The Commentariat -- Jan. 25, 2015

Photo removed.

The Times of India has a "breaking news" banner on its front page which, at least currently, relates to the Obamas' visit to India. ...

     ... Update: The "breaking news" banner is gone, but the paper now has a liveblog of the Obamas' visit.

Julie Pace of the AP: "President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi say they have achieved a breakthrough understanding to free up U.S. investment in nuclear energy development in India. The two countries had been at an impasse over U.S. insistence on tracking fissile material it supplies to India and over Indian liability provisions that have discouraged U.S. firms from capitalizing on a 2008 civil nuclear agreement between the U.S. and India." ...

... CW: My favorite part of the press conference was near the end, where President Obama, in describing the ties between the U.S. & India, noted that we were "two former colonies." ...

... Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "When President Obama walked off Air Force One here Sunday morning, he was greeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who walked up to Obama and gave him a big hug. The airport meeting, a break from tradition, and embrace comes as the two countries are looking to reinvigorate a relationship that had stagnated in recent years -- and one that both men hope will benefit from a personal rapport they developed last year."

Reality Strikes Back against GOP Ideology. Adam Nagourney & Shaila Dewan of the New York Times: "Republican governors across the nation are proposing tax increases -- and backing off pledges to cut taxes -- as they strike a decidedly un-Republican pose in the face of budget shortfalls and pent-up demands from constituents after years of budget cuts."

Michael Strain of the right-wing American Enterprise Institute argues in a Washington Post op-ed that it's okay if people die as a result of losing access to health insurance via the ACA. Because, um, the government makes these tradeoffs all the time: e.g., if states lowered the speed limit to 10 mph fewer people would die in road accidents. ...

... Competing with Strain for weekend's worst op-ed, Maureen Dowd writes another column about how awful Obama is. ...

... He's No Krugman. Bill Curry writes a sensible column in Salon questioning the sincerity of President Obama's sudden bout of populism. CW: I do think Curry has glossed over Obama's longstanding advocacy for the poor & middle class. The difference now, as I see it, is that the proposals in his SOTU speech were more robust than those he's made in the past, when he put forward policy proposals that he thought might have a shot at getting through Congress, even if further watered down. Still, Curry's reminder of Obama's mixed signals is important to keep in mind.

** Salon publishes an excerpt from Julian Zelizer's book The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress & the Battle for the Great Society. Read the whole excerpt. Here's an excerpt of the excerpt:

At 4 a.m. on November 23, 1963, the day after Kennedy's assassination gave him the presidency, [Lydon] Johnson reclined on his bed, his top advisers arrayed around him for an impromptu meeting.... The new president told Jack Valenti, Bill Moyers, and Cliff Carter, with 'relish and resolve,' according to Valenti, 'I'm going to get Kennedy's tax cut out of the Senate Finance Committee, and we're going to get this economy humming again. Then I'm going to pass Kennedy's civil rights bill, which has been hung up too long in the Congress. And I'm going to pass it without changing a single comma or a word. After that we'll pass legislation that allows everyone anywhere in this country to vote, with all the barriers down. And that's not all. We're going to get a law that says every boy and girl in this country, no matter how poor, or the color of their skin, or the region they come from, is going to be able to get all the education they can take by loan, scholarship, or grant, right from the federal government.... And I aim to pass Harry Truman's medical insurance bill that got nowhere before.'

Joanna Rothkopf of Salon reminds us of McDonald's outstanding history of dickishness.

Emily Satchell of WRIC Richmond: "The Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board has stripped former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell of his law license. The Virginia State Bar said in a release that McDonnell's license to practice law in the Commonwealth is suspended, effective January 29, based on his conviction on 11 public corruption charges. 8News legal expert Russ Stone says that, 'If he wanted to obtain it again once he is out of prison, he would have to apply with the bar to have his license re-instated.'" CW: Said Bob, once a likely presidential contendah, "On the whole, I'd rather be in Des Moines." ...

