'I Can’t Imagine What Those Parents are Feeling Today, I Can’t'

What can anyone say about such unspeakable cruelty that would drive a young man to throw himself off the George Washington Bridge?

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie today called the suicide of Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi an "unspeakable tragedy" and said he can't imagine how the two students accused of secretly filming Clementi can sleep at night "knowing that they contributed to driving that young man" to suicide.

The governor spoke hours after a body that was pulled from the Hudson River was identified as Clementi. The student leaped to his death after his roommate allegedly secretly filmed him during a "sexual encounter" with a man and posted it live on the Internet,

The medical examiner's office said an autospy revealed the 18-year-old had drowned and suffered blunt impact injuries to his torso.

Christie grew emotional when discussing Clementi's death.

"As the father of a 17-year-old…I can't imagine what those parents are feeling today, I can't. You send your son to school to get an education with great hopes and aspirations, and I can't imagine what those parents are feeling today," he said.

The governor also wondered about the two students accused of taping Clementi, bragging about it online and then trying to catch him on video a second time.

Here are those two charming students:

May their lives endure pain and hardship every day for what they've done to this young man.

Christie said his feeling on the case as a father “overwhelms whatever feelings I have as governor” and that he didn’t know how Ravi and Wei could sleep at night “knowing that they contributed to driving that young man to that alternative.”

Christie said his feeling on the case as a father “overwhelms whatever feelings I have as governor” and that he didn’t know how Ravi and Wei could sleep at night “knowing that they contributed to driving that young man to that alternative.”

“That kind of stuff is just unacceptable,” he said. “And you don’t know the feelings of the person on the receiving end of that …There might be some people who can take that type of treatment and deal with it. There might be others, as this young man obviously was… much more greatly affected by it.” he said. “And you don’t know the feelings of the person on the receiving end of that …There might be some people who can take that type of treatment and deal with it. There might be others, as this young man obviously was… much more greatly affected by it.”

More here.

Bias charges are being considered against Rutgers students Dharun Ravi and Molly Wei, who are accused of using a camera hidden in a dorm room to transmit online a gay sexual encounter involving Ravi's roommate Tyler Clementi, authorities said tonight.

Clementi, of Ridgewood, committed suicide after he learned of the hidden camera by jumping off the George Washington Bridge. Authorities confirmed a body found in the Hudson River Wednesday was Clementi's.

Ravi, 18, of Plainsboro, and Wei, 18, of West Windsor, face charges of invasion of privacy and transmitting the image over the internet. Both are free pending court hearings.

‘’The initial focus of this investigation has been to determine who was responsible for remotely activating the camera in the dormitory room of the student and then transmitting the encounter on the Internet,’’ Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said in a statement released this evening.

‘’Now that two individuals have been charged with invasion of privacy, we will be making every effort to assess whether bias played a role in the incident, and, if so, we will bring appropriate charges.’’

Call it a hate crime, call it a bias crime, call it what you will, this was a simple case of evil. Is this the "Jersey Shore" mentality coming home to roost, the lowest cultural denominator? You show up at school, your roommate is gay (closeted, perhaps) and this is how you treat him? How clueless are these two?

Tyler Clementi deserved better than this. His name will long be remembered. These punks Ravi and Wei should also be remembered, and shunned.

'It’s Always, You Know, a Race Factor'

As if LeBron James hasn't already ruined his public image, now he's playing the race card. No doubt this will be well received in Cleveland.

As if on cue, LeBron James and his dunce of a marketing agent have proclaimed that his plummeting Q Scores have something to do with race.

“It’s always, you know, a race factor,” the noted sociologist/sneaker salesman himself told CNN interviewer Soledad O’Brien.

“It definitely played a role in some of the stuff coming out of the media, things that were written for sure,” said Maverick Carter, the rising star who conceived of “The Decision.”

Carter was a 22-year-old college dropout when James gave him a gig as CEO of something called LRMR Marketing and Branding. Neither the title, nor the intervening years, nor his audiences with such luminaries as Warren Buffet and Jay-Z, have taught Carter a thing. In fact, he may have gotten stupider. Or perhaps, just more cynical.

Race had a role? Stories and columns were race-based, or somehow racist?

Again: “For sure.”

For real?

Prove it. Go ahead. Show me. Show the world. Which things that were written? By whom? Why? How are they about race?

You want to bring race into this? Fine. Just the same, introducing it at this point in the story – and now I can’t help but wonder how long before someone invokes the “million dollar slave” cliché? – obligates James and Carter to provide a bill of particulars.

Short of that improbable development, the theme of this story doesn’t change. It only intensifies. Now more than ever, this is about arrogance, or rather, a particular form of hubris found in rich, young stars.

You see it in entertainment. You see it in sports. You see it, of course, in every race, creed and color. The problem is fame and wealth of a degree that leaves a young person hopelessly out of touch. It happened to Mike Tyson. It happened to Lindsey Lohan. It’s happening to LeBron James.

Here you have a manchild who we all thought was far more mature beyond his years, a savvy entrepreneur who know how to sell himself on Madison Avenue. He'll still sell, perhaps, but his target audience is shrinking by the day. Nonsense like this doesn't sell with people who aren't racists, those people who shell out top dollar to go see spoiled athletes play their games while richly rewarded.

James has more money than he can ever spend, but he doesn't have the slightest bit of class and decency. If he thought he would be facing hostile crowds on the road this year, he likely has no idea what's now in store. He'd be wise to shut up and play, then reconsider who's representing him.

“The Decision” instantaneously transformed him into a bad guy. Now, the more he tries to justify it, the more the trouble he causes himself. He doesn’t like playing the heel, but he can’t stop.

The introduction of race is merely the latest and crudest attempt to deflect the greatest backlash in American sports. Pretty much everyone but James and Carter could see it coming, a reaction in proportion to the hype.

I don’t know of anyone – certainly no one outside Ohio – who had a real beef with James leaving the Cavaliers or exercising his rights as a free agent. But don’t play hometown hero, and expect people to applaud when you leave. And don’t jerk them around.

Top Democrat to Murdoch: 'Why Don't You Use Your Power To Help Us Promote What You Are Talking About?'

Gee, it was only the other day Barack Obama was whining about Fox News. Oh, the unfairness of it all, one network won't be lapdogs for the Democrats!

But I guess Fox would be useful to certain Democrats if they adopted and promoted one of their pet causes.

"So our border security must also be matched with efforts to make sure employers can't hire illegal immigrants," Murdoch said.

Murdoch and Bloomberg said they believe Congress needs to help employers discern between workers authorized to work in the U.S and those who are not.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., told Murdoch she thought his support for immigration reforms in his testimony did not match the way the immigration issue is presented on Fox News, which is a large part of Murdoch's News Corp. empire.

"Why don't you use your power to help us promote what you are talking about?" Waters asked.

There you have it. A top Democrat admitting a news channel propagandizing on her behalf is acceptable, yet opinions contrary to hers and Obama are not. Clearly she's not satisfied with every other cable and network outlet doing her bidding.

Mark it down: Waters will be one of many shrieking about Fox News when her party is relegated to minority status on November 2.

Pakistan Government Worker Aided Shahzad

Our friends, the Pakistanis.

An employee at Pakistan’s state-run Islamic advisory body has been detained for allegedly playing an important role in assisting the failed New York Times Square car bomber, an intelligence officer said Thursday.

