The Commentariat -- Sept. 23, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

Afternoon Update:

Jack Ewing of the New York Times: "Martin Winterkorn resigned as chief executive of Volkswagen on Wednesday, taking responsibility for an emissions cheating scandal that has gravely damaged the carmaker's reputation and may spread to the German economy." ...

... Danny Hakim & Hiroko Tabuchi of the New York Times: "Long before Volkswagen admitted to cheating on emissions tests for millions of cars worldwide, the automobile industry, Volkswagen included, had a well-known record of sidestepping regulation and even duping regulators. For decades, car companies found ways to rig mileage and emissions testing data. In Europe, some automakers have taped up test cars' doors and grilles to bolster their aerodynamics. Others have used 'superlubricants' to reduce friction in the car's engine to a degree that would be impossible in real-world driving conditions."

Abigail Ohlheiser, et al., of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis told American bishops Wednesday that the offenses of the Catholic church's sex abuse scandal must never be repeated.... Francis's somber words for the bishops came in stark contrast to the joyous popemobile circuit along some of Washington's historic avenues just minutes before, where he greeted thousands, kissed babies and blew kisses to the crowd." ...

... Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "... Pope Francis ... made it clear Wednesday that he does not intend to sidestep the deeply divisive issues that are roiling this country -- and indeed, that he plans to fully employ his voice and influence as the spiritual leader of nearly 80 million Roman Catholics in the U.S. Amid the pageantry of a welcoming ceremony on the White House lawn, the first pope from the Americas introduced himself as 'the son of an immigrant family. I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families.'"

*****

Here's the full transcript of Pope Francis's speech at the White House.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Obama will host an elaborate arrival ceremony at the White House for Pope Francis on Wednesday morning in a highly symbolic encounter between the political leader of the world's most powerful nation and the spiritual leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics." ...

     ... New Lede: "With the fanfare of trumpets and a show of solidarity, President Obama welcomed Pope Francis to the White House on Wednesday as the leaders of the world's most powerful nation and the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics declared common cause in tackling global poverty, conflict and environmental degradation."

The Washington Post is liveblogging the Pope's doings in Washington, D.C., today. The Post had a small video, which you can supersize, in the upper left corner of its front page & may have others later in the day covering Francis's public or quasi-public appearances.

Washington Post: 215 years of popemobiles, illustrated.

Via Time, here's Francis's public schedule for today:

9:15 a.m.: Pope Francis will appear at an official welcoming ceremony on the White House South Lawn then meet with President Obama.

11 a.m.: The Pope will parade around the Ellipse just south of the White House and the National Mall.

11:30 a.m.: Pope Francis will pray with U.S. bishops at D.C.'s St. Matthew's Cathedral.

4:30p.m.: His Holiness will canonize Junípero Serra during a mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

Abby Ohlheiser & Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis descended from the plane at Joint Base Andrews to cheers under cloudy skies and a steady breeze that lifted the black robes of the awaiting bishops and kept the flags rippling on the tarmac. Waiting for him: President Obama, who rarely greets arriving foreign dignitaries on the tarmac, where a pink carpet had been rolled out just minutes before the pope's chartered Alitalia jet landed more than 10 minutes ahead of schedule." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... A Limited Menu for GOP Cafeteria Catholics. Brian Beutler: "Consider the timing of Francis's visit, which happens to coincide with an outburst of Islamophobia within the Republican Party.... Francis, by contrast, has rejected Christian intolerance of Islam. He considers the Koran to be no less a spiritual tome than the Bible, and condemns those who equate Islam with violence.... Francis is extremely adept at revealing the extent to which Republicanism is ... in many ways, an entity that exploits religion to advance secular ends.... with respect to ... [climate change,] Francis embodies the fact that Republican nostrums aren't entirely coterminous with 'Christian theology.' Francis comes to the U.S. from Cuba, months after concluding an instrumental role facilitating the normalization of relations between the two countries. He supports the anti-proliferation deal with Iran. At a time when Republicans are aggressively yanking their immigration consensus to the right, Francis preaches support for liberal immigration policy, and toleration of immigrant families.... It's possible that by the end of his visit, Francis will have complicated rather than augmented the GOP's anti-abortion strategy."

Jane Perlez of the New York Times: "President Xi Jinping pledged in a speech [in Seattle] on Tuesday night to work with the United States on fighting cybercrimes, saying that the Chinese government was a staunch defender of cybersecurity."

Burgess Everett & Seung Min Kim of Politico: Mitch McConnell has a plan to avoid a government shutdown. One itty-bitty catch: "... there's no guarantee that the House will accept what the Senate sends over." CW: Isn't it ridiculous that a party "leader" has to try to finagle -- possibly without success -- a convoluted strategy to get his own caucus to cooperate when a functioning government is at stake? Thanks, winger-voters, for foisting these yahoos on the rest of us.

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The Senate failed on Tuesday to advance a bill that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy in a high-profile messaging vote held by Republican leaders ahead of Pope Francis's visit to the Capitol. The result was expected. Democrats pledged to filibuster the bill, which passed the House earlier this year, and Republicans could not garner the 60 votes necessary to block it. Te vote was 54 to 42. Two Republicans -- Susan Collins of Maine and Mark Kirk of Illinois -- voted against proceeding with the bill. Three Democrats -- Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, voted in favor. Four senators -- Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) -- did not vote." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "For the first time since he took office, President Barack Obama will skip an appearance at the Clinton Global Initiative during his annual trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly next week.... The event comes as Vice President Joe Biden weighs his own entry into the presidential race against Clinton...."

Andrew Pollack & Julie Crestwell of the New York Times: "After fiercely defending the price increase in various interviews and on Twitter for two days, [Martin] Shkreli backed down a bit late Tuesday. He told television news networks that the price of the drug, Daraprim, would be lowered, though he did not specify what the new price would be." CW: Instead of $750 a pill, he'll probably run a $749.99 special. Hideous little bastard. ...

... Jeremy Stahl of Slate: "The former hedge fund manager whose pharmaceutical company has come under withering attack for allegations of egregious price-gouging on life-saving medication is the subject of a $65 million lawsuit by his former employer for alleged stock manipulation -- and it turns out he once tried a similar price hike scheme with that company. During Martin Shkreli's tenure as CEO of Retrophin -- the company that is now suing him -- the company increased prices on a decades-old kidney medication by about 20 times its original cost, a move similar to the controversial price increase by his new company reported by the New York Times on Sunday."

Sarah Ferris: "A total of 17.6 million people have gained coverage under ObamaCare, according to a revised government estimate released Tuesday. The newest figure, which is based on national survey data, shows that 1.2 million more people had signed up for healthcare over the last five years than previously thought."

Owen Bowcott of the Guardian: "European companies may have to review their widespread practice of storing digital data with US internet companies after a court accused America's intelligence services of conducting 'mass, indiscriminate surveillance'. The influential opinion by the European court of justice's advocate general Yves Bot, yet to be confirmed by the Luxembourg court as final, is a significant development in the battle over online privacy. The court normally follows the advocate general's opinion; ECJ judgments are binding on EU countries.... The opinion by Bot contains far-reaching recommendations that threaten to upend many current commercial practices and assumptions in the digital industry."

