Jenny Sanford filing for divorce.
Statement after the jump … Read More
As I’ve mentioned a few times, the mood for fiscal retrenchment isn’t just emanating from Capitol Hill. It’s the aim of the White House too. Once the health care bill gets signed, expect the White House to make a big pivot in the fiscal discipline direction, even picking fights with Hill progressives to do it.
Jon Stewart explores the Glenn Beck show’s fascination with gold even as Glenn Beck is a paid spokesperson for … a gold dealer. Watch.
TPM Reader BT checks in …
As a molecular biologist and loyal TPM reader, I want to acknowledge and thank you for your piece “Junk Science.” I think you hit the nail on the head with regards to the logical fallacy that believes in scientists when it is convenient or has some associated health benefit, but not when it goes against your political beliefs.
I can’t say I particularly care how many women Tiger Woods sleeps with, though it seems pretty clear Woods practices what you might term clandestine polyamory. But shouldn’t we be considering the possibility that some of these women aren’t telling the truth about their affairs with Tiger? Yesterday, I was reading (yes, I confess) one of the British tabs and they had a big print number to call if you or someone you know had slept with Tiger.
Who would have thought back in 2007 that the Golden Duke Awards would become such an institution? But there you go! Today we’re announcing the 3rd Annual Golden Duke Awards. For those of you new to the Golden Dukes, the Dukes honor 
excellence in public corruption, betrayals of the public trust and generally shameless behavior. (See last year’s winners here.) Get your nominations in now — here are the details…
Today we’re announcing the categories in which we’ll award prizes.
They are …
Meritorious Achievement in The Crazy.
Best Public Policy-based Fib.
Outstanding Achievement in Corruption-based Chutzpah
Best Scandal — Sex and Generalized Carnality
Best Scandal — Local Venue
Best Scandal — General Interest
The deadline for nominations is December 18th. And we’ll be handing out exciting prizes both for the winners and also to the readers whose nominations we choose as finalists. Read More
We expect this sort of stuff in areas of the former Soviet Union or perhaps Central Asia. But this is getting really crazy. As we’ve noted in some recent reporting, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona has been on quite a tear recently, getting prosecutions brought against various political enemies. Not all are prosecutions — others are just cases of using police and investigative power to harass political opponents. And now Arpaio has taken things to a whole new level by bringing a prosecution against a judge who didn’t decide the way he wanted in some of those other abusive cases. It’s an amazing story — check it out.
When a politician’s ex-wife starts talking to the press, that’s not the other shoe dropping, it’s the other anvil.
I can’t say I’d want him running my political party. But I get the sense he’s probably a pretty fun boss to work for. Or at least he likes people to think he’s cool.
Some of the highlights from Chairman Steele’s recent photo shoot with the RNC interns …
The seniors group announces its opposition to the proposed debt reduction commission because it “could jeopardize Medicare and Social Security benefits.”