union

Michele Bachmann

Health Care: Calls reform law the “crown jewel of socialism,” plots its repeal every day (Iowa Independent, 2/7).

South Carolina: Plans to address Republican groups in South Carolina (Spartanburg Herald Journal, 2/3).

House: Tense relationship between Bachmann and Speaker Boehner (US News & World Report, 2/3).

Haley Barbour

Health Care: Joins with other GOP governors to protest reform law (Reuters, 2/7).

Fundraising: Tight knit group of corporate donors finance Barbour’s PAC (Politico, 2/6).

Mike Huckabee

Foreign Affairs: Wants to redraw Mideast borders according to the Bible (WaPo, 2/7).

Iowa: Advisers from 2008 Iowa campaign not in close contact with Huckabee (Des Moines Register, 2/6).

Sarah Palin

Religious Right: CPAC-boycotters question Palin’s comments about GOProud (The Hill, 2/7).

Media: Application to trademark her name rejected (TIME, 2/7).

Fundraising: Cancels Colorado fundraiser due to “onslaught of attacks,” but ticket sales were also lagging (Denver Post, 2/5).

Ron Paul

2012: Campaign for Liberty adviser believes Paul is "seriously considering" another presidential bid (Fox News, 2/7).

Religious Right: Set to address The Family Leader lecture series (Politico, 2/7).

Tim Pawlently

DADT: Defends position in favor of reinstating Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (Think Progress, 2/7).

Religious Right: Brandishes is evangelical faith at far-right The Family Leader forum (AP, 2/7).

Mitt Romney

Experience: Stresses his corporate background, downplaying role as Massachusetts’s governor (Forbes, 2/7).

2012: Gathers leading supporters to discuss nomination bid (Boston Globe, 2/4).

Fundraising: Uses five different state PACs to help raise $6.3 million (The Daily Beast, 6/4).

Rick Santorum

Campaign: Outlines contrasts between himself and leading GOP contenders to show path to victory (The Daily Beast, 2/5).

Religious Right: George Will emphasizes Santorum’s success campaigning on social issues (Union Leader, 2/3).

South Carolina: Told Tea Party group that he would eliminate the 9th circuit court (TPM, 2/3).

Michele Bachmann

SOTU: “Tea Party State of the Union Response” is widely panned, mocked on SNL (HuffPo, 1/31).

Budget: Veterans groups blast Bachmann’s proposal to slash veterans benefits (UPI, 1/28).

Congress: Invites Religious Right notable and anti-Islam activist to teach class on Constitution (RWW, 1/26).

Haley Barbour

Civil Rights: Congressman says Barbour's civil rights work in Mississippi more symbolic than substantive (Clarion Ledger, 1/30).

South Carolina: Privately meets with top South Carolina GOP activists (CNN, 1/25).

John Bolton

Foreign Affairs: In CNSNews interview, claims Obama “basically doesn’t care” about foreign and national security issues (1/31).

Budget: Tells neoconservative group that defense department shouldn’t face budget cuts (Philly Daily News, 1/28).

Mike Huckabee

PAC: Leadership PAC “plagued by anemic fundraising” (Politico, 1/31).

Health Care: Lauds ruling on reform law, says “it’s nice to see the courts upholding the Constitution” (Sunshine State News, 1/31).

Foreign Affairs: Justifies Israeli settlements by saying they are building in “the place that God gave them.” (AP, 1/31).

Polls: Ahead of rivals in early GOP polls with strong support among conservatives (TPM, 1/27).

Jon Huntsman

2012: Leaves post as Ambassador to China, advisers start New Horizons leadership PAC (Salt Lake Tribune, 1/31).

Religion: Will Huntsman’s Mormon faith hurt his presidential aspirations? (WaPo, 1/31).

Sarah Palin

PAC: Led other potential presidential candidates in final quarter fundraising (National Journal, 1/31).

Second Amendment: Defended gun rights and praised conservationism at Safari Club (AP, 1/31).

SOTU: Rants against Obama’s “WTF” moments, says he can’t be trusted (Facebook, 1/27).

Tim Pawlenty

Iowa: Courts Religious Right activists in next visit to Iowa (Iowa Independent, 1/31).

Foreign Affairs: Says Obama Administration’s response to crisis in Egypt was “inconsistent and bordering on incoherent” (Minnesota Post, 1/31).

PAC: Freedom First PAC has about $155,000 on hand after midterm election (WaPo, 1/28).

Religious Right: Meets with anti-choice radical Rob Schenck (RWW, 1/28).

Mitt Romney

Health Care: Obama aide says administration “got some good ideas” from Romney’s Massachusetts health law (CNN, 1/31).

