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If liberal New York Times columnist Joe Nocera can apologize for comparing Tea Party activists to terrorists, then The Washington Post can and should apologize for pretending that Nicolle Wallace is someone who should be taken seriously by Republicans. The Post ran a Wallace article on Sunday claiming that Michele Bachmann is too conservative to be president, in part because of her association with the Tea Party. Wallace was headlined as the “former Bush aide” and adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign. The article was the lead in the popular Post Sunday “Outlook” section of opinion. Bachmann, wrote Wallace, “holds views...

In her new tell-all memoir, Bristol Palin, daughter of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, talks about her life and her loves. And apparently the 20-year-old has no love lost with Middletown. Palin’s autobiography, “Not Afraid of Life: My Journey So Far,” hit stores June 21. In the book, she dishes on everything from her early brushes with sex and alcohol to her on-again, off-again relationship with the father of her child, Levi Johnston and her drama with Meghan McCain, daughter of former presidential candidate Sen. John McCain. But tucked amidst those revelations are a few jabs at the town...

GOP megastar Sarah Palin’s bus tour rumbled toward the Hub last night, driving into a Republican Party furor as her headline-grabbing East Coast trip threatened to overshadow today’s presidential announcement by party front-runner Mitt Romney. “She will certainly be in New Hampshire to rain on Mitt’s parade,” wrote Massachusetts GOP spokesman Tim Buckley in an e-mail obtained by the Herald. Bay State GOP officials confirmed yesterday that Buckley wrote the e-mail, but said it was a private exchange and not an official communication. “I guess she blew in with the storm,” sniffed state House minority leader Bradley H. Jones (R-North...

<p>Twisting the political knife in a bit further Palin said that appealing to the tea party will be a “big challenge” for Romney.</p> <p>Romney’s campaign did not respond to an email seeking a response to Palin’s comments.</p> <p>Palin’s jab is a clear sign that even if she chooses not to run for president, she will almost certainly be a major factor in the race. That’s not great news for the frontrunners since Palin delights in being a thorn in the side of the establishment.</p>

Mitt Romney got beaten up by a girl yesterday. OK, so it’s not PC to call the former governor of Alaska a girl, but you know what I mean. Sarah Palin big-footed Romney big-time, not to mention Rudy Giuliani, who last night was in Dover, N.H., where he couldn’t have gotten arrested even if he’d tried. But for Palin, yesterday was mostly about putting a pie in Mitt’s face. As one of my listeners put it: “Romney has RomneyCare. Palin has no PalinCare. Advantage: Palin.” Poor Mitt. She hit him over the head like he was one of those giant...

According to Chris Matthews, Sarah Palin is the most divisive figure since Abraham Lincoln "caused" the Civil War. In an odd historical analogy, the Hardball host marveled at Palin's bus tour: "Leading off tonight, civil war on the right. Not since the election of Abraham Lincoln has a Republican caused such a war." The anchor frothed, "Sarah Palin went right to New Hampshire, serving as a human grenade, blowing up his announcement by saying Romney's health care is a total violation of Tea Party beliefs."

Comparison of results of a national PPP poll of GOP presidential contenders released on May 10 when Huckabee, Trump and Daniels were still in the race vs. today's poll post-Huckabee, post-Trump and post-Daniels showing the net difference for each candidate. Brackets May 10. (Herman Cain and Jon Huntsman were not polled on May 10) OVERALL MODER SOMEWH CONS VERY CONS ROMNEY 16 (18) 26(23) 19 (20) 11 (15) PALIN 16 (12) 8 (13) 15 (9) 20 (13) PAWLENTY 13 (5) 15 (4) 15 (6) 12 (6) BACHMANN 9 (7) 5 (0) 6 (5) 13 (12) GINGRICH 9 (13) 7 (7)...

Trying to play up the idea of chaos in the Republican 2012 field, on Thursday's NBC Today, chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd argued Sarah Palin's bus tour making a stop in New Hampshire on Thursday was "a little bit of a slap in Mitt Romney's face" on the day he was planning to announce his candidacy. Co-host Meredith Vieira had asked Todd about Romney's upcoming announcement and claimed the former Massachusetts governor would have to "steal back the spotlight" from Palin. Todd declared that Palin was "not even giving him [Romney] one news cycle to make his case."

Her strategy of not revealing the stops on her “one nation” tour? Crazy brilliant. Who needs a campaign kickoff when you can get a week’s worth of attention hiding on a bus. Romney, meanwhile, will be lucky to get a few hours of the spotlight with the more traditional “I’m running for president” speech today. The former Massachusetts governor has been running for years, anyway, so it’s barely even news. The only news will be how much Palin disrupts Romney’s event by coming to New Hampshire at the same time. Palin seems to understand what other candidates don’t right now....

