;)
The Commentariat -- Feb. 23, 2013
The President's Weekly Address:
... Here's the transcript.
Since everyone, including the White House, was dissing David Brooks today, I thought I might as well pile on. My New York Times eXaminer column is here. ...
... MEANWHILE, Ed Kilgore takes on Peggy Noonan, which he admits is as easy as "shooting magic dolphins in a barrel." His whole post is funny. Here's the heart of it:
Allow yourself a few minutes of chuckling over the spectacle of Peggy Noonan wandering around a Walmart -- something she apparently does every few years to get in touch with the peasantry -- and focus on what she's saying here. Fiscal uncertainty has made the scene at Walmart 'tired' and 'frayed.'
Now there's a much less ethereal explanation for Walmart's troubles: the payroll tax increase that Republicans accepted without a peep on January 1 took a bite out of purchasing power, aside from the fact that Walmart shoppers tend to be folk struggling to get along. The overall phenomenon is called 'sluggish consumer demand,' which means low-to-moderate income families don't have enough money. That's a slightly more tangible and immediate problem than any emotional or spiritual crisis Walmart customers might experience from reflections on the failure of Barack Obama to reach out to Republicans for long-term federal spending cuts, which is what Noonan talks about in the remainder of her column.
Dorothy Wickenden of the New Yorker speaks with George Packer & James Surowiecki about income inequality, wage stagnation & the sequester:
Jonathan Weisman & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Mr. Obama privately told Democratic governors that his public campaign against Republicans was not producing results.... In a session at the White House complex, the president and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. tried to enlist the Democratic governors to reach out to their Republican counterparts at a National Governors Association meeting this weekend to push Congressional leaders to the table.... On Friday, Republicans remained adamant that they would accept no tax increases to head off the cuts." ...
... Michael Cooper of the New York Times: "States are increasingly alarmed that they could become collateral damage in Washington's latest fiscal battle, fearing that the impasse could saddle them with across-the-board spending cuts that threaten to slow their fragile recoveries or thrust them back into recession." CW: here's a place where "uncertainty" actually is a factor; there's a certain irony, of course, that some of the states that will be hardest hit by the sequester cuts are those that vote Tea Party & hate President Socialist. ...
... Keith Laing of The Hill: "Airline passengers will face major delays if Congress allows across-the-board cuts to the budgets of agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood warned Friday. LaHood, speaking to reporters at Friday's White House press briefing, predicted chaos at the nation's busiest airports because thousands of FAA employees -- including air traffic controllers -- will be furloughed to save money. 'This is very painful for us because it involves our employees, but it's going to be very painful for the flying public,' LaHood said." ...
... Matthew Wald of the New York Times: "Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has told Congress that most of the Federal Aviation Administration's 47,000 employees would face a day of furlough per two-week pay period, meaning on average about 10 percent fewer workers on any given day.... To handle such a major staff shortage but still maintain safety, federal aviation officials said they would accept fewer airplanes into the system.... As a result, passengers may sit on tarmacs and endure delays as they wait for planes to push back from the gate.As a result, passengers may sit on tarmacs and endure delays as they wait for planes to push back from the gate." ...
... Stan Collender of Capital Gains & Games: "The Obama White House ... clearly is not reluctant in the slightest about making it clear that flights will be canceled or seriously delayed ... or both if the sequester happens.... This is why I keep saying that the politics of the sequester will change almost immediately after it starts. Slowdowns at U.S... airports, national parks closed one day a week, slower-than-usual tax refunds -- all of which are likely to happen starting on March 1 -- almost change how voters view the situation and the pressure on members of Congress to deal with it."
... Tracie Cone of the AP: "As America's financial clock ticks toward forced spending cuts to countless government agencies, The Associated Press has obtained a National Park Service memo that compiles a list of potential effects at the nation's most beautiful and historic places just as spring vacation season begins.... In Yosemite National Park in California, for example, park administrators fear that less frequent trash pickup would potentially attract bears into campgrounds." ...
... Gail Collins explains the sequester to dummies. Actually, her dummy sounds pretty smart. It's the answers that are dumb, dumb because the Congressional decisions she is describing are dumb. ...
