LinkBlogging: All the Cool Kids Are Doing It

Remember when John McCain was this radical political maverick who was going to buck the system with his straight-talking ways? Yeah, neither do I...

The interesting thing about the results from the money primary is not so much the sheer size of the numbers involved - it gets bigger every year. Nor that Mr. Obama has likely shattered Mrs. Clinton's aura of inevitability - that was bound to happen sooner or later. Nor even that Mr. Romney has taken the poll position on the Republican side - no one seems willing to talk about it but there are a lot of Mormons and they want to support a Mormon candidate. No, the intersting thing is that the Democratic candidates - whether individually or in aggregate - outraised their Republican rivals by a large margin. Taken together the two Democratic frontrunners, Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, have likely gathered more cash than the top three Republican candidates combined. It's early but given how one of the big advantages of the Republican machine is its ability to raise large sums of money from wealthy donors and industries, that's a sign. A sign, I think, that the president and the increasing public dissatisfaction with things are going to drag down more than just this administration.

So, the veto thing. It seems to me that it's the president who's going to veto a bill providing funding for the troops simply because he doesn't like the idea of a timeline for withdrawal. He'd rather wage this war eternally. The vast majority of the American people don't like that idea. The common widsom among the politicos seems to be that the Congress has made their point and should back off and deliver up the funding. But, if you ask me, a lot of people voted last year to end the war and now's the time to hold firm. The president is trying to use the bully pulpit to shape this debate but there's only one thing to do with a bully - stand up to him. I know this is a shocking concept given recent history but the president doesn't get to throw a petulant tantrum and demand legislation be delivered exactly the way he wants it or else the business of government will grind to a halt. He's on the wrong side of this and the only way to "lose" this political fight is to not have the spine to keep following the people's will.

Speaking of which, the Supreme Court just handed the administration a significant defeat. Ruling that the EPA can, in fact, regulate what it's supposed to regulate. It doesn't actually mean anything since the administration can simply find another excuse to avoid such regulation but from reading the court's judgment, it's clear they found the whole science and logic twisting declarations of the EPA laughable. Baby steps and all.

Switching tracks, so to speak: Awesome.

Um, I think I just found something more sublime than the "Dick in a Box" song. It really has to be seen to be believed. Behold Alanis covering Fergie: