The President’s Day

President Barack Obama speaks in support of Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Audience members listen to President Barack Obama speak

President Barack Obama with Governor Dan Malloy

Supporters cheer as President Barack Obama speaks during a rally for Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s reelection campaign at Central High School

Pennsylvania Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf, greets President Barack Obama

evening all

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden talk with former Representative Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, after the President signed H.R. 3801, the Ultralight Aircraft Smuggling Prevention Act of 2012, in the Oval Office, Feb. 10, 2012. This bill is the last piece of legislation that Giffords sponsored and voted on in the U.S. House of Representatives. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Steve Benen: If the right was outraged by the patriotic message in Clint Eastwood’s Chrysler ad, conservatives will be looking for the fainting couch after seeing Bruce Springsteen’s new video.

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“Is it patriotic to stash your money in the Cayman Islands?”

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First lady Michelle Obama joins experts from WebMD for a town hall on healthy families at the Homestead YMCA Family Center, Florida

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More Let’s Move photos here

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More clips here

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so, who’s watching the freak show?

Live streaming at CNN

Live blog at Think Progress

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So, Republicans love executions (even of the innocent), they cheer the death of people without health insurance, they despise gay soldiers, and now they reckon the unemployed should blame themselves …..  wow.

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“you want to be commander in chief…..?”

Full speech:

‘not one candidate’

‘i did not hear those boos’

‘how much more lost can these people get?’

Steve Benen: For eight years, just about every time George W. Bush was in the same room as someone with a post-graduate degree, the failed former president would tell the same joke: “I remind people that, like when I’m with Condi I say, she’s the Ph.D. and I’m the C-student, and just look at who’s the president and who’s the advisor.”

Republican crowds always cheered the line, reinforcing the anti-intellectual attitudes that too often dominate conservative thought … Rick Perry is cut from the same cloth.

… Perry made the joke during a speech yesterday at Liberty University, a school founded by crazed televangelist Jerry Falwell. The Texas governor didn’t say much about politics, but he spent a fair amount of time talking about what a lousy student he was.

Perry noted, for example, that at his small high school, “I graduated in the top 10 of my graduating class – of 13.” The crowd laughed and applauded.

…. Perry isn’t just celebrating anti-intellectualism; he’s living it. He doesn’t care what biologists, climate scientists, economists, historians, or dictionaries have to offer; Perry already has all the information he needs….

Full post here

‘a deep strain of madness’

Steve Benen: …. The candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination are a pretty scary bunch …. the two-hour display on CNN last night was a depressing reminder of what’s become of the GOP in the 21st century. That said, maybe it’s just me, but I’m starting to find the audiences for these debates even more disconcerting.

Wolf Blitzer posed a hypothetical scenario to Ron Paul, asking about a young man who makes a good living, but decides to forgo health insurance. Then, tragedy strikes and he needs care. Paul stuck to the libertarian line. “But congressman,” the moderator said, “are you saying that society should just let him die?”

And at that point, some in the audience shouted, “Yeah,” and applauded.

…. note that in last week’s debate, the mere observation that Perry has signed off on the executions of 234 people in Texas, more than any other governor in modern times, was enough to generate applause from a different GOP audience.

…. There’s a deep strain of madness running through Republican politics in 2011, and it appears to be getting worse. Those wondering why the GOP presidential field appears weak, insipid, and shallow need look no further than the voters they were choose to pander to.

Full post here

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Dana Milbank: The applause identified Rick Perry as the crowd favorite when he took the stage in Tampa for Monday night’s Tea Party debate, greeting his lesser rivals as “fellas”. But two hours later, those fellas – and a gal from Minnesota – had made some serious progress toward exposing the broad-shouldered Texas governor as an empty suit.

… The lowest point for the man atop the polls came when Michele Bachmann accused Perry of cronyism, suggesting that he forced girls to receive the HPV anti-cancer vaccine because his former chief of staff was lobbying for the vaccine maker, Merck, which also “gave thousands of dollars in political donations to the governor”.

Perry answered with his trademark boastfulness: “It was a $5,000 contribution that I had received from them. I raise about $30 million. And if you’re saying that I can be bought for $5,000, I’m offended.”

…. On the defensive from beginning to end, Perry resorted to the time honored tradition of making up stuff. When Romney took issue with Perry’s previously-expressed views that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme and unconstitutional, Perry had a comeback: “Governor, you’re calling it a criminal — you said if people did it in the private sector if would be called criminal. That’s in your book.”

The crowd cheered this rejoinder, which would have been effective if Romney had indeed written such a thing. An electronic search of Romney’s book, “No Apology,” found no use of the word “criminal” in relation to Social Security. What he wrote was quite the opposite, saying that if bankers raided trusts the way politicians raid the Social Security trust, “they would go to jail.”

Full article here

Thanks Loriah

death? “yaaaaaaaaaay!!!” say the pro-lifers!

“hey man, can i borrow your computer?”

😆