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The Commentariat -- April 24, 2016
Presidential Race
Nick Gass of Politico: "Bernie Sanders says the Democratic Party hasn't been fair to him -- but he has mixed feelings on the nominating process overall. 'Do you think this process has been fair to you? The Democratic nomination process?' moderator Chuck Todd asked the Vermont senator in an interview filmed Saturday in Baltimore and aired Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'Yes and no,' Sanders said, going on to criticize the role of the media for neglecting to focus on 'real issues facing America.' The media, he said, emphasizes 'political gossip' rather than 'issues that affect working people.'" CW: If you're looking for shallow media that "emphasizes political gossip," Chuck, you do have a mirror, don't you? ...
... John Wagner & Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "... Bernie Sanders said Saturday that many of his losses to Hillary Clinton in Democratic primaries were because 'poor people don't vote.'" -- CW
Harper Neidig of the Hill: "... Bernie Sanders called for criminal justice reform during a rally in Baltimore on Saturday, promising to 'bring justice back to the criminal justice system.'" -- CW
Harper Neidig: "... Bernie Sanders's top adviser [Tad Devine] said on Saturday that the campaign would consider dialing down its criticism of front-runner Hillary Clinton depending on the outcome of the primaries on Tuesday." -- CW
Real Donald Trump? Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "If Donald J. Trump starts to soften his image, Hillary Clinton has a warning for voters. Don't believe it. 'Trump,' she said at a rally [in Rhode Island] on Saturday, 'keeps saying things like, "Well, you know, uh, I didn't really mean it. It was all part of my reality TV show."'... 'If we buy that, shame on us. Because he's already showed us what he believes and he's already said what he wants to do, and he wants to go after every one of the rights we have.' On Saturday, the Clinton campaign also released a video that amounted to a highlight reel of Mr. Trump's incendiary comments. The video said that Mr. Trump 'is getting ready for an extreme makeover.'" -- CW
Kristen East of Politico: "Billionaire businessman Charles Koch said in an interview airing Sunday that 'it's possible' another Clinton in the White House could be better than having a Republican president. Koch, the CEO of Koch industries, made the comment to ABC News' Jonathan Karl for an interview airing on ABC's This Week." -- CW ...
... When two wingers get together to talk on the teevee:
Not Only Trump. Nick Gass of Politico: State Department spokesman John Kirby suggested Friday that "Ted Cruz has also raised eyebrows abroad with his vows to 'make the sand glow' in the Middle East and his comments about Muslim immigrants, though Kirby did not explicitly mention the Texas senator by name." -- CW
Kyle Cheney of Politico: "Ted Cruz notched another delegate landslide Saturday, stretching his advantage in a competition that might never occur: the second ballot of a contested Republican National Convention in July. Cruz won at least 65 of the 94 delegates up for grabs Saturday (and he may have won more, but Kentucky's 25 delegates haven't revealed their leanings). The Texas senator has so thoroughly dominated the fight ... that if front-runner Donald Trump fails to clinch the nomination on the first ballot, Cruz is well-positioned to surpass him -- and perhaps even snag the nomination for himself -- when delegates are free in subsequent convention rounds to vote for whomever they want." -- CW ...
... David Wright of CNN: "Texas Sen. Ted Cruz collected the overwhelming majority of Maine's Republican delegates during the state's GOP convention Saturday.... Ahead of the vote, [Gov. Paul] LePage accused the Cruz campaign of going back on a promise to back a 'unity slate' of the state's delegates, a move he portrayed as 'stabbing us in the back.'" -- CW ...
... BUT Trump Is Trying! Kyle Cheney: Deleware "State GOP insiders say [Trump aide Joe] Uddo ripped their long-standing process from his very first phone call and hinted he might refer it to Trump's high-powered law firm, Jones Day. Then, he suggested that continued resistance could lead to a nasty Trump campaign tweet about 'backroom deals in Delaware,' according to three sources familiar with Uddo's interactions.... The spat created bitter feelings between Delaware GOP insiders and the Trump campaign." -- CW ...
... Brianna Gurciullo of Politico: "Donald Trump ... on Friday, prais[ed Delaware's] ... status as a tax shelter and at one point sharing a story about calling his credit-card company to find out whether it employed people in India." In recounting the phone call, Trump spoke mockingly in what he apparently thought was "Indian"-sounding English. "Trump said he had 378 corporate entities registered in the state, 'meaning I pay you a lot of money, folks. I don't feel guilty.'" -- CW ...
