‘if he can do it there…….’

“i don’t understand why this guy thinks he can run for president”

Iowa Democratic Party

‘downright ugly’

Robert Shrum: …. The GOP debate was not only economically vapid, but downright ugly, as the participants either trafficked in, or fellow-travelled with, appeals to fear and intolerance…..

No one on that stage rose to the defense of American Muslims or ventured to reprove Cain. But most of the candidates rushed to reassure the right wing on the question of gay rights. They were against the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, for a constitutional prohibition of same-sex marriage…

…A former Republican officeholder, still active in the party, lamented that if you want to have a chance you have to cater to the fringe: “And it’s worse now that it’s ever been.”

….Waiting for Huntsman, yearning for Chris Christie of New Jersey, or Rick Perry of Texas: By the end of Monday’s debate, it was easier than ever to understand why. Americans seem to grasp the implausibility of the men – and the woman – who so starkly revealed themselves in New Hampshire. Even in the new economic doldrums, President Obama leads Romney by 6 points – and outside the South by far more – in the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. Pawlenty gets trounced – and so would Bachmann, although it’s now conceivable that a fevered GOP might just nominate her.

I know which side I’m on as 2012 approaches, but I know the country deserves a genuine debate about the future. That wasn’t what we saw and heard from New Hampshire the other night. The debate was less serious and less substantive than Saturday Night Live…..

Full article here

catch him if you can….

Time: NBC/WSJ poll finds President Obama leading GOP ‘12 frontrunners.

Obama 49, Romney 43

Obama 50, Pawlenty 37

More soon

lies, lies, lies….

Steve Benen: If one were to create a drinking game in which viewers of last night’s debate took a shot every time a candidate lied, the “winner” would be in the hospital this morning with alcohol poisoning. The Republican candidates treated reality as an inconvenience to be brushed aside in the name of political expediency.

It’d take too long to note all of the falsehoods, though there were some clear gems. Tim Pawlenty claimed Medicare is insolvent (that’s plainly false); Ron Paul said Iraq and Afghanistan share a border (has he not heard of Iran?), and Rick Santorum said President’s Obama refusal to drill for oil is causing pain at the pump (oil production is actually up under Obama, not down).

But my favorite lie came from Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who had this to say about the Affordable Care Act: “This is the symbol and the signature issue of President Obama during his entire tenure. And this is a job-killer, Sylvia. The CBO, the Congressional Budget Office has said that Obamacare will kill 800,000 jobs. What could the president be thinking by passing a bill like this, knowing full well it will kill 800,000 jobs?”

If Bachmann had any idea what she was talking about, it would make sense to question why the president would do such a thing. But Bachmann’s is either lying or she lacks the ability to understand the phrase “reduction of labor.”….

Full post here

fox eats palin-tea

Politicususa: Tim Pawlenty was on Fox News Sunday today, but instead of getting softballs tossed his way like Sarah Palin did last week, he was hammered for his economic plan. It looks like Pawlenty is not one of the FNC chosen ones.

At a time when Republicans are introducing non-economic economic plans on a regular basis, Pawlenty’s plan is so ridiculous that it is attracting ridicule from many conservatives, but what a difference a week makes on Fox News Sunday.

Seven days ago, Sarah Palin was on the show and given the fawning drooling treatment by Chris Wallace.

More here

“obamneycare”

As Me4Obama so beautifully labels him …. Tim PalinTea 😉

Time: “President Obama said that he designed ObamaCare after RomneyCare, and basically made it ObamneyCare. We now have essentially the same features.  The President’s own words is that he patterned in large measure ObamaCare after what happened in Massachusetts. What I don’t understand is they both continue to defend it.”

ObamneyCare? Why not RomamaCare? Or, eh, MittarackCare? Or better still, BarneyCare? 😕

Has Pawlenty morphed in to the Half Termer? He sure is beginning to sound like her.

oh mitt….

TPM: Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty … have something in common: According to new surveys from Public Policy Polling, they would both lose their respective home states to President Obama by serious margins – though as the new numbers from Massachusetts show, it’s much worse in Romney’s case.

In the new Massachusetts survey, Obama leads Romney by a landslide margin of 57%-37% – wider than the 51%-43% margin that Obama has over Pawlenty in Minnesota, and comparable to Obama’s 56%-35% lead over the other likely Minnesotan candidate, Michele Bachmann, in that state.

As it turns out, Romney is actually the strongest Republican candidate in Massachusetts. Obama leads Herman Cain by 60%-27%, leads Newt Gingrich by 63%-27%, leads Sarah Palin by 63%-27%, and leads Pawlenty by 59%-28%.

….PPP’s Tom Jensen writes: “I’m sure no one was in a lot of suspense about whether Obama would win Massachusetts next year. The bigger question is if an Obama win by 20 points against Romney…or by 30 points or more against someone else…will be enough to carry Scott Brown’s eventual Democratic challenger over the top.”

More here

Thank you Loriah 😉

night everyone

A very, very, very big thank you again to Henry VIII (!) for visiting us today (here) – thrilled to have you here, Mr Healy!

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Bye bye Muppets, hello the Living Dead…..

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Worried about Huntsman?

Nate Silver: …. polling worse than Mr. Gingrich was Mr. Huntsman. About half of the views Republicans expressed about Mr. Huntsman were negative, producing an Unacceptably Index of 51 percent.

Thank you Suzanne

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See you tomorrow 😉

skewered

Thank you Ladyhawke