Paul Krugman puts it succinctly:

...[W]hy check the facts when you already believe that you have The Truth?

Ezra Klein complains that he didn't get enough "policy specifics" from Obama's State of the Union speech.

I find such expectations strange. From where I stood, the speech was 100% teflon. The rightwingers can't touch it and everyone else will like what they hear.

Borderline brilliant.

My sympathies go out to the guy but lets face it, if the tables were turned and it was Rahm who thought he had to knock someone off the ballot, does anyone doubt what he would do?

Jonathan Chait points out what I think is obvious:

I continue to believe that the filibuster will be eliminated or curtailed when Republicans gain simultaneous control of the House, the presidency, and more than 49 but fewer than 60 Senators. Conservatives have invested a lot of energy into defending the supermajority requirement in the Senate, but the ideological basis of that commitment is tissue-thin and will disappear as soon as it's inconvenient.

Steve Benen does a fine job summing up what most of us from a liberal persuasion are likely to think of Sen. Joe Lieberman's departure from the Senate.

If I were to think of some of the more damaging things he's done, I'd have to include his negative role during the Health Care debate where as Steve rightly says, "...Lieberman was chiefly responsible for killing the public option..."

The Good:

Cheering for a tax hike feels unnatural, but cheer we will. After years of delays, Illinois lawmakers early Wednesday finally embraced the inevitable: raising the state’s personal and corporate income tax rates.

The Bad:

I don't know if I ever want to shop from Amazon again. Here's what they're sending by email to all their Associates:

"We regret to inform you that the Illinois state legislature has passed an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that, if signed by Governor Quinn, would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with Illinois-based Associates."

In other words, if passed, we'll dump you. Unbelievable.

See complete email after the jump...

http://www.euroalter.com/2010/we-wont-pay-for-your-crisis/

So we're 'spose to trade poor people's unemployment insurance for billionaires' tax cuts and be told to come back and fight another day?

That's downright indecent -- if not completely immoral. I say, make it just about UI, period -- in a separate bill.

UPDATE: What Chris Hayes says:

So apparently all the food deserts elsewhere in the city have been filled:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has found a site for its first small-box store in Chicago, with a deal to lease about 30,000 square feet in a three-level retail center in the Lakeview neighborhood, according to real estate sources.