President Barack Obama walks with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, left, and President Felipe Calderon of Mexico following their joint press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House, April 2 (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)
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Ed Kilgore: Every day there’s at least one headline coming across the transom that doesn’t make you laugh, cry, cheer, or think, but simply scratch your head in puzzlement. Today’s winner is from Politico’s Lois Romano: “Ann Romney is the Romney Democrats Fear Most.”
…. Huh! Everybody thinks Ann Romney is a “rock star?” I did not know that. The “political arena” is all abuzz about her? Missed that, too; the buzzing must be confined to weekends, when I kinda check out from politics as much as possible.
…. If you read this long piece, however, it begins to appear that most of the buzzing Romano is hearing is coming from busy bees inside the Romney campaign itself….
….. Perhaps the most revealing thing about the Romneys as a team that Romano’s account mentions is that their handlers can’t decide whether Ann is more valuable on the road as a speaker, or behind the scenes as a steadying influence on the candidate. It sounds like Mitt needs a road manager and a psychologist as much as he needs a dazzling opening act. Indeed, he seems to be a very needy dude….
More here
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The Obama Diary 
evening TOD
Congrats on first. I remember on the old Obama For President website…we used to do fund raising off the first post.
Evening Elle, evening everyone
Thanks for the great prize Chips! I haven’t seen this one before. How can anyone not LOVE our First Couple!
Love that picture of our First Couple.
Just need Justice for Trayvon and his family.
It’s gonna happen.
PBO about to be interview at halftime
Loving the GOPolitico ads. lolol Especially when Romney was unzipped. hah!
Those GOPolitico headlines are priceless.
Turn to CBS to see PBO now.
Did I miss it
In that picture with Romney and the elderly lady well, she looks like she might throw whatever is in that cup, in his face. Just sayin’.
Well, even if Ann Romney is a rock star, she has nothing on Michelle! 😉
Remember how the talk was Michelle Obama was the not so secret weapon for the Obama Campaign. We talked about how the Republicans feared FLOTUS, that’s why they were attacking her. Well what are they trying to do now, try to act like the Dems fear Ann Romney. In case any right wing nut come across the Obama Diary, listen up, FLOTUS is the best, and no wanna be can compare.
Ann Romney a rock star. Well it will give her something to do once her husband lose in November. Maybe she can release a album and go on tour, because she won’t be in the White House.
Lawrence O’Donnell just interviewed Trayvon Martin’s parents and their lawyer. At the end of the interview Lawrence told Trayvon’s parents (paraphrasing) that he was awed by their dignity and grace. I could not agree more. As I watched the interview I was thinking the same thing.
Yes, and I think the most bittersweet photo I’ve seen yet is the one where I think Trayvon’s dad is standing next to him, possibly kissing him on the check or at the very least hugging him. Makes me want to sob, thinking of his dad’s loss.
Half-time Interview with PBO on CBS right now!
Oh dear, President Obama mentioned the (gasp) second term. This will surely send the right wing haters straight to the fainting couches.
I will bring the smelling salts… nah!
Here’s PBO with Clark….one of the few men who dwarfs the Prez!
PBO talking about him loving watching his girls play, getting good words in about women’s athletics ;-).
PBO slipping in a reference to his second term. Too cool, Mr. Prez. Short and sweet interview.
I love my President!
Meee too!
Can anyone tell me if the Supreme Court actually passed some kind of strip search law?
They didn’t pass the law. They merely upheld the already existing law.
I’m so glad you responded, UT. What does this mean? I’d never heard of this law before, and just hearing about it, without really digging in, it took me back to a place I’d left long ago.
the Supreme Court have made some decisions in the past…on two ends of the spectrum…
The Dred Scot Decison was a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that people of African descent brought into the United States and held as slaves (or their descendants,whether or not they were slaves) were not protected by the Constitution and were not U.S. citizens…(the 14 amendment to the constitution overturned that by making all persons born within the United States and subject to its jurisdiction citizens of the United States.
and then there was the Brown Vs the Board of Eduacation of 1954 (a year after i was born)…which was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which allowed state-sponsored segregation.
