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- The president's right when he says that Republicans have embraced, in Jon Chait's words, "anti-empiricism," but how this plays out is complicated. Democrats are generally accused of being technocrats, using cold empiricism to solve policy problems that are important to them. Republicans, on the other hand, believe they already have the answers to policy problems (tax cuts!), and thus they have no need to arrive at solutions empirically.
- The Wall Street Journal breaks news that "talk" of a third party is happening, prompted by voter dissatisfaction with both parties. But only the GOP is singled out for having "one last shot" to prove it can govern, and while the piece acknowledges third parties have historically failed, "many rules have been broken this year, like the one about incumbent senators rarely being defeated within their own party." Bold Prediction: There will be no serious third party in 2012, just a Republican Party less tolerant of dissent.
- Kevin Drum is interested to know the substantive differences between left- and right-wing craziness. Rather than pitting 9/11 conspiracies against those of the birthers, it's more instructive to look at what really set the left off during the Bush years: the Iraq War. Compared with all the wild and baseless accusations leveled at Obama, here we have an instance of the left wing turning strongly against a Republican president because of a disastrous policy decision. The right wing called this "Bush Derangement Syndrome," and that to me is the difference.
- Remainders: Republicans use middle-class tax cuts for political cover, but one wonders why Democrats even bother; Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argues that "ordinary people" are better at reading the Constitution than vaguely undefined elites; Glenn Beck is promoting/selling survival kits; and take the libertarian or rapper quiz.
--Mori Dinauer
