National

Neil Newhouse, the Romney/Ryan lead pollster, warned Republicans to beware of President Obama's use of the bully pulpit this election cycle and to not count on the so-called six-year itch in the 2014 midterm election (the six year itch refers to loses by the President's party in the second midterm of a 8 year presidency).

Said Newhouse: "I kind of emphasized to the members that second midterm elections have never been friendly to the president. You can't count on that. That's not going to happen. We've got to realize that the House Republicans are going to be Obama's top target."

I think he is right. The SOTU was designed and the issues therein framed with 2014 in mind. Plus, the Six Year Itch was proven wrong in 1998 when a Democratic President was faced with an extreme obstructionist Congress that resorted to outrageous never before thought of measures. Democrats gained seats in Congress that year. So Newhouse is right to caution his brethen in this extreme obstructionist Congress that has resorted to outrageous never before thought of measures. But, given Newhouse's horrible performance as a pollster for the Romney campaign (he led Romney and the entire Fox News bubble to believe that Romney was headed for a massive landslide), it is quite likely Republicans will ignore him. Which is excellent news for us.

In Senator Marco Rubo's Establishment Republican Response (as opposed to the Batshit Crazy Teabagger Republican Response from Rand Paul), he made this basic Republican statement of principle:

More government isn’t going to help you get ahead. It’s going to hold you back. More government isn’t going to create more opportunities. It’s going to limit them.

He then followed that statement of Randian principle up with a little bit of his middle class Cubano life story, during which he said this:

I believe in federal financial aid. I couldn’t have gone to college without it.

Which is it?

According to a report published by Mother Jones' David Corn, the GOP affiliated group, FreedomWorks, recorded a promotional video that featured a fake panda performing oral sex on a woman impersonating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Two female interns were chosen to participate in the video, according to the report, one wearing the panda suit and the other dressed as Clinton. The video was created ahead of the group's FreePAC conference, which was held in late July 2012, and it was intended to be shown at the event.

Family values...?

President Obama ended his SOTU speech last night by calling on Congress to at least vote on the proposals made to try to rein in some of this country's gun violence. It was, in my opinion, perhaps the finest moment of this speech -- reminding us of the price of a violent society, honoring recent victims of gun violence and making the GOP actually participate in a standing ovation for gun control. One article I read today noted that the repetition of "They deserve a vote" wasn't in the prepared remarks -- prepared or no, President Obama delivered a little bit of church yesterday and walked away with a great rallying cry:

The Chamber of Commerce, and most elected officials from either party don't get it. Raising the minimum wage makes good economic sense, and it makes good political sense. No matter. "OMGZ! Think of the billionaires!! Won't anyone think of the billionaires!!?!?!" You can almost see the wheels turning in John Boehner's head.

President Obama is delivering his State of the Union Address tonight and the usual suspects are spinning up expectations and related goo. DD covered a report from Politico that noted that President Obama won't be extending any olive branches to Republicans this year, and I have been listening to NPR a decent portion of the morning and they are repeating the same thing. What I don't hear is WHY the President should be extending olive branches to a party who works hard at not cooperating in the business of government. I suspect it is the same old -- Democrats are supposed to cooperate and Republicans get a pass on obstructing (with the excuse of sticking to their principles). Anyone else noticing this narrative?

Because the United States needs another gold medal in wake boarding - the IOC has cut wrestling. You wouldn't know it from our crappy TV coverage of wall-to-wall beach volleyball, but in London 29 countries won medals in wrestling. It is a popular, truly international, sport. But they needed space to add indoor rock climbing to the lineup.