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These are my links for August 18th from 09:02 to 14:06:

• Los Angeles to quit hiring Standard & Poor’s to rate investments – Los Angeles, which recently saw its $7-billion investment portfolio downgraded by Standard & Poor's, has decided to no longer hire the rating company to rate the soundness of the city's investments.

  "We have really lost faith in S&P's judgment," Interim Treasurer Steve Ongele said.

  After its downgrade of U.S. debt last week, S&P cut its rating of L.A.'s general investment pool to AA from AAA. It also downgraded dozens of other municipalities with large investments in U.S. Treasury notes.

  One of them, Northern California's San Mateo County, has decided not to renew its contract with S&P. Florida's Manatee County has also dropped its contract with the company, according to news reports.

  Speaking before the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee meeting Monday, Ongele said Los Angeles should be proud for cutting ties with S&P.

  "The market crash that came with the real estate debacle, it happened because folks like S&P rated AAA corporations that were not worth much of anything, corporations that are no longer there today," Ongele said. "The fact that we have the courage to do this, the fact that we are the first city, I think that's a big bragging right."

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  Shooting the messenger

• California GOP, wooing candidates and money, will hold 2012 straw poll at September state convention – Hoping to attract GOP presidential candidates — and fire up its activist grassroots — the California Republican Party is taking a cue from Iowa and planning a high profile straw poll of the 2012 presidential hopefuls at its big September statewide convention in Los Angeles.

  The straw poll will be a marquee event at the convention expected to attract more than 1,000 delegates and party activists when it convenes Sept. 16-18 at the JW Marriott at LA Live, state party chair Tom Del Beccaro told us today.

  Already, Tea Party darling and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, the winner of the recent Ames straw poll in Iowa, is scheduled to be the opening keynote speaker on Friday night — a move that will clearly pump up party faithful expected to jam the event.

  But Del Beccaro has been in touch with the other leading Republican candidates, and predicted Bachmann won't have the hall to herself when it comes to wooing backers, volunteers and donors in the Golden State, which is also the nation's biggest political ATM.

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  Read it all.

  But, I think I will take a pass that weekend.

  Does anyone really think that the candidates besides Bachmann will want to dump tens of thousands of dollars to compete in very blue California?

  Well, maybe and if maybe then I will attend.

• Democrats cheer more lenient Obama rules on illegal immigrants – Democrats in both chambers are cheering Thursday after the Obama administration unveiled more lenient rules surrounding the deportation of illegal immigrants.

  The changes – announced by the Department of Homeland Security – will allow many non-violent illegal immigrants to remain in the country and apply for work permits. Instead of blanket deportations, agency officials will perform a case-by-case reviews, weeding out violent criminals and other high priority cases while closing the books on those considered no threat.

  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the change “will help prioritize our limited enforcement resources to focus on serious felons, gang members and individuals who are a national security threat rather than college students and veterans who have risked their lives for our country.”

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  Color me cynical but Obama needs the Hispanic vote desperately since he has delivered virtually nothing to that community.

  Now, the Obama Administration is thwarting the will of the Congress AND the people.

• Dilbert August 18, 2011 – Back to the Future | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Dilbert August 18, 2011 – Back to the Future #tcot #catcot
• foursquare – Blogging away (@ Home)
• Untitled (http://www.vcstar.com/news/2011/aug/17/westlake-village-man-announces-plans-to-run-for/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed) – Westlake Village man announces plans to run for new 26th Congressional District » Ventura County Star:

  …

• Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 18, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 18, 2011 #tcot #catcot
• President 2012: The GOP Sends Obama’s Getaway Postcards from Martha’s Vineyard | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: The GOP Sends Obama’s Getaway Postcards from Martha’s Vineyard #tcot #catcot
• Another Billionaire Offers the Country Unsolicited Political Advice | Broadside Books – RT @michaelpleahy: My new article: "Another Billionaire Offers Unsolicited Political Advice" @broadsidebooks #tcot
• Capitol Alert: Assembly GOP requests immediate release of spending records – Good Luck with that! RT @CapitolAlert: Assembly GOP requests immediate release of spending records
• Flap’s Links and Comments for August 18th on 08:57 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for August 18th on 08:57 #tcot #catcot

These are my links for August 16th through August 17th:

• Is Rick Perry the new Fred Thompson? – Perry has criticized Arizona’s tough anti-illegal immigration laws, and is a supporter of comprehensive immigration reform, a battery of legislation that would put over 10 million illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship. Conservatives call this amnesty. They are so offended by the policy that they were able to stop its implementation when another Texas Republican tried to push it through with help from a Democratic congress. Conservatives never trusted Bush again.