Presidential Race

Ashley Parker & Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "A crowded field of potential Republican presidential candidates scrapped for the hearts of the party's conservative base [in Des Moines, Iowa] on Saturday, implicitly rejecting more moderate choices like Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney, who did not attend." ...

... Jon Ward of Yahoo! News: "The tone, from the outset, was gloomy. America is 'mired in darkness,' said David Bossie, a conservative filmmaker and activist who organized the event. Conservative talk show host Jan Mickelson opened the event by saying, 'Nobody from Iowa cares a sliver about immigration. All of us came from somewhere. What we do care about is illegal gate crashers.' Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called President Barack Obama 'an overgrown little boy' for his executive action last year on immigration. And television personality Donald Trump criticized [Jeb] Bush for saying last year that some illegal immigrants come to the United States as an 'act of love' to provide for their families. 'Remember,' Trump said, in a gross mischaracterization of undocumented immigrants, 'half of them are criminals.'" ...

... For more detail, we go to our friends at Politico, whose little hearts must be throbbing:

... Ben Schreckinger: "Chris Christie on Saturday made the case to the Republican base that he embodied a strain of true conservatism that can succeed nationally. The New Jersey governor, who is considering running for president, was the most prominent establishment-backed 2016 contender to appear at Rep. Steve King's Iowa Freedom Summit...." ...

... Jonathan Topaz: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Saturday hailed his record as a conservative leader, previewing his likely 2016 presidential pitch as an outsider and a fighter for bold reform. The potential presidential candidate spent the majority of his address at the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines highlighting his accomplishments as governor and contrasting them with the broken ways of Washington." ...

... Schreckinger: "Sen. Ted Cruz called on Republican voters to hold presidential candidates accountable for their conservative credentials Saturday in a speech to the party's grassroots faithful at Rep. Steve King's Iowa Freedom Summit." CW: I guess Ted couldn't "highlight his accomplishments" the way Walker did because "read the kids a bedtime story written by a leftist on national teevee" is not nearly as impressive as "whacked a lot of public employees, especially those nasty teachers." ...

... Schreckinger: "Rick Perry touted his economic record as governor of Texas Saturday." CW: Also won the award for candidate who killed the most death row inmates ever, including at least one innocent man. ...

... Schreckinger: "Mike Huckabee mocked the notion that climate change is a major threat to Americans in a speech to conservative activists Saturday. 'A beheading is a far greater threat to an American than a sunburn,' cracked Huckabee, referring to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, and its tactic of beheading its enemies. The line drew laughter and applause from the grassroots faithful...." CW: Hilarious. Idiots. ...

... Schreckinger: "Rick Santorum laid out a populist vision for grassroots Republicans on Saturday, saying the party needs to be pro-growth but also pro-worker." CW: What if you had a meeting & the most sensible guy in the room was Rick Santorum? Impossible? No, I think it just happened. ...

... Topaz: "Ben Carson on Saturday delivered a forceful defense of conservatism, arguing for dramatically scaling back the federal government and saying that he wouldn't support Obamacare even if it worked. Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who has become a darling among grassroots conservatives, drew raucous applause from the crowd at the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines." CW: These people are so not racists. ...

... Topaz: "Donald Trump on Saturday slammed Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush as potential 2016 presidential candidates -- a move that delighted the crowd of Iowa conservatives and demonstrated the two candidates' potential liabilities in a GOP primary." ...

     ... Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register: "In a sit-down interview with The Des Moines Register, [Trump] said the two presumed GOP frontrunners, Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, are doomed to lose -- and he expressed regret that he hadn't run himself in 2012. Trump said he should be in the White House right now. 'I was leading in every poll. ... I regret that I didn't stay in,' he said.... 'I would've won the race against (President Barack) Obama. He would've been easy. Hillary (Clinton) is tougher to beat than Obama, but Hillary is very beatable.'"

