The Commentariat -- August 18

Frank Bruni: "It’s the undeclared candidates who always look best. Just look at the current Republican presidential primary contest.... The drumbeat within the party for more, better candidates has already resumed...." ...

... I've posted a Bruni page on Off Times Square and asked who you would nominate for president. You can answer the question or write on something else.

Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times: "In a three-day journey through the friendly terrain of Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois that ended Wednesday, there were few direct mentions of Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, [Michele] Bachmann or any other Republican presidential hopefuls. But the trip offered the first real indication of how the president plans to confront his Republican opponent — whoever he or she is."

Robert Reich: "Some of the President’s political advisors have been pushing for small-bore [jobs] initiatives that they believe might have a chance of getting through the Republican just-say-no House.... But the President is sounding as if he’s rejected their advice. That’s good policy and good politics." Reich suggests what programs should go into a jobs initiative.

Nixon biographer Rick Pearlstein in Time: Democrats win by defending the social safety net -- calmly -- and (accurately) accusing Republicans of trying to dismantle it. CW: in other words, so far Obama has done all the wrong things. He has threatened to cut Medicare & Social Security & he has refused to accuse Republicans of wanting to gut these programs (he won't even say "Republican").

Proud to Be a Firebagger. Ezra Klein: "... whenever I read these periodic eruptions about 'the professional left,' my main thought is: if I were a member of the professional left, I would be stoked. Paul Krugman is one op-ed columnist. Firedog Lake is one Web site. They have readers. But they are not the state of Ohio. Time and again, however, we see evidence that they have gotten deep inside the White House’s head." CW: I've read the backstory on this, which you can get to via Klein's links, but it's sorta boring: some guy in the New Mexico Obama campaign sent out an e-mail which included a long citation by some blogger who trashed Krugman and "firebaggers," the last probably being an attempt to equate Firedoglake with teabaggers. Bottom line: we firebaggers have a duty to keep on keepin' on.

"Unemployment Is Killing Us." Jeff Kaye of Firedoglake cites studies that show the correlation between joblessness and mental illness, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. "Callous disregard for human lives is what links the terrible policies of war and torture with the policies of neglect and indifference towards the jobless." [emphasis original]

Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos on why the Wisconsin results bode well for Democrats.

CW: I think this criticism of the media is over the top, but you'll have a hard time disagreeing with some of it, especially the some-of-it that's purely factual. Washingtons Blog: "Liberals shouldn’t ignore the media’s censoring of Ron Paul’s popularity in straw polls because he’s 'on the right'. Many progressive candidates have been shut out of political races by the big corporate media.... Corporate media have long been presstitutes for the rich and powerful, and knee-jerk in supporters of all wars. CW: It's worth noting that criticism of the media conglomerate as kingmakers is not limited to lefties. Watch these two wingers on Fox "News" agree in toto with the author of Washingtons Blog. Thanks to reader Bob M. for the link.

New York Times Editors: British PM David Cameron is clueless. His stated causes and planned cures for the recent riots in British cities are shockingly wrong-headed.

Right Wing World

CW: How to Keep the Revolving Door from Hitting You in the Ass: Adopt an Alias. Lee Fang of Think Progress: Former Goldman Sachs anti-regulation lobbyist Peter Simonyi changed his last name to Haller before signing on as anti-regulation aide to my nominee for worst crook in Congress Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). Simonyi/Haller is working on slowing down and/or overturning the implementation of Dodd-Frank rules regulating institutions like Goldman. Issa has "turned the House Oversight Committee into a bank lobbying firm with the power to subpoena and pressure government regulators.... Issa has used the committee to merge the responsibilities of Congress with the interests of K Street and Issa’s own fortune." The committee traditionally aids regulators, not financial institutions. Thanks to Bob M.

Rick Perry, Porn Merchant. Lisa Derrick of La Figa: Rick Perry isn't talking about his past financial interest in, "Movie Gallery, the nation’s second largest video chain, [which] was the largest distributor of pornography in America and the only major retail chain to sell pornography in its flagship stores. The margin of profit on porn allowed the chain to undercut rental prices on mainstream videos, forcing mom-and-pops out of business." Though Perry signed legislation to help Movie Gallery avoid "frivolous" lawsuits, the company went out of business in 2010. CW: wonder if they had a fire sale of their inventory. One of Perry's biggest backers -- the fundamentalist American Family Association -- had initiated a boycott of Movie Gallery.

