Let me count the ways that US Today is ...

... is full of crap. [Ok, I broke down and used modern day vernacular undoing years of training and conditioning and usage.]

Here's a couple paragraphs from US Today's article: Obama faces online backlash for centrist views

Obama, rated last year as the most liberal senator by the non-partisan National Journal magazine, said he supports the domestic wiretapping bill because it is "a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement" over a previous version. His aides insist Obama is not tempering his positions.

"Over the course of his career, Barack Obama has made decisions not on party or politics, but on what he thinks is best for America," spokesman Hari Sevugan says.

Clues to US Today's moronic style of journalism: National Journal is non-partisan. Good grief. Obama the most liberal Senator. A Moronic Journalism Award for US Today for passing on the National Journal's proclamations as if they were in any way credible. Obama, even in the primary phase of this campaign has never appeared to be very liberal. He seems to hover around the center of the Democratic Party. Progressive issues don't really seem to inspire Obama very much. Clinton herself is a centrist but at least she does care about universal health care. Obama is even further right than Clinton. Most liberal Senator indeed.

Repeatedly we keep hearing/reading that Obama, and others, are supporting the FISA capitulation because it is an improvement over a previous version. How is this a reason to support a bad bill?

The leaders of the Democratic Party (Obama, Reid, Pelosi, Hoyer), which is the majority party in both the Senate and the House, in case you can't tell by their behaviour, are telling us that all they can do is produce bad bills and that that's OK because they could really produce even worse bills?

According to the quotes presented in this article, Obama thinks that warrantless spying on Americans is what is best for America. Funny, he said he didn't think that before the Senate completely caved to Bush and his GOP mafia even though they are some of the most unpopular people in the whole US of A.

Next US Today lectures us with Obama talking points that sound like they've been channeled to him via the D.C. people-in-the-know - that is in the know as to how to help Democrats pull defeat from victory.

Some political strategists, however, note Obama is making a calculated shift to win over voters in a country where neither major party claims a majority.

"His supporters should understand this," said Emory University political scientist Merle Black. "He needs to reach out."

So Obama is making a calculated shift to disregarding the Constitution so he can appeal to who? Hard core Republicans? They aren't going to vote for him no matter what he does? Just who wants to be able to spy on Americans? Obama is either one such person and/or he's being very careless with our freedoms and/or he's being conned. Reach out, my foot. I don't know what Obama is thinking with FISA and telecomm immunity, but whatever it is it is NOT good for America and it is probably NOT good for him. For a smart man he is doing a very stupid thing, so stupid he can't even explain it coherently.

The title of the article itself starts the journalistic bouncing ball of errors rolling. Obama faces online backlash for centrist views How is spying on Americans a centrist goal? How is giving freedom from prosecution for crimes to telecomms and BushCo a centrist goal? These all seemed to be extreme rightwing GOP goals? When did they become centrist?

UPDATE: Senator Obama - Please Vote NO on Telecom Immunity - Get FISA Right posts at Obama's community blog (via digby) are quite compelling.