The Commentariat -- December 4

Mark Trumbull of the Christian Science Monitor: "... some prominent Nobel Prize winners [-- Joseph Stiglitz, Robert Solow & Paul Krugman --] argue for higher federal deficits – as a means of stimulating economic growth – rather than for quick steps on deficit reduction. Even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke appears sympathetic to this position." ...

... Meanwhile, David Dayan of Firedoglake: 14 Democratic senators, plus Dems Dick Durbin & Kent Conrad, rally round deficit reduction. "... the Catfood Commission, while 'failing' in the technical sense, did its job. It created a report that people can label 'bipartisan' moving forward, and it put deficit reduction – when there are 15 million Americans out of work – at the top of the agenda.... And it’s a self-inflicted wound, as this was a Presidential commission."

Alan Grayson goes out with a bang, not a whimper. Recommended viewing!

They can pretend giving the rich tax breaks creates jobs, but we know it doesn’t. If that were the case, the economy would be booming.
-- Harry Reid ...

... David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "In a last-ditch effort to control the political messaging in the tax fight, Democrats accused the Republicans of favoring the rich over the middle class, of cruelly holding up an extension of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, and of pursuing bad economic policies that contributed to the recent recession." ...

... Jay Newton-Small of Time has more on today's Senate votes.

John Amato of Crooks & Liars: "... the CBO released a study that shows if Congress does pass the DREAM Act, it would save us $1.4 billion over ten years.... Why does this matter? Because Republicans are screaming that they won't vote for any legislation that doesn't cut the federal deficit." Amato provides a call list of Senators we should lobby. The CBO report is here.

Super PACs provide a means for the super wealthy to have even more influence and an even greater voice in the political process.
-- Meredith McGehee, of the Campaign Legal Center ...

... T. W. Farnam of the Washington Post: "The newly created independent political groups known as super PACs, which raised and spent millions of dollars on last month's elections, drew much of their funding from private-equity partners and others in the financial industry, according to new financial disclosure reports. The 72 super PACs, all formed this year, together spent $83.7 million on the election. The figures provide the best indication yet of the impact of recent Supreme Court decisions that opened the door for wealthy individuals and corporations to give unlimited contributions."

"Death by Budget Cut." Gail Collins writes of an Arizona man in need of a liver transplant who was literally prepped for surgery when "the Arizona state government, which is totally controlled by Republicans, got between him and his doctor." AND here's the backstory by Marc Lacey of the Times. The comments to Collins' column are pretty good, too.

Michael O'Brien of The Hill: "Democrats hoping to move forward with legislation other than tax cuts shouldn't look to centrist Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to break the logjam. Collins said again on Friday that, while she would vote with Democrats to end the military's 'Don't ask, don't tell' policy, she wouldn't do so until a debate over tax cuts has been resolved." CW: assuming Harry Reid can keep all the Democrats in line, Collins' "after-tax" vote is the 60th vote needed to break a filibuster. ,,,

... Daniel Drezner in Foreign Policy in his "one post on repealing DADT: "... the status quo is undermining national security far more than any change. The rigorous enforcement of DADT is preventing competent and patriotic soldiers from serving their country, particularly in high-demand positions like, say, Arabic translators.... I therefore really and truly don't give a s**t why John McCain's position has shifted. I just want to know why the ranking minority member of the Senate Armed Services committee is throwing national security, civilian control of the military, and the hierarchical chain of command under the f***ing bus." ...

... Matt Yglesias: "I really wonder what’s happening, subjectively, inside the heads of people who oppose repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. Do any of them think they’re on the right side of history here? That people are going to look back from 2040 and say 'if only we’d listened to John McCain thirty years ago?'"

Steve Benen on Sen. Bob Menendez's (D-NJ) comparing negotiating with Republicans to negotiating with terrorists. Republicans are having hissy-fits, but, Benen asks, after citing examples, "what about when Republicans compare themselves to terrorists?"

Ron Brownstein in the National Journal on why Dick Luger is the lone Republican Senator to openly back the New START treaty.

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "A small stockpile of spent nuclear fuel destined for disposal in Russia remained behind in a lightly guarded research center, apparently because of a fit of pique by Libya’s mercurial leader, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. In a frantic cable back to Washington, American officials in Tripoli warned of dire consequences unless the carefully brokered deal to remove the 5.2 kilograms (11.4 pounds) of highly enriched uranium stored in seven five-ton casks was quickly resurrected."

Scott Shane of the New York Times: "Diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks ... offer the most intimate view to date of the wily, irreverent and sometimes erratic Yemeni autocrat [Ali Abdullah Saleh], who over the past year has become steadily more aggressive against Al Qaeda. But he appears determined to join the fight on his own terms, sometimes accommodating and other times rebuffing American requests on counterterrrorism." ...

... In the National Journal, Matthew Dowd, a former Bush strategist, writes, "... we’re mired in a political environment where much of the public distrusts the federal government and despises both parties.... If we want to restore trust in our government, maybe we can start by telling the truth, keeping fewer secrets, and respecting the privacy of average citizens a little more." Dowd castigates the media for not "defending WikiLeaks and doing some soul-searching of their own about why they aren’t devoting more resources to the search for the truth."

... Chris Cillizza (who is high on my list of village idiots) of the Washington Post says WikiLeaks made for a ruinous week for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. BUT Glenn Kessler of the Post sees a silver lining: "Arab angst about Iran's nuclear ambitions has been exposed, perhaps giving the United States greater leverage in international talks scheduled for next week."