The Week In Review.

++Be Aware--there really is a Republican debate this coming week.

++Joe Biden says Cruz' success should encouraged all kids that are hated in school. He said President Obama should nominate him to the court so he can have even more vacancies to fill.

++The New York Times has a long piece to day on the huge Bob Dylan archives which will be housed in Tulsa ,Oklahoma near Woody Guthrie's archives. Good read.

++The Sunday Review section is rich in Donald Trump.Maureen Dowd in "Chickens,Home To Roost, has fun watching the Donald,her friend, campaign and the reactions by the Mitt and those who got us into Iraq. A whole page contains reader's reaction to David Brooks reflections on the Donald. Nicholas Kristof writes about "Donald The Dangerous" and Ross Douthat on "The Elements of Trumpism". 

++The New York Times new section has an article on Donald contemplating a run for the state house in New York as a prelude to his run for the presidency.

++The Dailykos has a piece on Trump and the KKK. I would like to remind readers that the KKK was and is not solely a southern phenomenon as we saw this past week with the rally in Anaheim , California that ended in three deaths. 

++Larry Sabato wrote in his Crystal Ball that Donald has won all over the place. He mentioned Alabama and Massachusetts as if that showed a different appeal. But both states are steeped in racism. That's why I think Trump, not Kasich will win Michigan. I remember when people were shocked when George Wallace did so well there. Richard Nixon was petrified of Wallace because the GOP could dog whistle and control racism but people really knew the real deal. The same with Trump.

++Medgar Edgars' brother endorsed Donald Trump this week.

++We have a new strand of conservatism. Caitlyn Jenner endorsed Ted Cruz and wants to be an ambassador for Trans. Now we have Caitlyn Conservatives. Jenner has always been a conservative Republican before becoming a woman.

++The "Future of the Republican Party is supposed to win the Puerto Rican primary today. But the story there is that thousands of former prisoners will be voting in the Republican primary.

++It's Spring training. So that means I can be driven crazy by the Washington Post baseball writers. They got off to a good start by arguing the Nationals should rebuild--and I thought they were trying for a World Series.

++Der Spiegel calls Donald Trump "the most dangerous person in the world" and they should know. The overseas views of the Donald are equally disturbed. The far right party in Sweden even denounced the Donald.

++Anne Applebaum in the Washington Post writes that the rise of Le Pen in France and Trump here in the United States threatens to end NATO and the European Union. Cameron in the UK will hold a referendum on the UK leaving the European Union.

++Is the Republican Party really in crisis as papers have told us. I talked to Republicans I know this past week. I was curious about the lonely Kasich posters near my voting place. One woman I have worked with in the past and now works on the Hill said she was horrified about Donald and said that all her New York relatives,also Republicans,were voting for him. She dismissed Marco as "too wet behind the ears", running too early. She voted for Kasich because of his manner. She also said she was sick and tired of hearing the House members argue ideology and refer to Ronald Reagan. "I worked in Reagan's administration. They don't know Reagan. " 

++I made a joke to someone about a person who had worked in the W administration and that he would be Trump's Mideast envoy, his friend was horrified by the thought.

++But there was blowback from the rightwing security types who claim the Donald is winning because the Republicans didn't do anything against President Obama and what do they expect. These people actually think our military is weakened and that the recovery is fake and the unemployment numbers are cooked up. They resent the hell out of Mitt Romney criticizing Trump when he was supposed to win. It still is holy writ that Mitt Romney beat Barack Obama and that Benghazi should have convinced the American people Obama was a fraud. These people really would prefer Cruz but the Donald will do.

++But the atmosphere is very touchy around here with Republicans grimacing at the Donald's antics. When I suggest Romney might get in the race--""What a two time loser?"

++The splintering of the party is something we should watch. That doesn't mean they can't win.

The "Boy In The Bubble"

++That's Chris Christie's tag for Marco Rubio and Josh Marshall thinks it will stick. Rubio got blasted today when people noticed his speech last night was a Rip-off of President Obama's speech in Iowa when he actually won in 2008. Even the Donald got around to trashing Marco for coming in third when all the polls for months said he would come in third. The Donald also said that Ted Cruz' religious victory speech would be his Howard Dean Scream moment. 

++Back to Senator Short Pants. Jason Linkins back at his election post at Huffington Post asks "Now which primary is Marco suppose to win?" Marco's strategy is 3-2-1, meaning second in New Hampshire and winning South Carolina. But New Hampshire is the big stumbling block. He's not even near second and we have a week to go. Chris Christie is staking that territory, John Kasich is giving its his last hurrah and Jeb !--well I don't know what he is doing. The theory is that the "establishment" whomever they are will back Rubio as a potential nominee. But that won't happen until after New Hampshire where all the other also-rans have millions left in the bank.

++Could we give it up for Hillary! She is the first woman in American history to win the Iowa Caucus. She takes a licking but keeps on ticking. 

++Iowa may be folkloric with coin grosses settling delegates and people gathering around behind the candidates' name. But it also looks like African political party conventions from years ago. Athenian democracy it is not. Iowa just doesn't carry the narrative anymore. And Polk County can you finally get it right? It's only counting for chrissakes.

++Jason Linkins reminds us that the democrats pretty much ran the same percentages across the state. Hillary preserved the Obama coalition, although a bout tattered and Sanders won the white working class and the young. Iowa and New Hampshire are the two almost all white states . It's like the primary calendar is front-loaded for Sanders.

++In looking at political movements, twitter didn't help the Donald who lacked a GOTV operation. That may come back to bite him. At the same time, the Bernie enthusiasm and social media presence only got him a tie. There is something to established structures that seem to defy the internet. But Bernie did raise $3 million on the internet for his performance.

++Ben Carson complained about the Cruz' campaign's dirty tactics for tweeting that he had left the state and was rolling up his campaign. I know it comes from Carson but Cruz' tactics should be looked upon as the primaries head down the pike. He just aired an ad in South Carolina about cuts to their military bases that he blames on Obama but he was instrumental in getting passed and was an advocate of the base closures. 

++Something to remember. Senator John F. Kennedy was 1960, Senator Barack Obama was 2008.  Those are the only two Senators in post-WWII history that made the White House. Don't get too excited about Marco Rubio.

++Marco wants to go after Trump in New Hampshire with personal  stuff. I'm sure JEB! would oblige filling in the details for the Donald. Donors are trying to press JEB! not to attack Marco because his now the establishment wunderkind. But it's now personal and Jeb actually thinks he can make a comeback--really?

++The Beltway punditry are playing "Who's next to leave?" Santorum,Gillmore and Fiorina. But Christie,Kasich,Bush are gunning to place in New Hampshire and have enough cash left for then. Ben will go --maybe in a way we will not notice.

++Hillary has a problem with her donors. Almost half have tapped out at their maximum. Rumors have her pulling resources out of New Hampshire and putting them in South Carolina and Nevada.

