Afternoon Coffee at the Last Manatee

++ The abandoning of Rush by his sponsors led to a slightly awkward moment. The first hour of his show ended with dead air instead of a commercial break. Even the American Heart Society wanted to pull its free public service spot from the show.

++Obama's Super Pac are a bunch of weenies. They actually responded to the criticism of Bill Maher and said his past remarks had been vulgar and inappropriate."

++No one really knows whether Senator Levin advocated taking Rush off Armed Forces Network. It seemed yes, then maybe, well maybe not.

++President Obama outed in the Breibart video for hugging Derrick Bell was also photographed hugging a mother of two children and then later hugging two underage young women. Certainly this will bring his presidency down. It was the First Lady and then his two kids coming home from school.

++On this International Day of the Woman, we hail the GOP for introducing 1,100 anti-woman bills at both the state and federal level. A stunning number.

++Meanwhile President Obama has jumped to a 58-35 lead over Willard Romney in Maine. His margin now surpasses his victory in 2008.

++But he should worry--Donald Trump is now doing national robocalls for Romney. The tide will turn.

++The Senate rejected the GOP's plan to fast-track the Keystone XL pipeline. This is a subject worth writing an extensive post about. The more I study it, the more those who oppose it have a more solid case.

++Consumer confidence has hit a four-year high. First tim unemployed also went up. The job report is supposed to show private sector job gains again this month.

++Romney's super pac just made a $6 million ad buy for attacks ads against Rick Santorum for the upcoming primaries in Alabama, Mississippi and Kansas. Isn't that slightly odd that Romney actually has to campaign against Frothy Mix while claiming he is the most electable? Despite raising $11.5 million this past month, Romney only has $7.3 million left in his campaign account--this is not his SuperPac. So Romney will be dependent on his SuperPac from here on out.

++Newt says he will bow out if he loses Mississipi and Alabama. Right now he is in third place in Alabama, while Santorum is in the lead. Despite being an Opus Dei Catholic, Santorum has been losing the Catholic vote to Romney. In the South he is expected to do very well with the fundamentalists. Back to Newt, how will his lovely bride Callista feel? Maybe she will have her hair done again here in Alexandria at the Sugar House.

++The Bipartisan Center founded by Bob Dole and Tom Daschle released its comparisons of the voter turnout in past Republican primaries. This year it has been a 11.46% turnout of primary voters--about a 13% drop from last election.

++Ayatollah Khamenei praised President Obama's remarks criticizing the rush to war by Republicans and congressional people. Since this may be the first time--that I remember--an Ayatollah praising an American President, I am sure it will be another reason to attack the President.

++Over 50% of Israelis oppose their country attacking Iran. It has been suggested that the Obama Administration promised Israel more weaponry, the sophisticated bunker buster bombs, if they would postpone their attack.

++One of the strangest things I have heard is Senator Mitch McConnell wanting to pass a Senate Resolution pre-authorizing President Obama to bomb Iran. It seems constitutionally odd, giving up the Senate's "deliberative function"--cough.

++Sarah Palin has a trailer of her own out with her view about Game-Changer,which shows how great she is. Sister Palin did say she would be available in a brokered convention. Karl Rover sneered at the Palins' endorsement of Newt Gingrich saying that it didn't "mean snot" after Romney won Alaska.

++John McCain is grumpy--what else is new--about Game-Changer. He doesn't like how he was portrayed as a grumpy man out of touch with reality. "Hey, get off my lawn."

++I just wonder if Willard Romney can manage the economy so well, how come he can't manage the finances of his campaign well? The New York Times quotes his campaign aides about how Willard doesn't have a vision and micro-manages every aspect of the campaign, even the op-eds. They even called Romney "weird", which David Axelrod at Obama's campaign said was a fireable offense. Remember the Times piece is not sourced by critics but Romney's own team. So as Romney runs out of money, why does anyone believe he would do a better job than President Obama on the economy?