Do I want to know what this is, Cam? Continue reading Repo! The Genetic Opera… ?
Leno over the Gridiron.
After deciding to stay away from the Gridiron Club – where everything is off the record, on both sides of the equation – the President has decided to go on Jay Leno:
Obama to appear on Leno – will he bring a teleprompter?
The news that President Obama will appear on Jay Leno’s show Thursday night could be told in a couple ways depending on what type of site you’re on.
More right-leaning: Faced with plummeting polls and Boston Tea Party-like rebellions popping up all over the country, President Barack Obama is attempting to save his faltering presidency by going to the last place that still accepts him: Hollywood.
More left-leaning: With rock solid poll numbers (higher than Reagan at this point in the presidency), President Barack Obama has the courage to leave the Washington echo chamber and talk to the common man.
Via Glenn Reynolds, who notes that the headlines have been getting less respectful of the President lately. Given the ludicrously over-enthusiastic treatment that the man got from them, it’s not before time. The sooner that the President gets it through his head that he’s just a man, the better off we’re all going to be. Continue reading Leno over the Gridiron.
Democrats moving to distance themselves from Obama’s veterans policy.
There’s been quite the flareup over the disastrous Shineski comments on potential changes in veteran policy, and the Democrats in Congress have wasted no time in distancing themselves from the administration on this one. As just one example, we have Senator James Webb*: when contacted regarding the recent CNN article indicating the possibility of a “controversial plan to make veterans pay for treatment of service-related injuries with private insurance,” Webb’s office provided this response from the Senator: “Treatment for service-connected injuries is clearly within the responsibility of the U.S. government through the Department of Veterans Affairs—period.” This statement to RedState is a duplicate of the statement also made to the Huffington Post; the story there also mentions a letter being put together by House Democrats opposing any such change. Very, very, loudly, and to anyone who will listen.
It’s become increasingly obvious that the administration’s tin ear when it comes to dealing with groups not inclined to be forgiving about it remains in full force. They haven’t gotten any faster at correcting their mistakes, either: Obama’s profoundly unsuccessful meeting with American Legion President David Rehbein should have been resolved yesterday, not tomorrow. Assuming that it will be: it’s possible that Obama will try an I-won and a flash of the charisma that he does not, in point of fact, actually have.
No, really. Bill Clinton would have had Rehbein walking out of there all smiles in the first place. For that matter, so would have George W Bush; but then, Bush had the advantage of being a Republican.
Moe Lane
*I’ve also contacted Senator Patty Murray’s office, but they haven’t gotten back to me yet.
Crossposted to RedState.
Start the Geithner Resignation Pool!
“The president has complete confidence” in Geithner, Gibbs told reporters.
Via Allahpundit. I’m taking Thursday, March 19th, 11 AM, for the notification that the SecTreas needs to spend more time with his family; this was a bit of a tough call for me, but by now the joke that administrations always pick Friday afternoons for bad news like this is just too well known. Besides, they’re going to want the Dow to rally for the weekend (it’s bad news politically, not economically).
By the way: that offer I made regarding finding a Commerce Secretary for Obama? I’d be happy to pick a Treasury Secretary, too… only, I won’t promise a liberal Democrat for this one. Nothing personal, but I think that we kind of need somebody who can project assurance, calmness, and competence.
A Republican, in other words.
Crossposted to RedState.
OK, OK, I’m not *embarrassed* to be Irish.
It’s just that this:
(Flogging Molly
…is truer than what’s below: Continue reading OK, OK, I’m not *embarrassed* to be Irish.
Hey, what do you call a six point shift in the partisan identification numbers?
[UPDATE] Hi to Ace of Spades & Hot Air readers.
“Republicans Take Small Lead.”
I’m not really criticizing Rasmussen, here: they have to be cautious. And it will almost certainly flip back and forth from last week’s Dem +3 and this week’s Rep +2. Nonetheless… you do have to wonder just how badly we are getting hurt by actually sticking to principles for a change.
Crossposted to RedState.
A special St. Patrick’s Day message for Dodd, from the NRSC.
[UPDATE] Hi to Instapundit readers.
It takes a lot for me to admit to the existence of St. Patrick’s Day; like virtually everybody else who can legitimately claim full-blooded Irish descent (15/16ths, in my case), I despise this holiday. Drunken non-Celtic buffoons with bad accents vomiting all over the place doesn’t appeal*. So, it requires something special to get me to even acknowledge the iconography.
This’ll do:
Continue reading A special St. Patrick’s Day message for Dodd, from the NRSC.
As you can see, there’s a Reciprocal bloglist in place now.
Which is probably not going to be automatic, alas: I’m trying to keep my sidebars under control.
And, in other news: George Bush sings U2
Old, but refreshing, in its way.
The most interesting thing about this J-List thing…
…as mentioned by Brother Erick Erickson here, about this article here, is that nowhere does the Politico state that they got their information about this particular echo chamber from their own J-List members. The only on-the-record quote from a named Politico J-Lister is, in fact, rather innocuous. Which suggests that either: Politico doesn’t want its own members being accused of dishing out some of the more salacious details; or that they have independent sources willing to forward juicy details to the Politico.
Either way, sounds like they’re breaking Rules #1 & #2 of Fight Club
Moe Lane
PS: Thanks for letting us know that Toobin’s on that list, by the way. Alterman we would have guessed, anyway, but there are people who actually still believe that Toobin’s somewhere close to objective.
Crossposted to RedState.
And so the 2010 fundraising cycle begins.
Via Andrew Malcolm we see that Obama’s first Presidential fundraiser is scheduled for March 25th, for the DNC. Currently, the Democrats are trying to lower expectations, which… doesn’t mean much of anything, really. They did a lot of that last year to heighten their eventual totals, and it worked out pretty well for them.
Continue reading And so the 2010 fundraising cycle begins.