There is no polite way to put this: Obama's incompetence is getting people killed," - Liz Cheney, daughter of a vice-president who presided over the deaths of more than 3,000 people in New York City after being warned explicitly that al Qaeda was preparing a major attack on the United States.

From Washington Monthly:

“Putting aside Will's fondness for dramatic ellipses, his criticism is simply detached from reality here. The speeches are online, and reading them, it's tempting to wonder if Will even read the remarks before using them as the basis for a cheap column.
The president told the International Olympic Committee, for example, "I've come here today to urge you to choose Chicago for the same reason I chose Chicago nearly 25 years ago -- the reason I fell in love with the city I still call home." It was a springboard for the president to reflect, not on himself, but on his hometown -- the diversity of the city, the "rich tapestry of distinctive neighborhoods," Chicago's history of hosting major events, and...

This is a president who multi-tasks and thinks on his feet. He is capable of accomplishing many things and he makes decisions in a thoughtful way. The irrational hatred on this board is tragically ill-informed. It is the President's choice to make this trip, as well as the dozens of other decisions he has on his plate. Good for him! The previous incumbent hid - and let Mr. Cheney run the show.

The level of irrational paranoia and fear is so strong here. It's so unnecessary, such a waste of time and energy, all this resentment, none of which is based in anything factual. The bill is not perfect but it is actually a huge step forward for our country.

As a white Midwestern my observation is that the "birther" / "Obama is Hitler and/or secret Muslim" nonsense is fear-based. It is a way of staying racist and fearful without acknowledging it. We should all be having a good, robust debate on how big the federal government should be and what it's role should be but the people shouting venom and nastiness aren't doing it. In addition, many of them self-identify as Christians. That's the saddest thing of all, that they think they follow Jesus with these actions.

From TPM:

“Downward Revision: After the weekend I wanted to get one of our reporters piecing through whatever meaningful data there was about crowd size at the Tea Party protest in DC. The latest is that Freedom Works has down-revised their estimate from a completely crazy 1.5 million to a 1/2 completely crazy estimate of between 600k and 800k, which nevertheless appears to be at least ten times what independent observers estimate.
One complicating factor is that there are no official estimates. And when Eric Kleefeld called the DC Fire Department to ask about their unofficial estimate of between 60k and 70k, they told Eric that whoever had released that estimate to ABC hadn't been authorized to do so. So even they're running...