... Wherein Bob Woodward Tries to Cover His Ass by Covering up an Inconvenient Fact. In today's Washington Post, Woodward writes a longish piece "proving" that the sequester was Obama's idea. Key points:
My extensive reporting for my book 'The Price of Politics' shows that the automatic spending cuts were initiated by the White House and were the brainchild of [Jack] Lew and White House congressional relations chief Rob Nabors.... Obama personally approved of the plan for Lew and Nabors to propose the sequester to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). They did so at 2:30 p.m. July 27, 2011.... Key Republican staffers said they didn't even initially know what a sequester was....
... Well, maybe you're right, Bob. But then how is it that just 4 days later -- July 31 -- Boehner distributed a PowerPoint presentation, developed with the Republican Policy Committee, in which "it's clear as day in the presentation that 'sequestration' was considered a cudgel to guarantee a reduction in federal spending"? According to Lew's account, the sequestration idea was based on a 1984 Graham-Rudman plan, but Boehner's Power Point presentation says sequestration is the "same mechanism used in 1997 Balanced Budget Agreement." Moreover, Lew says he wasn't "pushing" it. It seems that both Boehner's & Obama's teams were trying to come up with a way to kick the can down the road -- on account of Boehner's inability to get his Tea Party members behind anything -- & they both hit on sequestration. Since the Tea Party caucus was Boehner's problem, Boehner "pushed" sequestration. (Boehner's office has since told Newsweek that his Power Point slide "was simply Boehner's attempt to explain the president's plan to the Republican caucus.") Woodward never mentions the Power Point presentation. Get over it, Bob.
Lawrence Hurley of Reuters: "The Obama administration outlined its argument on Friday why the U.S. Supreme Court should strike down a federal law that defines marriage as between a man and woman. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli filed a brief with the court saying that section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, expanding on the administration's approach to the controversial 1996 law, which it has formally opposed since February 2011."
Friday Afternoon News Dump -- Drones R Us. Eric Schmitt & Mark Sayare of the New York Times: "Opening a new front in the drone wars against Al Qaeda and its affiliates, President Obama announced on Friday that about 100 American troops had been sent to Niger in West Africa to help set up a new base from which unarmed Predator aircraft would conduct surveillance in the region."
Tara Bernard of the New York Times: "... when it comes to paid parental leave, the United States is among the least generous in the world, ranking down with the handful of countries that don't offer any paid leave at all, among them Liberia, Suriname and Papua New Guinea. The American situation hasn't materially improved since the landmark Family and Medical Leave Act was signed into law 20 years ago this month by President Clinton.... While the United States takes great pride in its family values, it is the only high-income country that does not offer a paid leave program.... The National Partnership for Women and Families..., together with the Center for American Progress, has been working with lawmakers to draft legislation that would provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave for the arrival of a new child or for a parent's serious illness or that of a family member. The costs would be split between workers and their employers...."
"I Have Here in My Pocket...." Jane Mayer of the New Yorker: "Two and a half years ago, [Ted] Cruz gave a stem-winder of a speech at a Fourth of July weekend political rally in Austin, Texas, in which he accused the Harvard Law School of harboring a dozen Communists on its faculty when he studied there.... Cruz made the accusation ... at a conference ... sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, a non-profit political organization founded and funded in part by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch. Cruz ... soon launched an impassioned attack on President Obama, whom he described as 'the most radical' President 'ever to occupy the Oval Office.' Charles Fried, who taught Cruz at Harvard Law & "who served as Ronald Reagan's Solicitor General from 1985 to 1989," disputes all of Cruz's claims about the school." ...
... Sarah Posner of Religion Dispatches: "Cruz's communist conspiracy theories pre-date his Tea Party associations; in 2009..., Cruz made the same accusation about Obama and Harvard" to Christian conservative professor & publisher Marvin Olansky. "In the WORLD interview, Cruz took care to point out that he 'was raised a Christian and came to Christ at Clay Road Baptist Church in Houston.'"
