Visual source: Newseum
Jonathan Bernstein:
Here’s another way to look at the defeat of the Balanced Budget Amendment in the House this afternoon. Progressives often think that Dems always cower in fear or cave to Republicans in the face of GOP attacks painting them as Big Spending Liberals, but here’s a case where Dems stood their ground and did the right thing.
The failed vote shows that a lot has changed since 1995, the last time such a vote was held. The current crop of Democrats is much more willing to oppose GOP initiatives than they were then...
For liberals who have become convinced that Dems always cave, it’s worth noting that here’s a case where Democrats really did give in to a foolish idea 16 years ago, but successfully resisted it now.
Michael Gerson:
Some of this is just the nature of primaries, in which audiences applaud for purity. But there are other factors. Over the past few decades, the GOP has become a more conservative party. The development of self-consciously conservative media — on radio, cable and the Internet — has provided a welcome alternative to the bias of the mainstream media. It has also simplified many public debates into a contest of ideological teams — a tendency shared by self-consciously liberal media. Candidates, pundits and voters are called to join one side or the other, doing nothing that will give comfort to the enemy. But ideological conformity easily becomes cultural isolation — the development of assumptions, language and views disconnected from the broad middle of American life.
Count on any self-reflection by conservatives like Gerson and David Frum, however mild, to be jeered by their peers. Instead of thought, we get 9-9-9.
NY Times Room for Debate:
Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and now Herman Cain — all caught in an embarrassing moment when their memory failed them or their knowledge was limited.
The federal government requires applicants for certain civil service jobs to take a written exam. The same holds true for the foreign service. And to become a U.S. citizen you have to pass a civics test. Why do we not require a similar exam for individuals who seek election to office?
Behind the numbers:
Americans support compromise, but on what?
With the congressional “supercommittee” struggling to reach an agreement to tame the debt by next week’s deadline, a heavy majority of the public still believes that mixing spending cuts with tax increases is the best approach, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Thursday. Nearly two in three Americans say they want lawmakers who share their views to “compromise, even if they strike a deal you disagree with,” compared with fewer than three in 10 who want them to stick to their principles even if no progress is made.”
Asked about specific deficit-cutting provisions for the supercommittee, a McClatchy-Marist poll released Thursday finds, 81 percent of voters say members should not include major cuts in Social Security and Medicare, and 59 percent oppose higher taxes on business. A bare majority opposes major cuts in defense spending (51 percent), but fully two-thirds support including tax hikes on higher-income Americans in a deal.
NY Times:
Older, Suburban and Struggling, ‘Near Poor’ Startle the Census
When the Census Bureau this month released a new measure of poverty, meant to better count disposable income, it began altering the portrait of national need. Perhaps the most startling differences between the old measure and the new involves data the government has not yet published, showing 51 million people with incomes less than 50 percent above the poverty line. That number of Americans is 76 percent higher than the official account, published in September. All told, that places 100 million people — one in three Americans — either in poverty or in the fretful zone just above it.
Quantifying what American feels.
Charles Blow:
Is America exceptional among nations? Are we, as a country and a people and a culture, set apart and better than others? Are we, indeed, the “shining city upon a hill” that Ronald Reagan described? Are we “chosen by God and commissioned by history to be a model to the world” as George W. Bush said?
This year, for the first time, most Americans did not say yes.
According to a report issued on Thursday by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, when Americans were asked if they agreed with the statement “our people are not perfect but our culture is superior to others,” only 49 percent agreed. That’s down from 60 percent in 2002, the first time that Pew asked the question.
But don't worry. Republicans will
run on it.
Kathleen Parker:
The headline on Democratic strategist Paul Begala’s recent Newsweek essay dodged subtlety: “The Stupid Party.”
“Republicans used to admire intelligence. But now they’re dumbing themselves down,” was the subhead.
Democrats couldn’t agree more. And quietly, many Republicans share the sentiment. They just can’t seem to stop themselves.