The Commentariat -- Feb. 27, 2013

My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on David Brooks' latest hogwash.

Mark Murray of NBC News: "... according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll..., President Barack Obama finds himself in a much stronger position than his Republican adversaries.... Strong majorities support the broad outlines of Obama's top domestic priorities pp on immigration, gun control and raising the minimum wage.... What's more, the polls shows the Democratic Party beats the Republican Party on almost every issue...."

Donna Cassata of the AP: "Chuck Hagel takes charge at the Defense Department with deep budget cuts looming and Republican opponents still doubtful that he's up to the job. Hagel is expected to be sworn in Wednesday and is likely to address the staff in his first day as defense secretary." ...

... Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "The Senate confirmed Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense on Tuesday after a bruising bout with Republicans, while President Obama's choice to be Treasury secretary headed to the floor with bipartisan support, suggesting that the Republican blockade against the administration's second-term nominees was beginning to ease. After escaping a filibuster by members of his own party, Mr. Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, prevailed in a 58-to-41 vote -- the narrowest margin for any defense secretary on record.... Just four Republicans voted for his confirmation: Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Mike Johanns of Nebraska, [Rand] Paul [of Kentucky] and Richard Shelby of Alabama.... Hours earlier, the Senate Finance Committee approved the nomination of Jacob J. Lew as Treasury secretary on a 19-to-5 vote." ...

... Contributor James S. remarked on Paul's "yea" vote in a comment to yesterday's Commentariat: "... Aqua Buddha Man voted 'yea.' Does this mean he hasn't figured out the buttons on his chamber desk yet, or what?" May be. As Dana Milbank notes today in his column on the multiple smears Hagel endured from fellow Republican Senators, "Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) gave credence to a hoax, published credulously in the conservative press, that Hagel had received funds from a fictitious group called Friends of Hamas. Asked about this by radio host Hugh Hewitt, Paul replied: 'You know, I saw that information today, also, and that is more and more concerning.'" Evidently, Paul got over his fake concerns, perhaps when somebody told him they were based on a completely phony report by what I suppose is one of Paul's favorite "news" outlets. ...

... Dave Weigel of Slate (who has described himself as a libertarian) explains it's a libertarian thing. I still can't see the logic of why -- as contributor Diane points out -- Paul voted nay on cloture hours before he voted yea on confirmation, the only Senator to do so. I think the point is that often there is little logic to Paul's "principled votes." He does what he does when he does it. If he can't find a libertarian rationale for his vote, he can find a conservative one. ...

... Funny tweet from Matt Yglesias in response to Hagel confirmation; responses to Yglesias's tweet are good, too. Via Jonathan Bernstein.

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: Today the Supreme Court "will review -- for the sixth time since passage in 1965 -- Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which mandates that federal authorities pre-approve any changes in voting laws here [in nine] states and numerous jurisdictions with a history of discrimination. It has survived each previous time." ...

... Washington Post Editors: "In reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act seven years ago, a bipartisan majority of lawmakers -- 390 to 33 in the House, 98 to 0 in the Senate -- determined that the evidence justified maintaining pre-clearance. Shelby County and its allies have not given the high court reason enough to repudiate Congress's resounding judgment." ...

... Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia), in a Washington Post op-ed, on why we still need the Voting Rights Act. Lewis explains what specifically is at issue in the case before the Supremes & writes, "It is ironic and almost emblematic that the worst perpetrators are those seeking to be relieved of the responsibilities of justice. Instead of accepting the ways our society has changed and dealing with the implications of true democracy, they would rather free themselves of oversight and the obligations of equal justice." ...

... Adam Serwer of Mother Jones: John Roberts has a long history of fighting the Voting Rights Act.

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned back a challenge to a federal law that broadened the government’s power to eavesdrop on international phone calls and e-mails. The decision, by a 5-to-4 vote that divided along ideological lines, probably means the Supreme Court will never rule on the constitutionality of that 2008 law.... Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said that the journalists, lawyers and human rights advocates who challenged the constitutionality of the law could not show they had been harmed by it and so lacked standing to sue."

Bob Woodward Extends His Anti-Obama Campaign. Kevin Robillard of Politico: "The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward attacked President Barack Obama on Wednesday, saying the commander-in-chief's decision not to deploy an aircraft carrier because of budget cuts is 'a kind of madness.' ... The Pentagon announced earlier this month the U.S.S. Harry Truman, which was supposed to leave for the Persian Gulf, will remain stateside due to budget concerns. The sequester, which will cut billions in defense spending, is scheduled to hit on Friday." ...

The Virginian-Pilot: "Thousands of blue-collar jobs will be lost if federal lawmakers don't strike a deal by the end if the week to avoid sweeping budget cuts, President Barack Obama told a crowd of about 3,000 shipyard workers this afternoon. Standing in front of a massive propeller in a cavernous facility used to build submarines, Obama called on Congress to compromise or risk harming the economy in Hampton Roads," Virginia. ...

