I keep waiting for the budget deal to draw some serious fire from the Right, but it seems at the moment the GOP leadership has wrong-footed these birds with the speed and scope of their maneuver. We’ll soon see.

Here are some midday news/views snacky-snackies:

* At Salon, Digby reviews the terrible influence of pseudo-historian David Barton on three particular GOP presidential candidates.

* Yet another national poll (from CBS/NYT) shows Carson moving past Trump and no one else moving at all.

* Should have reported this yesterday: David Vitter does make jungle primary gubernatorial runoff in Louisiana and will face Democrat John Bel Edwards.

* At Politico Shane Goldmacher interviews Ted Cruz and listens to his strategy for consolidating the conservative vote.

* Paul Ryan promises–in writing–no House consideration of immigration reform legislation while Obama is in office.

And in non-political news:

* REI closing all its stores on Black Friday and encouraging employees to spend the day outside.

As we break for lunch, here’s Henry “Mule” Townsend with “I Got Tired.”

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Ed Kilgore

Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.