The Commentariat -- March 8

More James O'Keefe Shenanigans. Michael Calderone of Yahoo News: "Former NPR executive Ron Schiller slams Republicans and the tea party movement and suggests that NPR would be better off without any federal funding in a hidden-camera video released Tuesday by conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe. Schiller, president of the NPR Foundation ... until just last week, appears on the tape at Georgetown's Café Milano with NPR director of institutional giving Betsy Liley and two men posing as executives from a fake Islamic organization considering a $5 million donation to the network.... 'We are appalled by the comments made by Ron Schiller in the video, which are contrary to what NPR stands for," said NPR spokeswoman Dana Davis Rehm in a statement." Includes O'Keefe's video. CW: frankly, Schiller got it mostly right.

David Sanger & Thom Shanker of the New York Times: "Nearly three weeks after Libya erupted in what may now turn into a protracted civil war, the politics of military intervention to speed the ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi grow more complicated by the day — for both the White House and Republicans."

Bush III. Dana Milbank: "Not only had [President Obama] revoked his pledge to close Gitmo within a year, but he also had contradicted his claim that a detention policy 'can't be based simply on what I or the executive branch decide alone.' His executive order did exactly what he said must not be done, in a style favored by his predecessor in the Oval Office."

** Nancy Gibbs of Time: "... the GOP spending bill does not only cut Planned Parenthood; it kills Title X, the 1970 law that provides family planning for nearly 5 million women every year at more than 4,600 health centers. The Guttmacher Institute estimates that for every dollar invested in Title X — specifically for contraceptive care — taxpayers save a little under $4 in Medicaid costs for mother and baby just in the first year. Title X prevents about a million unintended pregnancies annually, of which about half would likely end in abortion. Consistency is the true test of conviction; anything less is just prejudice dressed up as principle. If pro-life lawmakers kill Title X, they need to accept either the risk of increasing the abortion rate or the cost of growing numbers of children born to poor parents. Their plan also cuts money for prenatal care and slices $750 million for nutrition for mothers and infants."

Walter Shapiro in Politics Daily: "After ignoring the deficit for almost a decade, the new orthodoxy is that Medicare and Social Security must be revamped immediately because 2075 is getting closer every day. With a series of artificial deadlines coming up (March 18 for funding the government and sometime later this spring for raising the statutory debt ceiling), congressional Republicans and the Obama White House are giving lip service to fantasies about long-term fixes. Even if it would not jeopardize the fragile recovery, this is the wrong medicine at the wrong time."

The New York Times Editorial Board: "On Thursday, Representative Peter King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is scheduled to open a series of hearings that seem designed to stoke fear against American Muslims. His refusal to tone down the provocation despite widespread opposition suggests that he is far more interested in exploiting ethnic misunderstanding than in trying to heal it." ...

... Jonathan Allen & Jake Sherman of Politico: "The top two House Republican leaders are divided over how to handle the bubbling controversy surrounding Homeland Security Chairman Peter King’s hearing into “radicalization” in the American Muslim community. Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the highest-ranking Jewish member of Congress, is squarely behind King.... 'Chairman King is chairman of the Homeland Security Committee' is all [Speaker John] Boehner spokesman Michael Steel would say when asked about the controversy. [Majority Whip Kevin] McCarthy’s office declined to comment." ...

... Bob Herbert says of the King hearings, "America should be better than this. We’ve had all the requisite lessons: Joe McCarthy, the House Un-American Activities Committee, the demonization of blacks and Jews, the internment of Japanese-Americans, and on and on and on. It’s such a tired and ugly refrain." ...

... Karen Garcia sees King's hearings as part of the Republican scare tactics designed to defeat President Obama in 2012. (He is a Muslim, you know.) Garcia thinks if President Obama quit playing by Republican rules and showed he was a Democrat by going to Wisconsin to stand with the unions, the press wouldn't have time to concentrate on King's little melodrama. ...

... Gene Robinson: "King seems untroubled that the freedoms of religion and association are guaranteed by the Constitution. His public exercise in Islamophobia ... can do no good -- and much harm."

Even the UK is noticing King. You can vote here in the Guardian on whether you think King's hearings are legitimate or "a fear-mongering witchhunt." At the time I voted, 69.3% went with witchhunt.

Goldman Sachs-Government Partnership (Is Not What You're Thinking). Jia Lin Yang of the Washington Post: "To give women [in developing countries] a boost, Goldman Sachs and the State Department are teaming up to offer classes on the basics of business management to help these women drive economic growth in their communities. The partnership, which will be announced Tuesday by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Goldman's chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, augments an existing program run by Goldman's charitable arm that has so far educated more than 3,500 women in more than 20 countries, including Afghanistan, Rwanda and China."

