Kevin Drum writes:

[Some argue that] Obama and the Democrats could have done a lot more to improve the economy. But I'm not convinced of that. [. . .] The only other thing I can think of that the administration screwed up seriously is mortgage reform. Again, though, that would have been politically difficult even if they had played all their cards perfectly. Like it or not, the American public hates the idea of seeing their neighbors get bailed out from stupid mortgages. It makes them feel like saps: we scrimped and saved and bought a house we could afford and we're getting nothing. Joe and Betty down the street lived the high life, took out a NINJA loan they knew was way more than they could afford, and now they're getting a taxpayer-funded bailout and living easy. That's not a vote getter.

[. . . P]eople are mostly reacting to actual pain, and there's surprisingly little Obama could have done about that.

Matt Yglesias seconds this argument that the President was impotent:

Booman's latest "Leave Obama Alone!" piece. An instant classic. Very funny.

Love the Goo Goo Dolls who were on DWTS tonight. (I'm just starting to watch, having DVR'd it earlier.) Bristol is in the bottom three, where she belongs. I doubt she'll be leaving tonight. Not when her mom was in the studio audience last night. (All the tea partiers will call in to vote for her.) Mike "the Situation" is the more likely choice. Neither one can dance, but since the Situation has a lot of personality, I hope it's not him.

After DWTS, it's the Good Wife.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

John Lennon would be 70 years old today. A Peace Monument was unveiled today in Liverpool in his honor.

The memories and the music live on.

Not that it needed saying but, the Secretary of State said:

"I don't believe what I read," Clinton said laughing during an appearance at the 12th Annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, adding: "I have absolutely no interest and no reason for doing anything other than just dismissing these stories and moving on."

Someone explain to me how this helps Woodward sell books exactly? I'm not following the theory. Sure Woodward is briefly mentioned in the story but then he's not and it's over. I don't get it. Any PR wizards out there to explain this one to me? I understood the Casey "I believed" nonsense back in the day (who else remembers that?) and other gossipy stuff from Woodward's book, but obviously this is not about Woodward's book. IS my writing this post also helping Woodward sell his book (FTR - I have no clue what Woodward's book says - something about Afghanistan I know, but other than that . . .)

Speaking for me only

Mainstream media suffered another loss yesterday with the announcement Howard Kurtz would be leaving the Washington Post and joining the Daily Beast.

A few weeks ago, Huffington Post announced the hiring of Newsweek's Howard Fineman.

Every week it seems the list of prominent MSM writers defecting to online media (now called digital media) grows while layoffs become more prevalent at newspapers and magazines like Newsweek.

Digital media is clearly winning. Here's an interview today with Daily Beast editor and founder Tina Brown. And yes, the Daily Beast is in "discussions" with Newsweek. Sounds like a merger of some sort may be in the works.

In another media shift, a number of former well-known newspaper reporters have joined the National Journal.

How will the newspapers cope? My guess is they will probably stop offering their content for free. But will there be anything left worth paying for to read?

Matt Yglesias writes:

You can like the 111th Congress or you can dislike it, but there’s just no way to deny that it did a lot more stuff than the four or five congresses before it.

I dunno, just off the top of my head, I remember that those Congresses blew a trillion dollar hole in the budget with tax cuts for the rich, authorized two wars, one the most insane one in recent history, passed the most vicious assault on civil liberties in a generation with the Patriot Act and the rewriting of FISA, enacted a budget busting prescription drug benefit, and passed the atrocious No Child Left Behind Act.

That seems like a lot of "stuff" to me. But of course, the REAL objection is not about the measure of the amount of "stuff" that was done - it is that people don't agree with the Beltway Bloggers about how AWESOME the "stuff" passed by this Congress was. Yep, it's "nuts" to disagree with the Beltway Bloggers. Also read Susie Madrak.

Speaking for me only

Via Matt Yglesias. it's good to remember that when Michael Kinsley is good, he's very good. Kinsley's column is ostensibly about "intellectual honesty, but what stood out to me about it is this part:

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a master spin artist, plays on this social insecurity among journalists. Barbour doesn’t literally wink as he spins, but he manages to send the message: This is all a big game — a big wonderful game — and you have the privilege of playing it with me. [. . .] Far from being a “low bar,” >absolute intellectual honesty is something I’ve never actually seen in anyone inside Washington or out, politician or journalist or diplomat.

Pols are pols and do what they do. And as some readers often remind me, pundits are pundits and do what they do. And guess what, people are people and do what they do. More . . .

Margaret Cho went home tonight on DWTS. She and Louie were in the bottom two, along with Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas.

Bristol is wooden, has zero musicality and even less dance ability. The judges seem to be afraid of hurting her feelings. Unlike every other contestant, she has no pre-existing fan base of her own. She didn't star in a reality show or any tv show, she's not a comic, a singer, or a top athlete.

The politicization of the show this season, casting this unaccomplished, untalented, non-star with no resume of her own, only because her mother is famous and polarizing which will bring in viewers, has left a permanent sour taste. [More...]

For all the sturm und drang over the "incivility" of Markos Moulitsas' book American Taliban, it is quite ironic how willing the Beltway Bloggers are to call Dems who don't agree with them delusional. Here's Jon Chait (who has a long history of this sort of thing):

Every time a Democratic leader tells the base to stop whining and wake up to the fact that this is the most successful period of liberal governance in more than four decades, liberals just get more petulant. But, seriously, look at results like this, per Greg Sargent:

A new poll from Pew and National Journal contains a really striking finding: Only one third of Democrats think this Congress has achieved more than other recent Congresses. Meanwhile, 60 percent of Dems think it has accomplished the same or less.

This is just nuts. This is, objectively, a very productive Congress.

Yes. VERY "objective." It's the old "I'm objective and you're not" routine. What a bunch of clowns.

Speaking for me only

Greta takes on Gloria Allred over the Meg Whitman housekeeper allegations. Pretty funny.

The San Francisco Chronicle interviewed immigration lawyers who say Whitman acted appropriately: [More...]

Mahsa Saeidi-Azcuy, the bullying prosecutor on this season's Apprentice, has quit her job after being moved to a non-courtroom position.

Most of the articles I've read say she was forced out. Why? Saeidi-Azcuy, who has had her law degree for a year, who portrayed herself as a justice-seeker, and who the show portrayed as a tough-as-nails tour-de-force in the courtroom, never told the DA's office why she sought a two month leave of absence, that she intended to appear on the show, seeking a job working for Trump. Had they known, they wouldn't have granted her request.

Even Ivanka Trump noticed her negative personality: [More..]