Obama and the End of the World

QOTD, President Obama: "We Will Bring Our Troops Home"

QOTD2, Benen on Gingrich's new talking point: It has a certain child-like appeal, just so long as no one thinks about it too much.

This morning - Wars ending and wars expanding, The Will Follies, and CPAC. Three Maddow videos today. In case it isn't clear I'm totally in the tank for Rachel. Unapologetically liberal, but deeply focused on facts instead of talking points. What a breath of fresh air.

And the opening salvo is Maddow in a stunning segment you should watch if you want to understand certain key RW code words that are flying thick and heavy.

Apocalypse now?

Feb. 27: Rachel Re: There seems to be one theme the conservative base keeps raving about at the C-PAC conference, President Obama is a socialist. Huh? Which some conservatives mean if President Obama is a socialist, then he's the anti-Christ and the rapture is surely coming. Really?

• From sgw: yet another reason why I appreciate Rachel Maddow's show. In all of this time she is the first person that I know of who has even broached the subject with these two authors and she did a great job of engaging in a tough interview without offending the interviewees.

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Greg Sargent: Top Dems Planning Amped Up Efforts To Elevate Rush As GOP’s Public Face

Top Democratic operatives are planning a stepped up campaign to promote Rush Limbaugh as the public face of the GOP — an effort that will include recruiting Dem governors to make this case on talk shows, getting elected officials to pen Op eds arguing it, and running more ads pushing it, a senior Democratic operative says.

...

“I’m encouraging every Democrat, every progressive, to be pointing out this powerful but painful truth: The party of Lincoln is now the Party of Limbaugh,” Begala continued. “We should make every Republican answer this: Why do they want our president to fail?”

Sargent: Romney Disses Rush?

* And unless I’m missing something, Mitt Romney threw a brush-back pitch at Rush Limbaugh during his speech at CPAC. Romney said:

“In the last eight years, we saw how a president’s political adversaries could be consumed by anger, and even hatred. That is not the spirit that brings us together. We want our country to succeed, no matter who’s in power…in good times and bad, the interests of this great nation come first.”

Hard to see that as anything but a reference to Rush’s infamous claim that he wants Obama to fail. Pretty gutsy on Romney’s part.

ROTFLMAO - KOS' DHinMI: How Could I Tell?

I live in DC. A few minutes ago I was on the Metro. The subway stopped at the Woodley Park/Zoo/Adams Morgan station. Two guy in suits got on. It's DC, so there's nothing notable about guys on a Friday night wearing suits, not even near the party destination neighborhood of Adams Morgan. But there was something different about them. They were both big, somewhat overweight, had brush cuts, wore gray suits with black shirts and nondescript ties, and had flag pins on their lapels. One guy sat across from me. I looked at him, and thought of Family Guy where Peter described the "two symbols of the Republican party: an elephant and a big fat white guy who's threatened by change."

Knowing that the Conservative Political Action Conference(CPAC) was being held nearby, I asked, "were you at CPAC?"

The guy sorta smiled.

"Yeah!"

I think he then realized that I probably wasn't a fellow traveler...or that maybe I was that other kind of fellow traveler. Whatever the case, his smile went away, and I wasn't so cruel as to say that his ultraconservatism was so obvious that he stood out on the Metro.

What is it? Why do the people who think Rush Limbaugh holds all the answer to our politics are so out of whack with the rest of us that they even look different?

Benen says NEWT GOES OFF-MESSAGE....

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich received a hero's welcome at the Conservative Political Action Conference in D.C. yesterday, and proceeded to blast "the Bush-Obama big spending program."

It's a phrase Gingrich is clearly very fond of. Indeed, the ethically-challenged former Speaker seems really intent on connecting President Obama's economic policies to George W. Bush's. Two weeks ago, Gingrich had an op-ed in the Washington Times in which he used the phrase "Bush-Obama" four times in four paragraphs.

...

I understand the point he's trying to get across. Bush increased spending, Obama is increasing spending. Bush's policies were a disaster for the economy, so Obama's policies....

It has a certain child-like appeal, just so long as no one thinks about it too much.

...

This just doesn't add up. Either Obama's approach is a radical change or it's Bush's agenda warmed over. It can't be both.

DemfromCT's Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up, including this:

WaPo Ombudsman: George Will and global warming.

As the debate continues, questions linger about The Post's editing process. And there are separate questions about how The Post reacted once readers began questioning the accuracy of Will's column.

And before you throw things at the rookie:

The editors who checked the Arctic Research Climate Center Web site believe it did not, on balance, run counter to Will's assertion that global sea ice levels "now equal those of 1979." I reviewed the same Web citation and reached a different conclusion.

War

Rachel demonstrates why she is so good. No one gets away with fudging the facts - including our new President.
Maddow on End of the war. "Feb. 27: President Obama made his plan to withdraw troops in Iraq by 2010 official, with at least 35,000-50,000 residual troops remaining in the country. Why are some Democrats against this plan? Rachel Maddow is joined by former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq Charles Duelfer.

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The Next Front. Rachel with Richard Engel.

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