Three wise men

Be sure to take a moment and read Paul Rogat Loeb's important essay, courtesy of CommonDreams.org, on Supreme Court candidate Samuel Alito, in which Mr. Loeb decries Republican threats to employ the "nuclear option" against a potential filibuster of the nominee. Money quote:

In threatening to end the Senate's ability to filibuster judges, Republican leaders talk much about high principle, the right of Presidents to have their nominees accepted or rejected without parliamentary obstructions. But the sole principle behind this proposed change is that of the power grab. [T]he love of power has now become the political right's prime gospel, making the slightest notion of checks or balances heretical treason. Republican leaders work to end the filibuster not because they believe it violates some deep constitutional mandate, but because they believe they can get away with it.

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"The Bush administration is increasingly attempting to recast the president as a latter day Harry Truman." So begins an insightful post at TPM Cafe by Princeton University professor G. John Ikenberry, who highlights nine ways in which "Bush is the perfect anti-Truman." Mr. Ikenberry notes:

What is most amazing about the Bush administration's new found desire to wrap itself in Truman-era ideas and heroic imagery is its sheer chutzpah... Perhaps we can find Bush's historical likeness in a different administration. Ron Brownstein of the LA Times suggests Polk.

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And The Nation's John Nichols urges Congressional Democrats to vigorously pursue all of those tainted by the Abramoff scandal - even if that pursuit leads to a handful of fellow Party members in addition to the overwhelming percentage of corrupt Republicans in Abramoff's circle of friends. Mr. Nichols writes:

If a desire to protect Reid and other Democratic recipients of the lobbyist's largesse causes the opposition party to pull its punches, Democrats will gain no more ground as a result of this scandal than it did from the Enron imbroglio... Only by being genuine in their commitment to clean up Congress will Democrats turn the Abramoff scandal fully to their advantage. And, as everyone in Washington knows, it has been a long time since Democrats were that genuine -- or that smart politically.