It's the
end of the world as
we know it, and
Michele Bachmann feels
awesome.
And why shouldn't she?
If the multitude of polls released this week are to be believed (they're not), then Republicans are "winning" the shutdown blame game in a very big (monumental) way.
You don't need to be a self-certified ophthalmologist like Rand Paul to see it; clearly, everything is working out according to their master plan.
If Republicans in the House and Senate continue to stand strong against Barack Hussein Obama, they will soon be faced with a golden opportunity.
For, as every student of history knows, a debt ceiling default would bring stability to the world markets, and enable the South to rise again.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH); Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL); Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta; Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde; Roundtable: Judy Woodruff (PBS), Kathleen Parker (Washington Post), Former Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN) and Chuck Todd (NBC News).
Face the Nation: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY); Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH); Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS); Roundtable: Former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrinch (R-GA), Kimberley Strassel (Wall Street Journal) and Dan Balz (Washington Post).
This Week: Former Senior White House Adviser David Plouffe; Paul Krugman (New York Times); Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal); Republican Strategist Dan Senor.
Fox News Sunday: Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN); Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV); Senate Chaplain Barry Black; Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), Former Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino and Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY); Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME); Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN); Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA); Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D); Former White House Communications Director Anita Dunn.
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: a report on the decline of Detroit, and the people working to bring it back (preview); a true story about a young assistant bank manager at a Saigon Citibank risks his life to save 105 Vietnamese, spiriting them out of the besieged city in 1975 by duping the American military into thinking they were his own family (preview); and, an interview with Jack Andraka, a teen who may have invented an early test for pancreatic cancer (preview).
On Comedy Central...
Jon Stewart examined why so many health-challenged states refused to expand Medicaid.
And Stephen Colbert anxiously awaited the arrival of 100 million freedom-loving truckers.
Note: The Daily Show and The Colbert Report will be airing reruns this week.
Elsewhere...
Commentary magazine got the old gang back together to fete Dick Cheney, and a good time was had by most.
Conservatives gathered at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan Monday night to roast the former vice president at an event where many of the biggest laugh lines touched on the most controversial policies of a key architect of his administration's war on terror. At the gathering, hosted by Commentary, figures including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey drew a mix of chuckles and winces with jokes that left few lines uncrossed, according to three guests.
Former Sen. Joe Lieberman "said something to the effect that it's nice that we're all here at the Plaza instead of in cages after some war crimes trial," recalled one person who was there. [...]
"There were some waterboarding jokes that were really tasteless," the guest said. "I can see the case for enhanced interrogation techniques after Sept. 11 but I can't really endorse sitting there drinking wine and fancy dinner at the Plaza laughing uproariously about it."
Meanwhile...
An Arizona state legislator's Facebook post caused a bit of a furor.
Arizona state Rep. Brenda Barton (R) issued a statement on Wednesday denying that a recent Facebook post in which she described President Obama as "de Fuhrer" was a reference to Adolf Hitler.
Barton initially stood by the post she wrote Monday in which she misspelled the German phrase most commonly associated with Adolf Hitler. However, on Wednesday, Barton issued a statement in order to "clarify that I never used the word or said that President Obama was 'Hitler.'"
Barton specifically took issue with the Arizona Capitol Times, which published a story after conducting an interview with her in which she said there were similarities between the rise of Hitler and Obama's attempts to enact health care reform. She also told the newspaper her statements were "not controversial."
And, finally...
A top strategist for New Jersey senate candidate Steve Lonegan was fired on Friday, despite being the breast man for the job.
"It was just weird. I mean, to me, you know, hey, if he said, 'Hey, you got really hot breasts man, I'd love to suck on them.' Then like, yeah, cool. But like, he didn't say that," Shaftan explained.
"It was like kind of like, I don't know, it was like what a gay guy would say to a stripper. It's the way he was talking to her. It's just like like there was no sexual interest at all. I don't know. To me, if I was single and you know like some stripper was tweeting me, I might take advantage of the perks of the office, you know?" [...]
"This is strange. It's just weird. … It's like, 'I don't know who she is. I don't know anything about her.' Get the fuck out of here dude. You can't follow her Twitter page and not know she's got those great breasts. How do you fucking not know?" Shaftan said. "It's just too odd and people they just wonder, like, who does this guy really want to work for? Who's he representing?"
You get nothing! You lose! Good day,sir!
- Trix