The Commentariat -- February 1, 2016
Cristina Marcos & Jordain Carney of the Hill: "The House is slated to take up repealing ObamaCare on Groundhog Day.... The House has voted more than 60 times since Republicans took over the majority in 2011 to undo the healthcare law. Tuesday's vote, however, will be the first attempt to override President Obama's veto of a measure to overturn his signature legislative accomplishment.... Republicans are not expected to secure the necessary two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto. And once the veto override attempt fails in the House, the Senate won’t be able to consider it."
Jonathan Swan of the Hill: "The Koch brothers' donor network spent close to $400 million last year, and is on its way to spending an unprecedented $889 million supporting right-wing politics and causes during the 2016 cycle. On Saturday afternoon, the Koch network assembled 500 wealthy conservatives -- its largest gathering ever -- at a luxury resort near the foothills of Palm Springs' Coachella Valley.... The network is now the most powerful force in right-wing politics, with a budget and technological infrastructure that rivals that of the Republican Party." ...
... Paul Krugman: "So what's really at stake in this year's election? Well, among other things, the fate of the planet." ...
... CW: For almost all of their lives, the Koch boys knew the family business was extracting limited resources from the earth. And for the last several decades, they certainly knew that their little business model also was bad for the planet. Yes, I know they've somewhat divested into renewable sources -- they bought Georgia Pacific, for instance -- but the font of their business, as well as their philosophy, centers on raping the earth in one way or another. We may be past the age of rapid technological change, but we're still into rapid cultural change, & the fact that the Koch boys are not innovative enough to keep up by acknowledging & adapting to a culture that demands clean, renewable energy shows that Chuck & Dave are not just greedy bastards; they're also kinda stoopid. ...
... Paul Krugman reviews Robert Gordon's The Rise & Fall of American Growth. "Perhaps the future isn't what it used to be." CW: One thing Krugman doesn't discuss, & perhaps Gordon does, is how technological inventions are now universally available. If you recall, several years ago, Fox "News" pundits were very upset that poor people had refrigerators & coffeemakers. Refrigerators still aren't cheap (though used ones are), but many of the gizmos we think we want get cheaper every year, & that makes them, eventually, available to the vast majority of Americans. Those homes in the South to which Krugman refers have power & plumbing now. ...
... James Koren of the Los Angeles Times: "To the long list of things you can do with your phone -- including watch a movie, buy a latte and hail a ride -- prepare to add one more: get cash. Over the next few months, the nation's three biggest banks [-- Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase & Bank of America --] will start rolling out ATMs that will let customers withdraw currency using their smartphones instead of debit cards -- the latest step toward a future in which phones could replace bank branches and wallets. 'My boys are 5 and 6 -- I don't think they'll carry around plastic when they grow up,' said Michelle Moore, head of digital banking for Bank of America, which plans to make cardless ATMs widely available as early as May."
Joby Warrick of the Washington Post takes another look at "Bundystan," the land in Nevada that Cliven Bundy & his clan have stolen from the people. The standoff between Bundy & the feds isn't over. He now owes the government about $2 million in grazing fees. CW: There are several good reasons not to eat much beef. The Bundys are one of them.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, in a New York Times op-ed: "IN Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, 2016 has begun much as 2015 ended -- with unacceptable levels of violence and a polarized public discourse. That polarization showed itself in the halls of the United Nations last week when I pointed out a simple truth: History proves that people will always resist occupation. Some sought to shoot the messenger -- twisting my words into a misguided justification for violence. The stabbings, vehicle rammings and other attacks by Palestinians targeting Israeli civilians are reprehensible. So, too, are the incitement of violence and the glorification of killers.... Keeping another people under indefinite occupation undermines the security and the future of both Israelis and Palestinians." ...
... CW: The "some" who "sought to shoot the messanger" include Benjamin Netanyahu. Looks like the only friends Bibi has left in the whole wide world are U.S. Republicans.
W. J. Hennigan & Brian Bennett of the Los Angeles Times: "President Obama has repeatedly touted the U.S.-led coalition assembled to battle Islamic State militants, but Pentagon officials are expressing growing frustration that some of the 64 partner nations and regional groups are backing the effort in name only. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter has been the most vocal, complaining last month that some allies are 'not doing enough or doing nothing at all.'"
The End of a Bromance. Paul Farhi & Manuel Roig-Franzia of the Washington Post on why Jim VandeHei left Politico, the online news source he co-founded. CW: Like everything else in Washington, it was about power & prestige.
Presidential Race
** George Packer of the New Yorker: "Direct primaries -- the selection of candidates by voters instead of by party leaders -- came into existence a hundred years ago. They were the inspiration of reformers who wanted to take power away from political machines and corporate interests, and return it to the people, who were believed to be wiser and more capable than the bosses, because they were less self-interested.... But ... the voters turn out to be more partisan than the bosses." Packer adds an important piece to the puzzle "How'd we get into this mess?"
