From Redstate:

Redstate:

You may remember the flap over the Secret Service limitations on where protestors could set up near George W. Bush, and the wailing about “free speech zones” being an unconscionable restriction, etc. I have yet to hear anybody (1) complain about the Secret Service’s policy since Obama took over or (2) explain how the policy changed, as I suspect it has not. Like so many routine government activities, it’s only objectionable when it’s Bush.

Anyway, this is a slightly different story - about a private sign-making company, not a government agency - but it’s nonetheless revealing: a billboard company refused to allow signs to call President Obama “pro-abortion,” insisting on altering the billboards to “pro abortion choice.”

Dan McLaughlin at Redstate:

Goldfarb notes this hilarious attempt to claim that Republicans opposed to moving detainees from Guantanamo into their districts are - wait for it - insulting America’s corrections officers:

ON GUANTANAMO, GOP DISPARAGES MEN AND WOMEN WHO KEEP OUR COMMUNITIES SAFE

Why do Republicans think that Americans can’t do their jobs?

Today, John Boehner and the Republican House leadership are introducing legislation to keep Guantanamo detainees from being transferred to facilities in the United States. They claim that this serves American security. But the reality is that our criminal justice system has a long history of holding hardened terrorists successfully, including the perpetrator of the first World Trade Center attacks, numerous 9/11 conspirators, the Shoe Bomber and Timothy McVeigh. The men and women who serve their country by working at these facilities are ready and eager to do their jobs - and they have the confidence of the communities that depend economically on prison facilities. But John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and other Republicans in Congress continue to claim that the men and women who run our prisons and help keep America safe can’t do their jobs.

Richard Murray at Race42012:

Let’s face it, the GOP is down at the moment.  No amount of wishing and hoping is going to change that fact.  Because of this, many of the factions of the GOP are taking the opportunity to try and throw others overboard in order to take command of a sinking ship.  We need every vote we can get, so why throw people overboard?

This brings up social conservatives.  Many feel that we should move more strongly in their direction to win elections.  While I think that would be a bad move (as I don’t think the electorate cares enough about these issues to vote for a candidate based on them), there’s evidence that it wouldn’t hurt.

Take, for example, 2004.  Several social issues were prominent in  that election cycle (particularly SSM), and the GOP did pretty well.  Granted, several other factors were in play that cycle, but my point is that it didn’t hurt.  Move up to 2006, where moral and ethical lapses in the GOP led to several election losses.  Again, being on the wrong side of social issues (personally, not politically) contributed to (though wasn’t the main cause of) the losses.  Finally, in 2008, where was the social crusade?  You can scream at me that Gov Palin’s selection was because of social conservatives (I’d somewhat disagree, but I get the argument), and that her selection cost Sen McCain the election (a dubious charge, as his erratic campaigning, along with a severely tarnished GOP brand, would have made Pres Reagan a tough sell in ‘80, much less Sen McCain in ‘08) all you want, but on social issues, what was the policy being pushed?  We heard almost nothing on the campaign trail concerning any social policy or initiative, and several SSM bans on the ballots significantly outperformed the GOP ticket.

Race42012:

The National Journal reports that Gov. Romney may establish a new primary residence by 2012 - most likely in New Hampshire but possibly even in California:

Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said that the former governor is in the process of opening up the Lake Winnipesaukee house this month and “will be spending more time on the East Coast.” Since last year’s election, Romney has been busy selling houses in Utah and Belmont, MA.

Asked where Romney will establish a primary residence for the purposes of paying taxes and voting, Fehrnstrom demurred. “I have no announcements to make on residency,” he said. “He just recently closed on selling his Belmont house and, as of now, he’s still registered to vote in Massachusetts.”

But sources familiar with Romney’s activities say the Republican, whose 2008 presidential campaign fizzled, intends to make his primary residence at the family vacation home in Wolfeboro, NH, which is also a favorite vacation spot of Romney’s children and grandchildren.

Romney is also maintaining a new home in the San Diego area, where his second eldest son, Matt, lives with his wife and four children; and his wife, Ann, enjoys the warm weather and riding, which is therapeutic for her multiple sclerosis, diagnosed in 1998. She is also recovering from a pre-invasive condition of breast cancer that was treated in December 2008.

Race42012.com. Click for video:

In a television appearance with CBS47, Governor Mike Huckabee refuses to commit to running for President in 2012.

