While some news outfits are nitpicking the results from the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll to highlight small reductions in support for some of President Obama’s policy initiatives, the glaring fact in the poll is the the president’s approval ratings - the hallmark number in presidential polls - remain historically high at 65 percent.

Overall, 52 percent now say the stimulus package has succeeded or will succeed in restoring the economy, compared with 59 percent two months ago. The falloff in confidence has been sharpest in the hard-hit Midwest, where fewer than half now see the government spending as succeeding. In April, six in 10 Midwesterners said the federal program had worked or would do so.

The tempered public outlook has not significantly affected Obama’s overall approval rating, which at 65 percent in the new survey outpaces the ratings of Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton at similar points in their tenures

Public confidence in the direction of the country remains well above pre-election lows, but in the new survey, that indicator stopped rising for the first time since the election. In April, the number of Americans saying things were moving in a positive direction hit 50 percent for the first time in more than six years, up from single digits before the November election. In the new survey, 47 percent said they believe the country is moving in the right direction and 50 percent said it is pretty seriously off on the wrong track. 

While the office of Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford already assured the press and the public that the governor was no longer missing and had been found somewhere, more detailed information on the whereabouts of the ostensibly former 2012 presidential contender has come out this morning.

Sanford’s spokesman gave out the breathless news that Gov. Sanford has been found “hiking the Appalachian Trail” and that his cell phone has been traced by law enforcement to the Atlanta area. The spokesman also contradicted earlier comments from the governor’s office by insisting Sanford told appropriate government officials where and when he was going to drive off in a state SUV.

A representative for Governor Mark Sanford says the governor is hiking the Appalachian trail and taking some time away from the office this week to recharge after the stimulus battle and the last legislative session.  Joel Sawyer also says that before leaving last week, Sanford let staff know his whereabouts and that he’d be difficult to reach. Should any emergencies arise between the times in which he checks in, our staff would obviously be in contact with other state officials as the situation warrants before making any decisions.

Sanford’s wife, Jenny, told the Associated Press her husband has been gone for several days and she doesn’t know where he was, but he was not concerned.  She also told the Associated Press that Sanford did not contact her or their children on Father’s Day.

Governor Sanford is said to be working on projects that fell by the wayside.

According to AP reports,  Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer said he didn’t know where Sanford is but said he had not been put in charge.

News 2 spoke to Republican State Senator John “Jake” Knotts by phone this afternoon. He calls Sanford’s actions irresponsible. Knotts is worried first about Sanford’s safety, but more-so about who was watching the state.

We still are not sure where Sanford was, but authorities and Knotts say a cell phone signal was traced to the Atlanta area. 

Sanford is still not back in Columbia or even South Carolina for that matter, and there is no word when he can be expected back. Sanford’s family seems to have gone silent on the matter following the initial reports from his wife that she had no idea where the governor was.

Questions remain in this decidedly bizarre story. Like how did Sanford’s office come up with the info that he was hiking when he is supposed to have no cell phone, did not tell anyone where he was going, and when his office specifically admitted that they had no clue where he was for four days before this.

And why the cell phone trace to the “Atlanta area” when that is nowhere near any section of the Appalachian Trail and, again, Sanford is supposed to be without his phone?

However, there is another, er, “industry” for which the “Atlanta area” is well known for and with which Gov. Sanford could certainly “recharge”certain parts of himself…

Assuming Sanford is not dead or crazy or out f the country, does this officially take him off of the GOP’s top prospects list for 2012?

And we mean “missing in action” in the most literal sense.

You see, South Carolina Gov. Sanford needed some down time after losing a lawsuit over his opposition to using Obama stimulus funds and having all of his legislative vetoes overturned by his own party that he needed some R&R. So the governor decided to abandon Columbia and take some time off, vanishing in a taxpayer-funded SUV in the middle of a quiet Thursday afternoon without telling staffers, government officials or even his own family were he was of too - and no cell phone.

The story has a happy or unhappy ending, depending on your party affiliation. Gov. Sanford has now apparently been reached and he is fine, with no “foul play” suspected by law enforcement officials.

