Sure, sure - there are lots of ways to calculate the political differences between the two--you could point out, for example, that Obama tied for first among economical liberals in the Senate, while Brownback ranked as the 8th most conservative.  

Being the economic conservative that he is, Brownback would surely like to know what the market thinks of the difference between him and Illinois's junior Senator.

And here's the answer...

To pull a Klein, v.i. - when in error on the facts, claim the difference is only one of opinion--an opinion that you will continue fearlessly championing

Everyone knows how, in recent weeks, Joe Klein has tried to cover his errors of fact by attacking the fact checkers:  so what if I said Representative Harman voted for a bill she voted against?  The real story is that left-bloggers are being mean to me!

Follow me to the flip to explore how David Broder pulls a similar maneuver.  

The bad news first:  Abraham Lincoln probably didn't author that disputed quotation that Al Gore attributed to him in the Assault on Reason.

The good news:  Lincoln was not a 19th century Gordon Gecko, and it's hardly less of a historical error to paint him as one.

Follow me to the flip for more about what Lincoln really wrote and thought.

but not for me.

Last June, Robert Bork tripped and fell while ascending the platform for a speech at New York City's Yale Club.  Despite banging his head and bruising his leg, he made it up the platform and delivered a speech to the New Criterion Club.

But now, the former judge is suing the Yale Club for $1 million, accusing the Club of "wanton, willful and reckless disregard for the safety of its guests":

"Because of the unreasonable height of the dais, without stairs or a handrail, Mr. Bork fell backward as he attempted to mount the dais, striking his left leg on the side of the dais and striking his head on the heat register," the lawsuit said.

Bork underwent surgery and physical therapy, the suit said, and he still limps and uses a cane.

Last week, DrSteveB asked what state had the nuttiest senatorial duo.  My vote was Oklahoma, on the theory that Tom Coburn would be crazy enough all by himself, even if he weren't paired with James Inhofe.

This week, Coburn proves his bona fides for that title all over again, by slandering one of the icons of the modern environmental movement--as we'll explore on the flip.

As if there weren't enough reasons to hate the Damn Yankees:

At the Stadium, Stay Put When the Music Plays

The most patriotic moments at Yankee Stadium can also be the most confining.

Seconds before "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America" are played, police officers, security guards and ushers turn their backs to the American flag in center field, stare at fans moving through the stands and ask them to stop. Across the stadium’s lower section, ushers stand every 20 feet to block the main aisle with chains.

...

Howard J. Rubenstein, the spokesman for the Yankees’ principal owner, George Steinbrenner, said the policy was an expression of patriotism.

Right ... an expression of the same patriotism that brought you Guantanamo.

More on the flip

Atrios calls it "High Broderism"--the "worship of bipartisanship for its own sake, combined with a fake 'pox on both their houses' attitude" as practiced by that High Priest of the Beltway establishment, David Broder.  

Broder is at it again with this morning's column, entitled "Thankless Bipartisanship."  

Perhaps he's given up waiting for George Bush's bounce.  Or perhaps he's just looking for a Senator he can love more than Harry Reid.  But--somehow--Broder convinced himself that McCain has bounced back to his Straight-Talk-Express days of 2000.

Straight Talking Again

After years of cozying up to the man in the White House, and emerging (for better or worse) as the most eloquent defender of Bush's current strategy in Iraq, McCain this week reverted suddenly and dramatically to his 1999-2000 role as the leading Republican critic of politics as usual.

I did a brief diary earlier morning this noting that Wesley Clark was going to be on the Diane Rehm show this morning, a panel discussion of the war in Iraq.

You can listen to the archived audio at:

http://www.wamu.org/...

I've updated below the fold with some highlights about what Clark said....

He's currently on tour flogging his new book, The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America.

But last night on the Scarborough Country, he upped the ante (via Media Matters):

There are 50,000 professors with the views of [fellow Scarborough Country guest and Citizens for Legitimate Government founder Michael] Rectenwald and [Colorado high school teacher] Jay Bennish, who are anti-American, they're radicals, they identify with the terrorists, they think of them as freedom fighters. It's a huge danger for the country. And I tell you, if there was a Christian teacher who was ranting in that way against abortion in the classroom, they would be toast.

