In the department of "ROTFLMAO", DemfromCT in an excellent post on a Shocking Gallup Poll Suggests Obama Should Keep His Day Job
If you listen to conservatives, Obama's poll numbers have been tanking lately. He's gone from astronomically popular to merely incredibly popular (and, of course, according to our media, that must be good news for John McCain.) But the numbers aren't cooperating this week with that narrative. To go along with this morning's Daily Kos R2K solid favorable/unfavorable numbers (which showed an especially favorable +13 for Congressional Democrats), Gallup's Presidential job approval rating jumped to 67%.
...
It's not that independents disliked him, they just moved to undecided as they absorbed the economic news, bank troubles and a steady diet of GOP carping. But that didn't last."Obama's approval rebound is due to increased support from all political groups, but especially from independents and Republicans, whose support had been waning. Over the past week, independents' approval of Obama dropped from 62% to 54%, but is now back to 62%. There has been a sharp increase in support among Republicans, from 27% to 42%. Democrats' support for Obama was already extremely high at 86%, but even this has climbed slightly, to 90% in the latest polling."
...
According to the numbers, Republicans had the biggest jump in approval. Now, that 42 is way higher than George W. Bush had on leaving office with all the voters (29), and is about what liberal/moderate Republicans thought of Bush this past December (conservative Republicans still loved Bush, with 72% approval, even as late as Dec. 08.) It's also higher than what a lot of other groups thought of Bush. Gallup in 12/08:
...
QOTD, Joe Sudbay: Their one true leader is Rush. He's kind of like the Kim Jong-Il of the GOP. You know, he's got all kinds of weird quirks and addictions, but they all live in fear of him and take orders without question.
QOTD2, Steve Benen: Now, I've seen quite a few descriptions of the Republican Party of late, but "a very narrow party of angry people" is one of the more apt.
QOTD3, John Cole: When you hear the wingnuts talk triumphantly about their little tea party today, that is the appropriate context (from the comments: “Remind me, was the original tea party a demonstration against 95% of the colonies getting a tax cut?”). I honestly don’t know how anyone with half a brain still identifies as a Republican or conservative. These guys seem intent on doing to the conservative brand what they did to the name liberal brand, only much more effectively. This is a bankrupt movement.
Priceless but Not CPAC QOTD4, proving once again that if repuglican lips are moving, they are lying.. TPM: Jindal Admits Katrina Story Was False.
Remember that story Bobby Jindal told in his big speech Tuesday night -- about how during Katrina, he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a local sheriff who was battling government red tape to try to rescue stranded victims?
Turns out it wasn't actually, you know, true.
...
But now, a Jindal spokeswoman has admitted to Politico that in reality, Jindal overheard Lee talking about the episode to someone else by phone "days later." The spokeswoman said she thought Lee, who died in 2007, was being interviewed about the incident at the time.
This is no minor difference. Jindal's presence in Lee's office during the crisis itself was a key element of the story's intended appeal, putting him at the center of the action during the maelstrom. Just as important, Jindal implied that his support for the sheriff helped ensure the rescue went ahead. But it turns out Jindal wasn't there at the key moment, and played no role in making the rescue happen.
There's a larger point here, though. The central anecdote of the GOP's prime-time response to President Obama's speech, intended to illustrate the threat of excessive government regulation, turns out to have been made up.
Maybe it's time to rethink the premise.
- Commenter at Swampland: gysgt213 Says: Friday, February 27, 2009 at 1:45 pm KT-Fox News' Carl Cameron today lied about why Jindal was not a CPAC. Cameron said that Jindal was attending to state business when it has already been reported that Jindal and his family are vac at friggin Disney Land. Why lie about that? This wasn't a mis-statement by Cameron it was an out and out lie. . Tucker Carlson was booed at CPAC today when he called for accuracy in media and used the NYT as an example.
- Josh Marshall on Key Metric: The F/R Ratio: As a rule, I try to avoid link war nonsense and getting into spats with other sites. But I'll make a small exception because it illustrates a point. Yesterday, we published a post by Zack Roth noting a number of reasons to question whether the main anecdote in Bobby Jindal's GOP response talk on Tuesday night ever really happened. ... Now, when I wrote the first draft of this post, Jindal had not yet admitted that the story was in fact false, which further clarifies the matter. So, as usual when I get an email from someone saying we got something wrong, I went to read the post with a tight knot in my stomach. But when I read the post it was all what lawyers would call 'non-responsive' -- a lot of claims and facts and noise, none which addressed the points we actually made. What there was a lot of was trash talk and insults. ... All of which is to say, as I referenced in the title, a very low ratio of facts to rage -- F/R ratio. I don't pretend that low F/R ratios are limited to the right. Far from it. And solid facts, if they undergird substantial allegations, can merit some outrage. But I do think this is one of the reasons why the second generation of web-based conservative news and politics sites have had some difficulty getting traction on key news stories, rather than the reasons they imagine.
