Sunday, November 25, 2012

SPENDING BINGE

Guess which candidate was actually better at marshaling their resources wisely? 

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-president-obama-won-a-second-term-20121123
[James Carville] Conservatives have a point here: You give somebody too many resources, and they don't allocate them very well. The top people in the Romney campaign were paid $134 million in this election. The top consultants in the Obama campaign were paid $6 million. Democrats just spent their money smarter, better and with less nepotism or favoritism.. . . [read on]

More: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/82217.html

Another interesting blog juxtaposition

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/ex-bushie-fox-says-we-need-take-care-pe
Ex-Bushie on Fox Says We Need To Take Care of the Deserving: 'Job Creators'

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/only-36-1-are-entrepreneurs-and-other
Only 3.6% Of 1% Are Entrepreneurs

The Republican brain
 
 

William Hazlitt, 1820, on the differences between liberals and conservatives
  
  
When did Christian preachers become so . . . hateful?

[Franklin Graham]  "Maybe God will have to bring our nation down to our knees—to where you just have a complete economic collapse. And maybe at that point, maybe people will again begin to call upon the name of almighty God." [read on]

[Pat Robertson] "It's, well, Christmas all over again. The Grinch is trying to steal our holiday. It's been so beautiful, the nation comes together, we sing Christmas carols, we give gifts to each other, we have lighted trees, and it's just a beautiful thing. Atheists don't like our happiness, they don't want you to be happy, they want you to be miserable. They're miserable, so they want you to be miserable. So they want to steal your holiday away from you." [read on]
  
Wow, just . . . wow

[Bryan Fischer, American Family Association] "The only way we can know the age of the earth is if we have eyewitness testimony of somebody who was there, and that's what we have in the Bible" . . . [read on]

[NB: This comment typifies what is so dangerous about empowering the religious right as a major political force. People can believe whatever they want to believe spiritually, but this attitude is toxic in the political realm: it brooks no compromise on evolution, no compromise on abortion, etc. These are matters of Revealed Truth, and any "compromise" is blasphemy.

I watched Mike Huckabee on Jon Stewart the other night trying to parse a comment he had made that said basically "If you disagree with me (us) you are doomed to Hell." How do you deal with people like that?

This is an extra-political world view, because the workings of politics (votes, public opinion, deliberation, compromise, etc) mean nothing to these people. And they have the Republican party in their grip.]
   
The Sunday talk show line-ups

ABC’s This Week:  Armed Services Committee member Sen. Lindsey Graham and Foreign Relations Committee member and Senate Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin. Then, actor and director Ben Affleck, founder of the Eastern Congo Initiative, and Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Roundtable: Matthew Dowd, Joe Klein, Ruth Marcus, Peggy Noonan, David Sanger.

CBS’ Face the Nation:  Presidential authors Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jon Meacham, Evan Thomas, Bob Woodward.

Chris Hayes:  Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN). Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation magazine. Hussein Ibish, senior fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine and executive director of the Hala Salaam Maksoud Foundation for Arab-American Leadership. MSNBC contributor Rula Jebreal, also a contributor to Newsweek magazine. Tarek Masoud, associate professor of public policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Reza Aslan, author of ”No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam,” and an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Eli Lake, senior national security reporter for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Heather Hurlburt, executive director of the National Security Network, a progressive think tank, and a former speechwriter and member of the policy planning team in the State Department under the Clinton administration.

CNN’s State of the Union:  Retiring Senators Jon Kyl, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Joe Lieberman and Rep. Barney Frank reflect on their careers.

Fareed Zakaia GPS: Author Robert Caro; Author Jon Meacham; Author Robert Kaplan.

Moyers & Company:  What It’s Like to Go to War. In this encore broadcast, Vietnam veteran and author Karl Marlantes explains what we need to understand about the minds and hearts of our modern warriors.

NBC’s Meet the Press:  President Obama’s second term with documentarian Ken Burns; Vice Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Carly Fiorina; MSNBC’s Al Sharpton; New York Times columnist David Brooks; and NBC’s Andrea Mitchell.  Then, the Chair of the Armed Services Committee Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), and Chair of the Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King (R-NY).  Plus, Honeywell CEO David Cote.

Bonus item: It's official -- Willard's final vote total . . . . 47%

http://www.samefacts.com/2012/11/campaigns/campaign-2012/poetic-justice-2/
 
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Saturday, November 24, 2012

AFTER YOU!
 
