REASON TV: Four Takeaways From Obama’s Speech On Syria.

GRADE INFLATION: Historians Give President Obama a B- Grade.

UPDATE: Peggy Noonan: “Obama, a self-besotted charismatic who can’t tell the difference between showbiz and strategy, and who enjoys unburdening himself of moral insights to his peers.”

Plus: “Another problem, and there’s no nice way to say this: It is hard to believe such a chill man has such warm feelings about the sad end of strangers far away.”

And yet, Peggy, you backed him and looked down on those who saw through him from the beginning.

JAMES TARANTO: The Litella Administration: A new error in U.S. foreign policy:

In a mordant way, it is fitting that this crisis seemingly ended with an administration gaffe, for that is also the way it began. Obama wasn’t doing anything more than thinking out loud last year when he set a “red line” against the use of chemical weapons, but he trapped himself into making it U.S. policy, then demanded Congress and the world back it up. It’s as if Emily Litella–the hard-of-hearing old lady the late Gilda Radner played on “Saturday Night Live”–were in charge of U.S. foreign policy. Only President Litella, on having her error pointed out to her, would have the good sense to say: “Never mind.”

Come to think of it, the Litella analogy even explains that bizarre “Cheerios” comment we highlighted yesterday. What’s all this fuss I keep hearing about military action against cereal?

Heh.

IRS SCANDAL UPDATE: IRS inspector general probes whether agency abused Virginia tea partier. “The Inspector General of the U.S. Treasury Department is investigating whether an environmental group pressured the Internal Revenue Service into auditing a Virginia farmer and tea partier, according to attorneys, policy analysts and other sources familiar with the case.”

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Both Anti-Gun Senators Angela Giron AND John Morse RECALLED in Colorado.

SPYING: New details in how the feds take laptops at border.

Newly disclosed U.S. government files provide an inside look at the Homeland Security Department’s practice of seizing and searching electronic devices at the border without showing reasonable suspicion of a crime or getting a judge’s approval. . . .

President Barack Obama and his predecessors have maintained that people crossing into U.S. territory aren’t protected by the Fourth Amendment. That policy is intended to allow for intrusive searches that keep drugs, child pornography and other illegal imports out of the country. But it also means the government can target travelers for no reason other than political advocacy if it wants, and obtain electronic documents identifying fellow supporters.

House and the ACLU are hoping his case will draw attention to the issue, and show how searching a suitcase is different than searching a computer.

Feeling the hope and change?

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: Mother Jones: Let’s Please Stop Pretending That Obama is Reluctant to Take Military Action.

ROLL CALL: Senate Hits Pause Button on Syria Response.

In an entirely unrelated note, since Bob Corker lost weight and grew his hair out, I think he’s got an interestingly 19th-century look going.

THE HILL: Labor, with union membership declining, will woo non-workers.

WHAT IT’S LIKE to be a Republican voter in NYC.

UPDATE: A reader emails: “Yes. And the year you register, you can expect an audit. I found that out the hard way.”

OBAMACARE EGALITARIANISM: Mickey Kaus: The Rise of “Hospital Skyboxes.”

HEADLINE OF THE DAY: Desperate man tries to convince world he has faintest idea of what he’s doing.

LILY TANG WILLIAMS: Guns Against Tyranny: An armed citizenry could have prevented the Tiananmen Square massacre.

AT AMAZON, Coupons Galore in Industrial and Scientific. Apparently, science and industry use a lot of WD-40. I can’t say I find this surprising. Some of the other items, however, were a surprise.

Plus, up to 40% off on DIY Essentials.

And do your disaster and storm preparation at the Amazon Emergency Essentials Store. Winter is coming.

ET TU, AP? AP FACT CHECK SHATTERS OBAMA SYRIA SPEECH.

Plus, tweet of the night: “The president’s problem tonight is he had to give a speech with John Kerry’s foot in his mouth.”

And to paraphrase Napoleon: If you set out to take Damascus, take Damascus.

AMAZON ROUNDS UP the funniest customer reviews.

OUCH: Obama’s Syria speech: An illogical argument from a paralyzed president.

Meanwhile, I’m watching a devastating video montage of the Administration’s mixed messages, but what strikes me most is how weird Kerry’s face looks. Speaking of “paralyzed,” I don’t think the work he had done was a good idea.

COLION NOIR ON Hollywood Hypocrites.

OKAY, THIS IS SERIOUS. Obama wasn’t even late. Now turning things over to Stephen Green. “He stumbled on the word ‘unshakable.’ If you were looking for the telling detail, there you go.”

UPDATE: My take: Once or twice he almost sounded a bit like W., but otherwise it’s pretty much the above.

CHANGE: Appeals court skeptical of FCC’s Internet access rules.

MY USA TODAY EDITOR WRITES: “Your laughingstock column was among the top five in social media reactions across our whole site in the last 24 hours. You beat Zimmerman/wife drama and a story about a testicle size and parenting. That’s huge.”

I want to say, by the way, that I think Barack Obama is an excellent father.

HOPEY-CHANGEY: NSA Illegally Gorged on U.S. Phone Records for Three Years.

What happens when a secret U.S. court allows the National Security Agency access to a massive pipeline of U.S. phone call metadata, along with strict rules on how the spy agency can use the information?

The NSA promptly violated those rules — “since the earliest days” of the program’s 2006 inception — carrying out thousands of inquiries on phone numbers without any of the court-ordered screening designed to protect Americans from illegal government surveillance.

The violations continued for three years, until they were uncovered by an internal review, and the NSA found itself fighting to keep the spy program alive.

That’s the lesson from hundreds of pages of formerly top secret documents from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, released today by the Obama administration in response to a successful Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

I’m beginning to lose trust.

“SMART DIPLOMACY:” Foreign Policy: Did The World Just Legitimize The Assad Regime It Spent Years Discrediting? Yes.

STEPHEN GREEN WILL BE DRUNKBLOGGING THE PRESIDENT’S SYRIA SPEECH.

If I were Obama, I’d knock back a stiff one before delivering it. . . .

PAUL CARON’S EMPIRE GROWS: Law Professor Blogs Network Launches Four New Blogs, Seeks New Bloggers.