WEDNESDAY’S MINI-REPORT…. Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Prominent conservatives sure seem upset about President Clinton freeing Laura Ling and Euna Lee from North Korea.
* Sen. Kit Bond (R) of Missouri, who is retiring next year, today became the sixth Senate Republican to endorse Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination.
* Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs suggested the administration considers Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “the elected leader” of Iran. Today, he walked that back.
* A pair of nuclear-powered Russian attack submarines got a little closer than usual to the United States this week.
* CNN not only won’t air an ad criticizing Lou Dobbs, it’s also rejected an ad criticizing insurance giant Cigna’s CEO, Ed Hanway, on health care reform.
* Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) is clearly unimpressed with Max Baucus’ Gang of Six.
* My friend Alex Koppelman does a nice job with “Salon’s handy-dandy guide to refuting the Birthers.”
* Kathleen Parker makes an interesting observation: “Southern Republicans, it seems, have seceded from sanity.”
* This Washington Post article is really awful. Seriously, it’s horrible.
* I have no idea why NPR’s Mara Liasson would tell Fox News that the Cash for Clunkers program and Hurricane Katrina are similar.
* If you really want to annoy a teabagging right-wing mob, try telling them some demonstrable facts about Reagan.
* “Show Me Progress’” two-year blogoversary.
* It’s become so common for conservatives to argue that Medicare is not a government program that Tim Noah has started a feature on it.
* For the love of God, will the majority please stop treating Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) like he’s a reasonable, sensible lawmaker?
* No, really, will the majority please stop treating Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) like he’s a reasonable, sensible lawmaker?
* Fox News’ Brian Kilmead believes protestors who disrupt public events and confront politicians are “threatening” and should be Tased or “beaten to a pulp.” That is, he used to believe that, when Republicans were in the majority and the protestors were liberal activists.
* And finally, “Mouthpiece Theater” is no more.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