President Obama & Prime Minister Gillard visit Wakefield High in Arlington, Virginia. PM Gillard takes questions from students:

Right Wing World

Clarence Thomas Has a Louis XIV Moment. Jonathan Turley in a Los Angeles Times op-ed: "Thomas appears to have finally merged his own personality with the institution [i.e., the Supreme Court] itself. Thus, any criticism — even criticism that he is harming the court — is an attack on the institution. It is more than an embarrassing conceit; it can be a dangerous delusion for any justice."

"The Enema Man & Snoopy, Snoopy Poop Dogg." Grumpy Grampy Alan Simpson of Catfood Commission fame. Politico has an item here, but the video is priceless:

Local News

Rick Scott Is Not a Constitution-Loving Teabagger. Lizette Alvarez & Gary Fineout of the New York Times: "In his first two months in office, the governor has irritated the [Florida] State Senate’s powerful Budget Committee chairman, [a fellow-Republican,] by selling two state jets without legislative permission, a constitutional no-no.... He annoyed the ambitious Senate president, [also a Republican], as well as a host of leaders in conservative states, by trying to kill off a database to track the fraudulent distribution of addictive prescription drugs before it was up and running. He did so without consulting lawmakers...." ...

It’s necessary at this time, I think — because our governor’s new — to let him know this is not a monarchy. He’s not a king. This is a democracy. -- Arthenia L. Joyner, a Democratic Florida State Senator

News Ledes

CBS News: Rep. Peter King, who will hold hearings beginning Thursday on home-grown Muslim terror threats, has been getting threats of his own & will receive stepped-up security.

President Obama visited a classroom in Boston, Massachusetts, & made remarks this afternoon. New York Times item here. Update: here's the Times' post-visit story.

AP: "Libyan warplanes launched at least five new airstrikes Tuesday near rebel positions in the oil port of Ras Lanouf, keeping up a counteroffensive to prevent the opposition from advancing toward leader Moammar Gadhafi's stronghold in the capital Tripoli." ...

... Washington Post: "The Libyan opposition said an offer -- purportedly from Gaddafi -- had been conveyed to council elders late Monday in the provisional capital of Benghazi. According to an opposition spokesman, the Libyan leader would agree to step down if granted immunity from prosecution and safe passage out of the country. But opposition officials said they were still trying to establish the veracity of the offer, which came from Jadallah Azous al-Talhi, a former minister in Gaddafi's government."

AP: "The U.S. military is too white and too male at the top and needs to change recruiting and promotion policies and lift its ban on women in combat, an independent report for Congress said Monday. Seventy-seven percent of senior officers in the active-duty military are white, while only 8 percent are black, 5 percent are Hispanic and 16 percent are women, the report by an independent panel said, quoting data from September 2008."

Two Days -- Two American Leaders

On Friday, President Obama went down to visit a high school in Miami, Florida, to talk about how education was an integral part of his “Winning the Future” policy. Oddly enough, he took along one of the most anti-education governors in the U.S. – former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

When he was governor of Florida, Bush waged an unrelenting assault on public education in general, & on teachers in particular. As governor, he moved money from public education to private, for-profit institutions & as an ex-governor, he has set up a “foundation” to continue to promote the trend. Florida is known for having some of the worst charter schools in the country; Obama’s own government is conducting criminal investigations of 40 of them. Jeb set up a teacher-grading system with untrained Kelly Services employers as “the deciders.” His regimentation of school standards has, according to educators, had its worst effect on ethnic minority schools, but as a curriculum template, it’s bad all around. While governor, Bush vehemently opposed a state constitutional amendment that mandated reduced class size; when it passed, he was caught on tape plotting to undermine it. In 2010, he promoted a repeal of the amendment, which failed. Finally, Jeb worked long & hard -- he's still at it -- to reduce the power of teachers' unions. Last year he campaigned for legislation to eliminate teacher tenure. The Florida legislature passed Jeb's anti-teacher bill, but then-Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed it. (We’ll get back to teachers’ unions in a moment.) For more on Jeb's attack on public education, see this post by Karen Garcia and my comment on it.

What did President Obama have to say Friday about Jeb Bush’s sustained assault on public schools & teachers? --

  We are also honored to be joined here today by another champion of education reform, somebody who championed reform when he was in office, somebody who is now championing reform as a private citizen -- Jeb Bush.... And we are so grateful to him for the work that he's doing on behalf of education. So, thank you, Jeb.

