The Commentariat -- Nov. 22, 2015
Internal links removed.
Douglas McCollam of the Washington Post: "Completing a longshot bid that ran counter to the conservative tide sweeping the Southern states, Democratic state Rep. John Bel Edwards was elected governor of Louisiana on Saturday, defeating his Republican rival, U.S. Sen. David Vitter. Edwards was the top vote-getter in the state's open primary, building a lead over Vitter that he never surrendered.... In meetings with small groups in rural parishes, [Edwards] touted his opposition to abortion and strong support for gun ownership." CW: Not my kind of Democrat. But not David Vitter. ...
... CW: This was a rout: "Mr. Edwards won 56 percent of the vote with virtually all of the ballots counted." ...
... Julia Donoghue of the Times-Picayune: "State Rep. John Bel Edwards, a relatively unknown Democrat from a rural Amite, will be the state's next governor after toppling Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., in one of the biggest political upsets in the state's history.... An Edwards administration is expected to be a marked shift from Gov. Bobby Jindal's approach to public policy over the past eight years. The Democrat is expected to bring Medicaid expansion to Louisiana shortly after taking office, meaning thousands of more Louisiana residents could have access to health insurance in a couple of months. Teachers unions and other organized labor groups will also have more of a voice with Edwards than they ever had with Jindal." ...
... Tim Murphy of Mother Jones: "Edwards has pledged to sign an executive order authorizing the expansion of the [Medicaid portion of the Affordable Care Act] on his first day in office. That's a really big deal. Such a move would provide coverage to about 225,000 residents in one of the poorest states in the nation." ...
... All election results updates below from the Times-Picayune:
9:31 pm CT: "Vitter concession speech bombshell: He won't run for re-election for the U.S. Senate. "I've reached my personal term limit," he tells supporters."
9:15 pm CT: "Jeff Landry [R] has unseated incumbent Buddy Caldwell [R] in the race for Louisiana Lieutenant Governor."
9:10 pm CT: "It's pretty much official now, as the Associated Press joins the chorus calling the gubernatorial election for John Bel Edwards. Read our full story here."
8:40 pm CT: "With 553 of 3,945 precincts (14%) counted, the gubernatorial gap widens a bit: Edwards 59% - Vitter 41%."
... 8:20 pm CT: WWL-TV has called the lieutenant governor race for [Republican] Billy Nungesser. Official results show Nungesser ahead 57-43% over [Democrat] Kip Holden with just 13 precincts reporting."
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David Atkins in the Washington Monthly on Alec MacGillis's New York Times op-ed, linked here yesterday (CW: read it if you haven't, tho Atkins provides a good overview): "... if voters are willing to give away tax breaks to Wall Street while intentionally voting for policies that will throw their friends and neighbors into the street and deny them lifesaving medical care, there's not much you can do. These mostly suburban and rural communities are infused with a Calvinist ethic that attributes success to moral virtue and failure to moral weakness. The cultural and psychological pull of that doctrine is incredibly powerful and buoyed by hucksters preaching the prosperity gospel that God will make you rich if you are faithful enough and want it badly enough. This toxic stew creates an instinct to push down the person below them rather than up against the person above them, and transcends simple racism and cultural resentment at this point. From a communications standpoint, one approach Democrats can and should take is to strongly promote policies that not only help those who have fallen through the cracks, but also those who have middle-class jobs as well. Many of those policies already exist, but are hidden from voters in the form of tax credits rather than direct transfers."
John Parkinson & Alexander Mallin of ABC News: "'We do not succumb to fear,' [President] Obama said during a news conference closing out the final leg of his nine-day, three-nation trip overseas. 'The most powerful tool we have to fight ISIL is to say that we're not afraid. To not elevate them and to somehow buy into their fantasy that they're doing something important.' Speaking on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur, the president sought to reassure allies that the U.S. will continue as an effective leader of the global coalition to destroy ISIS." ...