The suspect accompanied Faisal Shahzad, the Pakistan-American bomber, to Pakistan’s northwest to meet militant leaders, said the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the intelligence agency does not permit its operatives to be named in the media.

The suspect, identified as Faisal Abbasi, was with Shahzad throughout his time in Pakistan, the officer said.

He said Abbasi worked for the government’s Council of Islamic Ideology, which advises on Islamic affairs.

The secretary general of the council confirmed Abbasi had worked there but had been on “vacation” for the last three months.

Pakistan has already charged three men with assisting Shahzad while in Pakistan and sending him money in America.

Don't forget though that they hate us because of threatened Koran burnings and opposition to the Ground Zero mosque. Oh wait, this happened before those latest conflagrations?

'I Think It's An Embarrassment'

Coming up next on Man Vs. Food, Adam Richman devours Alton Brown in one sitting!

Eric Ripert isn't only chef who's got a bone to pick. TV host Alton Brown has joined the fray.

His beef is with Adam Richman, host of Travel Channel's "Man vs. Food" and his larger-than-life appetite for five-pound cheesesteaks.

Brown, host of the food science show "Good Eats", has deemed Richman's show, where he routinely chows down on impossibly large portions of everything from two-pound doughnuts to stacks of pancakes to gargantuan hero sandwiches "disgusting."

"That show is about gluttony, and gluttony is wrong. It's wasteful. Think about people that are starving to death and think about that show," Brown, in an interview with Zap2It, via the Huffington Post. "I think it's an embarrassment."

Richman didn't waste any time responding.

He replied on Twitter: "Alton Brown: MvF is about indulgence - NOT gluttony - & has brought loads of biz to Mom-n-Pop places. You were my hero, sir. No more."

I enjoy Man vs. Food and my only beef is I'm curious why Richman insists on wearing ill-fitting jackets while in the midst of crushing down whatever's on his plate. They look like something he was wearing about 40 pounds ago. Outside of that I marvel at his eating ability. As to Brown, how many times can you watch some guy talking into his refrigerator? Dude just sounds like he's jealous of Richman's ratings.

'He Wants Me Dead'

Every time we see a story about how a Democrat is supposedly threatened we see an avalanche of commentary on the left blaming Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck et al. warning of the "climate of hate" on the right. Well, now that Sarah Palin has been granted a restraining order against some punk, can we blame the angry left, Barack Obama, MSNBC and the leftwing blogosphere for their relentless attacks upon Palin that may have set off this loose cannon?

The Mama Grizzly is protecting her den.

An Alaskan court granted former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin a restraining order earlier this week against an 18-year-old man in Pennsylvania she has accused of making threats of sexual assault against her and her family.

"Petitioner testified that respondent has told her that he has had an affair with Gov. Palin and that petitioner needs to tell the FBI the truth about the affair," court documents reveal according to a report in Palin's hometown paper, the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman Tuesday.

Palin claims Shawn Christy has threatened the Tea Party darling with phone and written messages allegedly telling her to "watch her back."

Testifying by telephone, Palin said of Christy in the court transcript: "Bottom line is, he is crazy and could kill me," she said. "He wants me dead."

The 20-day protective order prohibits Christy from having any contact with Palin or her family and he must stay a mile from her home.

Palin's friend, Kristan Cole, said Christy has been contacting Alaska's former governor since 2009. Cole also has received a restraining order against Christy.

Christy is also accused of telling Palin in lengthy letters that "he is trying to follow God but has evil in him, and that he is going to sell everything and come to Alaska with his shotgun."

'You Send Another Goon to My Daughter's House and I'll Take You Out, Buddy!'

This may well mark the end of loose cannon Carl Paladino's bid for New York Governor. The political neophyte will be getting plenty of publicity today, and none of it will be good. Not exactly the best idea to be threatening reporters, especially a guy from a newspaper that is one of the few outlets that was relatively friendly to him.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino and Post State Editor Fredric U. Dicker last night got into an angry confrontation -- during which Paladino threatened, "I'll take you out."

It started when Dicker asked Paladino if he had any proof of his shocking allegation that Democratic rival Andrew Cuomo cheated on his former wife during their marriage.

"What evidence do you have for something most people would consider a smear?" Dicker asked.

Instead of responding to Dicker's question, Paladino accused him of sending a "goon" to stake out his former mistress at the home where she lives with their love child.

Sunday's Post featured a front-page story about Paladino's wife, Cathy, and his ex-lover, Suzanne Brady. It included an exclusive interview with Cathy Paladino.

"You send another goon to my daughter's house and I'll take you out, buddy!" Paladino told Dicker.

When Dicker asked how he planned to do that, Paladino replied, "Watch!"

"Are you threatening me?" Dicker asked.

When the candidate's aides jumped in to separate the men, Paladino, referring to Dicker, told them, "F- -k him."

Paladino's campaign manager, Michael Caputo, then got involved, and began arguing with Dicker.

"You're out of here, you're off our campaign list, you get nothing more from us," he told Dicker, as stunned members of the state government press corps looked on.

"You're off the Christmas list!" Caputo bellowed to Dicker.

Off the Christmas list? What is this, a election for grade school president?

For a guy worrying about being smeared, he casually throws out his own.

Video via Mediaite.

MSNBC Tool Lawrence O'Donnell Interviews Parasite Levi Johnston, Asks Same Questions Couric Asked Palin

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Really clever, highbrow stuff from Obama's favorite network. Is it any wonder nobody knows who these MSNBC morons are and why people distrust the media in record numbers?

Speaking of distrustful media, the New York Daily News is kvelling how Johnston is just marginally dumber than Sarah Palin.

O'Donnell suggested to Johnston that he read other publications besides the Frontiersman and he would soon be "up to speed" with Palin. The host said he respected Johnston for being honest during his first national grilling on his political positions.

Does O'Donnell really think he's burnishing his journalist credentials with a weak stunt like this?

Arlen Specter: Hey, Maybe I'll Join the Obama Administration

You'd think some people would just gracefully retire.

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) on Wednesday said he is still mulling his retirement plans, but that he might accept a post in the Obama administration.

Just what America is clamoring for: More Arlen Specter.

Specter, who lost his primary bid this spring after switching parties in 2009, is down to his last few months as a member of the Senate he joined in 1981. He said he plans to return for the lame-duck session after the election, but then isn't sure what the future holds.

"I'm thinking about it, but I'm following [former Senate Leader] George Mitchell's advice to never do anything too sudden," Specter told The Hill.

"I am writing a book, but I'm always doing that. I've written two — three, actually, but only two are worth reading," the senator deadpanned.

Surely there'll be a rush to bookstores to read how a man turned his back on one party to then be rejected by the other. Fascinating reading, no doubt.

Asked about rumors of his interest in serving in the Obama administration, Specter acknowledged interest but declined to offer specifics. The longtime Judiciary Committee chairman has been mentioned for positions at the Justice Department, but is also reportedly interested in a role in Middle East peace talks.

Maybe he'll be a prosecutor when the Fox News Un-American Activity Show Trials convene.

Times Square Bomber So Enraged By Bush Tax Cuts He Planned Second Bombing

Just trying to keep up with the kneejerk liberal logic here. Considering it was suggested the Times Square bomber must have been upset over ObamaCare, it would stand to reason another leftist pet peeve may have inspired him to further mayhem?

