Let’s have some fun. (After all, it’s Mardi Gras!) Clinton sure did when the question about Sarah Palin came out of the blue.
And as expected, a few Tea Party activists will meet with Michael Steele.
Speaking of the Tea Party, they got a big write up in the New York Times today. It wasn’t all good either:
Urged on by conservative commentators, waves of newly minted activists are turning to once-obscure books and Web sites and discovering a set of ideas long dismissed as the preserve of conspiracy theorists, interviews conducted across the country over several months show. In this view, Mr. Obama and many of his predecessors (including George W. Bush) have deliberately undermined the Constitution and free enterprise for the benefit of a shadowy international network of wealthy elites.
Loose alliances like Friends for Liberty are popping up in many cities, forming hybrid entities of Tea Parties and groups rooted in the Patriot ethos. These coalitions are not content with simply making the Republican Party more conservative. They have a larger goal — a political reordering that would drastically shrink the federal government and sweep away not just Mr. Obama, but much of the Republican establishment, starting with Senator John McCain.
I’ve had a long work day, as I’m sure many of you have had too. So let’s just have some fun tonight. Whatever’s on your mind, let ‘er rip.
…and if you haven’t sent your shout out to HRC about DADT, here’s my two cents as part of John Aravosis’ campaign to get Pres. Obama to act.
Speaking of women in politics, when you get some spare time, Taylor – look into Meg Whitman out here in CA. We computer-types have huge respect for what she did with EBay (especially compared to another woman and what she did to HP/Compaq).
I’m keeping an eye out. New (cough) Rasmussen poll shows her “dead even” with Brown:
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_governor_elections/california/election_2010_california_governor
More actual ACTION.
Obama appoints Simpson & Bowles for deficit panel:
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/obama-to-name-leaders-of-deficit-panel/
Whitman will beat Brown. Bet on it.
Oh, and I almost forgot.
HAPPY MARDI GRAS!
kris, the past poling has been simply a “name recognition” thing. But Meg has been running some *superb* TV ads lately – bring her name into the light.
BTW – I also feel those polls that show Palin and Romney at the top for 2012 are also just “name recognition” (IMO). Neither will be the candidate. Palin garners no ‘confidence’ – and Romney doesn’t have enough money to BUY the votes he needs on a national basis. 2012 is an eternity away. *L*
Show us your Headlights, Taylor !!! I got beads for you right here.
No?
Darn.
pmichael -
I met Meg Whitman last fall at an event she had here in the North State. She has a tremendous ground game that even Obama might envy. She has been travelling for months building relationships in almost every county. She knows what she’s doing and all that hard work for the last few months is paying off. It’s not just name recognition. If that was the case Poizner should be ahead of Whitman.
kris, what I was saying was the polls in the ‘past’ have been mostly name recognition. 90% of the CA public knew who Gov. Moonbeam was, but had never heard of Meg. Her efforts are now changing that.
Is there anything worse than watching a 13 to nothing ice hockey game? (MSNBC) I mean – I know it’s the USA gals – but GEEZ.
A word about Mullah Baradar, or how the American public can be fooled every time. Baradar has been a CIA operative since the 1980′s. One of Charlie Wilson’s first hires. He fought against the Russians. He and Mullah Omar formed the Taliban. In November 2001, he drove Omar into the mountains on the back of his motorcycle allowing him to escape. Shortly after that US-linked Afghan forces turned him over to the Pakistani ISI. At some point he saved Karzai’s life in a gunfight with the Taliban. In 2004 he and Omar had a falling out and he moved to Pakistan under the protection of the CIA and ISI. Seems he wanted to force Omar to disband the Taliban and allow the American forces to gain complete control of the country and install Karzai as its dictator for life. That’s when Haqqani turned on the CIA and moved to the tribal areas of Pakistan. The CIA has known where Baradar has been living for years. He lived his life in the open with the complete protection of the ISI. His so-called capture is a farce and is being used to dupe the American public. This whole deal is one big crock of crap. Baaaaaaa. Baaaaaaa. Peace
i still wonder if difi will jump in. difi always wanted to be ca guv. this si really her last great chance. she might want to bail the senate and do something productive.
Wow, Imhotep. Wrong again ???
When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Pakistan in October, she charged that the Pakistani leadership could have gone after senior Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders in the country if it wanted to. Pakistan responded that the American information was inaccurate or outdated.
ref:
http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/16/faq-taliban-leaders-capture/
YOUR reference please?
texan4Hill, I have my doubts that Diane would attempt a competition with Brown. Too little, too late ?
Isn’t she almost 80?
Not ’til 2013, Lake Lady
“Imhotep says:
16 February 2010 at 7:43 pm”
I always enjoy how some shit house rat crazy members of our lil community, well actually just ONE,start off with “a word about” and then go off on a tome of one note drone horseshit.
It’s also kind of funny to watch the similarity to the creationist/IDer crowd grow as he/she/it spews huge amounts of half truths, out of context factoids and just pulled outta his/her/it’s ass breathlessly delivered feces.
Bob Woodward was on MJ and he seems to think there is some question as to if Obama will run for a second term.
Grover Norquist (sp) flat out lied on MJ about the stimulus he is such a nasty player.He said NO jobs had been created and it had in fact been counter productive with more jobs lost. David Gregory gave a weak challenge,saying he had been too facile,no challenge from the rest of the panel.This kind of thing just drives me crazy.
I think Jane at FDL is crazy to have any dealings with him.
Imhotep says:
16 February 2010 at 7:43 pm
…and Reagan helped the Pakistanis, through Zia, too, with CIA Director Bill Casey launching a “secret” war into the Soviet Union. We trained and paid people now our enemies. So your point is?
Your analysis presumes things are black and white when it comes to these issues, something that is very naive.
LLady, I was at a Christmas party where Grover was warmly greeted. I met him briefly and he’s a very nice man, though his politics are another thing. However, common cause with adversaries on certain issues is what moves things forward. It’s complicated.
Nuance, also known as bipartisanship, is what has gotten us all into this giant hole that we are now living in. A lot less nuance and a little more black and white—-honesty—-might be just what we need to survive. Peace
I get that Taylor but how on earth can she trust him? He is the brains behind some very distructive GOP policy decisions and as I’m sure you know he wants to “starve the beast” so that our only social safty net is impossible to fund. He may be very nice at Christmas parties but his goals are evil IMHP.
pmichael, if I told you my sources………I’d have to kill you. All kidding aside, just do a little research. You have the pertinent facts at hand. Begin by looking up Baradar. Peace
Lake Lady says:
17 February 2010 at 10:24 am
I can’t speak to Jane’s trust of Grover specifically. It’s also not my job to defend Ms. Hamsher, which she can do herself. I can say that people can find common cause on one issue that moves them, regardless of the larger ideological divides they share.
But one thing you should know is that Jane is not naive or a novice, though this is not saying she and I agree, even as we share completely different work objectives. It’s likely that Jane trusts Grover as long as he’s useful to the cause she’s promoting, no further.