Saturday was to be a nationwide turnout for the Occupy Wall Street movement, with large protests across the land. From media coverage which portrays the movement as growing, one would have expected a large turnout, at least as large as the April 15, 2009 Tax Day Tea Parties. … The Occupy Wall Street movement momentum is a media creation. As Walter Shapiro wrote a few days ago, the reality of relatively small crowds does not justify the “whole world is watching” coverage. Yes even small crowds can generate the impression of momentum, particularly when the President of the United States finds it convenient to use them for his own political purposes.

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Making “Hard Choices” is no longer optional.

No real progress toward averting the nation’s coming fiscal disaster can be made without changing the culture of entitlements. And no real progress in cutting entitlements can be made without changing the culture of spending. If we cannot eliminate the $167-million subsidy for the National Endowment for the Humanities, we cannot make changes in Social Security. If we cannot eliminate the Department of Energy’s $530-million program of Weatherization Grants to states, we cannot make changes in Medicare. And if we cannot make changes in Social Security and Medicare, we will go broke. Unfortunately, the Republican Study Committee‘s culture-changing proposal, which also would eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program, the Ready-to-Learn Television Program, and the death gratuity for members of Congress — stop smiling this instant! — can hardly be described as a “shared sacrifice” or “back to basics” proposal. Getting Americans to understand sacrificing and going back to basics may require leadership from the president. But as we saw in the State of the Union speech, it will not come from this president, tethered by youthful ideology untempered by experience, and that means we may have to wait six more years. Even as the conservatives in the House of Representatives are listing cuts that will hardly make a dent in the federal deficit, the president, with the support of his Government Firsters, is planning additional spending that will hasten the day of financial reckoning. The inevitable day. … The Republican Study Committee has tried to start a fire. We cannot know now if it will succeed — succeed in burning away the old ways and making way for new.

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• Republican Study Committee: Here’s $2.5 Trillion in Spending Cuts (news.firedoglake.com)
• Republican Study Committee lays down a radical ‘marker’ on spending (washingtonmonthly.com)
• GOP lays out $2.5 trillion in cuts (politico.com)
• House GOP Weighs Medicare Limits (online.wsj.com)
• RSC Spending Plan a Good Start, More is Needed (redstate.com)
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Time to get saddled up people.

Via “I HATE THE MEDIA”: They say a month is an eternity in politics, so two years is … uhhh … even longer. Nevertheless, it looks like the Democrats face some big, big problems in 2012. They’ll have to defend 23 Senate seats compared to only ten for the Republicans. And to make matters even worse, the Republican seats all seem relatively safe while nearly half of the Democrat seats could be in jeopardy. Bottom line: Democrats will lose even more ground in 2012 and Republicans will take firm control of the Senate. Here’s a quick review of what the future may hold..

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• A GOP Senate in 2012? (politico.com)
• Republicans strike first blow on US election night (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
• 100 House seats, 10 Senate? (blogs.dailymail.com)

From the Blaze: “When news came out that conservative media guru Andrew Breitbart was going to participate in ABC’s election night coverage, the left flipped. Apparently, their grumblings were more than just a resounding gong or clanging cymbal.” Andrew Breitbart Dropped From ABC’s Election Night Coverage. RELATED: Media Matters on Breitbart Cancellation: Let This ‘Serve as a Warning to Other Outlets’

Roy Daniels pulled a few out of his desk drawer today and put them up at Peach Pundit … “I think Deal is a better candidate than Barnes. I think Monds won’t garner more than 7% of the vote. I see Deal as a one-term Governor. He saw problems in his home state with the possibility of the Governorship falling back into Barnes’ hands – and stepped in to prevent that. Deal could have remained Congressman Deal until the cows came home; but rather he has chosen to become Governor Deal and quietly retire one day.” CHECK OUT MORE HERE: In Deal’s Defense.