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Rick Perry And Texas Job Numbers — Full disclosure: I don't like Rick Perry for our next president. I have my reasons that aren't worth going into here. However, when I was watching the GOP debate and pro-Perry people started bringing up Rick Perry's job numbers as a cudgel against other candidates …
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Stephen Colbert loses treasurer to Rick Perry — No joke: Presidential candidate Rick Perry and comedian Stephen Colbert, who last week barraged Iowa voters with advertisements urging voters to support “Rick Parry,” shared the same political committee treasurer - until they didn't.
Discussion:
Reuters, Mediaite, New York Magazine, Gawker and The Raw Story


White House Warns Perry Should Watch What He Says — White House press secretary Jay Carney chastised Texas Gov. Rick Perry for suggesting on the campaign trail that some economic policy decisions the Federal Reserve is considering border on “treasonous.” — Speaking at a campaign stop …
Discussion:
Michelle Malkin

Rick Perry will self-destruct within 30 days — Rick Perry talks treason about the Federal Reserve Board. Treason is a capital offense. Is Perry suggesting the death penalty for Federal Reserve Board members? — Rick Perry says Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke will have a tough time if he goes to Texas.
Discussion:
CNN, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Note, Booman Tribune, Political Punch and Taylor Marsh


Perry Points to ‘Idiotic’ U.S. Rule That Doesn't Exist — For a small-government conservative on the presidential campaign stump like Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a new federal regulation forcing farmers to get commercial drivers licenses would make a perfect example of Barack Obama's Washington run amok.
Discussion:
SFGate, TPMDC, Mother Jones, Iowa Caucuses and ThinkProgress


Obama Presses His Case in Crucial Iowa, but Perry Is Close on His Heels — PEOSTA, Iowa — President Obama pulled up to a bucolic community college here in his $1.1 million black armored bus on Tuesday and spent much of the day closeted in a conference with farmers and small-business owners …
Discussion:
Balloon Juice and Hot Air


Rick Perry, the ‘no apologies’ candidate
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers and Reuters

Fighting Perception of Weakness, Obama Puts Onus on Lawmakers
Discussion:
Pajamas Media

Karl Rove Piles On Rick Perry: Bernanke Line ‘Not A Presidential Statement’
Discussion:
ThinkProgress, The Caucus, Talking Points Memo, Campaign 2012, DownWithTyranny!, Commentary Magazine, AMERICAblog News and RedState

White House on Gov. Perry's Bernanke Comments: ‘Threatening the Fed Chairman is Probably Not a Good Idea’
Discussion:
Washington Post, Washington Monthly, TPMDC, The Note and blogs.abcnews.com

Rick Perry Thinks ‘Printing More Money’ Is ‘Almost Treason’ Because It Would Help The Economy And Thus Obama
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, Booman Tribune, Talking Points Memo and The Note

Analysis: Perry's criticism of money-printing may portend more political pressure for Fed
Discussion:
TheGazette, msnbc.com, The Huffington Post, ThinkProgress, Balloon Juice and Mario Piperni dot Com

Interrogating the “Texas Miracle”
Discussion:
The Huffington Post, theGrio, TheMoneyIllusion, The Daily Dish and Erica Grieder

Rick Perry suggests predator drones for border patrol
Discussion:
Top of the Ticket, The New Republic, The Jawa Report and nation.foxnews.com

GOP Primary: Perry 29%, Romney 18%, Bachmann 13% — Texas Governor Rick Perry, the new face in the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, has jumped to a double-digit lead over Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann with the other announced candidates trailing even further behind.
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Obama, GOP candidates all unpopular — Ohio's a pretty good microcosm for an unhappy nation right now. — Barack Obama's approval rating in the state right now is 44%, with 52% of voters disapproving of him. His numbers with independents are horrid at 34/59.
Discussion:
Firedoglake and GOP 12


Let the Perry Hatred Begin
Discussion:
Hot Air, Sister Toldjah, Daily Kos, No More Mister Nice Blog and The Politico

Romney vs. Perry: How the Numbers (and the Calendar) Stack Up
Discussion:
Race 4 2012 and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

