UP-FRONT ROMNEY CAMPAIGN NUGGET!!
Mitt Romney Splits with Brett O’Donnell from Politico
"A GOP operative who won plaudits for bolstering Mitt Romney’s recent debate performances is not being retained by the frontrunner’s campaign, an apparent victim of internal tensions over staff receiving too much credit for the candidate’s comeback, POLITICO has learned."
What a DUMB move!! Fine bit of gratitude this guy gets! This little story speaks VOLUMES about what I can only categorize as the fecklessness of both Mitt Romney and the people around him! Think back to 2008 -- Obama had no problem with people like Dave Favreau, Axelrod, Plouffe, Penny Prizker, (even his body man, Reggie Love, for God's sake) getting media attention for the important differences they were making with and for Obama the candidate. But here's this poor GOP slob who (for the first time in Romney's FIVE SOLID YEARS of campaigning) actually made Romney a noticeably better debater and campaigner -- and what happens?! HE, the slob, gets the axe because he got the slightest flash of media attention! The guy should have been rewarded, not FIRED! This suggests a deeply insecure candidate and/or campaign staff. Wow!
Russian Protests – Echoes of US Civil Rights Movement (Leon Aron) from the Christian Science Monitor
"To see the December protests in Russia as primarily a political wave is to miss a more fundamental leaven at work in Russian society: a moral awakening akin to the American civil rights movement. An early test is Saturday, when a massive protest in Moscow is planned."
Obama's Turn on Nuclear Weapons: The White House and its Warheads (Joseph Cirincione) from the journal, Foreign Affairs
"The United States would shift from being able to fight two major wars simultaneously to increasing its focus on Asia. But the president also explained that reductions in the U.S. nuclear arsenal would be key to future defense: "We will continue to get rid of outdated Cold War-era systems," he said, "so that we can invest in the capabilities we need for the future." Policy, meet budget."
Afghan Shift: The U.S. is Right to Curtail Combat from the Editorial Board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Americans who believe the United States has put enough lives and money into Afghanistan should be pleased by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's statement Wednesday that the U.S. role will be shifted from combat to training sooner than planned, to mid-2013. The situation on the ground, as well as U.S. interests at home, show this is the right move for several reasons."
Jobs Report Comes in Far Above Expectations. Official Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.3%, 'U6' at 15.1% from Daily Kos
"The fact that the official rate fell at the same time 250,000 workers entered the work force is a good sign."
January Jobs Report is Good News for Obama (Rachel Weiner) from the Washington Post
"Below the top-line numbers were other encouraging signs: Hiring was widespread across many high-paying industries, pay increased, and 2011 numbers were revised upward. If that trend continues, Obama’s reelection prospects will continue to strengthen."
Recovery Winter Arrives With HUGE 243,000 Increase in Payroll Employment (Matthew Yglesias) from Slate
"Folks, welcome to the recovery winter. When the December payroll employment number came in strong, a lot of doubters said the BLS just didn't have the seasonal adjustment factor right and a lot of the new hiring was "really" temporary and Christmas related. Well today the January numbers are out and they're even better than December was..."
What Will the GOP Complain About Now? (Andrew Leonard) from Salon
"The economy adds 243,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate falls again. Finally, a really encouraging jobs report."
Some Republicans are Very Concerned About the Poor (Alex Pareene) from Salon
"They're mostly concerned that the poor are getting away with something."
Susan G. Komen Enters the McCarthy Era from the Reid Report
"With one policy change, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure has gone from a respected heal advocacy charity, to a crass political actor. And that’s a shame."
Bait And Switch: GOP Leaders Renege On Debt Limit Deal Defense Cuts from Talking Points Memo
I'm so shocked.
"Boehner’s Thursday comments came moments after Senate Republicans unveiled their plan to partially phase out the enforcement mechanism by reducing the federal workforce and freezing federal pay. Both developments indicate Republican leaders no longer regard their own deal as sacrosanct. Now Boehner’s pressuring the White House to let Republicans off the hook for the piece of the deficit enforcement mechanism that was designed to make them negotiate in good faith. And Democrats are furious."
Anatomy Of A Come Back? Charting Obama’s Approval from Talking Points Memo
"After a debt agreement was done, Obama immediately made a successful pivot to jobs, and the public responded. Nothing in the jobs package Obama proposed came to fruition, but that was likely part of the political calculus..."
Good graphic
Should GOP Even Have an Agenda? from Politico
"The divide within the party is sharp. McConnell and other influential senators believe the party should avoid putting out a detailed platform and focus squarely on Obama’s record, while a range of junior senators—and some veterans like Sen. John McCain—think the conference should lay out a Contract with America-type agenda [...] But the strategies all carry great risk."
Voter Frustration Makes for Tumultuous GOP Primary (Ann Gerhart) from the Washington Post
"For now, they are angry and anxious and uncertain, sick of a bunch of elites in Washington who can’t fix their lives and suspicious of all promises, and their 2.6 million votes reflect the deep cracks in a party of people who can’t seem to get along. This has been the most turbulent Republican presidential race in a generation."
WI-GOV: Scott Walker to Meet with Prosecutors on John Doe Investigation from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"Gov. Scott Walker has hired two criminal defense attorneys and will be meeting with Milwaukee County prosecutors about the John Doe investigation into his current and former aides."
PENNSYLVANIA ENVIRONMENT NUGGET!!
Cabot Admits its Dimock Water Arsenic Claim was a Mistake (Donald Gilliland) from the Patriot-News [of Harrisburg]
"The arsenic Cabot Oil & Gas recently said was not in the water in Dimock wasn’t even arsenic. It’s the Abbott and Costello “Who’s On First?” routine, Marcellus style."
Here you have gas-drillers that have no interest in finding out how dangerous their practices are meeting local/state water authorities who are too incompetent to judge what impact the gas drillers are having -- being challenged by a federal environmental agency that ALSO seems to lack the competence AND the interest in really finding out what's so. God only knows what's really going on and what the real dangers are!
FACEBOOK IPO NUGGET!!
David Choe, Facebook’s Millionaire Graffiti Artist (Jimmy So) from the Daily Beast
"When the company goes public, David Choe, who painted its headquarters and got paid in stock options, will become very, very rich. Jimmy So looks at the man and his art."
CIVIL RIGHTS LEGEND NUGGET!!
Freedom Rider Diane Nash: Challenges Students to Get Involved (M. Abdul-Qawiyy) from the New Pittsburgh Courier
"Known for her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee, Diane Nash spoke of her experiences as a young woman and challenged the students to get involved in change as the keynote speaker for the Pitt Black Action Society, Jan. 17 at the William Pitt Assembly room."
Wow -- wish I had been there. Diane Nash is one of my big-time civil rights heroes.
IMPRESSIONIST ART NUGGET!!
In the Eye of His Storms from the New York Times
"In the catalog to “Van Gogh Up Close,” a succinct, revelatory exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the art historian Anabelle Kienle notes van Gogh’s repeated references in his letters to “a blade of grass,” “a single blade of grass,” “a dusty blade of grass.” "
No comments:
Post a Comment