Brad DeLong has criticised Jonathan Weisman from time to time for excessive Bush friendliness. I expect that Brad is satisfied with this column. I personally have no complaints about the headline (for a change).

The news from the Senate Finance committee seems to be
1) Kent (chainsaw) Conrad still has his finger in the wind (isn't it cold up there Kent).

I used to be a big fan of his. When he was first elected to the senate he said he wouldn't run for re-election if the deficit wasn't eliminated ... and he didn't.
I'm not so thrilled now, but I do think that if Wesley Clark gets the nomination in 2008, he should look to the far North for geographic balance. A Clark-Kent bumper sticker would be worth ignoring timidity on private/personal/modernised/Jazzy/Rockin' accounts.

2) Snowe seens solidly against personal accounts. I'd say this means game over. My guess is that it is becoming safe for Republican moderates to break with Bush and it is never safe to be against social security. Bush (and Frist) seem to have managed to create a coalition of Democrats and Republican Moderates. Pure political genius in a way.

3) This guy Ferrara is totally crazy. I wonder why Grassley invited him. Does this mean Grassley is inclined to abandon ppmjr accounts and wants a wild eyed advocate to make them look bad ?

Weisman will earn no turkee for quoting Ferrara at length. Also, I suspect that Senator Thomas was arguing against Ferrara more than Bush. Since the difference is only in degree of fiscal and mental imbalance, that is tough, but I think his comments could have been spun to seem to be a defence of only the twice as crazy proposal.