;)
The Commentariat -- October 21, 2015
Internal links & defunct video removed.
Afternoon Update:
** Peter Baker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said Wednesday that he will not be a candidate in the 2016 presidential campaign, bringing to a close a three-month exploration that began shortly after the death of his eldest child and threatened to fracture the Democratic Party. Mr. Biden's decision, announced in the White House Rose Garden with President Obama looking on, ends one of the most public episodes of indecision about a political path since Gov. Mario Cuomo of New York left a plane bound for New Hampshire idling on a tarmac in 1991 as he fretted over whether to run for president."
*****
Breaking! Breaking! Be Still, My Heart! Jennifer Steinhauer & Emmarie Huetteman of the New York Times: "Representative Paul D. Ryan said for the first time Tuesday that he would be willing to serve as speaker if all factions of House Republicans could unite behind him. Mr. Ryan addressed his colleagues and called for a change to the way the job is structured, saying the speaker should be more focused on communicating the message of the party and house and less on fundraising according to members in the room. He urged members to not try and change the rules 'for one group.'" ...
Mike DeBonis & Robert Costa of the Washington Post: Ryan "told colleagues he would seek to change the rule allowing a simple majority of the House to remove a sitting speaker. The threat of such a vote helped hasten [John] Boehner's departure." ...
... Greg Sargent: "I understand this right, it appears to mean that Ryan is looking to protect himself from the blowback and potential efforts to remove him that may be unleashed once he compromises with Democrats. In other words, it looks like he might already know that he will have to get conservatives very angry in order to get things done. Or, to put it another way, Ryan seems to know he can't unify House Republicans on policy, and thus that his best hope is to manage the fallout that will result from his coming sellout. Good luck, Paul Ryan. You're going to need it." ...
... Billy House, et al., of Bloomberg: "Representative Paul Ryan began meeting with House Republicans on his speaker bid as skeptical conservatives weighed whether they could accept conditions he set for succeeding John Boehner and ending turmoil that has gripped the party.... 'It is fair to say a number of people are open to him but it's with some reservations,' Representative Raul Labrador, a member of the Freedom Caucus, said Wednesday.... 'How does giving Paul Ryan more power solve the problem of John Boehner having had too much power?' asked [Tim] Huelskamp [R-Ks.], referring to some of Ryan's demands."
Follow the Money. Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "On Friday, [Trey] Gowdy’s campaign returned three donations after The Washington Post inquired about links to a political action committee [-- Stop Hillary PAC --] that aired a controversial ad about the Benghazi attacks during last week's Democratic presidential debate.... [In addition,] in April, the Stop Hillary PAC used Gowdy's name and image in a fundraising solicitation calling on donors to 'Support Trey Gowdy & Continue the Select Committee on Benghazi.'... Recent filings show that the group spent about $100,000 this month on a national ad campaign opposing Clinton -- and it reported conducting $10,000 worth of automated phone calls last month in support of Gowdy.... The links [between Gowdy & the Stop Hillary PAC] had the Benghazi panel's ranking Democrat, Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), fuming after they were disclosed Monday in The Washington Post...." ...
... Dana Milbank compares Trey Gowdy & his Benghaazi! committee to Inspector Clouseau & the Keystone Cops. CW: I find this totally unfair -- to the comedic characters. They, after all, meant well.
Ryan Cooper of the Week has quite a good response to Matt Yglesias' lament, linked yesterday, re: Democrats' failure to win many elections outside the presidency. Cooper argues, among other things, that Democrats moving to the center is not the answer.
Bob Ejelko of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Congressional action prohibits federal drug enforcers from shutting medical marijuana dispensaries that comply with state law, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Monday in a potentially precedent-setting case. The decision by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer is the first known ruling by a federal judge to protect pot dispensaries under a budget amendment approved by Congress in December 2014 and in effect through this December, when backers plan to renew it for another year. It bars the Justice Department from spending any money to prevent California and other states from 'implementing their own state laws' that authorize the medical use of marijuana." CW: Breyer is a Clinton appointee. His brother is Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.
John Nichols of the Nation: Justin Trudeau showed U.S. Democrats how to win elections: campaign on taxing the rich & investing in infrastructure.
Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "The anger of Republican primary voters at the political class could have blistered the paint in a conference room during a focus group in Indianapolis." CW: This is something we discussed briefly in yesterday's Commentariat.
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Former President Jimmy Carter made his first visit to Washington since his cancer diagnosis on Tuesday and appeared in good shape and good humor. At a dinner honoring his vice president, Walter F. Mondale, Mr. Carter smiled, told war stories and cracked jokes as the two former partners recalled how they reinvented the relationship between presidents and vice presidents."
Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "Russia and the United States signed an agreement Tuesday that regulates all aircraft and drone flights over Syria, the defense departments of both countries announced. At a Pentagon briefing, Peter Cook, the department's press secretary, said the agreement, called a memorandum of understanding, established safety protocols requiring the Russians and the United States-led international coalition fighting the Islamic State in Syria to maintain professional airmanship at all times, use specific communication frequencies and establish a communication line on the ground." See also today's News Ledes.
DeNeen Brown of the Washington Post: "A day after defeating Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau told President Obama by phone that he would make good on a campaign promise to withdraw Canada's jets from the U.S.-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Canada has committed a half-dozen fighter planes, a fraction of the American air power in the fight."
Parisa Hafezi of Reuters: "Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday approved the Iranian government's nuclear deal with world powers but said Tehran should not give up core elements of its atomic program until allegations of past military dimensions had been settled."
Hitler didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time, he wanted to expel the Jews. And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said, 'If you expel them, they'll all come here.' 'So what should I do with them?' he asked. He said, 'Burn them.' -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a speech to the World Zionist Congress yesterday
Then Ben Carson asked Netanyahu to be his running mate. (No, no. Not really. Yet.) -- Constant Weader
... William Booth of the Washington Post: "Reaction in Israel -- and around the Jewish world -- came hard and fast. First politicians were agog. Then historians of the Holocaust piled on. Then Netanyahu was mocked in social media memes and parodies. Isaac Herzog, the leader of the opposition in the Israeli parliament, wrote: 'This is a dangerous historical distortion and I demand Netanyahu correct it immediately as it minimizes the Holocaust, Nazism and ... Hitler's part in our people's terrible disaster.' Herzog pointed out that the Holocaust had already begun by the time the Grand Mufti met Hitler in November 1941. Zionist Union parliamentarian Itzik Shmuli demanded Netanyahu apologize to Holocaust victims, according to the Israeli newspaper Haartez."
Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis's closed-door meeting in Rome this month, top clergy are intensely debating whether the church should bend more to the messy realities of modern families.... Questions on the agenda at the rare, high-level meeting that ends this weekend include whether those who divorce and remarry outside the church can receive Communion, and whether there is a place in Catholic life for same-sex couples. Changing Catholicism's stance towards such things could begin to unravel the unity of the world's largest church, say opponents who see the debate in Rome as directly tied to the future of Catholicism. But in many parts of the world -- the West in particular -- the church has for years quietly been making changes to engage with Catholic families who are transforming in ways that mirror the rest of the society."
Presidential Race
Dan Balz & Peyton Craighill of the Washington Post: "Aided by her performance in the first Democratic debate, Hillary Rodham Clinton has regained much of the ground she lost during a summer of controversy and holds a dominating lead nationally over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the contest for her party's presidential nomination, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Vice President Biden, who has yet to announce whether he will join the Democratic race in the coming days or weeks, runs third amid signs of slippage over the past month."
Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling: "PPP's new New Hampshire Democratic poll finds that Hillary Clinton's moved back into the lead in the state. She gets 41% to 33% for Bernie Sanders with Joe Biden at only 11%, Martin O'Malley at 4%, and Lincoln Chafee and Jim Webb each at 2%. Since PPP last polled New Hampshire in August Clinton's gone up 6 points from her then 35% standing, while Sanders has dropped 9 points from his then 42% standing. Clinton's rise comes as her image with Democratic voters in the state has improved by a good amount. Her favorability (+56 at 73/17) has improved a net 18 points from August when she was at +38 (63/25) with primary voters."
Mark Fahey of CNBC: "Hillary Clinton has received more donations from CEOs than any Republican candidate so far this year, according to a Big Crunch analysis of the last complete batch of individual Federal Election Commission records.... [Clinton has] about as many CEO backers as Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz combined. [Caveat: Jeb] Bush's Right to Rise USA super PAC has received the largest amount this year from CEOs, nearly $15 million."