... AND Let Us Not Forget the Lovely Host. Topaz: "Rep. Steve King, at the opening of his Iowa Freedom Summit, took another jab at so-called DREAMers, saying they come from a different 'planet.'... 'We're a great people. We have a vitality that's unequaled on the planet. We come from every possible planet, uh, every possible continent,' King said, to laughter from the crowd. After a brief pause, the congressman referenced the DREAM Action Coalition, an immigration advocacy group protesting the event in Des Moines. 'They're across the street, those people that come from the other planet,' he said, prompting more laughs and applause from the audience." CW: As I said, these people are so not racists. Never mind that they deem young people from Central America to be not human. ...

... Roger Simon: "The Republican Party's clown car has become a clown van.... At the Freedom Summit [in Des Moines] Saturday, two dozen speakers ground through 10 hours of speeches in front of more than 1,000 far-right Republicans.... Sarah Palin, who has been teasing the press with hints she might actually run for president, appeared to end much hope of that Saturday by delivering a 33-minute speech of such incoherence that even veteran Palin-watchers were puzzled.... I would provide some context, but there wasn't any. It is possible she was improperly inflated." CW: Really sexist, Roger, but I don't care. ...

... MEANWHILE, in the Brainland. Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Jeb Bush previewed the ideas at the heart of his likely presidential campaign, delivering a sweeping address [in San Francisco] Friday about the economy, foreign affairs and energy exploration, and challenging the country to question 'every aspect of how government works.' In his first major speech since stepping into the 2016 presidential sweepstakes in December, the Republican former Florida governor spoke confidently and in significant detail about the broad range of issues beginning to shape the campaign for the White House." ...

Our national identity is not based on race or some kind of exclusionary belief. Historically, the unwritten contract has been: Come legally to this country, embrace our values, learn English, work, and you can be as American as anybody else. Immigrants are an engine of economic vitality. -- Jeb Bush, Friday

God News

Richard Dawkins reads his fan mail. Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the link. These God-fearing folks sure use a lot of dirty words. Also, they seem absolutely obsessed with gay sex:

Dennis Augustine, a former Pentecostal minister, fires God. Via Helmant Mehta.

Way Beyond the Beltway
And Way Beyond Stupid

Ed Vulliamy of the Guardian: "Leaders of Jewish communities and Holocaust memorial groups in Britain and the Netherlands have reacted with rage and despair at the arrival in Rotterdam of the world's biggest ship, the Pieter Schelte, named after a Dutch officer in the Waffen-SS. The vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jonathan Arkush, said: 'Naming such a ship after an SS officer who was convicted of war crimes is an insult to the millions who suffered and died at the hands of the Nazis. We urge the ship's owners to reconsider and rename the ship after someone more appropriate.'... Allseas is owned by a Dutchman, Edward Heerema, who is the son of Pieter Schelte Heerema."

News Ledes

Weather Channel: "New York City is under a blizzard warning and Boston is under a blizzard watch in anticipation of Winter Storm Juno, which will be a major snowstorm for the Northeast Monday through Tuesday night, lingering into Wednesday morning. Parts of the region will see blizzard conditions and more than 2 feet of snow."

Washington Post: "After five years of extreme austerity prescribed to treat an epidemic of debt, a battered but defiant Greece on Sunday emphatically rejected the medicine. With millions of voters turning out ... the country delivered a historic win to Syriza, a radical leftist party that could put Greece on a collision course with the rest of Europe. The expected showdown has already rattled Greek financial markets and may challenge the core principle behind Europe's currency union."

Los Angeles Times: "An electronic device that could be a drone has been recovered on the White House grounds, Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a briefing early Monday in New Delhi, India. Asked about media reports on the device, Earnest said the device 'doesn't pose any ongoing threat' to the Obama family. The Secret Service is reportedly investigating."

The Commentariat -- Jan. 24, 2015

Internal links, discarded photo removed.

Times of Israel: "The White House's outrage over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to speak before Congress in March -- a move he failed to coordinate with the administration -- began to seep through the diplomatic cracks on Friday, with officials telling Haaretz the Israeli leader had 'spat' in President Barack Obama's face.... Haaretz reported that Obama had personally demanded that Netanyahu tone down his pro-sanctions rhetoric in a phone call between the two last week. The Washington Post reported that Netanyahu's apparent disrespect for the US leadership was particularly offensive to Secretary of State John Kerry...." ...

