(Steve Sack via GoComics.com)
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Dave Weigel breaks down the new Gallup poll:
… The most-covered non-Perry candidates, Bachmann and Huntsman, both lost support. Bachmann lost around a fifth of her support after she won Ames. But I doubt the media has much to do with this. There is a Tea Party conservative vote, and Perry has swooped in to take it from Bachmann. He grabs 33% of it; she has 12%. He gets 34% of weekly churchgoers; she has 9%. He even leads Bachmann in the Midwest, where she trails Ron Paul, too. The best thing Perry has going for him — the problem Romney was always going to have — is his Southern base. He leads Romney by the margin of error in every region of the country except for the South, where he leads 39-12.
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So, call it: The Bachmann surge is over…
Perry/Romney/Perry 2012 — It’s not just a campaign, it’s a cage match!
Yeaaaah, I don’t think it’s that easy, either, much as it would please the robber-baron faction of the GOP. The theory is that Perry’s own personal come-out-of-nowhere Texas-Miracle-ness was sponsored by the self-styled “conservative elite” to distract the teahadist mouthbreathers (and the Media Village idiots) after St. Michele of the Heartland proved a little too popular with her fellow Dominionists. But for all the pro-forma submit-to-your-menfolk rhetoric, I suspect that Bachmann may decide her own personal hotline to Jesus outranks her loyalty to a bunch of guys in tailored suits. Rick Perry is willing to bang bibles with the Dominionists because their agenda dovetails, at the moment, with the greater glory of Rick Perry. Michele Bachmann is a believer, and that’s hard to fake and harder to dissuade.
Then again, maybe I’m just desperate to avoid 14 months of non-stop WILLARD!
Joel
Rooting for injuries.
Yutsano
Stop. Teasing. Me.
Did late night grocery run. Very handsome checker minding the stand. We chatted a bit. He flirted with me. I think I blushed. I should have made him show his goods. Guy had guns just shy of Ahnold.
Joel
Street cleaners keeping me up…
ant
Dang teatards cant figure out what they want.
First it was Sarah, then Trump, then Cain, then Bachmann, now Rick “disease” Perry.
Idiots.
AA+ Bonds
It’s funny to think: Governor Rick Perry’s claim that Texan secession is legal isn’t even halfway to Alpha Centauri on those airwaves.
The nearest possible Earth colony wouldn’t even be aware that the current poll leader for the Republican candidacy for President suggested an act of high Treason, for which he would certainly have hung by the neck, until dead,
dead,
dead.
AA+ Bonds
@Yutsano:
As a college cashier, it’s what we did to pass the time, but sometimes we’ll fuck customers anyway.
Yutsano
@AA+ Bonds: I didn’t invest very much meaning behind it. He was trying to puff himself up a bit though. It was kinda cute. So was he. Best part is this is my regular store: odds are I’ll get to
drool over himsee him again.Amir Khalid
@Yutsano:
And besides, eye candy has no calories, nicht wahr?
Yutsano
@Amir Khalid: Wohl.
Although it’s amounting to nothing. And I got other Dawgs in hurricane zones to worry about. Also.
(PS I almost answered you in French. I’m fighting wars in my brain again. :)
Arclite
She’s no less conservative/religious/crazy/charismatic than he is. The difference is that he has a dick and she doesn’t. Teahadists like their women barefoot and and home, not playing politics.
John Puma
Bachmann will remain in the presidential race up until whatever deadline exists to enter the House race to maintain her Minnesota seat. There she’ll probably win and continue to destroy congress and the country.
Steeplejack
About to pack it in for the night, after trolling YouTube for old jazz stuff of a certain vintage.
Freddy Robinson, “Black Fox.” Sort of a post-Wes Montgomery thing.
Freddie Hubbard, “Little Sunflower.” Around the same period (late ’60s-1970), another favorite.
