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What does the Catholic church have to say about Paul Ryan’s budget plan? “Republican leaders have repeatedly cited support of (some) Catholic leaders in their opposition to the Obama Administration’s health care policies—particularly a requirement that insurance plans cover contraception, which the Church opposes on principle. But now Republicans are the ones catching grief from Catholic leaders, for violating a different set of Church teachings: about the need to protect the poor and vulnerable. On Tuesday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a series of stern letters to Republican committee chairman in the House. The subject was proposed cuts to programs like food stamps and housing assistance, consistent with the overall spending blueprint that House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan has put forward. The message: Don’t slash the safety net, particularly if you’re doing so to finance tax cuts for the wealthy.” Jonathan Cohn: Unholy Cuts: The Bishops Decry Ryan Budget Photo courtesy of CLR Forum
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What does the Catholic church have to say about Paul Ryan’s budget plan?

“Republican leaders have repeatedly cited support of (some) Catholic leaders in their opposition to the Obama Administration’s health care policies—particularly a requirement that insurance plans cover contraception, which the Church opposes on principle. But now Republicans are the ones catching grief from Catholic leaders, for violating a different set of Church teachings: about the need to protect the poor and vulnerable.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a series of stern letters to Republican committee chairman in the House. The subject was proposed cuts to programs like food stamps and housing assistance, consistent with the overall spending blueprint that House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan has put forward. The message: Don’t slash the safety net, particularly if you’re doing so to finance tax cuts for the wealthy.”

Jonathan Cohn: Unholy Cuts: The Bishops Decry Ryan Budget

Photo courtesy of CLR Forum

Would the best tax reform be to do nothing? “Democrats and Republicans agree that the federal income tax must be reformed. They even agree on some common goals. President Obama’s budget proposal calls for “fundamental reform” that would “simplify the tax code and lower tax rates” while eliminating “inefficient and unfair tax breaks.” House budget committee chairman Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, which the House passed in March, collapses the existing six tax brackets into two, both of them (10 and 25 percent) much lower than the current top rate (35 percent), and similarly pledges to eliminate “special-interest loopholes.” The Obama budget and the Ryan budget, a Bloomberg View editorial notes with approval, “aren’t as far apart as you might think.”” - Timothy Noah, No Deal Photo courtesy of Exchange Gold For Cash
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Would the best tax reform be to do nothing?

“Democrats and Republicans agree that the federal income tax must be reformed. They even agree on some common goals. President Obama’s budget proposal calls for “fundamental reform” that would “simplify the tax code and lower tax rates” while eliminating “inefficient and unfair tax breaks.” House budget committee chairman Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, which the House passed in March, collapses the existing six tax brackets into two, both of them (10 and 25 percent) much lower than the current top rate (35 percent), and similarly pledges to eliminate “special-interest loopholes.” The Obama budget and the Ryan budget, a Bloomberg View editorial notes with approval, “aren’t as far apart as you might think.””

- Timothy Noah, No Deal

Photo courtesy of Exchange Gold For Cash

What would William F. Buckley think of the GOP of today? “Buckley felt that outlandish stances discredited conservatism by making it seem “ridiculous and pathological,” as he wrote to a supporter who had criticized his editorial. They allowed the media to tar all conservatives as extremists, and turned off young people. He insisted that conservatism had to expand “by bringing into our ranks those people who are, at the moment, on our immediate left—the moderate, wishy-washy conservatives” who comprised the majority of the Republican Party. “If they think they are being asked to join a movement whose leadership believes the drivel of Robert Welch,” he warned, “they will pass by crackpot alley, and will not pause until they feel the embrace of those way over on the other side, the Liberals.” Buckley consistently maintained that conservatism was the “politics of reality.”” - Geoffrey Kabaservice “What William F. Buckley Would Think of Today’s GOP” Photo courtesy of the Atlantic
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What would William F. Buckley think of the GOP of today?

“Buckley felt that outlandish stances discredited conservatism by making it seem “ridiculous and pathological,” as he wrote to a supporter who had criticized his editorial. They allowed the media to tar all conservatives as extremists, and turned off young people. He insisted that conservatism had to expand “by bringing into our ranks those people who are, at the moment, on our immediate left—the moderate, wishy-washy conservatives” who comprised the majority of the Republican Party. “If they think they are being asked to join a movement whose leadership believes the drivel of Robert Welch,” he warned, “they will pass by crackpot alley, and will not pause until they feel the embrace of those way over on the other side, the Liberals.” Buckley consistently maintained that conservatism was the “politics of reality.””

