Shanghaied (Geoff Dyer) from Foreign Policy Magazine
"Why you shouldn't believe everything you read about China. Hint: not even the journalists really know what’s going on."
I had long suspected as much.
China’s Big Banks Look More Like Paper Tigers (Jonathan Weil) from Bloomberg News Service
"After spending time combing through the financial reports of China’s biggest publicly traded, state- owned banks, I now understand what Jim Chanos, the famous short- seller, means when he keeps saying they are “built on quicksand.” He’s definitely on to something."
Gay Marriage: Importing America’s Culture Wars has Backfired on David Cameron (Fraser Nelson) from the Daily Telegraph [of the UK]
"The Prime Minister is in retreat over gay marriage – but he should never have picked the fight to begin with."
Obama’s Foreign Policy: Dealing from a Position of Strength (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"The Obama team seems almost dismissive of the foreign-policy savvy of his likely Republican rival, Mitt Romney. They see Romney as out of his depth on this subject, making gestures to his neoconservative supporters and talking tough, no matter the issue — almost in a caricature of the chest-beating unilateralist."
Obama Versus Romney Offers a Clash of Capitalisms (Jonathan Alter) from Bloomberg News Service
"“Right-wing” doesn’t fit Romney, who describes himself as “severely conservative” but isn’t a wing nut. “Left-wing” is an inaccurate description of the president, whose most “leftist” initiative -- Obamacare -- is modeled on plans proposed by those noted Bolsheviks Bob Dole and Howard Baker. A more useful distinction may be between venture capitalists and human capitalists."
Obama’s Finest Hour (Gary Kamiya) from Salon
"For once, the president who ran on a platform of hope and change lived up to his ideals"
As Obama Trumpets Gay Marriage, Foes Seek New Topic from the New York Times
"On Thursday, President Obama’s campaign sought to capitalize on his new declaration of support for gay marriage, even as some Republicans tried to shift back to the economy."
The Big Flip (Todd Purdum) from Vanity Fair
"Everyone agrees American politics have become completely polarized. Perhaps more remarkable is another change: over the past half-century, the two parties completely switched roles, with the G.O.P. turning into rebels and the Democrats defending the status quo."
African-Americans Support Obama’s Same-Sex Marriage Stance (Allison Samuels) from the Daily Beast
"African Americans who oppose gay marriage are reconsidering their beliefs, thanks to Obama’s shift, Allison Samuels reports."
No surprise. Obama's cred in the African American community is off the charts -- and he is probably the only national figure who could cause widespread re-assessment from this community.
Mystery Mitt: Who Is He Really? (Howard Fineman) from the Huffington Post
"Most of the American people don't know who Mitt Romney really is. They don’t know what is good and decent about his life story, his family, his work, his philosophy or his personal ethics. They don't know the bad news either. They don't know much of anything except a few caricatured, cartoonish facts. The former governor of Massachusetts remains largely an empty canvas, onto which the Obama campaign, the Democrats and a voracious media are slapping paint as fast as they can. Romney campaign officials, I know from a visit there this week, seem to think they have plenty of time to tell their story. They don't."
Bingo. Mitt is doing the leisurely Michael Dukakis-John Kerry slow dance to his nominating convention. That will not cut it in 2012.
Mitt Romney’s Prep School Classmates Recall Pranks, but Also Troubling Incidents (Jason Horowitz) from the Washington Post
"Friedemann entered Stevens Hall off the school’s collegiate quad to find Romney marching out of his own room ahead of a prep school posse shouting about their plan to cut Lauber’s hair. Friedemann followed them to a nearby room where they came upon Lauber, tackled him and pinned him to the ground. As Lauber, his eyes filling with tears, screamed for help, Romney repeatedly clipped his hair with a pair of scissors. The incident was recalled similarly by five students, who gave their accounts independently of one another."
This story has more legs than I initially thought. The Romney people have been caught completely flatfooted. The convergence of Obama's gay marriage announcement, the growing public awareness about the problem of bullying, and Romney's silver-spoon, prep school background are coming together here in a potentially toxic way (if you are a Romney supporter). I can't see Romney's response ("I don't remember -- and I'm sorry for my teen-age pranks, ha ha!") cutting it. Just as an aside: the timing of this story is ... interesting. There's no ignoring the anti-gay undercurrent to the Romney teen bullying story, and here it comes out two days after Obama's historic announcement on gay marriage. This vaguely reminds me of Obama's Illinois Senate race where Republican nominee Ryan had his marital issues(?) blow up, sinking his candidacy. It has long been rumored that in that case (and others) Obama campaign people were the original sources of the damaging stories. It would not shock me if this were the case here as well. And, of course, if the stories about Romney are true (there are five corroborating witnesses), yeah, politics is a rough game. This will be another week gone by where the Romney folks will be either (1) defending their candidate from this story or (2) trying to respond to the gay marriage issue -- all rather than talking about the economy. Romney is playing against the A team now, not Herman Cain.
Mitt Romney Lacks a Sensitivity Gene (Carla Hall) from the Los Angeles Times
"... all of Romney’s actions make up the whole of his character. And in this case, whether he did it or didn’t do it or can’t remember, he should be, today, nothing less than mortified at the idea of anyone doing what his former classmates told the Washington Post he did. But sensitivity is not Romney’s strong suit."
You know the primaries are over when this level of vetting begins. A similar "review" of this episode can be found HERE.
Jonah Goldberg’s Desperation (Alex Pareene) from Salon
"The National Review hack is a unique figure: Striving for seriousness, but too lazy to achieve it."
WI-Gov: Huge Victory Margin for Barrett, Massive GOP Turnout for Walker (Craig Gilbert) from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"There's also the broader question: Is the sum total of roughly 670,000 votes generated by Democrats Tuesday a warning sign about the party's turnout June 5, when they will need far more than that number to defeat Walker? “The Democrats should worry about turnout in June. They should put the GOTV machine into full gear,” said political scientist Barry Burden of the University of Wisconsin-Madison."
RARE LOBSTER NUGGET!!
Calico Lobster: Boston's New England Aquarium Displays Rare Crustacean (PHOTO) from the Associated Press via the Huffington Post
"So you think blue lobsters are rare? The New England Aquarium is holding a lobster that's way rarer than that. The aquarium in Boston says it has a calico lobster that could be a 1-in-30 million find."
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