Today’s ridiculous spin from Politico

Or “Trashy, sensationalist story is trashy, sensationalist.”

Politico: President Barack Obama is counting on Senate Democrats to help approve his legislative agenda during his final years in office. And though they are his staunchest allies on most economic issues, many Democratic senators are breaking with him on key issues in very public ways.

From trade to Iran sanctions, the Keystone XL pipeline, Obamacare, the National Security Agency and energy policy, Senate Democrats seem unusually comfortable criticizing the president, with only minimal concerns about repercussions from the White House.

Even Obama’s steadfast ally, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, didn’t mince words last week when he rejected a bill to fast-track trade deals that is strongly backed by the White House, working against Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana, a Senate colleague who has been tapped to be the president’s ambassador to China.

Even some Republicans are noticing.

Old and tired: GOP Civil War. Fresh and exciting: Democratic Civil War. Pretty snazzy, huh?

Well, it would be if it didn’t also happen to be horsecrap.

Ed Kilgore: Splits from the majority Democratic position by Members of Congress from energy-producing areas is about as new a development as the electric guitar. Of course Mary Landrieu and Joe Manchin are going to complain about utility regulations and fracking restrictions. Indeed, until Republicans abandoned their own environmentalist tradition, a Member of Congress’ region or home-state was far and away the most reliable indicator of their position on energy and environmental issues. And it will, of course, be most visible in the Senate where every energy-producing state has two representatives.

Harry Reid’s rejection of fast-track trade negotiating authority is also un-newsy to anyone remembering similar Democratic hostility to fast-track during the Clinton administration. Yes, there is underlying tension within the Democratic coalition (and also within the Republican coalition, though to a lesser extent) over trade policy, but again, it goes back at least to the 1970s.

The Democratic “revolt” on Iran policy is yesterday’s news in a somewhat different respect: it has been largely quelled as Democratic cosponsors of the Menendez-Kirk sanctions legislation mostly line up in favor of letting Harry Reid keep the bill off the Senate floor until the administration’s negotiations with Iran run their course.

There’s more, but you get the idea. The bare bones of Politico’s hackfest here is that Democrats aren’t of a hivemind — like the lockstep thinking that’s usually a hallmark of the GOP — and that means everything’s in disarray and the party’s falling apart and the White House’s legislative agenda is in shambles and isn’t it all so wonderfully chaotic and newsworthy that you just have to read you some Politico?

But none of this is anything new. It’s become cliché to say that getting Democrats on the same page is like herding cats. and that’s because people have been repeating the analogy for years. None of this is new. Democrats tend to be more independent-minded and willing to go their own way than the more authoritarian and doctrinaire Republicans — Republicans who, ironically, claim to value individualism.

Stories like this are less about Washington and more about Politico’s market strategy. They seek to be the most important journalistic voice in DC by being the one that “drives the conversation.” So if you’re not reading Politico, you’re out of the loop. And you drive the conversation not by being accurate, apparently, but by twisting facts in order to “find” stories that no one else is reporting on. This isn’t so much actually “driving the conversation” as it is “being a hack.”

And it’s not so much journalism as it is writing Washington insider fan fiction.

No, Obama isn’t ‘caving’ on the debt limit

Politico is reporting “cracks” opening in the White House position on the debt limit, but this is more a case of Politico being a sensationalist rag that “drives the conversation" in Washington than anything. Politico is OK for facts, but it’s fishwrap when it comes to insight. When it comes to political analysis, Politico’s main goal is to get people talking about Politico — this sort of self-serving crap journalism is how they brag themselves up to advertisers. They don’t even try to hide it. Don’t fall for it.

What the White House is saying they’re open to is a short term increase in the debt limit — with no strings attached. Obama and Democrats would give up nothing in exchange for allowing Republicans a bit more time to step back from the ledge. It’s not a cave, it’s a carrot and a stick. If there’s one thing Boehner prays for before he goes to bed every nght, it’s some way out. If he needs more time to find it and it’s no skin off the President’s nose, then why not give it to him?

The worst that could happen here is that Republicans come out of this period as determined as ever to take the nation’s economic well-being hostage and we’re right back where we were. No gain, no loss. But this period would also be a period of time where polling data had a chance to really sink in and for the GOP to see beyond their own districts. To stare into the abyss of their own electoral demise as a party and face the very real possibility of one party rule for at least the next four years. If dems win the House this time around, they’ll hold it easily if a Democrat wins the White House — and a Democrat is going to win the White House.

