From the "Credit where it's due" file.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Tom Foley's Seat), via The Hill…

“I certainly don’t condone violence, I don’t condone calling President Obama Hitler and painting swastikas on signs at town halls,” continued McMorris Rodgers, vice chairwoman of the GOP conference.

McMorris Rodgers is the first member of the House Republican leadership to decry the Nazi comparisons...

Will she be the last? Or, perhaps, will this be her last statement as a member of the House Republican leadership?

Either (or other) way, credit where it's due.

Hat tip to John DeVore.

From the "Lies, damned lies and…" file.

The results of a new Gallup poll aimed at measuring the effectiveness of the Republican riots at health care town halls is being reported and fairly widely repeated thusly...

Independents by 2-1, 35%-16%, say they are more sympathetic to the protesters now.

That, of course, is a lie.

It may be that among the limited class of independents whose opinions have shifted in response to the activities of the tea birthers, twice as many are expressing sympathy for the shouters. Independents as a whole though, by nearly 2-1, 65%-35%, do not "say they are more sympathetic to the protestors now."

A good many of those, I'd imagine, are like myself. Having never had any sympathy for the willfully ignorant, I can't have any less. Regardless of their reasons, though, the truth is the exact opposite of the report.

From the "Entrepreneurship for Progressives" file.

Hunter...

Go to a townhall meeting. Tell people you're selling Hitler insurance, and for a hundred bucks each you can assure them that Hitler will not come into their home that night to give them an anal probe. Trust me, these people aren't too bright -- you'll make a fortune. If Hitler does return and starts probing people, declare yourself an investment bank and ask for a ten trillion dollar bailout.

Heh™.

Quote of the day.

“What we’re seeing right now is close to Brown Shirt tactics. I mean that very seriously.”

Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA), on the cancellation of recess town halls.

Hat tip to Jon DeVore.