The Commentariat -- April 22

While I stand behind my firm belief that I have not violated any law, rule, or standard of conduct of the Senate, and I have fought to prove this publicly, I will not continue to subject my family, my constituents, or the Senate to any further rounds of investigation, depositions, drawn out proceedings, or especially public hearings. For my family and me, this continued personal cost is simply too great.
-- Sen. John Ensign, in a statement announcing his resignation

Yes, if there's one thing John Ensign worries about, it's putting his family through a difficult ordeal. -- Steve Benen

Paul Krugman: "... the budget proposal from the Congressional Progressive Caucus is not going to happen — but then neither is the Ryan plan. And unlike the Ryan plan, it actually makes sense."

"Patients Are Not Consumers." Paul Krugman: "The idea that ... doctors are just 'providers' selling services to health care 'consumers' — is, well, sickening. And the prevalence of this kind of language [coming from Republicans] is a sign that something has gone very wrong not just with this discussion, but with our society’s values." See comments from Kate Madison, Karen Garcia & me others (held back on the Times site but not here!) on the Off Times Square page.

Brooks Does Broadway. David Brooks sees the musical/satirical comedy "The Book of Mormon." "The religions that thrive have exactly what 'The Book of Mormon' ridicules: communal theologies, doctrines and codes of conduct rooted in claims of absolute truth." He goes on to extol the virtues of "rigorous theology" and "rigorous codes of conduct." We need rules!

Tim Egan compares Donald Trump to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who currently on trial for a sex scandal involving underage prostitutes.

Robert Reich: "... the center of America isn't near halfway between the two sides. It's overwhelmingly on the side of the President and the Democrats. I'd wager if Americans also knew two-thirds of Ryan's budget cuts come from programs serving lower and moderate-income Americans and over 70 percent of the savings fund tax cuts for the rich -- meaning it's really just a giant transfer from the less advantaged to the super advantaged without much deficit reduction at all -- far more would be against it. And if people knew that the Ryan plan would channel hundreds of billions of their Medicare dollars into the pockets of private for-profit heath insurers, almost everyone would be against it. The Republican plan shouldn't be considered one side of a great debate. It shouldn't be considered at all." Read Reich's whole post.

Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post: "President Obama’s deficit-reduction plan 'falls short' of targets set by House Republicans and Obama’s own fiscal commission and would be unlikely to stabilize borrowing, according to a new independent analysis. The analysis, by the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, found that the plan Obama unveiled in a speech last week would require the nation to borrow another $7 trillion during the next decade, compared with about $5.5 trillion under the House Republican [Ryan] budget and about $5.3 trillion under the recommendations offered in December by Obama’s fiscal commission." CW: in other words, all of the plans raise the deficit over the next decade. CW: bottom line -- eliminating Bush tax cuts on the rich won't do it. Solution -- raise taxes on the rich & eliminate all the corporate loopholes. The Congressional Progressive Caucus budget does this and more. ...

     ... CW Update: Oh, good. Here's Michael Tomasky -- who covers U.S. politics for the Guardian -- agreeing with me. He calls the CPC budget "the only responsible budget in town." ...

... Or, as Ezra Klein explains it, "House Republicans voted to make the Ryan budget law. But the Ryan budget includes $6 trillion in new debt over the next 10 years, which means that to become law, the Ryan budget would require a substantial increase in the debt ceiling. But before the Republicans agree to increase the debt ceiling so that the budget they passed can become law, Republicans are demanding the passage of either a balanced budget amendment that would make the Ryan budget unconstitutional or a spending cap that the Ryan budget would, in certain years (and if you’re using more realistic numbers, in all years), exceed.” ...

... Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center adds: "... any lawmaker who voted for the budget deal that funds the remainder of this fiscal year or who opposed the measure because it cut spending by too much ought to be impeached if he does not also vote to increase the debt limit.... Having voted to run up the bill, it is utterly irresponsible to prohibit the government from borrowing the money to pay it. More importantly, there is no fiscal plan now on the table that would balance the 2012 budget, and thus stop adding to the debt."

Dana Milbank: Andrew "Breitbart’s criticism of fellow conservatives is part of a new wave of infighting on the right. Three months after gaining control of the House, cracks have begun to appear in the conservative coalition.... This loss of discipline in the conservative movement is the natural byproduct of its rise to power."

