Don't Call It A Comeback: Are the Bushes Prepping to Restart Their Dynasty?

If 2016 is a race between the son and brother of a former president and the wife of a former president we may never be able to mock the British for their royal obsession ever again. (Image via The Daily Show)Jeb Bush, wannabe President 44, is in my newspapers and on my TV. Quotes from Poppy Bush, actual President 41, about Dubya, former President 43, is on my TV. Bushes are on my TV like it's 1999. Are Bushes the new Y2K scare, like the one we had in 1999? Because I think the Bushes are trying to come back ...

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The Best Post So Far On the "Texts From Hillary" Tumblr (Photo)

Click to (heh heh) ENLARGE.

During the 2008, then Sen. Hillary Clinton was severely lacking in online buzz and coolness. After all, then Sen. Barack Obama was sucking up all the memes and hype with things like "Obama Girl" and "I got this" and hilarious Obama themed folk art that ranged from awe inspiring to hilarious to delicious to vomit inducing. So, poor Hillary. She didn't get to have any of the coolness fun.

Then came these incredible pictures of the now Secretary of State, doing her thing in the cargo hold of a plane as she heads off around the world to represent the US of A ... holding a cell phone, rocking a pair of sunglass.

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And When The Birthers Came for Marco Rubio I Wrote This Blog Post

The Rubio family on the day Marco Rubio was sworn into office by Vice President Joe Biden. (Via Marco Rubio's Senate web site)Cuban American Senator and rumored potential Mitt Romney running mate Marco Rubio found himself in the clutches of "birthers" this week, who claim Rubio's family immigration story doesn't make sense. Their accusation is, that Rubio -- who has repeatedly stated his parents came to America after Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba -- isn't a "Natural Born Citizen." Hence, he's ineligible for higher office. Unlike with the birther's case against President Barack Obama, who was born in Hawaii to an American mother hence (duh) making him American, Rubio's "status" as a natural born citizen is up for (mis) interpretation: "Rubio was born in 1971 at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, his office said, but his parents did not become citizens until 1975."

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Hollywood Fast-Tracking "Killing Bin Laden" Film

President Obama, Secy. of State Hillary Clinton and others at briefing on Osama bin Laden's killing and capture. (Credit: White House Flickr)When she found out there was going to be a movie, Hillary Clinton thought to herself, "My God. This shit just got real."

More after the jump.

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The Mysteries of Marriage

There were once two very different women. One woman was known for her charm and sweetness. Old people loved her. Children loved her. She could cook. She was a neat freak. She was patient and affectionate. She always dressed and smelled nice. She was educated and had no children. The other woman, while also lovely, had a foul temper, was judgmental, yelled a lot, was not beloved by old people or children, was such a terrible cook that you'd think health services would shut her kitchen down and was unrefined. She cursed a lot and had a child from another relationship.

Both of these women found husbands who loved them. Both. A man wondered how, why anyone would ever marry the second woman and I told him unless you're in the marriage you just don't know.

There is a lot of head-scratching going on over the end of Al and Tipper Gore's marriage. Many people are comparing it to the turbulent marriage of Bill and Hillary Clinton. After all, no one excepted the super affectionate Gores to break up before the volatile and calculating Clintons. But, let's be honest? Why are we surprised? No one knows what goes on in a marriage but the two people in it.

More after the jump.

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Kennedy Wants Clinton's Senate Seat, But Some Cry Foul. Is All Fair In Politicis and Kennedys?

After more than a week of does she or doesn't she chatter, Obama supporter and childhood education activist Caroline Kennedy has made her intentions for Hillary Clinton's New York senate more clear. The New York Times recently wrote that Kennedy wants the job.

Some are surprised. Kennedy has spent nearly all of her life out of the political fray. While her cousins ran for office, she worked on her charities, wrote and edited books and mostly remained a political wallflower/family symbol as the only surviving child of President John F. Kennedy. While educated and politically curious, she simply didn't seem interested and who could blame her? Her entire family tree is littered with politicians, some successful, some not, some who like their Ambien and alcohol too much and some who faced an untimely demise.

Politics is an ugly business and you have to be one part Messiah complex, one part biggest ego in the world to withstand the dramarama that surrounds it. You have to be think you're Allen Iverson, that you're "The Answer" to the problems of your constituents. That you can deliver ... hopefully better than Iverson.