Gardiner Harris & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "If Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. decides to run for the presidency again, his best chance may well be to present himself as President Obama's third-term successor. On Tuesday, Mr. Biden took the first step, describing himself as Mr. Obama's most essential partner while taking subtle swipes at his would-be rival for the Democratic nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton. Along the way, Mr. Biden sought to recast his role in the raid to kill Osama bin Laden.... Mr. Biden had previously said that he had advised the president against launching the special forces raid on the Abbottabad compound" in a Situation Room meeting. Biden's story on this matter has evolved. "On Tuesday, Mr. Biden's evolution continued. Before an audience at George Washington University, Mr. Biden said he never gave Mr. Obama definitive advice on controversial issues in front of other officials.... After the meeting in the Situation Room, though, Mr. Biden said he privately gave the president his real view. 'As we walked out of the room and went upstairs, I told him my opinion, that I said that I thought he should go but to follow his own instincts,' Mr. Biden said Tuesday. William M. Daley, who was Mr. Obama's chief of staff at the time..., said shortly after Tuesday's forum that the meeting occurred as Mr. Biden described it." ...
... Maggie Haberman Biden's latest account "seemed to conflict with the public memories of others who were involved in the decision and who suggested that Mr. Biden was against the raid." CW: Of course these others -- Leon Panetta, Bob Gates, Hillary Clinton & Michael Morell -- weren't privy to Biden's private conversation with President Obama, as perhaps William Daley was.
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Former Senator Jim Webb announced Tuesday that he was dropping out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination after his bid failed to gain traction. Mr. Webb shared his intentions to end his campaign at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington. His plans ... come as Mr. Webb's standing in Democratic polls hovered near zero and his fund-raising efforts produced paltry results compared with his rivals. The announcement came after the campaign said on Monday evening that Mr. Webb was considering a bid as an independent, and at the news conference he did not rule that out. But independent campaigns are notoriously difficult because of financial and ballot access obstacles."
Seung Min Kim of Politico: "Marco Rubio's support for comprehensive immigration reform two years ago remains a major question mark hovering over his presidential campaign, even as he's cracked top-tier status in the GOP field. On Tuesday, the freshman senator's tightrope walk on the issue will continue, when the Senate takes up a bill, co-sponsored by Rubio and favored by the party's staunchest immigration opponents, to crack down on so-called sanctuary cities. But Rubio's attempts to explain his trajectory on immigration -- from chief GOP advocate of sweeping reform to largely disavowing that effort and now advocating an enforcement-first approach -- is drawing criticism from all sides." ...
... Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "Marco Rubio insists he supports immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, even as he has shifted from once backing a comprehensive overhaul of the system to now advocating a piecemeal approach. But ... attempting to get underneath the rhetoric and into the specifics of his immigration plan proves challenging.... With immigration driving a wedge between Republican primary voters, Rubio has tried to straddle both sides of the immigration debate -- maintaining that he is 'personally open' to green cards for undocumented immigrants but emphasizing an enforcement-first approach."
Alex Griswold of Mediate: "In an interview with Fox Business, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would 'absolutely' revoke passports and close mosques in order to fight ISIS.... 'Can you do it?' pressed [Fox host Stuart] Varney. 'Can you close a mosque? We do have religious freedom.' 'Well, I don't know,' Trump admitted. 'I mean, I haven't heard about the closing of the mosque. It depends, if the mosque is, you know, loaded for bear, I don't know. You're going to have to certainly look at it.'" CW: When the crackpot Fox "News" guy is saner than the candidate.
We should have never gone into Iraq. I’ve said it loud and clear. I was visited by people from the White House asking me to sort of, could I be silenced because I seem to get a disproportionate amount of publicity. I mean, I was very strong, though: 'You're going to destabilize the Middle East." -- Donald Trump, interview on Fox News, October 6, 2015
There is no evidence the White House sent a 'delegation' out of concern over his 'vocal' opposition, though he publicly said at least twice that it happened. Trump has made no effort to clarify his statements or prove he was telling the truth. -- Michelle Lee of the Washington Post
Money Can't Buy You Love. John McCormick & Arit John of Bloomberg: "A month of extensive New Hampshire advertising on Jeb Bush's behalf has failed to boost his support and likely Republican primary voters there view him as inferior to frontrunner Donald Trump on most key attributes.... In the horse race, the former Florida governor has seen his overall support drop to 10 percent, from 11 percent in May. That puts him in third place, behind Trump at 24 percent and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 17 percent, despite an advertising push by the pro-Bush Right to Rise super political action committee that has dominated the state's television screens for the past four weeks." ...
