The Commentariat -- July 27, 2015
Internal links & defunct video removed.
Afternoon Update:
Jeff Mulvihill of the AP: "Three public workers' pension funds are suing New Jersey for billions in damages, claiming the state government breached contracts when it contributed less than planned. The filing Friday is the latest volley in a more than yearlong dispute over pension contributions. They stem from Gov. Chris Christie's decision last year amid a budget shortfall to veer from a pension funding plan he signed into law in 2011.... Spokesmen for Christie did not respond immediately to a request for comment."
CW: If you think the next administration & future federal courts should be made up on graduates of Livingston High School, New Jersey, & Seton Hall Law, you should definitely vote for Chris Christie. It will happen. Matt Arco of NJ.com reports. Nonetheless, I suppose David Wildstein won't become Transportation Secretary.
*****
Peter Baker & Marc Santora of the New York Times: President "Obama, accompanied by [Susan] Rice, now his national security adviser, convened a meeting on Monday to try to forge a peace in South Sudan, in his most direct personal intervention since the violence broke out more than 18 months ago. During a visit [to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia]..., he sat down with regional leaders to try to build a consensus behind a peace proposal, and to come up with a backup plan, in case that fails, involving increased sanctions and possibly an arms embargo."
Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "President Obama sharply criticized Republican 2016 presidential candidates Monday for engaging in 'inflammatory remarks' that were cheapening the nation's political discourse.... [Mike] Huckabee responded to the president's remarks in a statement Monday morning, doubling-down on his previous comments ... that the Iran deal was so flawed it will 'take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven'":
Anne Barnard, et al., of the New York Times: "Turkey and the United States have agreed in general terms on a plan that envisions American warplanes, Syrian insurgents and Turkish forces working together to sweep Islamic State militants from a 60-mile-long strip of northern Syria along the Turkish border, American and Turkish officials say. The plan would create what officials from both countries are calling an Islamic State-free zone controlled by relatively moderate Syrian insurgents, which the Turks say could also be a 'safe zone' for displaced Syrians."
Darlene Superville of the AP: "President Barack Obama huddled with Ethiopia's leaders Monday for talks on counterterrorism, human rights and regional security issues, including the crisis in neighboring South Sudan. Obama's visit marks the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to Ethiopia. He arrived at the National Palace in the capital of Addis Ababa for a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, followed by a joint news conference."
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "In a rare and fiery weekend session, the Senate voted on Sunday to resurrect the federal Export-Import Bank, handing the Republican Party's most conservative wing a major defeat and setting up a showdown this week with House leaders divided over the moribund export credit agency. The bipartisan vote -- 67 to 26 -- broke a filibuster and allowed supporters to attach a measure to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank to a three-year highway and infrastructure bill, which is expected to pass the Senate early this week. The agency's authorization expired June 30, halting all new loan guarantees and other assistance to foreign customers seeking to purchase American companies' products. A clear majority in the House also supports resurrecting the agency, but it will be up to House leaders to decide whether the body will get a vote...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The Senate is fast-tracking a bill to defund Planned Parenthood in the wake of two controversial videos that sparked a political firestorm. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) finished the process, known as 'Rule 14,' on Sunday, allowing the legislation to skip over the committee process and be placed directly on the Senate calendar for a floor vote." ...
... Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: "The Senate on Sunday voted down a Republican effort to repeal Obamacare, the GOP's first attempt to get rid of the president's health law since the party took control of the chamber in January. The effort fell 49-43, exactly along party lines, with eight senators not voting in the rare weekend session. Third-fifths of the Senate would have had to vote to add Obamacare repeal to a highway funding bill. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is expected to ask the Senate -- likely Monday -- to reconsider the Obamacare amendment. He would propose a procedural motion to change Senate rules in order to try to repeal the Affordable Care Act with just 51 votes." ...
... Manu Raju & Burgess Everett of Politico: "Republican leaders, led by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), delivered what senators described as punishment for [Ted] Cruz's brazen floor tactics -- the Texas senator first accused McConnell of lying and later sought to change Senate procedures in order to push for an Iran-related amendment. So when Cruz came to the floor looking for 16 senators to agree to hold a roll-call vote, only three raised their hands. McConnell, sitting at his desk, turned around and peered at Cruz, who looked stunned at what had just happened. The Senate dispensed with his effort by a voice vote and quickly moved on, doing the same to Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a Cruz ally who sought to use arcane procedures to force a vote on defunding Planned Parenthood.... Cruz later] accused McConnell of scheming with Democratic leader Harry Reid." ...