Prosecutors say the man who admitted trying to bomb Times Square boasted that he thought it would kill at least 40 people and said he planned to detonate a second bomb in New York city two weeks after the first.

The government included the details Wednesday in a court filing before Faisal Shahzad is sentenced next week. He faces life in prison.

Shahzad was arrested two days after his May 1 attempted bombing fizzled in a Times Square packed with tourists. The bomb he had packed into the back of a sports utility vehicle sputtered and did not explode.

Ho, Canada: 'Bondage Bungalow' Madam Wins Court Challenge

Enough legal maneuvering and Canada may soon become famous for activities involving things other than beer, hockey and curling.

An Ontario court struck down key provisions of Canada’s prostitution laws on Tuesday after finding that they endanger women by forcing them to work on the streets rather than from their homes. While prostitution is legal in Canada, federal criminal law bans almost every activity that makes it possible. The decision, by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, overturns laws prohibiting “the keeping of a bawdy house, communicating for the purposes of prostitution and living on the avails of the trade.” The constitutional challenge was brought by two prostitutes and a dominatrix who was convicted under the bawdy-house law for running what she called the “Bondage Bungalow.”

That dominatrix pictured above looks eerily familiar. Well, at least her hair does.

In case you're now planning a trip north to get your freak on, just make sure you're up on provincial laws.

Good Grief: As Terror Threats Increase, Muslim Leaders Whine About 'Attacks' on Islam

Let's not pay any attention to the real and credible threat of actual Muslim terrorism, which today includes an American citizen picked up in Spain for financing Al Qaeda. No, let's worry about mythical "Islamophobia" instead.

KINGS, emirs and presidents from Muslim nations have appealed at the UN for the West to clamp down on attacks on Islam, which they warned were a growing threat to international security.

In speeches to the United Nations General Assembly, leaders said “Islamophobia” was causing a growing Muslim-West divide and one top Arab minister put the international community on guard against a “civilisation clash”.

A threat to burn the Koran by a fringe US church, controversy over a proposed mosque near the scene of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and assaults on Islamic symbols in European countries have been a major talking point for Muslim nations.

Normally strong allies of the West have spoken out at the UN against the growing religious tensions in the past week.

Many were embarrassed by comments by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad linking the US government to 9/11, diplomats said.

But Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the emir of Qatar, who has launched western-backed diplomatic initiatives to settle wars ranging from Sudan to the Israel-Palestian conflict, condemned attempts to link Islam with terrorism. He partly blamed the US “war on terror” declared after September 11.

Since 9/11 there have been thousands of terror attacks carried out by Muslims. But we're supposed to pretend none of that is happening and instead freak out over some kook burning a Koran.

“We disagree with the attribution of this so-called terrorism to the Islamic religion because this -- in addition to being incorrect -- is a historical injustice that is refuted by evidence from recent history.”

Pathetic.

'I Know What Desperate Looks Like'

The Baddest Governor on the Planet stumped for John Kasich in Ohio last night and reminded voters how desperate Demcorats are with a nice swipe at his predecessor. As has become customary, Governor Christie also fended off questions about presidential aspirations.

The New Jersey governor was greeted with a hero’s welcome in working-class Harrison, 25 minutes from Cincinnati. He answered questions about whether he wants to run for president, local politics and even Bon Jovi. And he offered offered some of the harshest post-election commentary yet about his own predecessor, Democrat Jon Corzine.

Critcizing Kasich’s opponent, incumbent Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland, Christie said Strickland is “desperate” the way Corzine was at the end of last year’s campaign.

“You know what desperate looks like. I know what desperate looks like too. In New Jersey, it had a beard and glasses,” Christie said, referring to Corzine.

Christie and Kasich also answered questions during a live internet session and, as has been the case for weeks, Christie was asked about presidential aspirations. His plans next week to go to Iowa — the first state to see ballots cast in the presidential primary season — heightened that chatter.

Christie offered what has become his mantra: that he is neither ready for the job nor does he want it enough to do what it would take to run.

“I just don’t want that, that badly right now, I just don’t,” Christie said. “I’m thrilled to be the governor of New Jersey.”

Kasich, meanwhile, holds an eight-point lead over Strickland.

Heh: Pelosi as Unpopular as BP

Well, she is oily enough.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's negative ratings have hit an all-time high in the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. A full 50 percent of those surveyed have a somewhat or very negative impression of Pelosi, while just 22 percent have a somewhat or very positive impression of her.

Pelosi's negative rating is precisely the same as oil giant BP, which has taken a public relations beating in the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill. While 50 percent of those surveyed view BP negatively, just 12 percent view the company favorably -- a rating even lower than Pelosi's.

Pelosi is less popular than her Republican predecessor in the speaker's chair, Newt Gingrich. The poll finds that 35 percent of those surveyed have a negative impression of Gingrich, while 24 percent view him positively.

Pelosi is also less popular than 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who is viewed negatively by 48 percent of those surveyed, and positively by 30 percent.

Pelosi is still living in denial, believing she'll still be House Speaker in five weeks. Technically that's true, but come January she'll be lucky to even be minority leader.

Liberal Icon: 'I'm a 9/11 Truther'

Gee, this comes as a real surprise. Now who knew people thought Dick Cheney was behind 9/11? This pretty much puts Sheehan in line with mainstream Democrats and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Congratulations to the left and the media for cultivating this madness. You made her, you own her.

Record Number Distrust Media

Gee, you suppose their sycophantic boot-licking for Obama and the Democrats has anything to do with these pitiful numbers?

For the fourth straight year, the majority of Americans say they have little or no trust in the mass media to report the news fully, accurately, and fairly. The 57% now saying this is a record high by one percentage point.

The 43% of Americans who, in Gallup's annual Governance poll, conducted Sept. 13-16, 2010, express a great deal or fair amount of trust ties the record low, and is far worse than three prior Gallup readings on this measure from the 1970s.

Trust in the media is now slightly higher than the record-low trust in the legislative branch but lower than trust in the executive and judicial branches of government, even though trust in all three branches is down sharply this year. These findings also further confirm a separate Gallup poll that found little confidence in newspapers and television specifically.

Nearly half of Americans (48%) say the media are too liberal, tying the high end of the narrow 44% to 48% range recorded over the past decade. One-third say the media are just about right while 15% say they are too conservative.

Seriously, except for those on the fringe left and in the White House suffering from Fox Derangement Syndrome, how can anyone possibly believe the media is too conservative?

After the anticipated GOP takeover of Congress next month expect the bias to become even worse. Newcomers to Washington should be very wary of media types wanting to cozy up to them, since they'll likely just be set up and stabbed in the back by "journalists" with an agenda. In fact, they should steer clear of liberal media and work with those who helped get them there to promote their agenda. With "mainstream" media credibility bottoming out they should work with more trusted credible sources of information--like bloggers and talk radio.

Sleazy Grayson Now Trailing by Seven Points: 'He’s Even More Unpopular Than the President'

One of the most evil and deranged incumbent Democrats, most recently under fire for calling his opponent "Taliban Dan," today awakes to find himself trailing in his Congressional race.

In one of the most closely watched U.S. House races in the nation, Republican Daniel Webster now holds a 7-point lead over Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson in Central Florida's 8th Congressional District, according to a new Sunshine State News Poll.

