CNN:

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Friday morning indicates that 38 percent of the public blames Republicans for the country's current economic problems. In May, 53 percent blamed the GOP.

According to the poll, 27 percent now blame the Democrats for the recession, up 6 points from May, and 27 percent now say both parties are responsible.

"The bad news for the Democrats is that the number of Americans who hold the GOP exclusively responsible for the recession has been steadily falling by about two to three points per month," said Keating Holland, CNN polling director. "At that rate, only a handful of voters will blame the economy on the Republicans by the time next year's midterm elections roll around.."

And so much for the green shoots:

I've been gone at the blogger's meetup for Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, which was great, and now I'm catching up. Random comments:

[cross posted at NPR Check]

Didn't want to let this one slip by:

In other healthcare news, the watchdog group Media Matters has revealed one of CNN’s regular on-air commentators is on the payroll of America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry lobbying group opposed to the current healthcare reform efforts. Until yesterday, CNN had never acknowledged Alex Castellanos’s affiliation. Media Matters revealed that Castellanos’s consulting firm, National Media, recently placed over $1 million of TV advertising for America’s Health Insurance Plans. Castellanos’s company has also done work for the Federation of American Hospitals, the pharmaceutical industry group PhRMA, and the HCA Sunrise Hospital.

From the Chicago Tribune (with pictures of the chilldren who died in the fire, the house and stills from the investigation video, as well as of Willingham): As far back as 2004, Rick Perry -- who's now become the target of ABC News and maybe CNN's Anderson Cooper too -- refused to consider the possibility, despite scientific evidence, that he'd ordered an execution for an innocent man to go forward. Two days before a state panel on forensic science was to hear further information -- and start work on a report the final version of which would've come out just about in time to torpedo Goodhair's primary campaign against KBH -- the Governor replaced three members of that panel, including the chair, with political cronies. Guess what?

Morton Mintz at Neiman Watchdog:

During President Obama’s five back-to-back Sunday television interviews, “No one…asked an unexpected question,” Alessandra Stanley wrote in the New York Times. That was a powerful and warranted indictment of the ascendant non-journalism masquerading as journalism.

The interviews, on CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS and Univision, were “as tightly choreographed – and eerily similar – as the multiple Magritte bowler-hatted men milling in the remake of ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’,” Stanley wrote. “The president’s talk show grand slam…was a remarkable – and remarkably overt – display of media management….Mostly…Mr. Obama demonstrated that the news media are catnip to presidents.”

The media would have been less catnippy had just one of the interviewers decided to be catsnippy enough to be less managed, i.e., to seize a golden opportunity to ask fundamental questions that should be but rarely if ever are asked of this or any past President.

• Mr. President, a standard definition of criminal negligence is, “The failure to use reasonable care to avoid consequences that threaten or harm the safety of the public and that are the foreseeable outcome of acting in a particular manner.” Tens of thousands of Americans die every year from treatable diseases that were not treated because the victims could not afford treatment.

My question is, can our government be fairly accused of criminal neglect for failing to provide universal health care?

Well, that's hardly a Serious question.

I'm back from a long day in D.C., with pictures and stories and plenty to tell, but I'm too tired to write about it yet. I will tell you this much, though: I glanced at the coverage given the march by Reuters, Knight Ritter, CNN, the AP (whose piece was reproduced by the LATimes), NYTimes, and WaPo.

And they lie.