UP-FRONT POLITICAL NUGGET!!
2012 or Never (Jonathan Chait) from New York Magazine
A VERY INTERESTING long-form analysis! Check it out! The picture of a Gingrich crowd that goes with this article is really disturbing. Heck, even the thirteen year old up front looks like a serial killer!
"Republicans are worried this election could be their last chance to stop history. This is fear talking. But not paranoia. ... perhaps the strain that has taken deepest root within mainstream Republican circles is the terror that the achievements of the Obama administration may be irreversible, and that the time remaining to stop permanent nightfall is dwindling away. ... The modern GOP—the party of Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushes—is staring down its own demographic extinction. Right-wing warnings of impending tyranny express, in hyperbolic form, well-grounded dread: that conservative America will soon come to be dominated, in a semi-permanent fashion, by an ascendant Democratic coalition hostile to its outlook and interests. And this impending doom has colored the party’s frantic, fearful response to the Obama presidency."
Up in the Air in Iran from the Economist [of London]
"The probability of an attack on Iran’s nuclear programme has been increasing. But the chances of it ending the country’s nuclear ambitions are low."
A Radioactive Situation in Iran (Eric S. Margolis) from the National Interest
"An Israeli attack on Iran would draw America into a war that is neither affordable nor in its interests."
Al Qaeda on the Ropes from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Al Qaeda was partially a victim of its own violent success. Political overreach and excessive violence undercut its claim to be a protector of Islam in the face of Western imperialism. Those failures have proved debilitating during the Arab Spring, where al Qaeda has been a sideshow to tech-savvy young people and more mainstream Islamist groups."
Qur’an Burning is a Political, Not a Theological, Issue (Haroon Siddiqui) from the Globe and Mail [of Toronto]
"Shocking, isn’t it, that after a decade in Afghanistan, foreigners still don’t have a clue about what is or is not acceptable to the locals and, more pragmatically, what might backfire on the mission? Cultural
illiteracy continues to hobble Americans."
Burma's Punk Scene Fights Repression Underground from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]
"Despite signs of greater openness, Burma's government continues to wield an iron fist. Among its targets is the punk scene, whose bands are forced to play and practice in secret to avoid harsh punishments. Here, punk isn't a lifestyle. It is an act of genuine rebellion."
Successful Chinese Emigrating to West in Droves from Der Spiegel [of Germany in English]
"Despite their country's stunning economic growth, many successful Chinese entrepreneurs are emigrating to the West. For them, the Chinese government is too arbitrary and unpredictable, and they view their children's prospects as better in the West."
A Greek Exit from the EU: Nothing to Fear but the Lack of Fear Itself from the Economist [of London]
"The prospect of euro-zone departures doesn’t scare people as much as it should."
Who’s Behind the Leaked Letters Roiling the Vatican? (Barbie Latza Nadeau) from the Daily Beast
"Newly leaked letters to Pope Benedict XVI have laid bare sordid allegations of corruption and infighting within the Holy See. Is it a ploy to influence who the next pope will be?"
For Market, There’s No Such Thing as Bad News Now from CNBC
"The way things are going these days, the New York Stock Exchange could be aflame and the only reaction from investors would be to buy stock in companies that make fire extinguishers. Nothing, it seems, can stanch the three-month rally — not debt crises, Mideast violence, nor a global slowdown — as the market rides a 20 percent bull-market run that has taken hold since October. It’s not that there aren’t reasons to sell off — plenty of them in fact. It’s just that nobody seems to care."
This optimism is quite misplaced in my view -- but maybe those folks know all kinds of things I don't.
From Europe, Silence Is Golden (Jim Tankersley) from the National Journal
"Greece’s latest bailout won’t fix Europe—but it should help Obama in November."
'Hallwalkers': The Ghosts Of The State Department from NPR's All Things Considered
"The halls of the State Department are haunted, not by actual ghosts, but by people who might as well be ghosts: whistleblowers, people who angered someone powerful and people who for one reason or another, can't be fired. "People like me, that the State Department no longer wants, but for some reason can't or won't fire, are assigned to what we call 'hallwalking,'" says author Peter Van Buren."
The Demonizing of Barack Obama (Colbert King) from the Washington Post
"To read in a mainstream publication that Barack Obama should be killed takes the breath away. ... In this political environment, there is no invective too repugnant, too vicious to throw at this president of the United States. ... "
2008 v. 2012: Is the Presidential Landscape Changing? from Daily Kos
"The map, most assuredly, is changing. To understand the contours of the new electoral math, let's break up the 51 presidential contests into three groups: the Obama/Democratic "base states" (states won by Democrats in all three elections), the Republican "base states" (states won by Republicans in all three elections), and the "Obama coalition" states (states lost by either Kerry or Gore, but won by Obama in 2008)."
A very interesting and thoughtful first-look at the electoral map for Obama looking ahead to November.
Republican Governors Concerned About Long 2012 GOP Primary Race from the Associated Press via the Huffington Post
"Even Democratic governors of some typically toss-up – or "purple" – states, said they like Obama's chances."In a purple state people want to see results and they also want to see a level of collaboration and teamwork. I think he is going to win Colorado," the state's governor, John Hickenlooper, said. Meanwhile, virtually no Republican governors were willing to predict their party's nominee would prevail in November."
‘The Country Deserves Better’: Maine Gov Unloads On GOP Field from Talking Points Memo
"In remarks captured by the Portland Press Herald, Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage unloaded on the GOP 2012 field Saturday, decrying all the candidates as damaged goods after having battered each other. He said the country “deserves better” than the current crop and called for a brokered convention to pick a dark horse candidate to challenge President Obama."
Mitt Romney’s Latest Challenge: His ‘Home State’ of Michigan (Jonathan Lemire) from the New York Daily News
"Win or lose: Michigan's primary on Tuesday could destroy Romney's campaign."
US Election 2012: a Tired Mitt Romney Slumps Towards Michigan from the Daily Telegraph [of the UK]
"After nearly a decade of positioning himself for America’s highest office, it is perhaps unsurprising that Mitt Romney looks tired as he enters a crowd of voluble Tea Party supporters in his home state of Michigan, pausing to greet the room with his familiar wooden wave."
Michigan Tea Partiers Share Rick Santorum’s Fears Over Obama’s College Push from Talking Points Memo
Craziness!
"Clement’s husband, Stephen, said Santorum was right on the mark when he said that Obama wants to send kids to get college degrees so as to produce more liberals. “It starts down at the elementary school level with all this bullshit about diversity, pardon my French,” he said. “Diversity and sensitivity and all that crap. That’s the stuff that needs to be taught at home not by my teachers." ... They all agreed that college can help some people — but they also agreed that universities are basically socialism factories. “They try and disguise it with, you know, ‘equal opportunity’…” Stephen Clement began. “It’s communism,” Murrow said, cutting him off. “The professors are all teaching the kids…”"
Rick Santorum’s Home-School Hokum from Salon
"America's most famous home-schooler spent three years soaking Pennsylvania taxpayers for his kids' education."
Newt Gingrich Goes Bonkers (Again) (Jacob Heilbrunn) from the National Interest
"Gingrich's bluster encapsulates just about that has gone awry with Republican foreign policy."
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