Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Bernanke used the “r” word: “For the first time, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged the U.S. could reel into recession from the powerful punches of housing, credit and financial crises. Yet, he was coy about the Fed’s next move. With home foreclosures swelling to record highs and job losses mounting, Bernanke on Wednesday offered Congress an unflinching — and more pessimistic — assessment of potential damage to the national economy.”
* Still stretched to the breaking point: “Senior Army and Marine Corps leaders said yesterday that the increase of more than 30,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has put unsustainable levels of stress on U.S. ground forces and has put their readiness to fight other conflicts at the lowest level in years. In a stark assessment a week before Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, is to testify on the war’s progress, Gen. Richard A. Cody, the Army’s vice chief of staff, said that the heavy deployments are inflicting ‘incredible stress’ on soldiers and families and that they pose ‘a significant risk’ to the nation’s all-volunteer military.”
* Wait, another Dem caught with a prostitute? “The co-founder and former CEO of the liberal-progressive Democracy Radio and husband of U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow was caught in February by a Troy police sting aimed at catching prostitutes, according to a police report. Thomas L. Athans was stopped Feb. 26 by undercover officers investigating a possible prostitution ring in a room at the Residence Inn near Big Beaver and Interstate 75. Athans paid a 20-year-old prostitute $150 for sex in a Troy hotel but was not arrested, according to police reports obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by The Detroit News.”
* If you haven’t already ordered “Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics” by the estimable Glenn Greenwald, get to it.
* Good for Kaine: “Virginia has put all executions on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether lethal injections are constitutional. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine ordered the moratorium on Tuesday in delaying the scheduled April 8 execution of Edward Nathaniel Bell until July 24. It is the 30th such stay of execution nationally since September, when the Supreme Court agreed to hear a Kentucky case that challenged the constitutionality of lethal injections. Other executions are not being scheduled pending the ruling, expected in late June.”
* The seamless, top-down transition from the Yoo’s theory to Rumsfeld’s practice.
* Time’s Joe Klein is on a roll: “Fresh from his assertion that the Iraq civil war was ‘over’ a week ago, here’s Fred — plus added bonus attraction Kimberly — Kagan reinforcing their profoundly warped view of Iraq in the Weekly Standard.” Great post. Really.
* Again? After losing by double digits in a conservative state just two years? “Abortion opponents in South Dakota filed petitions this week that are likely to put an initiative on November’s ballot calling for a near-ban on abortion, renewing a contentious fight over a similar proposal in 2006. The group VoteYesForLife.com said Tuesday that it turned in on Monday three times the number of signatures needed to qualify an initiative that would ban abortion in most cases. Unlike the 2006 law, however, it includes exceptions to allow the procedure when necessary to protect the health of a woman and in cases of rape or incest.”
* The NRCC’s financial scandal gets a little worse.
* Lieberman’s a little confused about the history of “residual forces.”
* The good news is the U.S. image abroad is starting to improve. The bad news is our image is still pretty awful.
* It must be awkward for any presidential candidate to deal with a guy like this.
* I don’t want to alarm anyone, but it appears that former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), McCain’s top economic “expert,” isn’t especially honest.
* If Obama had shot an airball on this, I shudder to think just how much play it would have received from Scarborough and Matthews. Fortunately — for all of our sakes — it was nothing but net.
* Even after having been corrected by another conservative, Tony Snow can’t get his Obama attacks right. How sad.
* And finally, Bush’s press conferences usually aren’t particularly funny, but today, alongside Romanian President Traian Basescu, was an exception. Bush decided to end the press conference — typically, the AP noted, “as a matter of courtesy and protocol, the host decides when such an event is over, but Bush has been known to ignore that practice” — when Basescu intervened, spoke a little more, and then wrapped up the event.
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.