LIVE -- The White House

The Commentariat -- April 14, 2015

Internal links removed.

The Guardian is liveblogging or livefeeding or something Hillary's Clinton's first campaign stop in Iowa. She looks rested & ready to go after that long, hard drive across the Northeast.

National Constitution Center: "It was 150 years ago tonight the President Abraham Lincoln was shot while watching a play at Ford's Theater. Lincoln died the next morning, and in the aftermath, some odd facts seemed to pop up." The writers elaborate.

NEW. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Tuesday that the panel had reached an accord on a bipartisan bill giving Congress a vote on an international deal to rein in Iran's nuclear program. The compromise measure would shorten a review period for a final deal and soften language that would make the lifting of sanctions dependent on Iran's ending support for terrorism. The agreement, struck between Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the committee's chairman, and Senator Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, its ranking Democrat, still must be voted on this afternoon, but leaders in both parties expressed their support. One senior Democratic aide said the bill would now have overwhelming, veto-proof support in the full Senate."

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "One former Blackwater security contractor received a life sentence on Monday and three others received 30-year sentences for killing unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square in 2007. The shooting left 17 people dead and was a gruesome nadir in the war in Iraq. It transformed Blackwater Worldwide from America's wealthiest and most politically powerful security contractor into a symbol of unchecked and privatized military power. Nicholas A. Slatten, a former Army sniper from Tennessee, was convicted of murder for firing the first fatal shots. Three others -- Dustin L. Heard, also of Tennessee; Evan S. Liberty of New Hampshire; and Paul A. Slough of Texas -- were convicted of manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and the use of a machine gun in a violent crime." ...

... The Washington Post story, by Spencer Shu & Victoria St. Martin, is here.

Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin on Monday approved the delivery of a sophisticated air defense missile system to Iran, potentially complicating negotiations on Tehran's nuclear program and further straining ties with Washington. The sale could also undermine the Obama administration's efforts to sell Congress and foreign allies on the nuclear deal, which Iran and the United States are still struggling to complete. It might also reduce the United States' leverage in the talks by making it much harder for the United States or Israel to mount airstrikes against Iran's nuclear infrastructure if the country ignored such an agreement."

Emily Wax-Thibodeaux of the Washington Post: "Not even completed yet, [a] $1.7 billion [VA hospital] facility [in Aurora, Colorado, is already among the most expensive hospitals in the world, and it's just one of several VA hospital projects that are greatly over budget and behind schedule, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

Manu Raju of Politico: "Sen. Patty Murray is refusing to endorse Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin for the job of Democratic whip, a sign that the Washington senator is keeping open the option of seeking the No. 2 position in her caucus hierarchy."

Jim Newell of Salon: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wants you to know that President Obama, who is worse than Neville Chamberlain, is leading us on a path to nuclear war. Sometimes Cotton has to change his rationale mid-graf, but everything leads us to -- Obama = Ka-Boom!

Annals of "Justice," Ctd. Digby, in Salon: "The horrific story of the unarmed Walter Scott's death at the hands of Officer Michael Slager continues to reverberate.... And on even further investigation it was found thatthis jurisdiction is known as 'Taser town.'... Tasers guidelines vary by department and jurisdiction, but generally their use is only considered reasonable when the subject poses a safety threat. Clearly, shooting an unarmed 50-year-old man when he runs from the taser is not one of those cases."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Dylan Byers of Politico: "FiveThirtyEight founder and statistics guru Nate Silver has accused Ezra Klein's Vox.com of stealing other people's charts without attribution. 'Yo, @voxdotcom: Y'all should probably stop stealing people's charts without proper attribution,' he tweeted Monday. 'You do this all the time, to 538 & others.' Silver wasn't alone: Anthony De Rosa, the editor-in-chief at Circa, a mobile news app, joined the fray, claiming that he'd reached out to Vox.com content director Max Fisher 'about this about dozen times and he never responds.'" Klein did respond to Byers, & Byers updated his post with the response.

Presidential Race

NEW. Caren Bohan, et al., of Reuters: "Hillary Clinton, under pressure from the left wing of her Democratic Party to aggressively campaign against income inequality, voiced concern about the hefty paychecks of some corporate executives in an email to supporters. Striking a populist note, Clinton..., said American families were still facing financial hardship at a time 'when the average CEO makes about 300 times what the average worker makes.' In a tightly scripted campaign launch in which there were few surprises, the comments were unexpected, at least by progressives, who saw them as an early sign she may shift away from the centrist economic policies pursued by her husband, former President Bill Clinton." ...

... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Obama will not automatically endorse Hillary Clinton now that she has formally declared her candidacy for president, the White House said Monday. Press secretary Josh Earnest said that Obama and Clinton have 'become friends' during Clinton's years serving as secretary of State but 'there are other people who are friends of of the president' who are considering their own campaigns." ...

