Lieberman’s Approval Falls

Things are not going well for Joe Lieberman. Public Policy Polling  finds that “Barack Obama’s approval rating with Connecticut Republicans is higher than Lieberman’s with the state’s Democrats.” His approval among Democrats is down to 14 percent, with 81 percent disapproving.

There’s been talk that he will run for reelection as a Republican. Republicans like him more than Democrats do, but still don’t like him very much. Republicans disapprove of him by a 48/39 margin and independents disapprove of him by 61/32 spread. Overall his approval is only 25 percent.

Salazar Reportedly Not Running

In a post yesterday I noted speculation that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar might run for governor of Colorado following the announced retirement of incumbent Bill Ritter. Marc Ambinder reports that Salazar had decided not to run and believes that Denver mayor John Hickenlooper is the most likely Democratic candidate.

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The Glenn Beckization of America

Since when is the president of the John Birch Society considered  to be one of “the nation’s top political commentators, legislators and intellectuals?” In a post which lacks any significant content, it was a surprise to see the head of the JBS placed in such a category by The Hill’s Congress Blog.

All the work by conservatives such as William F. Buckley, Jr. to disassociate the conservative movement from the Birchers seems to be destroyed now that the fringe elements have taken control of the conservative movement.

Survivor Heroes vs. Villains

The Survivor “Heroes vs. Villains” cast has been released. Unfortunately Richard Hatch was not allowed to leave home confinement early to appear, despite promising to use any winnings to pay the taxes he failed to pay for winning the first season.

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Bob Barr Defends Obama

Bob Barr, former Republican and former Libertarian Party candidate for president, defended Barack Obama from those using the recent attempted bombing attempt to attack him:

Critics of Obama way off base on this one

Yes — the not-so-bright, would-be terrorist from Nigeria got though international and domestic security mechanisms supposed to have stopped him long before the jerk lit his underwear afire before landing in Detroit.  And yes — the incident happened during the administration of President Barack Obama.  But the sniping at the president by Republicans, including former Vice President Cheney, and by conservative radio and TV commentators, borders on — if not passing into — asinine.

The criticism has included such childishness as blasting Obama for waiting a few days before making a national speech on the incident.  For heaven’s sake, the president was briefed on the incident from the moment it occured; he made statements almost immediately indicating his concern and that he was being regularly briefed; he took time to gather the facts and meet with his national security team; and then he appeared publicly to give a rational, measured, but hard-hitting response.  And for this, a former vice president criticizes him.

Partisanship truly has pervasively infected our political system when a reasonable, measured, factual, timely and substantive response by a president to a single security incident — the roots of which clearly indicate long-simmering problems that predated his tenure in office — is publicly blasted as irresponsible.  In point of fact, those levelling such counterproductive attacks are the ones engaging in irresponsible behavior.