The latest PPP poll (PDF) shows Florida Gov. Charlie Crist holding on to his modest plurality in his independent bid for the United States Senate. Republican Marco Rubio comes in second, and the official Democrat is stuck in the teens.

Wingnuts do love their false equivalencies, but this is disgusting even for them.

A new SurveyUSA poll out today shows Tom Perriello trailing Republican Robert Hurt by 23 points.  In February, prior to the health care vote, PPP polling showed Perriello essentially tied with Hurt. This confirms what FDL has been saying for months:  forcing members of Congress like Tom Perriello to vote for the health care bill was [...]

As you probably know, the Office of Legal Counsel is basically the Supreme Court inside the executive branch, providing legal opinions for the Administration on what they can and cannot do. It was legitimately good news at the time when that office was being staffed with people vocally opposed to torture. It’s legitimately depressing news that they have all been either blocked from their jobs or left them on their own accord. It signals a dark time in American history for the rule of law.

We have bigger challenges than at any time since the 1930s, and we’re spending time interpreting two-decade parables from an NAACP banquet. The biggest times of media bread and circus over the past couple decades have been now, and during the Clinton Administration. Whatever do those two eras share in common?

All hail the stupid.

The Washington Post has been turning lots of heads this week with a big series on intelligence contracting. The series has gotten a lot of people in DC talking about the problem with contractors. But we here at FDL have been talking about it for years, not least when we hosted Tim Shorrock–who wrote the book on intelligence contracting, Spies for Hire–for a book salon two years ago. As I pointed out on Monday, one thing Shorrock emphasized was the degree to which the contractors are partnering with the government to develop longterm strategy.

With financial reform and unemployment extension legislation out of the way, the Senate now can tackle the energy and climate bill, on which debate is scheduled to begin next week. Harry Reid says he’s “almost done” with the bill, but John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, who are clinging to some kind of carbon cap, say they need more time.

Surely, there’s a few good lawyers out there who’d love to come to Ms. Sherrod’s assistance. Since, you know, there’s no one at the White House who will.

The peremptory firing of Shirley Sherrod. A real profile in courage, really makes you want to go out and support the Administration.

Styx — Renegade (live Chicago 1996).