Donald Trump has set a new record by going an entire year without holding a news conference.

Hurry get him off the stage, they're asking questions.

Courtesy of CNN: 

Exactly one year ago today, Donald Trump held the first formal solo news conference of his presidency. 

He hasn't held a single one since. 

That puts him dead last among the group of recent presidents. In his first year in office, President Barack Obama held 11 formal news conferences while his predecessor, George W. Bush, held four. Bill Clinton held 14. George H.W. Bush held a whopping 26! (All of these stats come courtesy of Michael Calderone's terrific "Morning Media" newsletter.) 

Trump has made no secret of his disdain for the press and the standard conventions of how a president interacts with the media. More so than any president that has come before him, Trump utilizes the media -- and his base's hatred of it -- to his political advantage. 

The fact that he hasn't held a solo news conference in a full year will be greeted with joy by many of Trump's backers. Good, they will say. You media jackals are only out to get him! 

Which, of course, isn't true. And misses the broader point of why presidential press conferences are important for a healthy democracy. 

The President -- be it Trump, Obama, Bush, Clinton, Tyler, Monroe or Washington -- is a hugely powerful figure. Decisions he makes have profound impacts on real peoples' lives. From what Trump does -- if anything -- in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting to his tax policy to immigration to a hundred other big and small decisions he makes on a daily basis, it all matters. Bigly.

Say it with me folks, "Snowflake!"

I cannot believe that Trump's supporters bought that bullshit tough guy image of his.

This is by far the weakest, most cowardly, and least effective president that we have seen in over a hundred years.

Donald Trump is planning a secret trip to visit the UK so long as nobody finds out. Oops somebody found out. Oops it's cancelled again.

So is there like a back way in that I can use? A servant's entrance or perhaps doggie door?

So yesterday this article showed up in The Sunday Times:  

Ministers are on the alert for a flying visit to Britain by Donald Trump this month. 

Senior government officials say they expect the American president to make an unscheduled stop at his Aberdeenshire golf course as part of his trip to Europe to attend France’s Bastille Day celebrations on July 14. 

Theresa May’s team are on standby for Trump to visit Downing Street as well. It is understood that any visit would be confirmed only 24 hours in advance so anti-Trump protesters did not have time to disrupt his visit.

What a damn coward. Sneaking into the country like a thief in the night.

However apparently people in Britain can read, and earlier today this was printed in The Guardian: 

Anti-Donald Trump protesters are preparing to spring into action at short notice after it emerged that Downing Street is braced for a snap visit from the US president in the next two weeks.

Some of the protests being planned are quite....inventive.

@realDonaldTrump you sir, are an arse#ShowYourRumpToTrump pic.twitter.com/ZfZPTMRwo4

— CharIie B (@CharIiebear) June 5, 2017

All of this was then followed by this article from Reuters:

President Donald Trump has no plans to visit Britain in the near future, a senior U.S. government official said on Monday, but he added that the U.S. leader could always suddenly change his mind.

So in other words Trump does not want to visit the UK if any protesters find out about it, but might sneak in once they are convinced that he is no longer coming.

And this my friends is the man who is leading the most powerful nation on the planet.

Jesus what a pansy ass!

Hey remember that last President we had, who would plan these trips long in advance, and then show up despite any protesters who might be present?

Good times. 

Gotta love this.

Big orange crybaby.

Donald Trump just announced he will not be attending the White House Correspondents Dinner.

I will not be attending the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner this year. Please wish everyone well and have a great evening!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2017

What a fucking coward.

Here he is abusing the press, essentially declaring war on them, and then he does not even have the balls to face them over a dinner steeped in tradition.

Well on the plus side I guess this means that the other attendees might actually be able to have a good time.

Colorado Congressman sneaks out back rather than face constituents angry about his support to repeal Obamacare.

While more than 100 people were waiting to meet with him, Mike Coffman sneaks out early from his own community event. #9News pic.twitter.com/NAZlXTKgQm

— Nelson Garcia (@9NewsEducation) January 14, 2017

Courtesy of Think Progress: 

Congressman Mike Coffman (R-CO) tweeted Friday that he was excited to return home to Colorado this weekend, but things didn’t go very well when he got there. 