... The Pain in Maine Falls Mainly on the Sane. AP: "Maine's Republican governor says it's hard to understand workers 'from Bulgaria' and workers from India are 'the worst ones.' Gov. Paul LePage said Saturday that foreign workers are being used in restaurants after he criticized a referendum proposal to raise Maine's minimum wage to $12. He says he's disappointed his alternative proposal to hike the wage to $10 didn't get traction. He described Indians as 'lovely people but you've got to have an interpreter.'" -- CW ...
... Nate Silver: "... if the framing of the question matters, Trump has a big advantage: The media is [sic.!] mostly echoing and validating his side of the argument. That's partly because Trump continues to dominate news coverage of the Republican race and therefore has a lot more opportunities to get his message out. It also helps that Trump's system-is-rigged message is relatively simple and plays into the media's master narrative of the Republican race as a conflict between the Republican base and the GOP 'establishment.' The Republicans' delegate selection rules, by contrast, require an attention to detail that narrative-driven stories about the Republican race can misconstrue." Read on. -- CW
Ashley Parker of the New York Times: "As Donald J. Trump ... begins preparing his campaign for a general election, he told voters in Connecticut on Saturday that they should not expect him to start 'toning it down.' Mr. Trump's message at two stops in Connecticut -- first in Waterbury, and later in Bridgeport -- seemed to contradict the closed-door pitch his newly installed campaign chief, Paul Manafort, brought to the Republican National Committee's spring meeting in Florida on Thursday." -- CW ...
... Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: "Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas ... has used [Paul Manafort's leaked] comments [to the RNC] to attack Trump's authenticity. He said in interviews Thursday that Trump has been 'lying to us' and is 'pretending' to be a conservative to fool voters. Trump blasted Cruz on Saturday during campaign stops in Connecticut..., accusing him of twisting Manafort's words for political gain. The billionaire showman insisted that Manafort's comments ... merely showcased the reality of adjusting stylistically to different audiences." -- CW ...
... digby: "This notion that Trump is putting on an act is idiotic. Of course he's a showman. But that doesn't mean he isn't a neo-fascist xenophobe and he's been remarkably consistent about it for 30 years or more. He has always railed against foreigners, worshiped the police, and celebrated state violence. That he has different personas in different circumstances is irrelevant to that. I think if you want to see the 'authentic' Trump, just read the Washington Post and New York Times editorial board interviews. He wasn't playing to the crowd, he was among fellow elites. And he relied on a whole bag of tricks to hide the fact that he doesn't know what he's talking about. What comes through is the bravado, the violence, the deviance, the guile." -- CW
Kristen Salaky of TPM: "Following a tense exchange with Fox New host Sean Hannity this week, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took another swipe at the network's coverage of Donald Trump and accusations that he's wrangling delegates. 'They know it's not true,' Cruz said, when asked if his strategy was unethical, according to BuzzFeed. 'Donald doesn't handle losing well and when we loses he cries and he screams and he whines and he curses and he insults everybody.' Cruz went on to criticize the editorial decisions of Fox News and who they are 'rooting for.'" -- safari
Frances Sellers of the Washington Post visits the Drumpf family ancestral town of Kallstadt, Germany. "Kallstadt lies in the lush landscape of southern Germany along the Weinstrasse, or wine route, that the Nazis created in 1935 to market the wines as Hitler surged to power and drove out Jewish merchants." -- CW
Other News & Views
Steve Erlanger & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama will meet with Western European leaders on Sunday and Monday amid a growing sense in his administration that Europe is faltering in the face of multiple challenges, undercutting the trans-Atlantic alliance at a critical time." -- CW ...
... Darlene Superville of the AP: "President Barack Obama, beginning a visit Sunday to Germany, hoped to build momentum for a U.S.-Europe trade deal that has become a tough sell, particularly in Germany. Other issues were on the agenda for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, including efforts to counter the Islamic State group, improve cooperation on counterterrorism, and encourage countries to share law enforcement information. IS says it was responsible for attacks that killed 30 people in Brussels last month." -- CW
Michael Shear & Liam Stack of the New York Times: "At a meeting with young people on the second day of his visit to Europe..., [President Obama] praised the [Black Lives Matter] movement as 'really effective in bringing attention to problems,' but said young activists should be more willing to work with political leaders to craft solutions instead of criticizing from outside the political process. '... you can't just keep on yelling at them,' Mr. Obama said." -- CW: Welcome to Protesters' World, Mr. President. Most protesters think yelling & whining is the point. The most successful freedom movements -- like the remarkable gay rights groups -- knew how to organize & cajole. ...
