Pollsters: Short-Term Costs Just Part of Story

The Iran war is proving a “domestic liability” for the GOP, note Douglas E. Schoen and Carly Cooperman at The Hill — partly because “for many Americans, the war has not been clearly or consistently explained, leaving voters to judge it primarily through its economic consequences.” Yet its “long-term strategic impact” may well “improve sentiment in the long term.” Iran’s power has been devastated and its neighbors alienated. “If the war ultimately results in an Iranian regime that is permanently weakened, especially one incapable of developing nuclear weapons, and strengthens alignment among U.S. allies in the region, its long-term consequences could prove to be far more consequential than its short-term political costs.”

Terror watch: Iran’s Newest Proxy

Police have called the stabbing of two Jewish men in London a “terrorist act,” and a “shadowy new group” named HAYI, which may have Iranian ties, has claimed responsibility for this and other recent actions, including “attacks on political opponents of the Iranian regime in Europe,” observes Jay Solomon at The Free Press. The “terror network’s operations are diffuse and coordinated remotely, making them difficult to trace and combat,” but the group fulfills fears that “that Iran may employ terrorism and asymmetrical warfare to advance its aims.” HAYI’s “operations appear designed to maintain official distance between Iran and the terrorist attacks subsuming Europe,” but US and European intelligence agencies believe it “to be operating under the direction of Iran’s elite military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”

Campaign fact-check: Becerra’s No Moderate

Xavier Becerra’s rise in California’s gov-race polls has prompted some to slam him as a “moderate,” laughs Christopher Jacobs at The Federalist. He didn’t back one health-care “single payer” bill? So what: “Becerra has a history of supporting socialized medicine that goes back decades,” and even slammed Nancy Pelosi for “giving up on a ‘robust’ government-run health plan too quickly” amid the drive to pass Obamacare. He’s also “taken leftist positions with respect to immigration” for his whole career. Fine, “attack him as an incompetent manager, someone who failed to rise to the occasion in the middle of a crisis,” but the idea he’s “an insufficiently committed leftist demonstrates how radical the party has become.”

Libertarian: Rich Fleeing Seattle = No Joke

“Seattle’s socialist Mayor Katie Wilson has a message for prosperous people leaving Washington over the state’s soaring tax burden,” grumbles Reason’s JD. Tuccille: “Bye!” She and other progressives ignore the research that “supports the commonsense idea that people often leave high-tax states in search of lower tax bills.” Now “Wilson may want to practice her goodbyes” as Fisher Investments moved to Texas and Starbucks to Tennessee “over tax concerns.” Plus, “tech giant Microsoft criticized Washington’s tax environment and threatened to move jobs elsewhere.” The Tax Foundation’s Abir Mandal reported that millions of Americans “are moving from high-tax states to those with more competitive tax systems and lower overall costs of living” and states “with higher and more complex tax structures experience sustained outflows.” Tuccille sums up: Wilson’s policies are “pushing people toward the door.”

Labor beat: Defanging Zombie Unions

In a “long overdue” move, Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed a new Florida law requires a union to win active votes from a majority of a bargaining unit’s members if it’s to remain certified, cheers Aaron Withe at The Wall Street Journal. After all, a certified union represents every employee, “whether those employees wanted it or not.” Yet some unions have prevailed with support from just “a small fraction of the workforce”: “At the University of South Florida, the United Faculty of Florida secured exclusive bargaining authority over 2,169 employees with 41 votes — less than 2% of the workforce.” Clearly, “a union that holds exclusive legal authority over a group of workers should be able to show” that those workers “actually want it that way.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board