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- As if the Waxman-Markey climate change bill working its way through Congress weren't contentious enough, President Obama has chosen to complicate things by introducing national emissions and mileage standards at a White House event scheduled for tomorrow. The rule change would effectively replicate California's tough standards at the national level and be fully implemented by 2016.
- President Obama tapped Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman to be U.S. ambassador to China late Friday, and while a lot of the chatter seems to be around Obama cleverly neutralizing an extremely hypothetical 2012 opponent, it turns out that Huntsman is, you know, very well qualified for the job. Meanwhile, it seems former president Bill Clinton will be named UN special envoy to Haiti.
- I think the GOP's new found obsession with bringing down Nancy Pelosi -- even if it makes a truth commission more likely -- is very telling of their tendency to prize tactics over strategy (or confuse the two). Pelosi hasn't changed her position on investigating torture, after all, and continues to insist the investigation will determine who's right about her claim that the CIA lied to Congress.
- Robert Draper's devastating look at the tenure of Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary is certainly in the must-read category. But as important as it is to show what a disaster Rumsfeld was, by making him the focus there's the risk of invoking the incompetence dodge.
- Weekend Remainders: Sen. Robert Byrd is hospitalized; the NRA just seems to bring out the crazy by osmosis; Obama goes to bat for Kirsten Gillibrand; Sen. Jim Webb disappoints; Dana Perino is the latest Bush flack to find a home at Fox News; Bill O'Reilly is apparently a very stupid man; and a potential NASA administrator chats with his potential new boss.
--Mori Dinauer
