I've Been Described As A Grizzled Political

We Journalists Are Never So Idiotic As When We Analyze Things That We Shouldn't Be Analyzing.

Political Courage Requires Clarity. The Obama Administration Chose The Tortured Route Of Arguing The Legality Of The Individual Mandate Via The Interstate Commerce Clause For One Simple Reason: It Did Not Want To Take The Political Risk Of Allowing Opponents To Call It A Tax Increase. That Was Stupid. The Republicans Were Calling It A Tax Increase Anyway.

You Know, Larger-than-life Politicians Have Larger-than-life Strengths And Larger-than-life Weaknesses.

In Point Of Fact, 'simpson-bowles' Has Become A Symbol, Or Simbowl, Rather Than An Actual Plan, Political Shorthand For The Process Of Long-term Deficit Reduction.

For Those Of Us Who Consider Ourselves Political Moderates, Life Is A Dispiriting Slog, A Sorry Mix Of Rectitude And Ineptitude.