- Geoffrey Kabaservice “What William F. Buckley Would Think of Today’s GOP”

Photo courtesy of the Atlantic

Who are Mitt Romney’s supporters? “The Post’s David Fahrenthold did manage to dig up a few “Romniacs”—“the sasquatches of American politics: rumored, hoped-for, so elusive that they can seem imaginary.” He found a grandfather in Virginia who “set off crisscrossing the country in a 14-year-old truck” on Romney’s behalf; a woman in Arizona who was moved to write verse: “Mitt Romney is his name / He wants to help America / ‘Fix It’ is his game”; and a woman in Orem, Utah who in 2008 named her son “Mitt”—or rather, “Little Mitt.”” - Alec MacGillis, “Mitt Romney’s Lonely Hearts Club” Photo courtesy of The Washington Post 
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Who are Mitt Romney’s supporters?

“The Post’s David Fahrenthold did manage to dig up a few “Romniacs”—“the sasquatches of American politics: rumored, hoped-for, so elusive that they can seem imaginary.” He found a grandfather in Virginia who “set off crisscrossing the country in a 14-year-old truck” on Romney’s behalf; a woman in Arizona who was moved to write verse: “Mitt Romney is his name / He wants to help America / ‘Fix It’ is his game”; and a woman in Orem, Utah who in 2008 named her son “Mitt”—or rather, “Little Mitt.””

- Alec MacGillis, “Mitt Romney’s Lonely Hearts Club”

Photo courtesy of The Washington Post 

Is the Gingrich campaign finally over? “With more than 130 delegates (although all GOP delegate calculations are murky), Gingrich would, in theory, have a role at a contested Republican Convention. Morley Winograd, an architect of the Democratic Party’s arcane delegate rules and a veteran of the contested Kennedy vs. Carter 1980 Convention, suggested in an insightful column in Politico that Santorum and Gingrich should join forces in a last-ditch stop-Romney coalition. With almost all future GOP primaries winner-take-all by congressional district, Winograd theorized that the anti-Mitt candidates could divvy up the districts based on their comparative strength against Romney. There’s only one problem: It is hard to identify a spot on the remaining primary map where Gingrich would be a stronger challenger than Santorum.” - Walter Shapiro, “The Sad End of the Gingrich Campaign”
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Is the Gingrich campaign finally over?

“With more than 130 delegates (although all GOP delegate calculations are murky), Gingrich would, in theory, have a role at a contested Republican Convention. Morley Winograd, an architect of the Democratic Party’s arcane delegate rules and a veteran of the contested Kennedy vs. Carter 1980 Convention, suggested in an insightful column in Politico that Santorum and Gingrich should join forces in a last-ditch stop-Romney coalition. With almost all future GOP primaries winner-take-all by congressional district, Winograd theorized that the anti-Mitt candidates could divvy up the districts based on their comparative strength against Romney. There’s only one problem: It is hard to identify a spot on the remaining primary map where Gingrich would be a stronger challenger than Santorum.”

- Walter Shapiro, “The Sad End of the Gingrich Campaign”

Do Americans still cherish the separation of church and state? “As recently as two years ago more Americans favored (37 percent) than disfavored (29 percent) “expressions of religious faith and prayer by politicians.” But the lines crossed a year or so ago and now more Americans think politicians spout too much God-talk (38 percent) than too little (30 percent) or the right amount (25 percent). The change is mainly the result of the too-muchers growing steadily from a mere 12 percent a decade ago to the current 38 percent. A decade ago the Goldilocks caucus of right-amounters nose-dived practically overnight from 60 percent to 29 percent. Apparently that’s because 9/11 increased distrust of theocratic impulses, though during the same period the devout too-littlers jumped from 22 percent to 41 percent. “ - Timothy Noah, “Voters Don’t Like God Talk” Photo courtesy of Christian Science Monitor
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Do Americans still cherish the separation of church and state?

