With the nation’s eyes on Oklahoma, sooner or later people will need to remember that Washington handles the money for the response. Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn has consistently asked for disaster relief to be be paid for with cuts from other lines of the budget. Progressives (led, oddly enough, by BusinessWeek) used Hurricane Sandy to argue for new seriousness on climate change, and they’ll eventually do the same for Oklahoma. Count me out of the sanctimonious whining about the shame of “politicizing” disasters. Reporters are paid to be clear-minded about this stuff, not to tweet the lastest numbers of the dead and wag their chins thoughtfully.
Jonathan Martin gets outgoing Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling to toss the GOP’s new nominee under the treads of a speeding 18-wheeler.
Evan McMorris-Santoro and Ben Smith reveal the Bain connections of American Bridge, the other liberal Super PAC. Remember the middle stretch of 2012, when liberals were deeply angry about Bain?
On October 28, American Bridge released the sort of searing public attack that many had expected from the start, an a Priorities USA Action ad featuring an interview with a worker who begins, “Romney and Bain Capital shut this place down.” The American Bridge version uses a portion of the interview that does not include the words “Bain Capital.”
Dana Milbank appreciates Jeff Sessions and his role ineffectively slowing immigration reform in the Senate.
“I’m highly offended!” Sessions shouted in his trademark twang. “This is why the American people are upset about this! They don’t trust their government! . . . Now, that’s the truth. And I’m getting dad gum tired of it.”
James Taranto offers real talk on the meaning of the IRS’s bumbling.
[T]his will be a scandal like Watergate if it turns out that the IRS was acting under orders from Barack Obama or Valerie Jarrett. If the White House’s conduct turns out to be unimpeachable, then it is something far worse: a sign that the government itself has become a threat to the Constitution.
And Jason Richwine defends himself, with minimal humility. One question: If his dissertation and subsequent research were so solid, why does nobody cite them?
