Obama’s not the only one with a pick to make. Eric Zimmermann of The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room emailed us the following summary. A really interesting aspect of the Souter retirement is that Republicans, because of Specter’s defection, are lacking a leader on the Judiciary Committee, which will handle the nomination of a new Justice. The Republican chain of succession here is REALLY messy. The next highest Republican is Chuck Grassley, but he already is the top Repub on Finance,...

While I don’t recall exactly when, it was within the last three to four weeks that I used the contact form on Senator Claire McCaskill’s Web site to share my concerns with her about President Obama’s proposed budget. I didn’t save a copy of my message to her, but its central point was that — while I had voted for both her and the President and was generally supportive of many things the President is doing or has suggested doing — I found his proposed budget and...

We each make assumptions about who we are, what we’re about. And sometimes, those assumptions change over time. Between voting age and late 2006, my running assumption about my own politicalness was that I was more Republican than anything else. Since late ’06, with a few fluctuations in between, I’ve consistently felt more Independent than Republican. The latter was validated when I looked at these two charts — and saw more of my own mind in the trendlines on the first...

Two reactions after reading several, torture-related WaPo articles this morning: First, I was compelled to publish updates to my post on this topic yesterday. Both the updates and original are offered below. Second, I couldn’t help but wonder if, in rejecting a truth commission, Obama is experiencing some of what Gerald Ford experienced, when he decided to pardon Nixon. The rationale for both, it seems, is quite similar, anchored in an overarching concern that poking at national wounds will...

Of the endless cascade of reports, posts, and conversations this week on recent-past U.S. torture practices, there are three that perhaps bother me more than all the rest. The first can be found at the end of this CSM report: Interrogators, who spoke to the [New York] Times on condition of anonymity, said they believed Zubaydah told them everything he knew before waterboarding began. They communicated this to agency higher-ups in Washington, who nonetheless insisted on the use of the practice, and...

As of 5 p.m. CT, the Drudge Report had prominently labeled this AP item a “slap” against Obama’s earlier-announced $100M cost-reduction effort. I recall (though haven’t had time to go back and source) similarly snide dismissals of McCain’s earmark-fixation. Running through both critiques is a common, wave-of-the-hand theme: “Posh. A drop in the bucket. Won’t do any good.” Perhaps. But don’t we have to start somewhere? Isn’t it better...

Today, President Obama said: Without significant change to steer away from ever-expanding deficits and debt, we are on an unsustainable course. Some will dispute (with merit) my credentials as a fiscal conservative. But let there be no question that I have been fiscally concerned of late about the massive deficits (and corresponding increase in total debt) projected by Obama’s administration during Obama’s administration. I understand that the trendline for the current budget year is,...

After his less-than-inspiring response to President Obama’s address in February to a joint session of Congress, Gov. Bobby Jindal (La.) appears to be engaging the first stage of rehabilitation, leaning hard into the “question policies not motives” meme. Good for him. Love him or not, it’s the right thing to do; the cornerstone of civilized debate.

Ben Smith spotlights the list put together by Mark Halperin. From what I’ve read, I think Mr. #10 is a more significant factor in this equation than his position on Halperin’s list suggests.

You get this and this. Gut reaction: Grow up, people. Life’s too damn short. Post Script: I read Sullivan daily and Althouse rarely, but I enjoy both and think both are intelligent and generally clear-headed people. Even then, I found this little spat embarrassing. That’s not to say there weren’t real offenses committed in this exchange; there were. So be it. Turn the other cheek and move on. And yes, I could have just ignored their debate, but I was fascinated by it for...

From Politico this morning: A small group of freshman Democrats think they’ve found a simple but effective way to signal to their constituents that they aren’t part of the problem in Washington: frequently reaching across the aisle to co-sponsor bills with Republicans. Nate Silver suggested yesterday that, for Obama, bipartisanship is “a process rather than an outcome.” Apparently, for this new generation of members of Congress, it’s both.

One of Andrew Sullivan’s readers offers an inside look at “the gap.” In comparison, my “conservative family” seems rather mild.

One Michigan auto dealer is about to find out. Eric Zimmermann has the details at The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.

Eric Zimmermann of The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room reports that the National Republican Senatorial Commitee (NRSC) is using “the bow” to juice fundraising. Perhaps Senate Dems should stop trying to explain this away and, instead, respond in kind … times two.