... An excellent, easy-to-understand post by Sharon Parrott of the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities on the impacts of the sequester: "Taken together, the [2011 Budget Control Act] cuts and sequestration would cut discretionary spending 14 percent below the 2010 level in inflation-adjusted terms...." Apparently, Republicans cannot do this math. ...

... Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The federal government, the nation's largest consumer and investor, is cutting back at a pace exceeded in the last half-century only by the military demobilizations after the Vietnam War and the cold war."

... CW: Here's Brian Beutler's prediction on how the sequester will come down. It sounds plausible to me, though I would not be bold enough to bet a nickel on any prediction:

The most important factor in this fight is probably the reality that Obama doesn't have to face voters again and thus is willing to veto sequestration replacement bills if they're composed of spending cuts alone. Congressional Democrats are fully aware of this.... So sequestration will begin.... And then the tension sequestration was intended to create -- and in fact has created -- between defense hawks and the rest of the GOP will intensify and actually splinter the party. If that doesn't happen quickly enough, then the sequestration fight will become tangled up in the need to renew funding for the federal government at the end of March. If Republicans don't cave before then, they'll precipitate a 1995-style government shutdown, public opinion will actually begin to control the outcome, and it'll be game over. ...

... Greg Sargent adds, "Ultimately, what will be decisive is how public opinion plays out through March. The current environment suggests Republicans have a lot more work to do to shift the basic dynamic in their favor than Dems do." ...

... ** STILL, as Jonathan Chait of New York writes, "... deciphering the GOP strategy is as mysterious as gaming out the plans of a tiny band of warring clans in some mountainous region of Afghanistan.... Deepening the bafflement is that the Republicans' apparent approach bears no relation either to political reality or to the party's stated goals. President Obama is offering up something -- hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Social Security and Medicare -- that Republicans say they want and which (because of their unpopularity) they have proven unable to obtain even when they have had full control of government. They are instead undertaking a public showdown against a figure who is vastly more popular and trusted, who possesses a better platform to communicate his message, and whose message itself ... commands overwhelmingly higher public support." Read the whole post. ...

... Sarah Binder, in the Monkey Cage: "I suspect the GOP strategy seems inscrutable because we are overestimating the degree of consensus within (and between) the House and Senate Republican conferences. In the House, for sure, I see no evidence that Speaker Boehner has the votes to re-pass the sequester replacement from last December, explaining why Boehner keeps claiming that the House has already acted even though the bill died at the close of the 112th Congress.... By carving out protection for major (Social Security and Medicare) federal benefits, narrowly tailored education benefits, and low-income support programs, Democratic priorities are partially protected.... Democratic legislators would surely prefer the sequester cuts to the alternative cuts passed in December by House Republicans, which Democrats uniformly voted against."

Kirk Semple of the New York Times: "Federal immigration officials have released hundreds of detainees from immigration detention centers around the country in a highly unusual effort that is intended to save money as automatic budget cuts loom in Washington, officials said Tuesday. The government has not dropped the deportation cases against the immigrants, however. The detainees have been freed on supervised release while their cases continue in court...."

Fiction writer Louise Erdrich, in a New York Times op-ed: "The Justice Department reports that one in three Native women is raped over her lifetime, while other sources report that many Native women are too demoralized to report rape. Perhaps this is because federal prosecutors decline to prosecute 67 percent of sexual abuse cases, according to the Government Accountability Office.... More than 80 percent of sex crimes on reservations are committed by non-Indian men, who are immune from prosecution by tribal courts." The Senate passed the reauthorization Violence Against Women Act -- again -- but the House has failed to pass it once & the version Eric Cantor has put forward would put limits on the protections the Senate bill provides to Native Americans & other groups. ...

... Update: Jake Sherman of Politico: "House Republicans seem to be resigned that their version of the Violence Against Women Act is a loser with their own members and are likely to pass the Senate bill this week without changes. The GOP leadership has set up a floor process that would allow the chamber to vote on the Senate bill if they cannot pass their own version of the domestic violence legislation.... The main lingering issues for the House's bill was how it handled violence in tribal areas. The White House on Tuesday said it 'cannot support the House substitute' to the Senate bill."

James Risen of the New York Times: "Virginia Messick is the first victim of a sexual assault scandal at Lackland Air Force Base to discuss what she has endured.... Ms. Messick, now 21, is one of 62 trainees identified as victims of assault or other improper conduct by 32 training instructors between 2009 and 2012 at Lackland, a sprawling base outside San Antonio that serves as the Air Force's basic training center for enlisted personnel. So far, seven Air Force instructors have been court-martialed, including Staff Sgt. Luis Walker, now serving a 20-year sentence for crimes involving 10 women, including Ms. Messick. Eight more court-martial cases are pending. Fifteen other instructors are under investigation, and two senior officers have been relieved of command.... The reforms undertaken by the Air Force do not alter a fundamental fact of military life: commanders have final say over whether criminal charges are brought in military courts, and victims are expected to report crimes to those who oversee their careers."

