Bill Kristol, the man who "discovered" Sarah Palin, finally admits that she helped to usher in the Trump presidency.

Kristol: Palin a harbinger of GOP to come from CNBC.

Courtesy of CNBC: 

Harwood: There are people who trace a direct line from Sarah Palin to Donald Trump. It is characterized as "the dumbing down of Republican politics," an anti-intellectual movement, which is odd from you because you are an intellectual. 

Kristol: Yeah, she turned out to be a disappointment. I mean, when she was picked, she was a popular governor of Alaska who had taken on the oil companies and so forth. I thought Palin as [John] McCain's VP would be a way to almost channel a certain kind of populism into what I would say is a healthy conservatism. 

Harwood: You discovered her on a Weekly Standard cruise, right? 

Kristol: She invited Fred Barnes and me and our families over to lunch at the governor's residence there. And we were impressed by her. And she was charming. And she was different — 42-year-old governor of Alaska, kind of an exotic state. 

I had been originally for John McCain picking Joe Lieberman — a centrist play against Barack Obama. And they chose not to go that way. And then I thought, 'OK, well, why not take the gamble with Palin?' 

But I will say this. For all the alleged dumbing down, the people who ran and won in 2010 and 2012 were pretty impressive, a lot of them. The Republican ticket in 2012 was Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan. Whatever again you think of them, that's not a dumbed-down ticket. 

So I thought, 'OK, Palin, they didn't win.' And I thought, 'OK, she chose to be a celebrity rather than a politician.' I didn't realize that we were going into a celebrity culture — such a celebrity culture that Trump would actually as a celebrity run and win in 2016. 

I don't think Palin really led to Trump. Was this somehow a bit of a precursor or something? I'm willing to say, 'Maybe so.'

I think that this is as close to an admission of guilt by Kristol, that his infatuation with Palin, and fan like articles on her behalf, directly led to Donald Trump's campaign, that we are likely to get.

But in fact that is exactly how all of this went down.

Make no bones about it, without a Sarah Palin there would simply NOT be a President Trump.

And both Bill Kristol and John McCain are going to have to live with that for what remains of the rest of their lives.

On the day we learn of the FBI raid Donald Trump's propaganda tabloid goes hard after Paul Manafort.

Whoa. Does this National Enquirer attack on Manafort mean he's turned on Trump? https://t.co/ExlncvLzFK

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) August 9, 2017

Kristol might be onto something because the tabloid aggressively accused Manafort of cheating on his wife with a much younger woman, and of wearing his wedding ring while "romping with his 33 year old mistress in the same bed he shares with his wife!"

The horror!

The Enquirer also leaves no doubt that this is a smear campaign in the quotes they use from White House sources: "President Trump has been focused on draining the swamp in Washington D.C." a White House insider said. "Meanwhile one of his trusted advisers was bedding another woman behind his wife's back, betraying her and his country!"

The source that the Enquirer identifies for these details is Manafort's daughters hacked I-Phone.

That hack occurred back in February, and was reported on by multiple news sources in March.

That of course was several months after Manafort was fired from Trump's campaign, and after it started to appear that he might be a liability.

Hmm, now who do we know who is into hacking folks, and leaking their information to pro-Trump media outlets?

Yeah, methinks this is a fairly obvious coordinated effort to smear Paul Manafort before he starts singing at the top of his lungs for Robert Mueller and his investigation team.

Bad news folks. David French says David French is not running for President.

After much thought and prayer: I’m Not Running for President https://t.co/lqWQtPL5Q5

— David French (@DavidAFrench) June 6, 2016

Warning link goes to that rabid Right Wing National Review website: 

I’m not the right person to challenge Trump and Hillary, but the path remains open for others. 

Here is a sentence I never thought I’d type: After days of prayer, reflection, and serious study of the possibilities, I am not going to run as an independent candidate for president of the United States. 

Wait, so the guy that nobody ever heard of, is not launching a campaign that nobody would ever care about, for an office that he is incredibly unqualified to hold?

For purely comedic reasons I am quite disappointed.

Boy that Bill Kristol sure can pick them, can't he?