John Broder of the New York Times: "The Environmental Protection Agency is emerging as a favorite target of the Republican presidential candidates, who portray it as the very symbol of a heavy-handed regulatory agenda imposed by the Obama administration that they say is strangling the economy.... But while attacks on the E.P.A., climate-change science and environmental regulation more broadly are surefire applause lines with many Republican primary audiences, these views may prove a liability in the general election, pollsters and analysts say. The American people, by substantial majorities, are concerned about air and water pollution, and largely trust the E.P.A., national surveys say." ...

... Rick Perry, the Pollution Governor. Ben Adler of The Nation:  "According to Texas good government and environmental watchdogs, [Texas Gov. Rick] Perry has raised much of his campaign funds from business executives who have financial interests in state government decisions. Often Perry’s supporters come from the energy sector and Perry’s help for them has come at the expense of the environment." Adler provides examples that will make you sick, literally. ...

... Alexandra Petri of the Washington Post: "Global warming, or climate change, it seems, is a hoax propagated by malignant scientists. Rick Perry will have none of it. It’s, he said Wednesday in New Hampshire, 'a scientific theory that has not been proven.' In his book, Fed Up! he called it 'all one contrived phony mess that is falling apart under its own weight.'”

Gene Kessler of the Washington Post: "Perry’s statement suggests that, on the climate change issue, the governor is willfully ignoring the facts and making false accusations based on little evidence. He has every right to be a skeptic — all scientific theories should be carefully scrutinized — but that does not give him carte blanche to simply make things up."

PolitiFact: "Rick Perry says government wants to require commercial driver's licenses of anyone who drives a tractor across a road.... The former cotton farmer and Texas agriculture commissioner ... [said] 'Let me give you just a — this is such an obscene, crazy regulation. They want to make — if you are a tractor driver, if you drive your tractor across a public road, you are going to have to have a commercial driver's license. Now, how idiotic is that?' Far as we can tell, the regulation questioned by Perry hasn't even been proposed at the federal level."

Dylan Matthews in the Washington Post: "Rick Perry's statement that another round of bond-buying by the Fed would be 'almost treasonous' has been treated as the first major gaffe of his campaign, with everyone from the White House to Karl Rove pouncing on him. But while more bluntly worded than usual, the statement in many ways reflects a mainstream Republican consensus against looser monetary policy." Matthews provides examples. CW: remember that the "almost treasonous" Bernanke is a Republican, originally appointed to head the Fed by George W. Bush. ...

... Politifact: "U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett told ABC News ... that Gov. Rick Perry’s rosy depictions of employment conditions in Texas aren’t entirely accurate. 'Twenty-five states have lower unemployment than Texas does today,' the Austin Democrat said, adding that 'we're tied with Mississippi for more minimum-wage jobs than anywhere in the United States.'"

Local News

I think it’s awfully funny to now be standing here and talking about coming to the table when this entire bill takes away their rights to do so. -- Melissa Fazekas, a spokeswoman for We Are Ohio ...

... AP (via the NYT): "Gov. John Kasich and top Republican lawmakers said Wednesday that they were offering to change a new law limiting collective bargaining in an attempt to keep a repeal effort off the November ballot. The administration released a letter asking for a meeting on Friday to discuss a compromise with 10 union leaders authorized to negotiate on behalf of We Are Ohio, the group pushing for a repeal of the law."

From the How-Could-We-Have-Known? File. Jeff Adelson of the Times-Picayune: "Army Corps of Engineers officials spent less than five minutes discussing whether designs for pump stations on three New Orleans area canals could withstand the pressure of a storm surge, a key aspect of the project needed to prevent Hurricane Katrina-style flooding, according to the Government Accountability Office. Instead of evaluating the proposal on their own, officials trusted claims by CBY Design Builders, which won the contract for the project, that the pumps’ foundations would hold up; claims that were disputed by another firm competing for the contract and that spurred the GAO review." Thanks to reader Bob M. for the link.

