a room full of liberals

* josh:

"With respect to what's coming on Iran, what is in order is a little honesty, just as was the case with the Social Security debate a year ago. The only crisis with Iran is the crisis with the president's public approval ratings. Period. End of story. The Iranians are years, probably as long as a decade away, and possibly even longer from creating even a limited yield nuclear weapon. Ergo, the only reason to ramp up a confrontation now is to help the president's poll numbers... The period of peril the country is entering into isn't tied to an Iranian bomb. It turns on how far a desperate president will go to avoid losing control of Congress."

* Ledeen: "Obviously, if that (tape) was really bin Laden, I was misinformed--and I in turn misinformed readers by passing it on--when I reported being told that bin Laden died in Iran in mid-December. I've gone back to my sources, who are serious people who have been accurate in the past, and I should hear back in a few days."

* meanwhile, Weldon posits that maybe the OBL tape is fake (lol)

* TMV has a wrapup of responses to Colbert - this is my fave: "Colbert's performance was just extremely weak, and as I said he totally bombed. I don't base this on my reaction to the jokes... I base it on the dead silence for roughly 90% of his monologue, in a room full of liberals."
and Rising Hegemon: "Ever try to do stand up at an indictment?"

* chris wallace asked Josh Bolten if he ever dated bo derek. bwahahaha. trying to dispel the rumours that he is gay.

* glenn:

"It is not uncommon for a President to refrain from executing a law which he believes, and states, is unconstitutional. Other Presidents have invoked that doctrine, although Bush has done so far more aggressively and frequently. But what is uncommon - what is entirely unprecedented - is that the administration's theories of its own power arrogate unto itself not just the right to refrain from enforcing such laws, but to act in violation of those laws, to engage in the very conduct which those laws criminalize, and they do so secretly and deceitfully, after signing the law and pretending that they are engaged in the democratic process. That is why the President has never bothered to veto a law -- why bother to veto laws when you have the power to violate them at will?"

read the rest.