Politiks As Usual: In The News 3/18/13

 Pope Wades Into Crowds, Shocks Bystanders In Rome

Atheism Is A Religion Too

Sacred Mystery: Blockbuster Ratings for ‘The Bible’ Confound Hollywood

Dr. Ben Carson: Obama Trying to 'Destroy This Country'

Government Steering Americans Toward a Tele-Work, Tele-Shop, Mass-Transit Future

GOP Plans Fewer Debates, More Community Outreach

Ed Schultz: ‘I Don’t Think MSNBC Has Slighted Me’

Bill Maher Defends Iraq War, Bush: ‘It’s A Country That’s Standing, I Thought It Wouldn’t Be’

Karl Rove Slams Sarah Palin for CPAC Remarks

Do Women Belong In Racing?

Ann Coulter Blasts Chris Christie, Says He’s ‘Off My List’ For 2016 In Fiery CPAC Speech

Karl Rove’s Prediction: Romney 51, Obama 48

Hotair.com:

A shot of optimism after a day of eeyorish state polls. How does Rove arrive at this result when eight of the last nine Ohio surveys have O ahead? In two steps: (1) He clearly trusts the national data over the state data, and (2) he cites historical numbers showing that incumbents recently have tended to overperform their national polling on election day by only one percent or so. Obama’s tied with Romney in the RCP national average tonight at 47.4. If, per the historical data, O’s ceiling is therefore at 48 percent, then it follows that most everyone else will break for Romney and that his national advantage will carry him to narrow wins in the states he needs.
As for Ohio:

Adrian Gray, who oversaw the Bush 2004 voter-contact operation and is now a policy analyst for a New York investment firm, makes the point that as of Tuesday, 530,813 Ohio Democrats had voted early or had requested or cast an absentee ballot. That’s down 181,275 from four years ago. But 448,357 Ohio Republicans had voted early or had requested or cast an absentee ballot, up 75,858 from the last presidential election.

That 257,133-vote swing almost wipes out Mr. Obama’s 2008 Ohio victory margin of 262,224. Since most observers expect Republicans to win Election Day turnout, these early vote numbers point toward a Romney victory in Ohio. They are also evidence that Scott Jennings, my former White House colleague and now Romney Ohio campaign director, was accurate when he told me that the Buckeye GOP effort is larger than the massive Bush 2004 get-out-the-vote operation.

Democrats explain away those numbers by saying that they are turning out new young Ohio voters. But I asked Kelly Nallen, the America Crossroads data maven, about this. She points out that there are 12,612 GOP “millennials” (voters aged 18-29) who’ve voted early compared with 9,501 Democratic millennials.

Are Democrats bringing out episodic voters who might not otherwise turn out? Not according to Ms. Nallen. She says that about 90% of each party’s early voters so far had also voted in three of the past four Ohio elections.

In other words, the dam that O’s built among early voters simply isn’t tall enough to hold back the red tide next Tuesday. One caveat to Rove’s point about the national numbers, though: According to RCP, Obama’s either tied or ahead in seven of the last 10 national polls taken. Romney still leads in Rasmussen and Gallup, and in only three of those 10 does Obama reach 49 percent or higher, but things have evened out a bit after Romney’s post-Denver debate surge. Case in point is the new Fox News poll tonight, which has the race dead even at 46 after Romney led by a point in early October. The topline number is not so good for Mitt, but the fundamentals are:

Independents give the edge to Romney by seven percentage points (46-39 percent). That’s down from a 12-point advantage in early October…

Among the subgroup of most interested voters, those who are “extremely” interested in the election, Romney leads Obama by 53-42 percent…

Romney’s supporters continue to be more enthusiastic: 69 percent say it’s extremely important he win, while 59 percent of those backing Obama feel that way.

 RELATED:  Opinion: Here comes the landslide

House Oversight Committee Votes 23-17 To Hold A.G. Eric Holder In Contempt Of Congress

Mediaite.com:

The House Oversight Committee has voted to find U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress after refusing to surrender documents relating to the Fast and Furious gun walking scandal. The contempt charge will now head to the full House of Representatives for a vote.

