Weekend Open Thread

Welcome to your weekend open thread. We’re having a lovely fall weekend. How many of you are going to see the NASCAR race in Dover?

The big political gossip hitting the blogosphere now is a possible New York Times investigation into John Boehner. The investigation is about a rumored affair between Boehner and a lobbyist.

House Minority Leader John Boehner was asked by a liberal blogger Thursday to answer questions about an affair with a lobbyist, an allegation that will reportedly be the focus of an upcoming New York Times expose. Boehner ignored the question outright.

…

Mike Stark, an activist and blogger, intercepted Leader Boehner after his highly publicized “Pledge to America” unveiling to ask him about the accusation:

“Speaker Boehner, have you been cheating with Lisbeth Lyons, the lobbyist for the American Printing Association?” Stark asks. Boehner did not respond.

Stark later contacted Lyons, the Vice President of Government Affairs at Printing Industries of America, to get a comment on the allegations. She didn’t provide any.

The New York Post has since caught up with Lyons, who said the rumors were “unfounded.”

When Republicans say they’re going to “clean up” Washington – do they mean clean out the lobbyist wallets? Also, in case you’re blaming the “liberal” media for the leak, it actually came from Republican Mike Pence. Perhaps he thinks he can get the Speaker’s seat?

In case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s some video highlights of Stephen Colbert’s appearance before Congress. I know some people think that Colbert didn’t bring enough “seriousness” to Congress but how many people in the U.S. knew anything about the plight of migrant farm workers before Colbert testified?

Opening Statement

Questioning – including the part where Colbert “endorses” the Pledge to America.

Colbert’s testimony gave the media and Faux News a serious case of the sads:

It’s not like they were just a little peeved, either. They were really, really mad. Fox anchor Megyn Kelly said the Democratic chairwoman of the hearing “owed this country an apology” for wasting Congress’s time. She even said she was outraged that he’d wasted taxpayer dollars (which, as Colbert pointed out last night, amounts to free water and the electricity it took to run his microphone). Kelly expressed concern that some people appeared to “enjoy” Colbert’s testimony and for his part, King complained there was “no rational reason” for Colbert to appear and called it an “insult” that “disparaged” American workers. And on MSNBC’s Hardball, NBC White House political reporter Chuck Todd said Colbert’s testimony was “offensive” and wondered why members of congress didn’t get up and walk out of the room in protest.

I guess Faux and the rest of the media is mad that Colbert was able to cut through the GOP talking points for a few minutes. They’re made because Colbert and Stewart do more to inform people in their 30 minute shows than 24-hour cable news networks do.