The Commentariat -- October 2, 2014

Internal links, defunct video & related text removed.

Michael Schmidt & Michael Shear of the New York Times: " Julia Pierson, the director of the Secret Service, is resigning in the wake of several security breaches. Ms. Pierson offered her resignation on Wednesday during a meeting with Jeh C. Johnson, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that oversees the Secret Service. The resignation came less than a day after lawmakers from both parties assailed Ms. Pierson's leadership and said they feared for the lives of the president and others in the protection of the agency. In a statement, Mr. Johnson said that he had appointed Joseph Clancy, a former agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division, to become the Secret Service's acting director. President Obama concluded that new leadership and a new direction was needed at the Secret Service 'in light of recent and accumulating reports about the agency,' Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Wednesday." CW: Always heartening when we learn that top officials read RealityChex & immediately follow our advice. (See yesterday's Comments.) ...

... The Washington Post story, by Carol Leonnig, is here. CW: Leonnig, who broke & advanced several stories about serious Secret Service lapses, probably did more than any other single person to effect Pierson's resignation. ...

... Catherine Thompson of TPM: "Some of the male panelists on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' wondered Wednesday whether Secret Service director Julia Pierson hadn't been dismissed over recent revelations of serious security lapses because of her gender. Panelist Donny Deutsch ... said that promoting women into positions of authority shouldn't be prioritized over competence. Co-host Joe Scarborough then turned the conversation to the female agent who was guarding the White House's front door when an intruder entered the building last month and managed to overpower her. 'Now, if a woman, 6' 4", can tackle a big guy or a big woman that's intruding, that's one thing,' he said. 'But we can't have people standing between the President of the United States and a terrorist that can get knocked down and that's there for politically correct reasons.'" ...

     ... Update: Erik Wemple of the Washington Post quite properly pins the blame on Mika Brzezinski for starting the men down the sexist path (and then trying to weasel out of taking responsibility): Brzezinski questioned why Pierson got the job in the first place, suggesting -- but not saying -- it was because she was a woman. As Wemple points out, "loaded in [her] question of whether a 30-year veteran of the Secret Service -- someone who'd served as chief of staff, as coordinator of the agency's drug program, as special agent in charge of the Office of Protective Operations and who, according to the New York Times's Peter Baker, 'boast[ed] a résumé much like those of her predecessors' at the time of her elevation -- had gotten her job via some kind of gender preference."

... Digby: "They've had female Secret Service agents for a long time. And no president has been assassinated since they put them in the job. In fact, the only presidents who've ever been assassinated were guarded only by men. Therefore, we should get rid of all the male Secret Service agents." ...

... Bryce Covert of the New Republic: "... it's probably not pure chance that Pierson, who held that position for just a year-and-a-half, was a woman. Time and again, women are put in charge only when there's a mess, and if they can't engineer a quick cleanup, they're shoved out the door." ...

... Wingers were vewwy upset yesterday at Peter Baker's New York Times article [linked in yesterday's Commentariat] suggesting that Republican legislators were crying crocodile tears over the Secret Service's failure to adequately protect the President & his family. Matt Lewis of Daily Caller strikes a more conciliatory note & has a superb suggestion: "I would suggest that conservative militias should begin voluntarily policing the fence around the White House, immediately. There is no border more important to protect, and there is nothing that would potentially do more harm to the cause of conservatism than for some horrible thing to happen to this president. Even if you put humanity and common decency aside, conservatives have a greater incentive than anybody to ensure his safety and security. God save the president." ...

     ... CW: I'm not sure if Lewis proposes that these noble militiamen be armed -- the District has an open-carry ban -- but having militiamen milling near the White House, harassing & intimidating tourists & other passers-by, would be swell, wouldn't it? ...

... Charles Lane of the Washington Post profiles the Secret Service's second director Hiram Whitley, who served during President Grant's administration. He was a genuine scoundrel and proud of it. Julia Pierson was no Hiram Whitley.

Julie Pace of the AP: "In a striking public rebuke, the Obama administration warned Israel on Wednesday that plans for a controversial new housing project in east Jerusalem would distance Israel from 'even its closest allies' and raise questions about its commitment to seeking peace with Palestinians. The harsh criticism came just hours after President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House. Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said the president privately raised his concerns with Netanyahu though the two leaders made no mention of the matter in their public comments to reporters."