President Barack Obama invoked executive privilege on Tuesday night to withhold documents relating to Fast and Furious. 

The poorly administered operation cost the lives of an unknown number of Mexican civilians as well as the life of American border agent Brian Terry. 

Democrats have accused Congressional Republicans of playing politics with the Fast and Furious case. Some Congressional Democrats, including House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), have said that the charge of contempt against Holder is motivated by the political need to tarnish the Obama White House ahead of the presidential election in November.

RELATED: Pelosi Slams Contempt Hearings: ‘I Could Have Arrested Karl Rove On Any Given Day’

Karl Rove Declares That Herman Cain Has ‘Peaked’

Mediaite.com:

Herman Cain’s reign on top of the 2012 contender list may be coming to an end. That’s the impression Karl Rove gave during an appearance on Fox News this morning as he slammed the candidate as having “created an image of him not being up for this task” through a series of blunders.


The conversation began with talk of Cain’s seemingly-confused stance on abortion. However, Rove then continued, pulling out an entire white board filled with missteps Cain had made thus far in the campaign. This all correlated with poll numbers that, according to Rove, show that Cain had already “peaked.”


Of course, it’s possible that one should take Rove’s declaration of the Cain campaign’s death with a pinch of salt. Cain, is a favorite candidate with the Koch Brothers and the Tea Party and, previously, some of the harshest critiques that GOP establishment member Rove has given to Conservatives, have all been directed at Tea Partiers. However, whether Rove was biased in his denunciations of the likes of Christine O’Donnell or not, he was still right in predicting their losses.

RELATED: Herman Cain Accuses Karl Rove Of ‘Deliberate Attempt To Damage’ Him

Karl Rove Blasts Sarah Palin For Having ‘Enormous Thin Skin’ About Campaign Speculation

Mediaite.com:

If Karl Rove had been trying to hide his complete contempt for Sarah Palin in the past for the sake of Reagan’s eleventh commandment, he all but gave up on it tonight. Speaking to Greta Van Susteren tonight, Rove lashed out at Palin’s statement that his speculation on her candidacy was wrong by repeatedly referring to her “thin skin” and daring Palin to “end the speculation” and say she isn’t running if such speculation upsets her.


Van Susteren began the conversation asking Rove what it was about Palin that kept the media speculating, which Rove took as an opportunity to address a SarahPAC statement attacking him for having said that Palin’s schedule in the upcoming months looks like the schedule of a presidential candidate. “I’m mystified,” he admitted, “that she’s all upset about this, that I’m somehow trying to sabotage her campaign, sabotage her in some way, and how dare I speculate on her future.” Rove also responded angrily that “if she doesn’t want to be speculated about as a potential presidential candidate, there’s an easy way to end the speculation,” yet whenever the issue comes up, “she says ‘I haven’t made a decision.” Rove concluded adding a jab at Palin’s lust for attention, calling it a “sign of enormous thin skin that if we speculate about her, she gets upset, and I suspect that if we didn’t speculate about her, she’d be upset about it and trying to find a way to get us to speculate about her.”


Van Susteren tried to bring Rove back from that precipice, asking him to instead “reflect on the media” and the fact that they continue covering her. Rove admitted that she was “a potentially big factor in the presidential election,” and that “if she were to get in, she’d be a contender.” That said, Rove concluded by calling Palin thin-skinned another two times before the segment ended– abruptly, without a goodbye, cut into by a “news break” that likely could’ve waited the extra three seconds.

I totally agree with Rove because you can't have it both ways.

Karl Rove Calls Obama A "Hypocrite"

When a weak and desperate Obama tries to hit you below the belt, you go straight for the guts. It's the only way conservatives can fight back against the evil Obama/Pelosi/Reid regime:

The ongoing battle between the White House and Karl Rove continued Tuesday morning, with the former Bush aide accusing President Obama of outright hypocrisy when it comes to campaign finance transparency.


"For the president to say a legal and lawful action by private groups, which has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States, when he himself is relying on political groups….the president is being hypocritical about this," Rove said on ABC's Good Morning America in response to recent attacks from Obama and Vice President Joe Biden over the fact that a group Rove has raised money for – Crossroads GPS – does not disclose its donors.

