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After watching the movie adaptation of Mark Halperin and John Heilemann's "Game Change" this weekend on HBO, the one thing I found surprising about the movie is just how big of an emotional mess Sarah Palin was almost straight from the get-go after they recruited her to run with John McCain after not being properly vetted, and the campaign started finding out all of the dirt on her that they should have known about ahead of time if they were doing their jobs.

Which led to scenes like the one above where Palin was none to happy with staffer Nicolle Wallace after her disastrous interview with Katie Couric. I'm sure we can all take a lot of what was in the movie with a grain of salt, due to the fact that a lot of what was in it came from campaign staffers stabbing each other and McCain in the back for their terrible decision to draft Palin in the first place, and other anonymous sources, but on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Wallace admitted that the scene above was "true enough" to make her squirm.

That didn't stop former Dick Cheney adviser, Mary Matalin from calling it a work of fiction, even though she wasn't there herself. Leave it to Matalin to still be carrying water for Palin since she's been one of her staunchest defenders from day one. I expect we'll be hearing more of the same type of sentiments from Republicans who still don't want to admit that McCain made a huge mistake picking her, that she was not ready for the job and that it helped to tank his candidacy, whether every detail in the book or movie are completely accurate or not. The overall theme of the movie and how she was portrayed was pretty obvious to most of us watching that campaign at the time as the events actually occurred in real time.

Full transcript below the fold.

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This is just bizarre.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Graham, let me ask you about Afghanistan, some news breaking this morning. An American soldier reports that he went -- went rogue and essentially killed at least 15 Afghan civilians. Everyone is bracing now for another backlash, similar to what we saw after the burning of the Korans.

You've raised some serious questions about the mission, even though you do support it. Are you getting worried that it's not sustainable?

GRAHAM: No, I believe, one, this is tragic and will be investigated, and that soldier will be held accountable for his actions under the military justice system. Unfortunately, these things happen in war. You had an Israeli soldier kill worshippers by the Dome of the Rock mosque. You just have to push through these things.

Yeah, I'm sure if an Afghan national walked into a shopping mall and slaughtered 16 Americans -- including 9 children -- Graham's response would be, "Well, sh*t happens. Onward."

So what should we do, Lindsey?

GRAHAM: My recommendation to the public is, listen to General Allen, who comes back in two weeks. The surge of forces has really put the Taliban on the defensive. The Afghan army is better trained and better equipped than ever. The goal is to withdraw our forces by 2014, put Afghans in the lead, and I hope a strategic partnership agreement, George, between the United States and Afghanistan will stop the narrative we're leaving, that there will be a follow-on force post-2014 with air bases and special forces units to make sure the Taliban never come back, and at NATO we'll stay past 2014.

We can win this thing. We can get it right.

So, let's stay at least another two years, kill a bunch more people, and then -- we win!

Total madness.

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From this Sunday's Meet the Press, it seems Marsha Blackburn has forgotten all about her own track record of inflammatory rhetoric and habitually lying to the electorate and fearmongering when she made this statement in regards to the lack of civility in our political discourse.

GREGORY: But do we as voters celebrate the friction too much?

BLACKBURN: I think that what we have to remember is what was just said, learn to agreeably disagree, to make your point because when the rhetoric gets too loud it's like I was saying, voters are saying don't yell at me, listen to me, and give me the facts. They want to be well informed and they're seeking to be well informed. That's why you've seen the rise of so many grassroots organizations. And quite frankly, I think it speaks to E.J.'s point of why the pundits are wrong so much now. Because the American people are going directly to sources, getting their information and they want us to respect them. And respect that they give us the opportunity to represent them I seek to honor that in everything I do every day.

This from the same woman who gave this little rant on the floor of the House of Representatives immediately after the Affordable Care Act passed -- Marsha Blackburn Attacks Social Security. She wasn't too terribly worried about civility in our political discourse or facts for that matter at the time. And unfortunately there are plenty more examples where that one came from of Blackburn regularly resorting to the same sort of hyperbole.

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Economist’s View: A conservative economist explains when stimulus is too big, too small, just right or utterly wrong.

Romenesko: A look forward to the Doonesbury strips some newspapers are refusing to run this week.

Satirical Political Report: A look back at why Rick Santorum really won in Kansas.

Jed Lewison: A look at why Mitt Romney had no comment Friday on the February jobs report.

Speaking of which, your quote of the day: “He’s frequently telling us that he [President Obama] did not cause the recession, and that’s true. But he made it worse.” (Mitt Romney, February 1, 2012.)

Guest blogging Mike's Blog Round Up today is Jon Perr from Perrspectives. Send your tips, recommendations, comments and angst to mbru AT crooksandliars DOT com.

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Happy Birthday to our dear Vlogfather, John Amato!

Open thread and birthday wishes below....

Here's one off Elton's classic Tumbleweed Connection, my favorite album of his. Hope your Sunday has been swell.

Tumbleweed Connection
	Artist: Elton John Price: $4.12 (As of 03/12/12 05:25 am details)

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Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich says that rival Mitt Romney is the weakest GOP hopeful in almost one hundred years.

