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I'm not sure why we should care about insecure athletes who are afraid to walk through crowds at baseball stadiums unarmed. But we do.

via USAToday

Jonathan Papelbon, the former Boston Red Sox closer, once resided in an apartment directly above the site of one of the explosions at Monday's Boston Marathon, and he called watching the events from afar "surreal."

In a follow-up interview Tuesday with CSN Philadelphia, Papelbon elaborated on that and also spoke of other fears in this era, such as walking through crowds at a stadium. That included Papelbon bringing into play a seemingly separate issue, that of President Obama's efforts on gun control after the elementary school killings in Newtown, Conn

JONATHAN PAPELBON:"We walked through the crowd here on opening day and in Boston, we came down through the bleachers one opening day. I don't feel comfortable doing that.

"Today's day and age, has gotten so crazy. Shoot, man, Obama wants to take our guns from us and everything. You got all this stuff going on, it's just a little bit insane for me, man. I'm not sure how to take it."

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Apparently President Obama is a hypocrite because his children are protected by the Secret Service. Doubtless the NRA goons used similar tactics in the 1990s with Chelsea when President Clinton pushed for the assault weapons ban.

via the Washington Post:

The National Rifle Association released a new video on its Web site Tuesday calling President Obama an “elitist hypocrite” for having Secret Service protection of his daughters at school but saying he was “skeptical” about installing armed guards in all schools.

The NRA’s provocative, 35-second video is as harsh as any attack ad in a political campaign and illustrates how emotionally charged and personal the debate over gun control is becoming.

“Are the president’s kids more important than yours?” a deep-voiced narrator asks. “Then why is he skeptical about putting armed security in our schools when his kids are protected by armed guards at their school? Mr. Obama demands the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, but he’s just another elitist hypocrite when it comes to a fair share of security.”

A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This could possibly be the best riff he's done in the whole campaign. Speaking at a campaign rally in Virginia today specifically directed toward women, the president ran away with 'Romnesia', wrapping it all up with a cure: Obamacare.

Here's the transcript:

But now that we’re 18 days out from the election, Mr. “Severely Conservative” wants you to think he was “severely kidding” about everything he’s said over the last year. He told folks he was “the ideal candidate” for the Tea Party, now suddenly he’s saying, “what, who, me?” He’s forgetting what his own positions are, and he’s betting that you will too.

I mean he’s changing up so much – backtracking and sidestepping. We’ve gotta name this condition that he’s going through.. I think it’s called “Romnesia.” That’s what it’s called. I think that’s what he’s going through.

Now, I’m not a medical doctor but I do want to go over some of the symptoms with you because I want to make sure nobody else catches it.

If you say you’re for equal pay for equal work, but you keep refusing to say whether or not you’d sign a bill that protects equal pay for equal work – you might have Romnesia.

If you say women should have access to contraceptive care, but you support legislation that would let your employer deny you contraceptive care – you might have a case of Romnesia.

If you say you’ll protect a woman’s right to choose, but you stand up at a primary debate and said that you’d be “delighted” to sign a law outlawing that right to choose in all cases – man, you’ve definitely got Romnesia.

Now, this extends to other issues. If you say earlier in the year I’m going to give a tax cut to the top 1 percent and then in a debate you say, I don’t know anything about giving tax cuts to rich folks – you need to get a thermometer, take your temperature, because you’ve probably got Romnesia.

If you say that you’re a champion of the coal industry when while you were Governor you stood in front of a coal plant and said, this plant will kill you – that’s some Romnesia.

So – I think you’re beginning to be able to identify these symptoms. And if you come down with a case of Romnesia, and you can’t seem to remember the policies that are still on your website, or the promises you’ve made over the six years you’ve been running for President, here’s the good news: Obamacare covers pre-existing conditions.

We can fix you up. We’ve got a cure. We can make you well, Virginia. This is a curable disease.

Pitch-perfect.

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The Obama's hosted another concert at the White House tonight. This one was all about the blues, and at the end, the President serenaded the crowd with his version of "Sweet Home Alabama Chicago."

The full special airs on PBS February 27th.

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On Martin Bashir's show today, Dr. Cornel West took aim at President Obama's speech to the Congressional Black Caucus. At one point West said the President should apologize to critics like Tavis Smiley and himself, because they are speaking out of love for African-Americans and poor people, something he doesn't believe President Obama is doing.

