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The Commentariat -- Feb. 24, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Kevin Liptak & Manu Raju of CNN: "President Barack Obama said Wednesday it would be 'difficult' for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to explain his decision not to consider a Supreme Court nominee without looking like he's motivated by politics. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid suggested a Republican, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, as a potential nominee. A source confirmed to CNN that the White House is vetting Sandoval." ...
... Here's President Obama's blogpost on ScotusBlog, outlining the criteria he intends to use in selecting a nominee.
Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: In Columbia, S.C., "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont began his day of campaigning Wednesday by criticizing Hillary Clinton's support of welfare reform in 1996, accusing her of backing legislation that ultimately increased poverty levels and led more Americans to face economic anxiety. Mr. Sanders said Mrs. Clinton helped round up votes to pass the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the welfare reform legislation that President Bill Clinton signed into law. The senator said the bill hurt Americans by punishing poor people rather than helping them."
Peggy Fikac & David Rauf of the Houston Chronicle: "Texas' highest criminal court on Wednesday tossed out the remaining charge against former Gov. Rick Perry in the abuse-of-power case against him. The court also affirmed a previous ruling for Perry that dismissed a second felony charge of coercion of a public official." CW: Like all candidates, Perry suspended, not ended, his presidential bid. Maybe he should get back in the race now that he's free of felony charges. I'll see you one "Oops!" for three "The American people ... people ... people."
Dana Milbank: "There is something amusing in watching Rubio and Donald Trump come to the shocking discovery that Cruz is a scoundrel.... Cruz has been smearing and fabricating since he arrived in Washington three years ago.... Back in the 1950s, Joe McCarthy rose during the Truman years with his smears about communists in the government. But when he began to go after fellow Republicans in the Eisenhower administration in 1953, he quickly lost support and within two years was censured by the Senate. Now that Republicans are suffering from Tricky Ted's smears, perhaps they will come to a similar conclusion about the damage he does."
Ariana Cha of the Washington Post: Antonin Scalia may have died because he forgot to activate a breathing apparatus that helps mitigate his sleep apnea, "a potentially life-threatening condition caused by either a blockage of the airway or a signaling issue from the brain regarding breathing during sleep."
Speaking from a goldplated, silk-wrapped Louis XV-style throne in a gilt & marble salon dripping crystal chandeliers -- which looks pretty much like most people's rec rooms -- Melania Trump says she keeps life "as normal as possible" for her son. The hard-hitting interviewer, natch, is Mika Brzezinski. Via Jessica Roy of New York. One thing I learned from listening to Mrs. T: Slovene doesn't have articles (like "the" and "a"). So the interview was educational.
*****
Thanks again to everyone for the excellent commentary. I like most comments -- certainly all the ones from return commenters -- even when I disagree with them. It's a conversation; not a cheering squad. P.S. Possums? Other than Pogo, yech! -- Constant Weader
** We Will Not Do Our Jobs. We Will Not Perform Our Constitutional Duties. We Will Forswear Our Oaths of Office. P.S. Screw You, U.S.A. David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Senate Republican leaders ... said on Tuesday they would not even meet with President Obama's nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, urged the president to reconsider even submitting a name. At the same time, Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans issued a letter unanimously rejecting any confirmation hearings" ...
... Jason Noble of the Des Moines Register: "A White House invitation for U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley to discuss the current U.S. Supreme Current vacancy with President Barack Obama has so far gone unanswered. Turning down the meeting would represent a break in protocol from two previous high court vacancies during Obama's presidency, when the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee as well as the Senate majority and minority leaders attended Oval Office meetings." Grassley's spokesperson said the Senator will take the President's invitation "under consideration." CW: Very white of you, Chuck. Very white. ...
... ** Jonathan Chait: "... never before in American history has the Senate simply refused to let the president nominate anybody at all simply because it was an election year.... They have asserted that they are merely following historical precedent. This is demonstrably false." ...
... Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: AND McConnell won't commit to allowing the next president to fill Scalia's seat -- or any other -- either. ...
... CW: Since I read over the weekend that Sandra Day O'Connor was too frail to attend Antonin Scalia's funeral -- tho that may have been an excuse inasmuch as she didn't like Scalia -- my next suggestion for a recess appointment is another GOP presidential appointee: David Souter. I think he's still serving as an Appellate Court judge, & he knows how to do the job; I'll bet Republicans would be ever-so-pleased to see Souter back on the top court. However, it is unlikely Senate Republicans will slip up & go into official recess at any time prior to January 20, 2016. ...
