During her tour of Indonesia yesterday, Hillary Clinton told the Indonesians why she accepted the Secretary of State's job:

It was not anything I had any reason to expect or had even thought about,” Mrs. Clinton said of President Obama’s offer to her to be the nation’s chief diplomat. “I had to make a hard decision.”

Mrs. Clinton said she put aside the disappointment of the election to take Mr. Obama’s job offer because, she said, “We have so many of the same views of what we should do in the world.”

Asked who her favorite musical groups are, she quickly answered the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I know another of her favorite groups is Jon Bon Jovi. I'm sure it was a great trip, and had I known in advance where she was headed, I would have sent her a message asking her to make one more stop on her trip.[More...]

I've had Meatloaf on the brain trying to follow all the latest goings-on with what some people are alleging ABC is going to pull with the finale of The Bachelor. (Warning: big, make that huge spoiler alert, so don't click on the link if you want to be surprised.) ABC may have some 'splaining to do. Right now they've unleashed a Bat Out of Hell on the internets.

On American Idol tonight, Tatiana went home, Danny Gokey, Alexis Grace and Michael Sarver got to stay.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Matt Yglesias seems to be missing this important development. He writes:

Naturally, it got its Drudge link. All for a story about nothing. [Mike] Allen’s response is, I think, the most infuriating. Everyone knows that Mike Allen is an important political reporter. His morning “Playbook,” in particular, helps set the agenda for the whole next day of moronic political buzz. When he writes up a stupid story, he’s not passively predicting that people will be buzzing about it, he’s helping to make it happen. In this case, it didn’t work. Today’s cable news has, overwhelmingly, been about an actual policy question—Obama’s housing plan. And good for cable. But no thanks to Mike Allen.

(Emphasis supplied.) I wrote about this last year, but I get the impression that those still in the Beltway (Yglesias lives in DC) are slow to get it. The Media simply is less important now and getting even less important by the day. Results matter now, not Media talk.

Speaking for me only

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), in most ways the exception that proves my rule about "pols are pols," wrote an October 24, 2008 Op-Ed in the CSM questioning the wisdom of sending more troops to Afghanistan. Feingold wrote:

Washington policymakers and others are increasingly recognizing that we need to return our attention to Afghanistan and the threat of Al Qaeda. While the administration has pursued a misguided war in Iraq, the Taliban has regrouped in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda has established a stronghold across the border in Pakistan, and Al Qaeda affiliates have gained strength around the world. But few people seem willing to ask whether the main solution that's being talked about– sending more troops to Afghanistan – will actually work.

Feingold wrongly presumed that "sending more troops" is "the main solution" when in fact it is only a part of the initiatives needed to provide a solution. More discussion on the flip

Murray Waas has the latest on the probe into the U.S. Attorney firings. It's partly about the nine Bush officials who refused to cooperate.

Karl Rove (as we noted the other day from the interview his lawyer gave to Raw Story) are cooperating now.

Rove will not rely on (1) a White House claim of immunity for senior advisors to the president, (2) executive privilege or (3) his personal privilege against self-incrimination. He will cooperate with the investigation.

[More...]

Anyone feel like talking? Here's an open thread. All topics welcome.

Attorney General Eric Holder will visit Guantanamo Monday.

"We need to have our feet on the ground to really see what is going on down at the facility to see how people are being detained, to talk to people down there about the interrogation techniques that are being used," Holder said. "I think that will be an important first step as we try to resolve the issues that the president has put before me as the chairman of those review committees."

Hopefully, he'll talk to some of the detainees, and not just the interrogators. He could also talk to some of their defense lawyers without even leaving D.C.

And how's this for a dumb way to end a news article? "After 2 weeks on the job, Holder is maintaining his rock star status."

Bump and Update: News analysis is beginning to come in. Check back for the ACLU and CCR reaction. I'll post as soon as I receive them.

Breaking....the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals just issued this opinion (pdf) reversing a trial court judge's order that the Uighur detainees must be released into the United States:

The question is whether, as the district court ruled, petitioners are entitled to an order requiring the government to bring them to the United States and release them here.

[More...]

I've been watching the debate over the stimulus package unfold with a mix of anger and confusion.

As Paul Krugman noted yesterday, in the wake of Hank Paulson's disastrous TARP Part I last fall a consensus emerged among economists like Krugman, Dean Baker, Nouriel Roubini, that the stimulus had to be huge, somewhere in the $1-$2 trillion range. [More...]

The NYTimes reports:

The administration’s initiative, called the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, is an effort to slow the decline in the housing market. As the economy drops deeper into a recession, home values are falling faster and faster, and more Americans are losing their houses to foreclosures or distressed sales.

The plan would allow four million to five million homeowners refinance mortgages guaranteed by the government-controlled housing giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. The administration said allowing people to refinance at lower mortgage rates would reduce monthly payments and save families thousands of dollars every year.

[More . . .]

Maine's former top drug prosecutor pleaded not guilty to child p*rn charges in federal court today:

James M. Cameron, 46, formerly of Hallowell, was indicted Feb. 11 by a federal grand jury in Bangor on 16 counts of transporting, receiving and possessing child p*rnography between July 10, 2006, and Jan. 26, 2008.

He allegedly uploaded images of child p*rnography to an Internet-based Yahoo photo album using five different screen names. Cameron, according to the indictment, also transmitted digital images of child p*rnography using Google Hello, an Internet-based chat and file-sharing service.

The images were found on his home computer but not his work computer. Check out the terms of his bail: [More...]

Your turn.

This is an Open Thread.