MEGAN MCARDLE: THE GENTRIFIER’S LAMENT. Read the whole thing, and remember — no condition is permanent.

UNDER PRESSURE: Coons Shifts on Tax Cuts for Wealthy: Extend Them All. “Chris Coons changed his previous position on the Bush era tax cuts this morning telling me that he would support extending all of the Bush era tax cuts for everyone for ‘several years.'”

UPDATE: Reader M.L. Johnson writes: “If nothing else, O’Donnell has pulled Coons to the right on this issue. Maybe any generic Tea Partier could have done the same. The weight of the electorate is tilting the playing field, just like it’s supposed to. I just hope it stays tilted.”

And reader Chris Woods writes: “Do you suppose that all the folks bellyaching about the O’Donnell primary win can see it as something other than Quixotic now? Had the Tea Party gone along with the Republican establishment whichever candidate that won would have been a ‘no’ vote for extending the Bush tax cuts. By standing in O’Donnell for Castle the Democrat has been forced to flip. No such flip would have occurred with Castle as the opposition. Castle and Coons would more likely have found themselves in substantial agreement on the matter. As I see it the O’Donnell candidacy — even if it be doomed — has had more policy import than Castle’s ever would have.”

Plus, DaTechGuy wonders: If O’Donnell is such a sure loser, why is Coons flip-flopping all of a sudden? “The MSM has been making fun of Christine O’Donnell’s debate performances for the last three days. Yet this morning, after Delaware voters saw those same debates that the MSM laughed at it is Chris Coons NOT Christine O’Donnell who feels compelled to change positions.” It’s after voters saw the debates. It’s also after Coons saw his tracking polls . . . .

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Dean Gay quotes Milton Friedman: “It’s nice to elect the right people, but that isn’t the way you solve things. The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right things.” Heh. Indeed.

LOOKING FOR WAR ON TERROR NEWS? Check out Fred Pruitt’s Rantburg.

PAUL BUTLER AND JEFF SHEESOL have weighed in on the New York Times “Room for Debate” discussion about the Supreme Court, politics, and decorum. My own, rather modest, contribution is right here.

TUNKU VARADARAJAN: Obama’s Turban Anxiety. “That the president would cancel a Sikh temple visit over a knotted handkerchief shows the old, bold Obama is gone—he now governs in fear.”

Plus, the pun of the day: “Barack Obama has become a Sikh joke.”

UPDATE: Der Spiegel: Obama’s Lost Magic.

JUAN WILLIAMS FIRED BY NPR? Racists.

UPDATE: “Juan Williams was fired because he’s black.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: “National Politically-correct Radio.”

PETER SUDERMAN: “The Obama administration is playing a game of opposite limbo with the federal budget: When it comes to deficit spending, its operative question seems to be ‘How high can you go?'”

Well, you can go pretty far, until you become Britain. “Chancellor George Osborne has unveiled the biggest UK spending cuts for decades, with welfare, councils and police budgets all hit. The pension age will rise sooner than expected, some incapacity benefits will be time limited and other money clawed back through changes to tax credits and housing benefit.”

Why? Because socialism has left them broke. Ace’s econ-blogger Monty says that this is our future, unless we wind up with riots like France, too. Well, it certainly is if greedy pols continue their loot-the-treasury policies. We’ll see if November’s elections put the brakes on that.

As Tea-Partier Moe Tucker says: “No country can provide all things for all citizens. There comes a point where it just isn’t possible, and it’s proven to be a failure everywhere it’s been tried.”

Right on, Moe.

UPDATE: Co-blogger confusion at Ace corrected. Sorry!

L.A. TIMES: How low will he go? Obama approval hits yet another bottom and 54% now say, ‘No second term.’ Plus, twisting the knife: “At this point in the second year of George W. Bush’s presidency, 62% thought he deserved a second term after only 48% voted for him in 2000.”

CHANGE: Obama economic report focuses on women, ignores ‘Great Mancession.’ “While the recession has hit men far harder than women — so much so that some pundits have dubbed this economic downturn a ‘mancession’ — the Obama administration is focusing on the struggles women are facing during these tough economic times.” Of course they are. “Veronique de Rugy, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, believes that the current focus on women is tied to the election and the administration’s ‘get out the vote’ efforts.”

