The Commentariat -- February 11

President Obama speaks about the Egyptian revolution; the segment begins with a brief report from Brian Williams & Richard Engel:

     ... Here's the transcript of the President's remarks. New York Times story here. ...

... Nicholas Kristof: "It’s also striking that Egyptians triumphed over their police state without Western help or even moral support.... A word of caution.... In essence the regime may have decided that Mubarak had become a liability and thrown him overboard — without any intention of instituting the kind of broad, meaningful democracy that the public wants.... So if the military now takes over, how different is it?"

David Sirota gives a good picture of the Obama Administration's so-called support for democracy: "... the Obama administration was so certain it wouldn't have to embody its [pro-democracy] platitudes that it was actively slashing grants for democracy-building in Egypt while maintaining military aid to the Mubarak dictatorship." Read the whole thing. ...

... Caryle Murphy & Howard Schneider of the Washington Post: "Hosni Mubarak ... ruled Egypt for nearly 30 years, longer than any modern leader of the country. And in the end, he will be remembered for his refusal to leave -- until he finally bowed Friday to public pressure.... If the public uprising caught the U.S. unawares, it most certainly did Mubarak as well." ...

"Internet Revolution." Wael Ghonim on how young Egyptians planned the uprising:

Here's an excerpt of President Obama's strongly-worded statement on Egypt, issued following Mubarak's speech. The full text is here at the White House site:

The Egyptian government must put forward a credible, concrete and unequivocal path toward genuine democracy, and they have not yet seized that opportunity.... We believe that the universal rights of the Egyptian people must be respected, and their aspirations must be met. We believe that this transition must immediately demonstrate irreversible political change, and a negotiated path to democracy. To that end, we believe that the emergency law should be lifted. We believe that meaningful negotiations with the broad opposition and Egyptian civil society should address the key questions confronting Egypt’s future: protecting the fundamental rights of all citizens; revising the Constitution and other laws to demonstrate irreversible change; and jointly developing a clear roadmap to elections that are free and fair.

Mark Landler & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "The chaotic events on Thursday called much of the administration’s strategy in dealing with the Egyptian crisis into question." ...

... Adam Entous & Jay Solomon of the Wall Street Journal: "The defiant tone taken by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak — and widespread confusion about the meaning of his speech — had White House officials stumbling for their next step in a crisis that was spinning out of their control. After Mr. Mubarak's speech, the White House was consumed with a sense of 'disbelief,' one U.S. official said. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper ... compar[ed the crisis] to foreseeing "earthquakes in California.' ... 'This is really bad,' a senior U.S. official said after Mr. Mubarak's address. 'We need to push harder—if not, the protests will get violent.'" ...

... Here's a transcript (English trans.) of President Mubarak's speech. ...

... Mark Lynch of Foreign Policy: "It's hard to exaggerate how bad Hosni Mubarak's speech today was for Egypt.... With the whole world watching, Mubarak ... offered a meandering, confused speech promising vague Constitutional changes and defiance of foreign pressure.  He offered a vaguely worded delegation of power to Vice President Omar Suleiman, long after everyone in Egypt had stopped listening. It is virtually impossible to conceive of a more poorly conceived or executed speech." ...

... Tom Friedman has a very fine column on the Egyptian uprising. "Mubarak, in one speech, shifted this Egyptian democracy drama from mildly hopeful, even thrilling, to dangerous." CW: I guess Friedman is atoning for his warmongering Iraq. ...

... David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times on President Mubarak's speech:

... Kirkpatrick & Scott Shane: "Even as pro-democracy demonstrations in Cairo have riveted the world’s attention for 17 days, the Egyptian military has managed the crisis with seeming finesse, winning over street protesters, quietly consolidating its domination of top government posts and sidelining potential rivals for leadership, notably President Hosni Mubarak’s son Gamal.... The standoff between the protest leaders and Mr. Mubarak, hours before major demonstrations set for Friday, could pose a new dilemma for military commanders." ...

... Kareem Fahim & Thanassis Cambanis of the New York Times report on the reaction in Tahrir Square to the Mubarak speech.

The most encouraging thing I’ve seen in a long time is what’s happening in Egypt and the potential it has. I know there’s a lot of risks as well. But the potential, I think, is enormous in terms of liberating the Arab world from the shackles of authoritarian regimes that have kept their people down and subjugated the role of women and resulted in a lack of opportunity and provided fertile ground for terrorism. -- Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) ...