  Perry has also issues with social conservatives. He approved mandatory HPV vaccinations for all Texas public school girls above the objections of the religious right. He says he is “Okay” with New York’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage, a provocative position for a candidate who wants to appeal to religious conservaties, and one that could intensify the now-whispered accusation that Perry is a closeted homosexual.

  And moderates can find plenty to dislike as well. There was the governor’s well-publicized flirtation with secession in 2009 for starters. And Perry’s religiosity goes beyond investing common American political maxims with Biblical language the way Obama does. Perry has encouraged Texas residents to pray for rain, a decision that was widely mocked. And he is holding a Day of Prayer and Fasting on August 6 that will include a panoply of pastors whose views go beyond the Evangelical mainstream. Needless to say, DAR Republicans don’t want a candidate whose religious friends describe the Statue of Liberty as an “idol” or think Oprah’s career portends the arrival of the Antichrist.

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  Read it all

• Some conservatives not thrilled by Rick Perry – But the vaccine controversy isn’t Perry’s only break from conservative orthodoxy.

  “The Gardasil debacle is just one of many concerns a wide range of grassroots conservative activists have about Perry's record as governor,” said prominent conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, who wrote a post critical of Perry on Wednesday. “He’s soft on illegal immigration despite a few recent nods to border enforcement. He's prone to crony capitalism. And as the vaccine mandate scandal shows, he demonstrated Nanny State tendencies that are anathema to Tea Party core principles.”

  Perry has also ruffled feathers with social conservatives in recent days by saying that under 10th Amendment principles, gay marriage in New York didn’t bother him. After all, Perry endorsed former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani in the 2008 presidential race, who is hardly considered a social conservative.

  Perry has also drawn criticism for his plans for the Trans-Texas Corridor, a failed cross-state toll road that drew criticism from rural property owners and immigration foes, because the plan involved a partnership with the Mexican government.

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  Read it all.

  I am concerned with his past of handling illegal immigration and the Texas Dream Act in particular.

  The Crony Capitalism is also a non-starter for me.

  If it is a choice between Romney, Perry and Bachmann, the GOP had better team up two of the three or Obama wins.

• President 2012 GOP Wisconsin Poll Watch: Perry 20% Vs. Bachmann 20% Vs. Romney 13% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 GOP Wisconsin Poll Watch: Perry 20% Vs. Bachmann 20% Vs. Romney 13% #tcot #catcot
• Gregory Flap Cole – Google+ – Tax the rich – yeah right.

  Maybe the NFL and NBA should… – Tax the rich – yeah right.Maybe the NFL and NBA should add some more teams?

• Warren Buffett’s Tax Dodge – The billionaire volunteers the middle class for a tax increase – Barney Kilgore, the man who made the Wall Street Journal into a national publication, was once asked why so many rich people favored higher taxes. That's easy, he replied. They already have their money.

  That insight is worth recalling amid the latest political duet from President Obama and Warren Buffett demanding higher taxes on "millionaires and billionaires." Mr. Buffett is repeating his now familiar argument this week, coinciding with Mr. Obama's Midwestern road trip on the economy. Since the media are treating Mr. Buffett as a tax oracle, let's take a closer look at some of the billionaire's intellectual tax dodges.

  • The double tax oversight. The Berkshire Hathaway magnate makes much of the fact that he paid only 17.4% of his income in taxes, which he considers unfair when salaried workers often pay more. But Mr. Buffett makes most of his income from his investments, in particular from dividends and capital gains that are taxed at a rate of 15%.

  What he doesn't say is that much of his income was already taxed once as corporate income, which is assessed at a 35% rate (less deductions). The 15% levy on capital gains and dividends to individuals is thus a double tax that takes the overall tax rate on that corporate income closer to 45%.

