palin promised this to be a very unconventional election cycle.

Creating a third party fits that narrative. ...

Washington Post’s Dana Milbank: 

 

Beck offered the apocalyptic prediction that “the force of darkness” would “attack the center of our faith” with “a two-state solution that cuts off Jerusalem.” He further predicted that, at his rally in Jerusalem, “the very gates of Hell are going to open up against us.” Later, he said that Israel may be destroyed “by Labor Day weekend” and that his gathering “may be the last time you get to see the holy sights.”

 

... "Big Government Blowhards," a group he [David Brooks] describes as follows:

The talk-radio jocks are not in the business of promoting conservative governance. They are in the business of building an audience by stroking the pleasure centers of their listeners.

They mostly give pseudo Crispin's Day speeches to battalions of the like-minded from the safety of the conservative ghetto. To keep audience share, they need to portray politics as a cataclysmic,

But enough people are open to changing their minds (69 percent) or do not have a first choice (14 percent) that there’s plenty of room for game-changing action – or for a latecomer such as Rick Perry, a conservative Texas governor, who has said he’s considering a run. Likely caucusgoers who are familiar with Perry and another noncandidate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, find them attractive possibilities.

Bachmann is a believer in every sense of the word. She believes what the Bible says, and she believes what she says, including that Glenn Beck can solve the debt crisis. And even though she's made it clear that she's sought God's counsel in every campaign she's waged, she also hired legendary strategist Ed Rollins for this one.

Obama is a secret Muslim – millions of people believe that, secular humanists want to repress religion, and liberals are plotting to confiscate people's guns and push a "gay agenda." At the opposite end of the political spectrum, there's the assertion that 9/11 was an inside job and all that this entails.

can you imagine the the outcry by the RWNM and all media critics if the head of a cable news network called a Democratic Governor or an active military man and begged him to run for President?

NY Mag:

A few months ago, Ailes called Chris Christie and encouraged him to jump into the race. Last summer, he'd invited Christie to dinner at his upstate compound along with Rush Limbaugh, and like much of the GOP Establishment, he fell hard for Christie, who nevertheless politely turned down Ailes's calls to run.

We're mere days from the very first presidential debate of the 2012 campaign. It is sponsored by the South Carolina Republican Party, and it will air, on May 5, on Fox News. And Newt Gingrich can't go!

Just being alive and conscious from the 1980s to the present day had subjected me to more feckless Trumpitude than any sane man should be expected to endure. I saw no reason to willingly seek out even more.

in 2009 during the health care debate when the Tea Party/AFP contingents were hand-wringing over death panels. Remember that? Sarah Palin was sure Grandma was going to have her plug pulled, and Chuck Grassley et al joined in the fun. Oh yes, that was a summer never to forget. Hot, humid, and stupid. ~~~ But. It was 2 years ago, after all, and so everything old is new again in reverse.

For one thing, as I noted Monday, it seems that much of the conservative establishment that made excuses for Palin for her first two years on the national stage woke up after last November's midterms, when Palin-ish candidates cost the GOP several winnable statewide races.

... despite the fact that his candidacy has been so far built entirely on a fringe right-wing fever dream, Trump has been validated by a number of leading conservatives, including Fox News' Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity, and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.

... this is one of the main take aways of the Congressional Budget Office's (CBO) analysis of the plan proposed by Representative Paul Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee. Representative Ryan would replace the current Medicare program with a voucher for people who turn age 65 in 2022 and later. This voucher would be worth $8,000 in for someone turning age 65 in that year. It would rise in step with with the consumer price index and also as people age.

Three things President Obama didn't do in his speech to the nation on Libya: He didn't predict the future, he didn't put Col. Moammar Gadhafi on a "Wanted: Dead or Alive" poster, and he didn't pronounce an "Obama Doctrine" for redeeming a fallen world through bombing.

(Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania was scheduled to appear but canceled Friday, saying he had a family medical emergency to attend to.)
~~~ Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, who has also talked of a bid, will also be on hand, as well as Herman Cain, the former Atlanta radio talk show host and a formal candidate for the nomination who is likely to get as large as an ovation from the audience as anyone.

... this could well be a worthwhile humanitarian exercise, to stop Gadhafi's looming slaughter of political opponents and protect space for the widening democracy movement in the Middle East. The involvement of the United Nations as well as the Arab League, however wobbly, makes equating Libya and Iraq impossible.

Decentralized protest group "Anonymous" has encountered many foes in the past: Sarah Palin, PayPal, the Church of Scientology, MasterCard, the Westboro Baptists and even the governments of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, to name a few. ~~~ But now, one of the group's members has issued a call for perhaps their most audacious campaign yet: civil disobedience against the private central banking system that underpins all the world's industrial economies.

If you want to declare a winner from CPAC, the annual conservative convention that wrapped up over the weekend, a good case could be made for Barack Obama, mainly because the proceedings underscored the degree to which every likely GOP presidential candidate has serious deficiencies.

Palin gave Walters a run-down on her favorite recent reads - and dismissed the notion that she was uninformed as "ridiculous."

"I read anything and everything that I can get my hands on as I have since I was a little girl," Palin told Walters in the excerpt released today.

Joe Scarborough wants Republicans to "man up" and put a stop to it.

"Republicans have a problem," wrote Scarborough in a column for Politico. "The most-talked-about figure in the GOP is a reality show star who cannot be elected. And yet the same leaders who fret that Sarah Palin could devastate their party in 2012 are too scared to say in public what they all complain about in private."

O'REILLY: Right. But it's not the first time that he's done this, all right, that intentionally distort the news. What is he talking about? Do you know?

BECK: No, I have no idea what he's talking about. I mean, look, Bill, have you ever made mistakes on the air?

In their eagerness to pin every problem in America on President Obama, prominent Republicans are now blaming his administration for the use of full-body scanners and intrusive pat-downs at airports. Those gloved fingers feeling inside your belt? The hand of big government, once again poking around where it should not go.

Two decades ago, it would have been unthinkable that a woman like Snooki -- a woman of no discernible talent or taste -- could become a household name. And yet, there she is, waving for the camera and launching her own personalized slipper line.

I think it's -- it's a dream -- if you picked two countries that would like to see a failure of ratification, it would be North Korea and Iran. And I think that -- if that argument doesn't work with the Republicans, that sort of basic elemental national security argument doesn't work, nothing is. There's -- there's a greater hatred of Obama than there is a love of American national security.

... But that is not how Netanyahu sees it. Like his friends in the GOP, he does not view Obama as a legitimate President. On top of that, he is certain that Obama is finished and he can roll him.

Alaska station says Breitbart Web site audio attack is bogus:

Breitbart's Big Journalism site is making an incendiary accusation: That reporters at the Anchorage CBS affiliate KTVA were caught conspiring to damage Tea Party Senate candidate Joe Miller.

... even the White House might be surprised to find out that more than 30 network personalities have supported GOP candidates this year.

A new report by the liberal group Media Matters claims that in more than 600 instances Fox News personalities have "endorsed, raised money, or campaigned for Republican candidates or organizations."

Pat Toomey, one of the first wingnut candidates back in the 2004 election, once held a commanding lead in Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate race. It was so strong that it forced "Magic Bullet" Specter to leave the GOP and become a Democrat. Toomey is the ex-henchman for the Club For Growth, a Grover Norquist anti-tax groupie and a James Dobson favorite.

Patriot PAC has unveiled Operation Black Storm, a national coalition effort to unite the nation behind the 15 black conservative congressional candidates running in key districts around the country as Republican nominees for the upcoming November elections.

More than three decades ago, Jerry Brown [Gov. Moonbeam] was widely regarded as a kook, but here he is, at the age of 72, a decent bet to become governor of California again, despite the $120 million-plus of her own money that his opponent, former eBay boss Meg Whitman, has invested in the race.

Brown has always been one of the more interesting figures in American politics.

A sobering take on an election of incredible importance. Our votes mean a very great deal.

