The Commentariat -- Nov. 11, 2013

Molly Hooper of the Hill: "The GOP wants to rebuild its political capital and public credibility by solving ObamaCare's implementation problems. This pivot comes after Republicans took major hits in polls following the government shutdown. The House this week will vote on a measure called, 'Keep Your Health Plan Act.' It aims to do what the president promised years ago: If you like your health plan, you can stay on it. Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are pushing for a vote in their chamber. That measure has already attracted Democratic support." CW: Hooper presents this as a shift in GOP policy. In fact, it's just one more means to rail against the law. "Solving ObamaCare's implementation problems"? Ha! You know that is the last thing on their minds.

CW: If you'd like to know what a Very Serious Person would do to "salvage" Obama, you need look no further than Bill Keller. Sadly, I think President Obama is only too willing to take all of Keller's advice. ...

... Andrew Rudalevige in the Washington Post: President Obama soon tired of the "team of rivals" structure of advisor input, which probably explains why he never seems to know WTF is going on in his own administration.

Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times: "In the case being argued [before the U.S. Supreme Court] on Wednesday, Unite Here Local 355 vs. Mulhall, an employee of Mardi Gras Gaming in Florida sued Unite Here, asserting that its neutrality agreement with the company was illegal. The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit ruled in his favor, finding that the agreement was a 'thing of value' that federal labor law bars employers from giving to any union or union official.... Benjamin Sachs, a professor of labor law at Harvard Law School, said the case ... was potentially 'the most significant labor case in a generation.'"

Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post: "A growing number of Afghan interpreters who worked alongside American troops are being denied U.S. visas allotted by Congress because the State Department says there is no serious threat against their lives. But the interpreters, many of whom served in Taliban havens for years, say U.S. officials are drastically underestimating the danger they face. Immigration attorneys and Afghan interpreters say the denials are occurring just as concerns about Taliban retribution are mounting due to the withdrawal of U.S. forces." CW: Really shortsighted & mean. Not only did these interpreters serve the U.S., they also speak English!

Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State John F. Kerry heads home Monday to defend a proposed nuclear deal with Iran in testimony before doubting lawmakers, as the Obama administration is moving to head off rising criticism from Israel. Kerry has already begun making the case that an Iranian agreement to temporarily freeze elements of its nuclear programs in exchange for a partial easing of Western sanctions would be a viable step toward negotiating a permanent end to Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions." CW: While you're here, why not stop in at that State Department review panel (see Kevin Sieff's report above) that is denying visas to Afghan interpreters & tell them to accept those applications -- or be reassigned to Taliban territory.

Bryon Tau of Politico: "Secretary of State John Kerry is declining to further elaborate on his belief that the assassin of President John F. Kennedy was part of a broader conspiracy. Pressed in an interview aired Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press' to explain his beliefs that JFK's death was part of a bigger plot, Kerry said: 'I just have a point of view. And I'm not going to get into that. It's not something that I think needs to be commented on, and certainly not at this time.'"

"The Plot against France." Paul Krugman: "S.& P.'s [downgrading France] needs to be seen in the context of the broader politics of fiscal austerity.... For the plot against France ... is one clear demonstration that in Europe, as in America, fiscal scolds don't really care about deficits. Instead, they're using debt fears to advance an ideological agenda. And France, which refuses to play along, has become the target of incessant negative propaganda.... France has committed the unforgivable sin of being fiscally responsible without inflicting pain on the poor and unlucky. And it must be punished."

Kat Stoeffel of New York has a brief post on women getting "all the bad jobs.... According to the National Women's Law Center, 60 percent of women's job gains during the first four years of the recovery came in the ten largest low-wage jobs, versus just 20 percent of men's gains. You are hereby authorized to roll your eyes next time you encounter the term mancession."

Nice post from Charles Pierce on "This Weekend in Responsible Gun Ownership." CW: BTW, I did see a story on this over the weekend & didn't post it, mostly because gun nuts intimidating ordinary citizens -- especially in Texas -- is just not news. But Pierce is right about the Hooters thing.

"Mistakes Were Made"

Adam Martin of New York: "After finally retracting its inaccurate report on the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, 60 Minutes offered [a brief] apology in its Sunday night broadcast.... Many media critics share the impression that Logan's televised apology was thin":

... The New York Times report, by Brian Stelter & Bill Carter, is here. ...

