Today’s edition of quick hits.<\/p>\n
* Here’s an unexpected twist<\/a> from House Minority Leader John Boehner: “[Boehner] and other key House Republican leaders who support the president’s proposal for a surge, will demand that the president report every 30 days to Congress the progress that the Iraqi government and the administration is making in the war. A senior GOP aide said that House Republican leaders will lay out a series of strategic benchmarks ‘so Congress can determine and articulate to the American people whether or not sufficient progress is being made.'” Hmm.<\/p>\n * I enjoyed seeing O’Reilly on Colbert, Colbert on O’Reilly, and Olbermann’s take<\/a> on both.<\/p>\n * Meals for Marines in Afghanistan are “insufficient”? Michael Froomkin asks<\/a>, “Are We Starving Our Soldiers?” It sounds like a question Congress might want to answer.<\/p>\n * As you may have noticed elsewhere, today is Blog for Choice Day. I don’t have much to add to the subject, but I did enjoy reading Jessica Valenti’s take<\/a> on the Huffington Post today.<\/p>\n * Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) seems to be slowly moving away<\/a> from Bush. That’s when you know<\/i> the president is in real trouble.<\/p>\n * I was absolutely delighted to see WaPo ombudsman Deborah Howell subtly trashing<\/a> John Solomon’s silly John Edwards piece from last week. Remember, this was Solomon’s first major piece for the Post — and no one at the paper even wants to try to defend it. How he got this sought-after job remains a mystery. * Apparently, Bush’s speechwriters have struggled a bit<\/a> in advance of tomorrow’s State of the Union. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that even the best speechwriter on earth can’t manufacture credibility where none exists. Just a thought.<\/p>\n * In a disconcerting sign of things to come, Dick Morris is seeking donations<\/a> to run Swiftboat-style attack ads against Hillary Clinton. Literally. In his pitch to contributors, Morris wrote, “If you liked how the Swift Boat Veterans turned the tide against John Kerry, you understand how a top Clinton aide can turn the tables and stop a Clinton-style liberal from becoming the next president of the United States.”<\/p>\n * John McCain is making a scapegoat<\/a> of Gen. George Casey. Kevin Drum kinda sorta sticks up for<\/a> McCain’s position.<\/p>\n * Will “secret holds” in the Senate be a thing of the past<\/a>?<\/p>\n * It was encouraging to see Lance Armstrong trash the president<\/a> for the White House’s proposed cuts to the National Cancer Institute for the second year in a row. Armstrong is also thinking ahead: “The people who want to be president in 2008 should talk about something that kills 600,000 Americans a year.”<\/p>\n * At the height of the Mark Foley scandal, there was some question as to whether the FBI or CREW was lying. Now we know — it was the FBI<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\n* E. J. Dionne has a good column<\/a> today on the Clinton-Obama match-up.<\/p>\n