Webster, a former state senator, leads the freshman congressman 43-36 in the survey of 559 likely voters conducted Sept. 25-27. TEA ("Taxed Enough Already") Party candidate Peg Dunmire drew 6 percent and NPA hopeful George Metcalfe garnered 3 percent, while 9 percent remained undecided (2 percent cited "other" and 1 percent refused to state).

Digging deeper, the numbers look even worse for Grayson as 51 percent of respondents said they had an unfavorable view of the Orlando-area congressman.

"Grayson has real problems here," said Jim Lee, president of Voter Survey Service, which conducted the poll for Sunshine State News.

"He’s even more unpopular than the president, which is not surprising given how controversial he has been with his rhetoric, overall style and TV ads."

Lee added, "It’s fascinating that both Grayson and the president have virtually the same image (a positive/negative ratio of 34/51), but Grayson is actually disliked more by independents (36/47 favorable/unfavorable) while Obama is only 36/37."

Andy Sere, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee in Washington, D.C., said the Central Florida district "is ripe for a Republican pick-up, even if we weren't running against Alan Grayson."

Calling Grayson's views "so far outside the maintstream," Sere predicted that "a large swath of independents and conservative Democrats will hand him a resounding defeat in November."

Tom Gaitens, Florida director for FreedomWorks, said the Washington, D.C-based tea group has focused on the CD8 race "from the beginning."

"Grayson is an obnoxious antagonist to tea partiers and raised the ire of the movement," Gaitens said. "He's probably the biggest lightning rod-type candidate in the nation."

With controversial TV ads like "Taliban Dan," in which the Democrat tried to portray the Baptist Webster as a religious extremist, "Grayson put himself in the crosshairs," Gaitens said.

"It's his character to say foolish things, and he doesn't handle stress well. He'll see this poll and get more desperate," said Gaitens, who predicts a 10-point victory for Webster.

Just the other day Grayson pretended he was up by 13 points. What happened, big guy?

The unhinged dirtbag is really popular with the ladies.

Female voters are anything but ambivalent about Grayson -- "They really loathe him," Lee reported. With Grayson's 33/53 favorable/unfavorable rating among women, Webster’s lead among females is much stronger (45/33 over Grayson) compared to a statistical tie (41/40 Webster) among males.

"This is important, because we usually see a gender gap in polling where females tend to vote more Democrat than males, but it’s the reverse in this poll," Lee said.

On the upside for Grayson, this may smooth the path for his next career as MSNBC host.

Bloomberg to Address GOP?

Is the current GOP leadership this hard up they invite in a guy pretty much diametrically opposed to the current mood of the base? We already know of his sneering disdain for ObamaCare opponents and his contempt toward opponents of the Ground Zero mosque place him way out of touch with mainstream America. So why now are Republicans playing kissy-face with the imperious nanny-stater Michael Bloomberg?

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is scheduled to meet with House Republicans on Thursday.

The GOP’s invitation to the Republican-turned-Independent is an unusual move. Bloomberg, who supports gun control, recently criticized Republicans for their handling of a bill for 9/11 responders and has endorsed several Democrats in the midterm elections.

Bloomberg, considered a possible presidential candidate, will speak at the weekly House GOP Theme Team meeting on Thursday morning.

“Theme Team” organizer Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) explained that Bloomberg was asked to appear because he is a leader outside the Washington Beltway whom GOP lawmakers want to talk to. The point of the weekly Theme Team meetings is to give House GOP lawmakers and staffers a chance to have off-the-record conversations with key outsiders on important issues.

Kingston said, “He has friends on both sides of the aisle, and he has influence on both sides of the aisle. We feel that he has something to offer and we want to hear what’s on his mind and what he’s up to.”

He added that there is no tension between House Republicans and Bloomberg, though he said the mayor’s political endorsements may be discussed on Thursday.

Bloomberg’s office did not comment for this article.

Now it's not entirely unreasonable to think the GOP will increase their New York membership in five weeks, perhaps substantially, so the ability to work with Bloomberg on economic issues makes sense. Still, leadership may not want to get too cozy with a guy supporting a primary target Nov. 2.

Bloomberg, who has presented himself as a centrist willing to work with both parties, recently hosted a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the No. 1 target for Republicans this fall.

The billionaire mayor also played a round of golf with President Obama at Martha’s Vineyard this summer.

Bloomberg has endorsed Rep. Joe Sestak (D) over Republican Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania’s Senate race, and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) over Republican Ken Buck, a Tea Party favorite.

But Bloomberg has also endorsed some Republicans, including Rep. Mark Kirk (Ill.), who is running for Obama’s old Senate seat.

Bloomberg has been critical of the Tea Party movement that has boosted several GOP candidates in Republican primaries across the country.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Bloomberg called the Tea Party movement a “fad.”

“People are angry,” he told The New York Times. “[A]nger, however, is not a government strategy. It’s not a way to govern.”

It's a great motivator to vote, though, and he'll soon realize some fads last a lot longer than others.

'Who the F--K Are You? What Are You Doing in My F--king Apartment?'

Aww, let's not be so hard on the creepy guy trying on lingerie in your apartment. After all, he's probably just getting in touch with his feminine side. And who knows, he's probably a hard-working illegal trying on women's underwear that other Americans refuse to try on.

A alleged cross-dressing porter thought he'd hit the jackpot with a resident who owns a trendy lingerie line -- until she caught him with his pants down in her Murray Hill pad, the traumatized tenant claims.

BodyRock Sport owner Kelly Dooley, 28, said she was stunned to find building worker Hector Solano half-naked -- and crouching over one of her black, nylon, thong bodysuits -- inside her luxury loft Friday.

"He said he likes to wear women's clothes," she told The Post yesterday.

But Dooley said that while Solano, 25, portrayed himself as a macho guy from The Bronx at work, "He's a complete sissy."

He acted like he was "afraid of me. His hands are up, and he's begging me, 'Please don't tell,' " Dooley said.

The bizarre incident unfolded at about 11 a.m., when Dooley -- whose clients include Reebok Sports Club, LA Sports Club and lingerie boutiques -- returned to her East 36th Street apartment near Fifth Avenue after a business meeting.

She told cops that she stepped into her apartment from a private elevator and saw an arm move fast in front of her.

She thought it was her fiancé, Andrew, playing a joke on her.

"I'm like, 'Andrew, I see you!' " Dooley recalled saying.

But, "I knew something was wrong," she said, noting that the lights were off.

"I opened the [bathroom] door, and Hector is crouching down with his boxer-briefs on and a white Hanes crewneck shirt, and he's pulling up his cargo shorts," Dooley said.

"I'm like, 'Who the f - -k are you? What are you doing in my f - -king apartment?' I went absolutely AWOL on this guy," Dooley said. "I knew he looked familiar to me, but I didn't know how I knew him."

AWOL? Huh? OK, so she's not a Mensa candidate, apparently.

Solano was allegedly hunkered over her thong bodysuit and a pair of Juicy sweatpants, said Dooley, adding that she had returned home before to find her nightstand lingerie drawers mysteriously left open.

The 5-foot-2, 120-pound Dooley said she got tough with the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Solano.

Chamber of Commerce Hammers Boxer

Twenty-eight years of bad hairdos and bad economic policy. Essentially you could take the content of this ad and run it against any long-term Demcorat incumbent this year.

Compassion: Iranians to Hang Woman Instead of Stoning Her

Rushing headlong into the eighth century.

