Read Stuff, You Should

Pour a Colt 45: Happy Birthday to Billy Dee Williams, 75. I liked Nighthawks, too.


And the good stuff:

1. Josh Putnam is a star! Well-deserved. Profile by Ben Jacobs.

2. The effects of public financing on state legislators: Seth Masket and Michael Miller find that it increases ideological extremism. Regular readers know my reaction: more evidence for floors, not ceilings.

3. There was a DC primary, you know, on the Republican side. Republicans in the District? Shani O. Hilton has the story.

4. Good Veepstakes discussion from Steve Kornacki.

5. Fred Kaplan takes on Paul Ryan. Ryan, as you can imagine, doesn't look good. On the other hand, Kaplan takes Ryan's rhetoric at face value, and there's at least some reason to believe that Ryan (in his recent remarks about the generals) was just campaigning, not governing. Here's my question: has anyone seen Ryan give an actual impressive performance that makes you think he really fully understands budget politics? I haven't -- but I haven't watched him that many times, and I'm not inclined to hold partisan rhetoric against any politician, since that's part of the job.