  This onerous tax on capital is a U.S. competitive disadvantage in the global economy, which is why Congress agreed in 2003 to cut the rates on dividends and capital gains. Even as the rest of the world is cutting tax rates on corporate income, Mr. Buffett wants to raise U.S. rates in a way that would make America less attractive for investment. Under a sensible tax reform, the feds would impose either a corporate tax or a dividend and capital gains tax, but not both.

  • The middle-class bait-and-switch. Like Mr. Obama, Mr. Buffett speaks about raising taxes only on the rich. But somehow he ignores that the President's tax increase starts at $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples. Mr. Obama ought to call them "thousandaires," but that probably doesn't poll as well.

  The President needs to levy his tax increase at such a lower income level because that's where the money is. In 2009, 237,000 taxpayers reported income above $1 million and they paid $178 billion in taxes. A mere 8,274 filers reported income above $10 million, and they paid only $54 billion in taxes.

  But 3.92 million reported income above $200,000 in 2009, and they paid $434 billion in taxes. To put it another way, roughly 90% of the tax filers who would pay more under Mr. Obama's plan aren't millionaires, and 99.99% aren't billionaires.

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  Read it all

• Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 17, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 17, 2011 #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: August 17, 2011 – The Morning Drill: August 17, 2011
• Poll Watch: American Unemployment Rate Up to 9.1% in Mid-August | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Poll Watch: American Unemployment Rate Up to 9.1% in Mid-August #tcot #catcot
• President 2012: Obama’s NOT So Secret Economic Plan = Blame Congress | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Obama’s NOT So Secret Economic Plan = Blame Congress #tcot #catcot
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-17 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-17 #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Links and Comments for August 16th on 14:33 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for August 16th on 14:33 #tcot #catcot

These are my links for August 15th from 10:07 to 10:09:

• President 2012: Rick Perry’s political chops – It could have gone very badly. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) is an Iowa native. She’s coming off a big win in Ames. But Texas Gov. Rick Perry gave Iowans a chance to compare the two candidates at the Black Hawk County Lincoln Day Dinner in Waterloo, Iowa.

  He spoke without notes and with a broad dynamic range. When he talked in measured tones about his Air Force experience he was making a dual point — he’s seen the world (he rattled off his postings around the globe) and he has military experience. He hit his main themes — jobs and debt. He ticked off the four elements (“simple, guiding principles”) of his success in Texas — “don’t spend all the money”; a tax system as low as possible that still allows the government to provide essential services; regulatory climate that is “fair” and “predictable”; and legal reform. Along the way he wove in a swipe at ObamaCare, using his wife’s experience as a nurse to raise questions about quality of care. He is evolving a positive agenda, rather than simply railing against the incursion of the federal government from the perspective of a governor.

  Mainstream and conservative media present pronounced themselves impressed, suggesting he outshined the hometown girl.

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  Read it all

• Wisconsin’s historic recall elections wrap up this week – Wisconsin's series of recall elections concludes on Tuesday when voters go to the polls in two state Senate districts where Democrats are being forced to defend their seats.

  No matter who wins, Republican Governor Scott Walker and his Republican allies will retain control of the legislature, where the battle over public workers' union rights was waged earlier this year with public protests, legislative maneuvering and court challenges.

  Republicans have managed to keep control of the state senate — 17 to 16 at last count — because Democrats failed to unseat three Republican state Senators in the key round of six GOP senate recalls last week. But Democrats did pick up two state Senate seats formerly held by Walker allies.

  To many Wisconsin voters, especially Republicans, the special elections have been, as 70-year-old Wade Ellingson of Fond du Lac put it, "a waste of time and money."

  Nevertheless, Tuesday's two final votes, like the seven before them, will be watched closely.

  Two Democrats who opposed Walker's anti-union bill and even fled the state for weeks in an unsuccessful effort to prevent a quorum and delay passage — Jim Holperin of Conover and Robert Wirch of Pleasant Prairie — will be defending their seats.

  "As always in Wisconsin politics, one has to give the incumbent an edge," said Mordecai Lee, governmental affairs professor at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

  "It is likely the two Democratic incumbents will win their recalls — but it is not a slam dunk," he said.