The Iranian woman who became the center of an international outcry after being sentenced to death by stoning for adultery is to be hanged for murdering her husband, local media reported Tuesday.

The new fate planned for Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was announced by Iran’s national prosecutor general, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, at a news conference in Tehran Monday.

“According to the court’s ruling, she is convicted of murder and her death sentence has priority over her punishment [for committing adultery]”, the Tehran Times reported, citing Mohseni-Ejei.

The newspaper said that the prosecutor’s remarks mean Ashtiani -- an illiterate 43-year-old Azeri mother of two whose husband was killed by her cousin -- will not be stoned to death for committing adultery because she should first be executed for murder.

“The issue should not be politicized and the judiciary will not be influenced by the propaganda campaign launched by the Western media,” added Mohseni-Ejei, who also serves as the judiciary spokesman.

'There's Booing in the Ballroom - We Don't Know Why'

If CNN wonders why they have such low ratings and no credibility it because they've been severely infected with Palin Derangement Syndrome. They put out garbage like this and before you know it people around the globe run with it as if it's fact.

It's the question the political world is asking after Bristol Palin's debut on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" Monday: Was her famous mother booed by the live studio audience?

That's what appeared to be the case when boos clearly became audible as questioner Brooke Burke was wrapping up an interview with another contestant on the show.

"There's booing in the ballroom - we don't know why," said Burke.

It's because they were booing the posting of some scores, not Palin. Yet that doesn't prevent CNN from going with this crap.

Speaking with the Washington Post, the show's executive producer, Conrad Green, said he wasn't sure why the audience was booing. But he doubted it was for Palin, noting that the audience stopped booing when she actually appeared on camera.

So people were booing yet when Sarah Palin appeared on screen they were not booing. So CNN runs a story wondering if she was booed.

How pathetic.

Sure enough, it's already news overseas and reported as fact.

Human Billboard Now Famous

Consider it the worst tattoo ever, perhaps. Obviously this tool can't afford laser removal and has actually had a radio station's call letters on his forehead for the past decade. Now his mugshot has gone viral after a recent arrest.

Meet David Jonathan Winkelman.

The Iowa man, 48, was arrested Thursday night by Davenport cops on a warrant for failing to appear in court to answer a misdemeanor charge of operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, according to a jail booking sheet.

But enough about Winkelman’s criminal entanglements, it’s his forehead tattoo that is worth further discussion. Winkelman is pictured at right in a mug shot snapped after his bust last week.

Winkelman became a human billboard for the radio station KORB in late-2000 after a disc jockey offered listeners a six-figure payout if they tattooed the FM station’s call letters and logo on their forehead. Winkelman and his stepson, Richard Goddard, went to a local tattoo parlor and each emerged with forehead ink promoting “93 Rock,” the “Quad City Rocker.”

Of course, when the men came calling for the cash, station brass explained that the offer was a practical joke, just a wacky radio stunt. Winkelman and his relative sued, claiming that the station sought to have listeners permanently marked so that they “could be publicly scorned and ridiculed for their greed and lack of common good sense."

Within months of the lawsuit’s filing, Winkelman dismissed his complaint against the DJ and Cumulus Broadcasting, KORB’s owner. Goddard’s case was later dismissed by a judge when he failed to appear for court proceedings.

The Darwin Award should be retired in his name.

Feingold Again Flees Obama Appearance

I'm noticing a trend here. Earlier this month endangered Democrat Russ Feingold conveniently slipped out of town when the deeply unpopular Barack Obama showed up in Wisconsin, ostensibly to campaign for him. Now Obama returns to Wisconsin with his typical bad timing and the three-term incumbent Feingold is nowhere to be found.

Democratic Party Chairman Timothy Kaine says he sees no slight in Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold skipping a campaign rally tonight where President Barack Obama is appearing on his behalf.

Kaine tells CBS's "The Early Show" that candidates "make their own decisions about these things." And Kaine, a former Virginia governor, says Feingold understands that Obama can energize the party's base.

So why is he not there? Might it be because Obama is radioactive?

Obama's standing in public opinion polls has been falling in recent months, and some Democratic candidates have been reluctant to appear with him.

Obama, meanwhile, is already questioning his own supporters.

Admonishing his own party, President Barack Obama says it would be "inexcusable" and "irresponsible" for unenthusiastic Democratic voters to sit out the midterm elections, warning that the consequences could be a squandered agenda for years.

"People need to shake off this lethargy. People need to buck up," Mr. Obama told Rolling Stone in an interview to be published Friday. The president told Democrats that making change happen is hard and "if people now want to take their ball and go home, that tells me folks weren't serious in the first place."

Democrat West Virginia Governor Now Trailing in Senate Race

Is it any wonder why Democrat West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin was walking back his support of ObamaCare? He obviously realizes his Senate chances are slipping away. Today he wakes up trailing in a race he led by a wide margin just six weeks ago.

Republican John Raese has edged ahead of West Virginia’s popular Democratic Governor Joe Manchin for the first time in the state’s special U.S. Senate race.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely West Virginia Voters finds Raese earning 48% support to Manchin’s 46% when leaners are included. Two percent (5%) prefer some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.

Defeat May Scuttle Deval Patrick Book Deal: 'It Would be a Horrendous Event'

Actually the horrendous event would be giving this Obama wannabe another term as Governor of Massachusetts.

A devastating Nov. 2 defeat could cost Gov. Deval Patrick more than his lofty position and promising political career - it could scuttle the happily-ever-after ending to his million-dollar “inspirational” memoir and turn it into a bookstore bomb, experts said.

“It would be a horrendous event,” said Hub book agent and attorney John Taylor “Ike” Williams. “The publisher would have a hard time with that book.”

The success of Patrick’s 200-page autobiography - titled “A Reason to Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life” and priced at $21.99 - hinges largely on the governor raising his national profile.

That’s a far-fetched feat for an ousted, one-term wonder.

“I assume the senior editors are saying, ‘You told us this book would ride on the coattails of the Obama book,’ ” Williams said, noting the similarities between the rags-to-riches tales of Patrick and his pal, President Obama.

David Drake, a spokesman for Patrick’s publisher Crown Publishing, a division of Random House, declined to comment, other than to say the book is due out in April.

The publisher’s initial optimism when the governor landed the deal in March 2008 was clear from Patrick’s reported advance of $1.35 million - a staggering sum for a first-time author.

Even if Patrick somehow clings to office in five weeks it's difficult to see why anyone would bother buying his book. Although we figure the book will mysteriously turns up as required reading in Massachusetts public schools.

Scott Hartwig of Calif.-based Rose Ave Press, which specializes in smaller-name memoirs, said he had misgivings about Patrick’s sizable advance. “I question the logic of giving that big of an advance,” Hartwig said. “Especially if he’s not effective politically.”

He added that the niche industry relies on the author making headlines, or finding a way to be exceptionally relevant. Otherwise, he said, “It could look kind of silly.”

Great News: Democrat Who Helped Cause Financial Collapse to Hold Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac Hearings

Really gives you a secure feeling knowing the man who helped push the economy over the edge is going to be doing his best to help conceal his role.

Rep. Barney Frank & Co. are getting set for yet another hearing this week on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage lenders. Once again, they're not after the truth -- they're looking to conceal it.

The House Financial Services Committee chairman and his brethren on the left want you to believe they're making a good-faith effort to figure out what went wrong with Fannie and Freddie -- what mistakes led to their failure and takeover by the government during the 2008 financial collapse, and how to fix both institutions for the future.

