MICKEY KAUS: Getting to Know The Public Option As It Disappears.

POST-PARTISAN PROMISE FIZZLES: “Barack Obama campaigned last year on a pledge to end the angry partisanship in Washington. He wasn’t the first to promise a post-partisan presidency: Both George W. Bush and Bill Clinton offered a similar change, only to see the mutual hostility between Republicans and Democrats increase while they were in the White House. Now, just as his predecessors did, Mr. Obama is seeing that promise turn to ashes. Angry town-hall meetings, slumping presidential approval poll numbers and rising opposition to his signature health-care proposals suggest an early resumption of politics as usual.”

IT’S LIKE ENRON FOR GREENS: Arrests In Carbon-Credit Trading Scam.

CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: “According to an indictment handed down Wednesday, former New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron fabricated a letter — postdating it Aug 26, 2004 — to help cover up a vast money laundering and embezzlement scheme. The scheme involved Vigil-Giron, a nationally respected Hispanic media consultant and a husband-and-wife team who now lobby for the city of Albuquerque, according to the indictment.” Plus, another chance to play name that party!

KATHERINE MANGU-WARD: Among The Cynics: When It Comes to Health Care, Obama Doesn’t Believe Reasonable People Can Disagree.

It’s funny—I don’t feel like a fearmongering naysayer. And I haven’t gotten a check from a health insurance lobbyist in ages. Actually, come to think of it, I’ve never gotten a check from the insurance lobby. But Obama says that I am, along with (pick your poll) 30 to 60 percent of Americans who are not on board with massive government intervention in one of the biggest and fastest growing sectors of our economy. So it must be true. . . .

A plan—noble in reason, infinite in faculties, in form admirable—was presented to the American people. The obvious genius of the plan failed to carry it through intact. As more details were revealed, more and more people got antsy about the whole endeavor. They mentioned their concerns to their congressmen, sometimes loudly. Congress got cold feet, and now everyone is sitting in time out, thinking about what they did wrong.

When Obama, the man of hope, tells this story, it sounds like a failure of the democratic process, corrupted by special interests who somehow forced all those people to holler at town meetings and forced me to write this article. Again, though, without the actual writing of checks. But someone of a non-cynical nature might equally see this story as a great success of participatory democracy, with representatives accountable to the people.

Yes, who’s cynical here?

UH OH: Questions of competence begin to dog Obama. “It’s been 177 days since Obama made his initial pitch for a health care overhaul to a joint session of Congress. That the president’s team is still spending so much time stroking the Democratic base is evidence of how dire the situation is for this young administration.”

DANIEL HENNINGER: In Government We Trust? The public’s reaction to government health care is proving that Ronald Reagan was right.

MAD MEN action figures. No, really.

A NEWS REPORT ON YESTERDAY’S CUYAHOGA FALLS TEA PARTY: “About 7,000 people crowded into Falls River Square Wednesday night for the first Akron Tea Party. Organizers said it was the largest Ohio Tea Party so far. Many in the crowd wore patriotic hats and shirts, waved American and ‘Don’t Tread On Me” flags and carried homemade signs protesting policies in Washington, D.C., and the direction the country is headed in general.”

UPDATE: Reader Nonda Surratt writes: “Wow you lose Akron, home of unions, you are in deep trouble. Funny — good friend of hubby’s, lives in that area, solid teamster for years, visited about a month ago and said he would NEVER vote for another Dem as long as he lives. Really shocked hubby they have been best buds since grade K.” Not living up to the hype, are they?

MATT WELCH on journalists and “the hate beat.”

I BLAME JOHN ASHCROFT! Er, well, not actually. Flickr Yanks Image Of Obama As Joker.

BUT DON’T WORRY, GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE WILL WORK PERFECTLY: NY dealers pull out of clunkers program. “Hundreds of auto dealers in the New York area have withdrawn from the government’s Cash for Clunkers program, citing delays in getting reimbursed by the government, a dealership group said Wednesday. The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which represents dealerships in the New York metro area, said about half its 425 members have left the program because they cannot afford to offer more rebates. They’re also worried about getting repaid.”

OUTNUMBERING THE ACORN/MOVEON FOLKS by 10-1.

GUN RIGHTS: Joe Huffman: Did We Just Win? There are no final victories.

PROTECTING THE RACIAL NARRATIVE: MSNBC Edits Clip of Man With Gun At Obama Rally To Hide That He’s Black. “Never will you see a starker example of MSNBC getting away with the sort of deception for which Fox News would be pilloried, especially in the context of race.”

Plus, from Tam: “Listen, you broadcast dinosaurs: You don’t control the horizontal or the vertical anymore, got it? We can adjust our sets any time we want to. We have our own cameras these days. The whole world is watching now.”

TEA PARTY UPDATE: Reader Pat Dooley writes: “There was another huge after-work Tea Party Rally in Cuyahoga Falls. . . . The organizers were expecting around 5000 people to show-up, according to this news report. One of the speakers, my brother-in-law, told me the crowd was 7000 people. The Tea Party movement is getting stronger, rather than fading away.”

And reader Tyler Cazin writes: “Just got back from our local tea party in the center of town. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, but hopefully you’ll be seeing some pictures. Easily 7,000 plus. Nicest large group I’ve ever been around. I’ve been feeling down lately, but this really raised my spirits. I think we can get our country back.”

ESQUIRE: Meet the latest members of the Obama Team. Heh.

INSTAVISION: I talk with bestselling science fiction author John Ringo about his novel The Last Centurion, the place of military science fiction, the suckiness of the Starship Troopers movie, and more.

BAINBRIDGE V. PERLSTEIN: ROUND TWO.

BLU-RAY: Buy two, get one free.

Plus, half-price camping gear.

CASH-FOR-CLUNKERS: Lining the pockets of at least one millionaire.

HOPE AND CHANGE: Biden contemplates running in 2016. A fresh face for America!

AMERICABLOG: Obama approves $10.5 million pay plan for new AIG CEO. “The runaway pay problem is now owned by Obama.”

ABOUT THAT MELTING ARCTIC ICE . . . .

WILL AGING DECELERATOR DRUGS WORK? “What we need even more than drugs that slow aging: treatments that rejuvenate and reverse aging.”