Matt Apuzzo, et al., of the New York Times: "When Islamic State fighters overran a string of Iraqi cities last year, analysts at United States Central Command wrote classified assessments for military intelligence officials and policy makers that documented the humiliating retreat of the Iraqi Army. But before the assessments were final, former intelligence officials said, the analysts' superiors made significant changes. Such changes are at the heart of an expanding internal Pentagon investigation of Centcom, as Central Command is known, where analysts say that supervisors revised conclusions to mask some of the American military's failures in training Iraqi troops and beating back the Islamic State. The analysts say supervisors were particularly eager to paint a more optimistic picture of America's role in the conflict than was warranted." Now the Pentagon's inspector general is investigating claims that had previously been made anonymously to the New York Times. ...
... CW: A Reuters photo accompanying the story supposedly shows Iraqi security forces in training under U.S. direction. The men's weapons are raised as if sweeping the area for signs of ISIS insurgents. A reasonable person just might wonder if the photo was staged. The pictured trainees are dressed in uniforms that look as if they just came out of the box, clean & neatly ironed, & their boots don't look scuffed. If the Pentagon must try to "Wag the Dog," they had better get a real Hollywood director to create some verissimilitude.
AP: "William McRaven, the former US navy admiral who is credited with coordinating the 2011 special forces operation that led to the death of Osama bin Laden, has said the US and its allies should prioritize fighting Islamic extremists, or else the American people 'should not be surprised when the barbarians are at our gate'." ...
... David Gilbert of International Business Times: "Anonymous, the loose collective of online activists, said Saturday it has uncovered information about Islamic State group attacks in Paris as well as at locations in the U.S., Indonesia, Italy and Lebanon, all apparently set for Sunday." Anonymous later posted a tweet saying, "We did not spread any rumors about possible future ISIS attacks, and frankly, we do not know where the rumors come from." ...
... Raw Story Update: Anonymous has since posted a tweet saying "The FBI says the plot to attack the wrestling event in Atlanta is not credible."
Maria Garcia of the Washington Post: "... despite our reputation as a haven for the oppressed, those admissions have always been controversial. There is one way the Syrian refugees are different, though: They, and others who have arrived after 9/11, are among the most carefully vetted in American history.... It took three years to pass the 1948 Displaced Persons Act, which brought in more than 200,000 Europeans (mostly ethnic Germans) over the next two years. The law discriminated against Jewish and Catholic refugees, and [President Harry] Truman was tempted to veto it because it was 'wholly inconsistent with the American sense of justice.' Still, the law officially launched U.S. refugee policy.... Subsequent groups faced similar backlashes." ...
... Rachel Zoll of the AP: "In rare agreement across faith and ideological lines, leaders of major American religious groups have condemned proposed bans on Syrian refugees, contending a legitimate debate over security has been overtaken by irrational fear and prejudice. Top organizations representing evangelicals, Roman Catholics, Jews and liberal Protestants say close vetting of asylum seekers is a critical part of forming policy on refugees. But these religious leaders say such concerns, heightened after the Paris attacks a week ago, do not warrant blocking those fleeing violence in the Middle East."
Nicholas Kristof: "The vote by the House of Representatives effectively to slam the door on Syrian refugees was the crassest kind of political grandstanding, scapegoating some of the world's most vulnerable people to score political points.... Republican leaders say they simply want to tighten security to keep America safe. That's an echo of what American officials claimed in the late 1930s and early 1940s as they blocked the entry of Jewish refugees." ...
... Beenish Ahmed of Think Progress: "Michigan Governor Rick Snyder [R] was the first of more than 30 primarily Republican governors who are attempting to block the resettlement of Syrian refugees. When asked about his specific concerns regarding the two-year screening process for refugees seeking to enter the U.S., however, Snyder was unable to point to a single problem with the current system.... None of the attackers, at least in Paris, were refugees. Conversely, most of them were citizens of countries in Western Europe and could have entered the U.S. very quickly without any sort of vetting process." ...
... Scott Keys of Think Progress: "Rather than escaping a bloody civil war, a United States congressman [Mo Brooks (RTP-Alabama] suggested that Syrian refugees are coming to the U.S. for free vacations."
"The GOP-ISIS Coalition." Andrew O'Hehir of Salon: "... the Islamist militants of ISIS and the anti-Islamic Western right have reached the same conclusion. To put it more bluntly, every major Republican presidential candidate (excepting one or two of Jeb Bush's multiple personalities) largely subscribes to the political and philosophical worldview of ISIS, except when it comes to final eschatological questions about who ends up in Paradise." Read the whole essay.
