Pictured l. to r., Barack Obama, Barack Obama
-Headline of the day-
"'Obabies' abound in US maternity wards."
Sanjae Obama Fisher, a boy born in Hollywood, Florida at 7:58 p.m. on election day, may have been the first of many babies named after the President-Elect in the days following his election. According to the report, "Around the United States, other maternity wards issued birth notices announcing newborns named Barack, Obama, Malia or Sasha after the president-elect's daughters, or Michelle, his wife."
Lakisha Brown of Baltimore, Maryland says she watched Obama's acceptance speech and was moved by a single sentence; "Sasha and Malia, I love you both more than you can imagine." An hour and a half later, Sasha Malia was born.
"Americans used to name babies after new presidents pretty regularly," says Laura Wattenberg, author of The Baby Name Wizard. "If you look back at election years, you'll see a little list of baby names like Coolidge or Harding."
"I love Barack Obama," says Phoenix resident Decontee Williams, mother to newborn Barack Jeilah. "He is a good man and he loves everyone, whether they are black or white. He is a good role model for my new son."
Remember when everyone thought the name Barack Hussein Obama would be a handicap? Sure didn't pan out that way, did it? (Agence France-Presse)
-Let's talk about it, let's not talk about it-
Sarah Palin, former GOP VP hopeful, beauty queen, small town mayor, current governor of Santa's Village and Great White Hope for a Republican future, sat down with Wolf Blitzer and proceeded to have her cake and eat it too.
Asked if she stood by her "palling around with terrorists" attack on Barack Obama, Caribou Barbie told Wolf, "Well, I still am concerned about that association with Bill Ayers. And if anybody still wants to talk about it, I will, because this is an unrepentant domestic terrorist who had campaigned to blow up, to destroy our Pentagon and our U.S. Capitol. That's an association that still bothers me." But then she flip-flopped.
"And I think it's still fair to talk about it," she said. "However the campaign is over. That chapter is closed. Now is the time to move on and to, again, make sure that all of us are doing all that we can to progress this nation."
So "it's still fair to talk about it," but we should move on. Let's talk about how we're not talking about it, shall we? I couldn't agree more. The campaign is over, so now is not the time to talk about what a freakin' idiot Sarah Palin is or how she spent GOP donors' money for stupid-expensive designer clothing. Let's not even bring it up. Let's take the high road and not mention how the Secret Service blamed Palin's rhetoric for an increase in death threats against the Obamas.
Really, now is not the time. (Politico)
-Bonus HotD-
"Foley: I’m not a pedophile because the pages were almost 18."
Disgraced former Republican congress critter Mark Foley seems to believe that everyone's forgotten about him and his underage congressional page sex scandal, which makes this a perfect time to come out of hiding and remind everybody he exists.
In an Associated Press interview, Foley was slinging the BS with reckless abandon. On being a pedophile, Foley says, "The work I was doing was involving young children … You know, you hear the term ‘pedophile.’ That is prepubescent." OK, so you're just a statutory rapist. Is that better?
"There was never anywhere in those conversations where someone said, 'Stop,' or 'I'm not enjoying this,' or 'This is inappropriate,'" Foley told AP, demonstrating his gross misunderstanding of the whole concept of "age of consent."
Foley calls his little foray into the pleasures of the male version of Lolita a "momentary lapse of judgment." AP notes he "carried on the computer conversations for months, asking about masturbation, sex, and other details." So Foley also doesn't get this whole "momentary" concept, either.
If he thinks he's rescuing his reputation here, he's mistaken. Do everyone a favor Mark -- including yourself -- go away and hope we all forget you ever existed. (Think Progress)
