I thought he would have preferred Herb-al tea

From THINK PROGRESS:

Former pizza executive Herman Cain’s rise to the top of the Republican presidential pack will undoubtedly put smiles on the faces of two brothers: Charles and David Koch.

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Misogyny: Good for What Ailes Ya

From am new york:

Get ready for a big surprise.

Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes did not hire Sarah Palin as an on-air commentator because of her lacerating wit or insight into domestic and foreign affairs.

“I hired Sarah Palin because she was hot and got ratings,” Ailes, 71, said of the former vice presidential candidate in an interview with the Huffington Post published Wednesday.

Yeah, kids, I know what you’re saying–Roger Ailes is a misogynistic pig.  You might take that back, though, when you find out that he hired Glenn Beck for the same reasons!

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Blechhh got fired, so would anyone be surprised if Princess Sarah is next on the chopping block?

The End of an Error

From Steve Kornacki at Salon:

The White House campaign ruse ends. If only the myth would too

There are, believe it or not, a few people who seem genuinely surprised by Sarah Palin’s announcement last night that she won’t run for president in 2012.

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Just Put Your Lips Together and Blow

From THINK PROGRESS ECONOMY:

A new Stop Snitchin campaign to deter would-be informants, in this case against people speaking up against crimes on Wall Street, is quietly taking shape, this time far from the media’s eye.

Financial experts and academics agree that strong whistleblower regulations could have prevented the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme and indeed much of the financial crisis if employees at firms engaged in fraudulent activity had spoken up early or had reported complex crimes to the appropriate authorities. Employees at firms at the center for the financial crisis, including troubled lender Countrywide, have cited intimidation and other illicit tactics as the reason few people spoke up as whistleblowers. Since the old whistleblower laws provided for weak legal protections for informants and relatively rare rewards, the Dodd-Frank financial reform law passed last year revamped the system with new rights for informants blowing the whistle on financial crimes.

Bank lobbyists and Fox News, however, have made such protections enemy number one.

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It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chris-less

From political ticker at CNN:

With characteristic brio, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie informed the world Tuesday that he will not seek the Republican presidential nomination.

“New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me,” Christie said at a press conference in Trenton.

And now the Republicans who pined for the blunt-talking governor to enter the presidential race are stuck with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

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Frack You!

From THINK PROGRESS GREEN:

On the campaign trail, Rick Santorum says his career since the Senate has been a paid commentary role at Fox News and as a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. But a mandatory disclosure requirement for presidential candidates reveals something new: Santorum has maintained his lifestyle through a well-paid consulting gig with Consol Energy Inc and a lobbying firm called American Continental Group.

The disclosure, revealed earlier this week, comes as a surprise because Santorum has never mentioned the fact that he works for a lobbying firm, nor do any state and federal lobbying disclosures have him listed as a lobbyist or contractor to such a company.

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News of News of The World

Anyone else notice that all the people involved in the News of the World/News Corporation scandal have names that sound like Alfred Hitchcock villains?

From The New York Times:

LONDON — A reporter who is among the 16 people arrested and then freed on bail in the phone hacking case that has shaken Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in Britain warned his former bosses on Friday that he planned to break his silence on the scandal in a civil court case. He said that he would reveal those who were responsible for the phone hacking.

The reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, 49, who was the chief reporter for the now-defunct tabloid The News of the World, gave the warning in a statement issued through his lawyers in connection with his wrongful-dismissal lawsuit against News International, the British newspaper arm of Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation. Mr. Thurlbeck was one of the first people arrested by Scotland Yard in a renewed investigation of the phone hacking this year, but he has denied publicly having played any part in the illegal interception of cellphone voicemails.

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