Obama 2.0. Ben Protess of the New York Times: "Lawmakers are scrutinizing Mary Jo White ahead of her Senate confirmation hearing [re: her nomination to head the S.E.C.], raising questions about the former prosecutor’s lack of regulatory experience and the challenge of policing Wall Street firms she recently defended in private practice.... Ms. White ... offered a previously undisclosed concession, vowing 'as far as can be foreseen,' never to return to Debevoise & Plimpton, where she had built a lucrative legal practice.... Ms. White had already agreed to recuse herself for one year from most matters that involve former clients.... [Some] Democrats have lingering reservations.... Her husband, John W. White, is co-chairman of the corporate governance practice at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, where he represents many of the companies that the S.E.C. regulates. They also question whether Ms. White's recusals, even if well-intentioned, could cripple her ability to run the agency."

Kate Zernike of the New York Times: "Gov. Chris Christie, one of the most strident Republican critics of President Obama’s health care overhaul, announced on Tuesday that he would accept federal money to expand the Medicaid program in New Jersey. The expansion, which the governor described in his annual budget address to the Legislature, would provide health insurance to 104,000 of the poorest 1.3 million residents currently living without it, though some groups say the number could be higher. Mr. Christie emphasized that it was a financial decision, not a philosophical shift; if New Jersey did not take the money, he said, the federal government would give it to other states." ...

... Shushannah Walshe of ABC News: "There are almost 40 featured speakers at next month’s Conservative Political Action Conference, but one of the most popular Republican governors in the country has yet to receive an invite. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is 'not being invited' to CPAC...." CW: Walshe describes Marco Rubio as "former Florida Sen[ator]." If only.

Binyamin Appelbaum: "The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, played down concerns about the Fed's economic stimulus campaign on Tuesday, describing it as necessary and effective and making clear it was likely to continue for some time. In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee, Mr. Bernanke was relatively upbeat about the broader economy, which he said was growing again after pausing in the fourth quarter. But he said unemployment remained unacceptably high." ...

... Mark Gongloff of the Huffington Post: "Newly minted Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday showed why big banks are not her biggest fans, grilling Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the risks and fairness of having banks that are 'too big to fail.' Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Bernanke during his latest semiannual appearance before the Senate Banking Committee...." Thanks to contributor Julie L. for the link. ...

... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "... Ben Bernanke was up on Capitol Hill this morning giving his fellow Republicans a much-needed lesson in austerity economics. Departing from his statutory duty of reporting to the Senate Banking Committee on the Fed's monetary policy, Bernanke devoted much of his testimony to fiscal policy, warning his congressional class that letting the sequester go ahead would endanger the economic recovery and do little or nothing to reduce the country's debt burden.... He also called on European countries to ease up on their austerity policies, saying that they could adopt a 'more judicious balance' of short-term and long-term fiscal consolidation.... Today, once again, the mild-mannered professor demonstrated that he can take the heat."

Another Republican Tries to Save the Nation from Republicans. Sheila Bair, the former head of the FDIC, in a New York Times op-ed: "I am a capitalist and a lifelong Republican. I believe that, in a meritocracy, some level of income inequality is both inevitable and desirable.... But I fear that government actions, not merit, have fueled these extremes in income distribution through taxpayer bailouts, central-bank-engineered financial asset bubbles and unjustified tax breaks that favor the rich....Skewing income toward the upper, upper class hurts our economy because the rich tend to sit on their money -- unlike lower- and middle-income people, who spend a large share of their paychecks, and hence stimulate economic activity."

Maureen Dowd writes a critique of Marissa Mayer, the umpteenth CEO of Yahoo! CW: I'm in agreement with most, if not all, of what Dowd says about Mayer's actions, but I always bear in mind that Dowd is especially hard on ultra-successful women.

** CW: Sorry I forgot to link the obituary of former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Coop, who died Monday. Thanks to Kate M. for reminding us. Coop's New York Times obituary is here: "Dr. Koop issued emphatic warnings about the dangers of smoking, he almost single-handedly pushed the government into taking a more aggressive stand against AIDS, and despite his moral opposition to abortion, he refused to use his office as a pulpit from which to preach against it.... In an interview for this obituary in 1996, he said he had declined to speak out on abortion because he thought his job was to deal with factual health issues like the hazards of smoking, not to express opinions on moral issues." ...

... CW: I had no idea that the Times interviewed prominent people for their obituaries. The initial ask gives new meaning to the term "cold call."

