Chrissy Boy

From CAMPAIGN 2012 at The Washington Post:

SAYREVILLE, N.J. — Since Hurricane Sandy devastated his beloved state, Chris Christie, the bombastic, shout-first-worry-later Republican, has gone soft on President Obama.

When a resident in this hard-hit town approached Christie on Wednesday to complain that FEMA had failed to help his neighborhood in the past, the governor assured him that his buddy in the Oval Office would make it right.

“Don’t you worry, pal,” said Christie […] “I will be with the president this afternoon.”

Hurricanes are scary!!

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Drowning Government in a Teacup

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Columbia, S.C. —
The leading Republican presidential candidates spent Labor Day declaring their fealty to limited government as they sought to demonstrate credibility with a Tea Party movement that has seized the political energy of their party.

…snip…

Grim economic news has framed the Republican presidential campaign as a referendum on Obama’s fiscal leadership and a contest about which of the Republican rivals is best positioned to turn the country’s fortunes around.

But the president’s would-be replacements are also preparing for months of political combat among themselves as they seek the Republican nomination. At a wonkish policy forum Monday, five of the Republican candidates offered a preview of the intraparty fight for support from evangelical and Tea Party voters.

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Why would I buy food from someone who makes me lose my appetite?

(Scroll down for a special announcement, Raisinettes!)

From TALKING POINTS MEMO:

If you ever find yourself in a post-nuclear holocaust environment and come across people eating beef stroganoff, odds are they’ll be Glenn Beck fans. You may have heard about Beck’s relationship with Goldline International, which urges people to buy gold and stay safe from the supposed inevitable devaluing of the dollar. Now meet Food Insurance, which sells survival kits of freeze-dried food and other items to help people live from two weeks to 12 months, depending on the plan purchased (and post-apocalyptic conditions). Beck has promoted the company’s products, is featured prominently on the company’s website, and a banner ad for the company, bearing Beck’s image, was spotted on his website […]

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Sleazy Returns to the Big Easy

(CNN) — Michael Brown, the Federal Emergency Management Agency leader who quit following widespread criticism of the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina, is taking his radio show to New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday and Thursday.

Brown, who is on KOA-850 AM in Denver, Colorado, confirmed his plans to CNN.

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If You Think BP’s Honest, You Don’t Know Dudley…I mean, Diddly!

From The Washington Post:

Meet BP’s Bob Dudley, the human relief well.

This week the Mississippi-bred, wispy-haired Dudley has been paraded through the Gulf coast, the White House and press corps as the new face of BP’s fight to contain the damage the oil spill has unleashed on U.S. shores — and the company’s reputation.

Why do I get the feeling that the emphasis will be on the company’s rep, not the damage that’s already been done and will be done?

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The United Hates of America

From the Southern Poverty Law Center:

The radical right caught fire last year, as broad-based populist anger at political, demographic and economic changes in America ignited an explosion of new extremist groups and activism across the nation.

Hate groups stayed at record levels — almost 1,000 — despite the total collapse of the second largest neo-Nazi group in America. Furious anti-immigrant vigilante groups soared by nearly 80%, adding some 136 new groups during 2009. And, most remarkably of all, so-called “Patriot” groups — militias and other organizations that see the federal government as part of a plot to impose “one-world government” on liberty-loving Americans — came roaring back after years out of the limelight.

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David Vitter Pampers the Formaldehyde Industry

From TALKING POINTS MEMO:

Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) is blocking an EPA nomination because he wants the agency to delay establishing safety procedures for formaldehyde. Meanwhile, major emitters of the dangerous chemical have been generous contributors to the senator’s reelection campaign.

Vitter met yesterday with EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, who sought, unsuccessfully, to convince him to remove the hold he had placed on Paul Anastas, who has been nominated to be the EPA’s assistant administrator in charge of its Office of Research and Development, reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

No one has a problem with Anastas, who served in environmental posts in the Clinton and Bush 43 administrations. Rather, according to the Times-Picayune, Vitter wants the EPA to let the National Academy of Sciences review EPA’s assessment of the risks posed by the chemical formaldehyde.

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