Iran Raid Seen as a Huge Task for Israeli Jets from the New York Times
"Should Israel decide to launch a strike on Iran, its pilots would have to fly more than 1,000 miles across unfriendly airspace, refuel in the air en route, fight off Iran’s air defenses, attack multiple underground sites simultaneously — and use at least 100 planes."
Rising Democracies Take on Russia and China (Ted Piccone, Emily Alinikoff) from the National Interest
"Russia and China are increasingly isolating themselves from a widening consensus that human-rights violations demand an international response. In one corner, established and newer democracies, more attuned to their voters at home, are under pressure to support movements for universal rights. In the opposite corner, China and Russia are silencing domestic dissent at home while trying to prop up comparable autocrats abroad."
Navy SEALs: Obama’s Secret Army (Daniel Klaidman) from Newsweek
"At a time when many Americans think their government is inept, the ‘Special Operators’ get the job done. Just ask the President, who is doubling down on the Navy SEALs."
Afghan Textbooks to Cut Out Much of the Country's Post-1973 History (Isobel Coleman) from the Atlantic
"Education has been one of Afghanistan's few bright spots since the Taliban fell, but the government is taking a big step backward."
Greece Must Default if it Wants Democracy (Wolfgang Münchau) from the Financial Times [of the UK]
"When Wolfgang Schäuble proposed that Greece should postpone its elections as a condition for further help, I knew that the game would soon be up. We are at the point where success is no longer compatible with democracy. The German finance minister wants to prevent a “wrong” democratic choice. Similar to this is the suggestion to let the elections go ahead, but to have a grand coalition irrespective of the outcome. The eurozone wants to impose its choice of government on Greece – the eurozone’s first colony."
A very interesting take on the Greek debt crisis!
The Way Greeks Live Now from the Sunday New York Times Magazine
"At some point, I asked Hadjigeorgiou how the crisis was affecting him personally. Life was getting difficult, he acknowledged. Then, prodded a bit more, he mentioned that he had not been paid by his newspaper, the major left-leaning daily, in four months. Nor had any of his colleagues at the paper. "
Pain Without Gain (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"Last week the European Commission confirmed what everyone suspected: the economies it surveys are shrinking, not growing. It's not an official recession yet, but the only real question is how deep the downturn will be. — And this downturn is hitting nations that have never recovered from the last recession."
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stepping Down in 2015 from United Press International
"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will step down from the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 to give President Obama, putatively in his second term, a chance to name a liberal as her successor."
Why 2015? If you wanted Obama to name your successor, you should have stepped down last year, not three years from now. What if Romney wins in November? My guess: you'll stick around until 2017.
Ideological Hypocrites (E.J. Dionne) from the Washington Post
"When we talk about hypocrisy in politics, we usually highlight personal behavior. The multiply-married politician who proclaims "family values" while also having affairs is now a rather dreary stock figure in our campaign narratives. But the hypocrisy that matters far more is the gap between ideology and practice that has reached a crisis point in American conservatism."
Two Charts That Should Terrify Republicans from Talking Points Memo
"If Republicans seem spooked to you these days, here’s why. President Obama’s political comeback over the past several months aligns neatly with when he began more aggressively attacking the GOP and politicking for economic growth and equality back in September. But over that same stretch, the economy began moving in the right direction. "
DeWine: 'Abundantly Clear' Romney Would Lose to Obama (Michael Warren) from the Weekly Standard
"“When I endorsed Governor Romney, I thought he was the best candidate to beat Barack Obama. As this campaign has played out, it is abundantly clear he is not, and I believe he [would] lose in November,”"
The Trouble With Mitt (Ben Domenech) from Ricochet
"By demanding an ideological shift from a more populist, more fiscally conservative base they no longer direct or control, Romney’s most prominent backers failed to learn any of the right lessons from what led to the 2009-2010 cycles. They failed to realize that the base expected more from a candidate, from a leader, than the politics and policy of the past. "
A GOP Nightmare Scenario (Jonathan Bernstein) from the Washington Post
"...the possibility of a long- drawn-out struggle raises another possibility — a GOP nightmare scenario — that has gone unexplored. Specifically: What if Santorum wins the bulk of contested primaries and caucuses and leads in national opinion polls — but Mitt Romney wins the nomination? If that happens, the general election could get a whole lot tougher for him."
Are Republicans Looking for a New Candidate? (Daniel Politi) from Slate
"If Romney loses Michigan GOP leaders will be scrambling to find a "Hail Mary" contender."
What? Me Worry? (David Weigel) from Slate
"It’s too early to say who will win in November. But Republicans increasingly seem to think it won’t be them."
