Hard to argue with Juan Cole or Eric Alterman on the subject of Reagan's legacy. I'm already losing patience with the strangely one-sided tributes coming even from what Alterman terms the So-Called Liberal Media. The most popular president? Not. (And here.) I'm not heartless. I choke up watching the memorial proceedings. It's wonderful that Reagan apparently loved Nancy so dearly. It's terrible that his wife had to watch him waste away with Alzheimer's. He was witty, and in some ways, principled. Many people will miss him. But let's face it: Reagan was only "nice" and "grandfatherly" to a very select subset of the population. Everyone else could eat ketchup. Perhaps some of the greater sense of loss is captured in this paragraph from today's NYT:

Many were moved by nostalgia for an era that seems, with the passing of time, to have been simpler and less mean. Patricia Fuller, 67, of Thousand Oaks, Calif., said she left home at 5 a.m. to be among the first to pay her respects. "He made me proud to be an American," she said with a tear in her eye. "We need that again very badly, someone to bring that pride back. I hope there's someone out there."

(Safe to assume Bush isn't that person, for her?)

Greenspan, Evil Genius --
Having encouraged home-buyers to take out adjustable rate mortgages just a few months ago, Greenspan is ready to raise rates "sharply." To borrow a line from "Tom Tomorrow" in this month's American Prospect, "I'm in awe of his evil genius." (The cartoon does not appear to be on the site; you'll have to flip through a copy of the magazine at your library or newstand. It's very funny.)

Lawyers conclude the President is above the law --
Josh Marshall had more to say yesterday on the WSJ story (here's the NYT version, which does not require a paid subscription) on the torture memo. Marshall writes:

So the right to set aside law is "inherent in the president". That claim alone should stop everyone in their tracks and prompt a serious consideration of the safety of the American republic under this president. It is the very definition of a constitutional monarchy, let alone a constitutional republic, that the law is superior to the executive, not the other way around. This is the essence of what the rule of law means -- a government of laws, not men, and all that.

It's a lengthier, but insightful, post.