• What kind of jokers post on her wall, anyway? We were curious, so we decided to dig in, and found that fans of “Going Rogue” and people who want her to run for President are most prevalent, but occasionally, she gets ripped on by her own conservative base. Why? Check out our latest AOL News article to find out. (Photo courtesy geerlingguy on Flickr.) source

• Among Supreme Court nominees over the last 50 years or more, Kagan may well be the nominee with the least amount of relevant experience.
• Ethics and Public Policy Center president Ed Whelan • Regarding Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Technically, he’s right – she hasn’t been a judge unlike any of the other justices. In fact, she’s an aberration because many presidents have been wary of nominating a Supreme Court justice without a history of judicial decisions under their belt. That said, her resume is pretty stacked otherwise. We’re guessing that someone who’s worked as the dean of Harvard’s law school and as the Solicitor General probably knows a thing or two about making astute legal decisions. source

• What he said about new tech In his commencement speech at Hampton University yesterday, the president threw out this gem: “With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations – none of which I know how to work – information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.” He also notes that it allows false claims to quickly gain traction.
• Why we (mostly) disagree May we note that all those new ways to get information empower us to hear a huge diversity of voices? While we agree that this technology has an addictive element to it, the fact of the matter is, it empowers a diversity of voices that didn’t exist even a decade ago. And plus, Obama’s arguments could easily apply to television or radio, if you think about it. We do agree with the false claims part, though. source

• The political atmosphere, obviously, has been toxic and it’s very clear some of the votes that I have cast have added to the toxic environment. Looking back on them, with one or two very minor exceptions, I wouldn’t have cast them any differently even if I’d known at the time it would cost me my career.
• Utah Sen. Bob Bennett • Regarding his shocking loss at the Utah Republican Convention, where he was ousted in favor of two fresh faces – Tim Bridgewater and Mike Lee, who will face each other in a June primary. Bennett, a three-term politician, is the first Utah senator ousted by his party since 1940. Fellow Sen. Orrin Hatch said he felt bad for his counterpart, “But you know, people are angry. They’re really upset at the way things are going and I think to a degree that’s what hurt him.” source

• It’s a sad day when Glenn Beck (!) offers a more eloquent defense of constitutional rights than the normally statesmanlike senator from Connecticut.
• Commentator David Frum • Regarding Joe Lieberman’s suggestion that those who show loyalty and support to terror organizations lose their citizenship. Frum notes in a number of ways why this is a stupid idea, specifically because there’s already legal precedent for this (the 1940 Nationality Act, which was limited in 1967 by the Supreme Court and expanded slightly by Congress) and that legal precedent would mean that the enemy combatant would have to go through a lengthy court case. Bet Lieberman didn’t think of that. source

• +88 number of seats the Tories gained (not enough to lead outright)
• -94 number of seats
  Labour lost (enough to fall out of power)
• -5 number of seats Lib Dems lost (so much for big gains) source

• » So what’s next, anyway?: With the hung Parliament, nobody has enough votes to lead completely, so right now, the two major parties are trying to court the Liberal Democrats. Whoever can win them over will have proxy leadership over Parliament.

• Lots of potential, but many Americans aren’t convinced. The new ABC News/Washington Post poll on bizarro hippies (not to be confused with the similar New York Times/CBS News poll a few weeks ago) suggests that the party has a lot of opportunity to grow their base, but could find themselves ticking off moderates in the process.

• 2% of Americans are directly a part of the bizarro hippie movement

Would you vote for these guys?

• 15% of registered voters are more apt to
  support a bizarro hippie candidate
  running for Congress (9 percent
  “much more likely”)
• 24% are more apt to oppose
  that candidate because they’re
  a bizarro hippie (17 percent “much more likely”)

Do you like what you hear?

• 34% like bizarro hippies the more
  they hear about them
• 43% hate bizarro hippies the more
  they hear about them

• » The neutral problem: There’s a large sub-section of the population that’s fairly neutral to the bizarro hippies – around 44 percent – and 45 percent of them really REALLY grow to dislike them the more they hear about them.

Understanding their constituients

• Bizarro hippies may be a movement built out of republican weakness. While progressives largely stand behind the Democratic party, Republicans on the other hand have trouble getting their political equals under the same tent, according to the study:

• 86% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning indie kids say the party represents their values
• 56% of Republicans and Republican-leaning indie kids say the same thing about their party
• 29% of Republicans would much rather wear a funny hat and tape tea bags to the rim of it

Who doesn’t like Obama? Bizarro hippies

• 84% of bizarro hippies think Obama is lamesauce

• 87% of bizarro hippies say race is not a reason that the support the movement
• 57% of evil socialists think race is a huge reason why bizarro hippies hang out and party together

• » Other notes: Bizarro hippies think that race is less of a problem in this country than the country at large, but they also tend to be more likely to be white. 81 percent of bizarro hippies are white, versus 74 percent of all adults and 65 percent of people who think bizarro hippies are lamesauce. Just as many bizarro hippies think Obama is doing too much for black people as he is not doing quite enough, which matches the population at large. source