... Jeb Bush in a National Review op-ed: "In the latest episode of the reality show that is Donald Trump's campaign, he has blamed my brother for the 9/11 terrorist attacks on our nation. That Trump echoes the attacks of Michael Moore and the fringe Left against my brother is yet another example of his dangerous views on national-security issues." And so forth. ...
... CW: Actually, Jeb!, Trump did not "blame your brother for the 9/11 terrorist attack"; rather, he said, "When you talk about George Bush -- I mean, say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his time.... I'm not blaming George Bush. But I don't want Jeb Bush to say, 'My brother kept us safe,' because September 11th was one of the worst days in the history of this country." So besides being a whiney-baby, Jeb!, you're a big fat liar. ...
... Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Jeb Bush, under fire from Republican rival Donald Trump over his brother's anti-terror policies, launched an attack on the same subject against Bill Clinton Monday night, charging that the 42nd president's administration did not pursue Osama bin Laden aggressively enough." ...
... Steve Benen: "During the interview [by Sean Hannity], [Jeb!] argued, 'I think the Clinton administration made a mistake of thinking bin Laden had to be viewed from a law enforcement perspective. Similarly, the -- President Obama's policies seem to be focused on that, as well.'... George W. Bush's brother is complaining about President Obama's counter-terrorism successes? Are. You. Kidding. Me?... Intelligence officials repeatedly urged George W. Bush and his team to recognize al Qaeda and bin Laden as a grave threat. The Republican administration chose not to heed those warnings.... As a result of Donald Trump's rhetoric (of all things), the failures of 2001 are suddenly a campaign issue in 2015 and Republicans are eagerly pretending that George W. Bush's missteps are Bill Clinton's fault." ...
... ** Peter Beinart of the Atlantic: "There's no way of knowing for sure if [George W.] Bush could have stopped the September 11 attacks. But that's not the right question. The right question is: Did Bush do everything he could reasonably have to stop them, given what he knew at the time? And he didn't. It's not even close." CW: I was not fully aware of how flagrantly Bush & Rummy ignored warning after warning from the CIA & the National Security Council. That famous CIA daily briefing titled,"Bin Ladin Determined to Strike the US" "was the 36th time the CIA had raised al-Qaeda with President Bush since he took office." ...
... Matt Flegenheimer & Steve Eder of the New York Times: "Since announcing his presidential candidacy in June, Jeb Bush has made clear his distaste for officials who trade on their connections.... Yet a review of Mr. Bush’s finances shows that he has built his personal wealth with the help of companies that had business interests with Florida while he was governor, and that singled out his political expertise and government experience as important assets. Roughly half of the $36.8 million he has earned since he left office in 2007 stems from such companies, according to campaign disclosures and government filings." CW: Surely just a coincidence, gentlemen.
As a black Republican, I know I don't fit the traditional mold, and I'm a threat to the liberal order. Because of the color of my skin, I'm supposed to think a certain way. Sorry, but that's racism.... I refuse to act like a politician and say whatever I need to say to get elected. I will speak the truth regardless of what the media and the PC police say is 'controversial.' It's time for honesty. -- Ben Carson, in a fundraising blast e-mail
Carson is a crackpot who should get nowhere near the White House, let alone the presidential nomination of a major political party. His incendiary and ignorant comments -- not political correctness, not racism -- are the cause of the 'relentless attacks' on him. -- Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post
Ed Kilgore: "... the entire GOP could be experiencing the Grand Clong ... (defined in Jeff Greenfield and Jerry Bruno's classic political book The Advance Man as the feeling of a million pounds of s**t rushing to your heart) ... pretty soon if the nomination contest continues to be dominated by the Duopoly of Doom, Trump and Carson."