HOPE: California, Louisiana Supreme Courts Thumb Down Traffic Cameras.

CLEARING UP CONFUSION: Sen. Bob Corker Denies Obamacare Reports. I emailed his office last night and got a direct denial — Corker absolutely intends to seek the repeal of ObamaCare, they say.

More here: Senator Corker denies allegations he told group of donors Senate Republicans would not repeal Obamacare.

It seems like a no-brainer to me. Yeah, Obama would probably veto a repeal — but forcing Obama to veto a repeal of his highly unpopular initiative would be good 2012 politics, carrying the issue past the 2010 elections.

ROGER SIMON: Why I Won’t Be Reading the NAACP’s Report on Tea Party Racism.

Nothing is more reactionary in America today than identity politics, and there is no better example of this than the NAACP. The organization was of great importance in its day, but there is a strong argument to be made it should no longer exist.

Do I have a right to say such a thing? Well, I was a civil rights worker in the South in the sixties, lost the full use of my finger there, went on to be a significant financial supporter of the Black Panther breakfast program in the seventies…. Is that enough?

Maybe, maybe not, but whatever you think of me, the NAACP has become a creator, not a fighter, of racism. They are in the racism business, fanning the flames in order to survive, and I won’t be reading their shameful, phony propagandistic report on the supposed bigotry in the Tea Party movement just being issued today in time for the election. Life is too short. If it were centuries long, it would be too short.

But am I attacking this report without reading it? Indeed I am. If Nancy Pelosi can shove through Congress sweeping health care legislation that changes the economy of our country without reading it, I certainly can attack some trivial report on my little Internet blog after only glancing at the first paragraph and the names of the authors.

There is, however, a serious issue represented by this report. We have come to a moment in our national development when identity based organizations like the NAACP have a strong vested interest in impeding progress, especially for the groups they purport to represent. If things get better for black people, the NAACP has no reason for being — or must devolve into some kind of social club.

The NAACP hasn’t helped its situation by being so willingly used as a political tool.

DAN RIEHL joins Team Breitbart.

CURTAINS.

RON KLEIN HYPOCRISY FAIL:

Two weeks before the midterm elections, the heated Florida Congressional race in the 22nd district between Allen West and Democrat incumbent Ron Klein just got a little nastier.

In a press release sent out Wednesday afternoon, the West campaign responded to the Florida Democratic Party and the Klein campaign for labeling some of West’s supporter as “thuggish”. The release also included pictures obtained by West’s campaign of Rep. Klein with those very same supporters – a group of veteran bikers.

“The hypocrisy is astounding, as Ron Klein appeared with, and courted for support, the same Vietnam veterans he now refers to as criminals and thugs,” said West’s campaign manager Josh Grodin.

The “D” stands for “Desperate.”

BE VERY AFRAID: Also, vewy, vewy quiet.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on DVD and Blu-Ray.

FIRST RUSH LIMBAUGH, THEN SARAH PALIN, NOW THIS: Senator Jim DeMint Threatens To Leave Current Republican Party. I’m not sure what the Republican leadership has been up to lately, but it looks very much as if they’re engaged in some idiocy that is likely to lead to disaster. What is wrong with you people?

PATHETIC: Rioters rampage, protesters block French airports. “Workers opposed to a higher retirement age blocked roads to airports around France on Wednesday, leaving passengers in Paris dragging suitcases on foot along an emergency breakdown lane.”

WELL, HARVARD’S OFF THE HOOK ON THAT ROTC THING FOR THE MOMENT: “At the request of President Obama’s Justice Department, the Ninth Circuit has stayed, at least for now, an order from California District Judge Virginia Phillips halting enforcement of DADT.”

HMM: New Theory Links Depression to Chronic Brain Inflammation.

OVER AT THE NEW YORK TIMES’ “ROOM FOR DEBATE” BLOG, Stephen Wermiel, Scot Powe, and I talk about the Supreme Court, politics, and civility.

Here’s a direct link to my piece, though it’s probably the least important of the three.

VIDEO: So, you want to go to law school? Kinda harsh, but it’s gone viral among law students . . . .

AUSTIN BAY: Stopping The Next Stuxnet.

“ALTERNATIVE” MEDICINE IS NOT WITHOUT RISKS: Dozens killed by incorrectly placed acupuncture needles.