... Kevin Cirilli of the Hill: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) doubled-down Sunday in his attacks on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).... 'I would note that it is entirely consistent with decorum and with the nature of this body traditionally as the world's greatest deliberative body, to speak the truth,' Cruz said. 'Speaking the truth about actions is entirely consistent with civility.' Asked if he want to far during his Friday speech, Cruz instead blasted the press for not writing about whether or not McConnell lied about a deal."
Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times' public editor, weighs in on the paper's hasty, erroneous reporting of the supposed two inspectors generals' request for a "criminal investigation" of Hillary Clinton's e-mails. Thanks to Victoria D. for the link. CW: Sullivan faults the paper for the "mess," but it appears she gets some major items wrong. (And, BTW, if she had followed my advice & read Kurt Eichenwald's takedown, she would wound not have made those mistakes.) First, Sullivan asserts that "the fact remains that [Clinton's] secret email system hamstrung possible inquiries into her conduct while secretary of state both by the news media and the public under the Freedom of Information Act and by Congress." Not according to Eichenwald. Any documents -- including notes written on napkins -- that a public official creates in the course of her duties are subject to FOIA requests. Second, Sullivan implies that Schmidt's March 2015 scoop on Clinton's private server was a paragon of investigative journalism. Not according to Eichenwald:
The Times's public editor defended that piece, linking to a lengthy series of regulations that, in fact, proved the allegations contained in the article were false.... The reality remained that, when it came to this story, there was no there there.
... Finally, Sullivan lets NYT executive editor Dean Baquet get away with this whopper: "You had the government confirming that it was a criminal referral. I'm not sure what they could have done differently on that." Both Sullivan & Baquet are journalists. But let me explain to them, there was something else they could have done: they could have asked the IGs, as Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) did, if in fact they had sent criminal referrals of Clinton to the DOJ. The reporters & their checkers did not ask, so the IGs said publicly Friday that they had not sent out criminal referrals. It isn't as if that was top-secret info that the Times could not possibly have wrenched out of the IGs. You don't have to be a reporter or an editor to know that if you're going to write, "A did B," you have an obligation to at least ask A if he did B. You don't necessarily have to believe A's answer, if you have other, more credible sources that refute A, but you do have to ask A. Sullivan should have pointed out this major flaw in the "reporting." Instead, she just faults the Times reporters & editors for a method of "fact-checking" that involved re-asking their original sources if they had the story right. Considering the sources (almost certainly GOP House Benghaazi! committee members or their staffs), the Times should have been super-skeptical, especially on a highly-partisan issue that could have an impact on the presidential election.
The Hard Realities of Soft Corruption. Bill Curry in Salon: "That [Barack] Obama translated this public anger [against political corruption] into a message in 2008 -- but didn't follow up with policy in 2009 -- may reveal an underlying worldview. When Justice [Anthony] Kennedy pronounced the public unconcerned with systemic corruption he spoke not for the Tea Party but for a Washington establishment of which Obama, many political reporters, most political consultants and all lobbyists are members for life.... The flaw in [Hillary] Clinton's candidacy is the flaw in our politics. It is Kennedy's 'soft corruption.'" CW: Curry highlights the New York Times' fake stories, but I think he's right about his central point -- that Democrats don't care about political corruption. Whether you like her or not, Hillary Clinton personifies the entrenched Village SOP.
Steve M. points to & elaborates on a post by David Futrelle titled "Angry misogynist murders women at showing of film by feminist comedian; police worry 'we may not find a motive.'" CW: Steve & Futrelle seem to be on the right -- or at least a plausible -- track. In addition, I think it's easy to connect the dots between Houser's motives & columns like the one Ross Douthat wrote for today's Times, linked below. I don't mean to suggest that Douthat is directly responsible for the multiple murders of women, but his point that Planned Parenthood medical personnel -- a large percentage of whom are women, & whose clientele are mostly women -- "have spent their careers crushing, evacuating, and carving up for parts ... dead human beings," can lead some crazy men to "reason" that it's okay to kill young women who might have abortions & allow "dead human beings" to be carved up like meat. Houser may have figured that by killing young women, he was saving lives, i.e., the lives of Douthat's "dead human beings." Some readers will think I'm exaggerating. Probably I'm not. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Amanda Marcotte in Slate: "We don't know exactly why yet Houser shot up a theater that was showing a movie written by an unapologetic feminist, but this moment should still be a wake-up call about the problem of misogynist violence in our culture. If we're not going to talk about gun control, then let's talk about how to get fewer men to see guns as the solution to their inchoate rage at women." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Bobby's Aposty. Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana called for tougher gun laws in other states on Sunday.... On CBS's 'Face the Nation,' Mr. Jindal called for states to adopt laws similar to Louisiana's that feed information about mental illness into a federal background check system for potential gun buyers.... Officials have said Mr. Russell [sic., John Russell Houser], of Phenix City, Ala., legally bought the murder weapon there in 2014, although he had been denied a state-issued concealed weapons permit in 2006 because he was accused of domestic violence and soliciting arson." CW: Not a hoax, & in 2013 Jindal, believe it or not, did sign into law bills to cooperate with the federal database on purchases of weaponry, um, along with other bills that would expand gun rights. ...
... Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker (July 24): "During his Presidency, [Barack Obama has] gone from a kind of rote acknowledgment of the issue [of gun violence] to a deeply felt recognition of its centrality, if only because it represents not a problem that is insoluble in its nature but something stupidly simple and easy to fix. In any sane polity, gun killings would be a horror, not a habitual event. Seeing the President's metamorphosis suggests that, as another old song had it, a change is going to come."
Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Rick Perry's voice softens when he talks about the joy he gets from looking at his iPad and seeing 'that 20-week picture of my first grandbaby.' Marco Rubio says ultrasounds of his sons and daughters reinforced how 'they were children -- and they were our children.' Rand Paul recalls watching fetuses suck their thumbs. And Chris Christie says the ultrasound of his first daughter changed his views on abortion. If they seem to be reading from the same script, they are. With help from a well-funded, well-researched and invigorated anti-abortion movement, Republican politicians have refined how they are talking about pregnancy and abortion rights, choosing their words in a way they hope puts Democrats on the defensive." ...
... CW: Surely this is the same script that Scott Walker flubbed last month when he "justified" Wisconsin's law requiring women seeking abortions to view ultrasound images of their fetuses by exclaiming the procedure was "just a cool thing out there."
** Noreen Malone & Amanda Demme in a New York cover story & photo essay: "There are now 46 women who have come forward publicly to accuse Cosby of rape or sexual assault; the 35 women here are the accusers who were willing to be photographed and interviewed by New York. The group, at present, ranges in age from early 20s to 80 and includes supermodels Beverly Johnson and Janice Dickinson alongside waitresses and Playboy bunnies and journalists and a host of women who formerly worked in show business. Many of the women say they know of others still out there who've chosen to remain silent." Story includes photos, videos & links to the full stories these women tell. ...
... David Ferguson of the Raw Story: "The New York magazine cover featuring 35 women who have accused Bill Cosby of rape featured one empty chair for any women who have not come forward because they are still too afraid to speak out. Within minutes of the cover's publication on Sunday evening, Twitter users had created a hashtag for #TheEmptyChair, dedicated to victims of rape, sexual assault and abuse who are too frightened to come forward due to shame, stigma or the possibility further abuse." ...
... Andrew Chow of the New York Times: "Spelman College has discontinued a professorship endowed by Bill Cosby, a university spokeswoman said. After suspending the professorship last year in the wake of mounting accusations of sexual assault against Mr. Cosby, the college terminated the program and returned the related funds to the Clara Elizabeth Jackson Carter Foundation, the spokeswoman, Audrey Arthur, said in a brief statement. The foundation was established by Mr. Cosby's wife, Camille. The Cosbys have had a long relationship with Spelman, a historically black women's college in Atlanta."
Louis Menand of the New Yorker: Most criminals are recidivists. "For [Richard] Matt and [David] Sweat, being on the outside essentially boiled down to coming up with ways to get back inside. Inside, they were masters of their environment.... Away from that environment, though, they were lost.... Once he was free from prison, the only place David Sweat could possibly have ended up, short of dead, was back in prison."
Presidential Race
Vanessa Williams of the Washington Post: "Hillary Rodham Clinton called for harnessing the power of the sun to generate enough renewable energy to run every home in the country within the next decade, as part of a climate change initiative announced Sunday." ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Clinton's numbers are down in crucial states because when she's running for office, she has a high unfavorability rate among white voters.
The Rhetorical Question of the Day. Amy Davidson of the New Yorker: "... if [Donald] Trump weren't around would the other Republicans behave that much more responsibly?" ...
