Add Michael Moore to Obama's List of Critics

Now some fresh pickings from the Political Grapevine:

Fighting Mad

Conservative bloggers are fuming that it took three months for charges to be filed against six people involved in a fight outside a St. Louis health care town hall.

African American and tea party activist Kenneth Gladney says he was viciously attacked in August by members of the Service Employees International Union, a left-leaning labor group.

Gladney says he was punched several times and called a racial slur — an account corroborated by several witnesses. Six people were arrested that night, including two men who say Gladney started the fight. But those same witnesses say that's not true.

The county has filed ordinance violation charges, said to be less serious than misdemeanors. Gladney says the charges should have been more serious and told a local radio station that investigators failed to interview witnesses.

The county counselor says she does not know if those charged are SEIU members and that the lengthy delay was due to a backlog in the system, not politics.

Moore Criticism

Filmmaker Michael Moore is adding his name to a growing list of liberals increasingly disappointed by President Obama's policy choices.

Moore is questioning the president's decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. He writes in an open letter on his Web site michaelmoore.com: "Do you really want to be the new 'war president'? With just one speech... you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics.... You will teach them what they've always heard is true — that all politicians are alike."

But not all liberals are jumping ship. The left-leaning Web site slate.com is already banking on big legislative victories, writing that President Obama is on track to be the "most accomplished first-year post-war president." However, that declarative statement includes one pretty big caveat: He must pass sweeping health care reform.

Speaking Out of Turn

Florida Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson is asking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to make it easier to avoid filibusters by lowering the cloture threshold from 60 votes to 55. Currently 60 votes is the magic number to stop debate and end efforts to block legislation.

Grayson says President Bush won seven major victories with fewer than 60 votes. But The Washington Times reports Grayson is incorrect on each point, either because he misunderstands senate rules or is just getting facts wrong.

Grayson says the 2003 energy bill passed with only 57 votes; in reality, it actually failed when the Senate failed to end a filibuster by a vote of 57 to forty. Had Grayson's proposed rule change been in place, the bill likely would have passed.

— Fox News Channel's Megan Dumpe Kenworthy contributed to this report.