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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) referred to former President Trump as a “fading brand,” according to a new book published by Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, the Lexington Herald Ledger reported. According to their new book “Peril,” McConnell reportedly called Trump “a fading brand. Retired. OTTB as they say in Kentucky — off-the-track Thoroughbred.” McConnell, often a target of Trump's ire, also reportedly said that he saw a trend indicating that the Republican Party was starting to move away from Trumpism, reportedly saying “Sucking up to Donald Trump is not a strategy that works."

December's Ratings Collapse for Fox News continues to be a debacle for the Murdochs and the Fox News Crown Loyalists. Going from record ratings in November, to a massive ratings collapse by Thursday 12/17. Here are the current Fox News ratings losses as of Thursday 12/17 according to Nielsen: Ingraham -59%, Hannity -54%, MacCallum -52%, Baier -52%, Cavuto -50%, Carlson -49%, Sandra Smith -46% Fox and Friendless -46% Outnumbered -44% Hemmer -42% The Five -36% Perino -36%

WASHINGTON — The Obama legacy wasn't supposed to unfold this way. Barack Obama was changing the political map, pushing the Democratic Party into the South and the Mountain West. He was building a new social network that would endure long after an Obama presidency. And he was building a new Democratic coalition for a new age, with greater turnout from young and minority voters. Today, those ambitions are in tatters. Obama's once-vaunted team wound up doing little more than electing him twice. Without Obama on the ticket, Republicans not only soared in 2010 congressional elections, but scored victories broad and...

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter condemned Israel on Monday, saying the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are fading into a crisis. Carter told a news conference in Jerusalem on Monday said the Israeli-PA peace process has reached a crisis point and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government was not interested in pursuing a two-state solution. Carter arrived here this week with other members of “The Elders” – group of former world leaders who are in the region to visit Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Egypt. He claimed that continued construction in Jewish communities in Judea, Samaria and...

The day after Paul Ryan's RNC speech I posted a series of graphics based on his speech (here). This was probably the best line of them all, and I wanted to make sure I could come up with something that would do it justice... 

I know Perry’s not done. I know it, but … sometimes I have to remind myself. Cain is now running in second place in Florida now that his support surged nearly 19 percentage points after last month’s Republican Party of Florida’s Presidency 5 debate and straw poll, according to a survey of likely Florida voters conducted by Gainesville-based War Room Logistics, which typically polls for Republicans. Meantime, Perry’s support plummeted nearly 16 percentage points. Perry had been tied as a Florida frontrunner with Mitt Romney at about 25 percent on Sept. 20, dropped to third/fourth place with 9 percent of...

The Jewish population is slowly disappearing in Russia, with a demographic expert predicting as much as a 25 percent drop in the latest census figures. The vast majority of Jewish children are the offspring of mixed marriages. Mark Kupovetsky, a specialist on Russian Jewish demography, told the RIA Novosti news agency in Moscow last week that he estimated current figures would show up to 60,000 fewer Jews than were found during the 2002 census.

A new Mason-Dixon poll shows that Charlie Crist will not win his race for the U.S. Senate seat. The poll claims that Crist's campaign is fading as he bleeds independents and Democrats. It estimates that Rubio is supported by 40 percent of likely voters, which is up from the previous 38 percent, while Crist is backed by 28 percent, which is down from his previous 33 percent, and Meek is backed by 23 percent, which is up from his previous 18.

First, it was Sarah Palin. Then it was Arizona Right to Life and the National Rifle Association. Most recently, the revered National Review gave its imprimatur to McCain. When Hayworth entered the race in January, McCain was at his most vulnerable point in decades. Polling showed McCain had a lead within the margin of error and was struggling to redefine himself as a Republican loyalist. But polls now show McCain with a solid lead. Baker said the McCain campaign may have engineered a sort of domino effect: Each endorsement shows the next group that backing McCain is a safer bet...

Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. didn't get the vacant Illinois Senate seat. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton didn't get the Democratic presidential nomination, taking the job of secretary of state as a consolation prize. And Caroline Kennedy and Andrew Cuomo lost out to an obscure two-term upstate congresswoman for the New York Senate seat once held by Mrs. Clinton. Whatever happened to American democracy's traditional deference to political dynasties? Call it Bush/Clinton/Bush/Clinton fatigue syndrome, or perhaps the new Obama meritocracy, but some of the most famous names in U.S. politics have come up empty-handed in recent days. "I don't know how much...

The final polling before the Iowa caucuses has come from a joint Reuters/Zogby/C-SPAN survey, and the news for Hillary looks bad. She now comes in third behind the inexperienced duo of Barack Obama and John Edwards. This continues a slow fade for Hillary that had its start in a botched November debate answer: Democrat Barack Obama surged to a four-point lead over John Edwards in Iowa, with Hillary Clinton fading to third just hours before the first presidential nominating contest, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Thursday. Obama and Edwards gained ground overnight in the tracking poll, and Clinton...

WASHINGTON - After more than two years as California's governor, including a disastrous 2005 that pummeled his bipartisan image and approval ratings, Arnold Schwarzenegger's novelty and luster on the national political stage is wearing off. With it, he also may be losing some of his clout. Treated like a rock star when he traveled to Washington and New York during his first year and a half in office, Schwarzenegger seemed to have lost some of his glitz this week at a gathering of America's governors. The battalions of reporters and photographers that used to track Schwarzenegger's every move dwindled to...

Watching Bush-bashing Gold Star mom Cindy Sheehan's press coverage, you'd think she has won the hearts and minds of Americans by universal acclamation. But a massive poll by America Online suggests that Sheehan is actually losing the public opinion battle by a landslide. Asked: "Do you agree with Sheehan's views?" Cindy's supporters trail her critics, 56 to 44 percent, with nearly 290,000 Americans responding to the technically unscientific survey. Asked, "Do you agree with Sheehan's tactics?" Cindy faired even worse, losing that contest 59 to 44 percent. Other, much smaller "scientific" surveys also show Sheehan losing support, but by smaller...

SACRAMENTO – Stunned by a string of industry-friendly appointments and a tight budget for coastal resources, some of the state's leading environmentalists are questioning whether Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has retreated from a once-lofty green agenda. "What is the governor doing?" wondered Paul Mason, who tracks forestry issues for the Sierra Club. "It's like he's abandoned his claims to being the good environmental governor." Schwarzenegger still receives relatively high marks for initiatives to scrap smog-spewing vehicles and old diesel buses, as well as for his support for alternative energy sources and a commitment to combat global warming. However, environmentalists say more...

No one could say that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger lacks energy. His energy policy, however, has been lacking. Schwarzenegger came to power in last year's dramatic recall election after former Gov. Gray Davis came to grief over the state's budget and electric power crises. By now, everyone knows how Schwarzenegger has resorted to some of the borrowing and bookkeeping gimmicks that gradually got Davis in hot water with voters. But overlooked are the potential parallels to Davis' inattention to a brewing energy crisis. The electric power crisis of 2001 seemed to come on suddenly but in reality brewed for more than...

<p>WESLEY CLARK, the four-star general who commanded US forces in Europe during the Kosovo war, is running for president as an opponent of the war in Iraq. So what will he say, a questioner asks, when the Bush camp levels the obvious criticism: If General Clark had his way, Saddam Hussein would still be in power. "If General Clark had his way," the candidate instantly replies, "we'd have had Osama bin Laden dead or alive two years ago, and the world would have been a lot safer. And then we'd have used the United Nations to go after Saddam Hussein the right way."</p>