The Commentariat -- Sept. 22, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon Update:
Abby Ohlheiser & Michelle Boorstein of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis descended from the plane at Joint Base Andrews to cheers under cloudy skies and a steady breeze that lifted the black robes of the awaiting bishops and kept the flags rippling on the tarmac. Waiting for him: President Obama, who rarely greets arriving foreign dignitaries on the tarmac, where a pink carpet had been rolled out just minutes before the pope's chartered Alitalia jet landed more than 10 minutes ahead of schedule." ...
Nick Gass of Politico: "Debbie Wasserman Schultz wants Marco Rubio to cancel his presidential fundraiser Tuesday evening at the home of a real estate investor who has collected art from Adolf Hitler and who also owns a signed copy of 'Mein Kampf.' There is 'really no excuse,' she said in a statement released through the Democratic National Committee, calling the event 'tasteless.' The Florida lawmaker and DNC chairwoman remarked that Rubio is 'adding insult to injury' by holding the event at the home of Harlan Crow and his wife Kathy in the tony Dallas suburb of Highland Park, Texas, on the eve of Yom Kippur...."
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The Senate failed on Tuesday to advance a bill that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy in a high-profile messaging vote held by Republican leaders ahead of Pope Francis's visit to the Capitol. The result was expected. Democrats pledged to filibuster the bill, which passed the House earlier this year, and Republicans could not garner the 60 votes necessary to block it. The vote was 54 to 42. Two Republicans -- Susan Collins of Maine and Mark Kirk of Illinois -- voted against proceeding with the bill. Three Democrats -- Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, voted in favor. Four senators -- Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) -- did not vote."
James Kanter of the New York Times: "European Union ministers approved a plan on Tuesday that would compel member countries to take in 120,000 migrants seeking refuge on the Continent -- but only after overruling four countries in Central Europe. The plan to apportion the migrants, still only a small fraction of those flowing into Europe, was approved by home affairs and interior ministers of the member countries after a vigorous debate.... The Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia voted no. Finland abstained."
Burgess Everett & Seung Min Kim of Politico: Mitch McConnell has a plan to avoid a government shutdown. One itty-bitty catch: "... there's no guarantee that the House will accept what the Senate sends over." CW: Isn't it ridiculous that a party "leader" has to try to finagle -- possibly without success -- a convoluted strategy to get his own caucus to cooperate when a functioning government is at stake? Thanks, winger-voters everywhere, for foisting these yahoos on the rest of us.
*****
Your Government Is Working for You. Bill Vlasic & Aaron Kessler of the New York Times: "Volkswagen executives told environmental regulators for more than a year that discrepancies between pollution tests on its diesel cars and the starkly higher levels out on the road were a technical error, not a deliberate attempt to deceive Washington officials. But this month, the executives made a startling admission: The diesel vehicles it sold in the United States used software meant to cheat on the tests. VW made the admission only when the Environmental Protection Agency took the extraordinary action of threatening to withhold approval for the company's 2016 Volkswagen and Audi diesel models...."
Your Government Is Not Working for You. OR Why Journalism Matters. Andrew Pollack of the New York Times: "A huge overnight price increase for an important tuberculosis drug has been rescinded after the company that acquired the drug gave it back to its previous owner under pressure, it was announced on Monday.... Cycloserine[, a tuberculosis drug.] was acquired last month by Rodelis Therapeutics, which promptly raised the price to $10,800 for 30 capsules, from $500.... The drug made by generic companies abroad costs only about $20 for 100 capsules.... But the company agreed to return the drug to its former owner, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Purdue University, the organization said on Monday.... However, outrage over a gigantic price increase for another drug [-- Daraprim, used to treat parasitic infection --] spread into the political sphere on Monday, causing biotechnology stocks to fall broadly as investors worried about possible government action to control pharmaceutical prices. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index fell more than 4 percent. 'Price-gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous,' Hillary Rodham Clinton ... said in a tweet on Monday. She said she would announce a plan on Tuesday to deal with rising drug prices.... Senator Bernie Sanders ... sent Turing [Daraprim's new owner] a letter on Monday demanding information on the price increase. Turing's CEO, Martin Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager, who raised the drug's price from $13.50 per pill to $750, "does not appear ready to surrender." See also Pollack's story linked in yesterday's Commentariat.