On Saturday, his open meeting to chat with constituents at the Aurora Central Library was overwhelmed by voters particularly concerned about the fate of their health care if the Affordable Care Act (ACA, also known as Obamacare) is repealed — a plan Coffman supports — without a replacement put in place. Rather than meet with most of them or even address them, he left the event via a back door and escaped in a waiting vehicle.

Gee taking away people's health care and then sneaking out the back.

Yep sounds like a Republican politician to me.

Raw Story has more on the incident here.

Apparently Dakota Meyer is competing with his wife for who can be the worst parent imaginable.

Courtesy of Meyer's Facebook page:

Carrying has always been important to me for my own safety but now it is imperative because now I have someone relying on me. Every day, everywhere I go, every time I carry and am honored to be using the Blood Stripe holster from G-Code Holsters

Seriously what in the fuck?

You know I raised my daughter in Alaska, and I have lived here my entire life.

I cannot imagine what dangers Dakota Meyers feels he will face that would justify having a gun near his child every time he spends time with her.

We have harsh elements, icy roads, the same sharp cornered furniture and household poisons that every other place might have, airborne viruses, toxic plants, etc., but none of those dangers are minimized by the presence of a weapon.

All Dakota is doing is introducing an added danger, not protecting her from an already existing one.

Here I was hoping that the above incident was a one time thing, only to learn that Dakota Meyer thinks that handguns and babies go together like PB & J.

And for the final time carrying a gun everywhere you go does NOT indicate what a bad ass you are. It indicates what a coward you are in that you feel helpless without a weapon strapped to your hip.

There are women all over the world caring for their children completely unarmed. Apparently all of them are significantly more courageous than this Medal of Honor recipient.

Flight attendants share their craziest stories, and one is about somebody we all know very well.

Oh god we're all gonna die!

Courtesy of the Daily Mail:  

'I was a flight attendant for a regional airline working on board Embraer 145s and a highlight of my career was Sarah Palin freaking the f**k out when we got hit by lightning. 

'We were headed to Rapid City SD out of Denver, this was long after the 2008 election so it took me a moment to even realise it was her, and the first words she spoke to me were, "you have alcohol on this plane right?". 

'We went through a storm and got hit by lightning that left a baseball size hole in the tail. 

'She was screaming and carrying on and I was just like, chill lady, we aren't going to crash.' 

"Screaming and carrying on." Yep that sounds about right.

Over the years I have heard literally dozens of stories about Sarah Palin freaking out, and also of her love for alcohol, so I have no trouble believing this one. 

In fact I have shared stories right here on IM in the past from people who have traveled on an airplane with Sarah Palin and they are always enlightening.

Of course the most famous Sarah Palin air travel story will always be this one.

P.S. Just a heads up that the post you are all waiting to read will publish tomorrow morning.  Sleep tight.

Hey remember that guy who organized the armed protest outside of the Arizona mosque? Well he thinks he needs more guns

Courtesy of Addicting Info: 

The guy who tried to bait Muslim Americans into lashing out by “protesting” the women and children trying to enter a Phoenix mosque needs some of your money. For what? More guns, of course. 

Somehow the AR-15s he and his followers waved around in Phoenix aren’t enough, so Jon Ritzheimer is asking you to buy his motorcycle from him at a premium so he can afford to get more weapons. On Facebook this week, Ritzheimer shared a craigslist post listing his 2012 Harley Davidson Dyna Street Bob and insisted he’s “not taking a dime less than $11,500.” That would be a fairly generous price to give Ritzheimer considering Kelly Blue Book estimates similar bikes should go for a thousand dollars less in “excellent” condition. (Ritzheimer says the upgrades he made to the bike warrant the extra cost.) 

Ritzheimer makes it clear that giving him this money would be crucial to his family’s safety. He “need[s] every penny [he] can get to buy more guns, etc….” after all.

You know usually I am just for background checks, and keeping certain kinds of military style guns  out of civilian hands. I don't usually support keeping individuals from owning any guns.

However in this case I make an exception.

