The Commentariat -- November 15

Since I'm boycotting the New York Times comments, I've found a new (and pretty exciting) venue for my comments on Times op-ed columns: the New York Times eXaminer. Please consider becoming a NYTX subscriber. My comment on David Brooks' column is here. The lede paragraph:

If you think you’re better than Joe Paterno, you’re vain. So says David Brooks in today’s New York Times op-ed section. Brooks turns to science and history to explain away Penn State head coach Joe Paterno’s failure to stop one of his coaches, Jerry Sandusky, from serially raping young boys.... To make his case, Brooks lumps assistant coach Mike McQueary in with Paterno.... False equivalencies are Brooks’ specialty, so let’s see how this one works.

A Conspiracy of Mayors. Gregg Levine of Firedoglake: "Embattled Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, speaking in an interview with the BBC..., casually mentioned that she was on a conference call with leaders of 18 US cities shortly before a wave of raids broke up Occupy Wall Street encampments across the country."

The Gothamist has several stories on the Zuccotti Park evictions. Here's the lede on one:

During our coverage of the eviction of the Occupy Wall Street protesters early this morning, a NPR reporter, a New York Times reporter, and a city councilmember were arrested. Airspace in Lower Manhattan was closed to CBS and NBC news choppers by the NYPD, a New York Post reporter was allegedly put in a "choke hold" by the police, a NBC reporter's press pass was confiscated and a large group of reporters and protesters were hit with pepper spray. ...

... Also see the Democracy Now! main page. ...

... NEW. Chris Spannos of the New York Times eXaminer on the Times' coverage of the Zuccotti Park eviction: "The Times coverage does include some quotes from protesters, and their allotment of some space to Adbusters’ views is complementary. However, the overall framing and emphasis trivializes Occupy Wall Street while at the same time emphasizes the struggles of Mayor Bloomberg." ...

... NEW. Al Baker & Joseph Goldstein of the New York Times: the NYPD's operation to evict protesters from Zuccotti Park was a "minutely planned, almost military-style operation.... Hundreds of officers were involved. The overnight hours of Monday into Tuesday were chosen because it was believed the park would be at its emptiest, the police said. The operation was kept secret from all but a few high-ranking officers, with others initially being told that they were embarking on an exercise when they set out on Monday evening."

How to Make a Million Dollars. First, Become a Congressman ...

     ... Carolyn Lochhead of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill ... called the report 'a right-wing smear' based on a new book by conservative author Peter Schweizer of the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University.... Pelosi spokesman Hammill said '60 Minutes' relied heavily on a 'discredited conservative author who has made a career out of attacking Democrats,' citing Schweizer books such as 'Do as I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy.'" ...

     ... Update. Daniel Stone of the Daily Beast details the relationship among then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, her husband investor Paul Pelosi, and Visa, whose headquarters are in Pelosi's San Francisco Congressional district. I see a definite conflict-of-interest but no smoking-gun evidence that Pelosi allowed her husband's financial interests to trump her legislative agenda. Just business-as-usual for the One Percenters. Still, I'd like to see your take on Off Times Square.

How to Make $100 Million. First, get a job at Fannie or Freddie.... Chris Isidore of CNN Money: "Mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac received the biggest federal bailout of the financial crisis. And nearly $100 million of those tax dollars went to lucrative pay packages for top executives, filings show. The top five executives at Fannie Mae received $33.3 million in 2009 and 2010, while the top five at Freddie Mac received $28.1 million. And each company has set pay targets of as much as $17 million for its top managers for 2011." CW: this isn't news, but it's a good reminder of one place your tax dollars are going to enrich the One Percenters.

Dear Super Committee: A Politico poll (here) "is getting lots of attention today because it found solid public skepticism that the deficit supercommittee will reach a deal before the November 23rd deadline. But the numbers in the poll that are more interesting are the ones that clearly display what the public wants the supercommittee to do to cut the deficit. There’s no mystery here. When it comes to the two most contentious items on the agenda, the public strongly backs tax hikes on the rich, and strongly opposes cuts to entitlements." Sincerely, Greg Sargent.

Dear Supreme Court: "A new CNN poll on the issue of health care reform finds that support for the law’s central and most controversial element, the individual health insurance mandate, has climbed into majority territory. In the new poll, support for the individual mandate — requiring people to get health insurance — has climbed to 52%, with 47% opposed. When the last survey was taken in June, that a majority of 54% opposed it, with 44% in support." ...