Senate Republicans Inaugurate Keep 'em Pregnant Week. Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Senate Republicans on Monday night started the Senate's fast-track process on legislation that would block federal funding for Planned Parenthood.... Senate Republicans also started the fast-track process on a House-passed bill that would tighten restrictions on abortion doctors who violate infant protections."
Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "Senate Democratic leaders on Tuesday plan to unveil a measure intended to signal their full-throated support of President Obama's aggressive climate change agenda to 2016 voters and to the rest of the world. The Democrats hope that the bill, sponsored by Senator Maria Cantwell, of Washington, the top Democrat on the Senate Energy Committee, will demonstrate a new unity for the party on energy and climate change, and define Democrats' approach to global warming policy in the coming years."
GOP Hopes to Roll Obama. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Republicans want President Obama as a negotiating partner when it comes to budget talks, something Democrats are determined to avoid.... Democrats, however, are determined to keep a seat at the table -- in part because they think they'll drive a tougher bargain than Obama, whose past efforts to make deals with Republicans unnerves Capitol Hill liberals."
Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "... an often-overlooked feature of the Obama presidency: Obama has presided over the most demographically diverse administration in history, according to a new analysis of his top appointments. The majority of top policy appointments within the executive branch are held by women and minorities for the first time in history. The transformation partly reflects a broader trend in U.S. society, but it also reflects the results of a calculated strategy by the nation's first African American president. The shifts are significant enough, experts say, that they may have forever transformed the face of government."
When the Ship of Fools Is Rudderless. Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "... the debate over Islam is particularly worrisome for Republicans because it so vividly highlights the vacuum that has been created by the absence of a unifying leader who can temper the impulses of the rank-and-file."
Presidential Race
The Bible is full of stories about people who are called to be leaders in unusual ways. Today, I believe that I am being called to lead by helping to clear the field in this race so that a positive conservative message will rise to the top of the field. With this in mind, I will suspend my campaign immediately. -- Scott Walker, today
Alexander Burns, et al., of the New York Times: "Short of support and cash, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, saying he had been 'called to lead by helping to clear the field,' announced Monday that he was suspending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination." CW: So that was "God's plan." Proof there is a god & she has a sense of humor. ...
... The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's story, by Jason Stein & others, is here. ...
... Eli Stokols of Politico: "Scott Walker decided to end his 2016 campaign after burning through cash and disappointing donors who thought the one-time frontrunner would be one of the last men standing this primary season.... The sudden decision opens up opportunities for other candidates, among them Marco Rubio, who has already scored some of Walker's financial backers." ...
... Rat Race. BuzzFeed: The Walker story beats out pizza rat! ...
... Glenn Thrush of Politico: "From presumed front-runner to quitter, Walker's fall was fast.... After a promising start last winter, the two-term Wisconsin governor turned out to be a tentative and mistake-prone candidate who badly fumbled core Republican issues -- especially birthright citizenship -- that Trump and other top GOP candidates handled with relative ease." ...
... Steve M.: "Horserace journalists say that every candidate occupies a 'lane,' but most straddle a couple of lanes. Walker was in exactly two -- and in each one an outsider roared past him. So he was left in the dust." ...
I thought he could stand up to 'death threats' and poster-waving citizens and ISIS? This is exemplary of the entirely empty suit that pathetic little man is. Hopefully after showing he's a complete deadbolt nationally, Wisconsinites will wake up and throw his ass in the gutter where he belongs. -- safari, in yesterday's Comments
Watch out, Badgers. Wisconsin does not term-limit governors. -- Constant Weader
... See also Nadd2's commentary at the top of today's Comments. ...
... Jonathan Chait: Scott Walker won three statewide elections in Wisconsin, which has supported the Democrat in every presidential election since 1984. He led national Republican polling as recently as March. He led in Iowa by enormous margins as recently as August. The Koch brothers loved him. Walker had spent his entire adult life developing an almost superhuman fealty to the principles of the modern Republican Party, its Reaganolotry, and, above all, a ruthless commitment to crushing its enemies beneath his boot heel. If there was anything that gave Walker joy, other than eating copious amounts of trayf, it was the goal of wiping organized labor off the map. As Grover Norquist enthused in May, 'when you meet him, it's like seeing somebody who sits on a throne on the skulls of his enemies.' The collapse of his presidential campaign, culminating with his departure today, has taken place with head-spinning speed." ...
