The Commentariat -- October 22, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Michael Shear & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "Hillary Rodham Clinton confronted Republican critics on the House Benghazi committee on Thursday with a challenge to 'reach for statesmanship' in their long-running inquiry into the 2012 attacks that killed four Americans." ...

... The Washington Post is liveblogging the hearing. They include video clips.

*****

David Herszenhorn & Emmarie Huetteman of the New York Times: "A strong majority of anti-establishment lawmakers in the House Freedom Caucus voted on Wednesday night to support [linked fixed] Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin for House speaker, effectively delivering the Republican Party unity that he had sought as a condition for accepting the post. While the vote fell short of the four-fifths majority required for the group's official endorsement, lawmakers said it nonetheless cleared the way for Mr. Ryan, 45, to be selected as the Republican nominee next Wednesday and affirmed as speaker in a floor vote the next day." ...

... Jake Sherman & Lauren French of Politico: "Rep. Paul Ryan will proceed with plans to run for House speaker despite not securing the formal endorsement of the House Freedom Caucus. Ryan's decision, which came after a high-stakes meeting with the group of hard-line conservatives earlier in the day, all but ensures that the Ways and Means Committee chairman will succeed John Boehner as Republican leader at the end of the month." ...

... Anna North of the New York Times: "The most time-consuming requirement of the speaker's job isn't running the House, it's fundraising. "... it's not running the government that would keep [Paul] Ryan from his kids -- it's raising the money to keep Republicans in office, many of whom actually oppose running the government.... 'Speaker John Boehner raised $50 million,' said Representative Tim Huelskamp, Republican of Kansas. 'The speaker has to work more than 40 hours a week.'" ...

... Scott Wong of the Hill: "Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) pushed back Wednesday on criticism from some conservative House colleagues who say he shouldn't take the Speaker's job if he isn't willing to work weekends and sacrifice time with his young family. 'Hey look, I'm here four days a week as it is,' Ryan said Wednesday when asked by The Hill whether he was surprised by the blowback. 'I'm not going to spend the other three days a week running around America.'... 'You've got to work on weekends,' Huelskamp added. 'John Boehner worked very hard ... and I'm very concerned if you're not going to work weekends in this job, which is primarily fundraising, then that could hurt the Republican majority.'" ...

... CW: Wow! Anna North of the Times noted in her post linked above that "Mr. Ryan has opposed policies that would help working parents." But, hey, now it turns out Ryan is passionate about the four-day work-week. Oh. Maybe that's only for himself. I suppose we common folk are expected to follow Jeb!'s plan & "work longer hours." Meanwhile, imagine my surprise to learn that the speaker's job "is primarily fundraising." Where exactly is that in the Constitution? ...

... Family Leave for Me But Not for Thee. Marianne Levine of Politico outlines Ryan's longstanding opposition to federally-mandated family leave laws that would allow workers flexibility in tending to sick family members. "Paul Ryan is talking about family time for fun, which we all want," [Ellen] Bravo[, executive director of Family Values @ Work,] said, "but the bare minimum is to have family time when a family member is in need." ...

... Eliza Collins & Nick Gass of Politico: "Conservative media pundits chafed at Paul Ryan's list of conditions upon which he would agree to the speakership, mocking him as 'Emperor Ryan' and 'King Paul.' Ryan, the reluctant draftee to one of the most powerful offices in the United States, on Tuesday night said fine, he'll do it, but only on his own terms. Among them: endorsements from all the major caucuses in the GOP conference, time with his family and tweaking a rule to make it harder to toss the speaker out of office." ...

... Adele Stan of the American Prospect: "... Paul Ryan ... is no moderate.... In 2005, at a meeting of an Ayn Rand fan club..., Ryan voiced his contempt for Social Security, decrying it as a 'collectivist system.' His idea for reforming Medicare is to voucherize it, leaving seniors with a fixed amount to apply to their medical bills, regardless of individual circumstances. Ryan is a no-exceptions anti-choicer, and an opponent of programs that help the poor, such as food stamps, whose funding he proposed cutting by $150 billion over the course of 10 years.... Most of all, Paul Ryan, for all his Catholic schoolboy (I once watched him mansplain Catholic doctrine to Sister Simone Campbell of Nuns on the Bus Fame), goody-two-shoes demeanor, is a liar of the pants-on-fire variety."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "House Republican leaders are whipping a bill to raise the debt limit and impose a slew of conservative reforms, but Senate Democrats say it will die in the upper chamber." CW: So nothing has changed in the "unity party." I sure hope there's a rider to repeal ObamaCare in there somewhere.

