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The Commentariat -- Ides of March 2015
Internal links & defunct removed.
Mitt Romney has an op-ed in USA Today urging the Obama administration to show some "courage" & walk away from negotiations with Iran because "agreements with tyrants & fanatics" always fall apart.
Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "... the United States, largely because of poor oversight and loose financial controls, has sometimes inadvertently financed the very militants it is fighting. While refusing to pay ransoms for Americans kidnapped by Al Qaeda, the Taliban or, more recently, the Islamic State, the United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars over the last decade at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of which has been siphoned off to enemy fighters."
I really do have a lot of close friends who are Democrats. I even have Hillary's private e-mail. . . It's HillaryClinton@Wallstreet.com. You know the best part of that joke, Elizabeth Warren wrote it for me. -- Scott Walker, at the Gridiron dinner
[Walker] punted on the question of evolution, which I do think is a problem. I absolutely believe in the theory of evolution -- when it comes to gay marriage. -- President Obama, Gridiron dinner
Ben Terris of the Washington Post: President Obama & other politicos cracked wise as the Gridiron Club's off-the-record annual dinner last night. ...
... The AP reports more jokes.
God News
** Kevin Kruse, in a fascinating New York Times op-ed, explains -- as a reaction to the New Deal -- "how corporate America invented Christian America," which is the subtitle of his recent book. Thanks to Victoria D. for the link.
Elizabeth Barber of Reuters: "Two homosexual rights groups will march in Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade on Sunday after organizers lifted a longtime ban on lesbian, gay and transgender (LGBT) organizations joining the annual Irish-American march.... The Massachusetts contingent of Knights of Columbus, an organization of Catholic men, pulled out of the parade on Friday, calling the event 'politicized and divisive.' [CW: Also, gay people frighten them.]... In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he will boycott the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade again this year, with its organizers refusing to admit more than one gay rights group."
NBC News: "Pope Francis has said he will probably remain pope for only a few years, adding that his predecessor was very brave for retiring." Also, he misses being able to go out & get a pizza. CW: It's true that in Rome, where the pizza is delicious. that's a hardship.
Brendan James of TPM: "A group of Catholic nuns condemned Fox News host Bill O'Reilly [last] Sunday for saying that he had 'seen' the murders of their sisters in El Salvador in 1980.... 'Maryknoll Sisters were deeply saddened when our Sisters were killed in El Salvador, and shocked when we learned of Mr. O'Reilly's statement inferring he witnessed their murder,' the statement said.... The Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland also offered a statement, calling for reporters covering the tragedy to do so with a spirit of 'integrity and honesty.'" Via Steve Benen.
Greg Horton of Religion News Service: "In an effort to block the state's involvement with gay marriage, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday (March 10) to abolish marriage licenses in the state.... [The bill's sponsor, Todd] Russ [R,] said the intent of the bill is to protect court clerks caught between the federal and state governments.... The bill would require court clerks to issue certificates of marriage signed by ordained clergy or affidavits of common-law marriage. The Senate has not yet voted on the measure. Nor has Gov. [Mary] Fallin [R] indicated what she will do if the bill passes the Senate."
Kyle Mantyla of Right Wing Watch: Evangelical leader Franklin Graham says the reason President Obama won't fight ISIS is that he wants to protect Islam because "His mother must have been a Muslim." Via Benen. CW: Never mind that Obama is fighting ISIS & his mother was not a Muslim & neither is he. It is never, never necessary to say anything even vaguely factual if you believe in Jesus. So let that be a lesson to those nuns who are ragging Bill O'Reilly for making up stuff. It's the Christian thing to do, Sisters.
Ben Hooper of UPI: "Authorities in Florida said a church has lost its tax-exempt status after it was found to be hosting nude paint events and slumber parties with the 'sexiest ladies.'... The events hosted at the facility included an 'anything but clothes' body painting party and a slumber party billed as 'a pajama and lingerie party hosted by the sexiest ladies on the beach.'"
Presidential Race
Jonathan Karl, et al., of ABC News: "House Speaker John Boehner is expected to announce this week a new investigation into Hillary Clinton's email practices as Secretary of State, including her admission that more than 31,000 emails were destroyed because she determined them to be personal, top House Republicans told ABC News today." CW: What a surprise! ...
