Mark Levin: Please contact these senators & politely tell them to vote NO on the omnibus spending bill Senator Lisa Murkowski – Alaska 202-224-6665 Senator Richard Lugar – Indiana 202-224-4814 Senator Susan Collins – Maine 202-224-2523 Senator Olympia Snowe – Maine 202-224-5344 Senator Thad Cochrann – Mississippi 202-224-5054 **** update: Well, then.

This is a taste of our collective futures. But don’t you dare call them death panels. That’s just tawdry.

Of course they did. Luckily, no one was injured. — Which is the best deal they could get. So, like, victory! Comity. Compromise. Pragmatism. (h/t Geoff)

Gee. If only we could have seen this strategy coming: “Republicans are going to have to explain to the American people over the next two years how making those tax cuts for the high end permanent squares with their stated desire to start reducing deficits and debt,” Obama said. Leaving aside the rank silliness of the suggestion that leaving tax rates where they’d been for a decade COSTS anything (were

National Journal’s Michael Hirsh (formerly of Newsweek, Harper’s, and Washington Monthly, among others) says that Republicans are perpetrating “a myth” when they argue that Fannie and Freddie Mac were major causes of the financial crisis. The real cause? “Reckless” de-regulation: Unfortunately for the blame-the-government crowd, the facts don’t bear out their conclusions. Yes, Fannie and Freddie are government sponsored, but they’re run by shareholders looking for a substantial return. And