Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

The President is heading to Arizona State University to deliver his first commencement address as president later today. Before he leaves for Phoenix, he's got a couple meetings with House and Senate leaders. One of those meetings is about the schedule for the Supreme Court nominee. We're getting closer to that announcement.

It is just beyond embarrassing how much attention the traditional media is paying to that beauty queen. Beyond embarrassing.

One last thing: Yes, the hate crimes bill should pass and be signed into law. But, the hate crimes bill already passed the House and Senate. In fact, the bill broke a filibuster in the last Congress when there were 8 (or 9) fewer Democrats -- it was one of the few bills that achieved the magical 60 votes. Passing this bill isn't a stretch. It's been done when we had fewer allies in Congress. We needed a president to sign it. We've got that now. So, yes, it's important. But, no one should think delivering only a hate crimes law this session is enough. It's not.

Okay. Let's get it started....