People would rather see their President in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, or the Wisconsin Dells than in the Kennedy realm of Cape Cod.
Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley • Regarding Obama’s upcoming vacation to Cape Cod. While presidents are likely to get criticism no matter where they vacation, Obama’s is even more acute because, well, the economy’s in the crapper, and it feels a tad tone-deaf. He should really consider what Bill Clinton did, according to journalist Ken Walsh, an expert on presidential retreats: “President Clinton, for instance, took polls to figure out where he should go on vacation when he ran for re-election. He took polls to figure out where Americans want the president to go. Well [it was] national parks, so President Clinton went to national parks.” So yeah, Obama, you should head to Montana, not send Michelle to Spain. source
It was kind of a bittersweet thing … relief that the trial is over, but frustration that we didn’t accomplish what we set out to do.
Jury foreman James Matsumoto • Regarding the end of the Blago trial, which only found him guilty on one of 24 counts. Some of the issue was the overarching complexity of the charges – the instructions were over 100 pages and the charges were highly technical and interconnected. “It was like, ‘Here’s a manual, go fly the space shuttle,” said fellow juror Steve Wlodek. source
They’re caught in the middle of California’s never-ending budget fight. After a lengthy court battle as part of the seemingly-yearly budget deadlock that comes up in California, the California Supreme Court allowed governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to force a three-day-a-month furlough on state government employees. By the way, Schwarzenegger and the legislature have yet to decide on how to solve the state’s $19.1 billion budget deficit. Nice to see the people in the middle get screwed. source
Reid had no chance to win before. He has a shot to win now. He could still lose, but I have to say he is favored.
Nevada Republican Senate primary candidate Danny Tarkanian • Explaining why Sharron Angle has given Reid a chance to survive his primary. And Reid is taking full advantage: “Our focus groups that we’ve done, my staff tells me this — her statements, they can’t believe that anyone would say that,” Reid said. “That’s why most of our TV just has her talking.” Because you can’t top people saying stupid things as entertainment. source
Not-so Kool Keith vents Keith Olbermann was very much in Edward R. Murrow mode for his “Ground Zero Mosque” special statement on Monday night, and while it was largely over-the-top, he made some good points, and an entertaining “This is America, dammit!” pitch for religious freedom.
Glenn guffaws, and then some Apparently, the only part of the entire twelve-minute statement Beck heard was the “This is America, Dammit!” part, because he kept replaying it over and over, and didn’t tackle the argument at all. He chose, instead, to ridicule Olbermann, saying nobody watches his show.
onethe number of charges that Blago is guilty of (lying to federal invesigators)
23the number of charges that the jury can’t agree he’s guilty of (yay deadlocks!)
fivethe number of years Blago could go to prison for that one charge alone source
» What does this mean? Two things. First, Blago isn’t off the hook just yet. Stuart Slotnick, a criminal defense attorney specializing in white collar crimes, suggests that the verdict is simply a safeguard to ensure more consideration for the other, more complex charges he’s facing.