... Daniel Williams of Human Rights Watch in a Los Angeles Times op-ed: "In Egypt, the military is not a profession; it's a ruling caste. If that doesn't change, ousting Hosni Mubarak will mean little." Williams describes his arrest & detention in Cairo last week, which was supervised by the military.

... AND WTF was with CIA Director Leon Panetta? Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "CIA Director Leon Panetta helped touch off an avalanche of erroneous expectations Thursday when he testified that there was a 'strong likelihood' that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would step down by the end of the day." Testifying before the House intelligence committee, when asked about news reports that Mubarak would resign, Panetta said, "I got the same information you did, that there is a strong likelihood that Mubarak may step down this evening, which would be significant in terms of where the hopefully orderly transition in Egypt takes place." ...

... CW: so Panetta, the CIA director, testifies Mubarak is resigning -- and Mubarak doesn't resign -- AND, speaking before the same House committee, the National Intelligence Director James Clapper says the Muslim Brotherhood is "a very heterogeneous group, largely secular, which has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam." Right. Clapper is the same genius who in December went to ABC News for an interview without knowing one damned thing about the terrorism story driving the day. Is it any wonder the Administration doesn't know what to do from moment to moment? The heads of our "intelligence" agencies are fucking clueless, so the "intelligence" the President is getting is stupid. Fire Clapper. Now. ...

... Maybe Andy Borowitz has the real story: "Explaining why he had been convinced yesterday that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was about to relinquish his position, President Barack Obama said that he had been misled by Mr. Mubarak’s out of office autoreply to Mr. Obama’s email. Embarrassed at the misinterpretation, Mr. Obama conceded today that 'maybe I took it a little too literally.'”

Howard Gleckman of TaxVox points out that federal Fannie & Freddie subsidies are cheap compared to the biggest homeowner subsidy of all: the mortgage interest deduction, which is a progressive tax break, giving most to those who need it least: "Pols are shocked that we’d add $130 billion to the nation’s burgeoning debt to subsidize owner-occupied housing this way. Except we spend far more than that each year buying down the cost of home ownership through the tax code.... The single biggest housing subsidy is the mortgage deduction, which will add $130 billion to the deficit in the coming year alone.... The Tax Policy Center estimates that more than 70 percent of the benefit of the mortgage and property tax deductions go to the highest-earning 20 percent of households...." (CW: this page was messed up when I linked to it, but you can still read the article.)

Cloak, Dagger & State Secrets. Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "A former CIA security officer is alleging that the agency is unjustifiably invoking a 'state secrets' claim to cover up evidence that he and his family suffered illnesses as a result of exposure to environmental contamination at an agency facility. Kevin Shipp, 55, a counterterrorism consultant now employed by a firm with government contracts, said that the agency also has sought to prevent him from publicizing his ordeal by heavily redacting the manuscript he hopes to publish. The book describes what the family experienced during and after their exposure: illness, alcoholism, marital discord, and a campaign of harassment and surveillance that Shipp says was carried out by the CIA."

President Obama, yesterday, speaking on the National Wireless Initiative, at Marquette University:

Austen Goolsbee explains the wireless initiative:

Right Wing News

Ken Vogel & Ben Smith of Politico: "In an expansion of their political footprint, the billionaire Koch brothers plan to contribute and steer a total of $88 million to conservative causes during the 2012 election cycle, according to sources, funding a new voter micro-targeting initiative, grassroots organizing efforts and television advertising campaigns."

CW: in case you hadn't noticed, I'm not linking to stories about CPAC (because I don't care what those jerks say) unless I come across something that pleases me, like this:

Jon Bershad of Mediaite: "Dick Cheney strolled on stage to cheers and the inspirational tune of Tina Turner’s 'Simply the Best' and got began to present the 'Defender Of The Constitution' award to Donald Rumsfeld. However, as the chants of 'USA! USA!' died down, a voice screaming 'War criminal!' could be heard.... As Cheney continued to talk up his former colleague, a shouting match began between supporters of Ron Paul and the rest of the convention hall. The Paul supporters eventually walked out in the middle of Rumsfeld’s speech as way of protest." Here's the video. The pleasure of hearing someone confront Cheney makes it worth watching:

Dave Weigel wonders whose bright idea it was to put Cheney & Rumsfeld in front of a gaggle of screaming libertarians. CW: whoever had the "bright idea," -- thank you.

