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- The key to understanding why some on the right misinterpret economic statistics -- or focus on comparing rates of growth in the public vs. private sector, or are obsessed with cutting "spending" -- is that these things matter more to them than 10 percent unemployment. So when Ezra Klein points out that conservatives are wrong to claim the stimulus failed because there's still high unemployment, he is focusing on what it would be absent stimulus.
- There's nothing wrong with Gallup pointing out that political independents increasingly affiliate with Republicans. But no one should assume that independents will be the decisive factor in the midterms. In 2008, independents went for Obama by an eight-point margin. Today, Republicans have a 12-point advantage over Democrats. High Democratic turnout could nullify the independent advantage, although there's plenty of reason to be skeptical.
- Lindsey Graham is right that the Tea Partiers are an incoherent and impotent political force, and it's tempting to think that Graham is the sort of Republican you can do business with -- especially when he claims to "want a Republican that can attract Democrats." But in practice, Graham has not proved to be personally enchanted by bipartisanship -- let's not forget he abandoned his own climate bill just a month ago.
- Remainders: The vacuity of pundit memes; yes, Marc Thiessen really is this stupid; I'm actually curious what Human Events considers to be the "truth about the South, slavery, and states' rights"; more embarrassingly unsophisticated defenses of libertarian entrepreneurship; and it's hard to deal with our economic problems given all the deficit posers in Congress.
-- Mori Dinauer
