8/20: Massa-ive Attack

Conservative bloggers are upset with Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) for comments he made to liberal bloggers at the Netroots Nation convo over the weekend. Speaking on the health care debate, Massa called the now-infamous "pull the plug on grandma" remark made by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) "treason."

Conservative bloggers jumped on Massa's remarks yesterday. RedState quarreled with the Rep. over the legal definition of treason before reeling of a list of what the blog called actually treasonous acts by Dems elected officials. One example:

"Did Grassley...accuse, on the Senate floor, the current president of telling “lie after lie after lie” to talk us into a war that he did not support? Nope. That’s Little Teddy Kennedy, or Senator Edward Kennedy(D-MA) to you. Probably a stretch for treason, but it sure gave comfort to our enemies."

On Massa:

The topic attaining such gravity, it should go without saying that if a Congressman charges publicly that a Senator has committed treason, then he (a) better be right, and (b) better have the evidence in hand to back it up.

But conservatives aren't the only ones calling on Massa to dial back the rehtoric. TPM's Josh Marshall writes, "[Were Grassley's remarks treasonous] Against sanity, honesty, self-respect? Sure. But I think [Massa] means against the country, which is pretty whacked."

FL SEN: The Comeback Kid?

Conservatives are positively gushing over a new poll showing ex-FL state House Speaker Marco Rubio (R) gaining ground on Gov. Charlie Crist (R).

Town Hall's Jillian Bandes writes, "Hooray!"

CA SEN: Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Meanwhile, liberal bloggers are loving a new report on the voting habits of ex-HP CEO Carly Fiorina (R).

MyDD: "[Fiorina's camp] would be one of her first brushes with the democratic process as, it turns out, she barely ever votes ... [she] has no records to prove that she registered to vote just like she has no records to prove she was an effective CEO before being fired with that cushy golden parachute."

NJ GOV: I've Got Friends In Low Places

But it's the race between Gov. Jon Corzine (D) and ex-U.S. Atty Chris Christie (R) that still dominates the liberal blogs. Yesterday's focus was a a video of a Christie speech from earlier in the year that recently surfaced. The clip shows Christie -- according to the left-leaning Emptywheel -- "promising to give his former AUSAs jobs throughout state government, speaking of them as if they were still 'his' AUSAs, and admitting that he had already had a conversation about this with them about those jobs."

The blog's take: "there's already growing evidence" Christie "is mobilizing ongoing relationships with friends at the US Attorney's office to help his campaign" and "that was before we learned" about the video.

Steve Singiser weighs in at DailyKos: " The revelations about Christie and Rove raised suspicions that the great GOP hope in Jersey might not understand the whole "conflict of interest" thing between federal law enforcement and partisan politics. Today, we learned from Christie's own mouth (from a speech earlier in the year), that it is even a little bit worse than originally thought."

NAVEL GAZING: Off The Rails And Into The Weeds

Perhaps the bloggiest thing in the political blogosphere yesterday was a minor war over the phrasing of questions in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll. Liberal health care public option proponents were upset at the health care quesitons in this month's version of the poll, which they claimed were biased in favor of public option critics. The poll showed a majority of respondents were opposed to a public option.

After taking flak, NBC's Chuck Todd said the question will be rephrased in next month's poll and essentially acknowledged the critics' concerns.

Bloggers from both sides weighed in:

• Liberal Jason Rosenbaum, blogging on Firedoglake: "It's good to hear that that NBC and the Wall Street Journal are going to ask people what they think about the actual bill this time around. Makes you wonder what bill they were asking about last time..."

• Conservative Meredith Jessup also had a problem with the NBC/WSJ poll, taking issue wih the claim claim that NBC/WSJ pollsters "gave people 'the facts' about ObamaCare" before asking questions about it. "And after hearing those 'facts,' a majority supported the plan" -- "Sounds like classic push polling." More from Jessup: "By its push polling, NBC is not simply reporting the news—it is blatantly attempting to shape public opinion."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Yep, That Just About Sums It Up

The title of Ezra Klein's post on the WSJ/NBC poll: "Americans Hate Everyone, Believe Everything."

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