Congressional Race

Rick Pearson & Bill Ruthhart of the Chicago Tribune: "Former state Rep. Robin Kelly easily won the special Democratic primary Tuesday night in the race to replace the disgraced Jesse Jackson Jr. in Congress, helped by millions of dollars in pro-gun control ads from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's political fund.... Bloomberg's Independence USA PAC was the largest campaign interest in the race and dominated the Chicago broadcast TV airwaves compared to a marginal buy by one minor candidate."

Right Wing World

If Ted Cruz is so smart, why can't he understand the basics of critical legal studies? Zach Beauchamp of Think Progress: "... not only did Cruz get it wrong [when he claimed that roughly a dozen professors at Harvard Law 'would say they were Marxists who believed in the Communists overthrowing the United States government'], but in a certain sense he got it backwards."

No-Tax Purity Test. Maggie Haberman of Politico: "The Club for Growth, the anti-tax group that has spent heavily in Republican primaries in the past few cycles, is launching a new website that names nine GOP Congress members in safe seats and urges people to help find challengers to them.... [The site] names people in districts where Mitt Romney notched more than 60 percent in the 2012 presidential race, but got a lifetime rating of below 70 percent from the Club."

Benedict Blames Dozing Jesus for Troubles. Rachel Donadio & Alan Cowell of the New York Times: "Pope Benedict XVI held his final general audience in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, telling tens of thousands of believers in an unusually personal public farewell that his nearly eight years in office had known 'moments of joy and light but also moments that were not easy' when it seemed 'the Lord was sleeping.'"

Secrets of the Dead

Bork's Quest. Mark Sherman of TPM: "Robert Bork says President Richard Nixon promised him the next Supreme Court vacancy after Bork complied with Nixon's order to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox in 1973. Bork's recollection of his role in the Saturday Night Massacre that culminated in Cox's firing is at the center of his slim memoir, 'Saving Justice,' that is being published posthumously by Encounter Books. Bork died in December at age 85." Via Charles Pierce: ... frankly, the fact that a dead crazy person is giving up a dead criminal 40 years too late, and from from the Beyond, does not impress me as an act of contrition, either."

Poor Rockefeller. Paul Glastris of the Washington Monthly: "In 1974, after Richard Nixon resigned and Gerald Ford became president, Ford brought Nelson Rockerfeller into the Oval Office and offered to nominate him to be vice president. When Ford and everyone else was leaving the room, [confirmation prep expert Tom] Korologos ... invited the governor to his office to start the grueling process of going through Rockefeller's past. One of the first questions Rockefeller asked was whether his financial disclosure forms might be made public. This is Washington, Korologos told him, you can bet someone will leak them. The hearings ultimately revealed, among other things, that Rockefeller had failed to pay $1 million in taxes and financed a negative biography of a political rival. But that day, Rockefeller confessed to Korologos his biggest concern: that the disclosure would show that Rockefeller was worth 'only' $600 million, far less than everyone assumed, and he would lose stature in the eyes of his billionaire buddies."

News Ledes

New York Times: "The United States is significantly stepping up its support for the Syrian opposition, senior administration officials said on Wednesday, helping to train rebels at a base in the region and for the first time offering armed groups nonlethal assistance and equipment that could help their military campaign."

New York Times: "Van Cliburn, the American pianist whose first-place award at the 1958 Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow made him an overnight sensation and propelled him to a phenomenally successful and lucrative career, though a short-lived one, died Wednesday morning in Fort Worth. He was 78."

Reuters: "A powerful winter storm that buried the U.S. Plains moved on Tuesday into the southern Great Lakes region, where it snarled the evening commute in Chicago and Milwaukee, created near-whiteout conditions and forced hundreds of flight cancellations."

AP: "A center-left group of parties appears to have the best shot at forming a coalition government in Italy after an inconclusive national election, but the challenge is steep and comes amid public anger over austerity measures. If Italian parties fail to form a governing coalition, new elections would be required, causing more uncertainty and a leadership vacuum, and that possibility rattled financial markets across Europe on Tuesday." Guardian story here.

AP: "New U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has held his first official meeting with France's leadership amid increasing efforts by both countries to bolster Syria's opposition. Kerry met Wednesday with French President Francois Hollande in Paris, chatting in French on the front steps of the Elysee Palace." CW: I guess the headline in Right Wing World would be "Obama's Envoy and Socialist Leader Speak the Same Language -- And It's French!"

Reuters: "Iran gave an upbeat assessment of two days of nuclear talks with world powers that ended on Wednesday, but Western officials said Tehran must start taking concrete steps to ease mounting concerns about its atomic activity."

Reuters: U.S. Lieutenant-General Christopher Bogdan, "the Pentagon program chief for the F-35 warplane, slammed its commercial partners Lockheed Martin and Pratt & Whitney on Wednesday, accusing them of trying to 'squeeze every nickel' out of the U.S. government and failing to see the long-term benefits of the project."