THIS individual should absolutely be banned from owning ANY kind of firearm. 

I  think there is more than ample evidence that this Reitheimer fellow is mentally unhinged and presents a potential danger to himself and the people around him. 

Sarah Palin finally weighs in on the Hillary Clinton e-mail kerfuffle. And by "weigh in" I mean hide behind Bristol's ghostwriter's post.

Courtesy of the Cowardly Liar's Facebook page: 

This Clinton email scandal can't be shrugged off. If this doesn't strike you as shady and corrupt, I don't know what will. Didn't anyone in the Obama administration notice that the Secretary of State for "the most transparent administration in history" was only using a private email account for all her government business? And her answer to all these questions is a tweet? Diplomacy (and cover ups) by Twitter continues.

Palin's ghostwriter then links to the blog post by Bristol's ghostwriter, that I wrote about earlier, and that's it. 

That's it?

You mean the woman who starts to drool at the merest possibility of a little Obama administration blood in the water is not going to go after this with her teeth gnashing and her claws fully extended?

Instead she sends her daughter (Well technically her daughter's ghostwriter.) to do battle on her behalf?

Perhaps a commenter on the earlier post was right. Maybe Palin is terrified to go after this herself for fear of a reexamination of HER e-mail scandals. 

Because as we all know, she can dish it out, but she absolutely cannot take it.

Sarah Palin pulls out of appearance at Cambridge Union Society. Who could have seen this coming? Oh, everyone?

Courtesy of Varsity: 

In a statement issued this afternoon, the Union said: "We regret to announce that Sarah Palin will not be visiting the Cambridge Union during Lent Term 2015. She is unable to visit this term due to scheduling difficulties, but we are exploring potential future dates." 

Sarah Palin, alongside Stephen Fry, Jon Snow and leader of feminist movement FEMEN Inna Shevchenko, featured as one of the main highlights in the Union termcard announced in January. 

This development comes as the second high profile cancellation the Union has seen this term. Buz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, was scheduled to visit the debating society and was included in the preview of its termcard shown to the press. However, it was later stated that he would not be coming to speak at the Union. 

Thomas Hughes-Mclure, a second-year student at Trinity College, told Varsity he was "heartbroken". 

"This is a heavy blow to an already dull line up, she was the only event I had any interest in attending this term", he continued.

Oh I'll bet he was looking forward to it. I mean who else could they depend on to completely fall apart during the Q and A and to provide high profile coverage from local news agencies?

Let's face facts, it would have been a train wreck of epic proportions.

As many of you pointed out when we first posted about this speech last month.

So the quitter quits again. So predictable.

Update: For those calling for confirmation from other sources.

By the way they are suggesting that the Cambridge Union is exploring an appearance at a later date.

But let's face it, she won't show.

Greg Abbott backs out of only state wide televised debate with Wendy Davis. Pansy ass! Update!

Courtesy of WFAA: 

Republican candidate Greg Abbott has reversed his decision to appear in the only gubernatorial debate to be broadcast statewide on television. 

Abbott and his Democratic opponent, Wendy Davis, had both agreed to participate in a roundtable debate in Dallas on Sept. 30. 

But on Friday morning, Abbott's team reversed an earlier decision and said it will not participate alleging concern over the format. 

"Due to our inability to agree on specific details of the format, Attorney General Greg Abbott will regretfully not be participating in the WFAA debate," said Robert Black, senior campaign adviser on Friday morning.

Yeah I imagine the specific details that the Abbott campaign was opposed to was the detail where he had to actually stand on stage with Davis and debate her. (Update: I have been reminded that Abbott is paralyzed and wheelchair bound, so obviously "standing on stage" is not an option. Sorry for my insensitivity.)

By the way I really had to censor myself writing he headline because as a man of a certain age my usual go to word would have been "pussy." But as I realized in this situation is was the person with the vagina that was showing her cojones and the guy with the dick that was embarrassing his gender.

Which reminded me of a quote often attributed to Betty White, though she has since stated that she never said it, which states the following:
  
“Why do some people say, ‘Grow some balls?’ Balls are weak and sensitive. If you really wanna get tough, grow a vagina. Those things take a pounding.” 