++Her ad with Eric Holder in South Carolina is very effective and should sheer up her African-American vote.  In Iowa,where there is a minuscule African-American community, she won 57% over Sanders.

++The Young Turks are the newest stars of election commentary. They said that Martin O'Malley has to endorse sooner rather than later if he is to have any impact on the race.

++Bernie Sanders will agree to the Thursday debate if Hillary agrees to more. It would be the first Mano y Mano debate of this cycle.

Nate Silver At FiveThirtyEight Thinks Marco Rubio Won The Debate But Not by Much

++Nate Silver recaped the debate and the grades given out by his team and also Mark Halerin, who have everyone Bs or B- s. Silver noted the most Google Searches were on Ben Carson and he thinks this may become a major indicator of who won the debate. Nate also commented that it is possible that debates really don't count. I would answer that what you heard was a fairly solid line of talking points that will be used by the eventual nominee.

++Ring of Fire radio noted that Marco Rubio sounded like he had rehearsed all his lines and when he slipped he just repeated the previous word. Farron opined that in any debate with the Democratic nominee Rubio can't go off script or he gets killed.

++On Amy Goodman's show on DemocracyNow!, she talked with Anna Barach, an Cuban-American author, who pointed out that Rubio and Cruz both have problems if asked about The Cuban Restoration Act or The Wet Landing Act, which allows Cubans coming from Cuba automatic entrance to Cuba. This is in effect an amnesty that has been supported for decades by their party. If they didn't exist,neither candidates would have been citizens. 

++Nate Silver says that we all overestimate John Kasich since he has been courting the center-left press. He says that Kasich's combativeness has lost him favorability votes in New Hampshire and that his campaign looks like Jon Huntsman in the last election cycle. 

++Nate agrees with everyone that Jeb did himself no favor last night, He is too rusty a politician.

++On Democracy Now Jamall Smith talked about Ben Carson and how he really is an accomplished person that has been admired in the black community until he started running for President. He says that the GOP has to find their next Willie Horton but can only do so once it is clear Carson can't win the nomination. 

++He went onto say that Carson was a wonky kid and has to fabricate his violent tendencies because that is expected of him in Republican circles.

++Smith also said that by indulging the GOP in this fantasy of a black man gone straight will wreck Carson's reach into the black community.

Did You Notice?

++With the Donald on SNL tonight,It has been the Donald and Ben Carson eating up the airwaves. JEB will Fix It was a bust and John Kasich got bogged down with Steven Colbert on the issue of marijuana. Carly Fiorina got chewed up on The View. 

++Chris Christie said that the only reasons Republicans lose is because of unions. 

++The flap created by Poppy Bush over George W and his advisers ate the Jeb campaign to the degree conservatives just shrug and want to avoid it. 

++The establishment figure is now Marco Rubio, whose rampant credit card charges have been rationalized by Politico. 

++ I think Ben Carson's nuttiness has now gone mainstream but I don't think his fibs about his biography hurt. His supporters expect that redemption stories ghouls be outlandish. By portraying himself as a young thug and saying he saved white students during riots after Martin Luther King was assassinated is music to his supporters' ears. 

++His weirder beliefs which are  an outgrowth of him being Seventh Day Adventist should hurt him. 

++But we enter the holiday season with the Donald still champion. Strange thought.

++I got an email from a conservative today complaining about that "community organizer" who wasn't the "superior character" like Mitt Romney. His email went on about the terrific GOP field and felt that the leftist media made them a "Clown Car". Here a neurosurgeon,a Latino football player,another who went to Ivy League Schools. The emails I got are from people my age and it is clear they have no clue about the changing nature of our society. Sort of Pathetic.

While Everyone Debates President Obama's Place In History--A Voice Emerges

++Marco Rubio says, "President Obama has no class."

Early Morning Takes

++Brainwrap, our ACA guy, is a web designer and did an analysis of Hillary for America last night and compared it to Republicans coming. He is for the Logo and the emphasis on moving forward. He just has some complaints about the drop downs. He thinks the optics are good.

++Logos seem to fascinate people. Ted Cruz' tried to imitate Obama's but looks like a burning American flag. Brainwrap wonders if Hillary's arrow will be left in the Arabic or Hebrew versions. 

++Speaking of Brainwrap aka Charles Gaba, the Gallup Well Being poll finds that for the first time 9 out of 10 Americans have health insurance. Obamacare has exceeded expectations.So keep your fingers crossed.

++Bill Kristol said that since Hillary is running,Dick Cheney should run for President. Hilarious guy.

++John Podesta said that climate change will be in the forefront of Hillary's campaign. 

++Jennifer Rubin didn't disappoint . She said the announcement was slick but lacked substance. This is the new GOP talking point. That Hillary's campaign lacks substance.

++How many campaign announcements have you ever seen with two couples--one gay and one lesbian?

++Josh Marshall at Talking Points wants the badass Hillary not the soccer mom. Josh is unabashedly for Hillary, being an old Clinton supporter or not so old.

++Mitt Romney complains that Hillary is a product of Washington. Another meme you'll see.

++Conservatives are circulating the SNL spoof of her announcement with "So true" as the comment.

++Does anyone really believe that Hillary is not an advocate for woman's rights? Rand Paul tried to imply this yesterday but I don't know anyone my age who would believe that. I first thought of her China Summit on the subject.

++Paul Krugman writes today about how everyone will psychoanalyze the candidates. What does Hillary think about Obama,etc.,etc. But he points out that the parties now have positions set in cement and represent two diametrically opposed visions of America.

++4 Supreme Court judges will be over the age of 78 during the next President's term. Think about it.

++So Hillary gets off to an understated start and we know she is for fighting climate change,same sex marriage and LGBT rights, and a more populist economic agenda. As President Obama said, "Proceed, Governor."

++The GOP in their Get Hillary campaign are trying to raise questions about whether she is trustworthy. So you have e-mailgate and Benghazi as evidence. Paul Begala thinks as the campaign develops no one will remember what these were about.

++But are you Ready for Rubio? It's hard to believe that he was supposed to save the GOP from their demographic nightmare. 

++In my mind, Rubio rules himself out when he backed away from his rule in the Senate Immigration role. He wasn't facing an election and if he had the courage of his convictions, he would have stuck with it and been seen as somewhat principled. 

++It didn't help either with his response to President Obama's state of the union speech where he kept trying to reach for the bottle of water,an image that brought laughter at his expense.

++Marco Rubio actually has his own Florida problems but he won't be around long enough for anyone to cover them.

++It seemed that President Obama threw him into the dustbin of history with the meeting with Castro. The Cuban community is divided by age on the issue of the normalization of relations. Rubio choose the older generation.

New York Times Catches It

++Yesterday ended with a barrage of attacks on President Obama--for--well--bring President. 

++Marco Rubio said the Iran deal has to be a Senate Treaty, which went against President Obama's assertion that the Senate has some but not alot of input into the agreement.

