The Czar took the family out to a really outstanding but noisy Mexican restaurant the other night. In the booth behind us, the Czar’s finely tuned ears picked out a woman saying “…the Democrats. They want to ‘tax the rich, tax the rich’ but they know perfectly well that they’re going to get hit really hard as well, or else they are just idiots.” Um, yes. Interesting.

She went on to say she was probably going to vote for Bachmann. But more interestingly, the Czar elected to listen in here and there, and discovered she was an ordinary American voter. And here is what she, an ordinary American voter, believed (with agreement from her companion).

– The Democrats are out of ideas, and are basically punting. But blaming Republicans for everything, and continuously lowering the bar on what constitutes “rich,” will not work.

– The Republicans will win on the economy, and the Democrats will lose on foreign policy.

– There is simply too much spending going on, and like it or not, the heyday of entitlements like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and welfare have to end.

– Americans have low approval for Congress; but this actually means they really dislike the Democratic-led Congress. They seem to have hope for the Republican Young Guns, and would give them high marks if there was a way to isolate them in the poll responses.

– Sarah Palin is old news. She will not enjoy the support she had.

– Only the GOP has been actively trying to do something about the debt. The plans may suck, but anything is better than the stunned silence from the other side.

What a curious surprise. This means that the reality of the economic situation is sinking in with average Americans.

You can see that in another context, too: a whopping 11% of Americans think the country is headed in the right direction, while one in four think the President is doing a good job on the economy.

Know what means, Democrats? It means that less than a quarter of Americans think the President inherited a bad economy from Bush. That was your only campaign weapon, there…the one that just went pfffft.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.