David Pleasant

I understood outing a CIA agent as being tantamount to treason. At minimum, it is a felony. But the New York Times doesn’t see it that way. It’s merely a “distraction.”

The Wilson leak was an embarrassing distraction for President Bush and Mr. Cheney, whose role in the episode has remained a mystery that critics hoped would be clarified with the release of F.B.I. interview materials.

It sounds like the piece was authored by Alberto “Quaint” Gonzlaes.

Hey Joe Lieberman, you know that threat you made yesterday to filibuster the public option? Well, your constituents are smarter than you are. They favor the public option 68 – 21. And among independents they support the public option 73 – 15. Why do you hate your constituents, Senator Lieberman?

Don Millard @OTOOLEFAN:

If Karl Rove merely tweeted “Just took a crap,” he’d tag it with #TCOT. Top Crapper On Twitter.

Oh, so now the health insurance industry to ensure its outrageous profits are going to stick it to the business community and business leaders are howling. I guess they are.

Any kind of government-run health insurance program would lead to higher costs for employers, corporate executives representing a big-business group said Wednesday.

The Business Roundtable, an alliance of corporate CEOs, criticized the public option in a conference call with reporters as congressional Democratic leaders intensified their push to include a government plan in their healthcare reform bills.

[...]

The Business Roundtable’s chief argument against the public option is that a government plan would offer lower payments to medical providers who, in turn, would raise the rates they charge for patients enrolled in employer-sponsored health insurance plans.

“It won’t contain costs. It will just shift them to the private payers,” Castellani said. “The state opt-out provision does nothing to blunt that impact.

Via First Read:

Former GOP Sen. Chuck Hagel will be at the White House event this afternoon where he’ll be named by the president as co-chair of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board.

[...] Hagel will be charged with “overseeing the work of the intelligence agencies for the president and unvestigating [sic] violations of the law” by folks in this community.