The Commentariat -- March 13

David Sirota, in a Washington Post op-ed, thinks we're living in a 1980s timewarp.

Maureen Dowd doesn't think a no-fly zone over Libya is a good idea, & she takes to occasion to slam Paul Wolfowitz, which all by itself is a good idea.

Nicholas Kristof gives a full-throated endorsement of increasing teacher pay, & he explains why. He's right.

AND Frank Rich sings his swan song.

The Associated Press reports that union leaders had asked both Vice President Biden & Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to go to Wisconsin in support of public unions. Nothing doing.

Bio-Diversity. Ben Smith: "Aides to John McCain initially added Sarah Palin to his 'short list' of potential running mates because McCain wanted a woman on the list, according to his campaign manager."

Bill Maher & Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) argue about the content of the Kuran:

Right Wing World

What I love about New Hampshire is ... you're the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord. -- Michele Bachmann, in a speech yesterday in New Hampshire ...

... CW: See, there is a Lexington Ski Club in New Hampshire, and Concord is the New Hampshire state capital. Any doofus could make the mistake of moving Lexington & Concord, Massachusetts, to New Hampshire, though a doofus running for president, speaking from prepared text in the critical state of New Hampshire, might be advised to find out where "the shot heard 'round the world" was actually fired. Video clip here. ...

... Derek Wallbank of the Minneapolis Post: Bachmann said the same thing at a Friday night fundraiser in New Hampshire. ...

... Scott Conroy of Real Clear Politics: "Bachmann's contorting of a basic fact about the fight for American independence was made all the more glaring because of her repeated references throughout her speech to the nation's founding."

Lawrence O'Donnell parses Newt Gingrich. Now we know what the Newt really meant:

Local News

Another Candidate for America's Worst Governor. Chris Christoff of the Detroit Free Press, on the way Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, added a $100 appropriation to a bill, which makes the bill exempt from voter referendum. The bill, which Democrats & the AARP oppose, taxes "pensions and other retirement income while cutting business taxes."

A farmer brings his tractor to Madison to participate in a farmer tractor-parade protest of the new Republican law that allows Gov. Walker to eliminate or reduce programs like BadgerCare, which assist Wisconsin farm families. Getty image.Jessica VanEregen of the Madison, Wisconsin, Capital Times: farmers, most of them Republicans, are brining their tractors to Madison (Saturday) to protest the Republican "reform" bill which Gov. Walker signed into law last week. According to a spokesman for the Wisconsin Farmers Union, "many of those coming to Madison are upset by the realization that Walker's agenda is 'sacrificing Wisconsin's quality of life for everyone, not just unions.'"

News Ledes

New York Times: "Japanese officials struggled on Sunday to contain a widening nuclear crisis..., saying they presumed that partial meltdowns had occurred at two crippled reactors and that they were bracing for a second explosion, even as they faced serious cooling problems at four more reactors." Story has links to other Times stories about the quake, tsunami & aftermath. ...

... Update: "Japan faced mounting humanitarian and nuclear emergencies Sunday as the death toll from Friday’s earthquake and tsunami climbed astronomically, partial meltdowns occurred at two crippled plants and cooling problems struck four more reactors. In one town alone, the port of Minamisanriku, a senior police official said the number of dead would 'certainly be more than 10,000.' The overall number is also certain to climb as searchers began to reach coastal villages that essentially vanished under the first muddy surge of the tsunami, which struck the nation’s northern Pacific coast."

... CNN: "The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis." ...

... Guardian: "Several years ago, the seismologist Ishibashi Katsuhiko stated, specifically, that such [a nuclear plant] accident was highly likely to occur. Nuclear power plants in Japan have a 'fundamental vulnerability' to major earthquakes, Katsuhiko said in 2007."

AP: "Libyan state television reported Sunday that forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi have retaken the oil town of Brega in eastern Libya, swiftly advancing on the poorly equipped and loosely organized rebels. The report could not immediately be verified. Libyan TV has issued faulty reports claiming territory in the past." ...

... Politico: "The White House on Saturday lauded Arab nations for their global call to do more in pressuring the Qadhafi regime and supporting the Libyan opposition."