Nate Silver: Republican "Gov. Brian Sandoval of Nevada is expected to appoint Dean Heller, currently the Republican incumbent in the state’s Second Congressional District, to replace Senator John Ensign, who is resigning.... Nothing about today changes" Mr. Heller's odds of winning the election. He remains "a modest favorite in the race, just as he was before."

Here's a handy little graphic showing how George W. Bush's policies created the deficit. That little dark line way down at the bottom of the chart shows what the deficit would have been without Bush's "help." Via Jonathan Capehart the Washinton Post:

Right Wing World *

Justin Elliott of Salon writes that he interviewed half-a-dozen reliable sources, each of whom had reason to believe that Sarah Palin was pregnant in early March 2008 and is therefore the mother of Trig. One source was then-AP journalist Steve Quinn who said Palin showed him her expanded abdomen some weeks before Trig's birth, & he observed she was pregnant. CW: okay, there's the evidence I was looking for & haven't seen printed anywhere. So I stand corrected.

Steve Benen: the Republican health insurance plan is still "go to the emergency room." How do we know? Because they keep saying so, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour being the latest advocate of that "plan." Benen calls it "the most inefficient system of socialized medicine ever devised" because of course "it's extremely expensive to treat patients this way, and it would be far cheaper, and more medically effective, to pay for preventative care so that people don't have to wait for a medical emergency to seek treatment."

NEW. While concurring with Andrew Sullivan's criticism that Republican Washington "elites" who are aghast at Donald Trump's popularity among their base have only themselves to blame for it, Driftglass also lets Sullivan have it for his selective amnesia. This 2006 post by Driftglass, which he cites in the current post, is quite worth reading, & the five intervening years haven't changed the general tenor & thrust of Right Wing World tactics. ...

... The Birth of Birtherism by Ben Smith & Byron Tau of Politico: "... as Obama marched toward the presidency, a new suggestion emerged: That he was not eligible to serve.... That theory first emerged in the spring of 2008, as Clinton supporters circulated an anonymous email questioning Obama’s citizenship."

... Kirk Johnson of the New York Times: "Around the country, the [birther] issue has proved to be a sure winner for the conservative base, with bills popping up in more than a dozen state legislatures to force future presidential candidates to prove their citizenship." CW: in case you think some of the backers of these bills might be stupid, take a look at the twisted logic of this Georgia state legislator whose birther bill didn't pass:

If one state passes, and the Obama administration basically ignores the requirement and does not qualify for the ballot in that state, that would send a very strong signal that we have a situation in the United States where someone who is not eligible is occupying the White House.
-- Mark Hatfield, Georgia Republican legislator

     ... Here's some similar logic: If I ignore a lunatic's demand to take off my shoes & show him my toes, then I must have twelve toes. ...

... Donald Trump takes a page out of Joe McCarthy's playbook and, discussing his "birther" investigation in Hawaii, tells CNN hosts, "I have people that have been studying it and they cannot believe what they're finding.... We're looking into it very, very strongly. At a certain point in time I'll be revealing some interesting things":

... The Best-Laid Schemes.... Michael O'Brien of The Hill: "If Donald Trump's flirtation with running for president is a bid to boost ratings for his reality TV show, it doesn’t appear to be working. Trump ... has been surging in polls measuring support for the GOP presidential hopefuls. But the ratings for the 11th season of NBC’s 'The Apprentice,' which is featuring celebrity contestants, hit their lowest point for the season last Sunday, even as Trump was enjoying prominence in a slew of presidential headlines." CW: maybe Trump is running for president as a back-up plan for when NBC fires him.

Alex Seitz-Wald of Think Progress: "Fracking is a relatively new and untested technique, but [Sen. Jim] Inhofe insisted that there’s nothing to worry about, as he claimed fracking has 'never poisoned anyone” nor ever contaminated groundwater.' ... Just yesterday, a blowout at a Pennsylvania natural gas well engaged in fracking spilled thousands of gallons of toxic chemical-laced water, 'contaminating a stream and forcing the evacuation of seven families who live nearby as crews struggled to stop the gusher,' the AP reported. Inhofe referenced the Pennsylvania spill in his interview, but said that it has 'nothing to do with fracking' because it was a stream, not groundwater that was contaminated."

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

President Obama releases a statement on the violence in Syria (Full statement on the White House site):

The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the use of force by the Syrian government against demonstrators. This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now. We regret the loss of life and our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the victims, and with the Syrian people in this challenging time.

