Today on the Dish, Michael Crowley shrugged over the Afghanistan presser, NRO rejoiced, Scoblete observed our vicious cycle in that country, Ackerman wrung his hands over drones, and Drum and Kaplan were at their wits' end. Mike Luckovich said a thousand words on DADT, a gay soldier spoke out against the injustice, and Senator Corker dishonored him and every other soldier. Obama reality check here. Krauthammer and Will gave the president some credit. Andrew took a long look at Obama's long game and Israel.

On the domestic front, Paul Ryan defended his support for the tax deal, Kaus talked tax rates, and Ezra sounded off on Orszag. Much more on the individual mandate debate here, here, here, here, and here. Romney got punched around some more. Palin presidential watch here and here. Hunters took aim at her and even neocons joined in. Andrew featured further evidence that FNC is propagandist - and highly effective.

Hitchens pilloried Kissinger for his vile anti-Semitism while Peretz excused it. Reason held a forum on free speech, Bernstein talked talking points, Tracy Clark-Flory looked at legalizing incest, and Reihan pondered leisure. Readers rebelled against the English professors here and here, a few more sounded off on the Assange rape case, and others continued to giggle at accents.

Alexis introduced us to the Books Ngram Viewer, which the Dish had fun with here, here, and here. Cool app here and creepy ad here. VFYW here, FOTD here, and MHB here.

(Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Thursday on the Dish, amidst fears that the clock was running out, news broke of a weekend vote to repeal DADT, and Scott Brown got on board. Andrew lauded Lieberman's role in the whole process.

On other political fronts, Steve Benen debunked the GOP mandate, Bill Connelly alerted us to a wave of Republicanism in state legislatures, Hugh Hewitt struggled to explain the consistency of GOP promises and the tax deal, Steinglass rolled his eyes at McCain's song and dance over earmarks, and Ezra Klein called out deficit frauds. Douthat tried to give Romney's pandering the benefit of the doubt while Larison shattered any doubt. Bloggers and readers debated at length the healthcare mandate.

Looking abroad, Ackerman thumbed through the Afghanistan review, more bad news here, and Exum recommended cutting down the flow of cash to the country. Reza Aslan suggested a certain alliance between the US and Iran while Joel Wing had trouble seeing one between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Greenwald highlighted the horrible prison conditions of the alleged Wiki Leaker, Serwer responded to the American charges against Assange, and a reader pointed out a likely reason why Sweden wants him back.

In assorted coverage, Britain's former drugs minister called BS on the Drug War, a reader explained why a lot of teens smoke pot over cigarettes, Bruce Schneier envisioned the future of cyber security, and Tom Friedman sparked a history lesson. Fallows questioned the Orszag row and Chait added two cents. As Palin's poll numbers continued to weaken, her ratings continued to soar - and captivate Andrew's attention.

Feministe had advice on dealing with racist relatives over the holidays, a reader took offense to some un-PC Dish humor, another dissented over the portrayal of Assange's alleged rapes, and another wanted a clearer picture of what actually happened (BBC clarified the charges).

Andrew got creeped out over Glenn Reynolds' take on communist sympathizers. Malkin awards for Louie Gohmert and Limbaugh and an especially strong Yglesias for John Nolte. The Dish spotlighted crusty punks and awkward pregnancy portraits. Readers both vented over awful tropes in English 101 and illuminated more toys with bodily fluids. An especially amazing VFYW here, FOTD here, and MHB here.

Wednesday on the Dish, as polling showed unprecedented support for gays in the military, the House voted to repeal DADT. Sargent and a Dish reader helped Commandant Amos eat his Malkin-esque words over gay servicemembers. Choi buckled under the intense pressure of it all. DeMint threatened to torpedo the lame-duck session as the tax deal split the field of GOP presidential hopefuls. Douthat and Andrew took a long look at the Tea Party's place in these tough times. Reality checks on Obama's performance here and here.

