The Commentariat -- August 9, 2015

Internal links removed.

William Broad of the New York Times: "Twenty-nine of the nation's top scientists -- including Nobel laureates, veteran makers of nuclear arms and former White House science advisers -- wrote to President Obama on Saturday to praise the Iran deal, calling it innovative and stringent. The letter, from some of the world's most knowledgeable experts in the fields of nuclear weapons and arms control, arrives as Mr. Obama is lobbying Congress, the American public and the nation's allies to support the agreement. The two-page letter may give the White House arguments a boost...." CW: Really? Why heed he words of people who know what they're talking about when you could listen to Ted Cruz & Mike Huckabee?

Jason Kolnos of the Cape Cod Times: President Obama went golfing Saturday afternoon with Larry David at a Martha's Vineyard club in Oak Bluffs. Looks like David didn't curb Obama's enthusiasm:

Getty photo via Politico.

Presidential Race

John Wagner of the Washington Post: "A planned speech in Seattle by presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders celebrating the anniversary of Social Security and Medicare was scuttled Saturday after protesters from Black Lives Matter took the stage and demanded that the crowd hold Sanders 'accountable' for apparently not doing enough, in their view, to address police brutality and other issues on the group's agenda.... Local reports put the size of the Saturday afternoon crowd in Seattle in the thousands. Sanders was scheduled to appear later Saturday at a large-scale rally organized by his campaign."

... The Seattle Times report, by Jim Brunner, is here. "'If you do not listen to us, your event will be shut down,' one of the protesters told organizers, who relented and said they could speak before Sanders.... The ... protesters refused to let Sanders take the microphone, prompting rally organizer Robby Stern to say the event was over...." (With video.) ...

     ... Updated story: "An estimated 15,000 supporters packed Hec Edmundson Pavilion and an overflow area as Sanders took the stage to thunderous applause and delivered an hourlong populist stemwinder about his plans to wrest the country from the control of billionaires." ...

... CW: These brats really annoy me. Were this my event, I'd have asked the cops to cuff these screamers & carry them away. Bad optics? Fuck optics. They can buy their own damned soapboxes. ...

... ** David Atkins, in the Washington Monthly, come at this from a philosophical analysis that sure beats my visceral reaction (tho the result would be the same): "... if these actions have done more damage than good, the fault lies not with the protesters so much as the event coordinators who have handed the disruptive agents the microphone at these events." ...

... Evan McMorris-Santoro of BuzzFeed: "Hours after Black Lives Matter protesters shut down a Bernie Sanders rally here, the Vermont senator's populist Democratic presidential campaign once again attempted to cast Sanders as the candidate of a modern civil rights movement. Before a crowd of more than 12,000 at the Alaska Airlines Arena on the campus of the University Of Washington, a new public face for the Sanders campaign appeared. Symone Sanders, a volunteer organizer with the D.C.-based Coalition for Juvenile Justice, was announced as the new national press secretary of Sanders' campaign and was tasked with introducing the 73-year-old senator."

Paul Rosenberg in Salon: "... GOP candidates share a dependence on two broad-spectrum lies: First, that they're better at producing overall growth -- for example: Trump boasting, 'I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created,' or Bush promising '4 percent growth as far as the eye can see' -- and, second, that growth by itself will benefit everyone." Rosenberg identifies six factors that would actually raise the pay &/or benefits of ordinary workers and documents Republican opposition to measures to implement or legislate each of those factors. CW: Condensed & pumped up a bit, this would be a good stump speech; in fact, I believe it is Bernie's stump speech.

Jill Colvin & Bill Barrow of the AP: "Donald Trump on Sunday professed his love for women and said he would be their best advocate if elected president, dismissing the firestorm of his own making that has consumed the Republican presidential campaign. 'I apologize when I'm wrong, but I haven't been wrong. I said nothing wrong,' said Trump, who called in to four Sunday news shows, skipping only Fox News, the network with which he is feuding.... Trump contended on CBS' 'Face the Nation' that it's Bush who has the problem with women, thanks to a comment the former Florida governor made last week when discussing cutting off federal money for Planned Parenthood." ...

She had blood coming out of her eyes. Or blood coming out of her wherever. -- Donald Trump, speaking on CNN Friday night about Fox "News" host Megyn Kelly ...

Trump's base is more the people who used to have season tickets to the Roman Colosseum. Not sure that they vote in great numbers, but they like blood sport. -- John McQuaid, publisher of the conservative New Hampshire Union Leader

... Jonathan Martin & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Even before Friday night, prominent Republican women said they were worried about how female voters would respond to Mr. Trump's prominence on the debate stage, where he defended imprecations like 'fat pigs' and 'bimbo' to describe women -- and his rivals did not chide him. But Mr. Trump's comment Friday night about Ms. Kelly caused a new bout of consternation among senior Republican leaders, who saw it as the latest evidence that they would not be able to fully conduct a primary campaign as long as he was overwhelming the race." ...

... Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "Unlike undocumented immigrants, John McCain or Rosie O'Donnell, the Fox News anchor enjoys a huge following among the network's viewers, who happen to make up the core of the Republican primary electorate. So picking a fight with Kelly -- as Trump did when he chided her during a tough debate question about insults he's lobbed at women, dissed her in the spin room, and tweeted his complaints about her -- carries risks that Trump's other feuds do not." ...

... Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "For decades, Donald Trump has made flippant misogyny as much a part of his trademark as his ostentatious lifestyle.... In a 2006 book, he wrote of women as objectified collectibles: 'Beauty and elegance, whether in a woman, a building, or a work of art is not just superficial or something pretty to see.' He once sent New York Times columnist Gail Collins a copy of something she had written about him with her picture circled and 'The face of a dog!' written over it."

... Maureen Dowd on Donald Trump's remarks about Megyn Kelly (& other women). ...

Zeke Miller of Time: "On Saturday morning, Trump released a statement criticizing [Erick] Erickson [see yesterday's Commentariat], adding anyone suggesting Trump was referring to menstruation was 'a deviant.'... Not yielding any ground, Trump noted that Erickson has a history of making controversial statements about he's had to apologize for. 'Not only is Erick a total loser, he has a history of supporting establishment losers in failed campaigns so it is an honor to be uninvited from his event,' he said. 'Mr. Trump is an outsider and does not fit his agenda.'"

... CW: I'm not at all sure Trump was suggesting that Kelly posed tough questions because she was menstruating, as most reporters & pundits -- including Erick Erikson -- have assumed. Maybe he was, & if so, his remark is not only boorish (it was boorish & petty whatever he meant), it's nonsensical. Kelly's hormonal balance had nothing to do with the nature of her questions. The debate was a teevee show, like "Celebrity Apprentice." It's scripted. Whoever wrote the questions -- the moderators and/or others -- you can bet a panel of Fox "News" suits vetted them before air time. I'm sure Roger Ailes is loving this. ...

... ** Max Fisher of Vox: "... it's hard to believe that this is actually what's going on here, that this is really about sexism or 'decency' at all, given that Erickson himself has a long history of overt sexism that is every bit as bad as Trump's, if not worse.... It's pretty clear that, when Erickson says he is uninviting Trump for sexism, this is a lie. It's obvious from Erickson's own statement that he himself loves sexism and thinks that hating and disparaging women is not only great fun, but that anyone who tells him not to hate and disparage women is themselves a 'feminazi' or, worse, a fun-hating 'male feminist.'... Fox News has employed Erickson and given him a platform to espouse his hatred of women for years. That Fox News then tried to challenge Trump for advocating these same ideas shows the network's role in creating this problem, and its hypocrisy is now pretending to oppose it." Fisher cites numerous examples of Erickson's commentary on feminazis & specific women like Michelle Obama & Hillary Clinton. ...

... Greg Cwik of New York: "... top [Trump campaign] adviser Roger Stone has either been fired (Trump's version) or quit (Stone's). 'Top adviser' is a relative term on the Trump campaign: As Gabriel Sherman reported earlier this week, the staff consists of only 3-4 people at any one time - the number fluctuates as people leave/ are fired -- and this latest development is a continuation of infighting that's been going on for some time." ...

... OR, as the headline to Ben Schreckinger & Katie Glueck's Politico story screams, "Trump camp in crisis." ...

Charles Pierce: " The party has bigger problems than Donald Trump...." ...

CW: After the kiddie debate, Tom Bevan of RealClearPolitics & Charles Pierce both asked Bobby Jindal if, as president, he really meant to sic the IRS on Planned Parenthood, as Jindal had just volunteered that he would. Even though it's against the law for the president to mess with the IRS, Jindal reconfirmed, twice, that he would. Jindal doesn't have a law degree but he has an advanced degree in political science from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes scholar. After the big boys' debate, Pierce asked neurosurgeon Ben Carson how he would pay for the coming Alzheimer's epidemic:

What the hell, I thought. This guy is uniquely qualified to discuss this particular problem. He gave me some boilerplate about his tax plan, and he explained that Health Savings Accounts, started at birth, will cover the costs of the illness. This, of course, is completely bazats. Alzheimer's is going to cost the country approximately $20 trillion over the next 40 years. The estimated cost of unpaid Alzheimer's care -- usually supplied by aging spouses -- was $217 billion in 2014. HSAs are not going to cut it.

... There's the problem, exemplified in the answers to two Pierce questions. He could have asked the other 15 candidates policy questions, & he would have got similarly ridiculous answers. Not one of these jamokes makes sense. Even where they might be experts on a topic, or at least well-versed, their ideologies or misplaced bravado or something has rendered them incapable of devising & articulating rational policies -- on anything. We complain about the media concentrating on style instead of substance, but the truth is that on the GOP side, there is no substance. There is no there there. The public has now become accustomed to these empty suits. No wonder Donald Trump is enjoying such popularity right now: some Republicans like his style. And style has become everything. ...

David Atkins: "Scott Walker ... bizarrely continues to insist that there's some magical alternative solution to abortion in the rare cases where pregnancy threatens the life of the mother.... Scott Walker is provably wrong. There is no alternative to abortion in these cases to save women's lives. Walker lives in a magic fantasyland.... Just as with supply-side economics and deficit reduction, Scott Walker thinks he can ban all abortions without consequently enacting the state-sanctioned murder of every woman with an extreme ectopic pregnancy.... It would be nice if more journalists exposed that fact, rather than simply repeating the fantasies that they assert in their prepared remarks." Atkins suggests reporters, in this case those at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, could just Google the real story of ectopic pregnancies....

Greg Bluestein & Daniel Malloy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Scott Walker says he's a "visionary." CW: Beam me up, Scottie.

Greg Bluestein: "Texas Sen. Ted Cruz brought his no-compromise message to the RedState Gathering on Saturday, thrilling hundreds of hardened conservatives who flocked to Atlanta with a pledge to reject 'mealy-mouthed statements about acceptance and surrender.' Cruz received one ovation after another...."