Well it looks like Bristol Palin's ex-ghostwriter is NOT going to the White House. So I guess she is free to crawl back to the Palins with her tail between her legs and beg for her old job back.

Or perhaps there is some OTHER daughter of a D list celebrity whose identity she can adopt?

David French was so worried that his wife Nancy would cheat on him that he forbade her to drink alcohol or use Facebook while he was in Iraq.

So when David French was in Iraq, he wouldn't let his wife e-mail men or use Facebook. https://t.co/F1tEOwE4sc pic.twitter.com/ZOOV52QXUN

— Kevin Robillard (@PoliticoKevin) May 31, 2016

Hey look I get it, if I looked like David French I would just assume that my woman would be looking for something better every chance she got.

I mean seriously.

Perhaps THAT is why Nancy did not mind pretending to be Bristol Palin for all of those years.

She was living vicariously through the Palin party girl, and while her business was closed down and locked up tight, Bristol was hosting an all you can bang buffet virtually every night.

Just imagine the girl talk back and forth.

"So Bristol what's it like to have an orgasm? What, you mean you don't have to do it through a hole in a sheet? They come in different sizes?"

As for the news that David French is Bill Kristol's potential "Trump Killer," well that has not been received in quite the way I think Kristol imagined.

BREAKING: Bill Kristol anti-Trump presidential nominee David French to get own Wikipedia listing. Soonish. pic.twitter.com/6bBeBRynYb

— The Fucking News (@TheFingNews) May 31, 2016

.@BillKristol's 3rd party messiah is
.@NRO writer David French?! ROTFLMAO! https://t.co/rN4Q3z2iOf #tcot #TrumpTrain
.@KLSouth
.@Mr_Pinko

— C. Steven Tucker (@CSteven) May 31, 2016

With a name like David French you'd think he surrender before he began

— T. A. Whitney III (@T_A_Whitney) May 31, 2016

Bill Kristol actually thinks an independent candidate can win pic.twitter.com/i9rDIEQHpO

— Jim Minardi (@AMillennialMind) May 31, 2016

And those were the nice ones.

Okay I have to go shopping now, there is just NO way to keep enough popcorn in the house these days.

(H/T to Raw Story.)

Well now we know why Nancy French is no longer working as Sarah and Bristol Palin's ghostwriter. Her husband is being tapped to run against Donald Trump! Update!

Nancy and David French on the night that Mitt Romney lost the 2012 election.

Courtesy of Bloomberg Politics:  

Two Republicans intimately familiar with Bill Kristol’s efforts to recruit an independent presidential candidate to challenge Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have told Bloomberg Politics that the person Kristol has in mind is David French -- whose name the editor of the Weekly Standard floated in the current issue of the magazine. 

French is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. According to the website of National Review, where French is a staff writer, he is a constitutional lawyer, a recipient of the Bronze Star, and an author of several books who lives in Columbia, Tenn., with his wife Nancy and three children. 

Reached in Israel late Tuesday afternoon, Kristol declined to comment on his efforts to induce French to run. The two Republicans confirmed that French is open to launching a bid, but that he has not made a final decision. One of the Republicans added that French has not lined up a vice-presidential running mate or significant financial support. However, according to this person, some conservative donors look favorably on the prospect of French entering the fray.

Holy crap!

Well I would LOVE to have been a fly on the wall when Palin heard about this one!

Man I hope he takes it.

I mean he is in NO way qualified enough for the job, but can you just imagine the amount of vitriol that will go back and forth between Sarah Palin and the French campaign if this goes forward?

And baby you KNOW that Nancy has seen some shit.

Update: Interesting tweet from a few days ago.

That said, I had a great convo today with @DavidAFrench of @NRO, and he made a strong, principled case for a third party bid.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) May 30, 2016

Things that make you go "Hmm."

Well this is fairly interesting coming from Bill Kristol.

Just a heads up over this holiday weekend: There will be an independent candidate--an impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance.

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) May 29, 2016

The first thing that needs to be said is that you must take EVERYTHING that Bill Kristol says with a giant grain of salt. The guy is wrong so much that he should get a parade for every time he gets something right.

