Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Dolly made landfall: “Hurricane Dolly was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane Wednesday afternoon, about an hour after it made landfall on South Padre Island, Texas, the National Hurricane Center said. Dolly’s sustained winds decreased to about 95 miles an hour.”
* On a related note, because the weather has a well-known liberal bias, Hurricane Dolly has led the McCain campaign to cancel its event on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana.
* So much for the veto threat: “President Bush dropped his opposition Wednesday to legislation aiming to calm the chaotic housing market despite his objections to a $3.9 billion provision. The House was expected to vote on the bill Wednesday, and it could become law as early as this week. Under the bill, the government would help struggling homeowners get new, cheaper loans and would be allowed to offer troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a cash infusion.”
* Lawmakers were relieved to hear Bush’s change of heart: “Congress is moving quickly to pass a housing package that aims to help 400,000 strapped homeowners avoid foreclosures and prevent Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from collapsing.”
* More appeasement with evil from the Bush administration: “Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged North Korea to accept terms to verify the dismantling of its nuclear weapons program, as the two countries ended a four-year hiatus in cabinet-level talks on Wednesday.”
* What do the oil companies do with all of those profits? Here’s a hint: they’re not reinvesting the money. (thanks to M.R. for the tip)
* Did EPA Administration Stephen L. Johnson lie under oath about the White House’s role in blocking a state emissions initiative? It’s certainly possible.
* Obama’s team created promotional materials, in German, for Obama’s appearance in Germany. Remarkably, some on the right find this offensive. Conservatives sure are odd sometimes.
* “[T]he richest 1% of Americans in 2006 garnered the highest share of the nation’s adjusted gross income for two decades” and “possibly the highest since 1929.” But we’re not supposed to notice, or Fox News will insist it’s “class warfare.”
* Senate Republican obstructionism really is extraordinary.
* Bob Novak’s hit-and-run victim may be worse off than initial reports indicated.
* TPMM: “Karl Rove has categorically denied any involvement whatsoever, either directly or indirectly, in the prosecution of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, in written responses to questions from the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, entered into the Congressional record today and obtained this afternoon by TPMmuckraker.”
* If Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) can’t hunt wildebeest, then he’s not interested in distributing food at a refugee camp in the country.
* Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) supports “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Sometimes, the jokes write themselves.
* I’ve been neglecting this story: “Sen. John McCain’s campaign has admitted that his top foreign policy adviser has lobbied for not two but three different firms run by cash-for-access deal-maker Stephen Payne. But the McCain camp insists that Randy Scheunemann did not lobby McCain himself on “any issues relating to” Stephen Payne…. But is it true?”
* Did I really do 14 posts today? That seems like a lot.
* I don’t know why conservatives insist that McCain called for Rumsfeld’s resignation — he didn’t — but Jonah Goldberg is the latest to make the bogus claim.
* And finally, Obama no doubt knows not to follow Bush’s lead in giving a backrub to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but as it turns out, she apparently wouldn’t mind. “That’s not really up to me,” she joked today. “But I wouldn’t resist.”
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.