... "The Decline & Fall" of a Pipsqueak. Molly Ball of the Atlantic: " Scott Walker's fall was especially precipitous. The Wisconsin governor's campaign lasted just 70 days. He came in as the Iowa frontrunner and departed a few weeks later as an asterisk, with too little support even to be assigned a number in the last national poll. ...
... Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin was among the most successful fund-raisers in his party, with a clutch of billionaires in his corner and tens of millions of dollars behind his presidential ambitions. But his swift decline and exit from the presidential race on Monday was a stark reminder that even unlimited money has its limits.... Super PACs, Mr. Walker learned, cannot pay rent, phone bills, salaries, airfares or ballot access fees. They are not entitled to the preferential rates on advertising that federal law grants candidates, forcing them to pay far more money than candidates must for the same television and radio time." CW: I'm sure the Supremes will want to dispose of that flaw. Look for superPAC lawsuits in a court near you. Because equality: a dollar here should be worth a dollar there.
** Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "As commander in chief of the New Jersey National Guard, [Gov. Chris Christie] is in charge of 8,400 citizen soldiers, a militia that has become increasingly dysfunctional under his watch.... Christie (R) reappointed a two-star Army general -- a childhood friend -- to lead the Guard. But the married general was forced to resign in disgrace after staff members caught him having an affair at work.... The governor's next pick, an Air Force pilot, was secretly reprimanded by the Pentagon last year for his excessive waistline and for repeatedly ducking physical-fitness tests.... More recently, several high-ranking officers have filed whistleblower complaints, alleging that the Guard's leadership is plagued by cronyism, racism and a 'toxic' command climate, among other problems."
Absolutely, I stand by the comments. What we have to do, we have to recognize that this is America, and we have a Constitution, and we do not put people at the leadership of our country whose faith might interfere with them carrying out the duties of the Constitution. -- Ben Carson, speaking to Sean Hannity ...
... CW: On Sean Hannity's show, of all places, Dr. Ben sort of walks back his remarks on Muslims. You have to read the Politico report to appreciate Carson's "reasoning." It's pretty hilarious. Remember as you read that Carson doesn't think Christian public officials have to follow the law & the Constitution. ...
... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The White House on Monday denounced Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson for saying a Muslim should not be president of the United States. Press secretary Josh Earnest said Carson's comments are 'entirely inconsistent with the Constitution' and the First Amendment.... Several of Carson's rivals have rebuked him over the remarks. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the remarks are evidence that Carson is 'not ready to be commander in chief,' while Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) noted that the Constitution explicitly rules out a religious test for office. Carson's comments drew the ire of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent Muslim advocacy group, which called on the candidate to withdraw from the race." ...
... Kathie Obradovich & Linh Ta of the Des Moines Register: "It would be unconstitutional to disqualify a Muslim from the presidency because of religion, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz said Sunday. 'You know, the Constitution specifies there shall be no religious test for public office and I am a constitutionalist,' the Texas senator said during the taping of 'Iowa Press' at Iowa Public Television.... He said [Muslim Syrian refugees] should settle in other Middle Eastern countries, citing concerns that some of the purported refugees may actually be terrorists." ...
... Dubya's scribe Michael Gerson of the Washington Post: "Carson argues that Muslims are unfit for high office because they hold a conception of divine law that is inconsistent with a liberal, democratic order. A significant portion of the country would disqualify Carson for exactly the same reason [because of his fundamentalist Christian views].... Carson, Donald Trump and other Republican candidates need to step back a moment and consider what they are doing. By targeting various groups for suspicion -- calling Muslims a danger to the Constitution or attacking undocumented immigrants as rapists and murderers -- they are opening up a space for some of the worst elements of our society.... What gain or goal is worth the cost of breathing life into bigotry?" ...
... Andy Borowitz: "Brain surgeons, long burdened with the onerous reputation of being among the smartest people in the world, are expressing relief that the Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson is shattering that stereotype once and for all." Thanks to Barbarossa for the link. ...
... Alex Griswold of Mediaite: "When asked about the possibility of having a Muslim in the White House, Donald Trump said on NBC's Meet the Press that some people think it's already happened." ...
... digby: "At this stage of the electoral process the Donald Trump campaign is literally a live reality TV show that is being shown on several different networks at once, all of whom are making a bundle from it. And in the process, he is breaking down the system that's been dominating TV news for the past 20 years."
