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Taylor Marsh has been writing on line since 1996, with the archives provided here a representation of that work.

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Newt Unloads

By on 19 January 2012

**UPDATED BELOW**

“I thought John did a great job.” – Newt Gingrich, with Anderson Cooper in post-debate



Kaboom.

Every person in here knows personal pain. Every person in here has had someone close to them go through painful things. To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary, a significant question in a presidential campaign, is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine.

My two daughters, my two daughters wrote the head of ABC and made the point that it was wrong, that they should pull it, and I am, frankly, astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate.

Gingrich also released his tax returns before the debate, which led into a conversation that made Mitt Romney look awful.

Santorum is having a very strong debate, which will help Romney a bit, which he’s going to need after Newt’s rocking start.

Across Twitter, the media class proclaimed Newt won the debate 5 minutes in.

Romney’s tax return meltdown is below. It’s not a bad performance, but most of the time he’s been receding. It feels like Romney is just trying to keep from screwing up, like a team that’s trying to hold a lead, because they’re afraid of blowing the lead.

[update 2] When John King asks what the candidates would do differently Romney said he’d have tried to get “25 more votes”; Santorum said he’d do nothing, then offered a phenomenal statement on how amazing it is for him to be even standing on the stage considering he began with no money and everyone discounted him after losing his last senate race. It was a true moment of heart that comes in a debate that’s been very good for him.

[update] Romney team releases Newt Gingrich’s grandiose greatest hits and it’s a killer.



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The tone deaf Cayman cash man gets cornered

By on 19 January 2012

Newt Gingrich led Mitt Romney 34-28 in PPP’s South Carolina polling last night, the first of what will be three nights of tracking. Ron Paul at 15%, Rick Santorum at 14%, Rick Perry at 5%, and Buddy Roemer at 3% round out the field. – Public Policy Polling



Why Cayman cash Mitt didn’t have a prepared answer for the tax return question is puzzling. He’s been programmed within an inch of his life since the start. From Forbes to Christian Science Monitor, few think it will matter. From Forbes:

The fact is that Romney is doing exactly the same thing that you and I do: he’s taking advantage of existing Tax Code. You wouldn’t expect him to volunteer to pay at a higher rate “just because” anymore than you would volunteer to give up your own mortgage interest deduction or offer to drop a personal exemption. There is absolutely nothing in the Tax Code that requires you to legally pay more taxes than you have to.

Romney’s tax return issue is in view, because even if he releases his 2011 returns, who doesn’t think they won’t be stacked for the election season? His dad released his financial information for several years, so that’s Mitt’s model.

It’s never the facts surrounding the candidate that takes him or her out, it’s the emotions the voter feels toward the candidate that do him in. It wasn’t the quote about firing people that did it by itself, it’s that it represented how people already feel about Mitt Romney.

“I get speaker’s fees from time to time, but not very much.” – Mitt Romney

It’s the nervous laugh that came afterward, reminiscent of the Bret Baier interview, that sounds so sour, because $374,327 is anything but “not very much.”

Then comes the story I’ve been waiting to break, and it’s not that he tithes millions including stock options to the Mormon Church. It’s Mitt Romney stashing millions in the Cayman Islands. From ABC News:

But tax experts tell ABC News there are other reasons Romney may not want the public viewing his returns. As one of the wealthiest candidates to run for president in recent times, Romney has used a variety of techniques to help minimize the taxes on his estimated $250 million fortune. In addition to paying the lower tax rate on his investment income, Romney has as much as $8 million invested in at least 12 funds listed on a Cayman Islands registry. Another investment, which Romney reports as being worth between $5 million and $25 million, shows up on securities records as having been domiciled in the Caymans.

Official documents reviewed by ABC News show that Bain Capital, the private equity partnership Romney once ran, has set up some 138 secretive offshore funds in the Caymans.

Nothing Mitt Romney is doing is illegal and according to Brian Beutler and others, the Romney camp is also saying that his Cayman cash is taxed as if the funds were in the U.S., so anyone implying they’re tax havens are wrong. Then why the secrecy?

But even that misses the issue. In an Occupy era, perception colors reality more harshly, with the GOP’s Cayman cash man representing all that ails our economic system.

Seen in an atmosphere that has Perry endorsing Newt Gingrich, while Santorum squeaks out a win in Iowa, though he just doesn’t have what it takes to capitalize, you also have Sarah Palin giving a nod to Gingrich, too. If the air around Cayman cash Mitt starts to erode his electability argument, always the weakest case for any candidate, the establishment will start to get very nervous, though they should be already. Because though Mitt Romney is an uninspiring candidate, Newt Gingrich will get creamed in the general, because women won’t vote for him. I’m not even sure they will in South Carolina and I felt this way long before the Marianne Gingrich bombshell due to explode tonight on Nightline

We’re about to see what Mitt Romney’s made of and just how good his election machine is, as well as whether the establishment rallies around him. With the southern state nomination swing season upon us, Romney will be in for it if the new polling and Gingrich surge is real, but watch out if he wins on Saturday.

There is passion tied to Newt, but not Romney, which is why Mitt’s machine tried to take him out in Iowa. But the viper you only wound can kill you, even if you live to tell about it.

But no matter the bad week Romney’s having, the one who really needs South Carolina is Newt Gingrich.

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Newt was honest with Marianne Gingrich about his sexuality

By on 19 January 2012

“… Callista doesn’t care what I do. … He wanted an open marriage.” – Marianne Gingrich

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

We’re on the other side of hell hath no fury, folks.