... John Cole of Balloon Juice helps us understand the Republican strategy on this & other moves: "Merely imagine the dumbest, most venal, and most cynical self-serving immediate choice, add in a heap of racism and a little bit of Jesus, and you have whatever the Republicans will propose." He goes on. ...
... Charles Pierce: "Could it be that the Republican Party's capacity to walk in lockstep off a cliff -- known to medical science as The Schiavo Syndrome -- has now surpassed the Democratic Party's capacity to step on its own dick when presented with a political opportunity? If the president has brought about that turn of events, his whole two terms have been worth electing him in the first place."
What you are seeing today in this Supreme Court situation is nothing more than the continuous and unprecedented obstructionism that President Obama has gone though. And this is on top of the birther issue -- which we heard from Donald Trump and others -- a racist effort to try and delegitimize the president of the United States. -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, Tuesday night
... Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "As the Supreme Court faces the increasing prospect of having an eight-member bench for a year or more, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said on Tuesday that 'we will deal with it,' noting that the court has had an even number of members in the past.... Asked about what sort of person should succeed Justice Scalia, Justice Alito demurred. 'We don't choose our colleagues,' he said. 'Presidents choose. I have enough trouble with the questions that I have to decide.' But Justice Alito did suggest that there were advantages to appointing a sitting judge, in light of the many kinds of legal issues that reach the Supreme Court."
Amy Brittain & Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "A Texas sheriff's department released an incident report late Tuesday that revealed new details of the discovery of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's body, as well as the name of the friend who accompanied him on the hunting trip and the items found inside the ranch bedroom where the justice was found."
Charlie Savage & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Obama on Tuesday sent Congress a long-awaited plan for closing the Guantánamo Bay prison, beginning a final push to fulfill a campaign promise and one of his earliest national security policy goals in the face of deep skepticism from many Republican lawmakers. Unveiling the plan from the Roosevelt Room at the White House, the president made clear his frustration at how what was once a bipartisan goal shared by both his predecessor, President George W. Bush, and his 2008 Republican opponent, Senator John McCain, had become a partisan dispute. He urged Congress to give his plan a 'fair hearing,' saying the prison wasted money, raised tensions with allies and fueled anti-American sentiments abroad":
... CW: No worries. The GOP is on the Gitmo case already. Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "A House Republican introduced a resolution that would authorize a lawsuit against the Obama administration if it attempts to transfer detainees at the Guantánamo Bay prison to the U.S., hours after the president outlined a plan on Tuesday to close the facility. Rep. Jeff Duncan's (R-S.C.) measure would give the House authority to file a lawsuit if the Obama administration violates the terms of the most recent defense authorization."
I do not believe in regulation for regulation's sake -- contrary to rumor. This idea that somehow I get a kick out of big government is just not the case. The truth of the matter is, if something is working without us being involved, we've got more than enough to do without getting involved in it. We really do. It's not like I'm waking up every morning thinking, "How can I add more work for me?" I don't think that way.... Even on some of the big regulations you hear about that you don't like, they're not issued unless we think that the benefits substantially outweigh the costs. And we have the numbers to prove it. So for those of you who think that I'm just a big government, crazy liberal, we're actually -- we crunch some numbers around here. We take it very seriously. -- Barack Obama, at a meeting with governors Monday
Republicans ... assume Dems see the world the same way they do, only in reverse. For the right, shrinking government is necessarily good. Why? Because it's shrinking government. But what makes that worthwhile? Because if government shrinks, it's, you know, smaller. And by this same reasoning, Republicans believe Democrats must see increasing government as an inherent good. Except, they don't. It's just not how Obama, or the party in general, approach problem-solving. -- Steve Benen
Eric Lichtblaum & Joseph Goldstein of the New York Times: "The Justice Department is demanding Apple's help in unlocking at least nine iPhones nationwide in addition to the phone used by one of the San Bernardino, Calif., attackers. The disclosure appears to buttress the company's concerns that the dispute could pose a threat to encryption safeguards that goes well beyond the single California case.... The existence of the other demands came to light in a drug-trafficking case in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, where prosecutors are seeking access to the data held in an iPhone linked to a methamphetamine distribution ring." ...
... Brett Molina of USA Today: "Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says he was 'disappointed'" in reports claiming he sides with the FBI in its battle with Apple over breaking into an iPhone. He says the reports did not reflect his view on the issue. During an interview with the Financial Times, Gates was quoted as downplaying concerns by Apple CEO Tim Cook that creating software to break into the phone used by one of the killers in the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings would establish a 'master key' -- in Cook's words -- for access to any iPhone. 'This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information,' Gates told the Financial Times. 'They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case.'"
