Snow (not so much in CT, a ton in DC and MD) and Tea edition.
There'll be more on this, but for now, this is a new WaPo/ABC poll:
Although Palin is a tea party favorite, her potential as a presidential hopeful takes a severe hit in the survey. Fifty-five percent of Americans have unfavorable views of her, while the percentage holding favorable views has dipped to 37, a new low in Post-ABC polling.
And we were just discussing this yesterday...
David Broder: He's more proof that Palin shouldn't be taken seriously. David Broder says we should... I have to wonder if he reads his own paper's polls. Or listens to her when she palm reads. So has Bush made that bounce back yet, David?
EJ Dionne:
Why has this middle-of-the-road leader [Obama] inspired such enthusiastic counter-organizing and called forth such venom?
The most popular theory on the left is that Obama's race is a big part of the story, and that we are seeing a reaction among some whites against the multiracial, multicultural political coalition he has brought together. The phrase "losing our country" is often on the lips of his enemies, which raises the question of who they mean by "our."
At last week's Tea Party Convention, former House member Tom Tancredo, famed for his attacks on illegal immigration, gave backers of the racial explanation all the ammunition they needed.
EJ relates this, however, to an enduring anti-federal strain in this country that's hundreds of years old.
Michael C. Moynihan:
Hole after hole can be poked in the Kos survey, but regardless there is, in some quarters, an emerging theme that right-wing extremism has gone mainstream. Today on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Kurt Andersen, Joe Scarborough, and John Heileman denounced the "poison," the "mob," the "freakshow" that is the Tea Party movement, and urged the masses to return to the political center. Andersen opined that "Fox News and the blogsphere" (what, no MSNBC?) are whipping the great unwashed and uneducated masses into an extremist frenzy. It is, one presumes, the responsibility of Andersen and the staff of New York magazine to guide these proto-fascists back to semi-responsible politics...by calling them freaks.
The press acting responsibly? Mwa ha hah. (Is that laugh reserved for evil scientists taking over the world?)
Gail Collins:
Our question for today is, who has the most awful political culture, Illinois or New York?
I'd say NY, based on our legislative geniuses who almost couldn't meet in the same building. But to NYers, there's always NJ to make them feel better about themselves. What's IL got?
Ruth Marcus:
Does it matter if the judge hearing the lawsuit challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage is gay? Would his sexual orientation interfere with his ability to render an impartial judgment in the case, or the public's confidence that he could decide the case fairly?
Politico:
Union leaders warn that the Democrats' lackluster performance in power is sapping the morale of activists going into the midterm elections.
"Right now if we don’t get positive changes to the agenda, we’re going to have a hard time getting members out to work," said United Steelworkers International President Leo W. Gerard, in an interview.
"There’s no use pretending any longer."
The intensity meter is tea colored.
Meghan Daum:
What's most exasperating about the flap surrounding White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's recently publicized use of the "R-word"?
The fact that he made the remark six months ago but it somehow only surfaced last week, (perhaps in the wake of growing disenchantment with the president)? Or that Sarah Palin, via Facebook, is calling for Emanuel's resignation and at the same time defending Rush Limbaugh's repeated use of the word? Or Emanuel's round of perfunctory apologies, notably to Special Olympics Chief Executive Timothy Shriver, who, with other advocates of the mentally disabled, issued a press release saying Emanuel has promised the Obama administration will "look for ways to partner with us, including examining pending legislation in Congress to remove the R-word from federal law"?
What's exasperating is the press' tendency to print every Republican whisper as if it's news.