Looks like the GOPers are laying a trap for Obama - letting him take the heat for entitlement cuts in the deficit deal, then planning to bash him for it

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/11/the-gops-conspicuous-silence-about-entitlement-cuts.php

Cuts to Obamacare part of the deficit deal?

 http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/11/the-three-most-likely-obamacare-cuts.php

 More: http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/will-obamacare-break-through-fox-news
Apt juxtaposition: consecutive postings on D-Kos

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/23/1163564/-Surprise-Report-says-income-inequality-still-getting-worse-in-most-states
Surprise! Report says income inequality still getting worse in most states

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/21/1163706/-Rush-Limbaugh-Walmart-protests-show-the-assault-on-capitalism-is-still-under-way
Rush Limbaugh: Walmart protests show 'the assault on capitalism ... is still under way'

How cynical is the GOP's trumped-up outrage over Benghazi?

 http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/11/worth_noting_1.php

 http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/11/the_infinite_loop.php

The New Way of War

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-president-and-his-sniper-rifle.html
 
Wow, talk about a 180: John Podhoretz of Commentary explains how everything he said before the election was wrong

 http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/11/podhoretz-has-awkward-postelection-epiphany.html
The postelection Podhoretz argues that Obama’s win was “an astonishing technical accomplishment but in no way whatsoever a substantive one.”  . . . [read on]

 ALMOST makes me feel a little bad for him

 http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/11/wham_bam_thank_you_mitt_1.php
[JT] Honestly, I find this a bit disturbing. I mean, two weeks ago all these people were defending everything Romney said. He lost the election in part because of some of those criticizing him now.

I can’t remember any Democratic presidential nominee being so vilified after a losing election, even Dukakis.

Sure, some candidates are better than others but Romney was by far not the worst candidate the GOP has ever put up. In fact, he was not the worst to run against Obama, if you get my drift. (Hint: he didn’t choose Sarah Palin as his running mate.) 

To me this says a great deal more about the GOP than about Romney. If you think a guy like this is so bad, don’t nominate him. Don’t spend a BILLION DOLLARS trying to get him elected then a week later say…’Oops, we goofed. He was a mistake.’

The Republican Party has a problem, but it is not one candidate; it is not packaging or branding; it is not messaging that is sinking the GOP. It is the core beliefs of the vast majority of Republicans.. . . [read on]

 More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/disappearing-romney.html

 Pat Robertson can't understand how he could have misread God's guarantee that Mitt Romney would win. David Atkins explains

 http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/pat-robertson-misses-god-so-do-lot-of.html
There are many people who try to get a sense of the purpose of the universe, ascertain their role in it, and attempt to go with the flow of what that purpose intends. That's part of living spiritually. Atheists will scoff and say that such things are illusory, and that's fine. Whether there is a higher power of some kind is ultimately unknowable.

But what is knowable is that every sap and two-bit con artist like Robertson who claims to know the intent of God, who claims to ask specific questions of God and receive specific answers, hasn't heard anything more than the confirmation of their own biases and prejudices. . . .

A little bit of inside baseball: it looks like the estimates of "likely voters" (versus "registered voters") were part of what threw off polling predictions

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/23/1164213/--Likely-voter-polling-screens-were-skewed-toward-Romney

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/23/1163761/-On-Likely-Voters-Did-screening-for-likely-voters-lead-to-accurate-polling  

An important trend -- and not a good one

 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/23/us/politics/one-party-control-opens-states-to-partisan-rush.html
Come January, more than two-thirds of the states will be under single-party control . . .
 
2014: two views

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/why-the-tea-party-will-find-success-in-2014/2012/11/23/6293146e-3582-11e2-92f0-496af208bf23_blog.html
Why the tea party will find success in 2014 

http://crooksandliars.com/mike-lux/can-democrats-retake-house-2014
Can Democrats Retake the House in 2014?