RCS:  “13 Questions With Jason Whitlock”

RCS: A few weeks ago, we started an interview with CBS’s Gregg Doyel by congratulating him for being the second-most-clicked-on writer featured on RealClearSports. Your pieces are the most clicked on. What do you attribute your popularity to?

Whitlock: Good headlines. Editors who allow me to be very different. Media outlets that let me take difficult stances. A column approach that demands trying to write on Monday what everyone else will think to write on Tuesday. A willingness to address sensitive issues in an honest, raw fashion. Good instincts. Consistency. Unafraid to publicly admit when I’m wrong. I work hard to maintain credibility with readers.

RCP blog:

Michael Barone calls the Obama administration’s bullying of Chrysler debt holders an example of “gangster government.” This article (via Kaus) suggests the tactic may be more widespread than originally reported:

Creditors to Chrysler describe negotiations with the company and the Obama administration as “a farce,” saying the administration was bent on forcing their hands using hardball tactics and threats.

Conversations with administration officials left them expecting that they would be politically targeted, two participants in the negotiations said.

Although the focus has so been on allegations that the White House threatened Perella Weinberg, sources familiar with the matter say that other firms felt they were threatened as well. None of the sources would agree to speak except on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of political repercussions.

It will be interesting to see if these numbers hold and are accurate for Gov. Palin.  Politics Nation:

It’s not Sarah Palin, according to a new survey from Hays Research. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s favorability rating continues to climb as Alaskans have taken a more unfavorable view of their governor, the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president.

Favorability Rating
Palin 54/42 (compared with 60/35 in March)
Murkowski 76/18 (compared with 72/20 in March)

The survey found that 30.5% of respondents had a “very positive” view of Palin, down from 34.9% in March, while 24.8% now have a “very negative” view, up from 21.2% in March. A survey conducted in May of 2008 pegged Palin’s favorability rating at 86% — a 32-point drop in just one year. Then, only 3% had a “very negative” view of their governor.

RCP Blog: “Tough Crowd”

Obama’s big announcement of $17 billion in budget cuts is generating snickers across the political spectrum. Here’s Glenn Greenwald of Salon:

On Thursday — and not for the first time — the Obama administration did its best to hype a relatively small cut in the federal budget as if it would make a truly significant dent in the national debt. Once again, and for good reason, no one’s buying it.

And Brian Montopoli of CBS News notes that after initial news of the cuts “landed with a bit of a thud” in the press, Obama went out of his way during his remarks to tell reporters how they should cover the news:

In his remarks today, the president sought to change that tenor of that coverage. He mocked the notion that smaller savings are considered “trivial” in Washington and stressed that “these savings, large and small, add up.”

And he told journalists directly that they should stress the fact that the cuts are “significant” - a surprisingly direct appeal to reporters concerning which angle they should take in their coverage.

“It is important, though, for all of you, as you’re writing up these stories, to recognize that $17 billion taken out of our discretionary, non-defense budget, as well as portions of our defense budget, are significant,” he said. “They mean something.”

Politics Nation:

House Republicans announced this morning the introduction of a bill that aims to halt the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison and transfer of detainees into the United States. In the war supplemental appropriations bill, House Democrats stripped the funding requested by President Obama to transfer detainees currently being housed in the prison to domestic facilities — helping fuel the GOP argument that the administration’s plan is unwise.

“Not only should there not be any money in the supplemental to move these detainees, we ought to make clear that none of these detainees should be brought to the United States until such time as the president has had a conversation with the American people, which is the essence of this bill we’re bringing,” Minority Leader John Boehner said, as the “Keep Terrorists Out of America Act” was introduced at a press conference.

From Politico:

Politics Nation:

Tom Ridge says he is grateful for the support and encouragement he received, but that he decided against the race. He says, however, that his career in public service is not over. “There are causes to which I remain intensely committed, including my work on behalf of the disability community, our nation’s veterans, our national security and the GOP — the party I enthusiastically joined more than four decades ago.”

In the long explanation, Ridge speaks about the state of the GOP, saying: “To those who believe that the Republican Party is facing challenges; they are right.” But he adds: “To those who believe the Democratic Party is without its own difficulties, they are wrong. No one party has a monopoly on all of the answers.”

He says he hopes to play a role in helping the Republicans “craft solutions that both sides of the aisle can embrace.”

Politics Nation:

NH Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D) has been underestimated before, much to the chagrin of former GOP incumbent Rep. Jeb Bradley, whom she upset in 2006 and edged out again last year. But Republicans say her last two general election wins were helped by strong Democratic waves nationally, a factor that may not be in play next year.