PAC: Raised more than all other prospective candidates in 2010 (NYT, 1/31).

New Hampshire: Meets with New Hampshire businessmen (Union Leader, 1/31).

Rick Santorum

Religious Right: Set to address the far-right group Catholic Citizenship (AP, 1/29).

Iowa: Hires staffers with ties to corporate-backed group to lead Iowa campaign (RWW, 1/28).

SOTU: Pens New Hampshire op-ed criticizing Obama’s State of the Union (Union Leader, 1/27).

Jim Garlow was not impressed by President Obama's State of the Union address and has taken it upon himself to draft his own dream SOTU address that he wishes Obama had delivered in which he begs God's forgiveness for systematically destroying America ... and Garlow decided to publish it on the American Family Association's blog, of all places: 

Under my watch, more babies are being killed in the womb that under any other president, as I am the most pro-abortion president in the history of the US. I am ashamed of this. I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness.

I have tragically hastened to destroy the No. 1 preserver of all that is good in society – the family, consisting of a mother and a father. In my need to be politically correct, and my desire to garner more votes from the nuclear family attackers, I was drawn in to their errors and sins of redefining the family. I am ashamed of this. I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness.

I have helped to demoralize the military that defends us. I ran roughshod over 59% of the US Marines when I forced my social experimentation upon them, coercing them to accept lifestyles as normative, with no thought of troop readiness and cohesion. I was drawn in to the errors, lies and sins of political correctness, at the expense of truth. I am ashamed of this. I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness.

I have intruded into the privacy of relationships between a doctor and a patient – coercing governmental bureaucratic incompetency into what was once the finest health care in the world. I am ashamed of this. I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness.

I have apologized for America’s very existence to the world, playing into the “blame America syndrome.” I am ashamed of this. I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness.

I have shown that I have no sense of historical understanding regarding the profound and meaningful phrase “American exceptionalism.” I just did not “get it.” I am ashamed of this. I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness.

I have even quoted the Declaration of Independence – three times within a 33 day span – purposely skipping over three words “by their Creator” in my effort to appear to be an erudite, sophisticated secularist. I am ashamed of this. I am sorry. I ask for forgiveness.

We need God. We need him badly. I cannot save this nation. Neither can you. The Democratic Party cannot help us. The Republican Party cannot help us. Nor can any other party. Only God can. God, we beseech you to help us.

Please give me a chance to correct the errors of my ways.”

This is apparently a real thing:

Tea Party News Brief, LLC, headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa, is the nation's first nonpartisan news service for the Tea Party Movement. The Tea Party News Brief launches the News Brief Animated News Show to provide weekly policy analyses on the 112th Congress for the Tea Party Movement. This weekly animated news program can be seen on www.teapartynewsbrief.com. This week's episode is "State of the Union Night."

• If you didn't see Rep. Michele Bachmann's State of the Union response last night, you really need to watch it.
• Shockingly, Randall Terry was not impressed with President Obama's SOTU address and neither was Ralph Reed or the Family Research Council.
• The house-cleaning at the RNC continues.
• David Keene will be leaving the American Conservative Union and is expected to take over the National Rifle Association.
• Well, you certainly can't argue with Gary Cass's rock-solid logic here.
• And finally, Bryan Fischer says all of our public policy should be based on the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis.

Jay Sekulow runs the American Center for Law and Justice, the Religious Right organization founded by Pat Robertson to be a right-wing counterweight to the ACLU.  In that capacity, Sekulow has recently been leading the fight against the construction of the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque."

Today, Sekulow had Rep. Michele Bachmann on his radio program to discuss last night's State of the Union address and her response and during the conversation Sekulow asked her about the Tea Party classes on the Constution she is hosting for members of Congress featuring the likes of Justice Antonin Scalia and Wallbuilders' David Barton ... and apparently also Sekulow:

Bachmann: Our opening speaker was Justice Antonin Scalia. We had both Democrats and Republicans - we had four Democrat members of Congress. It was very civil, it was very open and we hope to invite all of the Supreme Court Justices to come and speak to us. But we also hope to have people like yourself, Jay - we've invited you to come and speak to members of Congress, to speak about the Constitution. The topic will be up to the speakers choice but the whole purpose and intent is to have members thinking about the Constitution and our limitations under the Constitution. That has not been a focus here in Congress in recent years. We intend to change that and this was a very good first meeting this week.

Sekulow: I look forward to participating [and] we appreciate you're not only representing the people of your district, you're representing all of use that share the concerns and the desire to see Constitutional Conservatism placed forward and Congresswoman, thanks for being with us and thanks for the bold stand you are taking in Washington.