The AP Stylebook changes its nomenclature for climate-change wingnuts. Henceforth, they shall be called climate-change doubters, rather than deniers or skeptics. CW: Congrats on the promotion, doubters. You'll always be wingnuts & loons to me.

Presidential Race

Anne Gearan & Steve Mufson of the Washington Post: "... Hillary Rodham Clinton declared opposition to the proposed Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday, ending a long and politically uncomfortable silence on an issue that has become a touchstone for environmentalists and liberal voters. 'I think it is imperative that we look at the Keystone pipeline as what I believe it is -- a distraction from the important work we have to do to combat climate change,' Clinton said at a community forum [in Des Moines, Iowa]. The debate over Keystone 'interferes with our ability to move forward,' Clinton said. 'Therefore I oppose it.'... While she stayed mum, progressive challenger Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) won significant liberal support for a straightforward denunciation of the project. Democratic challenger Martin O'Malley ... and Clinton's own senior campaign adviser, John Podesta, also oppose the pipeline." ...

Heidi Przybyla of USA Today: "Hillary Clinton on Tuesday unveiled a plan to rein in prescription drug costs by forcing pharmaceutical companies to reinvest their profits into research and allowing for more generic and imported drugs. The proposal, which she outlined in a speech in Iowa on Tuesday, would also allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug costs and cap out-of-pocket expenses for individuals with chronic health problems. The plan seeks to address a key shortcoming of Obamacare, President Obama's signature health law, as the Democratic front-runner aims to show how she would put her imprint on it." ...

... Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "The leading pharmaceutical lobbying group is lashing out against Hillary Clinton's soon-to-be-released plan to combat rising drug prices. The head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) released a statement Tuesday rebuking her proposals, which he warned would kill jobs, risk patient safety and halt investment in new cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and cancer.... The leading insurance company lobbying group, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), released a statement Tuesday that also slammed Clinton for supporting spending caps." CW: Big PhARMA is an enemy any candidate would be happy to have.

... Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "F.B.I. investigators have recovered work-related and personal emails that Hillary Rodham Clinton said had been deleted from the server that housed the personal account she used exclusively when she was secretary of state, according to two government officials.... It was not clear whether the entire trove of roughly 60,000 emails had been found on the server, but one official said it had not been very hard for the F.B.I. to recover the messages." ...

... Del Wilbur of Bloomberg: "The Federal Bureau of Investigation's success at salvaging personal e-mails that Clinton said had been deleted raises the possibility that the Democratic presidential candidate's correspondence eventually could become public.... A group of agents has been separating personal correspondence and passing along work- related messages to agents leading the investigation.... The bureau's probe is expected to last at least several more months...." ...

... Carol Leonnig & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Throughout the controversy over her use of a private e-mail system while she was secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton has described her decision last year to turn over thousands of work-related e-mails as a response to a routine-sounding records request.... But State Department officials provided new information Tuesday that undercuts Clinton's characterization. They said the request was not simply about general record-keeping but was prompted entirely by the discovery that Clinton had exclusively used a private e-mail system.... The State Department also realized it was not automatically preserving internal communications, with some other senior officials' e-mails missing." They discovered her private account only when attempting to respond to a records request by a House Benghaaazi! committee.

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders ... is using the pope's visit to Washington to amplify his call for a wage increase for federal workers. The independent senator from Vermont joined a rally of striking government workers on Tuesday at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Washington, and pressed Congress and President Obama to heed Pope Francis' call for social and economic justice."

... Conservocolumnist Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post: "In the spirit of charity prompted by Pope Francis's visit to the United States, let's not call them bigots. Let's just call them the clueless, the incurious, the moronic, the dull. In short, ignoramuses. I refer to those Republican wits who unconscionably demonize a swath of Americans based on their religious views.... When can we get rid of them?" CW: Whaddaya bet Ben Carson is not accustomed to be called an ignoramus, especially by conservative writers? Welcome to reality, Dr. Carson. ...

... BUT the GOP base is extremely ignoramusist. Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling: Donald "Trump's recent comments about President Obama waging a war on Christianity don't hurt him much with the GOP base. 69% agree with the sentiment that the President has waged a war on Christianity, with only 17% disagreeing. Trump's probably not hurting himself too much with his negativity toward Muslims either - only 49% of Republicans think the religion of Islam should even be legal in the United States with 30% saying it shouldn't be and 21% not sure." ...

... Ilan Ben-Meir of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said Tuesday that the United States 'should take in zero' Syrian refugees.... 'If Mr. Trump were the president of the United States we would not be bringing refugees into the country under this criteria,' Lewandowski said.... In past interviews, Trump has not completely ruled out taking in refugees from Syria." ...

... Kelly Riddell of the Washington Times: "The super PAC supporting neurosurgeon Ben Carson for GOP president has seen a surge of donations since his appearance Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press,' where Mr. Carson said he wouldn't advocate for a Muslim to be president of the United States." Includes a clip of Dr. Ben further walking back his bigoted remarks. He has Muslim friends, too! ...

... Thomas Edsall of the New York Times delves into the Donald dynamic. CW: Edsall makes the same lazy, sexist assumption that many people do. He writes that both Jeb! & Hillary have "deep roots in political dynasties." Bull. Shit. Jeb!'s brother was president. His father was president. His ancestor Franklin Pierce was president. His grandfather was a U.S. senator. Hillary's parents were not involved in politics. Neither were the parents of Bill Clinton. They made it on their own, & tho there was a division of labor based on their differing skills, they were nearly equal partners. When Hillary invokes the Clinton name, it is a name she earned. Personally, I don't care for Hillary Clinton. But I'm sick of this depiction of her as the "little woman" who got where she is because she's Mrs. Clinton. ...

... Jason Horowitz of the New York Times asked Donald Trump "about a 1927 report in The New York Times, unearthed by the website Boing Boing, that listed Fred Trump as being among a group of people arrested, and then discharged, by the police in response to a Ku Klux Klan rally that had turned violent in Queens. The question, essentially, was, 'Did you ever hear of this?' Mr. Trump's barrage of answers -- his sudden denial of a fact he had moments before confirmed; his repeatedly noting that no charges were filed against his father in connection with the incident he had just repeatedly denied; and his denigration of the news organization that brought the incident to light as a 'little website' -- shows his pasta-against-the-wall approach to beating down inconvenient story lines." ...

... Here's a portion of Stephen Colbert's interview of Donald Trump:

     ... The full interview is here. It begins about 15 min. in. Tom McCarthy of the Guardian writes that Colbert let Trump off easy.

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "In a speech delivered in 2012, Ben Carson said the big bang theory was part of the 'fairy tales' pushed by 'high-faluting scientists' as a story of creation. Similarly, Carson, a noted creationist, said he believed the theory of evolution was encouraged by the devil." CW: Seems to me Dr. Ben's religious beliefs would mightily interfere with his ability to fulfill the Constitutional duties of the presidency. He would probably appoint Pat Robertson director of NASA. ...