Which I think is a very good, though admittedly crude, point. 

And in this case it is certainly Wendy Davis who is demonstrating her courage and toughness and Abbott who seems to be shaking in his cowboy boots.

After all it's kind of hard to hit the campaign trail acting all macho if you are too afraid to face off against a little girl? Right Texas?

Sarah Palin steals Patrick Stewart's classy response to the ice bucket challenge, yet manages to leave out the class. Update!

Courtesy of the cowardly copy cat's Facebook page:

Watch my video to see whom I challenge. Hat tip to actor Patrick Stewart for reminding everyone with his video that the donation is the most important part of the #icebucketchallenge, not the frivolous water-tossing theatrics that those of us who are more thoughtfully serious choose to forgo.

There is a video attached as well of Palin mimicking Stewart down to almost the last detail, except she substitutes Dr. Pepper for the alcoholic beverage that he enjoyed. (Yeah, like you don't drink.)

Personally I think that Palin feared getting water dumped on her that might have exposed her phony fake boobies to the world, or revealed that she is a carpenter's dream. (Though of course in the end she did get wet.)

By the way is there any one of you out there that still doubts the fact that Palin visits IM on a regular basis?

Update: Here are some screenshots of my favorite part.

Despite attempts to change her brand, Sarah Palin will forever simply be a kook.

Courtesy of Forbes: 

The previously unknown Alaska governor quickly became a new breed of working mother. A strong conservative woman. An unlikely but believable candidate to shatter the glass ceiling. A rallying force for the Tea Party and other right-wingers. A maverick, a rebel, a politician unafraid of speaking her mind—and who cared if it was uninformed or inappropriate? 

With John McCain (who is so not a kook that I can’t understand how his brand ever got commingled with Her Kookiness, because brands are judged by the company they keep), she tried her best to give Obama a run for his money and earn that erstwhile place a heartbeat away from the famous 3 a.m. phone call. When that didn’t work out, she traded politics for much-more-lucrative punditry and remained a force that shaped the American conversation, for better or worse. 

Last week she launched the online Sarah Palin Channel. “Join us as we discuss the great issues of the day and work toward solutions,” it says on the site, which includes posts ranging from her mother’s Word of the Day to a video called “The Truth About the War in Israel.” Even with this new development, Palin is in danger of becoming irrelevant, a punch line, a blooper in the historical record. 

That’s the danger of choosing kook as part of your personal brand. It gets attention, but it has an inherently limited shelf life. Eventually the novelty, controversy and “maverickness” of it wear off, then you have to amp it up and do something even kookier in order to remain in the public consciousness.

The author goes on to list a few of Palin's kookier moments, and then sums it up thusly:  

Thirty years ago, Geraldine Ferraro cracked the glass ceiling with dignity and grace, and she remains positively regarded by many Americans, whether or not they shared her politics. Her respectable brand endured, and she didn’t become a historical punch line. For 20 years, Hillary Clinton has been chipping away at it, making more cracks even as she endured scandals and cruel judgments. 

But the latest woman who was poised to reinvent American politics is now just coming off as cracked. Forget the ceiling. She needs a quick brand reinvention just to pick herself off the floor.

Oh yeah, I love reading things like this from what is ostensibly a conservative magazine about  Granny Grifter, and knowing that the rest of the world has finally come around to seeing Palin as most of us have all along. As a talentless political opportunist, with the ethics of a street hooker, and the intelligence of a garden slug.

At this point Palin really cannot do anything to repair her reputation, and the choices she IS making only further demonstrate her lack of credibility and her inability to participate in an actual conversations about politics or world events.

The woman has now become so frightened of being called out for her ignorance, that she is reduced to filming uninformed soliloquies where there is no one to correct, criticize, or request clarification from her. (And you know there is somebody who goes through those comments for her so that she is never confronted with a negative response to the stupid things that she says.)

She is like the woman who tries on a two piece bathing suit in the mirror, deems herself breathtaking, yet lacks the courage to wear it on the beach for fear of hearing a dissenting point of view.

Gun rights group raises money to buy George Zimmerman a new gun.

