News Nuggets 1225

DAYLEE PICTURE: A chicken farm in Pennsylvania.  From National Geographic.

UP-FRONT GUN CONTROL NUGGETS!!
More Backlash Against Senators on Gun Vote from Public Policy Polling 
"New PPP polls in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, and Ohio find serious backlash against the 5 Senators who voted against background checks in those states. Each of them has seen their approval numbers decline, and voters say they're less likely to support them the next time they're up for reelection. That's no surprise given that we continue to find overwhelming, bipartisan support for background checks in these states."
The best news I've heard about gun control since the Newtown shootings!  The only time lawmakers will begin to turn away from the NRA is when voters start holding them to account!!

Americans Wanted Gun Background Checks to Pass Senate (Frank Newport) from Gallup
Support varies from 85% among Democrats to 45% among Republicans.

Why Obama Remains Cautious About Syria (David Ignatius) from the Washington Post
"The White House still hopes to convince Russia to join in an internationally supported move for a political transition."

Obama Is Right on Chemical Warfare in Syria (Leslie H. Gelb) from the Daily Beast
"Obama is right not to rush to war, given our checkered past on the use of chemical weapons and the sinkhole of hatreds in Syria, writes Leslie H. Gelb."

Bombing Suspects' Mom Also in Terror Database (Eileen Sullivan and Julie Pace) from the Associated Press
"U.S. intelligence agencies added the mother of the Boston bombing suspects to a government terrorism database 18 months before the bombings, two officials told The Associated Press. She called it "lies and hypocrisy" and said she has never been linked to crimes or terrorism."

The Story of Our Time (Paul Krugman) from the New York Times
"Those of us who have spent years arguing against premature fiscal austerity have just had a good two weeks."

Politics of Paranoia (Charles Blow) from the New York Times
"The politics of the political right have become the politics of paranoia. ... It is no wonder, then, that in this environment, a Washington Post/Pew Research Center poll released Wednesday found that while 47 percent of Americans were angry or disappointed that new gun control legislation in the Senate (including the enormously popular background-checks provision) had failed to pass, 39 percent were very happy or relieved. Fifty-one percent of Republicans had those sentiments, compared with 22 percent of Democrats. This underscores just how frightened of the government far-right Republicans are."

The Political Perils of Obamacare Implementation (Jamelle Bouie) from the Washington Post
"For the short-term, at least, Republicans will work to derail the Affordable Care Act, and Democrats will likely take the blame for the problems it creates. If there’s any good news, it’s that if Obamacare works, Democrats will reap the benefits of that as well."

In a First, Black Turnout Passes White Turnout (Hope Yen) from the Associated Press
"America's blacks voted at a higher rate than other minority groups in 2012 and by most measures surpassed the white turnout for the first time, reflecting a deeply polarized presidential election in which blacks strongly supported Barack Obama while many whites stayed home."

Cuomo: If Hillary is Running for Prez, I’m Out (Frederic Dicker) from the New York Post
"Cuomo quietly ‘concedes’ 2016 race."

False Flags, Sharia, and Gun Grabs: GOP Lawmakers Embrace the Crazy (John Avlon) from the Daily Beast
"The conspiracy theories percolating up to local party leaders and even the halls of Congress should be a warning sign for the GOP, writes John Avlon."

History Will Not be Kind to George W. Bush (Jonathan Bernstein) from the Washington Post
"The problem for Bush is that the headline policies — management of the economy and of foreign relations, the latter dominated by war in Iraq — don’t look good now and aren’t likely to look any better any time soon. I can’t think of a war that looked like a failure 10 years after it was launched that historians later decided was a success after all..."

Tear Down This Icon: Why the GOP Has to Get Over Ronald Reagan (Jennifer Rubin) form the Washington Post
"The Republican Party can remain a Ronald Reagan historical society, or it can try to endure as a force in national politics. But it can’t do both."

After Casting Key Fifth Vote For Bush, Justice O’Connor Now Regrets Bush v. Gore (Ian Millhiser) from Think Progress
"Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the conservative retired justice who provided the fifth vote to install George W. Bush as president, is now having second thoughts about that decision:..."

Republicans Face Senate Recruitment Woes In Key States from the Huffington Post
"Republicans are struggling to recruit strong U.S. Senate candidates in states where the party has the best chances to reclaim the majority in Washington. It's a potentially troubling sign that the GOP's post-2012 soul-searching could spill over into next year's congressional elections."

Michele Bachmann's Troubling Lack of Candor from the Editorial Board of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune 
"Bachmann’s typical response is to ignore the negative publicity and the questions about her judgment and act like nothing happened. That strategy has served the charismatic conservative firebrand and four-term U.S. House representative fairly well—up to this point. Her core supporters usually shrug off bad press as media bias. The media, particularly in this age of nonstop news coverage, gives up and speeds off to the next political gaffe or miniscandal of the day. But Bachmann’s just-ignore-it approach is completely unacceptable for the high-profile political imbroglio she’s in now."

FOREIGN POLICY PROFILE NUGGET!!
In Defense of Henry Kissinger (Robert Kaplan) from the National Interest 
"He was the 20th century's greatest 19th-century statesman. ... In the summer of 2002, during the initial buildup to the invasion of Iraq, which he supported, Henry Kissinger told me he was nevertheless concerned about the lack of critical thinking and planning for the occupation of a Middle Eastern country where, as he put it, “normal politics have not been practiced for decades, and where new power struggles would therefore have to be very violent.” Thus is pessimism morally superior to misplaced optimism."