Your one stop pundit shop.
Gail Collins goes for the jugular from the headline, "Mitt Romney, Liberal Icon," to:
I need to apologize to Mitt Romney.
Here I was thinking of him as a failed politician with no discernible core values, who had once driven to Canada with the family dog strapped to the roof of the car.
But it’s now becoming clear that he’s the man we have to thank for our new national health care law.
“I mean, a lot of commentators have said this is sort of similar to the bill that Mitt Romney, the Republican governor and now presidential candidate, passed in Massachusetts,” President Obama told Matt Lauer recently on the “Today” show.
Good work leading the way, Mitt!
Katherine Eban and J. Aaron Graham advocate for track-and-trace technology for our country's pharmaceuticals.
E.J. Dionne ponders the future of Charlie Crist, who currently trails Marc Rubio in Florida's Republican senatorial primary.
David Broder gives an assessment of how the public perceives congress that includes nothing that you haven't already read or heard over the past several months. In fact, the only thing worth noting is his truly bizarre lede:
While terrorist bombs were blowing up in the Moscow subway, Washington was enjoying a week of unusual peace and quiet. Congress was in recess, and the tumult and shouting were blessedly muted.
Never has the acronym "WTF" more perfectly expressed my reaction to something I've read.
Matt Miller wonders if anyone else has noticed:
... that seemingly well-adjusted Republicans have been driven insane by the passage of Obamacare? You can catch them muttering under their breath, whimpering on editorial pages and howling to the moon that this Democratic victory is the death knell for much that we cherish in American life. When I first saw a Republican friend jump out the window in this fashion, I assumed it was an isolated incident, or even politically motivated play-acting. Now that I've seen countless others follow suit, however, it's a phenomenon that merits deeper psychological inquiry.
Miller then provides what he believes are the "three sudden emotional shocks" that have sent Republicans over the edge.
Charles Chieppo says it's time to get over Craig Becker's recess appointment to the National Labor Relations Board and to start focusing on "the impact Becker’s radical views will have on our sagging economy." Mr. Chieppo seems to think that the appointment of Becker will destroy our country as we know it and he has a quote from the Chamber of Commerce to prove it.
Erik Telford gives what we can only hope will be a Republican talking point against one aspect of health care reform ... the provision that allows parents to keep their children on their insurance until they are 26:
I have plenty to be offended about in this disastrous new law ... but worst of all - to add insult to injury - it even accuses me, a 25-year-old adult, of being a helpless child. And the Democrats' lapdogs in the mainstream media repeat this absurdity as if the definition of adulthood is a matter of legislative determination. [...]
Our new health care regime is an insult to every responsible adult American. It tells all of us that we are mere children in the eyes of the state, dependent on Washington to take ownership of our health care, our very life and death. For some of us, including me, who are under the age of 26, it goes so far as to attempt to legally redefine us out of adulthood. This should not stand, and my message to the nanny statists who imposed this on us is simple: November is coming.
Tom Mockaitis says that words can be as dangerous as bullets:
The nexus of fear-mongering, inflammatory rhetoric and political violence has always been present in mass democracy. Hitler and Mussolini both exploited it, as did more than a few Southern governors during the Jim Crow era. Until recently, however, national politics in the U.S. has been relatively free of this volatile mix. The events of 9/11 changed that. With the global war on terror came a wave of intolerance that treated disagreement as unpatriotic, dissent as a threat to good order and even national security. One's political opponents became one's enemies. Those with opposing views were not simply wrong but dangerous, as vividly illustrated by Liz Cheney's attack on Department of Justice lawyers who had previously represented Guantanamo detainees. While most vitriolic on the political right, this intolerance also infected the left.
It should come as no surprise that in this emotionally charged environment extremist groups have flourished. Americans have been so preoccupied with the terrorist threat from Islamic extremists abroad that they have ignored the very real danger of extremists at home.
Karl Rove has ... and believe me, these are words I never thought I'd type ... a well thought out column acknowledging the many strategic errors made by the Republican party during the health care reform debate.