John Hooper of the Guardian: "A potentially explosive report has linked the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI to the discovery of a network of gay prelates in the Vatican, some of whom -- the report said -- were being blackmailed by outsiders. The pope's spokesman declined to confirm or deny the report, which was carried by the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica." CW: Thanks to contributor Patrick Barbarossa for the link. (Oops Update: thanks to Patrick for "being there.") La Repubblica is probably the major Italian daily. I'm not saying La Repubblica is right, but I am saying it is not a sensationalist newspaper. In any event, it looks as if maybe Pope Noble the Resigner is not so Noble. ...
... Barbie Latza Nadeau of Newsweek : "The existence of a gay-priest network outside the fortified walls of Vatican City is hardly news, and many are wondering if it is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg of sex scandals." Sounds like something Ted Cruz would say. ...
... Nicole Winfield of the AP: "The Vatican lashed out Saturday at the media for what it said has been a run of defamatory and false reports before the conclave to elect Pope Benedict XVI's successor, saying they were an attempt to influence the election. Italian newspapers have been rife with unsourced reports in recent days about the contents of a secret dossier prepared for the pope by three cardinals who investigated the origins of the 2012 scandal over leaked Vatican documents. The reports have suggested the revelations in the dossier, given to Benedict in December, were a factor in his decision to resign. The pope himself has said merely that he doesn't have the 'strength of mind and body' to carry on."
News Ledes
Reuters: "New England braced for its third snowstorm in three weekends on Saturday, putting crews to work sanding roads and trimming trees ahead of the snow, sleet and freezing rain moving in from the Midwest. The storm blanketed states from Minnesota to Ohio earlier this week, dumping more than a foot of snow in Kansas on Thursday, forcing airports to cancel hundreds of flights and leaving motorists stranded on highways." ...
... BUT meteorologist David Epstein writes in the Boston Globe: "The bottom line is that the big storm isn't going to happen. What we will have is a period of rain and snow that could accumulate up to a few inches, especially across the Worcester hills between tonight and Sunday night."
Reuters: "Days before resuming talks over its disputed atomic program, Iran said on Saturday it had found significant new deposits of raw uranium and identified sites for 16 more nuclear power stations. State news agency IRNA quoted a report by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) which said the reserves were discovered in northern and southern coastal areas and had trebled the amount outlined in previous estimates."
AP: Nobel laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, "a key opposition leader, called Saturday for a boycott of [Egypt's] upcoming parliamentary elections, saying he will not take part in a 'sham democracy.' President Mohammed Morsi's Islamist party, the Muslim Brotherhood, shot back that the opposition was running away from the challenge and wants power without contesting elections."
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Reader Comments (12)
@CW: I believe I gave you the Guardian link about the Pope. Patrick's post was on a different topic, and a fine one it was
And Ezra Klein got David Brooks to admit he was flat wrong. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/22/does-obama-have-a-plan-a-conversation-with-david-brooks)
In fact, Klein's whole conversation with Brooks reveals--as if after Marie's column more revelation were necessary--just how empty a suit the man is, and if that suit seems lumpy and ill-fitting, it's all the contradictions it contains that he presents as argument wrestling with one another, trying to get out into that "light of day" Brooks claims to value.
Sorry to see the Rat in the Hat cut and run. Always figured if he'd stayed enthroned for a couple of decades, more or less, the whole fucking edifice would've come crashing down.
What fun it would be to run into Peggy Noonan on a sunny Sunday in the condiment section of a Walmart. We could talk politics right there next to the catsup and the soy sauce and she would remind me that it is all Obama's fault that there are so few people shopping, how frayed and tired everything looked–-so different from years ago when she dipped her little footies inside this great big store just to pick up a bag of birdseed. Lordy, lordy, how can anyone take this woman seriously. In 2003, a month after we entered into Iraq, she was asked what she thought of Bush:
"A steady hand on the helm in high seas, a knowledge of where we must go and why, a resolve to achieve safe harbor. More and more this president is feeling like a gift."
Then some time later she was asked whom she would pick as one of the greatest historical females. Praise Jesus! if she doesn't pick the Virgin Mary. As my mother used to say, "Now don't that just beat the Dutch!" (we never knew if it was Dutch cleanser or the Dutch themselves).
