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- I wouldn't read too much into Gallup's weekly average of the generic congressional ballot, which has Democrats surpassing Republicans for a second consecutive week. But it does raise the question of what the ceiling of support is for Republicans, and whether that ceiling has already been reached. It's not as if Republicans face the same enthusiasm gap as Democrats, and there's only so much energy to be drawn from the "independent" voter.
- The insight to be gleaned from this frustrating Ezra Klein interview with Paul Ryan isn't that one of the most "intellectually ambitious" members of the Republican caucus doesn't know what he's talking about but that he provides no indication that the Republican Party is anywhere near coming back to reality on economic policy. And this means Democrats will simply have to go it alone on policy, provided majority rule somehow permeates the Senate.
- Max Boot argues, in all seriousness, that reducing the size of America's standing army leads directly to future military conflagerations. Thus, the War of 1812 followed the post-Revolutionary War reduction, WWII followed the post-WWI drawdown, etc. Alternatively, you could go the Newt Gingrich route of cheering on preemptive war by taking out the remaining members of the "Axis of Evil." Sadly, this makes Boot's crude "peace through strength" argument sound wise and reasonable.
- James C. Capretta on privatizing Social Security: "Once instituted, the personal accounts would be entirely voluntary. Enrollees would still get a defined benefit from Social Security, but they would also get an annuity from an investment that they own and that is no longer subject to the unpredictable whims of political control." In comparison to the highly predictable and stable financial markets, I assume.
- Remainders: It looks like pissing off liberals is the sole remaining priority of the GOP; Lisa Jackson's EPA is one of the bright spots of the Obama administration; to repeat, Republicans don't give a damn about reducing the deficit; yep, I'd say the Reagan cult has definitely devolved into a racket; the appeal of Fred Thompson mystifies me; look up "clueless" in the dictionary and you'll see Rep. Lamar Smith's (R-TX) picture accompanying the definition; and the banality of Journolist, exposed.
--Mori Dinauer
