Whiplash Alert: A few weeks after suggesting I might start voting all-Democrat (then changing my mind) — and a mere two days after cringing (despite the source) at certain surveyed beliefs of the GOP base — I discover that I’m again listening to (and agreeing with) certain proposals made by both GOP leadership and Republican friends of mine. My right-leaning readers are probably wondering “What took so long?” — while my left-leaning readers are asking “WTF?”...

From today’s NYT … Matthew Dowd, a moderate Republican strategist who was an adviser to President George W. Bush, said that increasing cooperation between the two parties was possible, but difficult given the institutional constraints of the system and Mr. Obama’s role as the leading campaigner for House, Senate and governor’s races. “It’s going to take the president deciding to be the head of the country, not the head of his party,” Mr. Dowd said. “It takes a serious amount...

A Research 2000 poll on behalf of Daily Kos suggests many members of the GOP base are … how do I put this in a “moderate voice”? … detached from reality. One example from the findings: While a plurality of 42 percent believe President Obama was born in the U.S., 36 percent don’t, and another 22 percent are not sure, giving the GOP base an almost-super majority who question the President’s citizenship. Another example: While a plurality of 36 percent do not...

David Brooks’ suggests that senior citizens organize to advocate changes to their government-provided benefits; specifically, changes that would take from them and give back to younger generations. With that suggestion, Brooks probably will not win many friends among the senior set — especially not with a headline that labels them “geezers” — but the idea is nonethelss provocative and something like it might eventually prove necessary, given our stubborn deficit conundrum....

Apparently, WaPo commenters “are still all fired up about Justice Samuel Alito’s murmured ‘not true’ response to President Obama’s pointed criticism of a Supreme Court decision in his State of the Union message.” The referenced decision was, of course, the Court’s 5-4 ruling on Jan. 20 in the Citizens United case. Elsewhere, with limited fanfare, the city council of a suburban St. Louis municipality approved an ordinance last week that seeks to mitigate...

Perhaps … Top Republicans have tossed a plan that would have conditioned their funding for new candidates on a so-called ideological “purity test.” Party leaders gathered in Honolulu for the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting on Friday ultimately nixed that resolution, which would have required prospective candidates to support eight of 10 outlined conservative principles in order to obtain campaign aid. The RNC instead opted for a version of the rule that simply...

Andrew Sullivan continues adding to his “Pass. The. Damn. Bill” series, encouraging a majority of House Democrats to embrace the Senate’s version of health-care reform. I appreciate Andrew’s effort, in particular his link to this persuasive take on the issue by Jonathan Rauch.* Even then, I think the odds of convincing the swing votes in the House to accept the Senate bill are worse than the odds of the Saints beating the Colts in the Super Bowl. The root of my skepticim:...

“Ever since I started covering politics, the Democratic ruling class has been driven by one fantasy: that voters will get so furious at people with M.B.A.’s that they will hand power to people with Ph.D.’s. The Republican ruling class has been driven by the fantasy that voters will get so furious at people with Ph.D.’s that they will hand power to people with M.B.A.’s. Members of the ruling class love populism because they think it will help their section of the elite gain power.”...

“We have to consider everything. We have to put taxes on the table.” “There is nothing good for America that will come out of arguing which part of the debt each party is responsible for.” – Former Republican Senator Pete Domenici, the co-leader of an independent bipartisan group to be announced today. It’s goal: To study and recommend ways to reduce the national debt, not to be confused with the similarly minded commissions that Congress and the White House are considering.

Earlier this week, Andrew Sullivan published a round up of reader reactions to what happened in Massachusetts. This excerpt, from a Canadian reader’s comment, stuck with me … I cannot understand how the American public can forget the Republican record so quickly. We all knew that the Democrats would not govern perfectly, but how can a president that won such a landslide only a year ago receive such a short time to prove his ability to govern? Ditto that question, I thought at the time....

That’s right. Not 59. Not 60. But 62. Sen. Susan Collins has signaled a willingness to support a revised health-care bill that focuses on widely shared goals for reform. Yes, that probably means a smaller, less ambitious bill. But if Collins is willing to back such a bill, her Maine counterpart, Sen. Olympia Snowe, probably would be, too. And as multiple sources have now pointed out — including Jazz Shaw and Nate Silver — Senator-elect Scott Brown might just have the political...

Regardless of your outlook in the wake of Massachusetts’ special election — whether you’re celebrating Senator-elect Scott Brown’s victory, mourning State AG Martha Coakley’s loss, or wishing we’d all just pay attention to more important things — this much is clear: Democracy did what it’s supposed to do. It gave the people of Massachusetts an opportunity to make their voice heard and select who would represent them. Of course, for at least several...

Crunching numbers like only he can, Nate Silver conceded last night that Scott Brown is the three to one favorite to win today’s special election in Massachusetts. Silver also reminded readers that Martha Coakley’s slim, 25 percent chance of winning is still a 25 percent chance of winning. The wattage behind that ray of hope is boosted by the Coakley camp’s internal polling, but diminished by a late, perhaps the last, external poll released yesterday. So the easy-money bet...

According to “The Whiteboard” at Politico44, the President’s State of the Union address will be January 27, a week from Wednesday, with his proposed budget offered the following Monday, February 1.

So it appears the race to fill the Senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy is a toss up. A dead heat. A nail biter. Or will it be a landslide for Mr. Brown? At this point, I suppose anything could happen. A former President could tip the scales for Ms. Coakley. The current President might. And I certainly hope they do, because I’m still rooting for Ms. Coakley, for the same, single-minded reason I articulated Tuesday when I started this accidental series: I want health care reform to...

I don’t think you’ll find a more persuasive example of the difference between thoughtful and flippant conservatism. Earlier this week, Rush Limbaugh seemed to suggest we should not send aid to Haiti in the wake of that country’s devastating earthquake because we’ve already sent them enough taxpayer money and that money never seems to do any good. To be clear, I’m not finding evidence that Limbaugh explicitly said “don’t help the victims of the earthquake.”...

Author’s Note: This post is the second in a series. Part one is linked below; part three is here, conceding errors in the position I attempt to defend below. ——————- Tuesday, I acknowledged I was contemplating a change to my political affiliation, from Independent to Democrat. My rationale: Because political parties distort the political process, we should make them irrelevant. One way to accomplish that irrelevance is to seek an ultra-super-majority...

If you’re impressed by party defiance, as I am, you should appreciate this … For Democrats, the CQ analysis for 2009 showed that Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., voted against the Democratic majority 28.1 percent of the time — the third highest behind Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska (37.1%) and Evan Bayh of Indiana (36.4%). Sen. Christopher “Kit” Bond, R-Mo., who is retiring after this year, ranked 5th among Republicans voting against the majority of their party. Those rankings might...

Author’s Note: Though not planned when it was published, this post ended up the first in a series. Here are links to parts two and three. In the second part, I defend the suggestion at the end of this first installment; in the third, I acknowledge that the suggestion is flawed. ——————- So Massachusetts Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Martha Coakley had their final debate last night; and by all accounts — at least all the accounts I’ve...

It continues. If you don’t see the trendlines, click on the chart. H/t Andrew Sullivan.

At least in the Baltimore area … There are more places to go for local news but less news to find there, and the great majority of actual reporting still comes from newspapers, according to a study of the Baltimore area that is scheduled to be released on Monday. That’s great news for newspaper fans, like me. This, however, is not good news for anyone … Even the reporting done by traditional media was driven mostly by government statements rather than journalists’ own digging,...

Per an article yesterday in the UK’s Daily Mail … The bitter winter afflicting much of the Northern Hemisphere is only the start of a global trend towards cooler weather that is likely to last for 20 or 30 years, say some of the world’s most eminent climate scientists. TMV Economics Editor Mikkel Fishman responds, here and here.

The Transportation Security Administration is planning to make greater use of full-body scanners, even as critics continue to raise concerns ranging from privacy to porn, or in the words of one Congressman: “Do we really need to take nude pictures of Grandma or my 8-year-old daughter in order to be able to secure an airplane?” I’m still waiting for the argument that full-body scanners are not authorized by the Constitution; that the President’s power as Commander in Chief...

For those who missed the President’s address live, the White House has posted a copy of the remarks as written. The NYT Caucus blog reports that the president’s remarks were delayed twice this afternoon because “declassifying the security review took far longer than expected.” Patrick at Political Byline chimes in: “I look forward to seeing what the Government does. Speeches are nice, but let’s see what the action is.” No suprise that the President’s...

I commented on this dust up last week. To recap: Politico’s Mike Allen wrote an article in which former VP Cheney did what former VP Cheney does: Trash Obama’s foreign policy; in this case, by claiming that Obama (in the aftermath of the underwear bomber) is “trying to pretend we are not at war.” Andrew Sullivan proceeded to characterize Allen as Cheney’s “stenographer.” I pointed out that Allen didn’t just relay Cheney’s remarks, he included an entire...