Democracy | News-Opinion
TOP NEWS: Democracy: September 21st, 2012
- Bill Clinton: The Case For Optimism
- Before Debates, Romney Faces a Daunting Path
- Political Maneuvering and Fights Stalls Congress’s Close
- The A-Little-Bit-Less Undecided
- Judge Denies Request to Remove Movie Trailer
More top news and analysis excerpts below:
BILL CLINTON: The Case For Optimism – TIME
Our world is more interdependent than ever. Borders have become more like nets than walls, and while this means that wealth, ideas, information and talent can move freely around the globe, so can the negative forces shaping our shared fates. For better and for worse–we can’t escape one another.
ELECTIONS 2012/ DEBATES: Before Debates, Romney Faces a Daunting Path - NYT
JEFF ZELENY, JIM RUTENBERG: There are 46 days left in this presidential race for Mitt Romney to change the dynamic of a campaign that by many indicators is tilting against him.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: Cash Low, Romney Striving to Find New Large Donors - NYT
President Obama and the Democrats began the fall campaign with less money overall, about $125 million, but more flexibility in spending it and raising more in August.
ROMNEY CAMPAIGN: Noonan: Romney Needs a New CEO - WSJ, OPINION
How to save a listing campaign, the Baker Way.
ROMNEY CAMPAIGN: Romney adviser quits campaign – FT
The Republican candidate’s third attempt to relaunch his campaign in as many weeks was undermined on Thursday when Tim Pawlenty left his campaign
ROMNEY CAMPAIGN: Headwinds for Romney in Latest Poll - WSJ
Romney’s path to victory is narrowing, a new WSJ/NBC/Marist poll suggests, presenting challenges for the nominee as he tries to rebound from a week of bad headlines.
LEGISLATION/GRIDLOCK: Day of Political Maneuvering and Fights Stalls Congress’s Close - NYT
Congress’s expected departure for the campaign trail was held up by the political fortunes of two senators battling for survival.
LEGISLATION/GRIDLOCK: Gridlock confirmed. Judges? No. – WP
Republican senators aren’t about to give President Obama a pre-election wish and let his appointments through, even if they support those judges, In the Loop’s Al Kamen reports.
LEGISLATION/IMMIGRATION: Bill to Keep Graduates in U.S. Fails in the House - NYT
JULIA PRESTON: A Republican bill to provide permanent resident visas for foreigners who graduate from American universities with advanced degrees in science and technology failed to pass the House on Thursday.
LEGISLATION/FARM BILL: Farm Bill to Take Focus After Election - WSJ
Congress hopes to revive efforts to pass a farm bill after the November elections, although it remains unclear how the House and Senate will resolve agriculture policy differences.
LEGISLATION/FARM BILL: Senate delays votes on short-term spending bill - WP
The outcome is inevitable, but the Senate is unable to come to an agreement on when and how to vote on a six-month spending bill as it became wrapped up in disagreemenTS and political posturing.
LEGISLATION/FISCAL CLIFF: Ryan, Hoyer talk fiscal cliff on floor – POLITICO
The two men huddle in plain view among the back benches of the GOP side of the chamber to chat.
UNDECIDED VOTERS: The A-Little-Bit-Less Undecided - NYT, OP-ED
LYNN VAVRECK: Don’t look now, but voters who weren’t sure if they preferred Obama or Romney are making up their minds.
HISPANIC VOTERS: The Candidates Face Hispanic Voters - NYT, EDITORIAL
On immigration, Mitt Romney dodges the issue while President Obama admits that he has fallen short.
AARP/OBAMA: Strassel: The Love Song of AARP and Obama – WP, OPINION
Newly released emails reveal the ‘nonpartisan’ group’s stealthy White House alliance on health care.
SUBURBAN VOTERS: America’s Last Politically Contested Territory: The Suburbs - DAILY BEAST, OP-ED
JOEL KOTKIN: Within the handful of swing states, the presidential election will come down to a handful of swing counties: namely the suburban voters who reside in about the last contested places in American politics.
MUSLIM VIDEO: Judge Denies Request to Remove ‘Innocence of Muslims’ Trailer from YouTube - WSJ
A judge Thursday denied a request to order YouTube to remove an anti-Muslim film trailer that has ignited protests around the world as well as attacks on U.S. diplomatic posts including one that killed U.S. ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other American diplomats.
MUSLIM VIDEO: How Muslim Extremists Can Learn From Larry Flynt – BLOOMBERG, OPINION
Stephen L. Carter: So now it’s the French who are frantically closing their embassies, worried about violent mobs enraged after the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published cartoons, some of them pornographic, mocking the Prophet Muhammad.