In fact, what they'll deliver is more hot air from so-called "housing advocates" obscuring just how much Fannie and Freddie contributed to the housing bubble, the 2008 financial collapse and the Great Recession.

It's all meant to give lawmakers an excuse not to do what's necessary and prudent -- namely, kill Fannie and Freddie before they come back to do it all again.

The notion of "housing" as a God-given right had been promoted by people like Barney Frank for nearly two decades. Their vehicles to expand homeownership for all were "government-sponsored enterprises" Fannie and Freddie -- which, starting in the mid 90s, began buying up and placing guarantees on mortgages taken out by people with lower incomes and lousy credit histories.

Giving low-income people access to the housing market sounds nice enough -- but the reality was far different. Housing prices were bid up to levels that made repaying mortgages nearly impossible. When the bubble burst, the government "sponsored" agencies were in hock for billions -- and so was their "sponsor," the US taxpayer.

Of course if you listen to Obama, Frank and the rest of the Democrats all of this was Bush's fault or something.

Now facing a legitimate challenger in Sean Bielat, suddenly Frank isn't quite as belligerent as usual. Of course he still accepts no responsibility for his role in the housing meltdown.

What’s up? My guess: Barney’s on good behavior because the country’s angry. Lots of voters in his typically adoring 4th District are angry too.

So he’s taking no chances with Marine Reservist challenger Sean Bielat of Brookline who sounds reasonable and earnest, who looks all spit and polish on TV and who hopes to tie the financial collapse around the neck of Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

“I don’t think there’s been a single event I’ve gone to where that hasn’t come up,” said Bielat yesterday about Frank’s role in the meltdown. He also said Frank’s campaigning hard now - Bill Clinton came to town for him Sunday - because Frank “has seen the same thing in his internal polling that we’ve seen in ours.”

That is, said Bielat, a momentum shift - toward him.

So was the Clinton invite “desperate,” I asked Frank. No, he replied, talking a mile a minute. He said he thought of inviting Clinton at least six weeks ago.

How much of the Fannie and Freddie mess was his fault?

Almost diplomatically, Frank explained that he’s been the target of “mostly inaccurate” attacks by the likes of Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

Poor baby.

'Does the Average Member of the Public Have Those Connections and Access?'

Of course the average member of the public doesn't have the same connections as the beautiful people. And if you're in New York, having the last name of Cuomo apparently goes a long way.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's cousin tried to help a client cash in on state pension fund business last year - a move made amid the attorney general's probe of a pay-to-play scandal.

Matthew Cuomo set up a June 23, 2009, meeting for Advanced Recovery - an upstate electronic-equipment recycling firm seeking a $5 million pension fund investment - with state Controller Thomas DiNapoli.

His face-to-face meeting marked one of the rare times last year that DiNapoli met with an investment-seeking company, a copy of his 2009 schedule shows.

Andrew Cuomo, who is running for governor, has for three years been investigating pension fund shenanigans under disgraced former Controller Alan Hevesi.

Firms wanting to do business with the fund were often forced to fork over campaign donations or kickbacks to Hevesi's political consultant, Hank Morris.

Andrew Cuomo is also targeting unlicensed politically connected middlemen who were paid big bucks by companies to help them get pension fund business.

Political hotshots being eyed for shepherding clients to the controller's office include former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, former Bronx Democratic Chairman Roberto Ramirez and lobbyist Patricia Lynch, a former top aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

In case you're wondering, all the aforementioned are Democrats.

Matthew Cuomo, a lawyer, said he was "outside counsel" for the upstate Port Jervis company. He was hired despite having no background or certification in the securities industry.

Asked why an outside counsel with no securities background was needed to pitch a multimillion-dollar investment deal, Matthew Cuomo said, "I think I know how to get in touch with people and contact people and make a pitch and that's all I was able to do - get to the right people and make the pitch for the client."

Of course if his name were Matthew Smith, you suppose he'd get this meeting scheduled?

He said he's known DiNapoli through Democratic circles since the 1990s.

"This is what gives politicians in Albany a bad name, that it is an insider club," said Susan Lerner of the watchdog group Common Cause. "Does the average member of the public have those connections and access?"

John Milgram, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, said, "Under current law, there is nothing that bans a single meeting. However, the attorney general believes the law should be changed and has advocated as such."

Matthew Cuomo vehemently denied trying to profit from his family name.

"I don't work for my cousin and he doesn't work for me," he said.

Let's hope his cousin is no longer working for New Yorkers come 2011.

Meanwhile Cuomo, the ultimate insider, is calling tea partiers extremists.

"Maybe they have had some kind of success in some parts of the country, but there's no place in New York for Tea Party politics," Cuomo said yesterday in Harlem. Using "extremist" and "Tea Party" interchangeably, Cuomo stressed his opponent's links to the nationwide movement. "Carl Paladino's Tea Party . . . is a party that has extremist views," Cuomo said.

If New York has no room for supposed extremists, then why is Cuomo in bed with the far-left ACORN-led Working Families Party, as radical and extremist a group as can be found in America today?

Crackup: Biden Tells Liberals to Stop Whining, Says GOP Plans to Eliminate the FBI

Of course we can all agree with him when it comes to whiny liberals. For decades now I've longed for them to grow up and stop whining, but it'll never happen. As to the rest of his statements today, consider this a preview of five weeks of scare tactics heading our way.

Vice President Joe Biden on Monday urged Democrats to overcome their differences and support their candidates at the polls by telling them to "stop whining."

During a fundraiser for New Hampshire Democratic candidates for the House and Senate, Biden said that Democrats should "remind our base constituency to stop whining and get out there and look at the alternatives. This president has done an incredible job. He’s kept his promises," according to a pool report.

Yeah, an incredible job where now 38% want him re-elected. Anyway, as we all know, Crazy Joe is fond for saying some inane things, and this is a doozy.

Still, Biden predicted Democrats would maintain their majorities in the House and also turned his fire on Republicans.

He ridiculed the House GOP's agenda as articulated in its "Pledge to America" released last week, saying it "calls for the elimination of everything from the FBI to child care and everything in between, literally," according to the report.

Huh? Elimination of child care? Elimination of the FBI? What the hell is he talking about?

'Elmo Got the Best of the Guy'

A busy week for Elmo. One minute he's checking out Katy Perry's cleavage, the next he's being attacked in a record store. At least he kicked some ass.

A man dressed as "Sesame Street" character Elmo was attacked at a music store in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday -- but got the better of his assailant, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

"Elmo got the best of the guy," Winter Park Police Lt. Wayne Farrell said. "He broke two of his fingers."

Farrell said the assailant, who was detained for mental health evaluation, thought Elmo was a threat, which led to the "unprovoked" attack at the Guitar Center on Orlando Ave, Winter Park, about 3:00pm local time.

'One-legged Warrior of Ashoqeh'

The spirit, determination, and sheer guts of today's soldiers never ceases to amaze and impress. I know much has been written and said about how this current generation of Americans just doesn't have the same gumption as those of previous generations, but then along comes a story like this to prove that maybe, just maybe we ain't in as bad a shape as we think. Granted the military is naturally going to attract a different breed of person anyway just by the very nature of the deadly serious business they are engaged in, but still you have to revel in the intestinal fortitude of an individual like now CPT Dan Luckett.

