Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up

Eighty-eight days from now, we will be having ourselves a historic election.

David Brooks: Today I'm pretending to be a pseudo-intellectual and a poseur. Now, I know what you're thinking... that's what I get paid to do twice a week. But I thought I'd be explicit about it lest the technophiles get presumptuous ideas about where they fit in the social hierarchy.

Michael Gerson: You people just don't get it. George Bush, my former boss proved every day that if you just talk nonsense and avoid reality, the press won't pay attention to facts. Watch a master manipulator at work: Obama's maintaining his lead and that's good for McCain. See? All the Beltway heathers are asking why Obama's not ahead by more. If that doesn't drive home the point about how easily the press is manipulated, I don't know what does. Now don't ask why McCain is behind and can't ever catch up. That's a good reporter. Here's some BBQ.

Daniel Henninger: Obama and the Democrats are enviromaniacs, who along with Asylum Chief Al Gore are willing to forgo economic growth in favor of an untried and untested transformation of the American economy. They're bashing Big Oil when in reality it should be called Smart Oil, the only people with the knowledge and experience to produce energy on a world scale. And yes, I am writing this with a straight face.

Charles Krauthammer: Drill, drill, drill, drill, drill, drill.

Paul Krugman: When it comes to energy policy, Republicans really are the party of stupid.

In any case, remember this the next time someone calls for an end to partisanship, for working together to solve the country’s problems. It’s not going to happen — not as long as one of America’s two great parties believes that when it comes to politics, stupidity is the best policy.

Joe Conason: Let me take that one step further.

Touring America's oilrigs and nuclear plants, John McCain sometimes sounds as if he'll produce enough wind to power the nation all by himself. So strongly does his current rhetoric smell of methane -- the gas emanating from manure -- that he might even qualify for an alternative energy tax incentive.

Greg Hitt: The Democrats' new Southern strategy: run good candidates, and win. Even if they might be less progressive than Democrats elsewhere, they'll be responsible for a working majority in Congress.

Mark Blumenthal: More about 'likely' voters than you really want to know. Still, it's a good thing Alan Abramowitz looked into it. Otherwise, Gallup would have given us the impression young voters don't count.

Democracy Corps:

The most recent national survey of young voters conducted by Democracy Corps and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner finds that the last six weeks have not dulled young people’s support for Barack Obama, despite the inauguration of a Republican attack machine. The new research finds the same convincing margin (27 points) as last month.