Andrew chewed over the Assange arrest and furrowed his brow over a leak in Algeria. He also mulled over demographics in Israel/Palestine and contemplated the anti-family aspects of Jesus Christ.

Palin's polarization deepened even further, Seth Masket saw a silver lining in knee-jerk partisanship, Chris Beam clarified what bipartisanship really is, FNC was further exposed for its propaganda, and Breitbart's Big Government kept its blinders on. More on Orszag's government gravy train here and here. Ron Paul appeared prescient about the Fed and a reader responded to Megan's question about government force.

In assorted commentary, Josh Green spotlighted gay-rights champion Tim Gill, Jeremy Lott showed both sides of William F. Buckley, Avent pushed high-speed rail, Reihan tackled Diane Ravitch, two Ordinary Gentlemen talked slippery slopes, Tyler Cowen sparked a deep debate on inequality, Mike Meno explained why cigarettes are harder to get for teens than joints, and Jack Shafer delved into the intoxicating world of nutmeg.

The Pope enjoyed a purely heterosexual display of half-naked male gymnastics, HuffPo joined the Atlantic in turning a profit, Kevin Spacey cried foul for being recognized as gay, and Ben Crair investigated Holocaust games. Vagazzled hathos here and a video Malkin here. Zombie massacre here. VFYW here, FOTD here, and a particularly entertaining MHB here.

Havana, Cuba, 1 pm

Tuesday on the Dish, George Packer, Leon Wieseltier, and Rick Hertzberg remembered Richard Holbrooke, as the man's last words took on a life of their own. Critical DADT developments here, here, and here. Assange fought Sweden over bail, Berlusconi survived a no-confidence vote, and an HIV case was cured. As bitterness among Palestinians grew, Andrew took a long look at Israel's intransigence over a two-state solution. A reader sounded off.

A reax of the unconstitutional ruling for Obamacare here and here. Mitt came out against the tax deal, thus joining the awakened opposition on the Tea Party right, and Chait heard a dog whistle. Douthat predicted a Dem revolt stemming from tax deal, Seth Masket downplayed liberal handwringing, Sprung mulled Obama's strategy, and Ezra talked unemployment rates. Ron Paul tipped his hat toward 2012. Kevin Drum and Andrew reflected on the risk-averse decade of the '00s. Andrew also went another round with Pejman over presidential legitimacy.

Bush basked in his lack of self-awareness while Limbaugh displayed a shocking dose of cognitive dissonance - in sharp contrast to the sane conservatism of Jim Manzi and Adam Ozimek. A RedStater called for invading Mexico and ACLU critics engaged in epistemic closure. Get your Palin fix here, here, and here.

In assorted commentary, Julian Sanchez cautioned celebration over Holder's reform of the Patriot Act, Avent reassured us over a bubble bursting in China, Adam Ozimek gave investment advice, Bjørn Lomborg showed how household energy efficiency hasn't gone anywhere, Stephen Budiansky charted consumption, and Adam Serwer observed downward mobility among blacks. A reader questioned Beam's article on legalizing online gambling.

More on O'Reilly's conflict with Christianity here, here, and here. More on Chicago pubs here and a new installment from Boston here. Andrew reminded us to watch the powerful documentary Restrepo. Hathos here and here. VFYW here, FOTD here, and MHB here. The latest VFYW Contest here. Get your Dish merch here and "The Cannabis Closet" with shipping discounts here.

Monday on the Dish, Manchin lost his spine over DADT, Peter Orszag shamelessly cashed in on his government stint, RINO hunting season opened in Minnesota, a judge in Virginia declared the healthcare mandate unconstitutional, and Ezra explained a silver lining. Palin got her hair primped in Haiti, palled around with Kate Gosselin, elicited a hilarious quote, and continued to play the media. Andrew went toe-to-toe with Pejman Yousefzdeh over Bush and Obama Derangement Syndromes.

