Look, it’s Obama’s approval ratings over time! Right right right, whatever, who cares, etc. We just wanted to share Marc Ambinder’s full analysis of this: “This: well — it’s been a month of sausage making, and as we learned in July, when the sausage is in the oven, Obama can’t escape the taint of partisanship that Americans seem to be rebelling against.” That’s disgusting, Marc, whatever you wrote. [Marc Ambinder]

Maybe it’s because the bars won’t be open 24-7 slinging delicious Wonkettinis to help conventioneers drink away the pain. Maybe it’s because the start of the convention coincides with the beginning of the school year, significantly reducing the chances that 14-year-old pages will be available for games of “hide the memo” in the Minneapolis airport men’s room. Whatever the reasons, Republicans just aren’t very psyched about their national convention this year. MORE »

The Wall Street Journal’s goofy Hill Softball piece is a fun little slice-of-Washington-life piece… that happened to run on A1, for some reason. The grafted-on “symptom of greater sea change in political climate” angle seemed a bit forced to us (contents of the funny emails aside), and it looks like Anthony Reed, Hastert aide and subject of the story, agrees. He sent this email around to Hill softballers this morning: MORE »