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"If the Republicans can't break out of being the right wing party of big government, then I think you would see a third party movement in 2012," Newt Gingrich said during a Wednesday speech in Missouri.

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, the former Speaker of the House expanded on why conservatives might turn away from the Republican Party. "Republicans need to understand that there's a country which did not like the big spending of the last administration, didn't like the interventionist policies of the last administration and the country at large would like to see a genuine alternative to the Obama strategy of basical trying to run the entire economy from the white house and basically trying to increase government, I think, by 36% this year, which is the largest single increase outside of war in American history," said Gingrich.

Gingrich indicated that he wouldn't participate in a third party movement. "No, look, I lived through watching Ross Perot run in 1992 and split the conservative movement in two," he said.

John Amato:

Yea, Newt wants nothing to do with a "third party," he's just making the case for one. Nice going Newt. Gingrich started a new party in 1994 with his Contract with America, that began to kick out all moderate Republicans using the Southern Strategy and now the entire Republican party is made up of conservatives just like him. Of course he was booted out of his own party very quickly. Since his ideals have failed so miserably now---he's saying they may need another party for conservatives to express themselves and be heard.

I love the the sweet smell of revisionism in the morning.

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From Bill Moyers Journal:

Amy Goodman and Glenn Greenwald are the first recipients of the Park Center for Independent Media Izzy Award (named for I.F. Stone) — named "Pillars of independent media, chosen for the award, because of their journalistic courage and persistence in confronting conventional wisdom and official deception."

"I think the way the media works is they show the spectrum of opinion between the Democrats and the Republicans in Washington. Often that is very narrow. But the fact is, the majority of Americans fall outside of that opinion." -Amy Goodman

"It's not even some sort of Machiavellian or conspiratorial effort, sometimes, to exclude certain opinions. It's actually the fact that reporters — and media stars — and corporate and establishment journalists are so embedded into the establishment...That they're so completely insular and out of touch from what public opinion actually is. And polls show that huge numbers of issues and positions that are held by large numbers of Americans are ones that are virtually never heard in our media discussions." - Glenn Greenwald

Transcript below the fold.

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The father of Bristol Palin's baby says the couple practiced safe "most of the time." Levi Johnston's interview on the The Tyra Banks Show is set to air Monday. MSNBC's Alex Witt and Courtney Hazlett discussed the interview.

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David Shuster talks to Margaret Carlson about whether there is any legal basis for the request by Sarah Palin and the Alaskan state Republican party for a special election. Apparently they think Uncle Ted Stevens should have a chance to win his seat back and that Mark Begich should resign.

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Sean Hannity of Fox News tried this week to goad Republican challengers Sam Caliguiri and Rob Simmons into calling Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) "a lying weasel" on national tv. One gladly took the bit in his teeth and ran with it, one did not. Hannity's glee came from a local Connecticut rag publication, the New Haven Register.

The knives have come out in earnest for Senator Dodd in recent weeks in the wake of the AIG bonuses fiasco, and some recent bad poll numbers, and we can expect more yellow journalism in the coming months as this plays out until the senate election some 18 months away.

If these republicans want to lay with the likes of a Sean Hannity, intent on negative campaigning for the duration, then I fully expect Senator Dodd to recover. In recent years three republican congressmen in Connecticut have gone down to defeat employing such tactics, one of them being Rob Simmons himself.

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Rachel Maddow reminds us of why our lack of credibility due to our actions at Guantanamo Bay matters. We're now being mocked by the North Koreans for inquiring about the return and welfare of journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Isn't that special? Sadly, it is not surprising and was inevitable.

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David Shuster recaps the rough week the GOP had on the late night television shows.

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From Real Time April 3, 2009.

From the White House blog:

In this week’s address, filmed aboard Air Force One between vital diplomatic engagements abroad, the President discusses the breadth and depth of the global challenges we face. Recapping his trip, though, it is clear just how much opportunity lies in reshaping America’s relationships around the world. On everything from turning our economy around -- which shed hundreds of thousands more jobs last month -- to ending the threat of nuclear arms, "The only way forward is through shared and persistent efforts to combat fear and want wherever they exist."

Full transcript below the fold.

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David Shuster filling in for Keith Olbermann on Countdown debunks the media and right wing frenzy over whether Michelle Obama inappropriately "touched" the Queen or not. First the iPod idiocracy and now this. He also highlights Michelle Obama's visit to a London girls' school which was very touching. If that doesn't make you a bit teary eyed after watching it, well, I just don't know what to say.