SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:35 P.M. ET:

OBAMA ATTACKS THE PRESS – There's a headline I thought I'd never see.  President Obama delivered the commencement address at Barnard College today.  That's the women's college affiliated with Columbia, from which he presumably graduated in 1983.  Obama, who probably has received more help from the media than any president in memory, lambasted the press for rumor mongering.  I guess he senses a loss of the absolute devotion he once enjoyed.  Oh, by the way, he invited himself to deliver the commencement address, bumping the scheduled speaker, to emphasize his devotion to women's issues.  So much for civility.

ROMNEY UP IN ANOTHER POLL – The latest CBS News/New York Times poll shows Romney up by three over Obama.  It's Romney 46, Obama 43.  This is well within the margin of error, but it is striking that the incumbent president is seven points under the 50% mark, considered necessary for re-election.  The poll was conducted over the weekend, after Obama's endorsement of gay marriage was absorbed by the public and media.  The respondents were a mix of registered voters and unregistered adults.  A poll of likely voters would probably have put Romney even further ahead.

ANN ATTACKED AGAIN – First it was a Democratic operative saying that Ann Romney never worked a day in her life.  Now a Newsweek commentator, Michelle Goldberg, has called her "insufferable," and compared her approach to Hitler and Stalin.  Goldberg is a leftist writer who specializes in women's issues, at least the way she sees them.  Ann Romney had used the phrase, "the crown of motherhood," and Goldberg said it reminded her of totalitarian societies.  Newsweek is struggling, and hiring people like Michelle Goldberg will not help its cause.

PAUL OUT – Ron Paul is dropping his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, but is urging his supporters at the state level to continue wreaking havoc at state conventions.  Paul supporters have disrupted several conventions in recent weeks.  Paul is not really a Republican, and has been out of step with the party for years.  There is talk that he might run as a third-party candidate.  However, that could damage the career of his son, Rand, a Republican senator from Kentucky.  Frankly, I don't care for either of them, but I think the son is more sober than the father.

May 14,  2012