Weiner Being Forced Out By Party Leaders; Considers Resigning

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For The Last Time Congressman Weiner Please Resign Sir!

It Doesn't Matter What Your Wife Huma (If She's Advising Him) Or Some Loyal 9th District (NYC) Constituents Are Telling You.

It Doesn't Matter Because You Did LIE & Communicated Via Tweeter With A 17-Year-Old Girl!

We Know That You Are Truly Apologetic & Sincerely Remorseful But Sir For The Good Of Voters (Democrats & Independents) Badly In Need Of JOBS & Voters Participating In The 2012 Elections, You Need To Step Down Like Yesterday.

Please Listen To Party Leaders, NOT Your Friends & Family!

Its NOT About YOU Anymore Sir!

Its About Hurting Voters!

Its About Healing This Country!

So Please Stop Dithering!

Step Down Before This Unnecessary Media Blitz Totally Screws Up Democrats' Plans To Help Create Infrastructure Jobs & To STOP The GOP's Discriminatory Fake Deficit Reduction Agenda Of Destroying Successful Programs Which Have Always Helped Senior Citizens (Medicare), Veterans, College Students, Middle Class & Low Income Citizens.

Congressman Weiner If You RESIGN Now & Seek Treatment, Its Highly Possible You WILL Be Able To Come Back And Continue A Career In Politics.

Despite This Embarrassing Incident, Its Quite Obvious You Have A Brilliant Political Mind.

However If You Ignore The Advice Of Party Leadership, Your Political Career May Be Doomed FOREVER!

You Remain In Our Prayers.

God Bless & Thank You For Making The RIGHT Decision.

VOTE OBAMA IN 2012!!!!

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Weiner Agrees to Get Treatment as Calls for Resignation Intensify


Defying forceful demands for his resignation, Representative Anthony D. Weiner of New York said on Saturday that he was entering a psychological treatment center and seeking a leave of absence from the House to deal with a pattern of reckless online behavior with women.

The announcement came as three top Democratic leaders declared that Mr. Weiner, 46, once a rising star in the party, needed counseling and should step down from Congress.

Pressure on Mr. Weiner to leave the House, and spare the Democratic Party from an increasingly embarrassing scandal, had been building all week, but intensified on Friday, after it was revealed that Mr. Weiner had traded private messages with a 17-year-old girl in Delaware.

Mr. Weiner, who friends say has become distraught and fragile in recent days, will use the leave to think about his future and whether to leave Congress, a possibility he has not entirely ruled out, a person close to him said.

But Mr. Weiner’s plan did not satisfy exasperated Democratic leaders, who have been trying to persuade him that he is damaging himself, his family and his party by remaining a member of the House.

The House Democratic leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, spoke to Mr. Weiner on the phone Saturday morning and, notably, released her statement calling for his resignation after he told her of his plan to
get treatment and to take the leave. Mr. Weiner received a similar phone call from Representative Steve Israel of New York, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, urging him to resign.

Mr. Weiner has been talking with a therapist in New York City over the past couple of days, as fallout from his online scandal worsened and he absorbed the message from his colleagues and advisers that his conduct reflected not just bad judgment but perhaps a deeper psychological problem.

“Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person,” said his spokeswoman, Risa Heller. “In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well.”

Ms. Heller would not identify the facility or the precise kind of counseling Mr. Weiner, who has admitted having explicit communications with six women he met online, would receive. She stressed that he was carefully considering the calls from his fellow lawmakers urging him to give up his seat.

Mr. Weiner has been resistant in telephone calls over the past week with Ms. Pelosi and Mr. Israel, who have been warning him that if he does not quit, they will make their case publicly.

They were especially frustrated, according to one high-ranking Democratic official, when Mr. Weiner repeatedly told them he could not resign now because his wife, Huma Abedin, was traveling abroad with her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton — an assertion they viewed as an unpersuasive pretext.

Ms. Pelosi had hoped that the congressman would reach the decision on his own to go. In addition to her concerns about the political distraction Mr. Weiner had become, Ms. Pelosi concluded that his behavior required medical intervention.

“When you are this self-destructive, there is obviously something deeper going on with you,” said a Pelosi adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being seen as betraying her confidence.

Asked how Mr. Weiner reacted to his phone call Saturday morning, Mr. Israel said, “He absorbed it, but he obviously had more pressing matters to deal with.”