We should not have a multicultural society. -- Jeb Bush, Tuesday

Katherine Krueger of TPM: "Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush warned America is 'creeping toward multiculturalism' during a campaign stop Tuesday, and said he worries about areas where the assimilation process is 'retarded.' In response to a young woman's question about how to empower immigrants as Americans, Bush said at an event at a Cedar Falls, Iowa diner that multiculturalism should not be the goal." Includes video of Jeb's Trump-y remarks. CW: I cannot believe he said that, but I heard it with my own Irish-French-English-etc. ears. If you like to dance the polka or cherish your Japanese heritage, get out! ...

... CW: I've got bad news for this year's GOP candidates. It is relatively easy to pivot in the general election from primary-season dogwhistles by pretending a dogwhistle is not a dogwhistle. But you can't really pivot away from blatantly racist remarks. You can't pivot from insisting on shutting down the government if a women's healthcare provider is funded or from maligning women's looks to pretending you really like women & care about their well-being. Mitt's 47-percent remark was supposed to be an insider secret; this year's crop of bozos makes its incendiary comments right out in the open.

Slightly-less conservocolumnist Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post: Carly "Fiorina's dishonesty is flagrant and unapologetic. Called on her misstatements, Fiorina doesn't cede ground, she attacks critics.... Fox News's Chris Wallace asked her, 'Do you acknowledge what every fact-checker has found ... there is no actual footage of the incident that you just mentioned?' Fiorina: 'No, I don't accept that at all.... I haven't found a lot of people in the mainstream media who have ever watched these things.' This dishonesty is part of a pattern. Fiorina's up-by-the-bootstraps foundational story -- from secretary to chief executive -- is similarly misleading." The column is worth a read.

Monica Davey of the New York Times: "Gov. Scott Walker went back to his regular job on Tuesday, and it sounded like just another day. The governor was at work in the Capitol, his aides said, holding private meetings and receiving briefings from his executive staff.... Some residents and lawmakers said Mr. Walker had been largely disconnected from state policy making of late and wondered whether he really intended to dig back into work here. Political operatives say Mr. Walker, who just months ago was considered a front-runner but exited the presidential field after sliding sharply in opinion polls, has relations to soothe in a state that feels a bit forgotten." ...

Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "Old political adversaries of [Scott] Walker greeted his dour denouement as a fitting result for a politician who they say began and furthered his career [in Milwaukee] with a divisive style, a penchant for turning out conservative supporters rather than working with opponents, and tacit racial appeals in one of the nation's most segregated cities. But the irony is that Mr. Walker was eclipsed by candidates who have ignited the Republican base with more overtly nativist and, their critics argue, racist appeals." ...

... James Downie of the Washington Post: "... with Walker gone, there is one less candidate who can unite the GOP establishment. Four come to mind, though all have weaknesses: Jeb Bush, the most likely, has the money, but almost seems to be running against his will. Carly Fiorina can play the outsider card, but she is short on funds. Ohio Gov. John Kasich appeals to moderates and pundits but still hasn't broken through in New Hampshire, where he has bet his campaign. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has the political talent and enough money to survive for some time; he would be the favorite to inherit the GOP elite if Bush drops out.... With Trump hanging on and Carson rising, though, the establishment would be smart to rally around someone soon, and Walker's exit opens the door wider for the others."

I just think you've created an industry now -- a situation where very much, you've created an incentive for people not just to look forward to having more abortions, but being able to sell that fetal tissue -- these centers -- for purposes of making a profit off it, as you've seen in some of these Planned Parenthood affiliates. -- Marco Rubio, this past weekend

Marco Is as Big a Liar as Carly Fiorina. Women don't get pregnant for profit or "look forward to having more abortions" because abortions are money-makers for them. Planned Parenthood is not running a fetal tissue "industry." I don't know how other abortion providers work, but at Planned Parenthood clinics women can donate their aborted fetuses (not collect cash). Planned Parenthood charges research institutions only for the costs of maintaining & transferring the tissue (from $30 to $100). -- Constant Weader

Nick Gass of Politico: "Debbie Wasserman Schultz wants Marco Rubio to cancel his presidential fundraiser Tuesday evening at the home of a real estate investor who has collected art from Adolf Hitler and who also owns a signed copy of 'Mein Kampf.' There is 'really no excuse,' she said in a statement released through the Democratic National Committee, calling the event 'tasteless.' The Florida lawmaker and DNC chairwoman remarked that Rubio is 'adding insult to injury' by holding the event at the home of Harlan Crow and his wife Kathy in the tony Dallas suburb of Highland Park, Texas, on the eve of Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest day." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Ted's Filibuster Fetish. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) says the Senate should use its short-term spending bill to force President Obama to hand over the 'side deals' between Iran and international inspectors.... The administration says it has been briefed on the side deals but does not possess the documents." CW: Ted should learn to read bedtime stories to his kids at home instead of insisting on reading them from the Senate floor.

Chris Christie orders the chubby general of New Jersey's National Guard to lose weight.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Souad Mekhennet & William Booth of the Washington Post: "Moving among the tens of thousands of Syrian war refugees passing through the train stations of Europe are many who are neither Syrian nor refugees, but hoping to blend into the mass migration and find a back door to the West.... [There] are shady characters, too, admitted criminals, ISIS sympathizers and a couple of guys from Fallujah, one with a fresh bullet wound, who when asked their occupation seemed confused.... An Austrian security official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said there is a thriving black market for Syrian passports in Croatia, Serbia, Hungary and Austria, too."

James Kanter of the New York Times: "European Union ministers approved a plan on Tuesday that would compel member countries to take in 120,000 migrants seeking refuge on the Continent -- but only after overruling four countries in Central Europe. The plan to apportion the migrants, still only a small fraction of those flowing into Europe, was approved by home affairs and interior ministers of the member countries after a vigorous debate.... The Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia voted no. Finland abstained." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

News Ledes

Guardian: "Egypt's president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, has pardoned at least two of the three journalists working for al-Jazeera English who were convicted of airing 'false news' and biased coverage. Mohamed Fahmy, a Canadian national, and his Egyptian colleague Baher Mohamed were among 100 people who have been pardoned. They will be released from prison later on Wednesday, state-run news agency Mena reported. The pardons came a day before Sisi plans to head to New York for the 70th session of the UN general assembly."

New York Times: "Yogi Berra, one of baseball's greatest catchers and characters, who as a player was a mainstay of 10 Yankee championship teams and as a manager led both the Yankees and Mets to the World Series -- but who may be more widely known as an ungainly but lovable cultural figure, inspiring a cartoon character and issuing a seemingly limitless supply of unwittingly witty epigrams known as Yogi-isms -- died on Tuesday. He was 90." ...

