Limbaugh: "Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate"

Via Atrios:

Via e-mail from the Democratic National Committee:

There's been a lot of media coverage about organized mobs intimidating lawmakers, disrupting town halls, and silencing real discussion about the need for real health insurance reform.

The truth is, it's a sham. These "grassroots protests" are being organized and largely paid for by Washington special interests and insurance companies who are desperate to block reform. They're trying to use lies and fear to break the President and his agenda for change.

Health insurance reform is about our lives, our jobs, and our families -- we can't let distortions and intimidation get in the way. We need to expose these outrageous tactics, and we're counting on you to help. Can you read these "5 facts about the anti-reform mobs," then pass them along to your friends and family?

[More...]

After 7 years as L.A. Police Chief, Bill Bratton today announced he's stepping down in October to take a job with a private security firm.

Bratton will "reunite" with Michael Cherkasky. Cherkasky and Bratton have been close associates. Before becoming chief, Bratton worked as a consultant for Cherkasky, advising governments in several countries on how to reform and build modern police forces.

Cherkasky runs a company called Altegrity. [More...]

A CNN poll (PDF) shows that 50% of Americans support President Obama's health care proposals against 45% who are opposed. This is almost the identical result from a month ago. Also pretty much the election results. An interesting bit is the deep generational divide:

"Obama's plan is most popular among younger Americans and least popular among senior citizens," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "A majority of Americans over the age of 50 oppose Obama's plan; a majority of those under 50 support it."

Apparently there is a Laffer Curve in these results (where seniors who already have a public option are against anyone else having a public option.) In any event, we are where we have been all year, it is up to the President to get this done.

Speaking for me only

Media Matters:

Economist Laffer on CNN: "[J]ust wait till you see Medicare [and] Medicaid ... done by the government"

Sheesh. There's that "Birther logic" at work again.

In the comments, andgarden makes a good point - Arthur Laffer will turn 69 on August 14. Does he have "government run health insurance" (aka Medicare)? If so, is he not aware it is government run health care and if he is just now becoming aware of that fact, will he be buying private insurance?

Speaking for me only

UPDATE: Kim "Pardons" Journalists. Hope to be flying back home tonight.

This is pretty interesting:

Sources told ABC News that Clinton's trip [to North Korea], while a surprise to some, was planned weeks ago and that it was former Vice President Al Gore who asked Clinton to go.

Gore's involvement is more than understandable. Good for Clinton and Gore working together on this. Of course, some folks can't get over their Clinton hate.

Speaking for me only

The Red State heads are exploding today:

Sotomayor: Qualified, mainstream Judicial confirmation hearings weren't always ideological witch hunts.

By Pat Toomey

. . . If I were a U.S. senator, I would vote for her confirmation, because objective qualifications should matter more than ideology in the judicial confirmation process.

(Emphasis supplied.) Once Specter became a Dem, giving Toomey a clear field on the GOP slate in Pennsylvania, his rush to the Center was inevitable (just as Specter's move left is a result of a primary challenge by Joe Sestak.) This is the reverse of Charlie Crist's run to the right in Florida, an inevitable consequence of the challenge from the extreme right by Florida state senator Rubio. Pols are pols . . . Oh BTW, and primaries are, as always disciplining functions for pols. Whether the primary is successful or not.

Speaking for me only

Atrios:

I think Obama's a smart talented guy whose instincts mostly point him in the right direction. I also think he's a smart talented guy who has, for whatever reason, tended to have opposition melt away when he pointed at them.

Atrios' implicit question is can Obama fight? Specifically can he fight effectively for health care reform? He certainly won the Democratic nomination in a tough and close battle with now Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. But did then candidate Obama shine in that fight? Did he outfight Clinton in the second half of the primary battle? Not really. Atrios poses a good question.

Speaking for me only

The great historian Sean Wilentz:

When [Franklin] Pierce ran for president in 1852, Lincoln, naturally, campaigned against him. . . . Lincoln limited himself to a long speech in Springfield . . . The speech did nothing to affect the outcome of the election, in Illinois or in the country at large. But it deserves to be remembered in these days of Lincoln idolatry, because it can be disturbing reading to anyone inclined to worship Father Abraham.

[MORE . . .]

I have generally avoided the birther issue because it is so monumentally stupid. I know it helps Democrats in painting the GOP as extreme (and thus understand why Democratic blogs are pushing the story), but I think it actually provides great insight into how uninformed the American People are in general. Consider this blog post from PPP on its preliminary polling on the birther question in Virginia:

In a result making me want to bang my head against the table, the first round of calls for our Virginia poll this afternoon founds voters in the state almost evenly split on whether they thought the President was born in the US. We're polling North Carolina next week, and I am almost definitely going to throw a question on there asking people whether they think Hawaii is a state or not.

(Emphasis supplied.) I would also throw in a question asking whether they believe John McCain was born in the US. Because he wasn't. Now, I know the birther legal theory posits that US law makes the question relevant for Obama but not for McCain, but the reality is the Constitutional question makes this less than clear (Congressional law can not conflict with the Constitution.)

In the end, neither McCain nor Obama are naturalized citizens so the entire question is supremely stupid. But it does provide a window into the ignorance of the American People.

Speaking for me only

AdamB at Daily Kos has an interesting post up about a lawsuit in Washington state seeking to keep the identity of persons who sign a petition for a referendum private. Adam writes:

[L]awyers on behalf of the petition-gatherers have sued the WA Secretary of State to block the public release of the signatures, arguing that the opponents' efforts "chill[] free speech ... particularly when it is reasonably probable that those exercising their First Amendment rights would be subjected to threats and harassment." Among other facts, they cited a stalker photographing of a petition organizer's house while his daughter played outside; late-night obscene and threatening phone calls; car windows broken; a house egged and floured repeatedly; a stairway at another supporter's house doused in urine.

A federal judge yesterday granted their motion for a temporary restraining order, blocking for now the release of the signatures citing the irreparable harm which could result, a sign that he sees the balance of the equities and constitutional values supporting individual privacy over mass disclosure.

While Adam focuses on the balancing of disclosure vs. privacy, I am more intrigued by the question of the petitioners seeking "judicial activism." I'll explain my thinking on the flip.

Is rehiring Daniel Bogden, one of the fired U.S. Attorneys, really a good idea? Some think not. From the Las Vegas Sun:

President Barack Obama’s nomination of Daniel Bogden as U.S. attorney for Nevada was met Friday with initial disappointment from defense attorneys and prosecutors who had questioned his leadership abilities.

....“Many people within the U.S. attorney’s office do not see Bogden’s appointment as the type of ‘change you can believe in’ that Obama promised,” one prosecutor said. “But we’re hoping that Bogden has changed as a result of his experience under the Bush administration and will demonstrate a greater commitment to diversity in hiring and promoting within the office.”

Other complaints by Nevada attorneys about Bodgen included his reputation for lack of cordiality when dealing with defense attorneys and the media.

The U.S. Attorney's job has always been a political plum, almost always reserved for people within the President's party. Obama has been slow to replace Bush's appointments, and now, he's appointed one who is a Republican. I don't call this progress or change.