Mary Walsh, et al., of the New York Times: "The Obama administration has decided to take a political gamble on Puerto Rico, stopping short of a direct bailout of the debt-ridden island but proposing measures that backers say would keep the commonwealth from becoming America's Greece. Senior administration officials said the island had already run out of cash and was spending around 40 percent of its tax revenue meeting its bond payments.... The plan, much of which would have to be approved by Congress, would provide a form of bankruptcy protection not now available to American territories. It would give Puerto Rico a way to restructure all of its $72 billion in debt, which it says it cannot hope to repay." ...

... Martin Crutsinger of the AP: "The Obama administration on Thursday will take a blueprint for the economic rescue of Puerto Rico before a Republican controlled Congress.... The administration said that it needs the cooperation of Congress to prevent an economic disaster in the U.S. territory, which is mired in a years-long recession."

Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "Barack Obama has unveiled a new federal initiative to combat the opioid crisis that has ravaged communities across the United States, causing more annual deaths in some states than car accidents. The president traveled on Wednesday to West Virginia, an epicenter of the nation's opioid and heroin epidemic, to detail his plan to try and reverse some of the harrowing statistics that have recently created a sense of urgency around substance abuse. In 2013 alone, more than 37,000 Americans died of a drug overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, and prescription painkillers accounted for 16,000 of those deaths." ...

... Video of the President outlining his initiative is here.

"Carl Icahn Pledges $150 Million to Help Build Ginormous Megaphone for Carl Icahn." Jaime Fuller of New York: "Billionaire investor Carl Icahn announced this morning that he had a new plan to 'end the crippling dysfunction in Congress.' Like many people before him who have tried to vanquish dysfunction -- or just Washington writ large -- he had the novel idea of starting a super-pac. And he's flooding it with $150 million, far more than any of the presidential candidates' super-pacs have been able to raise so far. Icahn's first goal is fighting for one specific legislative change '' blocking 'corporate tax inversions' -- that would probably help at least one company he happens to invest in: Apple." ...

... CW: Sorry, Carl, I don't see where advocating for certain legislation -- that happens to accrue to your benefit -- has anything whatever to do with "ending the crippling dysfunction in Congress." As for your claim that you're getting into politics because you have more money than you can spend, why exactly is it that you're getting into politics so you can make more money? Why not propose, say, increasing taxes on the rich?

Julian Hattem of the Hill: "WikiLeaks began posting what it claims are the contents of CIA Director John Brennan's private email account on Wednesday, days after a teenager claimed to have hacked into his account. The six initial emails posted by the anti-secrecy organization date from 2007 and 2008, and include personal information as well as draft versions of advice and policy positions. Additional documents will be posted 'over the coming days,' WikiLeaks said, while claiming that Brennan used the account 'occasionally for several intelligence related projects.' In a statement, CIA spokesman Dean Boyd did not dispute the authenticity of the leaked emails. 'The hacking of the Brennan family account is a crime and the Brennan family is the victim,' Boyd said." ...

... If you care to read Brennan's e-mails, you can access them via this WikiLeaks page.

Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Secretary of State John F. Kerry met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday to urge him to tone down his rhetoric as violence flared anew in Israel when a Palestinian stabbed a man at a bus stop near Jerusalem. Their meeting, which started shortly after Kerry arrived in the German capital, commenced with Netanyahu condemning Palestinian leaders, who he blamed for inciting an unrelenting series of stabbings and other attacks on Israelis over the past month."

Zeina Karam of the AP: "Russia's military intervention in Syria has deepened the sense that President Bashar Assad may survive the country's disastrous civil war, and his surprise visit to Moscow -- a first foray out in nearly five years -- underscores how emboldened the Syrian leader has become. The show of force by the two allies is a challenge to a U.S. administration whose response on Syria is widely seen in the region as inconsistent and chaotic."

Chris Mooney of the Washington Post: "In a sweeping new study published Wednesday in Nature, a team of researchers say there is a strong relationship between a region's average temperature and its economic productivity -- adding another potential cost to a warming climate." CW: Somebody should tell Marco Rubio (or really, any Republican politician) about this.

Anthony Faiola of the Washington Post: "At one point during a major summit of the Roman Catholic hierarchy that ends this weekend, a senior conservative bishop took the floor inside the Vatican's assembly hall and promptly charged his liberal peers with doing the devil's work. The three-week gathering, known as a synod, has erupted into a theological slugfest over Pope Francis's vision for a more inclusive church, displaying the most bitter and public infighting since the heady days of Catholic reform in the 1960s."

