1.) Thanks for reading, Mr. President — Years ago, inclusion on Nixon’s “enemies list” was considered by many to be a badge of honor. And the tradition continues in the age of Twitter, as TheDC’s C.J. Ciaramella reports: “President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign recently launched a website, Attack Watch, to ‘fight the smears’ against the president, and The Daily Caller is on Attack Watch’s short-list of monitored news organizations. The Daily Caller is one of 19 accounts — and only one of seven news organizations — followed by Attack Watch on Twitter. The first seven Twitter accounts followed by Attack Watch were people or offices associated with the White House or Obama’s reelection campaign. The next two, in order, are Drudge Report and The Daily Caller. After that, perhaps looking to appear ‘fair and balanced,’ Attack Watch follows liberal bloggers and websites such as Huffington Post, Think Progress and Talking Points Memo, as well as non-partisan outlets like Roll Call.” Good morning, Mr. President! How are you today? Oh, we’re fine, thank you. Well, have a great day!
2.) State Dept. specialist scandal surges — Back in July, TheDC’s Matthew Boyle broke the story of Kathleen McGrade, a State Department contract specialist who “participated in awarding more than $52 million in taxpayer-funded contracts to a company owned and operated by her husband and daughter.” Incredibly, McGrade and her husband, Sterling Royale Group Vice President Brian Collinsworth, denied being married to each other… despite posting their wedding photos on MySpace. And now begins the next chapter in the lives of these criminal masterminds, as Boyle reports: “Federal investigators raided the home of former State Department contractor Kathleen McGrade on Thursday morning. At least eight vehicles belonging to federal investigators were on scene when The Daily Caller arrived. An unverifiable number of investigators were inside the home. Neighbors told TheDC that a team of federal agents entered the home at 8:42 a.m. with a large number of boxes, and it appeared as though they were looking for evidence. The neighbors said McGrade and husband Brian Collinsworth were both in the home at the time, and spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid conflicts with others in the posh northern Virginia neighborhood… State Department officials fired McGrade within hours of when The Daily Caller first published its exclusive July investigation into the contracting abuse. Spokespersons for the Office of Inspector General at State have not said officially whether or not they’re pursuing charges against McGrade, but the Thursday morning raid on her family’s home indicates a full-blown investigation.” It certainly does. $52 million might seem like chump change when it comes to federal corruption — heck, you’d need to bust 10 Kathleen McGrades to equal just one Solyndra — but every little bit counts.
3.) Solyndra spokesman said some suspicious stuff — Speaking of Solyndra, and speaking of people telling the Daily Caller things that might not be precisely on-the-nose 100% true, TheDC’s John Rossomando reports: “An email from February 2011 shows that the now-bankrupt solar energy company Solyndra denied receiving money from the federal government. Solyndra spokesperson David Miler reacted viscerally to an early Daily Caller report about a growing congressional investigation into $535 million in federal loan guarantees, which have recently become the subject of scandal and intense scrutiny. ‘Your story today on Solyndra has several inaccuracies I wanted to point out,’ Miller wrote to TheDC on February 22, 2011. ‘For sake of accuracy … [T]he federal government has not spent a dime on Solyndra.’ He went on to write that the congressional investigators were incorrect, and that the federal government would only have to pay anything ‘in the unlikely event Solyndra can’t pay back its loans.'” WHOOPS.
4.) Sleaze merchant doesn’t sell sleaze, says sleaze merchant — Good news, Palin-haters: more stuff to fuel the hate! TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports: “The author of the new tell-all book on Sarah Palin claims he wrote a ‘fair’ manuscript on the former governor of Alaska, despite claiming in his book that she slept with a famous basketball star, had an extramarital affair and dabbled in cocaine. ‘I think I was as fair as I could possibly have been,’ Joe McGinniss said in an interview that aired Thursday on NBC News, ‘given the fact that she told all the people who were closest to her not to talk to me.’ During the interview with reporter Savannah Guthrie, McGinniss defends the sources he used in the book, saying he spoke with about 200 people who knew Palin. At one point, he details how he’s confident Palin did coke. ‘Well, you talk to somebody who snorted it with her and you talk to many of Todd’s friends who describe him as having been on the end of the straw frequently in his youth,’ McGinniss said. ‘I’m not saying Todd and Sarah Palin today abuse cocaine or even use it. But there is no question that they both did at one point in their lives.'” That’s what they call solid evidence, folks. And even if it is true and she does run for president, it’s not like Obama supporters have a lot of wiggle room when it comes to a candidate’s past drug use. Oh, and… now it’s wrong to be attracted to a handsome black guy? You really want to go down that road, Obamabots? Next.
5.) Barry Manilow [heart] Ron Paul — On Nov. 6, 2012, will Ron Paul be singing “Looks Like We Made It”? TheDC’s Nicholas Ballasy reports: “Grammy award-winning musician Barry Manilow told The Daily Caller that he agrees with ‘just about everything’ 2012 Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul says, calling him a ‘solid’ contender for the highest office in the land. ‘I like him. I like what he says, I do. I like what he says. I think he’s solid,’ said Manilow, who confirmed to TheDC in an interview at the Capitol on Thursday that he contributed to Paul’s last campaign for president. ‘I agree with just about everything he says. What can I tell you?’ Manilow added. Manilow was on Capitol Hill speaking at a briefing on atrial fibrillation or AFib, a heart disease that affects over 2.5 million Americans. Manilow, who has fought the disease for over 15 years, encouraged lawmakers to support H.R. 295, a bill that would advance AFib research and education in part by ‘encouraging education programs that promote collaboration among the Federal health agencies and that increase public and clinician awareness of atrial fibrillation, including risk assessment, screening, treatment, and appropriate clinical management.'” Has Manilow asked Ron Paul if that’s a legitimate function of government? Because he might not agree with what Ron Paul says about that…
6.) Today’s words of wisdom from Alec Baldwin’s Truther, er, Twitter feed — “I did a short Emmy pretape a few days ago. Now they tell me NewsCorp may cut the funniest line. #NewsCorphumorlessaswellascorrupt”
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