Welcome to your Tuesday open thread. What’s going on in your part of Delaware? It’s looking like spring in mine! What else is on your mind?

Oh no, the Supreme Court has joined the Obama conspiracy. We’re on a slippery slope to Sharia!

The Supreme Court has again rejected an appeal from a “birther” proponent questioning the citizenship of President Barack Obama.

The justices Monday turned aside without comment a request for a rehearing of various claims, after dismissing the original appeal in late January.

The long-shot petition by Gregory Hollister had called on Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan to withdraw from considering the constitutional claims, contending a conflict of interest by the president’s two high court appointees.

Lower federal claims had dismissed Hollister’s claims.

Thanks GOP for keeping this craziness alive by not knocking it down earlier. What a waste of time and money.

Former Senator Alan Simpson, one of the co-chairs of Obama’s deficit commission spoke to Fox News yesterday. He unleashed his trademark wisdom with some pop culture references:

“This is a fakery,” Simpson said on Fox News. “If they care at all about their children or grandchildren, and sometimes I doubt that – I think, you know, grandchildren now don’t write a thank-you for the Christmas presents, they’re walking on their pants with the cap on backwards listening to the enema man and Snoopy Snoopy Poop Dogg, and they don’t like them!”

…

More from Simpson: He said the public should stop using the word “cut” in discussing Social Security, warning that younger generations have more at stake than they might think.

“The sinful nature of the discourse is ‘cutting’ Social Security,” he said. “We’re not cutting Social Security – we’re trying to make the stuff solvent for 75 years! And young people say, ‘Well, I know there won’t be anything there for me; I’m not worried about it.’ Well, I tell ya, when you waddle up to the window at 65 and you put 6.2 percent of all your jack in that thing, you’re gonna want something back!”

See kids, Abe Alan Simpson, is just trying to help you by stealing your Social Security. You are so ungrateful. Also, anyone else notice that Simpson must think a lot about defecation?

Welcome to your Monday open thread. Did you get enough rest over the weekend. I did absolutely NOTHING and it was wonderful. I’m ready and raring to go today.

In Slate Dave Weigel discusses why conservatives are not havin much luck getting video of angry and violent union protesters.

The shove did make the news, and the video of it is lurching toward 300,000 views on YouTube. It confirmed, for conservatives, that union thugs were fighting back over Wisconsin. Every reasonably solid video of a shove or insult made it to Breitbart.tv. They just haven’t broken into the narrative about the protests the way that 2009 videos of rebellion at congressional town halls did, or even Hartsock’s Palm Springs video did. (This week, some congressional Republicans called for an investigation of Common Cause because the group had organized the event where those activists embarrassed themselves on camera.) There hasn’t been any dip in support for unions; there has been a dip in support for Scott Walker.

The videographers have not given up. FreedomWorks activists are on the ground in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Tennessee, and Utah “this weekend through the next two weeks,” according to the group. They want to supplement the FlipCam videos they’ve already been getting. They want documentary evidence of union anger out there so powerful that the media can’t avoid it. But who doesn’t know that he’s venturing into the view of tiny cameras every time he attends a rally? Who trusts the media? Who wants to wind up as the face of Violence Breaking Out and wrecking his cause? The new age of protests is bringing on more self-consciousness and more détente.

Fox News has certainly tried to pretend that the protests are full of angry union thugs. One reporter even falsely reported being hit (until the actual footage was uncovered). The media-savvy of the protests is pretty amazing, really. The protests are on-message and largely free of mixed messages and unnecessary street theater. Good job Wisconsin, thanks for showing us the way.

There is some intense interest among media types about Glenn Beck’s ratings dive. He continues to bleed audience (Rachel Maddow is now beating him in some demographic categories) and he’s lost more than 300 sponsors. Several media commentors think Beck’s increasingly elaborate and ever-widening conspiracy theories may be to blame. Adam Serwer thinks Beck’s rise and fall is related to the rise and fall in intensity among conservatives.

Downie suggests that this is because Beck’s conspiracies have gotten more baroque and apocalyptic. I’m not so sure — but I think the answer may be in this Pew poll Ben Smith flagged yesterday showing that the number of people “angry at the federal government” has declined by 9 percent. According to Pew, “much of the decline” comes from “Republicans and Tea Party supporters.” Republicans have calmed down, and Beck has stayed high-strung.