Presidential Race

** 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." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.):

... E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post: "It was a withdrawal speech that sounded like an announcement speech, and it perfectly captured the aching ambivalence of Joe Biden. He wanted to run for president. He had his favored issues. He had President Obama's record and was proud to defend it. And the man who noted he's often called 'Middle-Class Joe' felt he had never been a better match for the historical moment. ...

... "Long Live Joe Biden." Greg Sargent: "Biden enjoys, and will continue to enjoy, a tremendous amount of good will among Democratic voters. And rightfully so. As I've written before, Biden's 'goofy ol' fun-loving Uncle Joe' persona is mostly a product of the camera, which is unfair to him -- it never did justice to how serious a public servant and policy thinker he has been over the decades.... Liberals have had major differences with Biden over the years, but this is a man who has devoted a good deal of his life to the idea that government can be a force of good in improving people's lives." ...

... Margaret Hartmann: "With Biden officially out of the running, sources close to him are revealing what's been going on behind the scenes. Here's what we've learned from the various post-mortems on the VP's shadow campaign." ...

... Paul Kane & Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "Vice President Biden's announcement Wednesday that he will not seek the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination has given a further boost to resurgent frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton and clarified her terms of engagement with Bernie Sanders, who is waging a challenge from her left." ...

... Nate Cohn of the New York Times: "For all her struggles with poll numbers and the email investigation this year, Hillary Rodham Clinton has done one thing really well: dissuade mainstream opponents by dominating the invisible primary, the behind-the-scenes competition for elite support that often decides the nomination. Today, her dominance in the invisible primary yielded another victory. Vice President Joe Biden's decision to stay out of the presidential race leaves Mrs. Clinton as the only viable mainstream candidate in the race. It gives her an opportunity to unite the coalition of moderate, nonwhite and older voters who traditionally have an edge over the white progressives who now support Bernie Sanders." ...

Josh Voorhees of Slate provides a refresher course on the facts surrounding the Benghaazi matter. ...

... Julian Hattem: "Going against the wishes of Republicans, Democrats on Wednesday released the full transcript of nine hours of closed-door testimony from a former top aide to Hillary Clinton, a day before Clinton's appearance in an open hearing on Capitol Hill. The 307-page transcript from Cheryl Mills's September testimony contains no evidence that Clinton mishandled the U.S.&'s response to the 2012 terror attack on a U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya, according to Democrats on the select committee investigating the incident. Instead, Clinton was 'very engaged' in responding to the crisis, Mills said, according to the new transcript. In fact, her decision to go to a 'staff-level' meeting about the incident -- which would normally be below Clinton's level as secretary of State -- 'took some people aback,' she added." ...

... Gail Collins' column is titled "Hillary & Benghazi," but it's really about Trey Gowdy & Jeb Bush (& committee member Mike Pompeo). ...

... CW: By now we should have learned as a truism that any investigative committee run by confederates is a witch hunt, from the House Unamerican Activities Committeee to the Army McCarthy hearings to Whitewatergate to Fast & Furious to Planned Parenthood to Benghaazi! (and every committee in between). The media & the public should ignore these people & their fake investigations, except insofar as they wish to cite them as examples of fraud & abuse. ...

... So what's wrong with this sentence in Amy Chozick's NYT front-page piece on today's Benghaazi! grilling?

To succeed politically, [Clinton] must remain calm, take every question seriously and avoid outbursts during what is expected to be a daylong appearance, even amid her private frustration over what she sees as a Republican-led effort to hurt her presidential prospects.

     ... The words "what she sees as." It is what it is.

... Amanda Marcotte in Salon: "The spectacle is likely to be a repeat of last month's bizarre pseudo-hearing-cum-witch-hunt of Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards: A bunch of Republicans, making baseless accusations and insinuating conspiracy theories, for the purpose of riling up the conservative base while simultaneously impressing the rest of the country with how loony the GOP has become. And, like the Planned Parenthood hearings, the grilling of Clinton will be an opportunity for Republicans to engage is crass sexism while pretending that they're somehow being high and mighty." ...

... BUT. Brian Beutler: "... unlike the investigative committee that grilled Richards, the Benghazi Committee is in the midst of an existential crisis.... Under the circumstances, it stands to reason that Republicans won't bark and holler at Clinton but will instead be excessively genteel and restrained, while honing in on details designed to paint her in an unflattering light. If that's the tack they take it'll demonstrate uncharacteristic restraint. What it won't demonstrate is that long-debunked Benghazi conspiracy theories have genuine merit." ...

... Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) took shots at the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Wednesday, a day before former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's appearance before the panel. In recent weeks, it's become absolutely clear that this committee is nothing more than a political hit job on Hillary Clinton,' the Democratic leader said. 'They're going to bring her in tomorrow. They said be ready for eight hours, eight hours of interrogation, and that's what this is, interrogation.' Reid added that Senate Democrats have sent a letter to the Republican National Committee (RNC) asking that it reimburse the American taxpayers for any money spent on the Benghazi committee. Reid said the request is 'only fair since the so-called committee is clearly a Republican political organization.'" ...

... Emily Atkin of Think Progress: "An analysis of Congressional attention to previous high-profile terror incidents suggests that significantly more emphasis has been placed on Benghazi than other terrorism acts. The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, the 1998 embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the 1996 Khobar Tower bombing, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, and even the attacks of September 11, 2001 -- all received less Congressional attention than Benghazi in the form of formal hearings and investigations into their respective causes."

Bernie Sanders, in a Washington Post op-ed, makes a compelling case for free public college tuition.

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "CNBC has set the stages for the Republican presidential debate next Wednesday. The 6 p.m. undercard will feature Rick Santorum, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, George Pataki and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. They will be relegated to the early slot because their average national poll numbers in the last five weeks are below 2.5 percent. The main event, to begin shortly after 8 p.m., will have 10 candidates: Donald J. Trump, Ben Carson, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Huckabee, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, Gov. John Kasich of Ohio and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. The lineups preserve the status quo of the previous two Republican debates in that none of the candidates were demoted from the prime-time event or banished from debating at all." ...

... Margaret Hartmann: "The network's cutoff for the main debate was an average of at least 3 percent in several recent polls, and there was concern that Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, John Kasich, and Rand Paul wouldn't make it. On Wednesday CNBC revealed the debate lineup, and they all qualified -- though it looks Christie, Kasich, and Paul had to take advantage of the network's promise to round up averages above 2.5 percent. (Huckabee had a whopping 3.56 percent.)"

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "One of the more unusual aspects of Donald Trump's three-plus months at the top of the Republican presidential field is that to so many, myself included, it still seems like it's only temporary.... But the real numbers, including those in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, support the idea that Trump will continue to lead and that he could win the nomination.... His lead has actually been much more stable this year than Mitt Romney's was in the latter half of 2011.... But we'll see." ...

... MEANWHILE, presidential historian Mark Updegrove, in a Politico Magazine essay, is still betting Jeb! will be the GOP nominee. "... will GOP voters ... make Trump their candidate? No. In their heads, they'll know he's wrong." ...

... Ron Brownstein of the National Journal: "The blue-collar wing of the Republian primary electorate has consolidated around one candidate. The party's white-collar wing remains fragmented. That may be the most concise explanation of the dynamic that has propelled Donald Trump to a consistent and sometimes commanding lead in the early stages of the GOP presidential nomination contest."

Sabrina Siddiqui: "... Marco Rubio slammed the mainstream media on Tuesday for devoting more coverage to the killing of Cecil the lion than to so-called 'sanctuary cities' that shield individuals from federal immigration laws. In an interview with the conservative Newsmax TV, Rubio sharply criticized both the media and Democrats after a bill he co-sponsored that would crack down on sanctuary cities failed to advance in the US Senate."

Beyond the Beltway

Adam Nagourny of the New York Times: Kevin Johnson, the mayor of Sacramento, will not seek a third term after Deadspin released a video of a police interview of a then-16-year-old girl who describes sexual abuse by Johnson 20 years ago when he was a Phoenix Suns player. Police did not charge Johnson. He paid the girl, Mandi Koba, $230,000. Johnson is a Democrat. Married to Michelle Rhee, the controversial educator, Johnson too has battled the local teachers' union & blames union members for raising the issue. The videos are here. ...

... Johnson seems to be a professional groper. Via Charles Pierce.

Ellen Brait of the Guardian: "Police have arrested a man suspected in the killing a New York City police officer on Tuesday night in East Harlem. Tyrone Howard, who has had a warrant on a separate issue out for his arrest since 17 September, is expected to be charged with fatally shooting officer Randolph Holder during a gunfight Tuesday night on a pedestrian bridge after he allegedly stole a bike." The New York Times story, by Al Baker & David Goodman, is here.

News Ledes

New York Times: "An American soldier was fatally wounded on Thursday as American and Kurdish commandos raided an Islamic State prison in northern Iraq after learning that the prisoners faced imminent mass execution, the Pentagon said. The commando became the first American soldier killed in action in Iraq since the withdrawal in 2011."