Venal repuglican but not QOTD6, TPM: Secret Coleman-Lawyer E-Mails Reveal Intentional Hiding Of Witness -- Franken Camp Wants Double-Count Claim Thrown Out Completely
All hell just broke loose in the Minnesota courtroom, with Al Franken's lawyers catching Team Coleman in the act of yet more concealing of evidence -- and they've now made a motion to totally strike the Coleman camp's claims about double-counting of ballots, which the Coleman camp has hoped to use to subtract over 100 votes from Franken's lead. You might remember that ...
Ridiculous QOTD5, not CPAC, but ..... From AmericaBlog: Pay for toilets on a flight? --
Irish carrier Ryanair, Europe's largest budget airline, might start charging passengers for using the toilet while flying, chief executive Michael O'Leary said on Friday.
"One thing we have looked at in the past and are looking at again is the possibility of maybe putting a coin slot on the toilet door so that people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny in future," he told BBC television.
He said this would not inconvenience passengers travelling without cash. "I don't think there is anybody in history that has got on board a Ryanair aircraft with less than a pound."
TPM: Steele's New GOP Message: 'My Bad'
At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, RNC Chief Michael Steele announced: "Tonight, we tell America: we know the past, we know we did wrong. My bad." Enthusiastically responding to the speech, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) said: "Michael Steele! You be da man! You be da man."
- hilzoy adds: Dat Michele Bachmann is sho' nuff hep to da black man's lingo. She down with Malcolm and the Panthers. Any moment now she gwine get wise to da special secret code words like 'bling' and 'bitch' and 'chill' and 'whack'. She keep conversatin like dis, black folks gwine realize dat Barack Obama ain't the only hep cat on da scene.
- Benen: IS THIS 'BEYOND CUTTING-EDGE'?.... Following up on Hilzoy's item from earlier, I want to offer the Republican Party some simple and friendly advice: stop trying so hard to be cool. It's backfiring. ... Enough. This is embarrassing. These guys are making The Daily Show's "Reagraham Lincool" skit look like it was sincere.
TPM: SLIDESHOW: Conservative Activists Come Out For CPAC 2009
Rachel. Nuff said.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Joe Sudbay: Rush, the GOP's one true Supreme Leader
This weekend, at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC), which could be called the "We want Obama to fail" conference, they're all anxiously awaiting the leader of the GOP. ... Their one true leader is Rush. He's kind of like the Kim Jong-Il of the GOP. You know, he's got all kinds of weird quirks and addictions, but they all live in fear of him and take orders without question.
Americans United and AFSCME did an ad featuring Rush and his most loyal servants:
The ad will be playing on cable nationally and in the D.C. market, which means the CPAC whackos can see their leader featured in a t.v. ad. But, the sick thing is that none of them will think this is bad. They all agree with Rush. ...
Yglesias - McConnell: Hanging Out With Rush Limbaugh is Awesome
Sarah Posner reports from CPAC:
In his CPAC speech, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted that conservatives are more “interesting” and “fun” than liberals. Here’s his proof: “who wants to hang out with guys like Paul Krugman and Robert Reich when you can be with Rush Limbaugh?”
Think Progress has boldly gone to CPAC and is delivering goodies like this: Tom DeLay Channels Limbaugh: I Want Obama To Fail
... In an interview with ThinkProgress at CPAC today, we asked DeLay whether he agrees with Limbaugh’s statements. DeLay said Limbaugh was “exactly” right to root for Obama’s failure:TP: Do you agree with Rush Limbaugh that we shouldn’t hope for President Obama to succeed?
DELAY: Well, exactly right. I don’t want this for our nation. That’s for sure.
...
It’s not surprising that DeLay is hoping for the President to fail; he has been slandering Obama for months. “I tagged him as a Marxist months ago,” DeLay boasted during the campaign, recalling his earlier assertions Obama had an “old school Marxist, radical liberal failed ideology.”
In a separate interview with ThinkProgress at CPAC today, DeLay said that Obama is a “con artist.” Watch the video here.
(Videos at the link, I won't post Delay here.)
More TP boldness: Exclusive: Joe the Plumber suggests some members of Congress should be shot.
On Wednesday, Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher said that if he were in Congress, he would “probably be in jail” because he’d be charged with “slapping some member.” He added, “And that’s not [bull] either.” ...
Tea Party: Benen and A FOOL AND HIS MONEY....