Drum analyzed new polling on the tax deal, Chait talked future tax reform, Continetti gave Obama credit for compromising over fiscal matters, Kristol cackled over the same, Larison chimed in, a reader defended lefty whiners, another criticized whiny Dem pols, Kaus discussed the estate tax, and P.M. Carpenter vented over Krugman's fundamentalism.

Bill O'Reilly's fundamental misunderstanding of Jesus was picked apart here, here, here, and here. Andrew disagreed with Sprung over the "doctrine of the fall". Jonathan Schanzer warned Palestinians against unilaterally declaring statehood, the Israeli far right was at it again over illegal settlements - which credit card companies were willing to support over the legal Wikileaks. Yglesias engaged Exum over local governance in Afghanistan and Joel Wing doubted a military coup in Iraq.

Stephen Walt added to the discussion over American exceptionalism, Ryan Avent had a foreboding feeling about Britain, Reihan joined the marriage debate, and Tyler Cowen commented on wedding expectations. Shirky cheered the death of news wires, Frederick Hess scrutinized school choice, and Chris Beam backed the legalization of online gambling. Frum practically begged Rich Lowry make NRO intellectually honest.

Andrew highly recommended a video on being and time. Idiotic hiking shoes here and more on Chicago pubs here. Chart of the day here. Creepy ads here and here. VFYW here, FOTD here, and MHB here. A Dishmas card from the whole crew here. And we're still selling T-shirts, totes, and the new Cannabis Closet book!

-- C.B.

A seven-week old Border Collie puppy rests after a play with its siblings in their garden as outdoor temperatures dropped below minus 10 degrees celsius in the village of Bodice on December 16, 2010. By Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images.

A reader crafts a more constructive point from the students' complaints:

Making fun of bad writing by undergraduates is easy and I admit it is amusing. But maybe instead of decrying the supposed illiteracy of these young people, we should look at these professors' complaints as a symptom of a structural problem in American education. For complex reasons, the United States has chosen the "liberal arts" degree as the basic education credential for middle-class and professional jobs. At the same time, we've maintained a system in which the narrowest concentration and specialization is incentivized in higher levels of academia.

Alexis collects some of the most amusing Ngrams into a slideshow. Seth Masket provides the above comparison:

This supports a claim Frances Lee makes in Beyond Ideology that the concept of ideology is a relatively recent one.  It was invented, she argues, in the mid-20th century by journalists and political scientists as a way to explain the behavior of southern and northern Democrats, who seemed to vote differently once in a while despite being of the same party.  Prior to that time, we really had no concept of ideology as something distinct from party.

Avik Roy's proposal:

 It is my view that the Swiss system could be adapted for American purposes by replacing the mandate with a German-style limited enrollment period, as Paul Starr has advocated at The American Prospect. The limited enrollment approach requires individuals to buy insurance, say, in the month of January during a leap year: if an individual chooses to opt out of insurance at that time, he cannot purchase insurance again until January of the following leap year.

This way, individuals are free to opt out of the system, but prevented from taking advantage of insurance rules regarding pre-existing conditions. Such an approach is more consistent with American customs of liberty and choice than is the individual mandate. Here’s hoping that Anthony Kennedy agrees with me.

"What you really touch?" reads an ad reviewed by Copyranter:

Thai ad agencies consistently produce the creepiest ads in the world. Here, creepy severed hand/fingers are employed for Sanzer hand gel. We've already seen a very similar visual idea—microscopic germs made of creepy disembodied hands —by another Thai agency for a different hand sanitizer brand. Ad agency: Chuo Senko.

Note: hand sanitizers have been proven not to work.

