“I’m not slipping off into the sunset. I’m not riding off into the west…. We’ve got plenty of work to do right here in the state of Texas. And I got plenty of fight left in this old 61-year-old body.”

Read the rest at Feministing

“fifty years ago… sixty years ago, people who did abortions were, you know, in the shadows, were people who people who were considered really bad doctors. Now, abortion is something to that is just accepted.”

Read the rest at Feministing

I particularly love the way he suggests that the very poor are not “Americans.” And of course the great irony, as Think Progress points out, is that Romney wants to cut the very programs– which are already insufficient– he claims take care of the poor.

Read the rest at Feministing

Of course, people are encouraging donating directly to Planned Parenthood, or other great organizations. Sure, not having women dye in back alleys is great. Giving women who otherwise couldn’t afford breast exams is great too. But the truth is, I don’t know if I have the budget for any donations. I would have to dip into my monthly allotment for Sally G Komen products. And I’m not sure I am prepared to take that radical step.

Read the rest at Feministing

1. The biggest shock of the night is that it’s a Saturday night and MSNBC isn’t screening Lockdown.

2. #DontBother is trending on Twitter. I’m pretty sure that was Twitter talking to Mitt Romney.

3. The Romney rally does the wave, demonstrating just how in touch the Romney campaign is with the American people… circa 1997. The empty Mitt Romney podium visible as we wait for the Governor to arrive serves as the perfect Mittaphor: it’s there, and it says Mitt Romney, but there’s nothing actually behind it.

4. Ron Paul shows up in an outfit that suggests he’s trying to steal some of Rick Santorum’s sweater vest thunder and says: “[crazy, crazy, crazy, something smart on foreign policy, crazy, crazy, crazy, something smart on special interests, gold is good, end the fed, crazy, crazy, crazy].”

5. Rick Santorum comes out (sans sweater vest, which may be the reason he lost). He proclaims that he and his grandfather are among the people who hold on tightly to their guns and Bibles. But in the case of his grandfather, I’m pretty sure he means he holds on tightly to his hammer and sickle.

6. Chris Matthews delivers absolutely terrible news to Florida when he says that Gingrich “is gonna hit all the erogenous zones down there.”

7. Newt surprises world by not coming out on a litter carried by poor children.

8. Newt calls out the elites. Because nothing screams salt of the earth more than a man with a Tiffany’s habit.

9. Newt also demonstrates how in touch he is with the American—and specifically South Carolinian—people, by dropping an always-resonant Saul Alinsky reference.

10. Obama supporters worldwide pray that Florida is just as racist as South Carolina, that they find a moderator of color and that the moderator brings up Gingrich’s affairs.

Last night’s 179th GOP debate of the season taught us so much, again, about the GOP candidates: socialism for the military, no government at all for anyone else, protect zygotes, execute humans, “I swear I never once provided a single person with healthcare”/ “Yes you did!”/ “Did not!”/ “Did too!,” etc. But the biggest revelations of last night did not occur at the debates.

Thursday, I blogged about Marianne Gingrich, one of Newt’s several exes, and her tell-a-little interview (and how inconceivable sex with Newt Gingrich was to me). That was based on a mere preview of Marianne’s interview that ABC had released. But after the debate, ABC ran the entire at-least-a-couple-of-minutes-long interview. Here’s what stood out:

• Gingrich left his first wife after she got cancer and left Marianne after she got MS. The take-away is that at least Newt is consistent and that Callista better take her multi-vitamins, though she does have her age on her side.

• It was while he was cheating on his wife that Newt crucified Clinton for his infidelity and stated that there was “no administration with less moral authority than the Clinton-Gore administration.”

• Marianne Gingrich knows about only “some of” the skeletons Newt keeps in his closet since, presumably, he has more skeletons than could fit in one closet or one person’s mind. And, of course, Newt has continued collecting skeletons since leaving his wife, so she’s in the dark on those.

So, last night, we learned, or relearned, that Newt Gingrich is seriously one of the most disgusting, cheating, hurtful, wife-hopping people in the world. We also learned something about President Obama that puts him on the other end of the disgusting/adorable spectrum. And that is that he can sing! Which he did, at a fundraiser at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Perhaps Newt’s unfaithfulness (and the fact that Al Green was at the fundraiser) was what made Obama sing a few (too few) bars from Green’s classic, “Let’s Stay Together” and, specifically, the words “I’m so in love with you.” I pity the wives of Gingrich, but I envy Michelle Obama. See the video and look out for the president’s Kermit the Frog moves. It should convince the “there’s no difference between a Republican and a Democrat” crowd that, when it comes to Gingrich and Obama, there’s a huge difference, at least on a personal level. And, of course, as we all know, the personal is political.

(For a better quality clip, go here!)

Rick Perry may have quit the race—at a Wendy’s, appropriately—but his words will always be with us. Here are some of the gems he said during the campaign. We’ll always have the memories! And the video! Perry has endorsed Gingrich, in his latest gaffe, and Newt has officially asked Perry to head a Tenth Amendment enforcement project for him. I would have gone with the Second:

Personally, I would hate to be married to Newt Gingrich. If I were, I imagine I’d consider seeking refuge from the smug, odious, racist, classist, Garbage Pail Kid/Michelin Man hybrid in the arms of another. I wouldn’t be nervous about Gingrich cheating on me not because of his character, but because I would find it inconceivable that any other woman would find him attractive. One is just a fluke.  But, shockingly enough, it was Newt who wanted to have an open marriage. Well, that’s not fair, he wanted to have a mistress and cheat on his wife, but when he finally admitted to cheating on his wife, he asked for an open marriage to accommodate what was then a six-year-long affair.

See the video here.

One of the best, and most telling, parts of last night’s debate took place before the debate even started. In all fairness, it’s already really awkward to hold a debate on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the last state to acknowledge the day as a federal holiday (in 2000). On top of that, there’s the whole ideological antithesis between King on the one hand and Fox News and the GOP candidates on the other. And then, add to that killer combo a candidate who doesn’t want to help “blah” people, a candidate who actually voted against making Martin Luther King Jr. Day a holiday and would have (his words not mine) voted against the civil rights bill and… I could go on, but I’d literally be here all day. Perhaps nothing captured the awkwardness and inappropriateness of the when-and-where of the GOP debate more than the painfully awkward and inappropriate segue from acknowledging Martin Luther King Jr. Day to starting the debate, when moderator and Fox News host Bret Baier said,

“Today, as you know, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. As we look live at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, its first year on the mall, we’re reminded of one of the many notable quotes from the late Dr. King. ‘The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in a moment of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.’ This campaign has been filled with challenge and controversy. The challenges are large. Here in South Carolina, the unemployment rate is near 10 percent, well above the national average. And on this MLK Day, unemployment in African-American communities is near 16 percent. But the controversy on the campaign trail in recent days has been about Governor Romney’s record. We are going to talk extensively about jobs, federal debt, world hotspots and social issues, but, first, let’s clear the air.”

Check out the video. The awkwardness starts at 2:25.