News Nuggets 1179

DAYLEE PICTURE: A Tokeh Gecko from Thailand.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

UP-FRONT GOP PUNDIT NUGGET!!
Waiting for the Reckoning (Josh Marshall) from Talking Points Memo 
This former GOP staffer is on-the-money with every sentence in this letter to Josh Marshall. A big excerpt is here -- but check out the whole thing!
"Both the Tea Party types and the big GOP donors represented by Karl Rove were fully on board with just about everything the Bush administration said or did. ... Neither side in this putative civil war has been willing to reckon honestly with the consequences of the Bush administration for the country (substantively) or the Republican Party (politically). Both do their best to present their views to the public as if the last Republican President had never existed. ... Republicans in the 1930s and Democrats in the 1980s both resisted strongly the idea that their respective parties had earned defeat at the polls."

A Demographic Shift in the Muslim World (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"Something startling is happening in the Muslim world — and no, I don’t mean the Arab Spring or the growth of Islamic fundamentalism. According to a leading demographer, a “sea change” is producing a sharp decline in Muslim fertility rates and a “flight from marriage” among Arab women."

Millennials Feel More Stress Than Older Generations, Study Says from the Los Angeles Times
"With decades ahead of them in the job market, more than half of millennials stay awake at night chewing over all manner of worries, according to a study. Those 18- to 33-yeas-olds actually stress out more than older generations, the American Psychological Assn. concluded in its new study. Slightly more than 50% said that overwhelming worries disrupted their sleep in the past month. A dour economy is top of mind for young people, with work and job stability sending their stress levels soaring. "

Five Myths about Obama’s Drone War (Mark R. Jacobson) from the Washington Post
"Debates about technology, targeting and transparency have muddled an already complicated matter, so let’s take aim at some of the most common misperceptions."

Obama’s Smart Move on Drones (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast 
"The President’s civil liberties record is far from ideal. But, says Michael Tomasky, at least give Obama credit for exploring ways to limit his own power."

Torture Memo Author, Now a Federal Judge, Still Justifying Torture (Andrew Cohen) from the Atlantic
This story is as much about the drone strikes as about torture.
"Frank Rich is absolutely right. While a relatively small group of civil libertarians, journalists, and lawyers fret over the Obama Administration's "targeted killing" program, and the risible judicial and legislative acquiescence to it, the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of Americans either support the broad use of drone strikes abroad or don't know enough about the issue to have an informed or passionate opinion about it."

Democrats Leave Retreat Confident Obama Will Help Them Retake House in 2014 from The Hill
"House Democrats left their three-day retreat speaking of unity and voicing confidence that President Obama will help them win back a majority in 2014. ,,, So House Democrats were over the moon with Obama’s commitment of time and money to their caucus over the next two years."

The Fix’s First Rankings of the 2016 Republican Presidential Field! (Chris Cillizza) from the Washington Post
"If you don’t think the candidates prominently mentioned as potential 2016ers aren’t already thinking about that race, well, you are wrong. They are. Trust us. And, as it happens, so are we. ... And so, it’s that time — the time for our first rankings of where the 2016 presidential field stands."

Former Congressman Tom Allen: GOP Speaks a Different Language (Tom Allen) from Salon
"You try serving with these Republicans: I spent 12 years in Congress and lost hope that we could talk to each other."

Original Sin: Why the GOP is and Will Continue to be the Party of White People (Sam Tanenhaus) from the New Republic
"With Barack Obama sworn in for a second term—the first president in either party since Ronald Reagan to be elected twice with popular majorities—the GOP is in jeopardy, the gravest since 1964, of ceasing to be a national party. ... If those trends continue, the GOP could find itself unable to count on a single state that has as many as 20 electoral votes."

Can GOP End the ‘Carnival of the Crazy’? (Leonard Pitts) from the Miami Herald
"Maybe the party is finally over. Meaning not simply the Grand Old Party, but more specifically the bacchanal of the bizarre and carnival of crazy to which it has lately devolved. So obvious has this devolution become that even Republican stalwarts have been heard to decry the parody of a party the GOP has become."

Progressive Change Campaign Committee Expands Anti-Mitch McConnell Advertising (Luke Johnson) from the Huffington Post
"The Progressive Change Campaign Committee said Friday it would expand advertising attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for his resistance to gun control, signaling that the Kentucky senator's 2014 re-election will meet heavy resistance on the airwaves."

Mitch McConnell Had Previously Floated Karl Rove Idea To Target Weak Tea Party Candidates from the Huffington Post
"A firestorm on the right has greeted a new Karl Rove-backed super PAC aimed at knocking off weak conservative Senate candidates and protecting strong incumbents in GOP primaries, but the new PAC may well prove to be a plus in the eyes of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. ... This year McConnell’s own reelection bid in Kentucky may be threatened by a budding alliance between a liberal super PAC that’s reached out to Tea Party groups to help unseat the senator."
I'm sure McConnel is NOT thrilled to see this little reminder.  The Tea Party wing is REALLY ripped by Rove's program and I wouldn't be surprised if this story wasn't facilitated by some Tea Party types anxious to unseat the Senate Minority Leader next year.