Beyond the Beltway
Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post: Arsonists have set fire to six St. Louis-area churches this month, five of them predominantly African-American & the sixth a mixed-race congregation.
Morgan Baskin of USA Today: "Triceten Bickford, a 19-year-old former Indiana University student, was expelled after publicly assaulting a Muslim woman on Saturday, a dean from IU reportedly confirmed to the Indiana Daily Student.... Bickford was charged with six counts including public intoxication, strangulation and felony-level battery after assaulting a Muslim woman Saturday evening, Fox 59 reported. According to the report, Bloomington Police were called to Sofra Café after Bickford grabbed the woman's neck and slammed her head into the table, yelling racial slurs that reportedly included 'white power' and 'kill them all.' The woman's husband and 9-year-old daughter were present.... After arriving at the Monroe County Jail, Bickford bit an officer in the lower leg." CW: Judging by his mug shot, Bickford is a white guy.
Jessica Contrera of the Washington Post: "Less than 24 hours after Ahmed Mohamed met President Obama, his family decided it's time to leave America for good. The 14-year-old Texas boy who was arrested for bringing to school a homemade clock that authorities said resembled a bomb will soon be living in Qatar.... The family is planning to move next week so Ahmed can begin school at the Qatar Foundation, where he will receive a full scholarship." ...
... CW: Hmm. I believe this is how Republicans envision self-deportation. Just harass people the hell out of here.
Way Beyond
Ian Austen of the New York Times: "Justin Trudeau's Canada is likely to present a very different face to the world than the one it wore under Stephen Harper, the Conservative prime minister he and his Liberals decisively routed on Monday. Mr. Trudeau has promised some major policy changes, among them legalizing marijuana, dropping out of the American-led bombing campaign against the Islamic State and deficit spending to pump up the economy and rebuild infrastructure. But the most noticeable difference will probably be in tone. Mr. Trudeau has been promising since he took over his floundering party in 2013 that he would put an end to Mr. Harper's often belligerent style of politics and diplomacy."
Jerusalem Post: "Hundreds of protesters in the Swedish city of Malmo were filmed chanting in Arabic about slaughtering Jews and stabbing soldiers. Pro-Palestinian groups organized a rally Monday in the city center against what they consider Israeli violence and to show solidarity with Palestinians amid deadly measures taken by Israeli authorities to stop the recent spate of attacks on Jews in Israel and the West Bank."
Also, contributor Gloria has an excellent commentary in yesterday's thread on voter fraud in Australia.
News Ledes
New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called his counterpart, Bashar al-Assad of Syria, to Moscow for an unannounced visit to discuss their joint military campaign and a future political transition in Syria, the Kremlin announced on Wednesday. According to a transcript posted on the Kremlin’s website, Mr. Putin told the Syrian leader during the meeting late Tuesday that Russia was ready to contribute to the fight against terrorism and to a political settlement of the conflict that has raged for more than four years. Mr. Assad, in turn, briefed the Russian leader about the situation on the ground and on next steps."
New York Times: "The American airstrike against a Doctors Without Borders hospital in northern Afghanistan that killed at least 22 staff members and patients was approved by American Special Operations Forces normally assigned to other parts of Asia. The Afghan commandos who requested the strike had been rushed from another part of the country to help quell the Taliban attack. And the AC-130 gunship that unleashed the fire had not worked with either group before."
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Reader Comments (17)
Yay Canada!!
@Gloria - thanks so much for your detailed description in yesterday's comments of the Australian voting system and your thoughts on the voting process in general. I found your post informative and thought provoking. I like the idea of sending everyone a registration form on their 18th birthday.
Answering Cowichan, and at the risk of boring everyone speechless: In the UK you don't need your NI number to register to vote, you can use drivers licence or passport, or just your address which the local council then uses to identify you. It is really easy. In Australia, you can also use the declaration of an enrolled voter to identify you, again drivers licence and passport are not essential. A parent can sign the form for a child who is registering, declaring they are who they say they are. It is made remarkably easy, and it seems to work to people's satisfaction. There is always an outcry in both those counties when anyone calls for a national ID system, particularly for voting. At the polling stations in both countries, they take your word for who you are! No ID is required. Mistakes are sometimes, rarely, made and it is not perfect, but people like it, and much care is taken to make it work.