Courtesy of CBS News:  

A non-profit gun rights group is collecting donations to buy George Zimmerman a new firearm. 

The Buckeye Firearms Foundation created the “Zimmerman Second Amendment Fund” to raise money to buy him a new gun after the Justice Department placed a hold on all evidence related to the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin. 

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said during an NAACP convention in Orlando last week that the Justice Department has an open investigation into the case. The department is looking into whether Zimmerman violated Martin’s civil rights. Zimmerman was legally entitled to reclaim his gun he used to shoot Martin before the Justice Department placed a hold on evidence. 

“George Zimmerman has every right to get his property back,” the foundation wrote on its website. “And if Eric Holder chooses to deny Mr. Zimmerman that right, Buckeye Firearms Foundation will remedy the matter by purchasing a NEW FIREARM for him, including a holster, flashlight, and any other gear he wants.” 

The foundation calls Holder’s actions an “abuse of power.” 

“This is about more than mere principle. Zimmerman and his family now face daily threats on their lives. More than ever, he has a right to defend himself against those who would seek to do him harm,” the foundation states.

Yeah, after all how can Zimmerman be man and show his machismo by shooting young black boys if he does not have a gun?

I don't understand this thinking at all. If I were Zimmerman, a possibility that makes me physically ill, I would NEVER walk around armed again and make damn sure to avoid even the possibility of having to use a gun to defend myself.

Only somebody who enjoyed the killing and was looking forward to the next opportunity would take to the streets while packing heat after what he just went through.

Activist group targets Mark Begich and other Democrats who caved to NRA pressure.

"Wait are you saying that since I caved to the NRA I can't also cave to this other group?"

Courtesy of ADN: 

Four Democratic senators who defied President Barack Obama to help defeat gun-safety legislation -- Alaska Sen. Mark Begich among them -- are facing the wrath of activists who promise to make them pay a political price. 

President Barack Obama said it was a "shameful day" in Washington when the Senate rejected a watered-down bill including expanded background checks for gun-buyers on April 17. Several groups say they plan to punish the four Democrats through newspaper and television ads, protests outside their offices, and automated telephone calls to constituents. 

"The level of anger around this is higher than on anything I've seen in years, decades," said Matt Bennett of Third Way, a policy group aligned with Democrats whose founders previously worked on gun-policy issues. "These senators do not have a suitable explanation for what they did." 

Begich and two other senators are up for re-election in 2014: Max Baucus of Montana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. North Dakota's Heidi Heitkamp was elected in November to her first six-year term. (P.S. Since this article was posted Max Baucus has chosen NOT to seek reelection. Hmm I wonder if his vote had any impact on that decision?)

All four are from states that voted for Republican Mitt Romney for president last year. And while the outside groups will target both Democrats and Republicans who voted against the legislation, they are particularly angry at the Democrats who broke ranks and some of the groups are targeting them over Republicans in their first wave of ads. 

Begich voiced no regrets in an interview the day after the vote. "I voted what has been consistent with where I have been for the last 25 years," he said. 

There are those that are pretty confident that this cowardly act by Mark Begich will not have an impact on his reelection chances, but I disagree in that without a great deal of enthusiasm from the Democrats up here he is dead in the water.

I no longer feel such enthusiasm, and don't know anybody who does.

Like I said before I think Mark's ONLY chance is for the Republicans to remain in such disarray that somehow Joe Miller once again wins the primary. Right now he is the only Republican that I can confidently say Begich can defeat.

Twisted Sister frontman tells the world that the Motor City Madman, and darling of the pro-gun teabaggers, is a cowardly draft dodger. Ooh, that's going to leave a mark!

Courtesy of WRFX News:  

Ted Nugent promotes a lot of conservative ideals, particularly gun rights. But, at least one other rocker sees that stance as hypocritical. Twisted Sister's Dee Snider lashed out at Nugent in an interview with Noisecreep: 

"Ted's always been a gun-toting conservative. But what gets me is that he was actually a draft dodger! I mean, to the point where he didn't bathe for a week, and vomited on himself to deliberately avoid the draft. I totally understand why he did that, but all of these Republicans who love Ted don't seem to know or remember that too well. It's crazy that he's become one of the voices of Conservative America even though he was a draft dodger. If you don't believe me, Google it." 

