Tim Geitner songe à quitter l'administration Obama

Il ne resterait plus de "survivants" de son équipe "économique" de départ...

"Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has signaled to White House officials that he’s considering leaving the administration after President Barack Obama reaches an agreement with Congress to raise the national debt limit, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Geithner hasn’t made a final decision and won’t do so until the debt ceiling issue has been resolved, according to one of the people. All spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about private discussions.
The Treasury secretary has said the U.S. risks defaulting on its obligations if Congress doesn’t raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by Aug. 2. The administration and congressional Republicans are at an impasse in negotiations to raise the limit, which also is tied to efforts to cut the nation’s long- term deficit.
Moody’s Investors Service said on June 2 it expects to place the U.S. government’s Aaa credit rating under review for a possible downgrade if there’s no progress on the debt limit by mid-July. Fitch Ratings said June 21 it would place the U.S. on a negative rating watch if no action is taken by Aug. 2.
An exit by Geithner would complete the turnover in Obama’s original economic team, with Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Austan Goolsbee scheduled to leave in early August to return to the University of Chicago."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-30/geithner-said-to-weigh-leaving-treasury-after-debt-ceiling-debate-resolved.html

Caricature Grèce: le plan B

Act of God

Moïse, Apple et Kindle: vive les tablettes!

Dodgers: ceux de Los Angeles et de... Washington!

Caricature 4 juillet: tir groupé!

C.I.A. et administration Bush: Eric Holder lance une enquête

Le secrétaire (justice) Eric Holder annonce qu'il y aura une enquête sur le décès de deux personnes détenues par la C.I.A.. Cet épisode nébuleux s'est déroulé sous la présidence de George W. Bush...

"Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Justice Department is conducting a full investigation into the deaths of two individuals in CIA custody during the Bush administration.

Holder said that special prosecutor John Durham, who is leading the inquiry, reviewed a "tremendous volume of information pertaining to the detainees" that included "both information and matters that had never previously been examined by the Department."

"Mr. Durham has advised me of the results of his investigation, and I have accepted his recommendation to conduct a full criminal investigation regarding the death in custody of two individuals," Holder said. "Those investigations are ongoing. The Department has determined that an expanded criminal investigation of the remaining matters is not warranted.

Republicans have criticized Holder for opening a preliminary inquiry into the matter.

Holder made clear in his statement that the Justice Department "would not prosecute anyone who acted in good faith and within the scope of the legal guidance given by the Office of Legal Counsel regarding the interrogation of detainees."

He said the review "examined primarily whether any unauthorized interrogation techniques were used by CIA interrogators, and if so, whether such techniques could constitute violations of the torture statute or any other applicable statute.""

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/eric_holder_announces_full_justice_department_inve.php

Twitter town hall meeting: Obama et les réseaux sociaux

Ils sont déjà plus de deux millions à suivre le compte Twitter de la Maison Blanche. Le 6 juillet Obama répondra aux questions directement!

"President Barack Obama will hold a "town hall" meeting on the U.S. economy and jobs on July 6, the White House said on Thursday, but it will be in the virtual world of Twitter, not a brick and mortar building.

The White House used Twitter to announce the event on Thursday and invite potential participants to submit questions.

The White House Twitter account, which has 2.2 million followers, invited questions to a new account "@townhall" marked with the hashtag "AskObama."

Americans' pessimism about the sluggish U.S. economy, especially the 9.1 percent jobless rate, may be the biggest obstacle to Obama's hopes of winning re-election next year.

Republicans have criticized the Democratic president as having given too little attention to the country's financial problems while focusing on issues such as his healthcare law.

Shortly after the announcement, questions were coming in on topics including green jobs, innovation and corporations for the event, set for 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) on July 6.

Obama's White House makes regular use of social media, which it sees as a way to get its message to a wide range of Americans. Obama's Twitter feed, on which he has recently started to write the occasional Tweet himself, is one of the most popular on the system, with 8.9 million followers."

Obama acted like a dick...

Le porte-parole de la Maison Blanche a téléphoné aux supérieurs de Mark Halperin après que celui-ci eut qualifié Obama de "dick" pendant le show du matin sur MSNBC. Halperin est suspendu pour une période indéterminée.

