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- Perhaps the highs and lows of international diplomacy just aren't interesting enough for segments of the press, which is why the "where is Richard Holbrooke?" question gained some currency after Sen. John Kerry's breakthrough earlier this week. But sometimes there just isn't any real palace intrigue, and Holbrooke's absence could be explained by fairly mundane reasons: "I didn't know I was missing in action because I was kind of busy all day ... The truth is that I go [sic] Afghanistan every two months and I was there less than two months ago. When I came back, I knew we were plunging into the biggest imaginable policy debate so [Secretary of State] Hillary [Clinton] and I mutually felt that my place at this time was to stay here."
- Another day, another poll showing the GOP at record lows in popularity. What's interesting is what happens if today's political conditions remain the same a year from now: Congress unpopular in general and congressional Democrats unpopular in particular, but with an alternative that is loathed by much of the country. Like Dave Weigel observed yesterday, any talk about about unemployment, Afghanistan, federal spending and bailouts -- potentially political winners for Republicans -- is being rendered incoherent by the GOP's continuing embrace of fantasy issues being driven by Glenn Beck, et al.
- I can tell you, with 100 percent certainty -- yes 100 percent -- that Fox News chief Roger Ailes will not be a Republican candidate for president in 2012. I could have told you that even before Ailes laughed it off. Clearly his handlers are interpreting the currently high-profile yet ultimately transitory standoff between the White House and the cable channel as some sort of wellspring of popular support that will sustain the proto-candidacy of an largely unknown partisan for the next two years.
- Remainders: I don't think anyone knows what's happening with the public option; the FEC doesn't stand in the way of allowing for greater spending by outside groups during campaigns; and the Michigan State House has enough free time on their hands to introduce legislation dehumanizing women.
--Mori Dinauer
