Evan Bayh:fiscal austerity::
Cardinal Bernard Law:carnal continence

Discuss.

(Apart from the screaming hypocrisy, which is par for legislators, what stuns me about members of the mod caucus is their inexorable imbecility and impeccable bad timing. Martin Wolf, the best pundit alive, explains why budget hawkery in the current climate is dumb and dangerous. I get the politics of purple-state margins, but why these people are ceded the intellectual and moral high ground on this subject - or any other for that matter - is beyond me.

I know I'm a broken record on this, but it's important. The debt and deficit are deadly serious matters, and this country must face a number of bleak budgetary realities ahead. But so is the immediate and continuing risk of economic instability, if not cataclysm, as well as the present pain and suffering of millions of people across this country. Would you trust a physician who chose to pontificate about diet and high cholesterol when the patient is under cardiac arrest?)

Added: The stupidity, it burns.