"White House press secretary Jay Carney announced Thursday that he called Mark Halperin's bosses at MSNBC after the network contributor called President Obama "a dick" on a morning show.

"The comment that was made was inappropriate," Carney told reporters in his daily briefing. "It would be inappropriate to say that about either president of either party."

Carney said he didn't have a comment on what action the network took against Halperin (he was suspended after he apologized). He told reporters that "on behalf of the White House, I expressed that sentiment to executives at the network.""

Caricature de la pauvreté

Caricature Union européenne

Lybie, plafond de la dette et leadership d'Obama

Caricature Grèce: une inspiration pour les États-Unis!

Plafond de la dette: le plafond est inconstitutionnel!

Nouvelle stratégie des démocrates pour sortir de l'impasse au Congrès: invoquer le 14e amendement et tout simplement faire disparaître le plafond lui-même!

"Growing increasingly pessimistic about the prospects for a deal that would raise the debt ceiling, Democratic senators are revisiting a solution to the crisis that rests on a simple proposition: The debt ceiling itself is unconstitutional.

"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law... shall not be questioned," reads the 14th Amendment.

"This is an issue that's been raised in some private debate between senators as to whether in fact we can default, or whether that provision of the Constitution can be held up as preventing default," Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), an attorney, told The Huffington Post Tuesday. "I don't think, as of a couple weeks ago, when this was first raised, it was seen as a pressing option. But I'll tell you that it's going to get a pretty strong second look as a way of saying, 'Is there some way to save us from ourselves?'"

By declaring the debt ceiling unconstitutional, the White House could continue to meet its financial obligations, leaving Tea Party-backed Republicans in the difficult position of arguing against the plain wording of the Constitution. Bipartisan negotiators are debating the size of the cuts, now in the trillions, that will come along with raising the debt ceiling."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/28/14th-amendment-debt-ceiling-unconstitutional-democrats_n_886442.html

Caricature Grèce: on se serre la ceinture...

War powers et Obama: bombs away!

Caricature Christine Lagarde au FMI

Caricature définition du mariage gai

Caricature mariage entre conjoints de même sexe

Taking back America

Caricature réserves de pétrole

Michele Bachmann la "théière"

Caricature Kadhafi et crimes de guerre...

Rod Blagojevich: un mauvais deal...

Vous vous souvenez peut-être de cet ancien Gouverneur de l'Illinois qui avait tenté de vendre le siège de sénateur d'Obama? Il a été condamné hier...

Gabby Giffords: le point sur sa récupération

Éoliennes: elles sont dangereuses!

The Onion rides again!

In The Know: Coal Lobby Warns Wind Farms May Blow Earth Off Orbit

Michele Bachmann et la perle du jour!

Aujourd'hui elle confond John Adams et son fils John Quincy Adams. Une façon comme une autre de maintenir l'intérêt...

"During an appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was given an opportunity to set the record straight with regard to comments she made earlier this year lauding the nation's Founding Fathers for working "tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States.”

ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked the conservative congresswoman to address the statement, noting that many of the country's Founding Fathers, including Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, in fact had slaves and that slavery wasn't abolished until the Civil War. Here's an excerpt of the exchange that went down:

Bachmann: Well you know what’s marvelous is that in this country and under our constitution, we have the ability when we recognize that something is wrong to change it. And that’s what we did in our country. We changed it. We no longer have slavery. That’s a good thing. And what our Constitution has done for our nation is to give us the basis of freedom unparalleled in the rest of the world.
Stephanopoulos: I agree with that…
Bachmann: That’s what people want...they realize our government is taking away our freedom.
Stephanopoulos: But that’s not what you said. You said that the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to end slavery.
Bachmann: Well if you look at one of our Founding Fathers, John Quincy Adams, that’s absolutely true. He was a very young boy when he was with his father serving essentially as his father’s secretary. He tirelessly worked throughout his life to make sure that we did in fact one day eradicate slavery...
Stephanopoulos: He wasn’t one of the Founding Fathers – he was a president, he was a Secretary of State, he was a member of Congress, you’re right he did work to end slavery decades later. But so you are standing by this comment that the Founding Fathers worked tirelessly to end slavery?"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/28/michele-bachmann-john-quincy-adams_n_885868.html

Romney contredit par une compagnie qu'il tentait de "défendre"...

