We bring you more of our conversation with legendary political operative Roger Stone. In this installment Roger tells us what he sees as the current state and future of the Republican party …

Full-size video at TPMtv.com.

As we just flagged in our breaking news section, there were initial BBC reports moments ago of up to six gunmen shot by Indian security forces at the airport in New Delhi. But the BBC now seems to be dialing that report back, now only saying there were shots fired, with no details about who they were shot at or whether anyone was injured. Meanwhile, there seemed to be no word on this in the English-language Indian press — other than a few reports sourced back to the BBC. And they’re now putting ‘shootings’ in quotes. We’ll keep following this closely. But great caution seems warranted about those initial reports.

Late Update: Now it’s been dialed back to a report of “sharp sounds” that the airport officials are now investigating. So, well …

I’m listening to one-time DC celeb Fred Thompson on Neil Cavuto’s show on Fox talking about the virtues of economic retrenchment as opposed to fiscal stimulus as a way to deal with the faltering US economy. I’m hearing this here and there from a few Republicans. But I’m curious how much this is coalescing into an opposition position.

Late Update: It seems Yglesias has dibs on the phrase neo-Hooeverite.

What about massive infrastructure stimulus aimed at telecommunications infrastructure? Yochai Benkler lays out the possibilities.

David Bonior mounts aggressive behind-the-scenes effort to get union activist Mary Beth Maxwell installed as Obama’s labor secretary.

A new caucus of pro-Depression 2.0 Republicans? Ed Kilgore looks at the possibility.

Check out Ed’s post, and his reference to another of Stoller’s. There’s an interesting and I think important question here as to whether neo-Hooeverite Republicans are pushing Hooverite policies for strictly economic reasons (creditors can do well in a deflationary economy), moral reasons (need a good hard recession to re-teach the poor moral values) or just because they’re economic illiterates who just don’t feel right echoing the calls of centrist and liberal economists. I think both Ed and Stoller are both on solid ground, with respect to the moral and economic rationales, respectively, though I think many of the folks I see on Cavuto’s show fall squarely in the third category.

Late Update: This too, from TPM Reader JF …

I tend to believe there is a simpler explanation for the Neo-Hooverite positioning: Given the new demographic realities of the country, Obama’s presidency must be a failure if Republicans are to ever emerge from the political wilderness. The more they obstruct, the more Obama and Congessional Democrats will be forced to water down economic policy. And a watered-down policy just won’t cut it at this moment in history. This is sabotage, pure and simple. If the poor and the middle class have to suffer in order for Republicans to have something to run against in 2010, so be it.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA): “[Obama’s] going to have to be more assertive than he’s been. At a time of great crisis with mortgage foreclosures and autos, he says we only have one president at a time. I’m afraid that overstates the number of presidents we have. He’s got to remedy that situation.”

Obama’s total haul for the 2008 elections: nearly $750 million. That and the day’s other political news in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup.

It seems that Rep. Nadler (D-NY), who actually represents the part of New York City where TPM is located, is set to introduce a constitutional amendment to limit the president’s pardon power.

I’d be curious what people think. It’s certainly come in for some abuse. But in addition to always being leery of fiddling with the constitution, I don’t know if I like the idea of changing the pardon power. I think it’s an important safety valve in our constitutional system. If it’s been a problem, rather than changing the constitution, maybe we need better presidents.