Ross Douthat makes many good points in the column Joe mentions , but I’d register some disagreements. First, while Mitt Romney is the likely nominee he isn’t quite inevitable. Has Rick Perry really shown any flaws that weren’t apparent in George W. Bush circa 1999? The principal difference seems to be Perry’s late entry. With $17 million to burn, Perry can’t be entirely counted out yet. That said, Perry is in freefall because both the main pillars of his candidacy — the perceptions of his electability and his conservatism relative to Romney — are crumbling. That brings us to Herman Cain. On paper, I’ll agree that Cain doesn’t seem like he should be the Republican nominee. But on paper, Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman should have been top-tier candidates, so
Ross Douthat makes many good points in the column Joe mentions , but I’d register some disagreements. First, while Mitt Romney is the likely nominee he isn’t quite inevitable. Has Rick Perry really shown any flaws that weren’t apparent in George W. Bush circa 1999? The principal difference seems to be Perry’s late entry. With $17 million to burn, Perry can’t be entirely counted out yet. That said, Perry is in freefall because both the main pillars of his candidacy — the perceptions of his electability and his conservatism relative to Romney — are crumbling. That brings us to Herman Cain. On paper, I’ll agree that Cain doesn’t seem like he should be the Republican nominee. But on paper, Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman should have been top-tier candidates, so
As our friend Robert Stacy McCain knows, I vigorously dissented from the media horde’s dogged pursuit of Rep. Anthony Weiner. His online flirtations with women, no matter how tawdry and titillating, are simply not a matter for public consumption, I think. Regrettably, though, L’affaire Weiner is now a bona fide political matter — and it threatens to seriously undermine the Democratic Party, and especially House and Senate Democrats. Indeed, the fear amongst an increasing number of congressional Dems is that Weiner will become the face and image of their party, legislatively (though not presidentially) in the 2012 election: loud, brash, arrogant, clueless, selfish, self-absorbed, and sexually deviant. For this reason, as Stacy notes , serious-minded Dems, such as Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), Tim Kaine (D-VAa) and Niki Tsongas (D-MA), are now urging Weiner to resign. In their view, the New York Democrat has become politically toxic and damaging to their party. They should know. Schwartz heads up candidate recruitment for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and Kaine is running for governor of Virginia. And, come November 2012, they don’t want Weiner to be the lingering image in voters’ minds. The problem is that political parties ain’t what they used to be. Campaign finance “reform” laws have weakened the parties and pushed money and fundraising onto independent, outside groups. Thus, pols such as Weiner are mostly political free agents who are beholden to no one but themselves and their independent campaign committees. Maybe the Dems still can pressure Weiner to resign; we’ll see. But I suspect that if the scrappy and angry New Yorker really doesn’t want to leave office, he ain’t gonna leave office. Of course, it used to be, as Spock said, that “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Unfortunately for congressional Democrats, that’s now a quaint and old-fashioned notion.
Read more:
Congressional Dems Resist Being Weinered
German chancellor Angela Merkel will visit the White House ( Wall Street Journal ) Two new polls put Romney ahead of or even with Obama in a hypothetical matchup ( L.A. Times ) Obama’s top economist, Council of Economic Advisers chair Austan Goolsbee, to step down ( Atlantic Wire ) Ben Bernanke will give a speech on the economy at 3:45 p.m. in Atlanta, as Fed watchers look for hints about possible QE3 ( MarketWatch ) Pawlenty set to unveil economic plan in Chicago ( Fox News ) Rep. Anthony Weiner comes clean: On the main site: Palin Ponders Third Party Paradox by
What to watch for:
