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- Reacting to House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman's threat to bypass Blue Dog Democrats on his committee and take health care reform legislation directly to the House floor, said Blue Dogs have reported that negotiations "pretty much fell apart this afternoon." It's good that Waxman stood his ground and refused to let these "centrists" bleed the legislation to death by a thousand cuts, but it sure doesn't make it any likelier that the House will get something passed before the dreaded August recess.
- Spencer Ackerman highlights President Obama's refusal to use "victory" as a a way of measuring progress in Afghanistan, and whatever you might think of the president's policy, it's clear that he has no use for buying into the sort of "World War 4" rhetoric that dominated the country for years after 9/11.
- "Perhaps a moment of reflection?" is how Atrios titled his response to a TIME magazine survey that placed Jon Stewart at the top of the list for "most trusted name in news" (N.B. the poll does not appear to have been conducted scientifically). Of course, Stewart himself addressed this very topic years ago but I see little evidence that much has changed. Cable news is consistently the worst offender, but arguably more damage is done by the big names at the "serious" networks who are still coasting on prestige earned decades ago.
- He might not be handing out novelty checks while bashing the federal government that provided them, but like the Louisiana governor, Texas Governor Rick Perry definitely wants the people of his state to suffer, suggesting he would evoke the "states' rights" provision of the 10th Amendment to resist federal health care reform.
- People seem to have a difficult time recalling that the minimum wage increase that went into effect this month was part of a legislative effort from 2007, you know, a year before the recession began. But to hear the usual suspects discuss it you'd think that this was further evidence that liberals are destroying the economy either through malice or ignorance.
- Remainders: John Boehner cares deeply about America's health care woes; Senate clown Al Franken gets a bill passed; Texas conservatives want to ensure your children get a head start on wallowing in ignorance; Michael Goldfarb is still deranged; and going Galt never looked so apathetic.
--Mori Dinauer
