LIGHTNING ROUND: THE COMPASSION OF GEORGE W. BUSH.

• It's amazing that George Bush, in his final White House press conference, would recycle the "compassionate conservatism" concept he originally campaigned on as a remedy for what ails today's GOP. It's amazing that the president can essentially admit he authorized the torture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and that outside of John Conyers, there doesn't appear to be any serious effort to hold the president accountable for his crimes. It's amazing that the official portrait of George Bush that will hang in the National Portrait Gallery has a misleading caption that requires the intervention of a U.S. Senator to correct. It's amazing the degree to which the economy has simply tanked under Bush's watch. It's amazing that Bush is still sending nominations to Congress despite his successor taking over in eight days. And it's amazing that this presidency is finally, gratefully, coming to an end.
• I hope Nate Silver is correct about the underfunding of the Obama economic stimulus package being a deliberate political gambit designed to pave the way for a bigger response, because the current plan hasn't won over very many progressive policy thinkers. Meanwhile, Digby turns on CNN and finds the the once-respectable cable news source has been reduced to peddling right-wing economic propaganda.
• And then there were 58: "The secretary of the Senate has determined that the new credentials presented today on behalf of Mr. Burris now satisfy Senate rules and validate his appointment to the vacant Illinois Senate seat," saith Harry Reid and Dick Durbin. Meanwhile, poor Al Franken is getting no love in Minnesota.
• House Republicans extend the olive branch to Obama: "In accordance with your campaign pledge to work in a bipartisan manner and change the partisan tone in Washington, D.C., we would like to extend an invitation to you to address a meeting of the House Republican Conference." I don't care if Obama humors the minority party and engages in this bipartisan love-fest, but as to the GOP being anything other than obstructionist, I'll believe it when I see it.
• Speaking of obstruction, meet Arlen Specter, principled conservative legislator, as he continues his lonely quest to remind the public that the GOP loves the frivolous. Politico loves the frivolous too, drawing up a list of five "confirmation collisions," at least two of which are outright fabrications.
• Between Joe Scarborough telling us torture is consistently an effective method for acquiring information, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher opining that media should be "abolished from reporting" in war zones, and would-be RNC chair Ken Blackwell's enlightened understanding of homosexuality, I'm rather surprised at how rapidly the American right has descended into a national laughingstock.
• I don't understand why North Korea would want to send Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan to Barack Obama's inauguration instead of, you know, going through normal diplomatic channels, but regardless, the envoy will not be making an appearance at next Tuesday's festivities.

--Mori Dinauer