The Interceptor

Teeny Tiny
There are a tiny number of liberals capable of single-handedly reversing Priorities’ lackluster fortunes. But financier George Soros has shown no signs of supporting Priorities; his adviser Michael Vachon told me that this year his boss was “more focused on Europe.” Meanwhile, Progressive Insurance chairman Peter Lewis, who gave $25 million in 2004, is currently concentrating on marijuana-law reform, and his adviser Jennifer Frutchy told me that he won’t be contributing to Priorities. (tnr.com, 6/22/2012)


President Pander gave in on gay marriage and illegal immigration to get votes, why not give liberal billionaires what they want also? We're not certain what Soros wants, but Obama could clearly free up millions in campaign donations to his super PACs from Lewis by legalizing marijuana. 


Moot Point
Donald B. Verrilli Jr., who became solicitor general last June, rehearsed in multiple moot court sessions. But on the critical day of Supreme Court arguments on March 27, he momentarily choked on a drink of water and was hammered by justices skeptical of his argument. (NYT, 6/23/2012)


So apparently, if Obamacare is defeated it will be because water went down the wrong pipe.


Pathways
The majority of Democrats, polls suggest, have followed roughly the same path as the former Yale Law School dean Harold Koh, a staunch critic of Bush’s wartime policies who now serves as a legal adviser to the State Department, supplying constitutional justifications for Obama’s drone campaigns. What was outrageous under a Republican has become executive branch business-as-usual under a Democrat.(Ross Douthat, NYT, 6/23/2012)


RedStateVT recognizes that politics is bloodsport, but just once (once!) we would like to hear either Democrats or Republicans say: "In hindsight, the policies that we were previously critical of have turned out to be correct and necessary and we apologize for our previous opposition."


Good column by Douthat.


Defiant
The Romney campaign, whose fund-raising prowess has defied assumptions about President Obama’s financial advantages, offered wealthy donors and bundlers an extraordinary level of access to the candidate, his staff members, advisers and family this weekend at a three-day retreat that even seasoned political contributors said dwarfed previous presidential powwows. (NYT, 6/23/2012)


Breaking news! Fat Cat Republican donors get "extraordinary access" to Romney! Do Democrat donors get the same privileges we wondered? Well we had to read until paragraph fifteen of this twenty-nine paragraph article to get this:


Mr. Romney, of course, is not alone in granting his donors special treatment. Mr. Obama has invited major contributors to state dinners, put them on his Job Council and, as visitor logs show, allowed them into the White House for meetings with advisers.


...and not to mention the intimate dinners with Hollywood's finest!


Conversion
Now, campaign officials and other top Democrats said this was their best chance yet to convert enthusiasm among gay men and lesbians for Mr. Obama into more than just votes.


“It’s like shooting fish in a barrel this year,” said Steve Elmendorf, a Democratic consultant... (NYT, 6/24/2012)


Clarification/retraction expected shortly....