Yikes…

The whereabouts of Gov. Mark Sanford was unknown for nearly four days, and some state leaders question who was in charge of the executive office.

But Sanford’s office told the lieutenant governor’s office Monday afternoon that Sanford has been reached and he is fine, said Frank Adams, head of Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer’s office on aging.

Neither the governor’s office nor the State Law Enforcement Division, which provides security for governors, had been able to reach Sanford after he left the mansion Thursday in a black SLED Suburban SUV, said Sen. Jake Knotts and three others familiar with the situation but declined to be identified.

Sanford’s last known whereabouts had been near Atlanta because a mobile telephone tower picked up a signal from his phone, authorities said. His office now knows where he is, Adams said.

First lady Jenny Sanford told The Associated Press earlier Monday her husband has been gone for several days and she did not know where.

She said she was not concerned.

The governor’s state and personal phones had been turned off and he had not responded to phone or text messages since at least the weekend, a source familiar with the situation said.

Most mobile phones cannot be tracked if they are turned off.

Jenny Sanford said the governor said he needed time away from their children to write something.

The governor’s office issued a statement Monday afternoon: “Gov. Sanford is taking some time away from the office this week to recharge after the stimulus battle and the legislative session, and to work on a couple of projects that have fallen by the wayside. We are not going to discuss the specifics of his travel arrangements or his security arrangements.”

Do we need another daily tracking poll?

Will this thing ever sniff accuracy?

Do we care?

(CBS)

As the tension over the contested Iranian elections and subsequent grass roots protests continues to simmer, President Obama took the opportunity to hit back at criticism from Republicans that he was being too soft on the mullahs and hard-liners in Iran over the apparently rigged election and brutal crackdown on protesters. The president’s words come a day after his own electoral foe hit the Sunday circuit to bash the administration’s handling of the burgeoning Iranian crisis.

A taped interview with Obama appeared on this morning’s CBS Early Show, allowing the president to seemingly thwart attacks from the right launched on the weekend talk fests and start off another important week with his own talking points making the headlines.

While other topics were touched on by Harry Smith, foreign policy dominated the conversation, and the president wasted little time in forcefully defending his reaction to the latest world crises.

Obama insisted that  the United States cannot foment “distractions” that would take away the “voices” of the Iranian protesters. Instead, the president delivered his familiar refrain of chastising the Iranian clerics by reminding them that “the world is watching” and to act thoughtfully in dealing with the election unrest.

“The last thing that I want to do,” the president said, “is to have the United States be a foil for — those forces inside Iran who would love nothing better than to make this an argument about the United States. That’s what they do. That’s what we’ve already seen. We shouldn’t be playing into that. There should be no distractions from the fact that the — Iranian people are seeking to — let their voices be heard.

“Now, what we can do is bear witness and say — to the world that the, you know, incredible demonstrations that we’ve seen is a testimony to — I think what Dr. King called the — the arc of the moral universe. It’s long but it bends towards justice.”

Mr. Obama also delivered a message to the regime in Tehran, noting to Smith that, “The world is watching. And how they approach and deal with people who are, through peaceful means, trying to — be heard — will I think — send a pretty clear signal to the international community about — about — what — Iran is and — and is not.

” … This is not an issue of the United States or the West versus Iran. This is an issue of the Iranian people. The fact that they are on the — the streets under pretty severe duress — at great risk to themselves — is a sign that — there’s something — in that society that wants to open up.” 

While his name was never directly mentioned by either Smith or the president, the rebuttal described above lends itself to a comparison with harsh barbs and accusations leveled at President Obama and his administration by John McCain on Sunday’s “Face the Nation.”

Obama’s old electoral foe carried on his public lashings of the president’s Iran policy by questioning whether Obama wants the country to be on the “right side” of history in dealing with Iran and taking a skeptical view of “America’s conscience” under him.

 Appearing on CBS’ Face The Nation, the Arizona Republican said the U.S. has had a long history of defending disenfranchised citizens across the world, and that the violence apparently inflicted by a government upon its citizens makes this a “human rights issue.”