The impacts of the sequester have been explained ad nauseum to the public. History has shown that the public is minimally forward thinking and primarily responds to immediate gratification - see 24/7 repetitive news coverage and reality TV. I suspect that the minute an individual feels a pinch as a result of the latest stunt, the demands, yelling and stomping will commence in full force. Unfortunately, an entire country, much like the Titantic can't turn on a dime. The exploitation show will begin. Harried folks in airports, hungry kids, stern Generals and Republicans throwing great steaming piles of gorilla shit. At some point, there will be a "bi-partisan" deal that will be worse than all the rest. There will be much congratulating and back slapping inside the beltway. Out here in the real world, not so much. Its real hard to clap when you're hanging on to a cliff by your fingernails. And the total bankruptcy of character and intelligence that is contemporary the Republican Party marches on. There is no more important battle than mobilizing and ensuring Democratic voters for the midterms.
OK. Here goes. They say confession is good for the soul, and I will admit I HAVE NEVER EVER READ A BOOK BY (CYOA) BOB WOODWARD.
In this instance, braggadocio works for me!
@MAG: Neither have I nor would I ever.
Jesus Christ on a bicycle. This must be the Scalia law.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/22/1628631/montana-bill-would-give-corporations-the-right-to-vote/
Steven Brill, in the cover article for this week's Time Magazine, has written a powerful investigation of why American health costs are killing us. Well worth reading. Here's the link:
http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us
Finally, a definition of economic systems I can understand: http://visual.ly/tale-two-cows
Uh, oh same old Rick Scott: http://www.nationalmemo.com/rick-scotts-medicaid-deception/
I'm sure Marie isn't surprised.
PD,
Great quote from the Dolphin Lady. If I didn't know it was from Noonan, I'd have to have assumed that it was something taken down by an anesthesiologist between the time her patient started sniffing the goofy gas and the time they were unconscious, steady hand on the tiller, my ass.
The fact that Noonan is still invited onto the Sunday morning gasbag extravaganzas demonstrates the effects of the insidious combination of Greggers-type sycophancy, incestuous beltway intellectual laziness, and the inability of any MSM flunky who regurgitates the dull musings of this self-regarding harpy to understand the difference between well supported thoughtful commentary and incoherent drooling.
Case in point, here's a quote from a study group the Dolphin Lady conducted for Harvard undergrads in 2009 (what could Drew Faust have been thinking?).
"My study group is about being a person who thinks things and believes them and turns them into words that convey thoughts and feelings."
Exactly!
Wait,...what??
As for Noonan's stunning observation that WalMarts are tired and frayed, I have to say that WalMarts are ALWAYS tired and frayed. I'm guessing Peggy has never played WalMart Bingo where you get points for seeing things like:
Someone buying a case of beer and a case of diapers
Someone with an eyepatch
Someone wearing a confederate flag t-shirt
Man under 30 with no teeth
Dirty diaper left in parking lot
Unattended crying children
But the billionaires who make money off these unfortunates can't complain, as Dolphin Lady does, about the Obama days.
Seems that way back in 2007 when Noonan's steady hand, Dubya, was deep-sixing the economy, the Walton family, then worth 69.7 billion, had as much wealth as the bottom 30% of all American families combined, many of whom shopped at their "tired and frayed" stores thereby enlarging the Walton plenitude. By 2012 when many Americans had lost everything they owned due to steady hand George and his rich buddies, the Walton family had added an additional piddling 23.3 billion to their wealth. Perhaps deciding to pay their workers something more than slave wages might have made Dolphina's trip to that Florida WalMart less sad.
But, oops. That wouldn't jibe with her cloud-cuckoo land vision of who's to blame for fucking Americans.
And yet, this person is considered by many a fount of wisdom.
But consider: If it weren't for Noonan's connections and money, she might be one of those sad people wandering around some frayed WalMart with her wig on crooked, a tear drop tattoo poking out from her drooping pants, pointing at people and asking if they've seen Jesus today.