Gohmert! I suspect she didn't want Louie Gohmert rifling though her e-mails, which seems to me to be a kind of reasonable position for someone to take. -- James Carville, on ABC News's "This Week," today
... The "Little Woman" Excuse. David Remnick of the New Yorker: At her press conference, Hillary Clinton should have been returning to those feminist themes [she expressed in her U.N. speech], but she used the opportunity to claim that she was only trying to protect the sanctity of her communications about her 'yoga routines,' her daughter's wedding, and her mother's funeral. This was a notably transparent exploitation of gender. It's one thing for a politician to be stupid; it is quite another for her to assume that we are. And what to make of a politician who protested the war in Vietnam and investigated the Watergate scandals but now writes a valentine to Henry Kissinger in the Washington Post -- a book review in which Clinton calls Kissinger 'surprisingly idealistic'? The peoples of Chile, Cambodia, Argentina, Bangladesh, and East Timor surely want to know more." ...
... Maureen Dowd writes a pretty good "Open Letter to hdr22@clintonemail.com". ...
... Just So You'll Know. Ed Klein of the New York Post: "It's the vast left-wing conspiracy. Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett leaked to the press details of Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail address during her time as secretary of state, sources tell me. But she did so through people outside the administration.... In addition, at Jarrett's behest, the State Department was ordered to launch a series of investigations into Hillary's conduct [as Secretary of State].... I'm told that the e-mail scandal was timed to come out just as Hillary was on the verge of formally announcing that she was running for president.... Members of Bill Clinton's camp say the former president suspects the White House is the source of the leak and is furious.... According to this source, Bill added: 'The Obamas are out to get us any way they can.'" CW: Klein's "sources," BTW, are notoriously unreliable. But that's okay; the Post made this its cover story....
Worse Than Hillary ...
... CW: Yesterday, I linked an NYT story on how "Jeb Bush has rebuked Hillary Rodham Clinton for her use of a private email account as secretary of state, holding up his own conduct as an example of transparency in government. But it took Mr. Bush seven years after leaving office to comply fully with a Florida public records statute requiring him to turn over emails he sent and received as governor." ...
...Way Worse Than Hillary ...
... Today, Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post piles on: "Jeb Bush used his private e-mail account as Florida governor to discuss security and military issues such as troop deployments to the Middle East and the protection of nuclear plants, according to a review of publicly released records. The e-mails include two series of exchanges involving details of Florida National Guard troop deployments after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the review by The Washington Post found.... Bush ... has sharply criticized ... Hillary Rodham Clinton for her use of a private e-mail account...." A Bush aide called O'Keefe's story a "Democrat opposition research dump."
Where's Scottie? Jason Stein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "For more than a week, aides to Gov. Scott Walker have declined to say whether he's in Wisconsin on those days that have no public events scheduled.... In many cases in recent months, the first indication that Walker has left the state comes when news outlets at his destination report on his trips, which have taken him to Iowa, California, New Hampshire and New York in the past week alone. On five of the past eight days, Walker has been out of Wisconsin for at least part of the day. On one of those days, it was unclear in what state the governor was located." CW: Maybe he's meeting in an undisclosed location with Putin.
An illustration in "Southern Partisan," 1999.Vote Lindsey Graham for President of the CSA. Andrew Kaczynski & Ilan Ben-Mier of BuzzFeed: Richard Quinn, "one of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's longtime advisers, was the editor-in-chief of [Southern Partisan,] a neo-Confederate magazine -- a magazine Graham gave an interview to in 1999." Quinn claims to have rejected his long-held racist views, evidently because it was politically expedient for him to do so: "The issue of Quinn's past came up while serving as an adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign.... McCain stood by Quinn and said he had never read his writing. He cited Quinn's work for Ronald Reagan, Strom Thurmond, and others." Thanks to safari for the link. ...
