News Nuggets 1238

DAYLEE PICTURE:  Bats in a tamarind tree in Madagascar.  From the New York Times.

UP-FRONT CONSERVATIVE PUNDIT NUGGET!!
‘Obama Scandals’ Could Actually Hurt Republicans (Ramesh Ponnuru) from Bloomberg News Service
"The biggest danger for Republicans in giving themselves over to scandal mania is one that the conventional retelling of the Clinton impeachment neglects. ... Republicans have similar vulnerabilities on the issues now. They have no real health-care agenda. Voters don’t trust them to look out for middle-class economic interests. Republicans are confused and divided about how to solve the party’s problems. What they can do is unite in opposition to the Obama administration’s scandals and mistakes. So that’s what they’re doing. They’re trying to win news cycles when they need votes."

Is the Vision Thing Important? (Joseph Nye) from the New York Times 
"Leadership experts stress the importance of transformational presidents with grand visions and an inspirational style rather than incremental leaders with a transactional style. In a careful study of the 20th century leaders who presided over the growth of American primacy, I found that many mattered — but not always in the ways that experts predict."

More Heat than Light in Senate’s IRS Hearing (Eleanor Clift) from the Daily Beast
"A Senate hearing on the ongoing IRS scandal featured lots of outraged bluster, but few admissions of responsibility and nothing like a smoking gun. Eleanor Clift on a day of dead ends."

Will Republicans Screw Up Again? Some Are Already Overreaching (Stuart Rothenberg) from Roll Call
"Republicans failed to capitalize on President Bill Clinton’s inappropriate conduct by over-playing their hand and pushing impeachment. Not only did they fail to drive him from office, the GOP ended up losing a handful of House seats in the 1998 midterms instead of adding seats as initially expected. ... That same danger exists once again for the GOP."

Republicans’ Hatred of Obama Blinds Them to Public Disinterest in Scandals (Charlie Cook) from National Journal
"Republicans are so focused on their bitter battles against Obama, they can’t see how little impact the “scandals” have had on public opinion."

GOP Aides Mock House Republicans’ ‘Crazy’ Benghazi Witch-Hunt (Ben Armbruster) from Think Progress
"OP aides are criticizing the House Republicans’ partisan witch-hunt over the Obama administration’s handling of the attacks on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya last year, arguing that the Party should focus more on substantive issues, such as lessons learned and how to recalibrate diplomatic security. Roll Call reports that Republican aides are saying staffers are getting bogged down chasing bogus accusations."

The Suburbanization of Poverty (Emily Badger) from the Atlantic
"... over the last decade, suburbs have increasingly become home to America's poor. Between 2000 and 2011, the population living in American cities below the poverty line increased by 29 percent. During that same time, across the country in the suburbs of metropolitan areas as diverse as Atlanta and Detroit and Salt Lake City, the ranks of the poor grew by 64 percent."

The Economic Geography of America's Abortion Wars (Richard Florida) from the Atlantic
"The word "choice" presumes that women actually have options. While the right to have an abortion is still protected by Roe v. Wade, in practical terms, it has become a privilege that is reserved for the residents of relatively affluent states. "

China's Property Values Are Skyrocketing, With No End in Sight from the Atlantic
"High demand fuelled by easily available credit has pushed prices up, making it harder for first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder and raising concerns that a property bubble is developing."

SPACE TRAVEL NUGGET!!
Welcome to the Real Space Age (Dan Lee) from the New York Magazine 
"This is not a rendering. It is a launching pad in the New Mexico desert for rocket planes that will send you into space for $200,000. It opens later this year."