Long story short. While serving in Iraq his HMMV was hit by an VIED, the type that is tied to Iran, which severed the toes of one foot and amputated one leg. CPT Dan is back on active duty, and not only on duty but serving in Afghanistan and performing his duties.

Capt. Brant Auge, Luckett's 30-year-old company commander, said Luckett was as capable as every soldier in his company, and treated no different.

"He's a soldier who just happens to be missing a leg," said Auge, who is from Ocean Springs, Mississippi. "He tries to play it down as much as possible, he doesn't like to bring a lot of attention to it."

On one of those early patrols, Luckett took to a knee and his pants leg rode up a little bit, revealing the prosthetic limb to a shocked group of Afghan soldiers nearby, Auge said. One gave him the nickname, the "One-legged Warrior of Ashoqeh."

Long Haired Country Boy Writes the President a Letter

Charlie Daniels, who has never been known for holding back on his opinions, has written an open letter to the president. Let's just say he ain't too happy with all this hope and change.

Am I calling you a socialist? Yes, I am. I firmly believe that you are a socialist and a globalist, and that you think America should have a comeuppance and have our playing field leveled to match those of other countries not as industrious or as innovative as we are.

And it just gets better from there.

I had the opportunity to meet Charlie Daniels in person while stationed in Korea. He came to our gym on post and sat on the bleachers and spent time just talking. Him and a couple of band members did a couple of songs for us but mostly he just talked with us and seemed to genuinely enjoy being there. Something you don't get seeing him on TV or in videos is how big a man he is. His heart seems bigger though.

So Charlie, thanks again.

BTW, that song "In America" was written at the end of the Carter presidency and at the time the enemy may have been the Russians but it is ironic how we seem to have circled back on ourselves.

'I See Some of Them Looking for Returns of 20 or 25 Percent, at a Time When Fellatio is Almost Non-Existent'

I was really worried there for a minute thinking fellatio was becoming non-existent.

Glamorous French politician Rachida Dati has been forced to issue a public apology after confusing oral sex with inflation.

The 44-year-old former justice minister and MEP is frequently nicknamed ‘Rachida Barbie’ because of her poor understanding of complicated political issues.

But nobody expected her extraordinary mistake on the national Europe 1 radio station on Sunday.

Asked about overseas investment funds profiteering during a period of economic uncertainty, she said: ‘I see some of them looking for returns of 20 or 25 per cent, at a time when fellatio is almost non-existent.’

In French, fellatio – a sex act performed on a man – is ‘fellation’, which sounds a bit like inflation, which is the same word in French and English.

Apologising for the hugely embarrassing slip on her Facebook site, Miss Dati said: ‘This kind of thing happens if you speak too quickly on this kind of programme.’

The single mother of one added : ‘It is unfortunate that this is the only political message that has been received on such a serious subject.’

Miss Dati was fired from President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government last year because of her inability to do her job properly, and her frivolous nature.

Smart Diplomacy: Bumbling Obamatons Hang Philippines Flag Upside Down

Thank goodness we have this towering intellect repairing our image abroad.

The U.S. Government today apologised for displaying an inverted Philippine flag - wrongfully signifying that the nation was in a state of war - in a meeting hosted by Barack Obama.

The Philippine flag was displayed upside-down behind President Benigno Aquino III when leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met President Obama in New York on Friday.

The Philippine flag was shown with the red part at the top and the blue at the bottom, indicating the country is at war.

The blue field is above the red field when the country is at peace.

For many countries, including the UK and the U.S., a flag flown upside down indicates a state of distress.


However in the Philippines an inverted flag signals a state at war.

'This was an honest mistake,' U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Thompson said in a statement. adding, 'the U.S. treasures its close relationship and close partnership with the Philippines.'

She added that the American embassy will find out how the 'unfortunate' incident happened.

No doubt they'll find someone to pin the blame on instead of accepting responsibility. It's the Democrat way.

Poll: Americans Love Fox, Have No Idea Who These Losers on MSNBC Are

I think MSNBC's ratings might actually get a bump today as people tune in to see if any of their low-rated liberal hacks lose it on the air. When they realize nobody know who they are while at the same time admire Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck then you know heads are going to explode.

More people are getting their news about the upcoming election from cable television than any other source, and from Fox News more than any other cable channel, according to a POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll released Monday.

The poll found that 81 percent of those polled get their news about the midterm elections from cable channels, like Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, or their websites, compared with 71 percent from national network news channels, such as ABC, NBC or CBS, and their websites.

Among cable news channels, Fox was the clear winner, with 42 percent of respondents saying it is their main source, compared with 30 percent who cited CNN and 12 percent who rely on MSNBC.
...
Fox’s opinionated personalities were also rated as having the greatest positive impact on the political debate in the country. Bill O’Reilly was rated as having, by far, the greatest positive impact, with 49 percent of respondents rating him positively, and 32 percent negatively.

Glenn Beck was the second most-positively rated personality, with 38 percent of respondents saying he had a positive impact, and 32 percent saying he had a negative impact.

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was the third-most-positively ranked, with 36 percent saying he has a positive impact on the discourse, but his negatives far outweighed his positives, with 52 percent saying he has a negative impact.

“To some extent, Limbaugh has become almost a caricature in a way, so I don’t know how much influence he has beyond entertainment value,” Arteron said. “Whereas, in some way, the other people on Fox are seen as more legitimate news operations.”

MSNBC’s personalities were largely ranked as unknown by respondents: 70 percent said they had never heard of Ed Schultz, 55 percent said they had never heard of Rachel Maddow and 42 percent said they had never heard of Keith Olbermann.

Bill Clinton and John Kerry would call those people ignorant and uninformed.

Bill Clinton: Kerry Didn't Mean to Call You Ignorant Dolts, You Idiots

After the bumbling John Kerry called voters ignorant and uninformed the other day, Bill Clinton rode to his rescue and called people uninformed. This really seems to be a unique strategy the Democrats have.

“I wish (voters) had the kind of access to information that I do,” he said. “You can’t put 20 stories about this (election) on the front page every day, right? We have to do a better job publicizing ourselves.”

Clinton said Kerry and other Democrats shouldn’t blame the voters for the heat they’re putting on the party over the country’s economic ills.

“We took eight years to get in this hole. The voters gave us those eight years,” he said. “I’m just asking them to give us half the time to get out of the hole as it took to dig it in the first place.”

Translation: You idiots voted for Bush and caused this mess.

Clinton dazzled a capacity crowd at the Park Plaza’s Pairings restaurant yesterday at a fund-raising rally for businessman and philanthropist Grossman, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, who faces a fierce fight against GOP rival Karyn Polito.

The crowd featured such local party luminaries as outgoing U.S. Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.), Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

Grossman’s backers plunked down $100 for crudites, cocktails and a chance to shake Clinton’s hand across a red velvet rope in the cramped eatery.

Clinton told the crowd, “We need serious people who talk about serious things in a way ordinary people can understand. The only thing that matters is what are we going to do and who’s best to do it.”

See, all you ordinary people are just too stupid to understand the larger issues so we need sleazy Democrats to talk to us like children so we see how stupid we've been.

Thanks for the advice, Slick.

Poll Shows 38% Think Obama Should Be Re-elected

The poll oddly enough shows 38% of the public suffer from mental illness, no doubt just a coincidence. About all they have to make this look like a positive for Obama is they claim he'd beat Sarah Palin if matched up in 2012, which is really no surprise since the liberal media has spent the better part of two years beating up on her.