The whole Republican narrative is based on the idea that conservatives are the “real Americans” and that liberals and Democrats are illegitimate democratic actors who only gain power through illicit means. Beck and his chalkboard met the need conservatives had to persuade themselves of this in the aftermath of political losses in 2006 and particularly 2008. Republicans, having regained control of the House and excised the existential crisis caused by losing the presidential election, feel like things are “getting back to normal.” So they simply don’t have the same appetite for the kind of cathartic insanity Beck provides. It’s not really that Beck has really changed; it’s that Republicans don’t really need him anymore.

I agree with this assessment. There’s a definite loss in GOP intensity since they managed to make major gains in Congress. Also there’s been some improvement in the economy, so that could play a role as well.

Welcome to your weekend open thread. Looks like it will be another great weekend! I hope you’re all having an enjoyable weekend. What’s happening in your part of the world?

OMG Fox News was right! There are palm trees in Wisconsin.

That will teach you to doubt Fox News’s impartiality.

Are you the least bit surprised to learn that Premier Radio Network has a stable of actors to call into it’s radio shows?

But what exactly was the work? The question popped up during the audition and was explained, the actor said, clearly and simply: If he passed the audition, he would be invited periodically to call in to various talk shows and recite various scenarios that made for interesting radio. He would never be identified as an actor, and his scenarios would never be identified as fabricated—which they always were.

“I was surprised that it seemed so open,” the actor told me in an interview. “There was really no pretense of covering it up.”

Curious, the actor did some snooping and learned that Premiere On Call was a service offered by Premiere Radio Networks, the largest syndication company in the United States and a subsidiary of Clear Channel Communications, the entertainment and advertising giant. Premiere syndicates some of the more sterling names in radio, including Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity. But a great radio show depends as much on great callers as it does on great hosts: Enter Premiere On Call.

“Premiere On Call is our new custom caller service,” read the service’s website, which disappeared as this story was being reported (for a cached version of the site click here). “We supply voice talent to take/make your on-air calls, improvise your scenes or deliver your scripts. Using our simple online booking tool, specify the kind of voice you need, and we’ll get your the right person fast. Unless you request it, you won’t hear that same voice again for at least two months, ensuring the authenticity of your programming for avid listeners.”

The actors hired by Premiere to provide the aforementioned voice talents sign confidentiality agreements and so would not go on the record. But their accounts leave little room for doubt. All of the actors I questioned reported receiving scripts, calling in to real shows, pretending to be real people. Frequently, one actor said, the calls were live, sometimes recorded in advance, but never presented on-air as anything but real.

I wonder if “ditto” and “Rush you’re a genius” are included in their scripts? I really do wonder, are some of the incendiary callers paid actors or real people?

Welcome to your Friday open thread. Hooray for Friday (yes I can no longer hide my love affair with Fridays). Share your thoughts below in our open thread.

I don’t think this got much attention yesterday, but the judge that “struck down” health care reform on dubious grounds has declined to issue a stay on implication of the law.

Though Vinson could have issued an injunction stopping implementation of the health reform law, he didn’t. On the other hand, plenty of conservatives interpreted his decision as offering the “functional equivalent” of an injunction, meaning that the 26 states that are parties to the case could simply consider the current law null and void in their states.

In something of a gamble, the Obama administration asked Vinson to clarify matters. Today, he did.

A federal judge who struck down the entire healthcare reform law issued a stay of his ruling in order to give the Obama administration seven days to file an appeal.

The administration asked U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson for a clarification of his Jan. 31 ruling after some states said they would stop efforts to implement the law in light of his decision.

The administration is expected to file an appeal with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

This is, in other words, a procedural win for the administration and the ACA. Vinson added, however, that the Justice Department must seek an expedited appellate review of his ruling within the next seven days.

So, bottom line: the Affordable Care Act is still on the books, and whether some far-right state officials like it or not, it must still be enforced.

This will wind it’s way through the courts but this is important because it will be a lot harder to get rid of the law as it gets implemented. Can you imagine the outcry if a judge took away your health care subsidy?

Mike Huckabee has really stuck his foot in his mouth lately. He tried to humor the birthers by pushing “intellectual” birtherism (sometimes referred to as post-birtherism), the idea that Obama was infected by Kenyan anti-colonialism. Then he tried to walk it back while still claiming Obama is some kind of anti- American weirdo. His test of Americanism is “Little League and Boy Scouts.”

Last night on Fox News, Mike Huckabee continued his attacks on President Obama’s American-ness, saying “This is not a kid who grew up, you know, going to Boy Scout meetings and playing Little League baseball in a small town.”

