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From the great mind that brought us both Sarah Palin and Dan Quayle, Bill Kristol first does his best to build up what electoral successes in Virginia and New Jersey might mean for the Republicans in 2010, even though he claims that’s not what he’s doing. Republicans managing to pick up a Governor’s seat in Virginia or having an unpopular Governor in New Jersey who is a former Goldman Sachs CEO in the middle of this scandal with Wall Street managing to hold onto his seat or barely losing are not exactly bellwether races for what might happen in 2010.

Kristol then tries to downplay the havoc that his girlfriend Sarah Palin is reaping upon the Republican Party with her endorsement of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in the NY-23 Congressional race.

Kristol: Tim Kaine has said, and this is the favorite mantra now of the Democrats and of the liberal media I would say as you quoted “the divide between moderate Republicans and conservative Republicans” that’s kind of their hope. When was the last time that there was really a big divide between moderate and conservative Republicans? I would say in ’76 when Ronald Reagan ran a primary challenge to go then against an incumbent moderate Republican president Gerald Ford, barely lost, bitterness, divisiveness at the convention, he didn’t even really…give his full fledged, full support to Gerald Ford. In 1978 I remember a friend of mine, a young activist Jeff Bell challenged and beat the liberal incumbent Cliff Case, the Republican primary in Jersey, lost to Bill Bradley, in the general Al D’Amato challenged Jacob Javis in New York, actually won the general election. There was a huge amount of turmoil.

What came out of all of that—Reagan’s victory and a Republican takeover of the Senate in 1980. Turmoil in a party isn’t bad. Obviously it’s problematic. If you’re running a campaign you don’t, you know, it’s easier not to have a primary, it’s easier not to have people grumbling and complaining, but it’s—I think it’s a sign of health, it’s a sign of grass roots activity. It’s a sign of citizens getting involved. I don’t think people are going to go off the deep end. I think you’re going to have…the fact that there were challenges in the 23rd district of New York doesn’t mean that conservatives aren’t going to accept more moderate candidates which they will in Delaware where Mike Castle’s going to be the nominee, where Illinois where Mark Kirk’s going to be the Republican nominee.

The left keeps hoping that conservatives will be suicidal. They’re not going to be I think. But I think you do need the conservative populace’s energy and independence from Washington—and ideas. I think conservatives need that, that Republicans need that. You can’t just be top down, sort of rehashed ideas from inside the beltway, so I’m actually ah…Tim Kaine can console himself with tomorrow’s defeat—it’s going to be a pretty bad defeat and Republicans are going to win all the state wide races and I think pick up six to ten state legislative seats—Tim Kaine can console himself that hoping that the Republican Party will self destruct, but I don’t think it’s going to happen.

Bill, Hoffman wasn’t a primary challenge in case you didn’t notice. He’s a third party candidate propped up by a bunch of outsiders that are not from the state. And if you think this is going to stop with this NY-23 race and that “people aren’t going to go off the deep end”…you might want to go read this--Uncivil War: Conservatives to challenge a dozen GOP candidates.

So what's the deal, DNC? What the hell's going on? This is no time to rest on our laurels:

Much attention has been paid to the Democratic political juggernaut, and to the weaknesses of the GOP in general and the RNC in particular.

You wouldn't know it from their respective April fundraising numbers: The RNC outraised the DNC by $1.3 million.

The earlier rationale for the DNC's weak fundraising had been that Governor Kaine was taking care of business in Virginia, but that legislative session ended in February.

The RNC raised $5.4 million in contributions April, giving the committee $24.4 million on hand.

The DNC, in the same month, raised $4.4 million, leaving it with $9.1 million on hand.

Between the President of the United States and his massive list, you'd expect Democrats to have a real advantage in this category, but it hasn't taken hold, at least not yet.

Watching Tim Kaine's boring performance as leader of the DNC on MTP made me realize how much I sure missed Howard Dean. He would have schooled Michael Steele over every topic since he's the complete laughing stock of the RNC, but instead Kaine just let him say whatever he wanted without any push back. Read the transcript and you tell me?