A significant majority of voters are considering voting against President Barack Obama in the 2012 election, expressing sour views of his new health care law and deep skepticism about his ability to create jobs and grow the sluggish economy, according to the latest POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll.

Only 38 percent of respondents said Obama deserves to be reelected, even though a majority of voters hold a favorable view of him on a personal level. Forty-four percent said they will vote to oust him, and 13 percent said they will consider voting for someone else.

It’s Obama’s policies that are hurting him right now. By a 13-point margin, voters are down on the health care law. In an especially troubling sign, more than half of self-identified independents — 54 percent — have an unfavorable opinion of the law, compared with just 38 percent who have a favorable opinion.

And by an 11-point margin, voters trust congressional Republicans to create jobs more than Obama. His approval rating stands at 46 percent, according to the poll of 1,000 likely voters, conducted Sept. 19 to Sept. 22.

The tea party movement, which has emerged as the biggest threat to Democrats’ dominance of Washington, is viewed favorably by 43 percent of respondents, compared with 35 percent who view it unfavorably.

Perceptions of the grass-roots activists vary widely by region: In the Northeast, nearly half — 47 percent — have a negative view of the movement, suggesting it could prove to be a drag on GOP candidates in a region where the party has bottomed out in recent years.

Let's face it: The GOP couldn't do any worse in the northeast and enthusiasm for Tea Party candidates has at least given the GOP some momentum there.

Shady Imam: Ground Zero Mosque Meant to Prevent Another 9/11 or Something

How many times is this deadbeat slumlord going to change his story? Now we're supposed to take at face value the building of a mega-mosque at Ground Zero is meant to prevent another attack? Who is this clown kidding?

The imam behind the controversial plan to build a Muslim culture center near the site of New York's Sept. 11 attack said Sunday the project is meant to prevent a similar attack.

In an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" program, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said he feels duty bound to help protect non-Muslim Americans from such violence.

Rauf said building the center, which will include a prayer room, two blocks from the destroyed World Trade Center is "the right thing to do."

"…America needs it and the Muslim world needs it," he said.

"We have to wage peace."

Critics say the center's proximity to Ground Zero is insensitive, while supporters say politicians have wrongly commandeered the emotionally charged debate before U.S. congressional elections on Nov. 2.

Asked if it was insensitive to build the center so close to Ground Zero, Rauf said: "We wanted to prevent another 9/11 … We wanted a platform … to strengthen the voice of the moderates."

Since 9/11 there have been thousands of attacks by Muslims extremists worldwide. What has he done to "prevent" any of those? If this "man of peace" is here to prevent attacks, why is the terror threat against us supposedly the highest since 9/11?

'I Put My Foot Knee-Deep in his Ass'

Good thing for Jesse Jackson Jr. he's a Democrat. Typically sleazy politicians who have affairs outside their marriage are hounded for years by the media. Yet outside of Chicago this barely is a blip on the radar.

It's a story as old as time: adultery, anguish and atonement. Last Tuesday, when news broke of U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.'s extramarital relationship with a blond nightclub hostess -- kryptonite in the world of the African-American woman -- his wife, Ald. Sandi Jackson, inserted a little laughter into the public disclosure.

The venue she chose to publicly thwack her errant husband was her 47th birthday party/fund-raiser tossed by her 7th Ward staff at the Park 52 restaurant in Hyde Park.

"I told them: 'I put my foot knee-deep in his ass and he has been having a very difficult time sleeping peacefully since then.' "

Surprisingly, she did it with her husband in attendance.

"Jesse laughed because he knew it was true," Ald. Jackson told me. "But I also wanted everyone to know I was not taking it lightly."

What Ald. Jackson wasn't taking lightly was how much the public disclosure had hurt.

In an exclusive interview punctuated with tears and laughter at a West Side restaurant Thursday, a vivacious, but intense Sandi Jackson talked about her private anguish; her sea legs as a new alderman in the process of transforming her ward's old Steel Works lakefront, and her commuter marriage to the son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson, whose life of service has also been pockmarked by sexual scandal.

"You know, when the Clintons ran into marital trouble, I thought Hillary should leave Bill," she said. "I couldn't stand what Tiger Woods did and how his wife had to suffer publicly.

"But when the 'beast' lands at your door, it can be a very, very different experience. No one really knows what they are going to do until they are in that situation. When it happens to you it's amazing how what you once thought was black and white becomes variations of a color called gray."

Although Congressman Jackson's name had surfaced in the Rod Blagojevich trial involving the alleged sale of President Obama's former U.S. Senate seat, word of Jackson's affair, interspersed somewhere in that time frame, did not hit the news until last week.

And we've hardly heard a word about it.

'He Came Across as a Big Pervert'

I don't mind so much whether Arnold Schwarzeneggar was getting his freak on at the Playboy Mansion. What's more disturbing is his odd fascination with the Mayor of New York City.

A new book on Arnold Schwarzenegger claims he once spent two hours at a party at the Playboy mansion locked in a room with a pin-up -- and Hugh Hefner may have a videotape of what happened behind the closed door.

In "The Governator," investigative journalist Ian Halperin quotes an unnamed person who he describes as a female producer who met Schwarzenegger at a cigar bar in Santa Monica in 2006.

She said: "I was shocked because he was married. Arnold was all over us trying to get us to go home with him. He plied us with alcohol and kept making the moves on us all night . . . He came across as a big pervert."

Not only is he a pervert, he's totally delusional.

The book says Schwarzenegger's dream is to run for US president. But because he was born in Austria he'd first have to amend the Constitution, which prevents foreign-born citizens from holding the top job. Halperin writes that if he couldn't go for it, then Schwarzenegger would "get behind" Mayor Bloomberg.

He quotes a strategist who said Schwarzenegger "made a joke about how Bloomberg has more money than he and that with their money put together they could just buy the White House" and "go to Washington together and be the real 'Twins.' "

Weary Obama Organizer Has That Hopeless Feeling

Hopeless

I almost feel sorry for this poor sap. He overdosed on the Hopenchange Kool-Aid but now has that empty feeling of despair and hopelessness. That magical vision where Big Daddy Government paid your mortgage and credit card bills just hasn't materialized during the disastrous Obama presidency and now Greg Smith is stuck back at his old job.

Awww.

I went to volunteer full time for Obama and was soon hired as an organizer for the campaign.

The night of Aug. 28, 2008, when Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, was one of the most exciting in my life. Michelle and Barack came backstage to thank us for all our hard work and told us we could sleep in the next day. I remember feeling giddy.

Two years later, I'm living a more sober reality.

My life is not better. I'm a college graduate and I still can't get a good job.

I'm back working as a doorman at a Manhattan hotel earning peanuts because my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and I need the health insurance again.

I share the same sentiments of Velma Hart, the woman who confronted Obama at a town hall last week, saying she was tired of defending him. The idea of leaving New York is even on the table.

Obama has let professional politicians take over the White House -- and our dream of change.

I know it's childish to expect solutions to happen overnight. Obama inherited a big old mess, and I don't expect him to have everything figured out after 18 months.

But we're only human and we want to see some visible change.

I'm trying to keep up my hope -- but I'm afraid that instead of being that guy who knocked on doors in Denver, I'm now the person who needs convincing.

My advice is to vote GOP in November.