News Nuggets 1083

DAYLEE PICTURE: A close-up of a hummingbird.  From the Daily mail of the UK.

Report Says Forced Evictions Rise in China from Al Jazeera English 
"Demolitions of residential areas have become common in China due to a surge in real estate prices. ... A rapid construction boom has led to a rise in people being forcibly removed from their homes and land, according to a rights group. A report released by Amnesty International on Thursday says the escalation of evictions in the past three years has been driven by massive stimulus spending after the global financial crisis."
A real estate surge -- on top of what already looks like a real estate bubble in China?!

A Conservative Split Over the Middle East (Fareed Zakaria) from the Washington Post
"Romney’s moderation is partly a continuation of his pivot to the center. But it also reflects the lack of consensus among conservatives on what to do about the turmoil in the Middle East."

The Story of Obama (Andrew Sullivan) from the Daily Beast
"I think the GOP recognized the profound threat Obama represented, the magnitude of their failure, and have done all they could to stop him getting the second term he always needed to fulfill his promise and check them for a generation. They have failed, by and large."

Biden Bites Back! Finger-jabbing Joe Gives Ryan a Bruising in Electrifying Debate... but Will it Turn Round Obama's Campaign? from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"A finger-jabbing Joe Biden gave Paul Ryan a bruising tonight in an
electrifying vice-presidential debate that will delight Democrats after President Barack Obama's poor showdown with Mitt Romney."

Biden Shows Obama How to Debate from the editorial board of the Bloomberg News Service
"If the vice presidency, as John Nance Garner famously said, isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit, then what’s a vice-presidential debate worth? As it turns out, thankfully, something more than a bucket of warm spit. Last night’s sit-down between Vice President Joe Biden and Republican
vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan was useful in both substance and style. It may not have changed many minds, but it clarified a lot of differences."

After Fiery Florida Rally, Obama Heads to Debate School from the New York Times
"With time running short to campaign, the president’s aides have made debate preparation a top priority."

The Generation War (David Brooks) from the New York Times
"The vice-presidential debate provided a look at two different eras in American family life. It was “The Honeymooners” versus “Family Ties.”"

Very Quick Thoughts on the VP Debate (Josh Marshall) from Talking Points Memo
"Biden said it all. And for Democrats around the country that was extremely important. For reasons that are complicated and juvenile, during his vice presidency a caricature has emerged of Biden as some sort of Crazy Irish Uncle, gaffetastic and corny, a risible figure. That left people unprepared for what they saw tonight. Ryan was unprepared too. Biden’s actually one of sharpest guys in Washington and has been for decades."

Robert Shrum on the Vice Presidential Debate: Biden’s Win Was a Big It Was a Big F@$&ing Deal (Robert Shrum) from the Daily Beast
"It’s no contest—Biden nailed it. But Obama still needs to seal the deal. Robert Shrum on the three things that will determine the outcome of the presidential race—and why they all point toward a Democratic victory."

Big Bad Biden (Frank Bruni) from the New York Times
"Seldom have the words “my friend” been laced with so much arsenic. Joe Biden used them again and again Thursday night in reference to Paul Ryan, even as he painted the young Congressman as callow, shallow, mendacious and misinformed. Seldom has a split screen yielded such vigorous facial calisthenics."

GOP Not Smiling Over Biden's Laughter at Debate vs. Ryan (Alicia M. Cohn) from The Hill
"Vice President Biden's laughter during the vice presidential debate Thursday night is still the talk of Twitter on Friday morning, and is turning into one of the most memorable aspects of the first and only VP debate this cycle."
The GOP meme is that Biden "wasn't giving the issues the seriousness they deserved."  No -- the issues  are serious.  It is only republican and conservative solutions that deserve raucous heckling!!

In Vice Presidential Debate, Biden Puts Ryan on the Defensive (E.J. Dionne Jr.) from the Washington Post
"Biden was hot, avuncular, occasionally sarcastic, and always engaged. He laughed a lot, and never let a point slip. I am certain that the cheers in Democratic living rooms around the country were as loud as the sighs of relief. That alone was vital to Obama. Demoralized Democrats themselves contributed to the story line of Obama’s failure in the first debate. The days of demoralization are over."

New Polls Suggest Democratic Freakout May Be Premature from the Talking Points Memo
"While Mitt Romney clearly did some damage in the debate, a raft of swing state polls from major news outlets Thursday indicate President Obama may have put a floor on his drop."

2012 Polls Show Romney Gaining, But Key Swing States Still Tip To Obama (Blumenthal & Edwards-Levy) from the Huffington Post
"With less than four weeks remaining in the race for president, a batch of new polls confirms that Republican nominee Mitt Romney has gained ground since last week's debate, but shows him continuing to lag behind President Barack Obama by narrow margins in some of the key swing states that will decide the election."

Mitt Romney: People Don't 'Die In Their Apartment Because They Don't Have Insurance' from the Huffington Post
Earth to Romney: Yes, they do! 
""We don't have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don't have insurance," Romney said in an interview with the Columbus Dispatch's editorial board on Wednesday. While it's difficult to tell how many people die each year from lack of health insurance, one study, from a health care advocacy group, puts the number at 26,000 deaths per year."

Did Swing States Hate Romney’s Debate Performance? (John Aravosis) from Americablog
"It looks like the swing states really didn’t like Romney’s debate performance.  It looks like Romney debate “win” was really a “loss” in the states he needs to win in November. Read on."

Obama May be Over-Performing in the Swing States (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"Indeed, despite all the headlines you’re seeing this morning, the real story in today’s NBC/WSJ and NYT/CBS swing state polls is how little movement there has been in key battlegrounds, not how much. ... Geoff Garin, the pollster for the Obama-allied Priorities USA, tells me that his polling shows that views of Romney are more fixed in the battlegrounds than nationally. “In the swing states, voters are much more apt and able to quote back the main case against Romney,” he tells me."

Daily Kos Elections Morning Digest: Amid flurry of new polls, Senate Outlook Stays Positive for Dems (David Nir) from Daily Kos
"A ton of Senate polling came out late Wednesday and throughout the day on Thursday. "