AP: "Israel said Sunday it has approved hundreds of settler homes after five members of an Israeli family — including three children — were knifed to death as they slept in a West Bank settlement over the weekend. The attack and the government's response threatened to drive Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking even further out of reach."

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Unbowed and unrepentant, 14 Democratic state senators returned to the Capitol on Saturday and received a tumultuous welcome from tens of thousands of pro-labor demonstrators." ...

... Reuters: "Up to 100,000 people protested at the Wisconsin state Capitol on Saturday against a new law curbing the union rights of public workers that is seen as one of the biggest challenges in decades facing U.S. organized labor."

AP: NFL "owners imposed a lockout on the players Saturday, essentially shutting down operations. That came hours after talks broke off and the union dissolved itself, meaning players no longer are protected under labor law but instead are now allowed to take their chances in federal court under antitrust law. Nine NFL players, including superstar quarterbacks Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, and one college player headed for the pros filed a class-action lawsuit in Minnesota and asked for a preliminary injunction to block a lockout, even before it went into effect.

The Commentariat -- March 12

Gen. Wesley Clark, in a Washington Post op-ed: "... the basic requirements for successful intervention [in Libya] simply don't exist, at least not yet: We don't have a clearly stated objective, legal authority, committed international support or adequate on-the-scene military capabilities, and Libya's politics hardly foreshadow a clear outcome. We should have learned these lessons from our long history of intervention. We don't need Libya to offer us a refresher course in past mistakes." ...

... BUT. Lloyd Grove in the Daily Beast or Newsweek or whatever: former president Bill Clinton favors imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. Clinton said Thursday, "'We have the planes to make an appropriate contribution to this.' ... Clinton ... argued that Gaddafi himself has already internationalized the conflict by hiring foreign mercenaries 'at $2,000 a day,' to kill Libyans. 'It’s not a fair fight,' the former president said, under questioning by Newsweek and Daily Beast Editor in Chief Tina Brown. 'They’re being killed by mercenaries. I think we should support them.'”

The Sphinx Strategy. Jim Kuhnhenn of the AP: "... the White House sees no upside in outspokenness." White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer says the public wants President Obama to lead; "they don't want him serving as a cable commentator for the issue of the day."

CW: in his news conference yesterday, President Obama defended the exteme treatment WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning is receiving at Quantico. Not everyone in his Administration is on the same page. Philippa Thomas reports that in a public meeting held earlier this week about the news media's role in foreign policy, State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley said , "What’s being done to Bradley Manning by my colleagues at the Department of Defense is ridiculous and counterproductive and stupid.'” Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy writes that Crowley has since confirmed he made those remarks but that they were his "personal opinion." He also said, "I defer to the Department of Defense regarding the treatment of Bradley Manning."

Suzy Khimm of Mother Jones: "A killer tsunami has devastated Japan and is now threatening Hawaii and the Pacific Coast of the US. But just last month, Republicans voted to gut funding for the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center — a cut that would cripple the National Weather Service's ability to issue warnings about such disasters." Yeah, because who cares if we lose some of those elite West Coast libruls?

Killing Him Softly. Republican Joe Scarborough clearly is not a Mitt Romney fan. David Axelrod, on the other hand, says he loves Romneycare. All in all, a fine double-team schtick against Mitt:

Right Wing World

CW: I hadn't intended to link to Gail Collins' column because it's all about the Newt. It's a very fine column, of course, but I urge you also to read Gemli's comment (#1) on her column. Here's his closing graph -- a classic!:

These hypocrites always seem to find God just when it’s politically convenient to do so, and claim that He has embraced them. Personally, I wouldn’t embrace Gingrich if I were wearing a hazmat suit and a respirator. And it’s us humans who will have to vote for him and live with the embarrassing consequences, not some deity who is clearly undiscriminating about the company He keeps. Let's all say a prayer that we don't make a mistake we will certainly live to regret.

Andrew DeMillo of the AP: maybe those apparent gaffes of Mike Huckabee's -- about President Obama & actor Natalie Portman -- weren't gaffes at all. CW: the premises of all of them (several about Obama & two about Portman, if you consider it a gaffe to call a respected actor a "starlet" -- I do) would resonate with much of Huckabee's base. The attention Huckabee's remarks have drawn, though derisive, comes from the main stream and left; could be a campaign moneymaker for the Huckster.