DeMint has emerged as one of the fiercest, most effective champions of the Tea Party movement that has been roiling Republican primaries. While the national media fixates on Sarah Palin as the face of the Republican right, it is far easier to

imagine DeMint emerging as a hard-edged Republican presidential nominee.

As the architect of the Senate Conservatives Fund, DeMint has battled the National Republican Senatorial Committee throughout primary season, channeling campaign contributions and enthusiasm toward a select

First the GOP maintained lockstep opposition to the stimulus, despite support from Republican economists. Republicans then proliferated lies about health reform — from the chimera of rationing to the nonexistent death panels. They next stoked the fires by pretending that the legislation to crack down on Wall Street was instead a giveaway to Wall Street.

Shrunken and narrowed, the GOP is increasingly dominated by a far-right rump.

Fox News host Sean Hannity gave $5,000 to the political action committee of conservative hero Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., in August, and his wife, Jill, gave another $5,000, Federal Election Commission records show.

To the connoisseur of American political theater, the most entertaining aspect of the 2010 election season has been the rise of the right-wing cuties -- political celebrities whose main qualification is looking terrific on television. From where I sit, in a comfortable chair in front of the tube, the GOP Cupcake Factor has enlivened an otherwise dreary campaign season.

To put it another way: If you don't love Christine O'Donnell, you don't love America.

When talking about Christine O'Donnell last night, Jon Stewart was reminded of some other famous people: "Man, she's like an east coast Sarah Palin. Or a less slutty Rachel Ray. Or like a non-masturbating version of former Delaware Senator Joe Biden."

"Why are unemployment benefits unconstitutional?" Fox News' Chris Wallace asked Miller.

"The Constitution provides enumerated powers," answered Miller. "I guess my challenge is to anybody that asks, show me the enumerated power. And then look at the 10th Amendment that says if it's not done in the Constitution, it's a power that belongs to the state and the people."

I think it's wise that Palin is otherwise occupied. Better not to be upstaged by the new It Girl on the block. Sure, Palin created the monster now threatening to steal her thunder by endorsing the unknown O'Donnell four days before Tuesday's primary. She stunned everyone by beating former Congressman and Governor Mike Castle for the chance to run for former Senator Joe Biden's seat.

Tomorrow's primaries in New York and six other states — the last of the 2010 cycle, save for Saturday's primary in Hawaii and a runoff in Louisiana on Oct. 2 — originally looked as though they'd have little impact on the electoral landscape.

In Delaware, Republicans have the opportunity to take Joe Biden's Senate seat, if their candidate is longtime congressman and former Governor Mike Castle, who's backed by popular neighboring New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. On the other side is social conservative activist Christine O'Donnell, who has never held elected office but has received the endorsement of Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Jim DeMint and the Tea Party Express.

Now it looks like he's about to get rocked by totally wild-eyed Tea Partier Christine O'Donnell. She's the one who says it's not enough to be abstinent. You have to eliminate sexual desire entirely. Which suggests she's what you'd call an aspirational politician rather than a realist.

"People have a constitutional right to burn a Koran if they want to, but doing so is insensitive and an unnecessary provocation -- much like building a mosque at Ground Zero," Palin wrote in a press release. "Book burning is antithetical to American ideals."

Many of the most vehemently anti-Muslim and anti-mosque voices -- including Pamela Geller and Bill Keller -- have spoken out against the Koran burning.

ink about it; would you want to run for office as a Republican these days? Their dearest economic ideas gave us the current recession, their foreign policies resulted in a war we lost in Iraq and a war we're losing in Afghanistan, their environmental designs have resulted in yet another oil rig detonation in the Gulf of Mexico, a great many of their supporters don't believe in dinosaurs because the Bible doesn't mention them, and their biggest national superstar is Sarah Palin, who by all appearances is so drastically stupid that she couldn't figure out how to pour piss out of a boot if there were directions on the heel.

I've had a vision and I can't shake it: Colbert needs to hold a satirical rally in DC. {Target Beck. T. Fey can be Palin. Need to find look-a-likes for Hagee, Angle and Bachmann}

Network [1976]

Plot
Howard Beale ( Peter Finch ), the longtime anchor of the UBS Evening News , learns he has just two more weeks on the air because of declining ratings. The following night, he announces on live television that he will commit suicide by shooting himself in the head during next Tuesday's broadcast.

This man Beale is a modified Beck. Beck the Catholic boy who became a Mormon man and discovered that full-blown insanity on Fox Nudes filled a need among a pissed off populace. Blubbering Beck of Bathos.