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge has turned down a request to block a federal official's move allowing three states to enforce proof-of-citizenship requirements for people attempting to register as voters.U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon declined to issue the temporary restraining order civil rights and voting rights groups sought to block approval of changes the states of Alabama, Kansas and Georgia obtained recently to a federal form that can be used in lieu of state voter registration applications.... The judge is an appointee of President George W. Bush." And he's a winger, through & through.
Matt Lee-Ashley of Think Progress: "Less than two weeks after the arrest of Cliven Bundy and the armed militants who were occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, the U.S. House of Representatives will consider three bills that would dispose of vast stretches of national forests and other public lands across the country. The bills, which will be heard in a meeting of the House Natural Resources Committee on Thursday, represent an escalation of the political battle being waged by the Koch brothers' political network, anti-government extremist groups, and a small group of conservative politicians led by the committee's chairman, U.S. Representative Rob Bishop (R-UT)." CW: See, if you codify lawlessness, it isn't lawless any more. Thanks to forrest m. for the link. See forrest's commentary below.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.
Trump's Friends Are Just Like Trump. Hadas Gold of Politico: "CNN will no longer have Donald Trump ally and former adviser Roger Stone on air.... Stone had made disparaging remarks on Twitter about CNN political analyst Ana Navarro.... Stone sent out tweets over the past few days calling Navarro, who was a Bush supporter, 'Entitled Diva Bitch,' 'Borderline retarded' and 'dumber than dog s---.'... He also previously called Navarro and former contributor Roland Martin 'quota hires' for the network.... In an email, Stone said CNN's decision 'smacks of Soviet style censorship.'" CW: Yes, because only in the Soviet Union were there consequences for calling your colleagues names & making racist remarks about them.
Open Mic. Matt Taiibi of Rolling Stone: Comedian Harry Shearer caught Joe Scarborough & Mika Brzezinski on tape, cozying up to Donald Trump & more-or-less promising him softball questions in their Trump forum or whatever it was. "Trump, like the Chinese emperors of yore who surrounded themselves with eunuchs as palace guards, refuses to interact with anyone who threatens him in any way.... My idea is that [Joe & Mika] would be the royal media under the upcoming Trump monarchy/dictatorship. It's easy to imagine Joe in an official state journalist uniform, with epaulettes and a flying Trump-mane insignia."
Presidential Race
Via Politico.
Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump was declared the winner of the Nevada caucuses on Tuesday night, according to the Associated Press, gaining a third consecutive victory in an early-voting state and strengthening his position in the Republican presidential race before the wave of Super Tuesday elections on March 1."
And the Runner-up Is ... Marco gets his first second-place ribbon.
Margaret Hartmann on how chaotic the Nevada caucuses were, thanks to the disorganization of the "organizers." People weren't asked for any IDs, some claimed they saw people voting twice, ballots were left lying around, etc. The Las Vegas Sun liveblog also reports on chaos on the ground. CW: Gosh, hardly seems like the same party that requires D.A.R. credentials to cast a vote in a general election.
@ Midnight ET, CNN has projected Trump as the winner of the Nevada caucuses. The AP also has called the caucuses for Trump.
@ 11:50 pm ET, the Times liveblog is reporting that in the few precincts that have tallied results, Trump is winning "by a lot," getting as much 70 percent of the vote in some.
Maeve Reston of CNN: Nevada, a "state that has long embraced its reputation as the wild west of politics is expected to embrace anti-establishment candidate Donald Trump in a blowout in the Nevada Republican caucuses Tuesday night." ...
... Megan Messerly of the Las Vegas Sun: "A victory by ... Donald Trump in the Nevada caucuses today is all but certain, and Rubio and Cruz are expected to again vie for second place. But a decisive second place win could buoy either candidate up as the three spar over the Republican nomination." ...
... The Las Vegas Sun is liveblogging the caucuses. New York Times live updates are here.
Ah, for the Good Old Days. Nick Corasaniti & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "In his final rally on Monday before the Nevada caucuses, Donald J. Trump said he wanted to punch a protester, who had been ejected from the event, in the face.... As the man was being escorted away, Mr. Trump repeatedly told the crowd that he wished for the 'old days,' adding, 'You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher.'... Addressing another protester, a man holding a sign that read, 'Veterans to Trump: End Hate Speech Against Muslims,' Mr. Trump repeatedly said, 'Get him the hell out,' as the crowd booed the man's exit." ...