Re: the potential impacts of the Trumpster, Charles Pierce thinks Frank Rich is a dewy-eyed dilettante from Neverland. ...
... CW: Pierce can't see the irony of a billionaire's campaign. Trump is flouting the "invisible campaign" -- the one where the would-be leaders of the free world repeatedly grovel at the feet of the real power -- & flaunting his (supposed) billions as evidence of comparative purity. Like Ross Perot before him, he will probably flame out Rumplestiltskin-style, but not before reminding us again & again that all the other major candidates (save Bernie Sanders) are merely the tools of the mega-rich. The candidates are littlle rodents, whom the billionaires cannot save from themselves (Scott Walker, Newt Gingrich). Trump is not a populist, but he is demonstrating anew that (at least until Prince Rebus & his band of bandits get in there & fix the voting machines), the people have the last word. As further irony, albeit unintended, Trump is also reminding us that billionaires are not a helluva a lot better than the rest of us.
... Steve M. takes issue with Rich, too. ...
... CW: It isn't that Trump himself is exhibiting anything approaching candor; it's that all politicians are masters of duplicity, and every voter knows it. So it is in secret recordings -- the 47 percent -- or in gaffes -- "I'm not sure we need a half a billion dollars for women's health issues" -- that we glean any real sense of the candidates. Trump poll-tests, too, even if his "poll" is as informal as a finger in the wind. Trump is the clown -- the gross, cartoonish exaggeration of the politician -- whose mimicry exposes the farce that journalists & pundits so earnestly portray as consequential. ...
... Joe Nocera: "... my favorite moment in last week’s Republican debate came when Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump got into a spat over which of them had the lousier track record as business leaders.... They're both right. Fiorina's tenure at HP was indeed a disaster, and Trump's casino interests did indeed file for bankruptcy multiple times.... By every metric that mattered, HP was in far worse shape when she was fired than when she was hired.... The key fact about Trump's early success is that it would never have happened without his father Fred's money.... In effect, his post-1988 business career has cost him $5 billion.... Even putting aside their policy positions, their narcissism, their poor records as leaders and their lack of scruples in spinning failures as triumphs all suggest that Fiorina and Trump would make terrible presidents." Nocera goes on to suggest that Michael Bloomberg is the businessman who is qualified to run for president. ...
... Sam Stein & Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: "... Carly Fiorina's explanation for a controversial business practice undertaken by Hewlett Packard during her time running that company appears incomplete, if not misleading.... If Fiorina was unaware of HP products ending up in Iran, it appears to be partially because she wasn't looking or listening.... As for Fiorina's assertion that HP only discovered the Iran-related transactions three years after she left the company, that too seems unlikely. The company, after all, was known to use subsidiaries to circumvent sanctions law.... With respect to Fiorina's suggestion that 'the S.E.C. investigation proved that neither I nor anyone else in management knew about' the company's business dealings in Iran, it's not entirely clear what investigation she's discussing." Stein & Bobic could not find any SEC investigation of HP's illegal sales to Iran; they found only SEC letters that referenced the sales but were not in any way part of an "investigation." ...
... Jeffrey Sonnenfeld in Politico Magazine on why Carly Fiorina was/would be a lousy leader.: she doesn't learn from her mistakes, she lies, she makes irresponsible decisions & "She is intolerant of dissent and resorts to personal attacks."
Steve Holland of Reuters: "... Jeb Bush will pledge on Tuesday to place a freeze on new federal government regulations if he is elected president in November 2016, saying bureaucratic rules are weighing down the U.S. economy." CW: Which is Bush's response to 1000-percent increases in drug prices & auto manufacturers' skirting clean-air standards. Elections matter .
Ken Thomas & Catherine Lucey of the AP: "Hillary Rodham Clinton is laying out a new plan to rein in the rising cost of prescription drugs, seeking to build upon President Barack Obama's health care law." ...
... Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "Hillary Clinton vowed to protect ObamaCare on Wednesday [sic.], one day before unveiling her own plan to make a mark on healthcare reform. 'It's not just a political issue, it's a moral issue,' the 2016 front-runner for the Democratic nomination said, according to the Baton Rouge Advocate. Underscoring the 16 million people who gained insurance under the law, Clinton vowed to prevent the GOP from rolling back its progress."