Dan Amira: “If the absence of Little League or Scout meetings is really so disconcerting to Huckabee, we wonder what he would say about Ronald Reagan, who also never participated in either of those things… In fact, out of all our presidents, only George W. Bush is a former Little Leaguer, and only John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Bill Clinton, and Bush were in the Boy Scouts. All of our other presidents, we guess, had an exotic, un-American upbringing, and a skewed worldview.”

Oh my. Huckabee has sinned against St. Reagan.

Welcome to your Thursday open thread. It’s winter again! Arghhhh! Anything else on your mind? Share it below.

Ooohhh…delicious. I think we should call this “shots fired.”

Politico sorted through the confusion today, reporting that “Gingrich is likely to confirm his ‘intention to announce,’ but not actually unveil an exploratory committee.” But before the Gingrich team walk back, C-SPAN host Greta Wodele Brawner asked Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) what he thought of Gingrich running for president and Coburn didn’t seem to be too enthused:

COBURN: He is undoubtedly the smartest man I’ve ever met. He is a thinker. He has great vision. The question to me is, does he have the capability to lead the country and having served under him in the House, he’s probably not one I would choose to support in a presidential primary. … We need somebody that’s soft and wide eyed open and is stable and is learned and is going to consistently bring us together rather than alienate us. … We need somebody whose eye is critical but is not harsh in their manner and I don’t mean to say he’s necessarily harsh. But I’m looking for a leader that can bring us together.

Oh my. I do believe that Tom Coburn implied that Newt Gingrich is crazy. I wonder how that will play out.

Palm trees and sunshine in Wisconsin? Fox News is so desperate to tell a story of “union thugs” that they are showing videos from Sacramento and claiming it’s in Wisconsin.

In reality, the long protest in Madison has been remarkably civil. As a testament to that, conservative media outlets are having a hard time finding examples of on-scene violence in Wisconsin that really bring their alternative narrative home. They’ve even gone so far as to claim their own reporters are under assault when they are not. Indeed, just as they accuse unions of busing in protesters from out of state, they’ve bussed in out-of-state footage, to make a case that can’t be made by the facts.

Check out this clip from Monday night’s episode of the O’Reilly Factor, a lower-quality version of which has gone viral on social media sites.

Fox is apparently very hurt by the chants of “Fox News lies.” Perhaps they should stop lying? Of course, I’m a dirty, stinking liberal so they won’t listen to me.

Welcome to your Wednesday open thread. How is your week so far? Mine has been interesting – at work I got a brand new laptop (yay!) while Free Radical’s laptop died.

For those of you worried about the Matrix coming true – Representative Rush Holt wins a battle in the war of man vs. machine. He beat Watson, the Jeopardy computer.

U.S. Rep. Rush Holt — an actual rocket scientists, as his supporters like to tout on bumper stickers — tonight topped the IBM supercomputer Watson in a round of Jeopardy! down in Washington.

Holt — who was a five-time Jeopardy! winner more than 30 years ago and joked midday that Watson was “just a little Atari” when he made his game-show splash – tweeted almost an hour ago about the experience: “I played a full round against @IBMWatson tonight and was proud to hold my own: the final tally was Holt $8,600, Watson $6,200.”

Damn, that’s really impressive. Go scientists!

In case you were wondering, Texas governor Rick Perry’s next job won’t be in the field of geography.

During a sit down with reporters on Monday, the Texas governor incorrectly identified Juarez — located across the Rio Grande, and border, from El Paso — as “the most dangerous city in America.”

The misstatement came in the middle of an impassioned assault on the administration’s record of enforcing the border.

“How many more American citizens are going to have to die?” Perry asked.

Will Texas’s wingnutty textbook board change their textbooks to make Rick Perry look better?

Welcome to your Tuesday open thread. Is it Tuesday already? The week passes fast when you’re having fun! Share what’s on your mind.

John Cole called this “A Modern Parable:”

A unionized public employee, a teabagger, and a CEO are sitting at a table. In the middle of the table is a plate with a dozen cookies on it. The CEO reaches across and takes 11 cookies, then looks at the teabagger and says “Watch out for that union guy—he wants a piece of your cookie!”

Republicans may be lousy at math but they really do understand human nature. For many years they’ve successfully deployed the politics of resentment. Pitting middle class public workers against other middle class workers (like in Wisconsin) is a classic example. We are all supposed to be resentful and not rest until union benefits are as crummy as ours.

Mother Jones‘s Kevin Drum delivers some excellent snark about the rightwing’s bizarre attacks on Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign.

