I "borrowed" this from a Facebook friend.

It's a variation of a joke I heard the other day:

"Once upon a time in America, before Barack Obama, we had Steve Jobs, Johnny Cash, Bob Hope. They're gone -- in Barack Obama's America, there' no jobs, no cash, no hope . . . "

Mark Sanford? I think the problem here is folks won't listen to what he has to say -- they'll look at him and think "scandal".

As for South Carolina, why not turn to Ainsley Earhardt? Pretty please, Mr. Ailes?

I passed on going to Stanford-Washington for the harmonic high-def convergence that is Cardinal-Huskies on ABC, its 5 p.m. kickoff coinciding with Game 3 of the World Series and Wisconsin-Michigan State on ESPN -- all preceded 30 minutes earlier by the kickoff of USC-Notre Dame (a rare night game in South Bend).

It's bad news and it's late on a Friday (East Coast, anyway). Right timing, politically.

As for Iraq, Diane (and all), what's the latest on Americans troops getting immunity from Iraqi laws if they end up in a "retraining" mission?

Diane, I think we'll have to do an "October Surprise" thread come September of next year. 

I'm thinking the Solyndra scandal is about to take a new and strange twist: the firm got all that money because it was in cahoots with the President to come up with a solar-powered TelePrompter . . .

The man did do two very entertaining films involving the presidency -- Absolute Power and In the Line of Fire -- so maybe there's an appetite there for national office.

That, or he thinks Washington is a nice place to visit (and make films), but wouldn't want to live there.

A Republican White House gets to decide if Eastwood is deserving of a Presidential Medal of Freedom (here's a recipients list). Any thoughts on that? If you're running the White House in 2013, who'd be on your list for MoF honors?

So . . . at some point, will money on the right coalesce and turn an Internet movement into something more shoe leather?

Or, is the better play to leave "Occupy" alone and assume it collapses under its own weight of mixed messages and conflicting/conflicted protestors?

Jerry played this one right. The Legislature shouldn't be in the business of messing with initiatives. And 209's going through a legal challenge (Brown, as AG, having filed in support of the challenge). Same reason why Arnold vetoed similar legislation. 

Interestingly, UCLA's Daily Bruin ran an editorial criticizing SB 185. Here 'tis. And make sure to reader the readers' comments!!

Shows the real divide in CA when it comes to this topic. Even college campuses don't agree.

The 269-269 tie gets back to our previous discussion about the importance of House elections. You want insurance, keep the House in GOP hands. You'd think that would be a part of NRCC fundraising pitches.

More election trivia: in the modern age, we haven't had an election in which the incumbent was tossed, but at the same his party picked up the House or the Senate.

We also haven't had an election in which both chambers reversed their majority/minority status.

So 2012 would be breaking serious ground if we ended up with: (a) saying goodbye to President Obama and hello Re-Speaker Pelosi; (b) saying hello to Majority Leader McConnell and farewell to Speaker Boehner.

Personally, I care more about how much fat a politician has between his ears, not around his waist.

If he were to run, I'd be curious as to how the Christie campaign would handle medical information.

Does obesity run in the Christie family? Is this something Christie can treat, as did Huckabee?

Once in the campaign, would his people release such medical data as specific weight, cholesterol, etc. What meds he's taking?

You might think a high cholesterol number is politically irrelevant; Letterman and Leno could run with it for a week in monologues, if it's a whopper.

My only concern with a seriously overweight president: would the stress of the job lead to an early heart attack (granted, you could ask the same of the trim Obama if his family had a bad cardiac history)? Isn't battling his waistline a good example to set for others?

Back in the day, Washington reporters kept a close eye on Ted Kennedy's weight -- the joke being that if Teddy started dropping lbs, he was warming up to a presidential run. Call me a cynic, but I doubt Mike Kinsley ever wrote a piece saying Ted Kennedy was too fat.

btw, William Howard Taft (born: 1857) died in 1930 at the age of 72. He was 51 years old when he took office in early 1909. Christie turned 49 earlier this month.

Are federal regulations sunsetted?

If not, then why not a new law saying:

(a) all existing and new regulations are from now automatically sunsetted after -- add your choice of years (5, 10, etc.);

(b) a regulation can be sunsetted in one year with a 3/5 or 2/3 vote of both chambers.

I believe that, under Texas law, state regs are sunsetted after 12 years Legislature has to renew.

Shouldn't Perry be out there stumping for this as a new national standard?

Terrific post, Troy.

This Game 162, "play-in" games are where baseball trumps football.

In the NFL, you have 16 regular-season games and wind up with a bunch of teams all hovering between 8-8 to 10-6. Lot's of post-season scenarios, but not the same wonder of four teams, all having played 161 games, winding up at the same spot despite taking different paths -- one game, maybe two, to decide their fate.

The baseball purist in me -- the one who still mourns the addition of the DH -- has long struggled with the three-division, one wildcard scenario. I'm starting to wonder if MLB should further expand the playoffs -- for example, copy the NFL approach of the top two division winners getting a first-round bye, while one division winner and three wild cards go at it. Maybe do best-of-three first round, stay with the current best-of-five division series, then best-of-seven LCS's.

All good replies.

But what I'm wondering, with regard to all this ring-kissing:

Do the candidates think that Trump offers some sort of cache with voters down on the political class?

Do they fear his getting into the race and making a further mess of things?

Is The Donald too big to be ignored, or too big of a self-promoter so as to want to avoid trouble?

That Senate race was a very bruising affair for Carly, as was Whitman's guv run (one reason why her H-P move probably seemed all the more attractive -- fewer personal insults to endure, even with a company that has a lot of problems). I'd be suprised if either ran again.

The list is long of Democrats who'd seriously consider filling the DiFi void. That would include Newsom, Kamala Harris, Jackie Speier. And a couple of wildcards: Antonio Villaraigosa and Steve Westley.

My guess is Newsom would do it. He has good name recognition courtesy of Prop 8. He offered a jobs plan earlier this year, he's quietly hired D.C.-based political consultants.

Only complication: Jerry Brown and 2014. Again, if I'm Newsom, I assume Brown goes for a second term and gets it (habitual candidates like Brown leave office only way -- feet first, on a shield). That would enable Newsom to serve a full term, then go for governor in 2018. Or he waits and goes for Boxer's seat in 2016 if she opts against (kills me to write this) a fifth term.

Hey, maybe Mickey Kaus can change party affiliations!!

Lungren's focused on keeping his congressional seat; McClintock too, I assume.

But here's the problem: Lungren lost to Gray Davis by 20 points, back in 1998. McClintock, historically can't break out of the mid-40s in a statewide race. And that was running in electorates with more Republicans than at present.

Both would have a hard time getting jaundiced Republican CA donors excited about their candidacies. As for help from washington, the NRSC's dance card already is pretty full, with pick-up races all around the country.

I don't enjoy being a Debbie Downer of CA Republican politics. I think the real challenge is what KC Mulville asked: oh Rubio, Rubio, where art thou?