UP-FRONT PEW RESEARCH NUGGET!!
‘The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, And The Looming Generational Showdown’ (Paul Taylor) from the Pew Research Center
See my conversation below on Millennials.
"Today the Weekend Reader brings you The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown by The Pew Research Center’s executive vice president, Paul Taylor. Taylor, with the help of Pew Research, dives into the growing generational gap between Millennials and Boomers and the new phenomenon of young, educated Millennials returning home to live with their Boomer parents due to the struggling economy. Taylor illustrates precisely how American demographics have drastically changed from several decades ago and have reformed into four generational categories: Millennials, Gen X’ers, Baby Boomers, and The Silent Generation. The data presented in The Next America is optimistic — it proves that the U.S. can support the aging population without driving younger generations into bankruptcy."
Obama’s All Eisenhower On Russia (Robert Shrum) from the Daily Beast
"Like Ike before him, Obama’s non-moves against Russia are the right moves."
Post-Imperial Blues (Robert A. Manning, James Clad) from the National Interest
While I would quibble with some of these authors' opening jibes, I think they provide a very good, nuanced repost to the neo-con critics of Obama's FP.
"... you may not be interested in geopolitics, but as Putin’s old-school tactics reveal with a vengeance, geopolitics is interested in you. ... In this environment, the US needs clear strategic priorities rooted in knowledge about where our leverage lies, and where it doesn’t. Selective engagement based on priorities must accompany the global diffusion of power. It is not hugely satisfying, but such an approach reflects current global dynamics."
Why Today's Americans Aren't War Hawks (Conor Friedersdorf) from the Atlantic
Friedersdorf is SO spot-on with this critique of David Brooks and other reflexive unrepentant neo-cons!
"There's been a backlash against foreign interventionism—but David Brooks and others just don't get it. ... Brooks hypothesizes. "They have lost faith in the idea that American political and military institutions can do much to shape the world. American opinion is marked by an amazing sense of limitation—that there are severe restrictions on what political and military efforts can do." Wait. What on earth is "amazing" about that?"
The Secret Pope Francis Haters (Barbie Latza Nadeau) from the Daily Beast
"On the one year anniversary of the pope’s election, Francis is the darling of the globe—but he does have his critics from liberals and reformers to hard-core Catholics."
The Christianist Closet? (Andrew Sullivan) from The Dish
"The victimology that was born on the left is now alive and whining on the right. It’s a self-defeating position and a thoroughly unattractive one. In the end, one begins to wonder about the strength of these people’s religious convictions if they are so afraid to voice them, and need the state to reinforce them. Which is one more reason why the decline of Christianism makes the rebirth of Christianity a more exciting prospect."
The Best Of The Dish Today (Andrew Sullivan) from The Dish
"Five years in, we have enough data – so reading through the Economic Report from the Council of Economic Advisers is therefore a helpful exercise. And it seems to me to be a rather impressive record – and utterly alien from the picture of gloom and dysfunction the Republicans are currently concocting."
The Demographic Underpinnings Behind America's Blue Shift, Illustrated with Interactive Maps (David Jarman) from Daily Kos
"... it would show that the places that had tremendous growth in non-white residents or college-educated residents would be the same places that showed tremendous growth in Democratic votes. Did it? The short answer is, yes, of course it did—although much more noticeably so with race than it did with education."
George Bush Lost an Entire Generation for the Republican Party (Kevin Drum) from Mother Jones Magazine
"Whatever it was that Karl Rove and George Bush did—and there are plenty of possibilities, ranging from Iraq to gays to religion—they massively alienated an entire generation of voters. Sure, they managed to squeak out a couple of presidential victories, but they did it at the cost of losing millions of voters who will probably never fully return. This chart is their legacy in a nutshell."
