Primary losses blunt Palin's 'mama grizzly' claws (AP)

Sarah Palin, image by smiteme via Flickr

By PHILIP ELLIOTT (AP) 

1 day ago

WASHINGTON — It's been a summer of setbacks for Sarah Palin. Candidate "cubs" endorsed by the Mama Grizzly in Chief have been suffering a recent string of primary election losses.

The Republicans' 2008 vice presidential nominee promised a pack of "mama grizzly" candidates would rise up and defeat Democrats in this November's elections. But office-seekers she supported in Kansas, Wyoming and Washington state lost their primaries despite her high-profile endorsements. And Karen Handel lost her runoff contest for Georgia governor a day after sharing an Atlanta stage with Palin.

Now, Alaska's Senate primary on Tuesday is shaping up as an embarrassing defeat in her own backyard. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is expected to dispatch the challenger Palin has endorsed in the Republican contest.

Palin says it isn't about picking winners.

"Regardless of whether the many candidates I've had the honor of endorsing win or lose this time around, I support them because they boldly shake things up in their primary races," she said in a Facebook message.

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The most powerful Republican in politics (Politico)

Haley Barbour, image via Wikipedia

By JIM VANDEHEI & ANDY BARR & KENNETH P. VOGEL 

8/20/10 

 

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is the most powerful Republican in American politics — at least for the next three months.

Barbour, who runs the Republican Governors Association, has more money to spend on the 2010 elections — $40 million — than any other GOP leader around. And in private, numerous Republicans describe Barbour as the de facto chairman of the party. (See "End Run: Romney's Crafty Financing")

It’s not just because he controls the RGA kitty but, rather, because he has close relationships with everyone who matters in national GOP politics — operatives like Karl Rove, Ed Gillespie and other top Republicans running or raising cash for a network of outside political groups. Together, these groups are essential to Republican hopes of regaining power because Democrats are cleaning their clocks through more traditional fundraising efforts. 

The political class, in particular, is consumed with Barbour’s behind-the-scenes endeavors — this week, with the $1 million he got from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. (See "Fox Parent's Donation Causes Stir")

Yet the reality is that Barbour has been uniquely adept at leveraging concerns about President Barack Obama into huge contributions from many others. Bob Perry, the Texas businessman who funded the Swift boat attacks in the 2004 campaigns, has given more than twice as much as News Corp.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41236.html#ixzz0xCf3BuJa

Mama Grizzlies Video: Sarah Doesn't Speak for Me

Glenn Beck Offers Morning Prayers on the Road to Mending America (BlogTalkRadio.com)

Glenn: Gathering at Abe's feet to protect our freedom.

If you’re among the millions of Americans looking to restore the values upon which our great nation was built, you’ll no doubt want to mark Saturday, Aug. 28 on your calendar.

Because that’s when Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and the Special Operations Warrior Foundation gather at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

There they’ll hold a non- political rally paying tribute to America’s military personnel and other upstanding citizens who embody our Founding Fathers’ principles of integrity, truth and honor.

(Aug. 28 also marks the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered from that very same location.)

The mission of this event is to recognize First Amendment rights and honor the service members who fight to protect those freedoms.

Fox News host Glenn Beck: Some unemployed 99ers should be ashamed to call themselves American (New York Daily News)

Glenn Beck, image via Wikipedia

BY Aliyah Shahid
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

August 17th 2010

Glenn Beck has a message for the chronically unemployed: You're a bunch of un-American losers.

The Fox News host thinks some 99ers — those who have used up their 99 weeks of unemployment benefits—should be embarrassed to call themselves Americans, the Huffington Post reported.

"Have you heard of the 99ers?" Beck asked on Monday. "Some of these people, I bet you'd be ashamed to call them Americans."

About 1.4 million Americans have been out of work more than 99 weeks, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's when unemployment benefits run out in states with the highest unemployment rates.

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World Net Daily Partially “Dumps” Ann Coulter Over “HomoConflict” (Mediaite)

by Tommy Christopher
August 18th, 2010

Conservative website World Net Daily has scored another meta-exclusive, announcing that World Net Daily has “dumped” lightning rod Ann Coulter over a “Homoconflict.” CEO Joseph Farah told his own website that it would be dropping Coulter as keynote speaker at its “Taking Back America” conference because she has agreed to headline GOProud’s Homocon 2010.
Lest you think that Coulter has defiantly pitched a rainbow flag, however, she will continue as a WND columnist, and in remarks to WND, doesn’t exactly lock arms with GOProud.

Coulter took fire from gay conservatives a few years back when she used an anti-gay epithet in reference to then-candidate John Edwards. According to The Daily Caller, though, some think that Coulter has changed her stripes:

“If she can help other conservatives turn the corner on equality for gays and lesbian Americans … then more power to her,” said R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans. About Coulter’s comments three years ago: “People are allowed to evolve.”

In an update to the same piece, however, GOProud seems to disagree:

GOProud Board Chairman Christopher R. Barron issued this statement Wednesday morning: “We did not invite Ann Coulter to speak at Homocon 2010 because we believe she has ‘evolved.’”

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Sarah Palin endorses Pam Bondi for attorney general (TampaBay.com)

Sarah Palin, image by  Getty Images via @daylife By Steve Bousquet
Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Aug 18, 2010

TALLAHASSEE — Sarah Palin endorsed former Hillsborough prosecutor Pam Bondi for attorney general Wednesday, and Bondi didn't even know it was coming.

Palin's surprise endorsement in the three-way Republican primary for attorney general surfaced on Facebook, and Bondi rushed to spread the word ahead of Tuesday's primary.

The former vice-presidential candidate and ex-Alaska governor, who's expected to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, threw her support to other candidates, all women, in state and local contests in Alabama, Indiana, Missouri and North Carolina.

Palin called Bondi and an attorney general candidate in Iowa "bold, sharp, selfless women who will respect our Constitution, defend their states, protect our rights and push back against any overreach of the federal government."

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VIDEO: Another “Media Tweak”? Rush Limbaugh Calls The President “Imam Obama” (Mediaite)

Read Tommy Christopher's entire story on Mediaite!

Blago convicted! Does this mean no second season of 'I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!' for his wife Patty?

Rod Blagojevich, image by  Getty Images via @daylife

Blagojevich guilty on one count, mistrial on 23 others

U.S. attorneys say the government plans to retry the case

CHICAGO — A federal jury found former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich guilty on Tuesday of one count of lying to federal agents, and the judge said he intends to declare a mistrial on the remaining counts. 

Prosecutors said immediately after the verdict was read that they intend to retry the case against Blagojevich and his co-defendant brother as soon as possible. He had faced 24 counts in all, including charges that he tried to sell or trade President Barack Obama's old Senate seat.

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