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Flap’s Links and Comments for March 13th on 18:19

These are my links for March 13th from 18:19 to 18:24:

  • President 2012: Going Rogue on Ailes Could Leave Palin on Thin Ice – Before Sarah Palin posted her infamous “Blood Libel” video on Facebook on January 12, she placed a call to Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. In the wake of the Tucson massacre, Palin was fuming that the media was blaming her heated rhetoric for the actions of a madman that left six people dead and thirteen others injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

    Palin told Ailes she wanted to respond, according to a person with knowledge of the call. It wasn’t fair the media was making this about her. Ailes told Palin that she should stay quiet.

    “Lie low,” he said. “There’s no need to inject yourself into the story.”

    Palin told Ailes that other people had given her that same advice. Her lawyer Bob Barnett is said to have cautioned her about getting involved. The consensus in some corners of Palin's camp was that she faced considerable risks if she spoke out.

    But, this being Sarah Palin, she did it anyway.

    Ailes was not pleased with her decision, which turned out to be a political debacle for Palin, especially her use of the historically loaded term "blood libel" to describe the actions of the media. “The Tucson thing was horrible,” said a person familiar with Ailes’s thinking. "Before she responded, she was making herself look like a victim. She was winning. She went out and did the blood libel thing, and Roger is thinking, 'Why did you call me for advice?'”

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    Sarah Palin sealed her 'not ready for prime time run" fate with her Tucson "Blood Libel" Debacle.

    Since then her polling has been even worse.

  • California Census data mean big changes in legislative/cogressional districts – When the Census Bureau released details of the 2010 census in California, therefore, political bean counters immediately massaged the data to calculate which Assembly, Senate and congressional districts must be changed dramatically to equalize their populations.

    The detailed over/under data on the 120 legislative and 53 congressional districts confirm what the gross census numbers implied – that there must be a major shift of seats from Democratic-voting coastal areas, such as the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles County, to the more conservative-leaning interior counties.

    A decade ago, for instance, 40 state Senate districts were equalized at about 850,000 constituents each. The 2011 census told us that they now should be about 931,000 because the state's population increased by 10 percent. In fact, however, those districts now range from 87,615 persons under that number (Senate District 22, represented by Sen. Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles) to 284,527 over (SD 37, held by Sen. Bill Emmerson, R-Hemet).

    De León's and Emmerson's numbers reflect the startlingly small growth recorded for Los Angeles County, just 3.1 percent in 10 years, and the explosive, 30 percent growth in adjacent Riverside and San Bernardino counties. And it may indicate that, as many demographers suspect, the census missed many Los Angeles residents, especially illegal immigrants.

    But the census, accurate or not, is official and the huge urban-suburban disparity – also evident in Assembly and congressional district numbers – means that the redistricting commission, if it does its job well, will be making immense changes in the state's political maps.

    It will shift districts from slow-growing coastal urban areas to fast-growing interior counties, opening opportunities for some politicians while discomfiting others.

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    It will hurt Democratic incumbents in the California Legislature as they all try to shift due to term limits.

    But, GOP Congressional members may be in more jeopardy.