Stealers Wheel - Stuck In The Middle With You

If it's Sunday, it's Republican spin day on the news shows. Holy deity of your choice, is this a gruesome line-up or what? Almost like we didn't have an election in November. On what Planet Bizarro do we live that Liz Cheney and former McCain campaign advisor Steve Schmidt have anything constructive to add to the national dialogue? Could someone tell the people at This Week that it might be nice to not have to look at these losers over and over? And could we get any less balance to discuss President Obama's commencement address at Notre Dame University than have the Notre Dame Professor of Theology and a Notre Dame Right-to-Life student on FoxNews Sunday and State of the Union respectively? Nevermind that David Gregory's ratings are in the toilet, the main event: DNC chair Tim Kaine vs. RNC chair Michael Steele on Meet the Press. Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right...

ABC's "This Week" - Sens. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Jim Webb, D-Va.; Republican strategist Liz Cheney, daughter to former Vice President Dick Cheney; Steve Schmidt, adviser to John McCain for the 2008 presidential election.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union; Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Democratic National Committee chairman; Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Panel: Savannah Guthrie, Howard Fineman, Andrew Sullivan, Michele Norris. Topics: Why has Dick Cheney become so vocal against President Obama's policies? In the Supreme Court pick, is it more important for President Obama to make [sic]. Meter Questions: Has Dick Cheney influenced President Obama's national security policy decisions? YES: 4 NO: 8; Can Obama keep Pakistan's government in power? YES: 2 No: 10

CNN's "State of the Union" - White House Budget Director Peter Orszag; Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio; Emily Toates, student at Notre Dame and member of "Right to Life" group.

CNN's "Reliable Sources" - Hollywood edition with Mariel Hemingway and Barry Levinson.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - An exclusive interview with former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. If Pakistan and Afghanistan are the biggest global stories of the moment (and they are), the man who can shed the most light on them is surely Pervez Musharraf - the man who resigned from power in Pakistan just nine months ago

"Fox News Sunday" - Rev. Richard McBrien, professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame; Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Sigh. So what's catching your eye this morning?

Is this the type of behavior the head of the DNC is supposed to engage in?

Tim Kaine, the Virginia governor and President Barack Obama's hand-picked choice as the head of the Democratic National Committee, infuriated abortion-rights groups Monday by signing legislation that gives abortion foes a long-sought victory.

Kaine brushed off intense lobbying by abortion rights supporters in Richmond to sign a bill that allows Virginia motorists to advertise their anti-abortion views by sporting "Choose Life" specialty license plates.

If Kaine were merely the governor of the Old Dominion, the move might have been less notable. Kaine—a Catholic who says he is personally opposed to abortion but pledged to leave the right to choose intact—won office in Virginia partly by seeking to reassure social conservatives.

But he is now on a national stage. And his decision could echo among women's activists who are among the most powerful financial supporters of the party.

“It is surprising that Governor Kaine would do this, but it’s all the more surprising that he would do it as chair of the DNC,” said Paulette McElwain, the president of the Virginia League for Planned Parenthood.

“It is unfortunate that, even after receiving thousands of messages from Virginians and pro-choice activists across the country, Gov. Kaine has opted to sign a bill that advances a divisive political ideology at the expense of women’s health,” NARAL/Pro-Choice America president Nancy Keenan said in a statement.

By the way, Andy Barr's wording of this article is typical of right wing framing of this issue. Read it through and you will see. I remember when Kaine's name was floated around as a possible VP pick. Thanks for angering your base, Mr. Kaine, but I guess he feels like he has to attack the liberals if he wants Villager props.

On August 10, Karl Rove went on "Face The Nation" to argue that Senator Obama would make an "intensely political choice" for Vice President without regard for the "responsibilities of president." At the time, Rove believed Obama would choose Tim Kaine, and argued against him by saying this:

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With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he's been a governor for three years, he's been able but undistinguished. I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America. And again, with all due respect to Richmond, Virginia, it's smaller than Chula Vista, California; Aurora, Colorado; Mesa or Gilbert, Arizona; north Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada. It's not a big town. So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, `You know what? I'm really not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president of the United States?