The pressure from colleagues had been building throughout the week, but the report on Friday that Mr. Weiner corresponded on Twitter with the 17-year-old girl further inflamed the situation. A Democratic National Committee official told members of Mr. Weiner’s staff that the congressman’s assertion that his exchanges with the girl, a high school junior, were “neither explicit nor indecent” did not really matter at this point.

The concerns of Democratic leaders were echoed by those closely advising Mr. Weiner throughout the week, who said they watched him become more anguished as sensational news media coverage continued about his graphic interactions with the women on social media.

One friend said it had become abundantly clear that Mr. Weiner was no longer in a position to make clear-headed decisions about his career and health.

“He was falling apart,” said a longtime friend, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect the relationship.

Mr. Weiner, who prides himself on his dapper appearance and physical fitness, was losing weight, seemed run down and drawn and increasingly found it difficult to make it through telephone calls without losing his composure.

He began meeting with the therapist not only to discuss his online behavior, but also to cope with the fallout from the scandal. On Friday, with calls for his resignation multiplying, he agreed that traditional therapy was not enough. He told family and friends that he would enter an out-of-town clinic and made travel plans for Saturday afternoon. He will be evaluated before it is determined exactly what kind of treatment he will receive.

Several friends who have talked to Mr. Weiner this week expressed concern about how he was handling the scandal. On Saturday he appeared briefly in his Queens neighborhood, visiting a dry cleaner and an A.T.M., while some neighbors called out their support to him.

Mr. Weiner, a Brooklyn-born former city councilman who many believed until a few days ago would be the next mayor of New York City, has always been a figure of frenetic pace and in-your-face manner.

Taking a leave is uncharacteristic for Mr. Weiner, who likes the limelight and is not given to self-reflection — or rest. He must submit his request for the leave in writing. Approval is fairly routine: the letter will be presented on the House floor and recorded, without a vote. Mr. Weiner would continue to collect his salary and benefits during his leave.

Others have taken similar steps, including Representative Patrick J. Kennedy, Democrat of Rhode Island, who sought help for addiction to prescription drugs in 2006.

Even as they emphasized that Mr. Weiner’s desire to get help was sincere, two people close to him acknowledged that it could, at least temporarily, relieve some of the political pressure and media chaos surrounding him. As recently as Monday, the congressman said he would not seek treatment, blaming a personal mistake for what he had done.

Ms. Pelosi and other Democratic leaders were deeply worried about Mr. Weiner’s scheduled return to Washington this week, after a Congressional recess, fearing he would bring a circuslike spectacle with him.

His scandal erupted at a particularly bad time for the party, as Democrats had briefly regained momentum after a surprise victory in an upstate New York election, and put Republicans on the defensive over a proposal to revamp Medicare.

“I am heartbroken,” Senator Charles E. Schumer said in a statement, adding, “It’s clear he needs professional help and I am glad he is seeking it.”

As the party has tried to react, the voices of female Democratic leaders seem to have carried special weight.

Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, issued a statement saying, “The behavior he has exhibited is indefensible and Representative Weiner’s continued service in Congress is untenable.”


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Sources: CNN, Fox News, Huffington Post, Meet The Press, MSNBC, NY Daily News, NY Times, Wikipedia, Youtube, Google Maps

353 Journalists Follow Tiger Woods & Mickelson To Charlotte (Quail Hollow)

National Media Descends On Quail Hollow For Tiger Coverage


Look around at the parking signs at the Quail Hollow Championship in south Charlotte, and you will see names you've never seen before: CNN, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News.

The Tiger Woods scandal and his return to golf have turned his second appearance at a tournament into something more than a sports event.

There are 353 journalists who've been given permission to cover the tournament -- about 100 more than in 2009. The group was so large that the tent where members of the media are asked to work was expanded.

"We've obviously had to create a little more desk space, a little more working space," explained Lee Patterson, the tournament's Director of Communications.

The attention is so high that reporters and photographers will need a special credential to follow Woods along the golf course during tournament play. A separate credential will allow them to follow any other golfer.

"There is so much more reaction, response, readership, viewership, e-mails, comments when he plays," said Bob Harig from ESPN.com

"He really does heighten the interest in so many ways."


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Sources: CBS, ESPN, WCNC, Youtube, Google Maps

Obama W.H. Pushes Stimulus Anniversary Media Blitz; Was It Effective?

Silver Lining Hard To Find For Some On Anniversary Of Stimulus

While the Obama administration and congressional Democrats are out in force this week touting the success of the $787 billion economic stimulus package signed exactly one year ago, critics are pointing to a still-dismal jobs picture and deflating public confidence as signs that the ballyhooed benefits of the stimulus bill, as one GOP leader put it, were a "fiction" and not worth the cost.