++John Kerry was on the Sunday talk shows to push back against John McCain who sides with the Ayatollah Khomeini on the interpretation of the Iran deal. Kerry said that ,of all people, the Russian government released a statement that said what Kerry has been saying is the correct interpretation of the Iran deal.

++Kerry pushed back against the attacks on Secretary of State Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State. He pointed out that she had to spend the first period of her time repairing alliances that W had shredded.

++But the New York Times caught the strange attacks on President Obama as "the rage of the Republican establishment toward him is growing, angrier and more destructive." 

++The Times reviewed the long litany of complaints and charges against President Obama and its racist undertone. 

++The Times said the "most outrageous example of an attack on the president's legitimacy" was Tehran Tom's letter to the leadership of Iran. They likened this to if Democratic Senators had written to Mikhail Gorbachev saying the President Reagan did not have the authority to negotiate a nuclear arms deal at the Reykjavik summit.

++The Times noted Arizona is back at it trying to pass laws that prohibit any enforcement of an executive order by the President. 

++The Times notes that the Republicans did not object to George W. Bush issuing executive orders to authorize torture and tapping the phones of American citizens.

++The Times also points to Mitch McConnell urging foreign governments to ignore any measures by President Obama on climate change.

++"If this insurrection is driven by something other than a blend of ideological extremism and personal animosity,it is not clear what that might be. But iy is ugly,it deepens mistrust of government and it harms the office of the president, not just Mr. Obama."

++Amen.

++Stephen Kinzer wrote yesterday a column for the Boston Globe that said all those threats everyone are talking about,they are not real. The United States faces less threats today than any other superpower in history.

Mark Kirk Gets The Hitler Prize

++Mark Kirk tweeted that Neville Chamberlain got a better deal from Hitler.

++Mark Halperin actually tweeted positive things twice. The Last was that" we got a better deal than I thought."

++Marco Rubio said the details look shaky.

++John Boehner said that the House had to vote on the agreement before the sanctions are lifted. Note: he couldn't comment on it.

++I expect full throttle backlash by the evening.

++Do you ever get the impression that America now suffers from anhedonia--the inability to feel joy.

++Obama's remarks were carried live on Iranian State Television. 

++The Iranian Man in the Street was joyous at the news.

++It was a nice touch that it occurred the last day of Nowruz and on Passover and with Good Friday tomorrow so the GOP is out of town.

Alan Gross Backs President Obama's Plan

++Alan Gross gave a lengthy statement to the press and complimented President Obama and all the various people involved in his release. He spent his time thanking the Jewish community who had been active on his behalf. Looking better than he had for months he did complain he needed new teeth. 

++Perhaps most of all he gave a full-throated endorsement of President Obama's opening to Cuba.

++Incredibly the move toward full diplomatic relationships remained secret for 18 months. In this day and age,not having a leak is remarkable. 

++This is what watching a good politician is like. No one expected this in Washington until this morning and the President pulled it off flawlessly. 

++Church bells rang in Havana and President Obama's speech was heard by crowds dimming Raul Castro's own simultaneous address. Incredibly a phone conversation between the two leaders was the first direct conversation between an American leader and a Cuban leader since 1961.

++Latin America was ecstatic. For years the Latin American governments have seen our policies as antiquated and counter-productive.

++Marco Rubio may be committed to unravelling the agreement, but even in Florida, his position is only favored by Cubans over the age of 70. The dramatic contrast between the older generation and the younger Cubanos is staggering. The poll numbers are exactly reversed. Among Americans at large,the poll numbers favor Obama's position but will be ignored in the new Congress. John Boehner said that President made too many superfluous concessions.

++This is one of the moments one voted for President Obama. One had hoped he could have escaped the machinations of the Deep State in other arenas. 

A Clarification

++Ed Kilgore at Washington Monthly reminds us that the embargo against Cuba was codified by the Helms-Burton Act of 1999 and so Congress has to raised key portions of the embargo and approve casual tourism to Havana.

++Marco Rubio called President Obama the "worst negotiator since Jimmy Carter or maybe the worst in history." Senators Menendez and Cruz went thermonuclear. 

++We all await the response from Ted Cruz' father, who sought alongside Castro in the Revolution and has liken Obama to Fidel. It was only after his third return to the island that he left permanently. 

++At least Marco Rubio is more honest. He admits his family left as economic refugees and observers note his family were Batistianos.

++President Obama will allow telecommunications companies to Cuba to broaden their internet coverage.

Chock Full of Nuts

++This afternoon's Impertial Post allowed the voices of wingnuttery sway. We have Allen West write that President Obama doesn't understand the meaning of his own signing statements since West is such a great constitutional lawyer. George Will weighed in on how the President has gone rogue. Judge Michael Mukasy defends the great fortress Gitmo and laments the grotesque display at the Rose Garden and how the leaders of a terrorist group have gone free. The Judge thinks that President Obama doesn't understand the significance of what he has done.

++Marco Rubio earlier in the day said that President Obama was acting as an Emperor.

++The bottom-line since 2008 has been to impeach President Obama and to make sure he can not carry out any of his policies. There is no doubt about this. 

++What you see are people seeing their worldview and the instruments they created to box in the President crumble around them. In a way,the disturbing trend of Post op-eds for the past two months on foreign affairs indicates this--an entrenched interest of the national security state trying to save the war machine and hype military interventionism at a drop of the hat.

++There is no alternative vision. They just think that if Obama disappears a return to the old foreign policy will materialize. What worries them is that the structures they depended upon to implement policies abroad are disappearing and can't be replaced. The Times They are A-changin' and they don't know why.

++Josh Rogin has written how Hillary Clinton had disagreed with President Obama over this deal two years ago--which is a different deal than in 2014. This really goes to the media elites still not accepting the legitimacy of President Obama. Hillary Clinton's view is the Democratic Party view. It reminds me of Lady Rothschild's lunatic ravings against President Obama. Hillary Clinton did say she approve this deal and ,yes, then sidestepped it more recently. 

++This is a bizarre episode in American history. This is the first time there is a major fight--to the point of calls for impeachment--over a return of a POW. Ed Kilgore at Washington Monthly tries to run down the thinking on this as expressed by Lindsey Graham. So the bottom line is that the GOP must fight to preserve the last remnant of the George W. Bush years, the prison at Guantanamo, even if it means impeaching a sitting President of the United States. What an idea! The GOP admits Iraq is gone and soon Afghanistan. Lindsey said that Obama is "losing the wars". So the whole apparatus they have constructed over more than a decade is crumbling so the President must go.

++This is the normal retributions we saw after the Vietnam War, when the United States withdrew and the North Vietnamese won. The Nixon-Ford White House tried to blame the Democrats. In fact, there are  Nixon papers outlining this strategy. Then blame the Left. Then blame Hollywood culture. A lot of the memes from today come from that period in our history. But for the GOP today,they see President Obama has the existential threat to everything they hold dear on the economy and national security. Expect more of this.