Bush v. Clinton in 2016? It could happen

 http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/11/23/jeb_bush_mulling_presidential_bid.html

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-d-rosenstein/hillary-2016_b_2094392.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83550.html

Bonus item: Ah, it's that time of year: the scent of burning leaves, families gathering for holiday meals, shopping lists and department store sales and. . . and Fox News going crazy over the Plot to Destroy Christmas

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Friday, November 23, 2012

EVERYBODY MAKES MISTAKES

 John McCain is trying to make Susan Rice's Sunday talk show misstatements about Benghazi into a federal offense, even though she was only repeating the talking points she was given. But how many times has John McCain said something wrong on a Sunday talk show?

 http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/maddow-takes-down-mccain-all-times-he-said

 Pat Robertson: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/robertson-admits-blew-election-prediction
Robertson Admits he Blew Election Prediction he Received from God

 Joe Scarborough: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/22/1163869/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Round-up-Joe-Scarborough-digs-his-hole-deeper
Joe Scarborough digs his hole deeper

 Mitt Romney: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/22/1163852/-Thanks-for-the-Romneyfreude
[April 16] Former Governor Mitt Romney is already offering top donors access to a special "Presidential Inaugural retreat," planned on the assumption that he will be elected president this November. . . .

Andrea Tantaros: http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/foxs-andrea-tantaros-crippled-inside
Fox News host Andrea Tantaros on Wednesday seemed to be mocking the millions of hungry Americans who are forced to used food stamps when she suggested that the program would make for a great diet plan. . . .

“Could you live on 133 bucks a month for food?” Varney asked Tantaros, who co-hosts Fox News’ The Five.

“I should try it because, do you know how fabulous I’d look?” she replied. “I mean, the camera adds ten pounds. It really does. I would be looking great.” [read on]

This guy: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/nov/22/desjarlais-regret-past-actions-no-plans-to/
U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais said Wednesday that he never intentionally misled voters about his past and stressed that he has no plans to resign over recent revelations that depict a private life starkly at odds with his public image as an anti-abortion, family values congressman. . . .

DesJarlais said he is not the same man who supported his first wife's decision to have two abortions. The physician-turned-congressman said he also deeply regrets sexual relationships with multiple women, including two patients, three co-workers and a drug company representative while he was chief of staff at Grandview Medical Center in Jasper.

DesJarlais, re-elected to a second term just two weeks ago, said he hopes voters will look at the job he has done while in office and will not judge him on his past.

No, I'm not convinced that Grover Norquist's stranglehold over the GOP on taxes has been broken. We'll find out soon enough

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/grover-norquist-becoming-irrelevant

Michigan's GOP show their priorities

http://wonkwire.com/2012/11/22/michigan-lawmakers-propose-tax-credits-for-unborn-foetuses/ 
“Republican lawmakers in Michigan, a state which eliminated tax credits for children last year, have proposed a tax credit for unborn fetuses of 12 weeks gestation,” the Guardian reports . . .[read on]

 Dan Senor's whining that the Romney campaign was deceived by inaccurate polls is really a condemnation of the campaign itself. Rule number one is you need detailed, reliable intelligence on the ground. Your job is to get it

 http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/11/22/how_the_obama_campaign_polled.html
How the Obama Campaign Polled 

Bonus item: Bill O'Reilly bemoans the loss of "Traditional America"
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Thursday, November 22, 2012

TURKEYS

 Repubs want to renegotiate Obamacare in the deficit talks

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/boehner-deficit-talks-must-be-broadened-to-include--obamacare/2012/11/21/ee4ad754-33f6-11e2-bfd5-e202b6d7b501_blog.html
Now, obviously, this is going to be a non-starter for Dems, and Boehner has no way of delivering on it. So why make the suggestion at all? Remember, Boehner recently acknowledged that Obamacare is “the law of the land.” Dems took that as a sign that Boehner was subtly letting the Tea Party wing of the GOP that they needed to accept the verdict of the election and cooperate with Dems in the deficit talks. But Boehner quickly backtracked, Tweeting: “Our goal has been, and will remain, full repeal.”. . .

 http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/11/white-house-obamacare-is-off-the-table-for-debt-reduction.php 
White House: Obamacare Off The Table For Debt Reduction
 
Obamacare will be on the table in debt talks. Here’s what that might mean.

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/21/millions-will-qualify-for-new-options-under-the-health-care-law-the-vast-majority-have-no-idea/
Millions will qualify for new options under the health care law. Most have no idea. 