News Ledes

As Al Jazeera put it, "the 30 seconds that ended the 30 years of Mubarak rule":

MUBARAK STEPS DOWN. New York Times: "President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt turned over all power to the military and left the Egyptian capital for his resort home in Sharm el-Sheik, Vice President Omar Suleiman announced on state television on Friday." ...

... Al Jazerra: "Suleiman's short statement was received with a roar of approval and by celebratory chanting and flag-waving from a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Cairo's Tahrir Square, as well by pro-democracy campaigners who attended protests across the country on Friday."

... New York Times: "As tens of thousands of chanting protesters thronged Tahrir Square on the 18th day of Egypt’s uprising, the powerful armed forces scrambled on Friday to offer assurances and concessions, endorsing President Hosni Mubarak’s refusal to step down while seeking to defuse the outrage and anger it has provoked among protesters." Washington Post story here.  ...

... AP: "Denmark's prime minister [Lars Loekke Rasmussen] became the first Hosni Mubarak to step down, just hours after Mubarak vowed to remain in power despite pro-democracy protests."

Los Angeles Times: "Iran's president declared Friday that Egypt's uprising shows a new Middle East is emerging that will doom Israel and break free of American 'interference,' even as Tehran clamped down on its own opposition movement.... Iran has sought to portray the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt as a replay of its 1979 Islamic Revolution -- whose anniversary was marked Friday.... Iranian opposition groups have called for marches on Monday to express solidarity with Egypt's demonstrators. Iranian officials have warned of crackdowns if protesters return to the streets." ...

... New York Times: "Iran’s authorities have increased pressure on the country’s political opposition days before a rally proposed by opposition leaders in support of the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. Security forces stationed outside the home of the reformist cleric Mehdi Karroubi, one of the country’s most prominent opposition leaders, prevented Mr. Karroubi’s son from seeing his father on Thursday...."

Washington Post: "An already wobbly week for House Republicans turned chaotic Thursday as their unruly new majority flatly rejected a spending plan crafted by House leaders, saying its cuts fell far short of fulfilling a campaign pledge to slice $100 billion from federal programs. House leaders offered to redo the package but were struggling to identify the massive and unprecedented cuts that will be required to meet their goal."

USA Today: "Arizona is suing the U.S. government, claiming the feds have failed to secure the border and protect the state from "an invasion" of illegal immigrants. Gov. Jan Brewer said the intent of the lawsuit is to force the federal government to protect Arizonans."

The Nine Lives of the Catfood Commission, Resurrection 1

A group of senators, both Republican and Democrat, are determined to turn the draconian recommendations of the infamous Catfood Commission into legislation. David Brooks, in a New York Times op-ed column, calls these senators “courageous … public heroes.”  Brooks is so enamored of these “heroes” that he urges the public to “mobilize” behind them. The American people will back these belt-tightening efforts only if the senators can continue to fool them. There’s a good chance of that – because much of the public doesn’t know what would happen to them if the senators got away with their little “reform” movement. To wit,

According to Suzanne Mettler, writing in “Perspective on Politics,” a huge percentage of people who receive federal benefits don’t know what they’re getting. (You can read her figures here; you have to sign up to read the original pdf.) In the entitlements areas, 44 percent of Social Security beneficiaries and 40 percent of Medicare recipients claim they receive no government social assistance. The same goes for non-entitlement programs: 43 percent who get unemployment benefits, 27 percent who get some form of welfare or public assistance, 25 percent of people who get food stamps and 30 percent of people who get SSI disability say they’ve never received government assistance.

 The tea party crowd may claim they want smaller government, but they want the government to keep its hands off their Medicare. Woe to those deficit-hawk politicians who think they would be smart to “reform” – i.e., cut – social programs upon which almost all Americans rely at some time in their lives – even if they don’t know it.

Rep. Lee Resigns over Craigslist Scandal

CW: I've moved this post up, as there are some updates.

