At the risk of stating the obvious: Bolling isn't "making fun of poor, rural, white working class people." He's satirizing (by copying, nearly verbatim -- or whatever the visual equivalent of that is) one of the staples of the "funny papers" from when I was a kid, "Barney Google and Snuffy Smith." (For all I know, Snuffy and Maw may still be around, just not in my local paper. And let's not forget L'il Abner and Dogpatch.) If you want to complain about stereotypes, complain about the source, not the satire! Maybe you haven't noticed, but much of the fun of Super-Fun-Pak Comix comes from Bolling's dead-on visual/textual comments on lots of different comix styles.

Well, I care about Dee!

Bush has been the "best friend" to Israel and the Jewish people in the same sense that the bartender at an open bar is the best friend of the alcoholic, or the pusher is the best friend of the crack addict.

What William Kristol thinks is in the best interest of Israel, and the tough, principled action that would actually force the leaders of Israel to do what is in their country's true long-term interest (make peace, support the creation of a prosperous Palestine), are two diametrically opposed things.

BBC reporter going around in the crowd on the Mall asking random questions (this radio report must have been repeated from much earlier in the day)... Last question, directed to a young woman (of course): what did you think of Michelle's dress?

Her priceless response (roughly, from memory): "Are you kidding me? With all the things going on in the world, with all America's problems, with Obama's wonderful speech, all you can think of to ask me about is Michelle's dress?"

BBC reporter (shamefaced, I imagine -- this is radio, so I can imagine this): But everyone is talking about it.

Young woman: Well, she always looks fantastic. But, really...

So, Obama did the oath a second time at 7:35 PM on Wednesday, just to shut up the critics. Links:

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/oath-is-administered-once-again/

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/01/21/obama_takes_his_oath_of_office.html?hpid=topnews

Couple of notes:

1. Since Roberts flubbed it, not Obama, this was his do-over, not Obama's.

2. The president's oath of office is the only one specified in the Constitution, so it is both a minor matter and kind of a big deal at the same time. (This also explains why we know what the exact words are supposed to be -- any other government official, up to and including the VP, could swear or affirm anything or nothing at all so far as the Constitution is concerned.)

3. Cokie Roberts on NPR dismissed the idea of a do-over as "hogwash" and pointed out that "several" (which?) presidents didn't say the oath at all, but simply answered "I do."

4. Even if someone had tried to make a federal case of it, guess who would have been the "decider" on the case? (See note 1.)

5. But this is Obama we're talking about, and as we've already seen, the conspiracy wackos are going to be swarming around his presidency like dimwitted moths around a bug zapper. They are obsessed enough that this won't stop them, but it will stop fellow travelers like Chris Wallace from repeating this particular item. It's over and done with. On to the next distraction.

Ronald Reagan made a whole career out of recounting anecdotes -- many of them mistold or entirely made up, not that it mattered. From Reagan's non-existent "Cadillac welfare queen" to Drudge's real but meaningless snow in DC, anecdotes are the quickest way to reinforce beliefs (or false hopes) that people already hold.

When was that mod elephant on the RNC seal designed, 1972? I bet the average RNC member finds the pop elephant graphic too "flower power," as my father used to say. But they live with it because they think it'll draw in the "young people." The under-70 crowd, you know.

The sad thing about the GOP implosion is that the US really needs (at least) two functioning national parties, and right now we only have one. But I guess the second party doesn't necessarily have to be the Republicans, does it. Time to revive the Greens? The Populists? The Farmer-Labor Party? The Federalists? The Whigs? Anyone?

I enjoyed the article last week, enjoyed the one this week. Talk about heroes always reminds me of a pair of lines in Bertolt Brecht's play "Galileo" that were on the lips of almost every intellectual in Cuba a couple of years ago:

ANDREA: Pity the country that has no heroes!

GALILEO: Pity the country that has a need for heroes.

Maybe that's where the US is right now.

As of 8:30 pm (Eastern), the Update to the post still has Hensarling's name:

UPDATE: I should note, there is a critical difference between just letting the banks fail, and a government-mediated financial reorganization that to all intents and purposes would be equivalent to a temporary nationalization, as outlined in this interview Josh Marshall conducted with Joseph Stiglitz last Friday. I don't think that's what Jeb Hensarling has in mind.

... is to make Washington DC a state, perhaps first carving out a smaller "DC" that includes only the Mall, Congress, Supreme Court, and White House.

Then there will be: no more Congressional meddling in the internal affairs of what should be a sovereign municipality (something those "conservative" Republicans would never tolerate if it applied to their own constituencies); a guaranteed House seat; and two Senate seats.

And I'm sure this will really happen... right after Hell freezes over.

Indeed, how do these perennially outraged bloggers know that the man with the cell phone camera is homeless, or even that he is on line for food, and not a shelter volunteer himself? Unfortunately, that is an easy question: the man is black, therefore he must be poor and undeserving. It's a wonder if they don't think the same of Michelle Obama herself.