A lot of language is being thrown around on the topic of political prostitution lately. It is, of course, metaphorical and largely hyperbolic.

The real thing is much more disturbing than anything that happens in the political arena….

The Rapture experiences technical difficulties.

Sam Seder: G.O.P.er suggests rape is like getting a flat tire.

Mark Fiore: Doin’ time.

Life’s Been Good To Him, So Far:

• Young Turks: Rep. Joe Walsh suggests U.S. Jews not pro-Israel
• Cenk: Rep. Joe Walsh’s statements racist or stupid?

Jon and John: Fixing the U.S. Pakistan relationship.

President Obama addresses the British Parliament.

Ed Shultz Calls Some Right-wing Whore a “Right-wing Slut” and “Talk Slut”:

• Ed says something naughty (via Mediaite).
• Newsy: MSNBC suspends Ed Schultz.
• Ed’s on air apology (via TalkingPointsMemo).

Ann Telnaes: G.O.P. race is shaping up.

Pres. O’Bama addresses the Irish people.

Cenk: Right-wing grassroots CON JOB.

Auto Bail-outs Pay Off for America:

• G.O.P. candidates on were all for letting the U.S. auto industry die.
• Sam Seder: Republicans claimed auto bailout was apocalypse…
• Former Governor Ted Strickland on slams Republicans on their willingness to let U.S. auto companies fail.
• Good news for the U.S. auto industry.
  Cenk: Mitt Romney tries to take credit for auto bailouts!

Thom: Judge declares foul on Republicans

Young Turks: G.O.P. refuses to give relief aid to tornado victims.

Pap: Teabagger racism reaches the boiling point.

G.O.P. Presidential hopefull Herman Cain lecture on reading the Constitution cites passages from the Declaration of Independence (via ThinkProgress).

Thom: Can Texas secede from the TSA?

Maddow does George Takei.

Liberal Viewer: FAUX News forgot first amendment forbids Christian graduation from public school.

Catholic Sex Abuse Scandal:

• Stephen: Clergy-matic ecclesi-action center 3:16 (via OneGoodMove).
• Ann Telnaes: Latest chapter in the Catholic church sex abuse scandal.

Young Turks: Dick Cheney worships Paul Ryan.

Ann Telnaes: The U.S–British special relationship.

Very Special Election:

• CNN: DNC Chair Wasserman Schultz on NY-26 win.
• Thom: Is Paul Ryan killing the Republican party?
• Lawrence and Rep. Weiner: Boehner Spinning.
• Newsy: Referendum on Medicare
• Young Turks: Teabagger excuses for NY-26
• Pap and Ed: Republicans dug their own grave in NY-26.
• O’Donnell interviews DNC Chair Wasserman Schultz on NY-26 win.

Young Turks: Daughter of Arnold’s mistress speaks out.

Thom: Is there a “shadow Patriot Act” behind the Patriot Act?

White House: West Wing Week.

Sam Seder: For GOP & Scarborough healthcare for Americans is nothing short of hedonism.

The G.O.P. Primary Carnival Freak Show:

• Newsy: An unflattering portrait of Palin hits the shelves
• Ed: Shameless opportunist Sarah Palin weasles herself into the Gingrich ‘slip-up’ debate
• Young Turks: Sarah Palin back in the running?
• Maddow blocks Santorum’s attempt to fix his “Google problem”.
• Newsy: Sarah preparin’!
• Ed with some major “I may run again” Psychotalk from Donald Trump
• Thom: Will it be Mitt or Newt?
• Young Turks: Herman Cain’s FAUX News flop on Israel/Palestine.
• So why is Pawlenty running???
• Ed: Pawlenty flat out lying on balancing MN budget.
• Young Turks: Iraq or Iran? Tim Pawlenty’s confused.

Newsy: TN Governor signs anti-gay bill into law.

Young Turks: FAUX News claims that Obama already cut Medicare.

Maddow: Minnesota’s anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment.

Cenk: George Takei on Tennessee’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill:

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

The Stranger’s Paul Constant highlights a statement from Joe Walsh, the freshman douchebag of a congressman from Illinois, not the former Eagle (my emphasis):

“Why was he elected? Again, it comes back to who he was. He was black, he was historic. And there’s nothing racist about this. It is what it is. If he had been a dynamic, white, state senator elected to Congress he wouldn’t have gotten in the game this fast. This is what made him different. That, combined with the fact that your profession”—another friendly tap of the bumper sticker—”not you, but your profession, was just absolutely compliant. They made up their minds early that they were in love with him. They were in love with him because they thought he was a good liberal guy and they were in love with him because he pushed that magical button: a black man who was articulate, liberal, the whole white guilt, all of that.”