Congressman Christopher Lee (R-NY) in his official photo & in the one he sent to the woman he contacted via Craigslist. Left: Congressional photo; right: photo by Chris Lee via Gawker."A Classy Guy." Maureen O'Connor of Gawker: "Rep. Christopher Lee is a married Republican congressman serving the 26th District of New York. But when he trolls Craigslist's 'Women Seeking Men' forum, he's Christopher Lee, 'divorced' 'lobbyist' and 'fit fun classy guy.' One object of his flirtation told [Gawker] her story.... By email, Lee identified himself as a 39-year-old divorced lobbyist and sent a PG picture to the woman from the ad. (In fact, Lee is married and has one son with his wife. He's also 46.) Read the whole story; Lee at first asserted his e-mail account had been hacked, but Gawker has him dead to rights. ...

     ... This story was going down the page in The Soaps till I read the update. Now it's news: "Three hours after his shirtless Craigslist antics appeared [in Gawker], Rep. Chris Lee (R-NY) announced his resignation from the U.S. House of Representatives."

Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post has some info on the political ramifications. Lee represents the 26th Congressional District -- between Rochester & Buffalo -- which went for McCain with 52% of the vote in 2008, the year Lee was first elected. He easily won re-election in 2010.

Jimmy Vielkind of the Albany Times Union runs down what happens next in the 26th Congressional District as best he can, inasmuch as there are lots of complications.

Raymond Hernandez of the New York Times just got an item up -- the story is running on the front page of the Times website, complete with the beefcake picture. I'm sure this schmuck always imagined himself on the front page of the Times, but probably not in just this context. Here's an expanded story by Hernandez that doesn't really cover any new ground. ...

Jill Terreri of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle has some tidbits: "Conservative radio talk show host Bill Nojay described Lee as a rising star in the Republican Party, and a Boy Scout.... Here's a good one:

At the same time, responding to what may seem like a friendly e-mail or an appealing marketing offer can have serious consequences. Private information and images can so easily be transmitted to friends and strangers alike. -- Christopher Lee, 2009, in an opinion piece in support of an Internet safety bill he was sponsoring

Update. David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "House Speaker John Boehner on Thursday called the resignation of Rep. Chris Lee 'the right decision,' but declined to talk about whether he had advised Lee to go.... Boehner also deflected questions about a report in a Capitol Hill newspaper last year, which said he had advised a group of GOP legislators - including Lee - to curb inappropriate behavior with female lobbyists." ...

     ... What Fahrenthold is too delicate to mention is this National Enquirer story, which seems to have legs as it's been reported independently elsewhere. Here's a snippet from the online story; you have to buy the tabloid to read the full story:

Capitol Hill insiders and political bloggers have been buzzing about an upcoming New York Times probe -- detailing an alleged affair that  [John Boehner,] the 61-year-old married father of two, had with pretty Washington lobbyist Lisbeth Lyons. And an ENQUIRER investigation has uncovered a bedroom encounter that Boehner - second in line of succession to the presidency - allegedly had with Leigh LaMora, a 46-year-old former press secretary to ex-Colorado Congressman Joel Hefley.

Danielle Belton of TheLoop21 interviews the woman who outted Chris Lee. ...

     ... Update. The Washington Post's Reliable Source identifies the woman at the center of the scandal as Yesha Callahan, a faculty specialist for the University of Maryland and single mother of a preteen son.

Last year, Roll Call listed Lee among the 50 richest members of Congress:

The churn in the Lee family assets continued last year, and the New York Republican appears to come out a little better off than he was before. After his election in 2008, Lee — who had been an executive in his family’s mechanical parts business — sold numerous assets, and his apparent net worth dropped from a little more than $11 million to just more than $7 million.

Last year, Lee bought and sold dozens of mutual fund accounts in hundreds of transactions, and his reported minimum net worth increased more than $1 million.

Alan Bedenko of WNY News: "The sole member of the New York State congressional delegation to vote against guaranteeing health care and monitoring for the heroes of 9/11 was Chris Lee from NY-26. Lee’s objection? He can’t STAND the government having the job-killing audacity to expect companies making a profit in the United States to actually pay income taxes on those profits. Only the little people pay taxes."

K. Lee of the New York Examiner: Chris Lee was one of the sponsors of H.R. 3, the draconian bill designed to stop funding abortions except in cases of "forcible rape." (Republicans removed the adjective "forcible" from the bill after a public outcry, but the bill itself is wending its way through the House.) 

Brian Stelter of the New York Times argues that Gawker's new "news" format -- widely panned by the site's regulars -- helped drive the Chris Lee story by keeping it in a prominent position on Gawker's main page, wheras in the older blog format the story would have moved down the page as staff posted new stories.