I did not have a good day. First, CNN steered me wrong and then I misunderstood a vote cast by Harry Reid. Apologies all around. For my part, I've decided not to try to decipher the meaning in Senate votes, since the process is far too arcane, counterintuitive, and just plain crazy for me. CNN, however, is going to have to figure out how to clean up their own mess.
Everyone's saying that the failure to overcome a filibuster and pass background check legislation is a loss for Pres. Obama. The bill had better than 90% support among voters. Come the midterms, we'll see what was a loss for whom. For his part, the President says the fight is not over (he sounds pretty pissed off). He is so right -- it's over when we win.
Brian Beutler explains how today's filibuster was very different from your run-of-the-mill obstructionism.
National Journal wonders, "Can Crowd-Sourcing Catch the Boston Marathon Bomber?" Turns out the answer to that is simple: no.
American Muslims worry about racial profiling and hate crimes after the Boston bombing.
Louie Gohmert said something stupid again.
Nate Silver says Anthony Weiner is a "long shot" in the NYC mayoral race.
The Keystone XL Pipeline is what is commonly known as "your basic crap deal." It'll create a whopping 35 permanent jobs, while being a monster polluter. In other words, it fails any cost-benefit analysis spectacularly.
Huffington Post runs a banner shaming Democrats who voted against today's background check legislation. Dave Weigel finds this perplexing. Even if all these dems had switched, the vote still would've failed by one and Republicans are far more responsible for the loss than the four Democrat turncoats, so what gives? The answer is simple. You don't try to shame Republicans because you can't shame the shameless. Republicans you scare. They're all about self-interest. It's that whole Ayn Rand thing they're all hopped up about.
Finally, does Nancy Reagan support marriage equality?
[cartoon via McClatchy Newspapers]