I’m having some minor surgery Friday morning, and must lie low the rest of the day, so I have been planning music and videos to
force uponshare with my driver/caregiver. Have laid in some champagne and think we will watch Woodstock at some point.Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Michelle Shocked, “Come a Long Way.” Nothing to do with the previous jazz songs, but I like it a lot.
Amir Khalid
I follow the Republican presidential candidates from this distance purely for the comedy. These kooks, wimps, and charlatans have no other value that I can see. On fitness for the office they are more like William Hung than Susan Boyle.
What the Campaign 2012 season needs is a system for ranking the latest stupid/funny/mendacious things said or done by these people for their comedy value. I’m sure that if widely publicized, the Republican Candidate Comedy Rankings would encourage more Americans to follow the Presidential race. You could put them on TV every week; they’d be kind of like America’s Funniest Home Videos, but with right-wing politicians.
Triassic Sands
We’re talking about the Republican Party here — you know, those old, white, Southern guys. Therefore, shouldn’t we expect any typically cretinous southern male candidate (Perry) to be favored/preferred over a similarly cretinous, northern female candidate (Bachmann)?
Male Republican voters don’t seem to have responded to Bachmann with the same kind of boyish crush they once had for Palin. Sarah’s just sexier, I guess, but I think her sex appeal has lost its vote gathering effectiveness by now. Bloody Billy probably continues to wank daily with the help of Palin’s Newsweek cover, but I don’t think he still takes her seriously as a presidential candidate? (Comments he made in March 2011 don’t sound like he does.)
Kane
Can you imagine the disappointment that some in the mainstream media were feeling only months ago as they pondered the prospect of covering the long campaign trail of the GOP primary with Romney, Huntsman, Pawlenty, Paul, Gingrich, Santorum, and Cain for the next half year?
Not exactly compelling political thinkers of our time offering solutions. Worst yet for the media, none of the candidates could be counted on to provide a biting sound bite or a good dose of controversy on a daily basis.
For a lazy media that seeks conflict and sensationalism, the daily ramblings from Bachmann and Perry are sound bites sent from heaven. And who can blame the media for tripping over themselves to cover these two. Can you imagine the lost revenue in media sales, cable ratings, and web-media clicks without having them in the race?
piratedan
what is it with these slutty teahadists? cripes, they’re willing to put out for the latest and greatest with nary a care for their candidate of last month… first it was Sistah Sarah and then it was the Trumpster. A brief flirtation with Citizen Cain then before you knew it, they were holding hands with Ms. Revisionist History and now their hearts are all aflutter over the Suave Secessionist. Alas, thusly are the fashion of politics attired, not by any reason, purely by whimsy, like the change of the seasons.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
New book out:
Sly
And, unlike Bachmann, he has a dick. Having a dick is like a third of the criteria for securing the Republican nomination.
harlana
@Sly: Yeh and he likes to shove that junk out for the crowds, just in case anybody is on the fence about the whole thing, see Iowa.
harlana
@piratedan: One reason, I believe, is it is not about policy at all, even though they pretend it is, they don’t bother to check the candidate’s “record”, what’s true or false about him/her – just as long as they say what teabaggers want to hear (and Fox reinforces it) and they’re in love with Perry now because he says it more forcely, unapologetically embracing their ignorance and mean-spiritedness, Bachmann is relentless but not as forceful – of course, she can’t be as rabid as Perry because, indeed, she has no penis.
It’s all about what they say and how enthusiastic they are about broadcasting their plans to dismantle government! Hypocritically accepting stimulus funds to balance your budget? “Meh, who cares, he makes me all tingly when talking about destroying the social safety net” Red meat and circuses is all they care about.
John Puma
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
Did Mr Cheney also praise soon-to-be candidate Obama’s flip-flop vote of July 2008 to grant retroactive immunity to telecomm companies who conspired with the government to violate statutory and constitutional protections on privacy?