... Digby, in Salon: "... it's vital that Clinton's campaign realizes that this is not 2008 and the issues and political terrain have changed in seven years.The time is ripe for a woman president and it's ripe for an unabashed progressive populist agenda. If Hillary Clinton seizes this moment and runs with it, she could make history in more ways than one." ...

... Peter Beinart of the Atlantic does a bit of textual analysis of Hillary's announcement video & concludes that "absent serious primary competition that might have forced her left in the primaries, Hillary has gone left anyway: with culturally progressive imagery, a class-oriented economic message, and a purely domestic focus." ...

... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "What is striking is the convergence in thinking [about income & wealth inequality] between the center and center-left that has taken place in recent years, as the basic facts about rising inequality have become impossible to ignore. Now it's up to Clinton and her advisers to exploit this convergence. As long as they are willing to defy some of their more conservative and tax-phobic donors, there is plenty of common ground on which to construct an inequality agenda that will satisfy ... progressives."

... Dylan Scott of the New Republic: "Clinton has been openly enthusiastic about the [Affordable Care Act] in the weeks leading up to her announcement." ...

... Ben Adler of Grist, in Mother Jones: "Clinton's record and stances [on climate change] are cut from the same cloth as Obama's." ...

... Juan Cole: "it seems to me that Sec. Clinton's Middle East foreign policy would be very similar to that of President Obama, but more interventionist. She differs with Israel, as all presidents have since 1967, over its occupation of the West Bank. But she is closer to the government of Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu than is Obama."

... Heather of Crooks & Liars: "Here's Bloody Bill Kristol with the false equivalency of the day.... Kristol: If they get to nominate Hillary Clinton, why don't we get to nominate Dick Cheney. I mean, he has a much -- he has a much better record...; He has a much better record... [Tavis] Smiley: God help us all."

NEW. Luciana Lopez & Scott Malone of Reuters: "New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican trying to gain traction in a crowded 2016 presidential field, on Tuesday proposed a major overhaul of the popular Social Security program for older Americans that would cut benefits for wealthy people. At a New Hampshire appearance later on Tuesday, Christie plans to propose Social Security 'means-testing' that would reduce the size of benefits for people earning more than $80,000 annually and phase them out entirely for those earning $200,000 or more."

Ed O'Keefe & Manuel Roig-Franzia of the Washington Post: "Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the son of Cuban immigrants who made a remarkably rapid ascent through Florida politics, announced that he is running for president Monday afternoon, in front of supporters in Miami.... Rubio, 43, first told supporters the news earlier Monday, during a conference call." CW: The most exciting thing about Rubio's announcement is that it opens up Senate seat. ...

... Alex Isenstadt & Marc Caputo write the Politico story. ...

... Brian Beutler: "Marco Rubio Is the Most Disingenuous Republican Running for President. He's not a reformer. He's a fraud.... Either Rubio is promising to run up bigger deficits than any president in history, or he's swindling someone. Upper income tax cuts, middle class tax credits, anti-poverty spending -- at least one of these will have to give. The experience of watching his tax plan evolve tells us a great deal about which one won't." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "So Rubio has already surrendered to the status quo to the extent that he packages an even larger boon to the wealthy than other Republicans ... but acceptance for some 'family-friendly tax credits.'... All this dubious maneuvering actually looks worse when you contrast it to Rubio's impressive lack of nuance when it comes to foreign policy, where he's a full-on champion of every Neocon position... Those who are impressed by the heterodoxy of positions he's already abandoned might want to think about that more carefully." Kilgore wants to know if Marco "gets credit for the positions he's abandoned." ...

... Nate Cohn of the New York Times: Rubio's "central problem is that Jeb Bush has found considerable support from the party's mainstream conservative and moderate donors in the so-called invisible primary -- the behind-the-scenes competition for elite support that often decides the nomination.... Despite the initial insurgent bid against Charlie Crist that made him a Tea Party hero, Mr. Rubio has always been an establishment-oriented candidate..... Mr. Rubio is not the obvious leader of any major faction of the party, and his message isn't obviously oriented toward any wing of the party, either." ...

... Contra Cohn, Harry Enten of 538 writes, "Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's campaign ... has so far attracted paltry support from Republican voters, according to polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as nationally. He's down near Chris Christie! Yet, when we talk about him in the FiveThirtyEight office, we usually put Rubio in the top tier, in front of everyone except Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, the two candidates at the top of the polls. Why? Rubio is both electable and conservative, and in optimal proportions." Enten calls Rubio "the first real contender" to enter the presidential race. ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic: "Here's one theory, though: Rubio is the perfect second choice for GOP voters."