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "... with the caucuses on Monday hours away, the presidential candidates have switched gears, furiously crisscrossing Iowa and making direct appeals to voters to stand for them in the election's first nominating contest." ...
... Abby Phillip has the Washington Post story of the final Iowa sprint.
If you want to know what's going on in the presidential campaign cash game, Politico currently has a lot of front-page stories. Fer instance, here's one on Donald Trump's lending his campaign $10.8 million; here's another on George Soros' dropping $6MM on a Clinton superPAC. ...
... Fredreka Schouten of USA Today: "Bernie Sanders' campaign announced Sunday that it had raised $20 million this month -- an enormous haul as the Vermont senator seeks to demonstrate he's prepared for a protracted battle with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination." CW: I think Politico ran this story yesterday.
Kyle Balluck of the Hill: "The Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Sunday said it has agreed to sanction more presidential debates after facing criticism over a limited schedule.... ... A person familiar with the discussions said on Sunday that the DNC will sanction the MSNBC debate for this Thursday in New Hampshire once the Democratic candidates all agree on the details."
... Eli Stokols of Politico: Clinton & Trump headlined rallies two miles apart in Council Bluff, Iowa. It was Clinton who delivered the populist speech. ...
... Charles Pierce Blow talked to black Iowans, who make up only 3.7 percent of the state's population, about today's caucuses. Funny, but the only choice Blow mentioned was between Hillary & Bernie. What? No Donald? ...
... Bryce Covert of Think Progress in a New York Times op-ed: "The largest difference [between Clinton & Sanders], and therefore what the Democratic Party is truly grappling with, is not about two different visions of the party. The choice is between two theories of change. It's the difference between working the system and smashing it." ...
... Bill Clinton: Hillary is a change-maker:
... Eliza Collins of Politico: "Hillary Clinton said that all the stories suggesting the FBI inquiry into her email practices is gaining momentum are just 'selective leaking.' 'It means the people are selectively leaking and making comments with no basis,' Clinton said in an interview with CNN's 'New Day' Monday. 'We need to let this inquiry run its course, get it resolved.'" ...
... Lisa Lerer & Ken Thomas of the AP: "Seeking victory in Iowa, Hillary Clinton has begun channeling the economic indignation of her rival Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, whose unapologetically liberal campaign has tightened the race ahead of Monday's caucuses and given him a lead in the New Hampshire contest that follows. Making her closing argument to Iowa caucus-goers, Clinton now cloaks her detailed policy plans in Sanders' outraged rhetoric. Pharmaceutical pricing 'burns' her up. Companies that take advantage of the tax loopholes get her 'pretty riled up.' And she promises to 'rail away' at any industry that flouts the law." ...
Her Cheatin' Heart. Ben Smith, et al., of BuzzFeed: "Hillary Clinton's campaign for president is instructing its Iowa caucus leaders to — in certain cases -- throw support to former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, with the goal blocking her main opponent, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, from securing additional delegates. The tactical move is rooted in the complex math of the Iowa caucuses Monday night, where the campaign is looking to defeat Sanders in a state whose caucus-goers have historically backed progressive challengers.... The goal, in the caucuses' complex terms, is to cost Clinton no delegates in the state's 1,681 caucuses while ensuring stray O'Malley supporters don't defect to Sanders." Read on. Clinton isn't the first candidate to use this ploy, & her aides were "outraged" when candidates Obama & Bill Richardson pulled a similar stunt in 2008. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Corey Robin, in Salon: "... the Clintons' national ascendancy was premised on the repudiation of black voters and black interests. This was a move that was both inspired and applauded by a small but influential group of Beltway journalists and party strategists, who believed making the Democrats a white middle-class party was the only path back to the White House after wandering for 12 years in the Republican wilderness." ...
... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "With an Iowa win on Monday within reach, Sanders is suddenly running a gantlet of criticism from Clinton and her allies, many in the media and even President Obama, all of whom seem to have awakened to the looming reality that a 74-year-old self-described democratic socialist could, at the very least, damage the Democratic front-runner and turn her march to the party's nomination into a long, costly slog." ...
... Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: Bernie Sanders refrains, for the most part, from directly attacking Clinton, even if his surrogates do not. ...
... CW: I saw on the Internets over the weekend that wingers were very upset that Jill Sobule sang this "racist" song at Bernie Sanders' rally at Ames, Iowa. So I figured I'd better give it a listen. The song is racist in the same way that many wingers thought Stephen Colbert's "Colbert Show" character was actually one of them:
... There seems to be a decided lack of self-awareness over there in Right Wing World.
Unpossible. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "A former paid organizer for Donald J. Trump who was fired this month has accused his presidential campaign of sex discrimination. Elizabeth Mae Davidson, 26, who was the Trump campaign's field organizer ... in Davenport, Iowa's third-largest city, said in a discrimination complaint that men doing the same jobs were paid more and were allowed to plan and speak at rallies, while her requests to do so were ignored. She also said that when she and a young female volunteer met Mr. Trump at a rally last summer, he told them, 'You guys could do a lot of damage,' referring to their looks. The complaint was filed on Thursday with the Davenport Civil Rights Commission." ...