This is a compliment to Kennedy in the fact that I, quite honestly, did not think she had the ego for it.

Kennedy sank her gigantic familial chompers in for a huge bite of the political apple this year when she threw her reputation and last name behind Barack Obama for president. Apparently she is hungry for more.

But not everyone is skipping down Camelot memory lane. Especially those who supported Hillary Clinton in her presidential run (and that was the vast majority of New York Democrats), those who feel they've politely worked hard and waited their turn (that would be another family name, Cuomo, as in NY State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo) and those who involuntarily roll their eyes upon hearing the name Kennedy.

The United States of America doesn't have a monarchy, but that doesn't stop Americans to choosing to worship the political dynasties of their liking. The Republicans love the Bushes. Democrats still overwhelmingly love the Kennedys.

But the Kennedys are shrouded in desire and mystique because of when they came to political prominence and the life altering events that surrounded them. You can't get a much bigger backdrop than the 1960s, defined by war, civil unrest, injustice, violence, youth movements/youth culture and ideological warfare. If you couldn't make a name for yourself that decade it simply couldn't be done. But two assassinations shared by one political family was enough to wrap the Kennedy name up in romance. And so the name came to embody a certain American mythology. While the story is rooted in truth, the Kennedys are just people, extremely rich and influential people, but if all the boys and their alcohol/drug/women troubles have taught us anything, they are flawed.

A last name doesn't guarantee greatness.

But I suppose my larger point is -- why? Why does Caroline Kennedy want this job? Is this about the people, the party or the family name? Or is it all three? Are their individuals more qualified? Actress/activist Fran Drescher, quite strangely, wants the job. A reader floated Harold Ford Jr.'s name to me as a possible appointee for Clinton's seat. He was a supporter of her and has become more of a New Yorker, leaving his native Tennessee and his father's sphere of influence. (Yet another case for nepotism, but in New York the Ford name has less tread.)

Rev. Al Sharpton as endorsed Kennedy, yet a New York Democrat has compared Kennedy to "J. Lo," in the regard that they both have name recognition. How does this affect New York Governor David Paterson, who has to make this choice? Kennedy could definitely pull the money needed to hold the seat in 2010. And she has the name recognition. After all, Paterson would also be up for election in 2010 and it wouldn't hurt to have some attention grabber on the ticket, but ... what is this?

I was hoping Kennedy wouldn't want the job because you can't talk about Caroline Kennedy as a politician without talking about her family, specifically the mix of martyrs, tragedies and fuck ups that make up the Kennedy political graveyard. And Kennedy has no other political history to discuss other than the family history, turning us all into vulture voyers yet again. And people complain about "affirmative action" when it involves us at the bottom of the class warfare food chain, but isn't the potential Kennedy appointment the more classic case of "affirmative action?" As in, her last name is Kennedy therefore everyone acted affirmatively in her appointment?

I'm not saying Kennedy's not qualified. Qualifications for all elected offices are bare bones to make it easier for anyone to run. She's highly intelligent and politically astute and is easily the most likeable Kennedy, but 90 percent of her likeability is based in the fact that she is an activist who raises money for charities. She's seems nice and is non-controversial. But it's hard to get excited about this unless you like reruns. This isn't a "Great Gastby" scenario of the self-made politico, like Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, who had no name, money or status to trade for power. This is romance based on an old, doomed relationship in hopes it will be like the love before.

Will this be love redux or is Gov. Paterson about to potentially pass over better contenders to please those who can't get over our lack of monarchy? Is there someone else who would be better for the job? The answer is probably yes, but I'm almost positive that if Kennedy wants the seat it is truly hers to be had.

The name is still in demand.

Sheeeeee'ssss Baaaaaaaaaa-aaaaack!

The not-quite-South-by-the-way-of-Illinois-by-the-way-of-New York HAS RISEN AGAIN! She told you she'd be back! Like the Terminator. Only this time she's working for the O-Team. And since the saga over her possible appointment has been going on and on for more than two weeks now no one is surprised.

Every day President-Elect Barack Obama's potential cabinet keeps looking one-part "Team of Rivals" and one-part "Justice League." Could the names be any bigger? Could the egos surpass that girth? All I want to know is who is Batman and who is Superman and is Batman carrying his emergency kryptonite to keep Superman in check? Inquiring nerds want to know!

