Speed Reading

> The Ron Paul Internet phenomenon is being dismissed as (1) just a lot of spam [AC], and (2) just a lot of non-Republicans [Ace of Spades].


> Wow. After you read about shady "auctions" of domain names that aren't for sale, go all the way down and read reason to speculate about domestic spying of the Web. [Uptime]

> The federal government's bizarre refusal to allow any cattle operation to test all its cattle for mad cow disease is more evidence "that this venal administration's declarations about their love of the 'free market' appears to be the utter bullshit we already knew they were." [Anything They Say]

> Bush wants to cut " the only large-scale measurement of the impact of Medicaid, food stamps, school lunches, unemployment and other safety-net programs for the poor" -- with a Bushie explaining, "Life is a trade-off." (Tell that to the people on Medicaid, food stamps, and unemployment.) [WaPo]


> Fred Thompson dips toe into presidential race, turns out to be mack daddy. [Fred Thompson's Private Journal]


> Dems debated last night. [WaPo] Our verdict: Gravel brought the crazy; Kucinich sounded like an episode of Oprah featuring Marianne Williamson; Obama was unexpectedly boring.

Ron Paul 2.0

News flash: Ron Paul loves the Internet. Duh... it's responsible for all signs of life in his campaign. Ron Paul is becoming the new Howard Dean: outsider candidate who strikes it big with the netroots and then will go down in flames as his party coalesces around an insider. (My money's on the faux folksy one over the pretty boy.)

Prediction: when the time comes that he bows out of the race, the politico talking heads will be falling over themselves to talk about how the "netroots" are now a fact of life for both the left and the right.