Guardian: "The US government is planning to call an American, possibly one of the 22 Navy Seals involved in the Abbottabad raid that killed Osama bin Laden, to give evidence at the trial of Bradley Manning about how he discovered digital material later revealed to contain WikiLeaks disclosures, a military court heard on Tuesday."

AP: "Two police detectives [in Santa Cruz County, California,] were shot and killed while investigating a sexual assault complaint, and a suspect was also fatally shot after a brief chase, authorities said."

Reuters: "A 19-year-old student died following a shooting on Tuesday at a residence hall of a South Carolina university near the resort area of Myrtle Beach, and authorities were searching for a gunman, university officials said."

The Commentariat -- Feb. 26, 2013

Nedra Pickler of the AP: "President Barack Obama is arguing that looming government-wide spending cuts could idle military resources like naval aircraft carriers, while Republicans are criticizing the president for taking his arguments outside Washington instead of staying to work out a plan before Friday's deadline. The president planned to appear Tuesday at Virginia's largest industrial employer, Newport News Shipbuilding, which would be affected by cuts to naval spending. Obama warned Monday that if the so-called sequester goes into effect later this week, the company's 'workers will sit idle when they should be repairing ships, and a carrier sits idle when it should be deploying to the Persian Gulf.'" ...

... "These cuts do not have to happen." President Obama spoke to the National Governors Association yesterday, where he outlined the impacts of the sequester on the states:

... Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) of the Congressional Progressive Caucus "released the following statement [Monday] ahead of this Friday's sequester budget cuts:"

If Congress cannot come up with a replacement to the sequester before the end of the week, we should eliminate the sequester entirely. One million working Americans should not be forced to pay the price for Republican stubbornness. If this goes into effect, it will be one of the most irresponsible legislative failures in the history of the Republic.... Republicans held the world economy hostage in 2011. They created this crisis, and Congress should fix it for the sake of the country before people start getting fired."

Pew Research has mapped the likely effects of the sequester on various states. Go to the original map for more; it's interactive. The lighter the color, the higher the impact:

As contributor Dave S. points out, a lot of red states will be among those hit the hardest:

... Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "Since the day they were swept to power more than two years ago, the tea party's legions in Washington have made dramatic federal spending cuts the centerpiece of an economic message that has dominated the national debate. Now they're about to get what they want.... Although Democratic and Republican leaders are pointing fingers, the tea party and its allies are happily accepting credit for the cuts." CW: we'll see if they're still crowing come election eve. ...

... Steve Benen: "... one might expect [the Republicans'] message to be amazing. After all, once a political party gives up on governing and focuses solely on messaging, it's stands to reason they'll be pretty good at it. And yet, Republicans' sequestration message 'is all over the place.' GOP leaders believe the sequester will be awful but they want to let it happen. The policy was integral to the Republican fiscal plan and it's entirely the White House's idea. When Republicans say the cuts will hurt, that's fine; when Democrats say the cuts will hurt, it's evidence of scare tactics. And now Republicans are simultaneously convinced the cuts will hurt and help the economy." ...

This is not time for a road-show president. This is time to look for someone who will lead and work with us, because we're willing to work with them to solve America's problems. -- Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House Majority Whip

So 'work with them' (sic.)* means punting responsibility for writing a sequester-averting bill to the Senate; it means refusing to consider any revenue increases; & it means taking off for a full week just before the sequester was to take effect, with no deal in the offing. -- Constant Weader ...

... * How can we expect the House leadership to reach an agreement with Democrats on a sequester fix when they can't even manage noun-verb agreement? Dan Amira's short post is titled, "John Boehner Loses the Grammarian Vote":

Boehner told Republicans in a closed-meeting Tuesday that the House doesn't need to pass a third sequester replacement bill before the 'Senate gets off their ass and passes it once.' ...

... A Crack in GOP Resolve? Sam Stein of the Huff Post notes that Sen. Lindsey Graham said on CNN last night, "I'm willing to raise $600 billion in new revenue, if my Democratic friends would be willing to reform entitlements...." But Stein also is aware of Graham's history: "Graham is notoriously flirty when it comes to bipartisan deal-making, often floating the possibility of some lofty bargain that, in the end, is too hard to achieve. This one seems to fit into that category." ...

... Brian Beutler of TPM: Democrats have a number of reasons to be confident that they'll win the PR contest, one of which is the result of the 1995 government shutdown. Beutler interviewed Paul Begala, a Clinton operative, who said, in part,

Before the government shutdown it was very much an open question in most people[s minds which party would win. Republicans were very confident at the time that the government would shut down and people's lives wouldn't change. They were wrong.... We all saw that theory proved in '95 and '96 and it's going to happen again.... Bob Dole said enough is enough. He stopped it. I may be selling Mitch McConnell short, but he's no Bob Dole. He's ... more worried about his political hide.

