The President has been very clear: he’s not going to get into another hostage negotiation over the debt ceiling. Absolutely not. That’s what he says. And I think he’s going to stick to that. But there’s a passion and energy behind it that’s made me think (not surprisingly) the President feels guilty about what he allowed to happen back in 2011. Read More

Boehner shifts gears, says my way or the highway, tells Obama he must sign “Plan B” or be responsible for cliff dive.

The only issue here is that politically, the ‘highway’ is known as the Obama State Parkway, where Obama would prefer not to go but is happy to drive on if he must.

Like I said, talk loudly and carry a small stick. Maybe no stick.

Yesterday I noted Megan McArdle’s suggestion that we drill young people to rush gunmen mid-massacre rather than trying to run and hide. Now we learn from Jessica Valenti that this is a growing trend. In NRO, Charlotte Allen laments that there were no men or even semi-pubescent boys who could have rushed Lanza (a la Megan McArdle) and what she terms the “feminized setting … in which helpless passivity is the norm.” Read More

Brian Beutler’s got a great piece about how John Boehner’s ‘Plan B’ just seemed to totally blow up the fiscal cliff negotiations. There are so many different angles to go with this — one is, how is this good for Boehner or the GOP? He throws down the gauntlet and tells Obama: ‘I’m going to get my caucus to vote for a tax increase that will never actually become law and bogart all the blame for going over the fiscal cliff?’ Really? Read More

Alec MacGillis at The New Republic had a stroke of genius when he decided to pull the last quarterly SEC filing for The Freedom Group. That’s the consolidated group of gun manufacturers aggregated together and now owned by Cerberus Capital Management, of the country’s biggest and most successful private equity firms. How do they look at their own financial prospects, going into the future? Read More

TPM’s Eric Lach took a deep look at the history of the semi-automatic rifle used in last week’s Connecticut elementary school massacre.

Cory Booker is skipping quickly past the “exploratory” phase of his Senate campaign, judging by comments to TPM by one of his senior advisers.

Speaker Boehner, a short time ago: “I’m convinced the president is unwilling to stand up to his own party.”

As of 9 a.m. ET today, FreedomWorks supported Speaker Boehner’s Plan B. But by 1:30 this afternoon, it was pulling the plug on its own support: “After review of the Boehner Plan B legislation, pending in the House today, FreedomWorks has found it must oppose the legislation, and will be urging House members to vote NO on the bill.”

If I was still living in New Jersey, I’m not sure I’d support Cory Booker bum-rushing Frank Lautenberg out of the Senate.

Curious: would you?

I’m thinking the campaign platform might be: Dude, how you long do you expect me to be Mayor of Newark?