IT'S NOT YOUR DADDY'S GOP

TOP TALKER - David Brooks, "The Possum Republicans: The party needs a few good rhinos": "[I]t's not unexpected that Republican senators like Richard Lugar and Orrin Hatch would swing sharply to the right to fend off primary challengers. ... Still, it is ... not honorable to adjust your true nature in order to win re-election. ... All across the nation, there are mainstream Republicans lamenting how the party has grown more and more insular, more and more rigid. This year, they have an excellent chance to defeat President Obama, yet the wingers have trashed the party's reputation by swinging from one embarrassing and unelectable option to the next: Bachmann, Trump, Cain, Perry, Gingrich, Santorum. ...