5/19: It's Not About Nancy...

The fallout from Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 5/15 press conference continues to reverberate through the political blogosphere. As conservative bloggers hammer the Speaker and argue that she should resign, liberal bloggers are growing increasingly frustrated with the amount of media attention that Pelosi is getting. In their view, the GOP has successfully hijacked the debate over George W. Bush's use of harsh interrogation techniques and instead made Pelosi the issue. Josh Orton complains: "[T]he entire narrative about torture had been yoked by Republicans to be about Nancy Pelosi. Seems like the first big political success they've had since January. Blatantly dishonest, but successful."

On the other hand, some lefty bloggers think that the GOP's focus on Pelosi will actually make a torture investigation more likely, not less likely. Matthew Yglesias explains: "[F]ar from forcing a standoff in which Pelosi will abandon her support for an investigation, the right has forced her into a corner from which she can't give in to moderate Democrats' opposition to such a move without looking like she's cravenly attempting to save her own skin." Meanwhile, Jed Lewison observes that a number of prominent GOPers "are now on record supporting torture investigations" because they believe that such an investigation might implicate Pelosi. So perhaps the netroots will get their truth commission after all...

What else is happening in the blogosphere?

• Liberal bloggers (Drum, hilzoy, Wheeler) are praising Pres. Obama for announcing tougher auto emissions and mileage standards, while conservative bloggers (Malkin, Spencer, Gateway Pundit, Liebau) are complaining about the costs of the proposal.
• Liberal bloggers (Yglesias, Hamsher, Benen) are criticizing Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) -- who is quickly becoming one of the left's favorite targets -- for refusing to commit to support the House climate change bill. On the right side of the blogosphere, Michelle Malkin is urging her readers to call their members of Congress and pressure them to vote against the bill.
• Liberal bloggers (Moulitsas, Greenwald, DougJ, BooMan) continue to discuss New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd's plagiarism of a blog post written by TPM's Josh Marshall.
• Conservative bloggers (Hewitt, Ponnuru, Lopez) continue to chastise the Univ. of Notre Dame for inviting Obama to speak at its graduation ceremony, although Mark Impomeni argues that Obama deserves blame for accepting the invitation.

PELOSI: Score One For The GOP?

Liberal bloggers are growing increasingly frustrated with the way that the torture debate has progressed:

• MyDD's Orton: "I've been traveling the last few days after finishing my first year of law school. Sitting in the airport Friday afternoon, I couldn't believe what I saw: the entire narrative about torture had been yoked by Republicans to be about Nancy Pelosi. Seems like the first big political success they've had since January. Blatantly dishonest, but successful. But nearly lost is the notion that torture is illegal. [...] And with the White House 'looking forward,' the opportunity to enforce the rule of law is slipping away."
• Firedoglake's Peterr: "Right now, Team Obama is standing around. On torture, they are letting the advantage of change disappear and letting Pelosi become the issue, not the Torture 13. On Gitmo, the same. State secrets, ditto. On filling out the second and third level appointees to the executive branch, folks like [OLC nominee] Dawn Johnsen are being left waiting for a vote. On the economy, [Treasury Sec. Tim] Geithner and Co. are standing around while the game goes on around them. When [ex-VP] Dick Cheney is running circles around you, you know you've got problems. Where's the pressure on defense, the hustle on offense, the movement to make something happen?"
• Daily Kos' BarbinMD: "Since [Dems] apparently don't have the stomach for pursuing the Bush administration's torture policies on their own, they could at least agree with with the Republicans (bipartisanship rules!) and demand a thorough investigation ... when are they going to do it?"

On the other hand, Matthew Yglesias thinks the right's focus on Pelosi will backfire: "[I]n their zeal to score a tactical win, the right has made a truth commission more likely not less likely. Obama wanted to avoid a backward-looking focus on torture in part because it distracted from his legislative agenda. But if we're going to be looking backward anyway, thanks to conservatives' insistence on complaining about Pelosi, then the move forward strategy lacks a rationale. And far from forcing a standoff in which Pelosi will abandon her support for an investigation, the right has forced her into a corner from which she can't give in to moderate Democrats' opposition to such a move without looking like she's cravenly attempting to save her own skin."

Daily Kos' Jed Lewison makes a similar argument: "So maybe some good is coming out the 'what did Pelosi know?' sideshow. As you can see in the video, GOPers like [RNC Chair] Michael Steele, [House Min. Leader] John Boehner, [ex-Bush adviser] Karl Rove, and [ex-Speaker] Newt Gingrich are all calling for further investigation into when Speaker Pelosi learned about the Bush administration's torture program, and what she did to try and stop it. Not only does this implicitly recognize that the Bush administration did in fact engage in torture, it also means that the calls for investigations of torture are now bipartisan. The fact that Republicans are now on record supporting torture investigations may be an unexpected development, but it is an unexpected development that should be welcomed."

Meanwhile, Open Left's Chris Bowers urges progressives to defend Pelosi: "It is likely that we won't see someone more progressive than Nancy Pelosi as Speaker for quite some time. As such, it behooves progressives to defend the Speaker when she becomes the target of the right-wing media attack machine. Daily Kos polling shows that she has taken a hit to her favorable rating as a result of this flap, even if other polling suggests the public is split on whether she, or the CIA, is telling the truth on the matter."

On the right side of the blogosphere, Malkin wants GOPers to continue targeting Pelosi, while Erick Erickson thinks Pelosi would help Dems by resigning.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: I Guess It Depends On Your Perspective...

NRO's Ramesh Ponnuru:

"I've now read a few articles and blog posts either lauding the Utah governor [John Huntsman] as a moderate or denouncing him as same. Huntsman has signed pro-life bills, voucher bills, and tax cuts. Yes, he is open to some kind of civil union for gay couples and wants Republicans to make more of an effort on environmental issues. But if that's all it takes for a Republican politician to get an image both inside and outside the party as a 'moderate' these days, that's a pretty good thing, isn't it?"

LEST WE FORGET: Just Another Day At The Office

McSweeney's contributor M. Wilson makes a list of "Events From Our Office Functions, Written as Newspaper Headlines":

• "Rob from Public Affairs Tells Extremely Racist Jokes After One Beer"
• "Interest Plunges as Julie from Marketing Tells Again of Brush with Lesbianism"
• "David From Floor 3 Gropes Me -- Neither of Us Remember!"
• "Head of Finance: 'You've All Had Enough'"
• "Executive Manager Reveals Six Pack of Reserve Beer"
• "Shock! Married President Sleeps with Annette from Accounts -- Exclusive Interview with Annette: 'They Lead Separate Lives'"