When it gets weird

++In the midst of domestic terror attacks,strange statements about Burgdahl, and bribery in Virginia, there is one good piece of news from Brainwrap. Brainwrap aka Charles Gaba is slowly re-emerging on the ACA scene because he is interested in the increased enrollments in Obamacare. HHS has decided for whatever reason not to update the numbers regularly. Today, Brainwrap announced that Massachusetts has almost a 100% insured citizenry. Actually 99% have health insurance.

++I thought we were almost over the Sgt.Burgdahl controversy until he comes home. But no. The House Armed Services Committee had a late night closed session yesterday where they saw the "sign of life" video, which members weren't convinced showed his life was in danger. They are upset that some 90 Obama administration figures knew about the swap while the House didn't. So the House has called Chuck Hagel to testify. The scuttlebutt is that it was Chuck Hagel's decision and ipso facto Obama didn't have anything to do with it but he claims credit.

++( FACT INTERRUPTION: THE SWAP WENT EFFORTLESSLY, NO ONE WAS INJURED. )

++DOD made it clear--despite Ollie North's claims--that no one paid any money for Burgdahl's release.

++Senator Diane Feinstein got her pound of flash and said that there has been a hearing in the Senate and in the House and "Enough is enough." I hope her pound of flesh was the release of the CIA Torture and rendition report.

++Dick Durbin said that the swap for Burgdahl has only been finalized the day before and hence President Obama couldn't have notified Congress in time. Senator Levin said that the administration had notified Congress since the end of December that these Taliban members would be traded.

++A "doctor of symbols and rituals", a Dawn Perlmutter says that Sgt.Bergdahl was acting out Dancing with Wolves by his idealization of the noble savage and she suggests that he probably had relationships with Taliban men as part of his initiation.

++The National Review suggests that Bergdahl is being prepared by the military doctors in Landstuhl for talking points when he arrives in the United States. That the doctors are protecting him from criticism and that he really doesn't need much recuperation after being held prisoner for five years and put in a cage for weeks. DOD doesn't have the guts to try him for desertion or worse because this is all to protect President Obama.

++Michael Gerson, whose boss paid ransom for prisoners held captive by the Phillipppine jihadists, criticized President Obama for the deal, saying it mirrored Israeli swaps. But at least the Israelis continued their war against their enemies.

++Torture fan Marc Thiessen suggests that you can't declare a war over even if you leave the battlefield. He suggests President Obama will surrender to the Taliban. 

++Underlying the palpable fear of the Right is that President Obama might close Gitmo. The House yesterday denied the Pentagon any funds to facilitate the transfer of prisoners from Gitmo.

The Hits Just Keep Coming

Having just walked through the reconstructed crematoria in Auschwitz, Newt Gingrich tweeted "White man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist should also withdraw. New racism is no better than old racism." And so the presumptive 2012 GOP nominee has signalled his opposition to Sotomayor. Classy act.

David Kurtz, writing in the National Review, calls Sotomayor "unnatural in English". Fellow NRer Ramesh Ponnuru likens Sotomayor to Harriet Miers and calls her an "intellectual lightweight". Compared to--pick a name--Clarence Thomas. Glenn Beck in his usual effusive manner said,"Hey,Hispanic Chick Lady! You're empathetic...You're in! He went on to bring up Sotomayor's diabetes, wondering if "the Messiah" (Obama) will cure her.

Bush strategist Mark McKinnon, writing in The Daily Beast, warns the Republicans must pick their fights carefully and two are fights the party doesn't need: Sonia Sotomayor and Colin Powell. He calls Sotomayor a "political trifecta. Woman. hispanic. Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from George H.W. Bush." As for Colin Powell--the first African-American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state under a Republican president, attacking him as "not Republican enough" doesn't send a good message for independent and swing voters. He suggests weeks or months of hysterics about alleged "judicial activism" will make Republicans "look bitter, mean, tone deaf and out of touch".

But,Mark, you haven't checked in for awhile. Alex Castellanos, another Republican strategist,claims otherwise. "Now President Obama is playing hardball identity politics. The old Democratic Party is making a big comeback--that's the party of huge reckless irresponsible spending and identity politics." So he claims with alot of races in Colorado, Arkansas, Ohio and North Carolina, that Republicans are going to make these the two top issues. Hear the whistling by the graveyard.

In yesterday's New York Times conservative law professor Gerard Magliocca wrote about his experience working with Sotomayor and watching her on the bench. She is known to have a "hot bench" meaning a courtroom where the judges asks alot of questions. He is highly complimentary about his management style compared with the nameless hit piece in The New Republic. He goes on to detail her work in trademark law but mentions that she strapped on a bullet-proof vest and took part in police raids on gang warehouses filled with counterfeit merchandise. he says that many judges are knowledgeable about labor law, but few have faced a labor decision as intense as her ruling in favor of the players that ended the 1995 Major League Baseball strike.

Focus on the Family and other social conservatives are taking a wait-and-see attitude to Sotomayor because they like me discovered the not pro-choice decisions and her rulings against the First Amendment. Other groups are already airing commercials highlighting her comment about Latina women making better decisions than white men.

Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa seems flummoxed by everything when asked about the confirmation process. After realizing he once voted against her but not remembering why, he said that she was qualified and a good candidate. He however cited antagonism to Bork and Thomas as caveats to the whole process, saying these things can occur, despite the person's legal qualifications. However, when pushed, he said she would be confirmed and that he thought an August or Labor Day time frame was doable.

And then we end today with Rush Limbaugh's lament that he is an oppressed minority but he doesn't think or act like one. He wasn't really speaking about Sotomayor but for conservatives, who are the oppressed minority. This is one of the first acknowledgements from the right that the country really isn't center-right as everyone at Fox News has maintained for the last several years and why Obama can't push for certain elements of his program. Limbaugh called Washington ,the Old South for the Republican Party, which kowtows to the ruling class just to get along. This follows a time where Limbaugh has been criticized by Republicans for driving the party further to the right. This statement today came only a few days after Limbaugh voluntarily "retired" as the head of the GOP.