Marianne Gingrch has now given the interview she’s threatened to unpack, but was saving for the perfect moment. The result is not presidential, but it is human for a segment of his gender.

At least Bill Clinton had the survival instincts not to ask.

How interesting that after one failed marriage and in the throes of another, Newt Gingrich honestly opens up to tell his wife he wants to stay married, but desires to sleep with another woman, now his current wife, Callista.

It’s not great for the get out the women’s vote.

It’s no secret that I find Newt Gingrich not equipped or worthy of the presidency. However, this revelation is going to fizzle for a reason. But it will be delicious to watch tonight on Nightline.

Men of all political persuasions and religious affiliations, though the faithful don’t stray on Sunday, can relate to Newt’s request. Back in the ’90s I did enough interviews with men and research into sexuality and marriage to prove to me this is true, which I don’t believe changes over time.

What Marianne Gingrich’s confession confirms is that once women get a whiff they won’t vote for this man in a million years.

Whatever you say about Mitt Romney, and I’ll have a post up on him tonight that says a lot, he’s not repellent to women, a voting block neither party can win without.

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Krauthammer on the Grandiosity of Newt

By on 27 December 2011

Newt and I agreed that the analogy is December 1941: We have experienced an unexpected set-back, but we will re-group and re-focus with increased determination, commitment and positive action. Throughout the next months there will be ups and downs; there will be successes and failures; there will be easy victories and difficult days – but in the end we will stand victorious. – Michael Krull on Facebook



Pompous ass alert.

Ah, the heights of campaign hubris and presidential fantasies. Not making the Virginia ballot had Newt’s campaign director Michael Krull opining on Mr. Gingrich’s Facebook page that it was tantamount to December 1941.

On Fox News Channel, Charles Krauthammer delivered the fatal blow:

I’m not sure the analogy does justice to the grandness, the immensity of Newt,” Krauthammer said, tongue in cheek. “I think the better analogy is 1066 — the Battle of Hastings. And I think King Harold is dead and William the Conqueror has landed. And Newt is going pick up the crown of the last king of the Saxons and lead a trusty band of Saxons fueled with money from Freddie Mac and will retake Britain from William and change the course of European history. I think that that kind of analogy captures the cosmic importance of the Newt campaign.”

[...] “Look, you can’t really — it’s hard to make a parody of Newt in the way he imagines himself,” Krauthammer said. “Even if he thinks its Pearl Harbor, you don’t say it out in public and you don’t have your national campaign director trumpet it. It compares a bit of the grandiosity of Newt and it’s good that every once in a while he injects a little humor into the campaign.”

In other Gingrich news, it seems his marriage messes have once again made news. This time over he said, she said claims on just which one wanted out first, with CNN having the dirt. Turns out it was Newt, because he didn’t think one of his other wives, it was either his first or second, it’s hard to keep track, was pretty enough to make the White House.

This from a homely, pudgy man with jowls who looks like he hasn’t used a treadmill in his life.

Newt Gingrich would be the best get out the vote machine for Obama-Biden imaginable.

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Obama ‘Detached’, Emperor Newt Collapses, and Fun with Fallon

By on 18 December 2011

SNL was at its best last night, under the helm of host Jimmy Fallon. I’m a big fan, but last night was a primetime worthy performance. Michael Bublé has some chops, what a chirp. The Today Show skit above is now one of my faves. It was a stitch!

In the news, Vaclav Havel passes. The Times report puts “writer” first, which as a writer myself, reminds me of the power a select few people of the written word possess. That the best writers have at their soul something that drives all of us to impact our corner of the world. What Mr. Hamel was above to do is the stuff of true historic greatness.

Vaclav Havel, the writer and dissident whose eloquent dissections of Communist rule helped to destroy it in revolutions that brought down the Berlin Wall and swept Havel himself into power, died on Sunday. He was 75.

It says something about America that Mr. Havel is not being celebrated as Christopher Hitchens was upon his death.

On the payroll tax cut extension:

The White House would not discuss the “sausage-making” of the payroll tax deal. But a former Obama administration official who has knowledge of how negotiations with the Hill work, said, “We’d use Reid as a primary negotiator in the end game.” …

“The White House gives him a lot of latitude on what the end game should look like,” the official said.

[...] A GOP Senate aide familiar with the payroll tax extension talks said the president “could not have been more separated from the talks.” “He was the most detached person from this process of any of the major players,” the aide said.

“Detached” is reminiscent of George H. W. Bush, with Barack Obama having the same removed relationship with the American people as Bush 41.

Oh, and what would Christmas be without another Republican sex scandal?

But the most noteworthy political report is compliments of Newt Gingrich, who channeled is inner un-American dictator yesterday with reporters.

Newt Gingrich says as president he would ignore Supreme Court decisions that conflicted with his powers as commander in chief, and he would press for impeaching judges or even abolishing certain courts if he disagreed with their rulings.

“I’m fed up with elitist judges” who seek to impose their “radically un-American” views, Gingrich said Saturday in a conference call with reporters.

It was never whether Gingrich would say something incendiary or stupid, encapsulating his unpresidential persona, it was about when.

Now you know why I never bought into his presidential contest, even as some progressives, including big new media sites, started believing in the notion. This terrific graphic from TPM says it all.

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Gingrich: I won’t cheat anymore, promise.

By on 12 December 2011

Oh, that Newt. After two strikes, he’s ready to cross his heart and hope to win Iowa that he won’t ever cheat again.