Bernstein wants to know "how the partisan press functions":

My guess is that most constraints [on partisan commentators] are real, but not especially heavy-handed or, in most cases, top-down.  They work the way a lot of things work in our party system: through networks, and through informal pressure and influence.  In other words, Rachel Maddow starts talking about filibuster reform because the liberal guests she has on are all interested right now in filibuster reform, and activists in her audience are interested in filibuster reform -- not because the White House or the DNC or the Majority Leader's office told MSNBC to tell her to push filibuster reform.  Although I should add: we do know that both parties do send out talking points, and presumably talk show hosts and their producers are reading them.  More likely, Maddow has other very real, if informal, constraints; if she suddenly revealed she was secretly pro-life and began dedicating a segment every night to how Democrats should have more diversity of opinion on abortion, her credibility with her audience would disappear rapidly, and MSNBC would soon replace her with someone liberals could love and trust.

Ackerman continues to sound the alarm:

Independent accounts of what it’s like to live under the shadows of the drones are still all-too-rare, especially in English. Given the amount of investment the Obama administration has in the drones, it’s unlikely that the administration would listen. But however targeted the strikes may be, the hundreds of thousands of civilians in North Waziristan and the rest of the tribal areas live with the anxiety of the missiles overhead. How long can the U.S. avoid a reckoning?

That's quite a one-two punch from Tobin and Wehner. Translation: don't fuck with the Krauthammer, missie. Then as if to spell it out so she gets the actual message:

Virtually every time Ms. Palin speaks out, she reinforces some of the worst impressions or deepest concerns many of us have about her. If she were to become the voice and representative of the GOP and the modern conservatism movement, both would suffer a massive rejection.

Sarah Palin will not be elected president; and for her sake, I hope she decides not to run.

Frum compared Romney to a restaurant manager who thinks what "matters is satisfying each and every customer who walks through the door to the very best of the manager’s ability." Ezra Klein semi-accepts this parallel:

Frum is right that customer service can be a principle in and of itself. And I'd be really interested to see a presidential candidate promise to better represent the people by explicitly using polls to steer his or her presidency. But that's not what Romney is promising. He's promising to do certain things, and uphold certain values, when in office. If he's lying about that, it's not customer service. It's betrayal yoked to a four-year contract.

Yglesias adds:

I think the real issue here has to do with character. The executives of Darden Restaurants are basically trying to make money. And so are the owners of the firm. And that’s fine. Most of us aren’t so distressed by the idea that the firm is, on some level, a soulless money-making machine. But on this view, Romney is . . . what? A soulless power-seeking machine? 

A fascinating glimpse into the Republican psyche:

I’m just hoping that saner minds will prevail and that these issues that have been brought forth that are absolutely partisan, political, issues, brought forth to basically accommodate activist groups around this country. I’m hoping that those will be taken down or else I don’t think the future of the START treaty over the next several days is going to be successful, based on what I’m watching.

Civil rights are reduced to ... "absolutely partisan, political, issues, brought forth to basically accommodate activist groups."

As Obama signs the tax cut deal, four crucial GOP Senators back DADT repeal tomorrow.

Former students strike back against the professors. One writes:

While I realize that English professors, like anyone else, ultimately find some parts of their job tedious and repetitive, I have to say that those reader comments are prime examples of why lots of people dislike academics.  While many of the books mentioned may be old or even cliched to the professors, they are new intellectual discoveries for their students, and as such, the complaints about reading their papers come off as whining at best.  I certainly hope they aren't grading some students more harshly than others based on who writes about books they are sick of hearing about, because in that case those professors are guilty of something far worse than whining.

A reader writes:

The junior senator from the Palmetto State forgets his own state history. One hundred and fifty years ago, on Dec. 20, 1860, a gaggle of South Carolinians in convention assembled declared the state's secession from the Union. And four days later, on Christmas Eve, they published their legal defense of the move. That defense placed the entire blame on the North's hostility to slavery, which, it said, had been reinforced by "erroneous religious belief."

They have always been very, very sure of themselves down there in South Carolina.