My thoughts on Clinton for Secy. of State? I'm ambivalent and bemused and fascinated. I want to see this play out. While it's obvious that Sen. Clinton really, really, really wanted to be sworn in herself come Jan. 20th, I don't think this is necessarily part of some Machiavellian plot to destroy the Obama Administration from within. By hitching her wagon to the Great Hopemongerer, she's now completed her transformation as "ride or die" Obama. As in, if Obama fails in his foreign policy she will feel that same stiff, cold wind that occassionally blows at the backs of Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell for their roles in the many fiascos of the Bush Administration as Secys. of State. This is make or break time.

As in, she needs to make this work for the good of the country and her own reputation.

In the end, as a politician (or as anything for that matter) all you have is your name. Once that goes, you go and there's no amount of wishful thinking (see, Bush, George W.) that will make a giant turd of a presidency blossom into wildflowers.

Clinton has chosen not to play passive in this and I'm not surprised. This is the first Democratic administration since her husband's and it's so damn historic presidential historians are having preemptive orgasms anticipating every ounce of minutae they will collect and preserve for prosperity. I half expect Doris Kearns Goodwin to pass out from a case of the vapors.

The only thing that's sticking in my craw is my beloved blowhard of MSNBC, Chris Matthews, who's foot-n-mouth disease knows no bounds. Last week I had to endour the most moronic conversation on Hardball where he (and strangely enough, other pundits who should have known better) batted around the notion of Bill Clinton running for Hillary's senate seat.

Bill Clinton. William Jefferson Clinton. Former president of the United States. Former "Leader of the Free World." Former Commander-In-Chief. Former HNIC and it's all about me, me, me where they played "Hail to the Chief" when he entered a room and everywhere he went was like TV's "Cheers" -- everywhere he went everyone knew his name. Bill "I'm a Rhodes Scholar with no impulse control who could not stop chasing tail because Prince's 'Pussy Control' was about me, man. The pussy is in CHARGE! I just follow the smell wherever it leads me. Don't tell Hillary! But it doesn't matter because I beat every mutha fucker who tried to impeach me! I am untouchable, the slickest of the slick and my dick is bigger than Gods!" Clinton.

That Clinton to run to be a junior senator from New York.

Seriously.

Bill will give up his charity for his wife's potential appointment, but after being president being senator is being Pope and choosing to go back to being a postulate and Bill is no longer the student. He is the teacher, you philistines! And the ego's on fire -- the Comeback Id would rather kick it with his Billionaire Boys Club wingman Ron Burkle for the next four to eight years, picking up chicks in Prague. Debating things like who would beat who in a fight -- Sam Jackson as Mace Windu from Star Wars versus Sam Jackson as the Octopus in The Spirit? Ruminating on all the girl's he's loved before.

I always saw Bill as being Henry Hill from "Goodfellas," the real life gangster who moved up within a crime family but was brought down by his own excesses. When the party was over he griped that he had to live like a regular "schnook."

Senator Bill Clinton ain't happening because Big Willie ain't gonna be nobody's schnook. He's not about to return to Washington, DC only to be Sens. Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer's bitch. He'd rather kill himself. Or them. Hell, that's probably one of the reasons why Hillary bounced from the senate anyway. Ted Kennedy was cock blocking her on health care reform because it was his baby first. So the Clintons like to win and Hillary's decided to take her toys and go join the winning team.

Unfortunately, there will be drama, real and imagined. I put a big emphasis on "imagined." The main accusation and criticism of the Clintons, both Bill and Hillary, is that their ambition is wild, ever reaching and starkly naked. While it is true, they know how to play the game better than most and can manipulate the press with the best of them -- all politicians are flagrantly and brazenly ambitious.

Barack Obama's ambitious. He's just a master of his own domain. He has slayed his dragons. He is in control of whatever demons he may possess, or perhaps he vanquished those demons long ago. He is not a man starved for sex, affection and approval and he is not a woman married to that mess, dealing with her own self-doubts and calculations.

He's in "control." If there were ever a salacious, unhinged, kinky scandal surrounding the O-Man I would be the first one calling "bullshit," only to be followed by shock and horror. But if Bill Clinton gets caught playing "grab hands" with Kim Kardashian tomorrow I'm not going to feign indignation.

Barack is in control and he's in control of this selection of Hillary Clinton.