Hum, mauvais synchronisme. Quelques vérifications avant la déclaration?

"Mitt Romney took a dig at President Obama for visiting an Alcoa plant in Iowa, saying the White House's labor appointees will soon force them to lay off workers.

Alcoa's plant makes parts for the Dreamliner, a Boeing plane that is currently the subject of a legal battle between the company and the National Labor Review Board, an independent agency whose members are appointed by the White House. The NLRB recently sided with unions in Washington State who claim that a new manufacturing line for the plane in South Carolina is illegal retaliation against them for previous strikes.

"This Boeing decision in South Carolina sent shockwaves across the nation and, if allowed to stand, will result in American job losses and I think you can be sure there will be some losses in Iowa as well as other states," Romney said in an AP interview on Monday.

Only one problem: Alcoa told the AP their plant's workforce is just fine:

Alcoa spokesman Mike Belwood said the labor board's battle with Boeing over the South Carolina plant will not have an impact on employment at Alcoa's eastern Iowa plants, which produce aluminum lithium plate used to make structural components of the Dreamliner."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/mitt-romney-obama-will-cost-this-company-jobs-company-no-he-wont.php

Joe et Jill Biden: une vie "ordinaire"

J'aime bien ce petit survol de la vie du couple Biden depuis que Joe est Vice-président. Est-il vraiment possible vivre "normalement" quand on est le bras droit du Président des États-Unis? Biden a un style et des habitudes bien à lui. Déjà comme sénateur, il détonnait un peu en ne vivant pas à Washington D.C.. Je dois avouer que je suis surpris de la retenue affichée par Biden dans un rôle de second plan, lui qui était habitué à s'exprimer librement, et parfois de manière spectaculaire, sur tous les sujets.

Un extrait:

"Vice President Joe Biden sometimes escapes from Washington by catching Amtrak to Wilmington, a place where folks still call him by his first name. His wife, Jill, balances her White House duties with a day job as an English professor at a community college, where she shares a cubicle with a colleague and holds regular office hours for her students.

He routinely goes out for pizza with friends and buys his button-downs at Brooks Brothers. She drops by the neighborhood Safeway to pick up fruit and takes long runs on Massachusetts Avenue. The couple often go to the movies. And, like normal people, occasionally they get turned away, as they were when “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” was sold out.

Despite an official residence, a retinue of Secret Service officers protecting them and a schedule packed with vice presidential duties, Biden and his wife are living the semblance of a normal life that their neighbors a couple of miles away at the White House can only dream about. While President Barack Obama has complained that he misses casual walks around the block and first lady Michelle Obama told Oprah Winfrey she dreams of shopping at Target, Joe and Jill Biden have managed to hang on to their identities as regular people and explore Washington like the newcomers to the city they essentially are.

Biden has spent 36 years in the Senate and 2½ as vice president, but he and his wife are still tourists navigating Washington’s terrain. Unlike most lawmakers who live around the Capitol, then-Sen. Biden boarded the train each night for the 90-minute commute home, earning him the nickname “Amtrak Joe.” As a result, he is the first vice president to occupy the grounds of the Naval Observatory who hadn’t previously resided in Washington.

The couple now spend most weekdays at the Naval Observatory and split their weekends between Washington and Wilmington, where they have a house that the vice president helped design. It is there, at their lakeside home, that the Bidens feel most at ease, friends and family say.

But those same friends add that the Bidens are increasingly comfortable in Washington. They brought their casual style to Number One Observatory Circle, hanging their grandchildren’s artwork on the walls and decorating their pool house with Tiffany-blue walls and seashell displays. Friends say the Biden grandchildren are always over and, when the weather is warm, playing in the residence’s pool.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57887.html

Traité de Versailles: c'était un 28 juin (1919)

Signature dans la Galerie des glaces du traité de paix entre l'Allemagne et les Alliés. Faut-il rappeler les dures conditions imposées à l'Allemagne? Comme ce carnet traite de l'histoire et de la politique américaines, précisons que les États-Unis du Président Wilson ne vont pas signer ce traité. Il s'agit des retombées du partage des pouvoirs de la Constitution américaine; le Président peut signer des traités, mais les 2/3 des sénateurs doivent appuyer... Wilson sera donc défait chez lui par un Sénat à majorité républicaine et isolationniste.