... Washington Post: Yogi Berra's most famous quotes. Here's one: "When you come to a fork in the road ... take it."`

The Commentariat -- Sept. 22, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Abby Ohlheiser & Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis descended from the plane at Joint Base Andrews to cheers under cloudy skies and a steady breeze that lifted the black robes of the awaiting bishops and kept the flags rippling on the tarmac. Waiting for him: President Obama, who rarely greets arriving foreign dignitaries on the tarmac, where a pink carpet had been rolled out just minutes before the pope's chartered Alitalia jet landed more than 10 minutes ahead of schedule." ...

Nick Gass of Politico: "Debbie Wasserman Schultz wants Marco Rubio to cancel his presidential fundraiser Tuesday evening at the home of a real estate investor who has collected art from Adolf Hitler and who also owns a signed copy of 'Mein Kampf.' There is 'really no excuse,' she said in a statement released through the Democratic National Committee, calling the event 'tasteless.' The Florida lawmaker and DNC chairwoman remarked that Rubio is 'adding insult to injury' by holding the event at the home of Harlan Crow and his wife Kathy in the tony Dallas suburb of Highland Park, Texas, on the eve of Yom Kippur...."

Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The Senate failed on Tuesday to advance a bill that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy in a high-profile messaging vote held by Republican leaders ahead of Pope Francis's visit to the Capitol. The result was expected. Democrats pledged to filibuster the bill, which passed the House earlier this year, and Republicans could not garner the 60 votes necessary to block it. The vote was 54 to 42. Two Republicans -- Susan Collins of Maine and Mark Kirk of Illinois -- voted against proceeding with the bill. Three Democrats -- Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, voted in favor. Four senators -- Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) -- did not vote."

James Kanter of the New York Times: "European Union ministers approved a plan on Tuesday that would compel member countries to take in 120,000 migrants seeking refuge on the Continent -- but only after overruling four countries in Central Europe. The plan to apportion the migrants, still only a small fraction of those flowing into Europe, was approved by home affairs and interior ministers of the member countries after a vigorous debate.... The Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia voted no. Finland abstained."

Burgess Everett & Seung Min Kim of Politico: Mitch McConnell has a plan to avoid a government shutdown. One itty-bitty catch: "... there's no guarantee that the House will accept what the Senate sends over." CW: Isn't it ridiculous that a party "leader" has to try to finagle -- possibly without success -- a convoluted strategy to get his own caucus to cooperate when a functioning government is at stake? Thanks, winger-voters everywhere, for foisting these yahoos on the rest of us.

*****

Your Government Is Working for You. Bill Vlasic & Aaron Kessler of the New York Times: "Volkswagen executives told environmental regulators for more than a year that discrepancies between pollution tests on its diesel cars and the starkly higher levels out on the road were a technical error, not a deliberate attempt to deceive Washington officials. But this month, the executives made a startling admission: The diesel vehicles it sold in the United States used software meant to cheat on the tests. VW made the admission only when the Environmental Protection Agency took the extraordinary action of threatening to withhold approval for the company's 2016 Volkswagen and Audi diesel models...."

Your Government Is Not Working for You. OR Why Journalism Matters. Andrew Pollack of the New York Times: "A huge overnight price increase for an important tuberculosis drug has been rescinded after the company that acquired the drug gave it back to its previous owner under pressure, it was announced on Monday.... Cycloserine[, a tuberculosis drug.] was acquired last month by Rodelis Therapeutics, which promptly raised the price to $10,800 for 30 capsules, from $500.... The drug made by generic companies abroad costs only about $20 for 100 capsules.... But the company agreed to return the drug to its former owner, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Purdue University, the organization said on Monday.... However, outrage over a gigantic price increase for another drug [-- Daraprim, used to treat parasitic infection --] spread into the political sphere on Monday, causing biotechnology stocks to fall broadly as investors worried about possible government action to control pharmaceutical prices. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index fell more than 4 percent. 'Price-gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous,' Hillary Rodham Clinton ... said in a tweet on Monday. She said she would announce a plan on Tuesday to deal with rising drug prices.... Senator Bernie Sanders ... sent Turing [Daraprim's new owner] a letter on Monday demanding information on the price increase. Turing's CEO, Martin Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager, who raised the drug's price from $13.50 per pill to $750, "does not appear ready to surrender." See also Pollack's story linked in yesterday's Commentariat.

Senate Republicans Inaugurate Keep 'em Pregnant Week. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Republicans on Monday night started the Senate's fast-track process on legislation that would block federal funding for Planned Parenthood.... Senate Republicans also started the fast-track process on a House-passed bill that would tighten restrictions on abortion doctors who violate infant protections."

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Senate Democratic leaders on Tuesday plan to unveil a measure intended to signal their full-throated support of President Obama's aggressive climate change agenda to 2016 voters and to the rest of the world. The Democrats hope that the bill, sponsored by Senator Maria Cantwell, of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy Committee, will demonstrate a new unity for the party on energy and climate change, and define Democrats' approach to global warming policy in the coming years."

GOP Hopes to Roll Obama. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Republicans want President Obama as a negotiating partner when it comes to budget talks, something Democrats are determined to avoid.... Democrats, however, are determined to keep a seat at the table -- in part because they think they'll drive a tougher bargain than Obama, whose past efforts to make deals with Republicans unnerves Capitol Hill liberals."

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "... an often-overlooked feature of the Obama presidency: Obama has presided over the most demographically diverse administration in history, according to a new analysis of his top appointments. The majority of top policy appointments within the executive branch are held by women and minorities for the first time in history. The transformation partly reflects a broader trend in U.S. society, but it also reflects the results of a calculated strategy by the nation's first African American president. The shifts are significant enough, experts say, that they may have forever transformed the face of government."

When the Ship of Fools Is Rudderless. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "... the debate over Islam is particularly worrisome for Republicans because it so vividly highlights the vacuum that has been created by the absence of a unifying leader who can temper the impulses of the rank-and-file."

Presidential Race

The Bible is full of stories about people who are called to be leaders in unusual ways. Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive conservative message will rise to the top of the field. With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately. -- Scott Walker, today

Alexander Burns, et al., of the New York Times: "Short of support and cash, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, saying he had been 'called to lead by helping to clear the field,' announced Monday that he was suspending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination." CW: So that was "God's plan." Proof there is a god & she has a sense of humor. ...

... The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's story, by Jason Stein & others, is here. ...

... Eli Stokols of Politico: "Scott Walker decided to end his 2016 campaign after burning through cash and disappointing donors who thought the one-time frontrunner would be one of the last men standing this primary season.... The sudden decision opens up opportunities for other candidates, among them Marco Rubio, who has already scored some of Walker's financial backers." ...

... Rat Race. BuzzFeed: The Walker story beats out pizza rat! ...

... Glenn Thrush of Politico: "From presumed front-runner to quitter, Walker's fall was fast.... After a promising start last winter, the two-term Wisconsin governor turned out to be a tentative and mistake-prone candidate who badly fumbled core Republican issues -- especially birthright citizenship -- that Trump and other top GOP candidates handled with relative ease." ...

