UP-FRONT GOP DEBATE NUGGETS!!
GOP Debate Land (Eugene Robinson) from the Washington Post
"...what really struck me was that I couldn’t recognize the United States that any of the eight candidates was describing."
HERE! HERE!
And then there's this modestly partisan response:
Genuflecting to the Tea Party (Charles Blow) from the New York Times
"The Republican presidential debate this week sent one message: No G.O.P. candidate is fit to be president."
And this:
Magical Unrealism from the Editorial Board of the New York Times
"In full public view, the party’s mainstream jumped the tracks of reality on issues of spending and taxes, brightly illustrating the ruinous magical thinking that has led to a downgrade of the nation’s credit and invited a double-dip recession."
Syria’s Failed Ramadan Crackdown (Babak Dehghanpisheh) from the Daily Beast
"Despite—or because of—a Ramadan military crackdown by Bashar al-Assad’s regime, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Syrian cities. Babak Dehghanpisheh reports."
A Tinderbox Waiting for a Match (Gavin Knight) from the Daily Beast
"The world was shocked by England’s angry rioters. But inner-city violence has smoldered for a long time, explains crime journalist Gavin Knight."
I'll tell you right now -- England and Europe generally are NOT READY for the kind of urban violence London saw this last week! A right-wing backlash (already underway in many quarters) will get some real octane from what has occurred -- just as Nixon and Reagan did from the urban violence back in the late 1960s US.
It’s the Economy, Dummkopf! (Michael Lewis) from Vanity Fair
"With Greece and Ireland in economic shreds, while Portugal, Spain, and perhaps even Italy head south, only one nation can save Europe from financial Armageddon: a highly reluctant Germany. The ironies—like the fact that bankers from Düsseldorf were the ultimate patsies in Wall Street’s con game—pile up quickly as Michael Lewis investigates German attitudes toward money, excrement, and the country’s Nazi past, all of which help explain its peculiar new status."
Super Committee Members Finalized from Politico
"Congress finalized the lineup of its super committee on deficit reduction Thursday..."
Some analysis of this selection is HERE, HERE and HERE.
G.O.P. on Defensive as Analysts Question Party’s Fiscal Policy from the New York Times
"The boasts of Congressional Republicans about their cost-cutting victories are ringing hollow to some well-known economists, financial analysts and corporate leaders, including some Republicans, who are expressing increasing alarm over Washington’s new austerity and antitax orthodoxy."
Standard and Poors Punctures Michele Bachmann’s Blissful Fantasy (Greg Sargent) from the Washington Post
"Unfortunately for Bachmann, Standard and Poors has now clarified that it’s actually people like her, who oppose raising the debt ceiling and aren’t mindful of the consequences of default, that were a primary reason for the downgrade:"
No reason to single out Bachmann from the GOP crowd -- all of them are saying basically the same thing. Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has a broader look at who S&P was really talking about.
Waiting for a Landslide (Ross Douthat) from the New York Times
"...what made sense to the political scientists of the past has become a trap for the politicians of the present. One reason American policy-making has become “less stable, less effective, and less predictable” — in the words of the downgrade that Standard & Poor’s handed to the United States on Friday night — is the enduring influence of V. O. Key’s theory, and the seductive dream of realignment that it conjured up."
G.O.P. House Majority at Risk (Nate Silver) from the New York Times
"... the poll that Gallup published Friday ought to concern Republicans. It shows a 7-point Democratic advantage on the generic Congressional ballot — meaning simply that more Americans told Gallup they plan to vote for a Democrat for Congress next year. Although the generic ballot is a crude measure, it is probably the best macro-level indicator of the direction that the House is headed in. Last year, Republicans won the popular vote for the U.S. House — essentially what the generic ballot is trying to measure — by 7 percentage points. So a poll showing Democrats 7 points ahead instead is a pretty significant swing."
The Huffington Post has some further analysis of the polling HERE.
Wisconsin’s Warning to Union-Busters from the Editorial Board of the New York Times
"Two of the state senators who backed the law were thrown out of office by voters on Tuesday and replaced with Democrats. Mr. Walker’s opponents did not succeed in turning over the Senate, but it was still an impressive response to the governor’s arrogant overreach."
Rick Perry’s Unanswered Prayers (Timothy Egan) from the New York Times
"Perry revels in a muscular brand of ignorance (Rush Limbaugh is a personal hero), one that extends to the ever-fascinating history of the Lone Star State. Twice in the last two years he’s broached the subject of Texas seceding from the union."
As He Jumps into the Saddle, Perry Must Tackle Texas Legacy (Alex Roarty) from the National Journal
"With his cowboy boots, deep West Texas drawl and inclination to brag about shooting a coyote during a jog, Rick Perry has made a full-throated embrace of his image as governor of Texas. Now that Perry prepares to end months of speculation on Saturday and officially announce that he’s running for president, the inevitable question arises: Is the rest of the country ready for yet another Lone Star State candidate?"
COLD WAR HISTORY NUGGET!!
Tearing Down Berlin’s Mental Wall (Peter Schneider) from the New York Times
"The fall of the Berlin Wall did not mean the end of the “wall in the mind.”"
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