Midday open thread

• New Politics Institute's Simon Rosenberg and Peter Leyden write in Mother Jones about a 50-year strategy for a new progressive era.

  Today's progressives face a political opportunity as great as any seen since. The election of 2006 may well have marked the end of the conservative ascendancy that began with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. George W. Bush now has the potential to do what Herbert Hoover did in the 1920s—tarnish his party's brand for a generation or more.

  As in FDR's day, a new media is emerging, one that will ultimately replace the broadcast model of the 20th century. A new American populace is emerging, led by the arrival of the millennial generation and a new wave of immigrants, particularly Hispanics. And once again, the nation faces massive challenges—from climate change to health care in the era of biotech and preparing young people for a global economy. On the eve of the 2008 election, it's worth raising our sights beyond what it would take for a Democrat to win the presidency, and begin thinking about what it would take to bring about deeper, more lasting changes. The stars have aligned to give progressives a chance to permanently shift the conversation about the nation's values. The question before us now is, Do today's progressives have what it takes to do what FDR and his allies accomplished 75 years ago—seize the new politics, take on the big challenges, and usher in a new era?

• I get asked to appear on shows:

  GREETINGS----

  MY NAME IS JACK SAVAGE. I AM A PRODUCER FOR "FOX & FRIENDS".

  WE WERE WONDERING IF YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED IN
  APPEARING WITH DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST AND PUNDIT BOB BECKEL TO DISCUSS THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES' DEBATE TONIGHT ON MSNBC.

  PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU WOULD BE AVAILABLE.
  WE WOULD LIKE TO DO THE SEGMENT AT 0715 EST, AND WE HAVE UPLINKS AND BUREAUS ALL OVER THE PLACE.

  THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME.

  SINCERELY,

  JACK SAVAGE
  "FOX & FRIENDS"
  FOX NEWS CHANNEL

  Even the emails yell over at Fox News. Perhaps with O'Reilly and the rest of those angry screechers around, everyone's ear drums have been shattered many times over.

• Atrios dug this up. Ha ha ha. Joe Klein is such a joker.
• The wingnuts debate -- at prestigious conservative think tank -- why Jews are so smart. Yup, Charles Murray is back.
• DOJ's Civil Rights guy -- the one who claims voter ID laws discriminate against whites -- is getting hammered in House hearings.
• Oh, it now looks like House Democrats are SO POWERFUL that poor, helpless Republicans had no choice but to vote against SCHIP.
• Some of you might not have been around the blogosphere long enough to understand why us bloggers are so pissed off at Obama's rhetoric about social security. Well, Atrios has the back story.
• Yup, Petraeus' spokesman is weird and lies.
• Beeton over at MyDD has a post on Arkansas apparent swing back to Blue status. Let me use this as an excuse to note that my trip to U of Arkansas last week was freakin' awesome. What a beautiful place and what a cool campus. I hope to return with more time someday soon, maybe with my bike in tow.
• I'm off to a doctor's appointment right now to review the results of my CT scan. Hopefully they're closer to figuring out why I have so much pain.
• Check out the incredibly nifty new site, The Middle Class, brought to us by the good folks at the Drum Major Institute.  In essence, the site serves as a sort of one-stop shop for folks looking for information on key legislation affecting working Americans -- from high-quality abstracts of the bills, to video summaries of the bills, to constituency group positions, to the actual stances of the Members of Congress.  Here's an example of a typical page -- this one being a summary of the SCHIP legislation.  (Trapper John)