DAYLEE PICTURE: Well, it's not every day one sees a rat napping -- with his teddy bear. From Buzzfeed.
THE TEN BEST NUGGETS OF THE WEEK!!
1. Not Fade Away: Against the Myth of American Decline (Robert Kagan) from the New Republic"Powerful as this sense of decline may be, however, it deserves a more rigorous examination. Measuring changes in a nation’s relative power is a tricky business, but there are some basic indicators: the size and the influence of its economy relative to that of other powers..."
2. Why China Is Weak on Soft Power (Joseph Nye) from the New York Times
"China's internal restrictions undermine its efforts to build up its image and cultural influence." from the New York Times
3. My Mesopotamian Getaway (Emma Sky) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"A Syrian man pointed at me and shouted at the man at the desk: "She is pregnant and sick -- she urgently needs a hotel room." Another Syrian, standing behind me, piped up: "Yes! And I am the father of the baby!" The Iranian and the Turk beside me burst out laughing, bonding over the outrageous ruse of the Syrians."
Her 'vacation' photos are HERE.
4. Bargaining for a Child’s Love (Hendrik Hartog) from the New York Times
"Such accounts often draw on a deeply sentimental view of the past. Once upon a time, the story line goes, family members cared for one another naturally within households, in an organic and unplanned process. But this portrait is too rosy. If we confront what old-age support once looked like — what actually happened when care was almost fully privatized, when the old depended on their families, without the bureaucratic structures and the (under)paid caregivers we take for granted — a different picture emerges."
5. How Obama's Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics (Andrew Sullivan) from Newsweek
"The right calls him a socialist, the left says he sucks up to Wall Street, and independents think he's a wimp. Andrew Sullivan on how the president may just end up outsmarting them all."
6. History vs. the Tea Party (Sam Tenenhaus) from the New York Times
"Already there was a growing schism on the right, its fault lines precisely those Ms. Palin identified, between the elite — including Mr. Kristol and other journalists who had been among her first champions — and the base. This is a strikingly new development on the right. It is hard to imagine a similar conflict happening during previous conservative insurgent cycles ..."
7. Why Conservatives Don’t Buy Romney’s Red-Meat Speeches (Andrew Romano) from the Daily Beast
"Rather than tout his experience, Romney built his stump speech on a fantasy-world version of the Obama presidency. But Andrew Romano says the performance is falling flat, even with angry voters most eager to believe it."
8. Over-misunderestimating Rick Perry from the New York Times
"Texas liberals thought Perry was a lock. We were wrong."
9. The Good Wife: Can Callista Gingrich Save Her Husband? (Ariel Levy) from the New Yorker
"Callista Gingrich has a firm formality that can be very effective in curtailing conversations she does not wish to engage in."
10. Denigrating Michelle Obama with the ‘Angry Black Woman’ Slur (Kathleen Parker) from the Washington Post
"Despite the pain these critiques cause Mrs. Obama and other African American women who identify with her, I do believe that these feelings are not particularly widespread. Most see the first lady as she is: a beautiful, gracious, intelligent, elegant, devoted wife and mother of whom we can be proud. Those who insult her insult us all, and, yes, we should be angry."
Now for today's interesting regular nuggets:
UP-FRONT GINGRICH VICTORY NUGGET!!
Newt Gingrich Wins. What It Means (Erik Erikson) from Redstate.com
"Newt Gingrich’s rise has a lot to do with Newt Gingrich’s debate performance. But it has just as much to do with a party base in revolt against its thought and party leaders in Washington, DC. The base is revolting because they swept the GOP back into relevance in Washington just under two years ago and they have been thanked with contempt ever since. ... Sure, he’d probably be an erratic President, but right now Republican voters don’t care about his Presidency. They care about the fight with the left both Mitt Romney, and the Washington Republican leaders like John Boehner and Mitch McConnell don’t seem inclined to engage in."