Dee Snider is citing an interview Nugent gave to High Times magazine in 1977. In the interview, Nugent described how he avoided the draft because he wanted to continue to play guitar instead of serve in the Army. From the 1977 interview, Nugent said: 

"I got my physical notice 30 days prior to. Well, on that day I ceased cleansing my body. No more brushing my teeth, no more washing my hair, no baths, no soap, no water. Thirty days of debris build. I stopped shavin’ and I was 18, had a little scraggly beard, really looked like a hippie. I had long hair, and it started gettin’ kinky, matted up. Then two weeks before, I stopped eating any food with nutritional value. I just had chips, Pepsi, beer-stuff I never touched-buttered poop, little jars of Polish sausages, and I’d drink the syrup, I was this side of death, Then a week before, I stopped going to the bathroom. I did it in my pants. poop, piss the whole shot. My pants got crusted up."

The article goes on to point out that Nugent took back his early story however Snopes.com got a copy of Nugent's deferment which indicates that while the gun toting pedophile received a student deferment for much of the time he was eligible for the draft he also failed a physical exam and was given a 1-Y classification, which are generally assigned to registrants "who have exhibited medical conditions that were limiting but not disabling." You know like having their pants full of their own feces and acting like a lunatic.

Snider calling him out as a coward did not sit well with Nugent who took to Twitter (Where else?) to register his frustration.

Shame on @deesnider for falling for the big lie I challenge u to man up to the truth We xpected btr
— Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) January 23, 2013

Well that's pretty weak. And what "truth" is Snider supposed to "man up" to?

All Snider did was repeat to the interviewer the same story that Nugent gleefully told to High Times back in 1977.

If anybody needs to "man up" and tell the "truth" it is this pathetic excuse for a tough guy. But what can you expect from a guy that measures his manhood by how many guns he owns and preys on underage girls to feed his oversize ego?

Okay since Sarah Palin insists on grabbing the spotlight whenever possible, perhaps she would like to allow this lady to shine a light on her again.

Courtesy of Inside TV:

Katie Couric’s infamous interview with Sarah Palin in 2008 may have left the ex-candidate smarting for some time, but that doesn’t mean the former network reporter doesn’t know a good newsmaker when she sees one: Couric told TV writers today in Los Angeles that she’s extended an invite to the ex-Alaskan governor to appear on her new talk show when it bows Sept. 10.

Oh please, please, please let this happen!

I have said it before, and I'll say it again, I would LOVE to see Couric interview the Grizzled Mama again! I seriously doubt if would have quite same impact as the last time, but it would a hell of a lot of fun to watch.  And boy do I know the perfect question for Katie to ask this lunatic! (In fact I've already e-mailed it to her.)

So what do you say Sarah, ready to show us that steel spine of yours?

Or are you just all talk?

Katie Couric throws down gauntlet and invites Sarah Palin for another interview. I suggest NOT holdiing our breath.

Courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel:  

When Katie Couric starts her daytime show in the fall, she would love to interview Sarah Palin. 

"She has an open invitation to come talk to me," Couric said during a stop Monday in Orlando. "I'm not sure she'd be interested, but she'd certainly be welcome. She's a fascinating figure not only on the political scene but in popular culture." 

Make no mistake, though: Couric stands behind her revealing Palin interview in 2008. Couric earned some of her best reviews, but Palin fans were furious. 

"I have no regrets about that interview," Couric said. "I don't need a do-over. I'm very proud I was doing my job, and when someone is running for the second highest office in the land, I think it's important to ask pointed, challenging questions, as I do for all candidates."

Well personally I think this is a GREAT idea!

This way Palin can prove once and for all that she is more intelligent than she appeared in that 2008 interview and  Couric gets the chance to show Palin what a REAL interview, where she is not simply thrown softballs, feels like.

Unless of course the Mama Grizzly is afraid?

But THAT can't be true.

Can it?

