Doesn't the sky seem especially bright and blue today?

I swear, if someone told me on Monday that President Sullivan would be reinstated, and the Affordable Care Act would be upheld, albeit by an unnecessarily razor-thin margin, I'd have told that person to put the pipe down! But sanity, for a day or two, has managed to prevail! So sleep well, everybody!

Well, THAT was surprisingly anticlimactic...

President Sullivan was voted back unanimously; as an obvious sop to the BOV, Dragas was given a vote of confidence as well as a good tongue-bathing by Fralin... Hey, I'm all for moving forward and working together, especially if that's what all the parties involved TRULY want, but I will say that all the forceful assertions that Dragas was a person with integrity wouldn't have been necessary if she hadn't facilitated this unnecessary crisis.

UVa 1, WSJ 0...

As Waldo documented today, the Wall Street Journal ran an editorial on the Teresa Sullivan firing that was a crime against good writing and sound logic. The comments section ran like Bizarro Yahoo, as the audience took it upon themselves to correct the numerous errors and false assertions.

The most glaring error concerned a statement signed by ten of the eleven UVa deans calling for Sullivan's reinstatement. The WSJ supposed that since the business school dean was the holdout, it was proof that the faculty were anti-business and saw the Sullivan firing as a threat to their tenured positions. Of course, the only dean that didn't sign was in fact the dean of the undergraduate School of Commerce, Carl Zeithaml, who had just been named interim president and was not asked to sign the letter out of respect for his difficult position.

Meanwhile, Dean Bruner of the Darden Business School provided his own smackdown, noting that not only had he signed the Deans' statement, he was one of its writers.

While the Wall Street Journal has noted the correction, the actual content of the editorial has not changed, with "UVa faculty vs. Dean of Business School" becoming "UVa faculty vs. business in general". When your unsupported conclusion is already in place before you begin to write, shifting and removing inconvenient facts isn't that difficult.

What is all the more galling is that this piece of dreck screams Hill & Knowlton, the PR firm that's being employed by Rector Helen Dragas to repair her reputation and paid for with funds from a UVa foundation. I wonder how donors will feel about their philanthropic dollars being used this way.

And when it all shakes out, I hope McDonnell remembers what happens here should he decide to run for Senator later. Because Virginia will.

Good for you, Mr. President.

I'm glad you've taken this mainstream position, along with the majority of the country.

Wow, Krugman even kinda likes it?

Good enough for me. Now to start calling my congressman...

And maybe we should sent this book to Hurt, just in case...

It's even more cute that some people think the truth matters...

...as the New York Times here. Of course, in the real world their proposed compromise would make a lot of sense (let the middle class tax break continue until the end of 2013, let the upper bracket cuts expire now). But we know that there is no way in holy hell the Repubs are going to strike any sort of deal and will be more than happy to put the onus on Obama to let the whole thing expire.

Which is, of course, exactly what he should do. But as long as one side is more than happy to threaten the country with an economic meltdown, like it or not, they're always going to have Obama over a barrel. I hope the manic progressives realize that the reason we're having these problems isn't because Obama hasn't been eating his Wheaties, it's because THE TEA PARTY IS FUCKING INSANE.

As odd as it may be for someone on the Internet to write this, I'm going to keep it in my pants.

Libs are already all excited about getting angry about the Obama-Orange Goblin deal, but I'm adopting a "wait and see and may as well start the squat thrusts in preparation for what's to come" attitude.

A few things are going to be certain if a deal is struck: a) firebaggers won't like it; b) teabaggers won't like it; c) the media will not point out that Republicans brought the entire financial world to a panic over what used to be a basic procedural vote and d) Obama will come out of it as the only grown-up in the room.

And as much as I can understand the libs' frustration over d), I say thank fucking Christ there's a grown-up left in Washington.

Holy fuck, bin Laden's dead...

Last night, I turned in early as we had a long ride back from the Tribeca Film Festival. Mrs. came in to bed a couple of hours later...

"Honey, did you see the news?"
"Hmm?"
"They killed bin Laden."
"thatsnicehoneygoodnight..."

And so when I checked the news this morning, it was just like the subject line. So while that fucker's roasting in hell, I relished Americans coming together, even the most partisan adversaries cheering as one. Naturally, I mean Phillies and Mets fans.


And if this has the added bonus of getting Trump to shut the fuck up, then this is truly the most accomplished administration in Presidential history.

Well, balanced the budget. It took me all of five minutes but I did it.

Here are my choices.