Wherein Eric Cantor Thinks Up Sequester Rationales

The National Science Foundation spent $1.2 million paying seniors to play World of Warcraft to study the impact it had on their brain. -- House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, in a February 19 release "identifying" wasteful spending

Before applying for the federal money, the researchers conducted a small, pilot study in which seniors played WoW ... and were tested to see if it improved their cognitive abilities. This study was funded with a $5,000 grant from N.C. State. No U.S. money was involved. The federal study involves hours of testing each participant and efforts to identify the aspects of computer games that might help seniors better deal with life offline. -- PolitiFact

Digby, on the long game: "on the fundamental battle over the role of government, [Republicans] have been winning.... After all, Obamacare, their most hated new government initiative was a GOP plan not even two decades ago. They aren't all stupid, especially those who are working to restore our society to a pre-New Deal state. It would be really helpful if Democrats ... started recognizing how much they have been losing on policy even as they've been winning elections. The country is losing either way."

** Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: "Dozens of prominent Republicans -- including top advisers to former President George W. Bush, four former governors and two members of Congress -- have signed a legal brief arguing that gay people have a constitutional right to marry, a position that amounts to a direct challenge to Speaker John A. Boehner and reflects the civil war in the party since the November election. The document will be submitted this week to the Supreme Court in support of a suit seeking to strike down Proposition 8, a California ballot initiative barring same-sex marriage, and all similar bans. The court will hear back-to-back arguments next month in that case and another pivotal gay rights case that challenges the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act."

** Lyle Denniston, writing for the National Constitution Center: "No matter how eagerly some policymakers want to put some legal restraints on the Obama administration’s policy of targeted killing by drones in waging war on terrorism, it is a near-certainty that the idea of handing to a civilian court the power to decide who could be killed, and when, would not withstand constitutional scrutiny."

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor accused a Texas federal prosecutor Monday of tapping into a 'deep and sorry vein of racial prejudice' in his questioning of a black man facing a drug charge. The justices did not accept Bongani Charles Calhoun's request that the court review his conviction, but Sotomayor appended a scathing statement to make sure that the court's denial would not be seen as a signal of 'tolerance of a federal prosecutor's racially charged remark.' ... [The prosecutor] had asked Calhoun: 'You've got African Americans, you've got Hispanics, you've got a bag full of money. Does that tell you -- a light bulb doesn't go off in your head and say, "This is a drug deal?'" ... Justice Stephen G. Breyer joined Sotomayor's statement." Sotomayor's statement is here, & it's worth reading, especially because it at least partially explains why she agreed to deny cert.

Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post addresses an issue that contributor Barbarossa raised the other day -- America's Worst Governor Rick Scott's persuading HHS to "allow the state to move nearly all Medicaid enrollees into privately managed plans." Other Republican-led states are making similar moves. As Kliff writes, "If the Obama administration agrees, the battles over the health-care law could have an unexpected resolution: A larger, but more conservative, Medicaid program."

Frank Bruni writes quite a good column on priestly celibacy. ...

Meddling Old Fool in Fancy Brown Loafers. Pontifex emeritus. Nicole Winfield of the AP: "Pope Benedict XVI will be known as 'emeritus pope' in his retirement and will continue to wear a white cassock.... Benedict's decision to call himself emeritus pope and to keep wearing white is sure to fan concern voiced privately by some cardinals about the awkward reality of having two popes, both living within the Vatican walls. Adding to the concern is that Benedict's trusted secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, will be serving both pontiffs -- living with Benedict at the monastery inside the Vatican and keeping his day job as prefect of the new pope's household.... Benedict has taken a liking to a pair of hand-crafted brown loafers made for him by artisans in Leon, Mexico, and given to him during his 2012 visit. He will wear those in retirement...."

Martha Mendoza of the AP: "The former archbishop of San Francisco said Monday that Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony has a rightful place among Vatican officials who will choose the next pope, even though Mahony has been battered in recent days by disclosures about his role in covering up clergy sex abuse. The comments by Cardinal William Levada, a high-ranking Vatican official until recently, came in the wake of a grass-roots campaign to shame Mahony into refraining from participating because of his role protecting sexually abusive priests. Mahony left for Rome over the weekend...." Levada's was the Vatican's CIO -- Chief Inquisition Officer (seriously). "While serving previously as an archbishop in California and Oregon, he kept some accused molesters in the church and failed to share some allegations with police or parishioners." Meanwhile Mahony continues his self-pity party, tweeting, "Wow, Jesus is demanding." CW: these people are reprehensible for more than one reason.