Chris Cillizza writes “The Fix” blog for WaPo. Late afternoon yesterday, he published a list of reader-nominated “best state blogs.” Checking that list for blogs in my home state, Missouri, I noted the blog of one of TMV’s own, Jill Miller Zimon, which not only made the cut for her home state, Ohio, but was also recognized as one of the “best named blogs.” Congrats to Jill. Note: If I missed any other TMV contributor’s blog on “The Fix”...

Entertainment Weekly broke the story more than 24 hours ago. Ben Smith picked up on it around 11 a.m. yesterday. I first saw it at OTB later in the day. In short, actor Kal Penn — of the “Harold and Kumar” movies and the hit FOX series “House” (an Abel family favorite) — has left the latter for a much different house: He’ll be an associate director in the White House office of public liaison, the team responsible for building bridges between the President...

Walt Minnick was one of the 22 budget-dissenting Democrats I wrote about last week. Today, Politico profiles him, shedding light on the reasons for Minnick’s resistance to the Obama administration. Minnick is one face of the Democrats’ larger governing dilemma, which Sean Trende reviews, in length, at RCP. Trende’s conclusion: Obama still has a number of members from conservative districts who will have to watch their backs with their constituents. Until Democrats find a way to...

I value constructive compromise. I also value dissent, especially intra-party dissent. After six troubling years of a compliant Republican majority handing a less-than-competent Republican administration virtually everything it wanted, I left (returned to and left again) the Republican party and joined the ranks of independent, unaffiliated voters. In the process, I (eventually) vowed to celebrate party dissent and resist party unity because I saw how unity can lead to less-than-ideal if not disastrous...

Almost lost in the shuffle of today’s news about the polarized votes approving President Obama’s budget is the fact that former presidential candidate and UFO spotter Rep. Dennis Kucinich was among the 20 House Dems who voted against the budget. Asked to explain, Kucinich replied: This budget is a statement of principles for the upcoming year, and I cannot accept it in its entirety. I will not vote for a budget that ties military spending to the operational funding of our government....

Double Take #1: Despite trying, Andrew Sullivan can’t seem to quite get out of the “makers and takers” hole he dug. And it probably doesn’t help matters when his readers keep knocking him down a notch or two. That’s the funny thing about readers: They insist on keeping writers honest. Double Take #2: Columnist Froma Harrop was motivated enough by my ignorance of her and her work to email me an introduction — and to subsequently share another column in which...

The Cagle Post identifies her as “an independent and witty voice.” The bio at her blog informs us that, per Media Matters for America, she’s among the top-20 syndicated columnists. Yet I had never heard of Froma Harrop until I read her RCP column today — an oversight that suggests either (a) it’s increasingly difficult to achieve broadscale name recognition in this country, or (b) I’m hopelessly out of touch. Let’s go with (b) for now, to avoid a distracting...

Andrew Sullivan clarifies his thoughts on the “new cultural divide” between “the producers of wealth and the recipients of redistribution.” In the process, he augments David Frum’s recent notes on an adaptive, big-tent conservatism. Frum writes that conservatism: … will only be successful to the extent it is knowledgeable, to the extent it is public-spirited, to the extent that it is based on evidence and research, to the extent that it advocates the greater good...

According to David Frum, Niccolo Macchiavelli identified “the tragedy of man” as a failure to adapt to change. Thus Frum concludes an essay, posted Saturday, in which he rebuffs fellow conservatives. For those who lean right but believe the current Right is lost in the forest, there’s much to like in Frum’s self-defense. The Economist‘s Lexington spotlights one notable excerpt; Andrew Sullivan focuses on another. For me, this was the crux of the essay (emphases added)...

Too many people attempt to shift the message of Christ away from its original focus on individual reformation toward a mass political movement. My father, who died last week from pancreatic cancer, resisted that tendency, as I explained in my eulogy at his memorial service Sunday. I share that eulogy here, in edited form, as a tribute to my father’s exceptional life and example.

Last week, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) launched a blog, expanding on her already well-documented use of social media. Toward the end of her first week of blogging, McCaskill published a post hinting that she, like Sen. Bayh (D-IN), is not entirely sold on President Obama’s budget; however, because she respects the President’s ability to listen, she is confident he’ll take reasonable criticism of his budget to heart and compromise accordingly. That hint, and its timing, strikes...