++Meanwhile,the gay roadrunners keep moving along. The Supreme Court rejected NOM's petition to hear their objections to Oregon's decision to allow same sex marriage. I couldn't understand what standing NOM had in the case since the Oregon Attorney-General made it clear the state did not want defend their ban on same sex marriage.

++This afternoon Chester Nez,the last of the original Navaho "Code Talkers" died at the age of 93.

++So we finish today in Washington with the desire to impeach President Obama on the following grounds:
1. Like his predecessors he rescued the last POW in Afghanistan.
2. He didn't save the Ambassador and colleagues at Benghazi when they were attacked by someone the Bush Administration released from Gitmo.
3. He had a terrible healthcare. gov website.
4. He ended two wars.
5. He adopted the biggest restrictions on carbon emissions in American history.
6. He didn't know that the IRS was evaluating Dark Money 501-C-4s. He should have if he were like Nixon.

So ending two wars,rescuing a POW and providing health insurance to millions of Americans. Like Fox Shrink Ablow said today, President Obama doesn't want to be part of America. 

Sometimes I think they should impeach President Obama because it would give themselves something to do. But I can't imagine this crew even conveying the necessary fake gravitas.

Odds and Ends

++John Boehner wants to privatize the VA.

++Mitch McConnell says KYNECT,the Kentucky health exchange, has nothing to do with Obamacare. BRAINWRAP,Charles Gaba, disagrees.

++Bibi Netanyahu says Obama got Syria right. He says 92% of the chemical weapons have been removed.

++Rasmussen has Michelle Nunn ahead of all Republicans in the Georgia Senate race. Warning: it is of registered voters, not likely.

++North Dakota remains the only state where their law against same sex marriage hasn't been challenged. 

++The House passed a law to reign in the NSA but it doesn't go far enough according to Google and Facebook.

++The Senate Energy Efficient Act, which allocated funds for Solar, was filibustered by the GOP, even though it was bipartisan and took two years to design.

++The House voted to prohibit the military from even considering climate change as part of national security.

++Pope Francis issued a proclamation that not dealing with climate change is a sin.

++Marco Rubio said that if God wants to make the earth hotter we can't stop him.

++Pat Sajak said that "global warming alarmists are unpatriotic racists."

++Jerry Brown said that "Humanity is on a collision course with Nature."

++President Obama became the first sitting President to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame.

++John Kerry said he would be delighted to testify before Darryl Issa's Benghazi committee. Boehner says Kerry may have to testify before both.

++Common Ground reports that the counter-terrorism Fusion Centers were used to monitor Occupy Wall Street.

++Former Congressman West questioned the patriotism of Tammy Duckworth and whether she would uphold her constitutional oath when serving on the Benghazi Committee. Congresswomen Duckworth is a multiply wounded, paraplegic Veteran. Sort of reminds one of the smears against Max Cleland.

++President Obama went on a stroll in the National Mall and wasn't arrested by the American Spring.

++Speaking of which,American Spring says Roaring Thunder, which rolls in here this weekend, backs them. Rolling Thunder vigorously denied this.

++The Washington Post,always disappointed Obama hasn't invaded anywhere,criticized the Administration on its Syria policy.

++Bernard Henri-Levy writes from the Ukraine that both East and West are eager to vote. Helsinki Watch,the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute have sent swarms of observers. Vladimir Putin says he will work with the winner whoever it is.

++Pope Francis is in Jordan,the West Bank and Israel for a three day visit. 

++BE SURE YOU WATCH FRONTLINE's UNITED STATES OF SECRETS. It trace the NSA programs from 9-11 through today with an excellent expose of the legal fights within the Bush Administration and how the FISA COURT signed off on its constitutionality.

++Read Think Progress' piece on how a journalist almost got arrested by Canadian authorities for having the gall to fly up to Alberta to report on the Tar Sands--"oil" sands as the Canadian government calls them.

++The European elections might yield scary results this weekend as the far-right parties mount a campaign against the whole European project. UKIP in England shocked the establishment with its massive wins in town council elections.

New York Is Saved and Other Sunday Notes

++Sean Hannity made good on his promise and has moved to Florida but keeping a ranch in Texas. New Yorkers can breathe easier now.

++In the ceremony opening the 9-11 Museum,the program deleted the scheduled musical interlude of "A Bridge over Troubled Waters" after Chris Christie spoke.

++California is burning as forest fires ramped up again as the entire state is considered a drought zone.

++April was the second hottest in recorded history.

++Richard Scaife, the 81-year old owner of the Pittsburgh Tribune has incurable cancer. Dick Scaife was a primary funder of conservative causes and institutions for generations.

++This week you can read about the largest funders of the Right in the new book "Sons of Wichita", which chronicles the history of the Scaife family and their emergence on the political scene. Goodies include inter-family disputes ,including private eyes, in the dispute over the father's estate,David's hedonistic heydays,the family's blackmailing the gay son, and the long history of federal violations. The book doesn't flinch from Dad, who favored Mussolini.

++Australia reports that "carbon sink", the capacity of the ocean to absorb carbon, has reached the tipping point where it threatens the entire marine food chain.

++Greenland is melting at a faster rate than previously thought but here in North America, glaciers in British Columbia and Alaska are melting even faster and getting now news coverage.

++Karl Rove this morning doubled down on Hillary's "brain damage" and Rinse Penis said that Hillary's health and age are fair game. 

++This week may not be a good one for Karl Rove. There is a story about to emerge about his divorce and his ex-wife accusing Karl of having an affair with a man. I'm betting it doesn't emerge because of Rovian pressures and that gay is so passé.

++There has been an explosion of same-sex marriage decisions and stays it's getting confusing. Arkansas, Utah, Idaho, and the list goes on.

++Michael Lind has a provocative article in Salon about possible party alignments because of the death of "social conservatism".

++Conservative websites are attacking Jeb Bush for a host of imaginary ideological crimes but the nastiest writing is attacking his wife. They claim she doesn't like being a political wife,she isn't fluent in English,has the well-documented problem with Customs, bringing in significant purchases without declaring them. But I guess if you can attack Michelle Obama , you can attack Jeb's wife. Doonesbury today has a fake Jeb interview for good fun.

++The Right--or at least the social conservatives who met the other year at Mount Vernon--met here in Washington behind closed doors. Considering the GOP thinks this is their year,what are the Right complaining about--the nature of the GOP.

++Rubio must be running. He again asserted his anti-choice position and denied climate change. That's pretty ballsy considering this week scientific blogs ran maps how Miami and southern Florida will disappear because of the rise in the sea.

++This past week's announcement that the West Antarctic ice sheets are collapsing faster than expected raise the issue of how conservative climate scientists are. The UN report undervalued the impact of the melting poles and glaciers on the climate. What you have read is really worse. 

