Lightning Round: I Declare My Preposterous Presidential Ambitions to be Awesome.

• One thing you'll notice about the RNC's new "purity test" is that the 10 alleged "policy positions" are mostly vague statements of principle. The very first item declares support for "smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes" but doesn't explain how they intend on actually achieving this limited government paradise. Of course, vague statements of principle -- and sometimes not even that -- are the sine qua non of base conservative politics these days, and anyone waiting for Republicans of substance to assume leadership of the party shouldn't hold their breath.
• One of the strongest arguments predicting successful passage of a health-care reform bill is that Democrats know failure is tantamount to political suicide. Even if not all rank-and-file Democrats get this, the leadership certainly does, and are probably circulating this poll to members of the caucus, which demonstrates the cost of failure. And being perceived as legislatively successful is an asset in Washington.
• I'm unable to comprehend this tendency of celebrities/CEOs/media personalities with little or no political experience to suddenly imagine themselves as credible presidential candidates. Actual time spent in elected office isn't the issue here, rather it's that one needs a political base to draw upon if one is going to endure the now-common two-year marathon that is the modern presidential race. Who, exactly, is Lou Dobb's constituency? Who's going to donate money to him? And why does anyone care that a washed-up cable news anchor thinks he's presidential material?
• Richard Hofstadter's "Paranoid Style" essay has been repeatedly referenced this year but the more relevant work has to be Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, which is the best book-length explanation for how obtuse news anchors like Chris Matthews can attest to Barack Obama's apparent handicap of having an analytical mind. And it's not just Matthews but more of a Beltway-wide phenomenon that consistently sighs under the burden of having to understand and explain policy details.
• Weekend Remainders: Senator Joseph I. Lieberman is a shameless liar; independents aren't exactly fleeing Barack Obama; I'm so glad we pared down the ARRA to an arbitrary dollar amount out of political necessity; conservative "arguments" against college students protesting have evolved little in the past 40 years; and is the tea party over?

--Mori Dinauer