Abbreviated pundit round-up: It's not the Republican message that is a fault, it's the Republicans

Paul Krugman at The New York Times writes that the Republicans seem determined to dig themselves a deeper hole in his Makers, Takers, Fakers:

Meanwhile, back in Louisiana Mr. Jindal is pushing a plan to eliminate the state's income tax, which falls most heavily on the affluent, and make up for the lost revenue by raising sales taxes, which fall much more heavily on the poor and the middle class. The result would be big gains for the top 1 percent, substantial losses for the bottom 60 percent. Similar plans are being pushed by a number of other Republican governors as well.

Like the new acknowledgment that the perception of being the party of the rich is a problem, this represents a departure for the G.O.P.'but in the opposite direction. In the past, Republicans would justify tax cuts for the rich either by claiming that they would pay for themselves or by claiming that they could make up for lost revenue by cutting wasteful spending. But what we're seeing now is open, explicit reverse Robin Hoodism: taking from ordinary families and giving to the rich. That is, even as Republicans look for a way to sound more sympathetic and less extreme, their actual policies are taking another sharp right turn.

John Nichols at The Nation offers Three Strategies to Block the Gerrymandering of the Electoral College:

Under at least one scenario entertained by Priebus and his minions, Romney's 5 million'vote loss of the popular vote nationally still would not have prevented him from assuming the presidency.

Impossible? Hardly. Because of gerrymandering and the concentration of Democratic votes in urban areas and college towns, a 1.4-million vote majority for Democrats in congressional races nationwide in 2012 was converted into Republican control of the US House and gridlocked government.

So can Priebus be stopped? It's possible. But democracy advocates need to move fast, and smart.

Noam Scheiber at the radically redesigned The New Republic says Tim Geithner was A Good Hire'Who Stayed About Three and a Half Years Too Long.

[For more punditry, including a take on a different drone war, please keep reading below the fold.]