As we now know, Barack Obama chose Joe Biden as his VP, probably the least political choice he could have made, and probably the best governing choice he could have made. John McCain, on the other hand, is the one who made the "intensely political choice" by choosing Sara Palin -- a political newcomer and self-described "hockey mom" who has less than two years of governing experience and ZERO foreign policy experience -- all because the political winds dictated that "change" was going to trump "experience" this election.

Rove argues that Kaine's mayorship of Richmond (pop. 200,000+) is insignificant and that his 3 years as Governor of Virginia (pop. 7,712,091, GDP $383 million) has been "indistinguisahable." If Rove was intellectually consistent, wouldn't that mean Palin's mayorship of Wasilla (pop. 8,000+) and 20 months as Alaska governor (pop. 683,478, GDP $44.5 million) makes her even less qualified than Kaine?

Barack Obama chose Joe Biden because he knows his way around Washington and knows how to get stuff done. His selection mollifies virtually no voting block or constituency.

McCain, on the other hand, chose someone eminently unqualified for the job (seriously, can you see Sara Palin sitting down with Maliki or Karzai or any other world leader?) for the sole reason of appeasing the right-wing lunatic fringe and hoping to pick off a few die-hard Hillary holdouts, as well as assuaging voters' concerns about his septuagenarianism.

So, Karl, who made the "intensely political choice"?

What can we take away from this episode? When Karl Rove suggests something -- in this case, Obama would make an "intensely political decision" -- always assume the opposite will happen. Remember, Rove predicted, according to "the math," that the GOP would pick up seats in 2006.They of course were swept out of power in an historic landslide.

Remind me again why the punditocracy heralds this guys as some sort of political genius?

Full transcript below the fold:

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Who is the last person on the planet that Barack Obama should take advice from?  Naturally, the person that Bob Schieffer asks on Face the Nation, Turd Blossom himself, Karl Rove.  Seriously, this guy is an advisor for the McCain campaign, he's the architect of one of the nastiest and most partisan campaigns in the history of the country and for some reason, Schieffer thinks it's legitimate to ask him his thoughts on Obama's VP pick.  Why?

Rove tries to spin this that if Obama selects a governor like Kaine from a red state, it's a political choice, rather than a presidential one, because all Obama is focused on is the electoral votes.  Okay.  Because Cheney was a real presidential choice...oh wait, Bush didn't make the choice.  Cheney chose himself. That's thinking big and broad.

What cracks me up the most is Karl Rove's attempt to diminish Kaine as a VP candidate:

I didn't say I thought he ought to, I said he probably would pick a Red State Democrat, because I think he's going to make an intensely political choice, not a governing choice. He's going to view this through a prism of a candidate, not through the prism of President. That is to say, he's going to pick somebody that he thinks on the margin will help him in a state like Indiana or Missouri or Virginia. He's not going to be thinking big and broad about the responsibilities as President. Well, with all due respect again to Gov. Kaine, he's been a governor for three years. He's been able but undistinguished; I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done.

And this differs from GWB's tenure as Governor of Texas how?  Oh that's right, the Governor of Virginia actually works more than the constitutionally weak Governor of Texas.  And how did GWB distinguish himself, other than putting more people to death than all the rest of the states combined?  By failing at every other business he started. 

Talk about appealing to the low information voter.

Transcripts below the fold

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  I told you what I thought about the VP spot already, but can someone tell me what Kaine brings to the table? I realize that many people are releasing information to the press that might not be accurate. Does the country even know who he is? Can he really help in VA? We already have Jim Webb to represent. The fact that he's pro-life should disqualify him right off the bat. And should we even talk about his stance on stem cell research?

Yesterday on WTOP's "Ask the Governor" hour, Governor Kaine said that he opposed using taxpayer money for embryonic stem cell research. Kaine said that he believed "there are huge advances that can be made in adult stem cell research" and that "that's the way to go."  

It's fine if he wants a milquetoast pick--that's Obama's choice--but I'd like someone that can actually help the Dems win the election... Evan Bayh is just as boring.