He decided to pick a fight and stand up for ISIS and stand up against the side of freedom and to pick a fight with not just Republicans, but Democrats, over this refugee issue. -- Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Mo.), on President Obama
What could be more statesmanlike than claiming the POTUS is a terrorist sympathizer? But then Wagner always has been a class act. (And, yes, I know it must be true because I read it in the Daily Mail.)-- Constant Weader
Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is making a bull rush at the conservatives running for president who are withholding support from an ObamaCare repeal package that they feel doesn't go far enough."
Presidential Race
Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Hillary Clinton is moving aggressively to put the Democratic nomination out of reach for her rivals. From increased travel to the states voting in March to a reinvigorated push to reach $100 million in funds raised by year-end, the front-runner's team is eager to capitalize on her recent climb in the polls to knock Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley out of the race quickly." ...
Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "If elected president, Democrat Hillary Clinton says she can create enough green energy to power every home in America by the end of her second term.... The Democratic presidential front-runner said her plan to subsidize alternative sources of energy would not entail a middle-class tax hike. In fact, Clinton said she would reduce taxes for working-class families." CW: Looks as if Hillary is planning on a two-term presidency. ...
... Patrick Healy of the New York Times: Hillary "Clinton's windfalls from Wall Street banks and other financial services firms -- $3 million in paid speeches and $17 million in campaign contributions over the years -- have become a major vulnerability in states with early nomination contests. Some party officials who remain undecided in the 2016 presidential race see her as overly cozy with big banks and other special interests. At a time when liberals are ascendant in the party, many Democrats believe her merely having 'represented Wall Street as a senator from New York,' as Mrs. Clinton reminded viewers in an October debate, is bad enough."
Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Saturday called for Republicans to abandon the corrupting influence of the Koch brothers and other wealthy energy magnates. 'This is a party that rejects science and refuses to understand that climate change is real,' he said of GOP during the annual Blue Jamboree in North Charleston, S.C. 'I understand if you stand up to the Koch brothers and the fossil fuel industry, that you'll lose your campaign contributions,' the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate added. '[Climate change] is already causing devastating problems all over this world. To hell with the fossil fuel industry. Worry more about your children and your grandchildren than your campaign contributions.'"
Young Ross Douthat thinks what the country needs now is another Richard Nixon. But not the Hillary Clinton kind of Richard Nixon! who "might offer Nixon's weaknesses without his strengths: All the seaminess and paranoia, but none of the actual achievements." And on the anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy, Ross seizes the opportunity to make a swipe at the former president. Thanks, New York Times!
Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "One by one, seven Republican presidential candidates took turns bashing Obama [in Des Moines, Iowa,] Friday night, largely over foreign policy and national security, issues at the forefront of the public consciousness in the wake of the deadly attacks in Paris. Seated at the same table at a Christian conservative forum..., the GOP contenders collectively lashed out at the president instead of taking on each other."
David Mark & Jeremy Diamond of CNN: "Donald Trump is ratcheting up his rhetoric about American Muslims, saying there's precedent for monitoring some mosques amid the recent terror wave. At a Birmingham, Alabama, rally on Saturday -- which included a physical altercation between a black protester and several white Trump backers -- the 2016 Republican front-runner suggested law enforcement keep an eye on certain Islamic houses of worship which, in his view, could pose terrorist threats." Includes video. ...
... Carol Robinson of AL.com: "The Black Lives Matter protester attacked during Donald's Trump's Birmingham rally said he was punched, kicked and called "n****r" while a group of eight or nine people were on top of him. Mercutio Southall Jr., a well-known activist who said he has been tased at least 30 times and just recently marched heavily -- armed through a Birmingham neighborhood to teach people about gun rights, said he is sore after today's pummeling but doesn't think he was seriously injured.... Trump ... had Southall thrown out. Secret Service agents and Birmingham police escorted Southall from the room.... In the video posted to Twitter by CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond, Trump can be heard speaking in the background saying, 'Get him the hell out of here.'" Southall & a companion had been videotaping the rally when Trump supporters attacked him, according to Southall. ...
... Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "After two days of confusion over whether or not Donald Trump wants to set up a database of Muslims living in the United States, the candidate explained his stance during a political rally on Saturday morning. 'I will absolutely take database on the people coming in from Syria,' Trump said, adding that such a database would not be needed in a Trump administration, as he would kick all Syrian refugees out of the country, regardless of their religion, and allow no more to enter. 'If I win, they're going back. They're going back. We can't have them.' Trump called for heavy surveillance of Syrians, Muslims and anyone with possible ties to the Islamic State. He urged the audience members to be vigilant and report anything suspicious they see to the police." Emphasis added. ...
... CW: I believe this was exactly what the Nazis told the "good Germans" to do. Don't think Donald's rat-on-the-neighbors program would long be limited to Muslims. If you are not a Muslim but have Muslim guests or guests who might in a stretch pass for Middle Easterners, that nasty, nosy neighbor will see fit to call the cops & finger your as the leader of a terrorist cell. I'm not kidding here. Trump is a dangerous guy, & Constitutional restraints won't stop him any more than they stopped Dick Cheney. ...
... Stories like this are the tip of the iceberg. Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "Southwest Airlines has become the subject of criticism over reports that it singled out Muslim or Middle Eastern passengers on two flights this week, after fellow fliers said they feared for their safety if those passengers were allowed to fly.... Comments made by a number of Republican candidates for the presidency -- including poll frontrunners Donald Trump and Ben Carson -- have stoked such fears." Emphasis added. ...
... David Atkins in the Washington Monthly: "... Marco Rubio, the leading establishment candidate? Well, after seeing Donald Trump threaten to create (wildly unconstitutional) national registries of Muslims in the United States, Rubio decided to up the ante by pushing for unconstitutional government spying measures in order to shut down any locations where muslims might gather, from mosques to diners. At a time when the anti-establishment GOP candidates are saying increasingly outlandish and terrifying things that, at the risk of fulfilling Godwin's Law, can only be described as proto-fascist, the leading establishment candidate isn't pushing back but rather doubling down on the crazy.... The GOP is Donald Trump's party now."
Bill Barrow & Julie Pace of the AP: "... Ben Carson said Saturday that he wants to expand the government's surveillance operations aimed at potential terrorist threats, even beyond tracking American Muslims as rival Donald Trump has suggested.... 'What I have said is that I would be in favor of monitoring a mosque or any church or any organization or any school or any press corps where there was a lot of radicalization and things that were anti-American,' Carson told reporters during an appearance ... forum in South Carolina. He did not expound on just how an administration would determine what constitutes 'radicalization' or 'anti-American.'"
Katie Glueck of Politico: "Across the state [of Iowa] and at a major gathering of politically active evangelicals on Friday night, foreign policy was top-of-mind for the voters and state lawmakers once considered natural constituents for [Ben] Carson. But after a week of confused comments from the former neurosurgeon and a dismissive critique by his own advisors, Iowans are now consistently voicing doubt about Carson's credentials to be commander-in-chief. Indeed, they said the terrorist attacks have reordered the candidates in their mind, lifting [Sen. Ted] Cruz and Sen. Marco Rubio and, for many, making Carson an afterthought."
Senate Race
Kevin Robillard of Politico: "After a big loss in a damaging gubernatorial race, [David] Vitter's decision to step aside increases Republicans' chances of holding his Senate seat."
Beyond the Beltway
AP: "A troubled student whose disappearance prompted the weeklong closure of the Washington College campus in Maryland was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on Saturday in Pennsylvania, police said. Jacob Marberger, 19, was a sophomore at the small college in Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The school was closed Monday after his parents reported that he had a gun and they were unable to reach him."
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Things are picking up. In today's NJ Star Ledger, the political cartoon was a view of Celebrity Appentess with the Trump as the contestant expressing his view on Muslims in America. He got the job! The new boss was Adolf Hitler. And I saw two other media posts calling him a fascist.
And today I spent my morning in NYC (as I do most Sat.). I was at two places that might be popular with terrorists. Lots of people and no visible police.
So thanks to the Republicans, ISIS wins. One attack on the other side of the ocean and we are more afraid than the Europeans. The new plan is to eliminate democracy, follow the ISIS concept and become the new hate mongering theocracy. Let's get the name straight. Not the Republican party, the Coward party.
