News Nuggets 848

Saint Clement's Church in Rodel on the Isle of Harris in Scotland.  From National Geographic.

Sanctions Leave Iran with Difficult Choices from Al Arabiya [of Saudi Arabia in English]
"Tighter sanctions will push the Iranian government to make some tough decisions. The Islamic republic can find ways to deal with the pressures that the next round of sanctions will bring, but probably not without political fallout."
The Los Angeles Times covers this story from a different perspective. 

What Bill Daley Taught the White House (Chris Cillizza) from the Washington Post
"Brought in to rebuild the White House’s relationship with the business community and Congress, Daley leaves the job as Obama seems to have found his stride by explicitly running against Congress and, to a lesser extent, the business community. “What he learned was that business refused to make nice regardless of what he did,” said one former White House aide of Daley. “Wall Street was just never going to be there.”"

Republicans Bash Europe in Search of Votes (Sebastian Fischer) from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]
"Europe is socialist, bloated and a threat to the global economy. That appears to be the message from the ongoing presidential campaign in the US. Republicans in particular have discovered Europe as a convenient punching bag -- and have even begun accusing each other of being too "European.""

Race and the GOP Race (Teresa Wiltz) from the Guardian [of the UK] 
"So much for America's 'post-racial' politics: Republicans seem to be in a contest to see who can dogwhistle loudest."

Dog Bites Man, Fox Nation Lies about Obama Unemployment Statement from Daily Kos
"Fox Nation is distorting comments President Obama made about the economy to suggest that he called an 8.5 percent unemployment a "success." In fact, Obama made clear in his comments that he believes "we have a lot more work to do" to continue improving the economy. [...] Fox Nation is treating Obama's comments as some type of victory lap, suggesting that he called the 8.5 percent unemployment rate a "success" [...] Obama did no such thing."
When I read stories like this, I really get worried for our country.  Here you have a supposedly legitimate millions-watching news channel simply lying.  They weren't "misstating" something or making some verbal gaffe.  They lied.  And I don't think it is a stretch to say they lied for clear partisan purposes.  What makes it most distressing is that (1) there's so little effort to call them to account; and (b) where or when will this drift towards straight-up propaganda cease?  Will FOX become conservative America's version of the Nazi Party's Völkischer Beobachter?  Where will it stop?

Romney’s Bruises From GOP Won’t Heal by November (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
"One thing nearly all observers agree upon about the Republican primary is that Mitt Romney is the most electable candidate. It’s absolutely right, if you exclude from consideration Jon Huntsman, which I do. But the oft-repeated claim that Romney is the strongest candidate has lulled many people into thinking that Romney is a strong candidate. The last two days of the campaign have exposed just how bad this supposition is."

Rick Santorum’s Anti-College Rant (Charles Blow) from the New York Times 
"Hey, I get it: Republicans have to reject and condemn virtually everything President Obama proposes, no matter how noble, to satisfy their base. This is our political predicament. Rick Santorum, however, has followed that logic out the window."

Devaluing the Think Tank (Tevi Troy) from National Affairs
"[I]nstitutions have found that they can stand out by adopting a more strident ideological bent — a practice that has led to think tanks' increasing politicization. ... The emergence of cable-television networks has put further pressure on think tanks to produce more immediate and political products. Going on TV has become an important metric of success at many think tanks, and scholars often have to write articles and papers in ways designed to increase the chances of attracting the interest of television producers."
David Frum comments on this trend HERE.  I would only say that both of these writers miss the larger historical point: right-leaning think tanks (such as CATO, AEI, and others) emerged as part of a much larger project to create credible sources for a broad conservative counter-narrative, one that implicitly (and now more explicitly) stands in opposition to more "mainstream" sources of information, such as network news, academe, the print media, and, in the last ten years or so, even sources of
peer-reviewed science.  They are of a piece with the rise of FOX News and conservative talk radio.  Look for it -- the next thing up will be massive amounts of money flowing towards right-wing science journals and forums that, one way or another, will create whole new worlds of scientific "truth" that just happen to support conservative views on evolution, global warming, sexual orientation and on and on.

The Corporate Candidates from the Editorial Board of the New York Times 
"The more Mitt Romney pretends to empathize with the millions of Americans who are struggling in this economy, the less he seems to understand their despair. And the rest of the Republican field seems to have no more insight into the concerns of most voters than he does."

Romney Lays Out Weak Obama Attack Line After New Hampshire Primary Win (Peter Beinart) from the Daily Beast
"In his victory speech, the likely GOP nominee previewed the strategy he will pursue against Obama in 2012—portraying the president as not believing in American greatness. But Obama is not the pessimist Romney describes."
"Not believing in American greatness"?!  There is a historic recession going on, people are suffering everywhere, the country is swamped with very serious problems .. and Romney wants to do rhetorical sparring with Obama -- one of the best orators and masters of American rhetoric our country has produced in generations?!  As I suggested yesterday, Romney's campaign brain trust is not firing on all cylinders!  If this lame approach even begins to have traction, Obama will pull out his SECRET WEAPON (like Popeye with his spinach), a jaw-dropping speech that mainlines message and moment.  Beinart nails the real problem with this dumb strategy: "The pessimism claim, by contrast, feels manufactured and inauthentic, which if Romney isn’t careful, may become the American people’s narrative about him." BINGO!!

Battered Mitt Romney Stumbles Toward Win from the Huffington Post
"The former Massachusetts governor's strategy to lie low while his opponents imploded one by one was put to the test when they collectively -- if reluctantly -- launched a final assault on him in the days leading to New Hampshire's primary. Romney has retained his lead, but he failed the test -- a failure that may prove more significant in the general election than it will today. Under pressure from right and left, Romney delivered a series of gaffes and fibs in the past few days that may appear trivial on the surface, but reinforce the harshest critiques of him as a heartless businessman and soulless politician."

The Lizza List: Five People Conservatives Can Blame If Romney Wins (Ryan Lizza) from the New Yorker
"A successful Presidency can produce a new crop of future Presidential candidates for the party that controls the White House. The vice president and cabinet officials, as well as governors and senators elected over the course of the administration, are historically major sources for a party's next round of candidates. The Bush years had the opposite effect. It was unthinkable that his vice president would run for higher office and much of his cabinet left Washington tainted by the President's unpopularity. Moreover, Bush helped sink his party in the 2006 and 2008 elections, thus depleting the ranks of potential Republican candidates for 2012."

ANCIENT EGYPT NUGGET!!
Divers Explore Sunken Ruins of Cleopatra's Palace from Discovery News 
"Many archaeological sites have been destroyed by man, but Alexandria's Royal Quarters simply slid into the sea after cataclysmic earthquakes."

BOOK-SELLING NUGGET!!
Good Writing Isn't Enough: How to Sell a Book in the Digital Age (Peter Osnos) from the Atlantic
"The digital revolution is not only changing how books are read—it is also changing the how they are written, produced, and promoted."


BURIED TREASURE BOOK NUGGET!!
Book Review: 'Lost Gold of the Dark Ages' from the Los Angeles Times  
"Caroline Alexander offers a fascinating glimpse at the Staffordshire Hoard, a cache of ancient gold unearthed in an English farmer's field in 2009."