There are times when just about everybody needs a hug. Including the President.

Photo courtesy of the Obama Diary

Birds of a feather Donald Trump endorses Mitt Romney.

Courtesy of the Boston Globe:

The reality show host and real estate mogul appeared with Romney and his wife, Ann, at a packed news conference at the Las Vegas hotel that bears Trump's name. 

Romney said he was honored to receive the endorsement, but hoped even more to win the endorsement of Nevada voters. The state holds presidential caucuses Saturday. 

The endorsement came after a topsy-turvy set of events that suggested Trump might endorse Newt Gingrich. 

Gingrich's camp had been so confident of winning the real estate mogul's backing that it had leaked word Trump would support the former House speaker.

Oooh, that's gotta hurt!

You know the ONLY reason I can come up with for Romney to stand on a stage with the man who is now forever linked to the Birther movement, is as a big middle finger to Gingrich.  Other than that it makes no sense.

And it seems to have worked too. As indicated by this weary response from Gingrich press secretary R.C. Hammond:  

"I am not talking to you guys anymore," he huffed. "I can only say the same thing 16 times." 

Still, some reporters followed, wanting more details about the Trump drama. 

"I am already tired of you," he said, brushing them off. "I need to take a nap."

Yeah, I can imagine.  Being Gingrich's press secretary must be sort of like being Donald Trump's hair stylist, you are expected to perform miracles with nothing of any substance to work with.

Really the ONLY person who could have been helped by a Trump endorsement was Gingrich. It does NOTHING for Romney except pound yet another nail into his political coffin.

As you can see from this ad that the Democrats have already put together.

I have a feeling that Gingrich is going to pull out the stops in his next political ads directed at Romney.

I can hardly wait!

Michelle Obama demonstrates impressive athletic prowess on Ellen show.

I actually thought that both Michelle and Ellen were VERY impressive during this display.

As an ex-personal trainer I can tell you that there are plenty of males in their age bracket who would be hard pressed to do even HALF as many pushups as either of them just did.

By the way I just have mention how impressed I am with the fact that both our President and First Lady are far less about "talking the talk," and much more about "walking the walk."

There are a lot of others who will tell you they have some impressive physical or intellectual ability and then simply NEVER demonstrate that in any observable manner, OR instead fake it to fool the morons.

However the President and Michelle, just show what they got "going on."

Bill O'Reilly rattles the Grizzled Mama's cage by asking her about Game Change movie on HBO. Get your popcorn ready kids!

At the exact moment O'Reilly asked about Game Change. Click stunned look to play interview.

I actually kind of made the decision the other day to skip over some of these Palin Fox interviews as they are getting repetitive and tiresome.

But I just had to check out the Grizzled Mama and "Papa Bear" Bill O'Reilly, becasue you just know this will not go well.

And I was right.

Oh it starts off innocuous enough, but then around the 3:20 mark.

O'Reilly, discussing the negative attacks flying back and forth between Romney and Gingrich: "Now, how do you handle the negative attacks? I don't think there's anybody in the country who's had more negativity directed toward them than you. In fact there's an HBO movie coming up in March. Big one! Okay? Again it's going to hammer you, I understand. How do YOU, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, handle the negative attacks. What is the best way to handle them?"

Oh no he didn't just bring up that movie!  Oh...yes he did.

This is followed by a moment of stunned silence as Palin, who looked as if she suddenly wanted to flee the minute Billo brought up the movie, tries to get her shit together in order to respond.

Palin: "Well I hope that THEY, like I am able to do, keeps priorities straight, and right, and know what really matters. At the end of the day what matters to me is my faith, my family, and my freedom as an American. (Essentially the three F's) So all that other stuff on the periphery (New word alert!) you know it can just kind of go away. It's not going to adversely affect me and I hope that the candidates feel the same."

You can almost hear Palin exhale at the end of this answer, happy that she got through it without losing her cool and screaming at the monitor, and assuming that O'Reilly will now move on.

However Billo noticed her reaction as well, and he smells Alaskan blood in the water.

O'Reilly: "But you're a human being, don't you get tired of this stuff? I mean you were a good sport on Saturday Night Live. You went on with Tin Fey, and that was SMART, but doesn't it once in awhile, you go, you know is it all worth it? I mean now I'm going to get hammered on HBO by another crazy movie. Umm, it's debilitating, it HAS to be debilitating Governor. I'll give you the last word."