News Ledes

** Dream Act -- Administration-Style. New York Times: "The Obama administration announced on Thursday that it would generally not deport or expel illegal immigrants who had come to the United States as young children and graduated from high school or served in the armed forces. White House and immigration officials said they would exercise 'prosecutorial discretion' to allow these people to stay in the country while the government focused its enforcement efforts on higher-priority cases involving criminals and people who had flagrantly violated immigration laws. President Obama is, in effect, doing administratively what he could not persuade Congress to do...."

New York Times: "Rebel fighters gained complete control on Thursday of the oil refinery in Zawiyah — just a half hour’s drive from Tripoli, the country’s capital — routing government soldiers after days of battle and advancing into other parts of this strategic port city still controlled by loyalists of Libya’s increasingly isolated leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi."

President Obama will travel to Cape Cod this afternoon. Cape Cod Times: "After meetings this morning at the White House, President Barack Obama is scheduled to travel to Martha's Vineyard for a 10-day summer vacation with his wife, Michelle, and daughters, Malia and Sasha." ...

     ... Update: "President Barack Obama arrived alone on Air Force One, touching down shortly after 5:25 p.m. at Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod. His wife Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, arrived on Martha's Vineyard separately earlier today."

Reuters: "The Obama administration on Thursday called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to resign and said the United States was implementing tough new sanctions to help end violence in Syria. 'The future of Syria must be determined by its people, but President Bashar Assad is standing in their way,' Obama said in a statement. 'His calls for dialogue and reform have rung hollow while he is imprisoning, torturing, and slaughtering his own people.'" Here's the President's full statement. The White House also put out this Fact Sheet on Syria.

Washington Post: "The president is thinking about proposing tax cuts for companies that hire workers, new spending for roads and construction, and other measures that would target the long-term unemployed.... Some ideas, such as providing mortgage relief for struggling homeowners, could come through executive action. Obama also plans to announce a major push for new deficit reduction."

New York Times: "The Justice Department is investigating whether the nation’s largest credit ratings agency, Standard & Poor’s, improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis, according to two people interviewed by the government and another briefed on such interviews."

New York Times: "Stocks fell sharply in Europe on Thursday, and futures trading indicated that Wall Street would follow suit at the opening, amid concern that the global economy may be slowing." ...

     ... Update -- New Lede: "After just a few days of calm, stocks declined steeply on Thursday in a worldwide sell-off. The downturn was driven by fresh concerns that the worldwide economy is slowing and that Europe’s debt crisis is putting strain on the financial sector."

Al Jazeera: "US Vice President Joe Biden has launched his visit to China by stressing the importance of strong US-China relations in maintaining a stable global economy." ...

     ... Los Angeles Times Update: "Only minutes into Biden's remarks [at a joint press availability], Chinese officials had begun to direct reporters toward the exits. Most reporters and the vice president's staff objected, saying it was important to cover the entirety of Biden's opening statement, as had been the agreement between officials beforehand. A Chinese press aide said Biden was going on far too long for their liking. But in fact, including the consecutive translation of his comments from English to Chinese, Biden spoke only two or three minutes longer than [Chinese Vice President Xi Jingping] had."

Guardian: "James Desborough, an award-winning reporter at the former News of the World newspaper, has been arrested by officers investigating the phone-hacking scandal. Desborough was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977 after arriving at a south London police station on Thursday morning at 10.30am. He had arrived at the station by appointment for questioning about criminal activities at the paper."

XXX Won the Iowa Straw Poll

The Ames, Iowa Straw Poll is essentially a fundraiser. But the media, with nothing better to do, have turned it into an event of such significance that it caused one plausible hopeful who didn't do well -- Tim Pawlenty -- to drop out of the race.

The media breathlessly reported the results of the straw poll live. Well, not breathlessly exactly; the Fox "News" team couldn't figure them out:

But they did make much of the fact that Michele Bachmann won the straw poll. Had Rick Perry not rained on her parade by announcing his candidacy the same day as the straw poll, Bachmann would have been the star of the day. As it was, she made the rounds of all five Sunday morning "news" talk shows.

For 152 or a differences of .90 percent; i.e., less than one percent. Well, sez you, a win is a win. Is it?