“America’s position in the world is one of moral leadership,” the senator said. “It’s not about what takes place in the streets of Iran. It is about what takes place in America’s conscience.”\

In a bizarre twist, McCain also grabbed some credit by praising “American technologies” for their role in aiding communication between Iranian dissidents and the rest of the world, an obvious reference to Twitter and other social networks.

“The fact is, America has been and will be the beacon of hope and freedom,” McCain said. “We are on their side as they seek freedom,” he said of the protestors. He also spoke proudly of how American technologies such as Facebook and Twitter have been influential in allowing protestors to communicate.

President Obama travels home to Chicago for a few hours today to lobby some of the staunchest industry critics of his sweeping proposals for health care reform in what is being billed by the White House as a “major” speech and event..

The president will deliver remarks to the American Medical Association that will “lay out his vision” for an improved health care system in the U.S.

Obama will also address the fears of the AMA and other critics that his preferred public option will hurt doctors and private insurers by driving down costs to a point that threatens profits and pushes most people to government care…which apparently isn’t the point of reform.

With Congress working to flesh out controversial elements of his healthcare reform plan, President Barack Obama will make his case for a public insurance program to the nation’s doctors on Monday, seeking to overcome their resistance.

Obama, in a speech to the American Medical Association, will “lay out his vision for a system that replicates best practices, incentivizes excellence and closes cost disparities — and he’ll ask for our medical professionals’ help in getting the job done,” an administration official said.

Speaking to the doctors’ annual meeting in Chicago, Obama will make his case for “a health insurance exchange where private plans compete with a public option that drives down costs and expands choice,” the official said.

The president’s speech to the AMA comes as debate sharpens over elements of the sweeping healthcare overhaul being drafted by Congress, including how to pay for the plan and whether it should include a public insurance program to compete with private insurers.

Republicans in Washington are offering up some of the strongest language yet in their efforts to distinguish themselves from the 5-month-old Obama administration’s economic policies.

In recent weeks, GOP leaders and rank-and-file members have offered stinging rebukes of the Democratic control in Washington in terms that Democrats say have gone over the line.

Last week, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor said Obama’s handling of the faltering U.S. auto industry is “almost like looking at Putin’s Russia.”

That came as Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) was drawing heat from Democrats for saying that he told Chinese leaders that “the budget numbers that the U.S. has put forward should not be believed” and that Congress would spend more than what is contained in the budget.

Just days before, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said at a fundraising dinner for House and Senate Republicans that Obama’s efforts to stimulate the economy and save automakers have “already failed.”

And then there are the usual suspects – Gingrich, former Vice President Dick Cheney, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and, increasingly, NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas).

Gingrich has also caused a stir in recent weeks by labeling Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a “racist,” because she said that experiencing life as a Hispanic woman might make her a better judge than a white man. Gingrich later backed off that assertion.

Bachmann’s well-publicized statements have led to the creation of a section on the DCCC’s website devoted solely to her.

And Sessions has drawn some heat for saying to the New York Times last month that the Obama administration deliberately sought to “diminish employment and diminish stock prices” in order to “divide and conquer” in Washington. Prior to that, Sessions suggested Republicans could take lessons about “insurgency” from the Taliban.

That would be the Bush that first nominated her for a seat on a federal court…

In a birthday interview with CNN, George H.W. Bush contends that President Obama’s SCOTUS nominee has a “distinguished record” and that it’s “not fair” for conservative Republicans like Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh to call her a racist.

Former President George H.W. Bush stood up for his former judicial nominee Sonia Sotomayor Friday, telling HLN Anchor Robin Meade that GOP critics who called President Obama’s Supreme Court pick a racist were off-base, and unfair.

“I don’t know her that well but I think she’s had a distinguished record on the bench and she should be entitled to fair hearings. Not – [it’s] like the senator John Cornyn said it,” he told CNN. “He may vote for it, he may not. But he’s been backing away from these…backing off from those radical statements to describe her, to attribute things to her that may or may not be true.

“And she was called by somebody a racist once. That’s not right. I mean that’s not fair. It doesn’t help the process. You’re out there name-calling. So let them decide who they want to vote for and get on with it.”

