this is your tea party

not some fringe offshoot, but one of the three largest "tea parties." the message? muslim's don't belong in congress. but yeah, the tea party's goals are all about fiscal responsibility, the deficit, and taxes...

congratulations governor andrew cuomo, ctd.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Republican Carl Paladino’s hometown Buffalo News on Sunday endorsed his rival in the New York governor’s race, declaring “there is no choice” but Andrew Cuomo.

think i'll go eat worms

yeah. this guy's just not very well liked:

"We need all of you to fight on. We need all of you fired up," (President Barack Obama) told the roaring crowd of students and admirers — 37,500 of them.

the generational gop gap

why will republicans win big on november 2nd? david frum says it's not because the country is rejecting democrats, or even president obama and his policies. it's because you under-30-year-olds aren't going to vote.

a politician sticking to his princibles?

gail collins finds two immensely good reasons for wisconsin to like, and reelect, russ feingold:

First, unlike the majority of Democrats running for re-election in Middle America, he is not trying to pretend that he didn’t vote for the health care bill, or that he voted for it with his fingers crossed, planning to completely overhaul it in 2011. “You bet I voted for that bill! I’m proud I did it!” he hollered during a campaign stop with Michelle Obama.

He keeps pointing out all the good and popular things the law contains. In debates, he asks Johnson — who’s promising to repeal Obamacare — if he really wants to reopen the hated “doughnut hole” in the Medicare prescription drug program or go back to allowing insurers to refuse to cover children with pre-existing medical conditions.

Second, Feingold is actually sticking to his principles even though it could cost him the race.

and to show her support of feingold, collins has a proposal for wisconsin voters:

Wisconsinites, if you decide to re-elect this guy I will be so happy I will personally lead a movement to make the rest of the country stop calling you Cheeseheads.

maybe she can help get rid of that fonzie statue, too.

the o'donnell fix for hard times

having trouble paying your rent? run for office.

some good news from newsweek

a new newsweek poll povides some good news for dems and the president:

Despite doom-saying about Democrats’ chances in the midterms, the latest NEWSWEEK Poll shows that they remain in a close race with Republicans 12 days before Election Day, while the president’s approval ratings have climbed sharply.

The poll finds that 48 percent of registered voters would be more likely to vote for Democrats, compared with 42 percent who lean Republican (those numbers are similar to those in the last NEWSWEEK Poll, which found Democrats favored 48 percent to 43 percent).

President Obama’s approval ratings have jumped substantially, crossing the magic halfway threshold to 54 percent, up from 48 percent in late September, while the portion of respondents who disapprove of the president dropped to 40 percent, the lowest disapproval rating in a NEWSWEEK Poll since February 2010.

the sky is not less blue

time's mark halperin suggests that all the hating on obama done by the right and the tea partiers is actually good for the president:

While the conservatives' ultimate condemnation [of President Obama] rallies their core base supporters and has resonated with some centrist voters, over time it is unlikely to produce a majority against the administration.

As long as those trying to beat him are blind to the fact that tens of millions of voting Americans actually think Obama is doing a fine job, this President has a great ally in his enemies.

exceeding expectations

paul krugman:

"If Democrats hold the House, which is still a big if but is starting to look possible, the 111th Congress — and, yes, Obama’s first two years — will go down in history as an epic success."

here, here.

lucky!

ny times terror scare that could have killed many americans = political "opportunity" for republicans!

this is alabama.

"we speak english. if you want to live here, learn it."

david brooks ♥ obama

conservative columnist david brooks, "six notches to the right" of barack obama, provides a moment of clarity for most, and -- by not bashing the president -- likely loses any credibility he has left with the far right. interesting that this moderate conservative seems to be describing exactly the person i voted for 17 months ago. from this morning's meet the press:

picking a fight above her weight belt

marcia smilack neatly disassembles sarah palin:

Palin’s comments on START reveal a disturbing truth; that when she doesn’t have an expert to tell her what to think, all she can do is recite the factoids that were drilled into her during the campaign. Switch to the GOP Southern Leadership Council where Palin is seething. Without Randy Scheunemann to advise on foreign affairs, she has to wing it. She reaches in and pulls out a card from the past:

“With all the vast nuclear experience he acquired as a community organizer, a part time Senator and a full time candidate, all that experience and still no accomplishment to date with North Korea and Iran.”

She retaliates like an Israeli commando, striking back twice as hard as she is hit, and yet there is a new element that is decidedly odd. Why is she speaking in campaign slogans from two years ago? Obama has been commander in chief for over a year, a period in which he has met or spoken with the Russian President sixteen times to personally negotiate details of the treaty.

