tired of it?

“I am tired of being afraid.”

SmartyPants

Thank you Tally

“huntsman’s base: the press”

The Week

DFP: Michigan native Mitt Romney and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann are neck and neck in a new poll of likely participants in Iowa’s Republican presidential caucuses.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, claims 23%, and Bachmann, a tea partier from Minnesota, has 22%. Neither has done heavy lifting in Iowa. Retired pizza CEO Herman Cain of Georgia is in third, with 10%.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is tied in fourth place at 7% with Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is at 6%; former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania is at 4%, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is at 2%….

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Seattle PI: From afar, it’s easy to get swept up by the hype: Jon Huntsman is accomplished, handsome, smart, and his civility message has appeal beyond the meat-eaters who dominate this early phase of the Republican presidential campaign.

This is the reason his small base, largely in the media – the select group of pundits like Mark Halperin and the “Morning Joe” stars, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski – have been unabashed in their Huntsman swooning. We have our share of swooners at POLITICO, too.

….But there is a problem: Up close, Huntsman’s challenges …. are unmistakable – and, by all measures of modern Republican politics, likely insurmountable.

…There’s a reason he barely has a pulse in the polls. He speaks so softly that even his aides sometimes have trouble hearing him at events. He is making civility a cornerstone of his campaign, at a time when Republican voters are ravenous for red-meat conservative policies, and an epochal showdown with Obama.

…There were warning signs throughout, starting with the interview, which Huntsman conducted on a sweltering patio because he said air conditioning gives him bronchitis. It was one of several moments when we started to wonder about Huntsman’s fitness for the rigors of a campaign that will go at least seven months and, for the nominee, 15 months. New York Times reporter Jim Rutenberg, one of only three reporters traveling with Huntsman on the second formal day of his campaign, wrote that the candidate “has already complained about being tired.”

….”I just don’t know how this works,” the former official said. “It’s a great idea, and lovely and all that: He’s actually intelligent, and has actually been outside the United States. He speaks Chinese. He’s handsome. What’s not to like? But how do you make it through this primary? It’s a complete media creation so far.”

Full article here

double take

President Barack Obama is reflected in a mirror in the Outer Oval Office as talks with Chief of Staff Bill Daley, left, and Vice President Joe Biden in the doorway of the Oval Office, April 8, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

sleep? who needs it?

President Barack Obama, just hours after returning from Afghanistan, speaks on the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement next to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington December 4

More on the deal here