The United States of America owes $1.6 trillion more today than it did a year ago. The jobless rate has climbed from 8.1 percent to 9.7 percent. And the deficit has soared to record levels, with another record likely to be set this year.

Happy anniversary.

While the Obama administration and congressional Democrats are out in force this week touting the success of the $787 billion economic stimulus package, signed exactly one year ago, critics are pointing to a still-dismal jobs picture and deflating public confidence as signs that the ballyhooed benefits of the stimulus bill, as one GOP leader put it, were a "fiction." And certainly not worth the cost.

President Obama and Vice President Biden argued Wednesday that the stimulus has saved or created 2 million jobs.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele called that estimate "nonsense."

"I don't know what that is. I don't know what that looks like. If I can't put my fingers on it, if I can't touch it and if I can't get up at 6 o'clock in the morning and go to work there, then it's not happening, and that's the reality of a lot of people right now," Steele told Fox News.

While employers are shedding far fewer jobs than they were last year, the stimulus hasn't jolted hiring in the way it was advertised -- 49 states saw a net job loss in 2009, according to recent statistics. It's also contributed to record debt and deficits -- the national debt has reached nearly $12.4 trillion, while this fiscal year's deficit is expected to hit about $1.6 trillion. At the same time, President Obama is creating a panel to study ways to bring those numbers down.

The public is losing faith. A recent CBS News/New York Times survey showed only 6 percent of Americans believe the stimulus has created a significant number of jobs.

But here's the good news: The national economy as a whole is growing, a strong sign that the nation is not sliding back into recession. The jobless rate has pulled back from a high of 10.2 percent. Advocates of the stimulus argue that while unemployment is bad, the situation is better than it would have been without the stimulus -- a claim that can neither be proved nor disproved -- and that Republicans are talking out of both sides of their mouths, railing against the package while reaping its benefits in their home states.

"We acted because failure to do so would have led to catastrophe," Obama said Wednesday. "One year later, it is largely thanks to the recovery act that a second depression is no longer a possibility."

Biden said Wednesday on CBS' "The Early Show" that the package is only "halfway" done. Christina Romer, head of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said on ABC's "Good Morning America" that state aid, a huge part of the package, has kept hundreds of thousands of state workers on the payroll and that the next step is to "translate" the GDP growth into more jobs. She and Biden both predict job growth by spring.

"We've seen a dramatic turnaround in this economy in the last year," Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine told Fox News on Wednesday. "We're not where we want to be yet, but it's great that we were able to ... stop the freefall in jobs."

But positive GDP growth isn't exactly the kind of thing that outside-the-Beltway Americans are going to notice on a day-to-day basis. Home values, 401k's, jobs and other real-world indicators are the proof many are looking for. While the stock market is back from the rock-bottom lows of early 2009, it's far from where it was before the crisis on Wall Street.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said in a statement Wednesday that the first anniversary of the stimulus is nothing to celebrate.

"In the first year of the trillion-dollar stimulus, Americans have lost millions of jobs, the unemployment rate continues to hover near 10 percent, the deficit continues to soar and we're inundated with stories of waste, fraud and abuse," he said. "This was not the plan Americans asked for or the results they were promised."

Sources: Fox News, CNN

Toyota's Media Blitz, Offers Fix To Customers

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Toyota Announces Gas Pedal Fix


Toyota said Monday it has developed a fix for gas pedals in millions of recalled vehicles and is already shipping the new parts to dealers.

The fix involves reinforcing the pedal assembly in a way that eliminates the excess friction that has caused the pedals to stick, the company said in a press release. Toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles in the United States for this problem.

Toyota said replacement parts are already being shipped and that dealers will work extended hours to fix the recalled vehicles.

"We know what's causing the sticking accelerator pedals, and we know what we have to do to fix it," said Jim Lentz, Toyota's president and chief operating officer, in a statement.

Toyota will begin contacting customers as early as this week to let them know when to bring in their vehicles for the fix. The automaker said it will cover all costs related to the fix, which will take about 30 minutes.

It's not clear how long it will take to fix all 2.3 million cars, Lents told CNNMoney.com

Much will depend on how quickly customers bring their cars into dealer for repairs.

Dealers will be open extended hours, he said.

"Dealers that are open five days will be open seven days," he said. "Dealers that aren't open extended hours will be open extended hours."

The fix involves installing a precision-cut steel reinforcement bar into the accelerator pedal assembly, which will reduce surface tension and prevent the friction that has caused the pedals to stick, Toyota said.

