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5 Political Thoughts for Today

5. John Murtha has died. Firstly, I hope he is in the loving arms of Jesus right now. Secondly, the Democrats are in big trouble; their stalwarts are aged.

4. I predicted the intra-GOP war four years too early. It has been said often that they could have held power while having the civil war if they'd been smart; they were not.

3. Obama is losing independents 2-1, if polling is correct. Mr. President, you have misread the meaning of your campaign and election, and have done so since at least the Wisconsin primary, in my view. More Iowa victory speech, less State of the Union.

2. The key for the GOP is to channel the anger of the Tea Party into specific proposals that they espouse, and the Democrats oppose. They might also be tempted to be hard on Obama, given his weakness, but I would do the opposite. Make President Cool continue to look unpresidential. There's a whole slew of voters all over the ideological spectrum who took a flier on Obama because he was calm, likable, and had captured "American exceptionalism" as Barone calls it, in some great speeches.

1. Sheesh, some of these guys make politics seem easy from here.

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