The other night Karl Rove was talking with Greta Van Susteren about the Sarah Palin phenomenon and her record-breaking book sales of "Going Rogue." He says he's started the book, finds it a very good read, is impressed by her crowds (4,000 at Ft. Bragg) and its sales nearly exceeding an ex-president's book, Bill Clinton's, written post-presidency.
The political strategist, with his own book coming out in March, "Courage and Consequence," says Palin has got to learn to pivot off of the misbehaving son-in-law and other soap opera questions because the media want to keep her on the cover of People magazine, not talking about serious issues.
But, Rove notes, there's a big difference between running to sell a book and running to win the White House.
Greta seemed done with her interview when Rove wanted to say something else.
(UPDATE: A news video update on the Hajj has been added below.)
Statement by the President on Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha, as provided by the White House
Michelle and I would like to send our best wishes to all those performing Hajj this year, and to Muslims in America and around the world who are celebrating Eid-ul-Adha. The rituals of Hajj and Eid-ul-Adha both serve as reminders of the shared Abrahamic roots of three of the world’s major religions.
During Hajj, the world’s largest and most diverse gathering, three million Muslims from all walks of life – including thousands of American Muslims – will stand in prayer on Mount Arafat. The following day, Muslims around the world will celebrate Eid-ul-Adha and distribute food to the less fortunate to commemorate Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son out of obedience to God.
This year, I am pleased that the Department of Health and Human Services has partnered with the Saudi Health Ministry to prevent and limit the spread of H1N1 during Hajj. Cooperating on combating H1N1 is one of the ways we are implementing my administration's commitment to partnership in areas of mutual interest.
On behalf of the American people, we would like to extend our greetings during this Hajj season – Eid Mubarak. ###
If you thought "Going Rogue" would be the end of Sarah Palin's written rants, you probably don't follow the former Alaskan governor's fan page on Facebook.
The Republican has been blogging like crazy recently with her 1.07 million Facebook fans. (See new video below of the campaign-like scenes.) And getting thousands of comments back.
In addition to pictures from her "Going Rogue" book tour -- of happy children, grinning U.S. troops and flags of the American variety -- Palin gives a more personal look behind her many interviews and individual visits with fans and customers.
According to a new industry sales report, her book is coming up on half a million copies sold in its first five days on the market, a sales rate of about 4,000 per hour around the clock. Which ought to keep her in moose chili a while.
Her Facebook page also has some touching photos of memorabilia that fans give her when buying the book. Plus, of course, the long lines of eager book-buyers at stores and malls along the way on her strategically planned 25-state tour.
Also behind-the-scenes looks at her unscheduled visit with the Rev. Billy Graham.
Her legions of Facebook fans are growing by a couple of dozen every few minutes. They grow each time you refresh the page.
In one recent post, the Republican calls Fox News' Sean Hannity "a great American." Oh, and an apology for leaving 100 fans at a book signing in Indiana.
But the main focus of her blog posts lately has been about Congress -- things like war spending and "Obamacare," her pet name for the healthcare bill.
Palin blasts the healthcare "scheme" for taxing everyone starting next year. The actual legislation, however, plans to ramp up taxes in 2011 and on a sliding scale, where richer residents are taxed more and the modestly wealthy get a 0.5% hike.
On Tuesday night, Palin was bothered over "liberal Congressional proposals" that would institute a tax to fund the war in Afghanistan. Palin supports the war and the troops but not the idea of paying for it with new taxes.
"With Congress and President Obama spending money on everything at breakneck speed, it’s interesting that they are only now getting nervous about ...
... spending," Palin writes, "but only when it comes to providing the necessary funds to complete our mission in Afghanistan."
This qualm about the government proposing taxes on war and nothing else comes less than a week after she complained about the government proposing taxes on healthcare.
The early-stage war tax proposal called the "Share the Sacrifice Act," which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she may support, would fund a U.S. troop escalation in Afghanistan that Rep. David Obey estimates will cost $1 trillion over 10 years. [Note: An earlier version of this post called Obey a senator.]
That would buy a lot of books.