... MEANWHILE, Dan Balz of the Washington Post was very impressed with the other candidates' performances: "... this wee's debate was a reminder that the party has able rivals who eventually could take [Trump] down -- and who also could mount a stiff challenge to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the general election."

Beyond the Beltway

Sandhya Somashekhar of the Washington Post: "A police officer in Arlington, Tex., shot and killed a 19-year-old Angelo State University student Friday after responding to a report of a burglary in progress at a car dealership. Christian J. Taylor, 19, was shot after an 'altercation' with an Arlington officer. Taylor was unarmed at the time, police said. He was one of 585 people shot and killed by police so far this year, according to a Washington Post database of fatal police shootings." Taylor was black. ...

... AP: "Police said on Saturday the suburban Dallas officer who shot and killed a college football player during a burglary call at a car dealership had never fired his weapon before Friday's shooting.... Police said [Officer Brad] Miller was a 49-year-old who had been with the department since September and who had been working under the supervision of a training officer since his graduation from the police academy in March. The police statement said Miller had no police experience before joining the Arlington police force." ...

... Nomann Merchant of the AP: "A Texas police chief promised transparency as the FBI joined the investigation into the death of a Texas college football player who was fatally shot by an officer during a burglary call at a car dealership."

AP: "A toxic and orange-brown sludge spilling from a shuttered gold mine into a south-western Colorado river has reached northern New Mexico.... About a million gallons of wastewater from Colorado's Gold King Mine began spilling on Wednesday when a clean-up crew supervised by the Environmental Protection Agency accidentally breached a debris dam that had formed inside the mine. No health hazard has been detected, but tests were being analysed. Federal officials said the spill contains heavy metals including lead and arsenic."

Missed this one. AP (August 6): "Three of the 16 Planned Parenthood facilities inspected in Florida last week were performing procedures beyond their licensing authority, and one facility was not keeping proper logs relating to fetal remains, officials [of Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration] announced Wednesday.... Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates Executive Director Laura Goodhue said in a prepared statement Wednesday night that the licensing violations resulted from the AHCA changing its definitions of gestational periods and that the centers were operating in compliance with Florida law.... Gov. Rick Scott ordered the inspections last week. He said he was troubled by recent videos describing the organization's procedures for providing tissue from aborted fetuses for research."

News Lede

New York Times: "Frank Gifford, a Hall of Fame running back and receiver ... and then became the low-key play-by-play voice of ABC's 'Monday Night Football,' died at his home in Connecticut on Sunday. He was 84."

The Commentariat -- August 8, 2015

Internal links removed.

White House: "In this week's address, the President celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act by underscoring the importance of one of the most fundamental rights of our democracy – that all of us are created equal and that each of us deserves a voice":

** Adam Bernstein & Patricia Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Frances Oldham Kelsey "died Aug. 7 at her daughter’s home in London, Ontario. She was 101.... Kelsey, a medical officer at the Food and Drug Administration in Washington..., raised concerns about thalidomide before its effects were conclusively known. For a critical 19-month period, she fastidiously blocked its approval while drug company officials maligned her as a bureaucratic nitpicker. Dr. Kelsey, a physician and pharmacologist [was] later lauded as a heroine.... In July 1962, The Washington Post directed national attention on the matter — and on Dr. Kelsey — with a front-page article reporting that her 'skepticism and stubbornness ... prevented what could have been an appalling American tragedy.'... The global thalidomide calamity precipitated legislation signed by President John F. Kennedy in October 1962 that substantially strengthened the FDA’s authority over drug testing.” The law is still in force. ...

     ... CW: Just another of those "jobs-killing" regulations that Republicans want to quash. A remarkable woman, Kelsey first disapproved U.S. distribution of thalidomide after she had been on the job only a few weeks. Representatives from the pharmeceutical company, William S. Merrell, which had licensed the drug in the U.S. and "had large potential profits riding on the application, began to complain to her bosses and show up at her office, with respected clinical investigators in tow, to protest the hold-up." ...

... Kelsey's New York Times obituary is here.

Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Diplomats from the five countries that negotiated the Iran nuclear agreement with the United States have launched a coordinated lobbying effort on Capitol Hill, with some warning lawmakers that if Congress scuttles the accord, there may be no chance of resuming talks to get a better deal. 'The option of going back to negotiations is close to zero,' Philipp Ackermann, the deputy ambassador of the German Embassy, said in a briefing Thursday with reporters." ...

... Jim Fallows: "On Wednesday at American University, Barack Obama made the case for the Iran nuclear agreement, and against its critics.... Later that afternoon, the president met [on the record] in the Roosevelt Room of the White House with nine journalists to talk for another 90 minutes about the thinking behind the plan, and its likely political and strategic effects.... The context for Obama’s certainty is his knowledge that in the rest of the world, this agreement is not controversial at all." ...

... Jonathan Weisman & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "The decision by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York to oppose the Iran nuclear deal has rattled the Democratic bulwark around the accord, emboldened the deal’s opponents in both parties, and set off a wave of condemnation from liberals for the man who hopes to lead Senate Democrats in the next Congress. But supporters of the accord said on Friday that Democratic defections would not be enough to bring it down."

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama will slip out of Washington on Friday afternoon for his annual Martha’s Vineyard vacation...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... CW: The President is going to make this a 16-day holiday, which of course upsets wingers to no end. Just to refresh their non-existent memories, FactCheck.org noted a year ago, "Before his two-week trip to Martha’s Vineyard in August [2014], Obama’s count was 125 full or partial days and [George W.] Bush’s total at the same point in his presidency was 407."

