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- Events are moving fast in Iran, which precludes an effective roundup of analysis, but it's worth noting that there are essentially three scenarios that explain the results of Friday's presidential election. It just isn't clear yet whether Ahmadinejad and his allies simply stole the election (very likely), the military attempted a coup (possibly), or if he actually won cleanly (not likely).
- In a New Yorker piece on Leon Panetta, the CIA director suggests of Dick Cheney that "it’s almost as if he’s wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point [on national security policy]." Well, we can't really look into Cheney's soul, but I think it's fair to say that the former VP expects another terrorist attack could happen because Obama has deviated (somewhat) from the successful -- in Cheney's view -- policies of the Bush administration.
- Center-right nation watch: Gallup has a new poll that tells us what we've known since the 1970s -- self-identified conservatives outnumber self-identified liberals by around 2-1 and "moderates" make up the rest of the ideological pie. God knows how the respondents to this question define "conservative," "liberal" or "moderate," so I'd recommend instead that you read the far more interesting social science research of Benjamin Page and Lawrence Jacobs which posits that most Americans are "conservative egalitarians."
- The Washington Post reports on the kinder, gentler Real ID being pursued by the Obama administration: "The new plan keeps elements of Real ID, such as requiring a digital photograph, signature and machine-readable features such as a bar code. ... But it eliminates demands for new databases -- linked through a national data hub -- that would allow all states to store and cross-check such information."
- I'm not sure it's all that relevant that "some" Republicans are rethinking their commitment to Reagan mythology, given that the conservative movement is positively gushing over the prospect of being the "remnant" once again. Meanwhile, John Henke makes the excellent point that it's the "counter-establishment" which now impedes their progress: "Republicans just have to evolve beyond the 1980's. Unfortunately, the culture, infrastructure and people that reached maturity in the 1980's may now be a barrier to evolution - not because their intentions are malign, but because they are adapted to a strategic and tactical era that has passed."
- Weekend Remainders: Ray LaHood talks transit; the party-switching ping-pong game continues in the New York State Senate; The Hill has a good read on redistricting and the 2010 elections; John Yoo goes to court; The Washington Times can't decide what bad historical analogy to apply to Obama; and Bobby Jindal's backers form a federal PAC.
--Mori Dinauer