On Sunday, Fox News host Chris Wallace noted that Gingrich had to get more than 70 percent of the outstanding delegates to win the nomination.

"You said on Friday that even if you lose one or both Alabama and Mississippi, you're going to stay in this all the way to the convention," Wallace explained. "But doesn't it get awfully hard, and doesn't it become impossible to get to 1144 [delegates] if you don't win both states?"

"The Romney camp has been trying to sell since last June that I should get out of the race and that Romney is inevitable," Gingrich replied. "The fact is that Romney is probably the weakest Republican frontrunner since Leonard Wood in 1920, and Wood ultimately lost on the 10th ballot."

"Yes, he the frontrunner," the former House Speaker admitted. "He's not a very strong frontrunner and almost all conservatives are opposed to him, which is the base of the party. And I think we are as likely to see after the last primary in June, we are as likely to see a 60-day conversation about what is going to happen as we are to see Romney dominating."

After winning the New Hampshire primary in 1920, Gen. Leonard Wood was considered the Republican frontrunner but eventually lost the nomination to Warren G. Harding at the convention.

While Gingrich has a Ph.D. in modern European history, New York University Professor of Education and History Jonathan Zimmerman says that he's not a "real historian."

"[H]umility — the mark of a real historian — simply escapes Gingrich," Zimmerman wrote in a Chicago Tribune op-ed last last year.

(H/T: Talking Points Memo)

One of the things that had me beating my head against the desk during the 2010 mid-term elections, where we saw tea party candidates sweeping into state houses, was the casualness with which many Democratic operatives shrugged their shoulders over their own ineffectual campaigning. Because, as trite as it is true, elections have consequences, and every ten years, the politicos in charge get to draw congressional districts based on the census results. When you allow Koch-beholden, ALEC-brainwashed, tea party candidates with few demonstrated critical thinking skills in charge of determining the congressional districts, you run the risk of losing progressives like Dennis Kucinich, at a time where we can hardly afford to lose another one. But moreover, besides the loss of sympathetic politicians, inevitably, the redistricting we're seeing isolates the poor and minorities by the processes known as ">"cracking, packing and stacking":

Cracking means dispersing a group of voters into several districts to prevent them from reaching a majority. Packing means combining as many like-minded voters into one district as possible to prevent them from affecting elections in other districts. Stacking occurs when low-income, less educated minorities are grouped together to create a perceived voting majority but are placed in the same district as high-income, more-educated white voters who turn out in greater numbers.

Many who spoke at the hearing said Republicans are lumping black voters (84 percent of African-American voters are registered Democrats, according to 2008 data from the state board of elections) in districts that will ensure minority representation. In turn, this aggregation would make it easier for GOP candidates to win in neighboring white districts.

Ben Griffin, vice president of the New Hanover County NAACP, called the plans "segregation for partisan advantage."

That kind of sneaky maneuvering kills democracy, plain and simple. Marginalizing minority votes, in combination with the voter ID laws cropping up around the country is putting us closer and closer towards that permanent Republican majority with which Karl Rove has threatened us for years.

Melissa Harris-Perry talks with NYU Constitutional Law Professor Kenji Yoshino, Republican strategist Katon Dawson and National Urban League President Marc Morial on this practice. Shira Toeplitz wrote on just how"> ridiculous the Ohio redistricting was for Kucinich and Kaptur:

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Credit: Roll Call

The Buckeye State lost two House seats, and Republicans moved Democratic Reps. Marcy Kaptur and Dennis Kucinich into the same lakeshore district. But the two Democrats don’t exactly live next door to each other — more like 120 miles apart. So Republicans drew a thin district connecting their homes, stretching from west Cleveland to Toledo along the Lake Erie coastline. The district is connected by a bridge that’s only 20 yards wide, as well as by a single beach at one point. When Crane Creek State Park beach is covered during high water, Democrats argue the district is not even contiguous.

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Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has a foolproof plan to win the GOP nomination: He wants everybody else to just quit.

On Sunday, NBC host David Gregory asked the candidate if he would like to see former House Speaker Newt Gingrich drop out if he loses upcoming primaries in Alabama and Mississippi.

"I'd like everybody to get out," Santorum admitted. "That'd be great if they could just clear the field."

"Congressman Gingrich can stay in, the Speaker can stay in as long as he wants, but I think the better opportunity to make sure we nominate a conservative is to give us an opportunity to go head to head with Gov. [Mitt] Romney at some point. Hopefully that will occur sooner rather than later."

Gingrich on Sunday implied that Romney should be the one dropping out of the race.

"The fact is that Romney is probably the weakest Republican frontrunner since Leonard Wood in 1920," the Georgia Republican told Fox News host Chris Wallace.

(H/T: National Journal)

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This Week with George Stephanopoulos remembers the 19,000 casualties on the one year anniversary of the Japanese tsunami. The Pentagon has released the name of one soldier, who died from injuries sustained while serving in Afghanistan.

US Army SPC Edward J Acosta, 21, Hesperia, CA

In addition, the following notable names lost their lives this week: songwriter Robert Sherman, congressman Donald M. Payne, singer Jimmy Ellis, homeless activist Leslie Cochran, Earth Day co-founder Selma Rubin, and skier Nick Zoricic.