Could it be that our neighbor to the North is leading North America? Adelson and the Koch's and their Republicans must be wondering if they can now buy Canada. The Rich and Entitled surely fear the damning influence of the people north of the longest unsecured border in the world upon their Tom Joads in 'Merica. Right on, Canada. P.S. Great Skiing, up there!!!
Many wars conducted over the past 60 years have been failures, and have been egregiously lied about, not least the war on drugs. I'm hopeful to read about increasingly influential reports on decriminalising drugs. There are several articles on the recent UNODC report, and a very interesting interview on BBC4 World Tonight with Sir Richard Branson. He discusses the success Portugal has seen in dramatically reducing the number of addicts, and that decriminalisation is not legalisation. One of many articles on the report.
Voting:
I don't know about other states, but here in Maryland I've never been asked for ID at my polling place. I give my name, an official looks it up on the list of registered voters, asks me to give my address and birthdate. When I get that right, he hands me a ballot and checks me off on the list. If another man, approximately my age, who knew my address and birthday, posed as me he'd have no difficulty voting in my stead. Of course, if I showed up later there would be a conflict. I don't know how this would be resolved.
The first few national elections I voted in, I was in the Navy serving abroad or at sea. That was a process. You had to inform your command weeks in advance that you wanted to vote. Each command designated an officer to conduct the voting. A sealed ballot was mailed to the command by your state. On election day, the voting officer conducted you to a closed room where you opened your ballot, filled it out, resealed it and returned it to the officer who mailed it back to your state. This is why it took several days to count all the absentee ballots from service personnel.
On election day 2000, and again in 2004, I was in Munich Germany. Both times I was able to vote early before I left home. On the morning after the '04 election, the first thing I saw when I left my Munich apartment was a full page banner newspaper headline: "OH NO, VIER MAHR JAHRE!" If that election had been held in Germany, Kerry would have gotten 90 percent of the vote. I doubt if even the GOP Supremes could have overturned that.
Before 9/11 our voting here in CT. was exactly like D.C. is describing. I used to work at the polls during all elections and was working there on 9/11. A woman whose name I was checking on my sheet told us about a plane that had just crashed into the one of the towers.An errant flyer, we surmised. After 9/11 the state now requires a driver's license or a comparable picture I.D. Fear factors...
Who woulda thunk Trump would, given his great performances, become our angry "Other" as in Key and Peele's act. He's gonna bring down Bush whose mistake was biting that bait in the first place. One of the talking heads said on T.V. the other day that we should have been having this discussion about went went down BEFORE 9/11 a long time ago. If memory serves me right we DID have many, especially by certain journalists. When you read at the many signs that the Bush administration ignored or just dismissed, it's quite astonishing.
Paul Ryan has figured out a way to not look cowardly but also not have to actually do the hard work of being speaker.
It's easy. I'm surprised Mr. Big Brain didn't come up with this scheme sooner. First, declare that you'd be happy to help the party and save the nation. Second, hand the looniest of the loons in your party an ultimatum telling that they have to vote for you with no conditions and they can't say anything bad about you, like how you're somewhere to the left of Abbie Hoffman.
He has to know the kooks will never agree to that, so he gets to look good without having to do anything.
It's a bit of a gamble, but not much of one.
Now that Canada has returned to its traditional liberalism, we might expect more "build a wall" outcry from our own crazies...Wouldn't want that infection to make its way south, you know.
And some such upwelling might get Scott Walker back in the Game. I see him, wrinkled brow and all, thinking about it.
@Akhilleus. I think this has been Ryan's plan all along. A couple weeks ago, when the kerfluffle over Speaker started, he seemed the clear choice. Given his ego and the proximity of the position to the Presidency, he just had to wait for the House GOP to finish up the punch drunk posturing. It just goes to show the depth of players and the deficit of leadership in Team Dunderhead that allowed a mental giant like Ryan to prevail.
Ken,
That wrinkled brow on Scott Walker is a sign either of constipation or a wedgie, not deep thought.
The Hypocrisy and Spin machinery is in overdrive on the right.