... Jamelle Bouie: "Trump's entire appeal is built around aggression and, yes, violence. To call for mass deportation, for example, is to entertain and endorse state violence. To back waterboarding and recite violent fantasies of wartime revenge against Muslims is to do the same. Donald Trump isn't just running as a man who 'makes deals,' he's running as a nationalist and a bully who will humiliate the nation's adversaries -- actual foes like Iran, as well as alleged ones like China and Mexico -- and restore America's symbolic manhood." ...
... Daddy Warbucks Lives! Jeet Heer of the New Republic: Donald Trump "has fashioned himself after comic-strip champions and masked crusaders." CW: I think Heer is onto something.
Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg: "'A number of the pundits said, "Well, if a couple of the other candidates dropped out, if you add their scores together it's going to equal Trump,'" he said in a mocking tone. 'But these geniuses -- they don't understand that as people drop out I'm going to get a lot of those votes also. You don't just add them together.' Trump has a point, and a close examination of Republican voter data shows that the "winnowing" theory has four serious flaws." ...
... Brian Beutler of the New Republic: "When Will Republicans Start Recognizing How Screwed They Are? There's almost nothing the GOP can do at this point to stop Donald Trump." ...
... Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News: "This spring, just as the GOP nomination battle enters its final phase, frontrunner Donald Trump could be forced to take time out for some unwanted personal business: He's due to take the witness stand in a federal courtroom in San Diego, where he is being accused of running a financial fraud. In court filings last Friday, lawyers for both sides in a long-running civil lawsuit over the now defunct Trump University named Trump on their witness lists." ...
Anna Palmer & Eli Stokols of Politico: "The Republican establishment has finally fallen in love with Marco Rubio, but it may be too late. With the specter of Donald Trump terrifying mainstream Republicans, Ted Cruz being Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush dropping out, lawmakers and party operatives are tripping over themselves to back the Florida senator's presidential bid."
Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "Ted Cruz's presidential bid is in turmoil after repeated allegations of unsavory campaign tactics by his Republican rivals, leading some key supporters to call for a shake-up in the candidate's message and strategy a week ahead of the crucial Super Tuesday primaries." ...
... Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "As Mr. Cruz has elbowed into the top tier of candidates, his campaign has conspicuously reflected the brand of its principal architect: Jeff Roe, an operative with a reputation for scorching earth, stretching truths and winning elections.... Back home [in Missouri], Mr. Roe's allies and opponents alike have seen a familiar imprint in the Cruz campaign's recent exploits, which have included a Photoshopped image of Mr. Rubio and the misleading suggestion, on the night of the Iowa caucuses, that Ben Carson was leaving the race."
Marcobot. Driftglass: The Bill O'Reilly Comedy Hour runs a segment with a robot who gets "stuck in redirect loop again."
Steve M. reacts to a Boston Globe editorial urging Massachusetts Democrats to save the Republican party by voting in the GOP primary for John Kasich: "I say Trump should win the nomination. Let the party wallow in its own stink.... in some ways, he'd be a less dangerous president than Marco Rubio or John Kasich. Unlike Rubio, Trump is not promising the elimination of the capital gains tax, which could literally allow some billionaires to pay no income tax whatsoever. And unlike Kasich, Trump is not demanding a balanced budget amendment, which if it had been in effect in 2007, would have made it impossible for Presidents Bush and Obama to stimulate the economy enough to avoid a full-blown 1930s style depression. And that's just a small portion of what we have to fear from a mainstream Republican presidency in the era of the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson. Trump is a menace, but he's far from the only menace in his party." ...
... CW: I'm totally with Steve on this. The Globe editors are fools. ...
... In an earlier post, Steve notes that Trump's rivals imitate him only on his right-wing "policies"; they don't copy his views on Social Security or the Iraq War, for instance. "I think Trump's rage and hatemongering are just so satisfying to GOP voters that they give him a pass on deviations from right-wing orthodoxy and attacks on sacred cows.... Trump can get away with [some leftish-leaning] heresy, but I doubt the rest of them can, Look at what happened to Jeb Bush and Rand Paul, or Jon Huntsman four years ago." CW: In fairness, Bush, Paul & Huntsman are terrible public speakers; they just can't whip up a crowd. Trump is an awful public speaker, too, but I guess wingnuts find great satisfaction in his vehement validation of their hideous views. In the minds of the hateful, that's entertainment.
There Are Women & There Are Ladies. Emily Atkin of Think Progress: After John Kasich talks about what a great friend he is to women, students called him out for signing a bill Sunday defunding Planned Parenthood in Ohio. "Though a grand jury recently cleared Planned Parenthood of any unlawful acts, the lawmakers who authored the legislation used the videos as the main evidence for defunding the organization. On Monday, Kasich also appeared to use the videos as reason for defunding the organization, saying Planned Parenthood had 'discredited itself' and that other women's health centers would be funded instead." CW: Republicans are friends only to nice white ladies who give teas for candidates & consider sex a unpleasant wifely duty.