... The Great Unknown. Tim Noah in Politico: "Over the past two decades [Donald Trump] was a Republican, then an independent, then a Democrat, then a Republican. Now, registered as an independent, he leads the Republican 2016 presidential field. But what does Donald Trump really believe on policy? It's hard to tell -- his campaign will identify no policy director, he has no 'issues' tab on his campaign website and he hasn't given any substantive policy speeches on the campaign trail." CW: Let's face it: Trump serves a special-interest constituency of one -- Donald Trump. Trump is a Republican now out of a profound belief that the GOP base is crazier than the Democratic base. ...
... Adam Sneed of Politico: "Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump charged on Sunday that Hillary Clinton's private email practices as secretary of state were 'criminal.' 'What she did is far worse than what Gen. [David] Petraeus did, and he's gone down in disgrace,' Trump said on in a telephone interview on CNN's 'State of the Union.' 'What she did is criminal.'... Trump refused to elaborate when pressed by CNN host Jake Tapper, who noted that federal inspectors general had cited security rather than criminal concerns." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Jennifer Agiesta of CNN: "In the first national telephone poll since Donald Trump earned rebukes from Republican leaders over his comments about Senator John McCain's military service, the real estate mogul has increased his support among GOP voters and now stands atop the race for the party's nomination. The new CNN/ORC Poll finds Trump at 18% support among Republicans, with ... Jeb Bush just behind at 15%, within the poll's margin of error." ...
... Steven Shepard of Politico: "Donald Trump has surged to the lead in the New Hampshire GOP presidential primary and virtually erased Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's advantage in the Iowa caucuses, according to new NBC News/Marist polls released Sunday."
How stupid is the Doofus Plan to Phase Out Medicare? Paul Krugman counts the ways. "In this, as in other spheres, [Jeb!] Bush often seems like a Rip Van Winkle who slept through everything that has happened since he left the governor's office -- after all, he's still boasting about Florida’s housing-bubble boom.... Medicare at 50 still looks very good. It needs to keep working on costs, it will need some additional resources, but it looks eminently sustainable. The only real threat it faces is that of attack by right-wing zombies."
Marco Rubio, Senator No-Show. Manu Raju of Politico: "... Rubio has been absent more often than other senators seeking the White House." Lindsey Graham & Ted Cruz are other frequent absentees. Bernie "Sanders, who is seeking the Democratic nomination, missed just seven votes since mid-April, which is more in line with the average attendance rate of all senators, who cast 97 percent to 98 percent of roll calls on the floor."
Worst Argumentum ad Hilterum Ever. This president's foreign policy is the most feckless in American history. It is so naive that he would trust the Iranians. By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven. Mike Huckabee, in a Breitbart interview. MAG contributed the link (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
I may run with links to some reactions to Huckabee's remark. Other than that, from now on, Huck gets the Sarah Palin treatment here: no coverage unless highly newsworthy. -- Constant Weader
Daniel Politi of Slate: "The National Jewish Democratic Council ... called on other Republican presidential candidates to denounce Huckabee's remarks. 'Far, far too often, this organization has found itself forced to denounce politicians for invoking the Holocaust in inappropriate and offensive ways,' the NJDC said in a statement. 'These comments by Gov. Mike Huckabee, however, may be the most inexcusable we've encountered in recent memory.'" ...
... Jerry Markon of the Washington Post: "The reference to the Holocaust -- in which Jews were killed in Nazi gas chambers and their bodies cremated in ovens -- created a backlash Sunday on Twitter, with numerous users condemning Huckabee's remarks. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chairman of the Democratic National Committee, called on the former Arkansas governor to 'apologize to the Jewish community and to the American people for this grossly irresponsible statement.'... Spokesmen for the leading GOP presidential candidates -- including [Donald] Trump, former Florida governor Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker -- did not respond Sunday to questions about the remarks."
News Ledes
Boston Globe: "Boston's Olympic bid is dead. In a joint statement, United States Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun and Steve Pagliuca, chairman of bidding group Boston 2024, characterized the decision to pull the plug as a mutual one."
New York Times: "Peg Lynch, who wrote and starred in 'Ethel and Albert,' one of television's earliest situation comedies, died on Friday at her home in Becket, Mass. She was 98.... Ms. Lynch, who wrote nearly 11,000 scripts for radio and television without the benefit of a writer's room committee (or even a co-writer), was a pioneering woman in broadcast entertainment. As a creator of original characters and a performer of her own written work -- every bit of it live! -- she might be said to have created the mold that decades later produced the likes of Tina Fey and Amy Schumer."