Faced with the spectacular implosion of Rick Perry's campaign, GOP elites have been searching far and wide for a new "savior of the moment."
Herman Cain, having convinced 996 Floridians to pay $175 to vote for him in a straw poll, thought that he might be "The One"—especially after receiving the coveted Donald Trump dinner invitation.
But Cain's ascent has done nothing to stop people from literally begging Chris Christie to suit up and run.
Should he choose to enter the race, there's no guarantee that Christie won't flounder like Perry has; and so, with that in mind, Mike Huckabee, Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin have been drawing up contingency plans.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D); Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R); Roundtable: Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Republican Strategist Mike Murphy, E.J. Dionne(Washington Post) and Peggy Noonan (Wall Street Journal).
Face the Nation: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D); Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R).
This Week: Presidential Candidate Herman Cain (999); Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz; Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), Jake Tapper (ABC News), Republican Strategist Nicolle Wallace, Democratic Strategist Mark Penn, and Matt Katz (Philadelphia Enquirer).
Fox News Sunday: Presidential Candidate Herman Cain (999); FedEx CEO Fred Smith; BET Founder Robert Johnson; Roundtable: Brit Hume (Fox News), Mara Liasson (NPR/FNC), Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard) and Juan Williams (Fox News).
State of the Union: Former Vice President Dick Cheney and His Demon Spawn Liz; Former NSA/CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden; Former Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA); Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R); Reliable Sources: Lauren Ashburn (Ashburn Media Company); John Avlon (Newsweek); David Frum (FrumForum); Erin Burnett (CNN); Eric Deggans (St. Petersburg Times).
The Chris Matthews Show: Nia-Malika Henderson (Washington Post); John Heilemann (New York Magazine); Rana Foroohar (TIME); David Ignatius (Washington Post).
Fareed Zakaria GPS: Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar; Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen.
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: an examination of the relationship between the Japanese town of Otsuchi and its "sister city" Ft. Bragg, CA (preview); footage of Alex Honnold scaling a 1,600-ft. rock wall using nothing more than his hands and feet (preview); and an exit interview with Andy Rooney, who is leaving the show after 33 years (preview).
On Comedy Central:
Jon Stewart unfavorably compared the Republican primary race to a season of a "American Idol."
The Daily Show
Monday: Thomas Friedman (New York Times)
Tuesday: Author Michael Lewis
Wednesday: Actor Hugh Jackman
Thursday: Actor Jason Sudekis
And Stephen Colbert proposed a radical plan to curb illegal immigration.
The Colbert Report
Monday: Author Jerome Groopman
Tuesday: Actor John Lithgow
Wednesday: Hip-Hop Group Black Star (Mos Def & Talib Kweli)
Thursday: US Special Forces Officer Jason Amerine
Elsewhere:
On Thursday, absent-minded Rep. Michele Bachmann offered up her two cents on why President Obama is to blame for the "Arab Spring."
"You want to know why we have an Arab Spring? Barack Obama has laid the table for an Arab Spring by demonstrating weakness from the United States of America," she said. "The No. 1 duty of the president is to be the commander-in-chief." [...]
Her remarks contrasted with those of senior Republican and former presidential candidate, Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., who is leading a delegation of Republican lawmakers to Libya this week.
Speaking in Tripoli on Thursday, he said the Arab Spring-inspired uprising in Libya was "inspiring" people in Iran, Syria and "even in Beijing and Moscow."
"They continue to inspire the world — and let people know that even the worst dictators can be overthrown and be replaced by freedom and democracy," McCain said.
Earlier in the week, Bachmann warned that Hezbollah is provoking another Cuban missile crisis, despite there not being any evidence to that effect.
And in other news:
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley mandated that all state employees enroll in Happycare.
South Carolina's governor is ordering state workers to cheerfully answer phones with the phrase "It's a great day in South Carolina." Never mind the state's 11.1 percent jobless rate and the fact that one in five residents are on Medicaid.
Republican Nikki Haley issued the order at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, saying the phrase will put workers in a better mood and remind them that they work for the public. She also says the public will feel better, too.
Meanwhile:
Over at Andrew Breitbart's website, Big Hollywood, the natives were none too happy about a joke made during "Dancing with the Stars."
Ever since ABC’s Dancing with the Stars invited transgender rights advocate Chaz Bono to compete, the show has become a priority target in the right-wing’s culture war. Now hyper-sensitive to the show’s attack on right-wing "values," conservative sensationalist Andrew Breitbart’s site Big Hollywood is up in arms over another non-controversy. In a behind-the-scenes segment this week, contestant Carson Kressley gave a tour through the costume warehouse. Trying on former contestant Bristol Palin’s infamous gorilla mask, he quips, "Still smells like a Tea Party."
This joke was enough to send Breitbart’s blogger Warner Todd Huston into a bizarre rant about the show’s "left-wing attacks" on "over half the voters in America." To Huston, Kressley is insisting that all "Tea Party activists smell like gorillas." "Are we supposed to be laughing at that, now?" he asks, adding "So, what do Democrats smell like? Maybe Europeans? How about reds?" Wondering "how ABC will take attacking so much of its audience," he urges readers to contact the network about the joke.
Lighten up, Francis.
- Trix