11/6: Rocking The House

Although the biggest story in the blogosphere is the deadly shooting at Ft. Hood, the second-biggest story is probably yesterday's Tea Party protest on Capitol Hill, in which conservative activists and GOP congressmen rallied against the Dem health care reform legislation. As they've done after every Tea Party protest, conservative bloggers are posting numerous photos of the protesters. They're also praising the protesters and emphasizing their message. "Hey, Nancy: Can you hear America now?" Michelle Malkin writes. "Kill the bill, tear it up and start over."

Meanwhile, liberal bloggers are doing what they do after every Tea Party protest, which is posting photos of the more offensive signs being displayed by the protesters. Lefty bloggers are also contrasting yesterday's anti-health care reform rally with the endorsements that the House bill received from the AARP and the AMA. Steve Benen writes: "It created an interesting bookend -- on one end of Pennsylvania Avenue, right-wing activists were having yet another rally based on paranoid fears and debunked nonsense; on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House was welcoming support from the nation's largest advocacy group for seniors and the nation's largest organization of medical doctors."

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Conservative bloggers (Lane, Reynolds, Erickson, Klein, Geraghty, Morrissey) are buzzing about the news that that U.S. unemployment rate has climbed to 10.2%, which is the highest it's been in 26 years. Liberal bloggers (Dayen, Aravosis, Scarecrow, Yglesias, Fernholz) are calling for more economic stimulus legislation.
• Liberal bloggers (Cohn, McCarter, Drum, Cole, BooMan) continue to ridicule the House GOP health care reform bill -- which, according to the CBO, "would leave about 52 million people uninsured." On the other hand, Andrew Sullivan thinks the GOP bill contains some good ideas, and Ed Morrissey praises the bill.
• Conservative bloggers (Erickson, Morrissey, Geraghty) are ridiculing FL Gov. (and SEN candidate) Charlie Crist (R) for denying that he ever supported Pres. Obama's stimulus bill.
• Conservative bloggers (Malkin, Hanson, Hengler, Erickson, Johnson, Hawkins) are buzzing about the Muslim background of the Army psychiatrist who killed 13 people at Ft. Hood yesterday.

HEALTH CARE REFORM: The AMA & AARP Get On Board

Liberal bloggers are delighted that the AARP and AMA both endorsed the House Dem health care bill yesterday:

• Daily Kos' mcjoan: "The AARP is behind the House Bill, and what's more, is going to lobby Members for it. [...] And the AMA. [...] Whoooo, pretty radical groups there. The Blue Dogs better be careful deciding whether or not they want to join forces with such questionable allies on an idea as unpopular as healthcare reform. Seriously, check out all the fringe groups supporting the bill. Seriously, those wacky pediatricians on on there, and the American Medical Colleges, hotbeds of radical politics that they are. And you know that the Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons are communist cells. Don't even get me started on the Consumers Union or Easter Seals."
• Firedoglake's Jon Walker: "The endorsements should help ensure that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be able to whip the votes to pass the bill on Saturday. The strong endorsements should also help strengthen the House Democrats' hand when their bill is eventually merged with the Senate bill in conference."
• MyDD's Jonathan Singer: "Two days out for the forthcoming House vote on healthcare reform, I'm feeling more [and] more confident that the Democratic leadership will be able to round up the 218 votes in favor of their legislation."
• The Washington Monthly's Benen: "It created an interesting bookend -- on one end of Pennsylvania Avenue, right-wing activists were having yet another rally based on paranoid fears and debunked nonsense; on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House was welcoming support from the nation's largest advocacy group for seniors and the nation's largest organization of medical doctors."

In other health care reform news, liberal bloggers (Bowers, Protzman) are angry and disappointed that Rep. Larry Kissell (D-NC) -- who raised a lot of money from netroots activists -- will vote against the House bill.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: The Meaninglessness Of Shootings

The Atlantic's James Fallows:

"One consequence of having been alive through a lot of modern American history is remembering a lot of mass shootings. I was working at a high school summer job when news came over the radio that Charles Whitman had gunned down more than 40 people, killing 14, from the main tower at the University of Texas at Austin. I was editing a news magazine during the schoolyard killings in Paducah, Kentucky in 1997 and sent reporters to try to figure out what it all meant. I can remember where I was when the live-news coverage switched to the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, and the shootings at the one-room schoolhouse in the Amish country of Pennsylvania, and the Virginia Tech shootings two years ago. And all the rest.

In the saturation coverage right after the events, the 'expert' talking heads are compelled to offer theories about the causes and consequences. In the following days and weeks, newspapers and magazine will have their theories too. Looking back, we can see that all such efforts are futile. The shootings never mean anything. Forty years later, what did the Charles Whitman massacre 'mean'? A decade later, do we 'know' anything about Columbine? There is chaos and evil in life. Some people go crazy. In America, they do so with guns; in many countries, with knives; in Japan, sometimes poison.

We know the emptiness of these events in retrospect, though we suppress that knowledge when the violence erupts as it is doing now. The cable-news platoons tonight are offering all their theories and thought-drops. They've got to fill time. I wish they could stop. As the Vietnam-era saying went, Don't mean nothing."

LEST WE FORGET: 1999 Collaboration Between Carlos Santana, Rob Thomas Somehow Standing Test Of Time

From The Onion:

"LOS ANGELES -- Sources reported Monday that 'Smooth,' the 1999 collaborative effort of guitarist Carlos Santana and singer-songwriter Rob Thomas, has somehow persevered against all odds and continued to receive regular radio airplay this week. 'While the projections of most experts suggested "Smooth" would fade from the national consciousness within its first year, the song has actually proved surprisingly resilient over time,' noted musicologist Sidney Brown said of the No. 1 single's inexplicable staying power. 'Though it seems not to have any musical or cultural relevance whatsoever, many people, myself included, find themselves humming the track's guitar lick at least once every other week.' At press time, the triple-platinum, Latin-tinged rock record was heard emanating from an estimated 780,022 open car windows and 2,300 department store sound systems."

Posted by Ian Faerstein at 12:28 PM