In an interview with Robert Costa of the National Review, Rick Santorum explains why Newt Gingrich really isn't a hypocrite. Santorum likens his own smoking pot in college with Gingrich's multiple, long-lasting infidelities & his (Gingrich's) unceremonious dumping of his wives. Another example of why "santorum" should remain a generic noun. ...

... Speaking of santorum, James O'Keefe -- wait for this -- did a great deal of creative editing of his little sting operation against NPR. Ben Smith remarks, "It's either depressing or sort of wonderful that Glenn Beck's The Blaze was the one to catch some really serious, dishonest lily-gilding in the NPR sting; to-wit: 

      ... ** Scott Baker of The Blaze describes one edit of the O'Keefe tape: "the clip in the edited video implies [NPR exec Ron] Schiller is giving simply his own analysis of the Tea Party. He does do that in part, but the raw video reveals that he is largely recounting the views expressed to him by two top Republicans, one a former ambassador, who admitted to him that they voted for Obama." Baker's piece picks up on several other egregious edits that completely or partially change the meaning of Schiller's remarks. In one case, he appears to endorse extremist Islamic views; he's actually responding to a remark about the group's restaurant reservations. Schiller lost his job over this; so did the NPR CEO Vivian Schiller (no relation). When are real people ever going to learn that the Brietbart-O'Keefe-Tucker Carlson crowd are the santorum of Right Wing World and their breathless, game-changing "exposés" are never what they appear to be. (Think Shirley Sherrod here; think ACORN.)

Local News

Iowa Open Mic. Steve Benen: a couple of top Iowa Republicans are caught discussing a proposed carry law. One of the bill's supporters, the state House Speaker Pro Tem, describes the bill as "The crazy, give-a-handgun-to-a-schizophrenic bill." Includes video. CW: they know what they're doing; they just don't care about the consequences they foresee. P.S. Family-values legislators sure do swear a lot.

Casey Grove of the Anchorage Daily News: "Five people in the Fairbanks area were arrested Thursday by state and federal law enforcement on charges connected with an alleged plot to kidnap or kill state troopers and a Fairbanks judge, according to the Alaska State Troopers." Note to Peter King: as far as I know, these homegrown terrorists are not "radicalized" Muslims. How about conducting a hearing on "radicalized Second Amendment/sovereign citizen" groups.

News Ledes

Wisconsin State Journal: "For a fourth straight Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters opposed to the controversial budget repair bill Gov. Scott Walker signed into law Friday descended on the state Capitol calling for Walker's ouster, while some are calling for a general strike. The crowd swelled as the 3 p.m. rally started and a bitter wind picked up. Protesters from neighboring states joined locals in the slow march around the Capitol."

** New York Times: "An explosion at a nuclear power plant in northern Japan on Saturday blew the roof off one building, brought down walls and caused a radiation leak of unspecified proportions, Japanese officials said, after Friday’s huge earthquake caused critical failures in the plant’s cooling system." The Washington Post story is here: four other reactors are in peril. Los Angeles Times story here: as many as 1,700 may have perished in the quake & tsunami.

... New York Times: "The death toll from the tsunami and earthquake, the strongest ever recorded in Japan, was in the hundreds, but Japanese news media quoted government officials as saying that it could rise to more than 1,300, most of them drowned. About 200 to 300 bodies were found along the waterline in Sendai, a port city in northeastern Japan and the closest major city to the epicenter." ...

... AP Update: "Cooling systems failed at another nuclear reactor on Japan's devastated coast Sunday, hours after an explosion at a nearby unit made leaking radiation, or even outright meltdown, the central threat to the country following a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami. The Japanese government said radiation emanating from the plant appeared to have decreased after Saturday's blast, which produced a cloud of white smoke that obscured the complex. But the danger was grave enough that officials pumped seawater into the reactor to avoid disaster and moved 170,000 people from the area." ...

... Kyodo News Update: "The loss of life and destruction caused by Friday's catastrophic earthquake in Japan grew Saturday, with the combined number of people who have died or remain unaccounted for expected to exceed 1,800, while an explosion occurred at a nuclear power plant injuring four workers."