... Bradford Richardson of the Hill: Donald Trump "on Sunday pledged to extend healthcare coverage to the lower class, but remained vague on the details of his plan.... When host George Stephenopoulos asked the billionaire businessman how he accomplish that, Trump said he would 'work something out'" with doctors & hospitals. CW: See, everything is easy for a dealmaker who apparently is unaware that the "lower class" is already able to get health care thru Medicaid. ...
... Donald Trump, Nouveau Tenther. Elise Viebeck of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump criticized the Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage and said he would 'strongly consider' appointing judges inclined to overrule it if he is elected president. 'I don't like the way they ruled,' Trump said on 'Fox News Sunday.' 'I disagree with the Supreme Court from the standpoint that it should be a states' rights issue and that's the way it should have been ruled on ... I would have much preferred that they ruled at a state level and let the states make those rulings themselves.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Greg Sargent: "I'm hoping that Dems take more seriously the notion that Trump might be tapping into something very real with the larger argument he is making about our political system.... He is not claiming that 'government is the problem.' Rather, he's arguing that the stupid fools running the government are the problem, and that the bought-and-paid-for politicians and corrupt bureaucrats are the problem...." ...
... CW: Sargent is right. Bernie Sanders & Hillary Clinton would have very different problems in a faceoff with Trump, but both would have problems. Clinton's would be ideological, Sanders' would be personal. It is not unreasonable to think Trump could beat either one of them.
Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker: "Ted Cruz's Iowa mailers are more fraudulent than everyone thinks." His campaign appears to have made up the "grades" the recipients & their neighbors received. Iowans like Donna Holstein found Cruz's letters troubling. Holstein was "upset to learn that she had been given a failing grade and that her neighbors might be told whether she participates in the caucus. She told me that she has voted consistently but that she can't this time because of a disability.... 'That's what you call a bully,' she said about Cruz's tactics. 'I wish he would quit.'... On Saturday night, Cruz responded. 'I will apologize to no one for using every tool we can to encourage Iowa voters to come out and vote,' he told reporters during a campaign stop in Sioux City." CW: As we know, sociopaths never apologize. So what if he embarrassed a disabled woman? She's not even going to vote. To hell with her. ...
... CW: I really get this woman's outrage. If I want to tell my neighbors my voting record, I will. But I sure don't want some "government official" -- that would be Senator Cruz -- ratting on me. And I most certainly don't want that government official lying about my record. On paper. In my neighbors' mailboxes. It seems that Ted, like most Republicans, think "government is the problem" except where he's the government. ...
... Chris Wallace Whacks Ted Cruz:
... Sorry, Ted, "the facts have a well-known liberal bias." ...
... digby finds the exchange between Wallace & Cruz amusing: "Oh dear, they really are confused these days aren't they? They hate Trump but nobody can stand Cruz who is lying about Obamacare which they also hate but which is actually working so they're using it against Cruz. It's awesome." ...
... Even Ted's daughter can't stand him:
... Sometimes the littlest campaign props don't cooperate. And for those of you who object to my using the candidate's young child to mock her father, you're right. I should not have done this.
Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey are locked in an increasingly bitter fight in New Hampshire. Both men have anchored their presidential campaigns in the state, holding dozens of town hall meetings and spending most of their money in an effort to seize momentum here.... Without a standout performance in the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 9, it may rapidly become difficult for either governor to pay for the fundamentals of campaigning in the next round of elections in South Carolina and Nevada, and beyond."
Congressional Races
The Party of Pond Scum. Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "The House Republicans' campaign arm is fundraising off of Bernie Sanders's presidential bid by using the images of the communist hammer and sickle." CW: Apparently those lowlifes have forgot its their own top-polling candidate, Donald Trump, who is the only avowed fan of Vladimir Putin in the race.
Beyond the Beltway
Molly Young of the Oregonian: "The four holdouts [at the Maheur Refuge] awoke to discover that many lost phone and Internet service overnight, according to Greg Whalen, a Nevada supporter who said he had been in contact with the armed protesters. They have refused to leave the refuge until they are guaranteed they won't be arrested."
Way Beyond
Anthony Faoila of the Washington Post on the social unrest in Finland that has developed between Muslim asylum-seekers & Finns, much of it apparently stemming from some Muslims' antipathy to Finnish women.
New York Times: In northeastern Nigeria: Boko Haram, the militant Islamic group, went on a brutal rampage that the government said killed "65 people, with twice that number injured. Residents of Dalori, the site of the latest attack, said the death toll was even higher, with as many as 100 dead."
News Lede
New York Times: In northeastern Nigeria: Boko Haram, the militant Islamic group, went on a brutal rampae that the government said killed "65 people, with twice that number injured. Residents of Dalori, the site of the latest attack, said the death toll was even higher, with as many as 100 dead."
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