++Ms. Geller is back hiring busses to run her anti-Islam ads and ,of course, invoked the Holocaust. Could we reach agreement that the term "Holocaust" be used only for the Holocaust. And "Hitler" is the historical figure Hitler and not Barack Obama.

The Days of Our Lives

++Roe vs. Wade marked its 41st anniversary. Only 25,000 braved the cold weather to protest. Ricky Cantor told the crowd that he was going to insure that the government never pays for abortion--which it doesn't. House Republicans passed a bill for the IRS to audit all women who have had abortions to ensure they don't take it off as a tax deduction. Tom Cotton of Arkansas is introducing a bill that would give fertilized eggs constitutional rights. Weirdly,poll numbers today about abortion mirror almost exactly those from 41 years ago. There has been no movement toward the anti-abortion position in all these years.

++Sean Hannity was miffed that Andrew Cuomo said that there was no room in New York state for extreme conservatives. Hannity said he was going to move from New York in protest but later claimed he really couldn't because so many people were dependent on his show. He does say he may run for public office in Florida. He will be attending the State of the Union Address next Tuesday as a guest of American hero, Louie Gohmert.

++The Secret Service visited the Florida Republican who wants to lynch President obama, saying that the situation has moved beyond impeachment.

++Supreme Commander Major General Paul Valley launched his Operation American Spring in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, a fitting place to advocate the overthrow of the government since the state was the first to secede from the Union.

++Marco Rubio plans to make Americans pay higher premiums for Obamacare by sponsoring a bill to eliminate the risk pool guarantees for the health insurance industry. He has twelve sponsors.

++Brainwrap has been driving himself crazy trying to reconcile his numbers for Obamacare. The total with Medicaid is now 11.9 million. Medicaid expansion is now 6.3 million.

++Jeffrey Toobin in the latest New Yorker has a iece on the President's Bipartisan Commission on Elections. Yes, it came out and it shows voter fraud is infinitesimal. The suggestions to enlarge the franchise are totally sane so they don't stand a chance of passing. The same I might add to the revised Voting Rights Act written by Senator Leahy and Rep. Sesenbrenner.

++The President's Privacy Board came out today and said the NSA mass collection of phone information was illegal.

++Governor Bob McDonnell and his wife were indicted for corruption in Virginia.

++Virginia Attorney General Herring said today he was joining a suit against the state's anti-same sex marriage law.

++Virginians may escape the bullet this year. Democratic Jennifer Wexton won the special seat for the Senate in a blizzard. The win may put the Democrats in control of that body. Another seat is waiting for a recount. Meanwhile the first poll has come out with Mark Warner holding a fifty point lead over Gillespie. 

++The Cooch called for Chris Christie to step down as head of the Republican Governor's Association.

++The U.S. Attorney told Dawn Zimmer, the Mayor of Hoboken to stop doing media interviews. The FBI has been interviewing her staff and aides about her claims and apparently five people support her version of her meeting with the Lt.Gov.

++Chris Christie has fallen in popularity and now the GOP front-runner is Rand Paul.

++The President is going to focus on income inequality in his State of the Union Address. A stunning report shows that 85 people have more wealth than the poorest 3.5 billion combined.

In Case You Missed This

++ Rand Paul vows to filibuster the appointment of Janet Yallin,who ironically is the most qualified nominee to the FED in my lifetime and who not ironically is a woman. 

++Lindsey Graham vows to filibuster all nominees for anything until the Administration produces the survivors of the attack in Benghazi as witnesses. The State Department has refused.

++Mitch McConnell has refused to endorse the McConnell rule, which Democrats proposed naming after him. He proposed during the fiscal cliff crisis to allow the President to unilaterally lift the debt ceiling unless Congress votes no. Today, he opposed his own suggestion.

++Marco Rubio who was instrumental in crafting the comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate has come out against his own bill, urging the House not to pass it.

++Mike Enzi will not retreat from his statement he is a fishing buddy with Dick Cheney, who says he isn't.

++Charlie Cook today explains in the National Journal  why 2014 is a make or break year for the Republicans to win the Senate. Next time 22 GOP Senators will have to defend and only 10 Democrats.

++Medicaid expansion signups for Obamacare are going like gangbusters, even in states like New Mexico. 

++More people are reporting they are getting through on Healthcare.com and signing up for Obamacare. Informally, about 724,000 have enrolled and completed the process to date.

++John Kasich had a moment of conscience saying openly that "There seems to be a war against the poor" in America. He said this as he opened Ohio to Medicaid expansion.

++Bernie Sanders has toured the South and opines about a possible Presidential bid. At least, he wants a real progressive in the race.

++Foodstamps are supposed to end on November 1. The conference committee on the Farm Bill is fighting to keep more SNAP funding after the Right cut over $4 billion per year.

++The ballooning size of the Federal Government makes the government the same size as ....1967. 

++Michael Bloomberg is not plunking down coin on Virginia's Attorney General race, which is still too close to call and the Republican has as extreme politics as the Cooch. Disapproval rate of the Virginia Republican Party is at 68%.

++Both Texas and Oklahoma's Supreme Courts ruled their anti-abortion laws are unconstitutional. 

++Hill watchers believe there will be no grand bargain and that, despite Gene Sperling's comments at the American Progress confab,there will be no cuts to Social Security and Medicare. The OMB released a report this past week that showed extending Medicare two years would not save any significant money. Social Security right now will pay for Baby Boomers and General Xers.

++The Senate is set to take up ENDA in this session with bipartisan support.

Obama's Syria Speech

++Before listening to the President's speech, I read Andrew Bacevich's new book Breach of Tust:How Americans failed their Soldiers and their Country. And sadly, it has to be said that no one has any skin in the Syrian game from the American side, except the servicemen and women who might have to respond. Bacevich does a brilliant job of analyzing the changing military strategies from WWII on and how the divide between the state and the society widened so that there exists no accountability or desire for accountability of the gigantic war machine. 

++Having said that President Obama's speech was surprising in some aspects. I expected an Oval Office War Speech. Instead, it was delivered in the East Wing. Yesterday's flurry of events forced the speech to be about fluid events with two dramatically opposed endings--war or peace. The President made mention of the enormous war-power capabilities which have accrued to the executive branch and spoke how it was better that Congress share in the responsibility. While noting he has the constitutional right to strike, he believed it was best if a President made military actions with the full support of Congress. He distinguished this strike from Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya in terms of scale and duration. He also mentioned the history of the use of chemical weapons. My great uncle Paul Demme would have been pleased since he was attacked with mustard gad during WWI and remained badly scarred for the rest of his life. President Obama said it was imperative that the United States act to prevent these attacks again. Then he sequed into the recent diplomatic offers that Syria surrender its arsenal of chemical weapons to the international community. For this diplomacy to take place, he was sending John Kerry tomorrow to Geneva to meet the Russian minister in charge of Syria. 