So that’s where we are. A first lady campaigning against obesity and in favor of breast feeding is now the target of all-out war from the right. I imagine that if she were taking on illiteracy, teenage drug use, or planting flowers, the Republican Party would suddenly find itself opposed to reading, defending Mexican drug cartels, and in favor of vacant lots. And yet we’re supposed to take these people seriously.

It’s sad what Obama derangement syndrome will do to your mind. I think it would be fun if Obama would start doing some reverse psychology on them – like saying he wants to cut taxes on the rich only – to see if the ODS sufferers come out against tax cuts for the rich.

Welcome to your Monday open thread. How many of you watched the Oscars? Did you catch the Delaware shout-out from the winner of short documentary? Luke Matheny probably had the best Oscar winner hair of all time.

For some reason the U.S. Media has not covered much about the protests in Wisconsin. In fact, the diversity problem on Sunday shows is getting worse, not better.

Two weeks ago, the Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen noted that the lineup for the Sunday shows were stacked with Republicans and didn’t feature a single Democratic guest. Last Sunday also tilted heavily toward GOP voices. This Sunday the trend continues. Three Sunday shows — Fox, CBS, and NBC — locked out Democratic voices as featured guests:

Fox News Sunday: Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN), former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR)
CBS Face the Nation: Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)
NBC Meet the Press: Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
CNN State of the Union: Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL), Gov. Dan Malloy (D-CT), Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND)
ABC This Week: Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ), Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), Gov. Deval Patrick (D-MA), Gov. John Hickenlooper (D-CO)

ABC’s This Week, which featured two Democratic voices, did so as part of a balanced four-person panel.

Only one show had a labor leader on. That was Meet The Press, and they added Richard Trumka on Thursday after some intense pressure from critics. Oh, and what a surprise – John McCain was on again. The media just can’t quit him.

The last living US WWI veteran has died. He was 110 years old. He was only a teenager when he served in WWI.

Buckles, who served as a U.S. Army ambulance driver in Europe during what became known as the “Great War,” rose to the rank of corporal before the war ended. He came to prominence in recent years, in part because of the work of DeJonge, a Michigan portrait photographer who had undertaken a project to document the last surviving veterans of that war.

As the years continued, all but Buckles had passed away, leaving him the “last man standing” among U.S. troops who were called “The Doughboys.”

DeJonge found himself the spokesman and advocate for Buckles in his mission to see to it that his comrades were honored with a monument on the National Mall, alongside memorials for veterans of World War II and the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam.

Buckles made history when he was asked to testify in Congress on the matter before a House committee on December 3, 2009.

I assume he made history as the oldest person to testify before Congress. Why did it take so long to get a WWI memorial anyway? Was the “War To End All Wars” a forgotten war?

Welcome to your weekend open thread. There’s a lot of activity this weekend. Who went to the Wisconsin solidarity rally in Dover? Who plans on seeing Inside Job tonight? I’m planning on being at the Washington St Alehouse at 6 tonight if anyone wants to meet up before the show.

Do you remember the world’s shortest sex scandal of NY-26 Congressman Chris Lee? As many suspected, there is more to the story:

Gawker: “In the past 10 days, two D.C.-area transgender women contacted us, each with a separate story about exchanging emails with the ex-congressman. One sent us an ad that Lee allegedly posted on Craigslist in search of trans women; the other sent us a never-before-seen photo that she says Lee sent her after they started chatting by email. Taken together, they present a possible explanation to those who have wondered why such a tame ‘sex scandal’ forced Lee’s hand so quickly.”

That would probably explain it then. Obviously Lee has a lot of work to do to heal his marriage and wish him and his family the best of luck. He’s a private citizen now so I hope we’ll hear no more on this story.

It looks like things must be really bad for Gaddafi – his Ukranian nurse is leaving him. Last I read rebels had taken control of Tripoli’s main airport and Juan Cole reports that Gaddafi only controls about 10% of Libya. I believe he’s at his most dangerous right now but I can only hope that the people of Libya can take control before more people are killed.

The “voluptuous” Ukrainian nurse US diplomats believe accompanies Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi is about to return home to Kiev, her daughter said in an interview published Saturday.

US diplomatic cables disclosed by the WikiLeaks website suggest that the Libyan leader is reliant on a small team of Ukrainian nurses and particularly a “voluptuous blonde” identified as Galyna Kolotnytska.

The woman’s daughter, Tatyana, told Ukraine’s Segodnya daily that her mother has been shocked by the violence raging in Libya and is planning to return to her suburban Kiev residence.

