A TAWDRY WORDFIGHT erupted yesterday on the Chris Matthews program between Frank Gaffney, some shouty, mid-level hawk, and Ronald Reagan’s son, Ron Reagan. “Do you want the Taliban to be Afghanistan’s government?? Taliban, Ron,” Gaffney screams at Reagan, who’s like, “…” Then Reagan essentially tells Frank Gaffney that he and all his stupid arguments are red herrings, like red herrings in a barrel that you shoot easily. And then, THEN, Gaffney’s all, “Your father must hate you so hard from beyond the grave.” This displeases Ron Reagan so! [TPM]

While riding bikes with one of his sons, delicate human being Mark Sanford fell and sprained both wrists. Immediately, Sanford publicly blamed the episode on another person, specifically his own child. “[My son] had not yet learned the rules of the road, so to speak, and he turned left and I was stupidly locked in my pedals. So down I went. I was lucky I didn’t break both wrists.” So, smooth move kid. Anyway, what he really wants to talk about is his broken heart, which has been inexorably hemorrhaging into the rapids of a spiritual Rio Panama. His family is also to blame for this. [GreenvilleOnline]

The only thing Nevada hates more than its loathed Senator Harry Reid is the possibility of a “Reid Political Dynasty,” wherein Reids of all variations of rounded, wire-frame glasses manage to become elected to public office throughout the state. So why then does Harry Reid’s son, alliterative nuisance Rory Reid, insist on running for governor when absolutely no one wants him to, including his own father? This used to not even be a big deal, back when Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley was expected to beat Rory Reid in the Democratic primary, but now Barbara Buckley dropped out of the race, leaving Nevada with no other choice but to embrace the Reids as its own species of charmless desert Kennedy. MORE »

So guess what? Over the weekend, another Kennedy spontaneously generated in the depths of the Nantucket Sound and emerged ashore. It has requested to be called “Joe II,” and by default it has already been lauded as the most politically accomplished Kennedy of its generation. In fact, this Joseph P. Kennedy II might run for Teddy’s old Senate seat, the “Kennedy seat,” as all other Kennedy options are undesirable or Caroline Kennedy or both. MORE »