A shorter Joe Walsh: Obama was elected because he’s a Magic Negro.

Paul has a salient, if too generous, take on Walsh’s statement…check it out.

Right wing slut Tim Eyman has gotten his John back.

Michael Dunmire, who apparently took a hit during the Bush Recession forcing him into a one-year hiatus from political bestiality, has come back this year and bought himself some more gen-u-wine Horses’ ass! $100,000 worth, paid right into Eyman’s personal services fund. (Apparently, Dunmire is okay with Kemper Freeman’s sloppy seconds.)

You have to give Eyman some credit for turning his life around and breaking into the big-leagues of political prostitution. It seems like just yesterday he was literally stealing money from his Johns….

Obama’s approval has hit a 16 month high at 53% approval to 41% disapproval.

Another poll finds Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) ” the least popular Governor in the country”, tied with Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL):

The furor over Senate Bill 5 [an anti-collective bargaining bill] was one of the main events precipitating Kasich’s decline and voters in the state continue to strongly favor repealing it.

Another poll finds Florida’s Scott in dire straights:

Florida voters disapprove 57 – 29 percent of the job Gov. Rick Scott is doing, the worst score of any governor in the states surveyed by Quinnipiac University and down from a 48 – 35 percent disapproval in an April 6 survey, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Man…voters going sour on Republicans in Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin?!? The next thing you know, pundits and media alike will take up the debate of whether 2012 is going to witness Obama win or an Obama landslide.

The Senate has voted down the house budget blueprint (a.k.a. the Ryan budget, a.k.a. the bill to kill Medicare as we know it) today:

A handful of Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine), Scott Brown (Mass.), Rand Paul (Ky.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) — joined Democrats to reject the House budget, 40-57. Paul voted against it because Ryan’s plan still adds $8 trillion to the debt over the next decade.

I wonder why the others voted against it? Perhaps because they want to be reelected….

(H/T Slog.)

Well…at least one bold Republican is doubling down on Ryan’s plan…after a major display of flip-floppery. That would be Newt Gingrich:

Less than two weeks after he condemned Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan as “right wing social engineering” Newt Gingrich is rallying support for the budget chair’s proposal in Congress.

Does anyone else get the feeling that Newt is perpetually lagging by about three news cycles?

How can it be that nearly two and half years into President Barack Obama’s (D) administration, people like me still blame former President George W. Bush (R) for the outrageous debt this country has accumulated since the good ol’ days when former President Bill Clinton (D) began paying off the debt?

Because it’s true:

(CBPP via TPM.)

A couple of months ago some prescient political analyst filthy liberal blogger suggested a way to provoke a constitutional test of the I-1053 two-thirds majority:

Here’s how it works. Declare that the projected revenue shortfall, following a biennium where spending has already been cut to the bone, makes it impossible for the legislature to pass a budget that lives up to the spirit of Article IX, Section 1 of the State Constitution:

It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste, or sex.

The constitutional requirement of “ample provision for education…” simply isn’t happening.

Article IX, Section 3 gives lawmakers broad authority to do what is needed to fund education. If we cannot provide “ample” funding for education via existing taxes, lawmakers should provide short-term revenue for education through the repeal of tax preferences, using a simple majority to pass the legislation.

The mandate and the authority to accomplish it as spelled out in the Constitution trumps a law enacted through the initiative process. If Republicans believe the law trumps…they can sue.

And look at what just happened (via Publicola):

Late last night, the state house Democrats forced a floor vote on Rep. Laurie Jinkins (D-27, Tacoma) bill to repeal an $83 million bank loophole and shift the money to K-3 class size reductions. While the Democrats needed a two-thirds majority and only got 52 votes (it was 52-42 in a straight party line vote), the losing vote wasn’t just a symbolic effort to embarrass Republicans for voting against kids and for banks.

PubliCola has confirmed that the Democrats took the vote to set up a formal court challenge to I-1053, the rule that requires a two-thirds vote to raise taxes.

As Publicola explains, the Democrats followed some procedures required by the state Supreme court in their dismissal of I-960. In other words, the Dems removed one important way for the Supreme court to weasel out of making a decision on the constitutionality of such initiatives.

