HILARIOUS!

A unique profile of Senator Ben Nelson. Discusses in detail some of his funnier pranks, as well as his odd position within the Democratic Party.

-Politico (Glenn Thrush): 58% of GOP not sure/doubt Obama born in US

What do we take from this? 

-Politico: Birchers to birthers: a GOP quandary

I discussed this yesterday here, but now Politico has an interesting piece on GOP conspiracy theorists out today.

-NYT: Take Me to the River (or Somewhere Nearby)

Actual byline: Decades after his faith in God has faded, the author considers his longing to be born again all over again.

-WaPo: The Gifts of Gaffes

-NYT (Paul Krugman): Health Care Realities

-Globe and Mail (Toronto): U.S. debate reminds us our medicare is worth it

Canadians think the good parts of their health care outweigh the bad.

-The Detroit News: ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program running on fumes

-The New York Observer: Controversy Surrounding Lou Dobbs Has Failed to Increase His Ratings

Writes Glenn Thrush from Politico:

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) says he plans to introduce a politically-targeted amendment forcing Republicans to vote “yes” or “no” on continuing Medicare, the government-run health care program for seniors, on the 44th anniversary of its enactment.

Weiner [who plans to vote yes, obviously] said he wants to tack the amendment onto the health care bill being marked up today — to call bluff on Republicans who say federal intervention into health care has been a failure.

“It’s put-up or shut-up time for the phonies who deride the so-called ‘public option’,” Weiner said.

This guy is a baller.

Time was given to the John Birch Society lasting through lunch, and the subject came up again the next morning. We resolved that conservative leaders should do something about the John Birch Society. An allocation of responsibilities crystallized.

Goldwater would seek out an opportunity to dissociate himself from the “findings” of the Society’s leader, without, however, casting any aspersions on the Society itself. I, in National Review and in my other writing, would continue to expose Welch and his thinking to scorn and derision. “You know how to do that,” said Jay Hall.

I volunteered to go further. Unless Welch himself disowned his operative fallacy, National Review would oppose any support for the society.

“How would you define the Birch fallacy?” Jay Hall asked.

“The fallacy,” I said, “is the assumption that you can infer subjective intention from objective consequence: we lost China to the Communists, therefore the President of the United States and the Secretary of State wished China to go to the Communists.”

(*Among many other controversial comments over the years, Robert Welch circulated a letter calling President Dwight D. Eisenhower a “conscious, dedicated agent of the Communist Conspiracy.”)

“I like that,” Goldwater said.

What would Russell Kirk do? He was straightforward. “Me? I’ll just say, if anybody gets around to asking me, that the guy is loony and should be put away.”

“Put away in Alaska?” I asked, mock-seriously. The wisecrack traced to Robert Welch’s expressed conviction, a year or so earlier, that the state of Alaska was being prepared to house anyone who doubted his doctrine that fluoridated water was a Communist-backed plot to weaken the minds of the American public.

The idea behind the term “Birch Fallacy” applies to so much of our contemporary political discourse; the very reasoning continues to be used often. It really is quite an ingenious and concise term for describing a means of attempting to make logical what is inherently illogical in the face of rationality. I thus propose that the “Birch Fallacy” should hold a greater place in our contemporary political lexicon. 

Also, apparently even in the 1960s Alaska was a little crazy.

1. The government wants to kill my grandparents. They will be “put on a list and forced to die early”….by being sent out into the ocean on ice floes…

2. The government is going to use the takeover of health care to promote abortion. The more abortions people have the more the government benefits because (fill in the blank).

Did I miss anything?

Pete Sessions, earmark hater, just loves those blimps….This could potentially throw Republicans off their stride on bashing Obama’s economic plan for vast overspending…for about 3 seconds.

-Providence Journal: Republicans Looking Crazy on Health Care

Another look at the so-called Deathers.

-The American Prospect: The 10 Dumbest Arguments Against Health-Care Reform

-WSJ: Obama’s Great Health Scare (by Karl Rove)

The byline: “The president resorts to the politics of fear.” Written by Karl Rove.

-RCP: OAS is Part of the Problem in Latin America

-LA Times: Lindsey Graham keeps his word

All politics aside, I just like this guy.

-Nicholas Kristof: Crisis in the Operating Room

A look at the horrors of reproductive health care in developing countries, and why this is the single greatest example of sex discrimination.

-NYT: The Conversation: What’s Wrong With a Single-Payer System?

The Conversation is a blog written as a discussion between Gail Collins and David Brooks. Highly recommended. 

-WaPo: Obama’s 32 Czars (by Rep. Eric Cantor)

I can’t help it. Something about this guy just irritates me. 

-TPM: Damage Control: GOP Bosses Coming Down Hard On Birthers

-TPM: The Rasmussen “Presidential Approval Index”: Is This Newer Measurement Worth Anything?

If you’re interested in political polling, this is a worthwhile piece.

-WaPo (Chris Cillizza): Obama’s Slipup (And Its Political Cost)

-BBC News: Iranian police ‘arrest mourners’

-WSJ: Senate Probes Banks for Meltdown Fraud

-The Daily Beast: Too Hot for Fox News

-CQ Politics: Specter Abstains From Abstinence Program Earmarks

It’s interesting what happens when you become a Democrat…

-Politico: ‘Auto-Tune’ the latest, greatest spoof

Politico is a little late on this one. A couple of the clips are already available here and here on TheModernMajorGeneral.com

That’s it for this morning!

I can’t top that…