Washington Post: President "Obama's cautious commitment to the [Libyan] rebel movement, which he said is 'just getting organized' in its fight to end Gaddafi's 41-year rule, mirrored the stance taken Friday by European leaders, who until now had been speaking more boldly than Obama on how best to assist Libya's opposition. At an emergency European Union summit, leaders declared that Gaddafi can no longer be considered Libya's leader and must step down immediately. But they stopped short of formally recognizing the rebel movement or endorsing military action to support its armed struggle."

Los Angeles Times: "Rep. Gabrielle Giffords ... 'is making leaps and bounds in terms of neurological progress,' doctors said Friday, and there is 'a good possibility' she will be able to attend the final launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, which her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, will command in April. Giffords' speech 'is getting very good' and she 'is starting to walk with assistance,' said Dr. Dong Kim, director of Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center...." Arizona Republic story here.

Politico: "Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has come out in opposition to the House’s attempts to defund Planned Parenthood, making her the first Republican senator to specifically support the beleaguered organization."

New York Times: "The Justice Department is investigating allegations that a mortgage subsidiary of Morgan Stanley foreclosed on almost two dozen military families from 2006 to 2008 in violation of a longstanding law aimed at preventing such action."

Washington Post: "National Football League team owners locked out the league's players Saturday, shutting down professional football for the first time in 24 years and plunging the nation's most popular and prosperous sport into a time of uncertainty."

The Commentariat -- March 11

The President's Press Conference:

     ... Here's the AP story on the news conference. The complete transcript from the White House is here.

Paul Krugman: at a recent conference on healthcare policy, "... Republican staffers jeered at any and all proposals to use Medicare and Medicaid funds better.... Republicans ... have spent the past two years putting cynical, demagogic attacks on any attempt to actually deal with long-run deficits at the heart of their campaign strategy."

Ezra Klein: Speaker John "Boehner frequently says that 'the American people want us to cut spending,' but he never says that 'the American people want us to cut non-defense discretionary spending' [which is all Republicans will put on the table]. And that's because they don't.... What this debate is really about: not cutting spending or reducing the deficit, but cutting spending Republicans don't like while avoiding any and all tax increases -- even if that means the country has higher deficits and the middle- and working-class bear more of the burden."

A Must-Read: Karen Garcia's take on "the Commander-in-Cute," or the President in Abdication. If you, too are wondering where that guy is, Garcia smokes him out at a few photo ops. ...

     ... CW Update: looks as if Garcia really smoked the President out: he just completed a press conference, taking questions covering a wide range of issues.

How Washington Works (Note President Obama's contribution). Economist Keith Hennessey has a good summary of why Congressional Democrats can't win:

Rather than good cop, bad cop, Republican Leaders are playing bad cop, worse cop with their Members.Boehner and Leader McConnell are together the bad cop.... At the same time, they can privately tell the Democratic negotiators, 'You think we’re bad?  You should see our freshman. They’re nuts. We’re not sure we can deliver them for anything short of the House-passed bill.' ... The freshman / Tea Party / conservative rank-and-file Republicans are the worse cop.... The Republican Leaders’ weakness at delivering votes for a weak bill becomes negotiating strength. In contrast, we know that if the President supports a deal, he can deliver a significant fraction of the Democratic party to vote for it. This Presidential vote-delivering strength weakens Democratic negotiators. ...

... Oh, look, here's an example from today's news. See Paul Ryan play bad cop:

They literally think you can just balance it, you know, (by cutting) waste, fraud and abuse, foreign aid and NPR. And it doesn't work like that. -- Paul Ryan, on Congressional tea party Republicans

Justin Lahart & Mark Whitehouse of the Wall Street Journal: "U.S. families — by defaulting on their loans and scrimping on expenses — shouldered a smaller debt burden in 2010 than at any point in the previous six years, putting them in position to start spending more."

Derek Thompson of The Atlantic: the Congressional Budget Office finds that "repealing the health insurance mandate would trim our deficit at the cost of more uninsured people and higher health care premiums."

