2/18: It's Time To Go, Roland

Most liberal bloggers are calling on Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) to resign following his admission that he tried (unsuccessfully) to raise money for ex-IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich before Blagojevich appointed him to the Senate. Lefty bloggers believe that Burris "has sunk whatever credibility he might have once had," and some are urging the Senate to expel Burris if he refuses to resign on his own. Conservative bloggers, meanwhile, are enjoying "the latest embarrassment to Democrats over this Senate seat," while others are calling for a special election to replace Burris.

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Liberal bloggers (Hamsher, digby, Bowers) have significant concerns about Pres. Obama's upcoming "fiscal responsibility summit", as they believe that the politicians attending the summit are pressuring Obama to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits.
• Liberal bloggers (Dworkin, Singer, Benen) are buzzing about a new Gallup poll indicating that Congress' approval rating has jumped 12% in the past month, which they see as evidence that the public supports the Dems' economic agenda.
• Conservative bloggers (Erickson, Hawkins, Morrissey) are praising CA's GOP senators for ousting their leader after he negotiated a state budget deal that included tax increases. Righty bloggers believe that this incident provides "a lot of lessons" for the national GOP.

BURRIS: Your 15 Minutes Are Up, Senator

Most liberal bloggers are calling on Burris to resign following his admission that he tried (unsuccessfully) to raise money for Blagojevich before the disgraced governor appointed him to the Senate:

• Daily Kos' Barbara Morrill: "...Roland Burris has sunk whatever credibility he might have once had. Roland Burris needs to hire an engraver and then resign his seat for the good of the Party, the Senate, and the people of Illinois."
• TalkLeft's Big Tent Democrat: "Resign Sen. Burris."
• The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen: "Perhaps now would be a good time for Burris to think about spending more time with his family."
• MyDD's Todd Beeton: "...Burris has violated the public trust. His constant protestations to the contrary just become all the sadder with every new revelation. The next step must be for Democratic Senate leaders to demand his resignation and for the Illinois legislature to do what it should have done much earlier: call for a special election to fill the seat."
• The Reality-Based Community's Mark Kleiman: "Boot him. Now. It's the right thing to do, and his replacement is likely to be a stronger candidate in 2010, even if Burris isn't in jail by then."

TPM's David Kurtz: "Sen. Roland Burris' political position is becoming increasingly untenable: state criminal investigation, Senate ethics probe, and calls to resign, including from the Chicago Tribune. Maybe Blago's spectacular fall has skewed our sense of what a political flameout looks like. But by any usual standard, Burris is in deep, deep trouble."

Think Progress' Matthew Yglesias: "I think it's fair to say that Roland Burris' debut as a U.S. Senator is not going so well. [...] Now we've got an Illinois prosecutor looking into things along with the Senate ethics committee and I'd say Burris' shot at the 2010 nomination look pretty slim. He doesn't really seem to have done anything corrupt per se, but ambition and desire for a Senate seat definitely seem to have gotten the better of his good sense and basic ethics. Maybe he could be made Commerce Secretary?"

BURRIS II: Pass The Popcorn!

Conservative bloggers are buzzing about the latest revelation concerning Burris, which they think will cause political damage to Dems:

• Hot Air's Ed Morrissey: "By my count, Burris now has four different versions of his contacts with Rod Blagojevich, and this one will embarrass Democrats the most. [...] Keep the popcorn coming, because I doubt that we've heard the final version of this story from Burris."
• Power Line's John Hinderaker: "Burris' position now appears to be that there was no quid pro quo for his appointment because he was unable to come up with the quid."
• RedState's Pejman Yousefzadeh: "Time for Roland Burris to go."
• AmSpec Blog's Philip Klein: "If Burris is forced to step down, it will be the latest embarrassment to Democrats over this Senate seat. But I'm sure some Republicans are hoping Burris sticks around a bit longer -- at least until the next election."
• Townhall's John Hanlon: "Burris is quickly becoming a major headache for the Democratic Party and for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid."
• NRO's Kathryn Jean Lopez: "Democrats have got to want this senatorial nightmare to be over."
• Commentary's Jennifer Rubin: "This three-ring circus is the result of allowing the Illinois political machine to run amok. It sounds like the job of the Agent of Change to clean up his own state and party. Let's see if the White House can get it right this time. Two sentences will suffice: 'Burris must go. An election must be held.' If they can't manage that, I suspect they'll be in for a heap of trouble."