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  The Fleebaggers face the music

These are my links for August 14th through August 15th:

• President 2012: Perry schools Bachmann in Waterloo – Rick Perry came to Michele Bachmann’s hometown Sunday evening and schooled the newly minted Iowa front-runner in her native state’s demanding retail political culture.

  The day after Perry announced his candidacy and Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll, the two candidates spoke to the Black Hawk County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day dinner, the sort of endless regional event that is a staple of the long Iowa campaign.

  Both candidates offered conservative standards, promising to slash government spending and ease regulations to jump-start the private sector economy. Perry promised to use his presidential veto pen “until all ink runs out to get the message across that we’re not spending all the money.” Bachmann pledged to keep faith with evangelical Republicans.

  The duo also went to great lengths to burnish their local credentials, with Bachmann celebrating her Waterloo roots repeatedly and Perry name-checking Iowa companies, recalling his own 4-H gold star status and Eagle Scout upbringing, and paying repeated respect to senior Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who maintains a hog farm nearby and was seated in the crowd.

  But the contrast that may lift Perry and undermine Bachmann in their high stakes battle for Iowa had less to do with what they said than how they said it — and what they did before and after speaking.

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  Read it all.

  Rick Perry has more big time campaign experience than Bachmann having run for Governor of Texas (a very large state) three times.

  Unless Perry makes a gaffe or something disqualifying comes out, Perry will overwhelm Bachmann and after Florida it will be Romney vs. Perry going into Super Tuesday.

  Watch Rudy Giuliani and see if he endorses Perry early or late to get a sense of the direction of the Perry campaign.

• President 2012: Bachmann-Perry Overdrive – The fight for the Republican Presidential nomination is finally getting underway in earnest, with Texas Governor Rick Perry bull-riding his way into the race and Michele Bachmann winning Saturday's straw poll in Iowa. Both events show how unsettled the GOP contest still is, as voters search for a candidate who can beat a vulnerable President Obama.

  Mrs. Bachmann, the Minnesota Congresswoman, has emerged from cable-TV land in recent months to be a viable competitor. She is telegenic, a hard worker, and has planted herself at the front of the tea party parade in hostility to all things Washington. This posture matches the current public mood and helps to explain why she surpassed fellow Minnesotan Tim Pawlenty, who dropped out of the race yesterday despite a far better record of accomplishment as a fiscally conservative two-term Governor of a left-leaning state. Mrs. Bachmann is a canny politician.

  At the same time, winning a straw poll of activists is a long way from persuading voters she has the experience and judgment to sit in the Oval Office. (Libertarian Ron Paul, who has no chance to win the nomination, finished a close second.) Mrs. Bachmann has a record of errant statements (see Battle of Lexington and Concord, history of) that are forgiven by Fox Nation but won't be if she makes them as a GOP standard-bearer.

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  Read it all.

  The GOP has a weak field but Obama will be weaker.

  A Perry and Rubio ticket will probably be the strongest.

• Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 15, 2011 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s California Morning Collection: August 15, 2011 #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Dentistry Blog: The Morning Drill: August 15, 2011 – The Morning Drill: August 15, 2011
• Day By Day August 15, 2011 – All the World’s a Stage | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day August 15, 2011 – All the World’s a Stage #tcot #catcot
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-15 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-08-15 #tcot #catcot
• Pakistan lets China see US helicopter – FT.com – Pakistan lets China see US Stealth helicopter from Bin Laden Raid
• Flap’s Links and Comments for August 14th on 12:49 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for August 14th on 12:49 #tcot #catcot

These are my links for July 20th from 13:25 to 13:28:

• Ami Bera machine in gear for rematch against Dan Lungren – The new maps aren't done quite yet and he may well have to navigate a primary this time, but Democrat Ami Bera continues to post big fundraising numbers for a possible re-match for Rep. Dan Lungren's congressional seat.

  Federal campaign reports show Bera raised $534,009 through the first six months of the year. The report shows he's still carrying a $262,289 debt from his 2010 loss to Lungren, but $250,000 of that is money he lent himself. He had $450,508 in cash on hand as of June 30.

  The Elk Grove physician continues to tap donors from the medical and Indian-American communities — and family members. Sixteen donors named Bera each gave between $4,500 and $5,000 to the campaign during the first six months of the year.

