The New Republic

How can Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Bob McDonnell erase the impression, recently given a boost by the release of his 1989 master's thesis, that he's a religio-traditional extremist? By indulging in some gratuitous profanity, of course! CNN: READ MORE >>

Nate Silver sifts through the before-and-after polling: READ MORE >>

This Daily Mail story beggars belief: READ MORE >>

The Weekly Standard's Michael Goldfarb leaps to Joe Wilson's defense: Joe Wilson offered the most succinct and effective Republican response to Obamacare since Sarah Palin attacked Obama's "death panels" -- and, like Sarah, he did it in just two words: "You lie." READ MORE >>

New York magazine's Sam Anderson reviews the sequel to last spring's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: READ MORE >>

The countdown has begun: In just six days, residents will awaken to find themselves in a changed city. One invaded by Founding Fathers scandal, by fictitious Harvard symbologists, by very short chapters ending in cliffhangers and exclamation points! One to which the tourists will flock, brandishing conspiracy theories. We want the real story, they'll say to helpless docents at the Smithsonian, perhaps, or the Scottish Rite Masonic temple. This is the real story, docents will reply. No, the reeeeal story. Wink wink. READ MORE >>

After health care, I propose President Obama roll up his sleeves and get to work on universal Auto-Tune. (via Jim Fallows) READ MORE >>

How far can the Weekly Standard sink? Time will tell, but the cover of its current issue gives a pretty good sense of its depth at the moment. Accompanied by the cover line "Here the People Rule," the illustration--it's a bit small here, but I'll gladly link to a larger version if I find one--is of, well, an angry white mob. READ MORE >>

Beleagured South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford explains himself to The Daily Beast: You know, everybody is assigned their own secret-agent mission in life. And at times the tricky part, the hard part, is finding out what that secret-agent mission is. Some of us do it early, some of us do it later in life. Sanford, Mark Sanford. READ MORE >>

There are a billion different iterations of the joke, usually inflicted upon children by adults: Child: Daddy, why are you flapping your arms and quacking in the middle of the street? Father: To keep the alligators away. Child: Daddy. There are no alligators around here. Father: See? It's working. READ MORE >>