Comments on the Commentariat

As some of you know, I have eliminated the comments page Off Times Square. I will leave it up for several weeks or a month to allow any of you who want to save your previous comments to retrieve them.

First, I am extremely grateful for the kind notes so many of you wrote over the past few days. As I indicated, I'm not certain how much longer I will maintain Reality Chex. After all, my original intention was to take it down in November 2008!

Quite a few people wrote to ask if they could help financially. I thank them for that, but my out-of-pocket expenses are minimal. They come due in September, so I will have to decide by then whether or not I want to invest in this effort for another year. Right now I cannot see that happening, but circumstances can change.

In the meantime, because of demands made by some commenters, Off Times Square was just too time-consuming -- and sometimes too annoying -- for me to maintain, even until such time as I might wind down Reality Chex altogether. However, in the past week, at least two different individuals (perhaps more) made attempts to hijack or sabotage Off Times Square. And that rather irritated me.

So -- as a bit of an in-your-face response to the would-be hijackers -- we'll try another experiment. I've opened up the Commentariat to comments. The usual rules apply: disagree with the commenter; do not disparage her or him personally. Make your comments substantive. ("Newt Gingrich makes me sick" may be accurate, but it is not particularly substantive. Do not describe the contents of your vomit, interesting as they seem to you. We want to know why you barfed, not what you barfed.)

I will not spend much of my own time or energy on the comments, but I will read them from time to time and check them for ad hominem attacks or spam. Both will go. I also will delete comments that are blatantly fact-challenged. (If you argue that Mitt Romney created 100,000 jobs at Bain Capital, cite the evidence. Despite his jobs-creation claims, Mitt can't seem to find that evidence, so you'd be a big help to him.) I will no longer respond to requests from commenters that I do their "homework" for them; that is, answer questions commenters are just as capable of researching as am I.

I'd like to see more readers participate. Quite a number of people wrote over the past few days that they read the comments but have never commented. Those readers sound darned articulate, so I'd like to hear from them -- and others -- in the new comments section. It makes most sense to discuss the issues of the day, but you need not limit yourself to what's on the Commentariat menu on a particular day. Just click on the day's (blue) header or on the words "Post a Comment" or "# Comments" at the bottom of the post.

We'll see how this goes. It is entirely up to you. Entirely.

The Commentariat -- January 9, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is titled "Frank Bruni Resurrects 'The Lost Bush Presidencies." The NYTX front page is here. Contribute here.

Bill Keller of the New York Times makes a very credible case for an Obama/Hillary Clinton 2012 ticket.

NEW. CW: A lawyer friend of mine sends along this commentary by Law Prof. Erwin Chemerinsky in the ABA Journal: "Three election cases from Texas, with potentially enormous legal and political consequences, will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court Jan. 9. The immediate issue ... is: which plan should be used to delineate voting districts in races for the United States House of Representatives, the Texas Senate, and for the Texas State House? ... But lurking in the background of these consolidated cases is the constitutionality of an important civil rights statute: Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The statute requires that for jurisdictions like Texas, with a long history of race discrimination in voting rights, there must be preclearance of any changes in their election systems to ensure that they will not make worse the electoral position of protected minority groups." Unfortunately, I'm afraid the conservatives on the Court are a lot like Stephen Colbert's character: they "don't see race." Such an assertion is flagrant "truthiness," but when Supreme Court Justices exhibit such truthiness, it's not a joke. ...

... Vivica Novak of the American Prospect: "James Bopp Jr. ... is best known as the lawyer behind a case involving a 90-minute film made in 2008 attacking then–presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Bopp’s suit ultimately resulted in the landmark 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision.... >Bopp is already well into the next phase of his crusade to topple as many of the state and federal limits on the role of money in politics as can be done in one man’s lifetime." Thanks to a friend for the link.

...Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "... the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Tuesday about whether the FCC should still have a role in policing the nation’s airwaves or whether its indecency regulations violate guarantees of free speech and due process. The networks have argued successfully in lower courts that in a revolutionized world in which they exist 'side by side' with cable channels that are beyond the FCC’s regulation, singling them out is not only nonsensical but unconstitutional."

Reuters in London: "Most Middle Eastern governments are failing to recognise the significance of the Arab spring and are responding with repression or merely cosmetic change, Amnesty [International] has said. Reform movements showed no sign of flagging despite bloodshed on the streets and arrests last year, the human rights organisation said in its report...."

