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30 Jan 2010 17:52

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Politics: Obama’s pull-apart of the Republicans: Will it boost his image?

  • Rarely has there been such an encounter between a president and the opposition party and certainly never on national television. It was the antithesis of the kind of snarling exchanges that often pass for political dialogue, whether between strategists in the two parties, candidates in the heat of a campaign or on the worst of cable television.
  • Washington Post reporter Dan Balz • Analyzing our favorite moment of politics between Barack Obama and the Republican Party, yesterday’s steel-cage death match at the Republican compound in Baltimore. A Q&A session between the president and the party that has made his life hell over the last year, Obama came out FAR ahead at the end of it, pointing out some of the dirtier political tricks he’s seen and effectively beating down their talking points. The fact that it aired on national TV made the barbs even more impressive. The question is, will the talk have a lasting effect or is it just a really good moment of levity? source

26 Jan 2010 09:06

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U.S.: Marco Rubio primed to upset in Florida’s GOP gubernatorial primary

  • 47% are all excited about the tea-party-backed Marco Rubio
  • 44% are still behind moderate incumbent Charlie Crist, who’s lost his entire double-digit lead
  • 6% haven’t decided yet; both are ahead in the general election source

24 Jan 2010 22:56

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Politics: Max Headroom: The Democrats look like a deflated balloon. Why?

  • Nice hair, Robbie Robert Gibbs took to “Fox News Sunday” to deflect the Scott Brown thingy for Obama, but really, all we could focus on was the mini-pompadour in his hair. Is he gunning to be Conan’s replacement or something?

  • “Like a thunderbolt”Among other topics that CBS’ “Face The Nation” tackled was the campaign finance ruling in the Supreme Court on Thursday. Their take? The Scott Brown victory (and this decision) came just in time for the GOP to capitalize.

  • Where’s the backbone? Rachel Maddow makes a pretty good slam on what she sees as Democratic wimpiness – taking Erroll Southers out of the TSA nomination, going limp after Scott Brown’s win – with a good point: The Dems are still in power.

23 Jan 2010 10:39

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Politics: Careful who you call a tea partier: You might anger the natives

  • They thought the platform was going to tie into what we were after, that we would be one big happy family.
  • Northern Colorado Tea Party leader Lesley Hollywood • Regarding frustration her group – and other Colorado tea party groups – has felt after Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis was labeled as “the tea-party candidate” on Fox News last month. It led to a firestorm of controversy mainly because the groups had felt slighted by McInnis when dealing with him before. It required him to do a lot of apologizing and laying some groundwork to patch things up. It’s kind of the Catch-22 the Republicans are stuck dealing with – there’s a wave of conservatism, but it’s a very cliquey wave. source

20 Jan 2010 11:03

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Politics: Newsweek columnist: Scott Brown, another guy with no new ideas

  • Brown offers nothing constructive, nothing coherent, nothing concrete, and no support for anything President Obama has done or plans to do. He’ll fit right in.
  • Newsweek columnist Daniel Gross • Regarding Massachusetts Senator-elect Scott Brown, who he feels has no firm fiscal policy, just like many other Republicans. Gross argues that it seems like the current agenda for many Republicans is something along the line of party pooper for any sort of economic recovery. He’s argued this before in Slate, referring to the party as the “Failure Caucus.” Ouch. He goes further: “In fact, it’s virtually impossible to find an elected Republican official who can speak intelligently and accurately about budget issues.” Painful. source

15 Jan 2010 01:29

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Politics: How did Scott Brown teeter towards the edge of an upset in Mass.?

Weeks ago, Scott Brown was seen as a non-entity in the country’s most liberal state. Now he has a realistic shot of winning Ted Kennedy’s old seat. WTF? source

07 Jan 2010 11:25

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Politics: “The Daily Show” looks for the “Good Old Days,” can’t find it

  • Are the “Good Old Days” gone? In response to Fox News talking heads going on about how we’ve lost our innocence, “The Daily Show’s” John Oliver tried looking for said innocence, and wasn’t able to find it. Decade by decade, he found that it was just as bad. Freaking hilarious. Depressing. And awesome. All at once, guys.
 

07 Jan 2010 10:40

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Politics: Chris Matthews sees only white tea leaves at GOP protests

  • “They’re all white. All of them, every single one of them is white.” Chris Matthews is a wee bit obsessed with the race of the Tea Partiers, noting that he doesn’t see a single non-white person in the mix. It’s a line begging for rebuke. And wouldn’t you look at that! There’s a couple black tea partiers, right on cue! source

05 Jan 2010 11:15

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Politics: Ron Paul isn’t afraid of standing up to Dick Cheney’s crazy

  • I think he had his eight years, and he’s caused a lot of trouble for our country and perpetuated a war in Iraq unnecessary and wrong-headed. I would say it would be best he not be so critical right now.
  • Rep. Ron Paul • Suggesting that Dick Cheney is out of his element in criticizing the Obama administration’s security policies. Granted, Paul isn’t exactly GOP leadership, but he is also somebody people know and also in Cheney’s party. So it’s interesting that he’s saying this about the guy. source

04 Jan 2010 08:50

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Politics: In Alabama, “Democrat” means “Basically a Republican”

  • I like Bobby. I think he’s a great guy and a fine Christian man. But when he first came out, I wished that he’d been a Republican.
  • Retired electrical engineer Glenn Cook, 72 • On his Congressman, Bobby Bright. Bright, an Alabama Democrat in an era where such a thing can be political suicide, has stayed popular mainly in his district by voting like a Republican on all but a tiny handful of things. Parker Griffith was a fellow Democratic Congressman in Alabama until recently. He switched parties, leaving Bright by himself. source