... David Firestone of the New York Times, Jan. 12, 2000: "Over the last three days, Senator John McCain has made three conflicting statements on the Confederate battle flag issue raging in the key primary state of South Carolina, and with each statement, his position has become less clear.... His top South Carolina strategist, Richard M. Quinn, said ... that Mr. McCain had called the flag a symbol of heritage 'at least 150 times in the past.'... [McCain's] characterization of the flag's symbolism makes him the only major presidential contender to empathize with the flag's supporters." In late April, more than a month after he had withdrawn from the presidential race, McCain apologized for his support for the racist symbol.
Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: New Hampshire could be crucial for GOP presidential candidates this year, especially the so-called "moderates," & the candidates are giving the state a lot of attention. There is no clear frontrunner.
Beyond the Beltway
Jack Healy & John Eligon of the New York Times: "On April 7, Ferguson will cast its first votes for local leaders since [Michael] Brown's death in August.... For years, local leaders in Ferguson ran unopposed in elections that drew 12 percent of registered voters, only single-digit percentages of black residents and almost exclusively white candidates.... Four African-Americans are running this year, compared with a total of three in Ferguson's previous 120 years."
Michael Rosenwald of the Washington Post: "... pistol and rifle teams, which, like other college shooting teams, have benefited from the largesse of gun industry money [have] become so popular that they often turn students away. Teams are thriving at a diverse range of schools: Yale, Harvard, the University of Maryland, George Mason University, and even smaller schools.... Once they fire a gun, students say they find shooting relaxing -- at MIT, students call it 'very Zen' -- and that it teaches focusing skills that help in class.... And that's precisely what the gun industry hoped it would hear after spending the past few years pouring millions of dollars into collegiate shooting...."
Way Beyond the Beltway
Where's Vlad, Ctd. Julia Ioffe, in a Washington Post piece, on Vladimir Putin's strange disappearance. The Kremlin doesn't have a cover story, & even if it did, no one would believe the tale.
News Ledes
AP: "Secretary of State John Kerry, returning to talks with Iran on its nuclear program, said Sunday that most of the differences still barring an agreement are political rather than technical."
New York Times: "Robert A. Durst, the scion of a New York real estate family, was arrested on Saturday in New Orleans on a warrant issued in a homicide investigation by Los Angeles County, law enforcement officials said. For years, questions have swirled around Mr. Durst about the unsolved killing of a close friend and confidante in Los Angeles 15 years ago, and about his first wife's disappearance in 1982 and the shooting and dismemberment of a Texas neighbor in 2001. HBO has been airing a documentary about Mr. Durst, called 'The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,' and the final episode is scheduled to be shown Sunday night." ...
... New York Times Update: "On Sunday night, in the final moments of the final episode of a six-part HBO documentary about him, 'The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,' Mr. Durst seemed to veer toward a confession that could lift the shroud of mystery that surrounds the deaths of three people over the course of three decades. 'What the hell did I do?' Mr. Durst whispers to himself in an unguarded moment caught on a microphone he wore during filming. 'Killed them all, of course.'"
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Reader Comments (17)
It’s safe to say that few Democrats are thrilled by Hillary’s run for the roses. The reasons for this are many, but they do not include her Mena airport fantasies, her speaker’s fees, or her fucking emails (aka eGhazi!).
The troubling thing about her candidacy is she’s a DINO, a Blue Dog. In short, she’s pro-TPP, pro-Wall Street, pro-dereg. Got it? Good. Raise your hand if you think she would ever bring back Glass-Steagall. Raise your hand if you think she would ever cancel student-loan debt. Raise your hand if you think she would embrace immigration amnesty, and, finally, raise your hand if you think she would never tinker with Social Security or Medicare. Good. We, you, I cannot trust her. At any time, on any issue, ever. Period. And let’s give MoDo a peanut-butter spoon and put her in the closet for a couple of hours. She may get over her daddy complex and grow up.
@James Singer I am having a serious problem with your post. The problem is that I totally agree but I am still going to vote for Hillary. Your making me feel lousy about the next election about 18 months in advance. Of course to be fair, the issue is only going to get worse.
The good news is she is still going to look a lot better than the Republican. Given her credentials, that is what makes this election a nightmare.
Or to put it another way, in 2016 we are going to elect a really lousy POTUS.
