Friday + Weekend: 4/12/13 - 4/14/13

~~ Feel free to comment on formatting and such - this is very much in the testing stage.  At this point, I'm shamelessly stealing ideas from Wonkblog's morning roundup. ~~

Politics

Elections

Martin O'Malley, who? "As much of 2016 election speculation centers around Hillary Clinton, other Democrats have been trying to break through the press wall. Arguably the most successful has been Maryland's Governor Martin O'Malley. ... All these numbers suggest that Martin O'Malley ... has a long way to go to become a legitimate presidential contender. Even with a liberal agenda, Maryland Democrats have not warmed to him like one would expect. In addition, he has failed to attract a liberal donor base that will be necessary to raise his brand name.  O'Malley at this point remains unimpressive for 2016, regardless of whether Hillary Clinton runs."  Harry Enten in the Guardian.

2014 looks grim for House Dems.  "There’s no question this phenomenon has benefited Republicans. Observing Democrats trying to win a House majority today is akin to watching a soccer team play a comparably skilled opponent with the field slanted 25 degrees against them. Thanks to the concentrated nature of the Democratic vote, Republicans have always occupied at least two dozen more solidly partisan districts than Democrats. But the rise in ironclad districts forces Democrats to win a near-impossible share of what’s left just to even the score."  Charlie Cook in the National Journal.

Hillary 2016?  The GOP is running scared.  "It’s understandable why Republicans are somewhat fearful of a Hillary candidacy. While it’s still very early in the 2016 cycle, her lead in the polls is incredible at the moment and it’s hard to see anything happening that is going to bring those numbers down over the next several years. At the same time, it’s blindingly clear that the GOP still has not dealt with the problems that led to their losses in the last two Presidential election. Until that happens, the prospect of facing a politician on the level of Hillary Clinton must just be terrifying."  Doug Mataconis in Outside the Beltway.

Governors, governors, governors.  "The Fix’s top 15 gubernatorial races..." Sean Sullivan and Aaron Blake in the Washington Post. 

Fiscal Fights

It's the entitlements, stupid. But we don't want any credit, thank you so much. "National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden touched a nerve Wednesday when he savaged the entitlement changes in President Barack Obama’s budget as a “shocking attack on seniors.” ... It’s the lack of fallout for the Oregon Republican that may be more revealing. The debate Walden’s remarks has set off inside the GOP shows many Republicans harbor deep-seated fears about publicly supporting the entitlement cuts they supposedly back and have demanded Obama and other Democrats embrace since taking control of the House in 2011." Jonathan Strong at Roll Call.

 

Gun Control

Geography and guns. "The shift underscores a new reality of gun politics in America: The rapid growth of suburbs in historically gun-friendly states is forcing politicians to cater to the more centrist and pragmatic views of voters in subdivisions and cul-de-sacs as well as to constituents in shrinking rural hamlets where gun ownership is more of a way of life." Philip Rucker and Paul Kane in the Washington Post.

Back to the courts? "The Supreme Court is expected to consider a new appeal aimed at loosening state restrictions on firearms. ... A federal court ruling ... upheld New York's strict licensing scheme for carrying concealed weapons in public." Mark Sherman in the Associated Press. 

Conservative pro-gun Senator demolishes arguments against background checks.  "And there you have it. One of the staunchest pro gun lawmakers in the Senate has just confirmed that background checks are good for law abiding gun sellers who don’t want to sell to prohibited people. He has just shown that the argument that expanding background checks is unconstitutional is completely incoherent unless you also believe the current background check system is unconstitutional and support repealing it."  Greg Sargent in the Washington Post.

Turns out gun safety is good, even if it doesn't magically solve all gun violence "Let’s consider what has to be the worst reason ever put forward by anyone to oppose anything in the entire history of the human race: that the actions under consideration 'won’t prevent' future tragedies ... Gun nuts invoke this argument as if it’s some kind of ... discussion-ender. It’s anything but. It shows total ignorance about the reasons that we make laws in the first place. It demands that gun legislation meet a standard of performance that laws in no other arena of public policy are ever held to. ... It is surely more evil than stupid, and it must be stopped."   Michael Tomasky in the Daily Beast. 

Hastert Rule

Was it a rule? John Boehner says 'no.' "Boehner was talking about the so-called 'Hastert rule,' which says, roughly, that the speaker of the House shall not consider any legislation that does not command support from a majority of his own party. The result is that lots of legislation that could get a majority in the House never comes to a vote because it couldn’t get a majority of the House Republican Conference.  But Boehner is right: There is no such thing as the Hastert rule."  Ezra Klein in the Washington Post.

