The Commentariat -- Sept. 17, 2016
Presidential Race
Burgess Everett of Politico: "In one of the most overt displays of campaign theatrics this year, two separate proposals targeting Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on transparency were blocked on the Senate floor on Thursday. Democrats struck first with an attempt to highlight Trump's opaque financial history. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) took to the floor press for a bill that would force presidential candidates to release three years of their tax returns. Trump, of course, has refused to do so, and Wyden's proposal would have the Treasury secretary release a presidential candidate's returns if he or she refuses to do so.... Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) ... then pushed for a bill written by Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) that would effectively block Clinton from accessing classified information because FBI Director James Comey found Clinton's use of a private email server 'extremely careless.'" -- CW
Evelyn Rupert of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton's campaign said in a statement Friday that Donald Trump's remark that Clinton's bodyguards should be disarmed fit into a 'pattern of inciting people to violence.' 'Whether this is done to provoke protesters at a rally or casually or even as a joke, it is an unacceptable quality in anyone seeking the job of Commander in Chief,' campaign manager Robby Mook said. 'This kind of talk should be out of bounds for a presidential candidate, just like it should be out of bounds for a presidential candidate to peddle a conspiracy theory about the President of the United States for five years.'" -- CW
David Goldstein of McClatchy News: "Two supporters of Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign reportedly shared the claim that then-rival Barack Obama was not born in the United States.... One was a volunteer in Iowa, who was fired, Clinton's former campaign manager said Friday. The other was Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal, according to [James Asher,] a former McClatchy Washington Bureau chief.... There is no evidence that Clinton herself or her campaign spread the story.... Asher tweeted Friday that Blumenthal had 'told me in person' that Obama was born in Kenya. 'During the 2008 Democratic primary, Sid Blumenthal visited the Washington Bureau of McClatchy Co.,' Asher said in an email Friday to McClatchy. 'During that meeting..., he strongly urged me to investigate the exact place of President Obama's birth, which he suggested was in Kenya. We assigned a reporter to go to Kenya, and that reporter determined that the allegation was false." Blumenthal denies Asher's claim. Clinton's 2008 campaign manager Mark Penn also encouraged Clinton to contrast her own Midwestern roots with Obama's Obama's 'lack of American roots.'" -- CW ...
Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "Michelle Obama used her debut appearance on the campaign trail on Friday to cast Donald Trump as unprepared to succeed her husband in the White House, saying: 'Being president isn't anything like reality TV.' Speaking at George Mason University in Virginia, Obama described the election as a choice between 'one of the most qualified people who has ever endeavored to become president' and someone who did not 'take the job seriously'." -- CW
The Meeting Is the Message. Krissah Thompson of the Washington Post: "Laura Bush & Michelle Obama got together again Friday. During election season, such events featuring political figures are seldom accidental. -- CW
By Driftglass.... Nick Corasaniti, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump once again raised the specter of violence against Hillary Clinton, calling on Friday for the Secret Service agents who guard her to voluntarily disarm to 'see what happens to her' without their protection. 'I think that her bodyguards should drop all weapons,' Mr. Trump said at a rally in Miami, to loud applause. 'I think they should disarm. Immediately.' He went on: 'Let's see what happens to her. Take their guns away, O.K. It'll be very dangerous.'... He gestured emphatically with his hands as he spoke.... Mr. Trump's comments were a provocative echo of condemned remarks he made at a campaign rally in Wilmington, N.C., in early August." -- CW ...
