Somehow Strangely Appropriate

From ThinkProgress:

The AP reports that Fox has decided to stick with its regular line-up on Wednesday, meaning it won't air President Obama's prime-time news conference marking his 100th day in office. Instead, viewers will see an episode of "Lie to Me." ABC, CBS, and NBC will be airing the press conference.

Hmmm. Press conference or "Lie to Me." That's some choice. Thanks, Fox, for showing us both your position and your intention all in one place.

Bipartisanship Is So 2008

Apparently the Far Right is not happy with anyone in Congress who doesn't toe the party line.

"Republican senators are on notice," [Scott Wheeler, the executive director of The National Republican Trust PAC] said. "If they support the stimulus package, we will make sure every voter in their state knows how they tried to further bankrupt voters in an already bad economy."

I suppose all those GWoT dollars don't count toward the total, and actually paying for things isn't really American.

Collins and Snowe are pretty safe. The Maine economy hasn't been all that strong for decades, and there are a lot of people up there who will welcome the assistance, so even if either of them were up for reelection in 2010 (Snowe's term is up in 2012 and Collins' in 2014) the chances they'd keep their seats - barring any missteps - are good. Spector, though, seems to be getting more feeling some heat:

"I have no doubts about the political disadvantage," he said. "[I'm] losing a lot of political skin about this and I've got a primary battle coming up in about a year. ... It means I'll have to raise a lot more money." But Specter added the country's continued economic turmoil made the cost of not passing a massive stimulus bill too heavy to bear. "When you have an economy in terrible shape, and we have economists saying we may have a catastrophe and we may have another 1929 full scale depression unless we act, then I think that has to be the course," he said.

In increasingly typical GOP fashion, though, the The National Republican Trust PAC prefers to let the ship sink rather than engage in any aisle-crossing damage control.

Quote of the Day

From John Cole, on the latest statements from the GOP on the stimulus package:

Just so we are clear, the essence of Shelby’s statement is tantamount to someone in 1944 saying “If we invade Normandy, surely it will lead to war with Germany.” You can decide on your own if he is that brazen or that stupid.

Pegging the Irony Meter

Lindsey Graham sure has a way with words.

[T]he president, as far as I'm concerned, has been AWOL on providing leadership on something as important as this."

I suppose after the involved, hands-on manner of GWB, letting Congress actually do its job could be considered AWOL.

Scaring people is not leadership... [W]e've had enough presidents trying to scare people to make bad decisions.

Of course scaring people is not leadership. Unless, of course, you're scaring people about Teh Terrrist, Teh Muslim, Teh Gay, Teh Recreational Abortionist, Teh Unionz, Teh Drugz, Teh End of Social Security, Teh Socialized Med'cin, Teh Immgrint, or Teh Tax'n'Spend Democratz.

H/T to BBWW.