I was curious if that was Andy's voice the other night when Keith was doing the apology tour voicemails? I thought it might have been but wasn't sure. Whoever it was, it was v. funny.

btw, Juan Williams has said his remark about Muslims was irrational.

Oh and Mark - Are you a Texas Rangers fan? If so, best of luck this weekend.

Kudo's for who ever came up with this idea! LOVE IT!

My question is do you prefer sausage or pepperoni on your pizza? ;0)

PS: Nice to see the legacy of the late GREAT Tim Russert live on! The man was one of a kind and the very best at what he did!

Bill Clinton is one of the greatest presidents this country has ever had. He is very intelligent, very articulate, and very brilliant. He is a very good orator. No Republican can match this man Bill Clinton.

Republicans keep on talking about Regan. I agree he was a good president but that was during that time when we did not have the kind of challenges that we are currently faced with. We did not even have the internet during those days and we all know the kind of influence that the internet has had on people's lives and on the economy in general.

I think this is a great idea. How long will it take for you to get back to us? I guess this could be my first question.

Cool story, bro~

Didn't FR do this before? Or at least something like it?

Time for a serious questions: What is the relationship between Chuck, Mark, Domenico and the unknown people (with the exception of Tyler) who operate newsvine? I don't want to know if you guys are friends. I'm curious about who is responsible for what?

I notice sometimes FR is linked to the MSN home page and a flood of bloggers visit us on the vine. Immediately the quality of the dialogue drops like a rock. I assume the purpose of opening up FR is to increase readership. Is that strategy working? I'm going to ask it as inquiring minds would like to know, In any given week, how many unduplicated hits visit FR?

More hard questions yet to come. But you invited us to ask...so just askin.

I noticesometimes FR is linked to the MSN home page and a flood of bloggers visit us on the vine. Immediately the quality of the dialogue drops like a rock.

Ain't that the truth Ron! I rarely venture past the first page as it rapidly becomes a juvenile name calling free for all!

The funniest part is all the baggers are agreeing with each other & the sole purpose is to see how many derogatory names they can come up with for President Obama!

No thanks... after reading some of that nonsense all I want to do is take a shower!

Hi Guys:

I would love it if you would cut down the number of topics regarding polls. They are just so repetitive and don't really tell us anything. How do decide on what topics to discuss. I noticed today that there was a live "question & answer" session about the Islamic Community Center. Why is there no info here about some of what was asked and answered.

Wow, Domenico and Mark are two brave guys. My local newspaper recently suspended the online comment section because of all the obnoxious posts. It's exciting to think we can actually communicate directly with the journalists, but let us all try not to abuse them (myself included.)

Palin (Grizzly's mother as she calls herself) and the rest of Republican teabaggers are really determined to take this country back to the ditch that we are currently struggling to come out of. They deliberately dug this hole knowing very well that it would be extremely difficult for whoever took over from them to bring things back to normal.

Think and think!! Do you side with Grizzly's Mom and her fellow teabaggers knowing they are the ones who first dug this deep hole OR will you vote for the Democrat leaders who have been working tirelessly since they were elected to get us out of the deep hole left by Republicans?

We voted for these leaders and for sure I sympathize with them based on the kind of economy that they inherited. Are we forgetting how these leaders have been working up to very late in the night (2.00 at night) to save this country from total economic collapse? How many among us will be willing to work up to 2.00 am at night during winter just to save the country. What kind of reward are we ready to give these leaders for having sacrificed all their energy and time for us? Vote them out?

What some people forget to understand is that most of these elected leaders are people with money and just ran for office because of their desire to serve their country and not to make money. Our failure to vote them back to the office does not hurt or punish them in any way as some republicans may think, instead it only hurt we the people they have been tirelessly serving. Since these leaders were elected, they have never rested; instead they have been working for us American people up to very late at night (2.00am). Are we going to fail to vote for them for having tirelessly worked for us? Do we want to vote for those other leaders who prefer to go there and just do nothing while earning tax payers money; to maintain the status quo?

