Michael Steele, the Republican party's streetwise Chairman, describes his job as such:
"I'm in the business of ticking people off."
And let there be no doubt... business is good... for Rush Limbaugh! Or not.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC); Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY); Roundtable with: Erin Burnett (CNBC), Mort Zuckerman (US News & World Report), Ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), and Author Liaquat Ahamed ("Lords of Finance").
Face the Nation: OMB Director Peter Orszag; House Minority Leader John Boehner (OH); Michael Fletcher (The Washington Post); Kathleen Parker (The Washington Post).
This Week: Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO); Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN); Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL); Head of the US Chamber of Commerce Thomas Donohue; Roundtable with: George Will (ABC News), Cokie Roberts (ABC News), David Brooks (The New York Times), and EJ Dionne (The Washington Post).
Fox News Sunday: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); Virginia Gov/DNC Chair Tim Kaine; Roundtable with: Brit Hume (Fox News), Mara Liasson (NPR), Bill Kristol (The Weekly Standard), and Juan Williiams (Fox News); Power Player of the Week [?]: Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL).
State of the Union: Peter Orszag; House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (VA).
Reliable Sources [segment]: Ex-"Evening News" Anchor Connie Chung; Sari Horowitz (The Washington Post); Scott Higham (The Washington Post); Harvey Levin (TMZ.com).
The Chris Matthews Show: Trish Regan (CNBC); Rick Stengel (TIME Magazine); Clarence Page (The Chicago Tribune); Kathleen Parker.
Fareed Zakaria GPS: Nat'l Democratic Party of Egypt Asst. Sec. Gen. Gamal Mubarak; Author Ian Bremmer; Harvard Professor/Author Niall Ferguson; Author David Frum; Author Barbara Ehrenreich.
Primetime viewing:
60 Minutes will take us along for the ride when the FDIC surprises employees at an Illinois bank with the news that they've been pwned!
NBC will present an hour of the "best" Saturday Night Live game show parodies from the past 30 years, followed by an hour of their "best" commercials. YMMV.
The National Geographic Channel will bring us inside the Kingdom of the Blue Whale.
As you've undoubtedly seen by now (via the Rec List, or postings elsewhere around the blogosphere), Jon Stewart delivered a brutal smackdown to CNBC and the clowns they put on the air this week.
But, wait... there was more.
Stewart also knocked around the Republican party – and its leader – pretty good.
The Daily Show
Monday: Author Nathaniel Frank ("Unfriendly Fire").
Tuesday: Author Craig Mullaney ("The Unforgiving Minute").
Wednesday: Actor Paul Rudd ("I Love You, Man").
Thursday: CNBC Host Jim Cramer.
Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert launched a nuclear attack on Glenn Beck and his so-called "War Room".
The Colbert Report
Monday: Musician Lisa Hannigan.
Tuesday: Associate Administrator for Space Operations at NASA William Gerstenmaier; Berkeley Professor Dr. Jay Keasling.
Wednesday: Author Howard Fineman ("The Thirteen American Arguments").
Thursday: MIT Professor Simon Johnson; Author Peter Singer ("The Life You Can Save").
Is that an election in your pants, or are you just happy to see her?
Newly released academic research suggests that Sarah Palin's sexiness, while great for selling copies of Vogue magazine and political buttons about the hottest governor from the coldest state last fall, may actually have hurt her vote-getting ability, which seems to be what elections are about.
Flashback:
I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can't be learned; it's either something you have or you don't, and man, she's got it.
- Rich Lowry @ National Review Online
Get a brain, moran!
Claim:
"If you send a kid to [public] school in D.C., chances are that they will end up in a gang rather than graduating.”
- Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Fact:
South Carolina has a graduation rate of 56% — 14% lower than DC's 70% graduation rate (which is in line with the national average), and the fourth-lowest in the nation.
And that's one to grow on.
- Trix