OBAMA: Beware The "Entitlement Reformers"

Liberal bloggers have significant concerns about Obama's upcoming "fiscal responsibility summit", as they believe that the politicians attending the summit are pressuring Obama to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits:

• Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher: "[The summit] will be led by [TN Rep.] Jim Cooper, [NH Sen.] Judd Gregg, [ND Sen.] Kent Conrad and other 'entitlement reform' fetishists. [...NRO's James] Capretta says that given the tight time constraints, Peter Orszag -- Director of the Office of Management and Budget -- is in the driver's seat. [...] As we reported the other day, Orszag is co-author of the Diamond-Orszag plan for reforming Social Security, which calls for raising the retirement age and cutting benefits -- which the White House has been presenting as the foundation of their plan. And the Wall Street Journal is reporting that 'entitlement reformers' have been given the go-ahead on their dream to short-circuit Congressional approval. [...] I don't particularly like the way things are lining up on this."
• Open Left's Chris Bowers: "One of the main goals of the summit is to create a commission that will provide non-amendable, non-filibusterable legislation that will cut Social Security and Medicare. [...] On February 2nd, the Washington Post reported that President Obama was opposed to such a commission. [...] Today, however, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that President Obama is in favor of such a commission. [...] Now, I share both Jane and David's incredulity that the Obama administration would embrace such a proposal, given that President Obama campaigned on eliminating the Social Security cap, not on cutting benefits or raising the retirement age. [...] However, even if it is just wishful thinking from conservatives, we still need to take it seriously. People like Jim Cooper do, in fact, want to cut Social Security and Medicare. They are also extracting some concessions from the Obama administration, such as the 'fiscal responsibility summit.' We will find out more on February 23rd, and then February 26th, but as the budget fight looms, don't discount the possibility that Social Security could actually be cut even under a Democratic trifecta."
• Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas: "Will Obama really push for social security 'reform'? The early signs don't look good."

digby: "Obama has been vague on social security since the campaign. I never got his decision to put it on the menu back in Iowa except as some sort of strange appeal to older voters that didn't make any sense. His use of universal health care sabaoteur Jim Cooper as a health care spokesman sounded many alarms. But he has also made many assurances that he has no intention of breaking the compact on social security and medicare, so I've never known quite where he was. [...H]e may have calculated that that this is a brave Nixon goes to China moment, but he's got to know that at this point liberals (and a lot of others) aren't going to sit still for this, no matter what the Politico says. This will crack up his coalition. The only way he can pass this is NAFTA style, with mostly Republicans and Blue Dogs. Doing that on this issue during a serious economic downturn could be politically catastrophic."

GALLUP: Hooray For A Less-Hated Congress!

Liberal bloggers are buzzing about a new Gallup poll indicating that Congress' approval rating has jumped 12% in the past month. Lefty bloggers see this poll as evidence that the public supports the Dems' economic agenda:

• Daily Kos' DemFromCT: "Hello, Media? Remember all those warm and fuzzy stories about how [GOP Whip] Eric Cantor is the new face of the GOP? Obstructionism is good, right? Well, Gallup suggests maybe not."
• TAPPED's Mori Dinauer: "I think this current jump is attributable to the fact that Congress is actually getting things done, and doing them quickly, which is more important to the public than doing it in a 'bipartisan' fashion."
• MyDD's Jonathan Singer: "Wow. So much for the Republicans trying to blow up, then run against, Congress. [...] There's still room to grow, and the public won't likely come close to voicing more approval than disapproval of Congress until Congress gets done more of what it needs to get done (enacting universal healthcare would go a long way, for instance). Still, this is a pretty remarkable move for Congress' approval rating, one that should change some opinions inside the Beltway (though I'm not holding my breath)."
• Benen: "[T]o hear the GOP leaders tell it, a public backlash against Congress for its recent efforts was inevitable. Just the opposite has happened, at least for now. I should add, in case there's any doubt, that the increase in support is not evidence of public approval of unanimous Republican opposition to the economic recovery plan. The poll bump came as a result of self-identified Democrats and Independents expressing new-found support, while Republicans are 'now less likely to approve of Congress than they were in January.'"
• The Washington Post's Greg Sargent: "Since the stimulus package is the thing most identified with Congress, it's hard not to see these numbers as reflecting growing approval for the stim bill. These numbers also should make one question whether the GOP Congressional leadership's strategy is working. The GOP's primary message in recent days has been that the Dem Congressional leadership is betraying President Obama's calls for bipartisanship, is mucking up the workings of Congress with partisanship as usual and is foisting a pork-stuffed bill on the American people. But now that the stim bill has passed, reflecting an unusually large level of harmony between the new Democratic President and the Democratic Congressional leadership, many more people are saying they like what Congress is doing."