This is just not where you want to be trying to defend yourself

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/21/1163723/-Like-white-on-Rice-Republican-critics-say-there-s-nothing-racist-in-their-digs
Republican critics say there's nothing racist in their digs against Susan Rice

More: http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/11/susan-rice-defends-her-remarks-on-benghazi.html
 
So one thing the Republicans seem to be discovering is that in the new Free Market of Campaign Polling, you can always find someone who will sell you what you want. What the Repubs wanted was reality-denying data that made the Romney/Obama contest look closer than it was -- and there were people happy to give it to them. Lesson number one: you can try to fool others, but never fool yourselves

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/romney-adviser-conservative-polling-facing-some-kind-of  

Shocking! There are fair-weather friends in politics

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/21/1163700/-Top-Romney-adviser-shocked-to-learn-it-sucks-to-be-a-loser
“It is stunning,” former Romney campaign official Dan Senor said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“The Friday night before the election, we were in Cincinnati for this huge rally … Tens of thousands of people, you could feel the energy, a hundred top-tier Romney surrogates were at the event. I’m backstage with some of them, I won’t mention their names, but they’re talking about Romney like he’s Reagan. ‘His debate performances were the best performances of any Republican nominee in presidential history. He’s iconic.’ They were talking about him because they believed he was going to win in four or five days. And in fact, some of them were already talking to our transition to position themselves for a Romney cabinet.”

“I won’t say who they are,” Senor said. “They know who they are. They were on television, it was unbelievable, it was five, six days later, absolutely eviscerating him.” 

Things to be thankful for

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/21/five-economic-trends-to-be-thankful-for 
Five economic trends to be thankful for

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/21/the-deficit-is-already-shrinking-in-one-chart/ 
The deficit is already shrinking, in one chart 

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/11/federal-deficit-shrinking-already-thats-not-really-good-thing 
The Federal Deficit Is Shrinking Already, But That's Not Really a Good Thing

Some states want to secede? Maybe we should let them  

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/can-we-help-would-be-secessionists-p 
This gap between political perception and fiscal reality is also reflected in the distribution of tax dollars at the state level: Most politically "red" states are financially in the red when it comes to how much money they receive from Washington compared with what their residents pay in taxes. . . . 

Bonus item: Macy's parade, 1940

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxFd4cAhwzo


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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

DEAD ENDERS
 
The owner of UnSkewedPolls.com, which became famous as the site that argued that every poll that showed Romney losing was biased, and only polls showing him winning could be believed, hasn't gone away. His new project? Building on his reputation for accuracy and careful analysis to launch a new site that "shows" how Obama stole the election

 http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/unskewed-polls-founder-dean-chambers-launches-vote-fraud

 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#49911024

 Here it is: http://www.barackofraudo.com/va.cfm 

[NB: "Black states" -  get it?]

 It's official: the GOP agenda is not about voter fraud, it's about making it harder for people to vote, period
 
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/20/1163469/-Wisconsin-Gov-Scott-Walker-wants-to-kill-the-nation-s-oldest-same-day-voter-registration-law

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/heres-a-thought-why-dont-we-make-voting-easy/2012/11/20/3751c7c0-334b-11e2-92f0-496af208bf23_blog.html 

Watch! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjekEfBThS0 

So, GOP soul-searchers are asking how the party can reform its lousy image with women and people of color. I know! Start off Obama's second term by trying to block a black woman for Sect'y of State on the flimsiest of excuses 

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/11/heilemann-susan-rice-being-hung-out-to-dry.html

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/20/15307701-the-change-in-the-benghazi-talking-points 

The Fox News effect: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/11/benghazi-and-fox-news-effect 

How the GOP govs are trying to undermine Obamacare, even to the disadvantage of their own state citizens 

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/20/15311603-what-gop-governors-hope-to-accomplish-on-health-care 

[NB: All of these first stories show that it is going to be VERY hard for the GOP to respond to the lessons of the election. They really do have a base of reality-denying hard-heads, and the talk-radio faction NEEDS to exploit racial hatreds as part of their appeal. National pols and party pros may know better -- but it will not be easy to move their discourse away from the very things that get the true believers worked up and angry.] 

Wonkbook: the Washington Post's amazing daily synthesis of policy-detailed analyses. I'll start adding links here 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/21/wonkbook-everything-you-need-to-know-about-obamacares-regulations 

The framework for a debt deal? 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/20/is-this-the-deal-that-will-end-the-austerity-crisis/ 

Obama's "anti-Israel" policies -- not so anti-Israel 

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/20/15313318-everything-we-could-ever-hope-for 

Bad news: more warrantless email surveillance 

http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/11/20/leahy-reverses-email-privacy-bill-to-give-federal-agencies-more-warrantless-surveillance-abilities/

Bonus item: Out of gas (thanks to SC for the link)

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com


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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

("I NEED A SMOKE")

No, I do not think this Republican party will ever vote to raise taxes. They've made it part of their brand

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-grover-norquists-rear-guard-action-on-taxes/2012/11/19/33f5d48a-3298-11e2-9cfa-e41bac906cc9_story.html
Some prominent Republicans — among them House Speaker John Boehner, publisher Bill Kristol and Sen. Bob Corker — have been making noise about the need for the GOP to be flexible about raising taxes.