A reader writes:

In my my job, I help low- and no-income patients enroll in government subsidized health care programs. The program in Minnesota that is designed for people in the "higher" low-income bracket, and also for people whose employers don't offer coverage, requires people to pay an income-based premium each month. It is amazing how many of my patients enroll in the program, get treatment, and then let their coverage lapse to avoid paying this premium. This drives up costs for all the other people on the program. Also, because the program takes three or four months to get on (a weak attempt by the state to convince people to stay on the program, rather than jumping on and off), many people fall through the cracks.

Perhaps because of this, I'm not particularly troubled by the mandate. I'm willing to make many small-but-significant concessions to control costs, as long as they result in a program that drastically increase our coverage rate, as PPACA does. And I see the mandate as a financial concern more than a "fundamental freedoms" issue. Sure, people have to either pay for coverage, or pay a penalty. But it's based on income. Low-income folks won't be paying high premiums (if they are asked to pay a premium at all).

Switzerland is considering it. Tracy Clark-Flory takes up the issue:

Marriage between second-degree relatives (aunt/uncle, niece/nephew) is already legal in Switzerland, but the new measure would overturn the ban on consensual sexual relationships between siblings, and between parents and their adult children. (Sexual relationships with underage children would, of course, remain illegal.)

Getting into the holiday spirits:

Goddamn hippies stealing Christmas.

Check out the comments section here at Field and Stream. Dish faves:

Watching that sequence made me cringe. The fact she was shooting a bunch of guns that apparently hadn't been sighted in and that she didn't seem to know how to load herself was irresponsible. We all had to start somewhere ...

I think she's kind of a phony as far as being a big angler or hunter- while AK teenage boys were out honing their outdoor skills in the fall, I get the feeling Sarah was more interested in the beauty pageants and basketball.

This should have been a golden moment for hunting, but she totally blew it. Honestly, it was amateurish hunting and politics. She has to know everyone and there brother will scrutinize this scene and didn't site in the guns! Oh, and then you broadcast the fact that you didn't site in the guns. Why to protect her reputation for marksmanship? Cheney is a better hunter.

Now remember the core lie: that Palin regularly hunts with her dad, and has done so for years. This was always an obvious lie. Now Palin's delusions have allowed her to demonstrate the lie on national television.

Austin Frakt's guess:

Short of a unified government, I doubt Congress will be able to patch the law. That means it will become a state problem. I expect many, even most, states will do something to fill the hole left by a declared-unconstitutional mandate because the pressure from the insurance and provider industries will be enormous.

Think about it:

A reader writes:

I'm a Caucasian male, married to a Chinese woman, who has four biracial children, and the whole family finds A Christmas Story hilarious - the "fa-ra-ra-ra" scene in particular.  My wife grew up in China, and thus was not teased as a child for a foreign accent - it sounds like your correspondent (who is offended by the scene) grew up in a mostly-white US town where anti-Asian prejudice was frequently and openly exhibited.  Different experiences cause different people to react differently to things - something to keep in mind.

That said, the speech impediment portrayed in the movie - substitution of "l" with "r" - is not typical of Cantonese native speakers (such as most Chinese immigrants to the US prior to World War II; the time period portrayed in the film). 

Lawrence, Massachusetts, 10 am

Kevin Drum is ready to throw in the towel:

The argument for optimism is that NATO forces have made substantial tactical gains in the past year: intelligence gathering is better, local support is stronger, security is improving, and the Taliban is in retreat. You can read a pretty good version of this case here, from Peter Mansoor and Max Boot. But tactical improvements only get you just so far. Our big long-term problems—lack of central government support, lack of Pakistani support, and lack of American public support—suggest pretty strongly that the war in Afghanistan isn't winnable in any ordinary sense of the word. It's hard to say if this has sunk in at the White House, which released its latest review of Afghanistan on Thursday and apparently plans to stay the course. Sort of.

Fred Kaplan sounds just as exhausted by the conflict:

Happy Christmas, Bodenner.