Toyota recall: What to do if your car's on the list

The company said it has confirmed the effectiveness of the newly reinforced pedals through "rigorous testing" on pedal assemblies that had previously shown a tendency to stick.

Toyota announced plans last week to suspend sales of the models, including its best-selling Camry, subject to the recall. It also took the unusual step of halting production of those models.

The recall has taken a severe toll on Toyota's once-stellar reputation, which Lentz acknowledged in a video statement posted on Toyota's Web site.

"I know that we've let you down," Lentz said "Toyota will work hard to fix your vehicle properly and regain your trust."

The recall affects Toyota's 2009-2010 RAV4, Corolla and Matrix; 2005-2010 Avalon; certain 2007-2010 Camrys; 2010 Highlander; 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia. The Camry Hybrid is not included in the recall.

The Japanese automaker also recalled cars in Europe. That recall involves eight different models, several of which are not sold in the United States. The precise number of vehicles involved in that recall is still being determined, but it could be as many as 1.8 million.

The gas pedal recall is separate from an earlier one, begun in November to fix a problem in which the gas pedal can become caught on the edge of the removable floormat.

The floormat recall was recently expanded so that it now covers a total of 5.3 million vehicles.

In cases where vehicles are subject to both recalls, Toyota (TM) said it intends to remedy both at the same time.

Toyota has been under scrutiny for suspected unintended acceleration for approximately 10 years. A total of 19 deaths have been conceited to unintended acceleration in Toyotas over the decade, according to some analysts, a figure the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration called "plausible," based on its own research.

All major automakers experience some complaints of unintended acceleration. It is unclear how the rate of complaints and crashes in Toyota vehicle compares to that of other major automakers.

Lentz said he is confident that resolving this issue and the floormat entrapment problem will solve the problem for Toyota. The automaker has also said it is making "brake override" -- a system that cuts engine power to the wheels as soon as the brake pedal is pressed -- standard equipment on all of its cars.

The "brake override" software will also be added to the internal computers on some cars as they are brought in for recall repairs, a Toyota spokesman said.


Sources: MSNBC, CNN, Toyota

Will Elin Woods Come Forth About Tiger's "Transgressions"?

Will Tiger Woods’ wife break her silence? As more and more women come forward in the Tiger Woods scandal, one woman who is ducking the spotlight is the golfer’s wife, Elin Nordegren. NBC’s Peter Alexander reports.

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Can Tiger Woods’ marriage be saved? Psychiatrist Gail Saltz and psychologist Jeff Gardere talk to TODAY’s Hoda Kotb about whether they think the golfer can salvage his marriage.

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Palin's Book Tour Is An Immediate Success!...She's Hot Right Now!

Sarah Palin hits the (book) trail


If Sarah Palin were running for president, this is where she’d come: The outskirts of a second city in the conservative heartland of Western Michigan, where thousands gathered Wednesday to see her, shake her hand and have her sign their copies of “Going Rogue.”

And if she were running for president, she’d be doing about what she did Wednesday, under the watchful eyes a half-dozen capable advance hands, veterans of the White House and the McCain campaign, who herded the press and the public into even lines. She had a VIP list for key local conservatives, shuttling them discreetly to the front of the line. She had a few talking points, tailored for the local area, to deliver after she stepped down with a big smile from her big bus, handing baby Trig off to an aide after her four-inch heels hit the sidewalk outside a shopping mall Barnes & Nobles, where she held her first book signing.

“They deserve more credit than they’re getting for the level of early organization that they have,” observed John Yob, a Grand Rapids political consultant who served for a time as political director of John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign.

The stop in Grand Rapids felt like a political campaign event, not a book tour. For a woman written off as a disorganized celebrity on a tour run by monomaniacal book publicists, Palin and her aides were clearly thinking politics.

Yob was ushered past the rope line with his father, Chuck, a former Republican National Committeeman and regional power broker. The elder Yob penned an open letter to Palin after McCain announced that he was abandoning Michigan, cheering her public dissent from the campaign strategy, telling her she’d “kicked Joe Biden's butt in the debate,” and inviting her to “come to Michigan immediately.”

Also there were the minority leader of the Michigan House, Kevin Elsenheimer, and Joanne Voorhees, the conservative Kent County Republican Party chairwoman who was briefly in the news for abruptly cancelling an event for former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman, on the grounds that hosting a moderate would be breaking with Republican “roots.” Two local state Representatives, Bob Genetski and Dave Agema, both devout Christian conservatives, were also invited to meet Palin.

