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- Contrary to the blathering of some Republican hack, the Obama administration can "do" very little about the evolving situation in Egypt. Personally, I think the writing's on the wall for Mubarak, and probably in no small part because he knows his options for retaining power are increasingly limited to outright oppression, a little of which we're seeing today. And, as this so-so (do we really need paragraph-long reminder of the "3 a.m. phone call" attack ad?) Glenn Thrush piece on Hillary Clinton's role in talking Mubarak down suggests, behind the scenes diplomacy will accomplish more than any "decisive action" taken by the United States.
- My assumption is that state legislatures routinely introduce ill-fated bills that do things like mandate gun ownership, strike down equal pay laws for women, and ban driver's licenses. My question is whether these developments have increased due to the influx of more radical Republicans or whether it only feels that way because each of these incidents receives vastly more media coverage than in previous times.
- Epistemic closure watch: Tucker Carlson will receive the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award from the conservative media watchdog, Accuracy in Media, at this year's CPAC, while Donald Rumsfeld will be honored at the same conference with a "Defender of the Constitution" award. Yeah, it's CPAC, but is there anyone in the conservative movement who possesses a shred of honest self-criticism?
- Remainders: Mike Konczal on the utter failure -- politically and policy-wise -- of the Ownership Society; Republicans simply do not care about providing health coverage to their constituents; I've said it before and I'll say it again, no one ever won an election by appealing to "First Principles"; and taxing the rich shouldn't be this complicated, but if it increases revenues, I'm game.
--Mori Dinauer