Caricature plafond de la dette: sécuritaire la hausse?

Monument aux buveurs et aux fumeurs...

Caricature Obama: des réserves?

Bachmann is not a fluke!

The real deal? Il n'y a que trois vrais candidats chez les républicains

Beau topo de John Avlon sur le site de CNN. Selon lui, Romney, Hunstman et Pawlenty sont les seuls vrais candidats de la course républicaine. Il ajoute qu'il y a trois façons de mener une course de nos jours: promotion des idées, promotion de sa petite personne et vraiment tenter sa chance pour devenir Président!

"There are three ways to run for president these days.
The first is to run to promote yourself. The second is to run to promote ideas. The third is to actually run for president of the United States.
The Republican presidential hopefuls running on this old-fashioned third notion are a distinct minority. And that says a lot about the state of our politics: bread and circuses meets reality TV.
Mitt Romney and the newly declared Jon Huntsman are definitely running for president. So is Tim Pawlenty (although his whiffed pitch at CNN's New Hampshire debate gave many the sense that he is really angling for a VP-slot).
These three folks have done the hard work of actually putting together a presidential campaign team, raising money and defining their positions. Running for president -- and preparing for the responsibilities of the office -- is serious business. They are taking it seriously."

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/06/24/avlon.gop.presidential.candidates/index.html?hpt=po_r1

Caricature Statue de la liberté

Caricature Grèce: le passé qui hante...

John Wayne et Michele Bachmann, nés dans la même ville?

Je savais bien qu'elle trouverait un moyen de se surpasser! Elle confond John Wayne, le célèbre acteur, avec John Wayne Gacy, un tueur!!!!! La barre est maintenant très haute, qui pourra la battre au chapître des déclarations bêtes?


"In an interview with Fox News, Bachmann boasted: "But what I want them to know, just like John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa, that's the kind of spirit that I have, too."

About that spirit of "John Wayne" in Waterloo...

In fact, the actor John Wayne (real name, Marion Morrison) was from Iowa, but not from Waterloo -- he was from Winterset, Iowa, about 120 miles away. But as it turns out, there was another "John Wayne" with some history in Waterloo: Serial killer John Wayne Gacy, known as the "Killer Clown," who raped and murdered over 30 young men before he was finally incarcerated and put to death.

Though if it helps Bachmann at all, Gacy is not known to have committed any murders when he lived in Waterloo, though he was imprisoned for a sexual assault case that was committed there.

To be exact, John Wayne Gacy was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. In his 20s, he lived for a few years in Waterloo, with his first wife and their two children. However, at age 26 he was sentenced to prison for sodomy, in a case that involved his having sexually assaulted two teenage boys, and then hired another Waterloo teen to physically assault his accusers in order to intimidate them out of testifying against him.

Gacy never lived in Waterloo again. Upon his release from prison after less than two years, he returned to Chicago and the surrounding metro area, where he went on to commit his various other crimes of murder and sexual assault. There was also a run-in with the law in 1972, in a case of sexual battery, but charges were dropped -- and Gacy went on to commit his many known killings.

(Also during that latter period, he became a Democratic ward activist in the Chicago area -- indeed, there is an infamous photo of him in 1978, getting his picture taken in a handshake with First Lady Rosalynn Carter.)

Eventually, in 1979, Gacy was caught and arrested. He was convicted in 1980 of 33 murders, was sentenced to death, and was finally executed by the state of Illinois in 1994."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/bachmann-confuses-john-wayne-with-john-wayne-gacy-video.php?ref=fpb

Fukushima: radiations dans l'urine des habitants

"According to radiation biologists, more than three millisieverts of radiation has been measured in the urine of 15 residents living within a radius of 30 to 40 kilometers from Fukushima reactor No. 1, which has been releasing radioactive elements after being hit by the disastrous tsunami triggered by the March 11 earthquake in Japan.

The findings about internal radiation exposure pose a serious concern for the settlements in the area, especially in the village of Litate and the town of Kawamata, Nanao Kamada, professor of radiation biology at Hiroshima University, told The Japanese Times on Sunday.

