Discover GOP Opprobrium

[teapeebubbles]

Today's edition of quick hits:

* It could have been better, but it's not a bad bill: "The Senate voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to put new restrictions on the credit card industry, passing a bill whose backers say will make card-issuers spell out their terms in fewer words, using plain English, and treat customers more fairly." The vote was 90 to 5.

* The White House event on fuel efficiency and car emissions sounded very encouraging.

* Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, the new American ambassador to Afghanistan, met today with Afghan survivors of a recent bombing to promise renewed efforts to prevent civilian casualties.

* Congressional balking notwithstanding, the administration still plans to shut down Gitmo in January.

* Hillary Clinton is looking for $110 million in emergency humanitarian aid to Pakistan.

* Speaker Pelosi's concerns about the CIA appear more and more believable all the time.

* The administration is slow-walking the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, but at least it's not going to defend the policy in court.

* Margaret Hamburg, a bioterrorism expert, has been confirmed as the new commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. The Senate approved the nomination late yesterday on a voice vote.

* The details are a little fuzzy, but it seems that Zalmay Khalilzad is poised to get a very powerful role in the Afghan government. (Update: Or, perhaps not.)

* Barney Frank. Michele Bachmann. CNN. Ugh.

* I'm often unimpressed with Lanny Davis, but he's reached the right conclusion about Cheney.

* People tend to like the idea of transparency, but it doesn't always poll well when specific issues are on the line.

* Rumsfeld doesn't seem pleased with the GQ piece.

* Hey look, a new Michael Steele controversy. Just what he needed.

* It's ironic to hear Joe Scarborough complain about people being too "dumb" to be on TV.

* Krugman offers the Quote of the Day: "Look for the golden age of conservative intellectualism in America, and you keep going back, and back, and back -- and eventually you run up against William Buckley in the 1950s declaring that blacks weren't advanced enough to vote, and that Franco was the savior of Spanish civilization."