Must-Read Op-Eds for April 2, 2013

The Morning Joe must-read opinion pages for Tuesday April 2, 2013.

A MORE TOLERANT GOP?
DANA MILBANK
WASHINGTON POST

It’s not time to award any medals of courage. But there seems to be a growing if self-interested recognition that intolerance is doing the GOP, and conservatism, real damage. It would be premature to say that the party of Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock has fundamentally changed; conservatives appear likely to nominate Rep. Steve King (Iowa), an anti-immigration hard-liner and all-around bomb-thrower, to be their GOP Senate candidate in Iowa next year. But there are hopeful signs: Fox News Channel has dropped Sarah Palin, Bill O’Reilly criticized opponents of same-sex marriage as Bible-thumpers, and even the much-feared Rush Limbaugh has come in for criticism on the right.

DON’T TAKE YOUR GUNS TO TOWN
BILL DALEY & ROSEANNA ANDER
WALL STREET JOURNAL

Mayor Michael Bloomberg pushed for stiffer penalties in New York for illegal gun carrying, under the premise that “every possession of a gun [is] a potential homicide.” The Bloomberg-backed law that Gov. George Pataki signed in 2006 increased the mandatory minimum sentence for illegal carrying to three-and-a-half years from one year. … With a record low of 418 murders in 2012, New York’s homicide rate is now about one-third of Chicago’s, though New York has more than twice the population. In a telling development, the city’s overall incarceration rate has also declined. New Yorkers got the message: Leave your guns at home.

MARCO RUBIO’S ESCAPE HATCH
GREG SARGENT
WASHINGTON POST

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

…Rubio has effectively built himself a “very clear escape hatch” on immigration. …By my count this is the third such escape hatch Rubio has created for himself….Now, escape hatch number three is to join the “slow down” caucus. Only in so doing, Rubio is joining with other Senators who are urging a go-slow approach, such as Ted Cruz and Jeff Sessions, who may be urging a slowdown so the armies of the right have time to mobilize and strike fear into any reform-minded Republican officials, killing reform.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAmerican passenger drafted goodbye texts to her family as Flydubai plane plummeted

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCornell rape allegation pushes embattled New York prosecutor into national spotlight

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAbdul El-Sayed tries to woo MAHA voters as Democrats seek inroads with RFK’s supporters

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKratom-like substances are popping up in a typically benign supplement

FOR SUBSCRIBERSGOP super PAC increases its spending for Sen. Jon Husted in tough Ohio race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRecords reveal tumultuous marriage between slain New York Times executive and wife

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrom clean energy warrior to ‘wall of shame,’ James Talarico reverses on a fossil fuel money pledge

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongressional staff planned official trip with luxury stops in Italy and France weeks before election

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOpenAI CEO Sam Altman to skip congressional hearing on rogue AI agents

FOR SUBSCRIBERSKey DOJ lawyers departed Trump ‘grand conspiracy’ probe amid pressure to produce, source says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump’s new AI chatbot often links to a site launched under Clinton 26 years ago

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAt MAHA summit, industry CEOs the movement once vilified take the stage

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis Paralympian has two goals: Win medals and give away $500,000 to her teammates

GETTING FROM FAILURE TO EXCELLENCE
GOV. BOB MCDONNELL & GOV. BILL HASLAM
POLITICO

Right now, in Virginia and Tennessee, there are students sitting in classrooms where their chance of success — a post-secondary education or a suitable job — is less than 10 percent. Some Virginians and Tennesseans have no choice but to send their children to schools that chronically fail to meet basic standards, sometimes for their child’s entire K-12 career. These schools have literacy rates in the teens, and students there are often more likely to drop out than to graduate. A free society cannot afford to relegate its children to failing schools year after year simply because of their ZIP code.