... Richard Luscombe of the Guardian: "After a bruising day dominated by his non-apology for promoting the 'birther' conspiracy theory, Donald Trump attempted to regain control of the direction of his presidential campaign at a Miami rally in which he appeared to hint at the assassination of Hillary Clinton. In a sometimes bizarre 45-minute speech on Friday night..., the Republican nominee went off-script to call for his opponent's bodyguards to 'disarm immediately' -- adding, 'Let's see what happens to her.'" -- CW
Every Word out of Trump's Mouth Is Meaningless. Marc Caputo of Politico: "Donald Trump once called President Barack Obama's rapprochement with Cuba 'fine' and said that, though he would've cut a better deal, '50 years is enough' for the U.S. embargo. But during a Friday rally in Miami, Trump sounded very much like every other Republican presidential nominee promising to keep a hard line on Cuba as he seeks the support of the influential Cuban-American exile community." -- CW
The New York Times thinks this is top-o'-the-page breaking news: "Donald J. Trump publicly retreated from his 'birther' campaign on Friday, acknowledging that President Obama was born in the United States and saying that he wanted to move on from the conspiracy theory that he has been clinging to for years.... Mr. Trump also falsely accused Hillary Clinton of having first raised questions about Mr. Obama's birthplace during the 2008 Democratic primary." At the end of the story, we read, "In a speech in Washington on Friday before Mr. Trump made his statement, Mrs. Clinton said that Mr. Trump owes Mr. Obama and the country an apology and that it is too late for him to walk back what he has done. 'For five years he has led the birther movement to delegitimize our first black president,' Mrs. Clinton said. 'His campaign was founded on this outrageous lie.' She added, 'There is no erasing it in history.'" -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... The Washington Post makes Clinton's critique of Trump's birtherism a stand-alone story. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
Here's how NBC Nightly News covered Trump's Biggest Lies of the Day:
... Eli Stokols of Politico: "Donald Trump did not apologize Friday for driving one of the uglier, most blatantly racist narratives in American political culture during the Obama presidency. The most prominent proponent of the birther movement..., [Trump] instead lied about his role in conspiracy theory's popularity and, without any evidence, attempted to pin the blame on Hillary Clinton. With the first general election debate 10 days away, Trump attempted to neutralize a likely Clinton attack line -- that he spent five years questioning the American citizenship of the country's first African-American president. Trump's concession to reality came only after he leveraged the spectacle of his walk-back into 30 minutes of live cable coverage that served as a branding opportunity for his new Trump Hotel in Washington -- where the event was held -- and for himself.... After the event, Trump led a small pool of still photographers and television crews on a tour of his hotel. But when the print pooler was excluded from the tour, the networks voted to pull their camera and erase the footage." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... CW: This is the second time in two days that members of the press have revolted against Trump's manipulations. See the story linked below by Eli Stokols & Hadas Gold of Politico. ...
... Tierney Sneed of TPM Earns the Headline of the Day: "Trump Introduced By A Birther At Event Where He Walked Back Birtherism." CW: So Trump says Obama is a U.S. citizen after all, wink, wink. P.S. For you non-birthers, well, the whole birther thing is Hillary's fault. ...
... Jamelle Bouie: "Donald Trump is still a birther.... It takes a certain audacity to open a press conference about birtherism with a supporter who backs the very conspiracy supposedly being renounced. And although Trump mouthed the words that affirmed Obama's citizenship, he ignored his role in fanning the conspiracy by pointing the finger at [Hillary Clinton].... Birtherism only entered widespread consciousness after Trump adopted it as a cause, revitalizing the conspiracy. Indeed, birtherism was the catapult that launched Trump into conservative fame.... You have Trump's one-sentence disavowal on Friday, delivered alongside two outright lies during a scam of an event at his new hotel.... We can choose to believe Trump. Given the evidence, we shouldn't." ...
... Gail Collins: "What we have here is a candidate for president of the United States who makes stuff up all the time, but is either incapable of realizing that he's telling a lie, or constitutionally unable to take blame for being untruthful. Yet, according to the polls, Hillary Clinton's biggest problem is that the public thinks she's dishonest. Amazing." CW: For once, Collins treats a threat to the republic as a serious matter instead of delivering her usual tee-hee-hee Erma Bombeck column. Maybe Trump's birther scam really will be his undoing, which couldn't be more fitting. ...
... Patrick Caldwell of Mother Jones: "When Donald Trump tried to pin the birther movement on Hillary Clinton..., the media jumped in to factcheck.... Late Friday afternoon, the Trump campaign sent a press release to reporters in an attempt to back up its claims -- but instead it only contradicted the GOP candidate's entire argument.... The campaign pointed to a Friday CNN interview with Clinton's 2008 campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, in which she said when a low-level volunteer coordinator with the campaign sent an email advancing the birther conspiracy, the Clinton campaign immediately fired the person." -- CW ...