... Mike Lillis of the Hill: "Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) surprise invitation to have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address Congress in March was 'inappropriate,' House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi charged Thursday. The California Democrat said that, not only did Boehner break congressional protocol by not consulting Democratic leaders about the invitation, but the timing of the speech -- coming just a few weeks ahead of Israel's contentious national elections -- hints that politics are at play." ...

... Josh Marshall of TPM: "Netanyahu's office has tried to paper over the confrontation by calling the congressional invitation bipartisan. But Democrats were quick to note that is not true. Even American Jewish groups who seldom allow any daylight between themselves and the Israeli government appear shocked by Netanyahu's move and are having difficulty defended it."

Gail Collins on the sinking of the House's showboat anti-abortion bill. "'I'm going to need your help to find a way out of this definitional problem with rape,' Senator Lindsey Graham told the anti-abortion marchers. This was four days after Graham announced that he was considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination. It's very possible that the phrase 'this definitional problem with rape' will last longer than his candidacy." CW: Yes, indeedy, Brother Lindsey is nudging his way into "legitimate rape" territory. Still, as Collins writes, "If you truly believe that human life begins the moment a sperm fertilizes an egg, you can't admit any exceptions. The only real debate is whether you get to impose your religious beliefs on the entire country."

Alec MacGillis of Slate: "Now that Republicans are in control of both chambers of Congress, the push to slay Obamacare by a thousand cuts is officially underway. But if the first stab is any indication, Republicans are going to need some sharper knives. On Thursday, Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, the new chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, convened a hearing on one of the measures Republicans have been championing as a means to undermine the Affordable Care Act: changing the way it defines full-time work." It didn't go well. "'This,' said [Patty] Murray [Wash.], the committee's top Democrat, 'was a very good hearing.'" Read the whole post.

Jonathan Chait: "The Republican Party confidently and forthrightly rejects the firm conclusions of science on a major public-policy question. Isn't that a completely disqualifying position?... Even if you agreed with everything else the Republicans stood for, how could a party so obviously unhinged be entrusted with power?" ...

... CW: The problem is that science doesn't comport with Republican objectives and beliefs. For instance, in Slate, Kathryn Kolbert cites a Texas case in which four of five of the state's "expert" witnesses had to recant their testimony when the judge discovered "their" reports were produced by a notorious anti-abortion junk scientist. The witnesses themselves were unfamiliar with the works they cited in their own testimony. Initially, both they & the state lied to cover up the involvement of the discredited "scientist." This is the same phenomenon we see in Republicans' rejection of mainstream economic research. It isn't that Republicans are too stupid to understand climate science or economics or any sort of empirical evidence (though of course some are); it's that they are so committed to serving their own -- and their donors' -- interests, that they feel no compunction about lying through their teeth, sometimes even to themselves.

Jackie Calmes of the New York Times: Jorge Ramos, "the Walter Cronkite of Latino television," turns his critical attention from President Obama to Congressional Republicans over "deportation, deportation, deportation."

White House: "In this week's address, the President shared his plan, outlined in his State of the Union address earlier this week, to give hardworking families the support they need to make ends meet by focusing on policies that benefit the middle class and those working to reach the middle class":

Adam Liptak & Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide a case on the constitutionality of the new combinations of lethal injection drugs that some states are using to execute prisoners and which critics say cause intense suffering."

Shane Goldmacher of the National Journal: "The coming presidential contest is ushering in an epochal shift: the arrival of candidate-specific nonprofits, personalized vehicles for a politician's supporters to raise and spend unlimited cash -- completely clandestinely. It is poised to yield a campaign season more dominated by secret money than any election since Watergate.... By raising money through 'social welfare' nonprofits, these not-yet-candidates [-- Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal & John Kasich] are avoiding disclosure of both their financiers and what, exactly, they are financing.... In other words, for the first time in a generation, there will be a clear avenue for America's richest to secretly spend an unchecked sum to choose their party's nominee for the White House." CW: Thanks, Supremes! ...

