Now, I’ll grant that many of her activities should draw scrutiny. But, she has already been subject to more scrutiny than had Barack Obama at this point, indeed perhaps at any point, in the 2008 campaign. She has her associations with some fringe social conservatives. He has had his with some very radical leftists and sat for twenty years in a church helmed by a pastor who regularly spewed hate from the pulpit.
I think Nick’s onto something in suggesting that the media seek to focus on the social issues so as to avoid the Democrats’ failed economic policies — and to paint conservatives as fringe cranks more concerned with what people do in the privacy of their homes than as concerned taxpayers worried about a bloated, inefficient and intrusive federal government.
They want to make Mrs. Bachmann the face of the GOP — and not the Michele Bachmann who has shown a remarkable fluency on fiscal issues, but the ostensible crank who worked with someone who knows someone who praised someone else who once engaged in some truly inflammatory language.
WILMINGTON, Del. AP — A spokesman says police in Delaware have completed their investigation into Rep. Anthony Weiners online contact with a 17-year-old girl.C.R. McLeod, a spokesman for the New Castle County government, told The Associated Press on Saturday that investigators have concluded their probe and dont plan any further comment “unless something new arises that needs their attention.”
Democrats increased pressure on embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner on Saturday, with a chorus of party leaders calling for his resignation.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), the chair of the Democratic National Committee, as well as Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who heads the party’s campaign arm, virtually simultaneously said it was time for Weiner to step aside.
DWH tipped me on this earlier today, and Ace has some background:
Dan Boren will announce later today that he will not seek reelection in 2012, a serious blow to Democrat efforts to retake the House. Oklahoma has five seats, and this is the only one held by a Democrat. Boren, a 37 year old conservative who bucked Pelosi’s leadership, won comfortably last November with 57% of the vote. Although anyone named Boren as always been a safe bet for reelection in Oklahoma–his father, David Boren, served as governor and senator–the southeastern Oklahoma district, “Little Dixie,” is not safe and went for John McCain by a 2-1 margin in 2008.
This is the part of the blog post where normally I’d include some snarky comment about why Meghan [McCain’s] dating life is really so bad.
However, recent events have caused me to reconsider my ill-advised penchant for juvenile humor. For example, it would be wrong to make fun of Meghan by suggesting that maybe she shouldn’t date guys she meets at the pharmacy while picking up her Valtrex prescription.
To Fred-6’s credit, it takes a real trailblazer to pick all four number-ones to go to the Final Four:
The Final Four includes VCU, which the president said would lose in the first round, and Butler, which the president said would be out by the second round.The president went 29-3 the first weekend and ESPN said that placed him in the upper 99th percentile of basketball forecasters.This so resembles his presidency.Nearly perfect at first, bad in the middle, totally out of it at the end.
Give a little person a little power in Luxembourg? [h/t HotAir]:
[American Ambassador to Luxembourg Cynthia] Stroum resigned effective Jan. 31, just days before the scathing report from the State Departments inspector general was made public. A message left with a person who answered the phone at her Seattle home said she was unavailable for comment. The call was not returned.In a farewell message published in the Luxembourg press, Stroum said she was leaving the job because she wanted to return to private life. “The reality is that I now need to focus on my family and personal business,” she said.
At the State Department, her departure was not announced. Spokesman Mark Toner gave no hint of problems when asked about the situation.
“We are grateful for her service to the United States and wish her all the best in her new endeavors,” he said.
But the report paints a picture of a corrosive atmosphere at the small embassy, with the ambassador running roughshod over staff, threatening to read their e-mails, largely concerned about job-related perks and involved in improper purchases. The situation was so bad that the inspector general recommended that the State Department dispatch medical personnel to Luxembourg to test the stress levels of embassy employees. It said at least four staffers quit or sought transfers to Iraq and Afghanistan during her tenure, unusual steps for diplomats assigned to a modern, Western European capital.
This video was the first post at King B Live (November the Fifth, of course ), and finally an event worthy of its return: The House voted to repeal Obamacare, even managing to get a trio of Dems on-board. H.R. 2 passed with flying colors today, and now it’s onto the Senate where, who knows, it will probably be sent to committee to die.
It’s too bad, really, since Harry Reid and other Democrat Senators are so sure Obamacare is good legislation and has the good will of z’People behind it. Eric Cantor pretty much double-dog-dared Reid to bring it to a vote if he’s so sure it has no chance of succeeding.
So, if it has no chance of succeeding in the Senate, what’s the point? Why do Conservatives want this done? Simple: the Conservative electoral revolt – both Federal and more local – of 2010 was in large part due to spending and Obamacare. We sent people to Washington to repeal Obamacare, and the Senate can do as it wishes, but the GOP controls the House and this is among the things they were sent there to do. Liberals, people who don’t follow politics and those who are genuinely moderate may not understand, but they don’t have to, as they are not necessary for Conservative policies and principles to win elections (never have been, never will be). When the 2012 election rolls around, one of the first questions asked at every town hall, voter forum and debate in the country where Republicans and/or Blue Dog Democrats are present will be why did you vote/not vote for H.R. 2, and those who voted for it can bask in the glow, and those who did not can prepared to be screamed at and promptly booted from office.
Think of how awesome this country could be if the only thing the Senate and House did all day everyday was repeal intrusive government regulation, unweaving the web of Statist control softly spun around all of us as we work, live and attempt to prosper? This is a very good start.
So what now? Simple – keep forcing it into the Senate, and if it’s sent to committee, keep conjuring it up in different forms to continue to send to the Senate. Force – force – the Democrat-led Senate to do nothing and defend doing nothing on a bill that Americans overwhelmingly want tossed. There will be plenty of campaign material to be had from this gamesmanship, and I’m all for it.
Make no mistake – this is a huge victory, a symbolic gesture and most importantly, a fascinating start to the new House session. If the political calculus for any cause was will it ever be enacted then nothing would ever get done. The Democrat Party had to lie, cheat, steal and operate under the dark of nights, weekends and holidays to pass Obamacare, and it will take gestures big and small to get it repealed. When I say a good start, I mean this: the GOP promised to begin the task of repeal if given power, and they’ve done it.
Interesting observation I’ve not seen anywhere else, so I’ll make it here: Fascinating that the GOP didn’t have to pass this in the dead of night, during a lame duck session, the day before Christmas, on a weekend, etc. Nope, just another Tuesday at the office. Kudos all around, yes.
Alternate headline: GOP-led House tosses Obamacare into the fuckitbucket…
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Postscript funny to me and possibly one other person: My most Liberal friend in the world is working on some environmental impact something or another for the DoE at the site(s) where the awesome video above was shot. I doubt she reads this, but if she does, she surely must be smiling at the corny irony of it all.
King B Live 