She was the one yelling and pointing the fingers.  Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's account that she felt threatened by Obama is being disputed by the mayor of Phoenix, Greg Stanton, who was standing just six feet away:

“He wasn’t tense at all,” Stanton said on Friday. “The guy’s a pro.”

Though Stanton declined to discuss exactly what the governor and president said to each other, he said Obama’s classic coolness was evident.

“He doesn’t get animated, but he looks you in the eye and tells you what he thinks,” Stanton said. “And I think that’s honestly what he did is he looked the governor in the eye and spoke and told her what he was really feeling.”

But then again, Brewer's claim about feeling threatened is a perfect method to get the same people who believe that racial stereotype to buy her book.

Even far right-wingers like Pat Toomey can't understand how a moon base would be a net benefit to US interests.  Toomey, the Republican who once ran against Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania, has not endorsed a candidate.  But he calls the moon base idea for what it is: costly and grandiose:

"I can't even imagine how costly that would be. It's hard to imagine that would not run into the trillions of dollars," Toomey said.

"I'm sorry, I'm just not aware of any commercial market for a colony on the moon. It's not at all clear to me that there's a marketplace, any demand for this," Toomey said. "I don't think we're in a position to afford that. I'm in favor of further space exploration, but sometimes Newt gets a little carried away with these grandiose ideas, and colonizing the moon strikes me as one of them."

This issue seems to be overshadowing a lot of the other issues in Florida.  We obviously wish that Gingrich would win Florida, and this race would last as long as possible.  Now that is looking less likely.

The two chunks of donations by the Adelson family to Gingrich's super-PACs represents the largest political contribution to a major candidate's cause in US history.  Time Magazine's Michael Crowley puts it in perspective, explaining that it ushered in a more extreme era of the wealthy's continued disproportionate influence on politics:

I don’t believe we’ve ever seen a federal candidate who drew such a high proportion of his funding from a single donor. Adelson’s support is all the more unusual because the Vegas mogul swooped in to help his friend after Newt had been written off as a loser after his Iowa collapse; betting on Newt in early January, as Adelson did, seemed like putting your chips on green at the roulette table.

Still, you can also see Adelson’s support for Newt as the latest twist on a familiar story about the influence very rich people can exert on presidential politics–a story that gets updated and revised from time to time, but which, on some level, never really changes.

Can you say public financing for elections?

I can feel the power of prayer overtaking the Democratic base.  All of us, agnostics, Catholics like myself, even atheists, are praying that Newt wins the GOP nomination.  The more we listen to him, the stranger it gets.  People that had to work with Newt weren't joking about him being full of random thoughts and having no filter whatsoever.

The former Speaker's latest idea about colonizing the moon by the end of the decade confirmed all those things.  And later this week, Newt took it to another level and suggested that the moon could be a 51st state.  It will be a manufacturing center.  Step aside, Ohio.  Your time has passed.

Jon Stewart put it best last night:

Just for kicks, I'll add that Gingrich once proposed putting mirrors on the moon to reflect sunlight and power the United States.  After everything else he has said, is that really surprising?

:) Gooooood morning!

• NBC News poll of Republicans nationwide: Gingrich 37%, Romney 28%, Santorum 18%, Paul 12%.
• The number of female homeless veterans has doubled since 1990.
• Fred Thompson is warning Republicans not to nominate Mitt Romney.  "My concern is in a general election David Axelrod is not going to be as nice about all that as the people on the stage were tonight with regard to a Swiss bank account and a blind trust," Thompson said.
• In Mitt Romney's tax returns, he failed to disclose his Swiss bank accounts.
• After leaving the presidential race, Rick Perry's approval rating in Texas is actually lower than President Obama's approval rating in the state.
• Barack Obama's run-in with Jan Brewer might actually help him among Histpanics.  "While it is difficult to judge whether the moment will have any lasting impact, Hispanic leaders said that what is being dubbed by some as the 'dustup in the desert' could play in the president’s favor given the unfavorable view many Hispanics have of the governor for her advocacy of tough immigration measures," wrote Helene Cooper of the NYT.
• New Hampshire Republicans have proposed a bill that would prevent police from protecting domestic abuse victims.
• The Senate has agreed to raise the debt limit by $1.2 trillion.

Nothing like coming home from work and watching Republicans yell at one another about who is more of a corporate welfare promoting social conservative.  Ah, enough debates already.  Let's get early Friday rolling with the top political clips at this hour:

1) Protester removed from Gingrich rally.

2) Gingrich blasts Romney for profiting off Florida foreclosures.

3) Polifact, you are fired!

4) Romney incites conservative hatred for Obama, saying the President is leading the "assault" on life, religion and marriage.

5) Gingrich's first act as president would be to insult the Arab world.

The Senate is taking up the STOCK Act, legislation that will come up for a vote next week, which would make it illegal for members of Congress to engage in insider trading.  This was one of the items that President Obama asked Congress during his state of the union speech to pass immediately.

"Insider trading laws technically already apply to members of Congress, but no lawmaker has ever been prosecuted for violating them, leaving the issue in a legal gray area," wrote Pete Shroeder of The Hill.  "As a result, members have been pushing to get a law on the books that explicitly prohibits the practice."

The legislation was actually introduced back in November, but stalled in the Senate over the holidays when Republicans complained that Democrats were trying to force it through.  Republicans said they were "taken by surprise," and needed more time.  It looks like the STOCK Act will finally come to a vote next week.

The loophole that Mitt Romney used to pay less taxes, by classifying his retirement income as capital gains, is so morally wrong that even the business community supports amending the law.  Only 27% of investors, according to a recent survey, believe the Romney tax loophole is justified.

