26%

Say no friending on Facebook until the third date, 11% say wait to friend until you’ve made a real commitment; 80% of women want the guy to call, not text, the day after.

Part of the series, Assault on Florida.
Last week, Florida’s already wildly unpopular new Republican governor, Rick Scott, issued an executive order requiring state employees to submit to drug tests at least four times a year.
Last night, Rachel Maddow cited Scott’s order to illustrate the wide gap between Republican campaign rhetoric about small government and the [...]

Looks like the Tea Party had its 15 minutes of fame.
It’s a minor playa, if it’s even still in the game.
But nonetheless it did manage
To do plenty of damage —
Now our political dialogue’s just insane.

66%

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s favorable rating from Americans, up from 61% in July 2010 and just one percentage point below her all-time high from December 1998. She continues to get higher ratings than Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and she scores better with women than men, 72% vs. 59%.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
On her MSNBC show last night, Rachel Maddow took an in-depth look at the stark contrast between Republicans’ campaign rhetoric about limited government and what they actually do when they gain power, which is to use the government to curtail the rights of the [...]

Dumb gets old quick, according to a recent CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll. The better we know the Tea Party, the less we like it. Here’s how those surveyed rated the movement that gave us Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, former Alaska partial-term Gov. Sarah Palin, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, among others:

Favorable: 32%
Unfavorable: [...]

32%

A new low for approval for the Tea Party movement, the lowest it’s been since early last year, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research poll. Meanwhile, 47% have an unfavorable view of the movement, a higher negative percentage than ever.

I struggle to meet my bills right now … The benefits that were offered to me as a congressman don’t even compare to the benefits that you get as a state employee. I just experienced that myself. They’re not nearly as good.

— Rep. Sean Duffy (R-WI), quoted by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, defending his congressional salary and benefits to a constituent who responded, “But $174,000 — that’s … three times what I make.”

That’s a waste of time. He says he’s a Christian. He’s a Christian. And I do believe he was born in the United States. And I don’t think any of those things are the reason why America’s in trouble.

— Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), in an interview with ABC News, rejecting those who question President Obama’s religion and citizenship.

This is my 10th presidential campaign, Lord help me. I have never before seen such a bunch of vile, desperate-to-please, shameless, embarrassing losers coagulated under a single party’s banner. They are the most compelling argument I’ve seen against American exceptionalism.

— Joe Klein, on his Swampland blog, assessing the caliber of the Republican Party’s field of likely presidential candidates.