The pre-packaged Hallmark moment that Congress has planned for tomorrow night’s State of the Union address — Republicans and Democrats sitting together rather than on opposite sides of the aisle — may not convince Americans of their bipartisanship as much as reinforce the impression that Capitol Hill is one big high school.
I saw the news on Friday that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will base his presidential campaign in Georgia. Isn’t this like my telling you that my imaginary friend is quitting the venture capital business and becoming a folk singer? Interesting news but somehow the premise is more telling than the news itself.
This is the chart of President Obama’s approval ratings over the last twelve months. For those scoring at home, the cross over dates are May 19th (when he went into negative territory) and December 31st, when he crossed back into positive territory. The current TPM Poll Average has his approval at 49.1% approve, 45.9% disapprove, a +3.2% spread.
Full size interactive graph after the jump. Read More
I was just on in the opening segment of Olbermann tonight. And I get home and get this press release from NBC saying this was the last episode of Countdown. At first I figured it had to be a spoof email because, jeez, I was on and I didn’t have any sense that any other than a regular Friday evening show was on. But sure enough I pulled up the recording and now I’m watching his final sign off.
I doubt I would have had any heads up or known anything was happening if Olbermann was going to go off the air. But I was a bit more stunned than I might otherwise have been because I was just over there. And I did not have any sense that there was anything any different than normal going on. Everything seemed calm and pretty sedate. I didn’t sense anything different in Keith’s manner or affect (though it’s not like we’re tight and I would have been the person to notice.) There were a few more people than I’m used to seeing in the studio — maybe two or three, seated, who seemed to be there to watch. (Something I don’t remember seeing before.) But nothing that made me think twice that anything odd was going on.
I’m sure we’ll be hearing soon enough what on earth happened here. But color me stunned. And really disappointed.
(The text of the quite terse press release reads: “MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”)
Check out our map of the world of organized crime as alleged by the feds in the big Mafia case that became public just yesterday.
We’ve been reporting of late that a number of major cities across the country are considering running aerial drones as part of their law enforcement strategies. But the Mayor of Ogden, Utah has another idea: he wants the city to buy a special new surveillance blimp.
Romney setting himself up as the Republican presidential candidate for Republicans who don’t like the Tea Party?
Verizon claims that the FCC’s new net neutrality regulations violates their constitutional rights.