From Burns & Haberman:

To Bob Vander Plaats and the Executive Board of The FAMiLY LEADER:

I appreciate the opportunity to affirm my strong support of the mission of the FAMiLY LEADER by solemnly vowing to defend and strengthen the family through the following actions I would take as President of the United States.

Defending Marriage. As President, I will vigorously enforce the Defense of Marriage Act, which was enacted under my leadership as Speaker of the House, and ensure compliance with its provisions, especially in the military. I will also aggressively defend the constitutionality of DOMA in federal and state courts. I will support sending a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman to the states for ratification. I will also oppose any judicial, bureaucratic, or legislative effort to define marriage in any manner other than as between one man and one woman. I will support all efforts to reform promptly any uneconomic or anti-marriage aspects of welfare and tax policy. I also pledge to uphold the institution of marriage through personal fidelity to my spouse and respect for the marital bonds of others. …

I know all Americans who don’t have a job are relieved to discover the serial womanizer has given it all up for Callista.

This is more important than Newt’s destructive neoconservative fetish, as well as all the many ways he’s flip flopped on foreign policy issues. A couple of examples from the link:

PUTIN’S RUSSIA

“Putin really is a generation beyond the first reformers of the post-Soviet era. He understands that the future of Russia is inside some kind of capitalist system. He understands that Russia is not going to be a global competitor. Now, he’s more authoritarian than I might like. But again, this is a country in dramatic transition. And when you look back 12 or 13 years, even his authoritarianism is remarkable, more open as a society than anything one could have dreamed as late as 1987 or 1988. So I think there you’re likely to see an emerging continuing American-Russian friendship.” – Feb. 28, 2002

“Putin represents a dictatorial approach that’s very violent, it was violent in the Chechnyan situation, it is violent in, for example, stealing investment money back from oil companies in the Soviet Union — Russia — the former Soviet Union. Putin was a KGB agent and he has a lot of KGB behaviors. They went out of their way in the last week to take on a small neighbor and crush that neighbor militarily. It’s a signal that he intends to assert authority around the periphery of Russia. – Aug. 16, 2008

JONATHAN POLLARD

“I think it would be a tremendous mistake for the United States to start putting traitors on the negotiating table as a pawn, and I hope the administration will now say they will not, under any circumstance, release Pollard,” – Oct. 24, 1998

“I am prepared to say my bias is towards clemency, and I would like to review it. He’s been in [jail] a very long time. But we are pretty tough about people spying on the United States. And I also have a study under way to compare his sentence with comparable people who have been sentenced for very long sentences for comparable deeds.” – Dec. 7, 2011

LIBYA

“Exercise a no-fly zone this evening, communicate to the Libyan military that Qaddafi was gone and that the sooner they switch sides, the more like they were to survive, [and provide] help to the rebels to replace him…. This is a moment to get rid of him. Do it. Get it over with.” – March 7, 2011

“I would not have intervened. I think there were a lot of other ways to affect Qaddafi. I think there are a lot of other allies in the region we could have worked with. I would not have used American and European forces.” – March 23, 2011

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Oh Herman, There You Go Again

By on 28 November 2011

Another T.K.O. for Ego.

If you want to know how these things happen, the story of Herman and Ginger is the most common. The man has the opportunity and the means. The woman is bored and takes the offer. From there it’s pretty ordinary.

Well, except for the part where the man decides to go on a book tour that turns into a political farce in a year that has every Republican except the dog catcher taking his or her turn in the spotlight.

From Fox 5 News:

“He made it very intriguing,” White told FOX 5. “It was fun. It was something that took me away from my humdrum life at the time. And it was exciting.”

She says he gave her his newly-published book, Leadership is Common Sense, and he wrote: “Miss G, you have already made a ‘big difference!’ Stay focused as you pursue your next destination.”

She says during the next 13 years, he would fly her to cities where he was speaking and he lavished her with gifts. She says they often stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Buckhead and dined at The Four Seasons restaurant. She says he never harassed her, never treated her poorly, and was the same man you see on the campaign trail.

“Very much the same, very much confident, very much sure of himself,” White said, describing Cain. “Very arrogant in a playful sometimes way. Very, ah — Herman Cain loves Herman Cain.”

Yep, that’s the bottom line for most male adulterers. They love themselves and indulge their every whim, thinking of no one else.

From the start of the accusations I never had one doubt about Herman Cain. The first woman with Gloria Allred was not only credible, but Herman Cain’s rolling response was just too predictable.

There’s also the reality that where there is one there is usually another. Then another. Then another.

Sitting on the sidelines is the pitiful Mrs. Cain, another woman who didn’t want to know the man she was married to and thought religion made Herman righteous.

If Herman has any decency he’d— Never mind.

Moral of this story is simple. If you let your ego control your life it will eventually take you out.

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Gloria Cain: ‘He would have to have a split personality…’

By on 15 November 2011

A new national survey of Republicans indicates that it’s basically all tied up between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, with Gingrich on the rise and businessman Herman Cain falling due to the sexual harassment allegations he’s been facing the past two weeks. – CNN Poll: Gingrich soars, Cain drops

Gloria Cain has a very sad case of denial.

Poor Mrs. Cain. If there was one woman, I could see giving Mr. Cain the benefit of the doubt.

Two women become curious.

Three women become a problem.

Four women mean Mrs. Cain doesn’t want to know the truth.

Obviously, she just can’t handle the possibility that her god-fearing man, the father of her children, grandfather, and the man who preaches and sings the gospel so earnestly can’t heed the message.

