Notice this story. Notice the fact that Democrats are on the rhetorical offensive with claims that if only it weren’t for nasty Republicanses and their deregulatory practices, we wouldn’t be in this mess. And notice that there is little to no Republican pushback whatsoever countering this nonsensical rhetorical point.

I have asked before and will again: What kind of magical powers are regulators supposedly endowed with that they can use to stop the business cycle from going into a downturn? Because I would really like to know and thus far, I haven’t gotten a straight answer out of anyone concerning this issue.

But credit where it is due: At least the Democrats are being forceful with their rhetoric. Republicans? Not so much, even though they have the better of the policy argument. Perhaps to ameliorate that sorry state of affairs, Republicans will take a moment to heed the words of Jon Henke. He has good advice to share. That advice ought to be taken. Additionally, it ought to be pointed out that regulation-via-gratuitous litigation has hardly helped matters any. Remember when the bien pensant community was celebrating Eliot Spitzer’s litigation rampages as a form of smart regulation the likes of which the federal government should have been performing but wasn’t? Does that look like clever policy now?