Moving on to Saturday, President Obama took the day off to go golfing with his friends at Andrews Air Force Base. He could have played at the nearby U.S. Marines Medal of Honor course at Quantico, but I guess he didn’t want to run into accused WikiLeaker Bradley Manning. Oh, wait, that wouldn’t be likely. Manning is being held under conditions that qualify as torture, which is certainly no secret to President Obama. UCLA Prof. Mark Kleiman -- who last year called Obama "the greatest moral leader of our lifetime,” now writes,

The United States Army is so concerned about Bradley Manning’s health that it is subjecting him to a regime designed to drive him insane.... This is a total disgrace. It shouldn't be happening in this country. You can't be unaware of this, Mr. President. Silence gives consent. [via Glenn Greenwald]

Besides, Manning is only allowed out of his Quantico basement cell for one hour a day, & I doubt that hour is spent on the links. The President & his buddies could have golfed to their hearts content without encountering prisoner Manning. So much for the greatest moral leader of our day.

Now, let’s look at what Michael Moore was doing. On Friday, he was at home in Michigan, writing a blogpost in support of Wisconsin teachers & their continuing effort to save their union. After he had finished writing, he read the post back to himself, and he thought, “You know, you should just go to the airport and get on a plane & go to Madison, Wisconsin, and read this to them.” So he did. 

Here’s a taste of what Moore said in the freezing cold to the crowd in Madison. See a video of his full speech under Sunday's Commentariat below:

Four hundred obscenely rich people, most of whom benefited in some way from the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer "bailout" of 2008, now have more loot, stock and property than the assets of 155 million Americans combined.... Wall Street, the banks and the Fortune 500 now run this Republic -- and, until this past month, the rest of us have felt completely helpless, unable to find a way to do anything about it.... If those who have the most money don't pay their fair share of taxes, the state can't function…. The truth is, there's lots of money to go around. LOTS. It's just that those in charge have diverted that wealth into a deep well that sits on their well-guarded estates.... They control the message. By owning most of the media they have expertly convinced many Americans of few means to buy their version of the American Dream and to vote for their politicians.... But there was no revolt. Until now. On Wisconsin! ... America ain't broke! The only thing that's broke is the moral compass of the rulers.”

This is the speech those of us who voted for President Obama hoped he would make. We believed he would stand up to fatcats the way Michael Moore does. Obama has not. Instead, he has repeatedly kowtowed to Wall Street & big corporations at the expense of the rest of us. His White House has a revolving door than opens onto Wall Street.

We believed Sen. Obama when he said he would stand up for the unions & collective bargaining rights. But instead of standing with the unions, as Michael Moore did this weekend, Obama stood with union-buster Jeb Bush and praised him for “championing education reform,” reform that centered on gutting public schools, maintaining large class size & undermining teachers and their unions.

We believed Sen. Obama when he said that after he became president he would “put on a pair of comfortable shoes” and walk with union members if anyone threatened their collective bargaining rights. Republican governors & legislatures across the country are doing just that. But Obama didn’t put on those comfortable shoes. The shoes he put on were golf cleats.

Which one of these leaders -- Barack Obama or Michael Moore -- do you think is working for you & your family?

-- The Constant Weader

The Commentariat -- March 7

Legalizing Voter Suppression. Peter Wallsten of the Washington Post: "New Hampshire House Republicans are pushing for new laws that would prohibit many college students from voting in the state - and effectively keep some from voting at all.... The measures in New Hampshire are among dozens of voting-related bills being pushed by newly empowered Republican state lawmakers across the country - prompting partisan clashes akin to those already roiling in some states over GOP moves to curb union power." CW: the video Wallsten mentions at the top of his story is of such poor quality I didn't bother to post it,

Craig Gilbert of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "... Wisconsin is about to embark on another wild ride into the political unknown -- a series of legislative recall campaigns on a scale the nation has rarely, if ever, seen.... Formal recall campaigns have now been launched against 16 state senators -- eight Republicans and eight Democrats. That's everyone in the 33-member Wisconsin Senate who is legally eligible to be recalled this year. Even though state law is designed to make recalls difficult and rare, some political insiders expect the petition drives now under way to succeed in forcing multiple lawmakers to face recall elections this summer."