I think Erikson has captured VERY CLEARLY and CORRECTLY the mood and temperament of the GOP base. It also explains quite well why Gingrich won in SC -- and why looking forward these base voters seem poised to lead the GOP off an electoral cliff! They are in such a DIFFERENT conversation than most of the rest of the country. Never mind the economy, the war in Afghanistan, stopping terrorism, our failing education system, problems with immigration, ... and all the other BIG problems our country needs to deal with now. The GOP primary election is about how much the candidate hates (1) Obama, (2) the 'lamestream media" and "(3) Washington elites." The sense of deep victimization expressed here is quite remarkable! That it is directed in this column largely at another faction within the Republican Party does NOT bode well for the GOP looking forward.
Iran Gets the Message from Washington (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"The softening of Iran’s position followed a warning by a U.S. emissary this month that any effort to close the strait would trigger a potentially devastating U.S. response. Clearly, Tehran got the message — with a top Iranian official publicly disavowing on Thursday the earlier
saber-rattling."
Iran: Between U.S. and a Hard Place (Meir Javedanfar) from The Diplomat
"Iran’s supreme leader has built much of his legitimacy around demonizing the United States. So what could he really offer in talks with the U.S.?"
Let’s Not Rush to Win in Russia (Boris Akunin) from the New York Times
"To many people, including Russians themselves, the sudden awakening of society seems like a miracle. But it is not a miracle. It is a consequence of a natural social process. More precisely — two diametrically opposed processes."
A New Generation of Political Islamists Steps Forward (Olivier Roy) from the Washington Post
"Under these circumstances, the ghost of a totalitarian Islamic state is raised, with the specter of imposing sharia and closing the short democratic parenthesis. But such an outcome is unlikely. The Islamists have, in fact, changed: They are more middle-class “bourgeois,” and they benefited from the liberalization of local economies during the last decades of the 20th century, especially in countries with no oil rent."
Challenging Everything You Think You Know: Five Myths about Barack Obama (Jonathan Alter) from the Washington Post
"Barack Obama’s rise in politics was so rapid, and his background so unusual, that he was immediately subjected to malicious myths — from the bogus story that he was raised Muslim to the lie that he wasn’t born in the United States. Of course, some of the raps on Obama are valid interpretations of his performance. ... But as Obama prepares to defend his record Tuesday in the State of the Union address, let’s dispense with some genuine misconceptions about his presidency."
I could not disagree more with Alter's myth #3.
Obama to Draw an Economic Line in State of the Union from the New York Times
"In his election-year State of the Union speech, President Obama will promise a populist “blueprint for an American economy that’s built to last,” hoping to draw a stark contrast between the parties."
Small Business Leaders: Citizens United 'Stacked the Deck Against Small Business' (Joan McCarter) from Daily Kos
"A new independent national survey of 500 small business leaders released Wednesday by the American Sustainable Business Council, Main Street Alliance and Small Business Majority shows how that decision [pdf] has found that the vast majority of small business owners believe that Citizens United hasn't just increased the influence of large corporations, but hurt them."
Iowa Caucus Results May Threaten First-in-Nation Status (Jason Noble) from the Des Moines Register
"The winner of the 2012 caucuses, we now know, was Rick Santorum. The loser, it’s becoming clear, was Iowa. ... Such a muddled result and response threatens the already-contested legitimacy of Iowa’s
first-in-the-nation status and underscores the need for reforms to professionalize the voting process, political observers and party officials said."
Iowa's performance this year has been an unmitigated farce! Ditch their first-in-the-nation chokehold. I'm convinced.
Daily Beast Writers on Newt Gingrich's South Carolina Upset from the Daily Beast
"Coming back from not one but two campaign implosions, Newt surged to beat Mitt Romney in South Carolina by a large margin. Daily Beast contributors on the surprise victory."
Doubts Creep in as an Awkward Romney Tries Not to Lose GOP Nod (Niall Stanage) from The Hill
"Romney seems to have gone into a defensive crouch, leaving many Republicans feeling like football fans who watch their team move to a ‘prevent defense’ to protect a fourth-quarter lead and dread losing all of it. Their nerves are being jangled even as they acknowledge that outright disaster has so far been averted."
