Yes, Alberto Gonzales Was Out of the Loop

Marty Lederman:

Balkinization: this was a White House -- not a DOJ -- initiative, and its function was to remove U.S. Attorneys who were not acceptable to the President and his advisers. It makes sense, in that light, that Kyle Sampson would work closely with the White House on the process, and that the Attorney General would be inclined to go along with the White House's final decisions if he were satsified that there was a solid basis for them. So far, so good -- and it wouldn't be terribly out of the ordinary, either, except that it's increasingly clear that this was part of a much more extensive Rovian White House operation to use the mechanisms of government to skew elections to Republicans.

Robert Waldmann Names the Four Horsemen of the Stupidoclypse

He writes:

Robert's Stochastic thoughts: Recognise the Four Horsement of the Stupidoclypse by one certain sign which they use as to signal membership, like Lassallians saying "the iron law of wages": They claim that the 2006 Democratic Senatorial victory was narrow even though only 9 Republicans were elected to the Seanate in the whole country.

Mickey Kaus

And

Charles Krauthammer

"The Democrats say they are carrying out their electoral mandate from the November election. But winning a single-vote Senate majority as a result of razor-thin victories in Montana and Virginia is hardly a landslide."

are horsement of the Stupidoclypse.

I think that Fred Barnes and Morton Kondrake are the other two, but as far as google tells me, they haven't confirmed it yet.

Matthew Yglesias Gets Counterfactual!

Matthew Yglesias writes:

Matthew Yglesias / proudly eponymous since 2002: Mallaby's Wolfowitz Dissembling: Sebastian Mallaby would win my "wanker of the day" prize were we to dispense such shrill awards here. Brad DeLong has the goods on his bizarre coverage of Paul Wolfowitz. For years, he slams Wolfowitz's critics and defends his actions. Today he concedes this actions are indefensible -- you can't alienate your staff, make anti-corruption your signature issue, and then be incredibly corrupt -- but won't call for Wolfowitz to be sacked or acknowledge his previous coverage of the issue....

A comment:

And yet he's one of the less creepy conservative writers out there, especially compared to other writers at the WP. Being a good conservative writer these days is like losing an ugly contest.

Max Sawicky Has a Problem

...I have a problem with the DeLongian formulation, shared in spirit by Thoma, about "balancing" Social Security and Medicare finance. Here as well, the problem is not only the economics, but the political reality that in matters of budgetary scruples, the Democrats [seeking to cooperate with Republicans] are trying to hold a formal dinner with a pack of feces-flinging monkeys...

Paul Krugman: A Failed Revolution

[Republcan] apologists have settled on a story line that sounds just like Marxist explanations for the failure of the Soviet Union.... [T]he noble ideals of the Republican revolution of 1994 were undermined by Washington’s corrupting ways.... [D]efeat was a good thing, because it will force a return to the true conservative path. But the truth is that the movement... was always based on a lie.... As long as people like Mr. Armey, Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay were out of power, they could run on promises to eliminate vast government waste that existed only in the public’s imagination — all those welfare queens driving Cadillacs. But once in power, they couldn’t deliver.... Unable to make good on its promises, the G.O.P., like other failed revolutionary movements, tried to maintain its grip by exploiting its position of power. Friends were rewarded with patronage: Jack Abramoff began building his web of corruption almost as soon as Republicans took control. Adversaries were harassed with smear campaigns.... Without 9/11, the Republican revolution would probably have petered out quietly... Instead, the atrocity created ... four extra years gained by drowning out unfavorable news with terror alerts, starting a gratuitous war, and accusing Democrats of being weak on national security.... In the end, Republicans didn’t shrink the government. But they did degrade it.... Is that the end for the radical right? Probably not.... Still, the Republican revolution of 1994 is over. And not a moment too soon.