... Steve M.: "Horserace journalists say that every candidate occupies a 'lane,' but most straddle a couple of lanes. Walker was in exactly two -- and in each one an outsider roared past him. So he was left in the dust." ...

I thought he could stand up to 'death threats' and poster-waving citizens and ISIS? This is exemplary of the entirely empty suit that pathetic little man is. Hopefully after showing he's a complete deadbolt nationally, Wisconsinites will wake up and throw his ass in the gutter where he belongs. -- safari, in yesterday's Comments

Watch out, Badgers. Wisconsin does not term-limit governors. -- Constant Weader

... See also Nadd2's commentary at the top of today's Comments. ...

... Jonathan Chait: Scott Walker won three statewide elections in Wisconsin, which has supported the Democrat in every presidential election since 1984. He led national Republican polling as recently as March. He led in Iowa by enormous margins as recently as August. The Koch brothers loved him. Walker had spent his entire adult life developing an almost superhuman fealty to the principles of the modern Republican Party, its Reaganolotry, and, above all, a ruthless commitment to crushing its enemies beneath his boot heel. If there was anything that gave Walker joy, other than eating copious amounts of trayf, it was the goal of wiping organized labor off the map. As Grover Norquist enthused in May, 'when you meet him, it's like seeing somebody who sits on a throne on the skulls of his enemies.' The collapse of his presidential campaign, culminating with his departure today, has taken place with head-spinning speed." ...

... "The Decline & Fall" of a Pipsqueak. Molly Ball of the Atlantic: " Scott Walker's fall was especially precipitous. The Wisconsin governor's campaign lasted just 70 days. He came in as the Iowa frontrunner and departed a few weeks later as an asterisk, with too little support even to be assigned a number in the last national poll. ...

... Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin was among the most successful fund-raisers in his party, with a clutch of billionaires in his corner and tens of millions of dollars behind his presidential ambitions. But his swift decline and exit from the presidential race on Monday was a stark reminder that even unlimited money has its limits.... Super PACs, Mr. Walker learned, cannot pay rent, phone bills, salaries, airfares or ballot access fees. They are not entitled to the preferential rates on advertising that federal law grants candidates, forcing them to pay far more money than candidates must for the same television and radio time." CW: I'm sure the Supremes will want to dispose of that flaw. Look for superPAC lawsuits in a court near you. Because equality: a dollar here should be worth a dollar there.

** Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "As commander in chief of the New Jersey National Guard, [Gov. Chris Christie] is in charge of 8,400 citizen soldiers, a militia that has become increasingly dysfunctional under his watch.... Christie (R) reappointed a two-star Army general -- a childhood friend -- to lead the Guard. But the married general was forced to resign in disgrace after staff members caught him having an affair at work.... The governor's next pick, an Air Force pilot, was secretly reprimanded by the Pentagon last year for his excessive waistline and for repeatedly ducking physical-fitness tests.... More recently, several high-ranking officers have filed whistleblower complaints, alleging that the Guard's leadership is plagued by cronyism, racism and a 'toxic' command climate, among other problems."

Absolutely, I stand by the comments. What we have to do, we have to recognize that this is America, and we have a Constitution, and we do not put people at the leadership of our country whose faith might interfere with them carrying out the duties of the Constitution. -- Ben Carson, speaking to Sean Hannity ...

... CW: On Sean Hannity's show, of all places, Dr. Ben sort of walks back his remarks on Muslims. You have to read the Politico report to appreciate Carson's "reasoning." It's pretty hilarious. Remember as you read that Carson doesn't think Christian public officials have to follow the law & the Constitution. ...

... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The White House on Monday denounced Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson for saying a Muslim should not be president of the United States. Press secretary Josh Earnest said Carson's comments are 'entirely inconsistent with the Constitution' and the First Amendment.... Several of Carson's rivals have rebuked him over the remarks. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the remarks are evidence that Carson is 'not ready to be commander in chief,' while Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) noted that the Constitution explicitly rules out a religious test for office. Carson's comments drew the ire of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent Muslim advocacy group, which called on the candidate to withdraw from the race." ...

... Kathie Obradovich & Linh Ta of the Des Moines Register: "It would be unconstitutional to disqualify a Muslim from the presidency because of religion, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said Sunday. 'You know, the Constitution specifies there shall be no religious test for public office and I am a constitutionalist,' the Texas senator said during the taping of 'Iowa Press' at Iowa Public Television.... He said [Muslim Syrian refugees] should settle in other Middle Eastern countries, citing concerns that some of the purported refugees may actually be terrorists." ...

... Dubya's scribe Michael Gerson of the Washington Post: "Carson argues that Muslims are unfit for high office because they hold a conception of divine law that is inconsistent with a liberal, democratic order. A significant portion of the country would disqualify Carson for exactly the same reason [because of his fundamentalist Christian views].... Carson, Donald Trump and other Republican candidates need to step back a moment and consider what they are doing. By targeting various groups for suspicion -- calling Muslims a danger to the Constitution or attacking undocumented immigrants as rapists and murderers -- they are opening up a space for some of the worst elements of our society.... What gain or goal is worth the cost of breathing life into bigotry?" ...

... Andy Borowitz: "Brain surgeons, long burdened with the onerous reputation of being among the smartest people in the world, are expressing relief that the Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson is shattering that stereotype once and for all." Thanks to Barbarossa for the link. ...

... Alex Griswold of Mediaite: "When asked about the possibility of having a Muslim in the White House, Donald Trump said on NBC's Meet the Press that some people think it's already happened." ...

... digby: "At this stage of the electoral process the Donald Trump campaign is literally a live reality TV show that is being shown on several different networks at once, all of whom are making a bundle from it. And in the process, he is breaking down the system that's been dominating TV news for the past 20 years."

Re: the potential impacts of the Trumpster, Charles Pierce thinks Frank Rich is a dewy-eyed dilettante from Neverland. ...

     ... CW: Pierce can't see the irony of a billionaire's campaign. Trump is flouting the "invisible campaign" -- the one where the would-be leaders of the free world repeatedly grovel at the feet of the real power -- & flaunting his (supposed) billions as evidence of comparative purity. Like Ross Perot before him, he will probably flame out Rumplestiltskin-style, but not before reminding us again & again that all the other major candidates (save Bernie Sanders) are merely the tools of the mega-rich. The candidates are littlle rodents, whom the billionaires cannot save from themselves (Scott Walker, Newt Gingrich). Trump is not a populist, but he is demonstrating anew that (at least until Prince Rebus & his band of bandits get in there & fix the voting machines), the people have the last word. As further irony, albeit unintended, Trump is also reminding us that billionaires are not a helluva a lot better than the rest of us.

... Steve M. takes issue with Rich, too. ...

     ... CW: It isn't that Trump himself is exhibiting anything approaching candor; it's that all politicians are masters of duplicity, and every voter knows it. So it is in secret recordings -- the 47 percent -- or in gaffes -- "I'm not sure we need a half a billion dollars for women's health issues" -- that we glean any real sense of the candidates. Trump poll-tests, too, even if his "poll" is as informal as a finger in the wind. Trump is the clown -- the gross, cartoonish exaggeration of the politician -- whose mimicry exposes the farce that journalists & pundits so earnestly portray as consequential. ...