Y'know -- there are fewer harsher critics of W's administration than yours truly. And yet I don't share Drum's placement of blame for the generational divide that has shown up in these charts. Rather I think the split began much earlier when the Millennials were growing up in the 1990s and observed the GOP and the right wing media just go off the cliff on the emerging issue set that has been of central concern to this new generation: the environment, sexual orientation, and diversity (among other things). While Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert had loads of fun at W's expense, the most hilarious moments have come at the expense of the Congressional or state lawmaker wingnut-of-the-week eruptions that have made the GOP the laughing stock for most Millennials. Bush's antics were bad and (in my view) deeply incompetent. But he did not plant his flag on some anti-environment, anti-immigrant, or anti-diversity hill and go on prolonged harangues against these issues. No -- it was his allies in Congress and in Republican state houses across the country that have been the most prolific fonts of off-putting rhetoric and simple stupidity. I also think that there is another dimension for Millennials that transcends specific issues: process. From their earliest days in pre-k, this generation has deeply imbibed from the wellsprings of collaborative learning, conflict resolution, and consensus-driven decision-making. More than any religious faith or political ideology, this generation believes to its core in those tenants. When it comes to gay-bashing, anti-immigrant nativism, or global warming denialism, this is virtually a zero-tolerance generation! Every day young people now can see some Republican or rightwing talking head not only indulge in some rhetorical excess in these areas, they do so in ways (again the process) that are divisive, my-way-or-the-highway flings of temper or narrow faith-based, gun-toting dogma-driven excursions into some alternate reality, one that Millennials have no little or no connection to whatsoever. In my view, even as the Tea Party crowd insist on unwavering adherence to their agenda, Millennials look in vain for signs of flexibility, compromise, or a willingness to work across religious, ethnic, or ideological lines. Beyond the immediate issues noted above, you start to throw in issues such as taxes, war, and health care, items which have not been at the top of the list of Millennial hot topics, the younger generation still sees the GOP and their grassroots enablers violating the same principles of process that they have been raised on. It has been both issues AND process that have sent this generation screaming from the GOP's never-so-big tent!
Some evidence:
Young Republicans Find Fault With Elders on List of Social Issues from the New York Times
"Younger conservatives are more firmly staking out a libertarian orientation on social issues in a way that will shape the 2016 presidential primary as candidates seek to appeal to activists who are in the party because of social issues and to younger voters who see some aspects of cultural conservatism as intolerant."
Republicans Keep Lying to Their Base, and It's Preventing Them From Governing (Danny Vinik) form the New Republic
"... lately Republican delusions about policy have hobbled somebody else: Members of their own party trying to show that, yes, the GOP can govern responsibly."
2014 May Be White Enough For The GOP — But What Comes Next? (Henry Decker) from the National Memo
"Overshadowed amid Sarah Palin’s unique interpretation of Dr. Seuss, Wayne LaPierre’s overheated vision of America’s apocalyptic decline, and all of the other craziness at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference, Republican pollster Whit Ayres gave a fact-based presentation to the gathering of right-wing activists. What he said should terrify the GOP. ... If the party doesn’t change something — Ayres suggests immigration reform as a good place to start — it will cease to be viable in national elections."
7 People Who Prove The Clinton Gang Is Officially Back Together For 2016 from Talking Points Memo
"Last Thursday, four Clinton veterans gathered in Washington, D.C., and gave their voice to the Hillary 2016 movement, another one of the innumerable tea leaves that those with close ties to Clintonland -- who therefore presumably have some idea about what the presumptive candidate herself is thinking -- are jumping onboard. At this point, one would be stretched to find evidence that the Clinton gang isn't getting back together for a 2016 White House run."
Hillary is Sick. Of the Media (Roger Simon) from Politico
And you'll be sick as well when you hear the range of long-dead Clinton "scandals" being reheated -- alongside a set of new ones being cooked up for 2016.
"If you are not familiar with the lurid particulars of the past claims about the Clintons, just wait. As 2016 draws closer, the right wing will provide a refresher course for you. ... In modern American journalism, if you haven’t gone too far, you haven’t gone far enough. If you don’t post the story and get the clicks, someone else will. To step back from crossing the line is to admit that such a line exists."
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