Congratulations to Haley Sweetland Edwards, whose much-praised article about Dodd-Frank implementation, “He Who Make the Rules,” has won a “Best of 2013” award from Longform.org. Please help keep this kind of cutting-edge journalism going with a tax-deductible donation to Washington Monthly.
And now, here are some midday news/views treats & travesties:
* A scoop for Greg Sargent: House Dems planning to withhold votes for farm bill unless UI extension funded with savings.
* I don’t really agree with Molly Ball’s assessment of Boehner’s outburst at conservative groups as a huge development, but she makes a credible case worth reading.
* Sarah Palin predictably weighs in against budget deal as treason.
* Media Matters declares victory in effort to discredit Fox News “fair and balanced” claims.
* Paul Waldman usefully distinguishes inability of Congress to get things done with actual sloth.
And in non-political news:
* Oops. 2500 applicants to Fordham University mistakenly notified they were admitted.
As we break for lunch, let’s continue the theme of pop songs used or abused by political campaigns. In 2008, John McCain adopted ABBA’s “Take a Chance on Me” as a campaign song until the Swedish band succeeded in making him stop it (just as Tom Petty did with Bush eight years earlier). This video is pretty funny if you imagine John McCain singing along (particularly the wink at about 2:10).