"I'm reminded of the moral courage of my partner, who encourages me everyday to continue to put on that uniform; who believes that some things are worthy of our energies; who quietly plods along and prepares for my deployment as I do the same. I know as a soldier, it is the people we leave behind who bear the real brunt of deployment, who hold it all together, who send the care packages and pray for our returns. He'll have to do it on his own though. There are no support groups for the gay partners left back home.

In the meantime, gay soldiers who are still serving in silence will continue to put on our rucksacks and do what our country asks of us –- and wait," - an American soldier, with a knife in his back.

Remove it.

Mickey Kaus points out that the oft-heard GOP talking point about "permanent" versus "temporary" tax cuts makes no sense:

From the amazing Mike Luckovich (full December gallery here.)

Some readers understandably mock me for my occasional "meep meep" posts about Obama's shrewd sense of strategy. But I think the mockery is sometimes based on a misunderstanding. I do not now and never have believed that Obama is some kind of guru, capable of seeing far into the future, a Jedi president capable of foiling all enemies with cunning and foresight.

The, er, evidence does not exactly back this up. The errors of judgment and foresight are pretty clear - from letting Clinton win New Hampshire to Ben Nelson's months-long fiddling over health insurance to the collapse of cap-and-trade. My point is rather that he has a clear pattern of behavior that is acutely tuned to the longterm. He lets things take their course. Rather than tipping his hand early and decisively, he tends to hang back, aloof, distant, watching. Only when events have occurred that have proven the pointlessness of options he doesn't favor does he forthrightly present his own. And quite often, he almost seems intent on orchestrating such public failures of others' (and his own apparent) options - even at his own short-term cost.

And so on Israel, we have seen a laborious, frustrating, endless attempt to get the Israeli government to get serious about stopping settlements and work on a peace deal. The constant humiliations at the hand of Netanyahu, the contempt shown the US by Netanyahu's coalition partners, the massive bribes just to get Israel contemplating a minimal settlement freeze, the Pavlovian way in which Israel's reflexive supporters have done all they can to stymie any movement ... well, it's been an exhaustive experience, hasn't it?

But here's the point: it has proven to almost everyone that nothing serious can get done between the current Israeli polity and the promising, if still inchoate, nation-builders in the West Bank. Obama has not asserted this; he has demonstrated it. And this is the key difference between Bush and Obama. Bush constantly declared things to be so. Obama waits until everyone sees it for sure.

This patience, moreover, does not go nowhere. Failure leads to new terms for success. And what Obama has done is get Netanyahu unwittingly to make the global argument that a peace settlement cannot be won with Israel's support and cooperation -  but can only be imposed somehow from outside. The two years of trying so clearly to make the old model work has ... proven the old model is finished. Now watch the U.N.

I might add that exactly the same endless and agonizing process has consumed the US engagement with Iran. What Obama is trying to prove is that Iran will eventually bow to economic and political pressure on nukes. But if the long process fails to achieve that ... then the case for war will be stronger.

The long game works both ways in the Middle East.

Another MSM disgrace.

Conor is still worried about the individual mandate. Cranking the debate to 11, Megan throws abortion into the mix. A reader writes:

Ezra Klein is more sympathetic than Fallows: 

The question I've had trouble answering is what I'd have told Orszag to do instead. Life doesn't end at 41. Writing columns isn't for everybody. And what does serving in government -- even high up in government -- prepare you for in the private sector?

"Obsessed as he was with the Jews, Nixon never came close to saying that he'd be indifferent to a replay of Auschwitz. For this, Kissinger deserves sole recognition. It's hard to know how to classify this observation in the taxonomy of obscenity. Should it be counted as tactical Holocaust pre-denial? That would be too mild. It's actually a bit more like advance permission for another Holocaust.

Which is why I wonder how long the official spokesmen of American Jewry are going to keep so quiet. Nothing remotely as revolting as this was ever uttered by Jesse Jackson or even Mel Gibson, to name only two famous targets of the wrath of the Anti-Defamation League. Where is the outrage?" - Hitch.

