The bottom line is, either you believe in your theory of change or you don’t. If you believe that progressive policies such as a bigger stimulus package, or more banking regulation will have a greater impact on restoring the economy and creating jobs, then the people who won’t let you do that are hobbling your ability to succeed. Because the public doesn’t really care whether the change is happening because of liberal or conservative policies, they just care that it’s happening. And they make their choices at the ballot box based on what is happening in their lives.

What journalist Matt Bai and Virginia’s junior Senator Mark Warner choose not to understand is that centrism is an ideology even more stubborn than the left or right they love to attack, but an ideology that got us into the mess we’re in now, both fiscally and electorally.

• The number one priority of Americans, Democrats and Independents is passing a new stimulus bill to create new jobs. The number one priority of Republicans is repealing health care.
• The number two priority of Republicans, Democrats and Independents is cutting federal spending.
• The number three priority of Americans, Democrats and Independents is repealing the health care bill.
• The number four priority of Americans, Republicans, Democrats and Independents is extending all of the Bush tax cuts.
• Americans and Independents do not track on one single issue with Republicans over Democrats.
• More Republicans want to pass a new stimulus bill to create jobs than extend all the Bush tax cuts.

I don’t know if the Olbermann suspension had anything to do with Comcast’s imminent takeover or just a reflexive tendency within MSNBC to follow the political winds. But there’s no question that media concentration has led to a narrowing of the subjects up for discussion and the voices allowed to brooch those subjects.

Thanks to Juan Williams’ legitimization of this kind of irrational response, I guess people dressed in religious garb no longer can pee in crappy airplane bathrooms without expecting to be detained by the FBI.

The study itself (which suffers from some unfortunate biases, including its assumption that members of the military should be more supportive of torture) suggests that Dick Cheney’s pro-torture media blitz might explain why torture became more popular once a purportedly anti-torture President took power.

There may be some truth to that. I wouldn’t endorse it unquestioningly without some evidence to support it. But if it is true, it would serve as a lesson about the Obama Administration strategy to avoid fighting for anything it believes in. That is, the study raises the possibility that–by ceding the field to PapaDick’s relentless pro-torture campaign–the Administration served to make its own stated policy less popular.

But as I said, that may not be the right lesson to take away from this. . . .

The NPL was one of the most powerful political organizations in American history and the speed of its rise to power was unprecedented. The organization was formed in 1915 by two men sitting around a kitchen table. By 1918, it had taken complete control of the government of North Dakota and enacted much of its platform. Its success and failures hold a wealth of lessons for anyone interested in political organizations.

Information is the key to unlock a door. Too often political leaders hide behind complexity to justify their activities. They don’t expect their audiences to understand procedural nuances or wonkish details. They thrive on the public’s boredom. This is the space than an FDL can fill. And it’s been great to provide those keys to this community every now and again, so they can unlock doors and challenge power.

In an “analysis” piece by the Times David Sanger, we learn the astonishing fact that Barack Obama is in danger of being perceived as overly hostile to large corporations like BP, because he wants them to pay for the damages they cause.

Being here is a constantly evolving experience. I have learned a decent bit more about fishing than I ever thought I would care to, but the most interesting things I have learned are about how the media operate. Everyone has heard of reporters taking creative license when editing, bending the real story to fit their agendas.

What’s most shocking is just how easy it is to do.