ROGER SIMON: What if It’s Donald vs. Bernie?

BLOWBACK: How Simpson-Bowles Is Hindering Democratic Candidates.

Chris Van Hollen is a career legislator running with the support of party leaders in Maryland. Joe Sestak is a onetime admiral in the U.S. Navy running an outsider’s campaign in Pennsylvania.

But the two Democratic candidates for Senate share an important similarity: Both once praised the Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction plan — and are now paying the price.

Van Hollen, who is running against fellow Rep. Donna Edwards, called Simpson-Bowles a “framework” for a budget deal during a 2012 interview. Sestak, who held a House seat for two terms and is running against former Al Gore adviser Katie McGinty, said it is a “template” for deficit reduction during a January speech.

Both Maryland and Pennsylvania hold their congressional primaries on April 26. Polls show near toss-ups in both races with Sestak and Edwards leading narrowly in most.

To Edwards and McGinty, those comments were potent enough to make them central to their campaigns, seizing on the plan’s proposed changes to Social Security. In a torrent of TV ads and public statements, the candidates have accused their opponents of selling out seniors to cut a backroom deal with Republicans.

The usual fearmongering.

UGLY: Sanders disavows surrogate’s corporate ‘whore’ remark.

INSERT KISSINGER’S IRAN-IRAQ WAR QUIP HERE: Bernie’s Jewish Problem, and Hillary’s Surprisingly Bold Response.

CONGRESS DARES TO SUGGEST THAT IRS EMPLOYEES SHOULD ACTUALLY PAY THEIR OWN TAXES.

I agree — who does the IRS think they are, MSNBC anchors?

MOOK DROPS QUESTION ABOUT HILLARY’S WALL STREET HYPOCRISY LIKE IT’S HOT [VIDEO].

Related: Clinton and Goldman: Why It Matters.

COMCAST SPOKESMAN CONDESCENDINGLY MANSPLAINS TO LEADING FEMALE TELEVISION ANCHOR: Al Sharpton Snaps at Megyn Kelly to ‘Calm Down’ When Challenged on Ferguson Findings.

Why are Democrat-owned industries such cesspits of racism, corruption, homophobia and pervasive mansplaining?

Related: “Megyn Kelly’s contract is coming up for renewal. She says she might sign with someone other than Fox. Allah (linked above) has repeatedly suggested that the lack of support she feels from Fox may cause her to jump ship. I think it would be best if she did. Not because I dislike her,” Ace of Spades writes. But “The possibility that Kelly could colonize a prominent network with her heretical views would be good for conservatism overall. Seizing prominent enemy positions is the goal of any army that’s doing more than perimeter patrolling.”

THEY HAVE COOKIES — THE SWEETEST, MOST DELICIOUS, YUUUUGEST COOKIES OF THEM ALL. NOT TO MENTION, STEAKS, WINE, AND VODKA: Welcome, Karl Rove, to the dark side.

(Via SDA.)

MORE BUMPS THAN ROAD: Obamacare Hits Another Bump in the Road.

Well, the hammer has fallen: The largest health insurer in the U.S. has started pulling out of select Obamacare exchanges.

Five months ago UnitedHealth, which had been singing sunny songs to investors about its bright future on the exchanges, abruptly began crooning the blues. In an earnings call barely a month after executives assured investors that all was going swimmingly, they confessed that they were losing a ton of money on their Obamacare policies and described a pattern that sounded as if consumers were gaming the system — signing up for a few months, using a ton of services, and then canceling their policies. If this continued, they said, they would have no choice but to pull out of the exchange business.

All Obamacare news is a sort of Rorschach test upon which viewers project their own deepest hopes and fears about the program, and the UnitedHealth news was no exception. Supporters of the law saw a company that had come late to the exchanges; offered a high-cost, high-value product; and consequently experienced losses as the sickest people rushed to buy their policies. The law’s detractors saw the canary in the coal mine, a view that gained some credence as other companies made similar statements.

Debacle.

AS I ALWAYS SAY, YOU’VE GOT TO BE CRUEL TO BE KIND, IN THE RIGHT MEASURE: Spengler on Immigration: When to be kind is to be cruel, to be cruel is to be kind. “The leader of a prominent Muslim country who claims to speak for the Muslim world threatened the Europeans with 10,000 or 15,000 Muslim deaths. When in world history has one side in negotiations threaten to kill its own people in order to gain leverage?”

He realizes he’s dealing with pathological altruists.

NAVY SECRETARY AGAIN BENDS RULES ABOUT SHIP NAMING TO HONOR DEMOCRATIC POLITICIAN: Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, “who has previously been accused of politicizing the ship-naming process, announced Monday that the destroyer will be named after Carl Levin, a former Democratic U.S. senator from Michigan who is still alive and did not serve in the U.S. military. Mabus disregarded Navy ship-naming rules stipulating that destroyers should be named for deceased members of the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, including secretaries of the Navy…Mabus came under fire in 2011 for naming a supply ship in memory of labor leader Cesar Chavez.”

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH: EPA Head Gina McCarthy Named Conservationist Of The Year, After Spilling Tons Of Mine Waste.

IS TRUMP AMERICA’S JEAN-MARIE LE PEN? “The ultimate reason for both men’s rise in polls and electoral returns is that they tackled the taboo of the day: the impact of mass immigration, including Muslim immigration, on society. Being provocative or outlandish on other issues as well is understood as a reassurance to keep a steadfast stand on that main issue.”

THE OBAMA WHITE HOUSE’S CULTURE WAR OF CHOICE: The War on the Little Sisters of the Poor. “Every knee must bend.”

AND IF YOU HAVEN’T HEARD: Acclaimed Science Fiction Author Dr. Jerry Pournelle Wins the National Space Society Robert A. Heinlein Award.

IF YOU CAN’T LIVE IN SPACE, YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO VISIT THERE: Fully Operational Private Space Hotels Could Soon Be On The Way.

IS, IN GENERAL, BAD: The Character of a Socialist.

SUPERIOR TECHNOLOGY OF COMMUNISM, COMRADE: North Korea missile launch fails in embarrassing setback for leader Kim.

THE BEATINGS WILL CONTINUE TILL MORALE IMPROVES: and toilet paper becomes available.  Or something. Venezuela leader threatens to cut opposition legislature’s term.

JUST WHEN YOU THINK GUN-GRABBERS HAVE HIT BOTTOM, THEY BUY AN EXCAVATOR:  Sugar and spice and everything nasty.

HIGHER EDUCATION BECLOWNING UPDATE: For $35K DePaul provides a refuge for Chalkophobics.

YOU KNOW, I HATE THOSE SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS THAT HAVE BIG THICK GLOSSARIES AT THE BEGINNING.  AND NOW THIS: A Gender Fender-Bender At UofW.

BUT I LIKE POPCORN!  Dem dust up in Maryland is a sign of things to come.

AND THIS, THIS HERE, RIGHT HERE IS MY SHOCKED FACE: SJWs Want to Train Whites Like Monkeys – Totally Not Racist.

IT’S COME TO THIS: Microsoft sues US government for the right to tell you when feds are reading your email.