So, this weekend, I might try Julia Child’s

Beef Bourguignon

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I think it will be the most complicated thing I’ve attempted, so think good thoughts.

The Super Bowl of Tea Parties is under way in Nashville!

“If you take 1,000 so-called tea partiers and ask them what this movement is, you’ll get 1,000 different interpretations,” said Mark Williams, a talk-radio host and chairman of the Tea Party Express. “But they’re all waving American flags and speaking out against the galloping socialist agenda.”

We hope they brought their own flags, however:

There was no prayer or Pledge of Allegiance to open the convention — nor was there an American flag in the convention hall. ([Convention spokesman Mark] Skoda blamed the oversight on the hotel staff.)

Let’s see: No flags, no prayer, no Pledge — sounds like the Galloping Socialist Agenda is doing just fine.

Tea Party convention begins in Nashville [WaPo]

Lede of the Week:

A judge has found former John Edwards aide Andrew Young and his wife, Cheri, in contempt of court for not turning over a sex tape featuring the former senator and his mistress, Rielle Hunter.

Is there anything else you need to know about the entire story?

Oh, right. They forgot the baby.

Judge to former Edwards aide: Turn over sex tape [Raleigh News and Observer, via Political Wire]

If you want to know how craven the Republican party has become. If you want to know how hypocritical the Republican party has become. If you want to know the extent to which a single shameless individual can make a mockery of our entire form of government, then you need look no further than Alabama Senator Richard Shelby. A prominent member of a minority party that has twisted Senate rules to impose an near-blanket, un-democratic supermajority voting requirement on Senate legislation, Senator Shelby has now pushed the un-democratic envelope further by taking the unprecedented step of blocking every single one of President Barack Obama’s presidential appointees until his personal needs and demands are met. And what noble principle or governing philosophy motivates the good Senator, prey tell? Read more »

Maybe if we start signing our posts “Dick Sweat”, we’ll get some love around here.

The Daily Show Picks on Blogs, Too! [Gawker]

On Tuesday, he was a pawnbroker.  On Wednesday, he was the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois.  On Thursday, he’s dead meat.

Ladies and gentlemen: Scott Lee Cohen!

The newly minted Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor said Wednesday that he doesn’t think a 2005 domestic battery arrest should hurt the party’s chances in the fall general election, although records in the case raise questions about his version of events.

Scott Lee Cohen, a pawnbroker who poured millions of dollars into his surprise victory in the little-publicized contest among half a dozen candidates, had previously disclosed the arrest. He described it Wednesday as an argument with his drunken girlfriend and said he didn’t lay a hand on her, though she called the police and had him taken into custody.

But the official police and court records on the October 2005 incident show the woman alleged Cohen put a knife to her throat and pushed her head against the wall. Public records show that the woman, his 24-year-old girlfriend at the time, pleaded guilty to prostitution that same month.

The misdemeanor charges against Cohen were later dropped when the woman did not show up in court. Through a spokesman, Cohen on Wednesday denied the woman’s allegations that he physically assaulted her and used a knife.

Proving, once again, that Illinois voters know how to pick winners.

Oh, and he’s not dropping out.  Joy.

Number of words used by Sarah Palin’s ghostwriter on her Facebook page to denounce Rahm Emanuel for saying “fucking retarded” in a private meeting: 390

Number of words used by Sarah Palin’s spokesbot in an email to denounce Rush Limbaugh for repeatedly saying “retards” to his audience of millions: 15

Palin Camp Rips Limbaugh, Hits His “Retard” Comment As “Crude And Demeaning” [Plum Line]