More news is coming out about the Petraeus/Odierno/Keane effort to undercut President Obama and his plans to withdrawal from Iraq. As before, IPS’s Gareth Porter is the one breaking the news –and his latest story is stunning.

Speaking of Republicans pushing faux bipartisanship and testing messages on judicial appointments, Nan Aron of Alliance for Justice hits this head on: In an interview with CNN this weekend, AFJ President Nan Aron said that Republicans are already testing their opposition messages for their fight against President Obama’s nominees.

Absolutely no shame, no remorse, no public pangs of conscience…and none expected: Karl Rove, deputy chief of staff to former President George W. Bush, spoke last week at Loyola Marymount University as part of a campuswide 1st Amendment Week. In his remarks, he reiterated his belief that government leaks can cause serious harm, and that newspapers should respect government secrecy….

• Transcript of POTOS presser here.
• Big media reax here, here and here.
• Bloggy reax here, here and here and here.
• Did Obama filibuster?
• History’s biggest monster: Geithner?
• Digby is depressed.
• Self-awareness doesn’t seem to be their thing.

The profound logic of judging those likely illogical

Taj Mahal performing Stagger Lee.

If I weren’t so busy hoarding cans of catfood to live on during the next Great Depression, I’d be laughing at the joke that is the Republican Party.

Seriously. Per the NYTimes:

Mr. Geithner largely prevailed in opposing tougher conditions on financial institutions that were sought by presidential aides, including David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, according to administration and Congressional officials.

Mr. Geithner, who will announce the broad outlines of the plan on Tuesday, successfully fought against more severe limits on executive pay for companies receiving government aid.

At last – an intelligent president, who is paying attention.

Michael Steele says that we should ignore allegations about his campaign spending because they come from a convicted criminal. So did a few of his high-profile endorsements.