Liberal: Dems’ Oliver Anthony Problem

“Democrats’ reaction to “Rich Men North of Richmond” by Oliver Anthony tells you a lot about where the party is today,” grumbles The Liberal Patriot’s Ruy Teixeira. The lyrics are “directed above all at economic unfairness and a system that screws the working class and favors the rich who want to ‘have total control,’ ” but Anthony’s failure to scrub “lines that might offend the tender sensibilities of the liberal commentariat” prompted progressive excoriation “despite Anthony’s stout denials that he is, in fact, on the right.” In all: “The fact that Democrats responded with visceral dislike to a song that expressed the complicated populist views of an actual working-class person shows how unwelcoming the party has become to actual working-class people.” Add in how Bidenflation has slammed the working class, and “we are getting very far indeed from FDR’s party of the common man and woman.”

Libertarian: The ‘No Evidence’ Delusion

“When talking heads say, ‘no evidence,’ they mean ‘no smoking-gun proof’ ” on Joe Biden’s alleged corruption, notes Reason’s J.D. Tuccille. And “Americans are entitled to pass their own judgments based on that evidence.” Like the millions that flowed to Biden family accounts via Hunter’s foreign dealings. Or Joe’s lie that he never had “any role in Hunter’s sketchy business dealings.” Or “the thousands of emails the elder Biden hid behind pseudonymous accounts while vice president, in defiance of transparency standards.” Or credible “allegations that the Biden administration interfered in the investigation of Hunter.” So “the American people have already seen plenty of evidence. They don’t need courtroom-level proof of sleaze and corruption to render their own verdicts.”

Climate watch: ‘Science’ by ‘Spiritual Leaders’?

The Biden Alaskan-drilling ban “ignores” numerous ill impacts, like rising energy costs and “increasing reliance on oil imports,” gripes David Lewis Schaefer at the Association of Mature American Citizens. It also “calls into question” Democrats’ demands to follow “science.” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland noted the cancellation of drilling leases was “based on the best available science and in recognition of the Indigenous Knowledge,” citing a White House Office of Science and Technology Policy directive for agencies to “include Indigenous Knowledge as an aspect of the best available science” and encouraging them to consult native “spiritual leaders.” “Is this what Barack Obama meant by restoring science to its rightful place in the government’s decisions?”

From the right: DNC Icing Out RFK, Jr.

“It is clear that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a Democrat and wants to run as one in the Democratic primaries,” but “Kennedy himself called out the Democratic National Committee for ‘rigging’ the primaries against him to benefit Biden,” and is now hinting at a third-party run, points out Douglas MacKinnon at The Hill. “Powerful Democratic powerbrokers behind the scenes and certain media outlets advocating for Biden might be dialing up their attacks on Kennedy” because of evidence that he’s a threat to Biden, and because “he has been continually challenging narratives pushed by the entrenched elites.” In an echo of the dirty insider politics of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” it seems the DNC doesn’t “trust the people to speak for themselves.”

From the left: Uke War’s Humanitarian Crisis

As the West eyes a long war in Ukraine with no end in sight, “civilian and humanitarian needs must be planned for, not just military ones,” pleads David Miliband at The Guardian. “Currently 18 million Ukrainians are in humanitarian need,” especially in areas closest to the fighting. And don’t ignore the “mental health” costs, as “the abnormal” is “being normalised.” Externally, Russia’s “blockade on the export of Ukrainian grain” means “nine countries are on the UN famine watchlist and 50 million people in east Africa are going to bed hungry.” As the UN General Assembly meets this week, world leaders need to act as though “Ukraine is the defining struggle that so many have said it is,” and fight the war “on all fronts.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board