New York Times: "Senator John Ensign’s resignation letter allows him to leave office just one day before he was to have to answer questions under oath about whether a $96,000 payment to the family of his former lover was illegal, designed to keep the affair from becoming public, according to people familiar with an investigation of Mr. Ensign’s activities.... Two leaders of the Ethics Committee — both the top Democrat and the top Republican — ... are likely to take the unusual step of issuing a statement that details evidence of wrongdoing uncovered in a 22-month investigation that was the largest in more than a decade...."

New York Times: "As Syrian security forces unleashed a deadly crackdown on demonstrators, protests on Friday remained peaceful elsewhere in the Middle East with tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets following noon prayers."

New York Times: "Syria deployed police officers, soldiers and military vehicles in two of the country’s three largest cities on Thursday ahead of a call for nationwide protests that will test the popular reception of reforms decreed by President Bashar al-Assad as well as the momentum that organizers have sought to bring to a five-week uprising." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Security forces in Syria met thousands of demonstrators with fusillades of live ammunition after noon prayers on Friday, killing at least 73 people in the bloodiest day of the five-week-old Syrian uprising, according to protesters, witnesses and accounts on social networking sites."

New York Times: "The secretary general of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council traveled to the Yemeni capital, Sana, on Thursday to offer the embattled president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, a deal to solve Yemen’s current political crisis. A Yemeni government statement promised an official response within 24 hours. The arrangement calls for the president to hand over power immediately and step down in 30 days, and sets up new presidential elections 60 days later, a Yemeni official said...."

Los Angeles Times: "President Obama sought to bolster California supporters Thursday by arguing that his administration has achieved a number of key goals, from healthcare reform to tax cuts, while acknowledging that delivering on the promises he made in 2008 has been more difficult than he had expected."

Washington Post: "BP will make a $1 billion down payment on the costs of restoring ecosystems damaged by last year’s 87-day oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst in U.S. history, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Interior Department announced Thursday."

Securing the Tipper Gore Vote. AP: "The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court Thursday to reinstate a policy that allows federal regulators to fine broadcasters for showing nudity and airing curse words when young children may be watching television. The administration is seeking the high court's review of appeals court rulings that threw out the Federal Communications Commission's rules against the isolated use of expletives as well as fines against broadcasters who showed a woman's nude buttocks on a 2003 episode of ABC's 'NYPD Blue.'"

The Commentariat -- April 21

Krugman writes that the Times' whole comments system has gone down. You can always post on the Off Times Square page. I'll ignore the off-topic rule today. You'll probably want to allude to or link the article you're commenting on. Update: in an e-mail exchange with Karen Garcia, who first alerted me to Krugman's post, I theorized that the Times problem might have to do with Amazon's hosting service going down (see today's Ledes). As Karen discovered, that was the case. From the Times: "The [Amazon] problem also affected some functions of the Web site of The New York Times, including readers’ ability to comment on articles and blog posts."

Digby, writing under her real name, Heather Parton, in The Hill, demonstrates that Congressional Republicans have already decided to raise the debt ceiling. "It’s clear everyone understands the debt limit will be raised. The crazy Republicans aren’t completely crazy (and according to The Washington Post, Wall Street is having a very special chat with those who are).... So the only real question is why the White House and the Democrats are pretending that they need to negotiate at all." CW: Democrats like to lie down and roll over, even though Republicans never stratch their bellies. ...

... So Naturally ... Jake Sherman & Jonathan Allen of Politico: "One day after being named to a presidential task force to negotiate deficit reduction, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor fired off a stark warning to Democrats that the GOP 'will not grant their request for a debt limit increase' without major spending cuts or budget process reforms."

Looking for Tax Revenues in All the Wrong Places. Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post makes the case for taxing investment income at a higher rate than ordinary income: "Only bankers and the depraved believe that income from other people’s labor rates a moral discount over income from one’s own labor. The case for taxing capital at a lower rate is economic: that low tax rates on investment spurs more investment, and more jobs, in the American economy. Plainly, that’s no longer the case. The dividends that go to shareholders in America’s major corporations increasingly derive from investments those corporations make overseas."

