Why Can't Ron Paul Come Up With Something This Good?

David All alerts us to another anonymous, online political ad. Following the example set by Patrick Ruffini, since the ad wasn't on YouTube, I uploaded it there:



The ad's argument: As many others have pointed out, electing Hillary Clinton president would be strikingly similar to giving George W. Bush a third term. Ergo, vote for a real change candidate: Mike Bloomberg.

Headline explanation here.

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Pot Does Not a Criminal Make

Until recently, Barack Obama, Al Gore, George W. Bush and Michael Bloomberg could not have landed a job at the FBI.

Now, recognizing the reality that sometime illegal drug use does not make you a criminal, the house that Hoover built has stopped disqualifying applicants who have toked up more than 15 times or tried other illegal narcotics more than five times.

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The Daily Digest

Raea's Story

Demonstrating two timeless truths—showing is more powerful than telling, and content is king (that is, home-made videos can be just as insightful as professionally produced and consultant-tested ones)—David All puts a human face on illegal immigration in northern Virginia. His four-part video, above, features Raea, a licensed contractor who must compete with unlicensed illegals who will work for half her price. The series, which is only lightly edited and surprisingly unbiased, is especially interesting because Raea speaks Spanish and is thus able to get her subjects to open up in their native tongue.

Roger Simon catches the double standard (some would say "flip-flop") within Mitt Romney's notion of pardons.

The Supreme Administrative Court in Stockholm, whose verdict cannot be appealed, has ruled that convicted sex offenders are free to read pornography in their cells.

Republicans subscribe to the maxim, Less government, more freedom. There are exceptions, of course—otherwise, you'd be a libertarian—but as Dave Weigel concludes, the maxim of the newly independent Michael Bloomberg is, More government, more freedom.

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The Daily Digest

Reagan thought Rudy was "crazy."

In today's Congress, stunts and symbolism seem to be the only way to rein in spending. Tom Coburn wages a lonely battle in the senate.

Roger Simon runs down the reasons Michael Bloomberg shouldn't run for president. (He doesn't stand a chance of winning.) The Weekly Standard also ran a recent hit piece on the self-described "5-foot-7, divorced, billionaire Jew."

Whoever replaces Jerry Fallwell will go a long way toward defining the future of the religious right. John Heilemann nominates another rotund reverend, though the similarities stop there: "The face of the modern Evangelical movement belongs . . . to Rick Warren, the pastor of Orange County, California’s Saddleback Church (regular attendance: 20,000) and the author of The Purpose Driven Life, which has sold more hardback copies (over 25 million) than any nonfiction book in history. Now, on many social issues, Warren is just as conservative as Falwell. Abortion, bad. Gay marriage, bad. Etc. But whereas Falwell described aids as 'the wrath of a just God against homosexuals,' Warren has donated millions of dollars to fight HIV in Africa. Whereas Falwell bemoaned the emerging strain of Evangelical environmentalism as 'Satan’s attempt to redirect the church’s primary focus,' Warren declares, 'The environment is a moral issue.' And regarding his pro-life stance, Warren says, 'I’m just not rabid about it.'"

A side note: in his new biopic, Ronald Reagan: Fate, Freedom, and the Making of History, John Patrick Diggins argues that our 40th president "seemed to offer a Christianity without Christ and the crucifixion, a religion without reference to sin, evil, suffering, or sacrifice."

Update (6/4): Good news: at least on paper, Rick Warren resembles Falwell's official successor, Frank Page, who was chosen last year as president of the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, Falwell's denomination and the country's largest evangelical one, in an election that Page saw as a mandate for change.

"I would not use the word 'moderate,' because in our milieu that often means liberal. But it's a shift toward a more centrist, kinder, less harsh style of leadership," Page said. "In the past, Baptists were very well known for what we're against. . . . Instead of the caricature of an angry, narrow-minded, Bible-beating preacher, we wanted someone who could speak to normal people."

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