Paul Waldman wrote this a couple of days ago, but as a window into the future of voting rights, it's worth reading today: "The Supreme Court has granted Ohio's request to throw out a ruling by lower courts stopping the state from implementing a law on early voting passed by the Republican state legislature. Meanwhile, cases on Republican-passed voting laws in Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Texas are also working their way through the courts, and may all wind up in front of the Supreme Court in one way or another. So here's a prediction: Republicans are going to win every single one of these cases. No matter how compelling the arguments of the opponents are, the simple fact is that there are five conservative justices who think that almost anything a state does to restrict people's ability to vote is just fine with them." ...

... CW: I continue to think that voter suppression will backfire. People are casual about rights (or anything else) given freely. So in the case of voting rights, many vote only when it's convenient. But take away rights to which people are accustomed, & they suddenly get passionate about them.

Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department is not expected to bring civil rights charges against George Zimmerman in the 2012 shooting death o Trayvon Martin, according to three law enforcement officials, despite allegations that the killing was racially motivated. The federal investigation of Zimmerman was opened two years ago by the department's civil rights division, but officials said there is insufficient evidence to bring federal charges. The investigation technically remains open, but it is all but certain the department will close it."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. CW: I sort of followed Politico's most recent jump into outrageous, but didn't think it worth linking. However, Margaret Hartmann of New York paraphrases it so beautifully I can no longer take a pass: "Politico is sorry readers thought they blamed Obama for his hypothetical assassination." Start with this closing graf in a piece by Politico guest columnist Ron Kessler:

Agents tell me it's a miracle an assassination hasn't already occurred. Sadly, given Obama's colossal lack of management judgment, that calamity may be the only catalyst that will reform the Secret Service.

     ... Hartmann: "After many people objected to the implication that the Secret Service will only improve if the president is killed, and that his death would be his own fault, the lines were changed.... [and an editor's note was added.] Politico is sort of sorry, but if readers mistakenly thought they were blaming the president for his own assassination, they really only have themselves to blame." ...

     ... CW: Let me add that guest columns typically get a lot of editorial scrutiny (unless they're written by prominent politicians or heads-of-state, in which case they get a spellcheck). And, um, hint to Politico: normally this scrutiny comes before the column is published. ...

... Also, Steve M. takes a peek at Kessler's history, demonstrating anew Politico's excellent editorial judgment in seeking out Kessler's opinion in the first place.

November Elections

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal appeals court has blocked North Carolina from ending same-day voter registration and out-of-precinct voting in connection with this fall's elections. In a 2-1 ruling issued Wednesday, the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals said the changes appeared to run afoul of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, a provision that prohibits practices that discriminate on the basis of race."

Gail Collins: "Conservative Republicans still tend to hew to the theory that the [Social Security] system is 'going bankrupt' and needs to be turned into some kind of private retirement investment account. They also generally promise to protect people 55 or over from any change.... If you happen upon a congressional debate in the next few weeks, feel free to ask the candidates what they're going to do to protect Social Security. Bring along a 54-year-old friend who might helpfully burst into tears when anyone starts promising to protect the 55-year-olds." ...

... Here's the "Daily Show" segment Collins mentions in her column:

Greg Gatlin & Mariellen Norris of Suffolk University: "Independent businessman and political enigma Greg Orman (46 percent) is leading three-term Republican incumbent Pat Roberts (41 percent) in the race for U.S. Senate in Kansas, with 11 percent undecided, according to the latest Suffolk University/USA TODAY poll of likely voters in the general election. In the race for governor [of Kansas], Democratic state Rep. Paul Davis (46 percent) is leading incumbent Sam Brownback (42 percent), a Republican, with 6 percent undecided in the survey conducted by the Suffolk University Political Research Center in Boston."

Charles Franklin of Marquette U. Law School: "A new Marquette Law School Poll in the Wisconsin governor's race finds Republican Gov. Scott Walker receiving the support of 50 percent of likely voters and Democratic challenger Mary Burke receiving 45 percent support."

Here's how College Republicans think they can influence young women to vote for Florida Gov. Rick Scott. CW: Apparently all college Republicans are boys who don't actually know any young women. I don't know how it's possible, but these young Republican boys seem to have come to us from 1954, which makes this ad not just the Worst Political Ad of 2014 but also kinda creepy. To be fair, the ad would have sucked in 1954, too:

     ... Via Ed Kilgore. ...

... Amanda Marcotte in Slate: "At this point, it's hard not to wonder if the people being hired to do outreach to women on behalf of Republican candidates aren't all a bunch of Democratic moles." ...

