A funny thing happened on the way to the State of the Union address—
President Obama stopped giving a fuck about what his Republican and/or mainstream media critics think, and started getting real.
With no more campaigns to run, Obama returned to his trash-talking, elbow-throwing, Beyoncé-loving roots—and in doing so, he defied the so-called "conventional wisdom."
We were told, again and again, that Republicans won a mandate in the midterms, and that Obama is a lame duck—maybe the lamest duck ever!
Or maybe not.
While the GOP has been stumbling toward 2016, alienating entire genders and voting blocs, Obama has been issuing executive orders and veto threats like they're going out of style—and his approval rating has been rising.
This isn't the way things were supposed to play out... but apparently Obama didn't get the message.
Morning lineup:
Meet The Press: White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough; Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R); Former NBA Player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar; Roundtable: Radio Host Hugh Hewitt, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D), Helene Cooper (New York Times) and Tom Brokaw (NBC News).
Face The Nation: White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough; Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Roundtable: Susan Page (USA Today), Dana Milbank (Washington Post), Michael Crowley (Politico), Jeffrey Goldberg (The Atlantic) and John Dickerson (CBS News).
This Week: White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R); Roundtable: Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile, Republican Strategist Sarah Taylor Fagen, Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard) and Cokie Roberts (ABC News).
Fox News Sunday: White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough; Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R); Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), Ron Fournier (National Journal), Sociopath Liz Cheney and Charles Lane (Washington Post).
State of the Union: White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough; Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA); Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R); Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL); Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ).
Evening lineup:
60 Minutes will feature: an interview with GOP leaders Rep. John Boehner and Sen. Mitch McConnell (preview); an interview with Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams (preview); and, a profile of Chinese tennis champion Li Na (preview).
On Comedy Central...
Jon Stewart critiqued the GOP responses to President Obama's State of the Union address. (01/21/15)
The Daily Show:
Monday: Secretary of Housing & Urban Development Julian Castro; Tuesday: Author Jill Leovy; Wednesday: Author Oscar Isaac; Thursday: Author Sarah Chayes.
And Larry Wilmore weighed in on the state of Obama. (01/21/15)
The Nightly Show:
Guests TBD.
On Fox News...
Elisabeth Hasselbeck agreed that President Obama's free community college plan is unfair to Steve Doocy.
Fox News host Steve Doocy complained on Wednesday that President Barack Obama's plan to make college tuition free for some students was not fair because he had just paid off his student loans "about two weeks ago." [...]
"Here's the thing that really bothers me about this," Doocy said. "I made my final two college tuition payments about two weeks ago."
"You're speaking from the heart of the dads and moms out there who are feeling the same way," co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck agreed.
At Steve King's "Freedom Summit"...
Quadrennial make-believe candidate Donald Trump claimed that he would've beaten President Obama, and criticized Mitt Romney for failing to do so.
"I was leading in every poll. ... I regret that I didn't stay in," Trump told the Register. "I would've won the race against (President Barack) Obama. He would've been easy. Hillary (Clinton) is tougher to beat than Obama, but Hillary is very beatable."
He in turn criticized Romney for not triumpihng over a vulnerable Obama.
"He failed. He choked. He's like a deal-maker that didn't close the deal. He shouldn't be running again. He had a great opportunity to win against a president that was absolutely lame, and he didn't do it," Trump said. "The 47 percent statement, which was a disaster, is not going away. Romneycare is not going away. All of his problems are not going away. He should get out and get out quickly."
And...
Sarah Palin, who is "seriously interested" in running for president, delivered a "bizarro" speech to the faithful.
Appearing at Iowa Congressman Steve King's Freedom Summit, star speaker Sarah Palin spoke from a binder of notes, delivering a string of one-liners designed to fire up conservatives while interspersing them with stock and sometimes garbled patriotic platitudes. [...]
One conservative columnist, Toby Harnden, called Palin's speech "bizarro."
Entering to the strains of Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off,' Palin pushed back against the litany of attacks against her recently; including allowing her son to use the Palin dog, Jill Hadassah, as a footstool and the more recent controversy over her holding up a sign reading "Fuc_ You Michael Moore," with gun sights drawn inside of the o's in Moore.
Along the way, Palin made references to President Obama eating dog as a child in Indonesia and accused the administration of not saving Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi.
Keep fucking that chicken.
- Trix