DAYLEE PICTURE: The Towers of Bologna in Bologna, Italy. Form the Daily Mail of the UK.
See my guest appearance on the Lynn Cullen Live program from last week.
Kiev Unrest Rallies Thousands (Simon Shuster) from Time Magazine
"The bloodiest day yet in Ukraine's three-month-long political crisis saw volunteers rush to makeshift hospitals in churches and hotels as the protesters' anger and commitment grew."
Ukraine Is On the Verge Of War And Putin Is To Blame (Michael Weiss) from the Daily Beast
"Corpses littered the streets of Kiev today and the man to blame for Ukraine’s crisis is none other than the king of Sochi himself."
Can Yanukovych Rely on His Own Military? (Joshua Keating) from Slate
"... the question then becomes whether the military would obey orders to fire on Ukrainian protesters. Valentyn Badrak, director of the Kiev-based Centre for Army Conversion and Disarmament Studies, tells the Financial Times that “The core of the army does not support Yanukovich and will not execute an order” to use arms against ordinary people.”"
So what's going to happen here? It's hard to see how Yanukovych can hang on much longer -- but then what? Russian paramilitaries and regular army folks are already "advising" the Ukrainian leader. Some analysts have suggested that Putin will do a Cold War-style Hungary or Czechoslovakia intervention using the Russian army. IF he does that, what then? Ukraine has a NATO-lite agreement with the US and our European partners. Dicey. Based on their post-Cold War behavior, Putin would be amply justified in thinking that there is no way Germany, France, the UK etc. will left a finger to stop him. But...
Venezuela: The Game Changed Last Night (Francisco Toro) from the Caracas Chronicles
"Listen and understand. The game changed in Venezuela last night. What had been a slow-motion unravelling that had stretched out over many years went kinetic all of a sudden. What we have this morning is no longer the Venezuela story you thought you understood. Throughout last night, panicked people told their stories of state-sponsored paramilitaries on motorcycles roaming middle class neighborhoods, shooting at people and storming into apartment buildings, shooting at anyone who seemed like he might be protesting."
With 2015 Budget Request, Obama will Call for an End to Era of Austerity (Zachary Goldfarb) from the Washington Post
"With the 2015 budget request, Obama will call for an end to the era of austerity that has dogged much of his presidency and to his efforts to find common ground with Republicans. Instead, the president will focus on pumping new cash into job training, early-childhood education and other programs aimed at bolstering the middle class, providing Democrats with a policy blueprint heading into the midterm elections."
Obama is Done even Pretending to Work with Republicans (Jon Terbush) from The Week
"If you can't beat 'em, ignore 'em. President Obama is going solo. Having seen his ambitious agenda run aground against Republican recalcitrance, Obama is pivoting to a more unilateral approach to achieve his goals. And when he must go through Congress, Obama has shown he's willing to eschew bipartisanship when it seems like an impossibility."
How the Affordable Care Act is working in Michigan (Don Hazaert) from the Detroit Free Press
"Recently released federal data also show that 88% of the health insurance plans purchased by Michigan consumers on Healthcare.gov are the more expensive silver, gold and platinum level plans, rather than the less expensive bronze plans. If consumers were finding the plans unaffordable, as critics hypothesized, we would expect to see much higher numbers of consumers selecting bronze level plans. Consumers are buying up in their coverage instead because they are finding the plans so affordable."
Has Anyone in America Actually Been Harmed by Obamacare? (Kevin Drum) from Mother Jones Magazine
"I'm beginning to think there's not actually a single person in America who's been harmed by Obamacare. ... I'm a diehard defender of Obamacare, and even I concede that there ought to be at least hundreds of thousands of people who are truly worse off than they were with their old plans. But if that's the case, why is it that every single hard luck story like this falls apart under the barest scrutiny?"
The Moral Case for Immigration Reform (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"... today, evangelical writer Jim Wallis makes that moral case by painting a vivid picture of the dilemma the country currently faces:..."
Oregon Joins Five States in Refusing to Defend Gay-Marriage Ban from Businessweek
"The law “cannot withstand a federal constitutional challenge under any standard of review,” Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said in a federal court filing yesterday in Eugene. She said the state will continue to enforce the ban unless it’s overturned by a court. Rosenblum followed fellow Democratic attorneys general Kamala Harris of California, Mark Herring of Virginia, Lisa Madigan of Illinois, Kathleen Kane of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada in refusing to defend lawsuits challenging gay-marriage bans."
Nixon Still Runs the GOP: How the White South Dominates the Party (Robert Slayton) from Salon
"Many believe that Reagan or Goldwater founded modern conservatism. But it's Nixon whose legacy truly lives on."
Repeal Stand-Your-Ground Laws (E.J. Dionne) from the Washington Post
"By all these measures, “stand your ground” laws are a failure. These statutes make the already difficult task of jurors even harder. They aggravate mistrust across racial lines. They appear to increase, rather than decrease, crime."
In 2014 Midterms, Parties see Different Issues and States as Path to Senate Majority from the Washington Post
"At the headquarters where Republicans are plotting their takeover of the Senate, camouflage netting hangs from the ceiling and walls. Military surplus sandbags are piled up around operatives’ desks. ... “Our mentality is that we are at war every day,” said Baker, who as political director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee is helping command the 2014 midterm campaigns. “We’re here for one reason: to win the majority. Anything else is a failure.”"
This kind of existential mentality is what drives both the Tea Party and the profound polarization of our politics. When one party literally sees themselves "at war" with the other, desperate measures and desperate rhetoric become the norm -- as it has.
OUR PUNDIT-OF-THE-DAY NUGGET!!
The GOP's Talent Gap (Alex Roarty) from the National Journal
"Republicans who run campaigns gripe they lose races because of candidates and ideology. ... But those same Republicans who have shepherded countless Senate, House, and presidential candidates should add one more culprit to their list: themselves. Because there's mounting evidence that the party's political class simply isn't good at running campaigns anymore. They're certainly not as good as the Democrats."
I completely agree with Roarty here -- the Romney campaign showcased countless unforced errors (such as "unskewing" the polls) that demonstrated extraordinary incompetence -- and only passed for competent due to the widespread dumbness of the GOP political class generally.
Clinton Tops Christie, Other GOP Rivals in Crucial Ohio (David Lightman) from the McClatchy News Service
"Ohio doesn't look much like a swing state these days. A new Quinnipiac University poll, released Thursday, found former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton far ahead of her potential rivals for the presidency in 2016."
Is Yet Another GOP 2016 Contender Flaming Out? (Jon Terbush) from The Week
"Move over, Chris Christie. Scott Walker has his own messy political scandal."
Scott Walker’s Pathetic Fall: Another One Bites the Dust! (Joan Walsh) from Salon
"A secret email system set up by his staff finally focuses the national media on the governor's ethics woes. Whoops."
As with Christie, I never took Walker seriously as a 2016 prospect. Polarizing flame-throwers (both on the left and on the right) have never received their party's nomination -- and efforts to re-caste Walker as a blue-state winning moderate simply move the goal posts defining what moderate even means in the current GOP.
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