Can it be that her real beef is not about policy, but the suggestion that she knows less than he?

my new d.o.d. vaginal-rectum microchip

several lawmakers down in atlanta are paying far too much attention to the scary oogity-boogity email forwards they've been getting from their crazy aunts. (you know -- the ones you can go to snopes.com to debunk.) so much so that they've introduced legislation designed to prohibit... well. just read it:

Last Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee entertained SB 235, the bill sponsored by Sen. Chip Pearson (R-Dawsonville) to prohibit the involuntary implantation of microchips in human beings.

At the House hearing, state Rep. Ed Setzler (R-Kennesaw), who is shouldering the legislation in the House, spoke earnestly for better than a half hour on microchips as a literal invasion of privacy.

He was followed by a hefty woman who described herself as a resident of DeKalb County. “I’m also one of the people in Georgia who has a microchip,” the woman said. Slowly, she began to lead the assembled lawmakers down a path they didn’t want to take.

Microchips, the woman began, “infringe on issues that are fundamental to our very existence. Our rights to privacy, our rights to bodily integrity, the right to say no to foreign objects being put in our body.”

She spoke of the “right to work without being tortured by co-workers who are activating these microchips by using their cell phones and other electronic devices.”

She continued. “Microchips are like little beepers. Just imagine, if you will, having a beeper in your rectum or genital area, the most sensitive area of your body. And your beeper numbers displayed on billboards throughout the city. All done without your permission,” she said.

It was not funny, and no one laughed.

“Ma’am, did you say you have a microchip?” asked state Rep. Tom Weldon (R-Ringgold).

“Yes, I do. This microchip was put in my vaginal-rectum area,” she replied. Setzler, the sponsoring lawmaker, sat next to the witness – his head bowed.

“You’re saying this was involuntary?” Weldon continued.

The woman said she had been pushing a court case through the system for the last eight years to have the device removed.

Wendell Willard (R-Atlanta), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, picked up the questioning.

“Who implanted this in you?” he asked.

“Researchers with the federal government,” she said.

“And who in the federal government implanted it?” Willard asked.

“The Department of Defense.”

americans increasingly satisfied

recent gallup polling shows that democrats, and to a lesser degree independents, are increasingly satisfied with the direction the country is headed. republicans not so much.

let me get out my surprised face

talking points memo: dems unprepared for gop filibuster.

losing ground

expect more crazy from mccain.

mccain becomes a joke

yes, it's all politics. but it's as though john mccain thinks none of us can remember back to 2008. mccain's desperateness has now gone from humiliating to just plain sad:

John McCain — who built his political persona and his 2008 presidential campaign around the claim that he’s a “maverick” — told Newsweek recently: “I never considered myself a maverick.”

When POLITICO asked McCain about the contradiction at the Capitol this week, the Arizona Republican grew visibly irritated and snapped: “I’ve been called a thousand things. It’s absolutely ridiculous."

the $12 million woman

who says quitters never win?

a new, muscular obama

are we seeing a new, emboldened, muscular obama?

President Obama, making a muscular show of his executive authority just one day after Congress left for spring recess, said Saturday that he would bypass the Senate and install 15 appointees, including a union lawyer whose nomination to the National Labor Relations Board was blocked last month with the help of two Democrats.

Coming on the heels of Mr. Obama’s big victory on health care legislation, Saturday’s move suggests a newly emboldened president who is unafraid to provoke a confrontation with the minority party.

Just two days ago, all 41 Senate Republicans sent Mr. Obama a letter urging him not to appoint the union lawyer, Craig Becker, during the recess. Mr. Obama’s action, in defiance of the Republicans, was hailed by union leaders, but it also seemed certain to intensify the partisan rancor that has enveloped Washington.

but kevin drum says the move is as significant in who obama did not appoint as who he did:

After he took office Obama nominated two Democrats and one Republican to fill the [National Labor Relations Board's] three vacant seats and got support from a couple of Republicans on the HELP committee for the entire slate. But when it got to the Senate floor John McCain put a hold on [Craig] Becker, and his nomination — along with the others — died.

Fast forward to today and Obama finally decides to fill the board using recess appointments.

But what does he do? He only appoints the two Democrats. This is not what you do if you're trying to make nice. It's what you do if you're playing hardball and you want to send a pointed message to the GOP caucus. You won't act on my nominees? Fine. I'll appoint my guys and then leave it up to you to round up 50 votes in the Senate for yours. Have fun.