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- These frank remarks from Senate Minority Whip John Kyl, promising zero Republican support for a deficit-neutral health care reform bill without a public plan, aren't terribly shocking. But while Kyl is trying to exercise some power in government (or lay the groundwork for taking it back), I think these comments at The Next Right are more indicative of what conservatives believe truly motivate Democrats in reform legislation: "they’re not interested in making insurance affordable. That’s never been the goal. ... It’s always been about getting us to a socialized system. ... With this bill, Congressional Democrats are going to do anything they can to create dependant [sic] constituents and special interests."
- I happen to think that it's insane to believe civic society benefits from heavily armed people loitering about public events, but if you're Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA), there's nothing to fear, because you can trust that these people are responsible gun owners who take concealed weapons wherever they go. But as Chris Matthews points out in the above clip, they aren't concealing their weapons, instead displaying them, which suggests to me that this is all about intimidation and has little to do with "exercising your rights under the second amendment."
- The always-excellent Dave Weigel has a good report from the RightOnline conference containing many amusing anecdotes, but what stood out for me was one participant's description of the political moment: "When you read what the founding fathers said, you see a lot of parallels. It’s almost like we have another ruling class, another royal family." These people sincerely believe we're at the cusp of a new American Revolution (or counterrevolution), which adds another chilling level of understanding to the gun-totting protesters discussed above.
- Another day, another stroll through libertarian fantasyland. Today we learn about a hypothetical utopian society where a "new non-territorial state" is "managed like a hotel chain" and marvel at how Bill Clinton's recent diplomacy in North Korea "shows how quickly the private sector can respond to a crisis. He got a movie producer friend's jet, spent only $200,000 of non-taxpayer money, and acted swiftly and with resolve." Talk about getting high on your own supply.
- Remainders: The White House caves to another product of the right wing's fevered mind; there remains little reason to treat National Review as serious publication any more; and Niall Ferguson severely miscalculated by picking a fight with Paul Krugman and James Fallows over his use of "Felix the Cat" to describe Barack Obama.
--Mori Dinauer