Ben Bernanke Steps Out. Jon Hilsenrath of the Wall Street Journal: "Next Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will do something no Fed chief has done before: Stand before a room full of journalists after officials conclude a policy meeting and answer questions about the central bank's decisions.... In stepping out now, the chairman has a chance to assert his voice over the Fed's cacophonous internal debates—before any of his colleagues can get to a microphone—and reassure the public that he'll keep inflation under control."

Jia Lynn Yang of the Washington Post: "Not since antitrust officials took on Microsoft in the 1990s has the [Department of Justice] taken on this much responsibility enforcing restrictions on some of America’s most dominant companies. Some experts worry that the agency, now reviewing the blockbuster deal between AT&T and T-Mobile, is trying to regulate complex businesses when it should instead be blocking controversial mergers in court."

Gail Collins writes one of her most affecting columns on the Texas fiscal crisis and how the state legislature plans to make it worse by cutting family planning funds. Post your own comment on the Off Times Square page. CW Note: my comment on Collins has the word "sex" in it, so it's been held back. You can read it on the Off Times Square page.

Nicholas Kristof defends his friend Greg Mortenson against charges of misuse of charitable contributions. Post your own comment on the Off Times Square page, which also contains background info on the Mortenson matter.

"Lessons from Bradley Manning's Transfer." Glenn Greenwald: the Bradley Manning detention" episode should be a potent antidote to defeatism, as it provides a template for how issues that would be otherwise ignored can be amplified by independent voices creatively using the democratizing and organizing power of the Internet, and meaningful activism achieved."

Dahlia Lithwick in Slate: "Opponents and supporters of abortion appear to have taken the position that Roe v. Wade is no longer the law of the land." Although state after state has introduced &/or passed legislation that violates Roe, pro-choice groups are afraid to bring cases through the courts, as they fear Justice Sam Alito will cast a deciding vote to overturn Roe. "The end result is that Roe remains on the books, while for all practical purposes women can't get an abortion in Ohio, North Dakota, or Florida. I suppose you can call it half a loaf, but then, having half a loaf only really works if you are sort of pregnant."

The Washington Post has a retrospective of the work of photographer Chris Hondros, who was killed in Libya Wednesday.

Dana Milbank. "Obama likes Facebook. Facebook likes Obama."

Right Wing World *

Magical Thinking. Andrew Leonard of Salon: Texas Gov. Rick Perry's official solution to the effects of climate change is to pray to God! "He's officially declaring the next three days as 'Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas....' It's almost too classic -- let's ignore all the science that might help prepare us to confront the challenges of the future, and then, when disaster hits, we'll just do a rain dance! It's not like we're, uh, civilized or anything." But Leonard thinks God-fearing Texans should worry that "God is punishing them for their flagrant disregard of the human impact on his (or her) beauteous creation!"

Here's what happens when facts intrude into Right Wing World. Scott Keyes of Think Progress posts this video of Paul Ryan defending tax cuts for the wealthy at a community meeting in Milton, Wisconsin. A man who describes himself as "a lifelong conservative" complains about growing income disparity & says "we're wrong" not to let tax cuts for the wealth expire & not to raise the Social Security cap. The audience boos Ryan's response:

... Jonathan Chait of The New Republic demonstrates why Paul Ryan "and his defenders have to stop insisting that he doesn't propose tax cuts for the rich. He indisputably does so."

I Got Mine, but You Won't Get Yours. Kase Wickman of Raw Story: "Rep. Paul Ryan, the GOP's most outspoken advocate for cutting and privatizing Social Security, has already benefited from Social Security himself, in the form of survivor benefits he received after his father's untimely death."

CW: I've been avoiding Sarah Palin stories, including the latest brouhaha over the Birth of Trig "Hoax," but this article by Geoffrey Dunn in Business Insider is measured and sensible. Dunn ably backs up his contention that Palin's account(s) of Trig's birth are more troubling than the hoax theory. I don't have any idea who Trig's natural mother is, but there's very little reason to think she is Sarah Palin.