++So The President requested the Senate suspend consideration of the authorization of military force. 

++I thought the speech was fine basically framing the call for permission to use force as a deterrent to enhance a diplomatic solution. It reminded me of diplomatic gambits from yesteryear.

++Parenthetically, President Obama gave an even more moving speech today at the Pentagon to commemorate the real 9-11 attacks. But sometimes I wish he would pull back from the scripture. President Obama quoted at least six biblical passages, which even the Fundies would be hard pressed to quote.

++So how did the Syria speech go over. The CNN/ORC poll said 69% were favorably disposed to the President overall. 61% support Obama's position.37% oppose.  On the question of whether Obama was convincing on his position: 47% said he did; 50% said he didn't. 

++Andrew Sullivan, who spent the past week in different states of cardiac arrest because he feared Obama had made a blunder, called the talk "the clearest, simplest and most moving presidential speeches to the nation I can imagine."  Read his full analysis at Daily Dish and subscribe to his blog. It is well worth the read. 

++Michael Tomasky at the Daily Beast also writes favorably about President Obama's speech and position but says he still has an uphill battle.

++Former Obama aide, John Faureau writes about why this was the man he supported.

++John Podhoretz writes in the New York Post that President Obama shamed the country. 

++Charles Pierce in his blog for Esquire writes a perfect analysis of why Washington doesn't understand Obama because they like "guts" and not someone who engages in the active process of deciding among options. I think Pierce is right on the money because I thought President Obama had an abstract goal to sell and more sophisticated options to consider than the win-lose media could comprehend. 

++John Stewart did a marvelous attack on Fox News caterwauling about Obama "losing" to the Russians. Stewart likened John Kerry to Mr. Magoo who gaffed into a diplomatic solution. Stewart asked," Do we care who gets the credit if there is no war." He cut to videoclips of people shouting they Obama lost. "Who did he lose to? Do we lose if there is no war?"

++Today's drumbeat from the Right is that Obama is letting Russia back in as a major geopolitical force. 

++Marco Rubio and John Boehner spent this 9-11 blasting President Obama for failing to bring the perpetrators of the 9/11 Benghazi attack to justice. No mention he brought the perpetrator of the original 9/11 to justice when their President didn't. 

Domestic Affairs

++Gay D-Day is approaching, according to Scotusblog. Decisions on DOMA and same sex marriage will be delivered by June 24th according to court observers. President Obama is sending ENDA back up to the Senate for a vote to end employment discrimination against gays. Marco Rubio says it is alright to fire someone because he is gay and will remove himself from supporting Immigration Reform if gay immigrants are included. 

++On immigration, Senator Grassley is putting the slow-motion moves on the bill by his version of mini-filibusters on Amendments. The Gang of 8 slapped down Marco Rubio when he said he supported Cornyn's amendment about beefing up border security before the normalization of undocumented workers begins. According to the amendment you can always say the Border is not completely secure and delay the process indefinitely. Harry Reid called it a poison pill. Now Rubio claims normalization should come first so that the fees aid by undocumented workers could finance the border fence.

++The nativist factions of the GOP are trying to kill immigration reform in the House. Rep. Steve King tweeted this week that his office had been occupied by self-proclaimed illegal aliens. He was, of course, talking about the Dream generation kids who have a stay in their deportation because of President Obama's executive order. King also went to Russia on a fact-finding mission on the Boston Bomber and came home concerned that Chechens were given residence in the United States without vetting from the FBI. Michelle Bachmann, Steven King and Louis Gohmert have called for a rally against "Amnesty" and a series of "Lincoln-Douglas" debates on immigration. Despite all this, John Boehner claims immigration reform could pass by the end of the year. Given the lack of issues for the GOP in 2014, this seems dubious to me. Pat Buchanan and Ann Coulter are pointing to the demographics that whites are dying at rates higher than they are being replaced as an argument against immigration reform. Others say if the GOP doesn't get on the train, they are doomed in all national elections. Supporters of immigration reform are concerned that the price of pursuing citizenship will be too high for the undocumented who are here. The House last week voted to deport all undocumented workers here. Good Luck with that.

++The GOP continues to gut Obamacare. The Senate ,fueled by the IRS scandal,wants to make sure that the IRS has nothing to do with figuring out the subsidy for healthcare to low-income workers or the tax on those Americans with a Cadillac healthcare plan. The GOP is putting out rumors that healthcare would be too expensive for Congress and their staffers if  Obamacare is enacted. Conservatives are citing Democrat Max Baucus that implementing Obamacare will be a "train wreck". Others are arguing that younger males will see their insurance bill sky-rocket. 

++Meanwhile, California has pleasantly surprised by showing that insurance rates are plummeting because of Obamacare. Arizona's Jan Brewer has extended Medicaid in accordance with the Affordable Care Act, which will cover an additional 300,000 in the state. While Ohio is balking at Obamacare by saying it will increase the health insurance premiums.So far,no news on my own.

++You can see this train coming down the track. The GOP is preparing for 2014 on the issues of Obamacare,Abortion and Obama's culture of corruption. 

++The House is about to pass a bill banning abortion after 20 weeks in all fifty state,including Washington,D.C. Gov. Walker has signed a new abortion bill that requires a transvaginal probe, mirroring Virginia's botched attempt of the same. The ACLU has announced 2013 as the worst year for reproductive rights as states like Ohio continue their march to ban abortion. The Virgina state GOP ticket this year is a trifecta of anti-choice candidates that make the present governor look like a moderate.

Before the State of the Union

++The Senate voted again today to pass the Violence Against Women Act with 22 Republican male Senators voting "no". John Cornyn of Texas said the act didn't afford rapists due process before Indian courts.

++In about a minute, the Senate committee is supposed to vote out the Hagel nomination. Senator Imhofe said earlier that that Hagel will be held to the 60 vote standard in the full Senate vote.

++Senator McConnell said he wasn't interested in dealing with Joe Biden to avoid sequestration. The Defense Department faces a $85 billion cut and domestic programs will be gutted.

++President Obama is supposed to announce the withdrawal of 34,000 troops from Afghanistan this year. He is also supposed to talk more about the economy, a subject he avoided in his inauguration speech. The country needs Lift and he should provide it unless he gets bogged down in details.

++Ted Nugent, who said he would either be dead or in jail if Obama won a second term,will be attending the State of the Union address at the invitation of the Republicans.

++Marco Rubio this week was hailed as the Savior of the Republican Party ,which has a big gender gap problem. Today, Rubio voted against the Violence Against Women Act. That should help.

++The North Koreans have tested another nuclear device, which now goes along with its missiles. Maybe we will have to pay them attention.

++Pakistan, which already has nuclear capability, has tested missiles for launching nuclear weapons.

++President Obama is supposed to announce further cuts in our nuclear arsenal.