NBC News Caught Red Handed ‘Selectively Editing’ & ‘ Doctoring’ Video to Smear Gov Perry as Racist — Ed Schultz used a deceptive edit to misinform his audience about the content of Gov. Rick Perry's speech in Iowa yesterday. Schultz claimed that Gov. Perry was calling President Obama a …
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NBC News' Ed Schultz Admits Selective Edit Deception; Not False Racism Charge
Discussion:
NewsBusters.org blogs and RedState


Silicon Valley billionaire funding creation of artificial libertarian islands — Pay Pal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel has given $1.25 million to an initiative to create floating libertarian countries in international waters, according to a profile of the billionaire in Details magazine.
Discussion:
Gawker, Wonkette, Dean's World, Donklephant, LewRockwell.com Blog, Roger Ailes, The Reaction, Althouse and Balloon Juice
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THE BILLIONAIRE KING OF TECHTOPIA — PETER THIEL ROSE TO FAME BY LAUNCHING PAYPAL AND FUNDING A LITTLE UPSTART CALLED FACEBOOK. YOU'LL FIND HIS FINGERPRINTS ON—AND HIS SEED MONEY IN—EVERYTHING FROM DNA MANIPULATION TO HOLLYWOOD MOVIES ALONG WITH ANY SILICON VALLEY ENTERPRISE WORTH KNOWING ABOUT.
Discussion:
Hot Air and The Raw Story

Sentiment moving against Walker recall — Public sentiment in Wisconsin is moving against a recall of Scott Walker. Walker though remains very unpopular and if Russ Feingold chose to run against him in a recall election he would find himself in deep trouble.
Discussion:
TPMDC, Campaign 2012, Hot Air, Firedoglake, The Political Carnival, The Raw Story, Daily Kos and Taegan Goddard's …
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Blue Partisans Shorten The Lines — Press reaction to events in Wisconsin remains educational. The introduction of legislation curtailing union rights and activities for most public employees in Wisconsin was first billed as a victory in disguise: a triggering event that launched the flight …
Discussion:
National Review


What I Learned in Two Years at the Tea Party — When I started going to Tea Party meetings two years ago, I was sympathetic. Just after attending one in North Dakota in August of 2009, I wrote: “Most tea partiers are not bad people. They're just mad. In many meaningful ways …
Discussion:
Wonkette
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Video of the Day: Obama Confronted by Tea Partiers in Iowa
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers and Mediaite

Herman Cain: Impeaching Obama would be ‘a great thing’ — Asked on a conference call with bloggers this evening why Republicans can't just impeach Barack Obama, Herman Cain answers that it's mostly a matter of legislative politics, POLITICO's Elizabeth Titus reports:
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland and Outside the Beltway


Ryan for President? — Paul Ryan is in the final stages of deciding on a presidential run. — Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan is strongly considering a run for president. Ryan, who has been quietly meeting with political strategists to discuss a bid over the past three months …
Discussion:
Mother Jones, Roll Call, Washington Post, The Politico, The New Republic, AmSpecBlog, TPMDC, Race 4 2012, Gawker, Hot Air, Eunomia, New York Magazine, Salon, Chicago Boyz, Washington Wire, The Hill, Ross Douthat, Campaign 2012, PoliPundit.com, National Review, Outside the Beltway, Daily Kos, Pajamas Media, msnbc.com and GOP 12


The Civil War Isn't Tragic Cont. — Anyone who's going to deal in Civil War studies really needs to take a moment to grapple with James McPherson's This Mighty Scourge. I doubt that this was McPherson's intent, but the first essay in the book is really what set me on the path of questioning the …
Discussion:
Crooked Timber

TRENDING: All shook up: Bachmann flubs Elvis birthday — (CNN)-Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann stepped all over Elvis Presley's blue suede shoes while stumping Tuesday, when she mistakenly wished “The King” a “Happy Birthday.” — August 16 actually marks the 34th anniversary of Presley's death.
Discussion:
The Moderate Voice, USA Today, Mediaite, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, TPMDC, Pirate's Cove and Campaign 2012
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Malpractice Reform in Texas: a Review — This is mostly from an old post (at my old blog), but with the entry of Gov. Perry into the race, it seems like time to wheel it out. — Over a year ago, a reader emailed me the following: … On Sunday, Gov. Perry said: … Where to start?
Discussion:
Mother Jones and ThinkProgress
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Why Texas has the highest percentage of uninsured people in the U.S.
Discussion:
ThinkProgress