Read Stuff, You Should

I criticized a Matthew Dickinson post about a potential Hillary Clinton primary challenge a couple of weeks ago; I never got around to linking to his response, which I still thoroughly disagree with -- but you should read if you read my argument.

Here's the (rest of the) good stuff

1. The economy: Nate Silver was good on politics and the stock market; Ezra Klein interviews Larry Summers; John Paul Rollert on Adam Smith and job creators; and Binyamin Appelbaum has a very useful piece in today's NYT on the weakness of government GDP estimates.

2. WH 2012: Perry-watcher Erica Grieder has a must-read introduction to Rick Perry, which I believe is exactly right (bottom line: he's a pol, and a pretty good one). Also, Steve Kornacki explains why Democrats shouldn't count on Republicans self-imploding, Dave Weigel reports that Michele Bachmann isn't acting like a normal candidate, and Josh Marshall thinks about the Murdoch primary. Another must-read: Michele Goldberg reports on Perry, Bachmann, and the Christians.

3. Presidency and Westen. I put in my two cents; here are great posts by Dickenson, Jamelle Bouie, Jonathan Chait, and Scott Lemieux. Hey, I'm lumping them all together, but they aren't redundant at all. Each is worth your time.

4. Matt Yglesias thinks about the differences between the parties. Seth Masket loves parties -- and points out that you do, too. Seth and Hans Noel deflate third-party nonsense; more on the same from Erik Loomis.

5. Yglesias talks about liberal presidents.

6. I think I have two pet peeves. One is colons in article titles, which isn't actually "wrong" but I dislike it anyway; the other is the use of "modest proposal" in a title of anything that is actually a straightforward modest proposal. Ta-Nehisis Coates shows how it's done correctly. Also, TNC on Gettysburg. Best. Blogger. Ever.

7. Don't tell Newt: Conor Fridedersdorf nominates the recent twenty years as the least pivotal in US history; Friedersdorf also continues to listen carefully to right-wing charlatans.

8. Julian Sanchez argues for gay muppets.

9. And as disgusted as I am with baseball this week (not a good month for the Giants), I can still recommend the great Rany Jazayerli's defense of Carlos Beltran. Although I'd enjoy it more if Beltran wasn't one of five, count 'em five, currently injured Giants outfiielders. Along with two SPs, the set-up man and closer, two second basemen, and the catcher, who happens to be the best player on the team.