Having said that perhaps this is one of those times he gets a parade.

Unless of course his "impressive candidate, with a strong team, and a real chance" turns out to be the Libertarian party's Gary Johnson. Because he is none of those things.

(Besides it's more or less impossible to take the Libertarians seriously after this.)

Well whoever it is it seems to have made Trump feel a little threatened.

Bill Kristol has been wrong for 2yrs-an embarrassed loser, but if the GOP can't control their own, then they are not a party. Be tough, R's!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2016

The Republican Party has to be smart & strong if it wants to win in November. Can't allow lightweights to set up a spoiler Indie candidate!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2016

If dummy Bill Kristol actually does get a spoiler to run as an Independent, say good bye to the Supreme Court!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2016

Here's hoping that the Stop Trump movement really has enough oomph to make this happen, cause it would be awesome.

In desperation over Trump's impending nomination some conservatives are looking to a savior, Mitt Romney. Romney? Wait, that can't be right.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

In spite of his insistence that he will not run, Mitt Romney is being courted this week by a leading conservative commentator to reconsider and jump into the volatile 2016 presidential race as an independent candidate. 

William Kristol, the longtime editor of the Weekly Standard magazine and a leading voice on the right, met privately with the 2012 nominee on Thursday afternoon to discuss the possibility of launching an independent bid, potentially with Romney as its standard-bearer. 

“He came pretty close to being elected president, so I thought he may consider doing it, especially since he has been very forthright in explaining why Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton should not be president of the United States,” Kristol said in a phone interview Friday, during which he confirmed that he and Romney had a “little meeting in Washington.” 

But knowing Romney’s reluctance, Kristol told Romney that if he remains unwilling to run, many top conservatives would appreciate having the former Massachusetts governor’s support for an independent candidate, should Kristol and other right-leaning figures enlist a willing contender. 

“Obviously, if there were to be an independent candidacy, Romney’s support would be very important,” Kristol said. “I wanted to get his wisdom on whether it was more or less doable than I thought.”

Mitt Romney? The guy with the "binders full of women?" The guy who lost so miserably in the last presidential election that he seemed to have a mini breakdown?

THAT Mitt Romney?

Surely the Republican party cannot be this freaked out about the nominee chosen by their party can they?

Oh yes they can.

In fact there are several GOP leaders who have flat out said they will NOT support Trump, and quite a few more who are still in the "undecided" category.

Even Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, cannot bring himself to jump onboard the Trump train:  

"I'm just not ready to do that at this point. I'm not there right now," the Wisconsin Republican told CNN's "The Lead with Jake Tapper" in an interview.

And Lindsey Graham is literally between a rock and a Trump place: 

"As for me, I absolutely will not support Hillary Clinton for President. She represents the third term of Barack Obama, and our nation cannot afford to continue those failed policies at home or abroad," he said in a Friday afternoon statement. "I also cannot in good conscience support Donald Trump because I do not believe he is a reliable Republican conservative nor has he displayed the judgment and temperament to serve as Commander in Chief."

Well I for one would welcome a Mitt Romney or some other establishment Republican jumping into the race.

After all, as I have mentioned before, that only helps those of us wanting to keep Donald Trump out of the White House.

Carly Fiorina has a Sarah Palin problem. People cannot stop comparing them.

So I think I first noticed this in an article at The Nation entitled "Carly Fiorina is running to be 2016's Sarah Palin."

Here is an excerpt:  

For a movement that so often disdains identity politics, conservatives sure love to deploy them. In 2008, Sarah Palin’s vice presidential nomination was a risible, tone-deaf attempt to capture women voters disappointed by Hillary Clinton’s primary loss. After Barack Obama became president, the GOP attempted to shed its overwhelmingly white image by putting the clownish Michael Brown (Editor's note: Should be Michael Steele.) in charge of the party. And now, Carly Fiorina is counting on conservatives’ desire to counter excitement over Clinton’s renewed ascendency with a lady candidate of their own.

Then something similar popped up over  The New Republic in an article entitled "Sarah Palin 2.0."