Up until that vote Obama had insisted he would NOT vote for immunity.
http://tinyurl.com/5rj6bu
Here’s the federal court ruling finding Bush guilty of thirty counts of illegal wiretapping, each count punishable by up to 5 years.
http://tinyurl.com/3ghfqnv
(Over to you, your very adult Titaness.)
joel hanes
Bachmann will remain in the presidential race up until whatever deadline exists to enter the House race to maintain her Minnesota seat.
That deadline is June 5, 2012.
Minnesota is redistricting, and Bachmann’s district will lose 100,000 voters in the process; it’s currently R+7 and will likely stay that way, as the R’s control the process this time around. Most likely outcome is that a neighboring more-Democratic district will become less Democratic with an infusion of Bachmann voters.
Bachmann’s 2010 opponent, Tarryl Clark, has announced she is running against freshman Rep. Chip Cravaack, R-Minn., in the (more Dem-friendly) 8th District. To my knowledge, no Democrat has announced plans to run in Bachmann’s district.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@John Puma: Were you looking for fdl?
Taylor
Bachmann is in it for the same reason that Gingrich is in. It’s all about building the brand.
It’s the same reason Palin pulled her bus tour stunt. I suspect though that she had some skeletons in her gubernatorial closet rattled to “discourage” her from dabbling this time around, good as it might be for renewing the brand.
John Puma
@joel hanes:
Thanks, Joel.
John Puma
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
“Looking” for nothing but a simple answer to a simple question:
“Did Mr Cheney also praise soon-to-be candidate Obama’s flip-flop vote of July 2008 to grant retroactive immunity to telecomm companies who conspired with the government to violate statutory and constitutional protections on privacy?”
Kirbster
Who are the people who participate in these opinion polls, anyway? The bored, the lonely, the angry? Don’t most others use Caller ID to screen out salemen, pollsters, and pests? Telephone surveys can waste up to 20 minutes of one’s valuable time and it only takes one experience to drive that lesson home.
A Mom Anon
After almost 5 weeks since my accident,I finally got a settlement out of the other driver’s insurance company. I would not wish this mess on anyone,except maybe a Republican presidential candidate,lol. What a clusterfuck. Each stage of this process took me about 3-5 phone calls.
Got a new car yesterday. YAY! A 2012 Hyundai Accent Hatchback. That was the only dealership willing to deal with us. I had a hell of a time finding a car in a color I wanted.
My darling Abby doggie managed to poison herself on Monday. By Tues,she was vomiting and had some serious gastro stuff going on. And me with no car and a husband working out of town. No fun. She’s better now,but still not eating like she should. I think I found the culprit though. Muscadine grapes. We have some really old vines on the side of our property and it looks like the squirrels or some other critter are bringing them inside the fenced yard and leaving them. The tell was the color of Miss Dog’s,um,acky leavings in the yard. And I caught her with one in her mouth when I took her out yesterday afternoon. I think she’s gonna be fine,but we have a vet appt in a couple of days just to be sure.
SiubhanDuinne
@A Mom Anon:
Happy about the new car, so sorry about Abby’s problems. I hope the vet gives her a clean bill of health, and that the new Hyundai symbolizes the start of a major swing upward on the Anon family’s situation.
harlana
@A Mom Anon: Aw, glad puppy is okay! Also too, what SiubhanDuinne said! Didn’t know you had an accident, so sorry about that but hoping you got a little extra $ out of it, after doc bills.
harlana
OH GOOD LORD! We have the “compelling” documentary on Bush’s recounting his actions on 9/11 and it appears to portray him as a rather sympathetic figure. Wonder if they will ask him about the “covered your ass” moment at the rancho.
Please, this is a disgusting insult to our intelligence, NatGeo.
Omnes Omnibus
@harlana: They manage to portray “vicious asshole who is in way over his head” as rather sympathetic? Tough task.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@A Mom Anon: Glad you finally got the insurer to deal, and sorry to hear about Abby. Grapes are very bad for dogs and raisins even worse, so see if you can keep her out of the grape vines. Hope she continues to improve.
Omnes Omnibus
@A Mom Anon: Add me to the congratulations and get well soon wishes.
