After reaching an 11th-hour deal to end the stupid, ridiculous and disgusting debt ceiling hostage crisis, President Obama was free at last to celebrate Ramadan and his (purported) 50th birthday.
And boy, oh boy, did he.
Thursday night, the President palled around the White House with various hip-hop luminaries, including Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson.
The good times carried over into Friday morning, when Obama was presented with a better-than-expected jobs report.
However, by Friday night it was evident that Neil Cavuto's birthday wish had been granted, rather than Obama's.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Sen. John Kerry (D-MA); Roundtable: Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, Outgoing White House Economic Adviser Austan Goolsbee, Rachel Maddow (MSNBC) and Republican Strategist Alex Castellanos.
Face the Nation: Obama Campaign Strategist David Axelrod; Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC); Former DNC Chair/Gov. Howard Dean.
This Week: Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D); Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL); US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford; Feminist Icon Gloria Steinem; Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), Cokie Roberts (ABC News), Former "Car Czar" Steve Rattner and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT).
Fox News Sunday: David Beers (Standard & Poor's); Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI); Legg Mason CIO Bill Miller; Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R); Roundtable: Byron York (Washington Examiner), Kristen Powers (New York Post), Susan Ferrechio (Washington Examiner) and Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Steve Forbes (Forbes); Former White House Economic Adviser Larry Summers; California Gov. Jerry Brown (D); Former White House Communications Director Anita Dunn; Former Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA); Former Director of National Intelligence Vice Adm. Mike McConnell; Reliable Sources: Radio Host Dennis Prager; Joan Walsh (Salon.com); Terence Smith (Formerly of CBS); Sharon Waxman (TheWrap.com); Ned Zeman (Vanity Fair).
The Chris Matthews Show: Dan Rather (HDNet); Gloria Borger (CNN); Rana Foroohar (TIME); Andrew Ross Sorkin (New York Times).
Fareed Zakaria GPS: Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post); Joe Klein (TIME); Reihan Salam (National Review); Nick Wapshott (Reuters); "Ground Zero Mosque" Developer Sharif el-Gamal.
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: a report on the the unclear and/or bogus ownership documents held by banks on many foreclosed properties, which are a threat to the housing market (preview); an interview with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen (preview); and, an interview with rapper Eminem (preview).
On Comedy Central:
Jon Stewart examined the tea party's compromised victory in the debt ceiling standoff.
The Daily Show
Monday: Author Mark Adams
Tuesday: Author/Journalist Jay Bahadur
Wednesday: TBA
Thursday: TBA
And Stephen Colbert worried that insurer-covered birth control will lead America down the path of the dinosaurs.
The Colbert Report
Monday: Author Nassir Ghaemi
Tuesday: Band The Cars (Bloomberg)
Wednesday: Elliot Ackerman (Americans Elect)
Thursday: Feminist Icon Gloria Steinem
Elsewhere:
Despite his inability to compete with the other candidates on the financial front, Newt Gingrich managed to raise a formidable Twitter army.
Newt employs a variety of agencies whose sole purpose is to procure Twitter followers for people who are shallow/insecure/unpopular enough to pay for them. As you might guess, Newt is most decidedly one of the people to which these agencies cater.
About 80 percent of those accounts are inactive or are dummy accounts created by various "follow agencies," another 10 percent are real people who are part of a network of folks who follow others back and are paying for followers themselves (Newt's profile just happens to be a part of these networks because he uses them, although he doesn't follow back), and the remaining 10 percent may, in fact, be real, sentient people who happen to like Newt Gingrich. If you simply scroll through his list of followers you'll see that most of them have odd usernames and no profile photos, which has to do with the fact that they were mass generated. Pathetic, isn't it?
Meanwhile, in other news of the pathetic:
Fox News explained why it is that they pull their punches when it comes to Sarah Palin.
During a roundtable discussion on Fox News' "The Five" yesterday, two panelists admitted that they take it easy on Fox News employee and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) because they feel awkward about criticizing a co-worker.
Greg Gutfeld, the show's co-host, was the first to admit it, saying, "The only problem with talking about Sarah Palin is that she works here, and it's like a co-worker, and if I say something bad and I see her in the hallway I feel really awkward and wrong so I just kind of say, 'That was a good job' and move on."
Bob Beckel, a long-time Democratic operative who also co-hosts the show, then added, "I know exactly what you mean. I’ll be honest: I’ve pulled my punches on her."
And, finally:
The GOP's would-be savior, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, is earning plaudits from primary voters for his potency.
Veterans of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's unsuccessful 2010 primary challenge to Perry recalled being stunned at the way attacks bounced off the governor in a strongly conservative state gripped by tea party fever. Multiple former Hutchison advisers recalled asking a focus group about the charge that Perry may have presided over the execution of an innocent man – Cameron Todd Willingham – and got this response from a primary voter: "It takes balls to execute an innocent man."
Christ, what an asshole!
- Trix