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1.) A Colbert a day keeps the presidency in play? — A new report says that the Colbert bump is more crucial than previously thought. TheDC’s Alex Pappas reports:
“Why did Republicans fail to stop Barack Obama from winning another four years in the White House and what can they do to get back on the path to victory? Those are the topics tackled inside the 100-page report being released by the Republican National Committee’s Growth and Opportunity Project on Monday. … Inside the review obtained by The Daily Caller — which is being publicly released at a press conference Monday morning in Washington — are recommendations on how to grow the party and do things to better attract Hispanics, blacks, Asian Americas, women and the youth. One way to attract younger votes, the report states, is having Republican leaders spend more time going on ‘The Daily Show,’ ‘The Colbert Report’ and MTV, and giving interviews to publications like People and Us Weekly.”
Oh, that’s the ticket! If only Mitt Romney went on Colbert more and did more interviews with Us Weekly, he would surely be president now. Of course.
2.) Motor City Madness — Things are about to get nasty in Detroit. Okay, things are already nasty in Detroit. So let’s try this again: Things are about to get nastier in Detroit. TheDC’s Patrick Howley reports:
“Hundreds of well-organized demonstrators vowing ‘civil disobedience’ will greet Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s visit to Cobo Hall in Detroit Monday for an economic summit in order to protest Snyder’s selection of a powerful ’emergency manager’ to save the city of Detroit from bankruptcy. On Thursday, Snyder appointees on a three-person panel confirmed African-American lawyer Kevyn Orr as the city’s ’emergency manager,’ a powerful position that gives him authority to restructure the city’s finances and change labor contracts while the all-black elected city council sits on the sidelines. The move, facilitated by Snyder, has sparked charges of racial animus and ‘anti-democracy’ against the governor.”
3.) Libertarianism rising — George Will said on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday that the Conservative Political Action Conference showed that a strong libertarian streak was growing in the GOP. TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports:
“‘Republicans have been arguing — social conservatives and libertarian free-market conservatives — since the 1950s, when the National Review was founded on the idea of the fusion of the two,’ he continued. ‘It has worked before with Ronald Reagan. It can work again. What I did see at CPAC was the rise of the libertarian strand of Republicanism, which has an affected foreign policy that is a pullback from nation-building and other ambitions aboard that they never countenance from government at home, and a sense of ‘live and let live’ with subjects such as decriminalization of certain drugs and gay marriage.'”
On foreign policy, TheDC Morning is less sure how significant this libertarian streak is. While some GOP senators may “Stand with Rand” when it comes to issues of executive power, when it comes to a tangible issue like Iran, the GOP caucus seems pretty intent on stopping the Islamic Republic from getting a nuclear weapon, even if it requires military action.
4.) Punching Palin — Karl Rove was the subject of many attacks at the Conservative Political Action Conference. On Sunday, he hit back at one of his antagonists. TheDC’s Jeff Poor reports:
“On this weekend’s broadcast of ‘Fox News Sunday,’ American Crossroads boss Karl Rove took a shot at former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who on Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference attacked Rove for his reportedly planned involvement in upcoming Republican primaries. … ‘I appreciate her encouragement that I ought to go home to Texas and run for office,’ he said. ‘I would be enthused if I ran for office to have her support. I would say this though — I don’t think I’m a particularly good candidate, a sort of a balding fat guy. And second of all, I’d say if I did run for office and win, I’d serve out my term. I wouldn’t leave office midterm.'”
5.) Tweet of Yesterday — Gavin McInnes: Sometimes, when I miss Chris Farley, I make the kids dress up in their kindergarten clothes and fall through the coffee table.
6.) Today in North Korean News — BREAKING: “New Homepage Praises Kim Jong Il”
VIDEO: Is Donald Trump a classy conservative — or the classiest?