E. J. Dionne Jr.

"There are no more grounds for despair about gun control than there were grounds for despair about the persistence of lynching in the face of the fight against that horror. The truth is known, obvious and inarguable. It cannot be said too clearly, and it cannot be said too often: guns make gun violence happen, gun-control laws make it stop.

Here's video from this morning.by KenAt the moment, the day's confusion in and around the Washington Naval Yard is still a long way from being sorted out. The last I heard, from washingtonpost.com's Rachel Weiner at 8:22pm ET:

"A bitter past hangs over this debate and could overwhelm a discussion of what's actually at stake."-- E. J.

Which Republican said this?(For the answer, see E. J. Dionne Jr. below)"Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."

"If you stand for something, you will always make enemies. That is part of the price of being principled. What you should avoid are entirely unnecessary fights that advance no cause but create bitter feelings."-- Washington Post columnist E. J.

When I was 16 I hitchhiked from Brooklyn to Los Angeles so I could stow away on a ship to Tonga. In Brooklyn there had never been anything like the billboard campaigns along Route 66 in state after state in the middle of the country to impeach Earl Warren.

"Bachmannism is far from finished. The Minnesota right-winger . . . perfected a tactic well-suited to the current media environment: continually toss out outlandish, baseless charges, and, eventually, some of them will enter the mainstream media . . . ."You don’t have to bat 1.000 or even .350 in this game. Get just a handful of your accusations and strange takes on reality into the political bloodstream and you've won."Bachmann's method is now common currency."-- E. J.