Master of the Minority Mitch McConnell's Immodest Turn In a beautiful, if perhaps unintended, exposition of the hypocrasy of the McConnell legislative obstruction program in the Senate, a New York Times "Congressional Memo: "Muscle Flexing in Senate: G.O.P. Defends Strategy," quotes the Senate Majority Leader today as follows: I think we are being consistent here against higher taxes, consistently against greater regulation, consistently against creating new causes of action in bill after bill after bill. It's a positive message of our vision of America.

Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing Another budget deal was scuttled with nine legislative days left in the year when the White House issued a veto threat over the weekend on the "split the difference" approach. It's plus ca change all over again. The only sound you hear, once again, is House Appropriations Chair David Obey, sick and tired of negotating with himself:

The White House is threatening to veto the latest appropriations gambit. What was it that Einstein said about people who try the same thing over and over again expecting a different result? Update: Stan Collender's insights into what happened.

All Quiet on the Budget Front The quiet that has descended over Washington amid the cold war on the budget has almost nothing to with the blanket of snow that fell on the town steadily all day yesterday. Instead, we heard essentially the same thing we've been hearing for the last several weeks.