But the keeper of the Pledge is not concerned. Grover Norquist, the party’s Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, says he sees no chance of Republicans going squishy.. . . [read on]

More: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/11/should-obama-call-republican-bluff-taxes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/19/to-tax-now-or-to-tax-later/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/19/think-the-fight-over-taxes-is-bad-just-wait-until-we-get-to-entitlements

GOP govs seem to want MORE federal responsibility for health care

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/11/republican-governors-stonewall-health-care-exchanges.php

http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/gop-governors-unwittingly-move-us-toward-si 

I don't know which is worse: that asking a potential presidential candidate about the age of the Earth is seen as a relevant and important issue, or that candidates from one political party CAN'T find a way to answer it
 
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/rubio-declines-to-say-how-old-earth-is 
[Marco Rubio] “I'm not a scientist, man. . . . It’s one of the great mysteries”


Epistemological relativism for dummies

By the way, Rubio's not the only one with this problem


The worst candidate of 2012

Loser Romney campaign STILL trying to find someone else to blame for their defeat

 
Are the GOPers really going to bash Romney for saying that minorities are a bunch of entitlement-dependent moochers, when that has been a party mantra for years?

 
It's NEVER their fault

Evangelical leaders and conservative activists have a simple message for establishment Republicans about Mitt Romney’s failed presidential bid: We told you so.. . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com


I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
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Monday, November 19, 2012

PALIN 2016

 Yes!!!

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-73344436/

 More from the brilliance of Charlotte Allen: http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/it-s-still-her-courtroom_642168.html
The jurisprudence of Judge Judy 

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/feb/19/opinion/la-oe-allen-it-is-not-possible-to-talk-to-liberals-20120219
"Why I Can't Talk to a Liberal"

The Republican position on deficit negotiations: let's assume Mitt Romney had won

 http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/11/07/1160221/boehner-fiscal-cliff-revenue/
[John Boehner offers NOTHING] "For the purposes of forging a bipartisan agreement that begins to solve the problem, we’re willing to accept new revenue under the right conditions. What matters is where the increase revenue comes from and what type of reform comes with it. Does the increased revenue come from government taking a larger share of what the American people earn through higher tax rates? Or does it come as a byproduct of growing our economy, energized by a simpler, cleaner, fairer tax code, with fewer loopholes and lower rates for all?"

More: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/tom-price-balanced-approach-means-no-revenue-through
Tom Price (R-GA): Balanced Approach Means No Revenue Through Tax Hikes

 Paul Ryan, "power broker"

 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/19/us/politics/paul-ryan-emerges-as-power-broker-in-fiscal-talks.html

 [NB: Wait and see, but my guess is that if there is a solution worked out Ryan will have very little to do with it. He's there to reassure the right-wing that Boehner won't sell out on taxes.]

Rethinking Republicanism

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/84025.html

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/11/16/here-s-how-republicans-can-win-again.html
 
Think of the "disgraced" Democratic losers for president who actually had a pretty good post-loss career (Carter, Mondale, Gore, Kerry . . .). Does anyone expect a role like that from the Mittster?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/opinion/collins-anybody-notice-a-pattern.html

Not really news to readers of this blog, but well-said

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/19/3101204/the-medias-scandalous-polling.html
[Michael Kinsley] But before we say goodbye to the Campaign 2012, I would like to point out that the entire drama of a close election, as played out in the news media on Election Day and evening, is basically fake. Like broadcasters (including a young Ronald Reagan) presenting baseball games in the early days of radio, the television networks know who’s going to win the game and more or less how it’s going to play out . . . [read on]
 
Having a hard time working up a lot of sympathy on this one

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/11/19/petraeus_mistress_devastated_by_fallout_from_affair.html
Petraeus Mistress Devastated by Fallout from Affair
 
In case you missed the Sunday talk shows


Bonus item: I ain't driving that bus

http://gay.americablog.com/2012/11/uk-gay-bus-ad-driver-refuse.html

[NB: "Get over it," indeed]

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