She knows the drill. He's her boss. The Secy. of State's job is the execute the president's vision. Yes, she can offer insight, but as Colin Powell will tell you, even if you think the president is really taking an "L" there, you have to either get on board or resign.

Very few resign.

And if for some reason she doesn't know the drill and the media circus, Matthews, et al, becomes too much it will be up to Obama to say he's had enough of life under the big top.

Either way. I really don't think folks should spend too much time worrying about it. Obama's got this.

Women for Obama -- Except For One Who'd Rather Cut Off Her Nose to Spite Her Face

You take two steps forward and one step back in the dance of the die hard Clintonista.

Most are smart women. They measure their odds. Do they want the guy who beat their gal, but shares her platform, or Mr. Can't Answer A Question About Contraception and Insurance Companies? There's really not much of contest here. If you like your women's rights movement with pro-reproductive rights, pro initiatives for the healthcare of women and children, plus some equal pay for equal work you're stuck rooting for the team with the "D" on their chest.

That's what several women's rights groups did Tuesday -- drawing the line in the sand and joining Sen. Hillary Clinton in chanting "No way, no how, no McCain, no Palin."

Six organizations -- the Feminist Majority Foundation, the National Organization for Women, Business and Professional Women/USA, the National Association of Social Workers, the National Congress of Black Women and the Women's Information Network -- all came out for Team Obama and against the woman Arianna Huffington dubbed a "Trojan Moose."

Don't let the vagina fool you. Women actually vote with their brains.

WASHINGTON - Women's rights groups endorsed Barack Obama for president Tuesday, asserting the historic selection of a female Republican vice presidential candidate does not make up for John McCain's lack of support on issues important to women.

"We don't think it's much to break a glass ceiling for one woman and leave millions of women behind," said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation ...

NOW backed New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the primaries. "We join with her in saying 'no,'" said NOW President Kim Gandy, referring to a line Clinton used at the Democratic convention last month. "No way, no how, no McCain."

Gandy and Smeal dismissed polls that suggested McCain has received a boost in support from white women after he picked Palin.

"The die is not cast yet," Smeal said.

Indeed, but not everyone got the memo on (or got over) the Clinton v. Obama slapfest being moot. Namely a wealthy Democratic Party operative, Lynn Forester de Rothschild. According to CNN, Forester de Rothschild is a prominent Sen. Clinton supporter and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee.

She is the CEO of EL Rothschild, an international holding company and is married to international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. CNN reported, "Forester is a member of the DNC’s Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York."

And now this wealthy woman of status and means is endorsing John McCain.

Why, you ask?

Steady yourself for the most hypocritical, pot calling the kettle black and the skillet"uppity" statement ever.

In an interview with CNN this summer, Forester did not hide her distaste for eventual Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

“This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don't like him,” she said of Obama in an interview with CNN’s Joe Johns. “I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him.”

He's an elitist and she's an insanely wealthy former "Hillraiser" who generated more than $100,000 in funds for Clinton's failed campaign. A person who travels and lives abroad and is married to a guy who has sir as a title.

Je accuse!

What is up with elites calling Obama "elitist?" Is this woman for real? Really, really real, son. Want raw deal, son, if it's really real, real? She kicks back at the dive downing shots of tequila while field dressing a moose and talking about Toby Keith albums and NASCAR? She's down with the NRA and OPP and the STD or whatever banal stuff people like Forester de Rothschild think us regular dumbasses are down with? How hood can you be when your name "Forester de Rothschild?" It even sounds like it belongs next to Richie Rich, the Roosevelts, the Rockefellers and Archduke Ferdinand.

And how could she support Hillary? Hillary and Bill Clinton became "elitist" the moment they were proclaimed President and First Lady of the United States. Next to being the Pope I don't know if there's a more elite office on the planet. And some would even argue the Clintons became elites before that. And what is up with hating people for being educated and refined? I thought elites liked the idea of people like them being in charge? Sort of like an American version of an aristocracy, falling in love with powerful political families like the Kennedys and the Bushes.

But let's just keep it real, Ms. Insanely Rich Lady With Elitist Sounding Last Name, this really isn't about Barack's Ivy League education and ability to pronounce "nuclear." Don't make up a fake hypocritical reason. Just say you are so blinded by bitterness over Clinton's loss (or racism, whatever, it's you're party, rich elitist lady) that you don't care. You're willing to let your house burn down because you don't like the fireman who came to put it out.