Bachmann got a commanding 80 percent of the votes she paid for. -- Stephen Colbert

As usual, I get my news from Comedy Central. But occasionally I follow up with other media, like that ever-reliable hard news right-wing Daily Caller. Alex Pappas of said caller writes,

Bachmann ... gave away far more admission tickets than [Rep. Ron Paul] did. Paul’s campaign gave out 4,750 tickets to straw poll voters, his campaign chairman, Jesse Benton, told The Daily Caller. A ... spokeswoman for Bachmann, wouldn’t disclose the number of tickets her campaign distributed. But Ben Smith of Politico reported that Bachmann’s campaign gave away 6,000 tickets. That would mean Paul gave out about 1,250 fewer tickets than Bachmann.

Yet Bachmann won by only 152 votes.

If Pappas' & Smith's reporting is correct, Paul's base is a lot more loyal than Bachmann's. Bachmann paid for 1,177 more tickets than she got votes. Paul paid for only 79 more votes than he garnered. And why, exactly, did Pawlenty drop out? Did he hand out 6,000 tickets? Or even 4,700? I doubt it. The tickets, BTW, cost $30 each. (I don't know whether or not candidates or others get a bulk discount.)

Funny, the MSM has barely mentioned Paul. As Colbert pointed out, Paul was identified as "XXX" in an AP story. When the MSM deign to mention his name, they describe him as a "niche" candidate. Well, yeah, so is Bachmann -- the fundamentalist Christian, anti-government, fairly confused & really angry niche.  Here's Jon Stewart on Paul's near-win:

I told you I rely on Comedy Central for the news. (To be fair and balanced, Steve Kornacki of Salon defends the MSM's inattention to Paul.)

So who was the real winner of the Iowa Straw Poll? I'd say it was Mr. XXX a/k/a Ron Paul. The losers, of course, are we the people, who sheepishly allow money and the media to determine political outcomes.

The Commentariat -- August 17

Maureen Dowd: "In dueling buses crisscrossing cornfields, a temperate president and intemperate governor check out the political temperature."

I've posted a page for comments on Dowd's column on Off Times Square.

... Marc Ambinder & George Condon of the National Journal: "The White House, burned by failed efforts to work with Republicans and dismayed by a growing perception that President Obama is a weak leader, has made the decision to put more pressure – and blame – on Congress when Obama returns to Washington after his family vacation." ...

     ... More video & story here.

Most Obnoxious MSM Headline of the Day: "Obama Aims to Keep White Voters on Board." The article itself, by Laura Meckler & Carol Lee of the Wall Street Journal is actually a serious analysis of voting patterns.

Profs. David Campell & Robert Putnam, in a New York Times op-ed: "On everything but the size of government, Tea Party supporters are increasingly out of step with most Americans, even many Republicans."

"What Would Hillary Have Done?" Hillary Clinton supporter Rebecca Traister, in a New York Times Magazine article, has the answer. She presents various possibilities, but in the end concludes,

Hillary Clinton’s presidency would probably not have looked so different from Obama’s. She was, after all, a senator who, for a variety of structural and strategic reasons, often crossed party lines to co-sponsor legislation with Republicans, who voted to go to war in Iraq, who moved to the center on everything from Israel to violent video games. You think Obama’s advisers are bad? Hillary Clinton hired, and then took far too long to get rid of, Mark Penn. And her economic team probably would have looked an awful lot like Obama’s. 

Joshua Miller of Roll Call: "Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren is preparing for her likely bid to unseat Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) by attending house parties in the Boston area...." ...

... The Democratic political establishment is ... so obsessed with winning this seat back that Washington elitists are trying to push aside local Democrat candidates in favor of Professor Warren from Oklahoma. -- Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass), in a fundraising letter [emphasis added]

Right Wing World *

Excuse me. The "Texas Miracle" just fell off the page:

Graph by Felix Salmon of Reuters.... Felix Salmon of Reuters: "Perry’s [employment] record is pretty bad, here: he inherited a ratio of more than 47% in Texas from George W Bush, and has presided over a steady decline ever since — including every year of the Bush presidency bar 2005." ...

... ** NEW. Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post: "Rick Perry’s Texas is Ross Perot’s Mexico come north. Through a range of enticements we more commonly associate with Third World nations — low wages, no benefits, high rates of poverty, scant taxes, few regulations and generous corporate subsidies — the state has produced its own 'giant sucking sound,' attracting businesses from other states to a place where workers come cheap.... He is the 21st-century, homegrown version of the Manchurian candidate." ...