“As recently as two years ago more Americans favored (37 percent) than disfavored (29 percent) “expressions of religious faith and prayer by politicians.” But the lines crossed a year or so ago and now more Americans think politicians spout too much God-talk (38 percent) than too little (30 percent) or the right amount (25 percent). The change is mainly the result of the too-muchers growing steadily from a mere 12 percent a decade ago to the current 38 percent. A decade ago the Goldilocks caucus of right-amounters nose-dived practically overnight from 60 percent to 29 percent. Apparently that’s because 9/11 increased distrust of theocratic impulses, though during the same period the devout too-littlers jumped from 22 percent to 41 percent. “

- Timothy Noah, “Voters Don’t Like God Talk”

Photo courtesy of Christian Science Monitor

Why has Romney changed his tune on gas prices? “Curiously overlooked, though, is just what a shift this rhetoric is from the approach that Romney took on the issue of gas prices while governor of Massachusetts. Befitting his profile as a moderate Republican who cared about the environment, Governor Romney responded to price spikes by describing them as the natural result of global market pressures and by calling for increases in fuel efficiency—the same approach that he now derides Obama for taking as president.” - Alec MacGillis, “When Romney Liked High Gas Prices”
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Why has Romney changed his tune on gas prices?

“Curiously overlooked, though, is just what a shift this rhetoric is from the approach that Romney took on the issue of gas prices while governor of Massachusetts. Befitting his profile as a moderate Republican who cared about the environment, Governor Romney responded to price spikes by describing them as the natural result of global market pressures and by calling for increases in fuel efficiency—the same approach that he now derides Obama for taking as president.”

- Alec MacGillis, “When Romney Liked High Gas Prices”

Read our coverage of what Super Tuesday’s victory means for Mitt Romney. Also, read about Ed Kilgore on Romney’s problem with southern voters. “I’ll leave it to others to make the general pronouncements about how Mitt Romney’s middling performance Tuesday night against deeply flawed and overmatched opponents showed yet again what an astonishingly weak frontrunner he is.”- Alec MacGillis, The Unbearable Weakness of Mitt Romney“It looks like Mitt Romney may have escaped Ohio with the narrowest of victories. Just before midnight on Tuesday, with most precincts around the state reporting, he was ahead by 6,000 votes. But does such a slim win really count as a victory?”-Jonathan Cohn, Ohio: Romney’s Unimpressive Win
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Read our coverage of what Super Tuesday’s victory means for Mitt Romney. Also, read about Ed Kilgore on Romney’s problem with southern voters.

“I’ll leave it to others to make the general pronouncements about how Mitt Romney’s middling performance Tuesday night against deeply flawed and overmatched opponents showed yet again what an astonishingly weak frontrunner he is.”

- Alec MacGillis, The Unbearable Weakness of Mitt Romney

“It looks like Mitt Romney may have escaped Ohio with the narrowest of victories. Just before midnight on Tuesday, with most precincts around the state reporting, he was ahead by 6,000 votes. But does such a slim win really count as a victory?”

-Jonathan Cohn, Ohio: Romney’s Unimpressive Win

Did Mitt Romney win the Michigan Primary or did he merely survive it? “But why was it ever this close? Romney had superior money, organization, and, for a long time, name recognition. This state ought to be friendly to him—not because of his family ties, which were never as important as pundits assumed, but because the economy is the biggest issue in Michigan and Romney bills himself as the candidate best positioned to deal with it. Instead, Romney had to fight off an insurgency from Rick Santorum, who appealed to to economically strapped voters by appealing to their cultural values.” —Jonathan Cohn, “Survival of the Mittest” For more analysis of last night’s primaries, visit TNR.com for articles from Ed Kilgore on whether or not Romney has put the Republican establishment at ease and Alec MacGillis on why Romney’s campaign strategy in Michigan may have cost him the state in the general election. Photo courtesy of the Detroit Free Press.
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Did Mitt Romney win the Michigan Primary or did he merely survive it?

“But why was it ever this close? Romney had superior money, organization, and, for a long time, name recognition. This state ought to be friendly to him—not because of his family ties, which were never as important as pundits assumed, but because the economy is the biggest issue in Michigan and Romney bills himself as the candidate best positioned to deal with it. Instead, Romney had to fight off an insurgency from Rick Santorum, who appealed to to economically strapped voters by appealing to their cultural values.”

—Jonathan Cohn, “Survival of the Mittest”

For more analysis of last night’s primaries, visit TNR.com for articles from Ed Kilgore on whether or not Romney has put the Republican establishment at ease and Alec MacGillis on why Romney’s campaign strategy in Michigan may have cost him the state in the general election.

Photo courtesy of the Detroit Free Press.