The Feedback Loop

"About two-thirds of voters said he did not share their priorities, up from just over half right before his re-election in 2004. About two-thirds said the country was in worse shape than it was when he became president six years ago. Forty-two percent of respondents said they considered Mr. Bush a strong leader, a drop of 11 points since January."

Yow. So much for the notion that he had hit bottom.

Slate's John Dickerson sticks it to Nancy Pelosi:

"Elizabeth Dole sounded desperate last week. Trying to inspire dispirited Republicans, the head of the party's Senatorial Campaign Committee wrote a fund-raising letter urging the GOP faithful to rally, because if Democrats seize power they will 'call for endless investigations, congressional censure and maybe even impeachment of President Bush.' It's a sad truth of politics that if you can't inspire your voters with a positive vision, you scare them.

"But then along came House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to say that, yes, Sen. Dole is exactly right. In a Washington Post interview, Pelosi outlined her plans if the Democrats take control of the House. She started promisingly, vowing quick action to raise the minimum wage, roll back parts of the Republican prescription drug law, implement homeland security measures, and reinstate lapsed budget deficit controls. It was Contract With America lite-a point-by-point articulation meant to show what the party stands for and demonstrate that she and other Democratic leaders were actual adults.

"Then, as if to kill her plans in the same interview in which she was hatching them, Pelosi announced that her new Democratic majority would also launch a series of investigations reaching all the way back into the first months of the Bush administration. Across the country, vulnerable Republican candidates are saying thank you to Pelosi. The GOP congressional majorities may now be secure."

In football terms, you don't want to give the other team incendiary quotes they can hang up in their locker room.

"When Russ Feingold called for censuring the president a month ago, it seemed like a smart political move precisely because he wasn't a Democratic party leader. He was speaking for a vital wing of the party but allowing Democratic leaders to distance themselves from him. But Pelosi is the Democratic leader. Republican claims that Democrats would launch a wave of investigations like the GOP-style ones of the 1990s suddenly seem credible. Those GOP inquiries reached their absurd apogee when Rep. Dan Burton shot a pumpkin in his backyard in an at-home investigation into former Clinton adviser Vince Foster's suicide."

By the way, how absurd is it that Republicans are warning that Democrats might do what they themselves did a few years ago in terms of irresponsible investigations?

"It is important to investigate the ways the Bush administration has used and abused its executive power, but it is much more important not to talk about those investigations when you're trying to launch your policy agenda."

Do presidential candidates, ah, lack good career options? The New Republic's Noam Scheiber raises the question:

"Of all the unpersuasive spin you hear from political aides about why their current/former/future boss isn't interested in running for president, this line from former Gore strategist Tad Devine strikes me as most laughable. Here's how The Wall Street Journal reports it:

"My expectation is he's not going to run in 2008, says Tad Devine, a top Gore strategist in 2000 who hasn't spoken with him lately. 'He's in a really good place, and he's succeeding fabulously. Why would he want to walk away from it all?'

"Good point! After all, the people who run for president are normally down-on-their-luck types who've washed out of multiple jobs and are just hoping to land some generous government benefits and three square meals a day . . .

Aha! A New York magazine writer guilty of plagiarism!

Well, intentional plagiarism, as explained in this letter to Romenesko :

"New York spokeswoman Betsy Burton explains: 'With the endless stories about the Kaavya Viswanathan case, and thinking about the plague of plagiarism, we decided to write a piece about plagiarism that is plagiarized.

" 'David Edelstein, our film critic, conceived of this idea and tracked down 20 articles on the subject of plagiarism pegged to various scandals. Then he did a big cut-and-paste job and wrote a denunciation of plagiarism that is roughly 99% plagiarized. (The first and last lines are the only original things in the entire piece.) The words are those of Samuel G. Freedman, Ruth Marcus, Jack Shafer, Malcolm Gladwell, various bloggers, and reporters from the Boston Globe, New York Times, and others. A section was also taken from Thomas Mallon's well-known study of plagiarism, Stolen Words. The idea is that we're putting the piece out there and seeing how long it will take anyone to notice.' "

I'm very ticked off at not having my words plundered. I've written more about plagiarism than any of those people!

Does Rosie O'Donnell strike anyone else as an odd choice for "The View?" National Review's Myrna Blyth is, shall we say, not a big fan:

"These days Rosie is not shy about giving her opinion.

Last year she told Geraldo Rivera that George Bush 'is basically a war criminal. He should be tried at The Hague.' Not very moderate.

"Rosie was the host of her own daytime talk show for six years, before she quit five years ago. When Rosie first appeared on daytime TV, she had a very different persona. She palmed herself off to her audiences as just your typical single, working mom who cared about cooking, kids, and crafts. Of course, not many single working moms are multimillionaire lesbians with bodyguards for their kids and a political point of view similar to Michael Moore's. Those were the days when she claimed to the audience almost daily that she really, really, really had a crush on Tom Cruise.

"Yes, she was supposed to be the 'Queen of Nice' and the audience bought it. Of course, Rosie was helped by a shrewd PR team and a plethora of women's magazines which put her on their covers, gushed over her presumed good nature, and pretended that Rosie in her dark man-tailored suits was just a bit tomboyish. Rosie here's her blog, (she doesn't use capital letters) has got her fans. I just wonder whether those who don't like her will switch channels.