Terrifying New Pyongyang-Plains Axis Emerges

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   Is Jimmy Carter the greatest president in history? Not only did he manage to free captured / arrested / kidnapped / whatever American Aijalon Mahli Gomes, but he also managed to get out of North Korea without having to party with the super-awkward Kim Jong-Il the way Bill Clinton did. Plus, he did not succumb to the temptation to set himself up as North Korea's new dictator . Does freeing this one American prisoner redeem him for the entire Iranian hostage crisis? Yes, according to people with short attention spans (i.e., everyone in America).[ NYT ]

• An Alabama Congressman told a funny joke to an audience in Montgomery about how Nancy Pelosi might get sick and die. The metapunchline: it was Bobby Bright, a Democrat! And voting for Nancy Pelosi for speaker makes him feel uncomfortable and weird, apparently, even though he redeems himself by voting against literally every aspect of the House Democratic agenda. [ AP ]

• The liberal New York Times says that conservatives don't really care enough about gay marriage anymore to try to stop it, which will come as news to the people in Iowa trying to get half the Supreme Court there voted out, because of gay marriage. [ NYT / WP ]

• Everyone is surprised that Ben Quayle won his primary in Arizona, because everyone had pretty much come to the conclusion that he was a moron and a loser. [ Politico ]

• You will be completely shocked to learn that Katrina recovery has gone better for white and middle-class people than it has for black and poor peope. [ WP ]