NEW YORK TIMES: An Olympian Defeat For Obama. Plus this from the Sports section: “Losing out on the Olympics, of course, is not the sort of war-and-peace issue that defines a presidency, and the embarrassment will presumably fade in a news cycle or two. But it provides fodder for critics who are already using it as a metaphor for a president who, in their view, focuses on the wrong priorities and overestimates his capacity to persuade the world to follow his lead. . . . A sense of stunned bewilderment suffused Air Force One and the White House. Only after the defeat did many advisers ask questions about the byzantine politics of the Olympic committee.”

Smart diplomacy.

LISA REIN will be liveblogging the Singularity Summit this weekend.

MICKEY KAUS: BREITBART’S LEGACY? “Rasmussen’s latest poll finds, rather unbelievably, that voters say ‘government ethics and corruption’ is now a more important issue than ‘the economy.’ With unemployment at 9.8%! Hello? Is this all James O’Keefe and Andrew Breitbart’s doing? I can’t think of any big recent corruption-related events other than the ACORN and NEA scandals. … I doubt it is all liberals concerned about the power of the insurance lobby. … P.S.: This might explain why, while the MSM still gives the ACORN scandals restrained coverage, the pols are running for the hills. They have pollsters too.”

That MSM restraint ain’t worth what it used to be.

UPDATE: Reader Stan Brown writes:

Why does “government ethics and corruption” have to be considered a separate category from the economy? I think a lot of people are growing increasingly convinced that the cause of our economic woes is intrinsically linked to corruption and issues with government ethics.

As for Mickey’s contention that ACORN and NEA are the only recent corruption related events, I think he is forgetting the biggest one — “You lie!” A lot of Mickey’s friends may have focused on the impropriety of Wilson’s outburst, but he needs to realize that the average voter’s take on the whole thing was that Wilson was rude, but accurate.

Yes, “corruption” goes beyond individual scandals to encompass things like Geithner’s tax problems, as well as general cronyism and a sense that the Treasury is being looted for the benefit of special interests.

WHY RIO WON: A persuasive argument.

Plus, Victor Davis Hanson observes: “The more I watched Barack/Michelle do the ‘I grew up in the neighborhood’ thing, the more I noticed the Euro-audience wincing. (Not smart bragging about your childhood Chicago ‘right hook’ to an audience that has just watched horrific fighting in the streets of Chicago.)”

HERE’S AN UPDATED COMPARISON of actual unemployment contrasted with what the Obama Administration promised the “stimulus” would do.

ROLAND BURRIS: You know who is to blame for us losing the Olympics? Bush.

THE FIVE Afghan War Excuses.

SO I GUESS HE’S NOT PLANNING ON RUNNING FOR OFFICE EVER AGAIN: Bill Frist on Health Bill: I’d Vote For It. I’m disappointed in this.

UPDATE: Reader C.J. Burch emails: “Always expect the worst of the political class and those who report on them. That way you will never be disappointed, and you will never be wrong.”

THE 100 GREATEST LIVE ALBUMS of all time.

ON THIS DAY IN 1950, the first Peanuts comic strip was published.

SMALL TOWN, big government.

REMEMBER WHEN DAVID LETTERMAN thought sex scandals were funny? Those were other people’s sex scandals.

ED BERNERO: Polanski Apologists Don’t Speak For All Of Us In Hollywood.

RABBI HAUSMAN ON YALE: “In the final analysis, I believe that the university is lost.”

THIS SEEMS LIKE SOME SORT OF PROFOUND CULTURAL SHIFT: Starbucks is now selling instant coffee.

BARACK OBAMA as America’s Gorbachev.

LONGEVITY UPDATE: “Most babies born in rich countries this century will eventually make it to their 100th birthday, new research says. Danish experts say that since the 20th century, people in developed countries are living about three decades longer than in the past. Surprisingly, the trend shows little sign of slowing down. In an article published Friday in the medical journal Lancet, the researchers write that the process of aging may be ‘modifiable.'” Faster, please.

STIMULUS! Banks With 20% Unpaid Loans at 18-Year High Amid Recovery Doubt. “The number of U.S. lenders that can’t collect on at least 20 percent of their loans hit an 18-year high, signaling that more bank failures and losses could slow an economic recovery. “

HMM: Advanced Deuterium Fusion Rocket for Deep Space Missions.

POLIWOOD: Hollywood’s Lame Defense of Roman Polanski. Roger Simon and Lionel Chetwynd name names. “They’re defending their own potential exposure for future behavior. They want to protect the nomenklatura.”