Larry Neumeister of the AP: "Another federal appeals court Friday ruled against Catholic church-affiliated groups that oppose being required to provide contraceptive care to employees through a third party. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a Brooklyn judge's ruling.... The appeals court in Manhattan said an Affordable Care Act provision that lets religion-related entities put the burden for providing contraceptive care services on third parties does not erode religious rights.... In a decision written by Judge Rosemary Pooler, the 2nd Circuit noted that six other appeals circuits have rejected similar cases brought for religious reasons since Judge Brian Cogan ruled in Brooklyn in December 2013. Four of those cases have been appealed to the Supreme Court.... The appeals court noted that the Supreme Court in a decision related to the Affordable Care Act has said the accommodation effectively exempts eligible organizations from the contraceptive coverage mandate."

Rebecca Shabad of the Hill: "The budget deficit for 2015 is expected to drop to roughly $425 billion, according to a report released Friday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). That’s down from the $486 billion the CBO projected in March."

Presidential Race

Stupid Candidates Prepare to Dumb Down. Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Most of the candidates left Friday for Atlanta for the annual Red State gathering, hosted by Erick Erickson, a conservative commentator. With one debate complete, the rhythm of cattle calls and red-meat speeches to the Republican base continues." ...

... Erick Erickson claims he has disinvited Donald Trump from the Red State thing, & has invited Megyn Kelly to speak in his place. Because woman-hating, rabid anti-abortionist Erickson finds that Donald's dissing of Kelly was "a bridge too far." (I guess calling David Souter a "goat-fucking child molester" was a bridge worth crossing. Or writing that if President Obama were "shagging hookers..., marxist harpy" Michelle Obama “would go Lorena Bobbit [sic] on him....”) CW: Oddly enough, Erickson never had Trump on his agenda in the first place. ...

     ... Update. Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "In an interview with The Washington Post, Erickson said Trump had been scheduled to speak..., but he told Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, about an hour before midnight that Trump was no longer welcome. Trump’s campaign said in a statement that Erickson’s decision was 'another example of weakness through being politically correct. For all the people who were looking forward to Mr. Trump coming, we will miss you. Blame Erick Erickson, your weak and pathetic leader. We’ll now be doing another campaign stop at another location.'”

... The Atlanta-Journal Constitution is covering the candidates' speeches at Red State. Here's Marco. The folks loved Carly. Bobby whacked Jeb!, who is a no-show. Here's Rick Perry. Chris Christie was the first to speak. Later today, there should be more here.

And the Winner Is -- Fox "News"! Chris Ariens of TV Newser: "A whopping 24 million watched the debate from 9 p.m. ET to just past 11 p.m. ET.... This is now the highest non-sports cable program of all time, the highest-rated cable news program of all time, and Fox News’s most-watched program ever."

Frank Rich reviews that awful off-off-Broadway act, "Donald & the Disappointments." ...

... Charles Pierce: "Voting rights? What are those? Black lives matter? They do? Let's talk more about protecting the rights of Zygote-Americans.... This debate served two purposes, and two purposes only. The first was to make money for Fox News, and to reinforce its influence within party. It apparently did that splendidly, thereby ensuring that Roger Ailes's position as a kingmaker remained secure. The second was to be part of eternal auction of souls demanded by the new age of legalized influence-peddling." ...

... Ha Ha. Dana Milbank checks up to see how well the GOP candidates performances Thursday conformed to the Republican National Committee's "autopsy" of the 2012 election, which "concluded that to win future presidential elections Republicans would need to be more inclusive of women, be more tolerant on gay rights..., support comprehensive immigration reform..., and stand strong against 'corporate malfeasance.'”

She had blood coming out of her eyes. Or blood coming out of her wherever. -- Donald Trump, on Megyn Kelly

... Brian Stelter of CNN: "One day after he starred in Fox's GOP primary debate, [Donald] Trump lashed out at debate moderator Megyn Kelly and the network as a whole.... The television news world is buzzing about whether Fox News has turned against Donald Trump." ...

... Where Lindsey Graham Agrees with Donald Trump. Mark Hensch of the Hill: "Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is criticizing Fox News, saying the moderators of Thursday night's debate were too harsh with GOP rival Donald Trump. 'This was more of an inquisition than it was a debate,' Graham said on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe'” on Friday morning. 'It was a missed opportunity to talk about things that really mattered.' Graham charged that debate moderators Bret Baier, Chris Wallace and Megyn Kelly were particularly unfair in their questioning of Trump...." ...

... Gabriel Sherman of New York: "At the GOP primary debate Thursday night in Cleveland, Trump’s onstage clashes with the Fox moderators, and his postdebate complaints about the network’s treatment of him, were among the most talked-about story lines to emerge from the Quicken Loans Arena. What makes the confrontation all the more dramatic was that Fox News chairman Roger Ailes has, until this point, been a booster of the Trump candidacy, even to the chagrin of his boss, Rupert Murdoch.... For Trump's troubled campaign, Ailes could prove to be a tougher opponent than any he’s faced." ...

... CW: C'mon, people. This is all part of the Big Show. In the first act, Ailes has the moderators whack Trump. And why not? Aren't journalists supposed to nail the frontrunner? Ask the New York Times if you're not sure. And it's great teevee! Best ratings evah! In the second act, Trump extends the Fox debate by ripping Fox. Yay! More controversy. So exciting! Can hardly wait for the third act, starring Fox "News." Sure, a few Trump supporters may boycott Fox for a day or two, but you know they'll be back. Remember, it's a three-ring circus: Democrats, Republicans & the media, & the media are the ring that runs the show & owns the till. They are the winners of every election; Citizens United is a media company, for pete's sake. About three-quarters of the money we & our billionaire buddies donate to our favorite candidates goes to the "communications industry." Roger Ailes is just doing what he does to collect his huge cut. Trump is promoting himself of course, because that's the essential ingredient in his business model, & he knows the media run his publicity machine. Tune in next week today. ...