... Michael Scherer of Time: on Hypocrisy Watch: Rick Perry has aggressively lobbied (and won) federal deficit spending dedicated to his own projects, including one huge grant that went to a group of Perry's favorite oil and gas industry buddies. The programs for which Perry's lobbied are the very ones (or worse than the very ones) he is now attacking as "wasteful spending of our children's inheritance." ...

... Jonathan Weisman of the Wall Street Journal: twice this weekend Rick Perry railed against an Obama Administration "rule" that doesn't exist and never did. 

... "Perrymania Is Overrated." Ed Kilgore of The New Republic: "Until Perry’s popularity in Iowa can be verified by polls of likely Caucus-goers, the most plausible scenario is a Bachmann win in the Caucuses, followed by Romney victories in Nevada and New Hampshire, and then a Perry breakthrough in South Carolina. This scenario would take the GOP into uncharted territory, since there’s never been a presidential nominating contest where the first three big states were won by three different candidates."

Perry’s rant is a particularly low moment in American political debate. -- Steve Stromberg of the Washington Post, on Rick Perry's remarks about Ben Bernanke

The guy who threatened secession is now calling someone else treasonous? Hello, pot, it’s me, kettle. -- Republican "Insider"

When you’re president or you’re running for president you have to think about what you’re saying because your words have greater impact. President Obama and we take the independence of the Federal Reserve very seriously and certainly think threatening the Fed chairman is probably not a good idea. -- White House Press Secretary Jay Carney  ...

... Steve Benen: The White House is framing a new narrative. "The question for voters is whether someone like Obama, the grown-up who solves problems, or someone like Perry, the buffoon who accuses Ben Bernanke of treason, can be trusted to help make politics work again." ...

* Where the sleaziest, meanest most prolific liar wins the day.

Local News

Lizette Alvarez of the New York Times: "The Florida Supreme Court concluded that [Florida Gov. Rick] Scott 'overstepped his constitutional authority' and 'violated the separation of powers' when he suspended all proposed rules until he could review and approve them. It was the governor’s first executive order. A majority of judges stated that Mr. Scott encroached on the State Legislature’s authority when he opted to unilaterally freeze rule-making." Meanwhile, "teachers, prison workers, food stamp recipients, doctors — are plastering him with [more] lawsuits." The ruling is here (pdf). St. Pete Times story here.: "Scott attorney Charles Trippe had argued that the 'supreme executive power' granted the governor by the state Constitution is among the reasons he has final say over rules developed by state agencies under his control." CW: so much for our Supreme Leader. Jerk.

News Ledes

AP: "... President Barack Obama will give a major speech in early September to unveil new ideas for speeding up job growth and helping the struggling poor and middle class.... The president's plan is likely to contain tax cuts, jobs-boosting infrastructure ideas and steps that would specifically help the long-term unemployed.... All of Obama's proposals would be fresh ones, not a rehash of plans he has pitched for many weeks and still supports, including his 'infrastructure bank' idea to finance construction jobs.... Obama will also present a specific plan to cut the suffocating long-term national debt and to pay for the cost of his new short-term economic ideas."

AP: "Global stocks fell Wednesday in a downbeat appraisal of a Franco-German summit that failed to persuade investors that a convincing fix to the eurozone's spiraling debt crisis was imminent."

Reuters: "Libyan rebels launched an assault on an oil refinery on Wednesday to drive the last remaining troops loyal to Muammar Gaddafi out of a city on Tripoli's outskirts and consolidate a siege of the capital.... Gaddafi is looking isolated, with reinvigorated rebel forces closing in on the capital from the west and south and cutting off its road links to the outside." ...

     ... Al Jazeera: "Libyan rebels say they now control most of the strategic western town of Az-Zawiyah, as they continue an offensive aimed at isolating Tripoli, the country's capital."

AP: "Chinese commentators are marking a visit by Vice President Joseph Biden by offering a struggling United States advice: Stop flooding your economy with cheap credit. The prescriptions awaiting Biden, who arrived Wednesday in Beijing, range from cutting government budget deficits to fighting poverty."