1.) Another GOP debate already? — Didn’t they just have one? How many is this now, 157? Oh well. TheDC’s Jamie Weinstein reports:
“While former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain and his 9-9-9 plan were the prime target at the opening of Tuesday night’s CNN Western Republican presidential debate, the night ultimately was focused on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Coming into the debate, conventional wisdom suggested that with his sudden rise into a front-runner position, Cain would be in the hot seat. And it certainly looked like that at the beginning of the debate with each of the six other candidates participating in the debate at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas trashing Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan. But a series of verbal duals between Romney and other candidates over immigration, health care and Romney’s electability ultimately stole the show… When finally able to respond, Romney declared, ‘I was asked about the Massachusetts plan, was it something I’d impose on the nation? And the answer is absolutely not. It was something crafted for a state. And I’ve said time and again, Obamacare is bad news. It’s unconstitutional. It costs way too much money, a trillion dollars. And if I’m president of the United States, I will repeal it for the American people.'”
And then the other ones said a bunch of stuff too.
2.) Anderson Cooper flattened — If you think debate moderator Anderson Cooper is shallow and two-dimensional, CNN is listening. Jamie Weinstein:
“Press covering the CNN Western Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas were greeted with a treat in the press filing room: a free Anderson Cooper-shaped bookmark. The Cooper bookmark came along with a free notebook and pen… The back of the bookmark advertises Cooper’s show as occurring weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ET. Cooper’s show, however, now airs at 8:00 p.m. ET as well, meaning that either an error had been made in their printing or CNN is providing the press with old goodies.”
Who cares? The important thing is that now you can look at Anderson Cooper anytime you want. Anytime. You. Want.
3.) Fast and Furious still not going away — For the latest on The Most Transparent Administration in United States History, let’s go to TheDC’s Matthew Boyle:
“House oversight committee ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings hasn’t officially followed up on his public calls for Attorney General Eric Holder to testify before the committee on Operation Fast and Furious. ‘I think that, John, he has to come up [to Capitol Hill] and say what he has said in his letters, and make it clear under oath,’ Cummings told CNN’s John King on October 12. ‘But at the same time, I want to make sure we are not harming any pending cases, we are not putting FBI informants in jeopardy.’ Democratic oversight committee staffers haven’t returned requests from The Daily Caller on whether Cummings plans to take action in his official capacity as the committee’s highest-ranking minority party member. Though Cummings hasn’t followed up on his comments to CNN, a Republican member of the committee, Rep. Patrick Meehan, has. ‘I am writing to respectfully urge you to appear before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to answer important questions on the Fast and the Furious operation,’ Meehan wrote to Holder in a Tuesday letter exclusively obtained by The Daily Caller… ‘I agree with the Committee’s ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings, who said on CBS’s Face the Nation program Sunday that Democrats want a responsible and balanced investigation,’ Meehan wrote to Holder… It’s unclear if Cummings will support Meehan’s call for a balanced investigation by having Holder appear before the oversight committee.”
Well, just give them a minute. It takes time to get your story straight.
4.) The unbearable whiteness of being an Occupier — One of the criticisms of the Tea Party is that it’s “predominantly white.” Another of the criticisms of the Tea Party is that it’s “overwhelmingly white.” You may discern a pattern emerging. Some critics seem more preoccupied with the color of Tea Partiers’ skin than their ideas. And Occupiers, not having any ideas, are even more susceptible to this line of attack. TheDC’s Neil Munro reports:
“The progressive organizers of the Occupy Wall Street protest have spurred furious internal protest over the role of nonwhite protesters and women, and over the significance of non-economic political goals in the movement, a cache of internal emails released Monday shows… ‘We live day to day in the dismissive culture of american [sic] chauvinism, we face insidious forms of outright and silenced discrimination, we are struggling to participate in this occupation so that issues of race, immigration, gender are not sidelined but part of the center core practice of decolonizing wall street [sic],’ said a Oct. 5 mailing list message from one of the most vocal organizers, Shaista Husain, a woman who has repeatedly pushed the group to address racial issues and the U.S. war against Islamists… On Oct. 7 Husain railed against a promotional poster showing a powerful, tall woman striding across New York City. ‘Can you put some dreadlocks on her, does every female the represents [sic] this movement have to be visibly white?” she demanded. “PERHAPS and now im [sic] begging you comrades, its [sic] so real it f***ing hurts, can we get some people of color visibility… ATLEAST [sic] ONE poster that reflects this? I bet you it will be so celebrated!!! Perhaps an indigenous woman? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE> [sic] folks.. .Thanks!!!'”
You know, this is how the Judean People’s Front split off from the People’s Front of Judea. Or was it the other way around?
5.) Throw Harrison Ford the riddle, he’ll throw you no glib — Taxes are good, and more taxes are even better, and if they kill jobs… Um er uh. That’s the latest persuasive argument from one of our moral, ethical, and intellectual superiors in Tinseltown, as TheDC’s Nicholas Ballasy reports:
“Hollywood actor and pilot Harrison Ford refused to be ‘glibly opinionated’ about President Barack Obama’s proposed aviation tax increases, but told The Daily Caller at the Capitol that aviation fuel taxes are the ‘fairest and most expedient way’ for the federal government to raise revenue… ‘I’m not fully aware of the details of these issues so I don’t want to be glibly opinionated about it one way or another, but I do think that the collection of taxes through a tax on fuel is the fairest and most expedient way to increase funding…’ The Air Transport Association says the increases would eliminate 10,000 industry jobs. Ford was also asked by TheDC if the security fee increase would hurt the airline industry. ‘I can’t really give you… I don’t have an opinion on that,’ Ford told TheDC.”
Ouch. Well, he was great as Indiana Jones, at least. Did you know he also played Han Solo? So there’s that.
6.) Today’s words of wisdom from Alec Baldwin’s Truther, er, Twitter feed — “My thanks 2 Aaron from Brooklyn and Sean from Winnipeg for this evening’s OWS tutorial. My first. A lot of dedicated people at #ZuccottiPark”
VIDEO: Joe Scarborough is calling himself a Republican again…
(NOTE: Your humble correspondent will be on vacation until Monday. Stay strong.)
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