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- Elena Kagan roundup: James Inhofe is very predictable; Jeff Sessions invokes the Founding Fathers' "intent" and the "growing sentiment among everyday Americans" as a means of assessing Kagan's suitability; RNC in-house historian Michael Zak discusses how awesome the Founding Fathers, Republicans, were; historian Sean Wilentz comments on Kagan's "socialism thesis"; we're still taking nominations of course, but this is the early favorite for stupidest attack on Kagan's qualifications; right-wing "family" group puts the kibosh on lesbian judges; and allowing homosexuals to marry is the greatest threat to our nation, ever.
- Whether or not one considers Sen. Bob Bennett's primary loss in Utah on Saturday a "purge," it is undeniable that the litmus test for mounting a Republican primary challenge is an incumbent's willingness to support federal spending. It is what ties Bennett, who co-sponsored a Romneycare-like bill with Ron Wyden, to Charlie Crist, who voiced support for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It is also why Scott Brown, who has rejected spending at the federal but not state level remains a conservative hero. And yet, of the many congressional Republicans who voted in favor of TARP in the fall of 2008, only John McCain is being subjected to a serious primary challenge. The amended litmus test, then, is to have voted for or supported federal spending while Barack Obama was president.
- Mark Lilla's essay in The New York Review of Books on American populism ("The Tea Party Jacobins") is worthy of far more discussion than a few lines in a blog post, so go read it. But suffice it to say, whenever I use the phrase "the tyranny of the individual" in this space, as I have in the past, the phenomenon I'm talking about is what Lilla's essay is all about. Looking at this from a longer historical perspective, no one should be surprised that the atomization of people within the West has penetrated the political sphere. And while Lilla looks at several sources for this radical individualization, his primary subject is all too clear: "Welcome to the politics of the libertarian mob."
- Weekend Remainders: I'd say this disqualifies the Heritage Foundation from ever being taken seriously again; Republicans seem more effective at fundraising and organizing when they're not constantly on cable news shows saying stupid things; this more or less mirrors my opinion about the media project known as The Huffington Post; some evidence that liberal magazines are more willing to call out the manipulations of liberal entertainers than conservatives; and it's amazing that former members of the Nixon administration remain public figures.
--Mori Dinauer
