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Lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ. In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ.
— President Barack Obama, at Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast, which was attended by the Dalai Lama. Christianists were quick to retaliate: “Rush Limbaugh devoted a segment of his show to what he said were the president’s insults to the “whole gamut of Christians” and Twitter’s right wing piled on. Guests on Megyn Kelly’s Fox News show spent 15 minutes airing objections to the president’s comments,” the New York Times reports.
257,000
Number of jobs that American employers added in January, as wage growth rebounded and more people joined the work force, the New York Times reports. “The Labor Department said on Friday that the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.7 percent, from 5.6 percent. But that was mostly because the portion of Americans in the work force rose slightly last month, a positive sign.”
6%
Of likely Republican presidential primary voters say they have definitely decided who they will support, 9% are leaning toward a candidate, and 85% are still trying to decide, according to a new WMUR poll in New Hampshire.
If the whole point of this election was simply to give John Boehner and Mitch McConnell nicer offices, let’s give ‘em back.
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), quoted by the Wall Street Journal, complaining that GOP leaders have lost interest in repealing Obamacare.
$1 billion
Louisiana’s current budget deficit. Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) “has a plan: Do for the country what he’s done for Louisiana. Cut taxes and cut the government workforce and the economy will bloom, he promises. It’s a message he’s peddling as he lays the groundwork for a presidential run,” Politico reports. “But here’s what Jindal doesn’t say: Louisiana’s budget is hemorrhaging red ink, and it’s getting worse. He inherited a $900 million surplus when he became governor seven years ago, and his administration’s own budget documents now show the state is facing deficits of more than $1 billion for as far as the eye can see.”
My dad is the greatest man alive. If anyone disagrees, we’ll go outside. Unless you’re 6’5? and 250 pounds and much younger than me and then we’ll negotiate.
— Jeb Bush, quoted by USA Today.
21%
Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) lead in New Hampshire in the Republican presidential race, followed by Jeb Bush at 14%, Sen. Rand Paul at 8%, Ben Carson at 8%, Gov. Chris Christie at 6%, Mike Huckabee at 6%, and Sen. Marco Rubio at 5%, a new NH1 poll shows.
It’s clear to anyone with eyes and ears by now that he is an almost pathologically ambitious figure, who has no qualms about persecuting his enemies, pettily seeking payback when necessary, and using public office to pursue political vendettas. What you really see in the Bridgegate mess is his desire to get Democratic party officials to endorse him to burnish his bipartisan credentials for a national race. If they didn’t, they had something to fear in New Jersey. He’s a big guy, in other words, with a tendency to punch down and suck up.”
— Andrew Sullivan, writing in the Dish about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
39%
Of Republicans likely to participate in Iowa’s presidential caucuses say they are inclined to view Islam as an inherently violent religion that inspires brutality by its followers. A new Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll finds. “Twice as many Democrats — along with a majority of Republicans — say they view the world’s second largest religion as inherently peaceful.”
They’re not legislators, they’re just assholes.
— Senior GOP aide, quoted by Roll Call, about the new House Freedom Caucus.
