Sarah Palin is so desperate to convince people not to watch “Game Change,” the HBO movie about her disastrous run as the vice presidential nominee in 2008, that her PAC created a spoof of the movie’s trailer.
Let’s hope “Game Change” — which premieres on Saturday, March 11 — gets big ratings and that its principals, Julianne Moore, Ed Harris and Woody Harrelson all win Emmys.
Video from second presidential debate in 2008, in which candidate Obama promises, “We will kill Osama bin Laden.” See transcript below.
On Monday, Joe Scarborough, the host of MSNBC’s three-hour GOP spin-a-thon, “Morning Joe,” used the occasion of the killing of Osama bin Laden at the direction of Pres. Obama to smear the patriotism of liberal Americans:
SCARBOROUGH: Here, you know, I think Republicans should stand up and certainly salute Barack Obama for making some — again, for making some very tough choices that his own base did not want him to make. That takes courage, that takes leadership, and we saw the results of that courage and leadership saying no to his own base yesterday.[…]
[These are] decisions that he probably did not believe as a candidate he didn’t think he’d have to make…Going against his own ideological leanings to do what he believes he has to do.
Of course, Scarborough offered no evidence that American progressives opposed killing the world’s most-wanted terrorist — he couldn’t, because none exists. He was simply pushing the same old GOP B.S. that Democrats — whose party led the nation during World War II — are soft on security and defense.
Also on Monday, Andrew Sullivan, a center-right independent, published a round-up of snippets of opinion from civil libertarians and liberals about the death of bin Laden. While there was some criticism about the riskiness of the action — that it could lead to a rise in blood-thirsty nationalism at home, for example — no one in Sully’s representative sample regretted the fact that bin Laden’s life had not been spared. Among those Andrew cited, Digby nailed it, as usual:
“I would rather he had been here and it was still his seat, you know? That’s what I really wish.”
— Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), in answer to a supporter who asked him what Sen. Paul Wellstone would have said after listening to one of Franken’s first speeches as a senator. Wellstone was killed in a plane crash in 2002 during his campaign against Norm Coleman, whom Franken defeated in 2008.
“I just congratulated Al Franken on his victory. I told him it’s the best job he’ll ever have representing Minnesota in the United States Senate. The Supreme Court has spoken, I will respect its decision, and abide by its results.”
— former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), finally doing the right thing and conceding the 2008 Senate race.
Today’s the day in Minnesota: we might have a new Democratic Senator in Al Franken. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s Arjun Jaikumar is live blogging and twittering from inside the courtroom where Sen. Norm Coleman’s challenge of a ruling favorable to Franken is being heard. Tune in for what appears to be some good stuff for our side:
10:04: Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg: We’re making due-process and equal-protection claims. Admits the due-process claim came only recently. “You changed the rules after the game was played”. Ha ha ha.
10:08: Justice Anderson: “Why is this offer of proof not inadequate?” Ouch.
10:14: Not an auspicious start for Friedberg. The justices seem very impatient and unimpressed…
10:24: Justice Anderson: “As loud as you speak on this issue, there’s language here you just can’t overcome”.
10:25: Marc Elias is on for Team Franken. He is one handsome devil.
10:32: Team Franken lays down numbers, coldly and efficiently. There are fewer disputed ballots where voter wasn’t registered than the margin between the two candidates.
MSNBC reports that both George Bush and Dick Cheney have canceled their appearances at the Republican National Convention because of the likelihood that hurricane Gustav would be coming ashore on the Gulf Coast near New Orleans on Monday at around the same time they were scheduled to speak in St. Paul.
The White House is apparently terrified that news channels would televise Bush’s speech on a split screen with live footage of people stranded in flood waters, as evacuees were in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina three years ago.
The McCain campaign is undoubtedly relieved by the cancellations. While Bush and Cheney remain popular with the hardcore extremist base of the GOP, they are extremely unpopular with regular Americans, which means that featuring them the convention could dampen support for the GOP ticket among independent voters in November.