"I know something about Kissinger's maneuvering for the Jewish state and for the Jewish people.

I and a few Harvard colleagues were in touch with him, actually met with him during the dread days of the Yom Kippur War when Israel's very survival was at peril. (Henry Rosovsky, Samuel Huntington, Michael Walzer, Thomas Schelling and I comprised the group.) Dr. K. confided to us how difficult it was to persuade his bigoted boss that a great deal of American arms (and sufficient Lockheed C-130s "Hercules" aircraft to deliver them) were needed and needed instantly. There is no doubt in my mind that Kissinger rescued the third commonwealth with these munitions.

Imagine, by the way, if George McGovern had defeated Nixon in the 1972 election. McGovern's enmity to Israel was and is well-documented. There would have been no military aid and no Israel. So, if Kissinger needed to flatter Nixon in order to convince him, that flattery was also a blessing," - Marty Peretz. 

(Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty.)

No evidence here. And then this (yes, the time is being sucked):

Frum concedes:

Based on Mitt Romney’s campaign book (quite good if you discard the first 1/3 and the final chapter) – and some of his speeches to business audiences – I think I know what Romney would like to do as president. But faced with opposition, or a rebellion from his base, or some other difficulty: who knows?

Chait finds common ground with Frum's slightly slack-jawed awe:

Sadly, I think Romney has virtually no chance to win the nomination. He is trapped in the position of both desperately needing to repudiate his signature achievement and being unable to risk another flip-flop. It's a real loss for American politics, and irony.

Irony mainly.

What else was Google's Book Ngram for?

He wins!

Sarah's reality show is unraveling what red state chops she thinks she has:

I have a feeling that real hunters among my readership will back me up ... Fact is, Sarah Palin gives hunting a bad name, and it has nothing to do with the whole cruelty to animals argument, which I’ll leave for someone else to hash out. It’s based entirely on the fact that she’s so clueless and incompetent behind a gun that she ought to trade her rifle in on a tactical nuke, which doesn’t require the pinpoint accuracy a hunter needs to make meat without causing unnecessary suffering among the game population.

She is what Levi Johnston always said she is. A phony.

Paul Ryan explains his vote in favor of the tax cut deal:

It's a useful summary of current Republican ideology. I don't disagree with much of it, and think his pragmatism makes sense. But let's be honest: the Bush tax cuts are unaffordable in the medium and long term. They were sunsetted for a reason, and Ryan's refusal to acknowledge that is a sign of the GOP's fiscal unseriousness.

Yes, low taxes are great. Now let's cut the long-term spending to match them. And if we cannot, then some tax hikes - or ending tax breaks - will be essential for any compromise.

A reader writes:

As an attorney who has handled a couple of rape cases and worked with numerous others who handled both sides, I think, in all likelihood, there's only one answer to that question: no one will ever know. This is what bothers me most about the "withdrawal of consent" cases. It's not like people fill out paperwork before, during, and after sex detailing the contours of consent. It's sex for god's sake!

A reader writes:

The three guys who run the loading dock at my work are, variously, Cambodian, Dominican and Tibetan. Imagine my shock, as a lilly-white, sheltered, PC North-eastern liberal, when I found them one day laughing uncontrollably at a very un-PC YouTube clip of Canadian comic Russell Peters ripping on people's accents. It didn't take long before they were ripping each other's accents and eventually ripping my (possibly heavy) Boston accent. Everyone had a laugh and a good part of my liberal guilt died that day.

I recommend this in the same vein:

Try not to laugh.

"I concluded from the review that Obama has signed on as being committed to a four-year war. That’s devastating news to the Taliban and to al-Qaeda, disturbing news to feckless Pakistani and Afghan leaders, and terrific news for America’s security," - Bing West, NRO.

"Remember the question after Election Day: Can Obama move to the center to win back the independents who had abandoned the party in November? And if so, how long would it take? Answer: Five weeks. An indoor record, although an asterisk should denote that he had help - Republicans clearing his path and sprinkling it with rose petals ...

