Time's Mark Halperin makes a few points about the mobs. Here's a good one:
Ask Republican members of Congress who voted for President Bush's massive prescription drug entitlement law how many of them read that bill before they voted in favor of it -- or how many bills they EVER read in their entirety.
I did some reporting on this for a TNR piece that has been obliterated by our web archives, but trust me when I say he's onto something. [Update: Here it is.] It is true that Democrats promised to observe a higher standard, but you don't get the sense the mobsters are aware of this context.
This one I don't get:
The White House is understandably pushing back against and exploiting the mobs for its own political gain; while understandable, it is also shameful in its own way.
The White House is "understandably" fighting back against hysterical and frequently dishonest opposition, and that's "shameful"? I smell some forced even-handedness at work here....
--Michael Crowley