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- It's quite amazing, as Chait says, that anyone would pay Mark Penn huge sums of money for his political advice. The man clearly understands absolutely nothing about either public opinion or the nature of political institutions. But hey, let's let him write an opinion piece for the Post where he can make the incredibly original argument that what Americans crave -- nay, need -- is a "centrist" third party. Has anyone registered the Unity12 domain name yet?
- Some things the founder of Tea Party Nation believes, according to a Washington Post online chat: Barack Obama did not cut taxes for most Americans; we are headed for dictatorship because of health-care reform; cutting taxes to stimulate economic growth "works every time;" the president is "clearly" a socialist; marginal tax rates did not go up during the Reagan administration; the president "revealed to all of our adversaries one of our most closely guarded secrets;" despite believing the president is a U.S. citizen, "there is validity to the birth certificate issue"; and "you folks on the left, as a general rule are not patriotic. You do not love this country."
- While invocations of the 10th Amendment have been legion since Commissar Obama assumed high command, it's important to keep in mind that it's not conservatism's favorite amendment. No, that honor belongs to the Second Amendment, as Lindsey Graham reminds us. In sum, the right to own firearms is so sacrosanct to the right wing that Graham wants to ensure that even U.S. citizens who are terrorism suspects are still able to purchase guns hassle-free. Incidentally, this bolsters my belief that gun enthusiasts clearly have no interest in the "well regulated Militia" portion of the amendment, which is arguably the raison d'etre of the amendment in the first place.
- Remainders: National Council for a New America, we hardly knew thee; There are quite a few reasons to believe a nuclear Iran will not precipitate a Middle East nuclear arms race; uh, the only people who think Michael Brown is attempting a "comeback" are the authors of this pointless Politico piece; it's OK to insult law enforcement if you're a Republican; maybe it's things like this that dissuade journalists from reviewing books published by WorldNet Daily; I had no idea Mark Levin was a practitioner of dadaist writing; and quantifying maverickiness.
--Mori Dinauer