…this was a battle led by the NAACP…lead attorney…Thurgood Marshall….
Mercy….the struggle continues….
Presssssssssssss ON!
Damn, I found it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/us/justices-approve-strip-searches-for-any-offense.html
WTF is this?
Yes the SC said that no matter what you are arrested for, no matter how minor you can be stripped searched legally! Now think about OWS, or going to a march or saying anything back to police, not paying a parking ticket….YOU CAN BE STRIP SEARCHED! Legally! I am sick to my stomach. Now we are really seeing how big our risk is for these radicals (Thomas, Alito, Roberts & Scalia) + Kennedy! We are looking at a sorry future for this country and we have not see the worst of it yet!
This law is existing -so everything you mentioned has already been effect for decades. Someone recently challenged it and the court upheld it. That’s why we’re now hearing about it, but it has always been around.
I don’t think you are exactly correct.
“The procedures endorsed by the majority [justices] are forbidden by statute in at least 10 states and are at odds with the policies of federal authorities. According to a supporting brief filed by the American Bar Association, international human rights treaties also ban the procedures.
The federal appeals courts had been split on the question, though most of them prohibited strip-searches unless they were based on a reasonable suspicion that contraband was present. The Supreme Court did not say that strip-searches of every new arrestee were required; it ruled, rather, that the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable searches did not forbid them. ”
If appears that the SC took it further. The ruling says that the police departments have the absolute right to strip search someone one or more times. If someone is transferred from one station to another that person can be strip searched again.
Oh, Damn! OK, I need to really go back & do in-depth research beyond NYT. The implications are huge. And what’s this “double-dutch”:
In a concurrence, Chief Justice Roberts, quoting from an earlier decision, said that exceptions to Monday’s ruling were still possible “to ensure that we ‘not embarrass the future.’ ”
Justice Alito wrote that different rules might apply for people arrested but not held with the general population or whose detentions had “not been reviewed by a judicial officer.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/us/justices-approve-strip-searches-for-any-offense.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2
Hopefruit2, I’m also happy you responded, because you and UT always have great responses., I just read the NYT article. I hope since it’s been around for decades, and it’s now brought to light, that it will not be utilized, and become a tool for abusive power. That’s what totally bothered me.
Rachel dealt with the SC ruling on her show tonight. If you can watch a rerun of her show a video, I think it’s worth it. She clearly stated that this is a big deal and so far is under the radar.
They can strip me all they want. They will go blind for sure and I will just put my clothes back.
The interview was short but sweet. PBO was his usual charming self.
p.s: Nice round-up Chips. Ann Romney a rock star? Ann Romney more of a champion campaigner than FL Michelle Obama? Hahahahahahahaha.
I enjoyed the interview thoroughly. PBO always leaves us wanting MORE!!!
Chips – Thanks, in particular, for that first photo of the 3 leaders. I know it’s probably a camera flash behind them, but doesn’t it look like the bright light is shining only on President Obama?
That’s Romney’s flashlight – he’s lying somewhere in the bushes with his khaki wear and spy glasses.
I’ll be sending you a bill for my laptop – I literally laughed out my water at that one! And I wouldn’t put it past Romney, either…
Oh, my, that was HYSTERICAL. And I truly would not be surprised. Romney’s got to get some tips on how to be a leader somehow, even if he has to crawl on his belly like a reptile, with a flashlight in his hand, if they have hands, to do it.
well, one of myth r-money’s former competitors, michelle bachman, has already done almost exactly that!
http://motleynews.net/2011/08/19/fun-facts-about-michele-bachmann-including-her-hiding-in-the-bushes-spying-on-glbt-protest/
any republican you know enables these literally insane people, and tries to give them complete control of our society. republicans in general are the problem!!
Hee!
And Ann was there playing with the zippper. Sorry, can’t help myself.
Ann Romney a rock star???? In what world? These people and their alternate realities 🙄 — they’re gonna mess around, try to make this woman something she’s obviously not and have her wind up like Sarah Palin — rocking herself on a hotel floor in a catatonic stupor.