Yes, Gloria, your husband is a womanizer. No, he’s likely worse. He’s a serial sexual harasser who lies about it, then blames the women.

If I had a nickle for every woman who was shocked to learn the man she loves has a roving eye and ego, well, I’d have a lot of nickles.

There is no evidence that Howard Cain has a mistress. That’s the good news for Gloria Cain.

The bad news for Mrs. Cain was seen with Herman’s “Princess Nancy” slap, revealing his feelings toward women are very, well, let’s just say complicated. His wife is likely his Madonna. All other women are, well, not whores, but more like fair game, as long as he doesn’t get caught.

Double lives or alternative existences for men is nothing new. It’s not a split personality. It’s arrogant entitlement to whatever he wants.

Mrs. Cain wants us to believe that not one, not two, not three, but four women are all lying about the allegations they are making, which all sound similar.

While her husband thinks blanket denials will get him off the hook, because there isn’t evidence to prove anything, except through the women’s words. So, Herman and his team point to hard times of Ms. Bialek, one accuser who went public, even bankruptcy, because the 1% Mr. Cain represents think your net worth is equivalent to your human worth.

In the CNN poll, more women reveal they believe the accusers than the men.

Mrs. Cain just can’t imagine the Herman she knows is a womanizer.

It’s how a lot of wives convince themselves they’ve not been made a fool.

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BARNES & NOBLE Chooses THE HILLARY EFFECT in ‘NOOK First’ Featured Authors Campaign

By on 14 November 2011

It’s incredibly exciting to announce that The Hillary Effect has been selected as one of two non-fiction e-books in the Barnes and Noble “NOOK First” featured authors campaign, just launched.

Being selected as part of this “NOOK First” Barnes and Noble project was an incredible honor and opportunity. Now you know why we waited until this week to publish.

This is a tremendously exciting moment for the entire team that made this happen, beginning with Thomas Ellison and Hutch Morton of Premier Digital Publishing.

What a stunning send off they’ve given my e-book.

So, Barnes and Noble is the only place you can buy The Hillary Effect until December 15th.

Pop the champagne! …just don’t spill it on your NOOK.

NOTE: Aps for your pc, MAC and iPad are available for free at Barnes and Noble.

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Update on the The Hillary Effect

By on 08 November 2011

Today’s not going to be the day we publish, but I promise we’ll have a big send off for the publication next week! It will be worth the wait.

Some book PR to give you a little more on what it’s all about.


Spanning nearly two decades of American politics, The Hillary Effect is the provocative and insightful story of the first viable female presidential candidate in history to win a primary and do so in spite of her campaign team’s mistakes. And the galvanizing impact that her loss represented for both women and men, in and out of Washington. It revolves around media coverage that treated her differently as first lady, senator and then presidential candidate – not only because she was a woman, but because she was Hillary Clinton.

Candidly written by veteran political analyst, Taylor Marsh, it is the view from a recovering partisan, someone who the Washington Post called a “die hard Clintonite” in their profile of her in 2008.

The Hillary Effect began when Hillary, as first lady, dared to challenge China’s treatment of women. A countless number of women have and will benefit from her presidential loss, the most famous being Sarah Palin (the Tea Party queen of 2010 and first female on a national Republican presidential ticket), who weaves throughout this story as the anti-Hillary. The Hillary Effect also sees Michele Bachman as a player, as the first Republican female to win a straw poll, primary or caucus.

The male leads in this stunning tale are Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama (someone who turned out to be very different from candidate Obama), with David Plouffe and Mark Penn making appearances. The story includes a host of media personalities and their outlets, but also new media and progressive voices, and famous names like Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Sally Quinn, the late Tim Russert, Richard Wolffe, Laura Ingraham, Liz Cheney, Peggy Noonan, Maureen Dowd, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and even Bill O’Reilly, who offered Hillary the best interview she would do during the 2008 season.

All of this is seen through the economic and political crises of today, health care, women’s individual freedoms being challenged by the right, Afghanistan, women’s rise around the world, the debt ceiling debate, tax cuts for the wealthy, Occupy Wall Street and an American public disenchanted with Republicans and Democrats, just as the race for 2012 revs up.


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Taylor Marsh Authors The Hillary Effect – Politics, Sexism and the Destiny of Loss

By on 11 October 2011

Due out in November. Available on Amazon.com, on your Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Nook, and iPad.

Spanning nearly two decades of American politics, The Hillary Effect is the provocative and insightful story of the first viable female presidential candidate in history to win a primary and do so in spite of her campaign team’s mistakes. And the galvanizing impact that her loss represented for both women and men, in and out of Washington. It revolves around media coverage that treated her differently as first lady, senator and then presidential candidate – not only because she was a woman, but because she was Hillary Clinton.

Candidly written by veteran political analyst, Taylor Marsh, it is the view from a recovering partisan, someone who the Washington Post called a “die hard Clintonite” in their profile of her in 2008.
The Hillary Effect began when Hillary, as first lady, dared to challenge China’s treatment of women. A countless number of women have and will benefit from her presidential loss, the most famous being Sarah Palin (the Tea Party queen of 2010 and first female on a national Republican presidential ticket), who weaves throughout this story as the anti-Hillary. The Hillary Effect also sees Michele Bachman as a player, as the first Republican female to win a straw poll, primary or caucus.