Beale the Simpering Saint, the mad prophet of the airwaves. Here's just a start of all the information out there on this notable film. And here as well.

This election is shaping up to be even more important than the last National Election. Important because if people like Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity, Hagee, Keller, Kyl, Cornyn, Angle, Bachmann, Palin, Rand, Buck and yes Joe Miller are in the Wheel House of the Ship of State, we are at the mercy of madness. Not anger, insanity. We can only imagine where they would lead a nation so in need of a sane, sober and steady hand.

For this reason the movie Network holds a mirror up to a nation in search of revenge. This time not looking to bomb the enemy without into oblivion but the enemy within. Beck's enemy of long suffering "darkness," of a nation soon to be taxed, a nation supporting the terrorists that caused 9/11, a nation with no jobs and a nation of blasphemers of the Lord Jesus. In other words, a nation with too many Howard Beales so angry they are willing to blow their brains out by voting on emotion and throwing the bastards out. The baby with the bathwater.

Maybe it's time to take a deep breath, ponder, research and take the time to get over being mad. Take the time to vote based on a considered opinion of what is best for all our future. This is real life not an emotional extravganza caused by a response to a dorky demogogue. Beck is bogus.

Apparently Sarah Palin was so incensed that the media were eviscerating Glenn Beck over his rally of hypocrisy that she fired off a tweet

"It concerns us any time somebody lawyers up and tries to pull an Al Franken," he said of incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski. "We are very concerned that there may be some attempt here to skew the results."

To Franken's defense comes Salon's Alex Parene: "In a fact-based world, 'pull an Al Franken' would mean 'win an election by receiving more votes than the other person.'"

... He wants to eliminate the Department of Education, believes the government shouldn't pay for unemployment insurance and says of climate change on his campaign site that it "may not even exist." Among the more mainstream GOP positions he's taken: Miller would cut welfare; eliminate health care for the poor by scrapping Medicaid; and the Anchorage Daily News reported that he has has called for sweeping cuts to Medicare and Social Security with a goal of phasing them out entirely in favor of total privatization

"There are six nations whose exact names are given by the prophet Ezekiel that, at some point in the future, will unify in a massive Islamic army to invade and attempt to destroy Israel.

Who are they?
Will they succeed?
What will be their end?

All of these questions are answered by the prophet Ezekiel. The six nations that will form an Islamic military force 'as a cloud to cover the land' will be Persia (Iran), Ethiopia, Libya, Germany, and Turkey - all being led by Russia."

Republican appeared in McCain ad, has Reagan poster on the wall, Palin book on coffee table; Apologized last month for interview on 'pro-white' radio show

"You've probably seen him by now, in one of numerous TV interviews or walking with Sen. John McCain along the U.S.-Mexico border fence in the senator's latest television ad," Tim Steller reported for the Arizona Daily Star in May.

Former Senator Dan Coats of Indiana was on a radio talk show discussing his possible upcoming run for Senate. While discussing using present stores of oil and gas, instead of investing in greener sources of energy, Coats said that he had read that new technologies now allow for oil companies to drill "39 or 40 MILES under the sea" for oil. Really!!?? Thirty-nine or forty miles? Holy Cow!! Somebody call Jules Verne.

Even before this video was released, the Fiorina Campaign was already on the defensive attack, trying to take the public's attention away from her Tea Party/Palin support. They are distorting the truth, hiding from the facts and hoping people forgot about her pursuit of the Tea Party.

Everyone in America has at this point seen and heard what the Tea Party is about. Our video uses carefully date-labeled footage of a Tea Party rally we had video for that occurred in March. We also use clearly date-labeled footage of an April Tea Party rally Fiorina spoke at, as well as a clip of her saying that she believes the Tea Party is "making a huge difference in the political dialogue in this country."

There is something important that is being left out of the Palin, Bachmann and Angle story. It is explains a great deal but the commercial press has decided to let it slide. It has to do with their convictions which allow them to possess an almost preternatural confidence. This confidence comes from their absolute faith that they have been chosen and lifted up from the many to help prepare the world for "the ending days." The Escathon, the Parusia or the Rapture will follow these last days. You've heard of the church of the Latter Day Saints but there are many other forms found among conservative fundamentalist Christians. Among them is Dominionism defined as:

