Political Hippo Circle Jerk - America, farg YEAH!

[Diomedes]

Freedom will mean different things to different Republicans, but it can tether a diverse coalition to inalienable principles. Republicans can welcome a vigorous debate about legalized abortion or same-sex marriage; but we should be able to agree that social policies should be set through a democratic process, not by unelected judges.

Translation:  we have to give up the anti-abortion litmus test for Republican party membership, and focus our anti-abortion efforts on public relations and legislation rather than on witchhunting who amongst us might not be lockstep anti-abortion in all cases

Our party benefits from national-security debates; but Republicans can start from the premise that the U.S. is an exceptional nation and force for good in history.

Wha??  This makes no sense.  The democrats claim the same thing.  Only far left people like me dare to suggest that maybe the U.S. doesn't have a claim to manifest destiny and divine goodness, and people like me are not represented by anyone in congress except perhaps Dennis Kucinich.

We can argue about how to rein in the federal Leviathan; but we should agree that centralized government infringes on individual liberty and that problems are best solved by the people or the government closest to them.

If this means that Republicans might return to the position of strong support for state's rights, then I agree it's a winning strategy.  The problem has been that Republicans support states rights only to do things like segregate schools, ban abortion, or deregulate corporations, and not to do things like impose tough environmental laws, teach sex ed, or end marriage discrimination.  If the party can get back to supporting local decision making and local government broadly rather than only where it agrees with their platform, they might rebound.

Moderate and liberal Republicans who think a South Carolina conservative like me has too much influence are right! I don't want to make decisions for them. That's why I'm working to reduce Washington's grip on our lives and devolve power to the states, communities and individuals, so that Northeastern Republicans, Western Republicans, Southern Republicans, and Midwestern Republicans can define their own brands of Republicanism.

Sounding like one of the guys who wants to inject a little libertarianism into the Republican party here.  If the GOP doesn't follow rhetoric like this to a more liberal definition of what it means to be Republican, then the party will outright die as it began:  the deep south white power party.

It's the Democrats who want to impose a rigid, uniform agenda on all Americans.

I'm sure WSJ readers eat this kind of shtein up, but that's all it is.  Show me this rigid agenda please.  No one from the committee of comrades has been auditing me to make sure I'm in line, I'd like a warning if that's coming down the pike.

Freedom Republicanism is about choice -- in education, health care, energy and more. It's OK if those choices look different in South Carolina, Maine and California.

Obama happens to support charter schools and has not ruled out vouchers or some other similar form, so that's number one gone.  Republican choice in health care means if you're poor you can choose no health care or no heath care, swell choice.  And for energy, the current Republican choice is coal or oil or gas and damn the consequences. 

I agree in general with this guy:  Let some Maine and California Republicans back into the party even if they do happen to have correct opinions on social issues like gay marriage and abortion, and maybe the party will have a chance to build again.

[rjs246]

The other contradictory thing is that DeMint is the reason Specter defected. He told Specter that he was going to support his Republican primary challenger and made some asinine statement about preferring to have 30 ideologically pure Republicans in the Senate than 40 moderates. He's an idiot, but this particular statement made a lot of sense.

[ice grillin you]

Date Night for the Obamas!
By Ann Limpert   Published Monday, May 04, 2009

The President and First Lady didn't only surprise M Street crowds when they made an appearance at Citronelle on Saturday night. Michel Richard, chef/owner of the Georgetown foodie destination, was pretty shocked too. It was looking like a normal night, even with White House social secretary Desirée Rogers on the reservation books. But about an hour before Rogers's reservation time, the staff got word that it was actually the President and First Lady who would take the table. Scramble!

When the couple arrived, they were ushered into the restaurant by the relentlessly jolly Richard, then taken to a table in a "semiprivate" dining room (well, as private as you can be with 40 Secret Service agents in and outside the restaurant). They started with a Richard classic, the artfully layered tuna niçoise. Michelle, who recently revealed she'd taken her staff to Five Guys, continued her burger streak with the buttery, potato-chip-topped lobster burger (there's a miniature one on the tasting menu, but the kitchen made her a full-size version). Barack dug into the super-rich 72-hour braised short ribs, then they shared a napoleon and a few other desserts.

As they left the restaurant, the dining room erupted into applause. The love fest continued when, on the way out, Michelle gave Michel a kiss on the cheek, telling him—in French—how much she liked the food.

[Tomahawk]

I bet B.O. got laid that night!

[Sgt PSN]

prez got game

[Father Demon]

That is really a very big deal.

Couldn't resist.

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

prez got game

No doubt.  I'd say no less than 40% of American women would allow him access to the vadge.

[General_Failure]

Is that counting all the fat chicks that give it up for any black guy?

[Sgt PSN]

like lisa lampinelli.  damn she's fat.  she's funny.  but she's freaking fat.  and loves the blacks. 

[General_Failure]

So they say, several hundred times on each Comedy Central Roast.

[Sgt PSN]

so i'm qualified to be a roaster? 

[General_Failure]

Can you read badly written jokes off a teleprompter and pretend to be happy for some C-list celebrity?

[PoopyfaceMcGee]

Is that counting all the fat chicks that give it up for any black guy?

Yes.  I'm assuming even some of his biggest fans have some morals.

[Sgt PSN]

Can you read badly written jokes off a teleprompter and pretend to be happy for some C-list celebrity?

i can do a lot of things.  but i don't think i could ever fake being happy for the likes of larry the cable guy or flava flav. 

[rjs246]

The Financial Times' take on Obama's 'apologizing'.

Most of the article simply recounts things that intelligent readers already knew, but this part was well-struck:

To his conservative critics, the signal he is sending is one of weakness. But no fair reading of Mr Obama's various comments suggest that he is ashamed of his country, or that he intends to sacrifice American interests. What he is doing is trying to improve some of the poisonous relationships that he inherited from President George W. Bush by acknowledging, usually in rather coded language, that the US, too, can make mistakes. In the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq and the torture scandal, this is not an unreasonable point to make. Proclaiming that the US is always right and virtuous may go down well in the American heartland, but it tends to antagonise foreigners – and that is simply counterproductive.

More important, a willingness to discuss your country's history self-critically is a mark of an open society.

Vladimir Putin has had Russian history textbooks rewritten to take a more positive view of Stalinism. The Chinese ferociously repress any challenges to the official version of the history of Taiwan. Mature democracies do things differently. They are not afraid of open discussion.