Paul Krugman: "... since 1990 or so the U.S. job market has been characterized not by a general rise in the demand for skill, but by “hollowing out”: both high-wage and low-wage employment have grown rapidly, but medium-wage jobs — the kinds of jobs we count on to support a strong middle class — have lagged behind. And the hole in the middle has been getting wider...."

Elizabeth Drew, in the New York Review of Books, is playing the increasingly popular "Where's Barack?" Washington parlor game, this time in regard to Obama's silence on the budget battle. ...

... AND the New York Times Editorial Board opines: "After letting a highly destructive budget fight fester far too long, the White House finally stepped in late last week to negotiate with the House, which wants to eviscerate nondefense spending. Senate leaders still seem shell-shocked by that breathtaking ruthlessness, and have pleaded with the administration for help in pushing back.... Mr. Biden and the Senate should make it clear to the freshman House members who are really driving their chamber’s position that they will not permit reckless cuts this year. Then let the freshmen explain to an angry public why they closed the government’s doors to score ideological points."

** Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The Obama administration, which famously pledged to be the most transparent in American history, is pursuing an unexpectedly aggressive legal offensive against federal workers who leak secret information to expose wrongdoing, highlight national security threats or pursue a personal agenda.  In just over two years since President Barack Obama took office, prosecutors have filed criminal charges in five separate cases involving unauthorized distribution of classified national security information to the media. And the government is now mulling what would be the most high-profile case of them all -- prosecuting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. That’s a sharp break from recent history, when the U.S. government brought such cases on three occasions in roughly 40 years."

Eileen Sullivan of the AP: "The White House is pushing a message of religious tolerance ahead of this week's congressional hearing on Islamic radicalism [initiated & chaired by Rep. Peter King (R-NY)], which has sparked protests on grounds it unfairly singles out Muslims as potential terrorists." New York Times story by Sheryl Gay Stolberg here. ...

... Fox "News": "Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee hosting the hearing, said Monday that he's on the same page as the White House when it comes to addressing that threat and engaging moderates in the American Muslim community. 'I'm not going to give into political correctness. I'm going ahead,' King told Fox News." ...

... Robert Kolker of New York Magazine has a long article on "Peter King's Muslim Problem": "The New York congressman says the threat of homegrown terrorism is on the rise and American Muslims aren’t doing enough to stop it. His opponents say he’s on a witch hunt."

Infrastructure Fail. Shayne Henry & Samuel Sherraden of the New America Foundation: "According to various estimates from government institutions and non-profits organizations, the efficiency lost because of poor infrastructure is probably in excess of $195 billion per year...." The biggest loss is associated with auto transportation: "Americans wasted 4.8 billion hours in traffic in 2009. These delays resulted in the waste of 3.9 billion gallons of fuel."

Wendell Steavenson of the New Yorker: "After the euphoria of Tunisia and Egypt, Qaddafi’s defiance provides a reminder that revolutions are often bloody and uncertain for their duration, and that what comes after is even harder to divine." CW: also, listen to Steavenson & his colleagues discuss the Middle East in the podcast, which will be up in the right column for a few more days.

Our Fucked-up Foreign Policy. Stephen Braun of the AP: "In the months before Libyans revolted and President Barack Obama told leader Moammar Gadhafi to go, the U.S. government was moving to do business with his regime on an increasing scale by quietly approving a $77 million dollar deal to deliver at least 50 refurbished armored troop carriers to the dictator's military. Congress balked, concerned the deal would improve Libyan army mobility and questioning the Obama administration's support for the agreement, which would have benefited British defense company BAE. The congressional concerns effectively stalled the deal until the turmoil in the country scuttled the sale."

Britain's Fucked-up Prince. Cassandra Vinograd of the AP: "Less than two months before a fairytale wedding anticipated by much of the world, Britain's royal family finds itself fighting an inconvenient distraction: revelations that Prince Andrew, the queen's second son, is friends with a convicted sex offender, was photographed with a teenage prostitute, and has been accused of ties to Moammar Gadhafi's Libyan regime. The Duke of York also hosted the son of the Tunisian dictator shortly before a popular uprising drove him from power — and the buildup of embarrassment has sparked calls that he be stripped of his role as special U.K. trade representative." CW: I suppose this belongs in The Soaps, but it's so much fun. Oh, if only we had a monarchy, we could blame our decline on a profligate prince instead of on the rulers of our own bad choosing. ...

... Hélène Mulholland & Nicholas Watt of the Guardian: "Pressure is mounting on Prince Andrew over his trade envoy role for Britain amid claims he has become "a national embarrassment". ...

