The Commentariat -- September 25

** Larry's Not-so-Brilliant Career. Maxwell Strachen, in Salon, reports on Larry Summers' biggest blunders. CW: Summers is reportedly returning to Harvard to teach about job creation. How did this train wreck/blowhard get so arrogant?

Steven Lee Myers of the New York Times: corrupt Iraqi officials made off with $1.4 million worth of computers purchased by the U.S. & designated for Iraqi schoolchildren. The U.S. has forced the Iraqi government to investigate, sort of, & some computers have been recovered.

Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar & Jennifer Agiesta of the AP: "President Barack Obama's health care overhaul has divided the nation, and Republicans believe their call for repeal will help them win elections in November. But ... a new AP poll finds that Americans who think the law should have done more outnumber those who think the government should stay out of health care by 2-to-1."

My link to biographer Ron Chernow's excellent op-ed in yesterday's New York Times got lost in the ether, so better late than never. Chernow addresses the Tea Party's ahistorical view of the Constitution & its authors. "The truth is that the disputatious founders — who were revolutionaries, not choir boys — seldom agreed about anything." They definitely did not agree on how the Constitution should be interpreted, & George Washington himself came down on the side of a strong federal government.

The Republicans, I think, merged with the Tea Party, and in many instances they're finding out it's the Donner Party, because it's knocking off Republicans left and right. -- DNC Chair Tim Kaine

... Dana Milbank, a Donner descendant, thinks Kaine was unfair to the Donners (stranded in the Sierras & starving, the Donners resorted to dining on their own dead): "Republicans have been doing things to each other that would make a Donner's stomach turn." Milbank cites some examples of Republicans gleefully eating their own.

Gail Collins: Republican Sens. Jim DeMint & Tom Coburn, for no good reason, have put a hold on a bill that would allow the creation of a National Woman's History Museum which would be privately-funded. Coburn's "reason" is that there are already plenty of museums with women in them....

... CW: I liked Akhilleus' (#5) explanation: "National Women's History Museum. Now can you think of four things far right extremists like DeMint find more unappealing?" Karen Garcia (#4) thinks that if Meryl Streep, who gave $1MM to the women's museum & is playing former British PM & Reagan chum Margaret Thatcher in an upcoming film, should testify before Congress, in character, which will "bring back such fond memories of Uncle Ronnie the Republicans will ... give her whatever she wants."

Kathleen Parker of the Washington Post asks a question on the minds of many of us: why let Bob Woodward into the White House? She doesn't answer the question, but she does make some thoughtful observations about President Obama's decision-making process, as Woodward describes it.

A.G. Sulzberger of the New York Times: "Judicial elections that were designed to be as apolitical as possible are suddenly as contentious as any another race."

Andrew Lehren of the New York Times: "Experts say that weak oversight of the 2.7 million miles of gas pipeline in the United States has contributed to hundreds of episodes that have killed 60 people in the last five years."

Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: under the Obama Administration, the Food & Drug Administration has become more transparent & more flexible as demonstrated by their unusual decision on the controversial diabetes drug Avandia.

In 2003, Christine O'Donnell vowed to "stop the whole country from having sex. Yeah, yeah.... Kids are not dogs in heat":

"Evolution Is a Myth." As promised, Bill Mahar has more. From his ABC show, "Politically Incorrect":

The Commentariat -- September 24

Here's Part 2 of Paul Krugman & Robin Wells' epic review of books in the New York Review of Books. Here's Part 1.

Dana Milbank: Cornpackers! ...

Stephen Colbert testifies before a House subcommittee:

     ... NBC News report. New York Times story. Time post.

At the end of the hearing, Colbert got serious:

Scott Wilson of the Washington Post: "After years of focusing U.S. time and attention on the Middle East, the Obama administration is seeking to reorient its foreign policy toward Asia, largely as a way to ensure domestic economic growth in the decades ahead."

