Presumably you're familiar with the IOKIYAR (It's OK If You're A Republican) rule? This is the ISIYAD (It's Suspicious If You're A Democrat) rule.

Over the demand by anti-union Southern Republican senators that domestic automaker workers be forced to accept immediate wage cuts, and the loss of benefits.

Frank's comparison is noteworthy, but I'm also curious about a more immediate comparison. Did those Republican Senators demand wage and benefits cuts from all of the employees of those companies, or just the union employees? Were these to be across-the-board cuts, or could they just not bear to think of disappointing the innocent little children of managers and executives during the holiday season?

Ah, playing the "playing the race card" card, I see.

Jesse Jackson, Jr. wasn't "the face of Obama's campaign" by any stretch of imagination. It's beyond imagination into making-shit-up territory. Obama was the face of Obama's campaign.

Of course, I could see the potential for confusion ... among people who have trouble telling them apart for some reason.

Not that I expected anything else.

P.S. to chandalar: Speaking of smarmy ...

Obama may come out ok in all this

but it certainly doesn't look nice when one of his closest advisor Jesse Jackson Jr ...

Uh, since when? Or is this one of those "Black Club" things?

Besides which, Jackson was not the choice Obama had suggested. (You know, that same suggestion he got called a "motherfucker" by Blago for, because he wouldn't play Blago's game.)

This "raises questions" about Obama only to those people squinting very, very hard. Sort of like how I used to squint very, very hard when I was a kid, trying to make the packages under the Christmas tree look like what I wanted, instead of what I honestly suspected (correctly) that they were.

He was the chair of the Physics Department at Stanford from 1990-1993. Of course lots of people disliked him, and of course lots of people have juicy stories (read: nasty rumors) about him. I gather that's the nature of being a department chair.

"University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small."

That really is an impressive resume. Is Chu one of those mutants who never sleeps?

Steve Chu has been Director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since August, 2004. Chu, an early advocate for finding scientific solutions to climate change, has guided Berkeley Lab on a new mission to become the world leader in alternative and renewable energy research, particularly the development of carbon-neutral sources of energy.

Has anyone told Senator Inhofe yet? Did they have emergency medical personnel standing by?

Lots of people have had their first elected office be a big one.

Oh, I know. And -- unlike Joe Buck -- I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. But I'd generally prefer that someone going into high office has some experience that's at least similar to holding public office. (Say, for instance, a significant role in community organizing. [grin])

It may be that Caroline Kennedy's family background would be sufficient preparation for the Senate. (Or not. I don't know.) But the whole thing about political dynasties makes me itch, whether it's Bush, Kennedy, Clinton, Daley, whoever. The US is too much of an oligarchy even without that.

By your reasoning nobody is qualified for elected office who hasn't already been elected to office.

No, what he was saying -- I think -- was that no one's worth considering for US Senate who hasn't held some elective office. So one could run for, say, dogcatcher someplace where they elect dogcatchers and if you won, they would meet that part of Joe Buck's requirements for a Senate seat.

I don't agree with that, but it's not the contradictory requirement that you're thinking it is.

There's something to what you say, but I note that the Obama statement was careful to word it such that there wasn't a presumption of guilt.

"The President-elect agrees with Lt. Gov. Quinn and many others that under the current circumstances it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois."

Given the severity of the charge -- whether or not the Governor is guilty -- that's a reasonable point.

As far as Obama "butt[ing] out" ... that's simply just not a realistic option, whether he finds the situation "embarrassing" or not.

(Why would he find it embarrassing? Near as anyone can tell, his people did the right thing.)

Is there anyone -- aside from Gov. Blagojevich, his wife, and their attorneys -- who thinks he shouldn't resign?

I wonder how much of his book Joe has read.

Okay, let's start up a betting pool -- how long before it starts showing up in remainder bins?

I didn't mean to imply that Glenn Greenwald and Joan Walsh do faux-controversy ... their page-hits are generally honestly obtained.

Camille Paglia -- one of Salon's premier faux-controversy page-hit generators -- scores again!

I'm guessing that she's third in line after Glenn Greenwald and Joan Walsh, but if one was to judge on most page-hits for the least amount of actual thought, Ms. Paglia would win hands down.

Nice work if you can get it, I guess.

The proposition that this thug is ipso facto innocent of anything he's accused of just because he's black... now THAT is racist.

Sure, it would be ... if anyone actually proposed it.

The pact is unpopular with many Iraqis for different reasons, and it was only approved after massive U.S. arm-twisting and threats -- even though Bush had to make major, humiliating concessions in it. Nor is it a completely done deal: The Iraqi people will have their chance to approve or reject the agreement next June.

Anyone want to estimate the odds that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will live until June?