DAVID OBEY IS THE NEW TED STEVENS:

Sen. Ted Stevens was the butt of blogosphere jokes and target of blog swarm after blog swarm for the better part of two years when Republicans controlled Congress. But with Democrats in control, House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., appears to be working hard to replace Stevens as Blogosphere Enemy No. 1.

Obey caused an uproar among liberal bloggers in March when he referred to the “idiot liberals” opposed to an emergency spending bill for military operations in Afghanistan in Iraq. Now he is under fire from bloggers on the right for moving to undermine Democrats’ pledge to be more transparent about “earmarking” projects in lawmakers’ districts for federal spending.

Actually, plenty of folks on the left are unhappy with him, too.