Florida primary headlines and famous women breaking taboos

 

“Mary Tyler Moore’s taboo-breaking shows seen in a new light“:

Between “The Dick Van Dyke Show’s” Laura Petrie and Mary Richards, Moore helped create two of televisions most influential and indelible roles — there’s a statue depicting the famous Mary hat toss in downtown Minneapolis. How many other television characters have their own statue?

With her then-husband Grant Tinker, she formed MTM Enterprises, which produced equally influential and successful shows including “Rhoda,” “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Hill Street Blues.” Following a career path almost unheard of in the United States at the time, she went on to win accolades for her work in film (including an Oscar nomination for “Ordinary People”) and stage (where she was the first female lead in “Whose Life Is It Anyway?”).

Speaking of women bravely breaking taboos:

“Charlotte Bergmann is running for Congress in Tennessee’s most racist, misogynist corner”

Spoiler alert: Ms. Bergmann is a black Republic in a heavily Democratic district.

“Romney has double-digit lead in Florida polls“:

Three new polls showed the former Massachusetts governor seizing a double-digit lead over his nearest competitor, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in Florida, where voting will end on Tuesday.

Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania trailed far behind, with little hope of victory in a state where the winner will take all 50 delegates, and the rest will get nothing.

“Florida Fever: Naples Struck by Sudden Outbreak of Raging Mitt-mania Epidemic“:

Dear Stacy McCain reports from the scene with photos and videos:

Attention young conservatives: Your grandma loves Mitt Romney.

The phenomenal shift in the polls here in the Sunshine State — which has provoked much commentary and analysis about “strategy” and “messaging” — may in fact be little more complicated than that. And the massive crowd that turned out in downtown Naples today to hear and see Mitt was certainly evidence of how real Romney’s Florida surge is.

“A Mormon Church in need of reform“:

“… mainstream Mormons banned polygamy in 1890 to obtain Utah’s statehood, but they continue to perform temple ceremonies that “seal” one man to multiple women in the hereafter. My idea of heaven did not involve a husband whose love could be shared with many wives. [Dear Stacy McCain: Why don’t you ask Romney for his total number of wives counting both this world and the Mormon “spirit world”?]

“… Perhaps someday the church will not excommunicate, fire and demote people who want honest, church-wide dialogue about Mormon history and doctrine.

“Some Mormons compare Joseph Smith, the church’s founder, to Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer who exposed Catholic power abuses and doctrinal inconsistencies. Mormonism needs a Luther of its own.”

“Gingrich says he’s in till GOP convention“:

Gingrich’s pledge, in an already remarkably unpredictable race, raised the prospect of an extended struggle inside the party as Republicans work to defeat President Barack Obama in the fall. “You just had two national polls that show me ahead,” he said. “Why don’t you ask Gov. Romney what he will do if he loses” in Florida.

“George Will: We’re at the horrid stage with Newt Gingrich” (boldfacing mine):

“Time is not Newt Gingrich’s friend because the more time he has the more he talks. And the more he talks the more he says things, as he just here this morning, he said that I would love to be civil, but I’m running against a maniacal liar. Now, that’s pretty strong language. I don’t know if you have ever told Longfellow’s nursery rhyme to your 4-year-old daughter Alice yet. ‘There’s a little girl, had a little curl right in the middle of the forehead. When she was good, she was very good indeed. And when she was bad, she was very horrid.’ And we’re at the horrid stage with Newt Gingrich,” George Will said on ABC’s “This Week” today.

Jonah Goldberg made the same point a few days ago during the brief period when Gingrich was ahead in the Florida polls — although Goldberg used a more contemporary allusion to Japanese cinema:

Right now, Romney’s best hope is time, because history shows the only thing that can truly defeat Newtzilla is Newtzilla himself. The question is, is there time?

Gov. Palin on Fox News puts her finger on the quality of Gingrich that tea party voters find most appealing:

“You gotta rage against the machine, at this point in order to defend our republic and save what is good and secure and prosperous about our nation, we need somebody who is engaged in sudden and relentless reform and isn’t afraid to shake it up. Shake up that establishment.

“So, if for no other reason to rage against the machine vote for Newt, annoy a liberal. Vote Newt. Keep this vetting process going, keep the debate going.”

“Ron Paul: Staying in GOP race through the convention“:

Ron Paul vowed today he’ll stay in the GOP race through the national convention in Tampa and defended his decision to campaign in Maine while his rivals are focused on Florida.

“Santorum says daughter has pneumonia but is recovering, he will return to campaigning soon“:

Santorum described the situation as a “very, very tough night last night” but said by late Sunday Bella was “alert and back to her own beautiful, happy girl.”

“Congressional GOP slam Obama sloganeering, accuse Obama of slow march to Election Day“:

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said that Obama uses the rhetoric of the right to make a case about fairness and equality, but produces policies that lead to “crony capitalism” and result in giving the government more power.

(snip)

“What we have learned with the president time and again is he is going to put some kind of poll-tested line in the State of the Union address and have no follow-up whatsoever,” Ryan said. “We have learned already that the president who’s had three years to try and propose real solutions to fix our fiscal crisis is ducking it. He hasn’t put a plan on the table yet. He formed commissions and super committees, so he sort of outsourced the leadership only to decry their results.”

Finally, good news for the world’s youngest blogger:

“A blog as therapy for teenagers“:

Research has long backed the therapeutic value of diary-keeping for teenage girls and boys. But according to a new study, when teenagers detail their woes onto a blog, the therapeutic value is even greater. Blogging, it seems, can be good for you.

The study, published in the journal Psychological Services and conducted by Meyran Boniel-Nissim and Azy Barak, psychology professors at the University of Haifa, Israel, found the engagement with an online community allowed by the blog format made it more effective in relieving the writer’s social distress than a private diary would be.

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