…

“Gaddafi relies heavily on his long-time Ukrainian nurse, Galyna Kolotnytska, who has been described as a ‘voluptuous blonde’,” said one dispatch using the US State Department’s standard spelling for the Libyan strongman.

“Of the rumoured staff of four Ukrainian nurses that cater to the Leader’s health and well-being, XXX emphasized … that Gaddafi cannot travel without Kolotnytska, as she alone ‘knows his routine’,” the dispatch said.

One thing that has been interesting in a perverse way is the recent insight into minds of dictators. They seem to be paranoid, eccentric and think of the people of their country as their children. While their people are out of work, they have no trouble denying themselves luxuries.

Welcome to your Friday open thread. It’s some crazy weather this week so I guess that means spring is coming. Share your spring fever below.

I think I’m getting immune to stories about Fox and its role as a propaganda outfit for the Republican party.

A person could grow weary compiling all the “Fox Nutwork loves to lie” stories out there.

Well, no rest for the weary! Here’s another one:

After the publishing powerhouse Judith Regan was fired by HarperCollins in 2006, she claimed that a senior executive at its parent company, News Corporation, had encouraged her to lie to federal investigators two years before.

The investigators had been vetting Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner who had been nominated to become secretary of Homeland Security and who had had an affair with Ms. Regan.

The goal of the News Corporation executive, according to Ms. Regan, was to keep the affair quiet and protect the then-nascent presidential aspirations of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Kerik’s mentor and supporter.

And who was this senior executive? Why, the most senior one they had.

But now, affidavits filed in a separate lawsuit reveal the identity of the previously unnamed executive: Roger E. Ailes, chairman of Fox News.

This was all done to protect Rudy Giuliani. It looks like Judith Regan was too smart to take Ailes’s advice. Could Ailes face a criminal inquiry over this?

Is anyone surprised that John McCain is now rated as the most conservative senator?

According to the National Journal’s new ideological rankings of Congress members, released this afternoon, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) — who once characterized himself as an independent “maverick” — has repositioned himself so far to the right that he is now tied with Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and John Barrasso (R-WY) as the Senate’s most conservative member. McCain earned an 89.7 out of 100, which even beat out the reliable right wingers like Sens. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL).

I’m still trying to figure out the media crush on him. The media is on to him, and they’ve transferred their crushes to Chris Christie.

Welcome to your Thursday open thread. This has been an interesting week for a news junkie. There’s just too much going on to keep up with. Use this open thread to help highlight those stories that we miss.

Scott Walker is not the only new governor raising some eyebrows. Maine’s new teabagger governor opposes regulation of Bisphenol A for ummmm….interesting reasons.

In his comments last week, LePage said he has yet to see enough science to support a ban on BPA, a common additive to plastics that some research suggests may interfere with hormone levels and could cause long-term problems. LePage said until scientists can prove BPA is harmful, the state should not rush to restrict its use.

“Quite frankly, the science that I’m looking at says there is no [problem],” LePage said. “There hasn’t been any science that identifies that there is a problem.”

LePage then added: “The only thing that I’ve heard is if you take a plastic bottle and put it in the microwave and you heat it up, it gives off a chemical similar to estrogen. So the worst case is some women may have little beards.”

I suppose if you complain, it means you’re prejudiced against people with facial hair.

Rick Santorum is running for president for some reason. I would label his level of historical understanding as “Palinesque.”

“The idea that the Crusades and the fight of Christendom against Islam is somehow an aggression on our part is absolutely anti-historical,” former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) told a South Carolina audience yesterday. “And that is what the perception is by the American left who hates Christendom.”

Santorum’s defense of the Crusades came in Spartanburg, S.C. reports Andy Barr of Politico. South Carolina is an early and important GOP presidential primary state, and Santorum is considering a presidential run.

Referring to the “American left,” Santorum observed: “They hate Western civilization at the core. That’s the problem.” Sanoturm also suggested that American involvement in the Middle East is part of our “core American values.”

There’s so much wrong in that statement it’s hard to begin. For one, the Crusades had nothing to do with American values. For another, Europe sent armies to the Middle East to take over the historical Holy Land. I don’t know how Santorum defines aggressor, but that seems like a textbook case to me.

Welcome to your Wednesday open thread. I hope you’re having a good humpday. What’s on your mind? Share it below in our open thread.

I expect the media is going to make a big deal out of the latest health care ruling? In case you can’t tell, I’m joking – the media is only interested in what the Tea Party is interested in.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler has become the third federal judge to rule that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional, and that Congress was within its constitutional authority to regulate health insurance under the Commerce Caluse.