Beyond the Beltway

Jon Schuppe of NBC News: "Tulsa, Oklahoma reserve sheriff's deputy was charged with second-degree manslaughter Monday for the shooting death of an unarmed black man. The charges against Robert Charles Bates came hours after the family of the dead man, Eric Courtney Harris, accused deputies of treating him inhumanely after he was shot at the conclusion of an April 2 foot chase stemming from a sting operation in which Harris had allegedly arranged to sell a gun to undercover officers from the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office Violent Crimes Task Force."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Atlanta educators convicted of racketeering in a huge public school cheating scandal who rejected a sentencing deal received prison time during proceedings on Tuesday in a Fulton County court.... Among those declining [sentencing] deals were three higher-level administrators, Sharon Davis-Williams, Michael Pitts and Tamara Cotman, all regional directors at Atlanta Public Schools. An irate Judge Jerry W. Baxter of Fulton County Superior Court sentenced each of them to 20 years, with seven to be served in prison, and the remainder on probation. Each must also pay a $25,000 file and perform 2,000 hours of community service."

Washington Post: "Jason Rezaian, a reporter for The Washington Post imprisoned in Iran for almost nine months, has had only one brief, cursory visit with his lawyer in advance of his upcoming trial, according to information provided by his family on Tuesday."

CBS Denver: "A CBS4 investigation has learned that two Transportation Security Administration screeners at Denver International Airport have been fired after they were discovered manipulating passenger screening systems to allow a male TSA employee to fondle the genital areas of attractive male passengers. It happened roughly a dozen times, according to information gathered by CBS4."

The Commentariat -- April 13, 2015

Internal links removed.

** Reality Chek. Paul Krugman: Pay no attention to the personalities of the presidential candidates. "The huge, substantive gulf between the parties will be reflected in the policy positions of whomever they nominate, and will almost surely be reflected in the actual policies adopted by whoever wins." CW: Read the whole column, especially the part near the end on how the media will treat the nominees of each party.

Second Most Annoying Campaign Launch Ever

Honestly, this beats Ted Cruz by a long shot & loses only to Ronald Reagan's outreach to racists:

... Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Ending two years of speculation and coy denials, Hillary Rodham Clinton announced on Sunday that she would seek the presidency for a second time, immediately establishing herself as the likely 2016 Democratic nominee. 'I'm running for president,' she said with a smile near the end of a two-minute video released just after 3 p.m." CW: I don't know what Juanito will do, but it couldn't be dumber unless he just held up a sign that read, "Yes, I'm a total phony. Send money." ...

... CW: For the first 30 seconds of the vid, I thought I was watching an ad for an unspecified something -- mortgage loans, home insurance maybe -- & was annoyed there was no Skip Ad arrow. Hillary must be using the same Mad Men as Goldman Sachs or CitiBank. ...

... Maggie Haberman & Patrick Healy of the New York Times discuss the video, making Krugman's point, & a few minor ones of mine.

Jaime Fuller of New York: "Her campaign's Facebook page is live too.... However, the news first broke -- the news of her announcement, not the obvious fact that she was going to run -- via emails that John Podesta, the chair of Clinton's campaign, sent to former Hillary '08 campaigners and potential donors." ... Which inspired James Poniewozik of Time to tweet, "Possibly the most stirring piece of American political rhetoric since Lincoln's Second Inaugural Message to Top Donors Through an Aide." Clinton's Facebook page is here.

Jesse Byrnes of the Hill: "While Clinton sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2008 primarily on her record as a lawmaker, early moves indicate her campaign will work this time to reintroduce her by embracing her earlier history. Clinton's biography posted to her campaign website is written in an unusually personal tone, describing her father, Hugh, as a 'rock-ribbed Republican' and highlighting her own position on a girls softball team."

Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "When Hillary Clinton said she was going to hit the road, she meant it. The newly declared presidential candidate is on her way to Iowa, from New York, in a van after announcing her candidacy online Sunday afternoon." ...

... CW: She should have asked me. I would have suggested a used blue GM Silverado pick-up pulling a dented Airstream, with a couple of Hillary-for-America "Hospital This Way" signs slapped on the sides. And she definitely should do the driving. (For folks along the road actually looking for a hospital, Hillary's roadshow could be fatal, what with the sign on the left side of the vehicle facing north & the sign on the right facing left.) ...

(... BTW, the logo wasn't something some over-the-hill staffer knocked out at the last minute on MSPaint. Philip Rucker & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post, February 21, 2015: "In their mission to present voters with a winning picture of the likely candidate, no detail is too big or too small -- from her economic opportunity agenda to the design of the 'H' in her future campaign logo.")

Here's Amy Davidson's take on Hillary's rollout.

** Bill Curry, Salon, writing before the actual "launch": "For months Clinton has run a front-porch campaign -- if by porch you mean Boo Radley's. Getting her outdoors is hard enough; when she does get out it's often to give paid speeches to people who look just like her: educated, prosperous and privileged. Needing desperately to connect with the broader public, she opts for the virtual reality of a pre-taped video delivered via social media." Read the whole post.