... Former Sen. Harris Wofford (D-Pa.), in a New York Times op-ed: After Clare, his wife of 50 years, died, Wofford found love again with a young man named Matthew Charlton. "On April 30, at ages 90 and 40, we will join hands, vowing to be bound together: to have and to hold, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part." -- CW
Sabrina Tavernise & Robert Gebeloff of the New York Times: "The first full year of the Affordable Care Act brought historic increases in coverage for low-wage workers and others who have long been left out of the health care system, a New York Times analysis has found. Immigrants of all backgrounds -- including more than a million legal residents who are not citizens -- had the sharpest rise in coverage rates. Hispanics, a coveted group of voters this election year, accounted for nearly a third of the increase in adults with insurance. That was the single largest share of any racial or ethnic group, far greater than their 17 percent share of the population. Low-wage workers, who did not have enough clout in the labor market to demand insurance, saw sharp increases." -- CW
She Danced with the President, but in 30 States She Couldn't Vote. Courtland Milloy of the Washington Post: "Virginia McLaurin, who recently turned 107, was still basking in the glow of her dance with President Obama in February. A White House video of the meeting has been viewed nearly 66 million times. The attention has resulted in invitations to New York and Los Angeles for media interviews. To board an airplane, however, McLaurin needs to replace a long-lost government-issued photo ID" which she has been unable to obtain. "On the bright side..., at least the District didn't require a photo ID to vote.... But roughly 30 states have adopted an array of restrictive voter ID laws, and elderly citizens who live in those states seemed particularly at risk of having their rights denied." ...
AND here are some nice letters in support of child molester & former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Protests surrounding a rally at Stone Mountain[, Georgia,] erupted in violence Saturday as demonstrators trying to confront a white power group set a barricade on fire and hurled rocks and fireworks at police attempting to block them. By midday, park officials worried about the safety of visitors, shut down attractions such as the cable car and amusement center and also canceled the popular laser show. The park remained open. Nine counter-protesters were arrested, most for refusing to take their masks.... In Rome, Ga., about 80 supporters of the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement also held a rally Saturday. That event has largely avoided the violence seen at Stone Mountain, although police said two counter-protesters were arrested for disorderly conduct. There were several hundred counter-protesters on hand." -- CW
AP: "A solar-powered airplane landed in California on Saturday, completing a risky, three-day flight across the Pacific Ocean as part of its journey around the world." -- CW ...
Rebecca Piccardo of the Los Angeles Times: "A week after a Palm Beach Zoo animal keeper was killed during a tiger attack, the zoo's president said the keeper had knowingly entered a part of the tiger enclosure with one of the big cats in it -- which is not allowed." -- CW ...
... John Pacenti of the Palm Beach Post: "But in a reflection of how the zoo handled this crisis, some of the public appeared skeptical of the explanation. The Post received anonymous calls immediately casting doubt, but these calls have been ongoing since the mauling and were attributed as 'rumors circulating from disgruntled staff members' by zoo spokeswoman Naki Carter.... And there are no fewer than five ongoing independent investigations into [Stacey] Konwiser's death...." -- CW
Way Beyond
Azam Ahmed & Paulina Villegas of the New York Times: "An international panel of experts brought to Mexico to investigate the haunting disappearance of 43 students that ignited a global outcry say they cannot solve the case because of a sustained campaign of harassment, stonewalling and intimidation against them. The investigators say they have endured carefully orchestrated attacks in the Mexican news media, a refusal by the government to turn over documents or grant interviews with essential figures, and even a retaliatory criminal investigation into one of the officials who appointed them." -- CW
Give peace a chance? Guardian: "North Korea will halt its nuclear tests if the US ceases its annual military exercises with South Korea, Kim Jong-un's foreign minister has said in a rare interview with western media. A North Korean submarine launched missile on Saturday in breach of UN bans, and anticipation is building that the North is also preparing to conduct a nuclear explosion." --safari
Press release for MAPS: "The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has formally approved the first-ever randomized controlled trial of whole plant medical marijuana (cannabis) as a treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in U.S. veterans. The DEA's approval marks the first time a clinical trial intended to develop smoked botanical marijuana into a legal prescription drug has received full approval from U.S. regulatory agencies, including the DEA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)."" --safari
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Reader Comments (10)
More insane in Maine news keeps coming from the state's recent Republican convention to pick delegates, where the Trumpkin-turned "human bowling jacket" (as frequently labeled by Charles Pierce) Governor was frustrated by the results, turning to his Facebook page: "... As we have seen throughout the country, Cruz’s national campaign is run by greedy political hooligans.” Yah don't say, Huh, guv?