Palin: "Well I'm more sympathetic when I watch others go through, perhaps what I had, and STILL, go through, ya know I feel like my skin is thick enough where it's not going to bother me, but I do feel for others. And I DO understand why American voters seem to be a bit more disenchanted with the whole process today. Because they see the brutality too, they know they waste time and waste resources and we have got to stay focused on the main thing through this primary election, finding the most equipped candidate to go up against the 'felled' policies of Obama."

In other words you son-of-a-bitch, WHY are you asking me about that damn HBO movie?

I added that last part, though that question was ALL OVER her face.

I have NO idea what compelled Palin to risk going on the Factor again, but I have to imagine that she, and of course her refrigerator, are REALLY regretting this decision.

Now, since we are always "hammering" Palin on her appearance, I would like to point out that she clearly cleaned herself up for Billo, and even put on one of her "going to the big city" wigs. She looked much better than in previous appearance and, if she could just get the crazy look out her eyes, she might even stop scaring small children.

Yeah, like THAT will happen!

P.S. Before I forget, let me follow up O'Reilly's free advertising to remind you all that the movie Game Change premieres March 10 on HBO. You should watch it while drinking some fine wine, and then afterward drunk dial Wasilla to ask Snowdrift Snooki, how she liked Julianne Moore's performance. You know, just to be polite.

Just how much daylight is there between Todd Palin's old party, the Alaska Independence Party, and the militias in Alaska? As it turns out, not much at all.

Ray Southwell and Norm Olson co-founders of the Alaska Citizens Militia.

For quite some time now the AIP has been very, very quiet about the arrest of Francis "Schaeffer" Cox, which I thought was kind of interesting since I have long believed that the AIP shares a number of members with various militias around the state.

In fact Mary Morgan, Shaeffer's number one fan and currently incarcerated domestic terrorist, appears to be a member of both. In fact she is STILL listed as an AIP contact person for the Muldoon/Mountain View/Wonder Park area.

However I have recently learned that this connection was made virtually official back in 2010, when the AIP offered Alaska Citizens Militia founder Norm Olson the Lt. Governor position on their party's ticket:

AIP leadership met Friday in Nikiski and selected Norm Olson, of Nikiski, co-founder of the Michigan Militia and Alaska Citizens Militia, as its nominee for lieutenant governor. 

Olson said he was contacted by party representatives Friday and asked to consider the party’s lieutenant governor slot on the November general election ballot, to run with Don Wright as the AIP candidate for governor. 

“There’s nothing about the Alaskan Independence Party that I don’t like. It’s just great,” Olson said. “And when I was asked to run as their lieutenant governor in the upcoming elections I jumped on the bandwagon and accepted the nomination and threw my hat in the ring, so to speak.”

Now for reasons that are still a little hazy ( Ray Southwell, AIP state senate candidate and Alaska Citizens militia co-founder: “I’ve known Norm Olson for 25 years and I knew that once he was appraised of the situation or the circumstances leading up to the Friday meeting that he would withdraw his name.”) Olson was only the nominee for one weekend, before he bailed.

However for that one weekend Olson seemed to believe that his Lt. Governor nomination (For a party that had no hope of winning the election mind you) was tantamount to being nominated for emperor of Alaska.

See for yourself in this e-mail that Olson sent out to his supporters on September 4, 2010.(And which I now have in my possession.):

Somebody finally noticed Rick Santorum. "A weird witch gagged me."

Santorum gets the Bad Lip reading treatment. 

Extremely funny!

Apparently Romney's dog escaped to seek asylum in Canada after his horrendous trip strapped to the top of that station wagon.

Image courtesy of Zero Drop

According to Politicker NY:

Mitt Romney may not have told the whole truth about the scandalous tale of his Irish Setter, Seamus, being strapped to the roof of his car during a 12-hour family road trip to Canada. According to a trusted Politicker tipster, two of Mr. Romney’s sons had an off-record conversation with reporters where they revealed the dog ran away when they reached their destination on that infamous journey in 1983. 