++Bibi Netanyahu is positively giddy that President Obama is going to visit Israel in March. The agenda includes Iran, Syria, and the negotiations with the Palestinians.

++The Syrian opposition has now seized major airfoils, a dam and now threatens the capital.

++The Treasury has announced that the U.S. actually had a surplus last month because of the increase in social security taxes.

++Thom Hartmann had an excellent show on how the austerity programs in Europe are encouraging the rise of fascist parties again.

++Paul Krugman continues his lonely campaign against austerity in the United States. The Beltway continues its discussion of the deficit, even though this year will be the first time since 2008 that the deficit dipped below $1 trillion. 

++Out of sight, several GOP governors are signing on to the Medicaid elements of Obamacare, even though they opposed it. It happens to be a good deal for states.

++Sam Tannehaus had a long article in the New Republic on how the GOP will remain the white party and how it has embraced the politics of John Calhoun and his vision of nullification.

++On the day Galileo was born, Pope Benedict abdicated his position and will step down from the papacy at the end of the month. Being the first pope to abdicate for 800 years, his gesture is a one man reformation. 

++The drone wars are the new cause celeb in the Beltway. I write more on it as we go along.

++The Gun legislation is still mired by hype and lobbying by the NRA.

++The month long discussion of the GOP re-branding itself so far has yielded very little. If anything, the House GOP is more Tea Party than not. Karl Rove's new effort to stomp out the Tea Party is being met with ferocious reaction and establishment Republicans are getting gun shy.

++Today, as the GOP thought to bring up Benghazi again. The latest rumor is that Obama was selling arms from Libya to Syria and didn't tell the ambassador. This was laughed out by Hillary Clinton. But there is no stopping people who believe this is bigger than Watergate.

++Lindsey Graham has threatened to hold up Hagel and Brennen until he gets answers from Obama about Benghazi. Not to be outdone, Dick Cheney said that all of Obama's national security team were "second-raters". 

++President Obama has less than two years to accomplish anything else in his Presidency. Go for immigration reform.

Christie Says No--Joins Long Line of Refuseniks

Chris Christie once again announced he was not running for President this year. Having been courted by Henry Kissinger, the Koch Brothers,Nancy Reagan and George H. W. Bush and an assortment of high rollers, Governor Christie decided he already had a job.

The rumor mill basically had him go through the motions of reconsidering by contacting donors and Republican officials who are dismayed by the current field. Christie's advisers were assessing the time to assemble a major league team for the primaries and how they would fare in New Hampshire. Christie would have to file in about two weeks to run in that primary.

Interestingly enough it was a bunch of Wall Street donors who kept the pressure on Christie. They apparently are disappointed with Bain Capital's Mitt Romney, which is a story to be covered. Romney's own fund-raising this quarter has drooped to about $11 million--compared to an estimated $55 million for President Obama, who doesn't have to compete in primaries.

The list of Republicans not running this year is more impressive than the real candidates. Opting out have been Jeb Bush, Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, Mike Huckabee and now Christie. Have you noticed how one respects those who don't run more than those who have tossed their helmuts in the ring? Maybe it's the decision not to run that gives them a tinge of gravitas.

The only marquee name remaining is Sarah Palin, who doesn't have a job. I still believe with Michelle Bachmann's campaign shedding campaign workers and drowning in debt that Palin might give it a go.

A blogger suggested that the Republicans actually want to throw the presidential election because the establishment believes the teabaggers are so crazy that a defeat would allow them to purge the ranks. I like the idea but I tend to doubt it.

Michael Gerson today in the Washington Post started the whitewash of Romney as Mormon issue and argued that evangelicals would vote for a conservative Mormon to beat liberal Barack Obama. But gerson does mention the anti-Mormon literature that circulated in the South last time Romney ran.

Basically, the Republican establishment will try to condition the primary voter to accept Romney. For his part, Romney had a lovefest with Huckabee on Fox News and promised to push a constitutional amendment that personhood began with conception--one of the most retrograde ideas circulated by the religious Far Right. There is no one stopping Romney right now pandering to the extreme Right and he will do this throughout the primary process.

The boomlet behind Herman Cain isn't being matched by big donors. His popularity is more at the expense of Perry's demolition with the accusations of racism and his promise to invade Mexico. Perry still has the money but I'm not so sure with the chicanery with the primary schedule whether he can get back in.

The Brennen Institute issued a report yesterday on the efforts to restrict voters rights in the states. They estimate that this year these restrictions, including Voter ID laws, will affect over 5 million voters. Primarily those affected will be core democratic constituencies.

Politically, this means that in a close election--which this one looks like--the Democrats will be at an enormous disadvantage. Which makes you wonder why any Republican bowed out of this year's election.

The number one choice for Vice President is Florida's Senator Marco Rubio because of the centrality of that state to the electoral vote. The Miami Herald published an expose that the Spanish-language network Univision had promised to quietly kill a report about Rubio's brother if the Senator cooperated in a program. It seems Rubio's brother had been busted for drugs years ago and was a bit player in a Coke and Dope ring in the Florida area. But once this cap is off, expect more stories coming out about the Senator.

Pulpit Freedom Sunday

The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian Right advocacy group, is sponsoringPulpit Freedom Sunday, where at least 100 evangelical pastors will defy the law and endorse candiates from their pulpits. In 1954, at the request of then Senator Lyndon Johnson, the IRS rules prohibits any speech from a church pulpit favoring or opposing a political candidate. Churches whose preachers do endorse a candidate risk losing their tax-exempt status. During the last presidential campaign, ministers supporting John McCain did the same thing but the only one government investigation was dropped. The ADF is trying to provoke a court case so they can overturn the rule saying that "The IRS should not be used as a political tool to advance the agenda of racial groups bent on silencing the voice of the church.." Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention opposes this whole stunt.

The latest Smithsonian magazine has an excellent article on the history of religious intolerance in America and how and why the Founding Fathers really did create a secular Republic, contrary to the opinions of Glenn Beck, Newt Gingrich and David Barton. The piece documents anti-Catholic and anti-Mormon riots in 19th century America. Interesting new fact was that one of the reasons Benedict Arnold became a turncoat was his disgust with America being backed by Catholic France.

CBN, the Christian Broadcasting Network, is whipped up about the plot by Muslims to introduce sharia law and destroy American civilization, whatever is left of it. What was a very fringe idea has now moved into the mainstream with New Gingrich and Frank Gaffney and Daniel Pipes flogging this goofy notion.

This week will be Bob Woodward week with his book on the Obama Administration's internal debates on Afghanistan. From the early excerpts, the reader must really ask serious questions about General Petraeus and his strange view that our children will be fighting in Afghanistan and that the war is not one that can be won but must be fought continually. This represents how far the notion of the Long War has permeated the defense establishment. In an age where a computer-virus is knocking out Iran's nuclear program, the United States with its COIN strategy is re-living our Vietnam counter-insurgency plan. The massive disconnect between our embrace of certain 21st century technology and strategies, which were based on military losses in Vietnam, Algeria, and Malaysia is a bit bizarre and disconcerting.