Here is a portion of what they had to say: 

Though she’s committed fewer blunders than Palin, Fiorina does have some obvious similarities to the former vice-presidential candidate. Both favor words like “outsider” and “tough,” and allow themselves to be cast as a woman who does it all: They’re breadwinner moms with business savvy and enough charisma to make their raw ambition palatable. Similarly, both women’s careers have been marred by major professional failures: Fiorina’s firing from Hewlett-Packard and Palin’s "bridge to nowhere" (which, ironically, Fiorina initially defended).

Even the Weekly Standard chimed in with a piece called "What Do Sarah Palin and Carly Fiorina Have In Common?"

Here is what they had to say:   

Whatever one makes of either one of them, the similarities between Sarah Palin and Carly Fiorina (who’s just announced she’s running for president) stop more or less at the chromosomal level. Fiorina is an accomplished (if controversial) businesswoman; Palin, a half-term governor and television star. Fiorina is a graduate of Stanford (with a degree in philosophy and medieval history) and MIT (with a master’s in management); Palin received a degree in, alas, journalism. Fiorina is an unusually articulate for a candidate for public office; Palin is . . . well, Sarah Palin.

That is especially damning as the Weekly Standard is the brainchild of Bill Kristol who is often blamed for discovering Palin and bringing her to national attention.

The finally there is this from The Hill:  

There is a difference between Fiorina and Palin. I will confess to having a soft spot for Palin as a person. I suspect if I knew her, I would like her, which I mean as a compliment even though she is not appropriately credentialed to be president or vice president. Fiorina, by contrast, was cruel and heartless to her workers when she was CEO of Hewlett-Packard.

Let me first assure this reporter that if he knew Sarah Palin it is seriously doubtful he would like her.

However he is spot on with his characterization of Fiorina.

As we all know anytime a politician is compared to Sarah Palin that is not a good thing for them.

However it might simply be that people are doing it so often in Fiorina's case because she is a conservative with a vajayjay. Which would be unfair.

However Fiorina is a conservative with a vajayjay who also almost destroyed the reputation of Hewlett Packard while she was there, treated her subordinates like garbage, and is known to be driven to pursue power at all costs.

Oh and here's her current scorecard over at Politifact:

Yeah, the comparison is appropriate.

When pressed John McCain chooses Lindsey Graham over Sarah Palin as his pick for President. Oh somebody is getting crosshairs put on all of his pictures.

'What, you thought I was serious?"

John McCain was being asked about the recent "Deflate-gate" scandal when the reporter flipped the script and asked him the following question: 

Regarding the 2016 presidential race: Would he choose his former running mate, Sarah Palin, or his good friend Sen. Lindsey Graham? 

“Dark horse -- watch them coming up. Lindsey Graham,” McCain said. “I have the greatest affection and appreciation of Sarah Palin. But I think in this time of great national peril, with the rise of ISIS and the challenges that we face worldwide, I think Lindsey is best equipped to address the challenges to our nation’s security.” 

Palin's office did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Yeah I bet they didn't respond.

Personally I think that both of these choices would be a complete disaster fro the country, but at least Graham can chew gum and walk at the same time.

Speaking of being tossed onto the trash heap of history, Palin's one time most ardent supporter, Bill Kristol, also had a hard time responding to the fact that he once suggested that Palin would be a "formidable" candidate if she ran for President: 

“Did I say it that recently?” Kristol wondered. “The name Sarah Palin hasn’t come up in the past three to six months…. Maybe the speech Saturday was just a confirmation of her no longer being a major player, at least in these circles.”

Gee, it kind of makes you wonder just how many forks are sticking out of Sarah Palin now?

Bill Kristol, the man who was instrumental in discovering Sarah Palin, lays out the welcome mat for the 2016 presidential hopefuls. Gee let's see who's missing, shall we?

Courtesy of the Weekly Standard (Beware the Weekly Standard is essentially Breitbart news with an extra handful of brain cells.):

Seize the day. If you think you would be a good president of the United States, run. After all, if not now, when? The election of 2016 is not only winnable. It will be the most consequential since 1980. The country’s future is at stake. This is no time for anyone who thinks he or she has something to contribute to equivocate, to hold back, to calculate the odds for 2020 or 2024. 