President Bush will attend the luncheon at evangelical Bethel College on Thursday, and the town is expected to detail police to work security.

Local police, however, are crying foul.

From WNDU TV:

Fraternal Order of Police #91 President Pasquale Rulli, Jr. says,

"It's not about Bethel; it's about Chris Chocola. I think the key word everyone was keying in on here is the fundraiser part of this. Yeah, it's great he's coming here but it's costing a lot of money to raise money for somebody else."

... more on the flip ...

You can pick your own favorite from Jacoby's list of supposed liberal horrors, but mine is the canard about opponents of Michael Steele--Maryland's black Republican lieutenant governor and Senate candidate--"pelting" him with Oreos at a campaign appearance back in 2002.  

''Black Democratic leaders in Maryland say that racially tinged attacks against Lt. Gov. Michael Steele . . . are fair because he is a conservative Republican," The Washington Times reported. ''Such attacks . . . include pelting him with Oreo cookies during a campaign appearance, calling him an 'Uncle Tom,' and depicting him as a blackfaced minstrel."

Technically, Jacoby is attributing the story to the Washington Times, but a lie is a lie, whether you source it or not.  And repeating a lie that's been disproved many times over is particularly galling.

So help me out here, Mr. Jacoby--what was that about slanders and smears?

"It's OK if the Republicans lose control, for our country in the long run, because one cycle won't make a difference, two cycles won't make a difference."

Coburn continued his attack on the free-spending ways of his Republican colleagues:

"Republican politicians are the same as Democratic politicians in that they like to spend money. Democrats want to raise taxes to pay for it, and Republicans allow the next generation to pay for it."

According to the student paper at George Washington University, about 100 students attended the event, which is part of a series that will next feature Jack Kemp--who can certainly give the College GOP'ers some more tips about losing elections.

Now comes news that a Churches-of-Christ affiliated college in Arkansas has disinvited Coulter from its "Distinguished Lecture Series," after an uproar from alums who view her as "anti- and non-Christian."

Which raises the question:  is Christianity anti- and non-Coulter?

More on the flip

Or a true believer?

In Article, Roberts's Pen Appeared to Dip South

When John G. Roberts Jr. prepared to ghostwrite an article for President Ronald Reagan a little over two decades ago, his pen took a Civil War reenactment detour.

The article, which was to appear in the scholarly National Forum journal, was called "The Presidency: Roles and Responsibilities." Roberts was writing by hand a section on how the congressional appropriations process had evolved.

A fastidious editor of other people's copy as well as his own, Roberts began with the words "Until about the time of the Civil War." Then, the Indiana native scratched out the words "Civil War" and replaced them with "War Between the States."

More below the fold ...

Maybe it's because I'm so inept at drawing good analogies myself, as Mrs. Hover frequently insists, and I'm simply finding vindication and pleasure in the verbal and logical miscues of others, whether in literature, academic writing, or political argument.

I especially like extended bad analogies--they're like watching a train wreck in slow motion, as the cars pile up one into another, each bringing both its own satisfaction and the tingling anticipation of another crunching, metal-screeching impact to come (that one's for the missus).

So - I was delighted to see that bad similes and metaphors figure prominently among winners  in the 2005 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, which honors gloriously bad writing  (hat tip to University Diaries and Critical Mass).

Follow me to the flip for some wonderfully wretched writing.

Or at least, the question of whether they believe in it does--

In fact, the results are more complicated, since many deflected or qualified their answers in ways that look suspiciously like attempts to dodge the issue. Indeed, tho a few answered the questions forthrightly (Jonah Goldberg, for example), I'd say the reaction of the majority is best characterized as a fraidy-cat refusal to give straightforward answers.

More below the fold...

There's no point in arguing with this--especially when laughing at it is so much more fun.  I've bolded my favorite parts.

From the AP (via ABC News), Creation Museum Sparks Evolution Debate:

More on the flip.