It’s not a “give them enough rope” strategy, because there isn’t enough slack to hand them more rope. This is an issue of grave importance without a lot of wiggle room. It’s more like tying a noose around their necks and making them live with it for a while. Maybe if they see that noose every time they look in the mirror, they’ll finally realize that they aren’t as immune to consequence as they might like to think.

This move is designed to shake Republican resolve. Don’t let Politico’s shit reporting shake yours.

[photo via Wikimedia Commons]

News Roundup for 5/24/12

From a world all its own

-Headline of the Day-
"Poll: Elizabeth Warren unscathed by Cherokee flap."

One thing that's fun to watch in the wingnut blogosphere is the sight of bloggers buying into their own spin. It's kind of easy for them to do, since they only seem to read each other and stuff they find on Fox News, so they really have no idea what the hell's going on outside their little echo chamber.

And so it was with a trumped up "scandal" about Elizabeth Warren claiming Cherokee ancestry. Seems that the wingnut blogosphere measures ethnicity differently than the Cherokees do (Liz is as Cherokee as the leader of the nation) and they'd worked themselves up into a tizzy over it. Warren was doomed, they said, DOOMED!

Turns out that, as earth-shattering a revelation as the nutjobs thought this was, no one else cares. A new Suffolk University poll finds that 69% don't think the half-baked "scandal's" even a story and only 28% believe Warren lied about being a native American.

Meanwhile, Warren's surging ahead in the poll, closing a nine-point gap in February to a statistical tie today.

Yeah, wingnut blogosphere, that sure was a damaging little scandal you cooked up. Maybe -- if you try real hard -- you can convince yourself it's working. (Politico)


-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, did you know that war is (kinda-sorta-not-really) a thing of the past? It's true, thanks to...


Click for animation

You know, maybe making war easier wasn't the best idea... (MarkFiore.com)


-Bonus HotD-
"New U.S. unemployment claims down this week."

As always, good news for America is bad news for the GOP. (Raw Story)

News Roundup for 11/9/11

Mark Block

-Headline of the Day-
"Mark Block is making a laughing stock out of Herman Cain."

Actually, I'm thinking that Herman Cain Train has already left the station. But it turns out that the wingnuts are just starting to catch one.

See, Cain's campaign manager Mark Block is making some waves today after claiming that the campaign had "confirmed" that the son of one of the women accusing Herman of sexual harassment works for Politico.

And here's how that confirmation process apparently went; Block gets on that there Google machine, types in the name of one of the accusers -- "Kraushaar" -- then types in "Politico" (because they broke the story originally) and there ya go. Up pops "Josh Kraushaar."

Bingo! You've got your scapegoat unethical journalist conducting a smear campaign against a True American Patriot. It makes perfect sense to believe that Josh is the woman's son -- if you assume that Karen Kraushaar was the first person in the history of the world to ever use that last name.

Surprisingly, it turns out she's not. Josh is some other woman's son. In fact, Josh doesn't even work at Politico anymore and, since he left for National Journal in 2010, has never written a danged thing about Herman Cain's way with the ladies.

So of course, everyone's after the Cigarette Smoking Man's head now. Everyone wants him gone, because he's the only person standing in the way between Herman and his rightful place on the Throne of the King of the United States. "If he can’t do any better than this, he needs to go," writes whatever wingnut writes stuff at The RightScoop. "In fact, I think it is probably best for Herman Cain’s survival that he dumps Mark Block and gets someone more professional and thorough in there to run his campaign."

They may not yet realize that Herman Cain is toast, but they're all starting to get that Mark Block is a dope. Block would be lucky if a conservative lets him run a Burger King after this. (RightScoop)


-Cain gets back on message-


Click to embiggen

I get it! (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"275,000 People Want MSNBC To Fire Pat Buchanan."

Since no one asked me, go ahead and make that 275,001. (ThinkProgress)

News Roundup for 11/1/11

"Ask me about my sex scandal -- please!"

-Headline of the Day-
"Mark Block Won't Talk About the Other Cain Scandal."