So, channeling Thomas Paine, we say to John Bolton, Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Lindsey Graham, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, John Kasich, Pete King, Mike Pence, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, Joe Scarborough, Scott Walker, and Allen West: “The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” Each of you would be a better president than Hillary Clinton. You would deserve the thanks of man and woman if you beat her. And if your name is not on this list, don’t feel slighted. Rather, feel free to volunteer. Dick Cheney, Tom Cotton, Mitch Daniels, Joni Ernst, Newt Gingrich, and Rudy Giuliani—you’re also more ready than Hillary. If you think you’re the right person .  .  . go for it. 

Some may say we’re taking “the more the merrier” to ridiculous lengths. Perhaps. But the winnowing process, once it begins in late 2015, will be merciless. The field will narrow soon enough. So while Democrats face the prospect of a forced march to a lackluster coronation, Republicans, at least for the next several months, can let a hundred flowers bloom. “Our love can thrive in company great; our honour more and never less.”

Yes let "a hundred flowers bloom." Why not. there is certainly plenty of manure available to use as fertilizer.

Let's see. Yep Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, and Mitt Romney are there representing the establishment candidates.

Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Paul Ryan, and Mike Huckabee are listed to represent the "always a bridesmaid but never a bride" category.

And there's Ted Cruz, Allen West, John Bolton, Pete King, and Ben Carson to remind us that the inmates are still trying to take control of the asylum.

Hmm, now who's missing?

Wait don't tell me, it's on the tip of my brain.

Oh damn it I lost it. Oh well I am sure it will come to me later.

Do you want to watch Joe Scarborough have a breakdown while arguing about Sgt. Bergdah's parenting? Of course you do.

Courtesy of Political Carnival:  

Rumors are rampant across the internet and cable chatters that Joe Scarborough might be heading for a forced vacation after his tirade over the parenting skills of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's father Robert on Morning Joe today. He suffered a total and quite embarrassing breakdown in an interface with Chuck Todd.

You know I am sometimes not terribly impressed with Chuck Todd, but you have to hand it to the Toddster for taking it right to Scarborough over his inflammatory remarks.

Oh and fuck Mika for being his constant enabler.

I mean for God's sake William Kristol is sitting right there and even he refuses to throw Scarborough a lifeline.

In order to illustrate Bill Kristol, of the Weekly Standard's, lack of credibility, Rachel Maddow uses his biggest screw up, Sarah Palin.

Click gut to play video

If you did not see this yesterday you really missed out.

Rachel describes the famous cruise to Juneau in which the staff of the Weekly Standard were first exposed to Sarah Palin's political pole dance, and how they swooned in response, and then did everything they could to pimp her to their conservative audiences.

She goes on to point out many other fumbles and poor predictions that followed, but all pale in comparison to the biggest mistake of all.

Morning Joe panel arguing about Sarah Palin running for President. Why?

Click goofy grin to play video

I can't believe I had to wake up to this crap this morning.

Okay for some reason I woke up really early and noticed I had left my television on which was playing some stupid infomercial.

So in my bleary eyed state I turned the channel to MSNBC figuring I could fall back asleep for an hour or so to the inanity that comes from Morning Joe.

Wrong.

What I heard was Bill Kristol and the group talking about the possible GOP lineup for 2016. He listed off the usual group of losers, which now included Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, John Bolton, and Ted Cruz.

And then he introduced Palin's name to the mix, "just to make people's heads explode."

This resulted in this bizarre round of rationalizations for why she could run, and how it would be good for the party. Scarborough even had the gall to compare her to Babe Ruth, which should make every baseball fan want to go to his house and burn it to the ground.

However things took a more combative turn when Chuck Todd said that he also believed that Palin would run, but only to make money and increase her visibility and further her career.

This almost made Bill Kristol's head explode (You may remember that Kristol is often blamed credited with finding Palin and bringing her into the national spotlight.), and he became angry and defensive while the rest of the panel simply laughed at him.

Just to clear this up for the Morning Joe crowd, or anybody else who did not get the memo, Sarah Palin is NEVER running for President. Never!