Mr. Romney’s wife, Ann, has previously said Seamus survived the trip and went on to live to a “ripe old age.” As of this writing, Mr. Romney’s campaign has not responded to multiple requests for comment on this story. 

Mr. Romney and his wife clearly want the world to think that, despite defecating himself, Seamus had a pleasant trip to Canada and a long life in the Romney household. However, based on what Mr. Romney’s sons allegedly told reporters about Seamus going on the lam in Canada, Seamus didn’t like being strapped to the car enough to stick around for the return trip.

Somehow I don't think we want to choose a leader of the free world whose dog was so traumatized by him that he ran across the border to escape into Canada. What do you think? 

This story has really caught on now and David Letterman has introduced a new segment of his show called "What's Mitt Romney's dog tied to today?" (I also urge you to watch the video until the end to see the portion called "Cool, Not Cool.")

Michelle Obama discusses the "crooner-in-chief" on the Tonight Show last night.

"He does have a beautiful voice, and he sings to me all the time." 

I know the ladies are thinking that Michelle is a lucky woman.

(H/T to Hello Beautiful)

Palin is now showing up more than an infomercial. Today she complains to Megyn Kelly and Brett Baier that the primaries are too mean!

Click me and I will embarrass Alaska for you.

Megyn Kelly asks the Jewish grandmother Sarah Palin for her reaction to Romney's huge victory in Florida.  Palin, clearly shocked by the results answers:

"Hi Megyn and Brett, yeah relative to the other primaries these are pretty large numbers for..um..for Governor Romney that's a big win for him." Then she seems to think of a way to minimize the victory. "Ah eh, 17 million dollars spent in ONE state that purchased a lot of darts and arrows that were flown in one direction, and then a lot of darts and arrows were flown back. And you know a lot of that negativity sure didn't paint the party and the cause in very attractive colors. I think that hurts the electorate ultimately, it diminishes the energy that's needed to head into the general. So hopefully, from henceforth, everybody will start REALLY focusing on what's really important to debate as we go forward."

I'm sorry, what?

Wasn't it just the other day that the Grizzled Mama was going on and on about how these combative primaries were GOOD for the process and would create a much tougher candidate to go up against Obama?  Remember? "Steel sharpens steel, iron sharpens iron,or something like that.

Or is that only the case when HER favorite candidate comes out on top?

Kelly then asks if she felt that both Gingrich and Romney were damaged by the attack ads.

Palin once again brings up the 17 million dollars spent and seems to paint the other candidates, everybody except Romney, as being the victimized by that advertising.  

"When a bell is rung, it is really tough to un-ring that bell." (I assume this means that Gingrich was knocked on his ass so hard in this primary that his ears are still ringing.) "So yeah, I think that added to a process that thus far hasn't been very attractive to the electorate. It, unfortunately, is what keeps good people from wanting to run for office.

So right here you would think that Palin has now had a change of heart and wants all of the negativity to come to an end, and for the GOP to just support the eventual nominee so that they can focus on the general. But when Brett Baier asks her who she would vote for in the next primary to be held in Nevada, she simply cannot help herself.

"Whomever it is to allow the process to continue. I still say competition breeds success for the US, and that's what we need in this debate. Um as it stands, obviously it's Romney and Newt who are closest to being the front running candidate so, I would continue to vote for whomever it is to allow the process, and at this point it looks like it still is Newt."

So apparently Palin wants the process to move forward, because clearly she does not want Romney to get the nomination, but she does not want anybody to mention any revealing information about Newt's past scandals during the primaries, because clearly she does not understand how primaries work.

Somehow I find it impossible to believe that she would be so concerned if the negative information were more focused on Romney.

It has become clear that Palin is all for watching a political bloodsport, but ONLY if her chosen gladiator, the Newt, is not the one lying on the sand at the end waiting for the "electorate" to give either the thumbs up, or thumbs down signal, that will dictate his fate.

By the way folks we may need to stop screwing with Palin's head.  She is not only back in front of the roaring fire, essentially giving us the middle finger for teasing about the background change, but she is also wearing some excrement colored scarf to hide her aging wattle, after you guys made fun of her old turkey neck.

Let's try to be nice, shall we?

Clearly what Snowdrift Snooki needs to do is dye her wig pink and pierce her nose. THAT would make her look much hipper, and attract that younger demographic which would make her SO much more attractive to the Fox producers. Hell they might even give her a brand new show of her very own!