T. W. Farnam of the Washington Post: "Many of the Republican freshmen in the House won election vowing to shake up Washington, so it’s a little surprising that many of them seem to be playing an old Washington game: raising much of their campaign money from corporate political action committees. More than 50 members of the class of 87 GOP freshmen took in more than $50,000 from PACs during the first quarter of 2011, according to new campaign disclosure reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. Eighteen of the lawmakers took in more than $100,000." CW: "A little surprising?" Hardly. Consistency is the hobgoblin of Right Wing World.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, I published a photo of candidate Barack Obama's certificate of live birth from the State of Hawaii. It was/is WIDELY available online. "As recently as Tuesday night [Michelle Bachmann] called questions about President Obama's birthplace 'legitimate.'" So yesterday morning, George Stephanopoulos showed Bachmann a certified & sealed copy of that same document that the State of Hawaii has made available for at least two-and-a-half years. Watch her reaction:

     ... Okay, George, time to book the Donald. ...

... Steve Benen: "When 47% of Republicans, literally years after the birther garbage was debunked, believe the president was born in another country, it reinforces the notion that there's a deeply ugly strain of madness that runs through Republican politics."

"No Honor among Scoundrels." Jed Lewison of the Daily Kos: Andrew Breitbart complains that Glenn Beck "threw me under the bus" by publishing the unedited Shirley Sherrod tape (which completely exonerated Sherrod & proved Breitbart had edited the tape to falsely make her appear to be a racist) & calling for Breitbart to apologize.

* Where facts occasionaly intrude, with unpleasant results.

The Commentariat -- April 20

** Janny Scott, writing in the New York Times Magazine, profiles Barack Obama's mother Stanley Ann Dunham.

Jon Cohen & Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "... a new Washington Post-ABC News poll ... finds that Americans prefer to keep Medicare just the way it is. Most also oppose cuts in Medicaid and the defense budget. More than half say they are against small, across-the-board tax increases combined with modest reductions in Medicare and Social Security benefits. Only President Obama’s call to raise tax rates on the wealthiest Americans enjoys solid support." A graphic illustration of the poll results is here. CW: now contrast this with traditional  Republic fear-mongering against raising taxes on the rich, as outlined by Steve Kornacki -- linked below under Right Wing World. ...

... OR, as Ezra Klein reads the number, "84 percent oppose Ryan's Medicare plan." CW: so wiith Republicans planning the destruction of the overwhelmingly popular Medicare program, how could Democrats lose in 2012? Let them show you the ways.

Jim Puzzanghera of the Los Angeles Times: "U.S. corporations have enjoyed a two-year bull run on Wall Street. They are sitting on a record amount of cash and are back to paying bonuses that are the envy of executives around the world. And the icing on the cake for many of them might be just around the corner: a tax cut that has bipartisan support in Congress. As part of their budget plan passed last week, House Republicans want to cut the corporate tax rate to 25% from 35%. The Obama administration and many Democrats also are looking to slice the current rate, but not as much.... Yet ... U.S. corporations have been paying an increasingly smaller share of federal taxes over the last half-century. Nearly a third of all federal taxes came from corporations in 1952. Last year, they paid just 8.9%..., [thanks to] loopholes, credits and the ability to shelter earnings abroad."

Maureen Dowd must have been traveling lately, as she's just getting around to complaining about TSA pat-downs. The Off Times Square comments page for Dowd is up. (Comments on Brooks, BTW, are excellent.)

Karen Garcia is less than impressed with the Obama Administration's plan to charge pharmaceutical companies with instructing doctors on how to prescribe fewer meds. "Meanwhile, the Administration is 'absolutely committed to legislation that will make prescriber education mandatory,' R. Gil Kerlikowske, the Obama Drug Czar" said. Garcia has a few choice thoughts on Kerlikowske, too. ...

... Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Democrats and Republicans are joining to oppose one of the most important features of President Obama’s new deficit reduction plan, a powerful independent board that could make sweeping cuts in the growth of Medicare spending.... Under the law, spending cuts recommended by the presidentially appointed panel would take effect automatically unless Congress voted to block or change them. In general, federal courts could not review actions to carry out the board’s recommendations." ...

... BUT Sometimes the King Is a Good King. Ken Vogel of Politico: "The Obama administration is considering a number of measures to compel disclosure of the kind of anonymous campaign contributions that helped finance millions of dollars of attack ads against Democrats during the 2010 elections. The White House last week began circulating a draft executive order that would require companies seeking government contracts to disclose contributions – including those that otherwise would have been secret – to groups that air political ads attacking or supporting candidates.... Taken together, the moves represent a broad administrative push to implement reforms that Congress failed to pass last year to blunt the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United vs. FEC in January 2010."