Boy, oh, boy–-talk about food for thought: Salon's Andrew O'Hehir's piece linked above is riveting. The coalition between the GOP and Isis is fascinating and pretty darn scary. Along side this piece is a Stephen Colbert worth clicking on: He calls out the hypocrisy re: the cry for weeding out Muslims over Christians.
Calling for Nadd––our R.C. reporter on all things Wisconsin. Just learned there is a huge strike at the Kohler plant in Kohler, Wisconsin (yes, folks, the Kohlers done created a town just for them and their workers many moons ago.It's like a movie set that houses good looking families where fathers know best and mommies know better but won't say). Anyway––Nadd–-wherever you are would like your take on this.
"Ultimately, though, there may be little Democrats can do to win over these surburban and rural white voters." This is a quote from the David Atkin's piece in Washington Monthly. I don't think David ever played sports; a good share of the sporting ethic is getting back up and getting back in the game when you don't win which for most people is much of the time.
Does Atkin's backbone-less approach apply to young people, too? I remember talking with a robot like 19 year old supporter of Scott Walker when he was running for governor the first time. Should I stop engaging with a young person with a fixed, albeit young opinion just because their opinion differs from mine? Age has taught me I don't know as much now as I thought I did when I was younger. Young learners are particularly influenced by the social circumstances in their lives. Religion's price of admission is that you spout the platitudes to get the goodies at the door, like assistance and services and day care and job training. That's why Republicans so often want government money funneled through religious institutions instead of through regular government agencies they've previously downsized.
To give up on the young and the ignorant is to forget what they did in the civil rights movement, anti-war movement et al. People without mortgages or decent jobs can be a powerful force; go ask the former rulers of Egypt or Libya.
This article in the Times sheds a lot of light in how ISIS operates in the communities it holds.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/world/middleeast/isis-wives-and-enforcers-in-syria-recount-collaboration-anguish-and-escape.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share
I took the recent picture of US instructors and their armed, uniformed students as just an update on a previous picture of a bedraggled group of Iraquis on a parade ground armed with wooden sticks yelling "bang! bang!. But, on reflection you're right, it most likely is just a Potemkin training pic.
In the recent Canadian election the Conservatives wanted an election fought on their strong message of being good managers of the economy. Their campaign lost its wheels over the subject of immigration where their platform of denying access to the refugees was so alien to Canadians self image of a welcoming society that they themselves appeared to be aliens. Hope the Republican party's rejection of refugees will work the same way in 2016.
How comforting to be a Republican, to live in "See Spot run, black and white, good and evil, Joey is not very nice fantasy land.
For the rest of us, whether it makes punditry more difficult or not, it seems even the bad news is more complicated than Dick and Jane (remember them?) would have it.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/11/22/1451681/-The-Democratic-down-ballot-hemorrhage-Is-it-as-much-of-a-crisis-as-it-seems
I don't know that I have much of a take on the Kohler strike, but here is the scoop I've gleaned from the media and local blogs: 94% of the Union (about 2000 workers) voted to strike. The major points of contention were the cost of health insurance and the company wanting to maintain the two-tiered pay system which the union agreed to in 2010 during the recession. Despite the company, and especially the president, Herbert Kohler, making money hand over fist, they want to continue paying new hires about $10 an hour less than longer-tenure workers.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a story today about the workers picketing an annual shopping event the company puts on. It describes everyone as getting along fabulously despite their differences, because actually this isn't a serious issue at all in their view and it's all about how people get along.
Daily Kos has a couple of stories from people who are a little closer to the action.
@ Thanks Nadd for weighing in. Wanted to get your take on it. Looks to me like big business once again squeezing the little guys into corners of low wages and inadequate health care. The ads for Kohler fixtures feature beautiful women in luxurious bathrooms made by workers whose wages couldn't afford something like this. A fancy Kohler toilet, maybe.
MacGillis, the author of the article, "Who Turned my Blue State Red", had some ideas about changing the dynamic he describes. Effort put into mobilizing users of safety net programs into voting, concerted effort to eliminate fraud in those programs and facilitating economic growth in the poorest areas (i.e coal country).
I've always seen a lot of animosity for "government programs" from those who were barely on the plus side of economic disaster. It's a way to distance oneself from your fears, albeit an ineffective one. It looks like plain old stupidity, but its most likely fear. Joe the Plumber was a great example of that kind of thinking. The Kochs love those folks.