  Lungren, meanwhile, raised $417,418 for the six-month period — about half of it from political action committees — and had $328,002 on hand as of June 30. The Gold River Republican's numbers are nearly identical to his fundraising output two years ago during the the first six months of 2009.

• Michele Bachmann is going to be giving headaches – When it became known that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) gets migraine headaches, the sniping by those in the pressand Democrats reached a boil. Staunch defenders of the Americans with Disabilities Act ironically suggested that this would be a barrier to her serving as president.

  But as often happens with Bachmann, she came out a winner. She released this statement:

  “Like nearly 30 million other Americans, I experience migraines that are easily controlled with medication. I am a wife, a mother, a lawyer who worked her way through law school, a former state senator who achieved the repeal of a harmful piece of education policy in Minnesota, and a congresswoman who has worked tirelessly fighting against the expansion of government and wasteful spending.
  “Since entering the campaign, I have maintained a full schedule between my duties as a congresswoman and as a presidential candidate traveling across the nation to meet with voters in the key, early primary and caucus states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. I have prescription medication that I take whenever symptoms arise and they keep the migraines under control. Let me be abundantly clear – my ability to function effectively has never been impeded by migraines and will not affect my ability to serve as Commander in Chief.
  “The many questions I have received on this subject have allowed me to discuss this important condition that impacts individuals in nearly one in four households. However, as a presidential candidate and office holder, I am focused on performing my job, which has never been more important given the state of our economy and the millions of Americans that are out of work. While I appreciate the concern for me and my health, the greater concern should be the debate that is occurring in Washington over whether or not we will increase our debt, spending and taxes.”
  That’s about as pitch-perfect a response as you are going to find. She is forthright, and she makes her statement a bonding moment with ordinary Americans. Moreover, she stays on message, highlighting her battle against debt, excess spending and tax increases.

• Michele Bachmann’s Migraines Not the Only Headache for Her Campaign – “I'm not sure the story would have gotten the same traction had it been a male candidate. My gut says it would have been treated as less of a big deal if the information pertained to, say, Mitt Romney than Michele Bachmann,” said Republican political consultant Liz Mair, who advised Republican Carly Fiorina during her unsuccessful campaign to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., in 2010. “It is fair to say that women in politics often face challenges where the media is concerned that are somewhat different to those faced by men.”
  Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University, has been doing research on the media coverage for male and female political candidates for the last 20 years. Her work shows that in the 1980s and 1990s, female candidates running for office at all levels of government received markedly different treatment in the press, with a focus on their appearance, their families, and so-called “feminine issues.” Those differences in treatment have faded over the last 30 years for most all offices—except for one.
  “That doesn’t seem to be happening when a woman runs for president,” Bystrom said. “That same equity does not run over. We still see the gender stereotypes that we did in the early 1980s.”
  Perhaps one among them: delicate Minnesotan congresswomen can’t handle their headaches.

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  I never heard a man's migraine headaches ever mentioned in a campaign before.

  Liz Mair has it right here.

These are my links for July 8th from 17:24 to 17:29:

• Media Bias 101: How liberal lies seep into our pop culture and become “fact” – I know there are people who have issues with Michele Bachmann, primarily due to her stance on social issues like gay marriage and abortion. I understand that and can respect those disagreements. But what I will NOT respect nor tolerate is when mainstream media outlets accept without question the bogus “reporting” done by prominent liberal blogs and websites, which is clearly what has happened here. As a result, their lack of reading the actual document itself and instead relying on a liberal blog whose reputation is questionable at best has poisoned the information stream that Average Joes who do NOT follow politics like you and I do rely on to help them form opinions on both issues and candidates.

  This is unacceptable.

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  The LEFT and MSM are trying to Palinize Michele Bachmann. But, I believe it will slide off like Teflon.

  I have asked the Washington Post, Liz Flock, ABC News, and Russell Goldman to issue corrections but at this point, even if they were gracious enough to do so, the damage has already been done. The “porn ban pledge” lie has seeped into the pop culture and this is the gross misinformation we get as a result. Mission Accomplished? You betcha.

• Did Michele Bachmann Sign a Pledge to “Ban Pornography”? – When I read that, it’s not clear to me that a ban on porn is what is intended. It may be, but it also could be interpreted to say that candidates are expected to work against the “seduction into…pornography” of women and girls, which is not the same thing as calling for a ban.

