Bloggers point fingers over the Senate’s failure to debate a nonbinding resolution on the president’s troop surge. They also giggle over a jilted (and diapered) astronaut and anticipate the Beatles’ inclusion on iTunes.
Undebatable: A Senate showdown over the troop surge in Iraq ended in a stalemate Monday after Republican senators nearly unanimously voted against debating a nonbinding resolution opposing the surge. Democrats accused them of tacitly endorsing President Bush’s escalation, while Republicans claimed they merely disputed the proposed terms of debate. Bloggers shake their heads at this sorry portrait of politics.
Liberal Steve Benen at The Carpetbagger Report notes the “bizarre dynamic” of the whole affair: “Republicans who said they wanted a debate ended up voting to prevent a debate. John Warner voted to shut down discussion of his own resolution. GOP senators like Hagel, who claim to have been chomping at the bit to formally criticize the escalation policy, fell obediently into line. Rank-and-file Republican senators took turns saying the resolution was too irrelevant to take seriously, and too serious to allow debate.” At Scottish Right, conservative Joe applauds Republicans for sticking together but speculates that Warner may have voted against his own resolution with 2008 in mind: “He could claim sponsorship of the resolution to those against the war while waving his vote against the resolution before the Republican base. If so, it’s a tremendous act of cowardice and disrespect for the intelligence of the base.”
Markos Moulitsas at liberal powerhouse Daily Kos predicts this vote will come back to haunt Senate Republicans in 2008: “So this ‘non-binding resolution’ wasn’t as useless as I thought. Now, we can beat Republicans over this vote for the next two years. Send them a big ‘thank you’ present. … Because in 2008, we’ll elect people who WILL end this war, from the White House, to the Senate, to the House.”
Only two Democrats voted against the resolution: Harry Reid and Joe Lieberman. “In Reid’s case, it was procedural - so he can bring it up again later,” writes Mac at Pesky’apostrophe. “But Lieberman? He’s a disgrace to his state - his constituents have consistently expressed their desire for a new course there and he’s just giving them more of the same.” Conservative Ed Morrissey at Captain’s Quarters points out that Democratic impotence isn’t likely to end soon: “Unfortunately, unless Reid can get a Republican to switch caucuses, he has no choice but to limit their efforts to meaningless non-binding resolutions.”
Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo gives a mercifully concise explanation of the proceedings.
Read more about the non-binding resolution. Slate’s John Dickerson wades through the debate over the debate.
A space odyssey: Cyberspace cadets are buzzing over Lisa Nowak, the NASA astronaut facing charges for attempted kidnapping and attempted murder after she drove from Houston to Orlando, Fla., to confront a romantic rival. During the nearly 1,000-mile drive, Nowak wore a diaper so she wouldn’t have to stop to use the bathroom.
D.C. gossip sheet Wonkette fairly plotzes with joy: “The story has everything! And by ‘everything’ we mean ‘astronauts.’ Just say ‘astronaut love triangle’ out loud. It’s been proven by science to be the funniest phrase possible to use in an AP lede.” Austin Dave at IsraellyCool just about sums it up: “Houston, boy does she have a problem.”
Astronomer Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy strikes a more sober note: “It is seriously tempting to laugh at all this, but then I read that she is married and a mother of three children. That’s a big bucket of ice water thrown on this situation.”
Police searching her car reportedly found a steel mallet, a folding knife, rubber tubing, rubber gloves, money, and love letters. John Little at conservative Blogs of War fears the worst: “We can’t know what was going through her head but if someone came after me with all that gear I’d assume that they were planning on killing and quite possibly dismembering me. It’s a sad case but this woman needs to remain behind bars, or in a hospital, for quite some time.”
Read more about the astronaut love triangle.
Apple v. Apple: Computer giant Apple Inc. has made peace with music label Apple Corps, which produced the Beatles, after a 25-year trademark battle. Bloggers are already itching for Sergeant Pepper to hit iTunes.
“Please please me and let this be the end to the nonsensical absence of songs from the Beatles catalog on iTunes,” pleads Gilbert Cruz at Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch.He also breaks down the dispute: “For going on 30 years, Apple Corps has sued the computer maker several times for daring to have used the same logo, an apple (even though they were two obviously different fruits — the Beatles apple is Granny Smith-green, and the Apple apple used to be rainbow-colored and was missing a big bite).”
Doug Mataconis at Below the Beltway points out that the announcement is consistent with reports that the Beatles catalog will be released on Valentine’s Day.
Alix Paultre at group blog Dvorak Uncensored hopes this Apple-Apple hatchet burial—their third—is also their last: “However, since the deatils of the settlement between Apple and Apple were not made public there could still be a few flies in the ointment that may still sour the deal in the long run. Let’s hope the two sides have finally come to their senses and realized the massive amount of money that could be made by releasing the Beatle’s music on iTunes.”
Read more about the Apple settlement.