(Shh, don't ruin this!)

Arizona Governor, and plantation owner in a past life, Jan Brewer is ACTUALLY raising money using the image of her disrespectful finger wagging at our President.

From Phoenix New Times:

For a lot of Arizonans, the photo taken last week of Governor Jan Brewer sticking her finger in the face of President Barack Obama was humiliating. If you're like us, you spent the past several days explaining to out-of-state friends that not everyone in Arizona is a classless sand-billy -- despite the state's dopey governor. 

Jan, however, seems quite proud of her lack of poise while welcoming the president to the "Colt Single-Action Army Revolver State" -- as we predicted, the governor already is politicizing the photo and using it to raise money. 

Here is the text that Miss Daisy is using to play the victim and convince the racists around the country to send her money in order to soothe her ruffled feathers and cure her of the vapors after that uppity black man done got right up in her face and refused to accept his station in life.

Friends, 

I need your help! 

When I met President Obama this week, I really wasn't pointing at him. I was telling him, "You have ONE more year!" The President needs to be reminded that he is the President of the FEDERAL REPUBLIC and not a KING lording over state governors. 

While I wanted to talk to him about jobs, our economy and visiting our border, President Obama criticized my book, Scorpions for Breakfast, and then walked away from me. 

We deserve results over rhetoric, but this is a President who had the audacity to sue me and Arizona in my efforts to protect our country from illegal immigration! 

Donate today to Jan PAC and help me stop President Obama in 2012 and others like him who are taking our country down the wrong path. 

Click Here to donate!

So now her version is that she was telling the President of the United States, a guest in her state, that he has only "one more year" in office. And yet she is claiming that SHE was the one that "felt a little bit threatened?" (By the way, unless you have been living under a rock, you probably know that her version of the incident is a complete fabrication.)

What is with these horrible disrespectful old bitches in the Republican party?

From Ann Coulter, to Sarah Palin, and Jan Brewer, I swear these women have the darkest, most hateful hearts I have ever seen!

Come on Arizona!  Kick her ass to the curb!

Palin defends Newt. The animated version.

Animation: Palin Defends Newt (Actual Audio) from scottbateman on Vimeo.

Somebody sent me this link from the Daily Kos.  Here is the transcript, for those who don't speak Palinese.

SARAH PALIN: Well, look at the players in the establishment who are fighting so hard against him. They wanna crucify him, because he's tapped into that average, everyday American Tea Party grass-roots movement that has said "enough is enough" of the establishment that tries to run the show and, and um, tweak rules and laws and regulations for their own good and not for our nation's own, own good, well, when, both party machines and many in the media are trying to crucify Newt Gingrich for hav...for bucking the tide and bucking the establishment, that tells you something, and I say, you know and, you gotta rage against the machine at this point in order to defend our republic and save what is, what is good and secure and prosperous about our nation. We need somebody who's engaged (something something) reform and isn't afraid to shake it up, shake up that establishment. So, if for no other reason, rage against the machine, vote for Newt.

I love how they made the wig twitch and expand in response to a particular point she was making.

Makes me wonder if we have a Daily Kos visitor here, or if they simply noticed as if that thing looks like it might be alive just like we did?

Let's start the day with a VERY important post from my friend Linda Kellen Biegel concerning the attack on public education in Alaska.

Alaska school districts.

Courtesy of Mudflats:

For over a year now, I’ve watched how the anti-public school drama has played out in Alaska on multiple fronts. From the Municipality of Anchorage to the Legislature to the Governor’s Office to outside organizations, the forces at work are performing a complex dance in multiple venues…a dance that is impossible to follow unless one is a complete research nerd (and then, only tenuously). I’ve wanted to write about it all in that context…I’ve started a number of posts. However, I haven’t been able to figure out how to present it. 

I started writing a list, like an outline… …and realized that was the best way to start. 

This is a very complex, and time intensive post which I urge EVERYBODY in Alaska, and those whose public education in their state is under attack by the conservatives, to read.

I had started a post on this myself about a week ago but found myself buried under the research materials, and hindered by time constraints, so I am deeply grateful to Linda for doing the heavy lifting.

Please click the link at top to read the entire post.