AP: "A masked man attacked a school in southern Sweden on Thursday before being shot by police. Health authorities said one teacher was killed and two students seriously wounded in the attack.... Police spokesman Thomas Fuxborg told The Associated Press the attacker was in his 20s and carried more than one weapon, including 'at least one knife-like object.' Fuxborg said police fired two shots, one of which hit the attacker. Health authorities in Trollhattan

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 of the New York Times: 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."

The Commentariat -- October 20, 2015

Internal links removed.

Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "Federal regulators said Monday that they will require recreational drone users to register their aircraft with the government for the first time in an attempt to track rogue flying robots that are increasingly posing a threat to aviation safety. The decision to compel drone owners to register their aircraft represents a policy shift by the Obama administration and a tacit admission by the Federal Aviation Administration that it has been unable to safely integrate the popular remote-controlled planes into the national airspace." CW: Apparently the Second Amendment does not cover drones. Or else the drone lobby sucks compared to the NRA.

** Matt Yglesias of Vox: "The Democratic Party is in much greater peril than its leaders or supporters recognize, and it has no plan to save itself.... Not only have Republicans won most elections, but they have a perfectly reasonable plan for trying to recapture the White House. But Democrats have nothing at all in the works to redress their crippling weakness down the ballot. Democrats aren't even talking about how to improve on their weak points, because by and large they don't even admit that they exist.... The worst part of the problem for the Democratic Party is in races that are, collectively, the most important: state government." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "... aside from Matt's questionable assessment of Democratic self-knowledge, his hypothesis also suffers a bit from the assumption that the party's downballot problems can be dispelled by more effort or some undefined 'plan.'" ...

... Elias Isquith of Salon: "... while Republicans have big money at the top, they have passionate rank-and-file support at the bottom, too. They have corporate overlords like the Koch brothers, sure. But they've also got 'boots on the ground' to make calls, knock on doors, and pass around campaign literature." CW: They also have old people, who vote in off-year elections. But more importantly, they have anger -- and greed -- on their side. The Republican establishment, including outlets like Fox "News," has convinced right-leaning voters that crazy demands are reasonable & that every time Democrats block the crazy demands, they further victimize the American people. GOP voters see even very conservative Republicans, like John Boehner & John Roberts, as part of a vast left-wing conspiracy to deprive ordinary Americans of their god-given right to do whatever the hell they want. That kind of anger does exist among liberals, but it's fringier.

You may see Gowdy's chapeau as a warlock's hat. On the other hand, you may see it as a dunce cap. Whatever the case, you're right.Gowdy "Endangers National Security." Josh Gerstein of Politico: "... Trey Gowdy appears to have accidentally released the name of a CIA source in the midst of a back-and-forth with Democrats about ... its presence in former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton/s private email account.... The email posted Sunday on the [Benghaazi! committee]'s website included in one instance the name of 'Mousa Kousa,' an alternative spelling of Moussa Koussa, a former Libyan government spy chief and foreign minister. The name appeared to have been redacted in several other instances but was included in a subject line of a forwarded email. The redacted email was released at Gowdy's direction.... By Monday morning, the committee had replaced the document online with another version in which Koussa's name does not appear.... A spokesman for [Rep. Elijah] Cummings [(D-Md.), the ranking member on the committee,] said the episode underscored why Gowdy should not have released the email until the State Department completed reviewing the records for public release...." ...

... Michael Isikoff's story on Gowdy's slip-ups is here. ...

... CW: This is hilarious. Last week, Rep. Gowdy said Secretary Clinton had "endangered national security" when she forwarded an e-mail that contained Koussa's name, a name Gowdy asserted was classified. But of course Clinton did not reveal Koussa's name to the public; she sent the information on to another person in the State Department. THEN Sunday, Rep. Cummings announced that, according to the CIA, Koussa's identity was not classified. So Gowdy, in his initial leak of the correspondence, had defamed Clinton over nothing. THEN, in response to Cummings' criticsim (and call for an apology to Clinton), Gowdy himself actually did release Koussa's name to the public -- for the first time. The person who "endangered national security," to borrow Gowdy's words, was not Clinton, but Gowdy. What an ass! ...