Newt Gingrich is Angry (Roger Simon) from Politico
"Simon says that even in victory, Gingrich is the candidate of gloom. ... The Gingrich campaign is based on the notion of perpetual struggle against perpetual peril.""
Why Obama's Chances Just Rose (Michael Hirsh) from the National Journal
"By prolonging the GOP primary season with a strong come-from-behind win in South Carolina -- one that exposed new and serious doubts about Mitt Romney -- Newt Gingrich has almost certainly increased the general-election chances of the man he calls "the most dangerous president of our lifetime," Barack Obama. "
Can Santorum Survive? (Reid Wilson) from the National Journal
"Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum's campaign moved quickly Saturday night to squash any speculation that his campaign is over. But there's a reason to speculate: Santorum's disappointing finish shows he has all but lost the race to become the anti-Mitt Romney alternative to Newt
Gingrich."
S.C. Primary: Why Rick Santorum Is Stalling Out (Howard Fineman) from the Huffington Post
"In both style and substance, there simply may be too much Western PA in the former senator to get beyond the "Final Four" of the GOP playoffs, as he put it during the CNN debate on Thursday."
Oops: The Final 24 Hours of Rick Perry’s Misbegotten Presidential Campaign (Dave Weigel) from Slate
"The next morning, the embeds and everybody else filed into a North Charleston Hyatt to watch Perry admit defeat. “I am not done fighting for the cause of conservatism,” he said, after endorsing Newt Gingrich and thanking his family and chagrined endorsers. “In fact, I have only begun to fight.”"
The Stephen Colbert Rally — and the Future of the GOP (Marisa Bellack) from the Washington Post
"I’d been expecting much more conservatism from these students, most of them from Charleston College and the nearby Citadel. But, apparently, this is not where the future of the Republican Party lives. Only 42 percent of South Carolina voters between 18 and 24 years old supported John McCain in 2008. Even if there’s much less enthusiasm for Barack Obama this time around, I wonder if support for the Republican candidate will be even lower among young voters in South Carolina."
MOVIE REVIEW NUGGET!!
Soaring Above Racism: A Review of "Red Tails" from the New York Times
"“Red Tails” is a whiz-bang action film about the Tuskegee Airmen."
U.S. DIPLOMATIC NUGGET!!
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Appointed U.S. Cultural Ambassador from Raw Story
"Legendary basketball player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday as a U.S. global cultural ambassador. Clinton expressed the hope that Abdul-Jabbar will engage with young people in particular “as a means to create opportunities for greater understanding.”"
Hillary looks positively giddy with the announcement!!
OUTER SPACE NUGGET!!
Rise of the Super-Earths from Salon
"Astronomers have discovered a giant new kind of planet that could hold life -- and they could change everything."
WORLD WAR I NUGGET!!
Why World War I Resonates (William Boyd) from the New York Times
"World War I still exerts a tenacious hold on the imagination."
TINTIN BOOK NUGGET!!
Georges Remi: Learning His Lines: A Review of ‘Hergé, Son of Tintin’ by Benoit Peeters from the New York Times
In this biography, Georges Remi, creator of the Tintin comics, emerges in three dimensions from behind his famous comic books."
RECENT MOVIE HISTORY NUGGET!!
Reservoir Dogs Turns 20: A Look Back at the Films of Quentin Tarantino from Time Magazine
"Twenty years after his first feature premiered at Sundance, we survey the director's unforgettable films."
OLD HOLLYWOOD NUGGET!!
The First Top Dog in Hollywood: He had 40 Million Fans and Drank Milk from a Champagne Glass from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Adored by Jean Harlow, the most famous actress of her day, and cited as the co-respondent in a divorce case, he could be temperamental and demanding: he drank milk out of a champagne glass. His name was Rin Tin Tin and he was once the most famous dog in the world, decades before Lassie came to the screen."
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