Their discussion led off with Martin Bashir asking Dr. West point-blank whether or not he was hurt when he wasn't contacted by the White House after doing campaign events for then-Senator Obama. Here is his response:

OBAMA: Look, the other thing I don't want you to just kind of slip in there is this notion that African-American leaders of late have been critical. There have been a handful of African-American leaders who have been critical. They were critical when I was running for President. There's always going to be somebody who's critical of the President of the United States. That's my job, in part, particularly when the economy is going as badly as it is right now. People are going to have concerns and they should.

(end clip)

BASHIR: Dr. West, you opposed him in terms of policy, in terms of economics. But were you also hurt personally, because as I understand it, you kept calling him in the early stages of his Presidency. You said you prayed for him, prayed for him on the telephone --

WEST: Oh, absolutely --

BASHIR: But he didn't return your calls. Did that hurt?

WEST: Well, no I think the only thing we do -- we just wanted a 'thank you' after 65 events. That's not a petty thing. It's personal, but I take these kind of things quite seriously in terms of the sacrifice one makes. But keep in mind --

BASHIR: So you were hurt.

They then transition into the discussion about the Congressional Black Caucus speech (transcript clip at the end of this post for reference).

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At President Obama's town hall in Mountain View today, Doug Edwards, former Consumer Marketing Head for Google, stood and asked the President to raise his taxes to preserve Pell Grants, education funding and disaster relief, among other things.

This was, of course, a riff on Warren Buffett's column a couple of weeks ago where he called on Congress to make his tax rate equitable with that of his secretary, who actually pays more in taxes than Buffett does.

The near-instantaneous reaction on Twitter and elsewhere has been fascinating. Mark Knoller tweeted this:

The US Govt accepts contributions. Online at pay.gov or by mail: Bureau of Public Debt, Dept G, P.O Box 2188, Parkersburg, WV 26106-2188.

The right-wingers are nearly apoplectic, with Michelle Malkin ready to vomit while they furiously spread speculation that the guy was a plant. Because surely an ex-Googler who made a fortune via stock options and the like couldn't possibly be sincere about wanting to pay more in taxes to make sure kids get decent educations and things?

So the counter from the right is either, "Sure, go ahead and pay whatever you want, here's the address to send it to!" or "You lie!"

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Apparently Bill O'Reilly is terribly upset that President Obama might want to raise his taxes on capital gains, so much so that he actually threatened that he and his ilk of fellow investors who potentially could be taxed higher on their "sweat equity" might "pack it in" during his "Talking Points Memo" on this Monday's The O'Reilly Factor.

O'REILLY: Here's the unintended consequence of Mr. Obama's revenue enhancing plan, and I must tell you, I want the feds to get more revenue. I don't want to starve them, as some people do. We need a robust military, a good transportation system and protections all over the place. But if you tax achievement, some of the achievers are going to pack it in.

I'm not quite sure just where O'Reilly and his buddies are going to "pack it in" to, but let me be the first to say that if it means you not being on the air any more at Fox, please go... and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out to wherever in the hell you plan on going.

And apparently O'Reilly has absolutely no idea what the term "sweat equity" means. I would recommend him spending a little time watching either HGTV or the DIY networks if he would like to get a clue on what that term actually means.

UPDATED: Steve Benen explains:

In Ronald Reagan’s first term, for example, the top rate was — you guessed it — 50%. Did Reagan’s “oppressive” tax rates prevent robust economic growth? Did “the achievers” decide to “pack it in”? No and no.

For nearly all of Dwight Eisenhower’s presidency, the top rate was 91%. That’s not a typo. Did this Republican president’s “oppressive” tax policy prevent the U.S. economy from growing in the 1950s? Apparently not. That said, if O’Reilly is contemplating retirement to avoid helping America pay its bills, I’m not inclined to discourage him

Hullabaloo

That's the best reason I've yet heard for raising taxes on these creeps. What's funny is that O'Reilly is under the illusion that he's one of the big job creators in our culture who can't be asked to give up even one penny of his massive income lest he lose all reason to wake up in the morning. Well sorry -- he's one of the entertainers, not one of the producers. He may be irreplaceable to curmudgeonly old FOX News, but it won't make a bit of difference to the economy. So, buh bye.

But that's not why I say he's a moron. He's a moron because he doesn't know how marginal tax rates work and when you make the ridiculous sums of money he makes, you really ought to. On the other hand, if he's so dumb that he thinks Obama is actually proposing a 50% tax rate and then whines publicly to a country full of poor people about it, then maybe we should just take his money

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April 15, 2010 CNN

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March 29, 2010 NBC Jay Leno Show

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February 25, 2010 ABC Jimmy Kimmel