Earlier this year, "
hip-hop conservative"
Trey Radel joined with most of his GOP colleagues in voting to require
mandatory drug testing for
food stamp recipients.
At the time, he probably couldn't imagine that he'd be pleading guilty to possession of cocaine this week.
After all, drugs and alcohol tend to impair one's cognitive abilities.
Meanwhile, in the (supposedly) higher-functioning chamber of Congress...
Harry Reid dropped a nuclear bomb on the Republican minority, forcing them to quit their filibuster addiction cold turkey.
There was much gnashing of teeth, rending of garments and clutching of pearls on the right—a far cry from what they were saying during those heady Bush years.
On the left, the move was widely celebrated; however, their victory would likely prove to be pyrrhic if the 2012 election were held today.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Pre-empted by coverage of Formula 1 Racing.
Face the Nation: Jackie Kennedy's Secret Service Agent Clint Hill; LBJ's Daughter Luci Baines Johnson; Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD); Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA); Roundtable: David Sanger (New York Times), David Rohde (Reuters), Kim Strassel (Wall Street Journal) and John Dickerson (CBS News).
This Week: Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA); Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA); Facebook CEO/Founder Mark Zuckerberg; Author/Poet Maya Angelou; Roundtable: Cokie Roberts (ABC News), Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile, Republican Strategist Matthew Dowd and Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard).
Fox News Sunday: Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R); Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN); Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD); Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), Julie Pace (Associated Press), Nina Easton (Fortune) and Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA); Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY); Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT); Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: interviews with the federal agents who helped capture Whitey Bulger (preview); a report on revolutionary new therapies being used to treat PTSD (preview); and, an interview with author Malcolm Gladwell (preview).
On Comedy Central...
Jon Stewart surveyed the fallout from the "nuclear option."
And Stephen Colbert weighed in on Trey Radel's drug problem.
Note: The Daily Show and The Colbert Report will be airing reruns this week.
Elsewhere...
The Cheney family took their differences public.
Still offended by her sister's public opposition to same-sex marriage, Mary Cheney told Politico Magazine in a story published Wednesday that she is "not supporting Liz's candidacy."
"By supporting, I mean not working, not contributing, and not voting for (I'm registered in Virginia not Wyoming)," Mary Cheney wrote in an email. [...]
Mary Cheney said she hasn't spoken to her sister since the summer and the two will not be seeing each other on Christmas.
The public quarrel prompted their father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, to release a statement in which he defended Liz Cheney's position on same-sex marriage.
Meanwhile...
The Oregon Family Council fought for their right to discriminate.
[T]he Oregon Family Council has filed its own initiative that would allow for discrimination against same-sex couples even if marriage equality passes.
The proposed Protect Religious Freedom Initiative would create a "right to discriminate" for any business that normally works with weddings. Were it to pass, florists, bakers, photographers, and other wedding professionals could simply refuse to serve same-sex couples without being in violation of the state's public accommodation nondiscrimination protections.
And, in other news of discrimination (or non-discrimination, as it were)...
The hosts of "Fox & Friends" had some white people problems with the notion that there's racism in America.
"I don't know that Barack Obama could have been elected president if he was living in a racist nation," co-host Steve Doocy opined. "Are there racists out there? Absolutely. Is it a majority of people? No. A majority of the people, according to the polls, simply don’t like his policies." [...]
"And certainly throwing around racist accusations, calling someone a racist certainly for disagreeing when they are indeed not, would undermine racism when it does occur," Hasselbeck chimed in. [...]
"But this is someone as powerful as Oprah instilling fear in those that may come to critique policy under a cloak of racism when it may not be there," Hasselbeck declared. "So again, it undermines racism when it does occur."
Mark it zero!
- Trix