News Nuggets 1365

DAYLEE PICTURE:  The Bardenas Reales region of southern Spain.  From National Geographic.

UP-FRONT MUST-READ CONSERVATIVE ANGST NUGGET!!
The Agony of Frank Luntz (Molly Ball) from the Atlantic
A long excerpt is in order here -- be sure to go and read the whole thing! 
"It was what GOP pollster Luntz heard from the American people that scared him. ... "They want to impose their opinions rather than express them," is the way he describes what he saw. " ... Luntz knew that he, a maker of political messages and attacks and advertisements, had helped create this negativity, and it haunted him. But it was Obama he principally blamed. The people in his focus groups, he perceived, had absorbed the president's message of class divisions, haves and have-nots, of redistribution. It was a message Luntz believed to be profoundly wrong, but one so powerful he had no slogans, no arguments with which to beat it back."
There is so much here worth noting!  First, it is a big deal when one starts hearing these sentiments coming from deeply ingrained partisan stars like Luntz here.  Even decades in the trenches usually don't wear these people out, especially if they are making the kind money he has.  In my view, this ties in with the item from the other day that showed that we are starting to see a decline in voting from white men (of which Luntz is one) even as minorities and women are voting more.  This pollster is also explicitly conceding that, for the first time in his long successful career, his "messaging" is simply making no difference.  He blames Obama.  Fine.  Like so many on the right, his contempt for the Dems and Obama in particular has him deeply underestimate this president's abilities and Obama's deep connection with the experience of average voters.  What he (and other movement conservatives) don't want to admit openly is that the Republican program is completely bankrupt.  They have nothing to offer the American people that addresses virtually any of the issue sets that are of most concern to them now.  All they have are bygone brittle bones of programs dating back to the 1980s, programs and ideas that they themselves gave up on long ago.  What you hear from him (and growing legions of older right wingers) is deepening despair and resignation -- an appropriate response in my view.  Where Luntz is wrong, however, is his implicit suggestion that this phenomena applies across the political spectrum.  Sorry, maybe I'm wrong, but I neither feel it myself nor do I hear this same despair and resignation on the left.  Indeed, some (including myself) see Luntz's despair and perceive figuratively the pennies on the eyes of current version of the GOP.  When guys like this stop giving their all or start heading for the exits, you know the basic machinery of the GOP is in trouble.

Need some more evidence?
Nobody Wanted To Be Called A Republican In 2013 from Talking Points Memo 
"On average in 2013, just 25 percent of Americans said they identified as Republicans. That's down from 28 percent in 2012, and it's the lowest figure that the polling firm has found since 1983, when Gallup was still conducting interviews face to face."

Another example of a GOP constituency in decline:
Share of Homes With Guns Shows 4-Decade Decline from the New York Times 
"The share of American households with guns has declined over the past four decades, a national survey shows, with some of the most surprising drops in the South and the Western mountain states, where guns are deeply embedded in the culture."
In the long term, the NRA's influence will decline if young people turn away from the gun culture -- and it seems like they are!

The Problem With The Republican Antipoverty Agenda Is That It Doesn't Exist (Josh Barro) from the Business Insider
"The truth is Republicans have no legislative agenda that would address poverty. ... The Republican theory seems to be that if the government "just got out of the way" by cutting taxes, spending and regulation, then labor market would magically tighten, people would get jobs, and wages would rise. Empirical evidence for this proposition is lacking. Tellingly, this "get out of the way" prescription is exactly the same one Republicans offer when the economy is strong."

The Morality Of Obama’s Afghan Surge (Andrew Sullivan) from The Dish 
Sullivan's assessment of Gates's rant against Obama's commitment to war in Afghanistan is spot-on here!
"That last formulation is close to deranged. Better to have a true believer pursuing impossible goals than a sober skeptic trying to make the least bad call? Dreher rightly asks why Obama’s skepticism is so
scandalous:..."

The Lessons of Physical Therapy (Gabrielle Giffords) from the New York Times
"TODAY, the anniversary of the shooting in Tucson that put a bullet through my head and killed six of my constituents, is when I make my annual resolutions. Many may look at me and see mostly what I have lost. I struggle to speak, my eyesight’s not great, my right arm and leg are paralyzed, and I left a job I loved representing southern Arizona in Congress. But three years ago, dispatched to an almost certain death by an assassin’s bullet, I was allowed the opportunity for a new life. "

U.S. Healthcare Spending Growth Remains Low for Fourth Year from the Los Angeles Times
"Soaring healthcare spending — which helped pave the way for President Obama’s health law — continued to moderate in 2012, the fourth year of a historic slowdown in how much the nation pays for medical treatment, according to a new government report. ... Slower growth in government spending on the Medicare insurance program for the elderly in particular has already improved the federal budget outlook, helping to dramatically reduce projected deficits."

An Unauthorized Book Leaks and Roger Ailes's Team Prepares for War (Lloyd Grove) from the Daily Beast
"In ‘The Loudest Voice in the Room,’ charges of anti-Semitism, Bill O’Reilly mockery, and a trophy from Lachlan Murdoch’s tenure. Full of falsehoods, says Fox News. ... According to a report posted late Tuesday night on The New York Times website, Sherman’s 560-page biography, to be published by Random House, is every bit as harsh as Team Ailes had feared—kind of a literary Pearl Harbor."

What Are History’s Biggest Turning-Point Years? (Joshua Keating) from Slate
"Will the year we’re just beginning make the cut? As a lot of the discussion of 1914-2014 parallels this week has made clear, turning point years aren’t necessarily ones you want to live through."

Top Christie Aide: 'Time for Some Traffic Problems in Fort Lee' (Jed Lewison) from Daily Kos
"The emails were obtained by the Bergen North Jersey Record, and at first read, it seems pretty clear they should put an end to Chris Christie's presidential ambitions, if not his second term."

Chris Christie's Officials Lied About GWB Scandal. Did the Governor? from the Editorial Board of the New Jersey Star-Ledger
"If it turns out he did know, he is obviously lying and unfit for office -- let alone a 2016 presidential run. And even if he did not, his officials are liars. If Christie can't control them, how can we trust him as a potential future leader of our country?"

Stories Add Up as Bully Image Trails Christie from the New York Times 
"In almost every case, Mr. Christie waved off any suggestion that he had meted out retribution. But to many, the incidents have left that impression, and it has been just as powerful in scaring off others who might dare to cross him."

PUBLIC TELEVISION NUGGET!!
How Masterpiece Stays Timeless (Peter Osnos) from the Atlantic
"A new memoir by Rebecca Eaton, the executive producer of Downton Abbey and other Masterpiece classics, offers some insight into the series' enduring excellence."