66.2%
— Turnout rate for blacks in the 2012 presidential election according to new figures from the Census Bureau, beating white electoral turnout for the first time in American history.
Miscellany
Syria: Intervention Will Only Make it Worse
The various schemes that have been proposed for a kind of tiddlywinks intervention from around the edges of the conflict—no-fly zones, bombing Damascus and so forth—would simply make the situation worse.
Syria: Intervention is in Our Interest
The question for another President today, and for all Americans, is whether we will again answer the desperate pleas for rescue that are made uniquely to us, the USA.
Morning Must Reads: May 8
In the news: hospital costs, Mark Sanford, Syria, a budget deal, China, internet sales tax, and Obama’s marijuana problem
“We find out somebody's engaging in this stuff, they've got to be held accountable; prosecuted, stripped out of their positions, court martialed, fired, dishonorably discharged. Period. It's not acceptable.”
— President Barack Obama discussing a 35 percent increase in military sexual assaults in a press conference with South Korean Prime Minister Park Geun-hye on Tuesday.
“I believe that before it’s all over, this president will not fill out his full term.”
— Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, predicting Barack Obama will be ousted because of the Benghazi embassy attack, which Huckabee called a bigger scandal than Watergate.
Morning Must Reads: May 7
In the news: South Korea, coal, Bangladesh, sarin gas, Benghazi, Sandra Day O’Connor, Ted Cruz, Syria, and health care exchanges. UPDATED
“He gives speeches, he gives interviews, he says words, but he doesn't really rally people, doesn't create a wave that breaks over the top of the Capitol Dome and drowns the opposition, or even dampens it for a moment.”
— Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan in "Is Obama Already a Lame Duck?" The lame duck debate has carried over the weekend as the President weighs his options on gun control and immigration reform.
1 in 20 million
— Chance of dying in a terrorist attack in the United States from 2007 to 2011, according to Richard Barrett, coordinator of the United Nations al Qaeda/Taliban Monitoring Team.
Morning Must Reads: May 6
In the news: Syria, Medicaid, Warren Buffet, background checks, the Tea Party troika, and Game of Thrones and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. UPDATED
Rick Perry Shoots, Chris Christie Kills
The Texas governor and former Republican presidential candidate lets loose with a semi-automatic rifle and shoots an egg from 100 yards in video preview for the NRA convention.
Morning Must Reads: May 3
In the news: Obama as lame duck, Boston bombers, Howard Kurtz, immigration reform, bunker busters, and Mount Everest
Don’t Let the Boston Bombing Take Away Our Privacy Rights
No one objects to cameras at high-profile targets or events; at the same time, we at the American Civil Liberties Union think there needs to be a balance.