     ... Paul Krugman comments on the newfound popularity of the individual mandate but adds, "... as one commenter at TPM put it, Republicans appear to have had an eTiffany: New National Polls Show Newt Leading In GOP Race. I’m trying to think of something sarcastic to say, but really, how can satire and parody compete with this kind of reality?" ...

... ** NEW. James Oliphant of the Los Angeles Times: "The day the Supreme Court gathered behind closed doors to consider the politically divisive question of whether it would hear a challenge to President Obama’s healthcare law, two of its justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, were feted at a dinner sponsored by the law firm that will argue the case before the high court.... Bancroft PLLC, was one of almost two dozen firms that helped sponsor the annual dinner of the Federalist Society.... Another firm that sponsored the dinner, Jones Day, represents one of the trade associations that challenged the law, the National Federation of Independent Business. Another sponsor was pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc, which has an enormous financial stake in the outcome of the litigation.... In attendance was, among others, Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican and an avowed opponent of the healthcare law. The featured guests at the dinner? Scalia and Thomas." CW: what could possibly be wrong with that? ...

... Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times on how the individual mandate became law.

Sunday, Off Times Square commenter Trish Ramey rightly criticized a New York Times Magazine article by Adam Davidson in which Davidson claimed the middle class -- which he defined down to those earning $30,000 a year or more -- would have to "give up some benefits ... or ... pay more in taxes" to reduce the deficit. Ramey & I pointed out a few errors in Davidson's analysis. Now comes Real Economist Dean Baker, in a New York Times eXaminer story, who goes further: Davidson "too quickly dismisses the possibility of getting substantial additional tax revenue from the wealthy." Baker notes that Davidson also ignores healthcare reform as a source of reducing federal expenditures. "At some point," Baker writes, "we likely will need more revenue from the middle class since we will probably want to increase government spending in some areas like infrastructure, education, and research and development. However, this is not a near-term prospect and quite possibly not even something that will be necessary over the course of a decade." 

** Andrew Cohen of The Atlantic: "Celebrating his affinity for crazy talk, Herman Cain said Saturday night ... that he would leave it up to our military to determine what is and what is not torture. Fellow future also-ran Michele Bachmann picked up the ignorance stick and carried it even further down the road; water-boarding those terror detainees, she said, was 'very effective.' Not to be outdone, noted historian Newt Gingrich tried to make believe that Anwar Al-Awlaki, the U.S. citizen killed in a drone strike a while back, was first duly 'convicted' of  being a terrorist.... I would like to blame President Barack Obama for the silliness.... He practically invited it when he refused to authorize a national commission on torture -- a so-called 'Truth Commission' -- that would have filled with factual testimony and documentary evidence the vacuum that now exists on the topic...." Read the whole post. See also today's Right Wing World, wherein we learn Mitt Romney has jumped on the torture bandwagon. ...

... Political science Prof. Jonathan Bernstein dissents: "So, yes, blame Obama for not addressing an issue he should have addressed, but do remember that controlling what the opposition says and believes is far beyond the powers of the presidency." CW Translation: Cain will still be ignorant, Bachmann will still be crazy & the Newt will still be a congenital liar.

Pretty clear Elizabeth Warren is no Martha Coakley. -- Chuck Todd, MSNBC, Tweet ...

... Scott Brown Is Worried. Bobby Caina Calvan of the Boston Globe: "Senator Scott Brown today endorsed the nomination of Richard Cordray, the former Ohio attorney general, to lead the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- whose chief architect, Elizabeth Warren, is challenging Brown in his reelection bid next fall. Cordray’s nomination is being fiercely opposed by Senate Republicans, 44 of whom signed a letter to President Obama in May expressing their concerns that there is too little oversight over the new agency.... Brown ... did not sign the letter...."

Right Wing World

Public Policy Polling: "Newt Gingrich has taken the lead in PPP's national polling. He's at 28% to 25% for Herman Cain and 18% for Mitt Romney. The rest of the Republican field is increasingly looking like a bunch of also rans: Rick Perry is at 6%, Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at 5%, Jon Huntsman at 3%, and Gary Johnson and Rick Santorum each at 1%." ...

Michael Tomasky, in the Daily Beast: "The idea that [Newt Gingrich is] a serious presidential candidate is preposterous. Even if he were the nominee..., he’d say crazy things. He’d reignite the whole Obama-is-a-Kenyan-anticolonialist business.... He’d be a disaster.... The guy has more baggage than a Stones tour.... Poll respondents probably don’t remember the government shutdown or even have any idea it ever happened. They’re also probably not quite fully aware that his wife is his ex-mistress, the woman with whom he was committing infidelity at precisely the same moment he was baying that Bill Clinton had driven America to ruination by doing the same." ...