News Ledes

AP: "The second major snowstorm in a week battered the nation's midsection Tuesday, dropping a half-foot or more of snow across Missouri and Kansas and cutting power to thousands. At least three deaths were blamed on the blizzard, and gusting winds blew drifts more than 2 feet high and created treacherous driving conditions for those who dared the morning commute."

New York Times: "Saudi Arabia has financed a large purchase of infantry weapons from Croatia and quietly funneled them to antigovernment fighters in Syria in a drive to break the bloody stalemate that has allowed President Bashar al-Assad to cling to power, according to American and Western officials familiar with the purchases."

AP: "A hot air balloon flying over Egypt's ancient city of Luxor caught fire and crashed into a sugar cane field on Tuesday, killing at least 19 foreign tourists in one of the world's deadliest ballooning accidents...."

AND Dennis Rodman goes to North Korea.

The Commentariat -- Feb. 25, 2013

At today's White House press briefing, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is giving a great rundown of how House Republicans are making the U.S. less safe. "No amount of planning can mitigate the effects of sequestration." ...

... David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned Monday that her agency would be forced to furlough 5,000 border control agents under mandatory spending cuts, likely allowing more illegal immigrants into the country and potentially compromising national security. Napolitano said ... the sequester, would disrupt the Department of Homeland Security's ability to conduct customs inspections at ports, leading to increased waiting times for travelers and cargo shipments. Disaster relief funding would be reduced by $1 billion, she added...."

Jonathan Weisman & Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "With Congress unlikely to stop deep automatic spending cuts that will strike hard at the military, the fiscal stalemate is highlighting a significant shift in the Republican Party: lawmakers most keenly dedicated to shrinking the size of government are now more dominant than the bloc committed foremost to a robust national defense, particularly in the House. That reality also underscores what Republicans, and some Democrats, say was a major miscalculation on the part of President Obama. He agreed to set up the automatic cuts 18 months ago because he believed the threat of sharp reductions in military spending would be enough to force Republicans to agree to a deficit reduction plan that included the tax increases he favored." ...

... Steve M. of No More Mister Nice Blog: "As I see it, the [GOP's] intraparty dispute is between a crop of old-school posturers who think it's effective to demand lots of military spending all the time, in order to draw a contrast with evil peacenik Democrats ... and a new crop, who are focusing on cutting government spending (including military spending) right now, but who are also likely to attack Democrats as anti-military later, if and when these cuts take effect."

... Zachary Goldfarb & Paul Kane of the Washington Post: "The White House on Sunday detailed how the deep spending cuts set to begin this week would affect programs in every state and the District, as President Obama launched a last-ditch effort to pressure congressional Republicans to compromise on a way to stop the across-the-board cuts. But while Republicans and Democrats were set to introduce dueling legislative proposals this week to avert the Friday start of the spending cuts, known as the sequester, neither side expected the measures to get enough support to pass Congress. Lawmakers instead were planning for a lengthy round of political jostling ahead of another budget showdown in late March that could determine whether the $85 billion in cuts to domestic and defense spending this fiscal year stick."

How Do You Say "I Told You So" in Italian? Paul Krugman: "... even if the nightmare of a Berlusconi return to power fails to materialize, a strong showing by [the comical Silvio] Berlusconi, [actual comedian Beppe] Grillo, or both would destabilize not just Italy but Europe as a whole. But remember, Italy isn't unique: disreputable politicians are on the rise all across Southern Europe. And the reason this is happening is that respectable Europeans won't admit that the policies they have imposed on debtors are a disastrous failure. If that doesn't change, the Italian election will be just a foretaste of the dangerous radicalization to come."

George Stephanopoulos of ABC News: "House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said it was 'beyond a shadow of a doubt' that the Chinese government and military is behind growing cyber attacks against the United States, saying 'we are losing' the war to prevent the attacks."

Jindal Thinks Discrimination Against Gays Is Still a Winner for the Party. Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) -- a possible Republican candidate for president in 2016 -- rejected former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman's argument that conservatives must embrace marriage equality for gays and lesbians if they want to survive as a party and reiterated his support for 'traditional marriage.'" CW: Apparently discrimination against women, minorities & non-Christians are winners, too. I wonder if Jindal is aware that some people would think he belonged to a racial minority. ...

... Igor Volsky: Jindal also "is suggesting that President Obama delay health care services to millions of middle and lower-income Americans to offset the automatic across-the-board budget cuts that will go into effect on March 1 if Congress does not reach a spending deal." ...

Annie-Rose Strasser of Think Progress: "Jindal (R) ... on Sunday became the latest Republican to come out in favor of universal background checks on all gun sales." ...

... Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs: Jindal "might as well have ended his spiel with 'nudge nudge, wink wink,' because he's not fooling anyone."

