Today's Blogs

Oprah-o-Rama

Bloggers bask in the afterglow from Obama and Oprah’s record campaign stops and celebrate the news that Scooter’s Libby is rescinding his appeal. They’re also pleased that Michael Vick has been sentenced to 23 months in prison.

Oprahpalooza! Oprah Winfrey urged a record South Carolina crowd to get behind Barack Obama during the upcoming primary season Sunday. Winfrey, who has never endorsed a candidate, said she’s entered the fray because of Obama’s “message of change and unity.” Bloggers had a hard time finding something negative to say about the event, but some managed.

Rikyrah at Jack and Jill Politics, a pro-Obama blogger who attended the event, was impressed by Oprah’s Obama love: “I have never seen this side of Oprah. She could have been a ‘neutral’ endorser, but she wasn’t. She put her foot all up in the criticism of Obama–experience, needing to ‘wait his turn,’ and more–and made all those excuses null and void.” Comments From Left Field’s Kyle E. Moore thinks Oprah’s support could make the difference for Obama’s campaign: “Oprah played her role perfectly, most notably marking the difference between her book club. With books, Oprah’s seal of approval is essentially an anointment process on the way to the bestseller’s lists, but here Oprah ceded that her goal isn’t to get people to blindly do as she does, but instead to think.”

XXL Magazine rapper/blogger Bryan Crawford caught a whiff of opportunism from the queen of daytime television: “[M]ake no mistake, this is as much about Oprah herself as it is Obama. If she can actually put someone in the White House, imagine what it will do for her own profile.”

Shakeville’s Melissa McEwan was mystified by Oprah’s claims about her past voting habits: “Oprah claimed she’s voted for just as many Republicans as Democrats over the years. Really? I find that incredibly hard to believe. I don’t know if her main residence, and hence voting district, is Chicago or NW Indiana (where she’s got that farm), but, either way, there haven’t been any Republicans worth voting for in either district since the Pleistocene era.”

Read more about Oprah’s Obama rally

Libby Lets It Be: Scooter Libby announced Monday that he would not be appealing his perjury and obstruction convictions in the CIA leak case. Bloggers were both frustrated and fascinated by the news.

Ed Morrissey at Captain’s Quarters wonders what this could mean for Libby’s reputation: “Will that change of heart produce a similar shift in opinion about Libby and his conviction for obstruction and perjury? Will people see this as a tacit admission of guilt? If Libby chooses not to pursue vindication, it certainly appears that it holds little value to him – certainly not the attitude of a wrongly-convicted public servant, especially given the extremely short period of time it took to reach that decision.”

The Anonymous Liberal is frustrated by the announcement because Bush commuted Libby’s sentence to give him space to file an appeal: “I guess those talking points are inoperative now. Regardless of how his lawyers try to spin this, the reality is that Libby dropped his appeal because he had almost no chance of winning it.”

Libby Spencer over at The Impolitic thinks a pardon will make an appearance in the Libby story before Bush leaves office: “[M]aybe his lawyers figured out he has a dog of an appeal going and chances are good that he would end up in jail if he pursued it to its ultimate conclusion. Besides, is there anyone who doesn’t think his pal George will give him a full pardon on the way out the door?” Over at Firedoglake, Jane Hamsher agrees. “Is he trying to send a signal to the White House that a full pardon would be a lovely holiday gift?”

The Carpetbagger Report’s Steve Benen says that, with Libby’s case finally over, it’s time for the White House to answer questions about the Plame scandal: “At various points in recent years, the Bush gang has used the legal proceedings to avoid responding to questions about this scandal. … I don’t know whether the White House press corps is still prepared to push for an explanation of what transpired inside the West Wing, but as of this afternoon, the Bush gang is officially out of excuses for years of stonewalling.”

Read more about Libby dropping his appeal.

23 for No. 7: Atlanta Falcons football superstar Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in prison for running a “cruel and inhuman” dogfighting ring and lying about it. The blogosphere has very little sympathy for him.

Dave and Thomas ponder Vick’s possible future in the NFL: “Michael Vick will most likely try to make a comeback to save his career in a few years when he gets out of jail. His days of the QB is over for all practical purposes but we bet there will be a lot of protest and lots of inside buzz from the league to leave him on the sidelines. Technically, the NFL can still suspend him for time after the sentence and a state case in Virginia could add more time onto his sentence, but we doubt the state will get that far.” Gawker Media sports blog Deadspin also analyzes Vick’s future: “[I]t’s likely that [he] won’t have much time shaved off. (And he can’t appeal.) That puts him back in the NFL (yeah, right) perhaps for the 2010 season.”

Gossip blog The Superficial jokes, “Well, it looks justice has been served because Michael Vick is the one in the doghouse now! Zing!”  VH1’s Best Week Ever blog joins in on the bad puns and predicts what the New York City tabloid headlines on the Vick story will be.

Read more about Michael Vick’s sentencing.