This loophole was brilliantly used by Romney in 2010.  Even though Romney made more than Obama, he paid less than Obama in taxes thanks to the loophole.

Mitt Romney routinely attacks food stamps and government subsidies for the poor.  But this tax loophole for Romney and some of the wealthiest investors is nothing more than corporate welfare for the rich. Romney is for government subsidies -- just the type that goes to the income bracket that isn't struggling.

Running for president a second time, Romney should have known he had it coming on Bain.  Senate Democrats, in their 1994 support of incumbent Ted Kennedy, decided at the last minute not to air this ad that confronted Mitt and his job-killing practices at Bain.

Very interesting.  So in essence, Romney's Bain Capital got a $10 million government bailout and used the money to restructure companies by firing workers and increasing profits for shareholders by $4 million.

Any of you see Mitt Romney spin that he paid 45% in taxes even though on paper he paid 13.9% in 2010?  This was how Mr. Bain Capital himself explained it during an interview with Univision:

When you add it together with all of the taxes and the charity, particularly in the last year, I think it reaches almost 40 percent that I gave back to the community. One of the reasons why we have a lower tax rate on capital gains is because capital gains are also being taxed at the corporate level. So as businesses earn profits, that’s taxed at 35 percent, then as they distribute those profits as dividends, that’s taxed at 15 percent more. So, all total, the tax rate is really closer to 45 or 50 percent.

One problem: Romney's negotiated retirement plan with Bain is not a business itself, so he did not pay corporate taxes.  He paid capital gains taxes.  Romney was not taxed at 45%.  He was taxed at 13.9% in 2010.  Nice try though.

Romney is locked in a close race in Florida that could decide the GOP nomination.  A little lying here and there between now and Tuesday might actually do more good then harm.   But in the long run, Romney won't get off that easy.

The guy on the other side of Lake Washington from me just endorsed Obama's idea of the Warren Buffet rule.  Way to go, Bill Gates:

“The United States has a huge budget deficit, so taxes are going to have to go up,” Gates told the BBC. “And I certainly agree that they should go up more on the rich than everyone else. That’s just justice.”

...I hope we can solve that deficit problem with a sense of shared sacrifice — where everybody would feel like they’re doing their part,” Gates replied. “And right now, I don’t feel like people like myself are paying as much as we should.”

Now watch the right-wing pundits attack Gates they way they are now attacking Warren Buffet.  That is what you get for encouraging shared sacrifice.

Newt GIngrich claims that the comparison to Bill Clinton's affair is not fair.  Actually, what's not fair is Gingrich's continued effort to absorb Clinton's ownership of the booming economy during the 1990s.  Many conservative politicians and FOX News commentators tend to forget that the prosperous 1990s that led to the creation of 23 million new jobs would not have been possible without the Clinton's 1993 Deficit Reduction Act.

The bill, which Newt and his crony advocates all opposed, got US priorities in gear.  It increased taxes on the wealthiest income earners.  It made necessary cuts to programs that weren't working.  It created a 35% tax on corporations.  It eliminated the cap on Medicare taxes.  It also extended the earned income tax credit.  Not one Republican voted for it.  Even some Democrats opposed it.

In the end, then vice president Al Gore cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate, and Bill Clinton signed the bill into law.  Gingrich and Republicans used it as a punching bag to attack Clinton in 1994, helping them take back congressional majority.  But as 1996 approached, Republicans kept attacking Clinton's economic record even though the bill that was passed three years earlier was starting to really have a positive effect on the economy (notice the parallel to today with the Obama stimulus).  Voters ultimately reelected Clinton, and the economy continued to surge.  By the end of the second term, the Clinton Administration was able to record a net budget surplus -- the first time the US budget had been balanced since President Johnson did it in 1968.  But Clinton did it two years in a row to close his presidency.

So tell me, how can Gingrich take credit for an economic boom that was mostly made possible by a bill that he opposed?

 And Jan Brewer's right-wing book tour is now a success.

• NBC News poll of the President's job performance: 48% approve, 46% disapprove.
• CNN poll of Florida Republicans: Romney 36%, Gingrich 34%, Santorum 11%, Paul 9%, 7% undecided.
• Insider Advantage poll of Florida Republicans: Romney 40.3%, Gingrich 32.3%, Paul 9%, Santorum 8.1%, undecided 1.5%.
• Obama's SOTUS was viewed by 37.8 million people.
• John McCain will be campaigning for Mitt Romney Thursday afternoon, as the Romney Campaign brings in as much insider help as they can.
• Mitt Romney's tax plan would increase taxes on 40% of US families with kids, but decrease taxes on Romney himself by $3.5 million per year.
• The DCCC is touting internal polling that shows eight key Republican House incumbents are vulnerable.
• Newt Gingrich has pledged that by the end of his second term the US will establish a permanent base on the moon.
• Rick Santorum is hinting that he may depart Florida before the Tuesday primary, amid weak poll numbers.
• View these high definition images of Earth that were shot by NASA.
• Euro crisis fears are beginning to ease.

Republicans yelled at each other on Monday.  Obama spoke on Tuesday.  Wednesday?  Well, not as much news.  On this early Thursday morning, we still have the top political clips circulating the blogs at this hour:

1) An ordinary Swiss account?  Another one of those "I'm running for office, for Pete's sake" moments.

2) Ask Obama!  On January 30th our President will answer your questions in a post-state of the union interview.  So get those questions in to the White House web site.

3) Why is no one criticizing Mitch Daniels for calling Obama "pro-poverty?"

4) Newt Gingrich "Cash Money" song.

5) Rick Santorum gets glitter-bombed again!