As the campaign manager for the presidential bid of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), Kent Snyder received a lot of credit for raising $35 million from grassroots supporters, a phenomenal accomplishment for an insurgent campaign.
But, like 48 million other Americans, Snyder had no health insurance, and when he died from pneumonia on June 26 after a two-month hospital stay, he left medical bills totaling over $400,000.
It is emblematic of our age that Snyder’s boss, Rep. Paul, is a physician.
The story comes from the Washington Blade[that link is now inactive, here is an excerpt from the story published in the Daily Paul, a Paulestinian propaganda site – Editors, Sept. 14, 2011]:
Gay staffers from the Paul campaign, some speaking on condition that they not be identified, said they learned about Snyder’s unpaid medical bills from a web site created by his friends that calls on Paul supporters to contribute to a special fund to help Snyder’s family pay the bills, which come mostly from a two-month hospitalization. So far, the site (kentsnyder.com) has raised about $32,000.
The United States and Ukraine no longer seem to be in synch,
After Trump lifted Russia sanctions with a grin and a wink.
Trump coordinated it with Putin,
Who ramped up the drone shooting,
After Trump and Elon Musk throttled Ukraine’s Starlink.
“Take, for example, the French Revolution. Remember when Marie Antoinette said, ‘Let them eat cake’? Now, is that a problem of accountability and tyranny, a corrupt government? Or is it a problem of affordability and standard of living? It’s both! Authoritarianism and tyranny are extremely expensive for the people. And it’s the exact same thing when you go down the line with Donald Trump. So, are we going to go after the corruption? Yeah, you’re damn right. And are we going to go after affordability and making people’s lives easier? Yeah, you’re damn right. We’re going to do both of them.”
“Here’s the problem with the red meat: It becomes an addiction. Once you go there and you put that out there, then you’re forced to defend it. So what do they do? They double down. They triple down again.”
— Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed (D), quoted by the Washington Post, on Republicans relying on anti-Muslim attacks in the Michigan U.S. Senate race.
“If it wasn’t for President Trump the United States of America would not exist right now. This man saved America. He saved our military from collapse. He saved our economy from destruction. He saved our border from annihilation. He saved our country from threats at home and abroad which would have been the end of the American dream for ever.”
— Stephen Miller, quoted by The Guardian, pledging “total devotion” to President Trump.
A record number of women are running for state legislative seats this November, more than two-thirds of whom are Democrats, reports Florida Phoenix. Across the 46 states with legislative seats on the ballot, a total of 3,824 women are running — up from 2022’s previous record of 3,621 women candidates, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Women make up 35.5% of all state legislative candidates this cycle. Currently, women hold about one-third of state legislative seats across the country — a record level of representation but nowhere near parity.
“Prediction markets about the 2026 midterm elections have surpassed $1.4 billion in trading volume as Election Day fast approaches,” CNN reports. “This year has seen massive growth in the prediction industry, where people can bet on real-world events like sports, entertainment and the weather. While small-scale election markets have been around for a while, they gained traction before the 2024 presidential election and have seen huge numbers for the 2026 midterms.”
G. Elliot Morris: “Low-knowledge 2024 voters say they backed Trump by 8 points, according to our poll. Today they give him a net job approval of ?27, a 35-point shift. Compare that to Trump’s approval rating among voters who got both questions right: These voters backed Harris by 1 point and now give Trump a net ?24 approval, a 23-point shift. … Low-information voters have moved against Trump at a higher rate than high-information voters, by 12 points.”
President Donald ?Trump’s approval rating fell to a record low as Americans worried about high gasoline prices and appeared ready to punish his Republican Party in the November 3 congressional elections, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Monday. Some 31% of Americans approve of Trump’s ?performance in office, down a percentage point from two weeks earlier and the lowest level in ?either of his presidential terms, the four-day poll showed.
KFF Poll: “With the 2026 midterm campaigns in full swing and early voting about to begin, there is a wide enthusiasm gap between partisan voters, with Democratic voters 25 percentage points more likely than Republican voters to say they are ‘more motivated’ than usual to vote (63% vs. 38%).”