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15 Nov 2011 22:19

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World: Lebanese politicians get physically violent on live TV

  • Getting touchy:  Remember when Mitt Romney touched Rick Perry’s shoulder during a GOP debate a while back, and everybody freaked out? Yeah, that was nothing. During a televised debate about Syria yesterday, two Lebanese politicians became enraged and started throwing things at each other. After one guy chucks what looks like a glass of water across the table, the other guy stands up, grabs his chair, and almost hits his foe with it before the host intervenes. The topic of debate was Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a very polarizing figure in Lebanon. American debates can get heated, but we’d be awfully shocked to see Newt Gingrich chuck his podium at Jon Huntsman while discussing Chinese economic policy. source

15 Nov 2011 21:58

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Politics: “Republicans are stupid,” says Republican candidate for president

  • One of the Republican weaknesses is that we rely too much on consultants and too much on talking points, and we don’t rely enough on actually knowing things.
  • Newt Gingrich • In an interview with David Brody. Not quite sure what the political calculus is here, as admitting publicly that your entire party doesn’t know what it’s talking about is rarely good politics. However, not “actually knowing things” would seem to be a disqualifying factor for someone running for president, so Newt’s obviously exempting himself from this assessment. source

14 Nov 2011 16:08

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Politics: Here’s the thing about the Gingrich surge

  • yeah…Newt Gingrich is, to the surprise and annoyance of pundits everywhere, storing ahead of his GOP rivals in national polls. Newtmentum!
  • but…Polls also show the “ideas man” faring rather poorly against President Obama in a general election, trailing the POTUS by 812 points. source
  • » Now is probably a good time to bust out this gem from last summer.

14 Nov 2011 12:44

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Politics: Newt Gingrich barges into the lead

  • Flavor of the Week: It looks like Gingrich is the new Black Walnut. If history is any indicator, Newt’s lead will dissipate in a few weeks and Mitt Romney will once again bask in the warm light of inevitability, but hey, you never know. One thing to keep in mind: Primaries are conducted on a state-by-state basis, so national polls, while telling, aren’t the whole story. source

08 Nov 2011 18:29

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Politics: The Lewinsky scandal’s spazzy little brother

  • “It’s not just men who potentially sexually harass women.” Herman Cain just gave a press conference addressing the sexual harassment accusations his ex-employees keep hurling at him, and we can’t say it went very well. He clarified nothing, repeated what he’s been saying all along (“These women are lying and I never harassed anyone”), and made a few unforced errors–such the true but utterly irrelevant reminder above–that can’t do anything but hurt him going forward. Here are some of the best/worst.
  • On his time as CEO“I have seen instances where it could be interpreted as sexual harassment, and if I saw it…I dealt with it immediately, before the other person perceived it as an infringement of their privacy.” In other words, Herman Cain can detect harassment before the victims even know they’re being harassed!
  • On taking a polygraph“Yes. Yes, I absolutely would [take a lie detector test]. But I’m not gonna do that unless I have a good reason to.” This is the kind of thing someone says when they don’t want to take a lie detector test.
  • On who’s behind it all“The Democrat Machine in America has brought forth a troubled woman to make false accusations.” Cain initially claimed that it was Rick Perry’s doing; now, it’s the Democrats. Also, Cain is fooling himself if he thinks Democrats want to prevent him from getting the nomination. source

07 Nov 2011 15:06

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Politics: “Mr. Cain has never harassed anyone.”

  • Team Cain triples down: “All allegations of harassment against Mr. Cain are completely false. Mr. Cain has never harassed anyone.” That’s the campaign’s official statement on the latest harassment allegations, and it’s a notably firm denial. There’s very little wriggle room; if, say, some sort of evidence were to come out against Cain, he’d have a hard time coming off as anything but a bold-faced liar. This would seem to imply that Cain is confident no hard evidence will surface–a confidence that, in itself, doesn’t imply innocence or guilt. The statement also inexplicably patted Cain on the back for his “clear foreign policy vision,” perhaps in an attempt to divert media attention to another, less salacious Herman Cain controversy. (Picture credit: Gage Skidmore)  source

07 Nov 2011 14:35

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Politics: Herman Cain’s accuser speaks out

  • He pulled my head towards his crotch… I said, ‘I have a boyfriend.’ He said, ‘You want a job, right?
  • Sharon Bialek, on Herman Cain • Bialek is fourth former Restaurant Association Employee to accuse Cain of sexual harassment–and the first to come forward publicly. For now, we’ll treat these accusations as just that–accusations. Also notable: Bialek is being represented by celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, who’s previously taken on Tiger Woods and Meg Whitman, amongst many others.  source
 

01 Nov 2011 23:04

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Politics: BREAKING NEWS: Utah politician purchases residence in Utah

  • Stories like this are an indicator that it’s a slow news day. Our favorite part is the bombshell Huntsman quote after the fold, “It’s my residence.” source

01 Nov 2011 22:34

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Politics: Democrats seek to overturn Citizens United via constitutional amendment

  • Fighting back against “Citizens United:” Senate Democrats, led by Tom Udall, have introduced a constitutional amendment meant to blunt the effects of Citizen’s United, the Supreme Court decision that paved the way for unlimited, undisclosed campaign contributions by corporations. The amendment wouldn’t directly overturn CU, but rather give congresses–both federal and state–the authority to regulate campaign contributions and expenditures. Like most proposed constitutional amendments, it probably won’t get anywhere close to ratification, but hey, it rallies the base, right? source

01 Nov 2011 22:06

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Politics: Cain’s accuser received one years’ pay in exchange for silence

  • $35k paid by the NRA to one of Cain’s accusers source
  • » That’s the National Restaurant Association, by the way, not the National Rifle Association. The amount was one years’ worth of pay for the woman in question (who, you’ll recall, is one of two women who received severance agreements from the NRA in exchange for silence regarding sexual harassment claims against Cain).