... "Here's what [Alex Pareene] learned this morning on 'the Sunday shows,' the three network news panel programs that define the parameters of the national debate for elite Washington: No one wants the sequester to happen, if the sequester happens it will be because Barack Obama failed to show leadership, what we need is a 'balanced approach' to deficit reduction, the sequester should happen but in a smarter way, video games may not cause violence but they are gross, and 'Zero Dark Thirty' is the best film of the year in part because John McCain disliked it."

Ezra Klein: "I don’t agree with my colleague Bob Woodward, who says the Obama administration is 'moving the goalposts' when they insist on a sequester replacement that includes revenues. I remember talking to both members of the Obama administration and the Republican leadership in 2011, and everyone was perfectly clear that Democrats were going to pursue tax increases in any sequester replacement, and Republicans were going to oppose tax increases in any sequester replacement. ... It's worth remembering that the goalposts in American politics aren't set in backroom deals between politicians. They're set in elections. And in the 2012 election, the American people were very clear on where they wanted the goalposts moved to." ...

... Dave Weigel of Slate: Woodward's op-ed disagrees with Woodward's book. ...

... Kevin Drum: "I'm perplexed by Woodward these days. He really seems to have some kind of weird jones against the Obama White House." CW: maybe Woodward has a Boehner boner. I mean, who wouldn't? ...

... CW: Charles Pierce agrees with contributor Kate M., as do I: "Having done its Watergate thing, the Post slipped comfortably back into its place in the respectable D.C. power structure. Woodward went with it, producing periodically weighty doorstops filled with establishment stenography. He's no more a liberal than he is a member of Motley Crue. He's a courtier to all the right people, the scribe to powerful." CW: my recollection is that Woodward self-IDed as a Republican way back in Watergate days, but I might be wrong.

Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker has an extra-long piece about Eric Cantor. CW: I haven't read it, probably won't do more than skim it, but Lizza is a very good political writer. Right at the top I learned Cantor's wife Diana is a liberal Democrat. How can she abide him?

Jane Mayer of the New Yorker: Sen. Ted Cruz (RTP-Texas) defends his claim that Harvard Law was overrun by commie professors when he was a student there. ...

... There Will Be No Reboot. Steve Kornacki of Salon: "Cruz has treated all of the negative attention as noise generated by Democrats, the liberal media and impure Republicans who are uncomfortable with a conservative true-believer rocking the boat in Washington.... The thorough beating [Republicans] took at the polls last fall perhaps should have prompted rethinking on the right. But conservatives' appetite for Cruz shows that the GOP base’s animating spirit still hasn't changed: Loud, aggressive and reflexive hostility to President Obama, the Democratic Party and any Republican who would dare contemplate compromise is still how 'conservatism' is defined."

ABC News: "Two lawmakers are waging a little-noticed campaign to abolish the Selective Service System, the independent federal agency that manages draft registration. They say the millions of dollars the agency spends each year preparing for the possibility of a military draft is a waste of money. Reps. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., and Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., say the Pentagon has no interest in returning to conscription due to the success of the all-volunteer force."

Sexcapades of the Red Beanie Boys, Ctd. Severin Carrell & Sam Jones of the Guardian: "Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the UK's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, has resigned with immediate effect after being accused of 'inappropriate acts' towards fellow priests. News that Pope Benedict had accepted the cardinal's resignation as archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh came after the Observer disclosed a series of allegations by three priests and one former priest. O'Brien has denied the allegations and had been expected to continue in his post as head of the Scottish Catholic church until mid-March, when he was due to retire at age 75.... His unexpectedly early resignation means the cardinal will not now take part in the election for a successor to Pope Benedict." ...

... Catherine Deveney of the Guardian's "Observer" has the backstory. This part is the kicker: "O'Brien ... has been an outspoken opponent of gay rights, condemning homosexuality as immoral, opposing gay adoption, and most recently arguing that same-sex marriages would be 'harmful to the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of those involved'. Last year he was named 'bigot of the year' by the gay rights charity Stonewall."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Italian voters delivered a rousing anti-austerity message and a strong rebuke to the existing political order in national elections on Monday, plunging the country into political paralysis after results failed to produce a clear winner."

ABC News: "The National Rifle Association is using a Justice Department memo it obtained to argue in ads that the Obama administration believes its gun control plans won't work unless the government seizes firearms and requires national gun registration -- ideas the White House has not proposed and does not support. CW : how to write a lead when one party is lying. The writer is not named. S/he should be instructing the rest of the MSM on how to tell the truth.

AP: "Nearly three years after a deadly rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico triggered the nation's worst offshore oil spill, a federal judge in New Orleans is set to preside over a high-stakes trial for the raft of litigation spawned by the disaster."

Swedish Horseballs. AP: "Swedish furniture giant Ikea was drawn into Europe's widening food labeling scandal Monday as authorities said they had detected horse meat in frozen meatballs labeled as beef and pork and sold in 13 countries."