The latest narrative in the Let's Save Bush with Bullshit tour has 9/11 being laid at the door of Bill Clinton, who wasn't even in office when it happened. Somehow, those tiny Confederate brain pans are overheating with the exhaustion of coming up with newer and better lies and obfuscation. Anything rather than acknowledge that the horror that was 9/11 could have been--but was not--prevented by one of their own.
It was all Bill Clinton's fault. He should have gone after Bin Laden, which, if you buy the premise that Bin Laden was such a danger in the late 90's, forces the question about why all of a sudden it was okay that Bush ignore him a couple of years later, even after getting dozens of warnings that some terrible attack was imminent. Was Bush's indolence and arrogance Bill Clinton's fault too?
As for Clinton, whom wingnuts are now excoriating for not being more aggressive towards Bin Laden, let's look back and see what they said when he did go after him (Confederates hate that!).
In August of 1998, Clinton authorized a missile strike at Bin Laden's camp in Afghanistan as retaliation for Al Qeaeda attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. "...Hannity responded...that the attack may have been an effort to distract the American people from the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Hannity repeatedly referenced "Wag The Dog," a 1997 film in which presidential advisers fabricate a war in order to cover up a presidential sex scandal."
So Clinton's attempt to get Bin Laden was just a smokescreen.
A second missile strike in December of '98 was called off because of low probability of getting Bin Laden and high probability of hundreds of civilian casualties. Clinton's decision was based on military and intelligence recommendations. But the day after 9/11, Hannity declared that Clinton could have prevented the tragedy if only he had killed those civilians that day.
Wingnuts want it both coming and going. You bomb the guy, you're just covering your own ass; you don't bomb the guy, you're a traitor.
But it doesn't matter. Bush was president when the towers fell. He received intelligence to that effect. When Clinton discovered, in December of '98, that there was another chance to get Bin Laden he assembled his people immediately and set to work analyzing the intelligence and planning the attack. When Bush received--36 separate times--word that Bin Laden was planning on flying planes into American buildings...he went on vacation.
Neither Hannity nor Jeb! nor any other Confederate dissembler and liar can change those facts. The Decider was on the watchtower on 9/11 and his decision, in the face of an avalanche of warnings was: take a nap.
It's on him. No one else.
Confederate Hero of the Month!
Triceton Bickford (Triceton?), the white supremacist Indiana U student who was arrested for felony assault and strangulation after attacking a woman for having the effrontery of being Muslim in Indiana, is sure to have his own show on Fox any day now. At the very least he'll be feted as a hero for standing up for Real 'Mericans against dirty mooslims.
But get this. The guy gets out on $500 bail. $500.
He beats a woman--felony assault--tries to strangle her while yelling "kill them all" (surely attempted murder), in front of her husband and little girl all the while screaming racial epithets (hate crime). Then he attacks a cop who shows up to see what in holy hell is going on, he bites the cop's leg. Surely resisting arrest and assault on a police officer. But he's out on $500?
WTF!
What if this guy had been a Muslim attacking a white woman for being a Christian? What if this guy had just been a drunken black guy? For the Muslim guy there'd be no bail. It'd be straight to the chair. For the black guy it would have been bail in the amount of $500,000 or more.
Look for Triceton to be the new Confederate martyr for the cause. The latest wingnut victim of political correctness.
.."The right question is: Did Bush do everything he could reasonably have to stop them, given what he knew at the time? And he didn’t. It’s not even close."
Indeed. Do you all remember COLEEN ROWLEY? She was the FBI agency head in Minneapolis who desperately tried to warn the FBI in Washington that 3 Saudi immigrants had taken flying lessons in MN, but QUIT before they had learned how to land. The entire staff of the school was suspicious and reported to her. She was so convinced that they were going to use planes to do something terrible that she personally called FBI chief Robert Muller--who would not take her call. Then she tried Condi Rice. No dice. In fact NOBODY would take her call. She even tried calling others at the White House, and at the Pentagon, and reporters at WaPo. All to no avail. I think America was too busy being "exceptional!"
I have always thought this was the biggest scandal to come out of the Bush administration's ignorance about the hi-jackers. And Coleen Rowley has gone on to her rightful role as a heroine and speaker of truth--for the Left. Of course, the Bushies did everything they could do dismiss and dishonor her. Some things never change....
Re: the latest Bibi Explosion.