In the early 1990s sociologist Sara Diamond[14][15] and journalist Frederick Clarkson[16][17] defined dominionism as a movement that, while including Dominion Theology and Reconstructionism as subsets, is much broader in scope, extending to much of the Christian Right.[18] In his 1992 study of Dominion Theology and its influence on the Christian Right, Bruce Barron writes,

In the context of American evangelical efforts to penetrate and transform public life, the distinguishing mark of a dominionist is a commitment to defining and carrying out an approach to building society that is self-consciously defined as exclusively Christian, and dependent specifically on the work of Christians, rather than based on a broader consensus.[19]

According to Diamond, the defining concept of dominionism is "that Christians alone are Biblically mandated to occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns". In 1989, Diamond declared that this concept "has become the central unifying ideology for the Christian Right"[14] (p. 138, emphasis in original). In 1995, she called it "prevalent on the Christian Right".[20] Journalist Chip Berlet added in 1998 that, although they represent different theological and political ideas, dominionists assert a Christian duty to take "control of a sinful secular society."[21]

[wikipedia]

There are many avenues to explore this in greater detail. Bing, google or what ever you use, any of other names for Dominionism plus one or more of those in the title. You might be amazed at what you find.

Sarah Palin has spent more than two and a half decades of her life as a member of an Alaska church which is part of a fanatical Christian-named cult project that is sweeping across America. Palin comes out of the most radical stream of US Born-Again Evangelism known as 'Joel's Army,' an offshoot of what is called Dominionism and sometimes also called the Latter Rain cult or Manifest Sons of God. The movement deliberately attempts to remain below the radar screen.

A Dominionist soldier in McCain's Army

Sarah Palin is a product of an extreme fringe of the American Evangelical movement known variously as the Third Wave Movement, also known as the New Apostolic Reformation, or as Joel's Army, a part of what is called Dominionism. Until 2002 according to their own website, Palin was a member of Wasilla Assembly of God with Senior Pastor Ed Kalnins. Online video clips of Palin speaking from the pulpit of this church are revealing. Curiously, between the time this article was begun on September 9th and the 11th, the video was removed without explanation...

At one time there were several videos alas the have been sprited away. Still you can check the Rev. Murthee, an unusual minister who traveled from Africa to Wasilla and laid hands on Ms. Palin. He informed her of her special mission. To give you some basic idea of who this holy man might be I binged him and among much information found this:

em>

Then there's Palin's Rev. Murthee who is a domestic terrorist in his home country not to mention a witch-hunter and an anti-semite. Caribou Barbie should not throw stones.

James or jade-log to you.

You've probably noticed the recent surge in talk about a presidential run by Sarah Palin, much of it triggered by her stepped-up midterm campaign efforts and the professionalization of her political operation.

If she does run, there are some compelling reasons to believe she really could could win the GOP nomination and some very good reasons to doubt her chances. (There is also, as I've written, no reason to believe she could actually win a general election as the Republican nominee.)

The Tea Party activist Mark Williams has denigrated Muslims for worshiping a "monkey god" and dubbed President Obama an "Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug and a racist in chief." So when the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) passed a resolution condemning "racist elements" within the Tea Party movement, his bilious response on July 15 wasn't terribly shocking.

Paladino, a businessan who has pledged to plow $10 million into his campaign, has been hounded by criticism of e-mails he sent or forwarded to dozens of people that showed, among other things, a video of a woman having sex with a horse, a picture of President Obama decked out in stereotypical pimp clothes, and a "Obama Inauguration Rehearsal" video clip that showed a traditional African tribal dance.

"We have a President, perhaps for the very first time since the founding of our republic, who doesn't appear to believe that America is the greatest earthly force for good the world has ever known."

Recently, e-mails from the list were used to smear libertarian journalist Dave Weigel, who reported on the conservative movement for the Washington Post until they fired him because they're cowards. Now, more e-mails have been leaked to the Daily Caller, and they will presumably have new, misleading stories on these e-mails every day until they run out of them.

That bears repeating. Though he acknowledges the people behind Cordoba House are not terrorists, the rabbi still demands New York tell them No. In so doing, he blithely legitimizes the idea that tribe is destiny, that you and I are each individually answerable for the crimes of those who merely look like, talk like or pray like, us.

