As Bill O’Reilly says, sort of, Candidates Rise, Candidates Fall. They always rise, and always fall. And as Newt is now discovering, you can’t explain that.

So who is now on the rise? (Hint: It sure as hell ain’t Former Senator Frothy Mix.) Why, none other than the man who bestowed the 2008 campaign with one of History’s Greatest Visual Metaphors! The Blimp is back, baby!

Which makes us more than usually shitfaced drunk pleased to welcome you to our GOP Debate Open Thread/Balloon Boy Revival. Because nothing says “love” like spelling it backwards.

“After leaving Congress, Gingrich cultivated a network of a few dozen uber-wealthy backers who poured tens of millions of dollars into a network of groups that helped him maintain a foothold in politics. Now, operatives supporting his presidential campaign are asking those same donors to write fat checks to a suite of new super PACs they hope can spend big on ads to offset Gingrich campaign fundraising that had lagged behind his rivals.” [Politico, via Political Wire]

Politifact.com, the political fact checking organization, has released its list of nominations for their annual ‘Lie of the Year” award, and wouldn’t you know it, of the ten nominees, five lie on the Republican side of the political divide and five lie on the Democratic side. The list is getting plenty of attention from bloggers for many different reasons, but primarily for the award’s rather tendentious implication that Democrats lie just as often and blatantly as Republicans (why else nominate five statements from either side of the political divide?). Read more »

Yes, yes, we know: An insult to lizards. And ants.

[via Kottke]

Our guest columnist is Kayak Chief Marketing Officer Robert Birge, whom we still don’t understand after two readings.

We would like to apologize to anyone who was offended by how we handled our decision not to continue advertising on All-American Muslim when it returns in January. We decided to advertise on it in the first place because we adamantly support tolerance and diversity. Our 150-person team includes people from all over the world, and from all walks of life. Our team includes people who are descended from early Europeans who came here escaping religious intolerance, and newer Americans who include many religions. We get what America is about.

For the record, we didn’t “pull” our ads. Our ads kept running on this program, but we have made the decision not to give TLC more money when the show returns in January.

Read more »

Mitt unloads on Newt: “Zany is not what we need in a president. Zany is great in a campaign. It’s great on talk radio. It’s great in print, it makes for fun reading. But in terms of a president, we need a leader, and a leader needs to be someone who can bring Americans together.” [NYT, via Political Wire]

[via Political Wire]