Just read Ms. Dowd's open letter. "Open letter". She's mocking the Cottons but there the simalarities between the two notes end.
I don't know much about the history between the two but I'm guessing they don't spend a lot of time together.
Here's my problem with Ms. Clinton, I don't know her and yet, I don't like her. The problem is more than mine, Ms Dowd doesn't seem to like her either and she knows her. So people that know Hillary don't like her and people that don't know Hillary don't like her.
Here's the rub; the POTUS, male or female, Has to have the ability to address the American public in both good times and bad and convey a sense of concern mixed with a sense of control. To my senses Ms. Clinton lacks both. She comes across as an "Off with his head" Queen Bee in terms of concern and her control mode does not seem decisive to me. More "let's put a committee together and study why the hedge fund managers pay so little taxes", got to go.
So if she can not speak to me and other average voters in times of crisis, or in time of reflection or celebration she'll make a terrible POTUS, that's the presidents primary job.
In time Obama will be recognized as a great president because he conveys both concern and control. Maybe that's why the bigots and racists hate him so.
Wonder if Ms Dowd will get invited on Air Force One? If Socks was still around she could carry the kitty litter box for her.
Mitt Romney: Don't negotiate with tyrants and fanatics.
Fish in a barrel.
SUPREME COURT, SuPreme CoUrt, SupREme CoURt, supreme court, etc. etc. etc.
Hate to say, but Hillary is irrelevant. We gotta vote for the Democrat--no matter who!
@Kate: Right you are!
Not sure if this is old news or new news but it's new to me. Lindsey Graham's political advisor/consultant/pollster/best bud turns out to have a long history (about 20 years) as the editor-in-chief of the Southern Partisan, apparently a leading neo-Confederate magazine at the time (1980s to 2000s).
Graham's best buddy, Richard Quinn, of course denounced these decades as a mere insignificant blip in his meaningless existence. Besides, the ideas he's denouncing were mainstream back in the day, so he shouldn't have to run from them even though he is.
Furthermore, he doesn't appreciate the magazine being labeled "neo." Confederate, cool, but call it "neo" and suddenly we're crossing lines. Graham has been with this closet racist since '93 and even granted him an interview for the magazine. Hey, any press is good press, right? Get your name out there. Be somebody.
This further legitimizes RC's editorial choice of adopting the "Confederate" label as, with more and more digging, more and more of the ass clowns find they're growing strange umbilical cords to their racist and retrograded roots.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/republican-senators-adviser-formerly-served-as-editor-of-neo#.oqgE06JK8
"agreements with tyrants & fanatics" always fall apart.
Good advice that Obama didn't follow when dealing with a Republican Congress.
Mitt is once again correct, but pointless, in stating that agreements with tyrants fall apart.
Bilateral and multilateral diplomatic agreements with ANYONE tend to fall apart. There is no such thing as a "contract" between or among sovereigns. Nations make cooperative agreements between and among themselves based on their perceptions of their interests. As those perceptions change (they always do), their interpretations of their interests change.
Which is one thing that diplomacy does -- seeking to persuade other nations that their interests are best served by cooperation and maintenance of agreements. And diplomacy is a constant, everyday tending of the garden, not just periodic interventions.
The present effort with Iran is designed in part to get it into the diplomatic mainstream so that those influences (P5+1) can be exercised on its perceptions on a consistent basis. And if Iran declines to cooperate, the P5+1 will have a pretty good case for continued and heavier sanctions, and hopefully some part of the Iranian populace will see that their problem stems from their leadership and not just from foreign animosity.
If the US takes the Cotton-Romney route, on the other hand, Iran's mullahs can credibly persuade their populace that Iran is forced to develop nukes, with all the sacrifices and risk that entails, because of the absolute animosity of the US (and ... it would be just the US, because the other members of the P5+1 would not stand by us if at the last minute we blew it unilaterally).
All that said ... Kerry can use all this to suggest to Iranian negotiators that the time has come to make a verifiable deal, because who knows what can happen later with these whackaloons starting the run-up to 2016.
Thanks Kate. You have to keep reminding us of the Supreme Court.
Will be thinking of that when I check the Hillary box, if she makes it
that far.