She is possibly one of the most ignorant people on the planet, but she KNOWS that if she ran she would face the kind of scrutiny from the press and others that frightens her to her very core.

Not only that but those who have stayed silent up until now, would be compelled to talk, and she would never let that happen.

Right now Sarah Palin is doing the very best that she can, with the notoriety that she has left, hosting a fake hunting program on a cable channel nobody can find.

Having thought it over now Bill Kristol realizes that Sarah Palin doesn't have a future in politics. Gee, ya think?

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

“I was asked, ‘Does Sarah Palin have a future?’ and I just tried to give an analytical answer, which is I don’t think she does having resigned as governor,” he said. 

He continued, “This is useful to think outside the box, not just accept the conventional wisdom…If she wants to have a serious future in American politics, as opposed to giving speeches occasionally, causing a ruckus with Facebook posts, she should run for office. Running and winning takes away a lot of the baggage of the past.” 

When the “Morning Joe” team reacted with skepticism, Kristol said, “You don’t think if she ran in the Republican primary in Alaska and beat a couple of good candidates and the incumbent senator, it would be interesting? It would fun to have her in the Senate in January 2015. Good to have a Republican vote there, lively young senator.” 

Tuesday’s “Morning Joe” panel included Nicole Wallace, the former McCain staffer who has been very vocal about the difficulties she experiences as Palin’s 2008 handler, calling her “withdrawn, uncommunicative and incapable of performing even the most basic tasks required of her job as McCain’s running mate.”

Palin had no choice but to resign as Governor, trust me on that.

As for her EVER running for office again, especially in Alaska? You just keep an out for flying pigs and that MIGHT be the day such a thing would be possible. 

Bill Kristol refuses to acknowledge what a shit stain on his career Sarah Palin turned out to be.

I love the question that comes in from the viewer, which is "Does he have a better pick than Sarah Palin this time?" I think that clearly indicates that most people think that Sarah Palin is an embarrassment for both Bill Kristol and the McCain campaign.

However, much like McCain, Kristol is unable, or unwilling, to recognize what a colossal blunder it was to scoop her out of the wilds of Wasilla and thrust her onto the national stage.

“I was for taking the gamble of putting her on the ticket, I don’t think it hurt the ticket in 2008,” he said. “In fact, the best two weeks for the McCain campaign against Obama 2008 were the two weeks after he picked Sarah Palin. Then she had a little bit of a rough patch, she was mishandled by the McCain people.” 

Yes those were the two weeks BEFORE Palin was allowed to talk to the press. Once she was no longer a pretty object just to look at, and people heard for themselves how incredibly stupid she was they started to run away in droves.

Even people who once supported McCain could simply not support his choice of Sarah Palin. Hell his own senior adviser, Nicolle Wallace, could not bring herself to vote for him after that terrible choice.
 

“I think her stepping down as governor of Alaska was a big problem,” Kristol said. “People don’t like to see a candidate, a governor or an executive—absent some medical reason or whatever—just leave office early. And she had been a good governor, sadly, of Alaska until then. So I think that is something she has to recover from, in terms of being a serious leader in the party. She still has a lot of loyalty, still can shape the debate. She still has a great political touch.” 

“I think the way Palin would possibly resurrect herself—if that’s the right word—or rehabilitate herself, I guess is a better way of putting it: run for Senate in Alaska in 2014,” Kristol said. “I’m not urging that. I’m just saying, if I were her adviser, I would say, ‘Take on the incumbent, you have to win a primary, then you have to beat an incumbent Democrat. It’s not easy.’ But if she did that, suddenly, if you can imagine that—Sarah Palin, freshman senator, January 2015 in Washington having beaten an incumbent. That would be pretty interesting.”

Now see THAT is the folly of not recognizing why Palin failed so incredibly the first time. What everybody should have recognized after 2008 is that she simply CANNOT run a campaign that receives media scrutiny.

During her political career in Alaska she was protected by a domesticated media that so desperately wanted to sell advertising space that it could not bring itself to challenge the popular new Governor.

Here in Alaska she simply was never challenged. However all of that has changed and the media is chomping at the bit for another crack at the Mama Grizzly. And she knows it.