CA GOP: This Is How It's Done, Baby!

Conservative bloggers are praising the GOPers in the CA Senate for ousting their leader after he negotiated a state budget deal that included tax increases:

• RedState's Erick Erickson: "This is what it looks like when Republicans act like Republicans. [...] The Senate GOP leader crafted a deal for tax increases with the Democratic leadership and Governator. That did not sit too well with the rank and file Republican senators who know doubt have learned what happens to Republicans who act like Democrats by watching the voters purge the GOP from Washington. [...] This is encouraging news and nationwide the GOP should stand up and take notice. In California, as elsewhere, tough decisions on what government should necessarily do were avoided in good times while the money flowed. Government provided for all sorts of things, employees were unionized, etc. Now California can't afford its government. So California's government's answer is to increase in size some more. Sure, there will be $16 million in cuts. But there will be $11 billion in loans and $14.4 billion in tax increases. California must honestly examine what is needed and slaughter the unnecessary sacred cows that survive. The GOP looks like it understands this."
• Right Wing News' John Hawkins: "Rarely do I say this, but the Republican Party can learn a lesson from the Cali GOP. [...] You have Republicans taking a stand on principles and refusing to back down on their promises to their constituents just because the left is saying there's an 'emergency.' Then when their leader caved, abandoned his principles, and sold his fellow Republicans out, they responded by getting a new leader. There are a lot of lessons there for the Republican party nationally."
• Morrissey: "[This] sends a message to party leadership that the California GOP will not willingly follow along with more tax increases in a state that already has become one of the worst for tax burdens in the nation. California did not get into its financial crisis through low taxes, and higher taxes won't provide anything more than a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. [...] Until the legislature gets serious about budget cuts, higher taxes only provide a junkie's fix to addiction. The Republicans just signaled a cold-turkey approach, and they're willing to throw their own leadership under the bus to get it. They look serious about fixing the real problems. Will the Democrats get serious, too, or go tharn in the headlights?"

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Should Dems Abolish The Filibuster?

Mother Jones' Kevin Drum thinks it's in the Dems' long-term interest to abolish the Senate filibuster:

"I got several emails after my last filibuster post suggesting that I should think twice. What if the GOP had been able to get all their judicial nominees through during the past eight years? What if [George W.] Bush had passed Social Security reform? What if, what if, what if. But look: only a handful of Bush's judges were successfully filibustered. Social Security reform never even came up for a vote. But even conceding that, yes, there would be some short-term pain from conservative rule in a filibuster-less world, in the long run the filibuster is bad for liberalism because liberals are fundamentally in favor of change and the filibuster is fundamentally obstructive. It's well suited for a movement that wants to stand athwart history and yell 'Stop!' but less well suited to a movement that has a positive agenda revolving around the enactment of ambitious new social programs.

This makes it unsurprising that conservatives want to keep the filibuster around. They know perfectly well that once liberal social programs are enacted, they become very popular and very hard to get rid of. They can't count on the swing of the pendulum to eventually turn the public against Social Security or Medicare or national healthcare, so their only alternative is to stop programs like this in the first place. For them, the filibuster is a key tool. But not for us. Sure, if we get rid of the filibuster we'll pay a price when Republicans get back into power. But overturning conservative programs isn't that hard. And in return we'll make a lot of progress during out own time in office, progress that's largely permanent."

LEST WE FORGET: Depressing Anecdotes That Will Make Your Day Seem Better By Comparison

From FMyLife.com:

• Today, I got a "save the date" card for the wedding of a couple my husband knows. I was excited because I really wish to be better friends with these people. I emailed the bride, "I got your STD!" and hit send before I realized how that sounded. FML.
• Today, I saw my friend across campus, and I decided that I wanted to play a trick on her and scare her from behind. Turns out, I scared a complete stranger with really bad panic induced asthma. FML.
• Today, while at work I was reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to me class of 5 year olds. I got near the end of the book and said "Look at the big fat caterpillar" to which one of my pupils replied "Just like you, Miss!" FML.
• Today, in the middle of dinner, I went to rest my chin on my hand, missed, and stuck the straw from my drink straight up my nose. My nose bled all over the table. He hasn't called me since. FML.
• Today, I took a friend out for what I thought was date. After dinner was over and I paid, she pulled the bill out and wrote her name phone number on it for the waiter. FML.
• Today, I was talking to my parents about feeling insecure with my "beach body" as Spring Break keeps getting closer and closer. My dad proceeded to warn me by saying, "Don't wear a gray swimsuit. People will try to roll you back into the ocean". FML.