The male leads in this stunning tale are Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama (someone who turned out to be very different from candidate Obama), with David Plouffe and Mark Penn making appearances. The story includes a host of media personalities and their outlets, but also new media and progressive voices, and famous names like Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, Sally Quinn, the late Tim Russert, Richard Wolffe, Laura Ingraham, Liz Cheney, Peggy Noonan, Maureen Dowd, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and even Bill O’Reilly, who offered Hillary the best interview she would do during the 2008 season.

All of this is seen through the economic and political crises of today, health care, women’s individual freedoms being challenged by the right, Afghanistan, women’s rise around the world, the debt ceiling debate, tax cuts for the wealthy, Occupy Wall Street and an American public disenchanted with Republicans and Democrats, just as the race for 2012 revs up.

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Tea Party Austerity Cheerleader Joe Walsh Accused of Being Deadbeat Dad

By on 28 July 2011

**UPDATED**

“This is where America is.” – Rep. Joe Walsh

Times are tough these days, so it’s not surprising that some divorced fathers are having tough times paying child support. But when you’re an outspoken austerity, cut, cap and balance bloviator, the news of allegations that Joe Walsh is a dead beat dad is at least a bit ironic. From the Sun Times:

Freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, a tax-bashing Tea Party champion who sharply lectures President Barack Obama and other Democrats on fiscal responsibility, owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December. [...]

Walsh admits he is not wealthy. Some of his financial problems — including losing his Evanston condo to foreclosure — were documented before his out-of-nowhere victory last fall in the 8th Congressional District in Chicago’s north and northwest suburbs.

But court documents examined this week by the Chicago Sun-Times during research for a profile on the increasingly visible congressman showed his financial issues also included a nine-year child support battle with his ex-wife.

Before getting elected, he had told Laura Walsh that because he was out of work or between jobs, he could not make child support payments. [...]

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Elect More Women, Not Wankers

By on 26 July 2011

U.S. Rep. David Wu’s behavior grew so erratic in the final weeks before his re-election last November that the Oregon Democrat’s closest political advisers staged two of what some of them termed “interventions” to urge him to seek psychiatric help, WW has learned.

Democratic Rep. David Wu of Oregon announced Tuesday that he will resign amid the political fallout from an 18-year-old woman’s allegations of an unwanted sexual encounter with him. – Congressman Resigns in Sex Scandal

Consider this your debt ceiling sanity break.

Another Democrat bites the dust, due to stupidity and personal insanity.

Oh, but not to worry, Sen. David Vitters is still safely ensconced in the Senate, where the old boys’ club still reigns.

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Spew Alert!

By on 15 July 2011
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Obama Reelect Calculates Against Gay Marriage

By on 23 June 2011

Obama’s gay supporters — led by entertainment titan David Geffen — have urged him to back gay marriage, as have a roster of liberal Hollywood celebrities, from Jane Lynch to Ellen DeGeneres. But Obama has been cautious, with Democratic operatives admitting the issue could provoke a backlash among independents and even church-going blacks and Hispanics. – President Obama’s gay marriage problem


via Joe Subday

Earth to “gay community,” Pres. Obama doesn’t lead, he follows polls, trends and voting blocks. So, he likely won’t have any trouble at tonight’s fundraiser, even if New York actually votes on marriage equality today and passes it.

From New York:

Others, though opposed to gay marriage, said they would not support even bringing the bill up for a vote without stronger religious protections than Gov. Cuomo included in his legislation.

The language would ensure that religious groups cannot be sued if they refuse to cater to gay couples, sources said.

It would also block the state from penalizing, discriminating against or denying benefits to religious groups by stripping them of their tax-exempt status or their property tax breaks, they said.

Out of the mouth of Karl Rove slips a bit of truth: Even a small drop in the share of black voters would wipe out his winning margin in North Carolina.

Nate Silver did a post in April on opponents of marriage equality being in the minority. It didn’t, however, address religious communities like African Americans and Hispanics, which even if a minority is against marriage equality, they still have the power to tilt a state away from Pres. Obama in 2012.

Out of New York’s battle:

The event also drew support from Bishop Harry Jackson, the senior pastor at Hope Christian Church in Maryland. Jackson has emerged as the leading African-American voice opposing gay marriage.

“What we have today is a group of people trying to hitchhike on or highjack or take the legacy of the real civil rights movement and make it their own,” Jackson said. “Most African Americans are incensed by this; thus we find in every state a huge majority of African-American voters have voted against same-sex marriage.”

Barack Obama is thinking of his own interests first. The LGBT community simply doesn’t matter to him as much as African American and even Hispanic religious voters, with Obama reelect calculating these two necessary blocks aren’t ready to support gay marriage.

I don’t know why this is so hard to understand or why the LGBT community continues a campaign to persuade Pres. Obama, which will never happen.

“Evolving” on gay marriage is code meant to pacify another zombie voter group who thinks Pres. Obama is their only option.

It brings me to Jon Huntsman’s declaration that’s similar to Obama’s, if more openly honest. He adamantly says redefining marriage is a non-starter, which I think is ridiculous, but we’ll leave that alone, as Obama has the same stance, he’s just more coy about how he says it, stringing the LGBT community along through his “evolving” charade.

Huntsman also says there hasn’t been enough movement on equality, meaning all the legal hurdles put in place to deny health care sharing, death benefits, etc.

If the LGBT community’s political savvy would evolve beyond their singleminded campaign to arm twist Pres. Obama to “evolve already,” which isn’t going to happen, they’d be asking the Huntsman campaign (or any other presidential candidate they could find to build critical mass) for a sit down with him to talk about their issues, asking the candidate to take an equality pledge up as far as possible, even if today it stops short of marriage equality on the national level.