... Paul Waldman points to another rationale (and upside for) Fox "News" moderators' tough questions: "At this stage of the primary campaign, the Republican Party's interest lies in weeding out the weak candidates and testing the strong ones to see who can stand up to tough questions (and it also lies in cutting Donald Trump down).... So for the next eight or nine months until Republicans have their nominee, Fox is going to be tough on its candidates, like a drill sergeant getting them in shape for the battles to come. Once that nominee is chosen, the network's tone will shift on a dime, and he'll suddenly become the greatest American since Ronald Reagan.... In the meantime, Fox is the place to go if you want to see these candidates tested." ...

Still a pig.... Harold Meyerson in the American Prospect: "Somehow, the Fox News questioners never quite got around to asking the candidates what they planned to do to help actual existing Americans cope with a profoundly rigged economy and a climate growing annoyingly inhospitable to living things." The theme of the evening was "Fuck-You Republicanism." CW: Well, yeah, that's pretty much the only kind there is; they just dress it up & put lipstick on it in the general election.

... Steve M. Explains Donald Trump to Elite Shut-ins. "It's wrong to say that Trump fans 'don’t mind that Trump’s a narcissist' -- they savor his narcissism.... The reason they think he can fix everything is that he constantly reminds them how rich and successful he is. And it's thrilling to think that a rich, successful guy hates what they hate. It's as if they're joining with him in hate and experiencing the Trump wealth every time he thumps his chest."

Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg: "Jeb Bush's official campaign website on Thursday briefly featured two separate sections attacking two top Republican rivals, something he has not publicly done thus far in the 2016 presidential race.  One portion of his website went after ... Scott Walker.... 'The only job Scott Walker cares about creating is his own,' it read...." Another page attacked Marco Rubio. A Bush spokesman said the pages were just "draft pages that were taken down, we have lots of material to prepare for the debate as circumstances require." CW: What a shame Jeb! didn't get to weave the attacks into the Thursday's debate. Don't worry; the time will come. ...

     ... Steve M.: "Jeb insists he's running an upbeat, positive, optimistic campaign. He's said that 'tearing down other people won't help at all.' And it's true that he does seem gee-whizzy and aw-shucks-y most of the time on the trail (and in the debate last night). But he's a hypocrite. His allies leaked that 'asshole' story [linked here earlier in the week] -- but then he denied the report in last night's debate. And don't tell me the posting of the attacks was some campaign volunteer's accident. Bush is just another pol, but he wants to seem more high-minded than everyone else."

Beyond the Beltway

Jack Healy of the New York Times: "In a decision that surprised many in this community, a jury sentenced James E. Holmes to life in prison with no chance of parole on Friday, rejecting the death penalty for the man who carried out a 2012 shooting rampage that killed 12 people in a Colorado movie theater." ...

... The Denver Post story, by John Ingold & Jordan Steffen, is here.

Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: "The Fairfax County police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man in Springfield[, Virginia,] in 2013 has been fired, the Fairfax police confirmed Friday. Adam D. Torres, 32, fired one round which killed John B. Geer, 46, as Geer stood in the doorway of his townhouse, after a 42-minute standoff following a domestic disturbance call. No charges have been filed against Torres, but a special grand jury began hearing testimony and reviewing evidence in the case last week, and is scheduled to meet again Aug. 17."

Incredibly Stupid Tea Party Trick. Chad Livengood of the Detroit News: "State Rep. Todd Courser planned the distribution of a fictional email alleging he had sex with a male prostitute in a bid to conceal his relationship with Rep. Cindy Gamrat [R], according to audio recordings obtained by The Detroit News. Courser, a Lapeer Republican, said on one recording the email was designed to create 'a complete smear campaign' of exaggerated, false claims about him and Gamrat so a public revelation about the legislators’ relationship would seem 'mild by comparison.' Interviews with former House employees and the recordings show freshman lawmakers Courser and Gamrat, R-Plainwell, used their taxpayer-funded offices to maintain and cover up their relationship. Courser, 43, and Gamrat, 42, rose from the ranks of tea party activism.... The pair are socially conservative legislators who often invoke their Christian faith in pursuit of new legislation governing gun rights, abortion and marriage.” Both are married to other people & have children.

The Commentariat -- August 7, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon Update:

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama will slip out of Washington on Friday afternoon for his annual Martha's Vineyard vacation...."

*****

Jennifer Steinhauer & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Senator Chuck Schumer, the most influential Jewish voice in Congress, said Thursday night that he would oppose President Obama's deal to limit Iran's nuclear program.... As if on cue, Representative Eliot L. Engel of New York, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who was widely expected to oppose the deal, announced his opposition Thursday night." ...

... Here's Schumer's statement. ...

... CW: Seems Schumer's decision to "quietly" make his announcement during the Big Debate Din was neither a tactical move nor a gentlemanly concession to the Obama administration. Seung Min Kim, et al., of Politico: "Though his announced opposition came as the political realm was preoccupied with the Republican presidential debate, Schumer had planned to make his position on the Iran deal official on Friday, according to a person familiar with the situation. The New York senator had told the White House that he had decided to reject the nuclear agreement and would announce it on Friday. But the source accused the White House of leaking Schumer's decision to the Huffington Post, forcing the senator to announce his decision Thursday night." ...