PARTY POLICY/ WORKERS: Disdain for Workers - NYT, OP-ED
PAUL KRUGMAN: These days we are getting to really see the beliefs of the party that is of the wealthy, by the wealthy, and for the wealthy.
PARTY POLICY/ WEALTH: Temerity at the Top - NYT, OP-ED
DAVID BROOKS: If we want to encourage more economic growth, we could start by not bashing the few super-ambitious people at the top.
FAST & FURIOUS: Lawmakers Clash on Fate of Congress’s Gun Inquiry - NYT
CHARLIE SAVAGE: Republicans and Democrats each said that the report on Operation Fast and Furious brought them vindication, but it remains unclear whether the Congressional case is concluded.
FAST & FURIOUS: A Family Pulled Into the Fray Over an Agent’s Death - NYT
The family of Brian A. Terry, a Border Patrol agent who died in a shootout linked to Operation Fast and Furious, has sought answers after revelations over his death.
FAST & FURIOUS: ‘Fast and Furious’ criticism – WP
GOP lawmakers said senior Justice Dept. officials still need to be held accountable for the botched case.
FAST & FURIOUS: Fast, Furious and Foolish - NYT, EDITORIAL
What was the Justice Department thinking in steering guns into Mexico?
MILITARY VETERANS: Veterans in Los Angeles, Still in the Cold - NYT, EDITORIAL
The government is not meeting its responsibility to house homeless veterans on land that was meant for just that purpose.
EDUCATION: U.S. Needs Strike Over Inequities in Public Schools – BLOOMBERG, OPINION
Lost in the clash between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis is an injustice whose remedy would do more to improve schools in the Windy City than anything to which the two sides just agreed.
HOUSE INVESTIGATION: Waters Ethics Investigation Will Not Result in Formal Charges - NYT
A long-running ethics investigation of Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, will be resolved on Friday at a public hearing without formal charges of wrongdoing, two parties with direct knowledge of the matter said.
JESUS PAPYRUS: Coptic Scholars Doubt and Hail a Reference to Jesus’ Wife - NYT
LAURIE GOODSTEIN: A historian’s finding of a fragment of ancient Coptic text in which Jesus is said to utter the words “my wife” has drawn strong reaction from Christian scholars.
ENVIRONMENT: Season of Mists, if Not in Manhattan - NYT, EDITORIAL
What’s missing in New York City is a seasonal fog, the kind that foretells autumn.
ENVIRONMENT: How Green Was My Lawn - NYT, OP-ED
CHRISTOPHER C. SELLERS: Environmentalism, which became a prominent issue after the publication of “Silent Spring” in 1962, has lost its once enthusiastic backing.
HEALTH: Life Expectancy Shrinks for Less-Educated Whites in U.S. - NYT
A long rise in Americans’ life spans has reversed itself for white people who lack high school diplomas, an increasingly troubled group that has lost four years of life expectancy since 1990.
HEALTH/ SPORTS: Despite Risks, N.F.L. Leaves Helmet Choices in Players’ Hands - NYT
Even as head injuries have become a major concern, the National Football League has not required players to wear helmet models that offer the best protection.
AURORA SHOOTING: Prosecutors in Shooting Abandon Bid for Notebook - NYT
Anticipating that a notebook by James E. Holmes, the defendant in a deadly movie theater attack, mailed to his psychiatrist would become part of an insanity defense, prosecutors said they would not delay proceedings.
SCIENCE/HEALTH: Cancer Center Sets $3 Billion Program - WSJ
The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is launching an ambitious initiative aimed at significantly reducing cancer deaths over the next decade.
AMISH CRIME: Amish Sect Leader and Followers Guilty of Hate Crimes - NYT
A federal jury found Samuel Mullet Sr. and 15 followers guilty of conspiracy and hate crimes in a series of beard- and hair-cutting attacks in Ohio.
PEDOPHILIA: Malcolm Gladwelll, on Pedophiles in Plain View - NEW YORKER
Malcolm Gladwell: For years, Jerry Sandusky ran an operation dedicated to locating vulnerable children. How did he get away with it for so long?
MORE ELECTION 2012 STORIES:
CAMPAIGN/INCUMBANCY: When the White House Speaks on the Campaign Trail - NYT, ROOM FOR DEBATE
How have presidents used executive power to get re-elected? Is this an abuse of power, or just the usual “incumbency advantage”?
CAMPAIGN FINANCE: Romney campaign hits a financial snag - WP
August numbers signal a financial shift away from GOP candidate.
ROMNEY CAMPAIGN: The relaunch that wasn’t - ECONOMIST
The Republican nominee’s video gaffe is not fatal. But he needs to recover his focus fast
The Common Good publishes a U.S. domestic news digest every weekday, available here.