... AND Nicholas Watt: "Prince Andrew's role as Britain's special trade representative is to be downgraded as ministers seek to distance themselves from his controversial dealings with discredited business figures." ...

Andrew, who is 51, with 17-year-old Virginia Roberts, a witness in a child sex-offender case against U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein. Via the Daily Mail.... Here's some of the backstory from Owen Bowcott & Polly Curtis of the Guardian: "The sight of Prince Andrew with his arm around the bare waist of a 17-year-old masseuse at the centre of a US sex scandal has transformed royal embarrassment over tainted foreign regimes into a political firestorm." ...

... More titillating stuff from the ever-reliable Daily Mail in a story by Sarah Churcher titled, "Prince Andrew and the 17-year-old girl his sex offender friend flew to Britain to meet him."

"High Fascism." In a New York Times op-ed, professor & Chanel biographer Rhonda Garelick finds a deeper -- and disturbing -- undercurrent in John Galliano's disgusting anti-Semitic remarks: "... beyond the spectacle of one man’s abhorrent politics, the episode invites consideration of the curious relationship between French fashion and fascism."

Rebecca Stewart of CNN: "GOP Sen. John McCain is in need of a tech lesson. In an appearance on ABC's 'This Week,' the senator from Arizona said that iPads and iPhones are 'built in the United States of America.' But every techie knows that they are, in fact, built in China.

News Ledes

New York Times: "President Obama plans to nominate Gary F. Locke, the commerce secretary and one of the highest-ranking Chinese-Americans in the administration, as the next American ambassador to China, administration officials said Monday. Mr. Locke, 61, would succeed Jon M. Huntsman Jr., who is stepping down next month to explore a bid for the Republican nomination for president." ...

... New York Times: "Members of Congress, including Democrats, have urged the Obama administration to search for another Medicare chief after concluding that the Senate is unlikely to confirm President Obama’s temporary appointee, Dr. Donald M. Berwick. Dr. Berwick’s principal deputy, Marilyn B. Tavenner, has emerged as a candidate to succeed him. Lawmakers of both parties said Monday that Ms. Tavenner, a former Virginia secretary of health and human resources with extensive management experience, could probably be confirmed."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "The leader of Senate Democrats hiding out in Illinois Monday sought a face-to-face meeting with Gov. Scott Walker but Republicans responded with a barrage of criticism, saying the Democratic leader was holding up a compromise on Walker's union bargaining bill."

Washington Post: "The Supreme Court opened a legal avenue Monday for prisoners to try to gain access to DNA evidence that might prove their innocence but noted that their chances at success might be slim."

Washington Post: "Nevada Sen. John Ensign (R) will retire rather than seek reelection in 2012, he announced Monday afternoon. The decision brings to an end a tumultuous several years that saw him go from one of the party's rising stars to persona non grata." Las Vegas Sun story here.

Washington Post: "The conservative legal group Judicial Watch announced Monday that it has filed a lawsuit against Rep. Alcee Hastings, accusing the 10-term Florida Democrat of sexually harassing a policy adviser who worked on a commission that Hastings once chaired."

AP: "President Barack Obama reversed course Monday and ordered a resumption of military trials for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, making his once ironclad promise to close the isolated prison look even more distant."

President Obama & Prime Minister Julia Gillard of Australia make statements to the press this morning:

Washington Post: "President Obama addressed comments directly to Moammar Gaddafi's inner circle Monday in an attempt to pressure those helping prop up the embattled Libyan dictator with a tacit threat of future criminal prosecution.... 'I want to send a very clear message to those who are around Colonel Gaddafi,' Obama said during an Oval Office appearance with visiting Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. 'It is their choice to make, how they operate moving forward, and they will be held accountable for whatever violence continues to take place there.'" ...

... AP: "Libyan warplanes launched a fresh airstrike on rebel positions around a key oil port Monday, trying to block the opposition fighters from advancing toward Moammar Gadhafi's stronghold in the capital, Tripoli." ...

... Washington Post: "Congressional leaders prodded the Obama administration on Sunday for a more aggressive U.S. response to Libya's increasingly brutal attacks on opposition groups - calling for a no-fly zone and other military measures - but White House officials cautioned against being drawn into a potentially protracted and costly military campaign."

AP: "U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday that both the U.S. and Afghan governments agree the American military should remain involved in Afghanistan after the planned 2014 end of combat operations to help train and advise Afghan forces."

Washington Post: the U.S. Navy has prepared training material, including a Power Point presentation, to inform sailors & officers of what will happen when President Obama declares an end to Don't Ask Don't Tell.