Weigel

Opening Act: 31 Percent

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN)

Photo by Jeffrey Thompson/Getty Images

Why do you people keep making Bruce Bartlett explain that no one wants to cut spending?

A September 27 Fox News poll found that 31 percent of voters believe the federal government wastes more than 50 percent of the budget, 14 percent say it wastes between 41 percent and 50 percent, and 9 percent put the waste figure at between 31 percent and 40 percent. Thus a majority of voters think the government wastes at least 31 percent of all the money it spends.

Daniel Henninger offers a unique theory for why Southern whites don’t vote for Democrats.

They stand charged with being the only people in the United States who are potentially racist because they reside in Alabama, Mississippi or Louisiana.

But states where Democrats win greater shares of the white vote, like Arizona and Virginia, are also covered under pre-clearance.

Mike Lux gets real with Eric Holder, after the attorney general said this:

I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions [banks] becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if we do prosecute — if we do bring a criminal charge — it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy.

Norm Coleman will not make a comeback bid against Sen. Al Franken.

Jeb Bush keeps admitting that he tweaked his beliefs about immigration reform to write a book that became outdated.