From The Colbert Report:
Barack Obama loses the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races, and Chris Christie uses Monty Python to attack Jon Corzine.
From The Daily Show:
Mike Bloomberg connects with the common man, Jon Corzine attacks Chris Christie's waistline, and Doug Hoffman passes Glenn Beck's test.
Ruh roh...looks like someone's trying to get themselves fired from ClusterFox. Maybe they can trade Shep Smith for Lou Dobbs over at CNN. Smith apologizes for their failure to interview New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jon Corzine to balance an interview with his Republican challenger, Chris Christie.
From CNN's The Situation. As Randi Kaye asks in her report, "Is Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Republican in a tough re- election fight, trying to cover up the execution of an innocent man on his watch?"
From TPM--Texas Governor Stymieing Panel Probing Flawed Death Penalty Case?:
Even by the standards of Texas's enthusiasm for state-sanctioned killing, this is pretty shocking...
A Texas scientific panel has been looking into possible missteps in a criminal investigation of a 1991 arson case which led to the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham. A recent New Yorker story about the case laid out compelling evidence that Willingham may well have been wrongly put to death.
The panel, the Texas Forensic Science Commission, was scheduled to hear today from a nationally recognized arson expert it had hired, Craig Beyler, who had last month released a report which called the original probe slipshod.
But on Wednesday, Texas governor Rick Perry abruptly removed three members of the commission. In their place, he appointed a new chair with a reputation as a hardline conservative prosecutor, who promptly canceled the hearing at which Beyler was to testify.
As the TPM article points to, there is a lengthy piece on this at The New Yorker--Trial by Fire: Did Texas execute an innocent man?.
Transcript below the fold.
Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell appeared on Fox News Sunday this week and when asked by Chris Wallace if his thesis he wrote back in 1989 was advocating a "radical agenda", McDonnell did his best to downplay it.
Wallace: You enjoyed according to the polls, a solid lead in this race until it was revealed that in 1989 you wrote a master’s thesis in which you said, and let’s put up some of the things on the screen, this has obviously been a big issue here in Virginia-- The new trend of working women and feminism that is ultimately detrimental to the family. You criticize tax credits for child care. And you even opposed a Supreme Court ruling legalizing birth control for married couples. Mr. McDonnell, isn’t that a pretty radical agenda?
McDonnell: No. I think those are a couple of quotes out of a 100-page document, Chris, and what the whole purpose of the, of the thesis was to say, look, families are the bedrock of society. And I think there’s broad agreement on that, and that government programs should not undermine the family, because that will lead to more government spending for problems that occur when the family’s not intact.
Look, it’s been twenty years ago and some of my views over time have changed. I strongly support women in the work force. That was one of the criticisms my opponent made. My daughter’s been in Iraq, my daughters both work, my wife is working and outside the home, I mean… those allegations that I think have been inferences from a quote or two out of an old thesis is simply not accurate.
Wallace: But if I may, your opponent says and I’m going to represent his interests here because he’s not here to speak for himself, that it isn’t just what you wrote twenty years ago when you were age 34 in a master’s thesis, that you have followed these as a state legislator. Let’s put up an ad that Creigh Deeds is running.
After playing the clip Wallace points out McDonnell's voting record.
Wallace: In face we checked the record. As a legislator you voted against a resolution that would have called for ending wage discrimination based on gender. You voted against extending child care services and you voted against extending or requiring health insurance plans to cover birth control. So it’s not just a thesis.
McDonnell’s defense… "You have to look at my entire record" and he claims that many of the ads run against him are “outright lies” and are not honest, but he does not say just what those distortions are. Of course Wallace doesn’t follow up and make him give specifics as to what he disagrees with in the ads. That said I think when even Chris Wallace is calling you "radical", that's not a good sign for what the voters are going to think as they learn more about this guy.
Chris Matthews brings on "independent" woman Michelle Bernard, from the very inappropriately named Independent Women's Forum, to discuss the recently discovered thesis by the wingnut Robert McDonnell who is running for Governor of Virginia.
