Stanley Fish has a thoughtful essay on what makes the tea party and the NRA crazy:
As Police Chief Johnson said, [the tyranny argument of LaPierre and others] is creepy and scary, but is it — to return to my original musings — un-American? Yes and no. On the one hand, nothing can be more American than throwing off the shackles of a government that has overstepped its bounds and disregarded the rights of its citizens. That’s how it all began. (“No taxation without representation.”) But on the other hand, the American tradition of accepting the results of elections — even when they bring with them policies you believe to be misguided at best and disastrous at worst — is in danger of being undermined when groups of armed people decide that the present leadership is infected by unpatriotic, socialist ideas and must be resisted at all costs.
Pass the freedom fries.
Maggie Fox:
To pediatricians, gun control is a public health issue, not a political one. But they're treading a fine line, and they know it.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has begun a renewed push to try to get Congress to pass gun control measures, sending more than 100 pediatricians to Capitol Hill earlier this month. But others who have taken on the issue over the past decade have a warning for them: they can run afoul of the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun groups that are quick to paint anyone who advocates for gun control as a political extremist.
What the doctors want is an assault weapon ban, mandatory background checks and waiting periods before all firearm purchases, a ban on high-capacity magazines, handgun regulations and requirements for safe firearm storage under federal law.
We won't get it all, or all at once. But the start is mandatory background checks, with maybe safe firearms storage laws.
Charlie Cook:
While Republicans Rant About Benghazi and IRS, Public Mostly Yawns
Benghazi and IRS controversies have Republicans up in arms, but they might not hurt President Obama’s approval ratings.
More politics and policy below the fold.
Greg Sargent:
The IRS scandal appears to be growing. The news that the Justice Department targeted Associated Press phone records has justifiably triggered a vociferous outcry. The Benghazi tale is mostly a bogus “scandal,” but it continues to be treated as the real thing by reporters who should know better. We’re looking at investigations that stretch over the horizon. The air is thick with talk about Obama’s “second term curse,” and the possibility that the administration could find its credibility damaged by the scandal pile-up is very real.
But cut through the noise and jubilation among Republicans and conservatives, and a basic fact about our current political dynamic remains in place: Republicans still need to figure out how to get their base to stop damaging the party’s efforts to remake itself.
Paul Waldman:
It's hard to overstate how frustrated Republicans have been over the last few years by their failure to gin up a juicy Obama administration scandal.
They tried with Solyndra and "Fast and Furious," but those turned out to be gigantic nothing burgers. Well now at last, they may have something, in either Benghazi or the IRS targeting conservative groups. Unlike Benghazi, where even the Republicans claiming it was "worse than Watergate" can't quite say what the misconduct was (unless you consider squabbling over talking points to be a nefarious and earth-shattering crime), the IRS affair is pretty straightforward.
OTOH, if you want an example of self-important "it's about me" reporting, there's always
Politico:
The town is turning on President Obama – and this is very bad news for this White House.
Republicans have waited five years for the moment to put the screws to Obama – and they have one-third of all congressional committees on the case now. Establishment Democrats, never big fans of this president to begin with, are starting to speak out. And reporters are tripping over themselves to condemn lies, bullying and shadiness in the Obama administration.
Oh, my goodness.
Meanwhile, in the real world, Ian Reifowitz writes about Kosovo and Serbia:
After protracted, months-long negotiations, Kosovo and Serbia recently agreed to a compromise on sovereignty and autonomy that would end two decades of conflict. In extinguishing the last embers of war in what was Yugoslavia -- the volatile, ethnically divided nation where the assassination of an Austrian archduke launched World War I, and where civil war throughout the nineties led to ethnic cleansing and other atrocities -- Europe is nearing the end of its long journey to overcome its tribal enmities and build a cohesive, peaceful civilization.
Just a reminder there's life beyond what
Politico thinks is important.