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- The Obama administration has canceled a Bush-era proposal to build a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe, prompting predictable cries of appeasement from the bellicose right wing which would love nothing more than to escalate tensions between the United States and Russia. If only Obama had looked to history, he would have learned that Reagan the Great caused the Soviet Union to collapse with the mere prospect of unproven, fantastically expensive space lasers.
- It's a regular occurrence, but Democrats need to stop playing along with every would-be scandal concocted by Republicans, in this case the business of Obama's czars. I realize this has been a pet issue for Russ Feingold for some time now, so at least he's being consistent. But for the DNC to take it's cues from, ultimately, the likes of Glenn Beck is to buy into the right wing's ceaseless efforts to question the legitimacy of Barack Obama's presidency. And worse, as Dave Weigel points out, it distracts from the very real issue of Senate Republicans blocking Obama's appointments that are confirmed by the Senate.
- Kate Sheppard points to a study from the Competitive Enterprise Institute which claims climate change legislation will cost the average American family $1,761 per year. The problem is that the study analyzes a legislative proposal that doesn't actually exist. And now, thanks to the vigilance of CBS News, the meme has now graduated from conservative think tank to the legitimate mainstream media. Even worse, Declan McCullagh, the author of the CBS News report, is refusing to acknowledge this basic problem with the study and is instead forcing it into the familiar "he said she said" storyline. Time for another blogger ethics panel.
- Rarely do you see conservative contempt for democracy so plainly stated. Speaking at the American Conservative Union conference yesterday, The Wall Street Journal's John Fund gravely warned the attendees that should Democrats pass health care reform, the next step would be to "ram universal voter registration through Congress." It's funny how conservatives constantly whine that everything liberals and Democrats do goes against the will of the American people, yet consistently work to ensure that the only votes that matter are those that are friendly to Republicans.
- Remainders: Nobody could have predicted that the Baucus "compromise" bill would have less overall support than one written with liberals in mind; shockingly, a majority of the public thinks Republicans are using scare tactics in the health-care debate; Orly Taitz is a pathetic advocate of perjury; Operation Rescue is broke -- good riddance; and according to The Corner, stimulus spending never works.
--Mori Dinauer
