News Nuggets 322

Present and pass. The top shows a typical Tea Party group (with some serious problems coordinating their message) and the bottom shows folks protesting the Brown v Board of Education decision back in 1954. Will these people EVER really go away?

NOTE: The nuggets man will be out of town until next monday so you will have to be satisfied with an extra bagful today. Hope everyone enjoys the spring weather! Catch y'all next week!

A Solid First Effort (Stephen Walt) from Foreign Policy Magazine

"I'm still digesting the results of the Nuclear Security Summit meeting, but I'll give the Obama administration a pretty high mark on two grounds."

The Race Against the Bomb from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]

"German commentators on Wednesday give generally positive reviews to Barack Obama's Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. The United States president must do even more to ensure the threat of terrorists or more countries getting their hands on nuclear weapons is reduced, but most agree he is off to a commendable start."

Obama's Quiet Success on Iran Sanctions (Max Fisher) from the Atlantic

"After months of wrangling, Obama has not secured their support, nor did he emphasize sanctions at this week's nuclear security summit. This had led many observers to declare Obama's agenda of curbing Iranian nuclear ambitions a total failure. But the reality is more complicated, and Obama may have made more progress than first meets the eye. Even if it looks like China and Russia are stringing Obama along, they could actually be playing right into his hands."

Obama: A Pragmatic Moderate Faces the 'Socialist' Smear (Norman Ornstein) from the Washington Post

"In the 1950s, Democratic senators from the solidly Democratic South uniformly supported segregation and opposed civil rights and voting rights bills. ... Legend has it that during one marathon filibuster, after Olin Johnston of South Carolina, a populist liberal on economic matters, handed off the baton to Strom Thurmond, Johnston went into the cloakroom where many of his colleagues were seated, gestured back toward the Senate floor, and said, "Old Strom, he really believes that [expletive]." This story came to mind with the recent blizzard of attacks on Barack Obama by Republican presidential wannabes and other office-seekers, along with their allies on cable television and talk radio."

Vatican Enters 'Full-Fledged Damage Control Mode' Over Abuse from the Associated Press via Huffington Post

"The revved-up strategy comes as the Vatican tries to stem the damage from weeks of revelations about priests who raped and molested children – and the church officials who kept it quiet – before the pontiff's visit to Malta this weekend. Abuse victims on that majority Roman Catholic Mediterranean island are seeking a papal audience and apology."

How the Holy Father Lost the Fatherland from Foreign Policy Magazine

"No one's more sick of Benedict than the Germans. ... If overseeing a revival of those "Christian roots" was a central goal of this papacy, as subsequent developments indicated, it's not too early or too sweeping to declare that this goal now stands virtually no chance of success."

Papalgate: The Pope's Nixon Problem (Tom McNichol) from the Atlantic

"The ever-widening scandal over Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of Church sex abuse cases has an eerily familiar ring: it's unfolding in much the same way that Watergate played out for Richard Nixon. Each day brings new revelations, to which the Pope and his supporters respond with carefully crafted explanations and pointed counterattacks."

Top 10 Controversial Popes from Time Magazine

"As controversy swirls around the Catholic Church and noted atheists such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins call for Pope Benedict XVI's arrest for "crimes against humanity," TIME takes a look at history's most scandal-ridden Pontiffs"

Scalia's Retirement Party from Slate

"President Obama's political task, three years from now, will be to convince the country that he, not a Republican president, should make that potential appointment. The point isn't to show that he would move the Court leftward if re-elected in 2012—he'd probably be better off sending more moderate signals..."

Democrats Batter Mitch McConnell for Standing with Wall Street from Huffington Post

"In coming out so early against reform, and doing so just after meeting with Wall Street executives and without the full support of his party, McConnnell has given Democrats an opportunity to tie the GOP to the financial industry and isolate elements of the Senate GOP."

Have Republicans Been Out-Foxed? (Eve Conant) from Newsweek

"The image of Fox that one gets from liberal critics such as The Daily Show's Jon Stewart is that it parrots Republican talking points, pushes conservative ideas into the mainstream, and keeps the base animated. But some conservatives are asking whether the news channel has become too extreme and whether, by angering and agitating the base, it may be making it harder, rather than easier, for Republicans to win elections."

If true, I suspect it is actually too late for the GOP to have these conversations. Fox News, the Tea Party folks, and talk radio blabbermouths are now largely calling the shots, not the GOP leadership in Congress. The tiger is quite riled now -- and they will have to ride it.

Fall of the Titans (David Weigal) from the Washington Post

"The practical impact of this: It becomes incredibly hard to see where Republicans get the 10 seats that win them control of the Senate."

The Republicans Are Acting Like Frat Boys in Animal House (Gary Younge) from the Guardian [of London]

"Reckless, anarchic and strident, the American right is living in a parallel world where fear and rage drive out the facts."

GOP Operatives Crash the Tea Party from Politico

"“We’ve worked hard to distance ourselves from the Tea Party Express because of their close affiliation with the Republican Party, the Republican establishment and their PAC,” said Debbie Dooley, a national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots, a national umbrella group of local activists. The Patriots have supported a strict nonpartisan posture but also have struggled to raise money, and Dooley contends that’s partly because of Tea Party Express. "

Who Will Lead the Republican Party? (David Brooks and Gail Collins) from the New York Times

"The Democrats are in an interesting and not unusual position right now. Even though they’re horrified by the Tea Party folks, they rub their hands with glee when any of them appears to be in striking distance of a serious nomination. "

SOVIET UNION NUGGET!!

Stalin's Daughter: Alive and Well ... and Living in Wisconsin from the Globe and Mail [of the UK]

"An independent film is bringing to light a well-kept secret: Soviet Dictator Josef Stalin's only daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva, has been living incognito in the U.S. state of Wisconsin."