- National Review's Rich Lowry seems awfully smug about an NYT poll in which 52 percent of respondents fear that Obama is leading the country toward socialism and 10 percent don't know or didn't answer. In other words, 38 percent of those polled actually understand what socialism means. Way to go, guys! Meanwhile, the Times probes historians and political analysts for their takes on the survey, which breaks down the 18 percent of people who say they embrace the Tea Party's incoherent chorus of privileged whininess. Amanda Marcotte says, "If it looks like the tea baggers are a bunch of privileged cry babies who don’t want to share, then well, you know what they say about quacking like a duck."
Dan Froomkin wants you to know you don't really hate paying your taxes. The turbo-conservative American Enterprise Institute says most of us think we're taxed fairly and figure it's about time to return the tax-break gift that Bush doled out to big business and wealthy folks. Who was responsible for this study? Oh, hell. Better fire David Frum again, just in case. I bet this woman would approve.
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said today that health-care reform could wind up reviewed by the Court. With Justice Stevens set to leave the Chamber of Nine, maybe the Obama administration should check out TAPPED contributor Scott Lemieux's compelling argument of why the Stevens replacement must be an unabashed progressive.
Remainders: Jon Stewart corrects Fox News's math; Matt Yglesias reminds everyone that if you're affluent, it probably has a lot more to do with luck than hard work; the Mickey Kaus oppo research project goes live; even wonks can enjoy scatological humor; dirty hippie jokes never get old, do they, Michelle Malkin?; and, uh, anecdotal evidence suggests Slate has hopped on the made-up-trend bandwagon with this piece about millennials shunning promiscuous peers.
--Rebecca Delaney and Mikhail Zinshteyn