Right Wing World

Rather than watching the GOP presidential debate in the page below, your time might be better spent watching this video recap of the two weekend debates, which New York magazine compiled:

E. J. Dionne: During Sunday's GOP presidential debate, "both Santorum and Gingrich argued that Romney has been in and out of campaigns since 1994 and has fabricated a misleading public persona that tried to hide just how much of a politician he really is.... Sunday’s raucous encounter suggested that unless Romney closes the nomination struggle quickly, he could suffer further damage."

Open Mouth, Insert Silver Foot. Ben Smith, now of BuzzFeed: "Mitt Romney suggested in today's debate that only rich people should run for office, and then quickly celebrated the fact that he'd forced a rival to take out a loan against his house." ...

... Noblesse Oblige, Vous Savez. Digby: "Really darling, if you have to worry about paying bills you have no business running for office. Needing money for your expenses distracts from your real job -- delivering for your fellow millionaires." ...

... Steve Benen: "It’s why 'just be yourself' probably isn’t good advice for this guy." ...

... Elections Have Consequences. So along comes Paul Krugman, who does not appear to have read Ben Smith's BuzzFeed story and nevertheless writes a column that fits it to a tee: "... where is the evidence that Mr. Romney or his party actually believes in equal opportunity? Judging by their actions, they seem to prefer a society in which your station in life is largely determined by that of your parents — and in which the children of the very rich get to inherit their estates tax-free." ...

... Elections Have Consequences. Rick Hertzberg: "No one, maybe not even Romney, knows if Romney means what he says. But as President, especially if the Republicans complete their takeover of Congress, he would be under irresistible pressure to do what he says. And what does he say? That he would let states recriminalize abortion; that he would seek constitutional amendments outlawing new same-sex marriages and requiring two-thirds congressional majorities for tax increases; that he would sabotage 'Obamacare' (never mind that 'Romneycare' was its prototype) and seek its repeal, destroying its cost savings and consigning tens of millions to the ranks of the uninsured and untreated; that he would replace unemployment benefits with unemployment 'savings accounts'; that he would supercharge income inequality with further huge tax cuts for the wealthy; that he would gut financial regulation; that he would 'double Guantánamo,' reauthorize torture, and deport undocumented aliens en masse (including President Obama’s Kenyan uncle); and more." ...

... The Bain Is His Existence. Mark Maremont of the Wall Street Journal: the WSJ took a detailed look at Romney's tenure as head of Bain Capital. "Among the findings: 22% either filed for bankruptcy reorganization or closed their doors by the end of the eighth year after Bain first invested, sometimes with substantial job losses. An additional 8% ran into so much trouble that all of the money Bain invested was lost. Another finding was that Bain produced stellar returns for its investors—yet the bulk of these came from just a small number of its investments. Ten deals produced more than 70% of the dollar gains. Some of those companies, too, later ran into trouble." ...

... The AP weighs in to debunk Mitt Romney claim that he created 100,000 jobs at Bain Capital. Oh, and Willard, John Adams did not write the U.S. Constitution. CW: Because local newspapers publish AP stories, this particular Romney lie should get a wide reading. ...

... Steve Benen: although Romney continues to claim he created 100K jobs, he disagrees with his campaign about how the numbers were calculated. When he lists jobs created, he names those companies in which Bain was at least a partial investor after Romney left the firm; i.e., Romney had zip to do with any jobs creation, though he was still collecting income from Bain. If Romney really created 100,000 jobs, he or Bain should release the "proof." ...

... Steve Kornacki of Salon: "The biggest development in the Republican presidential race doesn’t have much to do with the New Hampshire primary. It’s the news ... that a pro-Newt Gingrich Super PAC has received a $5 million donation from Sheldon Adelson, a casino mogul and close Gingrich ally, and is pouring the money into a South Carolina advertising campaign aimed at taking down Mitt Romney. The ads will apparently portray Romney as a job-destroying corporate raider and feature interviews with people who lost their jobs when Romney’s venture capital firm took over their companies. This poses two threats to Romney, animmediate one in the GOP primaries and potentially a longer-term one, with Democrats itching to caricature him the exact same way in a fall campaign." ...

... AND here's a Gingrich ad featuring Willard as a "ruthless corporate raider":

... Right on cue, the Democratic National Committee weighs in:

Rick Santorum opens SNL:

Alex Seitz-Wald & Travis Waldron of Think Progress: At an event in a Manchester, New Hampshire, restaurant, "Yvan Lamothe, a 59-year-old former New Hampshire state employee and small business owner, drew strong applause from the crowd when he told [Newt] Gingrich that he has never taken welfare or food stamps and was offended by Gingrich’s suggestion that most African Americans do. . Gingrich responded with something like classic 'some of my best friends are black' defense, noting that he has worked with people like Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell in the past."