It doesn’t matter it’s a nutty meme. The third rate media took the bait (looking at you teann) and thrashed about their asses. Expect tweety to have Live orgasm over ann mehmney tomorrow.
Tweety might be off for the week – he wasn’t in today and it was absolutely refreshing. I was expecting him to go full on “tingles” for Ms. Ann today, so you can imagine how relieved I was to find him absent today.
Agree. Like Michael S????????? does his show.
Michael Smerconish, I think. I really like him.
Yes that’s him. I like him a lot.
Well, this is one chick who won’t be tuning in to Tweety’s show tomorrow to see that. But you are right about him, and it doesn’t even have to be about Ann. Last week, when he was hawking Rachel’s book, he was using his very own brand of hyperbole to imply her book was probably the best thing he’d read since The Bible. Made me wonder how he reacts every time his wife puts a new cereal box in front of his wet, spitty lips in the morning, and it has new words on it, talk about the big O, eh?
Ann Romney needs to comb her hair and she could do better with the clothes. She looks disheveled.
rotflamo. Go chips.
I love PBO’s non-political interviews.
I know – he looks like he’s a really fun person to hang out with.
right. I’d love to hang out with him for a day
Mind your helm ck or we’ll have to send you to the mats! 🙂
Ck, mention that in the phone call, well, you never know!
So do I. He is awesome.
Good diary on the orange site: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/02/1080030/-Obama-fires-shot-across-the-Supreme-Court-s-bow
Oh man that Newt toon is funny as heck!
Did you see the video with his tweetie pie grooming his hair. She didn’t want one hair to be out of place. Used a lot of hair spray on that big head. Maybe they buy hairspray by the box. He still look like the Phillsbury doughboy at the end of the day. Is that a wig on his head?
.
Excellent. RT’d.
Soooo….has PBO’s statement about ACA been discussed already? There’s been a lot of speculation, but here’s what the man himself had to say today:
I agree, Mr. President.
Supreme Court will not take what would be an unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress. And I’d just remind conservative commentators that for years what we’ve heard is, the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint — that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law. Well, this is a good example. And I’m pretty confident that this Court will recognize that and not take that step.
Did you hear that you bastids ?
Again, did you hear that???
PBO — a constitutional scholar — wrapped up the issue in one, concise paragraph. This is one of, if not the absolute, worst Supreme Courts in history, so it remains to be seen if they are going to cement their dismal legacy by taking this unconstitutional step, or if they will play their correct role in American governance, and thereby somewhat redeem themselves..
I loved it because he did both…dared them to do it and put all of the conservative commentators in a box! He also reminded them that he is also a constitutional scholar. That one paragraph was awesome! He delivered it with exactly the right tone, not a smile in sight! You gotta love him!
Amen 🙂
I don’t know why everyone thinks that is such a powerful statement. There are some laws that need to be overturned and the Supreme Court is our last recourse for overturning laws even ones that were passed by majorities.
I hope you are being sarcastic Tien Le.
I’d be interested to hear her response…….
It’s all about context, Tien Le. Can’t compare apples and rotten ranges. Supreme court is all about sensibility and reason, whatever the country.
The argument the plaintiffs are making is that the law is unconstitutional — not that it is wrong, per se. PBO is answering the unconstitutionality argument — plus (in the many paragraphs which make up today’s statement) he is saying that the law is right and that it has had positive, real world impact.
I think it was an extremely powerful statement.
Wheel and come again! That’s what my late mother would say when something doesn’t make sense to her and she needs it to be explained. Tien Le, explain it to me, use words I can understand.
This statement is a thing of beauty that should have people standing in awe of the president’s brilliance. This is an answer to a question, not a prepared speech, and it is flawless. The subliminal message: don’t mess with this and don’t mess with me because you will find yourself in a world of hurt. We take PBO’s intelligence for granted because it appears to effortless with him. But imagine GWB speaking like this or consider how Romney or any of the R candidates could answer a question this sensitive and complex without clutching, twisting their tongues and uttering idiotic word salads. We are truly blessed.
Amen, Jackie! Amen.
