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- Rhodes Cook: "When it comes to presidents and reelection, two things seem clear. If they appear to be in control of events, they win. If events seem to be controlling them, they lose." This is just another way of saying that the fundamentals matter, in this case the state of the economy. Whether they deserve credit for it or not, presidents are judged by the public by how they "handle" these things, so Cook's observation is correct from the point of view of voters, even though a great deal of "events" (e.g. foreign-policy crises) truly are out of a president's control.
- Brendan Nyhan brings hard data to bear on fledgling nonpartisan third-party group No Labels, showing the tepid response is dwarfed by things like petitions to get add-ons for Starcraft 2. This shouldn't be surprising, of course; who would support a third-party group that essentially ignores policy? (Their "issues" page is a joke.) Apparently, the sort of people who think the solution to our problems, according to a blurb on the site, is "taking the politics out of problem solving." I suppose you can't fault No Labels for lacking a focus on institutional reform; they appear to have contempt for the very institution of democracy itself.
- Bill O'Reilly, last seen demonstrating that the mysteries of tidal movement prove God's existence, is back claiming that "no one" knows where our moon came from. This isn't just insulting to anyone possessing basic scientific knowledge, it's insulting to honest theological inquiry. There's no reason O'Reilly's God can't exist and set things in motion so that a large body crashed into the Earth millenia ago, forming the modern moon, as is the widely accepted consensus on its origins. O'Reilly is just pathetically promoting ignorant tribalism.
- Remainders: The genie's out of the bottle for health-care reform repeal; George Will buys/promotes Rick Santorum hype; Chris Cillizza buys/promotes Newt Gingrich hype; and why aren't the unemployed protesting in America?
