The likelihood that Pamela Howell’s testimony, if not the entire double-counting gambit, will be struck is bolstered by the fact that the Coleman courtroom team has suddenly gone berserk.

The RNC is going back to its. . . roots?

A generation has lived in the era of complacency. Recessions were “shallow” expansions were long, inflation was tamed. Monetary policy seemed to be able to stabilize the economy. It was the neo-conservative version of technocratic Keynesianism. Today a large neon sign went up that said “The End:”Real gross domestic product — the output of goods and services produced by labor and propertylocated in the United States — decreased at an annual rate of 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.

From the File of Things That Really Shouldn’t Surprise Anyone Who’s Been Paying Attention to American Culture, we have this: A new study finds that those states that consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of porn consumption. Utah is the biggest consumer of online broadband porn, which is ironic considering Orrin Hatch’s grandstanding against an Obama DoJ nominee who did some First Amendment legal work for Playboy.

“Some of the people who are most outraged turn out to be consumers of the very things they claimed to be outraged by,” Edelman says.

The 9th Circuit just refused Obama/Dead-Ender’s request for a stay in the al-Haramain suit.

President Obama may think his withdrawal plan is a compromise that has won over the generals who don’t want to leave Iraq… but they may have other ideas.

It is not the end of the war in Iraq, but it is likely the end of the beginning, and, possibly, the beginning of the end.

Day 2 of the Annual Wingnut Convention is off to an awesome start!

Atrios says:  “Where Are All The Women Op-Ed Writers? Fred Hiatt can’t find them.”

I’m no Fred Hiatt fan, but intellectual honesty compels me to defend the man against this patent falsehood.

Ladies and Gentlemen, SE Cupp:

Okay so let’s envision this. Jindal is saying that days after Katrina hit, he walks into Lee’s office. The Sheriff’s is yelling into the phone, recounting his frustrations to a friend. Jindal overhears this and says “that’s ridiculous,” so Lee tells the friend on the phone to come and arrest Jindal. Completely independent of any of this, Lee had told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats days before. And Jindal never meant to imply that he used his status as a Congressman to heroically intercede on behalf of people in need of rescue against evil bureaucrats indifferent to human suffering. Lee is now conveniently deceased, so nobody can confirm one way or the other.

Ben says “liberal critics” have raised questions with the story. If everyone who has a problem with that story is a liberal, our numbers are bigger than I think.