Jonah Goldberg explains his opposition to President Obama's economic agenda, and what he wants to do about it.I just don't want to pay for it. It's not that I don't want government to do nice things for deserving people in certain circumstances. It's not necessarily that I'm hostile to this group of beneficiaries or that (though I am in fact hostile to some). It's that I think most of Obama's ideas will not work, will be a waste of money and will hurt the economy. And, flatly, I don't want to pay for it. I don't want to break the law. I don't want pull a Geithner or a Daschle or anything like that. But I don't want to pay for it. I will look for every means within the boundaries of the law to minimize what I pay in taxes and I make no apologies for that whatsoever.
Goldberg was a little vague as to what "it" is he doesn't like. Infrastructure investment? Student loans? Food stamps?
In any case, I found this interesting. ...
...
Goldberg concludes, however, that he's looking for guidance about how to follow the law while also denying the government funding. The available options are limited, but off the top of my head, and motivated solely by my desire to help Jonah Goldberg, I can think of two alternatives.
...
First, most of the money Goldberg pays to the government comes by way of income taxes. As such, if he wants to undermine the government's economic policies, he'll need to make less money. ...
Second, he can leave the country. ...
Beyond those options, I'm afraid Goldberg's out of luck. Am I missing any alternatives?
Benen onTHE LONG-AWAITED INTRA-PARTY FRICTION?....
... Matt Yglesias flagged these comments from Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a conservative Republican from a conservative Republican state. ...Now, I've seen quite a few descriptions of the Republican Party of late, but "a very narrow party of angry people" is one of the more apt. Matt also noted that Huntsman's contingent also probably includes Charlie Crist and David Brooks, making up a reformist branch looking for a bigger, more inclusive party.
What's striking, though, is just how small the contingent is. Just a couple of weeks ago, 95% of the Republicans in Congress voted for a stimulus package that didn't include any stimulus. Rush Limbaugh said no one should criticize far-right Republican Bobby Jindal's national address, not because it was good, but because he's a far-right Republican. RNC Chairman Michael Steele is openly discussing the possibility of withholding support from Republican lawmakers who stray from the conservative line. A GOP leader in the House is openly discussing emulating the Taliban, and no one in the party denounced the comments. It's the Palin-Pence-Plumber Party.
Huntsman's perspective stands out in large part because most of the party isn't even willing to consider the possibility of veering from its current course.
If there's a Republican "civil war" for the party's future, Huntsman/Crist/Brooks doesn't stand a chance.
Benen - NYUK, NYUK, NUKE.... What is it about conservatives and their attitudes about attacks on U.S. cities?
A few years ago, TV preacher Pat Robertson said he welcomed a nuclear attack on the State Department, telling a national television audience, "Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up." A couple of years later, Bill O'Reilly welcomed a terrorist attack on San Francisco. The Fox News personality told al Qaeda, "You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead."
And yesterday, the Bush administration's former U.N. ambassador, John Bolton, generated wild applause joking about a nuclear attack on Chicago.
"The fact is on foreign policy I don't think President Obama thinks it's a priority," Bolton said. "He said during the campaign he thought Iran was a 'tiny' threat. Tiny, tiny depending on how many nuclear weapons they are ultimately able to deliver on target. It's, uh, it's tiny compared to the Soviet Union, but is the loss of one American city -- pick one at random, Chicago -- is that a tiny threat?"
Jonathan Stein noted, "Bolton wasn't the only one who thought this was funny. ...
Either way, it's evidence of a twisted ideology. I find it hard to believe Bolton sincerely wants to see Chicago hit by a nuclear strike, but if the right would stop welcoming cataclysmic attacks on Americans, I'd feel a little better about their seemingly sick psyches. ...
Post Script: By the way, Bolton took Obama's "tiny" quote out of context. He's not only joking about domestic terrorism and the death of millions; he's lying about it, too.
Commenter ottoman88 at Swampland:
Karl Rove condemns Obama's budget: 'This is going to do long-term fiscal damage'
Karl Rove ... last night on Sean Hannity's Fox program ... flat-out attacked the Obama stimulus.
...
This is going to do long-term fiscal damage to the United States.
I'm not sure any member of the Bush administration should be making this kind of speculative charge. Especially considering that their budget-making in fact did inflict long-term fiscal damage.
Worst persons in the World. Hannity fomenting insurrection.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Meanwhile, while Scherer is focused on what soft drink is popular at the White House, the conservatives in this country are fantasizing about having a military coup or having Chicago struck with a nuclear bomb.
.
http://forums.hannity.com/showthread.php?t=1326121
.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/02/26/bolton-nukes-chicago/
.
Sean Hannity asking his viewers what kind of revolution they want to have, John Bolton chuckling at CPAC about the prospects of Obama's home town getting nuked. Remind me again, Beltway Media morons -- why do you think bipartisanship is possible, much less so important?