News Nuggets 1237

DAYLEE PICTURE: Lightening strikes in the Grand Canyon.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

Rough Times for Obama? Sure. But Nixonian? Please. (Matthew Dallek) from the Washington Post
"The White House deserves some of the blame for the mess it’s in, but let’s be clear: The comparisons to Nixon are hyperbolic. Watergate, with its unique depth of criminality, remains a scandal unlike any other in modern times, and the echoes today reveal far more about the culture of Washington than about the supposed similarity between Obama’s troubles and Nixon’s crimes."

‘Who’s Going to Jail’ Over IRS Scandal? Probably Nobody. (Aaron Blake) from the Washington Post
"We don’t know yet. But it’s also quite possible that nobody will ever be convicted of breaking the law in the IRS scandal. “I am not aware of any statute that prohibits IRS targeting of applicants,” said Republican lawyer Jan Baran, who served as general counsel to George H.W. Bush and the RNC. Other politically inclined lawyers agree."

Conspiracy Theorists Flummoxed in Face of Actual Scandals (Alex Seitz-Wald) from Salon  
"The Benghazi/IRS/AP trifecta was the moment critics of Obama and the government had been waiting for. Or was it? For some of Obama’s biggest and most imaginative critics, the abundance of scandal stinks to high heaven and suggests the White House is intentionally drowning itself in controversy — for some reason."

IRS Hearing: The Takeaways from Politico
"Democrats are mad, but they aren’t taking it out on Obama.  Sure, Democrats want everyone to know they’re outraged too. But so far, they’re not demanding that President Barack Obama do more — at least not in public. They’re perfectly happy to take it out on the IRS."

Presidential Scandals, Only in the Minds of Republicans (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"... dig into the internals of the poll and you find something striking. In the case of the IRS and Benghazi stories, the lurid and nefarious view of Obama’s involvement in them being peddled by the right is held only by Republicans — big majorities of them — while most moderates and
independents, i.e. the middle of the country, believe the White House’s arguments."


Hillary and the 9 Dwarves (Chris Cillizza) from the Washington Post 
"Writing about the 2016 Democratic presidential race really means writing about two races. The first race isn’t a race at all. It’s Hillary Clinton’s internal debate about whether she wants to run for president or not. ... The second race is among everyone not named Clinton — a race to see who can grab the small amount of political oxygen that the former Secretary of State leaves behind."


Hillary '16 Campaign Off to Excellent Start (Paul Waldman) from the American Prospect
"The lesson that should be drawn from recent history is that it really doesn't matter who the Democratic nominee is. Republicans will hate him or her, and that hate will grow from an ember to a consuming fire. ... That hate will have a different flavor depending on who the candidate is—if it's Clinton, we'll see the return of all the sexual panic and misogyny she inspires—but what won't change is its quantity."

Mark Penn All But Out For Potential Hillary Clinton 2016 Run from the Huffington Post 
"...if Clinton runs in 2016, Penn is extremely unlikely to join on again, according to the Washington Post."
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7 Juicy Claims From A Romney Campaign Insider’s New Book from BuzzFeed 
"Former policy aide Gabriel Schoenfeld’s new book, A Bad Day on the Romney Campaign: An Insider’s Account, blames Romney’s staff for his defeat."

ROBOT NUGGET!!
Welcome, Robot Overlords. Please Don't Fire Us? (Kevin Drum) from Mother Jones Magazine
"Smart machines probably won't kill us all—but they'll definitely take our jobs, and sooner than you think."

SEX AND ETHICS NUGGET!!
The Ethics of Extreme Porn: Is Some Sex Wrong Even Among Consenting Adults? (Conor Friedersdorf) from the Atlantic
"A defense of consent as a lodestar of sexual morality."

NFL NUGGET!!
Hard Knocks: Shanghai, Can the NFL Plant Its Flag in China? (Hua Hsu) from Grantland
"...beyond all this, there's football itself, which has never been an intuitive product for American export. Even nations with an appetite for American things have traditionally found football exotic and inscrutable, one of those aspects of the culture that simply doesn't translate well. But something unusual is happening throughout China's major cities, where football is one of the fastest-growing sports."