Reaction to the blogs: Dobson, Frist, Miers, and polygamy

Here are a few posts that caught my attention this evening -- needless to say, they're from some of my favourite blogs:

Zoe Kentucky at Demagogue has a (suitably) long post on James Dobson's ridiculous "con game": "Dobson confirms that he was confidentially reassured by Karl Rove that Miers is conservative and that Rove talked to him before Miers was officially nominated." And -- surprise, surprise -- Dobson's blaming the whole debacle on the Democrats. (Zoe also has a link to the full transcript from Dobson's radio show.)

Echidne of the Snakes comments on Bill Frist and The Enron Era: "You know, there is market space for a blog just on the legal problems of major Republicans. No one blogger can cover it on top of all the other interesting Wingnuttia news." Hey, I wish I had the time -- but who does? (See my recent post on Frist's crookishness.) Plus, Echidne's got a post on sex (which is always a pleasant diversion from the rigours of political blogging).

The Anonymous Liberal destroys the convenient lie going around the right-wing blogosphere (and Bill O'Reilly's bile-fueled rants) that the Netherlands has endorsed polygamy. How convenient? -- because some on the right are using it in their fight against same-sex marriage (i.e., if you legalize same-sex marriage, polygamy (and who knows what else?) is right around the corner -- the politics of fear and ignorance, and truly an insult to loving same-sex couples). Be sure to check out all the links.

Kevin Drum at Political Animal writes about the future of the Republican Party: "[I]t's true that the activist base of the Republican party is pretty far distant from the middle of American politics, and George Bush recognized this in his first term, mostly steering a center-right course. However, in his second term it's all falling apart, just the way conventional political science suggests it should. The more that Bush panders to the Republican base (Social Security, Terri Schiavo), the more he loses the support of Middle America. At the same time, the more he tries to tack to the center (Katrina, Harriet Miers), the angrier his base gets. Centripetal forces are tearing the Republican coalition apart, and suddenly Beltway buzz suggests that Republicans might actually lose Congress in 2006." An important post to ponder.

See also Kevin's latest post on Miers: "In re Bush v. The Base, the most perplexing question about the Harriet Miers nomination has been 'Why?' It's such a breathtakingly dumb move that it's hard to figure out why even a guy like George Bush would undertake to nominate her." There's an interesting explanation out there: Miers's support for "broad executive branch power". (In other words, Bush needs all the help he can get, and Miers would be there for him on the Court.)

Carla at Preemptive Karma notes that Control Room "star" Josh Rushing has been labelled a "traitor" by Fox News for taking a job with Aljazeera. Excellent documentary, interesting guy, blatant libel.

Steve Soto at The Left Coaster revels in "the conservative crack-up... spurred in large part by the Miers nomination and Katrina". He links to a Howard Fineman piece in Newsweek, which suggests that "the neo-cons have given up on the Bush Administration". See also fellow Left Coaster Eriposte's excellent overview of Patrick Fitzgerald, who's trying to get to the bottom of The Plame Game (calling Mr. Rove... calling Mr. Rove...).

At Charging RINO, Jeremy Dibbell continues his important Redistricting Watch series. As someone who absolutely despises gerrymandering (a serious threat to democracy), I must say that Jeremy's really doing some great work on this. See this post for links to all the others.

Steve Clemons at The Washington Note has an update on John Bolton's performance at the U.N. Yes, a Bolton Watch may indeed be in order.

And Annie at AmbivaBlog has a "chilling" post on al Qaeda and Iraq. Be concerned. Be very concerned.

More later.