... Jack Mirkinson of the Huffington Post: "Predictably, [Logan's] Sunday mea culpa offered little insight into why Davies was chosen as the key source for the report, and why '60 Minutes' had so fervently defended him, even amid mounting evidence of his unreliability. Also unmentioned was what role, if any, corporate ties played in placing Davies at the heart of the piece. A conservative imprint of Simon and Schuster, which is also owned by CBS, had published a book about Benghazi by Davies. That book has since been recalled." Includes critical tweets from media watchers. ...

... Steve M. of NMMNB: " Logan's report was tied to the publication of a book by the now-discredited witness -- a book that was published, two days after the report aired, by Threshold Editions, a right-wing imprint of Simon & Schuster, which is part of CBS, Inc., and which was founded by former Dick Cheney aide Mary Matalin. (The book has since been withdrawn.)" ...

... Jeremy Holden of Media Matters: "Logan's slippery apology glosses over a key question that remains unanswered: why did 60 Minutes&fail to inform its audience during the initial segment that its key eyewitness had told two contradictory accounts of what he did the night of the September 11, 2012, terrorist attacks? ... How CBS News came to the decision to believe his current story is critical since a CBS subsidiary had a clear financial interest in the version of events 60 Minutesaired." ...

... ** Josh Marshall of TPM: "In a narrow sense, Lara Logan did say she was 'sorry.' But the entire 90 seconds was aimed at obfuscating what happened. Logan said 60 Minutes had found out Thursday that they had been 'misled and it was a mistake to include him in our report.' Include him in their report? He was the report. And even in conceding that her team had been 'misled', Logan tiptoed around the real news, which is that it seems clear that Davies' entire story was a fabrication." .

... Media watchdog Jay Rosen grows more outraged with each update to his post -- first written before the lame Logan "apology." ...

... Michael Calderone of the Huffington Post lists some serious, unanswered questions, which -- according to the New York Times report linked above -- are going to remain unasked & unanswered. ...

... CW P.S.: I fully expected Logan to end with, "Why don't you come up & see me some time, Big Boy?" instead of the anodyne promise, "We'll be back next week." The tight knit dress, hands-over-crotch, the breathless, little-girl voice ... laughably obvious. AND/OR one explanation of why Logan is not getting the Dan Rather treatment.

... Simon Maloy of Media Matters: "Following the collapse of CBS News' 60 Minutes report on the 2012 Benghazi attacks, Fox News, which cited 60 Minutes' now-discredited 'eyewitness' for some of its Benghazi coverage, is standing by the accuracy of its reporting. CBS News' withdrawal of the story has been largely ignored by Fox News, even though Fox enthusiastically promoted the 60 Minutes story and boasted that it validated the network's own reporting on Benghazi."

November 2013 Election

George Packer of the New Yorker: "It took a long time for the Republican Party to fall into the hands of Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, and it won't easily extricate itself, as Cuccinelli's near-victory shows. But 2013 might turn out to be the high-water mark of Republican extremism, the year the polarization line finally levelled off." CW: Also, Packer elaborates on the theme Dave S. expresses in today's Comments: that the Christie "mandate" isn't all it's cracked up to be as the majority of voters stayed home. Swooning liberals, take note: ditto for New York City. However, polls showed that the results of both of these elections were nearly foregone conclusions, so I wouldn't make as much as Packer does of low turnout in an off-year election in which one candidate was all-but-certain to win. People who did vote may have done so because they had an interest in some down-ticket candidate or issue.

New Rules. Shades of Bush-Gore. Chris Gentilviso of the Huffington Post: "Already shaping up to be one of the closest races in state history, a last-minute rule change is stirring up the recount to decide who will become Virginia's next attorney general.... According to a report by WTOP radio, the Virginia State Board Of Elections decided Friday to change rules relevant to Fairfax County, banning legal representatives from helping count votes, unless the associated voter was actually present. The board changing the rules is dominated by Republicans. Fairfax County's Electoral Board said Saturday that the modification affects hundreds of voters.... Secretary Brian Schoeneman and Board Chairman Seth Stark expressed disagreement with the ruling."

Congressional Race 2014

Enough with the Tea Party. Alexandra Jaffe & Kevin Bogardus of the Hill: "Business leaders are plotting to take down Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) as part of a broader effort to punish lawmakers over the government shutdown. In a letter obtained by The Hill, prominent Michigan donors request financial backing for Amash's primary challenger, Brian Ellis. Seven individuals, including prominent Michigan businessmen..., signed the fundraising plea. They argue that Amash 'and others have effectively nullified the Republican majority in the U.S. House.'"