Did you know there were not one, but two scandals following the Herman Cain Train around like a black cloud? It's true! First, there's the sexy boom-chaka-wow-wow sexy sexual harassment sexy scandal broken by Politico and then there's some boring old money-laundering scandal broken by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. One's pretty serious and the other's really serious -- like someone could go to jail serious. So all the news networks are following Cain around with microphones, wondering why he won't shut up about the sexy boom-chaka-wow-wow sexy sexual harassment sexy scandal -- because they're smart like that.

Anyway, it turns out that if -- on the off-chance -- someone accidentally asks the Cain Train about the money-laundering scandal, they run into a brick wall. "We've retained independent counsel to look at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story," campaign manager Mark Block told a reporter when asked about it. What's that mean? You guys hire a lawyer or Sherlock Holmes or what? When asked again, Block gave pretty much the same answer.

When asked a third time, he said, "Why don't we talk about the campaign going forward?"

Or, if you don't want to talk about that, he's probably more than happy to talk about the sexy boom-chaka-wow-wow sexy sexual harassment sexy scandal. "Cain's campaign manager was once suspended from election work in Wisconsin because of election law violations," writes Dave Weigel. "He can't or won't talk now about more possible violations. It might be better for the Cain campaign if we all focus on Politico's story."

That's the sexy boom-chaka-wow-wow sexy sexual harassment sexy scandal, BTW. So if you're a journalist, make sure you ask Team Cain all about that one, OK?

I know they'd sure appreciate it. (Weigel)


-Subtle variations make all the difference-


Click to embiggen

(Truthdig)


-Bonus HotD-
"Ann Coulter On Herman Cain: Our Blacks Are Better Than Their Blacks."

For future reference, it's probably a bad idea for white people to refer to black people as a group in possessive terms -- given US history and all.

Try to keep that in mind, Annie. (Mediaite)

News Roundup for 8/29/11

Texas Governor Rick Perry

-Headline of the Day-
"Rick Perry: Social Security Is, In Fact, A Ponzi Scheme."

"Sometimes campaign spin works to distance a candidate from his controversial past statements," writes TPM's Evan McMorris-Santoro. "And sometimes the candidate comes back and makes a hash of all the work his staff has done for him."

Guess which one this story is about? That's candidate extracts foot from mouth, only to immediately jam it back in there. See, Rick Perry continues to try to have his cake and eat it too, with alternating attacks and defenses of Social Security. First it was unconstitutional, then it wasn't, now it's a scam. Tomorrow, it probably won't be. It all depends on who he's talking to, I guess. And if he remembers which stance he's supposed to be taking.

"It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people," he told an audience in Iowa, "The idea that they're working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie. It is a monstrous lie on this generation, and we can't do that to them."

Does that argument sound familiar? It should; every rightwing nut has been making that argument since SS began in 1935. For the record, exactly zero of them have been right. But hey, what's a perfect historical record mean to a Republican?

Not a lot, that's what. (Talking Points Memo)


-Hurricane Dimwit-
Can we start calling Republicans soft on national defense now?


Click to embiggen

Because they are. (McClatchy)


-Bonus HotD-
"Is Rick Perry dumb?"

Yes. Next question, please. (Politico)

News Roundup for 8/16/11

Rick Perry's presidential campaign

-Headline of the Day-
"Rick Perry will self-destruct within 30 days."

Liberal pundit Brent Budowsky predicts that the wide-open spaces between Rick Perry's ears will bring that candidate down within a month. I'm not willing to bet the farm on that, but if today is any indication, Rick's not going to have an easy time. First he suggests that Ben Bernanke should be shot or hung or beheaded or something (how do the execute traitors these days?), then he won't say whether or not he believes President Obama loves America.

This stuff may fly to the teabag crowd, but 14% support isn't going to win anybody any elections.

"I can think of several nations Rick Perry is fit to lead, but the United States of America is not one of them," Budowsky says. "With his latest comments, perhaps Rick Perry wants to be the running mate of Vladimir Putin in the coming Russian election."

Nice thought, but I doubt Putin would put up with him. (The Hill)


-Michele Bachmann, rhetorical genius-
Michele Bachmann celebrates Elvis Presley's birthday today. Yay!