... Julian Hattem of the Hill: "The liberal activist group MoveOn is assailing Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) for his decision, announced late Thursday night, to oppose the nuclear deal with Iran. 'Our country doesn't need another Joe Lieberman in the Senate, and it certainly doesn't need him as Democratic leader,' MoveOn political action executive director Ilya Sheyman said in a statement about Schumer, who is next to line to be the Senate's top Democrat." CW: Yo'bama, the "professional left" has your back here. ...

... Greg Sargent: "Here's the real story: Schumer's opposition is not likely to matter that much to the outcome either way. Does that mean the deal will certainly go forward? No. Rather, the point is, if enough Senate Democrats are inclined to support the deal to prevent an override of President Obama's veto of a motion disapproving the deal -- which isn't assured, but still seems likely -- then Schumer's opposition is unlikely to change that.... My best guess: enough Dems will oppose the deal to get past the 60 needed to break the filibuster of the disapproval motion, but not enough will oppose it to get to the 67 needed to override Obama's veto. And remember, whatever happens in the Senate, there's another potential firewall in the House, which could fail to override and the deal would go forward." ...

... Kirsten Gillibrand, New York's junior senator, explains why she is supporting the Iran deal. ...

... Guardian: "The US secretary of state, John Kerry, has said the Vietnam war was the result of a 'most profound failure of diplomatic insight and political vision' as he marked the 20th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Kerry on Friday extolled the virtues of reconciling with former enemies at the end of a five-nation tour of the Middle East and south-east Asia that has been dogged by domestic US debate over the Iran nuclear deal."

Hakskis. Courtney Kube & Jim Miklaszewski of NBC News/CNBC: "U.S. officials tell NBC News that Russia launched a sophisticated cyberattack' against the Pentagon's Joint Staff unclassified email system, which has been shut down and taken offline for nearly two weeks. According to the officials, the 'sophisticated cyber intrusion' occurred sometime around July 25 and affected some 4,000 military and civilian personnel who work for the Joint Chiefs of Staff."

Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) & President Obama spoke on the Voting Rights Act yesterday:

... New York Times Editors: "The real voter fraud is Texas' ID laws.... The voter ID issue will almost certainly be decided by the Supreme Court. The justices last considered such a law in 2008, upholding Indiana's statute despite a total lack of evidence of fraud. Justice John Paul Stevens, now retired, who wrote the 2008 decision, has since later said that these laws are 'a means of voter suppression rather than of fraud prevention.' How much more do the justices need to see before they reach the same conclusion?"

Annals of Journalism. David Itskoff of the New York Times: "After 16 years of taking satirical aim at the hypocrisy of politics and the fatuousness of the news media, Jon Stewart said goodbye to 'The Daily Show' on Thursday evening with a farewell broadcast that mixed wry parting shots with earnest displays of emotion and with a passionate speech urging his audience not to accept falsehoods and misinformation in their lives." ...

Neil Genzlinger of the New York Times: In the last moments of his last show, "Mr. Stewart was returning to the beginning -- he was delivering a mission statement. The mere fact that it had a mission is what made 'The Daily Show' stand out in the first place."

Presidential Race

Here's the debate in three minutes, via Time, most of it incredibly stupid:

David Fahrenthold & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: Donald "Trump became the center of the debate's attention from the very beginning, when he was the only candidate who refused to forswear the idea of running a third-party campaign against the Republican party, if he could not be its nominee." ...

Patrick Healy & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Shedding any pretense of civility and party unity, Donald J. Trump overwhelmed the first Republican presidential debate on Thursday night by ripping into his rivals and the moderators alike, but also drew fire from Jeb Bush and other rivals...."

Via Washington Post liveblog.

John Cassidy of the New Yorker & Donald Trump: it was "a fantastic debate." ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic assesses the candidates' performances. ...

... Margaret Hartmann runs down some of other pundits' reviews of the individual candidates' performances. ...

... Michael Barbaro of the New York Times (in the current [7:00 am ET] Times top story) assesses the performance of The One: "From the opening moments of the evening, when he flashed a wry grin and a mischievous victory sign at the boisterous crowd, Mr. Trump remained his irrepressible self: aggrandizing, unapologetic and cutting.... Over and over, in moments that were as startling as they were comedic, he openly flouted the rules of political decorum -- not to mention those of a Republican Party that punishes disloyalty and the slightest flirtation with members of the opposition." ...

... Jonathan Chait: "The question going into the first debate was which candidate would take it upon himself to take down Trump. The answer is that none of them did. Fox News did the work itself, a division of labor that made sense for both sides.... The intense barrage of pointed questions displayed how seriously Roger Ailes takes Trump's threat to hijack the GOP for his own end. It failed to reckon with the other threat: that the Republican plan to drive Trump from their party might instead work all too well." ...

... Alex Griswold of Mediaite: Trump said on "Morning Joe' today that Fox "News" moderators were "really unfair" & "unprofessional" in questioning him, especially about negative comments he'd made about women (which he doesn't remember), that they only "softball questions" of the other candidates, & that the initial question asking for a show of hands on a pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee was "a set-up." ...