New York Times Editors: "... stripping the unions of their rights was never about the [Wisconsin state] budget, especially once the unions agreed to significant concessions on pensions and health care. It was always about politics. Governor Walker had hoped to hide behind a cooked-up budget crisis, but the fleeing Democrats at least succeeded in pulling away that facade." ...

... Greg Sargent: "I've got an advance look at some new polling by Survey USA that finds solid majorities in two [Wisconsin] GOP senate districts support the recall of their senators." The poll was taken before the Wisconsin legislature passed the bill to severely curb union bargaining rights. "A MoveOn official adds that the organization has already raised over $800,000 to support the recall drives against GOP senators." ...

... Steve Benen: get over it, conservatives. Recalls are part of the democratic process, and what Gov. Walker & Wisconsin Republican legislators did -- pass a very unpopular law they didn't campaign on -- is exactly what recall elections are for.

... Jennifer Epstein of Politico: "AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is anointing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker the 'Mobilizer of the Year' for galvanizing union members and supporters into action." ...

... Think Wisconsin public workers will organize a general strike? Not likely now. Andy Kroll of Mother Jones: The "reform" bill passed by both houses "authorizes state officials to fire any state employee who joins a strike, walk-out, sit-in, or coordinated effort to call in sick."

Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times: "... there were so many angry charges of McCarthyism and countercharges of 'political correctness' that it sometimes seemed that the topic at hand on Thursday in Washington was the radicalization of the House Homeland Security Committee, not American Muslims." ...

... AND the Washington Post headline writer for David A. Fahrenthold & Michelle Boorstein sums it up nicely: "Peter King's Muslim hearing: Plenty of drama, less substance." ...

... Dana Milbank lambastes King & the Republicans on his committee.

New York Times Editors: an amicus brief by former prosecutors "underscores why the [Supreme Court] justices should uphold the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that [former Attorney General John] Ashcroft forfeited immunity when he devised the strategy that led to the statute’s misuse." You can read the brief here (pdf).

David Hilzenrath of the Washington Post: "The Securities and Exchange Commission needs more money to meet its expanding responsibilities, but it hasn't made the most of the funds it already has, according to a study of the agency ordered by Congress last year." The agency is experiencing "low morale, few staff members with experience working in financial markets, and a slowdown in reviews of money managers and brokerage firms." Republicans want to cut the SEC budget.

Right Wing World

Your Joke about Rand Paul's Shit Goes HERE. Matthew Jaffe of ABC News: "Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, today went off on a tirade about toilets in the midst of an Energy & Natural Resources Committee hearing on energy efficiency standards for certain appliances." And here it is:

News Ledes

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Gov. Scott Walker signed the bill Friday that repeals most collective bargaining by public employee unions. He signed the bill privately in the morning and will hold a news conference later in the day.... Also Friday, Walker directed the Office of State Employment Relations to rescind layoff notices because the Legislature had passed the bill."

New York Times: "A devastating tsunami hit the coast of northeast Japan on Friday in the aftermath of an 8.9 magnitude earthquake about 80 miles offshore, killing at least 23 people and injuring many more. The earthquake triggered widespread power blackouts, and countries across the Pacific Ocean, from Russia to South America and including Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States, braced for possible tsunami waves." ...

     ... AP Update: "... waves washed ashore on Hawaii and the U.S. West coast, where evacuations were ordered from California to Washington but little damage was reported. The entire Pacific had been put on alert — including coastal areas of South America, Canada and Alaska — but waves were not as bad as expected."

... Washington Post: "The White House announced Thursday that it will send a government aid team into rebel-held parts of Libya and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she will meet next week with representatives of the transition council, moves that edged the Obama administration closer to the formal Libyan opposition."

New York Times: "Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates sharply rebuked allies at a NATO meeting for effectively abandoning the war."

New York Times: "With little hope of a budget deal being reached before the end of next week, House Republicans are preparing another short-term spending measure to give the House and Senate a chance to come to agreement over a broader plan to keep the government operating through Sept. 30."

Washington Post: "The House on Thursday voted to end the Federal Housing Administration Refinance Program, one of two federal foreclosure-assistance programs on the chopping block this week."

New York Times: "A House subcommittee voted on Thursday to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to regulate greenhouse gases, chipping away at a central pillar of the Obama administration’s evolving climate and energy strategy."