... Rachel Bade of Politico: "Three days out from Hillary Clinton's high-stakes appearance before the House Select Committee on Benghazi, panel Democrats released excerpts from closed-door committee interviews they said showed there was 'no evidence' substantiating 'wild Republican conspiracy theories' about Clinton's response to the Benghazi attacks. The 124-page report concludes that investigators thus far have found no evidence over the course of 54 transcribed interviews that suggests the former Secretary of State had specifically ordered the military to stand down on the night of the deadly attack, or 'personally' directed State's reduction of security in Benghazi beforehand." ...

... Charles Pierce: "Benghazi Committee Guy Thinks Criticism of His Committee Is the Biggest Conspiracy Since Benghazi." ...

... Brian Beutler: "Ever since Watergate, Republicans have been consumed with the certainty that a similar scandal will one day befall Democrats, and have gone to great lengths to make it so. But when their inquiries run aground, or devolve into partisan witch hunting, they eventually relent, and allow the investigations to fizzle out. The Benghazi committee is flirting with the same fate."

... MEANWHILE. Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "The FBI is investigating claims by an anonymous computer hacker that he stole potentially sensitive files from the private e-mail account of CIA Director John Brennan and posted them online, U.S. officials said. The exposed documents appear to include a roster of senior U.S. national security officials with their phone and Social Security numbers, a log of calls made by former CIA deputy director Avril Haines and a list of e-mail addresses that the hacker claimed were taken from Brennan's AOL account.... Other U.S. officials said that the FBI had launched an inquiry and that the Secret Service was investigating related claims that the hacker obtained private information from Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson.... The claims were first reported Monday by the New York Post, which described the unnamed hacker as a 'stoner high-school student.'..." ...

... No Knowledge of Computers Necessary. Sam Thielman of the Guardian has more details on the Brennan hack: "Former National Security Agency technical director Jasper Graham said the highly embarrassing breach of Brennan's email was likely a 'social engineering' attack, in which personal information supposedly only the account holder would know is used to break in." ...

... CW: It occurs to me that what is needed now is a hacker willing & able to break into Trey Gowdy's e-mail account & reveal that e-mail where he said, "Kevin McCarthy is an idiot." No, wait, he already said that on national TV. Something else, then, like the name of his hair stylist.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Bruce Campion-Smith of the Toronto Star: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. That title, which seemed improbable a mere 11 weeks ago, is now set to become a reality after the Liberals' historic, come-from-behind election result, besting incumbent Conservatives and hopeful New Democrats in one of the country's longest and costliest elections.... Preliminary results had the Liberals at 184 seats, comfortably more than the 170 seats needed for a majority government in the expanded 338-seat House of Commons. It's a stunning rebound for a party that had been knocked down to 34 seats in the 2011 election and left for dead. The Conservatives won 102 seats, the New Democrats 41, the Bloc Québécois 10 and the Green Party had one seat, won by leader Elizabeth May." ...

... The New York Times story on the results, by Ian Austen, is here. ...

... Robin King of the Toronto Star, linked below: "Polls are closing across Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies and three broadcasters have called the election for the Liberals after the party sweeps East Coast. CBC, CTV and Global news are projecting the Liberal Party will form the next government." ...

... From the Guardian Liveblog 1, linked below: "Although the networks have called victory for Trudeau and the Liberals, it's not clear whether the latter have enough clout to actually pull off a majority government." ...

... Ian Austen of the New York Times (linked above): "Despite a campaign that was the longest in modern Canada's history, if remarkably swift by American standards, no obvious outcome has developed as Canadians vote on Monday." ...

... The Toronto Star is posting results here. ...

... (1) The Guardian is liveblogging the election. (2) The Guardian's new liveblog on the election is here. ...

... Peter Edwards of the Toronto Star: On this week's "Last Week Tonight," John Oliver said he was "breaking a [Canadian] election law forbidding foreigners from influencing Canadian elections that comes with a $5,000 fine and six-month jail term to share it.... The good news, for Oliver: he need not fear being sent to the slammer.... Canadian elections authorities explained Monday that there's no law against foreigners expressing an opinion. They said the legal provision in question -- section 331 of the Canada Elections Act -- has been on the books since the 1920s and it doesn't cover people stating their view.... Elections Canada spokesman John Enright ... said the key provision refers to people who 'induce' Canadians: 'To induce there must be a tangible thing offered. A personal view is not inducement,' he added." See yesterday's Commentariat for context. ...

... Also see Cowichan's comment at the end of yesterday's thread: he provides a list of the documents that will suffice to prove your eligibility to vote in Canada. They're pretty much what you need in the U.S. to get a library card. And in all likelihood, you have the U.S. equivalent to a number of them. You must provide two of the listed documents if you don't have a driver's license picture I.D. Cowichan said he figured he had 18 of the type of documents required.

Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Obama had time to meet with 'clock kid' Ahmed Mohamed after all. Obama greeted Mohamed, 14, on Monday during the White House's Astronomy Night on the South Lawn. The president personally invited the Texas teenager to the event after he was arrested last month for bringing a homemade clock to school. Earlier Monday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest downplayed the possibility of Obama meeting Mohamed."

Gary Langer & Gregory Holyk of ABC News: "More than half of Americans in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll approve of Barack Obama's job performance, a first in nearly two and a half years. That compares with 71 percent disapproval of the Republicans in Congress with six in 10 calling their struggle to select a new House speaker a sign of dysfunction within the GOP caucus."

Art Swift of Gallup: "Fifty-five percent of Americans say they want laws covering the sale of firearms to be stricter than they are now, a distinct rise of eight percentage points from 2014. Fewer Americans than last year want the laws to be less strict, and the proportion who want the laws to stay the same has also declined slightly."

Dana Milbank: Sheldon Adelson "has no particular insight into politics. Yet, with the possible exception of the Koch brothers, he exerts more influence over elections than any person in America.... On Israel and Jewish issues, likewise, Adelson's insights are unoriginal. But he has become one of the most influential American Jewish figures -- and a leading voice for Israel hard-liners -- just by throwing around a lot of cash.... Nobody would listen to Adelson if he weren't worth $26 billion."

Catherine Thompson of TPM: "If Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) wants to impeach her on day one.... Brooks [said] that he thought Clinton's exclusive use of a private email account as secretary of state violated 'all rules of law that are designed to protect America's top-secret and classified information from falling into the hands of our geopolitical foes who then might use that information to result in the deaths of Americans.'" CW: I believe some while back I mentioned that Republicans would try to "pre-impeach" Hillary. Apparently, the proceedings are underway. I wonder if Mo feels the same way about Trey Gowdy, the actual publisher of "top-secret and classified information." (Okay, what Gowdy published was not classified, but he said it was.)

Charles Pierce is a bit exercised that ole Judd Gregg (R-N.H.-way back) is playing the class card. It's what Republicans do. They pretend you're just as good as they are & if only you'd vote for them, they would unlease their freeedom, & you'd become as rich as David Koch. It's a con millions of Americans have fallen for again & again. It's "devisive" Democrats, see, who want to keep you down & out & dependent upon food stamps, Obamaphones & other handy goodies to keep close by your hammock.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Josh Marshall of TPM: "Watching things unravel, it's hard not to ask, where'd they find Trey Gowdy? The latest, of course, is that he inadvertently revealed the name of a CIA asset in the course of falsely accusing Hillary Clinton of doing the same. Great work! This is after being reduced to demanding that fellow Republicans in the House stop saying his Committee is abjectly political and designed to attack Hillary Clinton.... It all goes back to Kevin McCarthy saying out loud what had long been transparently obvious: that the committee was designed to and was hammering Hillary Clinton's poll numbers. It got a bit more steam when other Republicans starting saying the same thing. But McCarthy's comment was [journalists'] permission slip.... Journalists either felt that they needed such a statement to start looking at what this investigation was about.... Everybody knew what was up. But you couldn't say it because doing so violated the 'two, equally valid arguments on both sides' rule.... And that's really not the way it should work."

The Very Brief Campaign of Joe Biden. Tom McGeveran of Politico: "The Washington Post published an item Monday evening to its website with the headline 'Biden to launch a presidential campaign.' But even the fast clickers were disappointed to reach a page on the Washington Post website titled 'Editor's Note' that read, 'This file was inadvertently published.'... Post congressional reporter Paul Kane, whose byline appeared on the article, was quick to tweet ... this wasn't news published before it was ready -- just a 'shell' story prepared so that the Post could push the button faster in case Biden did announce."

Jay Carney of Amazon, in Medium: "'Nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desk.' If you read the recent New York Times article about Amazon's culture, you remember that quote. Attributed to Bo Olson, the image of countless employees crying at their desks set the tone for a front-page story that other media outlets described as 'scathing,' 'blistering,' 'brutal' and 'harsh.' Here's what the story didn't tell you about Mr. Olson: his brief tenure at Amazon ended after an investigation revealed he had attempted to defraud vendors and conceal it by falsifying business records. When confronted with the evidence, he admitted it and resigned immediately.... [Reporter Jodi] Kantor never asked us to check or comment on any of the dozen or so negative anecdotes from named sources that form the narrative backbone of the story." ...

... Times executive editor Dean Baquet responds: Did not. And you lie. ...