The logistics weren’t perfect: The Kent County Republicans could be heard muttering that they’d been rushed past the former Alaska governor. But Chuck Yob said he was pleased after an advance man walked him and his son to the front of the line, and Palin reacted with pleased surprise to their presence.

“Oh my God, that’s neat,” she said.

Palin’s roadshow travels in a campaign-style bus painted to match the cover of her book, with a giant picture of Palin and Facebook and Twitter logos. She emerged with a wave for the adoring crowd, which had begun massing 24 hours earlier, and a few words for the television cameras.

Her staff was made up of volunteers: Jason Recher, a campaign advance man whom she describes in glowing terms in her book, and John Roberts, a former White House staffer, who steered her through the media scrum after she handed off her son. Also on the bus was an aide to her Political Action Committee, former RNC Finance Director Tim Crawford.

Western Michigan – an "awesome area of this great land" – can be rescued "if we apply some good free enterprise principles in our federal government," she said in a brief interview with reporters, where she dismissed Newsweek’s decision to put her on its cover in running shorts as “cheesy.”

"I would never have posed for Newsweek in shorts," she said of the picture, which was taken for an article in Runner’s World that ran last August.

Grand Rapids was where Palin first “’went rogue’ trying to reach out during the campaign,” she writes in “Going Rogue,” and it’s the beginning of a tour that will retrace many of the stops on the Republican primary in Palin’s demonstration of how the contest might have looked if she’d had her way.

Palin, meanwhile, ends “Going Rogue” with a tribute to the state.

“I’m thinking when I get back, I‘ll bake the kids a cake. And I’ll pull out a road map – I want to show Piper the way to Michigan,” she writes in the final line of her book.

The state seemed to be returning her affection Wednesday, as locals began lining up Tuesday evening outside the bookstore. By 5:00 a.m. Wednesday, hours before her appearance, the store had already handed out more than 500 wristbands entitling their bearers to a place on line. Aides said that in all, over 1,000 people had their books signed, and hundreds more came for a glimpse.

“She's one of us. She doesn't seem like a Washington elite,” said Denese Crouch, a homemaker who lives outside Grand Rapids, echoing the dominant theme in a canvass of the long line, which was the ease of identifying with Palin. “She seems to figure solutions to problems like I'd do with my own family,” Crouch said.

Indeed, though the line was broadly Republican, Palin’s persona and her outsider status seemed to trump any particular issues with most of her admirers.

“She stands for everything I believe. I wear a suit and nylons and pumps to work” while loving nature, said Kim VandeKoppel, who runs a printing business in Grand Rapids, and who also praised Palin’s “Christian beliefs.”

At the front of the line was Robin Case, 44, who’d driven the previous evening from Traverse City and who sat at the front of the line in sweatpants giving an endless series of interviews to local and national reporters. “What she represents is what I’m standing in line for,” she said repeatedly. “She's like you and me -- someone who represents me when we're sitting around the table like other normal folks.”

Case said she stopped working to take care of her in-laws, who suffer from dementia and were driven into poverty and onto Medicaid when “they got into that donut hole with prescriptions” she said, referring to a much-criticized provision of 2003 Republican legislation.

Her criticism, a reporter noted, sounded a bit like President Barack Obama’s. What did she think of his health care plan?

The politicians currently debating health care “just want to line their pockets” she responded. “Sarah Palin’s not like that.”

The event also drew its share of more ideological conservatives. Bob Weinert, 56, a fencing salesman from Lansing, said he’d heard Rush Limbaugh say recently that Palin is “the most conservative candidate out there.” She represents, he said, “limited government and traditional values,” including “putting homos back in the closet.”

“And putting Christmas in the stores,” added his wife, Rexanna, who said she felt she could trust the “down-to-earth” Palin.

A few minutes later, a diffident young man wandered by with a handmade “Homos for Palin” t-shirt until he encountered a mall security guard.

“You’ve got to zip it up or leave,” said the security guard and the young man, who said he was a college student but wouldn’t give his name, complied.

Palin’s tour will take her through the battleground states where, she writes, she felt the McCain campaign made her pull her punches. There are stops in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Fairfax, Virginia, Florida’s The Villages, and the Missouri Ozarks.

Michigan, though, is a particular preoccupation of hers, despite its place as the ancestral state of the presumptive 2012 GOP front runner, Mitt Romney, whose father was governor.