Crossroads GPS has spent millions on political advertising this election season but does not have to reveal the names of their donors to the Federal Elections Commission because it is structured as a tax-exempt "social welfare" 501(c)(4) organization. The group has faced allegations it is bending campaign finance laws because of its involvement in political activity despite claiming to be a so-called "social welfare" group.

"[Obama] had no problem at all with this when groups were spending money on his behalf in 2008 and not disclosing donors," Rove also said. "He had no problem not disclosing his own donors - tens of millions of dollars to his campaign whose donor names were not revealed. And now he turns around and takes up because Republicans are doing the same thing Democrats have been doing for years."

Politiks As Usual: In The News 10/11/10

NY GOP Candidate Carl Paladino: Homosexuality Not 'Valid'

Desperate Obama Urges Crowd To Show Him The Energy Of '08

Karl Rove To Obama: How Dare You?

US Physics Professor: Global Warming Is The Most Successful Fraud....

NBC Flees From Lefty MSNBC Cable Network

Obama's Huge New Tax

Blogger Blames Christians For Gay Suicides

Conservatives Now Outnumber Liberals, Moderates & Republicans

Report: Democrats Planted NJ Tea Party House Candidate

George Will Exposes Paul Krugman Hypocrisy On Political Ads

Megyn Kelly Reports On Duke Sex List Story, Urges Females: "Don't Sleep Around"

Rick Santorum: ACLU Attacking Religious Hospitals

From Cronkite To Katrina: Why The MSM Keeps Getting It Wrong

Karl Rove: "I'm A Huge Tea Party Fan"

Sad that far-Right extremists like Michelle Malkin would play the "sexist" card just because Rove's being honest about what Christine O'Donnell needs to do in order to win in November.

Bill O’Reilly Tries To Make Peace Between Sarah Palin And Karl Rove Over Christine O’Donnell

Mediaite.com:

One of the most fascinating aspects of following the “GOP Civil War” brought about by Christine O’Donnell’s stunning primary victory is watching it play out in real time on Fox News. Sarah Palin, who backed the Tea Party candidate, is a Fox News contributor, and so too is Karl Rove, who has come to represent the GOP establishment, and has been a vocal critic of O’Donnell (and her chances for general election victory.) Enter the Fox News big dog, Bill O’Reilly, who reminded Gov. Palin that she and Rove were “simpatico” on most issues. In other words, can’t we all just get along?

Ann Coulter Attacks Karl Rove, Rubio For Opposition To Arizona Immigration Law

Mediaite.com:

Ann Coulter paid Juan Williams a visit on The O’Reilly Factor last night to discuss the two hottest topics in the news cycle: the Arizona immigration bill and the Goldman Sachs housing market scandal. On the former, she had some harsh words for fellow conservatives Karl Rove and Marco Rubio for attack it; on the latter, she blamed past Democratic abuses of power and claimed the proposed financial reform bill “looks like it was written by Hugo Chavez.”

Coulter defended the law against what she called “blatant, blatant lying” about the potential for racial profiling, and argued that “it’s not like Arizona is inventing this legal principle.” When asked about the reaction of many fellow consevatives, including Florida Senate candidate Marco Rubio, Karl Rove, and Texas governor Rick Perry, Coulter said she was “upset”– especially at Rubio– and that she thought “they are responding to the nonsense that is being published out there. People get bullied into taking silly positions.”

Liberal Code Pink Protesters Shut Down Karl Rove Book Signing

CNN.com:

Former White House chief of staff Karl Rove was heckled and branded a "war criminal' at a book signing in Beverly Hills, California, on Monday night.

Rove, who served as senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President Bush, was at the Saban Theater to discuss his new book, "Courage and Consequences: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight," to an audience of about 100 people who paid up to $40 to hear him.

But the audience members were unable to get their copies of the book signed after Rove was shouted down and forced to leave the stage, reported CNN affiliate KCAL-TV.

The event was heated from the onset as several anti-war protesters interrupted Rove's talk to accuse him and the Bush administration of lying to Americans about the threat Iraq posed to the United States -- and thus, taking the country into war.

Rove called one heckler a "lunatic." He told another to "get the heck out of here."

