Give this story to Luke Russert

I wish this daughter of a prominent, mean-spirited, vindictive and painfully hypocritical Republican politician no ill will. I knew kids who shoplifted where it was a way of acting out/cry for help and if this is the case here, I hope this young woman gets the help she needs. Anyway, the reaction of the store employees is no surprise:

The daughter of New York’s toughest-talking, law-and-order mayor was arrested for petty larceny and hauled out of the store in handcuffs. She was taken to the 19th Precinct stationhouse, where she was expected to be issued a desk appearance ticket.

Once store employees learned who the suspect’s father is, they told cops they didn’t want to press charges, a source said.

Stuff that won’t happen

There’s been a boomlet of silly speculation that Jeb Bush will be the 2012 Republican nominee. There is a simple reason why this is wrong: George W. Bush was the most disliked president in modern history. End of story.

Did Democrats put up Billy Carter in 1984? No.

I do wish, though, that all columnists would signal they were about to engage in a round of Slate/TNR-style contrarianism by beginning:

Or at least that’s the conventional wisdom.

Update. Commenters note that Democrats did in fact put Jimmy Carter’s vice-president up in 1984. We know how that turned out.

Dispatches From the Front Lines of Our Meritocracy

Charlie Rangel is as crooked as the day is long, I’m afraid, but this dressing down of Luke Russert was look a cool drink of water on a very hot day:

So much win.

(via)

An Amazing Tale of Perserverance, Individual Talent Shining Through Despite the Odds, and Our Awesome Meritocracy

Via Digby, this:

Luke Russert, son of Tim Russert, the “Meet the Press” host who died in 2008, was an intern at City Hall during summer 2007. In an interview, Mr. Russert said that he juggled two internships that summer — one at the mayor’s office, the other at NBC, working for Conan O’Brien.

Mr. Russert, then a senior at Boston College, worked for Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey, who befriended his father after both worked for Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Mr. Russert researched gun-control positions of Republican lawmakers who wanted to meet with Mr. Bloomberg. “It was really worthwhile,” he said. “It was not just opening letters and getting coffee.”

Asked what role his connections played in landing the job, he said: “I don’t really know about that. I went through the application process like anyone else.”

I need a drink.

Lacking the Basic Self-Awareness of a Slug

I’m loathe to say this, but there is a generally decent piece by Halperin on the Obama administration in Time. I say generally, because it does contain some of the awful both sides nonsense:

Before the jabberers on the right (What about the huge debt, the broken tax pledge, the paucity of overseas accomplishments?), the yammerers on the left (Guantánamo hasn’t been closed, gays aren’t serving openly in the military, and too many policies cater to business interests) and the chides in the media (POTUS and party poll numbers are down, and Washington is more partisan than ever), look at the two key metrics that underscore Obama’s accomplishments.

And then there is this jawdropper:

Unlike Bill Clinton, especially early in his presidency, Obama has largely maintained control of his public image, preserved the majesty of the office (a job that has become harder than ever because of the toxic freak-show nature of our politico-media culture) and maintained good relations, in public and private, with the armed services brass, the intelligence community and law enforcement.

Halperin just spent the better part of the last year cashing in on a book that was nothing but unsourced rumors, gossip, and anonymous insider accusations, dressed up as “deep background reporting.” In fact, when I think of the “toxic freak show nature of our politico-media culture,” Morton Halperin’s son is the first person I think of- right in front of Howard Kurtz and almost all of the Washington Post op-ed contributors.

And for the record, the Lewinsky scandal, the thing that tarnished Clinton’s “public image,” didn’t happen early on, it happened halfway through his second term. And with his tarnished public image, Clinton left office with a 66% approval rating. Halperin just has to get that one last dig in at the Clenis, and can’t be bothered to get the basic facts right. “Toxic freak show nature,” indeed.

The world is a vampire squid

Our awesome meritocracy:

The idea is that once you pass the test at Goldman, you can do anything. You learn Excel, you learn valuation, you learn how to survive intense hours and a high-pressure environment.

I told myself I wasn’t going to drink tonight.

Cheney-Quayle ’20

Who gets the first interview, Jenna or Luke?

Attorney and investor Ben Quayle® may not have the experience in elected office that many of his GOP rivals for Arizona’s 3rd district seat do, but he’s blowing them out of the water in fundraising.

Quayle, son of former Vice President Dan Quayle, raised $550,000 since launching his campaign in mid-February, no doubt assisted by his family network.

That sum is likely to make him one of the top funded non-incumbent House candidates in the country for the first quarter.

Reflections on Our Awesome Meritocracy

The recent McMegan outbursts and the promotion of Scott Brown’s daughter to a slot on CBS had me wondering about our obviously successful meritocracy when it occurred to me- does Tom Friedman have children, and how old are they?

It’s Luke Russert’s world, we’re just living in it

Another dispatch from the media meritocracy (via Dave Weigel):

The daughter of Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown has been named a special contributor to “The Early Show.”

Ayla Brown, who was a season five contestant on “American Idol,” filed her first report today on Jordan Romero’s quest to summit Mt. Everest.

I, for one, am looking forward to future epic blog wars between Liz Cole and Megan Hamsher.

I’m Not Following Up On Anything

But I thought you all deserved this:

With Allah as my witness, I wanted to give you Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, some Little Feat, and a bunch of other stuff, but you know… shit happens.

If it makes you feel any better, I’m pretty convinced my head is going to hurt tomorrow.

BTW- Things went downhill from the diet cranberry limeade.

The smell of Noonan in the morning

It sure doesn’t smell like victory. (When I tried to embed the video, the site got screwed up so just go over to Wonkette and watch it there.)

Weiner does a good job of handling all the bullshit (some of which comes from St. Howard), til the idiotic hosts jump in on Nooners’ side.

At this point, if a suicide bomber can sneak onto the set of “Morning Joe” I’m going to set up an ActBlue page to get the guy his 72 virgins.

SCOTUS Campaign Finance Ruling

The Supreme Court has opened the corporate money floodgates for the next election:

In a ruling that radically reshapes campaign-finance law, the Supreme Court has struck down a key provision of the McCain-Feingold measure that bars corporations and unions from pouring money into political ads.

I’m not sure how that will play out, but it sure will make it more difficult for a reformer to win any seat up against unparalleled corporate dollars. On the other hand, this may be a bigger threat to Democracy (via Jamison Foser):

The deep political sophistication of NBC’s static display of Beltway nepotism, Luke Russert.

I’m done with the internet for a while.

Let the Force Be With You, Luke

I used that twitter thing to mention this, but if you missed Hardball tonight, you missed a gem when Chris Matthews credited Luke Russert with digging up the Lieberman video from three months ago in which he supported the medicare buy-in.

That, of course, was the product of Greg Sargent’s labors, and not Luke Russert. In fairness to Luke, he actually credited Sargent.

Also, new tag.