... Charles Pierce: "In an interview with The Washington Post's Robert Costa, Donald Trump again declined to speculate on the president's birthplace. This set off a scramble in the court of the Czar, which culminated in a statement from its communications director that fairly well suits what Mary McCarthy once said about Lillian Hellman and the truth -- every word of the statement is a lie, except (perhaps) the communications director's name.... And then, of course, there was the farce in which [Trump] engaged on Friday morning.... [He] gave a three-sentence statement on the alleged topic du jour. Two of the sentences were lies.... The Trump campaign believes that the elite political media is as much of a dumb beast as the Trump campaign believes the voters are. There is no longer any reason to cover this campaign as anything but a truthless danger to the American republic." -- CW ...
... ** Libby Nelson of Vox: "Donald Trump promised a major statement about his embrace of conspiracy theories about President Obama's birthplace. Instead, he fooled the three major cable news networks into airing a 20-minute infomercial about his hotel and his candidacy. With the 'breaking news' chyron on, MSNBC, Fox News, and CNN played footage of veterans praising Trump and Trump praising his own hotel. And then Trump showed up on stage for less than two minutes to say that Obama was born in the United States. This is what people mean when they complain about how 'the media' has covered the Trump campaign." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump ... held the media hostage for nearly an hour after promising a major news announcement.... While they waited, and waited, Trump provided what amounted to a campaign infomercial and shamelessly promoted his new Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington. When it was over, and he had said the absurdly obvious -- that he now accepts that President Obama was born in the United States -- there was, at least, some long overdue indignation.... CNN's [John] King..., Jake Tapper and Gloria Borger denounced the way Trump had played the media. And they flatly denounced Trump's notion that [Hillary] Clinton started the birther rumors.'CNN and others were pulled into the whole three-ring circus -- I've never seen anything as crass and disingenuous,' said Frank Sesno, a former CNN Washington bureau chief.... Meanwhile..., [Clinton] was doing something unexciting, substantial and workmanlike: addressing the Black Women's Agenda Symposium, talking about the economic challenges faced by women of color. It got, of course, only a fraction of the media's attention." -- CW ...
... Contributor Nancy wrote yesterday, "Trump-loving media: Like a country bumpkin in the big city, marked by the con on the corner. Now will you stop covering this guy?" ...
... New York Times Editors: "Did he apologize to Mr. Obama and the American people for the political poison he spread for so long? Of course not. Being Mr. Trump, he instead substituted a lie for a lie. He falsely accused Hillary Clinton of starting the birther myth, then further claimed he had nobly 'finished' it off by badgering the White House for proof that Mr. Obama was born in Hawaii, not Africa." -- CW
... Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "Mr. Obama's citizenship was never in question. No credible evidence ever suggested otherwise.... Yet it took Mr. Trump five years of dodging, winking and joking to surrender, finally on Friday, to reality after a remarkable campaign of relentless deception that tried to undermine the legitimacy of the nation's first black president.... Surrounded by, and in many ways shielded by, decorated veterans in his new Washington, D.C., hotel, he could not resist indulging in another falsehood -- that his opponent, Hillary Clinton, had started the so-called birther movement. She did not.... [The birther lie] this lie was different from [his other lies from] the start, an insidious, calculated calumny that sought to undo the embrace of an African-American president by the 69 million voters who elected him in 2008." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Andrew Prokop of Vox: "Finally, on Friday, Trump himself begrudgingly gave an extremely brief statement that "President Barack Obama was born in the United States, period,' and again dishonestly blamed [Hillary] Clinton for supposedly starting the controversy. But he shouldn't be allowed to worm out of this so easily, because birtherism is in many ways the urtext of Trump's presidential campaign. It demonstrates his willingness to mainstream fringe racism, his desire to flout the norms of political discourse, his ability to play the media, and his imperviousness to facts. And Trump has never truly been held to account for it during this campaign." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Tim Murphy of Mother Jones: "... virtually every line of the statement [Donald Trump's campaign released before his birther brief/infomercial] is a lie." -- CW
Robert O'Harrow, Jr., of the Washington Post: "During his run for the White House, Trump has maintained he always operated aboveboard as a real estate developer and casino operator, at a time when corruption and organized crime were rampant in New York and Atlantic City. But the details of Trump's relationships with [FBI informant Daniel] Sullivan and [FBI agent Walt] Stowe show that he worked with men with underworld connections to further and protect his business interests. In doing so, Trump risked his reputation and his dream of becoming a tycoon. He entered into a land deal with Sullivan and an organized crime figure who was later targeted for a hit. He agreed to finance Sullivan's purchase of a company under FBI investigation for racketeering. And he collaborated on a plan with Stowe and other FBI agents to allow an undercover operation at his first casino." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.)
Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "Food poisoning will make America great again! Or, at least, that's what Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appears to be banking on with a new proposal released on Thursday. Trump's campaign distributed a fact sheet outlining 'specific regulations to be eliminated.' Among other things, this fact sheet took aim at 'the FDA Food Police.'... America has already tested the idea that we can have safe foods without adequate regulation." Millhiser relates a short history of the American ketchup market. "As it turns out, the invisible hand of the market delivered moldy, rancid ketchup that used vinegar and spice to cover up the flavor of decay. It took regulation, the very kind of regulation that Trump now seems to be out to get, to enable Americans to trust their food." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "Nude photos at the center of questions about Melania Trump's immigration history were first published in early 1997, timing that contradicts previous reports but is consistent with Trump's own timeline of her immigration. Trump has consistently said she came to the United States in 1996, but in August, the New York Post published nude photos of her that the newspaper reported were taken in New York in 1995 for the January 1996 issue of Max Magazine, a publication that is now defunct." -- CW
Maxwell Strachan of the Huffington Post: Late-nite host Jimmy Fallon invites white supremacist on his show, kids around with him & ruffles his orange hair. CW: This would be a good place to post the HuffPost's disclaimer on all things Trump: Editor's note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims -- 1.6 billion members of an entire religion -- from entering the U.S." Yeah, go ahead, kid around with that guy, Jimmy.
Other News & Views
Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the Washington Post: "U.S. Special Operations forces have begun partnering with Turkish troops and a contingent of Syrian opposition groups for a new operation in northern Syria, defense officials said Friday. The move comes just weeks after Turkey launched a blitz operation over the Turkish border, seizing the northern city of Jarabulus and injecting a new dynamic into the five-year-old conflict." -- CW
They warned us about this type of behavior and said, 'You must report it,' but the reality was that people had to meet their goals. They needed a paycheck. -- Khalid Taha, a former Wells Fargo personal banker who resigned in July ...
... Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Michael Corkery & Stacy Cowley of the New York Times: "Three years after the first false accounts were exposed publicly and the authorities began investigating, Wells [Fargo] ... said it was still firing employees over the questionable accounts well into this year. Some former employees say the explanation is simple: Wells has continued to push the sales goals that caused employees to break the rules in the first place. In fact, the goals at the center of a $185 million civil settlement and investigations by prosecutors in three states are not set to be phased out for another three months." -- CW ...
... Jonnelle Marte & Renae Merle of the Washington Post: "Wells Fargo is hardly alone in aggressively pushing accounts, industry veterans say. Consumers have filed more than 31,000 complaints since 2011 about the opening, closing and management of their accounts and issues dealing with unauthorized credit cards, according to an analysis of complaints filed with the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The complaints name many of the nation's largest institutions.... Efforts to combat the problem have been episodic, and few top executives have been held accountable.... At the center of the bad behavior appears to be an effort by banks to persuade customers to sign up for multiple products, known as 'cross-selling.'" -- CW
Andrew Roth & Dana Priest of the Washington Post: "The recent spate of embarrassing emails and other records stolen by Russian hackers is President Vladimir Putin's splashy response to years of what he sees as U.S. efforts to weaken and shame him on the world stage and with his own people, according to Russia experts here and in the U.S. intelligence world and academia. Putin is seeking revenge and respect...." -- CW
Winnie Hu of the New York Times: "Six former New York City correction officers returned to Rikers Island -- this time as inmates -- after being sentenced on Friday to prison terms of from four and a half years to six and a half years for their roles in the brutal beating of an inmate there in 2012. The sentencing of the former officers in State Supreme Court in the Bronx came three months after they were convicted of first-degree attempted gang assault, the most serious offense, and other charges. The case opened a window on a pervasive culture of violence at Rikers, the troubled city jail complex that houses 8,000 inmates, at a time when many critics, including Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, have called for it to be closed." -- CW
Share Article
Reader Comments (6)
According to Rachel Maddow there had been a meeting of the Alt-right cabal scheduled last Friday at the National Press Club, but when reporters got there they were informed the meeting was to be elsewhere––-that it was to be a secret press conference, allowing only a precious few, and would be held in a D.C. hotel ballroom. MSNBC managed to obtain clips of this meeting whose speakers were all white supremacists touting white pride––"We are racists because we know we have the genetic superiority over minorities, especially blacks, and we want a white homeland. Now we have found a spokesman for our cause––Donald Trump––this is what a leader looks like."
