Thursday Thumbs

Another in a series wherein I express my approval or disapproval concerning news of the week, happenings, or other trivia through a cute graphic, rather than with my usual long, hard-to-follow, and humorless rants and rambling.

Thumbs up to you, you person of the year, you.

Thumbs down to Microsoft. I remember the old "Windows 95=Mac 88." We can now say "Vista=Jaguar."

Thumbs down to anti-Muslim bigotry. Keith Ellison, by the way, was born in this country to Christian parents. Jeebus save Ellison from his fellow Congressmen.

Thumbs down to anti-Muslim bigotry. (It's a different link this time; it's about Obama.)

Thumbs up to this metaphor: I would also like a president willing to stand up for me in a bar fight.

Thumbs down to Judge Zeigler, who still has geography issues.

Thumbs up to Aaron, who is walking us through all seventy-bleeping-nine of the Iraq Study Group's recommendations. Too bad for Aaron that the Decider done decided to ignore the ISG.

Thumbs down to the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce. Would I like $100,000 a year? Yes. From a private company like Edison? No way.

Thumbs up to Midwest Airlines, and their cookies. And, sad to say, some of us need those extra two inches.

Thumbs down to people who don't understand the concept of satire. Not that I favor censorship in any form, however.

What are you thumbing up and down this week?

And the Republicans?

Big article in the paper today: "Wisconsin Democrats split on assessment of Iraq war: Some say it's more of the same; others applaud findings." The story details how different people have different reactions to the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group's report. That, of course, means a "split."

Because, apparently, nothing makes for a good story quite so much as the "Democrats are in disarray" storyline, and its corollary, "Democrats have no plan." See, for example, every news story about Democrats for the last, oh, six years. The crap in the press lately about Nancy Pelosi, in particular, is symptomatic of exactly that frame of mind. (Read Greenwald.)

So my question: What about the Republicans? Where's our news story on them, and their reactions? I mean, I realize that starting next month, the Wisconsin Republican delegation will be a mere three (compared to Dems' seven), but they're not invisible or in hiding. Wouldn't we all like to know whether they agree with the panel's findings that the current situation in Iraq is grim, or with any of the panel's bazillion recommendations, or even with each other? Or is a story about possible dissent in the ranks of Republicans not newsworthy? Even raising the question about why none of those three Republicans have even issued statements at all (as of this morning) would be better than nothing.

Relatedly, Russ Feingold's not running for president, and it breaks my heart. Tell me how he's wrong in his assessment of both Iraq and the ISG.