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: Some GOP Congressional primary challenges are coming from business-backed candidates, some from Tea Party adherents. "How such contests resolve themselves could leave the House Republican caucus either more uncompromisingly conservative in 2015 or more committed to governance and compromise. 'It's an offshoot of the decline in competitive districts because of redistricting,' said David Wasserman, a House analyst at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. 'There are fewer fights to pick with the other party, so there are going to be more fights within your party.'"

Presidential Race 2016

** Noam Scheiber of the New Republic has a terrific piece on Elizabeth Warren -- the soul of the Democratic Party & a potential challenger to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. Thanks to Julie L. for the link.

Dylan Stableford of Yahoo! News: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says Time magazine's depiction of him as an elephant doesn't bother him. 'If I'm bothered by jokes about my weight, it's time for me to crawl up into a fetal position and go home," Christie said on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos' on Sunday. 'The fact is, that, you know, if they think it's clever, great for them.' ... Some critics called it a cheap shot." ...

... Jeff Zeleny of ABC News: "Gov. Rick Perry of Texas credited Chris Christie for his re-election in New Jersey, but he pointedly questioned whether the 22-point victory by Christie held any greater meaning for the Republican Party. 'Is a conservative in New Jersey a conservative in the rest of the country?' Perry said in an interview with 'This Week.' 'We'll have that discussion at the appropriate time.'"

Everybody gets to go out and do their thing. That's his thing. My thing is governing. -- Rick Perry , on Ted Cruz's role in the federal government shutdown ...

... Katie Glueck of Politico: "Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Rick Perry are both angling to run for president. And the prospect of a clash between the two Texas-sized egos who represent different eras of the GOP -- and who aren't openly rivals but haven't betrayed warm fuzzies for one another, either -- has tongues wagging." CW: This story is characterized as an analysis of a "clash of the Titans." Probably "Titan" is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Perry or Cruz (also the spawn of Zeus did overthrow the mythological Titans).

Local News

Rick Hertzberg on New York City's mayors: "Mike Bloomberg has been unlike any mayor we have ever had. He has governed New York (ruled it, really) less as a standard elected official, a grubby pol beset by grubbier pols, than as a Roman consul or a Roman emperor -- one of the better emperors, too: a basically public-spirited type like Augustus or Vespasian, as opposed to a Nero or a Caligula." CW BTW: As far as I know, New York City still does not have Vespasians (street toilets), which is a bummer.

Nick Madigan in the New York Times: "In the most dire predictions, South Florida's delicate barrier islands, coastal communities and captivating subtropical beaches will be lost to the rising waters in as few as 100 years... Four counties there -- Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach, with a combined population of 5.6 million -- have formed an alliance to figure out solutions. Long battered by hurricanes and prone to flooding from intense thunderstorms, Florida is the most vulnerable state in the country to the rise in sea levels."

News Ledes

The New York Times has a list of charitable organizations that are assisting in aid to the Philippines, with links to the sites where they are accepting donations.

New York Times: "After an avalanche of criticism at home and abroad, the German government announced late Monday it will establish a task force to investigate, 'as quickly and as transparently as possible,' the provenance of a cache of more than 1,400 artworks that are suspected of being traded or looted during the Nazis' reign and that are now in the hands of authorities in Bavaria."

New York Post: "A musician furious over being thrown out of a rock band extracted bloody revenge in an early morning attack in Brooklyn Monday -- using a military-style rifle to fatally shoot three people believed to be bandmates, wound another person and then take his own life, law enforcement sources said."

Washington Post: "To accommodate [Amazon.com]..., the Postal Service said it will for the first time deliver packages at regular rates on Sundays."

The Commentariat -- Nov. 10, 2013

Juliet Eilperin & Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "The White House is increasing its reliance on insurers by accepting their technical help in efforts to repair the problem-ridden online health insurance marketplace and prioritizing consumers' ability to buy plans directly from the carriers. The Obama administration's broader cooperation with insurers is a tacit acknowledgment that the federal insurance exchange ... might not be working smoothly by the target date of Nov. 30, according to several health experts familiar with the administration's thinking. White House officials reject the idea that the strategy represents a contingency plan in the event that the online system continues to falter." ...

... Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Susanne Craig of the Washington Post: "To the list of problems plaguing President Obama's health care law, add one more -- fraud."

Mark Felsenthal of Reuters: "White House national security adviser Susan Rice on Saturday urged Congress to allow the United States to regain its vote at the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, which it lost for not paying dues."

** Eli Saslow of the Washington Post: The food stamp diet will make you sick before it kills you. Legislators & lobbyists are making sure it stays that way.

Maureen Dowd interviews comedian Sarah Silverman. Silverman has interesting things to say. Here's the voter ID video Silverman cut last year:

Mark Sherman of TPM: SCOTUSblog wants a Supreme Court press pass.

Nate Raymond & Jonathan Stempel of Reuters: "The U.S. government urged that Bank of America Corp pay $863.6 million in damages after a federal jury found it liable for fraud over defective mortgages sold by its Countrywide unit. In a filing late Friday in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the government also asked for penalties against Rebecca Mairone, a former midlevel executive at the bank's Countrywide unit who the jury also found liable, 'commensurate with her ability to pay.'"

Dylan Byers of Politico has a damning piece on Lara Logan's Benghaaaazi! report, which Logan & others worked on for "more than a year," according to CBS "News" chairman Jeff Fager. ...

... Phony "Reporting" Has Consequences. Sort of. Leigh Munsil of Politico: "Sen. Lindsey Graham [R-S.C.] says he still plans to use Senate holds on President Barack Obama's nominees until he gets answers on the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.... Despite his hold threat following a CBS '60 Minutes' report based on an eyewitness account that proved to be false, Graham wouldn't take it back when pressed by CNN host Candy Crowley." CW: So the basis for his holds is fake, but he's still going with them to jerk around the administration. Seems reasonable.

The Plagiarist, a/k/a the Cookie Monster. CW: Friday I got an e-mail from Sen. Rand Paul titled, "This Week in News for Senator Rand Paul." In it I learned that Paul had introduced some legislation, met with some constituents & been on the teevee. Oddly enough, there was not one word in "This Week in News for Senator Rand Paul" about the several incidences of Paul's plagiarism which bloggers uncovered this week. There was nothing in it about the Washington Examiner firing him or about his moving his excellent borrowed copy to Breitbart.com. There was nothing in it about the "haters & hacks" picking on him. The only teevee appearance linked in "This Week in News for Senator Rand Paul" was one in which he bashed Healthcare.gov. No mention of the Real News of the Week for Senator Rand Paul -- the only news that put him on the front pages of his home-state papers and the New York Times. Funny that. ...

     ... You might wonder how it happens that I got on Rand's mailing list. I didn't sign up for it. I didn't give him my e-mail address. But I did go to his official Website to check out those speeches he suddenly footnoted. Lo & behold, Senator Libertarian -- who says that the right to privacy comes from God -- grabbed my little cookies & used them to access my e-mail account & send me unsolicited mail. If the right to privacy comes from God, Sen. Aqua Buddha is on Satan's side.

Local News

New York Times Editors: "For what may be the first time on record, a former prosecutor in Texas is going to jail for failing to turn over exculpatory evidence in a murder trial. The 10-day jail sentence for the prosecutor, Ken Anderson, is insultingly short -- the victim of his misconduct, Michael Morton, spent nearly 25 years in prison. But because prosecutors are so rarely held accountable for their misconduct, the sentence is remarkable nonetheless.... In addition to receiving the jail sentence, [Anderson] was disbarred and stripped of his law license." The underlying AP story is here. The Innocence Project's page on Michael Morton's case is here.

Black Like Me. Doug Miller of KHOU Houston: "As a conservative white Republican running in a district whose voters are overwhelmingly black Democrats, the odds seemed overwhelmingly against [Dave Wilson]. Then he came up with an idea, an advertising strategy that his opponent found 'disgusting.' If a white guy didn't have a chance in a mostly African-American district, Wilson would lead voters to think he's black. And it apparently worked. In one of the biggest political upsets in Houston politics this election season, Wilson -- an anti-gay activist and former fringe candidate for mayor -- emerged as the surprise winner over 24-year incumbent Bruce Austin. His razor thin margin of victory, only 26 votes, was almost certainly influenced by his racially tinged campaign." ...

