Should We Envy Texas?  —  Ross Douthat has a strange column today arguing that Texas — yes, Texas — represents the sort of “model” economy that Barack Obama promised but can't quite seem to achieve.  “The president wants to govern America like a blue state,” writes Douthat.

Political Party Affiliation: 30 States Blue, 4 Red in '09 So Far  —  PRINCETON, NJ — An analysis of Gallup Poll Daily tracking data from the first six months of 2009 finds Massachusetts to be the most Democratic state in the nation, along with the District of Columbia.

New Anti-Obama ‘Joker’ Poster  —  A new poster depicting President Obama as a version of Heath Ledger's Joker character in The Dark Knight has appeared in Los Angeles, according to rightwing sources.  Blog posters to such online sites as American Thinker and Tammy Bruce are predictably in the throes of political orgasm.

OBAMA JOKER POSTER  —  LOS ANGELES, CA - A poster depicting President Obama as Batman's The Joker has begun appearing around Los Angeles.  —  Someone has been creating posters of President Obama in the famous face paint of The Dark Knight's Joker, famously depicted by Heath Ledger.

Ambinder  —  Marc Ambinder seems to think the tea-bagger effort to shut down Democratic town hall meetings is just working from the Dems 2005 anti-Social Security privatization playbook.  —  Really?  —  I watched those events unfold pretty closely.  And what the Dems did in 2005 consisted …