Krugman Keeps it Real
We made the mistake of watching "This Week" on ABC this morning, and were stunned that the last five minutes or so of the "Roundtable" was taken up with discussion about the resignation of the White House social secretary. Did she quit or was she fired? What does this say about failure and its consequences in the administration? Does the move signal the start of an exodus from the administration of the Obamas' Chicago friends? And so on.

As Annie and I looked at each other in disbelief, the Beltway lifers Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldson and George Will went back and forth on these and other issues with considerably more energy and engagement than they'd spent on health care. Paul Krugman, the fourth panelist, sat there in silence until the end, when he finally said: "There are 20 million people unemployed in this country, and we're arguing about the White House social secretary?" While I might have wished for an editorial preface of "what the hell is wrong with you people?" it was still pretty satisfying.

One more quick note: John Smoltz as a Republican Congressman is one of those perfect convergences of evil, like J.D. Drew or Billy Wagner playing for the Braves or George W. Bush cheering for the Cowboys. It's actually kind of nice to know that my loathing for the guy won't have to end just because he's likely to hang up his spikes. I just hope he doesn't try to outlaw Citizens Bank Park, or go all Uganda on gay rights.