As the Portland Press Herald noted: "But the Cruz campaign’s sweep of the 14 at-large delegates – plus five of the six delegates from Maine’s congressional districts – was arguably " a political blow " to a governor still hugely popular within the Republican activist base*."
*Yes, Virginia, there is a North and South in Maine!
Also in attendance, Carly Fiorina, (the Lady in Red) pro-Cruz; a Sununu the Younger, pro-Kasich; and Senator Susan Collins, who apparently couldn't care less about overly-tired semi-truckers on our highways.
From yesterday: A contributor alleged that Sherrod Brown "has obviously sold his soul to Wall Street" and gave us a link to which this information was cited:
Top 5 Contributors, 2011 - 2016, Campaign Cmte
Contributor Total Indivs PACs
Ohio State University $124,430 $124,430 $0
JStreetPAC $111,490 $109,285 $2,205
Cleveland Clinic $87,117 $87,117 $0
Votesane PAC $72,750 $72,750 $0
League of Conservation Voters $66,382 $57,171 $9,211
...view more data
Top 5 Industries, 2011 - 2016, Campaign Cmte
Industry Total Indivs PACs
Lawyers/Law Firms $1,910,053 $1,723,680 $186,373
Retired $1,209,261 $1,209,261 $0
Education $590,994 $589,994 $1,000
Real Estate $549,161 $498,661 $50,500
Health Professionals $534,545 $338,745 $195,800
The fact that Brown's many other lesser contributors were large companies is par for the course. But you can see from the list of top donors where Brown's interests lie. Ken had mentioned that he favored Brown as one of the possible Veeps and I agree. Brown has been one of the true voices in the liberal party.
The other person that this same contributor denigrated was Rachel Maddow: His opinion was that she "seems incapable of addressing complex issues without an hour long special." May I remind the reader that Rachel took on the Flint water problem before anyone in the media and then did do an hour long special on it but before the special she was capable of addressing said problem quite efficiently. Kate's letter to Rachel voicing her anger and disappointment for not going further in linking opiates to the heroin addictions was a fair criticism but to say, as the aforementioned contributor did, that "To add the multi-faceted subject of opiates is way beyond her abilities in an hour long show" is, in my opinion, scratching that itch a bit too aggressively.
Wow! A Koch bro hedging his bets on a possible vote for, god forbid, a democrat? The caveat, of course, would be "if her [Hillary's] actions would be quite different than her rhetoric." Let's try and parse that little gem––oh, and he seems like such a kindly sort of fella, don't he?
@PD Pepe: Thanks very much for the correction on Sherrod Brown. His top contributors show where his heart is & who his allies are. As you say, political candidates have little choice but to accept corporate contributions, thanks in part to the confederate Supremes. I'm not sure how campaign contributions are recorded, but as I recall, everyone who makes a contribution -- of any size -- has to identify her place of work. I once worked for Hughes Helicopters, so I guess that would make my little contributions fall into the "military industrial complex" category. Nevertheless, the actual nature of my contribution would hardly mean I was a self-serving lobbyist who wanted the politician to give Hughes Helicopters a big ole contract.
From the list of Brown's top contributors, it would appear that most were individuals who worked in certain professions -- or were retired! This is hardly a knock on Brown.
BTW, I don't think, as the contributor asserted, that Maddow's audience is "moronic." Among the most popular Gnus & Vues shows, I'd bet she has the smartest audience. This study backs me up: among about 25 news outlets, including everything from the New Yorker to Rush Limbaugh to the generic "daily newspapers," Maddow audience members scored the highest on a 4-question current-events test. That's pretty impressive. "Moronic"? I don't think so. P.S. I don't watch Maddow myself, so I'm not tooting my own horn.