... ** Paul Krugman: "... while it's true that Mr. Trump is, fundamentally, an absurd figure, so are his rivals. If you pay attention to what any one of them is actually saying, as opposed to how he says it, you discover incoherence and extremism every bit as bad as anything Mr. Trump has to offer. And that's not an accident: Talking nonsense is what you have to do to get anywhere in today's Republican Party.... Crank economics, crank science, crank foreign policy are all necessary parts of a candidate's resume.... Judge them by positions as opposed to image, and what you have is a lineup of cranks." ...

     ... CW: Krugman is too kind. Republican voters are cranks (random example here); the candidates & elected officials are transparent frauds. Their overarching "principle" is Reverse Robin-Hooding, a "principle" which they necessarily try to obscure with a tome of cover stories, from "small-government/low taxes" to "I'm not a scientist, man" to "jobs" to "voter fraud" to "religious freeedom." Et-cetera.

** ... Fred Kaplan of Slate: "When it comes to foreign policy, the Republican Party’s presidential candidates are shockingly ill-informed." ...

... Luke Brinker of Salon highlights "one of the debate's rare heartening moments.... Perhaps the most remarkable moment arrived when Ohio Gov. John Kasich was asked how he'd explain his opposition to marriage equality to a hypothetical gay daughter.... 'Look, I'm an old-fashioned person here and I happen to believe in traditional marriage. But I've also said that the court has ruled ... and I said we'll accept it,' Kasich said. 'And guess what? I just went to a wedding of a friend of mine who happens to be gay.... So if one of my daughters happened to be that, of course I would love them and I would accept them. Because you know what? That's what we're taught when we have strong faith.'... The crowd strongly applauded." CW: This was one of the few moments of the debate I caught, & it was a pleasant surprise for me, too. ...

... Josh Kraushaar of the National Journal: "John Kasich is stealing Jeb Bush's thunder.... If there's room for an establishment alternative, Kasich is well-positioned to capitalize. The Ohio governor's deliberate line of being the 'son of a mailman' offers a stark contrast to Bush's elite upbringing. And if style matters as much as substance to Republicans -- something that Donald Trump's surge has demonstrated -- Kasich's ability to connect with voters emotionally trumps Bush's ability to do the same."

... Glenn Kessler: "Two debates, 20 fishy claims." CW: Here's one I didn't know enough about, & Scott Walker: knows less: "I would reinstate, put in place back in the missile defense system that we had in Poland and in the Czech Republic."

Adam Johnson of Alternet proposed a drinking game for the GOP debate main event. Akhilleus linked to it Thursday. WARNING: DON'T PLAY THIS GAME. It will hospitalize you, if not kill you with alcohol poisoning. Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone has devised one you might survive because he urges players to drink only the first time "Donald Trump mentions his wealth, or how smart he is" or "a candidate mentions Benghazi," etc. ...

... David Fahrenthold & Sean Sullivan: "Seven low-polling Republican candidates all needed to create a breakout moment in Thursday night's early, undercard Republican debate. After 80 minutes, it wasn't clear if any of them had. The best performance of the early debate came from former tech executive Carly Fiorina, the only woman onstage and the only non-politician on a stage full of current and former senators and governors.... Asked if the same-sex marriage decision was 'settled law,' [Rick] Santorum responded. 'It is not, any more than Dred Scott was settle law to Abraham Lincoln.'" Because expanding marriage rights to all couples is just like denying citizenship rights to African-Americans. ...

... The Post's liveblog is pretty good, with some analysis & tweets, etc. ...

... CW: I listened to the 5 pm "debate" while I was painting a kitchen cabinet I'm building. I found watching paint dry far more interesting than the debate. I'm skipping the big-boy extravaganza, but I might follow the Post's liveblog. Or not. ...

... New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman & Nicholas Confessore liveblogged the debate. They also thought Carly Fiorina was the star of the show, partly because she mentioned her "good friend Bibi Netanyahu." The reporters thought that needed a fact-check. Confessore: "She has the confidence and polish of the boardroom and the business conference, if not the policy depth of some of the other candidates. It's what makes her so effective here." My paint job came out well.

Gabriel Sherman of New York: Donald Trump's campaign is in disarray. "... inside a campaign that's been built on attacking seemingly anyone and everyone, the staff has now turned to attacking each other.... The conflict between the old guard and the new began in January when Trump hired a brash 40-year-old Republican operative named Corey Lewandowski to serve as campaign manager." (See also yesterday's Commentariat re: Lewandowski.)

King Coal & Prince Jeb! Zachary Mider of Bloomberg: "Chris Cline, the billionaire coal baron, revealed himself today as the donor behind a $1 million contribution to a super-PAC supporting Jeb Bush's presidential campaign.... In one instance described in [a Bloomberg] profile [of Cline], after teachers at his children's school aired Al Gore's film, 'An Inconvenient Truth,' Cline asked them to hand out literature suggesting other potential causes for climate change, such as sunspots or the earth wobbling on its axis.... Bush called [President Obama's Clean Power Plain, unveiled Monday,] 'irresponsible and overreaching' saying it will increase energy prices and 'throw countless people out of work.'"

Sacha Zimmerman, who debated Ted Cruz when they were in college, in a National Journal essay: "It's ... worth pointing out -- with Cruz facing long odds in the GOP primaries, and with other candidates at tonight's debate commanding a lot more attention -- that Cruz's eloquence proved to be a great equalizer for him when his back was against the wall.... THE CHALLENGE FOR Cruz -- which The New York Times highlighted several months ago in a piece about his debating career -- was that he wasn't necessarily likable. 'I remember him as a scary, driven machine who fought a protracted, bloody land war for total victory,' says Ted Niblock, a Johns Hopkins University debater...."