“It will be difficult for people to continue living in these areas," Kamada said, warning residents to stop eating contaminated vegetables and drinking radioactive water.

Radioactive iodine was found as high as 3.2 millisieverts in six people and the total exposure was measured between 4.9 to 14.2 millisieverts over two months since the leakage started, said the researchers.

The data is comparatively much higher than the estimated 20 millisieverts radiation exposure a year, compelling residents to reconsider their permanent inhabitation near Fukushima nuclear plant.

"The figures did not exceed the maximum of 20 millisieverts a year, but we want residents to use these results to make decisions to move," Kamada added, urging people to flee to be safe from radiation risks."

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/169950/20110627/fukushima-daiichi-fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-plant-fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-plant-radiation-fukushim.htm

Caricature Grèce: sirtaki

DSK: avenir politique possible?

L'opinion de BRUCE CRUMLEY du Time.

"That scenario, as explicated by Muzet — whose firm analyzes public reaction to major political, social and economic issues — is one of redemption. "Supported by a leftist government wanting to use his talents," posits Muzet, "Strauss-Kahn could go to the French public, tell his story, admit his errors and faults, and rebuild his relationship with the French people and win back their confidence. Despite his disgrace, there's a lingering admiration for the leadership qualities that Strauss-Kahn demonstrated while in office."

But there are several very big "Ifs" in all this for the disgraced former chief of the International Monetary Fund. "He'll need to avoid a guilty verdict," says Muzet, "convince a large body of French public opinion he was indeed innocent of the rape charges in New York — and demonstrate he's learned the lessons from that ordeal." Muzet spins out a couple of possibilities: "If Strauss-Kahn were either acquitted or avoids conviction through a financial transaction with the victim that wouldn't run afoul of American laws, he and his defenders could point to the lack of a guilty verdict as proof their claims of innocence had been true all along."

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2076363,00.html

Wisconsin: le juge David Posser aurait tenté d'en étranglé un autre!

Histoire complètement folle... Un juge conservateur qui prend à la gorge une juge libérale...

"New details are emerging in this weekend's story that Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser -- a member of the court's 4-3 conservative majority who was just re-elected to a ten-year term in a heated race that involved a recount and vote-tabulating controversies -- allegedly attacked liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley during an argument over the court's recent decision regarding the upholding of Gov. Scott Walker's anti-public employee union legislation. Now, Bradley is speaking up, and saying publicly that she was assaulted by Prosser.

"The facts are that I was demanding that he get out of my office and he put his hands around my neck in anger in a chokehold," Bradley told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Meanwhile, an unnamed source who is on Prosser's side of the argument accused Bradley of initiating the violence. "She charged him with fists raised," the source told the paper, saying that Prosser "put his hands in a defensive posture" to block her, and made contact with her neck. Bradley is then said to have immediately complained of being choked, while another, unnamed Justice responded, "You were not choked.""

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/

Caricature Afghanistan: Obama déchiré...

Caricature Tea party: opinions vs faits.

"Ich bin ein Berliner" : un autre 26 juin (1963)

Qui ne connaît pas ce passage du célèbre discours de John F. Kennedy? Un épisode marquant de la guerre froide.

Chevrolet Volt: la solution du futur?

Bel article après un essai de la Volt, la voiture électrique de GM. Pas totalement électrique, pas vraiment un hybride... L'auteur explique comment il devient obsédé par sa consommation d'essence!

"Here’s what really got me, though: on the dashboard, alongside the gauge that measures the battery life, the Volt has another gauge that calculates the vehicle’s miles per gallon. During the two-hour drive to Southampton, I used two gallons of gas, a quarter of the tank. Thus, when I drove into the driveway, it read 50 miles per gallon.