Michael O'Brien of The Hill: "Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the majority whip who's negotiating with two other Democrats and three Republicans on a major deficit-reduction plan, broke from more liberal members of his party, who want to safeguard Social Security from any changes. Durbin said he wouldn't be signing on to a 'Sense of the Senate' resolution by Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ... saying that benefits should not be cut. And he warned that revisions to the program, such as means-testing benefits for wealthier Americans, could be among the changes suggested by the negotiators."

This list of Congressional participants in President Obama's deficit panel at least gives us some hope that the group won't do anything. What do you think the likelihood is that Democratic leader James Clyburn will find a meeting of the minds with Republican Sen. Jon Kyl?

E. J. Dionne: "The decision by Standard & Poor’s to move U. S. government debt to a negative outlook is really a political intervention by a ratings agency into the country’s debt and deficit debate.... Unfortunately, the GOP took the S&P move as an indication that they are right to want to tie spending cuts to any increase in the debt ceiling. This is a willful misreading.... The real problem is that markets don’t believe Congress will raise taxes enough...."

Mark Bittman of the New York Times: "... when it comes to wrecking our oceans, the accidental BP spill was small compared with the damage we do with intent and ignorance." Bittmann discusses CO2 emissions, which -- among other ills -- lead to "ocean acidification, which might be thought of as oceanic global warming and is a greater catastrophe than any spill to date," and on overfishing.

CW: We know Republicans are always swimming against the tide of change, but here's a stunner from The Economist: "RISING debt and lost output are the common measures of the cost of the financial crisis. But a new global opinion poll shows another, perhaps more serious form of damage: falling public support for capitalism. This is most marked in the country that used to epitomise free enterprise. In 2002, 80% of Americans agreed that the world’s best bet was the free-market system. By 2010 that support had fallen to 59%, only a little above the 54% average for the 25 countries polled. Nominally Communist China is now one of the world’s strongest supporters of capitalism, at 68%, up from 66% in 2002. Brazil scores 68% too. Germany squeaks into top place with 69%." ... So as Paul Ryan, with the backing of most Republicans, touts his Ayn Rand-inspired capitalist manifesto realized in the form of his "Path to Disparity," Americans are increasingly just not that into capitalism.

Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer is receiving accolades from the New York Times editors for vetoing the state legislature's birther bill. But Jan Moller of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that Louisiana "Gov. Bobby Jindal would sign a bill requiring presidential candidates to provide a copy of their birth certificate to qualify for the Louisiana ballot if it reaches his desk, a spokesman said Monday.

Right Wing World *

Forget History. Steve Kornacki of Salon: today's GOP dire warnings of the economic woes that would rain down upon the nation if the federal government raised taxes on the rich are pretty much word-for-word the same argument they used in 1993 (see video) when President Clinton & the Democratic Congress -- raised taxes on the rich. The results, of course, were the opposite of what Republicans predicted:

... the tentative recovery turned into a full-fledged recovery and economic growth eventually exploded.... What's more, with the higher rates in place thanks to the Clinton budget (and the Bush budget, for that matter), Uncle Sam benefited from an unprecedented infusion of revenue. By 1998, the country was running surpluses and rapidly paying down the debt.... By any measure, the Clinton tax increases had worked -- spectacularly.

"A Contemporary P. T. Barnum." Michael Isikoff, now of NBC News, reports:

     ... Here's a related print item.

The Daily What brings you the Celebrity Endorsement of the Day: "Much sought-after kingmaker Gary Busey has officially thrown the immeasurable weight of his support behind his former boss Donald Trump, in what is undoubtedly a major coup for the potential Presidential candidate":

"Donald Trump Is Running for President of Your Bathroom." John Cook of Gawker: "On April 6, Donald Trump learned that he had come out of nowhere to tie for second place in the GOP nomination race. The next day, he did what any bona fide contender would: He filed a trademark application for a new Trump-branded line of bath salts.... Trump filed to trademark the phrase 'SUCCESS BY TRUMP' for use in selling 'cologne; perfume; fragrances; after-shave lotions; skin moisturizer; shampoo; conditioner; deodorant; soaps for hand, face, and body; body powder; bath oil; bath gel; bath salts; [and] bubble bath.' ... So yeah, he's definitely running for president. Everyone knows the only way to punch through the news cycle and get voter attention these days is through a fragrance line." ...