... Joe Nocera: "... my favorite moment in last week’s Republican debate came when Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump got into a spat over which of them had the lousier track record as business leaders.... They're both right. Fiorina's tenure at HP was indeed a disaster, and Trump's casino interests did indeed file for bankruptcy multiple times.... By every metric that mattered, HP was in far worse shape when she was fired than when she was hired.... The key fact about Trump's early success is that it would never have happened without his father Fred's money.... In effect, his post-1988 business career has cost him $5 billion.... Even putting aside their policy positions, their narcissism, their poor records as leaders and their lack of scruples in spinning failures as triumphs all suggest that Fiorina and Trump would make terrible presidents." Nocera goes on to suggest that Michael Bloomberg is the businessman who is qualified to run for president. ...

... Sam Stein & Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: "... Carly Fiorina's explanation for a controversial business practice undertaken by Hewlett Packard during her time running that company appears incomplete, if not misleading.... If Fiorina was unaware of HP products ending up in Iran, it appears to be partially because she wasn't looking or listening.... As for Fiorina's assertion that HP only discovered the Iran-related transactions three years after she left the company, that too seems unlikely. The company, after all, was known to use subsidiaries to circumvent sanctions law.... With respect to Fiorina's suggestion that 'the S.E.C. investigation proved that neither I nor anyone else in management knew about' the company's business dealings in Iran, it's not entirely clear what investigation she's discussing." Stein & Bobic could not find any SEC investigation of HP's illegal sales to Iran; they found only SEC letters that referenced the sales but were not in any way part of an "investigation." ...

... Jeffrey Sonnenfeld in Politico Magazine on why Carly Fiorina was/would be a lousy leader.: she doesn't learn from her mistakes, she lies, she makes irresponsible decisions & "She is intolerant of dissent and resorts to personal attacks."

Steve Holland of Reuters: "... Jeb Bush will pledge on Tuesday to place a freeze on new federal government regulations if he is elected president in November 2016, saying bureaucratic rules are weighing down the U.S. economy." CW: Which is Bush's response to 1000-percent increases in drug prices & auto manufacturers' skirting clean-air standards. Elections matter .

Ken Thomas & Catherine Lucey of the AP: "Hillary Rodham Clinton is laying out a new plan to rein in the rising cost of prescription drugs, seeking to build upon President Barack Obama's health care law." ...

... Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton vowed to protect ObamaCare on Wednesday [sic.], one day before unveiling her own plan to make a mark on healthcare reform. 'It's not just a political issue, it's a moral issue,' the 2016 front-runner for the Democratic nomination said, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate. Underscoring the 16 million people who gained insurance under the law, Clinton vowed to prevent the GOP from rolling back its progress."

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The FBI on Monday rebuffed a federal judge's request for information on the inquiry it is conducting into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email account and server, raising the question of whether the courts or Congress will take more forceful action to try to secure data from Clinton's email system. About a month ago, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the State Department to reach out to the FBI to address a Freedom of Information Act request by the conservative group Judicial Watch regarding Clinton aide Huma Abedin's employment arrangements and to report on arrangements for the FBI to share information about the ongoing investigation. In a terse letter Monday, FBI General Counsel James Baker appeared to reject the request."

Beyond the Beltway

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The United States saw a spike last month in the number of unaccompanied minors and families illegally crossing the southern border, the White House said Monday. 'We have seen, just in the last month, in the month of August, a surprising uptick,' press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters."

Angela Couloumbis & Craig McCoy of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "In an unprecedented move, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday temporarily suspended the law license of Attorney General Kathleen Kane [D], the latest setback for the state's embattled top law enforcement officer.The decision was unanimous, winning support from the court's three Republicans and two Democrats. Lawyers for the state Disciplinary Board, which oversees attorney conduct, had sought the suspension after Kane was charged last month with perjury, obstruction and other charges stemming from the leak of confidential grand jury material and an investigation into that leak.The board contended that allowing Kane to remain in office while under criminal charges would damage the administration of justice and cause 'immediate and substantial public harm.' Its lawyers suggested that stripping Kane of her law license would disqualify her from holding office."

That's young Donald in the center.Joseph Berger of the New York Times: "After struggling financially for years and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, the private boarding school [New York Military Academy] did not open as promised last Monday. Its 113 acres of land and buildings are scheduled to go on the auction block at the end of this month for a minimum bid of $9.5 million, with no requirement that the buyer maintain a school there.... Among its thousands of alumni, the 126-year-old ... [school] counts ... Donald J. Trump, Stephen Sondheim and John A. Gotti.... There is ... a smidgen of hope among some alumni that Mr. Trump ... would be a rescuing angel and provide the $13 million the school needs to pay creditors and other costs." CW: Nah. I'll bet he sees it as a home for Trump "University."

Forget Scott Walker. There are still heroes from Wisconsin. Karen Crouse of the New York Times: Don "Pellmann, the most senior athlete in the San Diego Senior Games, became the first centenarian to break 27 seconds in the 100-meter dash and the first to clear an official height in the high jump. He also broke records for men in the 100 and over age group in the shot put and discus and set a record in the long jump." Pellman & his wife live in Santa Clara, California, now.

Kevin McCoy of USA Today: "Former peanut company executive Stewart Parnell was hit with a virtual life prison term Monday for his 2014 conviction on crimes related to a salmonella outbreak blamed for killing nine and sickening hundreds. A federal judge in Georgia sentenced the 61-year-old former head of Peanut Corporation of America to 28 years behind bars.... U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands also sentenced the former executive's brother, Michael Parnell, 56, to serve a 20-year prison term.... Mary Wilkerson, 41, a former quality control manager at the now-defunct peanut firm, drew a five-year prison term for her conviction on obstruction in the tragedy.... Prosecutors presented evidence that Parnell and the co-defendants knowingly shipped salmonella-tainted peanut butter from the Georgia facility to Kellogg's and other customers -- who in turn used it in products...."

... AP: "A judge on Monday rejected defense efforts to exclude key witness testimony against the last remaining Angola Three member still behind bars and to throw out his indictment entirely in the 1972 killing of a prison guard. Judge William Carmichael also ruled that the trial against Albert Woodfox could go forward in West Feliciana parish, rejecting defense claims that he could not get a fair trial in a place where Louisiana's Angola prison is also located."

AP: "Gay couples in Kentucky are questioning the validity of altered marriage licenses issued by a defiant county clerk and have asked a federal judge to order her to reissue the licenses or close the office down.

AP: "The family of a 14-year-old Muslim student who got in trouble over a homemade clock mistaken for a possible bomb have withdrawn him from his suburban high school in Texas."

Way Beyond

Nicole Winfield & Christine Armario of the AP: "Pope Francis ends his visit to Cuba on Tuesday with a Mass at the country's most revered shrine and a pep talk with families before flying north to Washington for the start of his U.S. tour."