Finally, Elizabeth King, a self-described feminist leftist (to the left of Sanders!) reminds us that leftists are stoopid, too. In a piece Salon editors think worthy to publish, King self-righteously declares that she's sitting out the election because she's too fine & principaled a person to vote for anybody she "doesn't believe in." CW: You're a better woman than I am, Gunga King. Thanks for rolling out the welcome mat for President Trump & Justice Attila.
Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that State Department officials and top aides to Hillary Clinton should be questioned under oath about whether they intentionally thwarted federal open records laws by using or allowing the use of a private email server throughout Clinton's tenure as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. The decision by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Washington came in a lawsuit over public records brought by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal watchdog group, regarding its May 2013 request for information about the employment arrangement of Huma Abedin, a longtime Clinton aide." CW: Bill Clinton appointed Sullivan. ...
... Spencer Hsu & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Clinton has struggled on the campaign trail to move past the issue of her email use. Republicans have made clear that they will make the subject a centerpiece of attacks against her should she win the nomination, with Marco Rubio saying her use of a private server 'disqualified' her to be president and Donald Trump telling Fox News this week that she 'seems to be guilty' of a crime before amending that to say it would be something he would look in to if elected."
Andrew O'Hehir of Salon reminds us that Hillary Clinton doesn't look like a very good candidate when compared to Donald Trump. "Her campaign largely rests on the idea that she has wide appeal to the demographic groups that make up the future of the Democratic electorate and the country, whereas Sanders' revolutionary crusade speaks largely to privileged white folks. If Clinton's victory in Nevada was built on low turnout and the support of older white voters, on the other hand, she is left with no story at all, facing a likely fall opponent who has nothing but stories, and spins a new one every day." CW: Clinton's whole campaign against Sanders is premised on the reality that a Democratic president can't really do much, but she'll do what little she can for ordinary Americans, & she'll do it competently. So, in Jeet Heer's construction, that would be Not-Wonder Woman v. Batman. If Trump's fans are any indication, Americans will choose Batman.
Dan Diamond & Rachana Pradhan of Politico: "Hillary Clinton wants to bring back the public option, offering a competing vision to Bernie Sanders' support for a more progressive health care system. Clinton's campaign has updated its website to note her continued support for the government-run health plan that was dropped from Obamacare during the law's drafting. The idea was popular among progressives who prefer a single-payer plan -- like the one Bernie Sanders is touting. Clinton supported the public option in her 2008 presidential campaign.... But Clinton has hardly referenced her previous support for the idea during the 2016 campaign, and instead has called for building on President Barack Obama's health care law. A new version of Clinton's campaign website suggests she won't try to push the public option through Congress, but instead will work with governors using existing flexibility under Obamacare "to empower states to establish a public option choice."
Once again, the New York Times thinks its a good idea to delve into Bernie Sanders' religious identity & practices. CW: If Sanders were making religion central to his campaign, such a report would be justified. However, the point of these articles is that Sanders doesn't go around wearing his religion on his sleeve. These stories make me suspect the Times, & some other outlets, are trying to "otherize" Sanders. ...
... Spike Lee endorses Bernie Sanders in a 60-second radio ad directed at South Carolina voters. Cool.
Beyond the Beltway
Rebecca Cook of Reuters: "Residents of Flint, Michigan, one of the poorest cities in the United States, will get $30 million to help pay their water bills after a lead contamination crisis, under a bill unanimously approved by the Michigan Senate on Tuesday. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, plans to sign the bill, which had been passed unanimously by the state's House last week." ...
... Paul Egan, et al., of the Detroit Free Press: "The drinking water catastrophe in Flint is the result of a failed model of trying to run state government like a business, says a former adviser to Gov. Rick Snyder, who also predicted the governor won't survive a recall vote if the question makes the ballot. Dennis Schornack, who retired after serving more than three years as a senior adviser on transportation issues to Snyder during his first term, is the first current or former Snyder official to directly criticize the governor and his management style for contributing to the public health crisis." ...
... Charles Pierce: "If I were Schorneck, I'd watch my back. He has meddled with the primal forces of Republican nature. If government cannot be run like a business, then privatization is the scam everyone is beginning to see that it is. If what Schorneck says is true, then the idea of devolving federal power to 'the states,' where politicians are more cheaply bought and paid for, and where crazy ideas with constituencies are more free to gambol on the heads of the citizenry, is as wholly unmoored from human experience as everyone who's ever covered a state legislature knows that it is."
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