So what were South Carolina’s governor and other top conservatives doing on Christmas Day, 1860? They were not at home celebrating the birth of Christ by singing hymns around their Christmas trees with their families.
No, on Dec. 25, 1860, these progenitors of the conservative movement and the modern-day Republican Party — they called themselves [...]

Gingrich radiates impatience with impediments to allowing majorities to sweep aside judicial determinations displeasing to those majorities. He does not, however, trust democratic political processes to produce, over time, presidents who will nominate, and Senate majorities that will confirm, judges whose views he approves… Gingrich’s unsurprising descent into sinister radicalism — intimidation of courts — is redundant evidence that he is not merely the least conservative candidate, he is thoroughly anti-conservative.

— Conservative pundit George Will, writing in the Washington Post.

I think Romney is the best choice for us. I like Perry, but he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere; he’s not surging forward.

— Former President George H.W. Bush, offering “words of support, if not an official endorsement,” to Mitt Romney, the Houston Chronicle reports. As for Newt Gingrich, Bush said, “I’m not his biggest advocate.”

The fact is if Governor Romney comes to me and wants to talk to me about that, we’ll have a full conversation about that and then (my wife) Mary Pat and I will make that decision about what we want to do with our future… “I think if you fast forward the tape to a year from now it’s going to be President-elect Romney and some other VP-elect and Chris Christie the Governor of New Jersey.

— New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, saying he would not rule out running for vice president, Reuters reports.

15,000

The number of domestic drones expected to be patrolling the sky by 2018.The Department of Justice refuses to reveal the conditions under which U.S. citizens can legally be assassinated by a targeted drone attack. Apparently “the most transparent administration in history” translates to “figure it out yourself.”

78%

Of American adults identify with some form of the Christian religion in 2011. Less than 2% are Jewish, less than 1% are Muslim, and 15% do not have a religious identity.

Some

Number of balls actor Matt Damon would’ve preferred on “a one-term president … who actually got stuff done,” in an attack on President Obama’s record.

17%

Of Americans, on average, said they were satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. in 2011, second only to the record-low 15% in 2008. Americans most often cited the economy, jobs, the deficit, and the job elected officials are doing as the most important problems in 2011.

GOP Rep. Sensenbrenner’s against Michelle’s war on body mass,
But his comments about it were low-brow and crass.
With judgment quite inferior,
He critiqued Obama’s posterior.
Well, she might have a large one, but he IS the bigger ass!

I do not concur in the words of Barack Obama in a plan to enter an ally of ours… I don’t think those kinds of comments help in this effort to draw more friends to our effort.

— Mitt Romney, quoted by Reuters in 2008, on the United States entering Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden.

I think other presidents and other candidates like myself would do exactly the same thing.

— Romney, in an interview on MSNBC earlier today, downplaying credit for Obama for ordering the raid in Pakistan that finally killed Osama bin Laden.