Midday open thread

• Surprise! The Wall Street corporatists at Third Way think the Obama's capitulation to Mike McConnell is a great thing! They got really excited when they saw the tax cuts for themselves and their friends.
• They probably also love the tax because it is a direct threat to social security.
• That's also why Grover Norquist loves it.
• If you're unhappy with the Obama-McConnell deal, sign our petition.
• Cornyn fundraises off Obama capitulation.

  The GOP's Senate campaign chief John Cornyn (Texas) said in a fundraising e-mail Tuesday that President Obama's decision to compromise with Republicans on tax cuts was a direct result of GOP Senate gains in November's midterm elections.

  "President Obama's decision yesterday to join with Republicans in opposing the largest tax increase in American history was made not because he had a sudden change in political or economic philosophy," Cornyn wrote in an e-mail that will go out to supporters of the National Republican Senatorial Committee on Tuesday afternoon.

  Cornyn thanks donors and makes the pitch for 2012 cash with the party well within reach of the Senate majority in 2012.

• Cuts to Medicare Advantage begin, the world doesn't end. And remember, these cuts were a big part of the GOP's effort to get the senior vote this year.

  The hysterical screeching we heard from Crossroads conservatives and the libertarian Koch brothers in the 2010 midterms about Democrats gutting Medicare? It was about cutting 3% off an over-payment of 13%. Clearly, the world was ending, and grandma was on life-support.

  It won't stop Republicans to fight to restore the money!

  One GOP House committee aide said Republicans would like to restore some or all of the cuts and has asked for budget estimates on ways to offset them – but acknowledged that the $145 billion in expected savings “is a lot of money” in a climate of large federal deficits. Still, the aide said, “however we can get to the point of where every senior, no matter where they live in the country, will have a choice, that’s what we will work toward giving them.”

  Choice? Like a public option?

• The Pentagon loves the DREAM Act.

  The Pentagon's manpower chief says a measure to legalize young immigrants who came to the county illegally is an obvious way to attract more high-quality recruits to the armed forces.

  Clifford Stanley, the undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, says it would be unconscionable not to enact the so-called Dream Act. It would give hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants brought to the United States before the age of 16 a chance to gain legal status if they joined the military or attended college.