She will NEVER subject herself to it again. You could almost say that she is a...let's see...what's the word? A wussy?

The GOP fear of the success of Obamacare is nothing new, in fact it goes back two decades. Of course then it was known as "Hillarycare."

Courtesy of Crooks and Liars:  

At its core, the Republicans' scorched-earth opposition to Obamacare has never been so much about "freedom" or "limited government" or any other right-wing ideological buzzword as it has been about political power, pure and simple. Now as for the past 20 years, Republicans have feared not that health care reform would fail the American people, but that it would succeed. Along with Social Security and Medicare, successful health care reform would provide the third and final pillar of Americans' social safety net, all brought you by the Democratic Party. To put it another way, the GOP was never really concerned about a "government takeover of health care", "rationing", "the doctor-patient relationship" or mythical "death panels," but that an American public grateful for access to health care could provide Democrats with an enduring majority for years to come.

But what Utah Senator Orrin Hatch called a "holy war" to block health care reform didn't start when Barack Obama took the oath of office in January 2009, but instead when Bill Clinton was inaugurated in 1993. It was then that former Quayle chief of staff and Republican strategist William Kristol warned his GOP allies that a Clinton victory on health care could guarantee Democratic majorities for the foreseeable future. "The Clinton proposal is also a serious political threat to the Republican Party," Kristol wrote in his infamous December 3, 1993 memo titled "Defeating President Clinton's Health Care Proposal," adding: 

"Its passage in the short run will do nothing to hurt (and everything to help) Democratic electoral prospects in 1996. But the long-term political effects of a successful Clinton health care bill will be even worse--much worse. It will relegitimize middle-class dependence for 'security' on government spending and regulation. It will revive the reputation of the party that spends and regulates, the Democrats, as the generous protector of middle-class interests. And it will at the same time strike a punishing blow against Republican claims to defend the middle class by restraining government." 

And that, for Kristol, meant it had to be stopped at all costs: 

"The first step in that process must be the unqualified political defeat of the Clinton health care proposal. Its rejection by Congress and the public would be a monumental setback for the president; and an incontestable piece of evidence that Democratic welfare-state liberalism remains firmly in retreat."

Like I have said repeatedly the Republicans don't hate Obamacare because it will fail, they hate it because it will succeed. And that success spells doom for them.

And now we have proof that the Republican politicians are not fighting against Obamacare on behalf of their constituents. They are fighting against on behalf of their future.

And now you also know why they are already pulling their hair out at the prospect of a second Clinton administration.

The writing is on the wall and they can see it even from inside what Bill Maher refers to as their "Republican Bubble."

Hey before you make those vacation plans, have you thought about taking a cruise with a bunch of old, cranky Right Wing nuts? Well you can!

"The closest thing to being a king," says one elderly gentleman.

"I'm among two hundred or so people who think, politically, just like I do." says another. Followed up by "There's no such thing as a politically incorrect statement."

I love that not one of the people interviewed look a day under seventy five. If this is not a visual indication that the Republican party is dying out, I don't know what is.

For those among you who know your trivia, you may remember that this self same cruise was the beginning of one of the darkest times in American political history.

It was on the exact same Weekly Standard sponsored cruise that  Bill Kristol discovered Sarah Palin:  
In June 2007, a cruise hosted by the political journal The Weekly Standard set anchor in Juneau, Alaska. Standard editors William Kristol and Fred Barnes then lunched with Governor Sarah Palin. It was a moment of discovery to equal Hernando Cortez’s landing at Veracruz. 

Kristol appeared on Fox News on June 30, 2008, confidently predicting that McCain would select Sarah Palin and as a public display of support, oil prices would miraculously fall. 

Kristol can fairly lay claim to having “discovered” Palin for Washington political circles. Palin’s name appeared in 41 Weekly Standard articles since the Juneau meeting—starting with a paean entitled “ The Most Popular Governor” that ran right after the reception. 

Indeed, Kristol, who was a loyal McCain supporter in 2000 and is often thought to have suffered exclusion from Bush’s inner circle as a result, may have played a key role in McCain’s decision to tap Palin as his running mate.

