Blame game
How did the Senate let the NSA surveillance program lapse? Nearly everyone agrees that you can safely blame Mitch McConnell, who misplayed his hand in nearly every way possible as he gets embarrassed by Rand Paul, his fellow Kentuckian whom he has endorsed for president. Via The New York Times.
Family feud
Mitch and Rand have each accused the other of endangering the country. Is this the sign of a split or just, as one ally of both says, “a family squabble”? Via The National Journal.
Good times
Eugene Robinson writes in The Washington Post that he made a phone call at 12:01 a.m., just because it made him feel good to know he could make a call that would not be collected by the NSA.
False start
It’s a good campaign story, but let’s be real: Berniementum in Iowa probably isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. Via The New Republic.
Simple matters
Meanwhile, Martin O’Malley, who wants to run to Hillary Clinton’s left, has this as part of his stump speech: “It’s not about left. It’s not about right. It’s not about center. It’s about doing the things that work.” Does that sound like Elizabeth Warren or does that sound like a technocrat? Via Politico.
Cashed out
Jeffrey Toobin explains the legal rationale of the case against Denny Hastert, which strangely comes down to the fact that he paid what seems to be blackmail in cash, rather than by check. Via The New Yorker.
New cause
Maybe you’ve heard this before, but Zolton Hajnal writes in The Wall Street Journal that Republicans would benefit if they took up immigration and passed a bill that Obama would sign and put into law.
Name change
“Call Me Caitlyn“: The radical simplicity, Spencer Kornhaber writes in The Atlantic, of the Vanity Fair cover.
Photo credit: Kate Ter Haar, Creative Commons, Flickr.