There's one tiny little detail that sort of throws a monkeywrench into the whole celebration though -- it's not Elvis's birthday, it's the 34th anniversary of his death.

Party on! (Politico)


-Bonus HotD-
"Whole Foods Tangled In Anti-Islam Flap Over Ramadan Promotion."

The grocer acknowledges that a holiday exists, which is the first step toward totalitarian Sharia law!

Freak out! FREAK OUT!! (Talking Points Memo)

Stories to Watch: 7/27/11

A lot of things will happen if the US loses our AAA credit rating. None of them are good.


House GOP compare themselves to a street gang beating people up. Not the best PR move ever.


Cranky old Grampa McCain tells the right kids to get off his lawn for once. He rails against the Tea Party and GOP leadership on the Senate floor -- which is good -- but in the process unfairly maligns hobbits.


Boehner responds all the "rudderless House Republicans" headlines by saying that a lot of Tea Party freshmen want to force a default. Is Boehner really worried about this or is he just using crazy 'baggers to play "good cop/bad cop?" I honestly don't know.


16th minute alert: Tea Party rally-goers answer the call to show grassroots opposition to any plan that falls short of 'bagger purity. How did that go? Not well. "At the start of the rally, which was organized by the American Grassroots Coalition and Tea Party Express, there were roughly 15 attendees waiting to hear... conservative lawmakers speak," Politico reports. "By the time the senators had spoken there were still fewer than 50 tea partiers in attendance."


Meanwhile, Sarah Palin is headlining a Tea Party event in Iowa. If you figure the DCs rally and the attendance of Palin's movie, expect upwards of dozens to attend.


Although the president has ruled it out, House dems call on Obama to invoke the 14th amendment and raise the debt limit on his own.


Finally, think you aren't going to get enough drama, histrionics, and stupidity out of the debt limit debate? Cheer up, the gas tax renewal is right around the corner... So there's a another chance for Republicans to run up the deficit, so they can complain about it later.

Related articles

• Palin: American Ideals Are 'Foreign To Our President' Because Of 'His Background' (kaystreet.wordpress.com)
• Tea baggers confuse leadership with ideological purity (kansasreflections.wordpress.com)
• Republican debt plan struggles in House - Los Angeles Times (news.google.com)
• Quotes of the Day: Tea Party Members of Congress and the Looming Debt Ceiling Limit Default (themoderatevoice.com)

News Roundup for 6/15/11

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, all-American boob

-Headline of the day-
"Rorhabacher: Iraqis 'Just Aren't Grateful For What We've Done.'"

Danged ingrates. We make up a story to justify blowing the living shit out of their country, kill countless people, and what thanks do we get? Zip. It's an outrage, I tells ya...

See, all Rep. Dana Rohrabacher wanted from Iraqis was a little recognition -- and a whole lot of dough. We've been blowing up the place for eight years now and Dana wanted to know when Iraqis were going to pay us back for all the ammo and rebuilding and stuff.

So he went to Iraq to ask the Iraqi Prime Minster Nouri al-Maliki just that; when are you guys gonna fork over for all we've done for you?

Well, you'd think that Rohrabacher had said something insane, from the way they acted. They told him and a bunch of other Republican congress critters to get the fuck out. No, really. They threw them out of the country -- which we won in a war fair and square.

"We spent a trillion dollars trying to free those people from the Saddam Hussein dictatorship and help them build a more democratic society," he said. "Yet now it seems there is no gratitude on the part of the people who now are in charge of the Iraqi government... They just aren't grateful for what we've done... American people gave their lives, their children, and we expended billions of dollars, which now we're -- is hurting our economy." Here we are throwing lives and money and bullets at this country and what do we get out of the deal? Nothin'.

It's almost as if the whole thing was a big waste of time and money and lives, just like all those hippies said it would be at the beginning.

Damned reality. (ThinkProgress, with video)


-It's just a game...-
A true-life tale of the greatest existential crisis imaginable.


We are a cruel people... (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal)


-Bonus HotD-
"Al Gore praises Romney on climate."

And thus was Mittens doomed. (Politico)

Stories to Watch: 5/28/11

I'm probably heading off to a street-fair type thingy today. Bratwurst and beer are one of the things that make Wisconsin more than worthwhile. Now here's the news...


