“McConnell fallback plan would leave debt-ceiling hikes to Obama.” That is, cede the constitutional authority of Congress to the Executive branch — presumably to force Obama into making the politically unpopular move and save themselves from having to stand tough to the end. With the casualty being limited government itself. And here we were praising McConnell. Silly fucking us, we should have known better. Fail. **** update: could it be

CBS News: President Obama on Tuesday said he cannot guarantee that retirees will receive their Social Security checks August 3 if Democrats and Republicans in Washington do not reach an agreement on reducing the deficit in the coming weeks. “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it,”

Or rather, they speak a little more forthrightly. And frankly, it’s refreshing. — Though, to David Brooks, it’s a sign that they’re being held hostage by extremist bitter clingers who are too daft to appreciate the crease in Obama’s pant leg. To which I say, just declare yourself a Democrat and get it over with.

It occurs to me that Bill Hicks was essentially the Obama of stand up comedy — and that, for all the hagiography that surrounds him, the only real boundaries he pushed were those that disguised a rather obvious and pathetic pander for acceptance as a form of faux cosmopolitanism and wannabe intellectualism. That even saying such is considered a sort of pop-culture sacrilege explains, at least to me, the “historic”

No wonder this guy thinks the Constitution a “flawed document”: it gives voice to those who aren’t “professional politicians” — and such people really need to keep their bitter clinger mouths shut and let the super smart people (who can be identified by their having never done much besides tell others what they should be doing) do the heavy lifting. — Which, if the President wants to take this tack,

Go. I command you. (Or rather, I suggest it. Sorry. Sometimes I forget I’m not a Democratic President or a liberal judge.)

Liberals learn what it’s like to be an American business. And it couldn’t happen to a more lovely bunch. But don’t worry. Once they manage to exempt themselves from the ever-encroaching regulatory state, they’ll be all for its entangling of others. Because that’s who they are. I hope they fail. (h/t Terry H)

— if you are going to admit these days to voting for Obama, best to admit what a huge mistake it was, and own that you were duped. Suggesting you made a logical, sober, considered choice to vote for a Chitown machine pol flanked by Jerry Wright and Bill Ayers — a guy who’d been suckled on Marxism and made his bones mau-mauing the flak catchers as an Acorn race

The nannystate, lead by the historic mother Marxist hen, Barack Obama, wants to raise taxes during a jobless “recovery” (or is it a “growthless recovery,” I can never remember?) — and if he doesn’t get what he wants, if his wee American children persist in their recalcitrance and refuse to eat their peas, he’s going to put his historic mother Marxist hen’s foot down and ride the class warfare argument

Freedom tries to make a comeback: The House today is poised to vote on a bill repealing the ill-conceived ban on standard incandescent light bulbs. H.R. 2417, introduced by Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) and supported by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), would eliminate the ban scheduled to begin taking effect on January 1, 2012. “The American people have voiced overwhelming opposition to the light bulb ban, and