“Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin on Tuesday night declared that there is ‘no ability or opportunity’ for the new Arizona immigration law to encourage racial profiling, and blamed Barack Obama for ‘perpetuating this myth.'” Let’s check with Marco Rubio on that. [Politico]

“Orange County authorities are launching an investigation into possible voter registration fraud after a local newspaper reported over a hundred cases of voters being tricked into registering as Republicans by petitioners who asked them to sign petitions for, among other causes, legalizing pot.” [TPM]

Oh, Gordon Brown.  Dude’s rumored to have a bit of a temper.  But the pain, the shame of saying what you really think with a live microphone still attached to your shirt:

Here’s what happened. Brown was in Rochdale doing a television interview about the deficit. As he was speaking, a woman called Gillian Duffy, a 65-year-old Labour voter, heckled him about the subject.He engaged her in conversation and they had a rather awkward chat that was filmed live on TV. It was a bit excruciating – mainly because she seemed to be criticising him for everything – but eventually she said local schools were getting better.

Brown tried to joke about her wearing the right colour, red, but that did not seem to go down well. He was still trying to speak to her as she was walking away. That was all I saw. It struck me as a fairly typical “politician meets grumpy voters” moment.

But Brown then got into his car, still wearing the television microphone. Apparently, he was recorded saying that the encounter had been a disaster and that she was a “bigoted woman”. Short of doing a Prescott and punching someone [in re John Prescott, a Labour minister that actually did such a thing once], that’s about as bad as it gets.

Brown is on Radio 2 now. The “bigoted woman” remark has not been mentioned yet. But he sounds extraordinarily tetchy.

One: “Tetchy?”  God help us.

Two: I’m sure that some candidate after a campaign stop in — say — Arizona might be wont to say something just like that, out of principle.  But to do it a week before the polls?  YIKES.

This is running up every flagpole on (what used to be) Fleet Street, which is deeming it at the moment as an earthshaking disaster.  The Guardian liveblog (here) has more.  So far?  A posting of the Channel 4 tape (complete with the hot microphone), a non-apology apology on BBC Radio 2, followed by a call to the woman to actually apologize, and then a DRIVE BACK TO HER PLACE to apologize in person.  But also: opposition parties cautiously trying to retain their glee, followed by a suggestion that the woman may be — OH DEAR — the Brit’s version of Joe the Plumber.

We’ve seen it in the extreme and nearly perfect party discipline that allowed the GOP to stage more filibusters over the past year and a half than any political party in American history. We’ve seen it in David Frum’s firing from the American Enterprise Institute for expressing ideas that were critical, not of the party’s ideology, but rather, of its methods. We’ve seen it in the savaging that Red State’s editor Erick Erickson received when (falling out of character for a brief moment) he dared criticize Teabagger darling and money minting machine Sarah Palin. Read more »

Time was when you could read a Talibunny post and reasonably doubt she wrote it. But now her lawyer has upped the stakes, challenging us to believe that the following could be spoken by any human:

When I discussed this with Governor Palin, she had an interesting take: “My reaction upon reading the opinion in this matter was not what I expected. Though I’m always pleased with the results of these investigations that prove the false allegations wrong, and I appreciate the detailed reasoning set forth in this recent opinion, I was primarily disappointed that the State of Alaska, the Attorney General’s office, and others, still have to spend time and resources addressing the abusive onslaught of frivolous complaints directed against me — even after I left office.”

We don’t know about you, but we wouldn’t trust anyone who talked like that to cook our moose.

Read more »

Government just can’t help trampling on our god-given right to sport penis-enhancers — one moment Virginia passes a law allowing dudes to carry firearms into bars, the next moment somebody notices the catch:

A leading Virginia gun lobby is now arguing that the law unfairly stigmatizes gun carriers as second-class citizens because there is an exception that “allows law-enforcement officers and commonwealth’s attorneys to carry concealed weapons and consume alcohol.” Philip Van Cleave, leader of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, complained, “We’re not allowed to drink, but they (law enforcement officials) can… That’s two classes of citizens.”

Van Cleave’s genius solution: Anyone can pack their pistol and enjoy a refreshing adult beverage, “as long as they are not drunk.” We can’t wait for news of the first bartender who cuts someone off.

Virginia gun lobby pushes for right to drink alcohol while carrying a gun in public [ThinkProgress]

“A new Salt Lake Tribune poll of Utah Republican delegates shows Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) is on the verge of becoming the state’s first incumbent U.S. senator to lose his party’s nomination in seven decades. Mike Lee (R) leads the GOP field with 37%…” [Political Wire]