... Trump Was Against Reagan before He Was For Him. Evidently reconizing that the Cult of Reagan, which includes every voting Republican, would require him to glorify Ronald Reagan, fake presidential candidate Donald Trump suggesed to Sean Hannity that Reagan was his Favorite President Ever. But this evidently wasn't so when Trump was writing his book The Art of the Deal. In the book, Trump compared Reagan unfavorably with Jimmy Carter, whom Trump sometimes chooses as the World President Ever. Judd Legum of Think Progress reports. Here's Trump on Reagan ca. 1987:

Ronald Reagan ... is so smooth and so effective a performer that he completely won over the American people. Only now, nearly seven years later, are people beginning to question whether there's anything behind that smile.

... In Right Wing World, you can pretend you never wrote what your wrote. ...

... Or You Can Just BE Delusional. Dana Milbank: Judge Roy Moore, "who was removed at chief justice of Alabama in 2003 for refusing to remove his stone pillars [carved with the Ten Commandments] from the courthouse," and who came in 4th in a Republican primary for Alabama governor, has formed an exploratory committee for a run for president. His Website proves he's qualified: it includes a facsimile of his Born in the U.S.A. birth certificate.

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg asked Wednesday for a statewide recount -- the first in 22 years -- to check the results in the April 5 state Supreme Court race she lost to Justice David Prosser. That recount will start next week, at taxpayers' expense, the state Government Accountability Board said."

Washington Post: "The United States and its allies have entered a new stage of involvement in Libya, sending assistance and advisers directly to opposition military forces, which have been unable to break Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi’s stranglehold over much of the country despite help from NATO airstrikes. France and Italy said Wednesday that they would join Britain in dispatching military advisers to assist the inexperienced and disorganized rebel army, primarily in tactics and logistics. President Obama authorized sending $25 million worth of nonlethal equipment, including body armor, tents, uniforms and vehicles."

New York Times: "Tim Hetherington, the conflict photographer who was a director and producer of the film “Restrepo,” was killed in the besieged city of Misurata on Wednesday, and three photographers working beside him were wounded." Story has been updated: "... three photographers working beside him were wounded, one fatally, when they came under fire at the city’s front lines. Chris Hondros of the Getty photo agency died within a few hours of devastating brain trauma. The third photographer, Guy Martin, suffered a severe pelvic wound, according to Andre Liohn, a colleague who was at the triage center where the photographers were rushed by rebels after they were struck." ...

... The News York Times' Lens has a tribute to Hetherington which features his photographic work.

New York Times: "The Syrian government tried to placate protesters with declarations of sweeping reform on Tuesday while also issuing harsh threats of reprisals if demonstrations did not come to an end, as one of the Arab world’s most repressive countries struggled to blunt the most serious challenge to the 40-year rule of the Assad family."

Los Angeles Times: "Misurata, the only rebel-held city in western Libya, has asked that NATO troops be sent to fight alongside the rebels holding off Libyan forces, a local government representative said Tuesday." ...

... New York Times: "Britain’s decision to send experienced military officers to Libya, to advise rebels fighting forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, marks the latest development in the international community’s search for a means to end a bloody military stalemate that has killed hundreds in the contested cities of Misurata and Ajdabiya and left the rebels in only tenuous control of a few major coastal cities."

AP: "Federal officials are expanding a tarmac-delay rule to prohibit airlines from holding passengers on stranded international flights for longer than four hours. The change stems from a late-December debacle in which several planes loaded with international travelers were stuck for up to 10 hours on snowy New York runways."

The New York Times has more on the incident that forced Michelle Obama's plane to abort its landing at Andrews AFB: "... the controllers in the tower at Andrews ultimately ordered the Boeing to 'go around' because they were concerned that the cargo jet [in front of it] would not have time to touch down, decelerate and exit the runway on a taxiway before the passenger plane crossed the runway threshold. That problem occurs dozens of times a day with airliners at civilian airports around the country, according to aviation experts. The incident occurred just after 5 p.m. on Monday, the F.A.A. said in a statement, adding that 'the aircraft were never in any danger.' The agency did not say in its statement that the problem was controller error."

And more from the Times on the President's meeting yesterday re: immigration law reform: "President Obama told a gathering of business, labor, religious and political leaders at the White House on Tuesday that he remains committed to an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws and wants to try again in the coming months to push Congress to pass a bill. Here's the White House readout of the meeting.