“It is pure semantics to argue that an individual who makes a choice to forgo health insurance is not ‘acting,’ especially given the serious economic and health-related consequences to every individual of that choice,” Kessler writes. “Making a choice is an affirmative action, whether one decides to do something or not do something. They are two sides of the same coin. To pretend otherwise is to ignore reality.”

Kessler, however, rejected the argument that Congress had the authority to enact the Affordable Care Act under the General Welfare Clause because Congress “did not intend [the law] to operate as a tax.”

Like the previous rulings, I’m ignoring it. This will ultimately be decided by how Anthony Kennedy’s feeling.

Remember when Bush became president and they told us not to worry about his inexperience because he was advised by very experienced, serious adults? Matt Yglesias highlights this 2003 memo from Donald Rumsfeld, calling it the greatest memo of all time:

Perhaps the week after they’ve solved Syria, Libya and Korea they could tackle world hunger, too.

Welcome to your Tuesday open thread. It’s the revenge of winter! Be afraid! Is anything else on your mind?

I can’t figure out if Mike Huckabee is running for president or not. Right now, he’s the frontrunner for the nomination but lots of comments make it seem like he’s really not interested in taking on Obama right now. Does this next story make things any clearer?

In the past few months, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour — a potential Republican presidential candidate — praised the notorious pro-segregationist Citizen Councils that operated in his youth and refused to denounce efforts in his state to create a license plate honoring Ku Klux Klan founder Nathan Bedford Forrest. But according to former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), who may also be posturing for a presidential run, Barbour’s record on race issues is “impeccable.”

On a conference call today with reporters about his new book, “A Simple Government,” Huckabee defended Barbour and even went so far as to describe him as the smartest political mind in America today. “I’m not going to criticize Haley,” he said, calling Barbour a friend.

Yeah, right. Barbour is a genius. Apparently he’s been visiting Iowa, so it sounds like Barbour is interested. Personally, I think he has less of a chance than She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, but what do I know?

Ummm…has Rush Limbaugh looked in the mirror lately? He’s decided that Michelle Obama is fat. Yes, really.

It really takes some nerve for Rush Limbaugh of all people to insult Michelle Obama by calling her fat, but that’s never stopped him before:

LIMBAUGH: I’m sure you’re aware that nutritionist-at-large Michelle Obama is urging, demanding, advocating, requiring what everybody can and can’t eat. She is demanding that everybody basically eat cardboard and tofu. No calories, no fat, no nothing — gotta stop obesity. Except as in the case of all leftists, that’s true for you, but not for them.

Michelle My Belle, minus the husband, took the kids out to Vail on a ski vacation, and they were spotted eating and they were feasting on ribs, ribs that were 1,575 calories per serving with 141 grams of fat per serving. Now I’m sure some of you members of the new castrati: “This is typical of what you do Mr. Limbaugh, you take an isolated, once in a lifetime experience, and try to say that she’s a hypocrite.” She is a hypocrite. Leaders are supposed to be leaders. If we’re supposed to go out and eat nothing — if we’re supposed to eat roots, and berries and tree bark and so show us how. And if it’s supposed to make us fit, if it’s supposed to make us healthier, show us how.

The problem is — and dare I say this — it doesn’t look like Michelle Obama follows her own nutritionary, dietary advice. And then we hear that she’s out eating ribs at 1,500 calories a serving with 141 grams of fat per serving, yeah it does — what do you mean, what do I mean?

What is it – no, I’m trying to say that our First Lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, or of a woman Alex Rodriguez might date every six months or what have you. I mean, women are under constant pressure to look lithe, and Michelle My Belle is out there saying if you eat the roots and tree bark and the berries and all this cardboard stuff you will live longer, be healthier and you won’t be obese. Okay, fine, show us.

Haven’t seen any evidence here if that advice is being followed that it works, that’s all. It’s just, look it folks, leaders lead. They can sit up there, they demand we do this and demand we do this and demand we do that, but show us. Poor kids are living in food deserts, parents are unemployed, kids got no place to go other than the mall, hang around for scraps at the Orange Julius place, maybe get some papaya juice out there, and then they hear about Michelle My Belle and the kids 1,500 calories per rib serving — 141 grams of fat, I’m just saying. Mom and dad unemployed, kids in the food court hoping for some drips of papaya juice and there they are eating ribs, skiing in Vail.

I really don’t understand why people listen Limbaugh anymore. He’s just so transparently resentful. Are people entertained by this?