... Speaking of a white former fringe candidate, Dan Amira of New York has listened to all 4-1/2 hours of the audio tape of Sarah Palin's new theological treatise on the annual war on Christmas: "The book is part tribute to the joys of Christmas, part how-to guide for oppressed Christians looking for ways to fight back against whiny and litigious secularists, and part manifesto on the general superiority of Christianity over atheism. Palin, throughout, appears incapable of fathoming why a business catering to people from all walks of life may prefer to use inclusive holiday-season language in promotional items, or why a non-Christian may not appreciate a government institution expressing a preference for Christianity over other religions." The magazine made a dandy little interactive graphic allowing you to click on "some of the books more memorable lines." CW: Recommended for a laugh. Via Steve Benen.

President Kennedy Assassination

Meghan Keneally of the Daily Mail: "John Kerry has revealed that he does not believe that President Kennedy's assassin worked alone as the government claimed in their official finding.... 'To this day, I have serious doubts that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone,' Kerry told NBC's Tom Brokaw in an interview...."

News Ledes

Reuters: "Rescue workers struggled to reach ravaged towns and villages in the central Philippines on Monday as they tried to deliver aid to survivors of a powerful typhoon that killed an estimated 10,000 people and displaced more than 600,000. The United Nations said some survivors had no food, water or medicine. Relief operations were hampered because roads, airports and bridges had been destroyed or were covered in wreckage...." ...

... AP: "Corpses hung from trees, were scattered on sidewalks or buried in flattened buildings -- some of the thousands believed killed in one Philippine city alone by ferocious Typhoon Haiyan that washed away homes and buildings with powerful winds and giant waves." ...

... AFP: "Typhoon Haiyan made landfall in Vietnam early Monday, meteorologists said, days after it left thousands feared dead and widespread devastation in the Philippines."

AFP: "Conservative US leaders, fond of finger-pointing at France in recent years, lavished praise on Paris Sunday for blocking an agreement between Western powers and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program. 'Vive la France!' tweeted Senator John McCain, an outspoken voice on national security issues."

The Commentariat -- Nov. 9, 2013

The President's Weekly Address. President Obama commemorates Veterans Day:

Kevin Hall & Anita Kumar of McClatchy News: President "Obama insisted anew Thursday that the problem is limited to people who buy their own insurance. 'We're talking about 5 percent of the population who are in what's called the individual market. They're out there buying health insurance on their own,' he told NBC. But a closer examination finds that the number of people who have plans changing, or have already changed, could be between 34 million to 52 million. That's because many employer-provided insurance plans also could change, not just individually purchased insurance plans." CW: What Hall & Kumar don't say explicitly is that the employees are being shifted in new plans, which may or may not cost them &/or the employers more than the old plans. If you've been employed at a large corporation with good benefits for any length of time, you are aware that pre-ACA employers regularly changed plans or offered a new mix of plans to employees. So the McClatchy report isn't exactly shocking news. But you can bet that employers who are so inclined will blame ObamaCare when they shift plans. ...

... Sam Stein of the Huffington Post: " The Obama administration is considering a fix to the president's health care law that would expand the universe of individuals who receive tax subsidies to help buy insurance.... Such a fix would address the issue of 'sticker shock....'" ...

... Paul Waldman: "... as long as we're going to start proposing fixes, how about we let everyone who got a threatening letter from an insurance company buy in to Medicare? If Republicans are going to take the opportunity to demagogue the issue, why not take the opportunity to expand our extremely popular socialized medicine program?" CW: Two other advantages to Waldman's suggestion: (1) it might just shut up Republicans because they don't give a damn about the people whose premiums are increasing, & (2) it might make insurance companies think twice about their bait-&-switch tactics. ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times tries to get a handle on the dynamic inside the White House re: the ACA crises. Depends upon whom you ask. CW: Got a kick out of the comment by Bill Daley, who I will admit is a jerk. ...

... As some of you may have noticed, Reality Chex was down for awhile Friday evening on account of "issues with site access." Shit happens. Of course nobody loses health insurance when my site crashes. ...

... Matt Fuller of Roll Call: "House Republicans have handed out an internal GOP playbook on how to best score political points against Obamacare, the White House and Democrats in general. The memo obtained by CQ Roll Call, titled 'House Republican Playbook: Because of Obamacare ... I Lost My Insurance,' is a manual for House Republicans on how to highlight the recent issues with the health care law and how to best 'communicate in your district about the disastrous Obamacare rollout.'" The playbook is here. ...

