TEN BEST NUGGETS OF THE WEEK!!
1. Is Iran Behind the Death of its Own Scientists? from Commentary Magazine "As Potkin Azarmehr, a brilliant Iranian blogger and journalist based in the UK suggests, the hand behind the assassinations in Iran may just as likely be the regime’s. Potkin reviews the four hits and offers some useful insights on why the four individuals were unlikely to be targets for Israel but may have been likely targets for the regime:..."
2. Where China Isn't Winning (David Lundquist) from the National Interest
"Beijing may be poised to overtake Washington economically, but the sorry state of Chinese universities will hold the country back."
3. Even Critics of Safety Net Increasingly Depend on It from the New York Times
"He says that too many Americans lean on taxpayers rather than living within their means. He supports politicians who promise to cut government spending. In 2010, he printed T-shirts for the Tea Party campaign of a neighbor, Chip Cravaack, who ousted this region’s long-serving Democratic congressman. Yet this year, as in each of the past three years, Mr. Gulbranson, 57, is counting on a payment of several thousand dollars from the federal government, a subsidy for working families called the earned-income tax credit. He has signed up his three school-age children to eat free breakfast and lunch at federal expense. And Medicare paid for his mother, 88, to have hip surgery twice."
4. Nattering Nabobs of Negativism (Dana Milbank) from the Washington Post
“How many of you,” Scott Rasmussen asked the crowd at this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, “have ever mocked or made fun of the president’s call for hope and change? Raise your hands.” Most people in the Marriott Wardman Park hotel ballroom raised their hands. There were cheers and whoops. “With all due respect,” the conservative pollster and commentator told them, “I’d like to say that’s really stupid.” This time, there was uncomfortable laughter. “Voters are looking for hope and change as much today as they were in 2008,” Rasmussen explained, and “you ought to be encouraging Republican candidates, people you support, to offer that positive step forward.”
5. The Electoral Wasteland (Timothy Egan) from the New York Times
"It's stunning how little the current Republican primary electorate resembles the rest of the United States."
6. Poll: New Phase and Shifting Balance from Democracy Corps
"This survey sees a collapse of the Republican brand at almost all levels. Negatives associated with the Republican Party have not been this high since right after they lost the country in 2008. ... These results may not simply be the result of a spot of good economic news and rough news cycles for Republican nominees, but the beginning of long-term structural changes that will characterize the 2012 election cycle. .... The Republican brand is in a state of collapse – over 50 percent of voters give the Republican Party a cool, negative rating. The presidential race and the congressional battles are interacting with each other to drive down their lead candidate, the party, and perceptions of the congressional Republicans."
7. New Rules (Bill Maher) from HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher
Scroll down to the "final rule":
"You know, Republicans have created this completely fictional president. His name is Barack X. And he's an Islamo-socialist revolutionary who is coming for your guns, raising your taxes, slashing the military, apologizing to other countries, and taking his cues from Europe, or worse yet, Saul Alinsky! And this is how politics has changed. You used to have to run against an actual candidate. But, now, you just recreate him inside the bubble and run against your new fictional candidate. "
8. Romney Bid Rocked by Voters Shredding Rulebook (Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Michael Tackett) from the Bloomberg News Service
"“Through very little fault of his own, Romney is the front-runner, but he’s probably the weakest Republican front- runner in the history of the party,” said Dan Schnur, an aide on Senator John McCain’s 2000 presidential bid ... “He just had the bad timing to run for president at a time when the party establishment had much less influence over the nominating process,” Schnur said. The strength of political parties is being undercut as the full impact of the U.S. Supreme Court (1000L) Citizens United case is being felt for the first time."
9. Is Romney Going To Run Out Of Money? (Zeke Miller) from BuzzFeed
"Santorum goes to the small-donor well, but Romney may have to dip into his own pockets to survive the long haul. Looking “under every stone.”"
10. The Front-Runner’s Missing Magic (Frank Bruni) from the New York Times
"At CPAC, he mentioned the soul of America, the durability of the Constitution, the perfidy of taxes, the evil of Planned Parenthood: boilerplate, all of it. It’s sometimes as if he’s trying to run out the clock — on the primary season as well as the event in question — before anyone seriously questions the front-runner status that was handed to him early on."
Now, for the regular news nuggets for Sunday, February 19th.
UP-FRONT POLITICS & GENDER NUGGET!!
A withering, on-target missile sent at the sudden turn towards gender issues that the GOP has taken over the last two weeks.
