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Rand Paul asks one of those controversial questions in the news recently whether this administration will target American citizens on American soil with drone strikes, a hypothetical scenario Paul sees as both possible and a good enough reason to hold up the confirmation of John Brennan as head of the CIA.. But Rand Paul, being the rightwing nutcase he is does what they always do, takes his fearmongering to absurd conclusions to destroy whatever merit his original assertion had.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): "We are talking about someone eating at a cafe in Boston, or New York, and a Hellfire Missile comes raining in on them. There should be an easy answer from the administration on this. They should say, 'absolutely no, we will not kill Americans in America without an accusation, a trial and a jury.'"

You can watch the entire video here, at Fox News.

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Speaking on Morning Joe, Carville offered this pithy assessment of the problem Republicans face regarding the sequester.

James Carville: The sequester, many people don't know what it is, but it sounds stupid and cruel, so they think it's a Republican thing."

Byron York at the Washington Examiner gives, from a conservative's standpoint, a somewhat more nuanced opinion on the pickle Republicans find themselves in:

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner describes the upcoming sequester as a policy “that threatens U.S. national security, thousands of jobs and more.”

Which leads to the question: Why would Republicans support a measure that threatens national security and thousands of jobs? Boehner and the GOP are determined to allow the $1.2 trillion sequester go into effect unless President Obama and Democrats agree to replacement cuts, of an equal amount, that target entitlement spending. If that doesn’t happen — and it seems entirely unlikely — the sequester goes into effect, with the GOP’s blessing.
...
Could the GOP message on the sequester be any more self-defeating? Boehner could argue that the sequester cuts are necessary as a first — and somewhat modest — step toward controlling the deficits that threaten the economy. Instead, he describes them as a threat to national security and jobs that he nevertheless supports. It’s not an argument that is likely to persuade millions of Americans.

The GOP’s astonishingly bad message on sequester cuts

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Rachel Maddow detailed the surprising dynamic going on in a Democratic primary in Illinois where a former congresswoman likely won't win because of her vocal support of the gun nuts lobby, even to the point of channelling Wayne LaPierre with her [gun laws] "always hurt law-abiding citizens" crap from a 2010 YouTube video for a Second Amendment Freedom Rally in Chicago.

via Maddow Blog:

As Rachel noted on the show on Friday, a super PAC run by New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I) has taken an active interest in the special election, hitting Chicago's airwaves with ads targeting Hutchinson and former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D) for having earned "A" ratings from the National Rifle Association.

The RNA's grade, Rachel noted, "is a scarlet letter" in the heavily-Democratic district, so much so that it helped push Hutchinson out of the race altogether.

If there were any doubts that the post-Newtown environment has changed, ask yourself: when was the last time a congressional candidate was forced to quit after taking heat over a positive NRA rating?

Robin Kelly, meanwhile, is eager to tout her "F" rating from the right-wing organization. Though the Democratic primary remains quite crowded, the race increasing appears to be a showdown between Kelly, who enjoys backing from Bloomberg and progressive groups like the CREDO super PAC, and Halvorson, who is scrambling to convince voters she disagrees with the NRA on a series of key issues, her previous boasts about her "A" rating notwithstanding.

The Democratic primary is a week from tomorrow, the winner of which is very likely to win the seat. Given the national implications, it's a race worth watching -- we haven't seen one like this in a long while, but it may prove to be a sign of things to come.

For her part, Halvorson blames outside groups like Bloomberg's PAC for trying to buy a congressional seat. Halvorson even claims she's still the frontrunner, seemingly oblivious to her fate. Or perhaps she figures she'll land a gig at Fox News slamming Democrats anyway, as evidenced by this segment with Megyn Kelly last week.

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The ultimate historical revenge fantasy, via Saturday Night Live.

Naturally, Todd Starnes at Fox Nation has it as:

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The Canadian Foreign Minister took to the floor of the House of Commons yesterday and vowed that a Zombie Apocalypse will never happen under his watch. Security exercises based on zombie attacks have been run in Quebec, British Columbia, and the United States. Canadians will no doubt be relieved to know that in the case of attack our governments are taking this matter seriously.

via The National Post

In a bizarre exchange in a place known for bizarre exchanges, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told the House of Commons Wednesday that “Canada will never be a safe haven for zombies.”

“I want to assure this member and all Canadians that I am dead-icated to ensuring that this never happens,” Baird said.

