Sunday punditry.
Dan Balz:
Republicans' confusion about their presidential nomination contest runs deep: They are confused about who may actually run and about who might be their strongest candidate against an incumbent president who looks more formidable today than he did just three months ago.
And they still don't know what to do with the tea party. They know they can't win without them but fear they can't win with them.
Dana Milbank:
I'm declaring February a Palin-free month. Join me!...
I found some hope in last Sunday's New York Times, where columnist Ross Douthat said it is time for the media and Palin to "go their separate ways" and for the press to "stop acting as if she's the most important conservative politician in America."
Whether or not she's the most important conservative politician in America, she's one of the most entertaining and enlightening. If you all think she puts conservatism in a harsh light, well, guess what? She does, every time she opens her mouth. And with the continued takeover of the GOP by the tea party, it's more important than ever that people see what her devoted followers are actually devoted to.
NY Times:
In his speeches, policy choices and personnel appointments, Mr. Obama has signaled that after two years in which his response to the economic crisis and his push for passage of the health care bill defined him to many voters as a big-government liberal, he is seeking to recast himself as a more business-friendly, pragmatic progressive.
That means emphasizing job creation, deficit reduction and a willingness to compromise in a new period of divided government. But it also means a willingness to make the case for spending — or investment, as many in his party would prefer to call it — in areas like education, transportation and technological innovation when it can be justified as essential to the nation’s long-term prosperity.
In that sense, his political rebranding is timed to take advantage of signs that the economy is beginning to pick up steam, allowing Mr. Obama to use his State of the Union address as a pivot point not only for himself but also for the nation, especially in the wake of the Tucson shootings earlier this month.
Linda Greenhouse:
I fell in love with Janet Napolitano before I ever met her, back in 2005, when she was governor of Arizona and had this to say about the proposal in Washington to build a fence along the Mexican border:
"You show me a 50-foot wall and I’ll show you a 51-foot ladder."
You don’t hear that kind of blunt-spoken common sense from public officials very often, and we didn’t hear much more of it from Janet Napolitano once she became President Obama’s secretary of homeland security, in charge of the very same fence.
Keith Olbermann quotes via WaPo:
Those fighting health-care reform, not those debating its shape nor its nuance, people who demand the status quo, they are killing 45,000 Americans a year.
-- Olbermann criticizing opponents of health-care reform. Jan. 5, 2010
The complexity [of evolution] is why fake authors with fake ideas can still peddle their crap.
-- Olbermann responding to commentator Ann Coulter's criticism of evolutionists in her book "Godless: The Church of Liberalism." Aug. 9, 2006
I guess the painkillers wipe out your memory along with your ethics.
-- Olbermann criticizing commentator Rush Limbaugh for questioning the credibility of war protester Cindy Sheehan. Aug. 17, 2005
Politico:
"I think that television stations that do what MSNBC, CNN and Fox do have an implicit obligation to their viewers to not just fire people on a moment’s notice, or let them leave without some kind of explanation," said Paul Levinson, a professor of communications and media studies at Fordham University. "Because what they depend on is a relationship between these on-air personalities and the people who watch them."
Olbermann’s clashes with his bosses were legendary, and he had threatened to leave several times before.
The fighting spilled into media reports most glaringly in November, after Olbermann was suspended for making political donations in violation of NBC policy. Olbermann responded defiantly on air, apologizing to his viewers but not MSNBC. During his suspension, he threatened to take his story to "Good Morning America," and MSNBC President Phil Griffin threatened that he would fire him if he did.