Immigration

Voters on immigration reform: partisanship and education.  "Among President Obama’s supporters, there does appear to be a pro-pathway shift, irrespective of education levels. For Mitt Romney’s supporters, though, the story is more nuanced. While Romney supporters with a high school education become 3 percentage points less likely to give a pro-pathway response after the election, those with more schooling show the largest pro-pathway shift of the four groups, at over 8 percentage points. Slicing the data in other ways produces the same conclusion."  Dan Hopkins in the Washington Post.

LGBT Rights

GOP reaffirms opposition to same-sex marriage.  There's a shocker.  "The Republican National Committee passed resolutions Friday reaffirming its commitment to defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and calling on the Supreme Court to 'uphold the sanctity of marriage' as it weighs rulings on two landmark cases involving gay marriage."  Doug Mataconis in Outside the Beltway.

Rand Paul

Still not standing with Rand.  "Also strange is the presumption that somehow Paul was doing something risky or brave by speaking at a historically black college. ... It is way past time for pundits to retire the notion that white politicians deserve extra credit for being willing to talk to a room full of black people. ... The history of Republican politics and the conservative movement means that a black audience has every right to be skeptical of the GOP, and that the burden is rightfully on that party to reconcile with black voters. Politicians are supposed to reach out to voters, not the other way around. No more gold stars for attendance."  Adam Serwer in Mother Jones.

But the media is.  "In the last couple of months, Rand Paul may have gotten more news coverage than any other Republican in America, always including mention of the fact that he's thinking of running for president in 2016."  Paul Waldman in the American Prospect. 

Foreign Policy

Asia

Why is the dictatorship of Kazakhstan getting such good PR? "So far, two rounds of talks between Iran and the so-called P5+1 -- China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States -- have taken place in the former capital of Almaty, the most recent ending just this past week. But pride does not explain why the West has bought Kazakhstan's attempt to brand itself a nuclear mediator." Joshua Foust in Foreign Policy.

The Middle East

Dumbest idea of the week.  "Daniel Pipes’ basic argument is that the influx of jihadis into rebel ranks means that the United States shouldn’t want either side to win definitively. Since it looks like Assad is losing, we should help him out until a bloody stalemate returns — a suggestion he proposes 'as a humanitarian'."  Zach Beauchamp at Think Progress.

Military

Robots with brains, courtesy of DARPA.  "Gimzewski and crew have constructed a tiny machine, Erwin writes, that allows robots to attack independently. How independently? It won’t rely on convention computer code used to program cyborgs and robots like the kind found in Hollywood sci-fi flicks, but instead use microscopic wires to emulate the electrical and chemical pulses sent from cell to cell within the human brain."  RT.

It's about time.  "After a series of scandals involving high-ranking officers, the American military for the first time will require generals and admirals to be evaluated by their peers and the people they command on qualities including personal character."  Thom Shanker in the New York Times.

Economics

Manufacturing, unions, full employment and other cool stuff.  "Progressives cannot give up on the “primary distribution”—market outcomes—and hope to fix everything with redistribution. Not only is that an incredibly hard lift, but as market outcomes continuously deteriorate from the perspective of the middle class and the poor, we’ll have to continuously ratchet up the redistributive function."  Jared Bernstein.

Miscellaneous 

Llamas and wolves, oh my! "Animal predator experts in southern Sweden are hoping llamas' natural fighting instincts will help scare off the wolves thought to be responsible for a recent sheep-killing spree in the area." The Local.

Where dragons rule. "No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you: that dragon-looking bridge is really breathing fire from its monstrous steel frame. On March 29, government officials in Da Nang unveiled a new fire-dragon bridge to commemorate the 38th anniversary of the coastal city’s capture by North Vietnamese forces during the final days of the Vietnam War." Erica Ho in Time.

The (fictional) Public Affairs Act of 1975 strikes back! "As they do on many obscure policy issues, Americans polarize sharply along partisan lines when they learn that President Barack Obama supports a repeal of the 1975 Public Affairs Act. Republicans are over 10 times more likely to disagree with the president on this issue than are Democrats.  There's one striking problem here: The 1975 Public Affairs Act does not exist."  Mark Blumenthal and Emily Swanson in the Huffington Post.

Superhero wanted.  "Charismatic criminal Redoine Faid escaped from prison on Saturday, after a 'brazen' breakout from a French penitentiary that including holding four guards at gunpoint, and then detonating a series of explosives that blasted through five doors and led him to freedom. His whereabouts are now unknown." Max Rivlin-Nadler on Gawker.