Can someone explain the unzip Romney thing? I was busy at work today and just trying to catch up. Maybe I don’t want to know…agghh.
Ann Romney Says Campaign Will ‘Unzip’ the Real Mitt
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/04/ann-romney-says-campaign-will-unzip-the-real-mitt/
Really? That’s the best word she could think of? Gross, gross gross.
It’s not gross. I am having fun with it with my dirty mind. That’s gross.
How would we ever know it was the real Mitt? He’s got so many versions of himself, we couldn’t pick the real one from a lineup.
So what the country have been seeing every since he has been running for President, which is six years, all we have been seeing is the lying flip flopping, who will say what ever he think the people want to hear. And in afew months the campaign will unzip the real Mitt Romney. That makes no sense at all. If there is something better, why haven’t they showed it. Because what you see is what you get, and Ann knows that. She is full of alot of Romney crap, meaning she can lie as good as her husband.
i’m looking at my local ABC news and there seems to be some controversy surrounding the Maryland winner of the Megamillions jackpot. A woman (mom of 7 who works at a local McDonalds) has said she has the winning ticket, but seems unsure when they interviewed her on camera. Some of her coworkers are complaining that she is pretending to be unsure because she is trying to stiff them their winnings since they all pitched in as part of a pool to buy the tickets. LOL!
She betta watch her back! If I had won the megamillions, the last thing I would have done is get on t.v.
If I had won, I would have been all over the news. In NY you are required to show your face. Can’t hide.
Gees, she would be splitting over $200 Million, I don’t know how many co-workers there are, but still she would be getting more money than she would know what to do with then to stiff them just doesn’t make sense.
I hope she gets a lawyer and stay away from the press. As far as the co-workers, why wouldn’t they a copy of the tickets that were purchased for the group BEFORE the drawing even took place? That’s how we handled it in our office pool. One person purchased and gave everyone in the pool of copy of the tickets on the day before the drawing. She also purchased for other family members and herself. We always knew what group’s tickets were.
My office pooled our money together. The office manager collected our money, took down our names, bought the tickets, scanned them onto a file and e-mailed a copy to everyone in the office. Now if someone came forward claiming they won and with their own tickets, we can just check the file and verify their story. There is also the time and date on the ticket to help verify this story. What happened at the McDonald’s? No one kept track of this stuff? Who was in charge of pooling this money together and buying the ticket?
Shit’s getting ready to start up in there.
Ha! Even Ed Schultz’s producers use the “MEH ROMNEY” tagline.
Lawrence O’Donnell had a stellar rewrite tonight. He called out the national media and press corps who cover Romney and don’t ask him pertinent questions about his religion and don’t demand honesty from him like they do all the time with PBO. They raked PBO over the coals for the words his pastor uttered, they raked PBO over the coals for supposedly not attending church while in the WH (which is a lie by the way) and for supposedly waging a war with religion (another lie) yet they don’t turn their laser focus on Romney.
Lawrence also called out Romney for practicing the tenets of Mormonism which included the teachings of Brigham Young who said that if they slept with black women they would die. What kind of messed up BS teaching is that? All it does is breed hate. Romney basically avoided that question during a town hall event and cut off the questioner. Lawrence pointed out that Romney excoriates President Obama over religion all the time yet he runs away from a question about his own religion. Hypocrisy, thy name is Willard Mitt Romney.
This
Romney excoriates President Obama over religion all the time yet he runs away from a question about his own religion
Fucking coward who needs his wife’s skirts to hide behind.
Thanks for that synopsis UT – I need to watch that segment. I hope Chips is able to get some video posted 🙂
I saw that utaustinliberal. Maybe that explains Romney distaste for President Obama, the black guy.The guy from the cruse race.
I think there are many who dislike President Obama even more because his white mother laid with a black man. For racists, you can’t do much worst than that. They call him a half-breed.
Tell it Sabreen. In Georgia, that is the cardinal sin! And PBO being president is pushing their face in it daily–That he is smarter, cooler, richer, better looking, with a gorgegous wife and kids–only makes the agony worse. Makes me laugh to think of it.
