In the News Today

1. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, famed Saudi investor, has chosen to share his thoughts on the Ground Zero mosque: “'Those people behind the mosque have to respect, have to appreciate and have to defer to the people of New York,' the prince was quoted as saying by the magazine, which said the full interview will be published Sunday. 'The wound is still there. Just because the wound is healing you can’t say, ’Let’s just go back to where we were pre-9/11.’” Link here.

This implies that the mayor of New York does not have to respect or appreciate or defer to the feelings of the people of New York. He has become the very incarnation of elite power.

As you might expect, the great conciliator and mastermind of the project, Imam Rauf does not much care about what Prince Alwaleed thinks and has no plans to change his plans. This link offers a recent picture of Imam Rauf with his new best friends, Mayor Bloomberg and Arianna Huffington. Link here.

2. More good news: the National Organization for Women, NOW has joined those who have denounced Gawker for publishing a hit piece against Christine O’Donnell.

Here is part of the NOW press release:“Sexist, misogynist attacks against women have no place in the electoral process, regardless of a particular candidate's political ideology.

"Today the tabloid website Gawker published an anonymous piece titled 'I Had A One-Night Stand With Christine O'Donnell' that takes the routine sexual degradation of women candidates to a disgusting new low. NOW repudiates Gawker's decision to run this piece. It operates as public sexual harassment. And like all sexual harassment, it targets not only O'Donnell, but all women contemplating stepping into the public sphere.

"NOW/PAC has proudly endorsed women's rights champion Chris Coons, O'Donnell's opponent in the Delaware Senate race, and finds O'Donnell's political positions dangerous for women. That does not mean it's acceptable to use slut-shaming against her, or any woman."
Link here.

We welcome NOW to the fray. If we were cynical we might ask where they were when Sarah Palin was suffering misogynist attacks, but, as they say, better late than never.

We are waiting to hear NOW denounce Joy Behar for calling Sharron Angle a bitch.

If Gawker is sufficiently important, then surely a co-hostess of a very popular television show, The View, should be repudiated for bitch-slapping a senate candidate.

3. We now know that Gawker paid for the Christine O’Donnell story, and that its author was named Dustin Dominiak. Link here.

Of course, and the point is worth underscoring, the person whose reputation is going to suffer the most damage here is Dominiak.

For a lousy four figure payday, Dominiak has made his own name infamous.

Remember the concept of the gentleman. Most people are so sophisticated that they believe that it is an archaic, sexist notion.

Yet, if Dominiak, or the culture at large, had any notion of what it meant to be a gentleman, he would never have imagined doing such a thing.

Let's not overlook the greatest irony here: Dominiak has proudly announced to the world that he couldn’t get it up. Surely, that's a first.

4. Why is there so much nastiness, so much character assassination and slander in this election? Simply, because the Democrats are unwilling to run on their record. Often, they are not even willing to identify as Democrats.

Stephen Colbert provides analysis. Link here.

5. Much of what needs to be said about Jon Stewart’s interview with the president has already been said. I have certainly had my say. See my previous post.

For those who are shocked and surprised that Jon Stewart did not throw softballs at the president--I am confident that Barack Obama was the most shocked--Jennifer Rubin explains:

"But here’s the thing about the leftist elites — nicely personified for this purpose by Jon Stewart. They don’t like a loser. Cool kids are not losers. Their spin doesn’t get by the cynics and the wisecrackers. So, pretty soon, the cool kids have something in common with the rest of America: they conclude that this president is a bumbler and not, after all, the change they were hoping for." Link here.

6. And now, another hit by current Youtube sensation, Gov. Chris Christie: Link here.

Christie is showing how to govern when you do not hold majority party control of the legislature. Considering that Barack Obama has just shown us how not to govern when you do hold majority party control of the legislature, it is, to say the least, refreshing.

But is Christie going to run? If you saw the Today show interview, link here, you might have noticed that while Gov. Christie denies any interest in running, his wife seems thrilled by the prospect.

Who do you listen to? The governor or his wife? I put my money on his wife.