As their
August recess comes to
an end, and
Obamacare's day of reckoning quickly approaches, the
Republican brain trust is coming to the
realization that they're running out of
options.
Armed with a recently commissioned poll which found that their shutdown fantasy is a potential nightmare for the party's mid-term prospects, GOP leaders have begun to consider a new strategy.
Instead of holding the federal budget process hostage, they'd hold the nation's credit rating hostage (again), and threaten to kill it unless President Obama agrees to repeal his signature piece of legislation and replace it with nothing—an idea so crazy that it just might work.
But wait... there's more!
Fearing that this plan, too, may prove to be counterproductive, Republicans have also started reaching out to legal professionals and academics for answers to their evidentiary questions about impeachment.
Now, I am not a lawyer, but I don't think that having two black dogs and no white ones meets the threshold of high crimes and misdemeanors.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Rep. John Lewis (D-GA); Newark, NJ Mayor Corey Booker (D); Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R); Roundtable: Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID), Author Sheryl WuDunn, Rev. Al Sharpton (MSNBC), David Brooks (New York Times) and Presidential Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Note: MTP will also include a re-airing of Martin Luther King Jr's August 25, 1963 appearance.
Face the Nation: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell; Rep. John Lewis (D-GA); Newark, NJ Mayor Corey Booker (D); Roundtable: Ben Jealous (NAACP), Marian Wright Edelman (Children's Defense Fund) and Author Taylor Branch.
This Week: Live Reporting from Cairo by Martha Raddatz (ABC News); Rep. John Lewis (D-GA); Former Atlanta, GA Mayor Andrew Young (D); Roundtble: George Will (Washington Post), Cokie Roberts (ABC News), Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile and Dan Balz (Washington Post).
Fox News Sunday: Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN); Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY); Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R); Oklahoma District Attorney Jason Hicks; Roundtable: Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), Kirsten Powers (Daily Beast), Talk Show Host David Webb and Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX); Former DNC Chair/Vermont Gov. Howard Dean; Jim DeMint (Heritage Foundation); Rep. John Lewis (D-GA); Roundtable: Cornell Belcher (CNN), Ross Douthat (New York Times), Former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina and Neera Tanden (Center for American Progress).
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: an investigation into the accuracy of the credit reports that American consumers rely on for credit cards and loans (preview); a report on the growing use of computer facial recognition technology in public places (preview); and, Anderson Cooper diving with one of nature's oldest living predators, the Nile crocodile, and the wildlife filmmakers who study them (preview).
On Comedy Central...
"The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report" were in reruns this week, so there are no new videos to share.
Instead, here's Jon Stewart's coverage of the various "scandals" that were engulfing the White House just a few short months ago.
And Stephen Colbert's report on scandal-monger Darrell Issa's efforts to rename a vast swatch of ocean after Ronald Reagan.
Note: The Daily Show and The Colbert Report will be airing reruns this week.
Elsewhere...
Bill Kristol weighed in on Sarah Palin's prospects for a Jesus-like resurrection.
Republican political strategist and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol appeared on "Morning Joe" Tuesday morning to walk back statements he made to ABC Online on Sunday regarding the political fortunes of erstwhile Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R). Whereas two days ago, Kristol said that Palin could "resurrect herself" politically by way of a run for U.S. Senate, Tuesday morning he was far less sanguine about her prospects, saying that she does not "have a future" in politics. [...]
"I was asked, 'Does Sarah Palin have a future?' and I just tried to give an analytical answer, which is I don’t think she does having resigned as governor," he said.
He continued, "This is useful to think outside the box, not just accept the conventional wisdom…If she wants to have a serious future in American politics, as opposed to giving speeches occasionally, causing a ruckus with Facebook posts, she should run for office. Running and winning takes away a lot of the baggage of the past."
Meanwhile...
National Review editor Rich Lowry tried to get a rise out of liberals.
Cruz is from the intellectual elite, but not of it, a tea party conservative whose politics are considered gauche at best at the storied universities where he studied. He is, to borrow the words of the 2009 H.W. Brands biography of FDR, a traitor to his class. [...]
Democrats and liberal pundits would surely dislike Cruz no matter where he went to school, but his pedigree adds an extra element of shocked disbelief to the disdain. [...]
One of the left's deepest prejudices is that its opponents are stupid, and Cruz tramples on it.
Strangely, Lowry's column made no mention of Cruz's ability to project through the screen.
And, in other news...
Colorado state Sen. Vicki Marble (R) questioned black peoples' eating habits.
"When you look at life expectancy, there are problems in the black race: sickle-cell anemia is something that comes up, diabetes is something that's prevalent in the genetic makeup and you just can't help it… Although I've got to say, I've never had better barbecue and better chicken and ate better in my life than when you go down south and you — I mean love it and everybody loves it. The Mexican diet in Mexico with all of the fresh vegetables. And you go down there and they're much thinner than when they come up here… they change their diet."
I give up.
- Trix