MORE “SMART DIPLOMACY:” Alienating an ally with “mistreatment.” More here.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: More than a bad day: Worries grow that Barack Obama & Co. have a competence problem.

Not long ago, after a string of especially bad days for the Obama administration, a veteran Democratic pol approached me with a pained look on his face and asked, “Do you think they know what they’re doing?”

The question caught me off guard because the man is a well-known Obama supporter. As we talked, I quickly realized his asking suggested his own considerable doubts.

Yes, it’s early, but an eerily familiar feeling is spreading across party lines and seeping into the national conversation. It’s a nagging doubt about the competency of the White House.

Read the whole thing. There’s also David Broder’s report of doubts. And Don Surber has comments, too.

UPDATE: Why Obama Is Stumbling. Plus, Irrational Exuberance?

GUN PROPAGANDA INTERFERING WITH SAVING MEXICO? Well, note this:

Traffickers have escalated their arms race, acquiring military-grade weapons, including hand grenades, grenade launchers, armor-piercing munitions and antitank rockets with firepower far beyond the assault rifles and pistols that have dominated their arsenals. Most of these weapons are being smuggled from Central American countries or by sea, eluding U.S. and Mexican monitors who are focused on the smuggling of semiauto- matic and conventional weapons purchased from dealers in the U.S. border states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

So all this talk about U.S. gun shops arming Mexican gangs with bazookas was just gun-control propaganda, then?

(PARTNER NOT SHOWN). With a Heinlein reference, in place of Ayn Rand.

OSAMA BIN ELVIS?

READ MY LIPS: No new waxes! “The painful Brazilian wax and its intimate derivatives are in danger of being stripped from salon and spa menus if a recent proposal to ban genital waxing is passed by the state’s Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling.”

UPDATE: Reader Lou Minatti suggests an alternate headline: New Jersey Politicians Support Bush.

MY EARLIER POST ON CONDOM SALES led reader Mark Sicignano to write: “Just an example of people choosing to ‘Go John Thomas’?” Well, it beats going John Galt, if you ask me . . . .

DENVER POST: When Will Atlas Shrug? Like I said, Ayn Rand is getting a lot of attention for a dead lady.

UPDATE: Colbert whistles past the graveyard.

ANOTHER UPDATE: From the comments: “If Colbert had any guts at all he’d now retire the O’Reillyoid character, rename the show the Hopebert Report, and thenceforth ape the likes of Matthews or Olbermann.”

RON SILVER has died.

UPDATE: A remembrance from his friend Roger Simon. Plus, courage.

CININNATI ENQUIRER: Thousands Gather for ‘Tea Party.’

UPDATE: Cincinnati Tea Party Demonstrates Downtown.

ANOTHER UPDATE: The Cincinnati Tea Party organizers email:

We can confirm
> 5000 attendees to the event, “a city on the square”
> 1674 people signed a petition to ask local governments to reject stimulus funds

Pretty impressive.

THE NEW FALLOUT 3 TRAILER, set in a “post-apocalyptic Washington, DC.”

MICHAEL SILENCE NOTES A MEDIA REFERENCE TO A “HANDFUL” OF TEA PARTY PROTESTS AND SAYS “LET’S COUNT ‘EM:”

Cincinnati, Nebraska, Tampa, Lexington, Ridgefield, Conn., Raleigh, Orlando, D.C., Staten Island, Pasadena, Boston, Rochester, N.Y., Jacksonville, Minnesota, Cleveland, Columbus, Mo., Little Rock, Ark., Philadelphia, Kansas City, Harrisburg, Green Bay, Salt Lake City, Fullertown, Lafayette, Boise, Monterey, Maui, Yonkers, Utah, Tucson, Phoenix, Hoboken and Chicago, to name a few.

Also, I guess it’s just been a handful of blogs writing about it.

Maybe the writer meant this handful of coverage.

By the way. If you want to follow extensive coverage of the party, one guy sitting in Knoxville, probably from his couch, is doing just that.

Memo to MSM: Google.

Heh. Indeed.

UPDATE: And Denver — don’t forget Denver! And St. Louis! And New York!

Related thoughts from Ed Driscoll.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Cincinnati reader Jeff Riley was at the protest and emails: “I was thrilled at the turnout here in Cincy, however I wasn’t thrilled with the lack of coverage by the local media. Trust me on this, during the Bush Adminstration when they had 4 people show up at the local Federal Building and protest against the war they were all over it. When 3500 (estimated) people show up to protest the bailout they just shrugged. People were pissed and are realizing that the media is doing much more that shilling for Obama, that they are willing participants in the propaganda effort. Every time they do so they lose a bit more credibility and people are turning them out and getting there news elsewhere.”

MORE: Frank Wilson has further thoughts on what we’re not being told.

STILL MORE: More than 150 tea parties scheduled.

THE CINCINNATI TEA PARTY IS UNDERWAY, and a reader sends this photo via Blackberry.

Also, reader Russell Sayre sends this aerial view: “This was taken from the 17th floor of the U.S. Bank Tower above Fountain Square in Cincinnati as the rally began. I have no idea how many people are there, but the square is pretty full, which rarely happens.”

Yeah, it’s kind of cool the way people are sending me coverage in realtime via Blackberry and cellphone. Somebody should write a book about this phenomenon . . . .

UPDATE: Another.

And John Galt appears again.

Plus, another appearance by the Debt Star. It’s everywhere!

