What You Really Want

"Second lady Lynne Cheney, a descendant of Mormons, is defending Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney against what she calls 'virulently anti-Mormon' criticism.

" 'I have been really astounded by the ferocity of some of the statements that people I would not expect to make have made about Mormonism,' Cheney told The Examiner in an interview.

"She said Slate magazine published an article by Jacob Weisberg 'that was just virulently anti-Mormon.' The December column branded Mormonism a 'fraud' and ridiculed Romney for believing in the 'whoppers' of church founder Joseph Smith, whom Weisberg called 'an obvious con man.'

"Cheney, who recounts her Mormon roots in a new book, 'Blue Skies, No Fences,' said there is more religious criticism of Romney than there was of his father, the late Michigan Gov. George Romney, when he ran for president 40 years ago."

That is undoubtedly true. And I think the press has focused too much on Mitt's religion.

Is Obama disappointing the liberal pundits? He sure hasn't inspired Josh Marshall:

"For months I've been quietly hoping that Barack Obama would at least make a race of it with Hillary Clinton. So I was more than a little disappointed when all the metrics of conventional wisdom (in the wise and foolish senses) started showing Hillary leaving Obama in the dust and becoming the dominant frontrunner and presumptive nominee . . .

"Obama isn't so much running for the nomination in the sense of reaching out and taking it. He's trying to show us how marvelous he is (and this isn't snark, he's really pretty marvelous) so that Democratic voters will recognize it and give him the nomination.

"But that's not how it works in this country. I don't know if it really works otherwise anywhere else. But you have to really want it, come out and say it, take it. I thought about qualities that describe what is at issue. 'Toughness' seems to bound up in meta-national security mumbojumbo. 'Ruthlessness' sounds too, well, ruthless. You have to want it enough that you reach out and take it. Which isn't always pretty and admirable. But that's what it takes."

He may have broken with conservatives in backing John Kerry last time, but Andrew Sullivan just plain doesn't like Hillary. Now he's steamed that she is using Sandy Berger-- as an informal adviser:

"A thief and liar is hired by Clinton. But his thievery is less important to Clinton than his loyalty. After all, his theft was an attempt to keep president Clinton's failures with respect to al Qaeda under wraps. And so he gets a pardon. Remember: the Clintons are on their best behavior right now. And they still rehire their corrupted loyalists. Like the other royal family, the Clinton court exists to reward loyalty, protect the brand, circle the wagons and to punish dissenters. With post-Cheney executive powers, the potential for the Clinton machine to abuse their power more profoundly than in the 1990s is high.

"While I'm at it: Several of you have emailed claiming that my antipathy to the Clinton Restoration is a function of my discomfort with women in power. This argument is a little weak since my entire interest in politics was born out of an unhealthy devotion to the career and achievements of Margaret Thatcher, a truly powerful woman and a far more impressive feminist than Hillary Rodham Clinton."