With just a couple of days to go before Iowa voters head to the caucuses, Mitt Romney appears to be on the verge of becoming a man.
Bar Mitzvah preparations are already well underway, including selection of the person who will lift him on a chair during the hora.
While this might seem a bit cocky, Romney has every reason to be confident at this point in time—following the collapse of support for Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump, Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, all that's left to drop is his balls.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA); Chuck Todd (NBC News); Chair of the Republican Party of Iowa Matt Strawn; Roundtable: Kathie Obradovich (Des Moines Register), GOP Strategist Mike Murphy, David Brooks (New York Times), Mark Halperin (TIME) and Andrea Mitchell (NBC News).
Face the Nation: Sen. Rand Paul (R-TN); Former Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO); Former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-OK); Roundtable: Mike Allen (Politico); John Dickerson (CBS News); Norah O'Donnell (CBS News); David Yepsen (Paul Simon Public Policy Institute).
This Week: Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX); Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN); Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R); Jonathan Karl (ABC News); O. Kay Henderson (Radio Iowa); Roundtable: Matthew Dowd (ABC News), Neera Tanden (Center for American Progress), Byron York (Washington Examiner) and Craig Robinson (The Iowa Republican).
Fox News Sunday: Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX); Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R); Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN); Roundtable: Bret Baier (Fox News), Jennifer Jacobs (Des Moines Register), Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) and Jeff Zeleny (New York Times).
State of the Union: Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX); Rep. Steve King (R-IA); Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R); Dan Balz (Washington Post); Neil King (Wall Street Journal); Reliable Sources: Michael Shear (New York Times); Nia-Malika Henderson (Washington Post); A.B. Stoddard (The Hill); Debra Saunders (San Francisco Chronicle); John Aravosis (AmericaBlog); Rachel Streitfeld (CNN); Sarah Boxer (CBS News).
The Chris Matthews Show: Major Garrett (National Journal); Kelly O'Donnell (NBC News); David Ignatius (Washington Post); Gloria Borger (CNN).
Fareed Zakaria GPS: Anne-Marie Slaughter (Princeton University); Ian Bremmer (Eurasia Group); Daniel Franklin (Economist's "World in 2012" Edition); Harvard Theoretical Physicist Lisa Randall; Economist Daniel Kahneman.
Up with Chris Hayes: Dave Weigel (Slate); Others TBD.
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: an interview with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor preview); an interview with Sam Eshaghoff, who took the SAT and ACT college admissions exams for others who paid him up to $2,500 per test (preview); and, video of Alex Honnold scaling a 1,600-foot rock wall using nothing more than his hands and feet (preview).
On Comedy Central:
The Daily Show and The Colbert Report were in reruns this week, so there are no new videos to share.
Instead, here's Jon Stewart's epic farewell to Glenn Beck.
The Daily Show
Monday: Pre-empted
Tuesday: TBA
Wednesday: TBA
Thursday: TBA
And Stephen Colbert's look back at the last month of 2011.
The Colbert Report
Monday: Pre-empted
Tuesday: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Wednesday: John Heilemann (New York Magazine)
Thursday: AOL Co-Founder Steve Case
Elsewhere...
Shortly after the revelation that he dumped his first (cancer-stricken) wife because she wasn't "young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of a president," Newt Gingrich put Sarah Palin on his short list for VP.
"She is certainly one of the people you would look at," Gingrich said Wednesday, according to Right Wing Watch, when asked if he would consider tapping the 2008 vice presidential nominee for a second try.
"I am a great admirer of hers and she was a remarkable reform governor of Alaska, she's somebody who I think brings a great deal to the possibility of helping in government and that would be one of the possibilities," Gingrich said at Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition.
And if he did not pick her for his running mate and he defeated President Obama in the November general election, he would consider putting her in the Cabinet, the site reports.
Not that it really matters.
Meanwhile...
Palin offered a helping hand to the Republican field.
Said Palin: "Given the concerns I have for some of the Republican field's focus thus far, I must implore the candidates to do something that sounds self-promoting, but whatever. Candidates, please turn to Chapter Three of Going Rogue and read what it takes for our country to step toward energy independence. Note the lesson I share in the same chapter about taking on the "elite," the crony capitalists and the permanent political establishment to get a job done. Do you really realize what is at stake? What is at stake is our republic."
And, finally...
Newly minted independent Donald Trump ended 2011 the same way he began it—by peddling racist conspiracy theories about President Obama.
On Wednesday, Trump tweeted his endorsement of the latest bit of holiday cheer from the extremist ant-Obama right. As the story goes on more than one conservative blog this week, Obama declined to offer an official statement marking Christmas, but made sure to get one out celebrating Kwanzaa.
This tale is as blatantly racial as it is demonstrably false, and it comes in the grand tradition of accusing Obama of supporting Ramadan over Easter and the old Trump favorite that Obama got into the Ivy League because he’s not white, not because he’s smart.
The trouble with the story about Christmas and Kwanzaa is that it’s 100% untrue.
Christ, what an asshole!
On behalf of the staff of Daily Kos,* I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year!
- Trix
*I am not actually a member of the Daily Kos staff, and I do not speak on their behalf.