Today’s edition of quick hits.<\/p>\n
* I’m still officially neutral on the House Majority Leader fight between Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and John Murtha (D-Pa.), but if Roll Call is right, Murtha has a problem. Apparently, Murtha told a group of Democratic moderates yesterday that an ethics and lobbying reform bill being pushed by Nancy Pelosi and other party leaders was “total crap<\/a>,” but he’d support it anyway. If he was quoted accurately, it was a really dumb thing to say.<\/p>\n * A couple of decades late, Bush is finally making it to Vietnam. He, apparently, isn’t particularly popular<\/a> there, either.<\/p>\n * The joke<\/a> that’s making the rounds: “Q: How is Vietnam different from Iraq? A: Bush had a plan for getting out of Vietnam.”<\/p>\n * We’re already seeing vast improvements on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. We’re going from a committee chairman who believes climate change is a “hoax” to a chairwoman who will hold substantive hearings<\/a> on the issue.<\/p>\n * Saying “judges are the most important,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the single greatest failure of the Democrats as an opposition party was allowing Samuel Alito<\/a> to join the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n * Sen.-elect Jim Webb (D-Va.) has a really good op-ed<\/a> today on “our society’s steady drift toward a class-based system, the likes of which we have not seen since the 19th century.”<\/p>\n * Is there any reason in the world the AP cares about the brand and color of Nancy Pelosi’s clothing<\/a>? Did the AP ever<\/i> mention Dennis Hastert’s attire? * It looks like the Clinton\/Obama ’08 race is a little closer — in two<\/a> separate<\/a> polls — than most insiders would have guessed.<\/p>\n * In Minnesota, Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), who is generally considered quite conservative, called for<\/a> extending health care access to up to 90,000 uninsured children as a step toward coverage for all Minnesotans. Powerline<\/a> sounds borderline suicidal.<\/p>\n * Ironically, by pulling his little re-redistricting stunt a few years ago, Tom DeLay really screwed Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n * I’m surprised a think tank like this one<\/a> hasn’t existed before, but there’s never been a better time for it.<\/p>\n * I know it’s sweeps, and I know Fox isn’t known for Masterpiece Theater-like standards, but this<\/a> is low. Really low.<\/p>\n * Newt wants the GOP to abandon<\/a> the Bush White House. That’s probably a good idea.<\/p>\n
\n
\n* It sounds like the WaPo is about to undergo some fairly significant changes<\/a>. I’m not at all sure they’re for the better.<\/p>\n