Looking at Popurls.com this morning, and a few things jumped out at me... read on.
• Conservative blogger Ed Morrissey takes a look at battle in the Republican Party between what he calls the "Puritans and Big Tenters" and talk of conservative Christians possibly throwing their weight behind a third party presidential bid if the Republicans nominate Rudy Giuliani.
The problem with the Christian Right is that they have consistently made these threats in the past and have always dropped the idea when they started counting numbers. The groups have significant influence in the Republican Party because of their ability to organize and contribute, but their influence outstrips their actual size. ... If the Christian Right did the same by organizing a third party, they may as well write themselves off as a significant force in American politics.
• From the politics section at Tailrank.com, lots of talk about Seymour Hersh's piece in the New Yorker about a possible US attack on Iran. Hunter at the liberal Daily Kos says: Bombing Iran? Please, Don't Be Ridiculous. Liberal blog Think Progress links to a CNN interview with Hersh and plays up the Bush Administration's "Clinton did it too" defence for the attack. Tim F. at Balloon Juice says:
The argument from Cheney's camp is not merely dumb, it is almost ludicrously counterfactual. In the name of protecting American troops an influential faction of our government plans to endanger them to the maximum degree possible.
• The Washington Post reports that most Americans want funding cut for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and funding increased for a children's health insurance programme. Bush has promised to veto the increase in funding for the programme, which the Post warns puts "Bush and many congressional Republicans on the wrong side of public opinion on upcoming foreign and domestic policy battles".