AND. If you have nothing else to worry about today, a friend has directed me a site called "Jesus Is Savior," a page of which is titled, "Satan Is on Our Dollar!" You can learn all about it. I did not get to the part where I found out I was going to hell. But it must be there.

Obviously, some of my friends need to get new hobbies.

News Ledes

New York Times: "President Obama announced on Monday that William M. Daley, the White House chief of staff, was stepping down, after a frustrating year in which Mr. Daley struggled to find his footing in a ferociously partisan Washington. He will be replaced by Jacob J. Lew, the budget director. Mr. Obama, who recruited Mr. Daley a year ago, announced the departure at 3 p.m. in the State Dining Room. It is the most significant shakeup yet in the Obama White House, which has prided itself on a lack of internal drama, with a tightly knit circle of senior advisers playing a dominant role." Washington Post story here.

New York Times: "In a terse four words, the Supreme Court on Monday issued an order upholding prohibitions against foreigners making contributions to influence American elections. The decision clamped shut an opening that some thought the court had created two years ago in its Citizens United decision, when it relaxed campaign-finance limits on corporations and labor unions. On Monday the Supreme Court, upholding a lower court’s decision in Bluman, et al., v. Federal Election Commission, refused to extend its reasoning in Citizens United to cover foreigners living temporarily here."

New York Times: "After more than a week of not taking questions from his press corps, and after two days of back-to-back comments that his campaign has scrambled to explain, Mitt Romney ... sought to clarify remarks he has made about fearing the 'pink slip' in his private sector career, as well as his statement earlier in the day that he likes 'being able to fire' people or businesses that provide poor service."

New York Times: "Poised to dominate the new Parliament here, Egypt’s largest Islamist group is putting off an expected confrontation with Egypt’s military rulers, keeping its distance from more radical Islamist parties and hoping that the United States will continue to support the country financially, a top leader of the group’s political arm said Sunday. In a wide-ranging interview, Essam el-Erian, a senior leader of the political party founded by the group, the Muslim Brotherhood, said the party had decided to support keeping the caretaker prime minister and cabinet appointed by the ruling military council in office for the next six months."

New York Times: "The head of the Swiss central bank, who has been under fire for personal currency trades he and his wife made last year, will resign effective immediately, the bank said Monday. The resignation of Philipp M. Hildebrand came as a surprise. Just last week, he offered a detailed defense of his conduct and appeared to have the support of the council that oversees the Swiss National Bank."

New York Times: "American drug enforcement agents posing as money launderers secretly helped a powerful Mexican drug trafficker and his principal Colombian cocaine supplier move millions in drug proceeds around the world, as part of an effort to infiltrate and dismantle the criminal organizations wreaking havoc south of the border, according to newly obtained Mexican government documents."

New York Times: "Iran’s Revolutionary Court has sentenced to death [Amir Mirzaei Hekmati,] a former United States Marine of Iranian descent, for spying for the Central Intelligence Agency, the semiofficial Fars news agency reported on Monday."

AP: "Diplomats on Monday confirmed a report that Iran has begun uranium enrichment at an underground bunker and said the news is particularly worrying because the site is being used to make material that can be upgraded more quickly for use in a nuclear weapon than the nation's main enriched stockpile."

New York Times: "Tony Blankley, who frustrated and entertained reporters as press secretary to Newt Gingrich during his rise to power in the House, then joined the press corps himself as a columnist and editorial page editor at The Washington Times, died on Saturday in Washington. He was 62."

ABC News: "Novartis Consumer Health Inc. ... announced today that it is voluntarily recalling several over-the-counter products after complaints about broken pills found in some products.... The drugs being recalled are the pain reliever Excedrin and the caffeine tablets NoDoz with expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2014 or earlier, and the aspirin Bufferin, and the stomach medicine Gas-X Prevention with with expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2013 or earlier. The company says these bottles may contain pills of other Novartis products, or pills that are chipped and broken."

LIVE -- GOP Presidential Debate

CW: I'm not even watching this! Once you get past the ad, you can supersize the video -- click on "Options."

Update: it isn't live anymore, but gluttons for punishment can watch the replay.

... Here's the New York Times liveblog, which is probably more palatable, especially around breakfast time. ...

... Update. Jim Rutenberg & Jeff Zeleny write the New York Times' post-debate story: "The five major Republican presidential candidates who are not named Mitt Romney ferociously attacked him during a debate here Sunday morning, questioning his conservative credentials, his authenticity and even his honesty just two days before the first-in-the-nation primary here." Karen Tumulty & Amy Gardner of the Washington Post make the same point -- everybody was Mean to Mitt. CW: gee, maybe I shoulda listened.... Nah.