Here’s How the GOP Presidential Race Blows Up, and a New Candidate Comes on the Scene (James Pethokoukis) from the Enterprise blog at the American Enterprise Institute
"A tippy-top Republican, unprompted, yesterday sketched the germ of a plan for a new candidate if Rick Santorum upsets Mitt Romney in the Michigan primary on Feb. 28. ... Our friend said: “If somebody came on the scene that week after Super Tuesday with, ‘I’m coming in. I’m taking a look at this,’ there are enough delegates. He would suck all the oxygen out of the race. People wouldn’t even give a shit who won on these other dates in March that are after Super Tuesday. I mean, seriously, who would care? It would all be about a new savior.”"
Bzzzt!! Whoever this "friend" is, is working off of yesteryear's playbook. "Who would care?" ALL of those voters and volunteers who have been working, voting and becoming invested in the race as it is configured. The idea that some beltway fixers will be able to swoop in at some point and effectively nullify the results up to that point is sheer fantasy -- particularly given the anti-establishment mood of many GOP voters. Its only effects would be to send another train into the wreck -- and to severely burn a potential GOP candidate who may have excellent chances in 2016. What do they think -- that Romney and the others will just quietly go away and not fight tooth and nail against any late entrants? I could be wrong but if I were Jeb Bush, Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, or Marco Rubio or some other "serious" contender, WHY would you throw the dice in this election cycle when 2016 (with no incumbent to face) would be so much easier and cleaner? Rick Perry's experience should serve as a clarion call for caution to all potential "saviors." In 2016, they would have the opportunity to plan and build a real campaign. As Hillary, Obama, and Romney's experience show, it takes years to build an effective campaign. You can't do it on the fly. The only ones who might seriously consider this prospect are more second- and third-rate candidates like the ones that have already thrown in their hats for this primary season. Quick! Get Tim Pawlenty on the phone!!
Is Santorum the Sharon Angle of 2012? (Jennifer Rubin) from the Washington Post
"Two stories surfaced last week that amount to a loud vote of no confidence in Rick Santorum as the GOP nominee. ABC News reports that a top Republican senator wants a new choice if Santorum wins Michigan. Why? ‘He’d lose 35 states,’ the senator said, predicting the same fate for Newt Gingrich.”"
Rick Santorum and the Politics of Theology (David Firestone) from the New York Times
"In Mr. Santorum's eyes, unless you adopt his particularly Christian theology, you can't be his kind of president."
Rick Santorum Plays Hard to Conservative Base in Ohio from the Los Angeles Times
"As he bounded from one cheering throng to the next in the battleground state of Ohio, Rick Santorum roused his conservative base Saturday..."
Mitt Romney Goes on Attack as Rick Santorum Improves in Polls from the Los Angeles Times
"Mitt Romney launched an aggressive assault on Rick Santorum in person and over the airwaves Friday even as fresh evidence emerged of how momentum had shifted in the Republican presidential race..."
Michigan Race Tightens, But Mitt Romney Is Still In Trouble from Talking Points Memo
"...it seems as though Romney’s extreme number of flip-flops on everything from abortion to his embrace of Republican icon President Ronald Reagan, have done more than that just inflict near-term damage — it’s created a very soft image of Romney’s conservative credentials in GOP voters’ minds."
GOP Candidates Romney, Santorum Appeal to Fringe Voters from the Editorial Board of the Detroit Free Press
"... if it sounds as if everything Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have been saying in metro Detroit this week is calculated to appeal to the most extreme fringe of their party, it’s because that’s who’ll most likely decide their fate next week Tuesday. The risks inherent in this shortsighted strategy are self-evident."
BAD BREAKDOWN NUGGET!!
Newt Gingrich’s Bus Breaks Down in West Hollywood from lgbtpov.com
"The presidential hopeful who recently called gay marriage a “perfect example of what I mean by the rise of paganism,” set off a Boystown brouhaha last night when his Newt 2012 campaign bus broke down in West Hollywood."
You can't make this stuff up! Also, just as an aside: what was Newt doing in West Hollywood?
Bill Clinton’s Life Splendidly Chronicled by PBS’s ‘American Experience' (Lloyd Grove) from the Daily Beast
"A New PBS documentary shrewdly examines the ex-president’s penchant for rising, falling, and endlessly resurrecting himself."
OBAMA BOOK REVIEW NUGGET!!
The First Marriage: A Review of The Obamas, by Jodi Kantor (Douglas Brinkley) from the New York Times
"The difference when a head of state's spouse performs an advisory role is that both the content and its consequences resonate through a lot more than one household. And that's the point of Jodi Kantor's new book, The Obamas. Call it chick nonfiction, if you will; this book is not about politics, it's about marriage, or at least one marriage, and a notably successful one at that."
No comments:
Post a Comment