At one point, Jodie Evans, the co-founder of the anti-war group Code Pink, rushed toward Rove waving a pair of handcuffs and saying she was there to make a citizen's arrest.

Notice how it takes CNN 6 paragraphs to mention that the protesters are from the violent, radically-Left Code Pink. The same Code Pink whose founder Jodie Frank is an admitted 9/11 Truther and former campaign worker for Barack Obama. Code Pink has long been noted for their violent protests in the name of "peace", but the lamestream media doesn't want you to know about that, instead this article focuses on Rove in a manner that makes it seem that he deserved to be heckled. Funny that.

Karl Rove Pwnes Liberal DailyKos, Obama

Bill O'Reilly & Karl Rove On Obama's Healthcare Speech

RELATED: Public Disapproval Of Obama's Handling Of Health Care Up To 52%

Bill O'Reilly Interviews Karl Rove About Sarah Palin's Resignation

Supreme Court Wants No More Of Bush-Hating Valerie Plame

MSNBC.com:

The U.S. Supreme Court will not revive a lawsuit that former CIA operative Valerie Plame brought against former members of the Bush administration.

The court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

A lower court last year threw out the lawsuit in which Plame and Wilson accused former Vice President Dick Cheney and several former high-ranking administration officials of disclosing her identity to reporters in 2003. Plame and Wilson said that violated their constitutional rights.

The lawsuit named former presidential adviser Karl Rove; Cheney's former top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby; and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

The U.S. Court of Appeals said that Plame and Wilson did not meet the legal standard for constitutional claims, in part because the lawsuit hinges on alleged violations of the Privacy Act — a law that does not cover the president or the vice president's offices.

Richard Armitage "outed" former secretary Valerie Plame, not Karl Rove, not Scooter Libby or anyone else in the Bush administration. Now it's about time the book on the arrogant pricks that are Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame be closed.

Karl Rove Pwnes James Carville

"We're making some progress . . ."?!? With 16,000 jobs a day lost since the passing of the stimulus plan? Right.

H/T: Flopping Aces

Karl Rove On Why Dick Cheney Speaks

When the current administration blames everything on you, you're bound to speak out and defend yourself. It's amazing how many people just don't seem to get that, but then liberal usage of common sense has never been practical.

Karl Rove Quote of the Day!

"These were nasty, vicious, mean, ugly comments and had no place at the dinner."

- Karl Rove, Fox News contributor and former senior adviser to President George W. Bush; Limbaugh did not respond to Sykes' remarks

Karl Rove: Obama Administration Blaming Bush Is Getting Lame

Dana Pico at Common Sense Political Thought:

At what point will the buck stop on Mr Obama’s desk? At what point will the man who asked us to vote for him to be our President, to be our nation’s leader, actually accept the responsibility for what happens under his government’s actions? When will he point the finger at himself, and say, “This is my responsibility,” and not try to blame it on somebody else?

Wishing Meghan McCain Would Just Go Away Already

HuffPo:

Meghan McCain, serving as a co-host of "The View" today, wasted little time before getting in a shot at former Vice President Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. McCain, who had previously written about how she found Karl Rove following her on Twitter "creepy," complained that Cheney and Rove are still trying to be seen as the face of the Republican Party. Last week McCain observed that the GOP leadership is "scared shitless" of the changing political landscape.

McCain mentioned disapprovingly Cheney's repeated public criticisms of Obama--which he voiced again on Fox News this week--and referred to the DNC ad released this week portraying Cheney, Rove and Gingrich as the 'new face of the GOP.' She pointed out that it's "very unprecedented for someone like Karl Rove or Dick Cheney to be criticizing the President." Her advice to them: "Go away."

At first I liked Meghan McCain. I was totally supportive of her outspokenness and I defended her when conservatives who made disparaging remarks about her weight. But now that she's disrespectfully told off Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, come out for gay marriage and allowed herself to be pimped and used by liberals who only tolerate her because she publicly disses other Republicans, I'm going to call her what she is: a dumb, naive, condescending prick who doesn't know a thing about politics. And here's wishing one day that she falls flat on her face, wakes up and comes out as the liberal she really is. Dumbass.