Open Thread

After an address to AIPAC supporters yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint session of Congress today to discuss the importance of continued support to Israel in attempts to create peace between Israel and Palestine. His speech at AIPAC yesterday may be something of a preview of his address to Congress today. Check out the video below the break.

Too good to not share.

With official announcements from Herman Cain on Saturday and Tim Pawlenty this morning, and news of Sarah Palin buying a new house surmised to be potential campaign headquarters in Arizona, do you think a GOP frontrunner will emerge from the pool of candidates any time soon?

Check out a roundup of this weekend's GOP announcements and speculation below, and give us your thoughts in the comments:

I’m a major Peter Fonda fan, think he’s one of the best character actors working today and can’t imagine life without “Easy Rider,” but this is way, way over the line. The sentiment is hard to disagree with and I’m no Obama fan, but he is the President of the United States and trashing him in this manner overseas at Cannes is hardly different than what all but ended the Dixie Chicks career.

For general discussion and debate about politics, the economy, sports, or whatever else tickles your fancy.

Citing a few quotes from administration officials - and the president himself - Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, claimed that congressional Democrats and the Obama White House have no plan for bringing down gas prices, simply because they don't want gas prices to come down. It's quite a provocative statement, but is he right? Check out his video below the break (via Mark Tapscott) and let us know what you think in the comments.

The eccentric Texas libertarian is up to his usual antics, this time speaking out against the US operation that killed Osama bin Laden. According to Politico, the congressman - a contender for the Republican presidential nomination - said the operation "absolutely was not necessary," and that "respect for the rule of law and world law and international law" should apparently preclude any such operation. Check out more from Politico below the break.

The Heritage Foundation on Tuesday released its comprehensive budget proposal, titled "Saving the American Dream." The plan would reform entitlements and the tax code, and balance the federal budget in ten years. But while it is primarily an economic plan, it "has a higher moral purpose," Heritage writes. "If entitlements are not reformed, the next generation and future ones will have to pay punitive tax rates that will end liberty as we have known it." Check out some commentary on the plan below the break from columnist - and recent recipient of MRC's William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence - Cal Thomas.

At her "Right Turn" blog, the Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin breaks down President Obama's plan for reducing Medicare costs. The entire plan revolves around Medicare's Independent Payment Advisory Board. IPAB is charged with reducing Medicare costs, without any authority to reform the system itself. The only tool IPAB has at its disposal is across-the-board reductions in reimbursement rates to providers. The rate reductions necessary to keep Medicare solvent are expected to drive considerable numbers of providers to simply stop accepting Medicare patients. "It's rationing, plain and simple," writes Rubin.

A bit of an off-beat OT today. The Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism just released a study showing the considerable influence of center-right aggregator - and friend of NB - the Drudge Report. According to Pew, "Drudge Report drove more links than Facebook or Twitter on all the sites to which it drove traffic." Check out the infographic below the break, which shows just how much traffic some of the major news sites derive from so-called "Drudge hits," and let give us your thoughts in the comments.

For general discussion and debate about politics, the economy, sports, and whatever else tickles your fancy.

The first Republican presidential debate But  took place last night on the Fox News Channel, but featured only one candidate, Tim Pawlenty, generally considered to be a front-runner. So now we must undertake the inevitable task of deciding who "won" the debate. The other participants were Herman Cain, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, and New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. Fox's Sean Hannity brought on a focus group from pollster Frank Luntz after the debate to discuss who they thought had won. Check out their response below the break (via Johnny Dollar) - you might be surprised.

The killing of Osama bin Laden on Sunday has reignited the debate over so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding. Early reports (information is still coming out) indicate that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed released vital information about bin Laden's courier, who eventually led American intelligence forces to the compound where they both were killed. But it's not clear exactly which interrogation techniques led to that information, since it's extremely difficult, if not impossible, to separate out the different interrogation methods and claim that a single piece of informaiton was obtained through this method, but not that one.

Hence the blanket claim that waterboarding did not produce intelligence that led to bin Laden's death is simply un-provable, as CIA Director Leon Panetta, recently tapped by Obama for Secretary of Defense, illustrated in this exchange with Brian Williams:

For general discussion and debate about politics, the economy, sports, or whatever else tickles your fancy.

In an effort to put an end to the conspiracy theories over the president's place of birth, the White House on Wednesday released Barack Obama's long form birth certificate. You can see it embedded below the break. "The President believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn’t good for the country," the White House said in a post on its website.

The Washington Examiner has a great editorial out today noting the cognitive dissonance that characterizes President Obama's foreign policy. On the one hand, it seeks to make the United States the protector of innocents and champion of freedom fighters, but on the other, it neglects, even undercuts, America's role as the world's dominant military force and leader in global affairs. Check out an excerpt from the editorial below the break.

So "The Donald" was dubbed by Charles Krauthammer on last night's "Special Report." Trump is an "unserious" "provocateur and clown," Krauthammer claimed. "I think he's going to harm the party if he runs for the same reason that Sharpton harmed the Democrats." Take a look at the video below the break, via the Daily Caller, and let us know what you think. And if you're a Trump supporter, make sure to chime in with your retort.