  Notice that footnote at the end of the quote? If you scan down, footnote 17 provides further evidence that this is not about banning porn:

  17 Human trafficking, child pornography and prostitution, pimping, sexual slavery and forced abortion are inherently coercive of vulnerable females. Infanticide and abortion are inherently coercive of the babies who are killed…

  The rest of the footnote is about their opposition to various abortion procedures.

  I’m waiting for someone to confirm this, but it looks as if the Family Leader pledge is not calling for a ban on porn. Indeed the word “ban” does not appear in the pledge. It appears to be calling for candidates to work against the abuse of children and women for purposes of porn and prostitution. The footnote seems to emphasize situations (trafficking, child porn, sex slavery) that are coercive in nature.

  Now it’s possible this group is completely against pornography of any kind. In fact, I would bet they are. But being against something and desiring to protect children and women from it is not the same as calling for a legal “ban” on it. It seems to me Think Progress is overreaching here. I guess we’ll see.

  Update: Just noticed that Sister Toldjah beat me to all of these points by at least an hour. She’s as outraged by this as I am.

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  Yeah the LEFT is going wildly after Bachmann like they did Palin.

These are my links for July 3rd from 12:31 to 13:29:

• Republicans May Take ‘Mini’ Debt-Ceiling Deal – Republicans would accept a “mini” deal with the Obama administration on raising the debt limit, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a Republican leader, said.

  Cornyn said today on “Fox News Sunday” that while Republicans would prefer a long-term settlement, they would accept a shorter-term agreement if that’s all they could get done. The U.S. Treasury Department has projected that on Aug. 2 the U.S. will no longer be able to meet obligations if the legal debt ceiling isn’t raised.

  “The problem with a mini-deal is we have a maxi problem,” said Cornyn, who is in charge of the 2012 Republican Senate campaign strategy. “We’ll take the savings we can get now, and we will re-litigate this as we get closer to the election.”

  The Senate shortened its July 4 recess and will remain in Washington to discuss a deal this week to raise the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt limit. The Obama administration is negotiating with Congress on reducing the long-term budget deficit as part of a plan to raise the limit before borrowing authority expires.

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  Accepting the mini-deal makes the GOP look reasonable and takes away a tool Obama can use to demagogue the issue early while the GOP are fighting Presidential primary wars.

• President 2012: Bill Clinton at Aspen – BILL CLINTON agreed to a last-minute appearance at the Aspen Ideas Festival (he was in town to meet with Clinton Foundation donors), and held forth for just over an hour last evening in an onstage interview with Ron Brownstein, then hung around for 30 minutes to sign programs and kibitz. He didn’t even wait for people to greet him, but lunged for Playbook, who was hanging back to give others a chance. The trim, ruddy former president wore crisp white slacks, a tan jacket and a white golf shirt. The front two rows included Justice Stephen Breyer, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Chris and Kathleen Matthews, Andrea Mitchell and Alan Greenspan, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Hank and Wendy Paulson, and Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Also in the house: Doug Band. Clinton spoke to a tent jammed with 800 people, and an overflow room held another 200 (including Walter Isaacson, who sportingly went over to keep them company). Choice excerpts:

  –Handicapping the current GOP 2012 field: “I’m always reluctant to say the strongest candidates, because I’m afraid I’ll kill ’em, and I don’t have the right to do that. [audience chuckles] But, y’know, I like the governors: I like Huntsman and Romney. Romney’s a MUCH better candidate than he was last time, because he’s not apologizing for signing the health-care bill. He’s got another creative way of saying we oughta repeal Obamacare, but that’s prob’ly the price of gettin’ the nomination. Huntsman hasn’t said what he’s for yet, but I just kinda like him. [laughter] He LOOKS authentic – he looks like a real guy. [laughter] I mean, a real human being. I like his family, I like his kind of iconoclastic way. And he was a pretty good governor. And he wasn’t a right-wing ideologue.

  “Bachmann’s been a better candidate than I THOUGHT she’d be, and I don’t agree with her on nearly anything. But she’s got a very compelling personal story, and she gotta lot of juice, and she turns [on] a lot of those anti-government crowd.”