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- Barbara Boxer and John Kerry introduced the Senate's version of climate change legislation today, and the bill moves in much the same direction as the the Waxman-Markey House bill which passed earlier this year. In other environmental news EPA chief Lisa Jackson confirmed that she would use the regulatory power granted to the administration to curb emissions.
- Newsmax published, then retracted, a column that argued a military coup might be the only way to solve the country's "Obama problem," that is, the supposed constitutional threat stemming from the administration. You can find an archived copy of the article here. And while Obama himself has attracted an unusual amount of unhinged paranoid fear, this latest incident is not exactly, as Jon Chait puts it, "another milestone for the far right." For instance, back in May of 2007, the certifiable Thomas Sowell fantasized that a coup might be necessary to halt "the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia."
- It's tempting to believe that boycotting the Democratic fundraising apparatus will put pressure on conservative Democrats like Blanche Lincoln and Ben Nelson to show more party unity. But that assumes that these Democrats are primarily concerned about their constituents rather than their donors. And since Nelson is opposed to using budget reconciliation to pass health-care reform (unless it's for budget-busting tax cuts) it's clear his only concern is taking care of the insurance industry.
- John Derbyshire's admission to Alan Colmes that women should not have the right to vote is typical of the ongoing effort of conservatives to define women as subhuman. But his claim that women shouldn't have the vote because they "lean left" is incredibly weak. The implication, then, is that the only votes that count should be those that do not lean left; in other words, we should award the franchise based solely on political ideology. Truly a conservative belief, that.
- Remainders: Congress loves its socialized medicine; Harry Reid cancels the October recess; Nike quits the Chamber of Commerce, and the chamber denies that they ever questioned the science behind climate change; and David Brooks doesn't want you to remember the deregulatory policies of Ronald Reagan.
--Mori Dinauer
