Quitters stick to it. Winners quit.

Thanks to TPM for the headline.

"Life is too short to compromise time and resources... it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: "Sit down and shut up", but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out." - Sarah Palin explaining how she quit so she can more effectively represent her ideas.

You know, because it's easier to influence government from the outside. Look at how influential I am. And look at how much more ex-Presidents like Clinton and both Bushes have accomplished, legislatively and governmentally, since they left office.

It would seem to me that the easy path - if one feels beset on all sides by adversaries - would BE to quit. Sticking it out as per your government and electoral mandate, would be the hard path.

I can't decide if this is a sulk on her part, or a 2-part persecution complex. Blame the liberal media (and Letterman) and suck up to the Robertson Wing with a crucifixion complex - notice how she went back and edited herself from "thinking hard" to "thinking and praying hard" during the press conference.

Several thoughts here.... This is a woman who harbored ambitions for the Presidency and she can't handle the scrutiny of being a governor and a candidate? What did she think it would be like in office? She complains about the nastiness? Does she remember the shit she herself has heaped on Obama, as recently as last week? Muslim Manchurian Candidate, socialist, destroyer of the American way of life. Of course, she professed today to not like the politics of personal destruction. She practiced it well though.

Max Blumental reports on The Daily Beast that Sarah Palin may have quit her job today because she was trying to avert a major, yet-to-be-disclosed corruption scandal. The gist of the rumor is that an Alaska building company called Spenard Building Supplies (SBS) was awarded a contract by Palin to build a hockey arena in Wasilla, AK, and in return, SBS helped construct Palin’s home.

That might hurt.

And this rambling piece of nonsense goes in the WTF Hall Of Fame.

Jon Stewart blasts Glenn Beck for letting guest propose slaughtering Americans

Former CIA analyst and full-time asshole Michael Scheuer appeared on Glenn Beck wailing and gnashing his teeth about how America's security has gone to hell. Then he suggests that the only thing that can get our security back on track would be a mass slaughter of Americans by Osama bin Laden.

Now, does Glenn admonish Mr. Scheuer? Absolutely, he does.

Not.

SCHEUER: The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States....only Osama can execute an attack which will force Americans to demand that their government protect them.

BECK: nodnodnodnodnodnod

Here's my question: since an attack would demonstrate that our security is not working, and we have not been attacked, then what does that say about our security?

Hmmmm......

Now go steal some of grandma's OxyContin or you're just gonna end up as pissed as Jon Stewart.

The return of Alice In Chains

This is vintage Alice. This is fierce. The best band of the last decade is back in top form.

I know this sounds like a sales pitch, and I guess it is. I loved these guys. The new single, A Looking In View, is available on iTunes and Amazon. Their first collection of all-new studio material in 14 years, "Black Gives Way To Blue", is set for release on September 29.

A teaser clip follows below....

Health care: Jay Rockefeller stands up, Dianne Feinstein cowards out, Colbert infomercials for GOP, new Stranahan ad

From Senator Rockefeller:

"We have a moral choice. This is a classic case of the good guys versus the bad guys. I know it is not political for me to say that."

"We can't count on insurance companies. They are just maximizing their profits. They are sticking it to consumers."

"I am all for letting insurance companies compete. But I want them to compete in a system that offers real health-care insurance. I call it a public plan"
Government-backed programs are big enough to bring medical costs down, Rockefeller believes.

"Back in 1993, all our Veterans Administration hospitals got together and agreed to buy prescription drugs as a group. The next week, the costs of those drugs went down by 50 percent.

"Today, the insurance industry runs this whole deal, spending $1.4 million every day to fight health-insurance reform. The government has a lot of power to lower prices,"

"But do you want to be non-partisan and get nothing? Or do you want to be partisan and end up with a good health- care plan? That is the choice."

Dianne Feinstein doesn't seem to care for the criticism she's getting about her lack of support for the public option:

“I do not think this is helpful. It doesn’t move me one whit,” she said. “They are spending a lot of money on something that is not productive.”

Stephen Colbert's infomercial for the GOP healthcare reform plan:

New Lee Stranahan ad. Catch all 10 here.

Why does MSNBC let this nutjob on the air?

Here's Pat Buchanan denying climate change, denying the science, calling it a hoax and an excuse for a global, One World Order government.

Seriously, why are they still letting him on air? His views are not that different - more polished, but not different - than the guy who shot up the Holocaust Museum last month.

Nico Pitney gets Dana Milbank to call him a dick

....granted it was after the segment.

According to Nico

"The only thing that surprised me was when Dana turned to me after our initial sparring and called me a “dick” in a whispered tone (the specific phrase was, I believe, “You’re such a dick”)."

Here's the set-up. Nico Pitney is a blogger with Huffington Post who used to work for ThinkProgress. He had been working the Iran sotry endlessly for the past 2 weeks, and remember, the Iran story is being reported almost exclusively by the internet, since foreign press have been banned.

The day before Obama's presser last week, Pitney was told that he might get to ask a question of the President about Iran.

Dana Milbank, a dick with ears if ever there was one, and the traditional media are up in arms because it violated protocol. Traditonally, the AP gets the first question, then the major networks. However, Obama has been shaking things up and since the old line media can't very well get pissy with the President, well... they'll go after the new media for being in collusion. Watch the clip.