The Tea Parties, of course, are non-partisan in the same sense that Glenn Beck's upcoming "Restoring Honor" rally will be non-political, which is to say not at all. It is in that spirit of make-believe non-partisanship that Bachmann has invited Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to join the Tea Party Caucus.

Americans—with their lawsuit culture, their safety obsession, and above all their addiction to government spending programs—demand more from their government than just about anybody else in the world.

"You know, guns are a pretty big thing up here in Alaska. In fact, per capita, we probably have the highest rate of gun ownership in the nation. The Second Amendment's very important to people up here in Alaska," Miller said.

"@SarahPalinUSA NYers support the #mosque in the name of tolerance and understanding. You should learn from the example we set here in #NYC."

They're right. New York is great because of its diversity, tolerance and devotion to American ideals — and because nobody here pays much attention to the likes of Sarah Palin, Mark Williams or even that sad opportunist Rick Lazio.

Far from an uprising against Wall Street and big business, Tea Partiers are among the most pro-big-business segments of the electorate, the poll found: 54 percent rate big business warmly; only 20 percent coolly.

I had no idea that Sarah went to Yale like George W. Bush.

I recall the days when judgement was spelled with an extra 'e'. When I was growing up, employee had two 'e's at the end; then the extra 'e' was dropped and now it's back in again.

[Palin's] candidacy would require almost none of the usual time sinks that force politicians to jump in early: power-broker schmoozing, schedule-intensive fundraising, competitive recruitment of experienced strategists, careful policy development. She would have immediate access to cash, with even small Internet donations likely bringing in millions.

With roughly 18 months to go until the Iowa caucuses, here's what the latest fundraising numbers and recent activity of potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates tell us: Mitt Romney is the traditional front-runner, Sarah Palin is a not-so-traditional force, and Tim Pawlenty is the early bird. As for Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee, they want to stay in the conversation

In a nice catch, Eli Clifton reports that the Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI), the latest neocon astroturf pro-war outfit, is based out of the same office as a previous neocon astroturf pro-war outfit, the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq

The first ad begins with Barber talking about impeaching President Obama, and maundering on about the "tyranny" of federal taxes while images of men's hands caressing gunstocks are shown, and concludes with an actor playing George Washington saying, "gather your armies" -- a clear incitement to rebellion.

Fiery radio host Laura Ingraham banters with Lloyd Grove about her scathing new book, The Obama Diaries, why Palin is unlikely to win—and her surprising affection for Michelle Obama's mom.

Talk-radio troublemaker Laura Ingraham claims she really likes Joe Biden.

Titus, who filed an amicus brief on behalf of the GOA [Gun Owners of America], an organization which claims 300,000 members, told RD that "the ultimate authority is God."

But "military reservist" just reads way better, doesn't it? It also sounds awesome to say, as DeVore did in a debate, that you were "shot at in Lebanon." What DeVore meant, though, was that he was shot near in Lebanon, while he was a college student on a media tour.

Limbaugh again falsely claimed that Elena Kagan's thesis was an endorsement of socialism. Despite the clear evidence to the contrary, Limbaugh said that the thesis proves that "this babe" Kagan is "passionate," "on fire," and "hot" for socialism.

Though it looks boring "epistemic closure" is the practice of talking with those who agree with you. Here is where conservatives have escaped reality for a continuous media loop. Think W. Bush was too progressive.

If G. Beck were to say/emote/act out this imnformation to me on a street corner, I'd think he was a mentally challenged person. (schizophrenic?)
The world is complex but some want it in black and white.

We shrank it when we sanctified Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck, and canonized Sarah Palin. These are the leaders of my party nowadays. How did we go from William F. Buckley to Glenn Beck? How did we go from Eisenhower and Nixon to Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann?

Frum and Brookhiser, as well as The Naional Review, ruminate about finding a thoughtful Republican to run for President. I guess this is fighting fire with fire.

PPP doesn't identify Palin as a Republican. Time does. People know Obama is the president, and they don't like the way things are going. Offer them another candidate, and they'll go with that candidate.

"I think Michele Bachmann summed it up very well earlier today. She suggested that maybe the beer summit was more productive and fruitful than what we saw today out of the health care summit," explained Palin.

99 percent of Americans don't know who these people are

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31553.html#ixzz0cihGWxsV

A short piece that helps us remember some other horrible Vice Presidental choices beside Palin.