Yep that's what happened in 2007.  As if anybody needed another reason to despise Bill Kristol.

Just think if you go this time perhaps they will discover something equally as destructive such as a skin dissolving bacteria, or a giant Tokyo stomping creature like Godzilla perhaps.

Though to be honest it would pale in comparison.

Bill Kristol essentially dumps all over Mitt Romney's campaign strategy while appearing on Fox News. Wait, what?

Courtesy of Maddow Blog:

"I've thought this for months. If this election's just about the last four years, that's a muddy verdict. Bush was president during the financial meltdown. The Obama team has turned that around pretty well. The Clinton speech at the convention was very important in that way. How horrible was it four years ago? [Romney's] got to make it a referendum on the choice about the next four years."

Okay did that just happen? Did the guy who was SO smitten with Sarah Palin's Alaskan hospitality (Tits, legs, and ass.) that he helped foist her onto the McCain campaign, actually say something positive about the Obama administration?

Why yes he did.

Apparently Kristol tried to save face by going on and criticizing Obama as well, but the damage had already been done.

Okay so if the Republicans are forced to concede that the Obama administration has done a pretty good job of fixing the economy, all things considered, than exactly WHAT is the Mitt Romney selling point?

That he could do MORE in the next four years than the President can accomplish?

Well let's take a look at the record that the Romney campaign avoids like an appearance on The View, his time as Governor of Massachusetts.

This courtesy of the Huffington Post:  

Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts from 2002 through 2006. So Massachuesettians know him best. This is what they think : 

1. OBAMA HAS HUGE LEAD IN MASS. Romney Trails Obama by 28% in Mass. 

2. LOWEST APPROVAL IN MASS. HISTORY. Romney left office with the lowest approval rating in state history 34%. 

He was elected by a 5% margin and had a 66% approval rating after he was elected. And it wasn't because he was a Republican. Massachusetts had elected three Republicans Governors before Romney. All of those Republican left office with high approval ratings. In fact, William Weld was elected twice in 1990 and 1994 and left office after two terms with 70% approval rating, the highest in state history. 

Why did the voters sour on Romney so quickly? Look at his record: 

3. JOB CREATION FELL. Job creation fell from 37th to 47th during Romney's term. 

1998-2002 = 37th 

2002-2006 = 47th A drop of 10 places in four years. 

During his 4 year term, Romney only increased the number of jobs by 1% compared to 5% for the nation 

4. THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WORKING DECLINED. Between 2002-2006, the number of people working in Mass declined by 8,500, the only state to lose jobs. The rest of the country added 8 million jobs. 

5. LOST MANUFACTURING JOBS. Romney lost 14% of the manufacturing jobs in the state, including 40,000 high paying manufacturing jobs. 

6. PEOPLE LEFT MASS TO FIND WORK ELSEWHERE. A net 222,000 people moved out of Mass to seek employment else where, a loss of 3.5% of the work force. Romney brags that unemployment dropped, but that's because the unemployed had moved out of the state. 

7. WAGES DROPPED. Between 2002-2004, wages dropped 5%. Between 2002-2006, the median wage fell by $10 or 2%. 

8. SHIPPED STATE JOBS OVERSEAS. Romney vetoed legislation that would have prohibited sending State jobs overseas and bared state contractors from sending jobs overseas. He even sent State Call Center Jobs overseas. 

9. INCREASED DEBT. Romney had the largest increase in debt of any Governor in the country, increasing it by more than $2.6 billion. He even borrowed money to pay for ordinary operating costs such as highway repair and maintenence. 

10. INCREASED GOVERNMENT COST FALL ON MIDDLE CLASS. Romney cuts taxes for the wealthy, while increasing hundreds of fees that fall mainly on the middle class. 

(Links with the proof to support these statements can be found at the Huffpo link above.)

Okay so if even a conservative stalwart like Bill Kristol has to admit that President Obama has done an admirable job of fixing the economy, and Mitt Romeny's ONLY record in government shows that he was an abysmal failure, then why is there even a question as to WHO we should elect in 2012?

Answer: There isn't a question.

Obama/Biden 2012

Early voting has started now folks, why delay?