We apologize for not getting to this yesterday (we had already filled our Bummer Quota), but it’s still worth notice:

Republican senators feel burned by Al Franken — and not by his old jokes.

The Republicans are steamed at Franken because partisans on the left are using a measure he sponsored to paint them as rapist sympathizers — and because Franken isn’t doing much to stop them.

“Trying to tap into the natural sympathy that we have for this victim of this rape — and use that as a justification to frankly misrepresent and embarrass his colleagues, I don’t think it’s a very constructive thing,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said in an interview.

It’s a complicated issue, as such things are. An employee of defense contractor KBR was “drugged, beaten and gang-raped at age 19 when stationed in Baghdad.” KBR argued that gang-rape is a condition of employment subject to arbitration. An appeals court disagreed. Franken submitted an amendment to a Pentagon spending bill that denied funding to private contractors who require that gang-rape be subject to the same procedures as overtime and coffeebreaks. Thirty Republican Senators opposed the amendment, saying that regulating gang-rape is an unnecessary intrusion into the free market.

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In what would have been a watershed moment in American political discourse, Sarah Palin was almost required to speak English at a book-tour stop:

Officials at the Minnesota mega-mall this week told reporters planning to cover the Minneapolis-area stop on Palin’s Going Rogue book tour they must address the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate who resigned as governor last summer by her old title — a common honor, actually, which normally is accorded to former governors.

But the mall also was banning foreign reporters, permtting “only English speaking press.” That’s not a common requirement.

Palin, who normally speaks in a dialect combining Dog Whistle and Chalkboard Fingernail, is a special-needs candidate whose few encounters with English-speaking press have not gone well. But now that the Mall of America has backed down, we’re stuck again with tortuous run-on sentences that would put Faulkner to shame.

Palin’s English-only book-stop: Mistake [Chicago Tribune, via Think Progress]

A recurring theme of our recent blathering has been disappointment: Not that Barack Obama isn’t living up to our impossibly high standards (we’ve expressed serious reservations for more than a year), but that we’re finding it increasingly difficult to get excited about anything he does. Symbolically and substantively, it’s one misfire after another.

Yes, we know he’s not John McCain, and we’re grateful for that. Just as the Nobel committee is grateful he’s not George W. Bush. But relief will only take you so far.

We didn’t sign up for that. We signed up for what we hoped would be a refreshing generational change in American politics. Although Sarah Palin quickly disabused us of that fantasy.

Still: Has it really come to this? Is the best we can say about Obama that he’s not one of them?

We’re looking for some help here. What have we overlooked? What about Obama truly represents a force for good, and not just a coffeebreak from evil? What remains to keep us from retreating into comfy cynicism?

And no, Bo doesn’t count.

Is Chris Schenkel still around? No? Then somebody else will have to call the splits next June when Sarah Palin fronts for the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America in Vegas:

“Sarah Palin is a great friend to the bowling industry and we’re so proud and honored to welcome her as our keynote speaker at International Bowl Expo 2010,” said Steven Johnson, executive director of the BPAA.

“Regardless of your political affiliation, Ms. Palin is a force in American politics and culture. Her presence underscores the impact and importance of bowling, one of our country’s leading national pastimes and a growing $10 billion industry.”

We’re sticking with our suspicion that Talibunny is conducting market research for her Six Flags Over Wasilla theme park. But it could just as easily be argued that she’s taking an early swipe at Barack Obama for his lack of grace on the lanes.

Sarah Palin strikes new ground as keynote speaker at International Bowl Expo 2010 [Bowling Digital]

Meanwhile, back in Florida…

I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. I have not been true to my values and the behavior my family deserves. I am not without faults and I am far short of perfect. I am dealing with my behavior and personal failings behind closed doors with my family. Those feelings should be shared by us alone.

Dude, it was just an Escalade. It was insured. You must have a warehouse full of them. Cut yourself some slack.

Or are you referring to something else?

Tiger comments on current events [TigerWoods.com]

Morgan Stanley Vice-Chairman Rob Kindler:

The license plate is self-explanatory, but you should also know that the Porsche Cayenne Turbo is the near top-of-the-line version of an utterly wasteful and pointless SUV. It has a $100,000 base price, so this vehicle probably cost a bit north of $120k.

Wall Street Banker’s Vanity License Plate Would Get an Auto Exec Tarred, Feathered [Jalopnik]

Not to pile on, but…

A senior U.S. intelligence official told ABCNews.com the approximate estimate of 100 al-Qaeda members left in Afghanistan reflects the conclusion of American intelligence agencies and the Defense Department. The relatively small number was part of the intelligence passed on to the White House as President Obama conducted his deliberations.

We’re not interested in gotchas here, but our critique remains: Barack Obama failed to make the case Tuesday night.

President Obama’s Secret: Only 100 al-Qaeda Now in Afghanistan [ABC, via Political Wire]