Planned Parenthood had better hope that Hillary Clinton wins this election," Jindal said, "because I guarantee you, under President Jindal, January 2017, the Department of Justice, and IRS, and everybody else that we can send from the federal government, will be going into Planned Parenthood. -- Bobby Jindal, August 6, 2015

Anyone who is participating in the targeting of Americans for our political beliefs ... anybody who knew about it, anybody who cynically looked the other way, anybody under whose watch this occurred, they need to be fired and they need to be fired immediately! You cannot take the freedom of law-abiding citizens, law abiding-Americans, whether you disagree with them or not, and keep your own freedom, when you do that, you go to jail! -- Bobby Jindal, January 2013, while pretending IRS was targeting Tea Party groups

Federal law does include special provisions to ban presidential meddling in the I.R.S. -- New York Times, May 2013

Charles Pierce: The moderators of the kiddie table, Martha McCallum & Bill Hemmer, were more unhinged than the candidates & showed "transparent disrespect by the moderators towards the event they were supposed to be moderating.... But nobody's freak flag flew higher and prouder than that of 'Bobby' Jindal. Nobody was prouder of having rendered his state government impotent or of keeping the sick poor people of his state out of the clutches of Medicaid which, Jindal reminded us, 'is putting more people in the wagon than are pulling the wagon.' Nobody was more outraged than he about the phony Planned Parenthood videos. He announced that, on his first day in office, he would sic the Justice Department and the IRS on Planned Parenthood. Later, in the spin room, he added the EPA to that list so, if you're keeping score at home, 'Bobby' Jindal's EPA would be just big enough to crack down on Pap smears and mammograms...." ...

... Ed Kilgore: At the kiddie table, "A lot of the candidates repeated verbatim big chunks of their rhetoric from Monday night's Voters First Forum in New Hampshire. And that was particularly true of the two consensus winners, Carly Fiorina and Bobby Jindal. It sure didn't take a lot to impress WaPo's Chris Cillizza.... It's becoming truly amazing that Republicans do not acknowledge the rather relevant fact that Fiorina has been a dismal failure in both the private sector and electoral politics. Donald Trump loves to talk about 'losers;' can he resist applying the label to Fiorina?" ...

     ... CW: Also, Fiorina apparently didn't learn how to use HP's printers during her botched, aborted stint at HP: she left her debate closing argument in the printer at her Cleveland hotel, & a Rand Paul staffer found it. Would President Carly leave the nuclear codes in the hotel printer while making a state visit to Russia? A nice way to save her Russian hosts the trouble of hacking the White House. ...

Zeke Miller of Time: "The Republican National Committee’s resolutions committee quietly rejected a pair of resolutions critical of homosexuality Wednesday. The controversial resolutions dealing with sex education and same-sex marriage threatened to cast a shadow on the first GOP presidential debate Thursday in Cleveland, as the party looks toward expanding its base in the key swing state."

Margaret Hartmann: "Hillary Clinton Spent Debate Night With the Kardashians." CW: Seems appropriate.

Bernie Sanders live-tweeted the debate. ...

... Sarah Kaplan of the Washington Post: Bernie Sanders will speak at a student-mandatory convocation at Liberty University. Kaplan explains why Liberty invited him -- it's about the money: "Liberty's non-profit status and its accreditation depend on carefully managing its religious and political affiliations."

Gabriel Debenedetti & Dylan Byers of Politico: "The first debate for the Democratic Party's 2016 presidential contenders will take place October 13 in Nevada and be hosted by CNN, the Democratic National Committee announced Thursday.... A total of six debates are [sic.] scheduled, with six different sponsors: Oct. 13 in Nevada (hosted by CNN); Nov. 14 in Des Moines, Iowa (CBS/KCCI and The Des Moines Register); Dec. 19 in Manchester, New Hampshire (ABC/WMUR); Jan. 17 in Charleston, South Carolina (NBC/Congressional Black Caucus Institute); and two scheduled for either February or March in Miami, Florida, and Wisconsin, hosted by Univision/The Washington Post and PBS, respectively." Sanders, O'Malley & Webb wanted more debates, especially before the first primary states caucus or vote. Clinton's campaign had preferred fewer.

Beyond the Beltway

Jason Whitely of WFAA Dallas-Fort Worth: "... this has not been a good week for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Two days after Collin County unsealed indictments against him for securities fraud, a federal judge ordered him to court for a contempt hearing to explain why he is not letting the state recognize same-sex marriages."

The Way of the West. Tami Hoey of CBS 5 Arizona: "Close to a dozen bounty hunters raided a Phoenix home Tuesday night, looking for a suspected fugitive.... The home they raided belongs to the Phoenix Chief of Police.... Police said at least one bondsman banged on the chief's door, yelled inside, and pointed a flashlight inside the now-surrounded home. This bondsman was armed, his weapon was not holstered, and he reportedly got into a verbal confrontation with Chief [Joseph] Yahner, demanding he come out of his residence." Giddyup.

News Ledes

Bloomberg News: "Employers added 215,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate held at a seven-year low of 5.3 percent, a Labor Department report showed Friday...."

Environmental Pollution Agency. Reuters: "A team of US regulators investigating contamination at a Colorado goldmine accidentally released a million gallons (3.8 million liters) of orange-hued waste water containing sediment and metals into a local river system, the Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday."

Washington Post: "A manhunt ended Thursday afternoon for the 27-year-old man who authorities suspect fatally shot an on-duty Louisiana police officer who was responding to a call.... [Grover] Cannon was found inside of a garage behind a house Thursday afternoon and was arrested without incident...."