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Apparently there is a huge problem with Jon Huntsman’s candidacy: he’s just too darn moderate!! [Michelle Malkin] Every kiss begins with Newt? Gingrich had not one, but two lines of credit at Tiffany’s! [Washington Post] Google to United States Senate: nope, we won’t be there for your hearing. [Politico] “Save Money, Live Better?”: Law firm spent $7 million to sue Wal-Mart. [Reuters] Did my brother invent e-mail? A famous film-maker investigates. [New York Times]
As we begin to pack up the family car for that long-awaited summer vacation at Grandma’s house, a gallon of gasoline averages $3.80, $1.07 more than this time last year. Maybe you can just email Grandma a photo of the kids instead. Or better yet, maybe President Barack Obama could address workers at a research facility funded by a $528.7 million stimulus-act grant to develop a new alternative mode of energy-efficient transportation: airborne porcine units (also known as “flying pigs”). Although the facility won’t have produced a commercially viable prototype, Obama could go on to express confidence that, with additional government investment (aka “spending”), the needed technology breakthroughs would be achieved. I can hear him now: “When pigs fly, my energy policies will be vindicated, and the taxpayer dollars we have committed to this effort will greatly lessen our dependence on foreign oil.” Fantasy? Of course, but then again, taxpayers are on the hook for a $528.7 million loan to a company seeking to make plug-in electric cars that the Obama administration announced with great fanfare in 2009. The result? That company recently breathlessly announced that it plans to sell a car for the bargain price of $96,850 that charges in “as little as six hours” and has — wait for it — a 50-mile range before a backup gasoline engine kicks in. Read the rest of… Big news here at The Recovering Politician. Michael Steele, former Republican National Committee Chair and Lieutenant Governor of Maryland joins the team as a contributing RP. Tomorrow, he weighs in on energy policy, and suffice at to say, he has a different viewpoint than the RP. Remember: Michael was the originator of the catch phrase: “Drill Baby, Drill!” And that’s what The Recovering Politician is all about — a post-partisan dialogue on the issues of the day. Please join us and comment away tomorrow at 8:30 AM. The Politics of Laughter There are rules for holding the door open for someone! [comic] Apple: Now Supporting Windows [picture] Happy Belated Father’s Day from the ad execs at Durex! [picture] The Boston Bruins beat out the Vancouver Canucks for the Stanley Cup! Woo, USA! USA! USA! Oh, wait. . . [Wikipedia] Perfectly timed photos (a couple could be NSFW). [Humor Sharing]
Bill Clinton was a once-disgraced former president… and now his life’s so good, they’re making an opera about it! [Time] Looking for relaxation? Find your inner calm in Sedona, AZ. [CNN] Rahm Emanuel officially runs Chicago. Now, all he needs to do is rebuild his image… and the city’s economy. [GQ] What is war like for foreign workers on U.S. bases in Afghanistan and Iraq? In short, it’s not pretty. [The New Yorker] When it comes to Facebook, celebrities are just like the rest of us. Here’s how Roger Ebert’s page caused recent controversy, and was subsequently removed. [The Atlantic] The biggest news on the diamond this week has been the tragic injury of the best player in baseball, Albert Pujols. My beloved Cardinals are now without their star for 4-6 weeks. I was not a happy camper when I saw the news. Here is a good run down of what missing Albert means. [Viva El Birdos] The other big news in baseball comes from the west coast, where commissioner Bud Selig has vetoed Dodger’s owner Frank McCourt’s television deal with Fox, which would have allowed him to keep the team. In essence, this move essentially nullifies McCourt’s divorce to his wife. While Bud Selig has several good points about the deal, how emasculating is it for a guy to veto another man’s divorce? Here is a take on this from LA. [True Blue LA] Jack McKeon, who is 80 years old, entered the Marlins dugout as the manager on Monday and in so doing, became the oldest manager in the league by fourteen years. He began managing baseball in the 1949, and 671 managers have began and ended their careers since then. Deadspin has all of their names. [deadspin] Derek Jeter went on the disabled list about a week ago, sitting on 2,994 hits. 3,000 hits is one of the most important milestones in all of baseball, and Jeter may have the longest wait in history to make it there. Here is a great article remembering some other long waits. [The Hardball Times] Roger Clemons is in a big mess, having likely lied to Congress about his steroid usage. Now, he is trying to limit his former teammates testimony. I feel kind of bad for the once-great pitcher. Just kind of bad, though. [ESPN] I declared my love for the Bill Simmons project Grantland last week, but others have been reticent to do so–and for good reason. Read The Big Lead‘s take on the website, which also includes quotes