TUESDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* It could have been better, but it’s not a bad bill: “The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to put new restrictions on the credit card industry, passing a bill whose backers say will make card-issuers spell out their terms in fewer words, using plain English, and treat customers more fairly.” The vote was 90 to 5.
* The White House event on fuel efficiency and car emissions sounded very encouraging.
* Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, the new American ambassador to Afghanistan, met today with Afghan survivors of a recent bombing to promise renewed efforts to prevent civilian casualties.
* Congressional balking notwithstanding, the administration still plans to shut down Gitmo in January.
* Hillary Clinton is looking for $110 million in emergency humanitarian aid to Pakistan.
* Speaker Pelosi’s concerns about the CIA appear more and more believable all the time.
* The administration is slow-walking the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but at least it’s not going to defend the policy in court.
* Margaret Hamburg, a bioterrorism expert, has been confirmed as the new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. The Senate approved the nomination late yesterday on a voice vote.
* The details are a little fuzzy, but it seems that Zalmay Khalilzad is poised to get a very powerful role in the Afghan government. (Update: Or, perhaps not.)
* Barney Frank. Michele Bachmann. CNN. Ugh.
* I’m often unimpressed with Lanny Davis, but he’s reached the right conclusion about Cheney.
* People tend to like the idea of transparency, but it doesn’t always poll well when specific issues are on the line.
* Rumsfeld doesn’t seem pleased with the GQ piece.
* Hey look, a new Michael Steele controversy. Just what he needed.
* It’s ironic to hear Joe Scarborough complain about people being too “dumb” to be on TV.
* Krugman offers the Quote of the Day: “Look for the golden age of conservative intellectualism in America, and you keep going back, and back, and back — and eventually you run up against William Buckley in the 1950s declaring that blacks weren’t advanced enough to vote, and that Franco was the savior of Spanish civilization.”
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
