Given recent developments on both the domestic and international front, it is easy to become dispirited, shaking our heads at many of the decisions of the current Administration and wondering whether all our efforts and hard work were really worth the election of a President who, in retrospect and all too often, seems  far removed from the hopeful agent of change we enthusiastically supported. At what point and by whom were we informed that we should  set aside expectations nurtured by an energetic campaigner’s steady diet of “hope” and “change”  and instead satisfy ourselves with cold plate of “not as bad as the other guy?”

Leaves a bitter aftertaste, doesn’t it? Read more »

It’s been a long time since we’ve listened to NPR — Cokie was still respectable, to give you a clue — but we still recognize Mara Liasson, and we’re sorry to hear that she’s been slumming at Fox News in a role only has-been Carter pollster Pat Caddell is fit to serve:

Executives at National Public Radio recently asked the network’s top political correspondent, Mara Liasson, to reconsider her regular appearances on Fox News because of what they perceived as the network’s political bias, two sources familiar with the effort said.

According to a source, Liasson was summoned in early October by NPR’s executive editor for news, Dick Meyer, and the network’s supervising senior Washington editor, Ron Elving. The NPR executives said they had concerns that Fox’s programming had grown more partisan, and they asked Liasson to spend 30 days watching the network.

You reach a point, if you’re a Daily Blogger, when you’ve exhausted all the go-to imagery. But then you realize: Fuck it. It works.

NPR reporter pressured over Fox role [Politico]

Turns out his mother-in-law is a big-shot politician in Sweden.  This will not be pretty:

TMZ has learned Tiger Woods‘ mother-in-law — a prominent Swedish politician named Barbro Holmberg — wasn’t at Tiger’s house during the Thanksgiving incident … in fact, she just arrived in the States last Friday.

Hide all the sharp objects … and the golf clubs.

Read more »

While everyone else is fretting about Barry’s 47 percent poll rating, let’s instead enjoy the day’s real news:

Running under the Tea Party brand may be better in congressional races than being a Republican.

In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36% of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 18%. Another 22% are undecided.

In case you think Rasmussen went Jaywalking — pause while we scourge ourselves for even mentioning Leno — “respondents were asked to assume that the Tea Party movement organized as a new political party.” So everyone knew it was a fantasy ballot ahead of time.

But today’s hypothesis is tomorrow’s reality, and we look forward to Wolf Blitzer sterning informing us how Teabaggers are getting licked by their opponents election night.

Tea Party Tops GOP on Three-Way Generic Ballot [Rasmussen, via Political Wire]

In case this hasn’t landed in your in-box yet, it will soon. The genius is unknown, but the original is here.

Barack Obama, Tuesday:

these additional American and international troops will allow us to accelerate handing over responsibility to Afghan forces, and allow us to begin the transfer of our forces out of Afghanistan in July of 2011.

Robert Gibbs, Wednesday:

After the briefing, Gibbs went to the president for clarification. Gibbs then called me to his office to relate what the president said. The president told him it IS locked in – there is no flexibility. Troops WILL start coming home in July 2011. Period. It’s etched in stone. Gibbs said he even had the chisel.

Robert Gates, Sunday:

Because we will have a significant — we will have 100,000 forces — troops there. And they are not leaving — in July of 2011. Some handful or some small number or whatever the conditions permit, we’ll begin to withdraw at that time.

Woof.

Might be the worst anti-HCR spot yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC0ymLJHmsI

[via]