As Atrios points out, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's looming decision to spike the new train tunnel from New Jersey to NYC under the Hudson River is so obviously bad policy that it does not even merit much discussion.(Here is an explanation if you need one.)

But politics is stupid. Even Chris Christie knows it would be stupid policy to kill the tunnel project, which gives New Jersey billions of dollars of FEDERAL money already and will give it billions more to come in the future. (Not to mention the jobs, economic growth that would be spurred, improvement of New Jersey as a business destination, etc.) From New Jersey's perspective, this is as big a no brainer as you can get. But New Jersey's highway funds are in a serious shortfall right now. Like most states, New Jersey funds it highways with tolls and a gas tax. But raising the gas tax apparently is a third rail in New Jersey, which has not raised the gas tax in 21 years (which amounts effectively to a huge cut in the gas tax):

[Zoe] Baldwin suggested that instead, Christie look at raising the state’s gas tax, which is the third-lowest in the country and hasn’t budged for 21 years. “We’ve raised all kinds of other fees and taxes, she said, but the gas tax and other transportation fees have been untouchable.” That’s led to a years-long crisis in transportation funding for the state.

Christie knows all this. He's not stupid. But some Democrat will be running against Christie in the next election and would no doubt run ads decrying 'the largest tax increase in New Jersey history!' Politics is stupid.

Speaking for me only

Margaret Cho went home tonight on DWTS. She and Louie were in the bottom two, along with Bristol Palin and Mark Ballas.

Bristol is wooden, has zero musicality and even less dance ability. The judges seem to be afraid of hurting her feelings. Unlike every other contestant, she has no pre-existing fan base of her own. She didn't star in a reality show or any tv show, she's not a comic, a singer, or a top athlete.

The politicization of the show this season, casting this unaccomplished, untalented, non-star with no resume of her own, only because her mother is famous and polarizing which will bring in viewers, has left a permanent sour taste. [More...]

Just for sh*ts and giggles:

Some called a Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton pairing the "Dream Ticket" in 2008. [That was me, BTD.] It didn't happen. But what about 2012?

"It's on the table," veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward told CNN's John King in an interview Tuesday on John King, USA. "Some of Hillary Clinton's advisers see it as a real possibility in 2012."

That would stink for Hillary imo. She has the 2016 nomination if she wants it no matter what. Not being Obama's VP gives her some distance in case things go way south with his Administration. For Obama, I think it is a marginal plus, but what about Biden? Anyway, it will never happen.

Speaking for me only

For all the sturm und drang over the "incivility" of Markos Moulitsas' book American Taliban, it is quite ironic how willing the Beltway Bloggers are to call Dems who don't agree with them delusional. Here's Jon Chait (who has a long history of this sort of thing):

Every time a Democratic leader tells the base to stop whining and wake up to the fact that this is the most successful period of liberal governance in more than four decades, liberals just get more petulant. But, seriously, look at results like this, per Greg Sargent:

A new poll from Pew and National Journal contains a really striking finding: Only one third of Democrats think this Congress has achieved more than other recent Congresses. Meanwhile, 60 percent of Dems think it has accomplished the same or less.

This is just nuts. This is, objectively, a very productive Congress.

Yes. VERY "objective." It's the old "I'm objective and you're not" routine. What a bunch of clowns.

Speaking for me only

Ok, maybe not breaking, but damned funny the way it was confirmed today by Tom Daschle. Glenn Greenwald was called a lunatic by the dishonest Jon Chait of The New Republic because Glenn pointed out what, Matt Yglesias now tells us, "many people have long suspected."

So apparently, the need for precision and accuracy is situational for the Beltway Bloggers.

Speaking for me only

That's the title of the panel now up at something called "America's Fiscal Choices: Strengthening The Economy And Building For the Future." The moderator is The American Prospect's Robert "American Taliban" Kuttner. The panelists are Karen Davis of the Commonwealth Fund, Maggie Mahar a TCF Fellow and Bill Hoagland of CIGNA. Of the 3, I'm betting Hoagland will have the most influence on "The Next Steps For Healthcare Reform."

You can watch the panel here.

Matt Yglesias after the passage of the health bill in March:

For the past 65-70 years—and especially for the past 30 years since the end of the civil rights argument—American politics has been dominated by controversy over the size and scope of the welfare state. Today, that argument is largely over with liberals having largely won. [. . .] Due to the bill’s almost comically delayed implementation, for several years we’re still going to have a lot of political tussling over it. And even once it’s in place, the system will continue to be debated and tweaked for years to come. But over time, I think American politics will come to look quite different and we’ll look back on this day as a turning point.

(Emphasis supplied.) Kevin Drum today:

We Muslims don't abide by human-made laws, because they are always corrupt. And I had a firsthand experience when on the second day of my arrest I asked for the Miranda. And the FBI denied it to me for two weeks, effecting harm to my kids and family, and I was forced to sign those Mirandas.

***

Faisal Shahzad, who unsuccessfully attempted to set off a bomb in Times Square, was sentenced to six life terms today in federal court.

A defiant Shahzad said "Allahu Akbar" -- Arabic for "God is great" -- after the judge sentenced him to the mandatory life imprisonment.

[More......]

Open Thread.

You don't see this too often: A senior federal judge in the Northern District of Georgia (formerly the Chief Judge until taking senior status) has been arrested and charged with illegal drug and gun crimes:

Senior U.S. District Judge Jack T. Camp Jr. was arrested late Friday night near Sandy Springs. Camp, 67, is accused of purchasing cocaine and marijuana, along with prescription painkillers that which he shared with an exotic dancer he met last spring at the Goldrush Showbar in Atlanta, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit for his arrest.

In some cases he bought drugs from the dancer, while in others the pair purchased them from other parties, according to the affidavit. Camp sometimes took loaded guns to the deals. Camp’s arrest came after a buy from an undercover agent, authorities said.

The dancer was cooperating with the feds and they wired her up to record his conversations without knowing. The Affidavit supporting the complaint is here. [More..]

There is no race I care about more than Russ Feingold's in Wisconsin (now that Boxer looks pretty good - hell of an ad wasn't it?), but, unlike Jon Cohn, I think this ad could be a mistake, if it leads to campaigning in the fashion Cohn is advocating for:

Cohn argues that President Obama is touting the health bill too. I don't really see Feingold making much of an explicit argument for the health bill, more of a "protecting your health care" pitch unconnected to the health bill (sort of a Medicare pitch really.) In any event, I bet Obama wouldn't be "touting" the health bill if he were up for reelection this year. That's politics 101. I think Feingold may be setting up a Social Security/Medicare hit on Johnson. Cohn, a big health bill proponent, is probably misreading what this ad is trying to do and what it is leading to. Or maybe this is Feingold's pitch to the New Establishment bloggers to see if they might engage in his campaign. A little sugar so to speak.

Speaking for me only

The feds busted a bunch of legislators, lobbyists and powerful businessmen in Alabama today:

The indictment alleges a sprawling conspiracy to buy votes in the legislature that would benefit the owners of casinos. Four state senators are charged with agreeing to accept — or in some cases, demanding — bribes in the form of campaign contributions or campaign appearances by country music stars. Two casino operators, Ronald Gilley and Milton McGregor, are charged with overseeing the conspiracy, and three lobbyists with carrying it out. An employee of Mr. Gilley’s and an employee of the state legislature were also charged.

Electronic bingo machines were the issue. Some legislators reportedly wore wires to rat out their associates.