That these five justices persist in invalidating [campaign finance] regulations under a perverse and unwarranted interpretation of the First Amendment is, to be blunt, a travesty. These decisions will come to be counted as among the worst decisions in the history of the Supreme Court. -- Constitutional scholar Geoffrey Stone

... Sean McElwee & Liz Kennedy, in Salon, show another major way in which Citizens United has eroded democracy: "... Americans have very little voice in democracy, and increasingly feel that their government is not responsive. Low voting rates, particularly among the poor (far below average among OECD countries), are a symptom of our crisis of democracy. A recent poll finds that 54 percent of Americans who don't vote say they don't pay attention to politics because the political system is too corrupt."

Burgess Everett & Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Top Senate Republicans are considering gutting the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees -- a move that could yield big rewards for whichever party controls the White House and Senate after 2016. The move, still in its early stages, reflects growing GOP confidence in its electoral prospects next year. But it could also have a major immediate impact if a justice such as 81-year-old Ruth Bader Ginsburg steps down, making it far easier for President Barack Obama to get a replacement confirmed. The proposed change would expand on the dramatic move Democrats made in 2013, when they killed the 60-vote hurdle for executive branch nominations and almost all judicial nominees."

Dan Merida & Cassie Spodak of CNN: "Hillary Clinton did not have 65 Secret Service agents protecting her in Canada on Wednesday, a Secret Service source told CNN, despite a report from a Canadian radio station to the contrary." Drudge, the Weekly Standard & other conservative media picked up the false story.

Orrin Hatch -- Hypocrite of the Week. Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) is one of six Republican senators who joined an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to gut one of the core provisions of the Affordable Care Act. Yet the central claim of that brief -- and, indeed, of the entire lawsuit -- was rejected during the debate over the law by none other than Sen. Orrin Hatch.... In his brief..., Hatch claims that the law 'provides that premium subsidies are available only through an exchange established by a State'.... Yet..., back in 2010, Hatch co-authored a Wall Street Journal op-ed [in which he wrote,]

A third constitutional defect in this ObamaCare legislation is its command that states establish such things as benefit exchanges.... This is not a condition for receiving federal funds, which would still leave some kind of choice to the states.

... CW: Hatch's about-face is related to the GOP's general rejection of science. If what was once a fact becomes inconvenient, it's A-okay to pretend that a counterfact is accurate. As Krugman says, "Facts have a liberal bias." Ergo, for conservatives, objective facts can be so inconvenient they must be denied. Right Wing World is necessarily surreal. ...

     ... Update: Contributor Jack M. cites another good example of this phenomenon in today's comments: "See Frist, Bill in the matter of Terri Schiavo."

Presidential Race

All You Need to Know about the Republican Party in One Sentence. Take it Away, Benjy: Steve King "now stands to play a major role vetting the party's next nominee." CW: It's official. The inmates have taken over the asylum.

When asked whether or not she would consider a run for president, the woman in the photo above said, "It doesn't have to be myself, but yes ... happy to drive that competition, because competition will make everyone better and produce more and be more candid regarding their solutions they will offer this country. I am very interested in that competitive process and, again, not necessarily me." Palin will speak at Steve King's lovely get-together. With video. ...

... Andrew Kirell of Mediaite: "As you can see, the men are holding up a poster that reads 'FUC_ YOU, MICHAEL MOORE' with crosshairs replacing the Os, and the 'K' strangely missing from the first word (Why bother censoring yourself when you're already going all-out?). She also autographed the poster.... For those curious, the man to the left is Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. Dakota Meyer, who also posted another picture of the same moment to his Facebook, asking fans to make it go viral." CW: Way to show you're "honorable," Dakota. I'm waiting for Jeb Bush to complain about the coarsening of the GOP nomination race.

