Progressive Opinion

religiondispatches.org — Ross Douthat wants you to have more babies. And he wants you to be married when you have those babies. And not just any babies. He wants you to have American babies—though, if you’re an immigrant, he’ll take your babies, too, because that’s really the only reason to allow immigrants to be here. And he wants you to hurry up and have those American babies, because if you don’t, we’ll run out of workers, and if we run out of workers the United States will get “knocked off its global perch.” Because that’s what’s at stake, ladies and gentlemen—American domination. So, my (heterosexual) compatriots, take off your clothes, take off your condoms, take out your IUDs and diaphragms, stop swallowing your birth control pills, have your vasectomies reversed, quit it with the rhythm method, and do the hard, hot, steamy work your country needs you to do: reproduce. And then do it again. It’s your civic duty.

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prospect.org — The other day I rather superficially raised the issue of whom Mitt Romney might choose for his vice presidential nominee, and said it would no doubt be some boring white guy, in keeping with Mitt's risk-aversion. But after thinking about it some more, I've decided this may turn out to be more complicated than it appears. I'm assuming, of course, that Romney will be the nominee. Most presidential candidates have one problem they want to solve with their choice. Sometimes it's the relatively inexperienced outsider choosing the old Washington hand. Sometimes it's the need to shore up your base. You can bring in the youthful, good-looking running mate to give your campaign some verve. Or you might go for geography, picking someone to give you a boost in a swing state (though this hasn't really worked in the past). Mitt Romney's problem is that he'll have not one but two problems forming the horns of a real dilemma, one forged by his inability to put this race away.

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thedailybeast.com — How long can this go on? Pretty darn long. Take a look at the calendar. The only date resembling a potential firewall for Mitt Romney is more than a month away, but even that Tuesday also features Pennsylvania, which presumably Rick Santorum will carry. The delegate math might ultimately be there for Romney, but by then he will have lost more than 20 states — to a candidate who was a joke four months ago. He is without question the shakiest frontrunner in recent American history. Let’s go through the dates. He’ll have lots of time to fix things up, if he is the nominee. But think back about how your own view of Mitt Romney has changed in the last six months. Half a year ago, I’d say most people thought: successful, smooth, maybe a little too smooth, but formidable. Now? He’s a punch line. And a punching bag. And the calendar shows that he’s going to continue to be both for a while yet.

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truthdig.com — We may never know what drove a U.S. Army staff sergeant to head out into the Afghan night and allegedly murder at least 16 civilians in their homes, among them nine children and three women. The massacre near Belambai, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, has shocked the world and intensified the calls for an end to the longest war in U.S. history. The attack has been called tragic, which it surely is. But when Afghans attack U.S. forces, they are called “terrorists.” That is, perhaps, the inconsistency at the core of U.S. policy, that democracy can be delivered through the barrel of a gun, that terrorism can be fought by terrorizing a nation.

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politics.salon.com — First, the good news for Mitt Romney: Last night may have been a psychological disaster for him, but it wasn’t a delegate disaster. In both Mississippi and Alabama, Romney finished in third place, but he, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich were so tightly bunched that they’ll share the 90 delegates up for grabs almost evenly. That means Romney, thanks to wins in Hawaii and American Samoa that few are talking about, could still end up the night’s net delegate winner. So technically speaking, his grip on the GOP nomination may be more firm today than it was yesterday. But it sure doesn’t feel that way, and that’s just the point. Last night’s results are the latest demonstration of the cultural and demographic barriers that have continually thwarted Romney’s efforts to generate momentum.

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thenation.com —
On the eve of Tuesday’s Alabama and Mississippi primaries, Newt Gingrich referred to Mitt Romney as a “weak front-runner.” Romney should have let it go. Instead, he tried to zing Gingrich back. “If I’m a weak front-runner, what does that make Newt Gingrich?” Romney replied. “Because I’m well ahead of him.” On Tuesday night, in the primaries where he tried to “close the deal,” Mitt Romney was behind Newt Gingrich. And he was far behind Rick Santorum. The devastating defeats for Romney on “Southern Tuesday” were made all the more painful by the fact that Mitt tried to do Dixie. He really did. “I am learning to say ‘y’all’ and I like grits and things,” the candidate announced on what is likely to be the last trip he will ever make to Pascagoula, Mississippi. Romney may actually like grits. But Southern Republicans like authentic conservatives. And Mitt Romney doesn’t meet the standard.

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alternet.org — It wasn't supposed to happen this way. But after outspending Rick Santorum by a ratio of 5 to 1 in campaigns for the Alabama and Mississippi Republican presidential primaries, Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, lost both states to the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. Romney didn't even manage to make the number two spot in either contest; he came in third in both. The pollsters had predicted this would be close one for Romney, but not against Santorum, who was running behind Romney by some eight or 10 points in the polls. Romney's threat in the south was supposed to be former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is something of a favorite son of the region. Instead, Santorum trumped Romney in both primaries. That's how much Southern Republicans don't like Mitt Romney, who is not only regarded as a less than "severe conservative," as he termed himself in February; he's not regarded as much of a conservative at all.

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slate.com — Imagine this: The world watches as a relatively young American president walks a tightrope to prove he would defend U.S. commitments in a strategic region with military force despite his known preference for a diplomatic solution. While he promises that all options are on the table, some very important American allies send signals that they doubt the president’s resolve. President Obama’s “I don’t bluff” statement last week on the Iran nuclear issue recalled a similar situation a half-century ago when John F. Kennedy faced his first foreign policy crisis in the landlocked Southeast Asian country of Laos, where communist guerrillas supported by the Soviet Union, North Vietnam, and China threatened to overrun a U.S. ally.

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thenation.com — Killing at least sixteen Afghan civilians as they slept. Urinating on dead Afghan bodies while laughing about it. Setting fire to their Korans. Day after day, a tired American public hears that these are just “isolated acts” and that these incidents “cast shadows” and “complicate” Washington’s plan for a gradual withdrawal of troops over the next thirty-four months. We are told that the raging anger and distrust between many Afghan and American troops is a further sign that the steady plan is at risk. But what if it’s the other way around, that the repeated acts of madness—and the record number of US military suicides—are signals of distress from an American army that knows it cannot win this war?

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truth-out.org — The G.O.P. isn’t just spectacularly unlucky in its menu of candidates; this is what the party has been for decades. Rick Santorum isn’t someone out of left field; he’s always been what you see now, and he was a central figure in his Senate days. All that has happened now is that the mannerisms have finally gotten to the point that the pretense that the G.O.P. is a reasonable party is no longer sustainable. But you weren’t supposed to notice until just about now.

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