We saw last year that if Social Security is the third rail of American politics, Rush Limbaugh is the third rail of Republican politics. Take a swipe at Rush and ritual apology and self-abnegation is sure to follow. We even repurposed the phrase ‘hang time‘ to measure the time between the first criticism of Rush and eventual, inevitable abject apology. But it seems Rush’s defense of Joe Barton’s apology to BP and his “shakedown” rhetoric is too much for several top Republicans. See which ones are cutting Rush loose over his BP/Barton comments.
Joe Barton will keep his post as senior Republican on the Energy committee.
Gen. McChrystal this morning denied to an NBC reporter that he’d already offered to resign. “Come on, you know better than that. No!” he said when asked about the report in Time. Whether he has or hasn’t offered his resignation yet, McChrystal really doesn’t seem to get that he should really just stop talking to the press at this point and reserve his words for the President and Secretary of Defense. Anything he says is liable to be misconstrued, as that statement certainly is, and just tends to show more that he doesn’t get what’s going on.
I’m getting the sense that Sen. David Vitter, despite skating on being a habitual user of prostitutes, may be in for a rougher reelection ride than we’d expected. ABC is out this morning with what looks to be the first installment of an investigative series. This one reports that Vitter’s most trusted aide, the apparently aptly named Brent Furer, has a history of run-ins with the law, the most striking of which included a knife-wielding attack on his then-girlfriend in 2008. Read More
Earlier this month, North Carolina Tea Party Republican candidate Bill Randall suggested that the Gulf Oil leak might have been an inside job between the US government and BP, conspiring for some reason to fill the Gulf with oil. (After all, it’s turned out so well for both parties. Why not?)
Tonight he won his primary in North Carolina’s 13th District.
TPM Reader LA gives us more details on that suit against WWE and senate candidate Linda McMahon brought by the widow of Owen Hart, the wrestler killed in the WWE accident in 1999 …
The complaint is up and posted here. It appears actually to be much worse than your blurb of it. Not only are they using him without her permission (and rights apparently reverted, under his contract, at the time of his death, to his estate), but *they haven’t paid the estate for the stuff they haven’t gotten permission for*– meaning that they’re in breach of even their interpretation of the contract.
8:27 PM: And there you have it. The AP calls it for Nikki Haley.
8:23 PM: One of the most interesting patterns in the SC-GOV Republican primary has been the fact that national Republicans — especially the would-be presidential contenders — have almost all lined up behind Nikki Haley. Even Gov. Pawlenty rather feebly got behind her just this afternoon. But in state, it’s really true that the great bulk of the Republican establishment has been against her. Not just supporting someone else, but seemingly against her.
8:16 PM: Only 26% of voters reporting. But I think Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) is probably going to have find a new line of work. Even with a quarter of the vote in, a 72% – 28% is a steep climb.
8:04 PM: Getting our first results in from South Carolina. Nikki Haley way out in front so far, but only just over 10% in.
Widow of late wrestler Owen Hart sues WWE, now-senate candidate Linda McMahon and her husband Vince. The claim is that the WWE used images of Hart in videos and promotions without his wife’s approval.
But the underlying story is going to be what gets attention. Hart was killed in 1999 during a introduction stunt in which he was supposed to be lowered into the ring suspended on cables. Something malfunctioned and he fell 78 feet to his death.