Read an early memo against the war in Iraq yesterday that quoted a Pentagon paper on establishing an American empire, a document purportedly written in 2001. I would love to know where that is and will be trying to locate it. Other recently-released dcuments released tis past week show that Dick Cheney requested a contingency plan for an invasion of Iraq on January 9,2001, right before George W took the oath of office, and that other documents showed internal arguments for the invasion during the first few months of the Administration. What remains a mystery is that we know Al Qaeda had nothing to do with Iraq, despite video footage of George W. actually arguing at length this was so, and we know, except some of the extreme right, that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction, so what was the invasion meant to do and what purpose was it to serve. Cheap psychologizing that son wanted to better Dad just doesn't fly.

Hopefully, some of the major participants after their self-defenses will reveal some of this in their memoirs. From Dick Cheney,we hope to hear his view of the energy empire, although I doubt whether this will be mentioned. Rather we will be treated to a sophisticated defense of rendition, torture and the wonders of defending America after 9/11 but not before. George W.'s memoirs due next month will probably drip some truths but inadvertantly. My money is on Donald Rumsfeld, whose memoir will be out next year. The reason I suggest this is that Douglas Feith's memoir was an honest attempt, in my opinion, to detail the origins of the war and the fights among the neo-cons. His boss is known to be much more blunt as we saw during the invasion. From the documents released this month, Rumsfeld argued that an invasion of Iraq would cement ties with Israel and strengthen America's position in the region as a whole. It's the last point I want to see elaborated on. Also, Rumsfeld was a major proponent of the 40-year war against Islamic fundamentalism, an idea whose time should never have come.

We will be dealing with the aftermath of this past Administration for decades. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration has been defending the worst national security laws and winning in our courts. There are areas of our civil liberties now, which appear to be gone for good. Paul Craig Roberts, a former assistant secretary of Treasury during President Reagan, just wrote a piece "It's Official--the United States is a Police State!". A conservative libertarian type of guy, this article is not an Obama-bashing piece but a critique of the continuation of the Bush suppression of civil liberties under this Administration. It's a good summary of the insanity of the Patriot Act and all the noxious laws that were generated from it. Only this week, the FBI raided war protestors homes and offices in Minneapolis and Chicago with the view of determining whether the groups gave "material assistance to terrorist groups." Apparently , the group was more focused on Colombia than Afghanistan. But Roberts shows that the all-expansive definitions of the anti-terrroism laws are a direct and present danger to dissent.

Meanwhile the mid-terms, Congressman DeFazio from Oregon did a great it--accompanied by video cameras he decided to find the group Concerned Taxpayers, who are running smear ads against him. He found a Washington townhouse with office equipment and only one person home--a person who identified himself as with the conservative Jamestown Foundation, which was first funded to assist Soviet defectors and later branched out into defense strategy policy. But DeFazio had the address right and the phone had a answering machine for Concerned Taxpayers. Why Defazio was p.o-ed was that the ads against him ties him to Nancy Pelosi, whom he is frequently on record as wanting to replace a Speaker of the House. He succeded in getting the group to pull their ads but still no one knows whose behind them.

Think Progress continues to detail the Koch-funded groups trying to engage in election fraud in Wisconsin. Maybe if enough of these incidents can be documented, advocacy groups might want to press for the RICO act being used against the Koch industries--seizing them on the suspicion of corruption. No shareholders would be hurt.

Will Mitt Romney be hurt if his dear friend from Bain, Queen Meg Whitman loses. Apparently, Whitman spokespeople are trying to get people to accept the Field Poll showing a tied race instead of the couple this week that shows Governor Brown with a five-six point lead. On the Senate side, a large majority of Californians want their Senator to support Obama agenda. Obama still rides high in California, which puts a damper on the Republican challenges.

Democrats are engaged in a two-prong strategy for mid-terms--one a national thrust of emphasizing the positive and the second one, a local strategy of hammering specific Republican candidates as unworthy of any elected office. Blue Dog Democrats got Nancy Pelosi's permission to distance themselves from her because their competition was composed on people fleeing bill collectors, tax evaders, a couple who are under investigation for business fraud. The issue in these races is to create the big Ick factor--"this guy is too sleazy to represent you." Given the roster of Republican candidates, who can blame them. If you are Nita Lowey running in Westchester, New York, even though you are liberal, don't you think you should hammer on the fact that the Republican in suburban New York is an anti-semite, a white separatist and writes positively about eugenics? Forget Obamacare and the Pledge, it's obvious your opponent shouldn't be allowed near any public office.

Dana Milbank got in a good line against Tom Kaine. Tom Kaine appeared on CNN and said that the Republicans merging with the Tea Party had become the Danner Party." Milbank said this remark insulted cannibals everywhere.

In Kentucky, recent polls have Jack Conway with the momentum against Rand Paul. Conway has pulled within 3 points. The last Senate race here proved to be a cliff-hanger, only decided in the early morning. Mike Huckabee is in Kentucky campaigning for Paul today. But Paul shot himself in the foot again by saving that seniors should pay more for Medicare. And his Hitler remark this past week may signal to voters "Not Ready for Prime Time."

Florida papers, after several investigative reports into Marco Rubio's AMEX use and his role in various boondoogle projects, are demanding he come clean on his financial dealings. This may have come too late as Rubio seems to have a commanding lead against Crist and Meeks.

The New York Times covers Karl Rove's parallel secret GOP. Democrats go nuts every time Rove's name is mentioned because of his swiftboating techniques and other dirty tricks over the years. But remember he lost the 2000 election, barely won in 2004 because of voter suppression efforts in Ohio and lost massively in 2006. This is not a great mastermind. I just wonder whether his billionaire's Club provides for him to return the money if he fails.

Believe it or not a Fox News contributor has written a piece in the Daily Beast, which documents why this year is not 1994. She says that last time Clinton and Tom Foley, the speaker of the House, did not see the Republican wave coming and that Republicans had not been in charge of the House in 40 years so Americans did not know what to expect. She also said that all the seats lost by Democrats existed in districts won by the Republican presidential candidate. This year only half the seats projected for a Democratic lose are in districts won by McCain.

Remember the first teabagger fight in NY-25, the huge congressional district that stretches across the state? Well, teabagger millionaire Hoffman has lost the Republican line this year and will be running as a Conservative. This was the seat the Republicans have held since the Civil War and lost last year. Well, it looks like they will lose it again. It's seats like these where Republicans need to pick up steam to take over the House.

I thought about Nate Silver's projection that Republicans would win with a 12-seat majority. From just the rumor mill, there are at least 12 Republicans with serious ethics issues. Before they even get to conduct all their investigations, first we will have a foodfight over leadership and then you could have the revelations about these cases. Any resignations or timely retirements would then throw the House open again.