Here are today's must read opinion and editorial columns.
LAWMAKERS' FISCAL GAMBLES ARE WORSE THAN THE SEXUAL ONESBY DANA MILBANKWASHINGTON POST
And thrill seekers on both sides are content to push talks to the deadline — part of a regular game of chicken legislators have enjoyed on budget deals. Lawmakers will have an easier time justifying that to their wives, but it’s the same delusion of invincibility that led Weiner to risk his career. In fact, we’d be better off if lawmakers gambled more with their private parts and less with the public good.
YOUR TWEETIN' HEART BY MAUREEN DOWDNEW YORK TIMES
In some ways, Internet sex has fewer risks, like disease. But there’s the risk of exposure, in all its meanings, and ruining your real life before a global audience. That’s what Weiner, who ensnared himself in a web of lies outrageous even for Capitol Hill, is finding out.
RESISTANCE GROWS EDITORIALNEW YORK TIMES
We welcome the votes of no-confidence in Secure Communities. The message is clear and growing louder: Mr. Obama and the homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, need to try something else. That something else is real immigration reform that combines a path to legality with necessary measures to secure our borders and deport real criminals who are here illegally.
HOW TO EXIT AFGHANISTAN WITHOUT CREATING WIDER CONFLICT BY HENRY KISSINGERWASHINGTON POST
After America’s withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan and the constraint to our strategic reach produced by the revolution in Egypt, a new definition of American leadership and America’s national interest is inescapable. A sustainable regional settlement in Afghanistan would be a worthy start.
ANTHONY WEINER ET AL.: BOYS WILL BE POLITICIANS BY RUTH MARCUSWASHINGTON POST
Now the medium (Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, instant messaging) is simultaneously the mechanism of misconduct and the evidence thereof. All instantly grabbable as a screenshot and capable of being shared with millions. When will they ever learn? My conclusion, into a third decade of writing about these foibles: No time soon.
PAWLENTY'S GROWTH MARKER EDITORIALWALL STREET JOURNAL
The larger task for Mr. Pawlenty going forward is to put these policy choices into a larger economic narrative, explaining to voters why the prosperity of the 1980s and 1990s ended, how Mr. Obama's policies have damaged the recovery, and how his own policies will revive middle-class incomes. Now that Mr. Pawlenty has laid down his marker, what do his competitors have to offer?
NO, YOU CAN'T KEEP YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE BY GRACE-MARIE TURNERWALL STREET JOURNAL
The case for repeal of ObamaCare grows stronger every year. The massive shift of health costs to taxpayers thanks to the disruption of employer-sponsored health insurance will add further to the burgeoning federal budget deficit. Congress can and must develop policies that allow the marketplace to evolve and not be forced into ObamaCare's regulatory straitjacket.