I-1053 may well get its day in court. Who knew the House Dems had it in ’em?

With 462 of 627 precincts reporting, the AP has called it: Kathy Hochul (D) beats Jane Corwin (R).

Current tally is 48% Hochul (D) and 42% Corwin (R).

Update: President congratulates Hochul:

“I want to extend my congratulations to Congresswoman-elect Kathy Hochul for her victory in New York’s 26th Congressional District. Kathy and I both believe that we need to create jobs, grow our economy, and reduce the deficit in order to outcompete other nations and win the future. Kathy has shown, through her victory and throughout her career, that she will fight for the families and businesses in western New York, and I look forward to working with her when she gets to Washington.”

The Seattle Chapter of Drinking liberally meets tonight, and there are a few topics likely to be raised over a pint:

• Washington lawmakers have have reached a budget agreement. Some of the details came out today.
• Returns will be in from the NY-2326 special election. This close election (in solid red territory) is a first referendum on the Ryan plan to transform Medicare into a voucher program.
• Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich’s visit has fueled more speculation about a possible run in Washington state.
• Costco has filed a new liquor privatization initiative.

So please join us tonight for drinks, conversation, and even dinner at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm, some folks show up by 7:00 pm for dinner.

Can’t make it? The Burien chapter of Drinking Liberally will meet on Wednesday. And if that doesn’t work, there is an excellent chance you live close to one of the 227 other chapters of Drinking Liberally.

The week Newt Gingrich announced his presidential candidacy, everything went wrong.

Tim Pawlenty isn’t starting off on a very good note, either. This is the announcement in his home town newspaper:

New Pawlenty campaign slogan: “I’m not dead yet!”

(Via Political Wire.)

A Very Special Saturday:

• Rapture to begin
• Rapture advice (via OneGoodMove).
• Thom: Is the end nigh?

ONN: Cashstrapped PBS releases Nova special “Physics Behind Rhythmically Bouncing Breasts” (and other news).

Thom: Indiana guts the 4th Amendment.

Newt Self-Nukes:

• Newsy: Campaign over before it began?
• Young Turks: Newt lies to Rush.
• Lawrence O’Donnell: The disaster called “Gingrich”
• The new litmus test:
• Young Turks: Conservative media attacks Newt.
• Maddow: The death of a Newt.
• Cenk: Newt’s bad week.
• Sam Seder: Newt, “I demand you don’t quote me!”
• Young Turks: The Gingrich apology tour.

Liberal Viewer: Killing Bin Laden UnChristian, Illegal?

Thom: No, Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL), we DID NOT cut our way out of our last deficit!

Pap: Debunking Republican “common sense”.

The Huckster Defers:

• Sam Seder: God told Huckabee to go for the dough.
• Ann Telnaes: Huckabee will not run.

Thom: The latest on the Republican war on Democracy.

Young Turks: Conservative talk radio is dead.

Ann Telnaes: Speaker Boehner’s no tax increase for the rich.

“I’m Fired!”

• Ed and Pap: Weasel with a hair piece drops out.
• The Trump Candidacy in 2 minutes (via TalkingPointsMemo).
• Newsy: Trump to Trump, “You’re fired!”

Mark Fiore: Oil companies make America more American.

Thom v. Joe Hicks: Do liberals hate America?

The Sperminator:

• Young Turks: Love child.
• Newsy: Arnold fesses up.
• AC: Allegations of sexual misconduct.
• Young Turks: FOX News guest blames Maria for Arnold’s love child.
• Sam Seder: Arnold vetoed gay marriage cuz it’s between a man & a woman & a maid.
• Newsy: Meet the housekeeper.

Greenman: The “Temperature leads carbon” crock updated.

Obama thanks the intelligence community.

Obama on the Middle East:

• Young Turks: Republican nutcases slam Obama over Mideast speach.
• Obama’s Middle East speech:

Thom: The latest on the Republican war on Democracy.

Lawrence O’Donnell: Nutcase Bachmann’s presidential prospects.

Sam Seder: Supremes okay warrant-less searches.

Ann Telnaes: Romney’s market-driven health care system.

Koch Kontracts Konsidered:

• Thom: Koch machine…coming to a school near you.
• Pap: Koch Bros. are driving up oil prices.

Newsy: Rep. Giffords makes more progress.

Maddow: Santorum suggests McCain doesn’t understand torture!?!

Crazytown: Sarah Palin endorses Ryan budget.

