Lightning Round - 091210

Lotsa stuff to do today, so this has to be quick:

• The Instapundit nails it. "You were expecting a Chicago machine politician to show an enthusiasm for civil liberties?" As a practical matter, all the bloviating we heard about civil liberties, torture and the like during the Bush administration was just that. There are people I know who are genuinely sincere about the issue -- our frequent commenter Rich would be one example. But most everyone else wasn't. If they were, coverage of the matter wouldn't be limited to the op-ed pages.
• I think the Star Tribune telegraphed its punch today with this editorial. Here's the punchline: "Tom Horner ranks as a serious contender, and he deserves full consideration by Minnesotans who in more ordinary times might not look at a third-party candidate. That's especially true of those who value a more centrist, pragmatic approach to governing than has so far been offered up by the GOP and DFL candidates." There was never any chance that Tom Emmer would get the endorsement, of course, but it would appear that the Star Tribune understands that Mark Dayton is, well, incoherent. The Strib is hoping that Horner would run things like a DFLer who pretends to wear a green eyeshade from time to time. How Horner could run anything other than his mouth without legislative support is one of those inconvenient questions that we ought to ask.
• Of course, incoherence is a DFL strong point this year. Consider this wisdom from Barb Goodwin, the longtime party hack who has been tasked to hold the SD50 state senate seat in the wake of Satveer Chaudhary's indiscretions, as she lines up the usual straw man suspects: "Here's just how huge it is: We could shut down all of state government: let all the prisoners out of prisons, stop inspecting restaurants, fire all forensic scientists plus all fire and health inspectors, eliminate environmental protection and conservation activities, stop collecting taxes (which would put us further in debt), stop funding all bus service and other transit, close down all of the drivers' license and testing stations, end upkeep and public use of all state parks and trails, stop testing and trying to improve drinking water, river and lake quality, end all occupational licensing, reviewal and training activities, stop auditing city and state agencies, end all renters and homeowners credit, fire all state troopers and eliminate all the other things state government does and still not have enough money to balance the budget. That's because the overwhelming majority of our budget goes to education, health care for seniors and others, and local government aid to help keep down property taxes in property-poor cities. Those whose total solution is to just cut state government are wrong." Somehow Goodwin left out the part where Republicans kill kittens with their bare hands, although I'm sure that's an oversight. Still, it's a stirring synopsis -- never mind that no one has proposed doing any of those things. There's enough nonsense in that one Faulkner-length sentence to fuel a dozen blog posts.