Looks like he's all the way around the bend at this point. So Hitler wasn't responsible for the Final Solution? Does that claim make Bibi a Holocaust denier of sorts?
It's getting harder by the day to sort through the international haze of wingnuttery. I do like the idea of Bibi as Ben Carson's running mate. Hey....even better. Why not vote him in as Speaker of the House. He can be Israeli PM on MWF and Speaker on T-TH. That way he can invite himself to address congress and when he shows up he can thank himself for the invite. Then he can rip Obama for the Iran thing five days a week and twice on the Sabbath.
But Carson and Bibi in a locked room together for a few hours? Phew. No tellin' what kind of cockamamie weirdness would come out of that meeting. Oh, wait. I have it. It wasn't the Grand Mufti who gave Hitler the idea for the Final Solution. It was Hillary! And Bill let it happen. The two of them and Obama were all together on a trip to the World Commie Youth Congress and dreamed it up after a night of illicit sex and pot smoking. Bill didn't inhale. Then they time traveled back to Nuremberg where Leni Riefenstahl gave Hillary some lessons in media manipulation and Himmler taught Obama some community organizing tricks. Of course it was Hillary who gave the presentation. She wore all leather and made eyes at Goehring then had a threesome with Hitler and Eva Braun.
It's all in the history books.
Re:john nichols
A Canadian commentator called our election a "textbook case of fear vs loathing". The Conservatives painted themselves as our shield against terrorism in a frightening world and as proven managers of the economy. In the previous 10 years the 60% of Canadians who fear and loath the Conservatives would have split their vote between the leftwing NDP and the center-left Liberals allowing the Conservatives to win with the remaining 40%.
In the final days of the campaign the NDP moved right to reduce the room available between themselves and the Conservatives, pledging to 'balance the budget'. With no room left for the Liberals between the other 2 parties they did the unexpected and offered 3 years of deficit spending on infrastructure (beside many other expensive promises) moving themselves to the left of our left-wing party.
I've read thousands of comments on various sites about the election and have seen few that forecast disaster from increasing the debt. Canadians are Keynesians, we've read Krugman. MSM commentators have for the last 8 years expressed wonder at the almost universal mantra that austerity is required to get economies moving again. Canadians think going into debt for a new roof on the house is a good investment and God knows we have many leaky roofs from deteriorating highways to cities crying out for investment in urban transportation.
For all this the Liberals won 184 seats ina 338 seat parliament with 39.5% of the popular vote. LESS support than the outgoing Conservatives enjoyed when they came to power. A liberal party promise is that this is the last time this will happen as a multi-party committee will decide on a replacement for our current first past the post system, proportional representation or something similar.
I can't see a similar situation in the US. You don't have 1 party disliked by 68% of thee electorate. The MSM has painted a picture of 2 equally incompetent parties with the true picture obscured by your uniquely consequence free system and of course 40 years of the mantra government is the problem not the solution. Today you have the majority of Americans knowing that national economics is just household economics with bigger numbers and the US is bankrupt. I don't see the Canadian situation being remotely applicable to the US.
When I read Bibi's statement about Haj Amin al Husseini it rang a bell. From my files:
George Antonius, author of "The Arab Awakening," product of a mixed Egyptian Lebanese parentage, was a writer in for an American think tank on Middle East politics. He and his wife lived as Palestinian aristocrats. His friendship with the mercurial, charismatic leader, the Grand Mufti (known as a demagogue and hated Jews) of Jerusalem was, as Freya Stark describes it. "Husseni had bewitched George as surely as ever a siren did her mariner, leading him through his slippery realms with sealed eyes so that George––whom I was fond of–- would talk to me without a flicker about the Mufti's single-hearted goodness."
I am so thankful that Biden has decided not to take the plunge––smart move for him and good for Hillary. His running would have really upset the old apple cart and god knows, we need those apples securely in place.
@Kate: thanks for reminding us about Rowley––I, too, found her brushoff by the powers that be to be incomprehensible. Imagine the discourse–-"that bloody woman is bugging us again about some nonsense about some Saudis taking flying lessons."
What level of hatred caused Joe Biden to casually defame Hillary. How far will he go in damaging his own party. His criticism will be referred to by opposition to Hillary and to The Democratic Party.
If we end up with a Republican in the White House, Joe can take some credit.