Warren Terra
If she doesn’t win, will she pass on her secret plan to give us $2/gallon gas?
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@A Mom Anon: Glad she’s ok. Cost me $1500 for the two knuckle heads when one of em got in raisins last year.
Ron
@John Puma: Your link doesn’t say anywhere near what you claim it does, as it’s a link to a court ruling in a civil procedure.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
It’s all about the hair baby. Perry’s is just soooo presidential.
Cat Lady
It only seems like just two weeks ago or so when David Gregory was telling me that Michele Bachmann was the most in synch with the country right now. Please don’t tell me that David Gregory was wrong – that would be unpossible.
Villago Delenda Est
@Warren Terra:
It’s from the Richard Nixon economics playbook: wage and price controls.
What an amazing world I grew up in, where a Republican President imposed wage and price controls. Well, they were mostly wage controls. That’s how you could tell a Republican was imposing them.
arguingwithsignposts
Decipher the code, juicers. From last night’s deBoer stalking:
Villago Delenda Est
@Cat Lady:
How could anyone that serves as a Pip to Kkkarl Rove’s Gladys Knight be wrong?
Kirbster
@harlana: Big surprise. The National Geographic Channel is owned by Newscorp.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
@arguingwithsignposts: … OK, got it.
“Help. Help. I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole and can’t get out.”
Cat Lady
@Villago Delenda Est:
Pip or pimp? I report, you decide.
rikryah
the only thing people are passionate about when it comes to Mittens is that his checks clear.
period.
there is no passion for his candidacy.
I’m waiting for him to actually stand up to Governor Good Hair. I do wonder what he’ll do in the next GOP Debate.
wonkie
I have a Hyndai accent. It’s been OK. The mileage is not as good as I hoped, but…the only actual problem I have had is the sun visor came unscrewed and fell on my head while I was driving. That was mildly embarrassing. It was dangling by some wires right in my line of vision so I had to sit up and kind of pin it to the ceiling of the car with my head while I looked for a place to pull over. So keep a eye on the sunvisor screws.
John Puma
@Ron:
From the ruling:
1. “The TSP has been acknowledged by this Administration to have been authorized by the President’s secret order during 2002 and reauthorized at least thirty times since.”
2. “The TSP is not hypothetical, it is an actual surveillance program that
was admittedly instituted after September 11, 2001, and has been reauthorized by the President more than thirty times since the attacks.”
3. The case was summarized as an examination of whether “the President’s actions in warrantless wiretapping, (were) in
contravention of FISA, Title III, and the First and Fourth Amendments, …”
4. The court ruled that the “TSP violates the APA; the Separation of Powers doctrine; the First and Fourth Amendments of the United States Constitution; and the statutory law.”
I do not know what penalties are possible for violations of the APA; the Separation of Powers doctrine; the First and Fourth Amendments of the United States Constitution.
5. However, ” The wiretapping program here in litigation has undisputedly been continued for at least five years, it has undisputedly been implemented without regard to FISA and of course the more stringent standards of Title III.”
FISA appears to have no possible penalties associated with its violation
The so-called Title III statute is “codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510 et seq.”
The penalty associated with violation of the statute is here:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/usc_sec_18_00002511—-000-.html
The penalty section of that statute:
“4) (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection or in subsection (5), whoever violates subsection (1) of this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.”
catclub
Has there been any reporting on who Perry has hired to run his campaign? I remember a little squib about bachmann that implied she was somewhat serious because she landed someone who had been waiting for Haley Barbour to declare (yes, I know, but barbour is smart and an excellent fundraiser, has also plied many press with liquor).
So who is running Perry’s campaign?
John Puma
@Ron:
Re: Title III
The link given was corrupted by the comment system.
The penalty associated with violation of the statute is here:
http://tinyurl.com/39zskd
gocart mozart
@Kirbster:
That sucks. I was looking forward to it since the History Channel has been taken over completely by aliens.