The TalkLeft blog noted last night that the American Civil Liberties Union, after encouraging U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to pursue civil rights charges against George Zimmerman the day after he was acquitted in the death of Trayvon Martin, reversed course just four days later.

Though it’s no longer available at its national web site, the Associated Press ran the organization’s press release. Various searches at the AP’s national web site indicate that there has been no coverage of the organization’s reversal. Several center-right blogs have noted the reversal, but no one in the establishment press besides Josh Gerstein at the Politico, where stories the rest of the establishment press would prefer to ignore tend to go and all too often die, has noted it. So did the organization have a change of heart? Or did it attempt to manipulate its media exposure with a politically correct initial press release followed by a legally and constitutionally correct reversal it hopes few will notice?

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Earlier today (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog), I noted that MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry blamed Detroit’s bankruptcy on “government (that) is small enough to drown in your bathtub,” and claimed that it reflects “exactly the kind of thing that many Republicans would impose on us.”

Nothing can top that, right? Wrong. MSNBC’s Ed Schultz did, by more directly blaming Republicans. With an accompanying graphic containing photos of current Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, former President Ronald Reagan, and 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney above the words “Conservative Utopia,” Schultz claimed that the city’s failure is “thanks to a lot of Republican policies” and “is exactly what the Republicans want.” The relevant transcript follows the jump (video is at RealClearPolitics; HT Hot Air; bolds are mine):

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Melissa Harris-Perry, one of the panel guests on MSNBC’s “Now” program on Friday,  managed to tie Detroit’s bankruptcy to small government, i.e., “when government is small enough to drown in your bathtub,” and to analogize it to “exactly the kind of thing that many Republicans would impose on us.” Really.

The relevant portion of the transcript from RealClearPolitics, followed by comments from Erika Johnsen at Hot Air and Noah Rothman at Mediaite, are after the jump:
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From Houston:

Jul 20, 2013 / 01:15 pm

Houston Astros first baseman Carlos Peña has a passion for the game of baseball. The Dominican American Major League Baseball star said the game was a big part of his life growing up.

“When I was growing up in the Dominic Republic, baseball was considered the main sport,” Peña said. “My father introduced me to the sport and then I grew up to love it. With the support of my father and my mother, I continued to have the love for the game and continued to soar.”

However, he said his love for his Catholic faith and God is number one in his life and has helped him become the man he is today.

“I went to Catholic schools growing up and when I moved to the United States, we pretty much lived in the rough area of town but there was a church close by our house,” he said.

Peña said his parents and school teachers taught him to put God first.

“I was taught that you maintain your relationship with God is number one,” he said. “When you put God first, then everything else falls into place. And whenever the priorities get messed up, where God all of a sudden falls from number one to even number two, then you start to suffer. It’s something I think is trial and error that all of us can attest to.”
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Continuing what I started Wednesday, I’m going to keep this open thread at the top during the day.

Rules are here. Possible comment fodder follows. Other topics are also fair game.

If you are on the front page, click “more” to see today’s items, updated sporadically:
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