... Clea Benson of Bloomberg News: "Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said during a Nov. 9 debate that he earned a $300,000 fee to advise Freddie Mac as a 'historian' who warned that the mortgage company’s business model was 'insane.' Former Freddie Mac officials familiar with the consulting work Gingrich was hired to perform for the company in 2006 tell a different story. They say the former House speaker was asked to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it."

Roger Simon of Politico: "Obama ... may not even need an opposition research team this election. All he needs is a guy with a DVR and the patience, the grit, the sheer fortitude to watch every minute of every Republican debate.... There have been 10 major debates over the past six months. And what has been the result? They have made Obama look better." An amusing & apt commentary.

Brig. Gen. John Johns (Ret.), in a New York Times op-ed: "The problem with [GOP presidential candidates' bellicose] arguments is that they flatly ignore or reject outright the best advice of America’s national security leadership. Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, former congressman Admiral Joe Sestak and former CENTCOM Commander General Anthony Zinni are only a few of the many who have warned us to think carefully about the repercussions of attacking Iran. Two months ago, Sestak put it bluntly: 'A military strike, whether it’s by land or air, against Iran would make the aftermath of the Iraqi invasion look like a cakewalk with regard to the impact on the United States’ national security.'”

Must See Teevee. In a conversation with Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editors, Herman Cain tries to remember what Libya is. Maybe he has it confused with "Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan":

     ... Richard Oppel, Jr., of the New York Times: "Video of Mr. Cain’s appearance on Monday before editors and reporters at The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel went viral almost immediately after it was posted online, and drew immediate comparisons to Rick Perry’s recent stumble in a debate when he froze in discussing which federal agencies he would eliminate." ...

     ... Adam Serwer of Mother Jones: "There are plenty of valid criticisms of Obama's Libya effort.... Cain didn't mention any of [them]." ...

     ... Prof. Daniel Drezner in Foreign Policy: "The Herman Cain Mercy Rule Is Now in Effect.... I have a personal preference that ignoramuses should be drummed out of presidential politics as quickly as possible.... There's no point in blogging about him anymore.  I can only pick on an ignoramus so many times before it feels sadistic." ...

     ... Charles Pierce of Esquire channels Cain: "How come they know so much about Libya in Milwaukee? How come they know so much about Wisconsin in Milwaukee? What is all this stuff twirling around in my head? Ideas? Ahh, probably not, but you can never tell."

He Hears Voices. I have had one very well known Muslim voice say to me directly that a majority of Muslims share the extremist views. -- Herman Cain, to GQ Magazine. Later in the interview (linked), Cain confirmed he was talking about American Muslims. Later in the day, Cain's spokesman said Cain was talking about Muslims "in another country." ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: " Victor Zuckerman, a pediatrician, said on Monday that he was dating Sharon Bialek in the 1990s when she told him that Herman Cain had touched her inappropriately. Dr. Zuckerman held a news conference Monday with Gloria Allred, the lawyer who represents Ms. Bialek, in an attempt to buttress the allegations that Ms. Bialek lodged against the Republican presidential candidate last week."

"Pre-arranged Dishonesty -- A Conspiracy before the Fact." David Bernstein of the Boston Phoenix recounts the deal Mitt Romney made with William Bain before agreeing to head up Bain Capital. "To me, this vignette perfectly gets to the core of Mitt Romney.... Romney always leverages his considerable assets ... to manipulate circumstances to avoid personal risk.... The number-one goal is to protect, at all costs, the Mitt Romney brand.... It's very hard to tell whether people have agreed to lie on someone's behalf or not. But it certainly seems that Romney has always been able to seize credit for successes, and avoid blame for problems." Via Greg Sargent. ...

... "Faking It." Steve Benen. "... one of Romney’s key rhetorical problems — he can fake it when it comes to giving the appearance of competence, which raises expectations, but the facade falls apart when anyone stops to consider the details. Indeed, Saturday night’s debate was a disaster for Romney, at least for those who gave his answers meaningful scrutiny." ...

... Waterboard Romney. Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Mitt Romney did not weigh in during the debate, but aides later told reporters that the former Massachusetts governor does not believe waterboarding is torture and did not rule out its use in a Romney administration. At the debate, candidates got cheers for supporting waterboarding — but so did Paul for declaring it torture." CW: in his press conference Sunday, President Obama responded to the GOP presidential candidates' support of torture. "They're wrong," he said. And elaborated. (See video of full press conference under Monday's Ledes.)

