Tea Party Candidate For New York Governor Reportedly Sent Out Racist, Graphic Emails

Carl Paladino, a Republican candidate for governor of New York who has tea party support, is being accused of sending out racist, graphic, emails.

The e-mails — posted this morning on the left-leaning Buffalo-area political blog WNYmedia.net — run the gamut from hardcore pornography to racist slights to President Obama. One titled “Obama Inaugural Rehearsal” and containing a video of African tribesman dancing drew a biting response from one of the recipients after it was sent in December 2008.

“It’s one thing not to like Obama’s policies. It’s another to be a flat-out racist,” the recipient wrote, according to the …

Only Chuck Norris Can Make SCOTUS Less Liberal (Satire)

by William K. Wolfrum

When Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman recently stated that President Barack Obama needed to nominate a more conservative justice to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Justice John Paul Stevens, many liberals blanched. After all, the U.S. Supreme Court already is tilted to the right with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito  consistently taking a hard-line conservative approach to cases. Nonetheless, Lieberman sees the Supreme Court as a haven for liberals.

“This is a fascinating moment maybe for all these reasons, acknowledging that the fact that Justice Stevens …

White House Debunks Idea Of Hillary For SCOTUS

With the daily buzz about Hillary Clinton as a potential Supreme Court nominee, the White House seems to have gone out of it way to disabuse us of that notion.

“The President thinks Secretary Clinton is doing an excellent job as Secretary of State and wants her to remain in that position,” said White House spokesman Tommy Vietor.

Clinton’s spokesman had said she was flattered by Hatch’s flotation, though happy in her current posts, and others in Clinton’s circle had quietly responded warmly to the notion.

But Vietor’s comment is aimed at putting an end to the speculation.…

Hillary Clinton On Scotus? Bet On It…Not Happening

by Sinfonian

There’s a buzz in the air – and on the Internet – today about Sen. Orrin Hatch’s (R-Utah) bombshell that Hillary Clinton is a possible Supreme Court nominee. Speaking on NBC’s “Today” show, Sen. Hatch declared that he “heard [Clinton's] name today and that would be an interesting person in the mix.” Predictably, commentators on both sides of the ideological divide are aflutter with speculation. Lefties are counting confirmation votes and gleefully anticipating heads exploding on the Right, while their conservative counterparts, like Kevin Glass on TownHall.com, are lamenting the very concept of a “Justice Clinton.”

And …

Conan O’Brien To Host New Late-Night Show On TBS

TBS has issued a press release today stating that Conan O’Brien will begin a late-night talk show for the cabler in November.

O’Brien’s show will be followed on TBS’ schedule by George Lopez’s “Lopez Tonight,” which will move to midnight.

“In three months I’ve gone from network television to Twitter to performing live in theater, and now I’m headed to basic cable,” O’Brien said in the statement. “My plan is working perfectly.”

The implications of what it means for broadcast vs. cable will be much commented upon in the weeks to come.

In the statement, Steve Koonin, the president of …

Michele “Nostradamus” Bachmann Falsely Asserts Obama Has Taken Over 51% Of The US Economy

Michele Bachmann claims she has the predictive powers of Nostradamus, and continues to assert that President Obama has anti-American views.

Chris Wallace: Do you really believe the president of the United States has anti-American views.

Bachmann: What I’m concerned about are the policies of the last fifteen months. It’s stunning, what’s happened in our economy.  We’ve gone from the United States have a hundred percent of the private economy private, to today, the federal government effectively owns or controls 51% of the private economy.

Raw Story explains why this is just not true.

Her insistence that President Obama …

Joe Lieberman Promotes Right-Wing Talking Points Against Nuclear Treaty

Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, a so-called “independent Democrat,” is making noises about not supporting the arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia, buying into the right-wing meme that we first have to do more to modernize our nuclear arsenal.  This is a myth, as the administration has sought massive funding increases to maintain our nuclear arsenal. But that hasn’t stopped Lieberman from repeating the mantra of the right, on Fox News Sunday, that we need to do more to keep our nukes up-to-date before the START treaty can be considered.

LIEBERMAN: Anytime we are working …

Tea Party Rallies Still A Cauldron For Conspiracy Theories, Mistruths, And Exaggerations

Cristina Corbin of FOX News has spent a few weeks embedded with the Tea Party Express, and writes about how tea party leaders are cringing at what the movement is attracting.

But while organizers have held the tour as a way to stay front-and-center as a political force, the rallies have also attracted the kinds of mistruths, exaggerations and conspiracy theories that make Tea Party leaders cringe. Though the movement is still trying to shore up its credentials as a grassroots power that’s here to stay, the so-called “fringe” and its accompanying antics continue to give critics fodder.

A number …

Idaho Census Worker Warned Off By Gunfire While Trying To Deliver Census Form

by Thomas Wellborn

An Idaho man fired his shotgun today near a census worker who was doing his job delivering census forms.

Fifty-4-year-old Richard L. Powell of St. Maries faces up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The Benewah County Prosecutor’s office says that on March 3 Powell told the census worker to get off his property and then fired a shotgun into the air.

Powell’s pretrial conference is scheduled for April 26 at the Benewah County Courthouse.

Perhaps Powell was channeling CNN’s Erick Erickson, who made a very controversial comment about what he might do if …

The Specter of Jim Crow

By The River Wanders

At the beginning of last week Republican Governor Robert McDonnell tried to move Virginia back hundreds of years with his decision to ignore the fundamental issues of the Civil War by declaring “Confederate History Month.”  Public outcry forced him to amend his glorification of secessionists.  He quietly closed the week by reaching back only a few decades to invoke the specter of Jim Crow.

Governor Bob’s latest time-traveling adventure tampers with the restoration of voting rights to non-violent felons who have successfully served their sentences.  Instead of automatically restoring their voting rights (as many states do) …

Mississippi Governor Barbour: Omitting Slavery From VA Proclamation “Doesn’t Matter For Diddly”

Candy Crowly on CNN asked Mississippi governor Haley Barbour if Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell made a mistake when he proclaimed April Confederate History Month by omitting any mention of slavery. Barbour didn’t think it mattered, and went on to blame Democrats for honoring the confederacy as well. (h/t Think Progress, The Political Carnival)

CROWLEY: The [Virginia] Governor didn’t even mention slavery in his proclamation. Was that a mistake?

BARBOUR: Well, I don’t think so…I don’t know what you would say about slavery, but anyone who thinks that you have to explain to people that slavery is …