If so, the GOP’s hopes for a Northeast comeback may end up riding on Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta, who filed paperwork last week to form an exploratory committee for a Congressional run. One of the state’s few prominent Republican officeholders after the retiring Sen. Judd Gregg, Guinta has been mentioned frequently as a potential gubernatorial candidate. But with popular Democratic Gov. John Lynch likely to run again, the National Republican Congressional Committee also identified him as a top recruit for a House race.

Nick Sloan:

A good breakdown of what Libertarians have to do to prevail. My favorite part:

Media: Crying about press coverage will not give us media support.

What the libertarian movement needs are libertarians who are willing to do the hard work (which, incidentally, will create paying jobs for themselves) of developing legitimate press outlets that do a fine job of covering reality, while ensuring that the hidden assumptions used to choose which news is important and what it means are libertarian assumptions.

A successful libertarian political movement will help those libertarians develop their media skills and outlets.

Media Watch:

At the end, the guild caved.

The Boston Globe’s largest union reached a tentative agreement with management just after 3 a.m. today, the last of the paper’s unions to sign off on concessions to the parent New York Times Co. The guild, which represents the newsroom, agreed to a substantial pay cut and unpaid furloughs, but more importantly, it finally allowed for modifications to the lifetime job guarantee provisions. The guild’s previous insistence to keep the guarantee whole had caused the negotiations to reach an impasse.

Neither side released much details on the new agreement, which is still pending a vote by the union members. But the deal should be enough to lift the New York Times Co.’s threat to shut down the Globe. The company had set a May 1 deadline, extended it to May 3, before reaching agreements with all unions.

RCP Media Watch:

Is there nothing sacred anymore?

I first found out about what happened to David Steele and two other Baltimore Sun staffers from an inning-by-inning blog in the Orange County Register (it came in during the eighth inning). I was flabbergasted: Getting laid off by phone. In the press box. In the middle of the game.

I’ve known David since our days as fellow sports columnists in the San Francisco Bay Area. He’s a very good writer, well-versed in all sports but particularly the NBA, of which he was a beat writer for more than a decade. But he’s also a great guy, someone who’s most definitely paid his dues in this business and yet doesn’t have an air of attitude. (Sportswriters can be such curmudgeons sometimes.)

David moved (back) to Baltimore in 2004 to get back to his roots, to be closer to his family. The Sun did its best to pry him away from the San Francisco Chronicle. And now, in less than five years, they couldn’t even bother to say goodbye in person.

“I live 10 blocks away from the paper,” David said to me the other day, with a chuckle. “But they had to FedEx me all the paperwork. I guess they really didn’t want to see me.”

He was ready and willing to tell his story. Not just for himself, but for all of his fellow journalists who were so unceremoniously dumped.

Wichita Eagle:

Washington is bracing for the release Friday of the documentary “Outrage.” The film outs several politicians who campaign against gay rights but are allegedly gay themselves.
Meanwhile, this week Maine became the fifth state to approve gay marriage, and the Washington, D.C., city council voted to recognize gay marriages performed elsewhere.

Prime Buzz:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Kansas Republican Pat Roberts promises to tie the U.S. Senate “up in knots” over any plan to move detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Kansas.

Prime Buzz:

Republican Roy Blunt today announced that he has received endorsements from 71 of 89 Republican lawmakers in the state House.

The move comes as fellow Republican Sarah Steelman continues to consider entering the race.

Prime Buzz:

Kansas City Council members are tired of getting the short end of the stick from the state of Missouri.

First the city is getting left out of any state help for its transit program. Now council members say the city is getting shortchanged in funds for the homeless.

The council voted 13-0 today in favor of a resolution sponsored by Housing Committee Chair Sharon Sanders Brooks, urging the state of Missouri to revise its plan for the allocation of federal homeless prevention and homeless assistance dollars.

Prime Buzz:

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri university’s decision to award an honorary degree to former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft is drawing protests from some students and faculty members.

Ashcroft will receive the award and deliver the graduation speech Saturday at Truman State University in Kirksville. As governor, he led the effort to upgrade the school from a regional university to a statewide liberal arts campus.

Nearly 300 opponents signed a petition “voicing discontent” with the decision by the school’s Board of Governors to give Ashcroft an honorary doctorate. A silent protest is planned during his commencement speech.