Today’s edition of quick hits.
* For all the complaining we do about congressional Dems caving all the time, I just thought I’d mention that over the course of one day, House Dems didn’t back down at all on Bush’s surveillance authorities and congressional subpoena power. Maybe they’re learning.
* Discouraging assessment of the economy: “Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Thursday the economy is deteriorating and signaled a readiness to keep on lowering a key interest rate to shore things up. Bernanke also told the Senate Banking Committee that the one-two punch of housing and credit crises has greatly strained the economy. And he forecast sluggish growth in the near term. Bernanke also noted that hiring has slowed and that people are likely to tighten their belts further because of high energy prices and plummeting home values.”
* Honestly, what kind of people interrupt a memorial for a recently-deceased member of Congress and Holocaust survivor? The House Republican caucus, that’s who. Just when I thought my opinion of these guys couldn’t get any lower….
* David Shuster’s mistake was awful, but the real problem has always been Chris Matthews: “Yesterday I speculated that the Hillary campaign’s allegation of a pattern of sexist remarks at MSNBC — a charge that was made in response to reporter David Shuster’s ‘pimped out’ remark about Chelsea — was primarily driven by anger at Chris Matthews. In making these charges, the Hillary campaign has always been careful to avoid mentioning Matthews by name, but political insiders believe he is who Hillary advisers were talking about, even if it hasn’t been confirmed by them. I’ve now confirmed that this is the case. And that’s not all: Hillary’s advisers, it turns out, have repeatedly taken their grievance with Matthews directly to the network.”
* A few weeks ago, I criticized Barack Obama’s occasional use of conservative frames. In fairness, then, I should note that it’s not helpful for Clinton campaign surrogates to publicize bizarre charges that originated on right-wing blogs.
* There are a lot of myths out there about the Canadian healthcare system. Here’s a great Top 10 List debunking some of the more annoying ones.
* John McCain is now bragging that he called for Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation. That’s a fairly obvious lie.
* Joe Lieberman was asked about McCain’s promise to appoint conservative judges and Supreme Court justices who would undermine laws Lieberman claims to care about. Lieberman responded, “That concerns me. That’s probably the largest area of concern that I have about a McCain presidency.” But he’s endorsing him anyway.
* John McCain’s new sound-bite phrase on his website: “Ready to lead on day one.” Isn’t that word for word what Hillary Clinton usually says?
* I can’t believe Jane Fonda used the “c” word on the “Today” show this morning. The FCC isn’t going to care that at all.
* This Valentine’s Day, it’s worth noting the media’s never-ending crush on John McCain.
* More bad spin from Mark Penn: “Change Begins March 4th. Hillary leads in the three largest, delegate rich states remaining: Texas, Ohio and Pennsylvania. These three states have 492 delegates – 64 percent of the remaining delegates Hillary Clinton needs to win the nomination.” Um, Mark? All three distribute their delegates proportionally.
* It is the 21st century, isn’t it? “A leading human rights group appealed to Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah on Thursday to stop the execution of a woman accused of witchcraft and performing supernatural acts.”
* And finally, the award for the most offensive thing a Republican has said in a while goes to Tennessee State Sen. Doug Henry: “Rape, ladies and gentlemen, is not today what rape was. Rape, when I was learning these things, was the violation of a chaste woman, against her will, by some party not her spouse. Today it’s simply, ‘Let’s don’t go forward with this act.'” I think he’s trying to say, sexual assault isn’t what it used to be? The mind reels.
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.