“In Michigan, the [2012] race will come down to Mitt Romney and one other candidate and if a candidate were to beat Mitt Romney in Michigan, that candidate will be the nominee,” John Yob noted.

Might that be Palin?

"I am inspired by these crowds to fight for the right thing in this country,” she said on her way into the Barnes & Nobles Wednesday before signing three hours worth of autographs and then returning to the bus, waving Trig’s hand to the crowd.



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Sources: Politico, OK Magazine, Google Maps

Sarah Palin, Barbara Walters Entire Interview (Videos)

Part I



Part II




Sources: ABC News, Youtube, Google Maps

Pres. Obama Responds To Palin's Criticism...She's No Joke! Voters Are Watching

Columnist David Brooks calls Sarah Palin "a joke".





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Sources: TMPTV, ABC News, OK Magazine, Daily Mail, Youtube, Google Maps

Sarah Palin Slams Obama Admin's Economic Fix..."Its Back-assward!"

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Sources: TMPTV, The Daily Beast, Amazon, Youtube, Google Maps

Palin's Media Blitz Could Be Her Political Waterloo...But She's No Joke!

Columnist David Brooks calls Sarah Palin "a joke".

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McCain camp bristles at Palin’s tell-all. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin lashes out at some former members of John McCain’s presidential campaign staff in her new memoir, “Going Rogue.” Now some of the staffers are firing back. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports.

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Palin opens up. Sarah Palin begins her book tour with an interview with Oprah Winfrey.

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From Levi to Letterman: Palin's rough year


Despite all the money and attention former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s autobiography is expected to draw as it hits bookshelves this week, it’s difficult to think of a national political figure who’s had a rougher year than the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee.

Consider President Barack Obama with the ups and downs in his first year in office. Or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who's facing a tough re-election bid and the difficult task of getting 60 votes to pass health care through his chamber. And don't forget the leaders of the Republican party who are out of power and have seen the GOP’s poll numbers decline.

But from the moment the 2008 campaign ended until her surprising resignation as Alaska governor in July, Palin has endured political setbacks, suffered through embarrassing revelations, became the subject of ethics complaints (most of which were dismissed), and even feuded with a late-night comedian and the father of her grandchild.

Her calendar has been full of controversial moments:

* Immediately after the presidential contest was over, McCain campaign officials told reporters about Palin committing apparent acts of insubordination, like her unprecedented (and rejected) request to deliver her own concession speech.

In March, Levi Johnston — the father of her grandchild — announced that he and Palin’s daughter, Bristol, had ended their relationship.

* In April, Palin’s spokeswoman criticized Johnston’s tell-all appearance on the “Tyra Banks Show,” saying: “We’re disappointed that Levi and his family, in a quest for fame, attention and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration and even distortion of their relationship.”

* Also in April, the Alaska legislature voted to reject Palin’s pick for state attorney general, Wayne Anthony Ross, who had been criticized for calling gays and lesbians “degenerates.”

* In June, after comedian David Letterman made a crude joke about one of her daughters, Palin fired back calling his comments “sexually perverted,” while her husband Todd said, “Any 'jokes' about raping my 14-year-old are despicable.” Letterman later apologized.

* Also in the summer, Vanity Fair published a devastating article that recounted her troubles during and after the presidential campaign.

And after all of that, Palin shocked the world in July when she resigned from office — with some 18 months left in her first term.

“A good point guard … drives through a full-court press, protecting the ball, keeping her head up because she needs to keep her eye on the basket,” she said at her resignation announcement. “And she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can win. And that is what I'm doing.”

Palin’s political freefall

Her resignation, however, didn’t stop the embarrassments or setbacks. In August, the Alaska legislature voted to override her veto of $28.6 million in federal stimulus funds.

This fall, in that attention-grabbing special congressional election in New York, she led the charge of national Republicans endorsing the third-party conservative candidate over the more liberal GOP nominee. But that divide helped a Democrat win the seat.

And Palin’s resignation didn’t stop her political freefall, either. According to last month’s NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, only 27 percent of Americans have a positive view of her — down five points from the survey conducted just after her resignation, and down 19 points since she was selected as McCain’s running mate.

The result of all of this?

“Fewer people today see her as a serious political entity going forward,” said one Republican strategist who worked with Palin on the McCain campaign.

The battleground state book tour

But that isn’t going to stop her from selling a lot of books and attracting a lot of media attention. On Monday, she appears on Oprah Winfrey’s show to promote her book, “Going Rogue: An American Life.”