Yes, this sucks. But it’s embarrassing to see the LGBT community running into immovable political walls continually, because they won’t accept or acknowledge Pres. Obama’s self motivation.

Civil union is not marriage, but Pres. Obama isn’t going to change his stance and it’s because his reelection team has calculated that losing African American and Hispanic religious voters in 2012 could cost Obama reelection.

It has absolutely nothing to do with “evolving.”

The issue is personal to the LGBT community, but to Pres. Obama it’s a practical political calculation.

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Wanted: Pictures of David Vitter in Diapers in the House Gym

By on 16 June 2011

Senior Democrats have privately worried that the three-week-long scandal has taken the focus off the party’s message, which had been trained on criticism of House Republicans’ plans to overhaul Medicare. – House Democrats could strip Anthony Weiner of key committee seat

Somewhere in his Fox bunker Roger Ailes is laughing.

As for the Clintons being “livid,” oh, spare me. On this one they should both just shut up.

David Vitter - D.C. Madam

But at least Mr. Weiner’s stupidity didn’t end like David Vitter’s prostitution and rumored diaper fetish did, with the suicide of the woman who helped Vitter get his kicks. Flashback:

Local police responding to a call late Thursday morning discovered the woman’s body in a storage shed to the side of the home, according to a statement released by the Tarpon Springs, Fla. Police. Hand-written notes were found nearby which “describes the victim’s intention to take her life,” according to the statement.

I don’t have any sympathy at all for Anthony Weiner, never have, even though I thought this whole exercise was ridiculous, because the only ones who have been hurt is Weiner and his wife.

NBC’s cub reporter Luke Russert opined on MSNBC that lying to your leadership is what did him in. If that doesn’t encapsulate this stupidity nothing does.

Anthony Weiner deserved to lose his committee seat and be shamed to congressional hell for his legendary stupidity. Where he finds himself is all his fault. But let’s not pretend he wouldn’t have survived this whole thing if he hadn’t sullied the sanctified setting of the House gym. That was just too much for the D.C. establishment to take.

But if Democrats can’t get out a platform to beat Ryan’s Medicare scheme, blaming Weiner for their message incompetence, they don’t deserve to win a single seat or the presidency in 2012.

It’s hard to root for the Democratic Party these days, who once again reveal their deep-seated self-loathing.

A classic from Artur Davis Former congressman (D-Ala.):

Weiner learned a brutal set of lessons about the chemistry of Washington politics. First, rank-and-file House members are expendable: the House is not the club that is the Senate, where personal relationships are more durable and there is an institutional aversion to pushing a member out. Second, unlike Charlie Rangel, Weiner had no race card to play. Finally, the Bill Clinton rule of survival applies best to second-term presidents with 65 percent approval ratings and a track record of 7.5 percent GDP growth.

And of course, Weiner got caught not only lying but doing it with gusto and indignation. False allegations do happen in politics, and it does not take much for baseless rumors to spread. Weiner has just complicated the task of any public figure who denies an allegation and for that reason alone, this saga has contributed to the cynicism around political life.

Finally, there is no long-term consequence. The informal caucus of congressmen and senators who cheat, flirt or make inappropriate comments to women of any age has not been dented by Weiner’s fall. The exposure rate will continue to turn on arbitrary and unwritten rules, and the sin rate will remain thoroughly bipartisan.

Only the Democrats could jettison one of their strongest voices where no actual sex occurred. But at least the leadership won’t have the thorn of Anthony Weiner in their side anymore and neither will Pres. Obama.

The next conservative who talks about the liberal media deserves a pie in the face.

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His Wife Made Him Do It

By on 15 June 2011

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Republicans don’t vote for a man who can’t control his wife. It’s the unspoken bylaw of GOP politics. They simply humor female politicians, because they have no intention of allowing one to gain power. As for a strong-willed, shrewd woman allegedly neutering Newt, rhetorically speaking, of course. Are you kidding me?

This is about Mr. Gingrich not being strong enough to tell her to butt out. Anybody who still believes this man is worthy to be commander in chief can’t be trusted.

For the last 20 years, Newt Gingrich has been dragged around by his little newt. It’s now coming back to haunt him and the populace at large if we continue to accept this deplorable spectacle.

None of that is Mrs. Gingrich’s fault. Think Joan Crawford… no, Bette Davis, and I don’t write that in derision. She needed a weak man with an access to power she could exploit and she found him. But we’re supposed to believe Poor Newt fell victim to some “V” like venomous reptile that ran wild with his entire presidential campaign to the point that Newt’s entire staff committed historical political mutiny.

From Michael Isikoff:

Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign was crippled by behind-the-scenes blow-ups over the role of his wife, Callista, including her insistence that the campaign arrange for screenings of the couple’s movies made by their for-profit production company, according to current and former campaign staffers and advisers.

The use of campaign resources to promote the Gingrich’s private movie ventures made some senior staffers uncomfortable and led to repeated confrontations over the issue, they said. The campaign even carved out space on the home page of the Gingrich campaign Web site, Newt.org, where a section dubbed “Callista’s Canvas” promoted the movies, with titles such as “Rediscovering God in America” and “A City Upon a Hill,” about American “exceptionalism.”

[...] In another case, sources said, staffers in South Carolina also refused to arrange a movie screening. This prompted Callista Gingrich to insist that she and her husband fly back from the state on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend — and miss a planned campaign event in Myrtle Beach —so the couple could attend the opera “Don Pasquale” at the Kennedy Center that night, the sources said.

