  This is a pretty clear statement.     …And while I know that
it’s fashionable, and even often easily justifiable, to go off
on Mitch McConnell for being only intermittently resolute on
these things, this is looking to be one of those times when he
is being resolute.  The bottom line is that the sequester will
go off unless the Republican Congressional caucuses decide
otherwise; and it seems that the Republican Congressional
caucuses have decided that while the impact will be unpleasant,
it’ll be less unpleasant in the long run than letting the
Democrats continue to freebase the Treasury.  Ben Domenech
argues that this is due to a power shift between the factions
that make up the Republican party, with the defense hawks losing
out; speaking as a defense hawk I’d have to say that this is…
more or less true; but it’s more like we saw the writing on the
wall ahead of time and decided not to fight in a burning house.
Ben and I do agree on one thing, though: Barack Obama and Senate
Democrats* weren’t really prep