From TPM Reader JC …
Usually just ignorant and stupid but i think Drudge is pushing the envelope today with today’s (inflammatory and misleading) headline.
Feds Hunt for Guns, One House at a Time.
It is a pretty low bar, admittedly. But it’s of a piece with the right’s flirtation with gun paranoia and paramilitary violence in the ramp up against Obama.
Mark Sanford: “I will be able to die knowing that I had met my soul mate.”
In part two of his leave-no-rock-unturned interview with the Associated Press, Mark Sanford says that at least he will “be able to die knowing I had met my soul mate,” as David noted below. And if that’s not enough, he says that for all the grief his affair has caused, that if the affair means he can never run for president (think the ship’s sort of sailed on that one), that it will have been worth it.
I know there are a lot of people who are genuinely questioning Sanford’s sanity at this point — when you put together the furtive trips and the endless new revelations. But am I the only one who thinks that he appears to be deeply in love with this woman and should just go be with her? Read More
Who says no second acts in politics? Norm Coleman is serious about running for governor of Minnesota next year. That and the day’s other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.
We’re just digging into this story the Politico broke this morning about the Post offering lobbyists access for cash payments. But I’d say the Post has a real problem on its hands.
Here’s the lede …
For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post has offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to “those powerful few”: Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and — at first — even the paper’s own reporters and editors.
The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he felt it was a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff.”
And Dave Weigel has an email Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli just sent out to the editorial staff saying reporters now will not participate.
It’s worth noting the obvious competitive backstory behind the story. Politico is lead on the editorial side by a team of ex-Posties and it has targeted a big part of the paper’s business. But facts are facts. And Politico seems to have gotten some that the Post really needs to explain.
We were discussing in the office yesterday who should play Mark Sanford in the movie. Kevin Costner? Mark Harmon? But that was before we saw Andy Cobb play the role. He’s a dead ringer for Sanford.
The buzz this morning is that former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN) may now be mulling a run for governor in his home state of
Minnesota.
But does he really want to go there? Think about it. Coleman has put together quite a record over the last decade. He’s now been beaten by an ex-professional wrestler (Jesse Ventura in 1998 for governor) and an ex-professional comedian (Al Franken in 2008 for senate).
Can Coleman’s dignity really withstand another run? Who would another Norm candidacy pull out of the woodwork to keep the record going by beating him this time?
An ex-porn star? Ex-juggler? Someone help me here. How much worse could it get?