Sunday, August 28, 2011

Weekly Roundup, August 22-28, 2011

By Blueberry T

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Who is Behind the Tea Party of America?

EbbtideMB led a team of our intrepid readers in trying to uncover the roots of the Tea Party of America, which is organizing Sarah Palin’s September 3rd gig in Iowa. Ebbtide reviews the “four horsemen” and finds several had close relationships with other campaigns. So, to recap Teaparty of America—one of the co-founders was already a big Teaparty name in Iowa, and was working for Herman Cain when he got involved. One had been a big player for Huckabee in 2008, then worked for Cain, then Pawlenty and now found it easy to get Sarah to participate in their little event. This for a group that just started a few months ago. Something just doesn’t seem right. Any thoughts?” Can I say how much I love it when our readers get going on a subject like this, and all help out uncovering what is going on… it’s one of the great things about Politicalgates – great teamwork!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Is Romney a Closet Environmentalist?

Mitt Romney’s record as Governor of Massachusetts was surprisingly “green,” at least for the first two years of his term. His appointees to the leadership positions in state government were by far the best in the past two decades, and his Administration took on some challenging issues that had been ignored or defied resolution for years. His managerial style was very focused and goal-oriented. He was also open to innovative approaches. As time went on, as with other issues, his tone shifted as his presidential aspirations became more overt and he began pandering to the conservative wing of the Republican party. As several readers noted, it’s too bad that being reasonable is a liability if you are running in the GOP.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Karl Rove Interview -- Unedited

Fascinating. Patrick and Kathleen found that Fox News had cut out much of the interview that Greta Van Susteren did with Karl Rove. Rove repeatedly criticized Palin’s thin skin, pointed out that she could end speculation about whether she is running or not by announcing her intentions, and commented on how weird it is for her to focus so much attention on Iowa, if she is not trying to garner attention about a possible candidacy. Fox News cut off the second half of the interview, in which GVS tries in vain to steer Rove to criticize the media’s fascination with Palin, and he doesn’t take the bait, instead focusing on Palin’s confusing signals and thin skin. And in case you missed it, he thinks her thin skin will be a liability in a presidential campaign. Much as I hate to agree with Rove, he is right on this, and he would know. If she thinks she’s being attacked now, just wait.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Hurricane Irene

Those of us on the East Coast had more important things to think about than Sarah Palin this week, what with the earthquake on Tuesday and then Hurricane Irene bearing down on us. Patrick put together a great set of resources to track the storm – as good as anywhere on the web. It is great to see how our readers help and watch out for each other! I’m going to bump Dusty17’s perfect comment up here: I think Irene was misnamed. She should have been called Sarah. Same impact, same destructive path, full of wind with no positive outcome.”

Some Comments and Links (very few this week as my real life intervened):

Smoked_Salmon: Maybe more and more people every day are deciding they don't want to support someone who doesn't even know what their correct shoe size is.

CaliGirl22 made a good point: Anyone think it is very strange that Palin is in another court battle with a teenager? How many other politicians have had detailed legal battles with teens? Something is very weird? Everything about Palin is weird.

Conscious at Last! (on Ebbtide’s post): This is an important post. Despite all the sound and fury, the Tea Party is not as cohesive as we might think. It is partially a media creation (Fox), partly a bought and paid for astro-turf front($$Koch Bros, Dick Armey etc.) and partly the release valve for unexamined anger and other emotions. There are also entrepreneurial elements trying to make money on the name and concept-- just as individual street peddlers sell flags at parades. When we break it down like this, it becomes a lot less frightening and a lot more understandable.

SCmommy Stolen, but I wish I'd written it: "Due to the unusual severity of the quake that hit DC, the GOP representatives in the House called an emergency session and adopted a bill to rename the fault that runs under the Capital. It will now be known as Obama's Fault."

Sunnyjane cracked us up when she decided not to color her hair: Nope. I've decided I'm going to "Pray Away the Gray."

Leadfoot_LA pointed out 24 policies that Republicans were for before they were against.

Cheeriogirl linked to this on Grover Norquist.

ProChoiceGrandma let us know of more GOP Congressmen using intimidation tactics against those who dare to question them.

Older_Wiser and others found that the Republicans are politicizing the disaster response; here is one example.

Smoked_Salmon Shocker: Anti-Gay GOP State Senator Caught With His Pics on Gay Hook Up Site! [To which Marieke02 replied: Are there any straight male Republican politicians?]

Let's end with Azure Ghost's new, brilliant poster, inspired by Sunnyjane.


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