With only three years (
at most) remaining of Barack Obama's
imperial presidency, those
seeking to replace him have already begun
jockeying for
position.
On the Republican side, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has emerged as the early frontrunner—a few minor obstacles in the road notwithstanding.
Like a bridge over troubled water, he's been laying the groundwork for months; and the solid base of support he's built should help him weather any storms in the future.
To say nothing of all that federal money at his disposal.
Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been (literally) kicking ass and taking names.
Unfortunately for her (but fortunately for women), we live in a man's world, baby!
Morning lineup:
Meet The Press: Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI); Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Reddit Co-Founder Alexis Ohanian; Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (9/11); Former Defense Secretary/CIA Director Robert Gates; New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D); Roundtable: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Former Obama Senior Adviser David Axelrod, Nia-Malika Henderson (Washington Post) and Andrea Mitchell (NBC News).
Face The Nation: Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI); Sen. Mark Udall (D-CO); Former National Security Adviser Tom Donilon; Former CIA Deputy Director Mike Morell; Roundtable: Ruth Marcus (Washington Post), Christi Parson (Los Angeles Times) and David Sanger (New York Times).
This Week: Russian President Vladimir Putin; Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX); Roundtable: Democratic Strategist James Carville, Republican Strategist Mary Matalin, Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal), David Remnick (The New Yorker) and Tavis Smiley (PBS).
Fox News Sunday: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT); Former NSA/CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden; Computer Security Expert David Kennedy; Roundtable: Brit Hume (Fox News), Robert Costa (National Review), Kimberley Strassel (Wall Street Journal) and Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI); Sen. Angus King (I-ME); Roundtable: Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile, Republican Pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson and Michael Crowley (TIME).
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will present two tales of survival—one about an American who nearly lost her life in Africa, the other about Africans who found their lives in America (preview).
On Comedy Central...
Jon Stewart didn't skirt around the issue of Brit Hume's misogyny.
The Daily Show
Monday: Author Marilynne Roach
Tuesday: Author Theresa Payton
Wednesday: Hari Sreenivasan (PBS)
Thursday: Author Anjan Sundaram
And Stephen Colbert surveyed the fallout from the West Virginia chemical spill.
The Colbert Report
Monday: Author Scott Stossel
Tuesday: Authors Michael Chabon & Mariel Hemingway
Wednesday: Author Charles Duhigg
Thursday: Author Patricia Churchland
Elsewhere...
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) got a little carried away with his pro-life agenda.
"I would suggest that it is very much the case that those of us in the majority support this legislation because it is the morally right thing to do, but it is also very very true that having a growing population and having new children brought into the world is not harmful to job creation," Goodlatte said at the committee mark-up of the bill. "It very much promotes job creation for all the care and services and so on that need to be provided by a lot of people to raise children."
Meanwhile...
Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) demonstrated once again that he's got shit for brains.
Gohmert pointed out that some courts had found that there was no biological evidence that marriage should be limited to a man and a woman.
"They need some basic plumbing lessons," he said. "For one omnipotent, omniscious, ubiquitous federal judge who is wise beyond his education to say — to make such a declaration about the law, I think, requires revisiting by each state and compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court."
And, finally...
Virginia state Sen. Dick Black (R), who is running for Congress, laid down the law.
As a state legislator, Black opposed making spousal rape a crime, citing the impossibility of convicting a husband accused of raping his wife "when they're living together, sleeping in the same bed, she's in a nightie, and so forth."
Black has referred to emergency contraception, which does not cause abortions, as "baby pesticide." Black also fought to block a statue of Abraham Lincoln at a former Confederate site in Richmond. He wasn't sure, he explained at the time, that statues of Lincoln belonged in Virginia. He has argued that abortion is a worse evil than slavery. And once, to demonstrate why libraries should block pornography on their computers, Black invited a TV reporter to film him using a library terminal to watch violent rape porn.
Girl you know it's true.
- Trix