Tidbits

"A Conservative government is an organized hypocrisy." Benjamin Disraeli, speech in the House of Commons, Mar. 3, 1845

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"The End Of Medicare As We Know It"? Looks like that's going to be the Democrats' mantra in response to Ryan's budget proposal. The bill stands no chance whatever of passing the Senate, so it's strictly political theater -- but Republicans who vote for it will be attacked mercilessly in their bid for re-election as having voted to kill Medicare. (And Medicare is a very popular program.)

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Senate Gridlock Imminent: The Republicans have sent one dead-on-arrival bill after another to the Senate. Harry Reid and the Democrats decide the order in which bills will be taken up, and they've taken three months now discussing matters that are relatively uncontroversial. But they're running out of those, and will soon be forced to consider one bill after another that are right-wing ideology without any chance of approval. The Senate -- where ideas go to die.

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The U.S. Department of Labor says Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) "violated the terms of a federal grant when he removed a labor-themed mural from a state office building last month," the Kennebec Journal reports.

"Now the federal government, which paid most of the mural's $60,000 cost, wants its money back."

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David Brooks: "The Ryan budget will not be enacted this year, but it will immediately reframe the domestic policy debate. His proposal will set the standard of seriousness for anybody who wants to play in this discussion. It will become the 2012 Republican platform, no matter who is the nominee." [And Brooks' article will set the standard of seriousness for right-wing pundits who want to play in this discussion.]

Ezra Klein: "... Republicans are committing themselves to, and getting their base excited about, a truly radical series of changes to the federal government."

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A Ron Paul/Jesse Ventura ticket? Jesse says it's possible. No comment, as far as I know, from Ron.

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From The Hill: Just three weeks after Jon Huntsman officially departs as the U.S. Ambassador to China, John DiStaso reports the potential Republican presidential candidate will be in New Hampshire as the keynote commencement speaker at Southern New Hampshire University on May 21.

[Huntsman would certainly be a worthy contender when you consider the extremely weak lineup of Republican presidential candidates. (Really -- Donald Trump?) But could the Tea Party endorse someone who served a full term as an ambassador in the Obama administration? And in the fog of insanity that is the Republican Party these days, can the nomination be won without Tea Party endorsement?]

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[The horror ... the horror ...]
A new Public Policy Polling survey in New Hampshire shows Mitt Romney leading the GOP presidential field with 27% but finds Donald Trump just behind him at 21%.

Key to Trump's strong showing: "He does well with birthers and Tea Partiers, two groups he has seemed to actively court with his public comments of late. 42% of primary voters firmly say they do not believe Barack Obama was born in the United States to 35% who believe that he was and 23% who aren't sure. Trump leads Romney 22-21 with the birther crowd, but Romney holds the overall lead because he's up by a much wider margin with the folks who dismiss the birther theory."
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John Heilemann of New York magazine, as reported by Taegan Goddard at The Hill, notes that the Tea Party is causing a major split in the GOP House leadership:

"Indeed, the specter of a Boehner-­Cantor split over a budget deal was the talk of Washington last week, fueled by the majority leader's conspicuous efforts to put space between himself and the speaker... Now, it's not inconceivable that what was happening here was a classic bit of good cop, bad cop. But given the overt pressure already coming from the tea party and the freshmen, it's not as if another snarling law dog was needed on the beat. A more Machiavellian--and, to my mind, more plausible--explanation is that Cantor is seeking to bolster his credentials with the tea party as a replacement for Boehner should an insurrection arise against him."

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Lee Fang at ThinkProgress has this headline:

Bristol Palin’s Nonprofit Paid Her Seven Times What It Spent On Actual Teen Pregnancy Prevention

In 2009, Bristol Palin was paid a salary of $262,500 by a teen pregnancy prevention nonprofit called the Candie’s Foundation. ThinkProgress found that Candie's disbursed only $35,000 in grants to actual teen pregnancy health and counseling clinics, and spent $165,000 on advertising, including a truly cringe-inducing spot with Bristol and “The Situation” of MTV’s Jersey Shore.