All those issues you claimed to love didn't really mean anything after all. At the end of the day you couldn't accept the loss that even both Clintons have worked their way through. You're still holding on to hate. Enjoy yourself because if McCain wins, pulls a William Henry Harrison and you're living under the theocratic fiefdom of Queen Pink Pony Princess Polar Bear Killer President-for-Life Sarah Palin, where you have to go to Mexico to get your birth control pills and the Supreme Court rolls the Constitution back to 1787 and I have to move to Canada because I'm not down with being anyone's slave, we'll rest easy knowing that you didn't vote for that elitist Obama. No. You chose the lazy son of an admiral who is married to a wealthy heiress who can just drop $300,000 on an outfit.

*Thanks to reader Dexter T. for the tip!

Hillary Clinton Died For Sarah Palin's Sins

HRC, your legacy is under threat by a barn-burning, "Feminist For Life" from Wasilla, Alaska. Whatcha gonna do?

As I watched Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin's "Pitbull with lipstick" speech Wednesday night I wondered, "What is Hillary Rodham Clinton thinking?"

I only say this because I can't imagine that it sets well that Palin, a woman who is diametrically opposed to almost everything HRC professes to believe in, is taking her "18 million cracks" and running with them. And as she grasps the crown as the new political princess her defenders in the party and in the media cry sexism over every critique of Palin's qualifications and past.

It was surreal watching Gloria Berger and Campbell Brown parse Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's statement where he called Palin "shrill," pointing out the sexism when I recall a lot of sitting on hands over Clinton. As Democratic commentator Paul Begala pointed out, Clinton was referred to as a "bitch" on almost every cable news network, including CNN and it's affiliates, yet no one had boo to say and every pundit was telling Clinton and her throng of followers that she needed to suck it up if she was going to run with the big boys.

Now those same individuals who relished in trashing Clinton are rushing to Palin's defense. You can't really blame Begala's disgust. As a Clinton supporter he was among the many Clintonistas and feminists who felt they were dismissed as "whiners" in the face of the mocking of Clinton's voice, clothes, looks, record, sexuality, "victimhood," tears and morals.

But now it seems all the efforts of women and men to fight the sexism that dogged Clinton was only for Sarah Palin's benefit. Republicans have gone from "women who play the 'victim' card are whiners" to rallying around Palin and crying sexism at detractors.

And everything is sexism.

Question Palin's thin resume? You're a sexist. Question Palin's integrity in the light of "Troopergate?" You're a sexist. Question her dedication to ultra conservative, anti-abortion causes? You're a sexist. Mock her failed beauty queen storyline and Hockey Mom narrative? You're a sexist.

Question if McCain only picked her for the most cynical of reasons? You're a sexist.

Listening to Clinton Hater Dick Morris cry that no man would ever be questioned about their ability to parent while governing is almost vomit inducing. Hearing Sean Hannity behave as if he actually gave a crap or understood feminism made my head swim. Everything is relative, and now the Clinton Campaign Crucifixion on the cross of feminism has become Palin supporters' "Remember the Alamo."

Like the real battle for the Alamo, the men inside sent word to their leaders that they needed reinforcements, but barely got anything. The leaders deciding that the Alamo was fated to be lost.

Now Republicans, who hate both Clintons and fought them using everything from bogus charges that they murdered Vince Foster and countless Arkansans and various "bimbos of the week," are holding up Hillary as a martyr. "Remember Hillary!" they shout, following their new Femme Fatal Republican icon, Sarah Palin, an NRA, gun toting frontiers woman.

Unlike the Texians fighting for the Alamo in old San Antonio, Hillary Clinton is not dead. Her campaign is, but Sen. Clinton lives -- and so do her supporters who remember the rude jokes, jibes and digs that helped doom her campaign. Will they stand by as Palin becomes the no. 1 benefactor of their political dreams? Will Hillary stand silent while another woman takes her place as the most visible female politician on the national stage? Will feminists for reproductive rights stand idle while the right worships a "Feminist For Life," aka an anti-abortion candidate who wants to make abortion illegal? Will they all remain silent as their legacy is stolen by a Palin Come Lately steals their proverbial cracked glass ceiling?

Will the real Hillary Rodham Clinton please stand up so Sarah Palin and her posse can shut up?

There's a new line drawn in the sand and Palin crossed it. How long will it be before Clinton's pride and ego compels her to take back what was hers?