Has anybody else been told not to run for President, besides Palin, ever? Palin been told not to run by the media and by Conservatives. In the last 40 years, who else has been told they would be a better kingmaker?

"The bottom line is Sarah Palin is not going to run for president," says a Republican adviser close to front-runner Mitt Romney. "She's making money, she's moved on, she's kind of an entertainer rather than a politician. She still has some sway with the grass roots, but she is not going to run." "I don't think she's going to run," says a Republican close to Tim Pawlenty. "She has faded a lot in the last few months. I look at what she's doing now and say that she's found a way to get back in the story." Maybe these representatives...

"The more people try to take her out, she only becomes emboldened, strengthened, it makes her such a martyr," said Mrs Wallace, who has recently written a thriller called Eighteen Acres, drawn in part from her experiences on the bid for the White House of John McCain and Mrs Palin, his running mate. "She has very obvious deficiencies that will reveal themselves as the nominating contest gets closer," she told The Daily Telegraph, adding: "Let her shoot her moose or whatever the heck she does on her [television] show, it will all work out." ...... "What's troubling is she has...

Nicolle Wallace, a former colleague of Sarah Palin, has become the latest senior Republican publicly to round on the darling of the Tea Party movement, saying that her opponents should avoid criticising her directly and let her expose her own multiple flaws. SNIP "She has very obvious deficiencies that will reveal themselves as the nominating contest gets closer," she told The Daily Telegraph, adding: "Let her shoot her moose or whatever the heck she does on her [television] show, it will all work out." SNIP "What's troubling is she has missed an opportunity to go beyond the platitudes and deepen...

It's no secret that [Nicolle] Wallace is no fan of Sarah Palin. But the former Bush communications director and McCain campaign aide perhaps took things to another level with her attack on Palin on today's Morning Joe. Wallace was on to comment on Joe Scarborough's astonishing claim of yesterday, noted here, that "all" conservatives and talk radio hosts with whom he's spoken are harshly critical of Palin off the record, but are afraid to express their views publicly. Wallace opined that if it ever looked as if Palin were close to copping the Republican presidential nomination, many GOP leaders who...

Saying that a woman engaged in feline fisticuffs might be called sexist. But when that woman actually accuses another of seeking to "claw" critics, illustrating her assertion with a cat-like hand gesture, well . . . It's no secret that Nicolle Wallace is no fan of Sarah Palin. But the former Bush communications director and McCain campaign aide perhaps took things to another level with her attack on Palin on today's Morning Joe. [snip] Wallace unleashed a hail of criticism of her own: * "Mistakes were made [by McCain in choosing Palin]." * "Her troubling deficiencies." * "Her incredible cynicism,...

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, serving humanity simply by showing up, and he’s not retiring until every American agrees with him, do NOT doubt him, with shrieks of joy at the mere mention of his name...

On Wednesday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Harry Smith discussed the ‘Potomac Primaries’ with Democratic Strategist Dee Dee Meyers and Republican CBS Political Analyst Nicole Wallace, who said of John McCain’s conservative critics: "The more that we see kind of the crazies like Ann Coulter out attacking John McCain, the better Republicans feel about their chances in the general election."

Nicolle Wallace on Bill Maher just admitted that she was no fan of the Tea Party. Now I knew that I was not a fan of hers because of comments she made about Our Sarah, but had no idea she was so openly against the Tea Party. Nicolle laughed hysterically at every vulgar,rude slanderous remark that Maher made about basically ALL the Tea Party candidates. She mocked COD about the first amendment? We all know that COD was only stating the fact that the phrase separation of Church and State was not in the Constitution. Nicolle was just hateful. I...

It's not looking good for Vanity Fair when CNN's Peter Hamby has joined liberals such as Ben Smith, Dave Weigel, race-baiter Charles Blow, and Kirsten Powers in denouncing the Vanity Fair hit piece. Hamby tweets: @benpolitico is right re: VF article. I was w/ Palin for entire VP bid. never got a hint that she "lashed out at the slightest provocation" Meaning

There were other things I wanted to write about this evening, but now I feel like I’m obligated to write a society-page feature because the Drama Queen (Ken Mehlman) decided to make her debut at the cotillion. (...) Excuse my derision, and denounce me as suffering from “homophobia” — Can I get an SSI disability check for that? Would Medicaid pay for treatment? — if that satisfies your craving for a sense of moral superiority. You’re not going to guilt-trip me into pulling punches. I’m heaping the most vicious ridicule I can on this twerp for a reason: To discourage...