The ending’s just going to be very painful in the short-term for them both. Then they’ll go back to Gingrich Inc. or Calista & Company, aggrieved and entrepreneurial. God bless America and I mean it.

When fundraising numbers are released he’s going to be embarrassed, as Romney will have solid frontrunner numbers, and Michele Bachmann will likely beat him.

The awkward payments between intermingling of campaign resources and private moneymaking ventures, to quote Isikoff, between Newt Communications and his charities is a head-spinner. But all this happening to Newt isn’t because of Calista.

It’s the character weakness of this man.

TM NOTE: A link has been added to this piece.

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Testosterone, Weinergate, Women and Leadership

By on 13 June 2011

“We inject less libido… We don’t necessarily inject our own egos…” – Christiane Lagrande, French Foreign Minister (possible IMF replacement for Strauss-Kahn)

Foreign policy studies find that when women are included in a nation’s national dialogue that country has not only a better chance of stability, but it’s the only way developing nations can thrive. There are now studies that women make companies more economically successful when they’re in the lead. On ABC’s “This Week” yesterday, Christiane Amanpour teed up the topic with Cecilia Attias (ex-wife to Pres. Sarkozy), Torie Clarke, Claire Shipman.

Rush Limbaugh was even more unhinged than usual today because of this subject. Limbaugh talked about the “chick-i-fi-cation” of the U.S. One female caller said that women today having affairs with politicians are “greedy,” because in the old days they’d keep their mouth shut. Classic example of Rush’s female audience. This same caller opined that men should run the household, while Rush blamed liberal women for the fate of a bullies, Weiner and everything that ails the male populace.

After all these years of tuning in to Rush, however briefly when I can. I’m still amazed that his criteria for a successful woman includes marriage, children, heterosexualism, but especially beauty.

But while countries and corporations need women to thrive and succeed, there are other examples where women haven’t made any difference at all.

Where foreign policy, diplomacy and militarism meet, women still fail as miserably as men, because they’re intent on channeling what any man would do or say. Sometimes, of course, foreign policy answers aren’t gender based, with the obvious answer showing itself no matter the gender. But in tough geopolitical situations, so far women still have not found their own way.

Let’s remember who was at the forefront of Obama’s decision to get involved in Libya, which began with Samantha Power and Dr. Susan Rice, but also Sec. Clinton, who was convinced bombing Libya was the right move. It wasn’t.

There is no evidence whatsoever of women being more restrained, thoughtful or less militaristic. See Liz Cheney, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, but also women like Anne-Marie Slaughter, who wrote an op-ed entitled “Fiddling While Libya Burns.” You could also add Sec. Madeleine Albright’s comment that Colin Powell recalled in his memoir: “What’s the point of having this superb military you’re always talking about, if we can’t use it?” It blew his mind.

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Old Fogie Justice and Breitbart Lies

By on 09 June 2011

“She loves her husband very much. She is committed to her husband and her marriage,” the close friend said. She’s adamant that her husband does not resign, and is optimistic that he can continue his career as an elected official. “I think people have weathered worse,” said the source. “They are still talking all the time about what to do [to survive the scandal],” the source said, adding that they plotted his political comeback while at the hotel. – Weiner on wife support, Huma has his back

Ed Rendell proclaimed today on “Morning Joe” that Rep. Weiner is a dead politician walking, my words not his. If he is, Democrats better understand who wins here and it isn’t them or progressives. So far DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has kept quiet, even amidst RNC chair’s Reince Priebus’ hypocritical judgment, which only applies to Weiner, not Vitter or other Republicans who have been caught up in scandals, with Vitter’s solicitation of prostitutes actually a crime.

As both Rendell and Mike Barnicle know but are conveniently fogetting, if John F. Kennedy had been held to today’s standards he would never have been president, with his White House behavior something the press would have ravaged him over today, perhaps rightly so:

Since they had not lived together before marrying, Jackie was unprepared for what she called Jack’s “violent” independence — by which she meant not just his habit of going off with his male friends but, more important, his thinly disguised promiscuity. … “I don’t think there are any men who are faithful to their wives. Men are such a combination of good and evil.” … Jackie’s unhappiness was no inducement to Jack to restrain himself. In the summer of 1956, while she was int he late stages of a pregnancy that ended in a miscarriage, Jack went on a yachting trip with George Smathers in the Mediterranean, where he enjoyed “a bacchanal, with several young women getting on and off the boat at its ports of call.” … In 1958, when younger brother Ted got married, Jack was caught on tape whispering to him “that being married didn’t really mean that you had to be faithful to your wife.” – An Unfinished Life, by Robert Dallek (pgs. 194-195)

Classic statement on Weiner from Democratic grand dame Diane Feinstein, “I just view it with great surprise and dismay. That’s all I can say.”

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Sen. Patty Murray, said “of course” Weiner’s actions make it tough for Dems in ’12. That’s malarkey, especially in the Senate, where Dems were in trouble long before Weiner’s weiner went wide.

Thanks to Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare-ending budget scheme, the House could be in play for Democrats.

Pres. Obama’s problems are economic not moral.

Now, giving Andrew Breitbart control over your life because you were stupid is Rep. Weiner’s own fault. But any notion that Breitbart was going to uphold his words on the “Today” show, where he said he’d hold the photo as insurance in case Weiner went after him, should be at the very least questioned, while I admit to believing he leaked it on purpose, no matter what he says.

