Guess Who Came to Dinner

From NBC NEWS:

WASHINGTON — As federal workers file out of the State Department at the end of a Washington workday, an elite group is often just arriving in the marbled, flag-lined lobby: Billionaire CEOs, Supreme Court justices, political heavyweights and ambassadors arrive in evening attire as they’re escorted by private elevator to dinner with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Until the coronavirus shut them down in March, the gatherings were known as “Madison Dinners” — elaborate, unpublicized affairs that Pompeo and his wife, Susan Pompeo, began in 2018 and held regularly in the historic Diplomatic Reception Rooms on the government’s dime.

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Why Hermie should be (Tali)banned from speaking

From CBS NEWS:

Herman Cain suggested Friday that the Taliban were playing a role in Libya’s new government. The comment initially was seen as another foreign policy misstep from the Republican presidential candidate, but aides later pointed to a one-time Libyan rebel leader who fought in Afghanistan to back up Cain’s claims.

Cain has spent the week trying to calm jitters about his foreign policy after he struggled to answer whether he supported President Barack Obama’s approach to Libya. He ended the week trying to blame reporters for the moment, which was captured on video and quickly spread around the Internet.

Cain’s critics seized on Monday’s incoherent answer as the latest evidence that the former pizza executive is unprepared to be the GOP’s nominee.

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Citizen Vain

From THINK PROGRESS SECURITY:

In an interview with the religious right Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain badly bungled Uzbekistan’s name and said his standard answer to “‘gotcha’ questions” would be that he doesn’t have answers.

…snip…

CAIN: I’m ready for the ‘gotcha’ questions and they’re already starting to come. And when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan I’m going to say, you know, I don’t know. Do you know?

And then I’m going to say how’s that going to create one job?

…snip…

Knowing who is the head of some of these small insignificant states around the world — I don’t think that is something that is critical to focusing on national security and getting this economy going. When I get ready to go visit that country, I’ll know who it is. But until then, I want to focus on the big issues that we need to solve.

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A Show of Feith?

From THINK PROGRESS SECURITY:

Conservative Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin asserted in a blog post that Texas governor and Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry did not write a Friday pro-Israel op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal and Israel’s Jerusalem Post. The op-ed, in which Perry cherry-picked a quote from a historian to link Texas and Israel, criticized President Obama’s pro-Israel record. “Perry almost certainly didn’t write it,” said Rubin. “We know that because his own foreign policy views are rudimentary. […] A ghostwritten piece so far above his current abilities highlights the concern.” Rubin acknowledged that “most pols have these things written for them,” but said that “until he personally could articulate his thoughts in detail, [advisers] should forgo the pretense of sophistication.” Among Perry’s top reported foreign policy contacts are former Bush officials Donald Rumsfeld and Douglas Feith. So who wrote Perry’s Op-Ed?

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If Rick Santorum isn’t sexy enough for you, here’s Thaddeus!

From The CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR:

Thaddeus McCotter, a US Representative from Michigan whose agenda appeals to tea party activists, announced his bid Saturday to win the Republican presidential nomination.

Rep. McCotter champions lower federal taxes, energy independence from foreign sources of oil, he is against illegal immigrants receiving government benefits and he endorses the concept of American “exceptionalism” regarding foreign policy.

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CPAChydermititis

Washington (CNN) — Potential Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Sen. John Thune, Tim Pawlenty and Rep. Ron Paul all get their chance Friday to address the annual Conservative Political Action Conference — a gathering of more than 10,000 GOP activists from across the country.

The list of speakers for the three-day meeting is a virtual “Who’s Who” of GOP presidential politics.

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Holier-Than-Thou Land

From TALKING POINTS MEMO:

As president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Dr. Richard Land is an influential opponent of the Cordoba House project in New York. But when he’s not speaking on behalf of one of the most powerful religious bodies in the country, Land has a second — some would say ironic — ecumenical role: member of the federally created United States Commission on International Religious Freedom [appointed by George W. Bush].

In his role as a commissioner, Land’s job is to press for a U.S. foreign policy that advances religious freedoms around the world. Reached by phone today, Land maintained that there is no contradiction between his service on the Commission and his efforts to see the Cordoba House Islamic cultural center project moved farther north in Manhattan.

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King-size Stupid

From The Wonk Room at THINK PROGRESS:

Following the devastating earthquake in Haiti this week, many activists and politicians have heightened the cry for granting undocumented Haitians in the U.S. Temporary Protected Status (TPS). TPS is a longstanding cornerstone of U.S. immigration policy that is afforded to undocumented immigrants from a small number of federally-designated countries suffering armed conflicts, natural disasters, or other extraordinary circumstances until conditions improve. Many claim Haitians should’ve received TPS after four consecutive tropical cyclones in 2008 left 800 people dead, hundreds missing, and made the Haitian city of Gonaives “uninhabitable.” However, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) seems to think that not only were undocumented Haitians undeserving of TPS status then, undocumented Haitians living in the U.S. should now be deported back to their country to specifically serve as much-needed relief workers.

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