What's the matter Chris? Phyllis Schlafly wasn't available? Here's some background on Ms. Bernard's "Independent" Women's Forum.
The Independent Women's Forum (IWF) is an organization that, according to its website, "was established to combat the women-as-victim, pro-Big Government idealogy of radical feminism.
The IWF is funded by Richard Melon Scaife, Koch Industries and other conservative groups.
In October 2003, the IWF announced an affiliation with Citizens for a Sound Economy, now the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, with whom it shares its premisis and staff.
Founded by Rosalie (Ricky) Gaull Silberman, and Barbara Olson in 1992, the IWF grew out of the ad hoc group, Women for Judge Thomas. Its main goal is opposing what it sees as radical feminism.
IWF is a secular counterpart to Religious Right women's groups such as Eagle Forum and Concerned Women for America, but these groups often work together. People for the American Way describe IWF as a group that "opposes affirmative action, gender equity programs like Title IX, and the Violence Against Women Act."
IWF members include academic women who attempt to rebut arguments in favor of measures promoting what they may perceive as privileges for women in educational affairs. One of these papers, by Judith Kleinfeld, a professor of psychology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, heavily criticised a MIT study on discrimination against women in MIT's science department, calling their findings "junk science."
IWF's constantly-updated web site shows an ever-expanding sphere of concerns, which are viewed from a conservative perspective.
Their National Advisory Board according to the article, Lynne Cheney, Abigail Thernstrom and Wendy Lee Gramm. Note to Chris Matthews, just because someone calls themselves "independent" doesn't mean their views are not "far right". Michelle Bernard and her organization are not anything that could be remotely described as centrist.
Working for MSNBC has been bad for Chuck Todd. I really used to like his analysis back when he was just weighing in during the mornings on C-SPAN and writing for The Hotline. Chuck seems to think that Sarah Palin has now had some magical pixie dust scattered on her that makes her immune from the same scrutiny other politicians have to endure because she has become....a celebrity. Isn't that special?
Chuck Todd seems to have forgotten what he wrote back on Aug. 2, 2008, when John McCain ran his "celebrity" ad against then candidate Barack Obama.
The hardest thing to do in politics is campaign as someone you aren't.
People can spot an imposter from a mile away.
The most successful politicians are the ones who embrace their best traits while turning their liabilities into loveable attributes.
And yet, many a candidate tries to run as something they aren't simply because the strategy dictates it. And when even a good strategy doesn't match the candidate, the result can be a disjointed campaign that produces a lot of uncomfortable moments.
Unless, somehow, the candidate figures out how to embrace the strategy.
Are we seeing this happen right now to John McCain?
If you were to diagnose the best way to go at Obama in the midst of this disastrous Republican environment, you might come up with the tactics the McCain brain trust unveiled this week: Paint Obama as a bit full of himself, over-confident, elitest and out of touch.
There are a number of ways to paint that picture, including attacking Obama for his celebrity. America has a love-hate relationship with celebrity. We love to follow celebrities but we also love to mock them. And secretly we believe we're better than they are.
Making light of Obama's pop icon status and trying to use it as a way to undermine his serious presidential credentials is a good one. The latest McCain ad did just that. We may love U2 and we may love Bono's humanitarian efforts, but do voters in Youngstown want him as president?
But the flaw in this attack from McCain is that it doesn't fit who he is. This is a guy who hangs out with Warren Beatty. This is a guy who is married to a wealthy beer heiress. This is a guy whose senior adviser was Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign manager. This is a guy who owes much of his success in national politics to marketing himself as a political celebrity.
And attacking Obama’s celebrity is just one part of the playbook. There are two more plays: attacking his experience and attacking his common touch.
So now that Sarah Palin is a "celebrity" in Todd's eyes, it's all good. Not something to potentially attack someone for. When asked why he thought Palin was leaving the Governor's office, Todd seemed to think it was all about that great conservative value, lining ones' own pocket. I'm sure they'll all be trying to spin that into something positive for her as well. She just needs the money since that evil liberal media, and those evil folks who kept filing those darned ethics charges against her made her need to quit and go make some money instead of paying fines for politicking when she was supposed to be governing.