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The FBI on Monday rebuffed a federal judge's request for information on the inquiry it is conducting into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email account and server, raising the question of whether the courts or Congress will take more forceful action to try to secure data from Clinton's email system. About a month ago, U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered the State Department to reach out to the FBI to address a Freedom of Information Act request by the conservative group Judicial Watch regarding Clinton aide Huma Abedin's employment arrangements and to report on arrangements for the FBI to share information about the ongoing investigation. In a terse letter Monday, FBI General Counsel James Baker appeared to reject the request."
Beyond the Beltway
Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "The United States saw a spike last month in the number of unaccompanied minors and families illegally crossing the southern border, the White House said Monday. 'We have seen, just in the last month, in the month of August, a surprising uptick,' press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters."
Angela Couloumbis & Craig McCoy of the Philadelphia Inquirer: "In an unprecedented move, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday temporarily suspended the law license of Attorney General Kathleen Kane [D], the latest setback for the state's embattled top law enforcement officer.The decision was unanimous, winning support from the court's three Republicans and two Democrats. Lawyers for the state Disciplinary Board, which oversees attorney conduct, had sought the suspension after Kane was charged last month with perjury, obstruction and other charges stemming from the leak of confidential grand jury material and an investigation into that leak.The board contended that allowing Kane to remain in office while under criminal charges would damage the administration of justice and cause 'immediate and substantial public harm.' Its lawyers suggested that stripping Kane of her law license would disqualify her from holding office."
Joseph Berger of the New York Times: "After struggling financially for years and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March, the private boarding school [New York Military Academy] did not open as promised last Monday. Its 113 acres of land and buildings are scheduled to go on the auction block at the end of this month for a minimum bid of $9.5 million, with no requirement that the buyer maintain a school there.... Among its thousands of alumni, the 126-year-old ... [school] counts ... Donald J. Trump, Stephen Sondheim and John A. Gotti.... There is ... a smidgen of hope among some alumni that Mr. Trump ... would be a rescuing angel and provide the $13 million the school needs to pay creditors and other costs." CW: Nah. I'll bet he sees it as a home for Trump "University."
Forget Scott Walker. There are still heroes from Wisconsin. Karen Crouse of the New York Times: Don "Pellmann, the most senior athlete in the San Diego Senior Games, became the first centenarian to break 27 seconds in the 100-meter dash and the first to clear an official height in the high jump. He also broke records for men in the 100 and over age group in the shot put and discus and set a record in the long jump." Pellman & his wife live in Santa Clara, California, now.
Kevin McCoy of USA Today: "Former peanut company executive Stewart Parnell was hit with a virtual life prison term Monday for his 2014 conviction on crimes related to a salmonella outbreak blamed for killing nine and sickening hundreds. A federal judge in Georgia sentenced the 61-year-old former head of Peanut Corporation of America to 28 years behind bars.... U.S. District Judge W. Louis Sands also sentenced the former executive's brother, Michael Parnell, 56, to serve a 20-year prison term.... Mary Wilkerson, 41, a former quality control manager at the now-defunct peanut firm, drew a five-year prison term for her conviction on obstruction in the tragedy.... Prosecutors presented evidence that Parnell and the co-defendants knowingly shipped salmonella-tainted peanut butter from the Georgia facility to Kellogg's and other customers -- who in turn used it in products...."
... AP: "A judge on Monday rejected defense efforts to exclude key witness testimony against the last remaining Angola Three member still behind bars and to throw out his indictment entirely in the 1972 killing of a prison guard. Judge William Carmichael also ruled that the trial against Albert Woodfox could go forward in West Feliciana parish, rejecting defense claims that he could not get a fair trial in a place where Louisiana's Angola prison is also located."
AP: "Gay couples in Kentucky are questioning the validity of altered marriage licenses issued by a defiant county clerk and have asked a federal judge to order her to reissue the licenses or close the office down.
AP: "The family of a 14-year-old Muslim student who got in trouble over a homemade clock mistaken for a possible bomb have withdrawn him from his suburban high school in Texas."
Way Beyond
Nicole Winfield & Christine Armario of the AP: "Pope Francis ends his visit to Cuba on Tuesday with a Mass at the country's most revered shrine and a pep talk with families before flying north to Washington for the start of his U.S. tour."
Rick Jervis of USA Today follows Pope Francis's travels through Cuba.