* GOP Culture War
* New Political Online Source
* Spacey To Play Abramoff
__________

These are the stories that interest me this morning, along with my take on why they might be interesting to nonprofits and community-based organizations:

• Republican culture war brewing.

  

  While the Beltway GOP leaders have a “consensus” that it’s time to set aside conservative social issues, outside the Beltway a “rebellion is brewing,” according to the Politico. From the unexpected popularity of the anti-tax “tea parties” to loud denunciations of same-sex marriage, the rank-and-file of the party appears fed up with what they see as their leaders’ willingness to trade off bedrock principles. The leaders, meanwhile, see compromise as the key to governing and to longer-term party growth.

  • My take: The coastal echo chamber at work — DC, NY, SF and LA may be surprised to hear that flyover country has a vastly different set of concerns than power set does. The nonprofit and philanthropy fields can also be susceptible to the belief that coastal thinking dominates, because so much nonprofit and philanthropy takes place in these rarified towns. Midwestern heartland is fundamentally traditional.Understanding this matters as the independent sector is squeezed by the economy and by legislators’ efforts to scrutinize regulation.
• AOL announces new political news site. AOL’s MediaGlow has launched Politics Daily, with a dream team of reporters and editors. This is an online-only, daily political news source that will feature exclusively original reporting.
  • My take: This new site will be a good competitor to the Politico. With no printing costs, its cost structure may make it easier to manage than others. It’ll also have to go up against the Huffington Post for traffic but is clearly a different niche.
• Kevin Spacey to play Jack Abramoff. Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that actor Kevin Spacey has agreed to play disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff in a new biopic, “Casino Jack,” to be directed by George Hickenlooper. Spacey was in DC over the weekend to visit Abramoff in prison. “At one point during the meeting, Spacey was sharing his impersonation of Bill Clinton with Abramoff, while Abramoff shared a pretty good impersonation of Ronald Reagan with Spacey.” Pic is to be written by Dead Ringers author Norman Snider.
  • My take: Washington scandals don’t always make good movies but they very often can be quite useful to glean insights out of. (E.g. The Contender, Shattered Glass.)

Thanks for reading,

Brad