- The 2011 TIME 100, our list of influentials written by their peers, is out. It’s worth clicking around, but here are a few from our neck of the woods: President Obama on Gabby Giffords, Scott Walker on Paul Ryan, Oprah on Cory Booker, Mitch Daniels on Chris Christie, Rahm Emanuel on Joe Biden, Rush Limbaugh on Michele Bachmann, Stephen Chu on Lisa Jackson, Robert Gates on David Petraeus and David M. Kennedy on Barack Obama.
- Also in the magazine: Joe is bullish on the Gang of Six. Fareed frets there’s no urgency.
- How are those deficit summit delegates working out? Eric Cantor escalates debt ceiling demands.
- To voters, are “deficit” and “debt” just scrambled versions of “the economy”?
- Tim Pawlenty says he’ll kick off his campaign with a budget-cutting plan that reworks Social Security and Medicare. Politically, that’s, uh, questionable.
- He’s risking a Romney-esque reputation of adopting an insincere affect, writes Josh Green. His record needs little embellishment, but here’s the painful quote from a Minnesota observer: “He’s sacrificing his authenticity and intelligence in pursuit of some dumbed-down notion of charisma.”
- South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, whom Romney gambled on early and other potential ’12ers scrambled to endorse later, says, “…no one in the field excites me right now.”
- A majority of the Republican electorate agrees.
- Trump completes the populist trifecta of sino-bashing, conspiracy theories and, now, vowing not to touch entitlements.
- 2012 approacheth: Video crew puts together a highlight reel of nutty opposition rallygoers.
- And in memoriam: Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros.
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