"Postcards from the Pledge." Jon Stewart examines the "fresh new ideas" reflected in the Republicans' "Pledge to America":

     ... Tanya Somanader of Think Progress has a transcript of the comparisons which Stewart highlighted of Republicans' "old ideas" & "new ideas." ...

... Michael Linden & Michael Ettlinger of the Center for American Progress: "The budget deficit would be about $200 billion larger in 2020 under the 'Pledge to America' plan than it would be under President Barack Obama’s budget, and over the next 10 years deficits would be $1.5 trillion higher than under the president’s budget." (pdf) ...

... "War on Arithmetic." Paul Krugman: "On Thursday, House Republicans released their 'Pledge to America,' supposedly outlining their policy agenda. In essence, what they say is, 'Deficits are a terrible thing. Let’s make them much bigger.'” ...

... Dana Milbank: "It took the Republicans just three minutes to violate their Pledge to America.... Their pledge..., among other things, promises to rein in an 'arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites.' Yet moments after taking the stage to face the cameras, Republican leaders appointed themselves arrogant elites. They compared themselves to the founding fathers and likened their actions ... to the signing of the Declaration of Independence." ...

... "Profile in Cowardice." Even the Washington Post's conservative Editorial Board writes, "The House Republicans' 'Pledge to America ... mixes irresponsible tax cuts with implausible spending caps and unspecified actions to control entitlement spending.... The 'Pledge' ... would increase the debt by $4 trillion -- yes, trillion -- by extending all the expiring Bush tax cuts and adding new ones, including a poorly conceived deduction for small businesses." ...

... David Corn, in Mother Jones, on what is not in the Republican "Pledge." (It's a long list.)

Mike McIntire of the New York Times: "With every election cycle comes a shadow army of benignly titled nonprofit groups like Americans for Job Security, devoted to politically charged 'issue advocacy,' much of it negative. But they are now being heard as never before.... Americans for Job Security ... spent $6 million on ads during the primary season. This week, emboldened by the [Supreme] Court ruling, the group paid close to $4 million more for ads directly attacking nine Democratic candidates for Congress.... Its deep ties to a Republican consulting operation raise questions about whether, under cover of its tax-exempt mission..., the group is largely a funnel for anonymous donations."

We don’t get our food from farms anymore. We get it from grocery stores. -- Stephen Colbert

Christina Wilkie of The Hill: "Comedian Stephen Colbert’s scheduled appearance on Capitol Hill Friday elicited mixed reactions from lawmakers.... At the hearing, the late-night talk show host will appear in the form of his fictional character...."

... Here's the Colbert segment with Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Cal.), who chairs the House subcommittee on immigration:

Jason Zengerle, in GQ, profiles Rand Paul, & doesn't make young Paul sound as bad as he is. What Paul does appear to be, is totally uninformed & willing to change his views, such as they are, on everything.

Well, isn't this an effective ad from some right-wing fake-name front group called "Citizens for the Republic":

... CW: and how, pray tell, is the government going to be both "smaller" AND "more caring, one that remembers us"? Obviously, if the government is smaller, it isn't going to be "more caring."; it will have to be "less caring." And will "the government" "remember us"? Yes, maybe after we're dead from lack of care. Oh, look, even Daniel Larison of Pat Buchanan's! American Conservative agrees with me.

John Pomfret of the Washington Post: "A new generation of officials in the military, key government ministries and state-owned companies has begun to define how China deals with the rest of the world. Emboldened by China's economic expansion, these officials are taking advantage of a weakened leadership at the top of the Communist Party to assert their interests in ways that would have been impossible even a decade ago.... Today, from Washington to Tokyo, the talk is about how difficult it is to contend with the explosion of special interests shaping China's worldview."

President Obama Addresses the United Nations General Assembly, September 23, 2010:

     ... New York Times story here. AND here's the text of his speech.

The President speaks at the Millennium Development Goals Conference at the United Nations Building on his plan for global development, September 22:

     ...  Here's the text of the President's remarks.