BY FRANK HILL
Reprinted from Telemachus.com
You know the ad we are talking about. The one where the burly-looking senior looks in the camera like John Wayne and intones something to this effect:
‘You mess with our Social Security and Medicare benefits…and we are gonna kick your butt!’
How is that for ‘thoughtful, rational civil discourse’ in America today, [...]

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com
The Des Moines Register released its poll of how Republicans in Iowa see the GOP candidates running for President.
The top line numbers are:
Herman Cain – 23%
Mitt Romney – 22%
Ron Paul – 12%
Michelle Bachmann – 8%
Newt Gingrich – 7%
Rick Perry – 7%
Rick Santorum – 5%
Jon Huntsman – 1%
The surprise to me was [...]

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com
Like you, I get about 2,713 e-mails a day. Most are routine work-related, or Mullings-related; and messages from campaigns or political organizations. I get plenty of spam and I normally ignore them, but one came in yesterday which made me laugh out loud. Here’s how it began: Forgive my indignation if [...]

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com
President Obama has announced all U.S. troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of the year. Eight years, 4,500 U.S. troops killed and more than 33,000 wounded and we’re leaving. My vast store of knowledge about the military/political situation in Iraq ended in May 2004 when I came home [...]

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON
The media made another contribution to the ‘dumbing down’ of American politics this week in their coverage of the Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas.
If you saw the debate, ask yourself a question. What piece of information conveyed during the debates will be most important to you in making a decision at [...]

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com
As I have told you before, I watch CNBC in the morning because I know about as much about politics as most of the guests on the morning cable news programs who talk about politics, but I know nearly nothing about finance so I watch the guests on CNBC who talk [...]

BY TONY BLANKLEY
Reprinted from Townhall.com
For the past few years, fear of China’s predatory mercantilism has been steadily growing in America, both amongst the public and in elite business and political circles. But last week, for the first time, one could discern the genuine possibility that America might actually do something about it — even if [...]

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

This debate was actually watchable. I’m not certain if it was because Anderson Cooper was such a good marshal, because the candidates have now done 274 debates, or both, but it was fun to watch.
As you saw, the first 30 minutes (or so) were all about Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan. [...]

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from The Hill
Today, David Axelrod, the chief of the Reelect Obama Campaign, announced that it will formally join the Occupy Wall Street protests and start mobilizing against the policies endorsed by the Obama administration. 
Axelrod brandished a Tim Geithner bobblehead doll, which he stabbed repeatedly with a pen knife while chanting an indecipherable [...]

BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON
WASHINGTON POST’S FOUL LANGUAGE
The Post ombudsman reported this week that the newsroom is arguing over whether to include foul language in its reporting.
Those who favor the use of the f-word and others like it, believe they make the writing more vivid and less dull. What a talent pool we draw from today [...]