President Obama's appointees aren't the only public figures facing uncomfortable questions about their income taxes. Some of Alaska's most powerful elected officials have had their own issues. Alaska U.S. Sen. Mark Begich gets credit for acknowledging that he has had to pay back taxes.

More than two million people are expected to attend Barack Obama's presidential inauguration next Tuesday. But a handful of political opponents, over-the-top critics, and awkward friends found that their invitations were, um, lost in the mail. THE DAILY BEAST called a few of them and asked about their plans for January 20.

If Sarah Palin wants to run for the Senate, a race against Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in 2010 might give her a golden opportunity to win.

A newly released poll shows that Palin would trounce Murkowski if she challenged her in a primary. The poll, commissioned by the Daily Kos, shows Palin leading Murkowski by 24 points, 55 to 31 percent, in a hypothetical primary matchup.

THE rambunctious extended family of Sarah Palin, the Republican governor of Alaska who ran for US vice-president, produced a fresh scandal this weekend when the mother of her daughter's fiancé was arrested on drug charges.

Sherry Johnston, 42, was arrested on six charges relating to the prescription drug oxycontin, which is widely known as "hillbilly heroin".

It's only six weeks since the campaign ended, but we miss Sarah Palin already.

Calendars have long been popular gift for the winter holidays, with swimsuit models, pop stars and cute animals as reliable subjects.

Now Republicans still abuzz over the November presidential election can look forward to a new favorite for 2009: Gov. Sarah Palin.

You might not remember meeting my daughter Jen Levine, who worked in your campaign here. No, that verb doesn't quite capture it: She lived and breathed your battles, 24/7. She once begged off a family occasion explaining: "I'm running a small fundraising gathering, starring Bill."

By itself, that kind of thing wasn't new. She's a born organizer, a tummler, you might say. But all her projects and the awards she's received for them were just a warm-up exercise for the muscle she devoted to your campaign.

In a blow to Alaska governor Sarah Palin, a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey says that Mike Huckabee tops the list of potential 2012 Republican presidential hopefuls.

Over at Fox News, Greta Van Susteren has been trashing the credibility of her own network's chief political correspondent, Carl Cameron, for his report on Sarah Palin's inability to identify Africa as a continent, while Bill O'Reilly valiantly defends Cameron's honor. At Slate, a post-mortem of conservative intellectuals descended into name-calling, with the writer Ross Douthat of The Atlantic labeling the legal scholar Douglas Kmiec a "useful idiot."

When a politician plays the Adolf Hitler card, you know he's lost the argument.

Republican Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia lost credibility when he played the H-card clumsily and outrageously against President-elect Barack Obama almost a week after Election Day.

Broun's cheap shot from which he later kinda-sort-of backpedaled symbolizes the brainless attack-dog politics that left leading Republicans befuddled and pointing fingers at each other as they and the conservative movement try to recover from big Election Day losses.

She failed to save John McCain from presidential election doom, but Sarah Palin, the Republican senator's controversial running mate, may yet emerge as the saviour of the American publishing industry. Literary agents are queueing up to sign her to a book deal that could earn her up to $7m.

With Barack Obama's election victory certain to generate dozens of volumes from politicians, strategists and journalists – and with another shelfload of memoirs expected from members of President George W Bush's administration – Palin's personal account of her tumultuous introduction to national politics is widely regarded as the book most likely to repay a multi-million-dollar advance.

They included Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, who is the youngest state governor and the first prominent Republican of Indian origin, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Charlie Crist of Florida.

There was palpable tension about the celebrity surrounding Mrs Palin at what is normally a staid and low-key event. The Alaska governor drew 23 cameras, more than 200 journalists and a man from Hustler magazine dispensing DVDs of a hardcore pornographic spoof, wrapped in brown paper and entitled Nailin' Paylin.

Hey, Partisan Democrats like Hendrick Hertzberg of the New Yorker's "Talk of the Town." Hey, Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now." Meet Bob Bird, Alaska Senatorial Candidate for the Alaska Independence Party. He just did rabid Democrats and President-elect Obama a very big favor. He ran for Alaska 's Senate seat as a member of the AIP, that "demonic fringe party of domestic terrorists," you warned your readers and listeners about, back when it was smear-Sarah-Palin-time in the big race. You used the old Red baiting tactic of guilt-by association on Palin and her husband, the tactic that is bad only when used against your favored candidate. Now guess what happened?