Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up

Ah, Saturdays in August...

Bob Herbert: It's the mayors.

At a press conference after the meeting, Mayor Bloomberg said, "We’ve got to make infrastructure investment a national priority," and he took the federal government to task for "walking away from its responsibility in this area."

Gail Collins:

PUMA, or People United Means Action [Party Unity My Ass], is an excellent example of the Ossetia branch of the Hillary camp.

They might as well be content with their 15 minutes of fame, because that's all there is for them until Putin invades Denver.

Yes, down in the grass-roots, there are still some sullen stalks. But the vast majority of Hillaryites seem prepared to accept the new accord as an indication that their heroine will get the proper respect. The tanks have turned around.

Sarah Posner (Salon, view ad):

Speaking on behalf of Obama's heart was the Matthew 25 Network, a new political action committee launched by Democratic operative Mara Vanderslice, who served as John Kerry's religious outreach coordinator. The PAC, not affiliated with the Obama campaign, is named for the 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, in which Jesus is said to have told his followers to feed the hungry and clothe the naked: "Whatever you did for one of the least of these, my brethren, you did for me."...

But [Pastor Dan] Schultz, the United Church of Christ minister, objects to the kind of evangelical language that Matthew 25 uses in its advertising. "If evangelicals are the dominant voice, where does that leave the mainline perspective? Or Jews, or anyone? The question my secular friends would have about that is, 'So do I have to pledge eternal faith in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior if I want to run for president?'

Peter Wehner: When it comes to Jerome Corsi and his smears, even conservatives can't stomach him.

Conservatism has been an intellectual home to people like Burke and Buckley. The GOP is the party that gave us Lincoln and Reagan. It seems to me that its leaders ought to make it clear that they find what Dr. Corsi is doing to be both wrong and repellent. To have their movement and their party associated with such a figure would be a terrible thing and it will only help the cause of those who hold both the GOP and the conservative movement in contempt.

Peter Keating: McCain's age? It's his aging mind, not his aging body, that should worry us.

Rich Lowry:

McCain-Lieberman is a more desperate move than McCain should feel compelled to make right now. But check back after Denver.

David Harsanyi: As a committed ideologue I thoroughly resent the Democrats' attempts to not be like me on abortion, and their commitment to Roe v Wade while respecting others. How dare they?

Stuart Rothenberg: None of it matters... not the commercials, not the money.

So be prepared for more mindless chatter on the cable television networks, and more guests described as "Republican strategist" or "Democratic strategist" that nobody in politics has ever heard of.

Call me when we're done. Oh, well. We'll always have - erm - Beijing.