Kevin M. Kruse, history professor at Princeton, has a provocative and informative OpEd in today's NYT, How Business Made Us Christian. He contends that the institutionalizing/politicizing of religion came about as a response by corporate leaders against New Deal reforms. Some of remember the insertion of "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance. That was just the tip of the iceberg.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/15/opinion/sunday/a-christian-nation-since-when.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region®ion=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=0
So when I saw that CW had added a piece about Franklin Graham and his stupid allegations against Obama, it caught my attention. I had some vague impression that Franklin's daddy, Billy, was the sane and nice Graham. But here is Kruse on Billy:
"The most important clergyman for Christian libertarianism, though, was the Rev. Billy Graham. In his initial ministry, in the early 1950s, Mr. Graham supported corporate interests so zealously that a London paper called him “the Big Business evangelist.” The Garden of Eden, he informed revival attendees, was a paradise with “no union dues, no labor leaders, no snakes, no disease.” In the same spirit, he denounced all “government restrictions” in economic affairs, which he invariably attacked as “socialism.” "
The apple didn't fall all that far from the tree apparently.
Excellent commentary today, as usual. Thanks very much to Victoria D. for the link to the Kruse op-ed. I especially like that part where Billy Graham equated "union dues" with evil & disease. And Ike was baptized in 1953, after running a religious political campaign??
Kruse: "In 1954, Congress added 'under God' to the previously secular Pledge of Allegiance. It placed a similar slogan, 'In God We Trust,' on postage that year and voted the following year to add it to paper money; in 1956, it became the nation’s official motto."
I was in grade school in 1954, & I have a specific memory of the change to the pledge, which we said every day. "Can they do that?" I wondered. I found the alteration destabilizing. I used to say the addition, but when I got all growed up, I dropped it. Now I just stay silent when I have to repeat the pledge. If my ears aren't deceiving me, I think other people skip it to, too.
Marie
I agree with Kate about the SCOTUS, but Hillary is playing a narcissistic game of running down the clock. The longer she postpones an official candidacy, the longer other potential Dem candidates postpone, and the longer the DNC holds off on recruiting. At some point it will be too late. Her indecision only serves to focus the cameras on her. It doesn't serve the party or the office. My sense is that if it came down to Hillary vs. a GOP buffoon that the majority of the electorate would not show up in 2016. It's anybody's guess as to what the outcome would be. I suppose there is a good chance Hillary would select progressive justices, but I'm not certain about it. Best case scenario is that she steps aside this week and puts the dynasty to rest; and we move forward (quickly) to recruit someone with vision and chops we can get behind.
Response to America (via Maureen Dowd):
"America, there's a lot of truth in what you say to the woman who might well be your next president. Her hands are not clean. There are the dingy green stains of money, and there's definitely a little hypocrisy under the fingernails...
Now, some would say you've made it difficult for anyone with clean hands to rise to power. The climb is a dirty one. Every rung costs a fortune, and few make it to the top without incurring debts they can't pay, or without making deals that leave them conflicted and vulnerable. You make rules that let billionaires funnel money to candidates who become their lapdogs and lickspittles. Your media gives voice to the ignorant, the resentful and the single-minded zealots, preferring to pocket advertising dollars rather than to provide context, or to ask, have you no shame?...
You revel in the fighting and the conflict between the parties, but then you complain when nothing gets done. You've called the most inoffensive, smartest and hopeful president you've ever had a liar. He doesn’t seem to make sneaky backroom deals, or to be tainted by money, or to embarrass you with sexual escapades. But he's not good enough. Then again, you don't mind electing charlatans, warmongers, fundamentalists, science deniers and people who'll ruin your economy...
America, I don't think it's your candidates -- I think it's you. There's something about you that's attracting a bad sort. It might be time for an intervention."
From our old pal, gemli
@PD Pepe: Thank you. Gemli is indeed a gem. The comments today, including Gemli's, really home in on the problems progressives have with anointing Hillary Clinton.
Marie
Over at Daily Kos earlier today there was an interesting photo of (ltr) Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill at their Teheran Conference in 1943. Guess which one wasn’t wearing a military uniform.