Thom: C-Street gang ensnared in Ensign scandal.

George Takei takes on Tennessee’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill:

Young Turks: Sarah Palin for 2010?

Maddow: “Kill Medicare” not working for G.O.P..

Pap: The BP oil spill, one year later.

Common Defense:

• Bill-O does Jon on Common (Part I)
• Bill-O does Jon on Common (Part II)
• Young Turks: Common at the White House.
• Lawrence O’Donnell: The Common debate
• Young Turks: Stewart v. Bill-O
• Young Turks: Jon pulverizes Bill-O.

Ed: WI passes voter ID bill.

Maddow: Cheney’s book cover.

White House: West Wing Week.

Maddow: It’s okay to be Takei in Tennessee.

Thom: The Republican War on Art.

Young Turks: Santorum is the dumbest presidential candidate EVAR!

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

(Via Political Wire.)

Public Policy Polling has released polling results in the 2012 Washington state gubernatorial race. Their press release gets right to the point:

McKenna, Inslee basically tied for WA Gov.

[…]The most likely match up for Governor of Washington next year looks like it would be a barn burner, with Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna starting out with just a 40-38 lead over Democratic Congressman Jay Inslee. With 23% of Democrats and only 13% of Republicans undecided at this point that looks like a sheer toss up.

The main reason McKenna is ahead of Inslee at this point is slightly higher name recognition.

(The same poll finds Inslee beating Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA-08) handily, 42% to 36%.)

McKenna is the more recognized brand right now, with 60% of respondents having formed an opinion of him, whereas only 51% have formed an opinion on Inslee.

What I found interesting in the crosstabs is that, in a McKenna—Inslee match-up, groups likely to support Inslee have higher “uncertain” responses:

• Liberals 31%, conservatives 28%
• Women 25%, men 18%
• Democrats 23%, Republicans 13%
• 18-29 year olds 24%, about 13% for older voters

Thus it seems support for Inslee has the greater growth potential as name recognition improves.

Please join us tonight for an evening of politics under the influence at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. We meet at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. Starting time is 8:00 pm, but feel free to join some of us for an earlier dinner.

Not in Seattle? There is an excellent chance you live close to one of the 227 other chapters of Drinking Liberally.

I know…I shouldn’t pick on the pathetic. But I will anyway.

Two weeks ago, after an Elway poll came out with mixed news for Sen. Maria Cantwell, I did a preliminary assessment of Cantwell’s vulnerability to a Republican challenger. I didn’t find the minor weaknesses uncovered by the Elway poll overly concerning. The poll didn’t do head-to-head match-ups for a general election, but it did find 46% would vote to keep Cantwell in office, and 36% would vote to replace her—a result almost identical that at this point in the 2006 election cycle.  

My non-concern also reflected evidence from a much richer series of data from Survey USA’s regular tracking polls. They show Cantwell’s recent approval bouncing erratically from about 40% to 55%, with the most recent one at 49%.

Now Public Policy Polling has released a new poll that sheds more light on Cantwell’s lack of vulnerability. The poll finds her with 50% approval and 36 disapproval:

Cantwell is pretty universally well liked within her own party, at 80/7 with Democrats. She’s also on narrowly positive ground with independents at 44/40 and has a 17% approval rating with Republicans, which is a decent amount of crossover support (we generally found Patty Murray with a single digit approval with GOP voters over the course of last year’s campaign.)

The Republican who comes closest to Cantwell is an old favorite- Dino Rossi, who trails 53-40. Susan Hutchison and Dave Reichert do next best, both trailing by a 49-35 margin. Clint Didier trails 51-35 and Cathy McMorris Rodgers has the largest deficit at 50-31. Cantwell wins independent voters by 5-12 points in all of the match ups and picks up 8-9% of the Republican vote while only losing 2-5% of the Democratic vote.

Wow…a 17% approval with Republicans!

The head-to-head match-ups suggest that none of the Republican challengers can do any better against Cantwell than Mike McGavick’s dismal 39.9% result in 2006.

The bottom line:

Cantwell’s reasonably popular and the GOP doesn’t have anyone good to run against her.

This pretty much validates my statement from two weeks ago, “given the absence of a strong opponent on the horizon, I am simply unwilling to fret over a single Elway Poll….”

This new poll illuminates the state of the state Republicans: their candidate pool is nothing short of pathetic. There are almost no Republicans with any statewide appeal. Attorney General McKenna is about it, and he’s looking for opportunities elsewhere.