Marie
@PD Pepe: I think Brown is great too. My first choice would be Franken. My point is that to Bernie Sanders, who can apparently find only 2 or 3 Democrats "clean" enough to support, those few corporate type supporters (did you think my list complete?) would be sufficient to condemn Sherrod as corrupt.
@CW I'm glad to hear that Maddow's audience (which includes me) isn't moronic. But if true why does she treat us as such? If you don't watch the show you've missed some truely incredible demonstrations of how to state something 57 ways without total repetition when your meaning was clear the first time. Lead in water bad is a far simpler subject than heroin,drugs, opiates, federal policy, state policy,legal problem, health problem, chemists always 6 steps ahead of legislators, etc etc. Limiting it to heroin/naloxone simplifies to an easily understood moral question.
Thanks to PD for doing the research.
....and to Cowichan for today's more nuanced view of available Veep choices. I think, intentionally or not, you've put your finger on Sanders' weakness. In complex systems, the many variables make nuance, or delicate and wide-ranging assessment, necessary. While I don't much like HRC's too obvious triangulation--can you inherit a trait from a husband or did she teach him his tricks?-- I can see why some equivalent of continual water-testing necessary. Is it too hot, too cold, too shallow, too deep, or just plain poisonous and best avoided? Simplicity (Thoreau again) may be a virtue, but it's not a likely path to electoral success in our present place and time, and Sanders' narrow view is as much his limitation as it is his strength. I think (hope?) even Trump, with his own simple messaging--there's little less complicated than channeling the anger the Right has stoked for decades--will find this out.
BTW, understand impatience with RM. She does take a long time to say something these days. Don't know where that places me on any intelligence scale.
More likely, I'm just near the top of grumpy.
@Ken Winkes: It's a mistake to think of Sanders as one-dimensional & HRC as complex. Anyone who has been as successful in politics as Sanders has knows what compromise means. The difference between Sanders & many other politicians is that his vision is (relatively) pure; he knows damned well his actions are not. He isn't silly. If he were, he'd be doing the Ralph Nader thing out of the "pure" belief that the Democratic party is corrupt. Yeah, it is. But he very pragmatically decided his best bet was to work within the corrupt system. He's done it again & again. Those votes on gun control? They were pragmatic compromises. Working with Republicans when he could achieve some so-called "common ground"? He's done that, too.
But Clinton is the corrupt system. Does she ever have noble motives? Sure. We all do. But she calls up hers only when they're convenient, & often she finds them inconvenient. Right now she's wrapping herself in victims -- Sandy Hook, black women -- whoever can help her. But she won't return their phone calls once they've served her purpose. I have to vote for her because her conveniences line up more with mine than do any Republican's. No, I'm not "pure," either. But my "vision" is closer to Bernie's than is Clinton's. Bernie, warts & all, is someone I can respect. Clinton is not. And it's way too late for her to become respectable, even if she knew how, which she doesn't. Besides, she doesn't want to be respectable. She wants to win.
Marie
Marie,
Not sure we disagree overmuch, if at all. Sander's narrow view or his purer vision seem close to me.
That said, talking about either views or visions, I undoubtedly find Sanders' more acceptable than HRC's varying positions of convenience. Tainted as she is by her neoliberalism, she is both less ideologically pure and, I think, far to close to and supportive of the economic forces that have brought us many of the conditions she finds it politically expedient to criticize.
And as I know she's smart, her IQ is no excuse for that fundamental contradiction. Likely, as you say, it's character, which from what I can see of it, I, much like you, do not respect.
But also like you, I want to win and respect him as I do, I don't think Sanders can do it.
My interest in HRC's Veep choice derives from my perceptions of HRC's many flaws. She needs someone strong enough and "pure" enough to mask them.
If only her ego--if nothing else, her love affair with money suggests to me it's weak at its center--will allow it.
Repeat this when you get up in the morning, after you finish breakfast, before and after lunch, during "happy" hour, while you are watching the "Gnus," before and after dinner--and as you are preparing for much needed sleep and saying your bedtime prayers:
REMEMBER THE SUPREMES!
Sooooo important! Especially effective for those of us with an allergic reaction to Hillary and no effective OTC relief.
Hillary's VP choice is of no importance.
Bill is her co-pilot. The VP will be at the back of the bus.