Hewitt Blog

Arizona's Jon Kyl sounded as though the momentum for a vote on the Feingold censure resolution may be fading, and he cited the press of crucial business as a reason for a possible decision by the GOP to let the Dems escape the Feingold trap. (The transcript will be up at Radioblogger.com shortly.)

I have great admiration for Senator Kyl, but disgaree that there is more pressing business than this debate. Every time an elected Democrat comes up with nutter feed, whether Murtha in the fall or feingold in the spring, Republicans must insist on exposing whatever the flavor of the day is in the swamp to the realities of a floor vote.

If The GOP allows the Democrats to walk away, they will have earned another McClellan comparison. (No, not that McClellan.)

And they are likely to earn the political equivalent of McClelland's war record.

Over the years I have become addicted to the content at RealClearPolitics.com, and to the clear thinking and steady, objective analysis from its founders John McIntyre and Tom Bevan.

The old site, however, looked as though it had been designed by, well, me.

That's all changed, and if you haven't seen RCP.com lately, go goive the new RCP a long and enjoyable look.

The Real Ugly American interviews T. F. Boggs, who is blogging from his camp in Iraq these days.

This is one senator who knows how to conduct this debate.

HHS issues a comprehensive update on H5N1 preparations in the U.S. It begins:

We are in a race. We are in a race against a fast moving virulent virus with the potential to cause an influenza pandemic. In November when President Bush announced the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu virus was confirmed in birds in 16 countries. It was known to have infected 122 people and 62 – half of those infected – died.

Today, four months later, H5N1 has spread to 37 nations on three continents; 175 people have been infected and 96 of them have died. To date, most of those people were exposed to infected poultry. Fortunately, there has been no sustained human-to-human transmission of the disease, but the rapid spread of H5N1 is reason for concern.

We are in a race, a race against a quick changing virus, for H5N1 has not only spread, it has evolved. There are now two main variants, or clades, of H5N1 and it is this second, newer clade that is spreading across western Asia into Europe, the Middle East and Africa. This second clade has killed over 60 percent of those it is known to have infected.

Read the whole thing.

The WaPo's Chris Cillizza has the background on the looming showdown in the Senate over Russ Feingold's motion to censure the president over the NSA program.

The Majority Leader will score a huge win if he can get the Feingold resolution to the floor for an extended debate followed by an up or down vote.

And the country would be exceedingly well served by a very accurate scorecard on who in the Senate can be trusted to be serious about the war we are in and from which we cannot withdraw, and who will join Feingold in the fever swamp with others suffering from Moore's Disease, as well as any conservatives giving in to long dormant isolationism.

On this last note, see John Podhoretz's fine column in today's New York Post (HT: Powerline) which in turn builds on Richard Lowry's crucial National Review essay on the "to-hell-with-them-hawks."

The third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is a fitting moment for a great debate in the Senate on exactly what we are about in this war, its many fronts, and the tools we must employ --including warrantless NSA surveillance of al Qaeda contacting its operatives in the U.S.-- in order to win.

Russ Feingold has given Bill Frist the perfect opportunity to organize this debate. The Majority Leader should be relentless in demanding it commence immediately and conclude only after every senator has spoken or chosen to hide.

Test results in Azerbaijan confirmed that three children there have died from H5N1. Two were teenagers. (HT: WSJ.com. Subscription required.)

Of the 33 recorded cases of human infection occuring in 2006, 22 have resulted in death.

The Los Angeles Times gives Reiner a glowing bit of "from-the-bunker" coverage in its Calender section this morning, and notes, Reiner will be meeting the press in Sacramento today. I hope CSPAN is there.

Suggested questions:

Did you ever discuss the effect of the First Five ad campaign endorsing preschool with anyone connected to the Prop 82 campaign?

Did it ever cross your mind that spending $23 million to promote preschool while collecting signatures to put a preschool initiative on the ballot was an inappropriate use of public funds to support a political campaign?

This scandal isn't about preschool, aor Reiner's motives, or the massive expansion of the public school bureaucracy.

It is very simple: No one can use tax money to support political campaigns. If that wall is allowed to be breached by Reiner, it will be breached and breached again and again by public agencies using the initiative process to extend their power and expand their budgets.

I hope Bill Bradley and Dan Weintraub are at the press conference.

When not skating they’re gripping the handrail and making their way around the giant rink with the exaggerated care of a stoner making his way down the burro path at the Grand Canyon.

I told James not to go to Peeps' exhibition.

Here's a fine column on the art of convresation between political opposites.