Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: False equivalency edition

Ezra Klein's chart showing America's spending gutted to protect seniors under Paul Ryan

Ezra Klein:

How the aging of America is hurting the Republican Party

The Fix:

On Friday, President Obama embraced a concept long cherished by his party: false equivalency...

Rejecting the 'both sides do it' construct will delight Obama's base who has been insisting for weeks (months, really) that the media's tendency toward playing 'fair' has led to a gross mischaracterization of the facts surrounding sequester. (The Washington Post's Greg Sargent has been a leading voice in the 'false equivalency' chorus.)

I know I've been with Greg Sargent on hammering the press on insisting on false equivalency, and I took this as an acknowledgment that Obama and Dems object to it. Better than ignoring it.

Greg Sargent:

Now that the sequester is set to hit, and both sides are settling in for a long, grueling political fight, they are eying the government shutdown deadline of March 27th as the next deadline around which to craft their strategies...

UPDATE: One additional point. Even if the sequester takes some time to be felt in districts, Dems are hopeful that groups within districts who are worried about getting hit by the cuts will go to their GOP members of Congress to tell them that the sequester is a real problem for them ' hopefully making it harder for these Republicans to support continuing funding at lower levels. There's also the possibility that some Republicans who don't think the sequester is good enough could also deny support. The key for Dems is to maintain unity against any lower level funding extension.

.@ThePlumLineGS: interesting read on D House strategy: http://t.co/... but unclear to me they have the discipline required.
' @DemFromCT via TweetDeck
Ezra Klein:

Presidents have plenty of pollsters on staff, and they give many speeches in the course of a year. So how do they so systematically overestimate the importance of those speeches?

[Political scientist George] Edwards believes that by the time Presidents reach the White House their careers have taught them that they can persuade anyone of anything. 'Think about how these guys become President,' he says. 'The normal way is talking for two years. That's all you do, and somehow you win. You must be a really persuasive fellow.'

But being President isn't the same as running for President. When you're running for President, giving a good speech helps you achieve your goals. When you are President, giving a good speech can prevent you from achieving them.