On the heels of a highly productive lame duck session of Congress and a nearly-universally lauded speech at last week's Tucson memorial, President Obama's approval ratings are on the rise.
Meanwhile, Sarah Palin's favorability ratings are in a freefall, and a growing number of Republicans are calling for her to sit down and shut up — something she has no intention of doing.
Amid this changing electoral landscape, Rudy Giuliani sees an opportunity for heroism, and Michele Bachmann smells the tea brewing.
But they'd better hurry... time may be running out.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA); Roundtable: Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), Former Adviser to President Bush Karen Hughes, John Podesta (Center for American Progress), Ron Brownstein (Atlantic Media) and Erin Burnett (CNBC).
Face the Nation: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).
This Week: Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT); Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND); Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX); Rep. Chris Gibson (R-NY); Rep. Bobby Schilling (R-IL); Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT); Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), Paul Krugman (New York Times), Republican Strategist Matthew Dowd and Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile.
Fox News Sunday: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL); Actor Richard Dreyfuss; Roundtable: Brit Hume (Fox News), Mara Liasson (NPR/FNC), Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard) and Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell; Democratic Strategist Paul Begala; Former Bush Speechwriter Michael Gerson; Presidential Historian Richard Norton Smith; Reliable Sources: Jane Hamsher (FireDogLake); Matt Lewis (Politics Daily); Craig Crawford (CQ/Roll Call); Carol Simpson (Formerly of ABC News); David Shuster (Formerly of MSNBC).
The Chris Matthews Show: Howard Fineman (Huffington Post); Norah O'Donnell (MSNBC); Katty Kay (BBC); Cynthia Tucker (Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
Fareed Zakaria GPS: Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger; National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski; Zanny Minton Beddoes (The Economist); Republican Strategist David Frum; Hendrik Hertzberg (The New Yorker).
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: interviews with friends and classmates of Tucson shooter Jared Loughner (preview); a report on the US's newest partner in the war on terror, Yemen (preview); and, an interview with Las Vegas sports betting legend Billy Walters (preview).
On Comedy Central:
Jon Stewart offered some color commentary on Sarah Palin's playing of the victim card.
The Daily Show
Monday: Author Anand Giridharadas ("India Calling")
Tuesday: Actor James Franco ("127 Hours")
Wednesday: Author Jonathan Alter ("The Promise: President Obama, Year One")
Thursday: Founder of BP Capital T. Boone Pickens
And Stephen Colbert took issue with Rush Limbaugh's Chinese impression.
The Colbert Report
Monday: TV Host Charlie Rose
Tuesday: Author Amy Chua ("Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother")
Wednesday: Former Speechwriter for President Clinton Michael Waldman
Thursday: Author Brian Greene ("The Hidden Reality")
In related news:
Rick Santorum said some things that Whitey just wasn't ready to hear. He also said some things that African-Americany wasn't ready to hear.
"The question is – and this is what Barack Obama didn't want to answer – is that human life a person under the Constitution? And Barack Obama says no. Well if that person –human life is not a person, then – I find it almost remarkable for a black man to say, 'we're going to decide who are people and who are not people.'"
On the other hand, Pat Buchanan had no problem with his comments.
Perhaps Santorum should take a lesson from President Obama, who knows how to guarantee that his words are well received.
It has taken some time, but Gateway Pundit figured it out! We now know why those rowdy, unassociated college kids whooped and cheered every time they heard the words "University of Arizona" ("mourning"), at the memorial in Tucson last week: The president’s Jumbotron told them to applaud! It certainly couldn’t be that these wingnuts don’t understand the concept of closed captioning, right? Oh.
Yes, closed captioning. A revolutionary new technology.
Say what you will about the wingnuts, they sure play a mean pinball.
And elsewhere in the penny [for your thoughts] arcade:
When pedestrians get killed by drivers, who is to blame?
Well, if you read the Washington Examiner, you might be surprised to learn that a slight nationwide increase in pedestrian fatalities could be the fault of Michelle Obama and her "Let's Move" campaign. Because, you know, isn't everything?
This absurd implication would almost be worth ignoring completely, except that it has been gleefully picked up and run with by influential conservative blog The Daily Caller.
Another interesting thing about the story, as reported on the D.C. news blog TBD, is the reaction of the person whose quote is used to back up the absurdity. Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), said in an interview with TBD that she didn't mean any such thing.
Beep, beep.
- Trix