Brought to you by the authors of death panels, a guide to mislead the American people and discourage their own constituents from getting access to affordable health care. -- Drew Hamill, spokesperson for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi

... Another Bogus "ObamaCare Victim" Claim Debunked. Lori Robertson of FactCheck.org: "Conservative groups are highlighting the case of an Arizona man with leukemia whose insurance plan was canceled because it didn't comply with the Affordable Care Act. A news report quoted the man as saying he would need to pay $26,000 to keep the same doctor. It turns out, he was able to get a new plan, which has his doctor in its network, for a lower premium and a lower out-of-pocket maximum than his old plan." The "victim"'s story was highlighted by the Heritage Foundation & Americans for Prosperity. CW: Both are funded by the Koch brothers, who really don't want us peons to have health insurance. ...

... Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times: "... many of the poor people who rely on safety-net hospitals ... will be doubly unlucky. A government subsidy ... is being sharply reduced under the new health law. The subsidy, which for years has helped [hospitals] defray the cost of uncompensated and undercompensated care, was cut substantially on the assumption that the hospitals would replace much of the lost income with payments for patients newly covered by Medicaid or private insurance. But now the hospitals in states like Georgia will get neither the new Medicaid patients nor most of the old subsidies, which many say are crucial to the mission of care for the poor.... Hospitals are trying to get Congress to delay the subsidy cuts by amending the health law, but House Republicans in Washington have thus far refused." CW: Bear in mind that the Georgia legislature's & governor's cruel decision to reject the Medicaid subsidy is part of the GOP's war on the poor. John Boehner & his Tea Party caucus are playing along. It's working. The poor are losing.

Donna Cassata of TPM: "The third-ranking House Republican told immigration advocates that lawmakers won't vote this year on the issue, confirming what many had long assumed. California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the majority whip, said in a meeting with immigration proponents that there weren't enough days left for the House to act and he was committed to addressing overhaul of the nation's immigration system next year."

Shahien Nasiripour of the Huffington Post: William Dudley, "the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said Thursday that some of America's largest financial institutions appear to lack respect for the law, a potentially explosive charge against an industry already roiling from numerous government investigations into alleged wrongdoing."

Humor Break. The Plagiarist, Ctd. Dana Milbank: "Speech(1) by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky accepting the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, as prepared for delivery. (1) Source: Wikipedia." CW: Some of Paul's "speech" may sound familiar to you. ...

... Sean McElwee & Jenny Kutner of Salon: "Salon has discovered more examples of plagiarism in the work of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). In his speech at the Value Voters Summit on October 11, Paul appropriated written material from the Gatestone Institute, a think-tank chaired by John Bolton. The transcript of the speech has been removed from Paul's web site -- as have the transcripts from numerous other speeches while Paul battles an ongoing plagiarism scandal." Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead.

Apparently Ryan has more tender relationships with catfish than Collins lets on. Yes, he will respect them in the morning. This picture is not photoshopped. Ryan tweeted it to followers during the 2012 campaign. He is exceptionally weird.After she gets through some nonsense about Paul Ryan's fist-fucking fish, Gail Collins makes an important point: "By far the biggest argument between the House and Senate on the farm bill is about the food stamp program, which the House Republicans want to slash by $39 billion, mainly through new screening programs to guarantee that every single recipient is working, drug-free, needy and in general totally and completely worthy of government assistance. Even if that means inadvertently emptying a lot of deserving cupboards along the way. This would be in the same bill that includes crop insurance subsidies that make no attempt whatsoever to screen out the undeserving rich."

Benghaaaazi! CBS News Duped by Typical Right-Wing Conspiracy Claim. Bill Carter & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "As it prepared to broadcast a rare on-air correction Sunday for a now-discredited '60 Minutes' report, CBS News acknowledged on Friday that it had suffered a damaging blow to its credibility. Its top executive called the segment 'as big a mistake as there has been' in the 45-year-old history of the celebrated news program. The executive, Jeff Fager, conceded that CBS appeared to have been duped by the primary source for the report, a security official who told a national television audience a harrowing tale of the attack last year at the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. On Thursday night it was disclosed that the official, Dylan Davies, had provided a completely different account in interviews with the F.B.I., in which he said he never made it to the mission that night." ...