Charles Pierce: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is busy being a populist again. He's incensed about "welfare for the well-off," something he apparently never noticed before. Pierce writes,

The problem, of course, is that, even if you believe Coburn is sincere, and not using this as a dodge to avoid putting the top rate back where it belongs, every one of these loopholes can be recreated in a heartbeat when the 'millionnaires and billionnaires' and their tax lawyers get a hold of whatever 'reform' passes to close them. That's not even to mention that lurking behind Coburn's ostensible concern ... is the argument for a flat tax 'with no loopholes at all.' The cuts to Social Security and Medicare will be real and they will be permanent. Oligarchy, on the other hand, never sleeps.

"Tea Party Plans Premeditated Felony." Paul Tascoupe of PolitiScoop: "The kick off campaign to recall embattled governor Scott Walker [R-Wisc.] kicks off in just four days and with that date approaching, the tea party has plans of its own. Politiscoop has received several screen shots of tea party and right wing activists planning to pass themselves off as those circulating petitions to recall the governor. In one facebook post a user named Charles Atlas Shrugging begins the plan by saying 'I'd like to collect signatures of those who want to recall Walker ... so I can have something to feed my shredder....'" Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link. ...

     ... In a follow-up post, Tascoupe identifies "Charles Atlas Shrugging" as Charles Brey. Besides his litany of Tea Party activities, which includes an appearance on "Fox & Friends," Brey "belongs to a Militia known as 'The Regulators Anti-Socialism Vigilance Committee.'"

News Ledes

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Organizers started the official clock Tuesday on gathering more than a half million recall petitions against Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four senators. Surrounded by media cameras and led by two possible Walker opponents if a recall election is triggered - former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin President Mahlon Mitchell - the recall group United Wisconsin marched through downtown here to make the filing with state elections officials." Wisconsin State Journal story here.

AP: "Hundreds of police officers in riot gear raided Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, evicting dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters from what has become the epicenter of the worldwide movement protesting corporate greed and economic inequality. Hours later, the National Lawyers Guild obtained a court order allowing Occupy Wall Street protesters to return with tents to the park. The guild said the injunction prevents the city from enforcing park rules on Occupy Wall Street protesters." ...

     ... The New York Times City Room has a liveblog here. The main Times story, which I also linked in yesterday's Ledes, and which has been updated numerous times, is here. ...

     ... The Guardian has a liveblog here which looks to be slightly more timely than the NYT liveblog. Update: The Guardian has switched to a new liveblog (here). So for background go to the first link; for the latest, check out the second. ...

     ... AP Update: "A New York judge has upheld the city's dismantling of the Occupy Wall Street encampment, saying that the protesters' first amendment rights don't entitle them to camp out indefinitely in the plaza. Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman on Tuesday denied a motion by the demonstrators seeking to be allowed back into the park with their tents and sleeping bags." New York Daily News story here. The text of the judge's decision is here. ...

     ... New York Times Update: "The police opened the gates to Zuccotti Park just after darkness fell and let in a single-file line of people as a crowd surrounded the park.... 'You have to walk through a gantlet of officers,' said Andy Nicholson, 54, of Manhattan.... One by one, about 750 people crowded into the park. Those carrying backpacks and large amounts of food were turned away, and the evening’s general assembly meeting began with logistics, like where demonstrators would be able to eat and sleep."

AP: "Pounding away with executive actions, the White House is laying out new steps to cut fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, keeping up its campaign of acting without Congress as President Barack Obama tends to diplomacy — and relaxation — far from Washington. Many of the moves that support Obama's "we can't wait" mantra are modest and bureaucratic, including the newest measures being announced Tuesday, but are nevertheless intended to show a president in action while he largely faces gridlock over jobs with Republicans in Congress."

Al Jazeera: "At least 70 people have been killed in violence across Syria over the past 24 hours in one of the bloodiest days since an anti-government uprising began eight months ago, activists reported. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that 27 civilians were shot dead by security forces and 34 soldiers as well as 12 suspected army deserters were killed in clashes. Most of the victims were killed in the southern flashpoint province of Deraa, the observatory said in a statement."

NEW. Tampa Tribune: "Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary 'didn't just turn and run' after witnessing Jerry Sandusky allegedly sodomize a boy and 'made sure it stopped,' according to an email McQueary sent to friends and former teammates."

NEW. Guardian: "The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has lodged an application to take to the (British) supreme court his case against extradition to Sweden. Assange, 40, who faces sex crime allegations, recently lost a high court battle against removal.... He will ask senior judges in London on 5 December to certify that his case raises a question of general public importance, and should be considered by the highest court in the land."