1.) Go on, Irene — How did Hurricane Irene treat ya, East Coast readers? Count your blessings that she was so much gentler than expected. The enormous storm has been responsible for 21 deaths so far, but fortunately we were spared the wholesale destruction some were fearing. Associated Press: “Damage from Irene appears to be less than feared, a bit of reassuring news for a fragile economy. Insured damage from Irene will range between $2 billion and $3 billion, and the total losses will likely be about $7 billion, according to preliminary estimates by Kinetic Analysis Corp., a consulting firm. Both figures are less than had been feared and will likely have little impact on the nation’s $14 trillion economy. ‘Irene left several places with black eyes, but it doesn’t seem to have delivered an economic knockout,’ said Ryan Sweet, an economist at Moody’s Analytics. The estimates from Kinetic Analysis, based in Silver Spring, Md., suggest that Irene will have caused far less insured damage than the $6 billion the industry paid out after Hurricane Isabel struck the East Coast in 2003… Millions of people have lost power from the storm, and analysts said the length of the outages and the extent of disruption to public transportation in cities like New York will help determine the economic damage.” So it was pretty bad, but not as bad as it could’ve been. Rather than complain about having to buy bottled water and extra batteries for nothing, how about being glad you didn’t need them this time? You’re welcome. On a lighter note, a weatherman for Fox 5 in DC was forced to report live from Ocean City, MD while covered in “sea foam.” Which turned out to be composed of… well, use your imagination.
2.) No tea and no sympathy for Mitt Romney? — You can keep your teabags to yourself, teabaggers, because tea isn’t Mitt Romney’s bag. TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports: “Mitt Romney says he’s on the same page as tea party activists, but some national organizations affiliated with the movement say the GOP presidential candidate hasn’t made much of an effort to get to know them. In fact, these tea party organizers say they can’t recall the former Massachusetts governor ever speaking at a tea party gathering, unlike nearly all of his primary opponents. ‘To my knowledge, Mitt Romney has never requested to participate in one of our tea party events or rallies,’ said Jacqueline Bodnar, a spokeswoman at FreedomWorks, the Washington, D.C.-based organization led by former House leader Dick Armey… Another national figure in the movement, Mark Meckler, a national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, also said Romney ‘certainly never reached out to our organization, not that I’m aware of.'” That’s because teabaggers are yucky and nobody likes them. At least that’s what the Democrats and the media (pardon the redundancy) want everyone to think. Heck, they’re still pushing Huntsman. It’s cute, really. For what it’s worth, Romney says he’s “in sync” with the Tea Party. He just doesn’t want to have anything to do with them.
3.) Misunderstanding of Obama’s greatness reaches new levels — You just don’t know a good thing when it comes along, America. TheDC’s Caroline May reports: “President Obama’s disapproval rating reached its highest level to date Sunday, according to Gallup’s daily presidential tracking poll. Based on the latest data, 55 percent of Americans say they disapprove of the job President Obama is doing. Just 38 percent of Americans say they approve of Obama’s performance as president.” Which just goes to show what ingrates you guys are. Come on, the guy cut short his vacation by an entire day, rolled up his sleeves, and stopped Irene singlehandedly. What more do you want, people? Jobs?
4.) Gore gets even goofier — If there’s one thing Al Gore can’t stand, it’s peaceful dissent. At least when he’s the one being dissented against. Never the model of subtlety to begin with, Al is becoming increasingly desperate now that the highly lucrative fad he’s been riding is starting to fade. Caroline May reports: “One day climate change skeptics will be seen in the same negative light as racists, or so says former Vice President Al Gore. In an interview with former advertising executive and Climate Reality Project collaborator Alex Bogusky broadcast on UStream on Friday, Gore explained that in order for climate change alarmists to succeed, they must ‘win the conversation’ against those who deny there is a crisis. ‘I remember, again going back to my early years in the South, when the Civil Rights revolution was unfolding, there were two things that really made an impression on me,’ Gore said. ‘My generation watched Bull Connor turning the hose on civil rights demonstrators and we went, “Whoa! How gross and evil is that?” My generation asked old people, “Explain to me again why it is okay to discriminate against people because their skin color is different?” And when they couldn’t really answer that question with integrity, the change really started.’ The former vice president recalled how society succeeded in marginalizing racists and said climate change skeptics must be defeated in the same manner.” One important difference: racism is wrong. But other than that, good plan, Al! Maybe this will shut up the people who disagree with you.
5.) Dr. Love calls for Condi — Sounds like somebody wants to rock and roll all nite and Tea Party every day. TheDC’s Laura Donovan reports: “Two weeks after predicting that Texas Gov. Rick Perry will oust President Barack Obama from the White House in 2012, KISS bassist Gene Simmons suggested that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would make a fine running mate. In a series of tweets Friday, Simmons waded back into political waters by suggesting the Perry–Rice presidential ticket. ‘Wanna play a Political Game? Here’s a hard ticket to beat – Gov Perry and Condoleezza Rice,’ the musician tweeted. Simmons went on to explain why he views Condi favorably. ‘Met her in Stockholm & she struck me as politically savvy as anyone I’ve met in gov’mt,’ Simmons wrote in another tweet. ‘She won’t run for VP, but this ticket is a winner.'” Which may be the nicest thing Simmons has ever said about a woman that didn’t involve his tongue. Get it? See, because he was typing. On Twitter. Um.
6.) Today’s words of wisdom from Alec Baldwin’s Truther, er, Twitter feed — “Lots of limbs down. No flooding. 1 window blew out of sun room. Only problem is power’s out. I can’t play Mayor’s Hurricane Bunker on Wii.”
VIDEO: Reporting from a hurricane is a crappy job.
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