Eugene Robinson:
After slamming Democrats for not focusing on "jobs, jobs, jobs," Republicans have decided to ignore their own winning message in favor of "cuts, cuts, cuts." This is bad economics - and bad politics.
If you don't believe me, read a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, published Thursday, that has what should be sobering news for Republicans who keep telling us that their radical assault on the size and scope of government has the support of "the American people."
It doesn't, according to the survey - not even philosophically. When asked whether government, in general, is trying to do too much or not doing enough, 51 percent said government should do more. That's not exactly a mandate for slashing federal, state and municipal programs and trying to turn public employees into a caste of untouchables.
Paul Krugman:
The clear and present danger to recovery, however, comes from politics — specifically, the demand from House Republicans that the government immediately slash spending on infant nutrition, disease control, clean water and more. Quite aside from their negative long-run consequences, these cuts would lead, directly and indirectly, to the elimination of hundreds of thousands of jobs — and this could short-circuit the virtuous circle of rising incomes and improving finances.
Of course, Republicans believe, or at least pretend to believe, that the direct job-destroying effects of their proposals would be more than offset by a rise in business confidence. As I like to put it, they believe that the Confidence Fairy will make everything all right.
But there’s no reason for the rest of us to share that belief. For one thing, it’s hard to see how such an obviously irresponsible plan — since when does starving the I.R.S. for funds help reduce the deficit? — can improve confidence.
WaPo:
Lawmaking can be a frustrating business, especially when you're outnumbered. But some Democratic state legislators have recently embraced a simple tool to gain leverage: the empty chair.
Ezra Klein:
The quick version of the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll everyone is talking about: Voters don't like deficits or most of the things that have to be done to reduce deficits. They disapprove of cutting most government programs but sometimes approve of them if they're not phrased as program cuts. If something does have to be done to reduce the deficit, they'd prefer to see it done to rich people, rich corporations or the military.
WKSU News:
David Newby is president emeritus of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO and was in Cleveland Thursday speaking about his state's labor legislation. A former teacher, Newby grew up Northeast Ohio, and says the fights in Wisconsin and Ohio are about more than just salaries.
"(NEWBY)…Given the increased power of corporations and the very wealthiest elements of our society, especially in the last 20 to 30 years, the labor movement is the only obstacle to uncontrolled corporate control of this country. Even though we represent, in membership, a minority of working people, still what we are doing is out there fighting for the interests of everyone in the working class and the middle class, whether they’re members or not..."
Timothy Egan:
Mike Huckabee is supposed to be the Republican with a heart. He’s the guy who said Mexicans are people too during the 2008 race for the White House. He’s the weight-loss humanist who refused to join that anti-common-sense fringe of his party bashing Michelle Obama for suggesting that children eat more vegetables.
But beneath the veneer of Aw-Shucks-Huck is a public figure, and possible presidential candidate, who has shown a pattern of telling outright falsehoods about himself and the president.
This week, he backstepped from an extraordinary interview in which he had claimed, several times, that President Obama grew up in Kenya. But before that, Huckabee had created a shell of mistruths about a felon he helped to free early when he was governor of Arkansas. This man went on to murder four police officers in cold blood in my home state of Washington.