Politics

By Sarah Audelo and Gregory Cendana We were surprised to learn from Gary Bauer (” Obama’s Anti-Youth Agenda ,” Politico, July 9) that Obama’s agenda has thus far failed young people in America. We were more surprised that Mr. Bauer, at age 63, considers himself a viable spokesperson for the millennial generation. Obama’s record on youth issues certainly worthy of examination, but it’s hardly the disaster portrayed by Mr. Bauer, who seems intent on cramming every conceivable right wing talking point into his critique.

The NAACP pulled its punch and did not flatly condemn the tea party as racist. The resolution it proposed at its national convention condemned what it called “racist elements” in the party. This was both a tactful and crucial distinction that the NAACP was right to make. Tea party leaders though incensed at the NAACP for calling the party out on racism admitted that some of those who have turned up at tea party events have spouted racist slurs. The leaders also say that they have denounced them.

California voters face a clash between corporate cash vs. progressive populism. Nothing less than the biggest statehouse, the biggest Senate seat, and the future presidency of America is at stake here in the Golden State. Corporate cash vs. progressive populism Can corporate cash always beat progressive populism? Absolutely not - but it will be spent at historic levels over the next 5 months. Corporate cash funded the nominations of Meg Whitman (R-eBay) for governor and Carly Fiorina (R-Hewlett Packard) for senator.

Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics Marc J. Hetherington, Jonathan D. Weiler Cambridge University Press Paperback, 234 pages, $23.16 Kindle edition 9.99 August, 2009 Money quote: Considering our story up to now, we believe we have adduced powerful evidence for the increasingly central role that authoritarianism has come to play in structuring party competition, mass preferences and the relevant issue agenda of the past forty years.

The student who faces decades in jail for guessing a password.

Judge them by their enemies. More evidence that Barack Obama might be shaping up as a good president is that Norman Podhoretz hates him so much. In a Wall Street Journal column Monday the guru of the neoconservatives declared: “I would rather be ruled by the Tea Party than by the Democratic Party, and I would rather have Sarah Palin sitting in the Oval Office than Barack Obama.” I know that does not properly address all of the serious questions raised about the Obama presidency by progressives, myself included, and as of today we must now add offshore oil drilling to the list.

A year and a half ago, a few weeks before the presidential election, Google CEO Eric Schmidt made a bold claim about the impact of the internet on our public life: “We are witnessing the end of Rovian politics,” he declared to Arianna Huffington .

There are at least three reasons the polls show the number of those who consider Sarah Palin unqualified for high office keeps growing. *She’s an acquired taste that hasn’t been acquired yet *She gets a relentless raw deal from the commie-pinko media *She’s unqualified Whichever, Sarah Palin is one of those public personalities who makes everyone’s blood boil. In disgust or adoration. Without a doubt she has become the queen of the mainstream fringe, in fact she’s become perhaps the leading symbol.

Or…as I suppose we should call it tonight, the Political Wrap-Up. Seeing as how there is no new polling tonight (save for a mildly ridiculous Rasmussen poll claiming Ben Nelson would lose by 30 points in he ran for re-election), we will stick to the campaign news. And, surprisingly, there actually is some news from the campaign trail today…. CA-19: In a slight surprise, the GOP lost an incumbent in the final days of 2009, as Class of ‘94 Congressman George Radanovich announced his retirement this morning.

Politifact already named Sarah Palin’s “death panels” claim its lie of the year — prompting an indignant response from the former Alaska governor. Now Factcheck.org has followed suit, calling the claim that health care reform would lead to euthanasia for the elderly and disabled a “whopper of 2009.” The non-partisan group, however, pinned most of the blame on longtime reform foe Betsy McCaughey .