Monday opinion. Start the week with some hot air.
WaPo:
Even aboard the Development Driller III - the ship that drilled the relief well and allowed crews to pump in the cement for the plug - celebrations were muted.
"It's kind of bittersweet because we lost 11 men out here," said Rich Robson, the offshore installation manager on the vessel. "There isn't going to be any real celebration. To a lot of people, the water out here is a cemetery."
Up in the air, still (actually, under the water) is the goo on the bottom of the Gulf.
NOLA.com:
Don't tell Forrest Travirca that you've heard Louisiana dodged the bullet on environmental damage from the BP oil disaster. You might find yourself eating those words.
"Smell this!" Travirca demanded as he grabs a handful of brownish sand from this beach just west of Grand Isle and pushed it at the nose of a reporter. "That's right -- it's oil."
The field inspector for the local property owner shook his head in disgust and pointed down the beach where tiny yellow and red flags mark oil deposits that must be removed.
"All the brown spots and patches you'll see on this beach for the next nine miles is oil, too," he said. "And if you dig down a few inches or a few feet, you'll see oil, too. And if you walk into that marsh back there, you'll find oil.
Chron.com/AP:
Republicans are promising to repeal and replace President Barack Obama's health care overhaul if they win control of Congress. But with what?
Not even they know.
So what else is new? Just add it to the list of 'not ready to govern'.
Chris Cillizza:
There is no great affection for the Republican Party in this country, a senior Obama administration official said last week. That creates the opportunity for competitive races district by district.
The official noted that the GOP's unpopularity marks a critical difference between the election this November and 1994, when the party's sweep of more than 50 seats won it the majority in the House for the first time in 40 years. Then, the official argued, Republicans had been out of power for more than four decades and voters were ready to try something different. This time, voters know what they would be getting with Republicans in charge and don't like it, the source said.
People are frustrated with Democrats but they don't like Republicans.
Aaron Belkin on DADT:
On the long path to regulations that treat all troops equally, a number of myths have cropped up surrounding the law.
The Hill:
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), often referred to as a "kingmaker" for Tea Party candidates, said that it's because of that slate of candidates, and not in spite of it, that Republicans would get to a 60-vote majority in the upper chamber.
"The quickest way to 60 votes in the Senate is to have candidates who stand on principle," DeMint said on CNN's "State of the Union."
NYT WIR:
For Democrats, the growing debate over how to vanquish the Tea Party movement is analogous to a family fracas over how to best get rid of your sister’s latest crummy boyfriend.
Do you repeatedly point out all the perceived flaws of the new suitor, hoping that they resonate? Or do you insist that the new guy is just like the ex, and suggest that repeating the pattern will only lead to misery?
Either way, your sister's still going out with a loser.
It also may help Democrats that the Tea Party, while attracting the enthusiasm of many Republican primary voters, may lack broad support. In a New York Times/CBS poll released last week, only 19 percent of respondents said they considered themselves supporters of the movement.
It'll help more in DE than AK.