News Nuggets 1242

DAYLEE PICTURE: Grant Swamp Pass near Silverton, Colorado.  From the Daily Mail of the UK.

Can Obama Clean Up Bush’s National-Security Mess? (Jeffrey Goldberg) from Bloomberg News
"it seemed absurd and irresponsible that his predecessor had labeled Iran a member of the “axis of evil” without even having a plan to confront such evil, and because Obama, despite allegations to the contrary, takes the threat of a nuclear Iran seriously.  ... the landmark speech Obama gave last week at the National Defense University is best read as an indirect repudiation of Bush-era policies and rhetoric, and as an elliptical denunciation of Bush’s understanding of the fight against Islamist extremism."

Democrats Prepare for Nuclear War (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post 
"I’m not sure folks appreciate just how epic a political battle we could be heading for this summer, when a number of current storylines could culminate in Dems opting for the nuclear option to revisit filibuster reform via a simple majority."

Circling the Media Wagons (Walter Pincus) from the Washington Post 
"It wasn’t the substance of the leaked info that most deeply concerned the intelligence community. Rather it was that Rosen’s story alerted the North Koreans that the United States had penetrated their leadership circle. A second concern was how quickly someone with access to TS/SCI information — a limited, top-level security classification applied primarily to electronically intercepted messages — had leaked it. ... The person or persons who told the Associated Press about the CIA operation that infiltrated al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and Kim — or someone else — who informed Rosen about North Korea, were not whistleblowers exposing government misdeeds. They harmed national security and broke the law."
I suspected that something like this was what was going on.  It sounds like for the sake of an "exclusive," FOX News indirectly blew the cover of one of the US's most critical sources in the North Korean regime.

Why the Clinton Scandals Were a Bigger Deal Than the Obama Ones (Garance Franke-Ruta) from the Atlantic
"In contrast to the highly personal nature of the Clinton scandals, none of the so-called Obama scandals involve direct actions by the president or his wife, let alone their romantic or financial dealings before or during their time in office. Instead, the controversies swirling around the administration all involve the conduct of individuals within the federal government overseen by Obama as the head of the executive branch."

The Wisdom of Bob Dole from the editorial board of the New York Times 
"The difference between the current crop of Tea Party lawmakers and Mr. Dole’s generation is not simply one of ideology. While the Tea Partiers are undoubtedly more extreme, Mr. Dole spent years pushing big tax cuts, railing at regulations and blocking international treaties.  ... But when the time came to actually govern, Republicans used to set aside their grandstanding, recognize that a two-party system requires compromise and make deals to keep the government working on the people’s behalf."

Memo to the GOP: It’s Time to Listen to Your Elders (John Avlon) from the Daily Beast
"Reagan wouldn’t even make it today? John Avlon on why Bob Dole and John Warner’s dire warnings about the Republican Party’s hard tack to the right are worth taking seriously."

The Path Forward for Conservative Reform (Ben Domenech) from Real Clear Politics
"... the Republican Party has failed to connect with people, has failed to meet the test of competency, and has failed to live up to its promises. ... As the representatives of conservatism in the political square, the Republican Party has proved to be an abject failure at delivering to the people what they promised. There are numerous reasons for this."

Michele Bachmann Retiring under Fire from Politico
"Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) — the tea-party firebrand facing
investigations and a daunting reelection race — abruptly announced on Wednesday morning that she will not seek reelection to a fifth term.  Her move marked a spectacular fall for a congresswoman with a bull’s eye on her back every congressional cycle: Less than two years ago, she won the Iowa straw poll and was briefly regarded as a serious contender for the GOP presidential nomination."
GOOD RIDDANCE to this over-inflated trouble-maker!

Bachmann's Departure Relieves GOP Headache (Reid Wilson) from National Journal
"Bachmann may have been the loudest member of the class of 2006, the one who inspired the most heated arguments. But she will hardly be the most consequential; her enduring legacy may be the lessons she taught in how to lose friends and become completely uninfluential."

Michele Bachmann, Daddy, Jesus, America (Michael Tomasky) from the Daily Beast
"So Michele Bachmann isn't running for Congress again. Here's her rather interminable, eight-minute (!) explanation of why. It of couse has nothing to do with the ethics investigation into her 2012 presidential bid!"

SOVIET UNION NUGGET!!
A Glimpse Behind the Iron Curtain: A Rare Snapshot of Everyday Life in Communist Russia from the Daily Mail [of the UK]
"Stifled by censorship and with western culture shrouded by an Iron Curtain, Soviet photography can probably be described as less than avant garde for the majority of the 20th century.
But 'underground' photographers working beneath the radar of the communist regime managed to capture everyday life through a lens in a more experimental and cutting edge way than the authorities would probably have approved of."