Midday Open Thread

• In recognition of the grim reminders of this sad anniversary, the House is holding subcommittee hearings on disaster preparedness. What's Lieberman, chair of the Senate DHS committee doing? Going on Fox News to decry partisanship. Then he'll go hang out with Ann Coulter, Oliver North, Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich, and Sean Hannity.
• Only three in 10 Americans think that the U.S. is winning the war on terrorism, according to a CNN poll. That corresponds to the number of people who think George Bush is a good president and that everything in Iraq is just hunky-dory. Why is that these dead-enders, who are in the minority, are still setting policy?
• Gristmill reports on something good rising out of the ashes of Ground Zero. The blocks around the WTC site are turning into a neighborhood, where just about everything residents need is in walking distance. New Yorkers are intent on turning the area into "a self-sustaining residential neighborhood that will appeal to families."
• Petraeus didn't convince many editorial writers around the country, as compiled by E&P. Here's a sample:

  The Philadelphia Inquirer: "President Bush was a strong and poignant leader in the days just after 9/11. But since then, he has used the attack to pursue objectives that had little or nothing to do with that Tuesday six years ago.... Six years after 9/11, it is a shame that Bush's misguided invasion of Iraq is upstaging the discussion the nation ought to have and the actions the nation's leaders ought to be taking."

  Sacramento Bee: "Petraeus and Crocker made it clear they see no need to recalibrate U.S. strategy in Iraq. So the choice remains: continue our current open-ended, ill-defined "stay the course" commitment in Iraq, with troop levels of 130,000 -- or begin a responsible, gradual withdrawal in concert with a serious diplomatic offensive."

  Los Angeles Times: "America's 'war on terror,' which enters its sixth year today, now seems destined to redefine our nation for a generation or more to come.... No matter how much he insists otherwise, President Bush lacks that fundamental belief in American freedom. As a result, his war has not only subverted U.S. military interests but has undermined the liberties that make this a nation worthy of emulation.That is the tragic and true cost of these past six years."

• Glenn Greenwald watched Petraeus and Crocker on Fox so you didn't have to. From his account, Brit Hume is in line for another "Worst Person" award from Keith. His toughest question? "Has this, in an ultimate sense, turned out to be, more than anything else, a war with Al Qaeda?"
• Is Fred Thompson running as the GOP candidate? Really? He's said that he's not a churchgoer, and wouldn't be using religion in this race. And today he says that bin Laden should get due process. That's an interesting way to run a Republican primary.
• Familiarity...contempt, all that. Via Benen, former Massachusetts governor Romney trails Clinton in a hypothetical head-to-head race, 60% to 34%, according to Rasmussen.
• Finally, what Digby says:

  I keep getting the sense that the Dems are making this harder than it needs to be. The war and Bush are unpopular. It's not making the country more secure. It's costing the next generation's future. This isn't really a tough call --- they're fighting phantoms of the past....

  There can be no greater waste of life than that. It isn't about national security or self-defense or even national "prestige" whatever that is. This war is being continued so that one man might have an opportunity to avoid embarrassment --- after he's dead. I can think of some things that might be more useless and immoral, but not many.

• Oh, yeah, I forgot. What Elisa says, too.