In fact, two nights ago, Andrew Breitbart went out drinking with Anthony and several others — and according to Anthony, showed the picture to numerous people, even leaving his laptop computer unattended with the picture on the screen for long periods of time. One of those people was right wing flamethrower Ann Coulter. Here’s Anthony’s photo of Coulter reacting to the picture; notice that his computer is apparently there, but Breitbart is nowhere to be seen. – Charles Johnson

Johnson goes on to allege Breitbart handed his phone around the studio. As I tweeted yesterday, did Breitbart actually believe that talk radio shock jocks wouldn’t leak the photo?

Breitbart and shock jock statement from yesterday, which is laugh out loud hilarious at this point:

Earlier today, a photograph resembling one that I had withheld from publication in the Weinergate saga was released without my knowledge or permission.

Prior to the publication of our story on BigGovernment.com and BigJournalism.com this past Monday morning, it was necessary to show the pictures I had received from our source to several news producers, including several at major news networks, to prove that the additional material I described really did exist, which some have continued to doubt.

This morning, I showed a photograph, which our source claims Weiner sent her, to radio hosts “Opie and Anthony” of the Sirius XM radio network on my mobile device. Somehow, without my knowledge or permission, apparently a picture was taken of my mobile device, and subsequently published by Opie (Gregg Hughes) on Twitter.

His co-host, Anthony (Anthony Cumia), stated today:

“In regards to the photo of Anthony Weiner that was leaked by members of The Opie And Anthony show on 6/8, I want to make it clear that Andrew Breitbart had no knowledge that this photo was being made public. A phone with the photo was being displayed and a camera in the studio caught it. It was then uploaded to twitter [sic], again, without Andrew Breitbarts [sic] knowledge.”

I regret that this occurred.

Needless to say, neither Breitbart or Anthony “regret” the release of the photo.

The Washington political establishments of both big parties are not hip. But they deliver verdicts differently. Republicans allow disgraced politicians like Vitter to keep on keeping on. Democratic self-loathing doesn’t allow for that and with so many Blue Dog Democrats now holding sway it will take the strength of Huma Abedin and the dogged tenacity Weiner’s exhibited on the House floor before to weather the party’s wrath that continues to build.

The calls for resignation remain a mistake, especially looking at new generations of potential politicians waiting in the wings. Social media mistakes will be common to many good people coming up the ranks in politics, which Krystal Ball represented in the last cycle. But it shouldn’t be a deal breaker, nor should we continue to expect what never can be delivered: perfection in our politicians.

Weiner’s no Jack Kennedy and he’s no Bill Clinton. But at least his wife Huma is carrying his child and his cheating is virtual (at this point, though it really doesn’t matter if it crossed over after his X-rated exposure). You can’t say that about Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Edwards, David Vitter or the scores of other politicians who’ve been unmasked.

If Weiner had only paid a prostitute he wouldn’t be in this trouble, as David Vitter proves. The Washington political establishment can handle the oldest profession pitfall; they just can’t wrap their heads around virtual sex.

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Breitbart Leaks X-rated Shot to Opie and Anthony

By on 08 June 2011

**UPDATED**

After saying he was going to keep the X-rated photo as leverage, you know, (ahem) in case Rep. Anthony Weiner targeted him, Andrew Breitbart leaked the photo during an appearance with wingnut radio hosts Opie and Anthony.

It was tweeted earlier by the radio hosts, which was posted on yfrog, then Gawker blasted the photo.

From Raw Story:

Though they now claim that they retrieved a still of the phone from a videotape of the show and that Breitbart didn’t allow them to photograph it, the original image, now removed from Yfrog, showed a thumb in the corner of the lens, as though it was taken from a cell phone camera. Yfrog was the image-sharing service to which Weiner sent the “joke” photo of him in his boxers that started the entire scandal.

The bad news is Rep. Weiner’s campaign to keep his job just got a lot tougher (if not impossible).

The good news is, congratulations, Tony.

Tim Kaine sent the message for the Democratic Party this morning when he asked Weiner to resign, followed by others, so I sent a message via Twitter to Mr. Kaine. He will not get my vote for senator.

That all this is happening as we find out Huma Abedin is pregnant adds a poignant note to this sorry spectacle.

I remain someone who doesn’t think stupidity is a criminal offense, nor is a libido, and neither means someone can’t handle their job in Congress. It’s also not breaking news that a man could be proud of his junk and the boys. It’s just best not to take a photo then transmit it across open technology platforms when you’re a sitting congressman, no matter how proud you might be. It’s criminally dumb, but not shocking to me.

To drive the point home, I particularly want to get sleuthing anti sex puritans out of politics so that private foibles, except something seriously criminal, should not be an impediment to public office. It’s simply long past time America grew up.

When I look at the carnage of the George W. Bush presidency, a faithful man who couldn’t navigate technology if his life depended on it, I’m convinced of this.

Rep. Anthony Weiner engaged in risky behavior considering the trail technology leaves, which may or may not require counseling, but it doesn’t mean he can’t work a job if New Yorkers want him to.

The notion that Weiner will keep Democrats from focusing or winning in 2012 is preposterous, but that’s what Obama loyalists are pimping. People are focused on the economy and jobs, with the longer Republicans focus on Weiner’s weiner bound to eventually cause a backlash.

As long as there are prudes and moralists we will continue to be led by tight-ass people whose squeaky clean life make it miserable for the rest of us, but also don’t make this country work any smoother, make the middle class stronger, or wars less likely.

On the upside, maybe this will be Alec Baldwin’s big break, though what he knows about running the biggest city in the country is yet to be proved.

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