Unfortunately–-for me–- their white supremacy symbol is an ugly green frog called PEPE –––he appears with Nazi gear or other racist signs and has the expression of smugness. I'll have to find out why the use of that name. In Italian it means "pepper".
Meanwhile many democrats in Congress took to the streets, held a press conference debasing Trump's birther business. Rep. C.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) shouted twice:
HE (TRUMP) IS A DISGUSTING FRAUD!
By the way––learned that Russia has only one aircraft carrier and it's in pretty bad shape. We have 10–––all ship shape. Nice to know.
Here, from the Atlantic, is the skinny on all things green and Pepe. If any of you have been as clueless as I about this cartoon character you will be enlightened.
It's not easy being meme: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/its-not-easy-being-green/499892/
So another day beyond reality. Trump lies about his lies. The topic has nothing to do with the job of the next POTUS. Trump wants Hillary killed, a typical POTUS view. All no big deal. Just another political day. The real problem of course is that this day exposes the real America. Democracy requires commitment to the COMMON GOOD. Half of America doesn't give a damn about anything except themselves. (The good news is that it's 75% of red states and 45% of blue.)
And to note: Does the media notice that virtually every Republican politician is hiding in a cave somewhere!
And forget what Trump said yesterday. The real problem is that he had no problem saying it.
Lastly, lets be fair, he wants Hillary dead because the possibility of losing to a women scares the shit out of him.
"My name is [Mehmet] Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
(With apologies to Percy Bysshe Shelley)
I've appreciated recent postings - from Marie's Media Sightings & RC Commenters - re: "The Sexiest Man In Scrubs" (AKA The Little Wizard Hiding Behind The O.R. Drapes):
Some years back, my close friend had tried desperately (yet unsuccessfully) to dissuade her close friends - a husband & wife - from enlisting "doctor" Oz for the hubby's surgery.
At the hospital, this husband & wife became acquainted with another couple, whose husband was to undergo the same procedure beneath Oz's dusty scalpel.
Both underwent surgery on the same day.
Both fell into comas following their procedures.
(My friend's friend, after some weeks, finally "awoke", but 'was never the same'. Nothing was ever learned of the other poor fellow.)
Could this fukkup have happened elsewhere, and with another physician? Sure. But consider the odds . . .
My friend (pre-op) did the research: Oz *might* operate - in consideration of a demanding (celebrity) schedule - a few times a month, if that: A Drive-By Surgeon, I'd say.
These two comatose men, post-op, were not attended to by Doc Oz, as he had to rush off: Perhaps a taping of his show? An appearance on "Oprah"? A shoot for print ads hawking "miracle" snake oil? The singular Oz-invoked "miracle" I believe in was the eventual - if fractured - "awakening" of my friend's comatose buddy.
Ozymandias + Trumpkaishek => Vultures of a Feather
Maybe this is an article from The Onion although I picked it up from HuffPo. Pence is an absolute loon; he finds the word "vice" morally deplorable and does not like the title "Vice President". He also says a few things that will shame Christians.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-lamb/mike-pence-opposes-word-vice_b_12029434.html?
We will not find any safe harbor if this team wins.
From the Huff piece Haley linked:
"Pence said. “If the Syrian refugees were Christian, we would help them.”
So Pence does not want want to be called "vice", OK, but certainly we can call him a big ol' piece of #2.
Jesus wept.