Of course, left to my own druthers, might have done things differently. I posted a long time ago that I thought the payroll tax cap was bullshit (I'll find the link and add it when I get the chance).

EDIT: Wow, did this back in 2005.

But whatever my plan's faults, I'd put that up against Ryan's idiocy any day.

SECOND EDIT: Also, given the choice, I would have taxed capital gains at the same rate as ordinary income. I'm not sure why speculators and hedge fund execs shouldn't be privy to the same tax rates as the rest of us.

Really, why not Tom Perriello?

After all, according to a Republican poll, he's already beating Allen (copious grains of salt apply, natch).

And this is before the race has even started. Personally, I'd put my money on the guy who barely lost the race he should have lost by 20 points over the guy who barely lost the race he should have won by 20 points.

And after watching Perriello crush Hurt over and over again in his debates, the thought of him going up against Georgie boy makes me want to invest in a new popcorn popper. Bring. it. on.

Wow, that was quick.

But when it comes to drafting Perriello for Senate, quick ain't fast enough.

Senator Perriello, is that too much to ask?

Balloon Juice just reported that Jim Webb isn't going to seek re-election, which provides our commonwealth the opportunity to correct a horrible, horrible mistake that our district made.

Because really, if Tom, in this political climate, can get within 3 points in a congressional district that by all rights he should have lost by 15, he can probably beat a teabagger statewide in an election year, or better yet, George Allen, who would divide the Repubs more than they'd probably care to admit.

Hey, it's time to get excited about politics again!

The Nihilist Party ain't wastin' no time...

They are starting by voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act, no doubt the first of many votes designed to do nothing so they can run in 2012 on the premise that the president hasn't done anything.

I'm ready to call my congressman to let him know how I feel, but his congressional website isn't up yet. Mr. Hurt, you're replacing the hardest-working man in Congress, maybe you should get your shit together.

At least those snowplows won't be helping him out of the bathroom...

I don't think Chris Christie has been a great governor of my former state, to say the least. He's been a fucking embarrassment, to be more accurate.

All the same, I don't necessarily blame him for taking a vacation even though he knew the snowstorm was coming. What I find amazingly weird is why the Lt. Governor would be on vacation the same week. Isn't that the point of the damn job?

It just reminds me of what P. J. O'Rourke said about twenty-five years ago: "The Republican Party is the party that says government doesn't work, then they get elected and prove it."

Watch out, Tom Coburn...

McCain's trying to take your "Most Angry Insane Jerkoff" badge.

I'm mostly in the "he was never that great to begin with" camp, but I do remember a McCain interview with Jon Stewart a few years back when he was talking about the importance of green energy to combat air pollution and thinking he came off as intelligent and decent.

It truly is a shame that he's clearly been neither in more recent debates. Not liking a guy and wishing he would forego petty grievances to preserve some sort of legacy are not mutually exclusive things.

Shocked, shocked I am, that the Repubs would act this way...

Putting petty politics above the needs of Americans? Knock me over with a feather.

I mean, after the START treaty crappo, can we start calling this bullshit treason?

Update: Fuck it, I'm calling it treason.

Sick as a dog, but going out to vote...

Can't not vote for Perriello, after all.

I'm still hoping against hope that he'll be able to pull it out, that the Obama visit energized the base, that the debates illustrated what a superior candidate Perriello has been, that the residents of our district might not be so quick to dismiss a congressman whose constituent service has been a vast improvement over Virgil Goode despite not being affiliated with the dominant party here.

But whatever the result, Tom has done it his way, and a victory here would offer a blueprint to Democrats in Republican districts (rule 1: stop being such a fucking pussy).

And win or lose, Robert Hurt is finishing up his campaign his way too, by being a whiny jerk.

UPDATE: Oh, and Hurt's supporters stayed classy to the end, too.

President Obama at last night's rally in Charlottesville.

Of course Barack Obama and Tom Perriello were great...

I mean, would you expect any different?

We got there at about 5, with the line already winding through the entire Downtown Mall, around the Ice Rink, and back down to Second Street Gallery, where we stayed. We got in about 7, and according to our friends, they shut the lines down five minutes later.

Once I get the video on my computer, I'll download the last four minutes. It was awe-inspiring. Now let's just hope it's enough to put Tom over the top.

Well, this is a big get for Tom...

...lessee, how about an endorsement from, I don't know, President Obama? Honestly, it's the least Barry could do, and maybe some of Tom's populist touch can rub off on him.