The folks at Reason asked the guests who attended their recent event in New York City to define it. Their answers:

Interesting responses from a diverse crowd. But did anyone else raise an eyebrow at what Breitbart said?

I've always said it was political correctness, because if you can't speak openly and freely without being accused in a reactionary manner of being a fascist, or a racist, or a sexist, or a homophobe, or an anti-Muslim, what it does is it chills free speech.

This from the man who used a misleadingly edited version of Shirley Sherrod's speech to the NAACP in order to accuse the people listening to it of racism. This isn't to say that he is being disingenuous when he objects to false accusations of racism. Take a look at this clip from Bill Maher's show. He isn't acting. He is genuinely outraged at what he believes is a culture where liberals are constantly using the charge as a cudgel.

But look how he has chosen to respond to that belief: by in turn using accusations of racism as an ideological cudgel. It's a cycle without end. Until you end it.

After more digging, The Los Angeles Times publishes yet another devastating story:

Feel the excitement. Or how many middle-aged pudgy white guys can you see not even drunk in one room?

There's a fascinating, and rather devastating, new University of Maryland study out there, detailing how  misinformed voters were in the last election. Some issues of fact were pretty straightforward: the 2009 stimulus, for examle, was about one-third tax cuts; Obama was born in the US; the recovery had been underway for a while, if anemically; the auto bailout and TARP began under Bush. And yet large numbers of voters believed the opposite and acted on that false knowledge.

The primary fault is with the appalling failure of the Democrats and Obama to comunicate the truth about what they'd done. But what's interesting in the study is how it shows that Fox News, more than any other source, distorted the truth and created a false reality, for all its viewers, Democrats and Republicans. Money finding (I've focused on indisputable factual errors):

Those who watched Fox News almost daily were significantly more likely than those who never watched it to believe that: 

most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely)

the economy is getting worse (26 points)

the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points)

their own income taxes have gone up (14 points)

the auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points)

when TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points)

and that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points)

Let's be clear about this. One alleged news network fed its audience a diet of lies, while contributing financially to the party that benefited from those lies.

Those who work for Fox News are not working for a journalistic enterprise. They are working for the communications department of a political party. And that's a fact.

(Photo: Roger Ailes by Frederick M Brown.)

"Whatever one thinks of the current strategy in this war, Obama is prosecuting it with a vigor that indicates a refusal to allow political calculations to condition national security policy," - George Will, still flailing in the Obama era as surely as he kept his wits about him under Bush.

Linda Greenhouse looks back at the Rehnquist court and its legacy.

Sargent collects the latest evidence:

Sarah Palin said this morning that prayer is helping her decide whether to run in 2012. She's going to have to do a lot of praying. It turns out that six in 10 voters would not even consider voting for Palin for president, the new Post/ABC News poll finds. And it gets better. Sixty-two percent of independents would definitely not vote for her. The grand total of voters who would definitely support her? Eight percent.

Weigel sees a pattern:

1) A poll comes out showing that Sarah Palin is one of the least popular figures in national politics.

2) Conservative supporters of Palin argue that Ronald Reagan didn't poll well, either, before he won the presidency. So there.

3) Another poll comes out showing that Sarah Palin is one of the least popular figures in national politics.

The Dish remains vigilant. Who beats her?

A reader writes:

 A discussion on Megan McArdle's blog gave me an idea for the "Even Index": (google hits for "Even [Name]") / (google hits for "[Name]"). Effectively, how often is their name preceded with the word even? You do unsurprisingly well:

Rush Limbaugh 7.69%
Richard Nixon 5.30%
Michael Kinsley 3.17%
Michelle Malkin 2.59%
Andrew Sullivan 2.38%
Ron Paul 1.93%
Adolf Hitler 1.86%
Mickey Kaus 1.82%
Dave Weigel 1.81%
Christopher Hitchens 1.44%