UPDATE: Compare the coverage above with this early report from the Cincinnati Enquirer. They’re actually very fast for a newspaper, though.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Chris Blanchard sends the pictures below, and writes: “Great crowd. This is only getting started…. The square was packed – a larger crowd than what Oktoberfest usually draws, even without the promise of cold beer.”

Plus, reader Steven Murray writes, “There were thousands there, I believe.” Here’s a pic from him.

MORE: Kami Eickson emails:

Hey Glenn, was at the Cincinnati tea party this afternoon and got quite a few shots, a great turn out and some great posters were displayed at this event. They predicted between 4-6,000 people showed up, the square was packed.

However, one thing I wanted to mention was the Counter Protester, of which there was one that I saw. This woman was just wandering around waving a flag and yelling “OBAMA!” and “YES WE WILL”. There was some media there, but one camera man was ONLY covering her and interviewing her. You know, because she was so brave to stand up to these evil conservative protesters!

That’s change you can believe in!

Indeed. She sends this pic of a stylish “Got Tea?” t-shirt.

And reader Ed Steiner writes:

One of the local TV stations–WCPO– did a hatchet job on the Tea Party. The nerd said he had to leave the rally because a few people insulted him and spit at him due to media bias. The spitting, if it occurred, is of course out of bounds, but not unheard of in the Bush years, when the lefties had the saliva going. The station did a 30 second scan of the Square and then did its own internal Fairness Doctrine by highlighting the few Obama supporter signs and doing an interview with the local Dem Party chief. WCPO is a part of the soon to be Ch11 Scripps newspaper/TV empire. The WCPO website highlights the forthcoming second stimulus package and what people can get from it. Thanks for the coverage.

Well, don’t thank me — thank all the folks who sent me pics and reports! Speaking of which, here’s a Cincinnati tea party photo gallery. (Bumped).

More blog reportage at The Virtuous Republic.

The last word? Heh. “Maybe now Rick Moran will deign to grace the tea parties with his support.”

Okay, maybe this is the last word.

Another photo gallery.

Plus, another blog report with photos, from Dadvocate. Nice picture of the Debt Star poster.

Here’s more blogging.

More photos and reports, plus video, at Bizzyblog.

Also, video here and here. And still more here.

And on the “Debt Star” sign, Michael Albrecht emails:

That’s me in the blue shirt holding the sign.

There was a young girl, maybe 13-14, who had one too. If you add the one the one on the Dadvocate site, that makes three. I spot a trend.

I was most impressed by how civil it all was.

Cincinnati elected a Democrat on the West end of town who promptly voted for a bill he admits to never reading (the stimulus bill). I thought people signing documents, like mortgages, without reading them was what got us into this mess in the first place. I guess if you add 6 zeroes it makes it all OK.

Spending money we didn’t have on things we didn’t understand is what got us into this mess, and, by God, it’s what’ll get us out of this mess!

RON ROTUNDA: Is the stimulus law constitutional?

UPDATE: More thoughts from Jack Balkin.

THE WHITE HOUSE LAUNCHES A PRO-PORK POLITICAL ASSAULT: “Should be interesting to see if all the Facebook Obamites, assorted young people, Hope-Changers of all stripes will rise out of the trenches for a big bayonet charge in aid of ‘President Obama’s bold approach … for long-term prosperity.'” Plus, from the comments: “I find this ‘community organizing’ on the national level just a bit alarming. It isn’t for the benefit of the people. It’s for the benefit of the kleptocrats in government, and the Community Organizer in Chief.”

In a somewhat related note, reader Robert Sykes doesn’t like the Newsweek “Silence Rush” cover:

I think there is a very serious, very important issue here.

The President publicly identifies a private citizen (Limbaugh) for vilification, and his spokesmen repeat it several times. Then a “major” publication calls for his silencing on their cover. Furthermore, this citizen is already controversial, and he is supported by only one-third of the people, making him a sort of pariah and easy victim.

There are many deluded wackos out there like Sirhan Sirhan and Hinckley who might take all this as orders to kill Limbaugh. God forbid such lunacy! It would constitute a giant step towards the nazification of America, and it would have been instigated by the President and the press.

I doubt that David Frum’s prose could move anyone to murder, or much else. But this campaign is unseemly behavior for the President, and if something like that were to happen, it would be fair to blame them, as they are always blaming talk radio for “hate.” Regardless, this continues a trend of thuggish and unserious behavior that we first saw during the campaign. I think that, ultimately, it will harm Obama more than his enemies, though. It suggests that he doesn’t value the dignity of the office, or see the Presidency as anything apart from himself.

UPDATE: A reader emails: “It’s reminding me of the Clinton administration’s efforts via the mainstream media to demonize conservative talk radio with blame after the Oklahoma City bombing.”

DAVID BRODER: End of Obama’s Honeymoon: “Among those who follow government closely, there has been an unmistakable change in tone in the past few weeks. These are not little Rush Limbaughs hoping that Obama fails. They are politicians and journalists measuring him with the same skeptical eye they apply to everyone else. . . . Meantime, on the main challenge — the economy — the criticism has begun to infect the mainstream media as well as the conservative wing.”

I think one reason for the demonization of Rush Limbaugh — and, even more significantly, the coordinated attack on pro-Obama critics — has been an effort to forestall this development. I also think it’s backfired.

AT AMAZON, a big Easter toy sale.