Rush Has a Butt Fixation

(NEWSER) - GOP operatives opposed to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor aren’t happy about the “help” they’re getting from Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh, CQ Politics reports. Limbaugh called the nominee a “bigot” for saying “a wise Latina woman” will often make better decisions than a white man. “We’re going to attack Sotomayor with charges of reverse racism?” a Republican insider sputtered. “That’s nutty old white man talk.” More»

Attack focuses on Bill Maher comments, White House 'boys' club'

(NEWSER) - Democrats often slam the GOP's "war on women," but now it's the Republicans who are hitting back at "Obama's war on women" in a new attack ad, Mediaite reports. The Republican National Committee ad focuses on controversial remarks Bill Maher—who is also a bigtime Obama donor—has made about women, and prominently features CNN's Erin Burnett interrogating an uncomfortable-looking David Axelrod over the remarks. It then moves on to Ron Suskind's Confidence Men, the book that painted a picture of the White House as a "hostile workplace" for women. More»

Won't comment on apology but reiterates that insult was out of bounds

(NEWSER) - Rush Limbaugh's "slut" attack on law student Sandra Fluke has no "place in public discourse," says President Obama. At his news conference today, Obama explained that he called Fluke after the incident because he wants people to be able to speak their minds about policy, noting that he wouldn't want his daughters "attacked or called horrible names" for voicing their opinions, the AP reports. As for Limbaugh's apology , Obama said he's not sure "what's in Rush Limbaugh's heart, so I'm not going to comment on the sincerity" of it. See the transcript of the exchange at USA Today . For more on the news conference itself, click here . More»

Establishment, Tea Party, libertarians all negative in different ways

(NEWSER) - With the Republican Party so divided, it's no surprise that its response to President Obama's State of the Union address would also be divided, notes the Washington Post . In addition to an official response by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and a Tea Party response by Herman Cain, Mitt Romney and the other GOP candidates also weighed in:

• Cain's rebuttal focused on familiar Tea Party complaints—"Obamacare," "class warfare," and the "liberal media." Cain also addressed old sexual harassment allegations against him, noting that the "false attacks" derailed his campaign, but that accusations against Newt Gingrich failed because "the American people are waking up to dirty, gutter politics,” he said. “The American voters are saying, ‘We ain’t stupid.’"

Virginia Republican Party goes ballistic over gory image

(NEWSER) - Conservatives in Virginia checked their email today and found an image of President Obama with a bullet through his head—courtesy of Loudon County's Republican committee. The image portrayed Obama as a zombie, with a bleeding hole in his forehead and part of his skull missing, the Washington Post reports. State party chair Pat Mullins responded by saying that "the disgusting image used today on a mass email has no place in our politics. Ever." More»