America’s political and cultural elite are wrong all the time. Why? Because the very things that get them where they are blind them to reality.

Arnold was on George Stephanopolous saying he’d happily take the money that Sanford, Jindal and others are turning down as part of a GOP publicity stunt:

“Governor Sanford says that he does not want to take the money, the federal stimulus package money. And I want to say to him: ‘I’ll take it.’

Peter Foy of Simi Valley (of Reagan sepulcher fame), a Ventura County Supervisor, told a reporter on Friday that he is considering a run for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, as an anti-tax challenger to Silicon Valley billionaires eMeg Whitman and Steve Poizner. Does a non-rich unknown stand a chance in a California primary against two mega-rich opponents? It has happened before.

GWB at Elliott’s

Former president George Bush made a visit yesterday to Elliott’s Hardware in Dallas which earlier this month had offered him a job.

With Secret Service in tow, Bush walked into the store and declared he was

“Lookin’ for job”

but didn’t fill out an application. Instead he posed for pictures and bought flashlights and some batteries. Along with those items he left with an Elliott’s blue uniform jacket and a name tag in case he changes his mind.

A personal microfinance success story

ABC: Schwarzenegger, Krugman, Roubini, Suzy Welch. CBS: Shaun Donovan, Gov. Jon Corzine, Gov. Mitch Daniels, Gov. Ted Strickland. CNN: Schwarzenegger, Shaun Donovan, Gov. Haley Barbour, Sen. Mitch McConnell. Fox: Gov. Ed Rendell, Jennifer Granholm, Gov. Mark Sanford, Gov. Tim Pawlenty. NBC: Gov. Bobby Jindal, Gov. Charlie Crist. Q&A: Rep. Barbara Lee. FDL Book Salon: Stanley B. Greenberg.

Tonight the Wayback Machine is set to Jay Ward‘s  Peabody and Sherman.  This episode of Peabody’s Improbable History is the story of how Peabody got his pet boy, Sherman.

What’s on your mind tonight?

As a scientist I have long been fascinated by the sub-genre of wingnut discourse devoted to the proposition that Conservatives Are Fashionable, wherein is advanced the thesis that something that is widely considered “cool” is in reality deep-down for-true conservative (South Park, rock music, movies, sex, disease-causing micro-organaisms).

A variant phylum involves claims that “conservative principles” are IN ACTUAL FACT revolutionary and cutting-edge — why, IN ACTUAL FACT it is the

Freshly liberated from the job of slavishly defending George Bush’s every utterance at the behest of those who fund them, conservatives have made repeated efforts to organize a sustainable movement online.  Bewilderingly, all have failed.  As someone with a bit of experience in these things, I thought as a public service I’d use Michelle Malkin’s attempt to start a nationwide Boston Tea Party movement around Rick Santelli’s Angry White Male 2.0 tirade as an example of how to do just about everything wrong.

The root problem is the old paper for oil economy is frozen over. Either we need to create a new bubble, and hope it doesn’t blow up, or do something different. Robert J. Barro has recently drawn notice for calling the stimulus bill the worst legislation since the 1930′s. But his own work forms the basis for telling us why his advice isn’t any better.