On Tuesday, the book goes on sale. And on Wednesday, she begins a book tour that will take her to 13 cities — 11 of which just happen to be in presidential battleground states (like Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Virginia).

In fact, Palin starts her tour in Michigan, a battleground state the McCain campaign withdrew from the day of Biden-Palin vice presidential debate. Afterward, Palin went, well, rogue and openly questioned the move. “I want to get back to Michigan and I want to try," she said.

Just last week, in a posting she made on her Facebook page announcing her book tour dates, Palin quipped, “Last year, I made a promise to the good people of Michigan that I would be back, and now I’m keeping that promise.”

Can she make a political comeback?

The question is whether Palin’s book tour — and the publicity it will receive — can spark a political comeback after her rough year. If she does have her eyes on the presidency, her defenders say, next week’s rollout will be extremely important.

The Weekly Standard’s William Kristol, a Palin supporter, believes that she remains a viable presidential contender. “It’s silly to claim Palin has no chance to win the nomination or the presidency,” he wrote after her resignation in July, citing her standing in early 2012 GOP primary polls and her ability to fire up the Republican base. “She’ll be able to make the case effectively that she should be the nominee, or she won't.”

In a recent e-mail exchange with NBC, Kristol added: “I’d say next month or so is very important for Palin, an unusual instance where a month three years before next election could be an inflection point regarding her chances, either positively or negatively.”

Yet other Republicans are no longer taking Palin as a serious presidential possibility. One party strategist, who requested anonymity to speak freely, says that Palin certainly appeals to the base. “In the right environment, she could be helpful to raise money.”

But the strategist argued that the “‘US Weekly’ atmosphere” surrounding her and her family makes her less viable. “It is hard to take someone that seriously with that kind of drama.”

Ditto the fact that she currently lacks an organization, the strategist said. “Making comments on Facebook is not the serious way to run for office.”

Republican political consultant Mike Murphy, who has been critical of Palin in the past, bluntly says that she won’t be the party’s nominee in 2012.

“She’ll have a muscular career as a political celebrity, and she’ll have a voice,” he said. “I just don’t think that she’s a strong political candidate.”

Murphy adds, “She is polarizing within the GOP and totally unpopular outside the party. And that is not a recipe to get into the White House.”



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Sources: MSNBC, ABC News, The Daily Beast, Amazon.com, Youtube, Google Maps

Pres. Obama's Historic Sunday Morning Media Blitz (5 Networks!)...Highlights

Obama Sunday Show Blitz



(Pres. Obama states his administration will continue focusing on creating more Jobs.)



(No deadline on Afghanistan)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

(On World Series: Who will win?)

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

President Barack Obama today became the first president to appear on five Sunday network shows in the same morning, an extraordinary effort to build public support for health care reform, his top domestic priority.

Here are some notable highlights from the Sunday show blitz:

ON HEALTH CARE POLITICS: IT'S A HARD TOPIC TO TALK ABOUT

Despite so many weeks of speeches, town halls and interviews, Pres. Obama said he has found it difficult at times to make a complex topic clear and relevant.

"I've tried to keep it digestible," Pres. Obama said. "It's very hard for people to get their arms around it. And that's been a case where I have been humbled and I just keep on trying harder."

Pres. Obama told Univision's "Al Punto" ("To the Point") that the strong opposition to his plan is part of a political strategy.

"Well, part of it is ... that the opposition has made a decision," he said. "They are just not going to support anything, for political reasons."

ON TORTURE: JUSTICE DEPT. OK TO CONDUCT INTERROGATION REVIEW

President Obama says he has no plans to ask the Justice Department to end its criminal investigation into the harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists during the Bush administration.

Seven former CIA directors have asked the president to do just that. In a letter to Pres. Obama on Friday, they warned that the probe could discourage CIA officers from doing the kind of aggressive intelligence work needed to fight terrorism.

Pres. Obama tells CBS' "Face the Nation" that he appreciates that the former CIA chiefs are wanting "to look after an institution that they helped to build."

Pres. Obama says he wants to make sure that he's not somehow overruling the decisions of prosecutors such as Attorney General Eric Holder who are there to uphold the law.

ON ECONOMY: NOT READY TO DECLARE RECESSION OVER

President Obama isn't ready to close the book on the recession.

Only last week Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the worst recession since the 1930s was probably over.

But Pres. Obama tells CNN's "State of the Union" that he's going to leave it up to the Fed chairman to say whether it's officially over or not.

Pres. Obama says all the signs are that the economy is going to start growing again. But he says jobs are a challenge.