... Jay Carney responds to Baquet's response: Did, too. "The bottom line is the New York Times chose not to fact-check or vet its most important on-the-record sources, despite working on the story for six months. I really don't see a defensible explanation for that failure." ...

... Nick Wingfield & Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times: "In an unusually public tussle over a prominent article, a senior executive from Amazon and the top editor of The New York Times clashed on Monday over the details in a Times article about the Internet retailer's work culture." ...

... Jason Abbruzzese of Mashable rounds up some reactions to the set-to between Amazon & the Times. CW: No one seems to wonder if the Times piece had anything to do with the fact that Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post, the Times' biggest competitor. Whatever. Amazon still sucks.

Presidential Race

Leigh Ann Caldwell & Kristen Welker of NBC News: "Vice President Joe Biden is nearing a decision on if he will enter the presidential race, which could come within 48 hours, two sources tells NBC News."

This Should Work. Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Jim Webb, the longshot Democratic presidential candidate, may run as an independent, his campaign said in an email to reporters on Monday evening. The former Virginia senator, who complained last week about not having enough talking time on the stage during the first Democratic debate in Las Vegas, will hold a press conference in Washington on Tuesday to discuss his options." CW: The move could force one of the other Democratic candidates to take up Webb's main campaign issue: "I'm not getting enough speaking time." I believe Bernie Sanders -- or Larry David -- would be exceptionally good at this.

Carrie Dann of NBC News: "Donald Trump remains the front-runner in the Republican presidential field, while former neurosurgeon Ben Carson holds a close second place, a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows. With the backing of 25 percent of Republican primary voters, Trump is at his highest level of support in the poll since entering the 2016 race." ...

... Nick Gass of Politico: "Carly Fiorina's time near the top of the Republican polls may have come to an end, as another national CNN/ORC poll out Tuesday suggests. Just 4 percent of Republican or Republican-leaning voters said they would cast their votes for her in a primary election, down from 15 percent in September."

Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "In 2000, 19 months before Sept. 11, 2001, Donald Trump wrote extensively of the terrorism threat the United States was facing. Trump, who at the time was considering a presidential bid on the Reform Party ticket, went so far as to say that an attack on a major U.S. city was not just a probability, but an inevitability. 'I really am convinced we're in danger of the sort of terrorist attacks that will make the bombing of the Trade Center look like kids playing with firecrackers,' wrote Trump in his 2000 book, The America We Deserve. 'No sensible analyst rejects this possibility, and plenty of them, like me, are not wondering if but when it will happen.' Trump even mentions Osama bin Laden by name...." ...

... Andrew Kaczynski: "... Donald Trump says there are actually 100 million people who are unemployed in the United States.Trump has previously said the number was 93 million, a number that independent fact-checking site Politifact said was 'way too high.'... As noted by Politifact, Trump is including in his accounting every American of retirement age and those 16 years old and above and represents 'a basic misunderstanding of the labor market.' The Wall Street Journal brutally declared in a headline of Trump previous account, 'Donald Trump Is Right: About 42% of Americans Are Unemployed (If You Include My 88-Year-Old Grandma).'"

I just don't like the guy. -- George W. Bush, on Ted Cruz, speaking to Jeb! donors ...

... Eli Stokols of Politico: "One donor in the room said the former president had been offering mostly anodyne accounts of how the Bush family network views the current campaign and charming off-the-cuff jokes, until he launched into Cruz. 'The tenor of what he said about the other candidates was really pretty pleasant,' another donor said. 'Until he got to Cruz.'... George W. Bush is well acquainted with his home-state senator, who served as a domestic policy adviser on his 2000 campaign before rising to national prominence by distancing himself from -- and often going out of his way to antagonize -- the GOP establishment." ...

... Marc Caputo of Politico: "For the first time, former Florida governor Jeb Bush has fallen into single digits in a home-state Republican primary poll that shows Donald Trump still in front, trailed by Ben Carson and Sen. Marco Rubio. Jeb Bush's 9-percent, fourth-place showing in the University of North Florida poll is his worst showing in any survey of likely Florida Republican voters." ...

... Ryan Lizza has a long piece in the New Yorker on where Jeb! went wrong. Lizza concentrates on Jeb!'s neo-con foreign policy.

Beyond the Beltway

Carolyn Bankoff of New York: "It's 2015, yet a Rockland County[, New York,] newspaper still managed to publish a job ad specifying that Haitians need not apply." CW: Yeah, most people know enough not to put that in writing; but they won't even interview you if you "sound black" when you phone them about the job.