Jonathan Chait: "Unless the economy goes into a recession over the next year and a half, Hillary Clinton is probably going to win the presidential election. The United States has polarized into stable voting blocs, and the Democratic bloc is a bit larger and growing at a faster rate."

Nate Silver: "The truth is that a general election win by Clinton -- she's very likely to become the Democratic nominee -- is roughly a 50/50 proposition. And we're not likely to learn a lot over the rest of 2015 to change that."

Jamelle Bouie sees Clinton as the Democrats' last hope. "The simple fact is that even if everything goes well for Democrats in 2016, even if they hold the presidency and pick up the Senate as well, their long-term prospects are dire. After eight years in the White House, the party has atrophied, and given the partisan and demographic trends that are driving American politics -- in particular, the demographic divergence in midterm and presidential elections -- it's not clear what Democrats can do to fix the problem. Here's where we are: Far more than its competitor, the Democratic Party is at a crossroads. At the moment, it's being held together by its president and his potential successor, Hillary Clinton. But this obscures intraparty conflict and the extent to which the party is in desperate need of rebuilding for the second and third decades of the 21^st century."

Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast: The economic issues are monumental now. Hillary should throw caution to the wind & go big, something she is not accustomed to doing.

Elmo! Rebecca Traister of the New Republic: No, Hillary is not a dynastic heir.

Mark Hensch of the Hill: GOP candidates spent Sunday knocking Hillary Clinton.

Marco Rubio will announce something today. Margaret Hartmann of New York: "Hours after Hillary posted her elaborate campaign video, featuring a montage of almost every type of American who could conceivably vote Democrat, Rubio shared [a] ... grainy 9-second video shot on a windswept street behind the Freedom Tower does not scream 'professional campaign operation.' On the other hand, if the backdrop for tomorrow's speech is anything other than 'Miami traffic,' it will look great by comparison." Post includes grainy video with hurricane-like audio. CW: Sorry I couldn't get hold of the actual video, but this one is close enough: ...

(... Remember that Marco, who is not a scientist, man, is not qualified to be a local weatherman. ...)

... Tim Mak of the Daily Beast: Tea partiers "helped propel Marco Rubio into the Senate -- but many say they feel betrayed by him, and they won't support his presidential bid, expected to launch Monday." ...

... Here's one reason Marco doesn't know squat about foreign policy even though he's served on the Senate Foreign Relations & Intelligence Committees. Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "In 2011, just months after joining the Senate, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) missed three hearings called in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden, according to a review of attendance records. Rubio has kept a busy political travel schedule since arriving in Washington -- and his activities off the Hill have made him the most-absent senator, according to a review of records by GovTrack, a nonpartisan group that catalogs government activity."

... AND in Other News

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The White House this week will make a messaging push on two key Democratic economic issues, income inequality and equal pay for women, as Hillary Clinton ramps up her presidential campaign. President Obama will travel to Charlotte, N.C. on Wednesday to meet with working women and plug his budget proposal, which would increase taxes on the wealthy while upping tax credits for middle-class and low-income families...."

Seung Min Kim & Burgess Everett of Politico: "Senators return this week to a familiar fight over abortion and Loretta Lynch's long-stalled confirmation to be attorney general -- and the partisan gridlock shows no signs of easing. Both sides are confident they have the upper hand politically, and neither party wants to relent in a fight over abortion ahead of the 2016 election."

Matea Gold of the Washington Post: "A cadre of wealthy liberal donors aims to pour tens of millions of dollars into rebuilding the left's political might in the states, racing to catch up with a decades-old conservative effort that has reshaped statehouses across the country."

Beyond the Beltway

Melissa Chan of the New York Daily News: "It was a mistake. That's the blasé explanation Oklahoma officials gave after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by a white deputy who accidentally pulled his gun when he meant to use his Taser. The botched encounter was captured on a disturbing video released by police on Friday -- nine days after the fatal Tulsa shooting." ...

... See also this post by Judd Legum of Think Progress. ...

... "'Pay to Play' Cop. Kate Briquelet of the Daily Beast: "The volunteer cop in Tulsa, Okla., who killed an unarmed black man was forking over thousands in donations and equipment after becoming an unpaid sheriff's deputy. Robert Bates, a 73-year-old insurance executive-turned-deputy, accidentally fired his gun instead of a Taser -- costing Eric Harris, 44, his life and adding to the tally of deadly police shootings against minorities nationwide.... [Bates] also chaired Tulsa County Sheriff Stanley Glanz's reelection campaign in 2012."

News Lede

New York Times: "Günter Grass, the German novelist, social critic and Nobel Prize winner whom many called his country's moral conscience but who stunned Europe when he revealed in 2006 that he had been a member of the Waffen-SS during World War II, died on Monday. He was 87."