David Weigel
Sympathy for Sarah Palin
Conservatives are having no trouble spinning Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-Alaska) surprise cut-and-run from her office as an act of personal heroism that will help her political career. Fox News anchor Stuart Varney, running the network’s coverage right now, has opened the gushers, saying that Palin “represented real people with real values” and that by resigning [...]
Palin to Resign
In five minutes, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska.) announced she would skip the 2010 gubernatorial race, resign her own office at the end of July (her term is up December 2010), and, according to the pundit class, effectively take herself out of the 2012 election.
On Fox News, Bill Kristol said that “the more he thought about [...]
Tea Party Movement Loses Steam
Organizers plan for more intimate Fourth of July events after the hoopla of the April 15 gatherings.
Why Do Liberals Hate Sarah Palin?
Ed Kilgore’s analysis of the reignited strategists-vs-Sarah Palin slow-news-week imbroglio is on the mark:
This base of support for Palin — maybe not that large, but very passionate, and very powerful in places like the Iowa Republican Caucuses — isn’t going to abandon her just because the Serious People in the GOP laugh her off in [...]
Governor Coleman!
Josh Kraushaar writes the umpteenth appraisal of former Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R-Minn.) chances for a political comeback:
The conventional wisdom, fueled by an AP report today, is that he’d be a logical candidate and likely front-runner to succeed Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) in the governor’s mansion.
I wrote much of this back in June, but it hasn’t [...]
WaPo Internal Email Responds to the Politico Story
I’ve obtained an e-mail from Washington Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli that’s been sent to the paper’s reporters and editors in response to Politico’s story about access-for-cash offers to lobbyists:
A flyer was distributed this week offering an “underwriting opportunity” for a dinner on health-care reform, in which the news department had been asked to participate.
The [...]
The Governor Who Wasn’t There
The drip, drip, drip of possible scandal keeps falling on Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.).
Gov. Mark Sanford left the Governor’s Mansion without a security escort, 38 times in 2008. In the first six months of this year, he left the mansion without security, 39 times.
Those trips are about one-third of the 195 trips Sanford made from [...]
A Jeb Bush Poll in Iowa?
Radio Iowa has the report on a survey in the field in the first 2012 caucus state, asking Republicans voters whether they would support Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Bobby Jindal or Jeb Bush. The absence of Mitt Romney, who came second in the 2008 caucus, is notable. As is the next question:
Which one [...]
Fred Thompson Offended by Celebrity’s Election to the Senate
Talk radio has been abuzz with mockery of Sen.-elect Al Franken (D-Minn.) all day, but this must be the most ironic attack yet — a fake “interview” between Franken and former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.), created by “The Fred Thompson Show.” It’s reminiscent of Franken’s old trick of splicing questions with quotes from Rush Limbaugh [...]
Fellow Republicans Talk Down Bachmann From Her Census Protest
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) has spent several months trying to draw attention to the issue of whether the census will be fair — that is, whether it will exclude sampling and whether it will be conducted by the Department of Commerce. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-Minn.) recent and repeated claims that she will not participate in [...]