Transcript below the fold.
[Media from Scarce at our own Video Cafe.]
WASILLA, Alaska - Sarah Palin plans to resign as governor of Alaska in a few weeks, KTUU-TV reported Friday.
Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008, made the announcement at her home Friday morning, the station said.
Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will take over at the end of the month, KTUU reported.
This raises many questions. Palin says she thinks she can be more effective outside of government. Really? More effective than being Governor? Hell, Mark Sanford was caught with a mistress and is in the midst of a major, public meltdown and he's staying in office. We'll stay on top of this and bring you more information as it happens.
June 10, 2009 CBS
According to Schwarzenegger biographer Joe Mathews, the Governator was seriously considering ditching the GOP a few months ago.
A few months ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger and a few close associates discussed whether he should leave the Republican Party, according to two people familiar with the conversation. His friend Mike Bloomberg, the New York mayor, had become an independent. Maybe Schwarzenegger should, too. But the governor and his people quickly concluded that Californians already saw him as independent of the Republican Party. So what would be the point of a switch? (A spokesman for the governor declined comment.)
Arnold is far from a model politician, but he has always struck me as far too pragmatic and insufficiently insane to be a Republican. What say you?
February 18, 2009 News Corp
February 02, 2009 C-SPAN
January 22, 2009 C-SPAN
January 18, 2009 C-SPAN
Notice the constantly shifting realities. Republicans, when confronted with an indisputable fact, simply create different "facts." It's not that we're in the grip of a worldwide recession and the numbers of unemployed people are tapping out the state unemployment funds, it's that that government workers are simply wasting the money!
It seems the good governor is often mentioned as a possible GOP presidential candidate in 2012. I predict at the very least, this particular flavor of libertarian wingnut will go far with his visionary thinking:
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Just hours before the unemployment benefits fund was to run out in South Carolina, the state with the nation’s third-highest jobless rate, Gov. Mark Sanford relented Wednesday and agreed to apply for a $146 million federal loan to shore it up, after weeks of refusing to do so.
Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina announcing Wednesday that he had applied for the $146 million federal loan that would ensure continued unemployment benefits in the state.
The governor’s position had drawn rebukes even from fellow Republicans in the Legislature, one of whom denounced Mr. Sanford as “heartless,” and from newspaper editorial pages. On Wednesday, The State, the daily newspaper here in Columbia, accused the governor of playing “chicken with the lives of the 77,000” who are unemployed in South Carolina.
For weeks, Mr. Sanford, newly elected as head of the Republican Governors Association and known for being a fierce free-market foe of government spending, stuck to his stand, questioning the probity of the South Carolina Employment Security Commission and demanding a new audit of the agency.
He has said in the past that he did not trust the commission’s calculation of the state’s unemployment rate, though a spokesman at the Bureau of Labor Statistics said it was calculated the same way as in every other state.
Mr. Sanford is now demanding that South Carolina’s Commerce Department, whose director he appoints, be given access to the state unemployment agency’s numbers, including where applicants are from, their ages, genders and occupations.
The back-and-forth dueling between the conservative governor and the unemployment agency has gone on for weeks, and its executive director, Roosevelt T. Halley, warned that he would have to stop issuing benefit checks to the jobless beginning Jan. 1 if Mr. Sanford did not back down and ask the federal government for the loan.
“It’s absolutely unheard of, it’s insane, for a governor of any state not to request those funds,” State Senator Hugh K. Leatherman, a Republican who is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said last week. “I can’t believe anybody would be this heartless, and create such a heartless act on these people.”
On Wednesday morning, at nearly the last minute, Mr. Sanford relented and said at a news conference in his office at the State House that he would request the money. South Carolina is one of three high-unemployment states, along with Michigan and Indiana, to ask for a loan from the federal government to ensure the unemployed continue to receive benefits.
“We will not punish the unemployed for this agency’s incompetence,” the governor said in a statement. But Mr. Sanford continued to insist that he would demand another, more stringent audit of the unemployment office, though Mr. Halley noted that the agency was audited every year by an accounting firm and had been given a clean bill of health.
