Author: Andrew Sullivan

Douthat's fears that the GOP will continue its irresponsibility:

[A]s I said to Weigel, my biggest worry is that the G.O.P. is basically taking one of the insights from “Grand New Party” — that even the Republican base has grown to love big government — and running with it in a cynical, rather than a constructive direction, by offering rhetorical promises to cut government joined to specific pledges to protect the most expensive sections of the welfare state. If the Tea Party’s fervor succeeds in electing a group of politicians who are serious about entitlement reform, then it will have done both the country and conservatism a service. But if it just produces a lot of posturing about small government joined to yet more fiscal irresponsibility … well, then I hope the same people who regarded “Grand New Party” as a fatal compromise with statism will hold the Tea Party to same high standard.

You bet the Dish will – and has. I wish we had a sane, responsible, fiscally conservative GOP in this country – one that could make a deal with a pragmatic Democratic president to resolve long-term debt before it is too late (if it isn't already). But it appears we don't. When Rand Paul is criticizing even minor cuts in Medicare, we are not talking about Cameron-style realism.

Scott Morgan tackles an op-ed written by the nine former heads of the DEA:

They actually want Holder to tell voters that Prop 19 will be "void" even if it passes, as though no one in California has ever heard of a marijuana dispensary. This, in their view, is an argument so strong as to warrant an entire Wall Street Journal op-ed dedicated to it.

For another layer of absurdity, consider that one of the authors, Karen Tandy, presided over the DEA during a dramatic expansion of the medical marijuana industry that she now claims is legally impossible, even though it actually happened in real life while she was in charge of federal drug enforcement. She knows as well as anyone that California can make its own drug laws whether the DEA likes it or not. It's true that she could have prosecuted everyone in sight under federal law, but for a variety of practical and political reasons, that isn't what happened. It's not likely to happen if Prop 19 passes either, at least not unless Obama has a masochistic desire to further alienate his base as we heads towards 2012.

Sharron Angle has a new ad attacking Reid on illegal immigration::

Pareene parodies:

"You" are paying for those illegals to go to college! Which, you know, makes it sound like they're decided to better themselves and become dues-paying responsible members of society, sure — but did you see that guy in front? His hat is on backwards! The only people who wear hats in such an unorthodox manner are members of criminal gangs, or people under 50.

Ezra Klein enjoyed Weigel's report on conservative reformers:

At the end of the day, politics is about more than winning elections. The Republican Party remains in intellectual tatters. Its main two policy ideas — extending the Bush tax cuts and repealing health-care reform — will make its main policy concern — the debt — much, much worse. It has no answer for our economic moment, for inequality, for the health-care system (Mitt Romney used to have one, but then Democrats took it), for the deficit. You don't need good ideas to win. But you do need them to govern.

Texas In Africa does not approve of the Congolese president temporarily suspending mining in east Congo:

In the short term, this decision created very serious suffering for the population who was dependent on their work in the mines. I have no doubt that children have become malnourished – and may die – as a direct consequence of the ban. You cannot cut off an entire sector of a weak economy overnight without severe consequences, and the most vulnerable are hit the worst by shocks like this one. That's why it's so terribly important for advocates, policy makers, and politicians to get it right.

A reader sends along a slick interactive map he created "showing a couple of hundred of the VFYW photos from the last few years":

Best viewed here. You can make your own at Open Heat Map.

Today on the Dish, Andrew pressed the Catholic church to embrace gays and the special cross of suffering they bear. Andrew defended Obama's "Kenyan rage" at Wall Street and healthcare companies against D'Souza, and wished for a Tory-like Tea Party: "socially centrist, fiscally badass."

Readers attacked Andrew's meager defense of Glenn Beck, Douthat dug deeper on defense spending, Rand Paul went back to loving Medicare, and Drum wondered if Republicans were just blowing smoke on repealing health care reform. Chait questioned the National Review's support of Romneycare in 2008 versus what they'd say today, and Silver dissected the enthusiasm gap. Joyner joined Schwarzenegger in predicting Obama's second term, Ben Smith scooped the story on the Palin model of endorsements, and while Palin is no Thatcher, Claire Berlinski just about called her candidacy for president a case of "mass psychosis."

Kinsley echoed Silverstein on intellectual dishonesty in D.C., Howard Kurtz killed Silverstein's will to report, and then got promoted at the Daily Beast. Autotranslate amazed Goldblog, the Tories weren't fiscal frauds, and Rufus F. appreciated the culture wars because culture matters. NOM sought revenge on Iowa's judges, and 4.2 percent of men are gay. Life got better for Tim Gunn, and Phoebe Maltz remained hesitant to complain about the portrayl of Jewish women. John Cole explained how we create terrorists, and prosecutors break laws too. Size does matter and explains why California will legally lead the way with marijuana.

Monty Python took Jesus Christ out, John Scalzi voted for smart yogurt, and not counting emotional attachments, pot wasn't worth more than gold. Headline of the day here, VFYW here, MHB here, FOTD here, and map of the day here.

–Z.P.

XKCD has updated its map of the Internet. The Dish's stomping grounds:

(Hat tip: Kottke)

Weigel checks in on GOP reformers:

After the election, says Frum, after the GOP has recovered in record time, either it's going to have to move away from its campaign rhetoric or it's going to be unable to govern. "What happens in January," Frum says, "when the GOP majority arrives and the Bush tax cuts expire, the U.S. economy has deflationary shock, we don't have a program for pulling the economy out of inflation, and we don't have permission from party supporters or permission from voters to compromise? You have people arriving in office with highly apocalyptic vision of a president but programs they don't know how to execute on their own. It's a formula for crisis."

Schwarzenegger thinks that Obama will get re-elected. Joyner agrees:

Barack Obama should win a second term unless:

• He dies in office. Let’s hope he doesn’t.

• The economy remains a disaster. Let’s hope it doesn’t, for our sake.   He’s got about 18 months for it to turn around, though, in time for it to sink in.

• There’s a significant third party challenger that hurts him more than his opponent. That seems quite unlikely. (Just for kicks, I’ll nominate Al Gore.)  Indeed, the opposite seems more likely.

• He decides not to seek re-election. Incredibly unlikely, absent a double dip so steep that he’s in danger of not being re-nominated.

• He’s presiding over a highly unpopular war. Possible.  But he does seem to be looking for the door in Afghanistan.