This Cracks Me Up

Gee, I wonder who that could have been aimed at?

Are the media gatekeepers about to lift the gate and admit someone else to the top tier?

"Are we perhaps witnessing the political ascendance of Mike Huckabee?" asks Dick Polman. "Is it possible that restive religious conservatives, widely dissatisfied with their choices in the GOP presidential field, are poised to flock en masse to an ordained Baptist preacher who plays the electric guitar? To an ex-governor from Bill Clinton's state whose chief claim to fame -- until recently -- was that he lost 100 pounds? To a guy who, with that kind of name, sounds like he should be cracking cornpone jokes on The Andy Griffith Show?

"The answer is yes. Huckabee, notwithstanding his ostensible second-tier status as an '08 candidate, finished in a virtual tie for first place this weekend in a straw poll of religious conservatives at the Values Voter Summit in Washington (if we include the online voters who chose not to attend), and Huckabee slaughtered the entire GOP field (polling 50 percent, with Mitt Romney a distant second at 10 percent) if we count only the votes that were cast in person, by those who were in the room. It actually makes perfect sense that grassroots Christian conservatives might be warming to a candidate who has long been right under their noses. Huckabee -- in part because he is actually one of them, having been a past leader of Arkansas' Southern Baptist Convention; in part because he is a gifted communicator; in part because he questions all this stuff about evolution -- might be well poised to fill the vacuum that persists on the Republican side."

Rudy is getting over a very important hump, says Fred Barnes:

"Rudy Giuliani's position on abortion is evolving in a pro-life direction. Addressing an audience of social and religious conservatives, Giuliani made two new points: as president, he would veto any bill increasing the number of abortions, and he would support any 'reasonable suggestion' to reduce the number of abortions. This may not sound like much. But for Giuliani's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, it was important."

This would be the same Fred Barnes who urged Giuliani to take such a course of action.

Hillary's latest fundraising draws the ire of Red State:

"Governor Schwarzenegger has announced a state of emergency. Thousands of Americans are losing their homes. They are certainly in my thoughts and prayers.

"What about Hillary? Hollywood is throwing her a birthday party, just miles away:

"Rob Reiner sang a rousing rendition of 'Happy Birthday, Mrs. President' in honor of Senator Hillary Clinton at his Brentwood, California, home on Sunday evening.

"Celebrities came to see to see Clinton, D-N.Y., and to celebrate in advance of the former first lady's 60th birthday. Although they didn't bring gifts, celebrities from Jamie Lee Curtis, Magic Johnson, Ted Danson, Bridget Moynihan and Chelsea Handler raised a half a million dollars for the Clinton campaign and enjoyed cocktails and hors deouvres in return."

This strikes me as unfair. All the candidates raise money from rich people. And what was Hillary supposed to do, commandeer a fire truck and go fight the blaze?

How's this for libelous: a charge that James Lipton, the erudite host of "Inside the Actors' Studio," was once a pimp in France. And the source is . . . James Lipton.