Hey Fellers. Good on you. Just like old times when we used to have a chance to be a little more interactive with you’ll. I’m not going to get all political and stir up a bunch of mess this late on a Friday when we’re all wore out and scratched up some.

Mr. Murray I’m going to add a little good thought for those Texas Ranger’s myself. Even if you’ll Texans did steal my Senators to get started as long as they can beat the Yankee’s they’ll get my vote.

Mr. Montenaro We ‘ve got a first Birthday for the newest branch of the Montanaro family coming up here pretty soon don’t we. Bunch of First Read uncles and Aunts sure would like to know how the youngster is doing.

Good to see you’ll are doing well.

I second Ramboet's comment regarding the number of polls.

It also seems a number of the topics/political commercial are too redundant. Four blagos on Blagojevich in an afternoon when there are so many other subjects is frustrating at times.

Weekends/weeknights when so many have more time seem to die at times. If the last topics of the day/last on Friday were more compelling would help.

Ron has a good point about the MSN flood, but new faces are important. Maybe reserving a few for the weekend would be a good compromise.

Thanks for the job you guys do. I'd rather have to read 50 Feisty comments than go anywhere else. (And no Red - If you post 51, I won't go.)

It's great to read the inaction of the moderators and the posters. Good idea Mark and Domenico. I look forward to reading more.

From yesterday:

U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva’s congressional office is closed this afternoon as police respond to a suspicious piece of mail.

An envelope arrived with swastikas drawn on the outside and a white powdery substance on the inside, said Adam Sarvana, Grijalva’s spokesman.

The office is on lock down as police investigate. Those outside the office are not allowed in, and the workers and constituents inside are not allowed to leave until police clear the scene, Sarvana said.

Preliminary health checks show those in the office are OK, but further testing is needed because the substance has not been identified, Sarvana said.

__________

Tests were done and the substance was found to be toxic. Terrorism is on the rise in this country. And it has nothing to do with al Queda.

For how long do we continue to look the other way as hatred is spilled all over our airwaves? The hateful racist comments in this election year has been disgusting.

Actually, since Barack Obama was elected.

White supremacist America. All the rich white guys trying their damnedest to make you feel as though you are the victim. Just to get you angry.

They point fingers at the immigrants and tell you they are bad people.

But think about it. Think about what our very own pundits are saying. They are the ones full of hate.

Beck and Limbaugh.

And Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes are just as guilty.

And the illegal immigrants? They don't deserve the hate they're getting. They were good enough to be hired here and work for a living. By corporate America.

When is someone going to stand up and say - let us help you.

I have always wondered why someone who is obviously telling "whoppers" when they are on a program, why are they not called out for the retelling of the whoppers by the interviewer?

Great idea, perfect title. Mark and Domenico, I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say. Bet you have as much fun discussing some of the wild and crazy things candidates say and do as FR posters do.

Tim Russert, one of a kind and in the elite group with Walter Cronkhite--you trusted what he said.

I don't have a question, but I do want to thank you all for being accessible.

Means alot.

Drive-by-Observer

Thanks for pointing that out--I was just typing in a hurry and did not review. I meant former president Reagan. I am sorry for the misspelling.

Mark and guys, I get frustrated with the spin and untruths that come from the republicans/tp's about the President, First Lady, and even the issues that we are faced with and was wondering why we have these postings coming from Firstread without some effort to post the facts relating to them when this happens.

Is there a problem with the time it takes to do factchecking or is there another reason why this happens? The reason I ask is the possiblity of less knowlegeable readers of the posts that may not join in with comments.

I to appreciate the opportunity to read and post here and enjoy it very much, thanks to all of you.

Hello America, since so many have asked for some basics in Economics, I decided to compile "extremes" in Economics 101.

and I will make the definitions brief as possible with those pertinent to 2010, with current imputs from me.

