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Mickey Kaus makes the argument.

It’s all about the deficit to Brooks. But the damage done by public sector unionism isn’t mainly the producing of deficits. It’s the crippling of government, so that bad teachers can’t be fired and productivity stagnates and virtually everything the government does it does crappier than private industry does it. That’s a big, ongoing problem for Democrats, which is why maybe it doesn’t trouble Brooks. But it should trouble even non-neo liberals. Democrats are the party that needs the government to be good at something other than mailing out checks.

Is Gov. Walker using the deficit as an excuse for making long-term institutional changes? You bet. It’s “all or nothing” because when you threaten the core institutional basis of AFSCME and the SEIU they will make it all or nothing. They have no choice.

It would be a disaster for union reform if Walker succumbs to Brooksian flaccidity now–whether his position is popular or not. The message, as gleefully interpreted by the MSM, would be that Republicans go too far when they threaten the treasured institution of government unionism (never mind that Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana ended state employee union collective bargaining six years ago, by executive order, and he still stands). That would be worse than if Walker had never made the attempt. He has the votes and can pass the bill whatever the polls say–just as Obama had the votes on his health care bill despite poll-measured popular disquiet.

Obama pushed his law through, took the heat, and may emerge victorious. Walker should do the same.

These are my links for March 1st from 11:47 to 16:18:

• President 2012: Sarah Palin Denounces President Obama’s Decision to Not Defend the Defense of Marriage Act | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Sarah Palin Denounces President Obama’s Decision to Not Defend the Defense of Marr… #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Links and Comments for March 1st from 04:37 to 11:25 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for March 1st from 04:37 to 11:25 #tcot #catcot
• VA-Sen Poll Watch: Tim Kaine 47% Vs. George Allen 47% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – VA-Sen Poll Watch: Tim Kaine 47% Vs. George Allen 47% | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
• President 2012 North Carolina GOP Poll Watch: Huckabee 24% Romney 18% Gingrich 18% Palin 16% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 North Carolina GOP Poll Watch: Huckabee 24% Romney 18% Gingrich 18% Palin 16% | Flap's Blog – Ful…
• Untitled (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-turn/2011/03/bad_timing_for_democrats_defen.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter) – Bad timing for Democrats' defense of status quo – GAO Report Exposes Duplicate Spending

According to Maggie Gallagher over at NOM (National Organization for Marriage) Blog:

“I have always believed that marriage is between one man and one woman. Like the majority of Americans, I support the Defense of Marriage Act and find it appalling that the Obama administration decided not to defend this federal law which was enacted with broad bipartisan support and signed into law by a Democrat president. It’s appalling, but not surprising that the President has flip-flopped on yet another issue from his stated position as a candidate to a seemingly opposite position once he was elected.”

I am glad Sarah finally cleared the air on this very important issue – marriage.

NOM has a roundup of all of the other GOP Presidential contenders on the issue here.

These are my links for March 1st from 04:37 to 11:25:

• Bad timing for Democrats’ defense of status quo – GAO Report Exposes Duplicate Spending – At a time Senate Democrats are dragging their feet on an extension of the Continuing Resolution and the White House is pushing a budget that merely freezes discretionary defense spending, comes a report from the General Accounting Office:

  The U.S. government has 15 different agencies overseeing food-safety laws, more than 20 separate programs to help the homeless and 80 programs for economic development.

  These are a few of the findings in a massive study of overlapping and duplicative programs that cost taxpayers billions of dollars each year, according to the Government Accountability Office.

  A report from the nonpartisan GAO, to be released Tuesday, compiles a list of redundant and potentially ineffective federal programs, and it could serve as a template for lawmakers in both parties as they move to cut federal spending and consolidate programs to reduce the deficit. Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.), who pushed for the report, estimated it identifies between $100 billion and $200 billion in duplicative spending. The GAO didn't put a specific figure on the spending overlap.

  ++++++

  Read all of Jennifer Rubin's piece

  A defense of spending status quo ain't going to fly.

• President 2012 North Carolina GOP Poll Watch: Huckabee 24% Romney 18% Gingrich 18% Palin 16% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 North Carolina GOP Poll Watch: Huckabee 24% Romney 18% Gingrich 18% Palin 16% #tcot #catcot
• VA-Sen Poll Watch: Tim Kaine 47% Vs. George Allen 47% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – VA-Sen Poll Watch: Tim Kaine 47% Vs. George Allen 47% #tcot #catcot
• President 2012 Michigan Poll Watch: Mitt Romney 46% Vs. Barack Obama 41% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012 Michigan Poll Watch: Mitt Romney 46% Vs. Barack Obama 41% #tcot #catcot
• Union Education: What Wisconsin Reveals About Public Workers and Political Power | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Union Education: What Wisconsin Reveals About Public Workers and Political Power #tcot #catcot
• Day By Day March 1, 2011 – Mask | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Day By Day March 1, 2011 – Mask #tcot #catcot
• Flap’s Links and Comments for February 28th through March 1st | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for February 28th through March 1st #tcot #catcot
• @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-03-01 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-03-01 | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
• Flap’s Links and Comments for February 28th from 18:00 to 18:10 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for February 28th from 18:00 to 18:10 | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
• Flap’s Links and Comments for February 28th from 18:39 to 19:04 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for February 28th from 18:39 to 19:04 | Flap's Blog – FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

According to the latest PPP Poll:

Favorable Vs. Unfavorable Vs. Not Sure:

• Mike Huckabee – 68% Vs. 19% Vs. 14%
• Sarah Palin – 69% Vs. 24% Vs. 7%
• Mitt Romney – 56% Vs. 24% Vs. 20%
• Newt Gingrich: 55% Vs. 25% Vs. 20%

Heads Up:

• Mike Huckabee – 24%
• Newt Gingrich – 18%
• Mitt Romney – 18%
• Sarah Palin – 16%
• Ron Paul – 6%
• Tim Pawlenty – 5%
• Mitch Daniels – 2%

The full poll is here (Pdf).

North Carolina is a key battleground state for the GOP in the 2012 Presidential race. President Obama barely won this state in a good democratic year in 2008.

I would like to have seen some head to head matc-ups with him but with the GOP field so fluid, the results would likely be skewed in any case. Maybe Obama Vs. a generic GOP candidate would give us an idea on how popular Obama is in North Carolina as of this time in the Presidential election cycle.