Bachmann: Thank you. You're wonderful and thank you for your ministry.

• Michael B. Keegan @ Huffington Post: Scalia Teaches First of Bachmann's Constitutional Mythology Workshops.
   
• PFAW: Editorial Memorandum: Judicial Nominees and the State of the Union.
   
• Towleroad: Iowa House Committee Votes to Ban Same-Sex Marriage 13-8.
   
• Kate Sheppard @ Mother Jones: Gingrich Calls for Abolishing the EPA.
   
• Media Matters: Beck Calls For U.S. Chief Of Protocol To Be Fired Over Invented Controversies.
   
• Rachel Slajda @ TPM: Is It An Underage Sex Slave Ring, Or A Hoax? Either Way, Planned Parenthood Calls The FBI.
   
• Sarah Posner @ Religion Dispatches: When Nazi Comparisons are "Civil".

Michele Bachmann

SOTU: Plans to give her own State of the Union Response to a Tea Party Express rally, even though Wisconsin Rep. Jim Ryan is the official Republican speaker (Star Tribune, 1/24).

History: Maintains that skin color didn’t matter in early America at an Iowans for Tax Reform event (TPM, 1/24).

Religious Right: Addressed the “March for Life” Rose Dinner (Politico, 1/24).

Iowa: “Encouraged” by reception at Iowa events (Des Moines Register, 1/22).

Religious Right: Set to attend a meeting of Iowa’s The Family Leader, led by Bob Vander Plaats (RWW, 1/20).

Newt Gingrich

2012: Considering a presidential bid with a campaign based in Georgia (AJC, 1/21).

Religious Right: Set to attend a meeting of Iowa’s The Family Leader, led by Bob Vander Plaats (RWW, 1/20).

Rudy Giuliani

2012: Floats potential presidential bid despite 2008 defeat (TPM, 1/25).

Palin: Claims that a Palin candidacy would increase his chance of running (WSJ, 1/21).

Mike Huckabee

Debates: Won’t attend early debates in order to preserve his summer deadline (Politico, 1/24).

2012: Must decide whether to give up media “mini-empire” for a presidential run (LA Times, 1/21).

Sarah Palin

Texas: Spoke about how Alaska and Texas are both “good beacons of freedom” at a fundraiser for the Lubbock Christian School (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, 1/25).

Media: Dana Milbank proposes a month-long media boycott of covering Palin (WaPo, 1/21).

Tim Pawlenty

Book: Releases video advertisement promoting new book, Courage to Stand (TPM, 1/24).

Religious Right: Set to attend a meeting of Iowa’s The Family Leader, led by Bob Vander Plaats (RWW, 1/18).

Mike Pence

Religious Right: Addressed the “March for Life” in Washington, DC (Politico, 1/24).

GOP: May be able to unite economic and social conservatives better than Mike Huckabee (Religion Dispatches, 1/21).

South Carolina: Group of South Carolina state legislators launches a “Draft Pence” effort (RWW, 1/20).

Mitt Romney

Poll: Leads all other rivals in national poll of Republican voters with 24% (Rasmussen Reports, 1/24).

New Hampshire: Wins New Hampshire GOP straw poll (Christian Science Monitor, 1/22).

Health Care: Rove says Romney must respond to criticisms about his health care reform law in Massachusetts (Political Wire, 1/20).

Rick Santorum

Reproductive Rights: Defends criticism of Obama’s views on choice in an Op-Ed for the National Review (NRO, 1/24).

Iowa: Set to attend a meeting of Iowa’s The Family Leader, led by Bob Vander Plaats (RWW, 1/20).

Religious Right: Uses Obama’s race to attack his stance on abortion-rights, slams gay adoption (RWW, 1/19).

John Thune

Tea Party: May have trouble with Tea Party voters over his support for ethanol industry subsidies (The Argus Leader, 1/23).

New Hampshire: Thune fundraisers “making calls in New Hampshire on Thune’s behalf” (The Argus Leader, 1/21).

• PFAW: Americans Unite Against Corporate Influence in Elections on Anniversary of Supreme Court Decision.
   
• Julie Ingersoll @ Religion Dispatches: Theocracy: “What Would Be So Bad About It?”
   
• Sam Stein @ Huffington Post: Bachmann To Give Her Own State Of The Union Rebuttal.
   
• Good As You: A first look at Maryland's 'protect marriage' team: Gays 'hate the Lord', 'defy God'.
   
• Jillian Rayfield @ TPM: Louisiana Locals Train To Protect Their Churches With Guns.
   
• Sarah Pavlus @ County Fair: Caller: Dr. Laura Is Lying About Me.