Political Emetics

• Driftglass:
• Willful American political amnesia. Warning: Rude. For (mentally and emotionally) adults only.

  Sorry, Mr. Dionne, but all available suggests that most of the people at the top of your profession are simply incapable of learning from this simple lesson, no matter how many times you hit them in the head with the same 2x4. Because the professional and financial rewards for collaborating with America's domestic enemies are just too great and their moral compasses just too damaged.

• David Brooks may have discovered The Workers.

  And just one year later, Mr, Brooks has suddenly become a Champion of the Working Man. And all it took was the complete destruction of every lie on which Mr. Brooks has built his entire career for the last 20 years.

  We'll see how long that lasts, eh?  With a list of movies/books Mr. B still needs to take in.
• The Daily Irritant also pummels Mr. Brooks.

  Also, I'm fairly sure that the purpose of teaching history is to indoctrinate kids into the "tenets of their creed." It only takes a few minutes to teach American History properly. It's George Washington, then Lincoln freed the slaves, then we defeated Hitler, then 9/11 happened because they hate our freedom. You can skip over the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the Trail of Tears, the Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese internment camps, you know all the stuff that makes people feel doubt that America is the greatest country in the fucking world!

   
• (Whenever I think that David Brooks doesn't deserve so much opprobrium, I read his column and start screaming "Liar!  Liar!!" no later than the third paragraph.  I am deeply grateful that Drifty and Professor Chaos take their sanity the time in hand to read and dissect Brooks' work, because there is only so much Chopin in the world for clearing that mess out of my head.)
• Shakesville:

  The truth is, it's only because Clinton's policies are as strong as they are that we're not hearing about policy at all. If they were a vulnerability for her, the press would be all over them. But they cannot be exploited to give her bad headlines, so they are of no use to media determined to try to derail her candidacy.
  
  Thus, it's not strictly true that the media has abandoned policy analysis. They've certainly scrutinized Clinton's policies—and found them to be of no use in coverage designed to harm her.

  Well, why aren't the media talking up her stated policies?  The horse race, yeah; the clown, yeah; the broader picture, yeah.  But, you know, I'm not having glasses of wine (beer, ugh) with any of these people.  All I know is that nothing would induce me to vote for Mr. Orange-Haired Surprise.
• Oh, snap.  (Also, the early comments [it's an Open Thread] are not bad.)
• Software Update really wants me to update Right Now.
• I need to go look at the standings.  The Giants are in trouble and my team is trying to stay out of the cellar.  The Cubs have clinched NL Central, so they'll be eliminated in the first round.