Day: July 8, 2009

Poll: 71% of GOP Would Vote for a Quitter to Be President in 2012

Jon Ponder

In the Bush era, Republicans demonstrated their collective poor judgment by twice electing as president a bellicose, proudly incurious, anti-intellectual ideologue. A poll out yesterday suggests that they learned nothing from that disaster, and are ready to do it again.

Less than a week after Sarah Palin — who has all of George Bush’s intellectual deficiencies and then some — announced she is walking away from her job as governor of Alaska midway through her first term, USA Today found that 71 percent of Republicans would vote for her for president in 2012:

When it comes to a potential presidential run, the USA TODAY Poll displays Palin’s strength in the Republican base and weakness among swing voters, who traditionally decide national elections. Republicans by 71 percent-27 percent say they’d be likely to vote for her if she ran for president in 2012, while independents by 51 percent-44 percent would not.

As Todd Purdum put it in his profile of Palin in the August issue of Vanity Fair, “What does it say about the nature of modern American politics that a public official who often seems proud of what she does not know is not only accepted but applauded?”

The question ought to be, what does it say that two such proud underachievers are applauded so roundly by the same party in the same decade.

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

You know, this is part of American culture. Michael Jackson, like Elvis, like Sinatra, when somebody who’s captivated the imagination of the country for that long passes away, people pay attention. And I assume at some point people will start focusing again on things like nuclear weapons.

— President Obama, in an interview with ABC News, trying not to sound too irritated with the media attention given to the Michael Jackson funeral.

A C-SPAN Reality Drama? Schwarzenegger Suggests Filming Negotiations on $26 Bil Deficit

Jon Ponder

Gov. Schwarzenegger, left, and Speaker Bass

Things are bad here in California. Yes, we have the world’s fifth largest economy — we’d be a member of the G-8, if we were a sovereign nation. But the sky is falling for real this time. The state is $26 billion in the hole.

“He broke it. He should fix it.”
– Speaker Karen Bass

Reporting from Sacramento suggests that in his negotiations with the Dem-controlled Legislature, GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is stuck in his usual, Bush-esque “my way or the highway” mode.

After all, he has little skin in this game — he sits on a personal fortune worth tens of millions (and can easily replenish the ol’ coffers playing superannuated robots when he leaves office), so he’ll be fine even if the economy collapses. And his political legacy is shot. No matter what happens over the next 16 months, nothing can prevent Arnold Schwarzenegger from going down as one of the worst — if not the worst — governor in California’s 159-year history.

As the stalemate continues, the hole gets deeper — the deficit was “only” $24 billion a couple of weeks ago. Another $2 billion accrued while Sacramento dithered.

And this brief but vivid moment, which was reported last Wednesday, does not bode well:

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Baldwin Vista (Los Angeles County), was visibly upset coming out of the governor’s office Wednesday afternoon.

“He broke it. He should fix it,” she said, apparently referring to Schwarzenegger.

[…]

Once Every Thousand Years Comes Today

Trish

Here’s a little something for trivia fans, and all those who like momentous occasions. Today is the 8th of July in 2009 right? So it’s 7/8/09. Shortly after noon today, it will be 12:34. Moments later, it will be 12:34 and 56 seconds. So that means it will be…12:34:56 7/8/9. Get it? 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9. It only happens once every thousand years, so be sure to stop and take a breath and feel it.

This will be our last chance to experience one of these thrills for awhile, at least until 11:11:11 on 11/11/11.

h/t to Anu Garg at Wordsmith