(Update: Palin, whose father was her high school track coach, has now Twittered to followers that she's leaving the book promotion trail over the Thanksgiving holiday to travel to Kennewick, Wash., for a 5K Red Cross charity run with numerous relatives before a book appearance Sunday in nearby Richland.)
Last night they stayed at the posh Willard hotel in Washington.
This afternoon they fly first class to California, where they will be honorary grand marshals for Disneyland's Thanksgiving Day parade.
But today, a turkey named Courage -- and an alternate named Carolina, in case Courage is unable to complete his duties -- received President Obama's first presidential pardons.
Flanked by his daughters, Malia and Sasha -- who he said lobbied for the pardon -- Obama said the two turkeys had been spared the "terrible and delicious fate" of being served for dinner. You could tell he was tempted to eat Courage. As for his daughters, Malia observed astutely that Courage looked like a big chicken.
"There are certain days when I'm reminded why I ran for this office," Obama quipped. "And then there are days like this." On a more serious note, he called Thanksgiving a quintessentially American holiday, and an occasion to give thanks to soldiers separated from their families by war. You can read his remarks below.
But if the president thought the event a little light, the young aides in his White House were so tickled by its role in this odd tradition that they posted this preview on whitehouse.gov.
In November 2001, George W. Bush said some believe President Lincoln started the tradition by pardoning his son Tad's pet turkey. But that may be more Lincoln myth than fact.
In fact, most historians believe the tradition of a formal pardon began with Bush's father, 41, the first President Bush.
Presidential pardons for turkeys are rare. According to the folks at the National Turkey Federation, an estimated 273 million turkeys were raised this year for consumption on American tables.
It's true that we have not yet seen the finale on healthcare reform.
Nor have we heard the last about President Obama's Afghanistan policy. Or about financial regulatory reform that could pit Main Street against Wall Street.
But you can tell that the next issue on the horizon, after the smoke has cleared from the current debates, is global warming.
A new poll will probably give fodder to partisans on both sides. The Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that fewer and fewer Americans -- though still a majority -- believe that global warming is a real threat. According to the poll, 72% of the public now thinks climate change is caused by people, down from 80% last year.
Since its peak nearly four years ago, belief that people are causing climate change is down sharply among Republicans -- 76% to 54% -- and
independents -- 86% to 71%. Even Democrats are growing more skeptical; their number is down from 92% to 86%. Maybe Al Gore needs to bring his movie back for reruns.
Still, whether climate change is man-made or cyclical, a majority of poll respondents (53%) support legislation to control emissions. And one analyst thinks the slippage may be due less to skepticism over global warming than concerns about the economy.
[Updated at 8:41 a.m.: As if anticipating the coming debate, the White House plans to announce today that the United States will commit to reduce its gas emissions "in the range of" 17% below 2005 levels by 2020 -- the target set out in the climate bill the House passed in June.]
Even so, tickets for the State Dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are as hard to find as bipartisan consensus. The menu should be interesting too, since Singh is a vegetarian.
Jennifer Hudson, Academy Award-winning diva songstress, is set to headline the entertainment. Hudson's life was touched by tragedy a year ago when her mother, brother and nephew were found slain in Chicago. Since then, she has returned to the spotlight slowly. This week, she was tapped to play Winnie Mandela in an upcoming biopic.
In an attempt to reclaim the Grand Old Party for conservatives, a group of Republican National Committee members is circulating a 10-point platform for the 2010 elections. The platform opposes gun control, abortion, gay marriage and President Obama's healthcare reform, among other issues. The catch: Only candidates who agree with at least eight of the principles would get funding from the Republican Party.
Conservatives like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin clashed with party officials last month by backing a conservative over the party's nominee in 23rd Congressional District in New York. The effort to further purify the party ideologically could pose new problems for Chairman Michael Steele as he tries to recruit centrist Republicans to run in congressional districts that lean Democratic.
But conservatives within the party are adamant. They want candidates to abide by a litmus test they are calling Reagan’s Unity Principle. Here's the full list.