Thanks for this, UT. I don’t like what I’m seeing about willard and his Mormonism. “Quiet rooms”? Freaking “baptize someone after they die without their permission”? Lying like a sociopathic pathological liar! The Hypocrisy of Lying about PObama’s religion.and whatever else he can get his slippery mouth on.
The Mormons donating all that money to back Prop 8 in California where they are 2% of the population and donated 80% of the funds.. when they freaking had as many wives as they felt neccessary. Dawg I hate their pious shite hypocrisy.
Lawrence also said that the Mormon church only reversed its racist stance on blacks when Romney was 31 years old. Before that time, he fully believed the teachings of Brigham Young, and lived by them. Lawrence said any other politician not being coddled by the media would have been run out of town with that kind of history – believing and being an active member of a church (for 31 years) that practiced racist teachings, and now trying to run for President as an upstanding citizen? Unbelievable.
The sad thing is that the religion isn’t the problem – religion really isn’t a requirement to be President. He’s got a right to believe what he wants to believe. But – he shouldn’t be hiding those beliefs. It’s not a credible act from someone who wants to lead the entire free world. It speaks to his character. It’s not the religion, per se. It’s the fact that he is pretending that he is hiding who he really is, all the while acting like President Obama is somehow “the other”. Romney has never once defended President Obama’s right to religious freedom and the need to separate religion and politics. In fact, Romney’s been lying all over the country, claiming that President Obama is declaring a war on religious freedom.
Lawrence O’Donnell also said that the Mormon teachings now say that racism is a sin, and anyone espousing racism is basically damned. Well, what about when Romney’s son was telling birther jokes? Or when Romney himself has implied that the President is un-American, appealing to the racists in the GOP base (and elsewhere)? They are hypocrites.
I wonder if any Mormon man ever slept with a Black woman and died? I wonder if there are any bi-racial people in that church right now? I wonde rif Lawrence has gotten more understanding or he was always like that. I should stop wondering before I get a headache.
How did Obama’s bracket do ? Did he pick the winner ?
No he picked the Tarheels.
How far did they go ?
North Carolina Tarheels were one game away from the final four, but injuries to the Tarheels players really change things. Specially the point guard, when he broke his wrist, I knew then and there they were not going to win.
Tough luck. Thanks.
Didn’t President Obama have 2 of his picks in the Final Four as he predicted (The Ohio State University was one of his picks for the Final Four and we made it
He pick Kentucky to make it to the championship game and they did.
😆 in a nutshell.
🙂
LOL……no comment.
LOL … yeah, I think I’ll keep my mouth shut, too.
Hahahaha……if you’re doing it right who the hell has any breath left to talk? 😉
Egg.sack.lee. Talk is for non-doers. 🙂
——as he turns over and goes to sleep…..
It all depends on whether it’s a sprint or a marathon……
UT, you nailed it. I am laughing my heart out. Great. That is truth to the ears, UT. HZ
Plus, let the sheets do the talking, the candles doing the burning, and the music do the smoothing.
Yardarm756, I know you did not go there. Sprint? We are the “beautiful ladies of sweet, smooth, romantic marathons.” No sprints in our parlors of romance. HZ
US obesity ‘higher than thought’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17585734
Looking at you rush, you fat pig.
They had forgotten to count Gov Christie.
The only thing which gets any exercise on Rush’s body is his mouth.
Goodnight everyone, I’m wimping out here… Sweet dreams!
Goodnight Pamela. Sleep tight. Don’t let Ron Paul bite.
Heh, I just got started. 🙂
Gunnite.
Sweet dream, Pamela!
Make that “dreams” !!!
Holy shit Batman! PBO’s 2012 campaign team is revolutionizing the digital age. They are a 21st century digital juggernaut. Wow. Just wow.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/victory_lab/2012/04/obama_s_technology_innovation_how_the_president_can_use_the_intellectual_property_his_campaign_is_creating_.single.html
They have been so smart about all this. Organizing For America will make the Clinton Machine look like a wind-up toy.
they already did that in 2008. this year they’ll be stepping on that toy and disposing of it once and for all!!
