News Nuggets 77

PHOTO NUGGETS!

Normally, gimmicky headline-grabbing activists bore me -- but these nude and semi-nude animal rights folks from Spain got my attention.  A slideshow of some of their activities is here and several of the images (such as the one above) are quite arresting -- I suspect even literally!

The Tyranny of Bad Ideas (Kathleen Parker) from the Washington Post

"Before we can fix the economy, health care, Social Security, education and other problems, we have to rethink some of our most sacrosanct premises.  Here's a paradoxical thought to get you started: We have to increase taxes and federal programs to save the capitalist system."

Obama's Big-Tent Stimulus (E.J. Dionne) from the Washington Post

"It has been so long since Congress needed to pass a huge and urgent package of spending increases and tax cuts that few people understand how the politics of such a thing might work."

On Stimulus, It's Easy Being Green (Nate Silver) from Fivethirtyeight.com

"A new poll from Politico suggests that the public does not see Barack Obama's stimulus package in the same category as one of the myriad number of bailouts that the Congress has passed, and that Republicans (or Democrats) counting on a populist backlash against the measure have their work cut out for them."

Obama Economic Plan Gets High Marks from Politico

"By a large majority, voters favor President-elect Barack Obama’s wide-ranging policy prescriptions to aid the faltering economy, according to a new Politico/Allstate poll."

Demography and Destiny from National Journal

"Population trends boosting the Democrats show no signs of slowing."

GOP tug-of-war Emerging over Obama Plan from Politico

"Minutes after Barack Obama delivered his big economic speech Thursday, the top two Republicans on Capitol Hill popped in front of the TV cameras to say they were ready to work with the president-elect. Some other members may not be so cooperative."

Palin Pummels the Press (Howard Kurtz) from the Washington Post

"Sarah Palin, still smarting over coverage of her vice-presidential run, calls the media's reporting on her family "very scary" and says there may be "a class issue" that explains the more sympathetic treatment of Caroline Kennedy."

Soother in Chief from Slate

"When these frightful times of financial confusion and credit constipation become too much, I dial up Barack Obama on YouTube to suppress my anxieties. The Voice works like aerosolized Paxil on my limbic system, reducing my blood pressure and lifting my mood."

Mere Presidents (Peggy Noonan) from the Wall Street Journal

"Right now patriotism requires more than the usual candor. It requires speaking truthfully and constructively to a president who is a man, and just a man. We hire them, we fire them, they come back for photo-ops. They're not magic."

The Leaves Have it (Gail Collins) from the New York Times

"Already we have a big break with the past. The Bush White House so totally regarded senators as potted plants that it was a wonder that senior aides didn’t attempt to water them. Democrats believed that Dick Cheney had a large chart in which legislators were identified by which type of household foliage they most resembled. (Harry Reid was a ficus.) But no more."

Mr. Cool's Centrist Gamble (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post

"Obama is doing something quite remarkable: Rather than settling into the normal partisan governing stance, he is breaking with it -- moving toward the center in a way that upsets some of his liberal allies but offers the promise of broad national support."

Bush Legacy: Grim Times, Gloomy Nation from the Associated Press

"Wars. Recession. Bailouts. Debt. Gloom.  The unvarnished review of George W. Bush's presidency reveals a portrait of America he never would have imagined."

Conservative Bloggers Up in Arms Over GOP Cooperation with Obama from the Huffington Post

"Congressional Republicans may have forged a fragile peace with President-elect Obama as he pushes his stimulus plan. But they face an insurgency on their right flank."

Shortlisting Allies from the Globe and Mail [of Canada]

"When the White House announced this week that Mr. Bush had selected former British prime minister Tony Blair, former Australian prime minister John Howard and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, it was a somewhat dubious distinction."