Stagflation: high unemployment, with slow growth, inflation, during the 1980's the U.S. Goverment took money out of the U.S. Economy. This slowed growth plunging the U.S. Economy into a deeper recession.

Recession: is two consecutive quarters (essentially on the stock market) of decline in Gross National Product.

GNP: Gross National Product is the total value of any country's output of goods and services, its productivirty, during any given year. not to be confused with a Global Economic Output or Goverment Spending.

Depression: is a very severe form of a recession, whenever small buisness has slowed, and unemployment has increased, the goverment will try to pump money into the U.S. economy or Stimulate with TARP funds to try and revive it. not to be confused with a World Recession.

Unemployment: the U.S. Labor Department doesnot consider you unemployed unless you have been unemployed less than six months and are currently seeking employment.if you are unemployed and not actively seeking employment you are not considered unemployed, such as the Tent City People.during the late 1980's George Bush Senior, read my lips no new taxes, there was about 6% unemployment in the United States, 7million people looking for employment there was however 1 million people not employed and not seeking employment these were not counted as the unemployed. The State of California currently has 12% unemployment, many of who are illegal immigrants, not included in the percentage are those legal Americans who are no longer seeking employment.

Supply-side Economics: (not to be confused with Global Economics), is the term used for the goverment policy of lowering taxes, so that more money can be invested in small buisness productivity.during the late 1980's George Bush Senior, read my lips no new taxes, used supply-side economics, forcing the rich to pay a larger share of the Tax burden (or Federal Revenue). progreesive democrats such as Bill Clinton cried at the time, that, Growth was purchased at the cost of the highest National Debt in history, goverment stimulation or TARP could again lead to inflation. to fight inflation the goverment uses the Federal Reserve Board to maintain interest rates to small buisnesses.

Federal Deficit: is the gap between or difference between Federal Goverment Revenue from Tax Collection, and Goverment spending. which is not to be confused with Gross National Product. the Deficit in the late 1980's was $155 Billion Dollars, Goverment Spending exceeded Goverment taxing by 3% of the GNP. in 2010 goverment spending exceeds goverment taxing by 100% of the GNP which is $13 Trillion Dollars, in essence by 2020 the United States will effectively be Bankrupt, by its own goverment.

Global Economy: is currently the Economy shared by many of the Worlds Richest Most Powerful Nations, such as China, The United States, The Canary Islands, The Dutch Sandwich Islands, The Bahammas, and Bermuda which have 0% Corporate Taxes, and host the corporate headquarters of such companies as Google, Microsoft (the parent corporation of MSNBC), and other friends of Nancy Pelosi.

requested Addendum: Fezzy Bear Definition,

Small Buisness: any s-corporation, single buisness owner, or partnership that cannot afford to have its Headquarters in The Dutch Sandwich Islands

Sincerly Fezzy Bear

p.s. technically speaking the folks at MSNBC and the Nightly News are Outsourced employees of The Dutch Sandwich Islands

Guys...this is a fantastic idea. Absolutely love it. I'll throw a few questions out there:

1. How many seats has the GOP thrown away due to poor candidate selection in this midterm? At the very least they have lost Delaware. But it seems that states like KY that shouldn't be in play with a decent candidate are closer than they should be.

2. How effective are ads linking candidates to national political figures? I guess it boils down to how you vote. Do you vote for a party or an individual candidate?

3. Who is the most fascinating political figure you've had the chance to chat with?

Have a great weekend all!

Hey FR guys. Good to talk to you again. I already knew I was you guys favorite poster per our previous emails, but it was nice for you guys to share that with me again. No, I won't tell Feisty Dirthead and a couple of the others all the bad things you say about them in private. It's between US! Have a good one.

By the way, how did my idea of putting old sardines in Olbermann's desk drawer work out? Did he even notice the smell?

Have a good one.

Your BFF, CU Farley