Strange Doings on Saturday

The "birthers" are now shuddering. After claiming that Obama was spending millions on a L.A. attorney to stop the over 50 lawsuits generated concerning the eligibility issue, Obama's lawyers finally have entered a response at a district court to have the case ruled inadmissable on its merits. Allan Keyes and other birthers tell us this is the ruthless act of a tyrant. Keyes wrote in a recent editorial that he expects threats to his liberty and even to his life itself. He might expect his funders may want their money back.

All for a single response to a lawsuit. See the "birthers" have been trying to convince the potential funding audience that Obama is spending millions upon millions on these lawsuits--which is not true--because he has something to hide. The range of what he has to hide usually depends on which wingnut is filing the case. So now that they finally have a real response from Obama's lawyer, they start to chicken out and run. Besides citing the myriad cases out there and their irrelevance to planet earth, the Obama lawyers ask for dismissal on a single fact--Obama submitted his birth certificate--end of story.

Let's see how the "birthers" try to keep this story alive and whether their funders might start questioning their lawyers' judgements.

Glenn Beck, the Morman libertarian, is becoming unhinged with his daily television show. He told a skeptical Bill O'Reilly that we will be crashing into Depression soon and a revolution will come, which will target the rich. Beck has now been getting behind the state sovereignty movement. He also believes that the Fairness Doctrine will be re-instated to which Bill O'Reilly just laughed. Even though some liberals and Bill Clinton has advocated it, President Obama opposes it and the whole new generation of media almost makes it an impossibility to enforce.

It's interesting to recall that in 2001 when President Bush, with far less legitimacy in his election than Obama, pressed for his tax cut program that 28 Democratic Senators joined him. A dramatic change from today's monolithic opposition to Obama by Republicans. The total bill for that tax cut was $1.4 trillion, slightly less than double the current stimulus package.

Politicians standing on principle usually get some support. Since the Republican stance against the economic stimulus package was almost unanimous, one could imagine that such stand-tallness might be rewarded by the public. Apparently, not. Republicans in Congress haven't even gotten a bounce--they are still at a 19% approval rate, a few points higher than former Vice President Dick Cheney. So where's the Base they speak of? The counterpart Mr. Obama is at 76%.

Happy Opening of Spring Training. The pitchers and catchers report today. The Washington Nationals, who have a great stadium, did manage to secure one major player this year Adrian Dunn. Otherwise, I would continue hoping that Nick Johnson would actually remain healthy for a full year.