"Recovery" is not measured in jobs, forclosures, personal bankruptcies, or consumer confidence and spending; it is measured in how quickly financial institutions can restore extravagant salaries and bonuses to their executives.

Obama and his Democratic colleagues have allowed the debate to be framed from the beginning as how to least disrupt the current system while possibly expanding coverage. It should have been framed as how to provide the best health care delivery system for the public, followed by how the system could be paid for, eventually reconciling the two opposing forces. The current objective seems to be how to ensure the robustness of the insurance industry, rather than on the actual public health care. On its current trajectory, reform is likely to leave us worse off than we are now, setting real reform back another generation. Sometimes it would be nice to be able to drink the Republican Kool-aid; at least they know how to stay focused on their objectives.

like the super-dignified Bush did for German Chancellor Merkel.

What a bunch of pricks.

Brooks can't help just making things up.

If these people had made as much of a fuss about missing WMDs as they do about missing Bibles, the world might be a better place.

Annoying over 50% of the voters doesn't strike me as "genius".

I tend to vote for Democrats, mostly because they are not Republicans. That doesn't mean that I like them all that much, just more than I like Republicans.

If God didn't want Obama to win, It wouldn't have allowed for it to happen.

Palin's timing wasn't bad; in fact, for her particular set of talents, it was probably the best she could have hoped for. Many of these cultural issues are not going to go away any time soon, but Palin will not be the one that will be able to lead the charge. She may share some characteristics with other empty suits like George W. Bush, but Bush had many other resources besides ideology he could draw upon.

McCain seems to have had his real persona under better control in past years, but he was still the same guy underneath. One difference in McCain 2008 seems to be that his age really does seem to be getting the better of him.

Regardless of whether or not some form of this SOFA ends up being approved by all sides, one has to wonder if this is really why we went to all this trouble in the first place, considering the vast expense of time, money, prestige, and especialy lives.

...but I would substitute the word "slightly" (or similar) for the word "infinitely" in the following:

As polling data conclusively demonstrates, the mindset of the voting public is infinitely more rational and substance-based than the pundits and the Right fantasize when they lyrically praise the Regular American...

...has it right. Any Clinton "supporter" that would choose McCain over Obama, especially with Palin as a running mate, was either not a Clinton supporter or has mental issues.

So what do you think of McCain's plan to make his stage look like a POW camp?

...and it's not even the worst of it. Biden is known for sometimes using the word "who" instead of "whom".

He should have left off the part about McCain loving his country, too. It's not obviously true, and McCain can and should speak for himself.

Rove should be held in contempt. Now if Congress could vote to hold itself in contempt, we might get somewhere.

If he starts whitening his teeth, I'm looking for a third party.

Alter has a point that mainstream media journalists have resources and connections that bloggers generally don't. It's too bad that most of them suck at translating all that into meaningful information, though.

If a candidate's family were not off limits this season, I would echo Chris Sinnard's reminder about Napa Cabbage Slaw.

"I certainly didn’t mean to associate the word terrorist in any way with Osama and his Muslim religion."

...thus, there's no guarantee prices will go down as the tax does.

But it is a sure thing prices will go up accordingly when the tax is reinstated after we finish celebrating our holiday.

then the Super-Duper delegates get to decide the winner. These include former presidents whose terms expired less than 20 years ago, former first ladies who are also currently U.S. Senators, their children, and their pets but only if they are mammals and larger than a baseball.

Slow news day?

Increasing your gas mileage from 20 to 21 MPG would give you the same 5% increase without the hassle of waiting 10-20 years and investing billions of dollars of in the destruction of the in environment for a rather temporal "fix".

you'd think these people could have planted a few trailers full of WMD-related program materials somewhere around the country by now.

Nash McCabe has a point. I probably would not cast a vote for president for someone that always wears a beanie with a propeller on it.

I only came here because of the use of this term. Playing along with this "-gating" of every minor flap only shows how intellectually lazy the press in general and Walsh in particular is. The Clintons (both of them) continue losing my respect, but I'll vote for Hillary in November over McCain if that's my choice. But I won't like it.

...and the $35 or so you'll "save" in taxes over the summer will jump-start the economy?

The Democrats better stop fighting between each other and focusing on the free pass McCain is getting.

really want my support, they should be focusing their campaigns hard on taking this guy out, instead of nitpicking with each other.

Maybe if more Democrats weren't so afraid to speak the obvious, we could finally settle this thing.

I also much prefer Steve Benen to Alex Koppelman in the War Room.

Bush has been giving exactly the same speech for years, and the press doesn't seem to notice.