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- Paul Krugman labors against the pernicious zombie myth that economic prosperity didn't truly come to the United States until Reagan the Great came to Washington and slashed the top marginal tax rate and government regulation by pointing out that the postwar era witnessed a steady increase in the median family income, which leveled off after the glorious conservative revolution of 1981. But the reason I bring this up is to point to a new myth being formed, one that exonerates the Bush administration's reckless economic policy and instead blames the recession on Barack Obama, whose economic policies are apparently so powerful that they can travel back in time to effect changes in policy before he even became president!
- In the midst of this rambling New York Times op-ed about last week's PA-12 special election, there is a sound point: Democrats won because they found a candidate that was a fit with the district, whereas Republicans tried to nationalize the race and failed. You might even say that there are vestiges of Howard Dean's 50-state strategy at play, which can still yield results in an otherwise unfavorable political climate. But I doubt Republicans will learn much of a lesson. They are convinced that their big special election win, Scott Brown, was indicative of a larger national trend, rather than finding a moderate Republican who could run a good campaign in Massachusetts against a hapless opponent.
- Speaking of nationalizing races, for all of the beating Rand Paul took last week and his fall from grace in the eyes of the national press corps, it's not likely to have much of an impact in Kentucky, where the final referendum on Paul will actually take place. Moreover, as Joshua Green points out anecdotally, the local press in the Bluegrass State is so resource-strapped that they are unlikely to run with the story either. If Jack Conway wants to make an issue of Paul's extremism, he's going to have to make it relevant to local constituencies.
- Weekend Remainders: Political dynasties are commonplace, nepotism not a big problem; Newsweek concedes failure against global warming; and hopefully the monstrosity that is the new standard for textbooks in Texas stays in Texas.
--Mori Dinauer