Rick Jervis of USA Today follows Pope Francis's travels through Cuba.

The Commentariat -- Sept. 21, 2015

Internal links removed.

Michael Gordon of the New York Times: "The Obama administration will increase the number of refugees the United States is willing to accept in 2017 to 100,000, a significant increase over the current annual worldwide cap of 70,000, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday.... Under the new plan, the U.S. limit on annual refugee visas would be increased to 85,000 in 2016. The cap would then rise to 100,000 the following year."

Nahal Toosi of Politico: "The Obama administration has been quietly in touch with the Vatican about ways that Pope Francis can help free three Americans imprisoned in Iran -- a major source of friction as President Barack Obama and Iranian leaders finalize their nuclear deal."

Seung Min Kim & Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: "As they rally behind a long-awaited measure that would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, GOP lawmakers are tying their messaging to the teachings of the Catholic Church, which opposes the practice. And the presence of Pope Francis on Capitol Hill this week shines an even brighter spotlight on the legislation, which has long been a top priority of advocacy groups thatoppose abortion."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "President George W. Bush sought to retroactively authorize portions of the National Security Agency's post-9/11 surveillance and data collection program after a now-famous incident in 2004 in which his attorney general refused to certify the program as lawful from his hospital bed, according to newly declassified portions of a government investigation.... Newly disclosed passages of a report by inspectors general of six agencies suggest that the confrontation in the hospital room came after the Justice Department identified several problems, including a 'gap' between what Mr. Bush had authorized the N.S.A. to collect and what the agency was collecting in practice." ...

... BTW, Dubya will be lecturing the intelligence community next month, likely for a generous stipend. CW: I'm sure the spooks will learn a lot.

Margaret Atwood, in the Guardian, on the history & meanings of freedom.

Joseph Goldstein of the New York Times: "Rampant sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan, particularly among armed commanders who dominate much of the rural landscape and can bully the population. The practice is called bacha bazi, literally 'boy play,' and American soldiers and Marines have been instructed not to intervene -- in some cases, not even when their Afghan allies have abused boys on military bases, according to interviews and court records."

David Sedaris in the New Yorker on the right to marry. It's David Sedaris. Laugh. Cry.

Chris Buckley & Jane Perlez of the New York Times: "Often described as the most powerful leader of the Chinese Communist Party in generations, [President] Xi [Jinping] is to arrive in the United States on Tuesday facing economic headwinds and growing doubts about his formula for governing -- a sharp contrast with the image of unruffled control he projected when he hosted President Obama last year.

Capitalism is Awesome, Ctd.

Our Legal Drug Cartels. Andrew Pollack of the New York Times: "Specialists in infectious disease are protesting a gigantic overnight increase in the price of a 62-year-old drug that is the standard of care for treating a life-threatening parasitic infection. The drug, called Daraprim, was acquired in August by Turing Pharmaceuticals, a start-up run by a former hedge fund manager [Martin Shkreli]. Turing immediately raised the price to $750 a tablet from $13.50, bringing the annual cost of treatment for some patients to hundreds of thousands of dollars.... Turing's price increase is not an isolated example. While most of the attention on pharmaceutical prices has been on new drugs for diseases like cancer, hepatitis C and high cholesterol, there is also growing concern about huge price increases on older drugs, some of them generic, that have long been mainstays of treatment." ...

     ... CW: Contributor MAG pointed out this story yesterday. As she wrote, "Nah! We don't need no regulations, the free market takes care of things nicely." I wish our socialist, communist dictator president would swoop in today & nationalize every damned drug company, from Pfizer to Granny's Amazing Elixir, Inc.

"It's the Bank Profits, Stupid." Paul Krugman: Banks are pressuring the Fed to raise interest rates. "... when you see ever-changing rationales for never-changing policy demands, it's a good bet that there's an ulterior motive. And the rate rage of the bankers -- combined with the plunge in bank stocks that followed the Fed's decision not to hike -- offers a powerful clue to the nature of that motive. It's the bank profits, stupid.... Low rates are bad for bankers.... It's widely assumed that bankers have special expertise on economic policy, although nothing in the record supports this belief. (The bankers do, however, have excellent tailors.)"

Presidential Race

Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "... Hillary Rodham Clinton, a former secretary of state, said Sunday that U.S. efforts to train and equip Syrian rebels have failed and that many of the threats she foresaw from the Syrian conflict have come to pass.... Clinton, appearing on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' said that the Obama administration's announcement that it will take in 10,000 Syrian refugees is 'a good start' but that the United States should increase the number to 65,000 because of the scale of the refugee crisis after nearly five years of conflict."

Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "'I am very disappointed that Dr. [Ben] Carson would suggest that a Muslim should not become president of the United States,' [Sen. Bernie] Sanders said in a statement released late Sunday. 'It took us too long to overcome the prejudice against electing a Catholic or an African-American president. People should be elected to office based on their ideas, not their religion or the color of their skin.'" See Carson's remarks below. ...

... Colin Powell, October 2008:

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Rand Paul won the straw poll at the Mackinac Island Republican Leadership Conference, a show of organizational strength for a candidate who has seen his presidential hopes fade. Paul led with 22 percent, followed by Carly Fiorina with 15 percent, John Kasich with 13 percent, and Ted Cruzwith 12 percent. Trailing them were Jeb Bush with 9 percent, Marco Rubio with 8 percent, and Donald Trump with 6 percent. Further back: Ben Carson received 5 percent and Scott Walker finished with 2 percent.... The straw poll is electorally meaningless, but it is an exercise in political organizing and several campaigns worked the halls of the Grand Hotel aggressively -- especially Paul’s."

     ... Tapper sounds like he's calling an actual horse race. ...

... Eric Bradner of CNN: "Carly Fiorina shot into second place in the Republican presidential field on the heels of another strong debate performance, and Donald Trump has lost some support, a new national CNN/ORC poll shows." CW: Even if she is a lying sack of shit. ...

... Carly Fiorina Is an Accomplished Flim-Flam Artiste. Amy Chozick & Quentin Hardy of the New York Times: At last week's debate, "Mrs. Fiorina said a prominent venture capitalist who pushed for her firing at Hewlett-Packard in 2005 had recently taken out a full-page newspaper ad saying that he had been wrong to do so and that she had been 'a terrific C.E.O.' What Mrs. Fiorina did not mention was that the ad -- which cost roughly $140,000 -- was paid for by the 'super PAC' supporting her presidential candidacy." CW: So the "prominent venture capitalist," who happens to be the totally wacko Tom Perkins, did not "take out an ad"; Fiorina's superPAC did. Nice fake endorsement, Carly. ...

... (Sam Gustin of Time [February 2014]: "Tom Perkins..., who ... compar[ed] the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany to the way rich people are treated in the United States, on Thursday offered a provocative idea about how to 'change the world.' During an interview with a Fortune magazine journalist, Perkins said that only U.S. taxpayers should be able to vote in elections. But that's not all. Perkins went on to say that wealthy people should get more votes than others because they pay more in taxes.") ...

