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- Laura Rozen shares Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's reaction to the Obama administration's tough stand against expanding Israeli settlements, as well as Netanyahu's surprise that unlike past presidential administrations, Obama's isn't passively yielding to the Israeli position. I think moments like this serve as a good example that claims of the deep influence of the "Israel Lobby" on U.S. foreign policy are the result of a reputation for influence, rather than influence itself.
- It's undeniably good news that Finance Chairman Max Baucus is willing to fight "tooth and nail" for a public option in the health care reform bill and even better that Sen. Ben Nelson is now "open" to accepting a public option, given that this was previously a "dealbreaker" for him. Meanwhile Ezra notes how unions are standing in the way of substantive health care reform.
- I'm hard pressed to understand how the the ignorant rantings of 2008 presidential candidate Tom Tancredo, or convicted felon and right-wing thug G. Gordon Liddy's misogyny, or Fred Barnes' musings on the intelligence of Hispanics inform the public debate on Sonia Sotomayor. But one thing I am certain of, courtesy of Politico's dogged reporting, is that the White House definitely needs to address Tancredo's and Newt Gingrich's "racism" charges.
- Speaking of people whose opinions are irrelevant, Greg Sargent flags an interesting poll result in a recent Rasmussen survey that asks how important Dick Cheney's opinions are. Fifty-seven percent rate the former VP's opinions as "not very" or "not at all" important, although it would be interesting to know why people deem Cheney's thoughts as something between irrelevant and worthless. Is it just because he's out of office, or is it because the public recognizes the Cheney foreign policy the the failure it was? On the other hand, Pew finds that the public isn't all that into the "terror debate" in the first place.
- Remainders: Contrary to yesterday's obituary, Fox News is keeping the car-dealership conspiracy theory alive; Brian Beutler asks where the conservative Democrats stand on Sotomayor; Charlie Crist plays with fire down in Florida; and some libertarians are considering checking out of society altogether.
--Mori Dinauer
