NPR watch II

NPR was on a system-wide roll yesterday.

In separate shows, Day to Day and All Liberal Things Considered, Daniel Shore and Will Saletan both found it ironic that Republicans had threatened a filibuster on one thing or another, in neither case judges. Does it occur to them that they've built their coverage around the idea that the Constitution, nay, the Republic itself boils down to the filibuster? That's ironic. What they should be doing is reporting, with great relief, that the filibuster is healthy and the Republicans are the best thing since Bob Byrd's little dog Billie for showing it to be so.

Dan Shore also had another ironic line that he didn't recognize as ironic. In the stem cell research debate--guess which side Dan's on?--he referred to Bush and other opponents of it, and then to its supporters: "On the other side of the aisle stood the universally respected Nancy Reagan."

And Andrea Seabrook, apparently desperate for a hook for a story, used the theme of "numbers" to tie together a hodge podge of commentary about women in combat. I can't wait for today's effort: "And here's another collection of alphabetic characters . . ."