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29 Dec 2010 11:03

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Politics: Tucker Carlson: Michael Vick should’ve been executed (!!!)

  • Yo, Tucker: What Michael Vick did was awful, and we’re sure he realizes the error of his ways … but come on. Execution? Exe-freaking-cution? In other news, we haven’t been to The Daily Caller in months. Is that site still around? source

29 Dec 2010 10:54

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Politics: Cory Booker’s Twitter success: Surprisingly, there’s no imitator yet

  • Booker’s Twitter tactics have raised the bar for other local officials, and beg the question: In the aftermath of the snowpocalypse, are other northeastern officials grabbing a shovel and smart phone, and following Booker’s lead? It certainly doesn’t look like it.
  • Time’s Sean Gregory • Noting the success Newark Mayor Cory Booker has had in using social media to govern his city during a major disaster. While things haven’t been perfect – Gregory notes that it’s fair to criticize Booker’s administration for being ill-equipped to handle the snow ahead of time – Booker’s work has made all the more impressive due to the fact that other big-city mayors have been unable or unwilling to use social media in anywhere near the same way. Protip to mayoral administrations: Sanitized feeds suck. (Now’s a good time to mention that Portland, Oregon mayor Sam Adams has a pretty decent Tumblr account.) source

28 Dec 2010 21:41

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Politics: Did Joe Miller lose his legal challenge in the Alaska Senate race?

  • YES we bet he shaves his beard after this whole mess source

28 Dec 2010 21:31

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Politics: Obama, Huckabee looking good, Palin failin’ in early 2012 poll

  • So, CNN just released this poll on the 2012 race. Because it’s never too early to talk about this sort of thing, right? Anyway, the big winner in this whole thing is Barack Obama. He’s doing better in this poll than he has at any point in the last nine months, suggesting that he’s still feeling the love from most Democrats, even if he does get labeled a weak, wimpy something-or-other. The loser? Sarah Palin. This poll just sucks for her. But it looks really good for Mike Huckabee and a couple other GOP candidates. The details:
  • 78% of Democrats want Obama to run again in 2012
  • 49% of Republicanswould vote for Sarah Palin as president in 2012
  • 18% the decline in that particular number from late 2008; uh-oh
  • 67% of Republicans would support Mike Huckabee in 2012 – more than any other GOP candidate
  • 59% of GOP kids would go for Mitt Romney in 2012, which is still pretty darn solid, guys
  • 54% of GOPers are okay with Newt Gingrich in 2012; we personally think he smells funny source
  • » Did the tax deal hurt Obama? In the short-term, it did, with 72 percent of self-described progressives approving of Obama after the deal, down from 79 percent before the deal. However, in the long-term, 85 percent of progressives would vote for Obama again, suggesting that the tax compromise thang is something he can bounce back from.

28 Dec 2010 21:08

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Politics: Chicago politician: News release a personal note to Bill Clinton

  • You just wouldn’t want your friends to be campaigning against you. I’ve enjoyed a great friendship and relationship and have a tremendous amount of affinity for both the Clintons … and I’d like to keep it that way.
  • Rep. Danny Davis • Suggesting that Bill Clinton would be jeopardizing his friendship with Davis if the former president endorsed Rahm Emanuel over Davis or Carol Mosley Braun, the other black candidate running for Chicago mayor. Davis was responding to an earlier news release where he suggested Clinton’s relationship with the black community in Chicago would be “fractured and perhaps even broken” if he went to stump for Emanuel. Davis suggested the news release was a personal appeal to Clinton. Wait wait wait … personal appeals do not come in press release form. Call him if you want to talk to him. News releases mean you want to start crap with a popular former president out in public, so you’re telling the press. source

28 Dec 2010 20:25

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Politics: Glenn Greenwald reminds CNN what journalism is. (It’s Wikileaks)

  • What we love about this clip: Glenn Greenwald calls out not one but TWO CNN personalities for being biased against Wikileaks. Greenwald, while obviously in Julian Assange’s court, nevertheless makes multiple great points about the similarities between what journalism is and what Wikileaks is. Fact of matter – Wikileaks is creative destruction to government secrecy, and that’s why the government is uncomfortable. Now’s a good time to mention that CNN passed on releasing Wikileaks material. So did the Wall Street Journal. (thanks diegueno)

28 Dec 2010 09:56

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Politics: Alvin Greene’s running for office again – this time, more modestly

  • Filing closes (noon Monday), and until that time, someone could pull out or change their mind. People wanting to know more should wait until next week. That’s all I’ve got to say right now.
  • South Carolina joke candidate Alvin Greene • Regarding his apparent decision to run for an open South Carolina state House seat, which opened up after state Rep. Cathy Harvin died earlier this month. In case you’re wondering, the filing fee is a tad cheaper than the $10,500 he paid for his Senate run – a modest $165. So, even though he’s still throwing away money, he has a slightly more realistic chance at winning this time around. But like he said, someone could pull out or change their mind. (thanks Larry Crider) source
 

27 Dec 2010 20:40

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Politics: Ed Rendell brings up good point for exactly the wrong reason

  • We’ve become a nation of wusses. The Chinese are kicking our butt in everything. If this was in China do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? People would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked and they would have been doing calculus on the way down.
  • Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell • Complaining about a football game cancelled because of snow. Wait … comprehend that a second. The governor of Pennsylvania is really annoyed because a football game was cancelled because of snow. And as a result, he’s bringing up the industrial fight the U.S. is losing with China. He’s thinking of a fairly smart concept, but trying to apply it to football. We can’t get behind Ed Rendell on this, not because his overarching point isn’t fair, but because he’s bringing it up over a delayed football gamesource

27 Dec 2010 20:23

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Politics: Gallup’s “Most Admired” poll: SARAH PALIN BEAT OPRAH?!?!?!?!?!

  • 22% of people think Obama is the male they admire most – worse than 2008 or 2009, but still decent
  • 17% of people think Hillary Clinton is the female they most admire – she kills at this poll, usually
  • 12% of people think Sarah Palin is the female they most admire; who are these people? source
  • » To emphasize our dislike of this poll: Sarah Palin beat Oprah. SARAH PALIN BEAT OPRAH!!!!!!!! While George W. Bush was just behind Obama, he didn’t have 12 percent. Cannot believe this, guys. We think we might have to go to bed after this one.

26 Dec 2010 23:36

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Politics: Max Headroom: Tom Coburn explains his beef with spending

  • In recent weeks, Tommy Boy Coburn has been making his hack-slash budget views very known. In the last couple weeks, his meddling has even led to the omnibus spending bill (which would’ve, among other things, paid for health care) getting pushed back. He’s been putting attention on earmarks and other major factors, so when Coburn showed up on Fox News Sunday today, it’s obvious what he was there for. He wanted to get his two cents in on wasteful spending. Here’s the key part (which we skipped ahead for), where he talks about redundancy. Is he right? Is the redundancy what’s killing us? And why did Tom Coburn grow a beard, anyway, guys?
  • A little out of breath Poor Martin Savidge. Beyond the fact that he was working at CNN on Christmas Day (the worst of the worst shifts, by the way), he appears to have leapt into his chair almost too quickly, completely unable to keep up with his lines We can’t judge. We’d blow this, too.
  • Hockey confuses Rachel Maddow It’s the holidays; even Rachel Maddow is allowed to let the seriousness fade away for a few days and take it easy. So, she has a question … what the heck is this waffle-throwing phenomenon with the Toronto Maple Leafs? And why does she need to care?