A few commentators, including Rachel Maddow, have taken pessimists to task for suggesting that the chances of actual meaningful gun safety legislation in the wake of the Tucson assassination attempt are quite low. I think it’s more accurate to describe those pessimists as realists. And joining them is one of the most ardent gun safety supporters in the Congress, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL).

As part of what they bill as a “military training program,” the Air Force National Guard will deploy a bunch of MQ-9 Reaper drones over the Adirondacks park in Northern NY.

The RNC is meeting to choose their new chairman for the 2011-2012 cycle. They’re through four ballots so far [update: after seven ballots, it looks like Reince Priebus will win.]. After nearly tying the front runner, Wisconsin GOP chair Reince Priebus, on the first ballot, incumbent chairman and human Kick-Me sign Michael Steele dropped support in each of the three subsequent ballots. In a rare moment of clarity, he dropped out of the race.

Welcome to a brand new age of political cynicism in America! According to a new poll from Pew, the American people have become dramatically more cynical about the chances of bipartisanship over the past two years.

I don’t agree with Johnson basically at all in his way-too-generous interpretation of King’s words to justify war. I think they’re more tied up in Johnson’s current profession and audience for that speech than anything else. But read the full remarks and judge for yourself.

Check out this list of the top 10 MyFDL diaries from 2010 (based on pageviews). Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to our fantastic community of writers. We look forward to reading your work in 2011.

What were your favorite myFDL diaries from last year? Share your picks in the comments!

The efforts we’ve seen in recent years by Democrats to placate the other side, through weakening of that moral imperative, only serve to weaken the public policy goal.

Here’s David Brooks today in the New York Times, writing yet another version of — “things were so much better in this country before liberals ruined it.”

Is Vets for Freedom preparing to support David Petraeus as a candidate for President? Shouldn’t the Wall Street Journal have mentioned that Vets for Freedom supports candidates for office who are veterans and support “victory” in Iraq and Afghanistan?

The President has waffled on his personal support for gay marriage, and Vice President Biden said a couple weeks ago that marriage equality was “inevitable” as attitudes change. But for the time being, the Justice Department is sticking with their defense of DOMA.