Beyond the Beltway

German Lopez of Vox: "Protesters around the country are once again speaking out against racial disparities in police use of force in response to a video that shows two Bridgeton, New Jersey, officers shooting and killing a black man as he held his hands up. A dashboard camera recorded the encounter, including the moments police pulled over a car and shot and killed the passenger, 36-year-old Jerame Reid.... Between 2012 and 2014, [Officer Roger] Worley[, who is white] was involved in 23 uses of force and [Officer Braheme] Days[, who is black] in 11, according to records obtained by the Associated Press. Other officers in the Bridgeton Police Department were involved in more incidents of use of force. The Associated Press found Days and Worley were also the subjects of multiple complaints alleging abuses of power over the past two years, but all the complaints were dismissed."

Whazza Matta wid Hizzonor? Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: New York City "Mayor Bill de Blasio is not wavering in his support for Sheldon Silver. Asked by reporters at a gathering of mayors in Washington on Friday about his belief in the integrity of Mr. Silver, the powerful speaker of the New York State Assembly who was arrested Thursday on corruption charges, Mr. de Blasio characterized his fellow Democrat as a staunch ally who had 'followed through on every commitment that he made' in pursuit of the mayor's legislative agenda for New York City." CW: Yo, Bill. He's still a crook. Alleged, that is. Alleged.

Kevin Cirilli of the Hill: "Colorado's decision to legalize marijuana was a bad idea, the state's governor said Friday. Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who opposed the 2012 decision by voters to make pot legal, said the state still doesn't fully know what the unintended consequences of the move will be."

News Ledes

Guardian: "The Pentagon and the White House are pushing back on reports that the Obama administration is pausing drone strikes and other counterterrorism operations in Yemen, amidst the abrupt collapse of a critical partner government. Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon's chief spokesman, said both 'unilateral and partnered' operations conducted by the US in Yemen against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) 'are not suspended'."

New York Times: "The Japanese government expressed outrage at an image released Saturday that appeared to show the decapitated body of one of two Japanese hostages captured by Islamic State militants, and President Obama condemned what he called a 'brutal murder.' The kidnappers had threatened to kill the men if a Friday deadline passed for a $200 million ransom from Japan. Hours before Mr. Obama's statement, the United States and Japanese governments said that they were working to authenticate the video containing the image."

NBC News: "President Barack Obama and the First Lady will travel to Saudi Arabia to pay respects following the death of King Abdullah, the White House said early Saturday. Obama will cut short an official trip to India and will fly to Riyadh on Tuesday to meet the new King Salman, spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement. Vice President Joe Biden, who had been due to fly to Saudi Arabia, 'will remain in Washington' the statement said."

Goodbye, Mr. Cub. New York Times: "Ernie Banks, the greatest power-hitting shortstop of the 20th century and an unconquerable optimist whose sunny disposition never dimmed in 19 seasons with the perennially stumbling Chicago Cubs, died Friday. He was 83." Banks' Chicago Sun-Times obituary is here.

Gripe o'the Day

How Not to Write a Comment

Marie, why haven't you posted articles that show that the family farm of Senator Ernst received almost a half million dollars in subsidies. I wonder if she hypocritically is against food stamps too. -- A Reality Chex Commenter

Make your comment to a Reality Chex post that is two days old and has nothing to do with the issue you're raising. That way, almost no one will read it. (I saw it only because Squarespace e-mailed it to me.)

Complain I'm not doing my job by failing to post something that is of interest to you.

Don't bother to share a link to the article or story you think I should have linked.

Don't bother to read the comment of a contributor who did have the decency to provide a link to a story you complain I didn't highlight.

Don't bother to read my response to the commenter, wherein I explained why I didn't think the story was helpful.

Don't bother to respond to me when I write you a personal e-mail detailing why I thought your comment was off-base.

Suggest that somebody else should find the answer to something you're "wondering" about when a one-stop Google search would answer your question.

Don't bother to apologize to the commenter who did post the link you wanted to see on Reality Chex.

Just be an all-around dick in two short sentences.

BTW, I see that Snopes has subsequently posted a rebuttal to the Ernst-Is-a-Farm-Subsidy-Freeloader meme. The Snopes writer agrees with me in toto.