(1) Smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill; (2) Market-based healthcare reform and oppose Obama-style government-run healthcare; (3) Market-based energy reforms by opposing cap-and-trade legislation; (4) Workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing "card check"; (5) Legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants; (6) Victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges; (7) Containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat; (8) Retention of the Defense of Marriage Act; (9) Protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing healthcare rationing and denial of healthcare and government funding of abortion; and (10) The right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership
President Obama held his ninth meeting Monday night in the situation room with his War Council, a two-hour session to review the options in Afghanistan. This time, the assembled foreign-policy and military experts even included the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, an outspoken critic of the Hamid Karzai government in Kabul.
Also on hand for the very first time was Budget Director Peter Orszag, signaling the weight the Obama administration now places on how to pay for any surge in U.S. troops.
“After completing a rigorous final meeting, President Obama has the information he wants and needs to make his decision," Gibbs said, "and he will announce that decision within days.”
White House aides are talking about a prime-time address on Tuesday for Obama to announce and explain his decision. In the meantime, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, whose request for 40,000 more troops sparked the review, has been told to prepare to testify before Congress early next week.
Any increase in U.S. troops, aides say, is likely to be accompanied by more muscular diplomatic efforts and development aid, as well as an exit strategy from the war started eight years ago when President Bush invaded Afghanistan to retaliate for the 9/11 attacks.
President Obama is set to grant a blanket pardon shortly to this year's White House turkeys.
But while Obama advised his cabinet Monday to take a little time off this week, presumably to give thanks and watch Detroit lose to Green Bay again, there's a real challenge for the 44th president to discern today: exactly what he should be thankful for. Never mind his slow, steady fade in the polls, matching the slow, steady rise in unemployment.
Although he's not in any election for nearly three more years, Obama's reputation, congressional clout and ability to accomplish pretty much anything is in serious jeopardy come next November's midterms, if not before. Former VP Dick Cheney, who single-handedly reinvented the wonderful Wyoming word "dithering" in recent weeks, is at Obama again (see video below) in no uncertain terms.
Which some might find predictable. But would they expect Arianna Huffington to be openly worrying that the Obama administration just doesn't get it about the economy and jobs? Or how about Leslie Gelb, former New York Times columnist, State and Defense Department official and now president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations?
He's calling Obama's recent Asia trip an unproductive waste of precious presidential time under the headline: "Amateur Hour at the White House."
What's going on here for The One chosen barely a year ago with such widespread hope and....
Well, he's starting to think so. Word out of New York this afternoon that LD is pondering a run for the White House.
The 64-year-old award-winning former radio/TV host, the son of a Texas propane dealer (no gasbag jokes, please), was asked on a radio interview today about this "crazy idea" floating around of him seeking the presidency of these United States.
His response: "What's so crazy about that? Golly!" (Except he really said golly.)
He elaborated slightly:
"Well, I’ll tell you this much -- it’s one of the discussions that we’re having. For the first time, I’m actually listening to some people about politics. I don’t think I’ve got the nature for it. [But] we’ve got to do something in this country, and I think that being in the public arena means you’ve got to be part of the solution.
The controversial Harvard-educated CNN commentator, who was particularly outspoken on this cockamamie idea that the United States has some kind of illegal alien problem, abruptly resigned on-air Nov. 11. Protest groups claimed they had him pushed out.
But Lou cited his growing concern over the nation's expanding problems and the need to address them beyond his cable commentator's role. (See video below for his complete resignation remarks.)
Now, it's taken the self-described "independent populist" 12 whole days to....
broach the idea of running for the White House, good news for any incumbent since Dobbs and you-name-all-the-others can divvy up the voters unhappy with him.
It is, of course, a preposterous idea that someone never elected to anything except high school student body president in rural Texas could win the nation's top elected job on the backs of angry voters who believe the incumbent is incompetent.
Next thing you know, people will be suggesting that some old movie actor from California, who switched parties and peddled refrigerators on black-and-white TV, could run against a Democratic president elected after eight years of Republican controversy and scandal. And then the Republican actor could be elected president -- twice.