The president says job figures usually are the last to catch up in a recovery and he says that making up for all those jobs that have been lost will require really high growth rates.

He's warning that the jobs picture could get even a bit worse over the coming months and that there might not be enough job creation until next year to deal with the rising population.

ON AFGHANISTAN: NO "INDEFINITE OCCUPATION"

President Obama says he has no deadline for withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan and is pledging there will not be an indefinite American occupation. Sounding much like his predecessor, Pres. Obama said he won't base any war decision on "the politics of the moment."

The 8-year-old conflict in Afghanistan, overshadowed by the war in Iraq during much of George W. Bush's presidency, is a dominant challenge for Pres. Obama.
The American public and leaders of his own party have eroding faith in the face of a resurgent Taliban, doubts of Afghan leadership and rising U.S. engagement.

"I don't have a deadline for withdrawal," Pres. Obama said in one of a series of television interviews broadcast Sunday. "But I'm certainly not somebody who believes in indefinite occupations of other countries."

Pres. Obama has ordered 21,000 more troops to Afghanistan, increasing the number of U.S. forces there to 68,000, and is expecting to get a request for more from the U.S. and NATO commander. Pres. Obama said the decision is more than the inclination of "If I get more, then I can do more."

"Right now, the question is, the first question is, are we doing the right thing?" he said. "Are we pursuing the right strategy?

Pres. Obama has pledged no imminent decision on sending in more troops and says he wants to see updated reviews on all aspects of his war strategy. His road map to winning the war in Afghanistan relies heavily on clearing Al-Qaida terrorists from Pakistan, according to a list of benchmarks given to Congress last week.

Pres. Obama said once he hears from advisers and has a better idea on whether more troops or needed, then "what I will say to the American public is not going to be driven by the politics of the moment." Bush often used similar language when overseeing a war in Iraq that had lost support of much of the public.

ON ACORN: NOT SOMETHING I'M FOLLOWING CLOSELY

On ABC, George Stephanopoulos pressed President Obama on the recent controversy surrounding the community group ACORN. Here's the full exchange:

STEPHANOPOULOS: How about the funding for ACORN?

PRES. OBAMA: You know, if -- frankly, it's not really something I've followed closely. I didn't even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of federal money.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Both the Senate and the House have voted to cut it off.

PRES. OBAMA: You know, what I know is, is that what I saw on that video was certainly inappropriate and deserves to be investigated.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you're not committing to -- to cut off the federal funding?

PRES. OBAMA: George, this is not the biggest issue facing the country. It's not something I'm paying a lot of attention to.

ON MISSILE DEFENSE: DECISION NOT ABOUT RUSSIA

President Obama sharply dismisses criticism that Russian opposition influenced his decision to scrap a European missile defense system, calling it merely a bonus if the leaders of Russia end up "a little less paranoid" about the U.S.

"My task here was not to negotiate with the Russians," Pres. Obama told CBS' "Face the Nation" in an interview for broadcast Sunday. "The Russians don't make determinations about what our defense posture is."

The president's comments were his first on the matter since he abruptly announced on Thursday that he was scuttling plans to deploy 10 missile interceptors in Poland and a related radar in the Czech Republic. That shield had been proposed under President George W. Bush.

Russia condemned it is a threat to its security despite years of U.S. assurances to the contrary.

In its place will be a different missile-defense plan relying on a network of sensors and interceptor missiles based at sea, on land and in the air. Obama says that adapts to the most pressing threat from Iran to U.S. troops and allies in Europe, potential attacks by short- and medium-range missiles.

Yet at home and abroad, Pres. Obama's decision immediately raised a political question of whether it was done in part to appease Russia and win its help in other areas, mainly in confronting the potential of a nuclear-armed Iran. That point was underscored when Russia lauded the change.

In an interview with CBS News that was taped Friday, Pres. Obama was pressed on why he did not seek anything in exchange from Russia.

"Russia had always been paranoid about this, but George Bush was right. This wasn't a threat to them," Pres. Obama said. "And this program will not be a threat to them."

He added: "If the byproduct of it is that the Russians feel a little less paranoid and are now willing to work more effectively with us to deal with threats like ballistic missiles from Iran or nuclear development in Iran, you know, then that's a bonus."

ON WORLD SERIES: WHO WILL WIN?

On NBC's Meet the Press, David Gregory asked President Obama who he thinks will win the World Series. The president's response: "The White Sox can still make the Play-Offs".


Sources: Huffington Post, MSNBC, CBS News, ABC News, CNN, Univision