WALTER RUSSELL MEAD CORRECTS CERTAIN EXCITABLE BLOGGERS: The “Christianist” Nightmare: It’s Just A Bad Dream. “I remember a United States where Andrew Sullivan’s darkest fantasies were fulfilled — and I’ve watched us move steadily away from that for nigh on sixty years. . . . Sullivan doesn’t, I think, get the whole sweep of American life. On a couple of issues — abortion comes to mind — the social policy consensus is creeping a bit to the right, but generally speaking the Christian right today stands for positions that were considered fairly liberal not all that long ago.”

WHY DO JOURNALISTS love Twitter and hate blogging? “Blogging was a direct attack on MSM hegemony at both the micro (fisking) and macro levels (explanation space). I just don’t see Twitter as the same threat. It is a flood of unmermorable chatter that is easy to ignore. Blogging had the potential to break the power of the MSM guild.”

MORE ON OBAMA’S BUDGET PROPOSALS FROM KEITH HENNESSEY: A Fundamental Fiscal Deception.

UPDATE: David Freddoso: The Math Is In, And It Says Obama’s Speech Was Just Class Warfare. “If Obama was serious about tax reform, he would present a reform plan that isn’t just a tax increase in disguise. And if he was at all serious about reducing the deficit, he would at least avoid presenting his tax hikes alongside massive new deficit-spending proposals.”

OVER AT TRUTH ON THE MARKET, a symposium on deregulating the legal profession.

TODAY ONLY: Phillips iPod/iPhone speaker dock/cd player for $64.99.

Plus, while they last, a “lightning deal” on a Kitchenaid stand mixer.

BOLD PREDICTION: Steve Forbes: Rick Perry Will Win the White House.

WHITE HOUSE GIVES THE BUDGET GAME AWAY. “Right from the horse’s mouth – Pres. Obama was never interested in a bipartisan debt-reduction deal.” Of course not. He talks compromise now and then, but his operating style is all about demonization and division. It’s not working out for him very well, but it’s all he knows. On the other hand, he often winds up backing down, and as Kaus notes, he’s left room for that in his bluster.

MEGAN MCARDLE: Higher Inflation, Lower Real Wages? That looks like the Obama Legacy to me. . . .

HMM: GOP leadership faces possible tea party revolt in 2012. “Republican leaders face a growing perception among some tea party factions that they are not interested in holding the Obama administration’s feet to the fire on spending.”

JOHN HINDERAKER: Who Checks The Fact-Checkers? “It is Kessler, not Perry, who demonstrates an appalling lack of knowledge about the conflict between Israel and its neighbors.”

MICKEY KAUS: OBAMA’S HOLLOW GAUNTLET.

Was Obama’s veto pledge fake macho posturing? . . .

There is lots of room for substantial Medicare cuts that won’t trigger a veto, even if they aren’t accompanied by revenue increases–as long as the cuts aren’t structured so clumsily as to directly cut “benefits” for the non-affluent.

That also means Obama hasn’t chosen a Trumanesque “run against Congress” strategy over a statesmanlike “grand bargain with Boehner” strategy. He’s still trying to keep both strategies in play. I suspect he still wants a grand bargain even if he gets stiffed on his tax increases on the rich. Monday’s speech looks like mostly a show to please the left. The loopholes give it away. …

Read the whole thing for Mickey’s close parsing of Obama’s statement.

DOUG BERMAN: Ninth Circuit rejects Second Amendment attack on criminalizing drug addict gun possession. “I find the logic of this opinion quite suspect, though I fear the usual Second Amendment crowd will not be eager to assail the Ninth Circuit panel’s ruling here. Moreover, I cannot not help but notice that, in the second sentence of the last paragraph, the Ninth Circuit panel jumps from talking about felons to referencing ‘career criminals’ (I have added the emphasis here). Indeed, the very use of this legally irrelevant and inflamatory term is one of many reasons I find the logic of this opinion suspect.”

BRINGING LONGEVITY TO THE MASSES: A review of Sonia Arrison’s new book, 100+: How The Coming Age Of Longevity Will Change Everything, From Careers and Relationships to Family and Faith.

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: The Administration’s Tangled Web. “A gun dealer’s tape shows a possible coverup of a third gun found at the scene of a murdered border patrol agent. Meanwhile, a second congressional witness reports coaching of testimony on a donor’s project. That giant sucking sound you hear is the Obama administration imploding under the weight of incompetent policies based on long-discredited progressive ideology and now a wave of scandals that involve gun-running, witness-tampering and political payoffs — and cover-ups of all of the above.”

JAMES TARANTO: If you were Bill Clinton, would you want Obama re-elected?

WONDERING ABOUT the White House’s missing strawberries.

GERARD VAN DER LEUN: This Day in History: Bill Clinton’s (D) Homophobic “Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell” Policy Has Ended.

SPACE JUNK: Better put up my umbrella!

HOW’S THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? Report: Palestinians within two votes on UN Security Council of forcing Obama veto.

ODDLY ASHAMED:

In Paul Krugman’s America, one expects panic and lynchings of Muslims and dissenters. So “we” should be “proud” to have avoided this natural inclination of ours.

To which one might respond: What do you mean “we,” professor?

Indeed.

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Pro Publica: Our Sputtering Economy by the Numbers: Poverty Edition.

Poverty rate for white Americans in 2010: 13 percent

Poverty rate for African-Americans in 2010: 27.4 percent

Real median household income in 2010: $49,445

Decline in median household income since 2009: 2.3 percent

Decline in median household income since before the recession: 6.4 percent

The last time median household incomes have been this low: 1996

Real median household income in 1999, in 2010 dollars: $53,252

Median income for full-time male workers in 2010: $47,715

Median income for full-time male workers in 1973, in 2010 dollars: $49,065

Official unemployment rate in August 2011: 9.1 percent

Total unemployed people in August: 14 million

People who were employed part-time for economic reasons in August 2011: 8.8 million

People not counted in the labor force who wanted work: 2.6 million

Net jobs created in August 2011: 0

Much more at the link.

HENRY GRANJU UPDATE: Drug Charges filed against three people who were interviewed in Henry Granju case.

BOB OWENS ON THAT ATF GUN-SMUGGLING SCANDAL: Gunwalker’s Body Count Grows, Along with the Obama Administration’s Cover-Up. “It seems like only a matter of time before administration officials face felony indictments for their role in Operation Fast and Furious.” And it looks like Rep. Issa will call for a special prosecutor. Key Issa quote: “The administration wanted to show that guns found in Mexico came from the United States.” Even if it had to send them there itself.

OUR “FRIENDS” THE SAUDIS: Bid to kill Canadian ads a sign oil sands are getting under Saudi regime’s skin. “Ethical oil” is better than “conflict oil.”

Here’s the Ethical Oil website.