She is even thinking of canvassing for him. How big a swing is this? She was a delegate to the state Republican convention for Alan Keyes in whatever year that was. However, supporting McCain had become problematic for her for several reasons (mainly Iraq, then the attitude that the poor are to be blamed for their situation), but the big nail was his failure to condemn waterboarding.

The final straw for her was media coverage of Rev. Wright. She feels that this culture and the media in particular are hostile to religion. So first, for the media to be slinging hash at anyone for their religious affiliation was just more of their shock and sleaze peddling. Second, the the clips that were used and the complaints leveled at Obama in her eyes showed the media commentators' own ignorance rather than revealing some great scandal: it showed that they know nothing about liberation theology or the rhetorical tactics used in sermons, particularly at black churches.

Senator Bill Frist has been gotten to by the fundamentalist wing of his party. When he was on ABC's This Week, he had an abstinence-based memory lapse about how the AIDS virus is transmitted:

There is more commentary on Liberal Oasis, where they rightly point out that this talk is an ethical violation of AMA standards (remember that Frist is not just senate majority leader but a medical doctor), and they helpfully point out possible responses on this front.

Part of framing is knowing the lingo of other disciplines. Here's environmental policy discussed in economic terms.

The Hidden Costs of Stuff

In economics, the unaccounted for impacts of economic activity are called externalities. These costs (or benefits) do not fall on the parties engaging in the economic activity - at least not directly - but on individuals or groups who have no say in the transaction. Pollution is one kind of externality associated with transactions involving the production and consumption of stuff.

In the U.S. many of the costs of pollution have been internalized, or accounted for, thanks to a series of environmental acts passed in the 1970s - from the National Environmental Policy Act (1969) through the Clean Water Act (1977). . . .

 More of the article below the fold.