     ... On Thursday, Carter & Schmidt reported, "Dylan Davies, a security officer hired to help protect the United States Special Mission in Benghazi, Libya, gave the F.B.I. an account of the night that terrorists attacked the mission on Sept. 11, 2012 that contradicts a version of events he provided in a recently published book and in an interview with ... '60 Minutes.' Mr. Davies told the F.B.I. that he was not on the scene until the morning after the attack.... Mr. Davies ... has disavowed the incident report, saying in an interview last week with ... The Daily Beast that he did not write it and had never even seen it.... CBS News had extensively defended Mr. Davies this week, suggesting ... that he was the object of a campaign by State Department officials to quiet continued questioning about the events in Benghazi. CBS also publicly vouched for the authenticity of Mr. Davies's account on '60 Minutes.'" ...

... The November 2 Commentariat has links to a couple of earlier stories on the fanciful CBS report. CW: I wonder how Fox "News" is covering the CBS retraction, if at all. ...

... Kevin Drum: "Something isn't right here.... CBS needs to investigate what happened, and they need to do it with the same thoroughness that they investigated Dan Rather and Mary Mapes five years ago when they got snookered on the George Bush National Guard story that they obviously wanted to believe just a little bit too badly. Something like that seems to have happened here too." ...

... ** You gotta read Digby on "quote-unquote journalism." Also, she finds out what isn't right about Lara Logan's quote-unquote journalistic integrity. CW: I'll add this about Logan: she is a sucker for sensational stories. When she can, she puts herself in the middle of them. I don't think she's trustworthy. ...

... Ed Kilgore: "... Digby says pretty much everything there is to say about the missed opportunities to ask obvious questions, and the compromised relationship between CBS and its dubious, book-promoting 'source.' And she even identifies a motive: the reporter, Lara Logan, has long expressed righteous anger that the killing of Ambassador Chris Stevens hasn't been avenged. So Logan had a personal agenda that nicely merged with her personal interest in getting a big 'scoop.'"

... Ben Dimiero & Eric Hananoki of Media Matters: "From 'Proud' To Pulled: A Timeline Of 60 Minutes' Benghazi Trainwreck." ...

... Al Sharpton discusses the Benghazi story with David Brock of Media Matters:

... Need More Evidence CBS "News" Sucks? AP: "The 50th-anniversary coverage of the Kennedy assassination on CBS News won’t include the recollections of its longtime anchor Dan Rather, further proof of the lingering bitterness following Rather's messy exit and subsequent lawsuit against the network. Rather helped organize CBS' plans for President John F. Kennedy's visit to Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963, and as a young reporter was a key component of assassination coverage. Now 82, with his own show on AXS-TV, he's one of the few reporters on the story that day who's still active in journalism. Rather, who later became CBS News' top anchor for 24 years, will appear on NBC's Today show on Nov. 22 this year. 'I held off doing anything for anybody else for a while, thinking I may be asked to do something (for CBS),' Rather said. 'I can't say I had any reason for that hope.'" ...

... As Charles Pierce writes of CBS "News," "... an act of towering chickenshit." Pierce has a few choice words for Sen. Aqua Buddha, too.

The morning light shone harshly on Romney's fitful reverie. -- A real sentence from the nearly spoof-proof Double Down by Mark Halperin & John Heilemann ...

Mitt was perfectly happy to strafe the speaker until he was a human colander. -- Ditto

... Michael Kinsley reviews Double Down for the New York Times. He concentrates on the authors' idiotic prose style.

... ** Reporter Colin Woodard in Tufts Magazine on the 11 "nations" of North America -- a sensible rejoinder to Barack Obama's "United States of America." Via Reid Wilson of the Washington Post.

Joe Nocera on the firing of Dick Metcalf, who wrote a mild defense of mild gun control in a column for Guns & Ammo, & the resignation of the magazine's editor: "If you want to understand why so few gun owners are willing to stand up to the National Rifle Association, even though the majority disagree with the N.R.A.'s most extreme positions, here was a vivid example. Straying from the party line leads to vilification and condemnation that would give anybody pause."

Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "The United States lost its vote at Unesco on Friday, two years after cutting off its financial contribution to the organization over the admission of Palestinians as full members. The move undermined America's ability to exercise its influence in countries around the globe through the United Nations agency's educational and aid programs, according to Western diplomats and international relations experts."