... Ali Elkin of Bloomberg: "Carly Fiorina said Sunday that neither she nor Hewlett-Packard should be faulted for the sales of millions of HP printers in Iran when such business was prohibited by U.S. law. Appearing on Fox's Fox News Sunday, Fiorina said that despite being the CEO of HP when the Iranian sales took place via a third party, she was unaware them."

Ali Elkin: "Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on last week's controversial comments about Muslims.... 'We have radicals that are doing things,' he said. 'It wasn't people from Sweden that blew up the World Trade Center.' Trump also declined several times during the ABC interview to say that he believed [President] Obama was born in the U.S." ...

... Here's a presidential poll that hasn't received enough attention. Andy Borowitz: "Two days after asserting that President Barack Obama was a foreign-born Muslim, a guy who asked Donald Trump a provocative question at a New Hampshire rally is now the front-runner in the Republican race for President, according to a new poll." CW: Seems realistic. ...

... ** Frank Rich: "In the short time since Trump declared his candidacy, he has performed a public service by exposing, however crudely and at times inadvertently, the posturings of both the Republicans and the Democrats and the foolishness and obsolescence of much of the political culture they share. He is, as many say, making a mockery of the entire political process with his bull-in-a-china-shop antics. But the mockery in this case may be overdue, highly warranted, and ultimately a spur to reform.... His passport to political stardom has been his uncanny resemblance to a provocative fictional comic archetype.... Trump's ability to reduce the head of his adopted party to a comic functionary out of a Gilbert-and-Sullivan operetta is typical of his remarkable success in exposing Republican weakness and hypocrisy."

... CW: I'd like to know what it is about Islam that Carson imagines is "inconsistent with our Constitution," while Christianity -- including Ben Carson's fundamentalist brand of Christianity -- apparently is "consistent with our Constitution." Of course, Chuck didn't bother to ask. I know journalism is not Chuck's job, but maybe he could have mentioned this: ...

... no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. -- Article VI, U.S. Constitution

Oh, snap, Ben. What is "not consistent with our Constitution"; i.e., what is unconstitutional, is your dingbat religious test. -- Constant Weader

... Oh, Update. Here's Carson's answer. Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "... Ben Carson is standing by his view that a Muslim should not be president of the United States, telling The Hill in an interview on Sunday that whoever takes the White House should be 'sworn in on a stack of Bibles, not a Koran.'... 'I do not believe Sharia is consistent with the Constitution of this country,' Carson said. 'Muslims feel that their religion is very much a part of your public life and what you do as a public official, and that's inconsistent with our principles and our Constitution.' Carson said that the only exception he'd make would be if the Muslim running for office 'publicly rejected all the tenants of Sharia and lived a life consistent with that.'" CW: Yo, Ben, you know what else is not "consistent with our Constitution?": much of the Mosaic Law; i.e., the first five books of your Bible. By the Theory of Ben, it appears only nontheists are qualified to be president because all religions have rules that are not predicated on or consistent with U.S. Constitutional law. ...

... Ben Carson's campaign says he didn't say what he said. ...

... Steve M.: "Anyone who continues to think that the questioner at Trump's rally was a plant meant to embarrass Trump is nuts. Trump thinks this sort of talk wins him votes -- he's had a couple of days to revise and polish his message, so if he thought this was harmful to him, he'd back down, but he's not doing that. And Trump is almost certainly correct in his assessment of Republican voters. Carson also knows that Islamophobia sells to the GOP voter base, so that's what he's delivering. I don't think Fiorina will be able to keep up. You probably don't know this, but a lot of people on the right do: A few weeks after the 9/11 attacks, Fiorina made a speech that praised Islam." ...

... Christian Nation. To Steve M.'s point: Even John Kasich, the supposed moderate candidate, is afraid to say adherence to an Islamic faith is not a presidential disqualifier. Chuck asks Kasich, "Would you ever have a problem with a Muslim becoming president?" Kasich's response is Walkeresque: "You know, I mean, that's such a hypothetical question.... You've got to go through the rigors, and people will look at everything. But, for me, the most important thing about being president is you have leadership skills.... Those are the qualifications that matter to me." ...

... One More Abortion Restriction. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: "The Ohio governor John Kasich has said he will sign a state bill currently under debate that would ban abortions carried out because a child has Down's syndrome." ...

... John Kasich Doesn't Care if Black Families Have Enough to Eat. Hannah Levintova of Mother Jones: As a Congressman, Kasich tried to restrict food stamp eligibility to three months in any three-year period. When Congress allowed state waivers to that restriction, Kasich manipulated food-stamp eligibility in Ohio so that "urban counties and cities, most of which had high minority populations, did not get waivers.... A USDA study released earlier this month ranked Ohio among the worst states in the nation for food security. The state has the highest rate of food insecurity in the Midwest and the sixth highest rate nationally." ...

     ... CW: This is one of the bajillion real ways Republicans manage to discriminate against minorities without blatantly calling them names or making accusations against them. I think I'd rather be called a nigger on a full stomach than get a sympathy card from a fellow who let my children starve to death. Hypocrtical prick.

So Long, Scottie. From Eric Bradner's CNN report, linked above: "Five other candidates received less than one-half of 1 percentage point support: former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former New York Gov. George Pataki and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Jim Yardley & Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: "Standing in the symbolic heart of political Cuba, Pope Francis on Sunday began his first full day in the island nation with an outdoor Mass at Revolution Plaza attended by President Raúl Castro and other leaders, and later met with the country's former leader, Fidel Castro." ...

... The AP has "the latest" on Pope Francis's visit to Cuba. "The latest," at this time is 6:30 pm ET Sunday. I don't know whether or not the report will be updated.

Griff Witte of the Washington Post: "The radical leftist party that stormed to a historic victory in January and then governed Greece through a tumultuous seven months won a convincing new mandate in elections on Sunday, giving it another chance to lead a country still mired in economic ruin." ...

... Suzanne Daly of the New York Times: "Alexis Tsipras, who won election as Greece's prime minister in January on an anti-austerity platform that he was later forced to abandon, was returned to power by Greek voters on Sunday, many of them saying that he had fought hard to get them a better deal from the country's creditors and deserved a second chance at governing."

William Booth & Anna Fifield of the Washington Post: "Asylum seekers whose journey had been slowed by bickering among Balkan countries began to arrive in Austria en masse Sunday, just one border away from the ultimate destination for many refugees, Germany. Thousands of economic migrants and war refugees walked across the border from Hungary into Austria on Sunday, while hundreds more crossed from Slovenia."

News Lede

New York Times: "Two Americans held hostage for months by rebels in Yemen were freed on Sunday and quickly flown to safety in nearby Oman, which helped the United States secure the release of the men, American officials said. Along with the Americans, a British citizen and three Saudis were also freed by the Houthi rebels, who ousted the government of Yemen this year and are now facing a campaign of airstrikes led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States."