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- In a Wall Street Journal interview, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel once again remarked that including a public option in health-care reform legislation was subservient to "success," prompting a refutation from the president, who is speechifying in Moscow. Let's hope that the administration doesn't follow the Senate Finance Committee's lead and support restricting coverage for people with ovaries in the name of compromise.
- It must be asked -- again -- why the GOP is so interested in re-fighting political battles that have long since been resolved. Al Franken was sworn in today as the newest member of the 111th Congress. Yet the NRSC is still pushing ads featuring doctored photos of Franken as if this will have some effect on voters, who already weighed in months ago and won't get another chance until 2014. The only remaining explanation is that the powers that be in the GOP are doing this to amuse themselves and their base, speciously clinging to the belief that they can drag Democrats down to their sub-adolescent level. Maybe they ought to go back to reading the Alaskan governor's Twitter feeds about salmon fishing.
- Dan Froomkin, recently released from his duties at The Washington Post, has been picked up by The Huffington Post to be their Washington bureau chief. The lesson here is that "serious" newspapers are cutting costs by getting rid of good reporters while retaining the likes of Will and Krauthammer and attempting to raise money by charging for access. "Unserious" periodicals like HuffPo, meanwhile, are engaged in celebrity gossip and skin teases to underwrite good original reporting. To the comments section! -- which will prevail as the future business model for journalism?
- Mark Leon Goldberg observes that the Honduras "coup caucus" has expanded beyond the usual non-officeholders writing for The Weekly Standard and has infected members of Congress: "Florida Republican Connie Mack is circulating a congressional resolution that effectively supports the coup. So far, the Congressional Coup Caucus includes Dan Burton (Republican from Indiana), Jeff Fortenberry (Republican from Nebraska) and Dana Rohrabacher (Republican from California) who are co-sponsoring the resolution."
- Remainders: McNamara's other legacy; Alberto Gonzales finds a job; can someone please explain to me why anyone would watch MSNBC's "Morning Joe"?; and it's John Boehner vs. the Ohio Department of Transportation.
--Mori Dinauer