Baird was responding to a question from NDP MP Pat Martin (who else, really?) who asked if Canada is working with the U.S. to ensure that its citizens don’t suffer from a case of the zombie apocalypse.

“I don’t need to tell you, Mr. Speaker, that zombies don’t don’t recognize borders and that a zombie invasion in the United States can easily turn into a continent-wide pandemic if it is not contained,” Martin said to chuckles and eventually cheers.

“So on behalf of concerned Canadians everywhere, I want to ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs, is he working with his American counterparts to develop an international zombie strategy so that a zombie invasion does not turn into a zombie apocalypse?”

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The Republicans are looking for a savior. Did they find one in Marco Rubio last night? 'The Most Interesting Man in the World' has some advice for the GOP.

One Texas congressman invites gun nut Ted Nugent to the SOTU, another invites an undocumented immigrant with a master's in nursing who cannot work in this country. This about as much as anything sums up the obvious differences in the two parties right now and voters notice.

via The Dallas Morning News

U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey has invited an undocumented immigrant from Texas to attend President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.

The undocumented immigrant to attend Obama’s speech with Veasey, D-Fort Worth, is Julieta Garibay. The 32-year-old woman moved from Mexico to Austin with her parents when she was 12-years-old.

Garibay is a graduate of the University of Texas, where she received nursing degrees. As a student there she co-founded the University Leadership Initiative, an undocumented youth organization that promotes higher education and civic engagement for immigrants.

Garibay could be the first known undocumented immigrant to attend a State of the Union speech.

“This is a big step for Dreamers and indicative of how far this movement has come,” Garibay said. “Congressman Veasey recognizes that and has always supported the cause.”

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Chris Christie may have looked like he was joking with David Letterman the other night but he was his usual bullying self when he called a Scottsdale, Arizona doctor to lambaste her. As KTVK notes, "Dr. Connie Mariano was the White House doctor for nine years, encompassing parts of both Bush administrations and the entire Clinton presidency." So perhaps she does know a thing or two about the stresses involved in being a president.

via Political Wire

Dr. Connie Mariano, the former White House doctor who drew the ire of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) for saying his obesity was not healthy -- he called her a "hack" -- actually got a phone call from the governor, KTVK-TV reports.

Said Mariano: "It was essentially the tone of the press conference only louder. It was hard to get anything across."

Ironically, Mariano said she is a Republican and liked Christie but said her future support for him in a 2016 presidential campaign is damaged:

"The way he acted lately I don't think so. He wasn't very nice to me. Politically if this is the way he handles stress... is this presidential? I'll have to think about that. Is this a presidential way to behave? C'mon."

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Lowell Field at Blue Virginia caught this interesting tidbit from Joe Scarborough this morning. It looks increasingly like we'll continue to see GOP battles between the extremist Tea Party and their followers and the pragmatists like Scarborough who want electoral wins.

Ken Cucchinelli is running against Democrat Terry McAuliffe for Governor of Virginia.

JOE SCARBOROUGH: Cuccinelli, right, so here's a guy - Tea Party favorite in Virginia - the guy is certifiable when it comes to mainstream political thought. This is a guy who attacks Medicare, he attacks Medicaid, he attacks Social Security, this is a guy who said he was thinking about not having his children get Social Security numbers because, quote, "that's how they track you." This is a guy that has said more things that will offend the voters that swing elections than is humanly possible.

Here's what Blue Virginia had to say on the matter:

Thank you, Republican Joe Scarborough, for echoing what Democrats, progressives, liberals, environmentalists, etc. have been saying for years: Ken Kookinelli is straightjacket/men-in-white-coats-level loony tunes. The scary thing is, Scarborough's list was a short one for Cuckoo: add to it climate science denial, which in and of itself puts you into the tinfoil hat camp of flat earthers and "the moonshot was faked" folks; dabbling in "birtherism;" vicious anti-LGBT attitudes; support for a "personhood" amendment, which would make abortion providers murderers and also make several popular forms of contraception (as well as embryonic stem cell research) akin to murder as well. There's a lot more than that, too, but we'll just leave it there for now. The fact that the Republican Party could nominate a total nutjob like this, and that it's not an isolated incident - see Todd Akin, Christine O'Donnell, Richard Mourdoch, and many others the past few years - really says it all about that party. Why would anyone in their right mind vote Republican at this point is truly beyond me.

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via National Confidential