from the ESPN ombud. [The Big Lead] There are two things Huntsman probably needs in order to claim the nomination: 1) Perry or another formidable candidate from the party’s right wing to get in. Romney has the money and national infrastructure to go the distance, and if there is only one candidate emerging from the right – Bachmann, Cain, Palin, whoever – that’s good for Romney, as it will frighten mainstream Republicans into coalescing around him. So, Huntsman needs at least two strong candidates from the party’s right wing, and Perry’s potential entrance can muddle things enough on the right that so that establishment types will be OK with two strong candidates from the “moderate” wing. 2) Since Romney also has personal money in addition to having spent five years criss-crossing the country meeting bundlers, Huntsman needs to figure out a way to tap his vast family fortune. I’m not sure about this, but I saw an estimate of Huntsman’s personal fortune at $15M. That’s about enough for New Hampshire – not for the nomination. His father is apparently a billionaire, according to estimates, but he needs to figure out the logistics of making that money available for campaign use. Does that mean his father gifts him $100M and then pays gift taxes on it? Maybe. Does it mean his father does a giant IE? Who knows. The optics aren’t good with either option. I suspect they’ve thought through this, but the logistics of it, and the subsequent perception, could have outsized influence on the way his candidacy is perceived – especially in a post-Bunny-money era. Cross posted, with permission of the author, from Politico’s Arena Weezer, who are one of my favorite bands (even their newer stuff), released a cover of Radiohead’s Paranoid Android which is every bit as epic as the original. One of my all time favorite songs, performed by one of my favorite bands–I was excited to hear this. So should you be. [Weezer] Lil Wayne is back, kind of, with a new love song. It’s a popular track, but he is singing instead of rapping. My advice to Weezy: stick to what you do best. [How To Love] A song was released on the internet the other day which purported to Kanye West in an My Dark Twisted Fantasy outtake called Mama’s Boyfriend. Kanye released a statement saying that it is not his track–and that somebody stole the vocal track and added their own beat. Which makes sense. This song is seriously great–but the beat is not. Listen to it if you want, but try to just listen to the rap. [Yeezy] Neil Young has a new album with his band The International Harvesters. It’s pretty good, and you can listen to the whole album on The Rolling Stone‘s website. [Rolling Stone] Bon Iver’s sophomore album isn’t as good as his first, but if you are into his sound, you will probably enjoy it. I have yet to listen to the whole album, but I do like this track. [Calgary] Owl City, aka Adam Young, also had his sophomore album released recently. If you liked the first one, you will probably like this album too. Also, if you like the first one, you should just listen to The Postal Service. Seriously though–Young is doing what he needs to do to be successful, this album is considerably more adamant about his faith, which is the audience who will stick with him the longest. Fans of contemporary Christian acts are fans for life. [Galaxies]
So if Republicans want to spend next fall talking about the shining moment of the Obama presidency (the successful Seal raid), Rudy would be the perfect nominee. No, I don’t think he could win New Hampshire. But even if he did, remember that New Hampshire – won by Buchanan in ’96 and McCain in ’00 – has been far from dispositive. South Carolina has been the key to the nomination. And as ’02 SC Senate candidate Alex Sanders said when Rudy came down to stump for Lindsay Graham that year (paraphrasing here), “He’s for gay rights. He’s pro-abortion. He wants to ban handguns. He cheated on his wife, got kicked out of his house, and moved in with two gay guys and a Shih Tzu. Is that South Carolina values?”
All of that said, perhaps a candidacy could bump his speaking fees back up to where they were post-9/11. Cross-posted, with permission of the author, from Politico’s Arena. Future New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson just joined the world of Twitter. And though she’s only tweeting fellow NYT staffers so far, she looks like she knows what she’s doing! [NY Magazine] Speaking of social networking… Do you think it’s time to deactivate that Facebook page? Good Magazine talks you through the decision in flow-chart form. [Good Magazine] A new survey from the Pew Institute reports that Facebook users are more politically active. [Pew Institute] And this is why technology is getting to be a problem. A town in India recently renamed itself snapdeal.com. No, we’re not making this up! [Time] Stephen Colbert gave the commencement speech for Northwestern University’s spring graduation ceremony. One of his jewels of wisdom: ““I am not here to talk about me. I am here to inspire you by talking about me.” [Chicago Sun Times] |
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