#AmericaThisIsNotATest
#LandslideOBAMA2012
#YesWeMust
But, “she’s a rock star who Democrats fear”..tremble tremble. Yeah, Ted freaking Nugent and Dave freaking Mustane. rofl.
Last! Good Night TOD Family.
Almost! Goodnight!
Shining moments of 2012 that makes you smile. March tradition.
“Palin Turns Off Today Viewers”
I”n an apparent act of desperation or case of brain-fade on the part of the producers, The Today Show has asked former Governor, Sarah Palin to co-host the morning show Tuesday.
Today posed the question “Are you excited for Sarah Palin’s big show?” on their Facebook page and the thousands of comments prove the answer to that question is a resounding “NO!”
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/04/02/palin-turns-off-today-show-viewers/comment-page-1/#comment-48478
When the judgement’s weak, The prejudice is strong. – Kane O’Hara
I see some “night owls” are still here! Chat with you tomorrow, TODers!
Ann Robney is Joan Jett?
And Mitt is controlled by remote
Unzip Mitt
http://gawker.com/5898364/ann-romney-on-mitts-stiffy-we-better-unzip-him-and-let-him-out
===============================================
Many people have said Rob-ney is too robotic. So now his wife wants to give us direct access to his data compression. Isn’t it amazing what modern technology can do?
Mitt reminds be of that song by Bob Marley asking who is Mr Brown and is controlled by remote?
Ann Robney is Bluejet, full of alot of hot air.
The President against the Supreme Court-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/could-obama-launch-aggressive-campaign-against-supreme-court/2012/04/02/gIQA0NY4qS_blog.html?tid=pm_opinions_pop
They are writing articles like they know what is happening?
I see that the AP is breathlessly reporting that Sarah Palin says that “anyone is infinitely better than Obama.” Wow..that’s surprising!
And that is NEWSWORTHY to the AP. Let’s see them report PBO’s speech on the Ryan Budget plan with the same breathlessness.
Sorry to say there are silly people in the media who think anything which comes out of her mouth is newsworthy. Why I don’t know, but they do.
So that was the Palin assessment of President Obama that the Today Show was urgently promoting. I’m just shocked! Stunned! I thought for sure she was going to endorse Obama and call him a great and gifted president who deserves to be re-elected. Guess I was wrong. Good thing I didn’t fall for Today’s tease—–it was just Palin lying and being dumb again.
Apparently NOT $carah….because NOBODY wanted that old prune and and that stupid twit he picked as a running mate!
Yawn. Stretch, rise and shine! Am I first?
As a loyal viewer of the Today Show, I refuse to watch today. The only reason Sarah Palin is on, is because Katie Couric on on GMA this week. I refuse to help them in the ratings. I cannot forget the nastiness she brought to the campaign trail.
I have never been a loyal viewer, but I would tune in every now and then, specially when someone I wanted to see was going to be on the show, but like you I did not watch that hateful witch this morning, and you are so right she was, is responsible for alot of nastiness on and off the campaign trail. She started with this disrespect of POTUS. Shame on the Today Show, but what we see and know is how low all media folks will go for ratings.
They will allow people to sit right up there in their face and lie, but yet they will not correct them.
Whatever Palin says against the President will be the best endorsement he can get for 2/3 of the American people. She opens her mouth and garbage spills out, and people don’t like her, and certainly don’t admire her. People like Katie Couric, she just wasn’t the right person on the CBS evening news. She’s going to have a talk show in the fall I understand, but I wonder how long before one of the morning shows picks her up again? She just makes mornings seem brighter.
Morning everyone 😉
http://theobamadiary.com/2012/04/03/rise-and-shine-144/
Mitt Romney, Scott Walker, and Paul Ryan…what a cozy lovefest.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/02/romney-gov-scott-walker-is-a-real-champion-a-great-leader/
good morning tod. dude I’m having the best week of my life! lol Justice Kagan came in our precinct and I had to issue her ballot. So fuxking cool! She’s really short in person Lol.
This is getting ridiculous Collegekay. What next? Bo will take you for a walk? 😆