Four months after the Tea Party freshmen were sworn in, the Washington Post looks at how things are going for them. The short take; not well.


Speaking of which, Politico takes a look at Republican efforts on the debt ceiling and finds their biggest problem; the freshmen are stupid, crazy, or stupid-crazy. "The reassuring part of it is that [GOP House Whip Kevin McCarthy] genuinely seems to be working hard to bring his members up to speed," comments Jonathan Chait. "The alarming part is that, hoo boy, they're starting from a pretty low point."


After a judge struck down his union-busting law, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker insists it'll still survive "one way or another." He's hoping for the state Supreme Court to overturn the ruling, but it pays to point out -- as I have been for some time now -- that Republicans could simply reschedule a vote to comply with the open meetings law and they're golden. They're not -- meaning the votes are no longer there. If this thing goes down in the legal system, it goes down for good.


Polling shows that Americans over-estimate the percentage of gays and lesbians in the US population. This strikes me as a great example of pointless polling -- what possible difference could it make?


RIP Gil Scott-Heron.


Finally, this is pretty cool.

Related articles

• Gil Scott-Heron: share your memories (guardian.co.uk)
• Medicare and the "Disaffected" Vote - New York Times (blog) (news.google.com)
• Everybody Still Hates Scott Walker (writechic.wordpress.com)
• Judge voids Wisconsin union-busting law (capitolhillblue.com)

News Roundup for 5/18/11

Newt Gingrich, shown lying

-Headline of the day-
"Newt Gingrich: 'Any Ad Which Quotes What I Said On Sunday Is A Falsehood.'"

Newt's super-mad that people are taking his words and getting all crazy and pretending he said them. On Fox's Sunday Talk with People Whose Heads Look Like Onions, Newt told the host that he didn't say those things he said about Paul Ryan and Medicare and social engineering. That's flat-out untrue. And anyone who writes it down or repeats it or plays the tape is just a horrible, horrible liar who should be ashamed of themselves.

"I want to make sure every House Republican is protected from some kind of dishonest Democratic ad," he said. "So let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood."

So, if you quote verbatim what Newt clearly and inarguably said, you're telling a lie. Take a second and let the logical conclusion to that argument sink in...

Got it? You're lying, because you're quoting Gingrich word for word. Therefore, Gingrich's words are lies. I mean, if A is to B as B is to C, then A equals C, right? A) Newt speaks, B) you repeat it, C) lies are told. So A) Newt speaks = C) lies are told. Simple logic.

Thanks for clearing that up for us, Newton. (ThinkProgress, with video)


-In which I get lazy-
Been kind of a busy day, so here's a single panel comic. Don't worry, it's funny, I promise!



Click to embiggen

Ha! See? I told you... (Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal)


-Bonus HotD-
"Obama campaign hawks 'long-form' T-shirt."

Now you can get the long-form birth certificate in short-sleeves. 25 bucks. The perfect gift for the birther in your life. (Politico)

News Roundup for 4/13/11

You gotta give them points for consistency

-Headline of the day-
"Poll: Plurality of Republicans say don't touch Medicare."

Paul Ryan's plan to save Medicare by destroying maybe brave and bold and visionary and not-stupid in the eyes of many pundits and talking heads, but in the eyes of voters, it's none of those things. Democrats don't like it, Independents aren't bug fans, and it turns out that even Republican voters aren't super excited about the whole idea.

Gallup finds that wile 34% of GOP voters think we have to either "completely overhaul" or make "major changes" to Medicare, 61% prefer either "minor changes" or leaving the thing alone altogether. For the record, the most pro-Ryan stance would be "completely overhaul," which accounts for just 14% of Republican respondents. Like I said, they aren't super excited about this.

See, it works like this: Republicans are all about the courage it takes to make tough choices -- so long as those tough choices are being made about someone else. When it comes to themselves, they just can't get enough of that gummint-run, commie single-payer healthcare. (Raw Story)


-In [closely] related news...-
Ryan's big Randian vision of a nation unburdened by seniors with money suffers a tiny setback as some Republican House members get skittish about voting for it. Turns out that they thought all the Tea Party "SAVE MEDICARE!" crap from last year was for real and the bait-and-switch isn't going over very well.