The next day, after the overnight charge, I didn’t use any gas. After driving around 30 miles in the morning, I recharged it for a few hours while I puttered around the house. (It takes 10 hours to fully recharge, unless you buy a special 240-volt recharging unit.) That gave the battery 10 miles, more than enough to get me where I needed to go that evening on battery power alone. Before I knew it, my miles per gallon for that tankful of gas had hit 80. By the next day it had topped 100. I soon found myself obsessed with increasing my miles per gallon — and avoiding having to buy more gas. Whenever I got home from an errand, I would recharge it, even for a few hours, just to grab a few more miles of range. I was actually in control of how much gas I consumed, and it was a powerful feeling. By the time I gave the car back to General Motors, I had driven 300 miles, without using another drop of gas beyond the original two gallons. I’m not what you’d call a Sierra Club kind of guy, but I have to tell you: I was kind of proud of myself.

When I began to describe for Mr. Lutz the psychological effect the Volt had had on me, he chuckled. “Yeah,” he said, “it’s like playing a video game that is constantly giving you back your score.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/opinion/sunday/26car.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Bachmann: are you a flake?

Question qui fut posée à Michele Bachmann ce matin... Comme elle performe bien dans les sondages, elle doit s'attendre à être bousculer un peu par les journalistes. On lui remettra certaines déclarations sur le nez...

"Sunday was -– sort of -– one of those moments. While Fox News Chris Wallace didn't press the Minnesota Republican on any specific statement -- whether it be that President Barack Obama was creating a gangster government, that anti-American sentiment existed in Congress, or that NATO air strikes had killed up to 30,000 civilians in Libya -- he did touch on the broader point.

"Are you a flake?" he asked.

Bachmann seemed offended by the line of inquiry. "I think that would be insulting to say something like that because I'm a serious person," she explained. She then went on to tout all the ways in which she was, indeed, serious.

"I'm 55 years old. I've been married 33 years," she said. "I'm not only a lawyer, I have a post-doctorate degree in federal tax law from William and Mary. I've worked in serious scholarship … my husband and I have raised five kids, we've raised 23 foster children. We've applied ourselves to education reform. We started a charter school for at-risk kids. I've also been a state senator and member of the United States Congress for five years."

The exchange wasn't particularly illustrative of anything, save Bachmann's adeptness at turning a question she doesn't like into a platform to discuss her best attributes. So Wallace asked again.

"Do you recognize that now that you are in the spotlight in a way that you weren't before that you have to be careful," he said, with the tone of a professional counselor as opposed to an interviewer.

"Of course a person has to be careful with the statements they make," replied Bachmann. "I think now will be an opportunity to speak fully on the issues. I look forward to that." "

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/26/michele-bachmann-chris-wallace_n_884686.html

Hunstman: la fièvre gagnera-t-elle les républicains!

J'ai déjà souligné que la candidature de l'ancien gouverneur et ambassadeur était particulièrement. Hunstman plaît au plan national et il serait un sérieux opposant à Obama. Je crois qu'il le vaincra si... S'il arriver à rallier les républicains! Le GOP est actuellement dominé par sa droite et le Tea party exerce également son influence, un prifil qui convient plus ou moins bien à Hunstman. Serait-il trop "diplomate"?

"For all his obvious gifts, and his potential appeal as a general election candidate, it seems to us Huntsman has two even more obvious problems. He’s got the wrong issues for a Republican nominating contest. And he’s got the wrong persona, especially for this angry moment in GOP politics.

Don’t get us wrong. We have nothing against political hype. Trying to understand Huntsman Fever — and not averse to catching a bout of it ourselves — the two of us this week traveled to South Carolina to watch him on the campaign trail and sit down with him for a wide-ranging interview.

The trip made clear the basic bet of his campaign: That by the power of his personality, and with a few lucky bounces early in the nomination battle, he can unilaterally repeal rules of GOP politics that have dominated for a generation. Our colleague Charles Mahtesian, laying out the case for Huntsman hype here, believes many of those rules might be obsolete in 2012. Our response: Fat chance, Charlie.

There’s a reason he barely has a pulse in the polls. He speaks so softly that even his aides sometimes have trouble hearing him at events. He is making civility a cornerstone of his campaign, at a time when Republican voters are ravenous for red-meat conservative policies, and an epochal showdown with Obama.

The GOP base, sensing weakness in Obama, wants a brawler, the sort of Republican who prospered in dozens of races in the 2010 mid-terms. This is the main reason so many activists are clamoring for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to get in the race. Huntsman, by contrast, is running as a diplomat."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57753.html