So does Bush 41 get an angry slap down by Rush like all the other Republicans that have taken issue with his extremist take on Sotomayor? Wouldn’t be a shocker…

Gov. Palin used two interviews on Friday, including a high-profile chat with Matt Lauer on “Today,” to continue her angry response to obviously boneheaded jokes Letterman made on his Monday program.

During his opening monologue on CBS’ “Late Night” Monday, Letterman poked fun at Palin’s visit with her family to a New York Yankees game this past weekend. “There was one awkward moment during the seventh inning stretch,” Letterman said. “Her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.”

Letterman also said the hardest part about the Palins’ trip to New York was “keeping [former New York Gov.] Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter.”

The conservative grass roots and Palin herself exploded, taking offense at Letterman’s apparent reference to Palin’s 14-year-old daughter Willow, who was at the game, rather than the intended target Bristol Palin, the Palin daughter who didn’t attend the game but who is the one with the baby .

Palin unleashed again in the “Today” interview.

“I don’t find it humorous,” Palin said Friday. Speaking by satellite from Texas, where she’s championing a $26 billion natural gas energy pipeline for her home state, Palin criticized “acceptance of a celebrity being able to get away with a disparaging comment that does erode a young girl’s self-esteem and does contribute to some of the problems we have in society.”

Letterman did give an apology of sorts later in the week when it became clear that it was Palin’s younger daughter, Willow, 14, who had come to town — not Willow’s older sister, Bristol, who has broken up with the father of her infant son. But Palin declined Letterman’s offer to appear on his show, saying “it would be wise to keep Willow away from” him.

On TODAY Friday, Lauer asked the governor if she had been implying that Willow would not be safe around the late-night comedian. “Take it however you want to take it,” Palin replied. “It was a comment that came from the heart.”

“Hey, it’s not in bad taste,” the governor added. “Maybe he couldn’t be trusted because Willow has had enough of these kinds of antics, and maybe she would want to react in a way that would take him off guard.”

On Friday Palin said that the attitude displayed in Letterman’s routine “does contribute to some acceptance of abuse of young women.” She called it “a sad commentary on where we are as a culture, as a society, to chuckle and laugh through [such] comments.”

Palin also gave an interview to CNN on Froday in which she continued to disparage Letterman and his apology, calling it “weak.”

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Friday it was a “weak, convenient excuse” for talk show host David Lettermen to claim his controversial joke made earlier this week targeted Palin’s older daughter, and not 14-year-old Willow.

“My 14-year-old was there with me at the game. She was the only one there with me,” Palin said Friday in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

Where does the feud go from here? While it’s normally a figurative death sentence to get involved in a serious tit-for-tat with a comedian (see Jim Cramer vs. Jon Stewart), the Palin/Letterman tiff is obviously different. Insta-polls and general commentary show that American are generally siding with Palin on this, recoiling at Letterman’s attempt at humor even when understanding it wasn’t directed at a 14-year old girl.

Politically, this is just another wild side trip on Palin’s march to 2012. She still is seen as more of a celebrity figure than a political heavyweight - to her detriment - and continues to irritate major players in the Republican party and conservative leadership with her erratic behavior.

But could Palin soon be getting top-tier help in her quest for greater political glory and influence in the GOP?PB hears from more than a few GOP/conservative insiders that some in the governor’s camp have approached the almighty Newt Gingrich about a potential partnership and advice, and that one-on-one conversations may not be far off, with the plagiarism controversy apparently meaning little to Newt.

Instantly there are rumblings about an interchangeable Gingrich/Palin 2012 ticket, even if it means running independently.

“We are excited to see what appears to be a robust debate taking place in Iran, and obviously after the speech that I made in Cairo, we tried to send a clear message that we think there is the possibility of change.

Ultimately, the election is for the Iranians to decide. But just as has been true in Lebanon, what can be true in Iran as well, is that you’re seeing people looking at new possibilities and whoever ends up winning the election in Iran, the fact that there has been a robust debate hopefully will help advance our ability to engage them in new ways.”

Is the president “taking credit” for a potential Ahmadinejad defeat as some critics have already claimed? Or is he just stating the obvious fringe benefits of an end to “cowboy diplomacy”? You decide…