The Commentariat -- September 22

Boomers, PBS Loves You. Elizabeth Jensen of the New York Times: "A group of public broadcasting executives is putting together an online and broadcast initiative that ... [is] hoping to make public television a mainstay for 45- to-65-year-olds.... The core of the project, called Next Avenue, will be a Web site with original and aggregated content from public and nonprofit partners — organized around health and wellness; money and financial security; and a category called living and learning — that is expected to start April 1."

Borzou Daragahi & Ramin Mostaghim of the Los Angeles Times: at home, "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ... is under withering attack from all political directions."

A Plague on America. David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "House Republicans on Thursday will issue a legislative blueprint called 'A Pledge to America' that they hope will catapult them to a majority in the November elections. Its goals include a permanent extension of all of the Bush-era tax cuts, repeal of the newly enacted health care law, a cap on discretionary federal spending, and an end to government control of the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac." ...

... Never, Ever Trust a Republican. Zaid Jilani of Think Progress: after calling the reconcilation process of passing financial bills "undemocratic," and "an extraordinary & unprecedented abuse," Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, who could become chair of the House Budget Committee, says Republicans may have to use reconciliation.

Ishaan Tharoor of Time interviews Markos Moulitsas on his book American Taliban.

Statements that would never be tolerated against Jews or Israel are regularly made and tolerated against Palestinians. -- Matthew Duss

Matthew Duss of the Center for American Progress in a Boston Globe op-ed points out the double standard in treatment for Marty Peretz for his many anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian comments & of Helen Thomas for her one comment against Jews.

Robert Scheer of TruthDig on the impending exit of Larry Summers: "Obama’s effusive praise on Tuesday went well beyond the requirements of professional pink-slip courtesy and suggests that he is still in denial over the role of key Democrats like Summers in getting us into this mess." ...

... BUT. Summers Is Not as Bad as You Think. Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic thinks progressives may have reason to miss Larry Summers. ...

... Glenn Thrush & Kendra Marr of Politico: "...it’s highly likely Obama’s pick will be either a woman or a business leader – and preferably both, said several people familiar with the situation." CW: because what the public demands is more evidence that Obama is not antagonistic to big business.

Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post: "One unfortunate side effect of a dramatic shift in the political winds is that the party that suddenly has momentum thinks it can claim vindication for every nutty notion spouted by its leaders. Republicans ... [are] declaring that all Americans are suddenly demanding to cut every tax, dismantle every federal agency and leave it to the free markets to regulate business behavior. Oh - I almost forgot - we now apparently also believe that global warming is a hoax."

You're on Your Own, Kids, Part 1. Los Angeles Times: "Major health insurance companies ... have decided to stop selling policies for children rather than comply with a new federal healthcare law that bars them from rejecting youngsters with preexisting medical conditions." ...

... You're on Your Own, Kids, Part 2. Washington Post: "Republican lawmakers on Tuesday stalled a Senate measure to allow children of undocumented immigrants to get on a path to citizenship, and accused the Obama administration of seeking amnesty for illegal immigrants through administrative changes within the Department of Homeland Security."

Center for Tax Justice: "Last week, 31 House Democrats signed a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in support of extending the Bush tax cuts for all taxpayers, and thus opposing President Obama's proposal to allow the tax cuts to expire for the very rich. New data ... show that two-thirds of the House Democrats who signed that letter represent districts that have less than the average share of taxpayers rich enough to face higher taxes.... Further, the claim made in the letter that these very rich taxpayers 'are responsible for 25 percent of national consumer spending' is simply incorrect." (pdf)

Scott Ritter, a singular voice of reason during the build-up to the Iraq War who correctly argued Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction, writes in TruthDig of the current situation,

The president and the American people will all too soon come to recognize that the quagmire in Iraq is far from over.... 50,000 American troops remain in Iraq, configured into six 'advisory and assist' brigades that are structurally identical to their 'combat' counterparts.... The Obama administration’s so-called strategy for Iraq lacks any discernable benchmarks for success.

       ... Thanks to Sharon E. for the link.

Dana Goldstein of the Daily Beast cites President Clinton on the upcoming elections & on his global initiative. Clinton chastized the media for not fact-checking Republican & tea party claims. And he warns disaffected Obama supporters:

Like everything else you do when you’re mad, there’s an 80 percent chance you’re making a mistake. You’ll get the exact result you don’t want. -- Bill Clinton

Michael Scherer of Time: "White House aides are preparing for the possibility that Rahm Emanuel may step down as chief of staff as soon as early October if he decides to run for mayor of Chicago, according to a person familiar with deliberations in the West Wing."

JoeMyGod: "Sen. Saxby Chambliss [R-Ga.] has confirmed that the 'All faggots must die' comment left here on JMG earlier today did indeed come from his Atlanta office."