Alex Flies Solo at White House

I’m sure she’ll be along soon to regale us, but in the meantime, here’s a screenshot of our White House correspondent in action.

Coburn to Sotomayor: ‘Splainin’ to Do

God, this is hilarious, because when I heard about all the questions about Sonia Sotomayor’s “temperament,” I wondered if the expectation was that she’d go off on an Eddie-Murphy-as-Ricky-Ricardo-style rant in the Supreme Court.  Tom Coburn is apparently susceptible to Jedi mind tricks:

At least he didn’t ask her to greet his diminuitive pal.

Lucky for Coburn, he benefits from the “Obama Effect.”  Everybody knows he and the President are good friends, so Coburn will get a (deserved) pass on this.  The phrase is fairly ubiquitous in American pop culture, evidence of the reach of the inventor of the sitcom, Desi Arnaz.

Response to John Boehner’s Healthcare Chart/Where’s Waldo Puzzle

GOP House Leader John Boehner has just sent out his crummy healthcare propaganda chart, which he cleverly throws everything but the kitchen sink into.  Ha, ha, John, it’s a confusing mess! Score!  You suck at making charts!

Now, it might be fun to get my own CD of clip art and make a comparable chart showing how our current system can be made to look like an even bigger pile of technicolor vomit, but I prefer a simpler approach.  Here’s my chart, John:

Embarrassed Blue Dogs Flustered by Sarah Palin’s Offer to Campaign

If I know my political media coverage at all, this is going to be played as an embarrassment for future former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, but I don’t see it that way.

Politico is reporting that, all over the Hill, congressional Blue Dogs are channeling their inner keyboard cat when asked about Palin’s offer to campaign with them:

Some of the members lunged for elevators, others moved to get into meetings (or at least behind closed doors), and a few just chuckled nervously and replied in a clipped fashion that reflected an immense desire to not discuss the topic at any length.

It should have been obvious to anyone that Palin’s offer was more about burnishing her “maverick” cred than any expectation that Democrats would take her up on it.  So the fact that Dems are hemming and hawing is no surprise.

The real embarrassment here is that these are Democrats being asked if they want Sarah Palin to campaign with them.  Given their recent attempts to eff up the healthcare bill by killing the public option,  maybe the idea that they’re being equated with the Thrilla from Wasilla will make them re-think what it means to be a Democrat.

Palin’s offer, on the other hand, may or may not have been politically wise (I think it was one of her rare good moves of late), it displays at least the appearance of something the Azure Lapdogs lack: stones.

Fox Mounts Camera on Drunken Roomba for Obama All Star 1st Pitch

Seriously, was Abraham Zapruder not available to shoot the President’s ceremonial first pitch?

President Obama threw out the ceremonial first pitch at last night’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game, and predictably, the right wing is trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents.  Newsbusters posits the (tongue in cheek) theory that Rupert Murdoch planned the shot because he’s so very pro-Obama.  Typical instant revisionism on the right has Obama being booed and “throwing a sissy pitch.”

As Warner Wolf used to say, “Let’s go to the YouTube clip…”

There’s, like, 1 person booing (did Darragh Murphy have a ticket to the game?), and maybe 1 guy who thought it was Lou Piniella.

Given the fact that the President wore a White Sox jacket, it’s surprising there weren’t more boos.  On the other hand, sports fans appreciate team loyalty.

The pitch?  Apparently, the President threw some kind of baffling knuckleball that Cards catcher Albert Pujols had to dig out, but that he says “never touched the ground.”

Still, this is somewhat disappointing.  I expected, going into the game, that Charlie Manuel would be impressed with Obama, leave him in the game, and he would pitch 5 scoreless innings, scattering a few singles (hell, he’s not perfect).  The second time through the lineup, they’d have probably figured out his knuckle-curve.

So, it wasn’t a barn-burning standing ovation followed by a scorcher over the plate, but it also wasn’t Baba-booey.