Right Wingers Go Wild Against Women Around the Country (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"This isn’t politics. It’s not even theology... And it’s most certainly not morality. It’s quite the opposite of morality. It’s a consequence of a mindset that equates compromise with capitulation, that insists on purity, that attempts to abuse the tools of democracy to secure anti-democratic outcomes, and that is driven by rage against modernity. And it’s hardly an accident that all these forces come together to assume their foulest shape against women."
ALSO UP-FRONT JUDICIAL NUGGET!!
Two Justices Suggest Citizens United Ruling Should be Reconsidered in Montana Case from the Washington Post
"In Friday’s order, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer said the upheaval in the world of campaign finance since the Citizens United decision does not bear out the majority opinion."
I suspect the thing that will turn one of the GOP justices on this case is what's happening in the GOP primaries: utter chaos because the likes of Gingrich and Santorum (two candidates who under normal circumstances would be forced out due to lack of resources) are able to stay competitive and even inflict MAJOR damage on the "establishment" candidate because of one or two well-heeled sugar daddies who, because of Citizens United, can simply continue to throw money at their favorite nut.
The Iranian Leadership’s Precarious Grasp on Power (David Frum) from the National Post [of Canada]
"In its fear, the regime reaches out to kill, ordering terror attacks against the Saudi ambassador to the United States and — most recently — against Israeli diplomats in India, Thailand and Georgia. Yet these plots have mostly gone awry, suggesting a serious weakening of Iran’s
international terror capacities. At home, though, the frightened and unpopular regime has turned deadlier than ever. It murders in hopes of intimidating, and it intimidates because it has lost all legitimacy."
America's Youth Uprising (John Nichols) from the Nation
"The renewal of labor militancy and radical politics is being led by a rising generation with its own rock-and-rap passion."
In Polls, Obama Wins on Contraception Compromise, Catholics Hold Steady (Douglas Schoen) from the Daily Beast
"Despite the outcry from bishops and Republicans, polls show the president’s contraception compromise has the approval of voters. Why is the GOP ignoring the numbers?"
Is the 2012 Republican Primary Just Like the 2008 Democratic Primary? (Jesse Contario) from the Huffington Post
"Republicans like to say their current primary fight is "just like" the 2008 primary between Obama and Clinton -- but it's just wishful thinking. Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell, Michele Bachmann and others think a bruising battle toughens the victor, and is "just like" the Obama-Clinton race in 2008. But there are important differences between the two elections, some that may create difficulties for the eventual GOP nominee."
Republicans and the Culture Wars: Why It Won't Work This Year (Michelle Cottle) from the Daily Beast
"Not long ago, Republicans could turn to issues like guns and gays when the going got tough. But Michelle Cottle says none of today's candidates has the makings of a culture warrior."
On the same topic:
Never Fight a Culture War on the Internet (Jen Doll) from the Atlantic
"Maybe the GOP (or more specifically, certain members of the party) returned to the '50s in just one day, but the rest of us haven't. Beyond the obvious social and cultural shifts of the last 60 years, there is one major factor: the Internet."
When Do Political Rules No Longer Apply? (Stuart Rothenberg) from Roll Call
"Traditionally, there are “rules” that apply in politics as well. But this year, things seem different. They don’t seem to apply, which is a problem for those of us who look at the past to understand the present and to project future outcomes."
D’oh! Romney’s Auto-Bailout Dance Enrages Tea Party Too from Talking Points Memo
"Mitt Romney is stuck in the worst possible position this week in Michigan when it comes to the auto bailout. On the one hand, he’s being pilloried by both Democrats and the local press for his confusing criticism of the federal intervention that rescued the auto industry. On the other hand, his claim that he would have rescued Detroit too — maybe even with similar measures! — is drawing jeers from conservatives as well. "
Rick Santorum: Will Women Vote for Him? from Politico
"After hammering away for a year at the message that Republicans are indifferent to women’s health and economic well-being, President Barack Obama’s party has been handed a nearly perfect political punching bag in the former Pennsylvania senator, whose down-the-line cultural conservatism is a major selling point in the 2012 primaries."
EDUCATION NUGGET!!
Enrichment Classes Don’t Offer Credit, But They Can Change Lives from the Washington Post
"Personal enrichment education — instruction for fun or self-improvement in a nonacademic setting — is booming. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “self-enrichment education teacher” is one of the 30 fastest-growing occupations, with employment projected to rise from about 254,000 in 2008 to almost 335,000 in 2018, a 32 percent increase. The same economic factors behind an increase in job-specific education are fueling demand for enrichment classes, says Julie Coates, vice president for membership services at the Learning Resources Network, an international association of lifelong learning programs based in River Falls, Wis."
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