According to the report, "Whether they're new lawmakers in formerly Democratic seats or House veterans who represent districts with large elderly populations dependent on Medicare, a significant number of Republicans realize that embracing the Ryan plan may be one of the most treacherous votes of the year... So rather than taking a strong stand, they're hedging during the leadup to the roll call."

"Hedging during the leadup to the roll call" is fancy-talk for "getting all wishy-washy about which way they'll vote." Politico talked to quite few GOPer offices and got a chorus of "dunno" and "we're still looking it over." Caught between pressure from party leadership and the interests (and votes) of their own constituents, many House Republicans are finding the courage to stand tall and announce in a courageous and clear voice, "I'm undecided as of this time. No comment."

Really puts a lump in your throat, doesn't it? (Politico)


-Bonus HotD-
"Did Obama Put Biden to Sleep?"

Maybe -- for about a second. Still, let's remember this. I'm not sure what the veepee does all day, but apparently it really wears you out. (Political Wire, with video)

News Roundup for 3/28/11

Only porn-addicted commies know what any of this means

-Headline of the day-
"Are Your Kids Reading Reddit.com & Should You Be Worried?"

Glenn Beck's fake-news site, The Daily Blaze, asks those two questions and can only answer one; YES, YOU SHOULD BE AFRAID! FREAK OUT! FREAK OUT!!

See, Reddit is "part news aggregator, part message board, and it's driven by viewer-posted content. Innocent enough. Until you realize it also features porn."

Oh my God... Porn... On the internet. Sweet Jesus...

Of course, this makes it like pretty much every social bookmarking site. So what makes Reddit stand out for DB scrutiny? If you read through the report, nothing really. There are some porny subreddits you can subscribe to or not subscribe to -- nothing's forced on anyone and, if you want to find them, you've really got to look. Mostly it's goofy photos of cats and complaints about AT&T's bandwidth caps.

Wait, did I mention that Reddit is overwhelmingly liberal or left-leaning? Yeah, here's the front page of the politics subreddit, which ought to give you an idea what sort of a problem Beck's site might really have with Reddit. It's all "Yay for Wikileaks" and "war sucks" and "rich people aren't taxed enough" and "Glenn Beck's squirrelly."

"Could it be time to add it to your list of blocked sites?" asks concern troll DB. "Or, is it just free speech at work?"

I vote the latter and suspect that's Beck's problem with it. Why knock yourself out fighting for censorship when you can convince gullible morons to do all the censoring for you? (Daily Blaze, via porn-riddled Reddit)

-Trapped in the narrative-
When Republicans won big last year, the media was all like "everyone wants to cut spending big time!" Never mind that polls show people want jobs and Republican candidates promised jobs -- Republicans are cutting spending, Republicans won, and that means everyone is supposed to want to cut spending. Except they don't.

This is confusing if you're a media type.

Which describes Alexander Burns over at Politico. Burns writes that you've got all these Republican governors going crazy with the spending cuts and -- WTF? -- nobody likes it. Their polling numbers are crashing and, in places like Wisconsin, everyone's all "recall those bastards!" Seriously, what gives?

So Burns talked to a bunch of Republicans (because they're the only serious people on the planet) and it turns out that voters are just crazy and we don't know what they want. Sure, GOP governors are taking a whole bunch of stuff away from us, while handing over the keys to the bank to corporations and the wealthy, but that's just what serious budget-cutting looks like. Really, it's all just belly-aching and people will come around. Don't you worry.

"The gist of the piece is that 'we' all agree that the message of the 2010 election was that the public has decided that government is too big and wants dramatic budget cuts," comments Josh Marshall. "But now it seems like the governors who are really going whole hog on this -- overwhelming Republicans -- are getting really unpopular. Ergo, the public isn't really ready for the 'grown-up conversation' about budgets that it seemed they might be."

The problem isn't that Republicans aren't listening to constituents -- although, they aren't. The problem is that constituents aren't listening to the governors. Until voters are eager to hand over their wallets to insanely rich people, voters aren't really serious about deficits. (Politico)


-Bonus HotD-
"After ThinkProgress Video Stokes Controversy, Herman Cain Disavows Pledge Not To Appoint Muslims."

That's what you like about Republicans: they have the courage it takes to stand by their convictions -- until those convictions prove unpopular.

Then they never held those convictions at all. (ThinkProgress, with video)