Mary Klas & Lesley Meklas of the Miami Herald: "President Obama arrived in Miami Friday afternoon to headline three Democratic Party fundraisers hosted by the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and, in a surprise move met with Cuban dissidents. Florida's newest high-profile Democrat, former Gov. Charlie Crist, was spotted at the Segovia Tower in Coral Gables at a $32,000-a-head fundraiser...." ...

... AFP: "The United States must continue to update its policy towards communist Cuba, President Barack Obama said late on Friday, speaking at the home of a prominent Cuban-American activist. Freedom in Cuba will come from the work of activists, Obama said, but the United States can help in 'creative' and 'thoughtful' ways."

Local News

Treena Shapiro of Reuters: "Hawaii's House of Representatives approved a bill on Friday to legalize same-sex marriage in the overwhelmingly Democratic state popular as a wedding and honeymoon destination, paving the way for anticipated final passage in the Senate next week. The measure cleared the House in a late-night vote of 30-19, with six of the chamber's seven Republicans joining 13 Democrats in opposing the legislation. Two Democrats were absent for the vote. Governor Neil Abercrombie [D] has indicated he would swiftly sign the measure into law...."

November 2013 Election

Antonio Olivo & Ben Pershing of the Washington Post: "Fairfax County, [Virginia,] election officials said Friday that they believe nearly 2,000 votes went uncounted after Tuesday's elections, a technical error that could affect the outcome of the still unresolved race for Virginia attorney general.... The extra votes, which come from an area that leans heavily in favor of Democrats, could affect the outcome of the attorney general's race, which appears headed for a recount. As of Friday afternoon, state Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg) was leading state Sen. Mark R. Herring (D-Loudoun) by 1,272 votes, or about 0.06 percent of the 2.2 million votes cast, according to the State Board of Elections' Web site."

News Ledes

Reuters: "The Washington state legislature on Saturday passed a measure to extend nearly $9 billion in tax breaks for Boeing through 2040 in an embattled effort to entice the company to locate production of its newest jet, the 777X, in the Seattle area. Lawmakers acknowledged, however, that their efforts would likely be undermined if the airplane maker's key machinists union votes down a proposed labor contract due to go before the membership on Wednesday."

AP: "Iran's refusal to suspend work on a plutonium-producing reactor and downgrade its stockpile of higher-enriched uranium was standing in the way of an interim agreement to curb Tehran's nuclear program in return for easing of sanctions, France's foreign minister said Saturday. A Western diplomat in Geneva for the talks told The Associated Press that the French were holding out for conditions on the Iranians tougher than those agreed to by the U.S. and France's other negotiating partners, raising doubts a final deal could be struck Saturday." ...

     ... New York Times Update: " Marathon talks between major powers and Iran failed on Sunday to produce a deal to freeze its nuclear program, puncturing days of feverish anticipation and underscoring how hard it will be to forge a lasting solution to Iran's nuclear ambitions."

Reuters: "One of the strongest typhoons ever to make landfall devastated the central Philippines, killing more than 1,000 people in one city alone and 200 in another province, the Red Cross estimated on Saturday, as reports of high casualties began to emerge." ...

     ... AP Update: "The Philippine Red Cross estimated that more than 1,000 people were killed in the coastal city of Tacloban and at least 200 in hard-hit Samar province when one of the strongest typhoons ever to make landfall slammed into the country." ...

     ... AP Update 2: "The death toll from one of the strongest storms on record that ravaged the central Philippine city of Tacloban could reach 10,000 people, officials said Sunday after the extent of massive devastation became apparent and horrified survivors spoke of storm surges as high as trees and winds sounding like the roar of a jumbo jet."

AP: "A Miami Herald journalist was being held for a second night by Venezuelan authorities after he was detained by security forces while reporting on the country's economic crisis. Jim Wyss, the newspaper's Andean bureau chief, was detained Thursday by the National Guard in San Cristobal, a western city near the border with Colombia that is the center of a vibrant black market by Venezuelans seeking to circumvent rigid currency controls." The Herald story is here. ...

     ... Miami Herald Update: "After almost 48 hours in custody, Miami Herald Andean Bureau Chief Jim Wyss was released Saturday to U.S. Embassy officials, who confirmed that the journalist was in good health and had not been mistreated."

AFP: "Two Russian cosmonauts on Saturday took the Olympic torch on its first-ever spacewalk after stepping out of the International Space Station three months ahead of the Sochi Winter Games."