Of course I would not hold out too much hope of seeing this rematch:

Couric described "Katie" as a work in progress that will have test tapings in August. She stressed that the show will not pay for interviews.

Yeah, I don't think Palin does ANYTHING without a paycheck attacked to it anymore. Not that I'm calling her a whore or anything. That wouldn't be nice.

Accurate, but not nice.

Salon writer absolutely nails the most likely reason that Sarah Palin will NEVER throw her hat in the ring.

"Oh hell no, I'm not jumping in! I'm just screwing with you people!"

Courtesy of Salon:

The safe bet remains that Sarah Palin is simply engaged in a long and tiresome tease. Every few weeks comes some new sign of her supposedly imminent entry into the GOP presidential race, but nothing ever seems to happen. 

For the latest flurry of speculation, we can thank Karl Rove, who used several television appearances last weekend to argue that "I think she gets in" and to suggest that Palin's scheduled appearance at a Sept. 3 Tea Party event in Iowa might double as a campaign launch. Like each one that's come before it, chances are that this eruption will soon die down without amounting to anything. Rove may just have been trying to spoil the campaign rollout of his old nemesis, Rick Perry, and Palin is now tamping down the speculation. 

Which is sort of a shame. Because if you're tired of all of this, and if you're tired of all of the media oxygen that the former half-term Alaska governor still manages to consume, then you really should be hoping that Palin actually does get into the race: It may be the best way of making her disappear for good. 

Why? Because a presidential campaign would almost certainly end in defeat for Palin. And not just any kind of defeat -- epic, humiliating defeat, the sort of disaster that might once and for all convince the political and media worlds that the empress has no clothes. 

If she jumped in, polls would initially show her in contention, but she'd be running a structure- and discipline-free campaign with no support from GOP opinion-shapers and on a message that really isn't unique. Republican voters who haven't yet figured it out would realize she's not a viable option and abandon her for a candidate who seems to have a better chance. If she were to then suffer humiliating defeats in Iowa and New Hampshire, Palin might suddenly find that the media isn't nearly as interested in her every tweet and Facebook post as it once was. 

In other words, those who just want her to go away should consider a Palin presidential campaign an investment: You'd have to deal with a few weeks (or maybe even months) of saturation coverage, but there'd be a good chance it would all end with Palin's presence in our lives severely and permanently diminished.

Brilliant!  This is EXACTLY what I have been thinking for quite some time now.

I do not give Ms. Palin too much credit for her intelligence, but I DO believe she has good instincts when it comes to keeping her brand alive and understanding the reality of her limitations.

Sister Sarah KNOWS she cannot stand on the stage and debate the other GOP hopefuls. And she knows that doing so will reveal her complete lack of knowledge about the things a President needs to know, and forever remove her ability to bullshit her followers into thinking she has what it takes to do that job.

And once the political fantasies of the Palin-bots have been crushed under the heavy heel of reality, why would they pay ANY attention to her ever again?


Essentially, just like this article states, Palin would be "permanently diminished," in a way that perhaps even Joe, or Levi, or Fred's books could never fully accomplish. Remember this would be MILLIONS of Americans watching her grasping for facts, failing to adequately understand the question, and sweating like a Sumo wrestler while her whole world crumbled around her.

It might make for some of the most compelling political theater we have seen in decades, but it is VERY unlikely to EVER happen.

Horrified by what he was instrumental in unleashing on America, John McCain tells the Teabaggers to get the hell off of his lawn and allow the debt ceiling to be raised!

You know I would like to give Senator McCain credit for standing up to these bullies, and giving them a long overdue lesson in politics, but I can't because they are his damn fault!

If McCain had not plucked the cross-eyed, crazy ass harpie out of the wilds of Wasilla to be his running mate, there is very good chance the Tea Party would never have received enough attention to gain the kind of political influence it is now abusing.

There were many times, including during his own reelection campaign, that McCain could have stood up to these assholes and put them in their place.  But due to his own cowardice, and fear of losing his precious Senate seat, he has been silent.

So fuck John McCain, this is too little, too late.

The question he should ask himself from this day until his last days on this earth is where was HE when his country needed him?

(H/T to the Plum Line.)