     ... Update: It gets worse. Laura Clawson of Daily Kos: College Republicans are spending nearly $1MM on a "digital campaign" using this ad. BUT wait. It's a generic ad, in which they plug in the name of the GOP gubernatorial candidate & his rival. The rest of the script remains the same. So Rick Scott/Tom Corbett/Rick Snyder "has new ideas that won't break your budget!"

Beyond the Beltway

Vivian Kuo & Eliott McLauglin of CNN: The Tallahassee, "Florida police department is investigating one of its officers after he shot a 62-year-old woman in the back with a Taser on Tuesday afternoon. The incident was captured on videotape by a nearby witness. The incident was captured on videotape by a nearby witness." With video. Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. Also see his commentary in today's Comments.

CW: I'm dedicating the video below to Akhilleus. You'll have to read today's Comments to see why. To my credit, even tho this video has had 100MM views, I've never heard the song before:

News Ledes

New York Times: "As a large crowd of demonstrators massed outside his offices Thursday night, Hong Kong’s embattled chief executive declared that he would not resign but said his government was willing to meet with student protesters to discuss their demands for democratic reform. But the chief executive, Leung Chun-ying, who was anointed by Beijing to lead Hong Kong two years ago, said the talks would have to be in accordance with an earlier ruling by the Chinese leadership limiting the scope of political change here -- a ruling that has been a target of the mass protests that have shaken this former British colony for nearly a week."

Bloomberg News: "U.S. stocks fell, with the Standard & Poor's 500 poised for its first four-day decline of the year, as European shares tumbled on speculation central-bank stimulus will fail to revive the euro-area economy."

NEW. New York Times: "Health officials in Texas said Thursday that they had reached out to as many as 100 people who may have had contact -- either directly or indirectly -- with a Liberian man sick with the Ebola virus while he was contagious. Of those people, only a handful have been isolated, including family members and the medical technicians who rushed the patient, Thomas E. Duncan, to the hospital on Sunday. Most on the list are there simply because they had contact with people who had had contact with Mr. Duncan."

Hill: "The White House said Wednesday it will not impose travel restrictions or introduce new airport screenings to prevent additional cases of Ebola from entering the United States. Spokesman Josh Earnest said that current anti-Ebola measures, which include screenings in West African airports and observation of passengers in the United States, will be sufficient to prevent the 'wide spread' of the virus." ...

... AP: "A Dallas emergency room sent a man with Ebola home last week, even though he told a nurse that he had been in disease-ravaged West Africa, and officials at the hospital are considering if they would have acted differently had the entire medical staff been aware."

Before There Was a Beltway

Photos & related text removed.

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "For much of the history of the United States, the White House grounds have been reasonably open to the public, resulting in breaches far more astonishing than the one on Sept. 19, when an Iraq war veteran, Omar J. Gonzalez, rushed past a Secret Service agent at the North Portico and ran through much of the State Floor before being tackled."

In the 1920s, my grandparents had a touring car with running boards. When they traveled with the family, they fitted wooden pens to the running boards, & the family dogs rode in the pens. 

My grandparents' practice would be regarded as animal cruelty today, but as Gail Collins has happily reminded us, Mitt Romney was pretty certain dogs enjoyed such fresh-air adventures.  

I don't know if my grandmother thought driving great distances with dogs on the running board was cruel to the family pets, but she did think the appearance of dogs on the running board was evah-so tacky. My grandmother was always one for keeping up appearances.

There was no going around Washington, D.C., in those days, so on trips south, my grandfather drove through the city. I suppose the signage wasn't all that good back then. In any event, on one such trip, my grandfather got lost driving through Washington.

Eventually he spied a couple of policemen standing around in front of a porticoed mansion. My grandfather pulled alongside the front steps, stuck his head out the window & asked the officers just where they were. 

"You're at the White House, sir," said one of the officers.

"Oh, dear," my grandmother gasped. "Drive on quickly, Asbury. I shouldn't want Mrs. Coolidge to see us like this."

If you or someone you know has breached the White House gates, do tell.

The Commentariat -- October 1, 2014

Internal links & graphic removed.

Scarier & Scarier. Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "A security contractor with a gun and three prior convictions for assault and battery was allowed on an elevator with President Obama during a Sept. 16 trip to Atlanta.... The private contractor first aroused the agents' concerns when he acted oddly and did not comply with their orders to stop using a cellphone camera to record the president in the elevator.... The Secret Service director, Julia Pierson, asked a top agency manager to look into the matter but did not refer it to an investigative unit that was created to review violations of protocol and standards...." In hearings Tuesday, Pierson told House members that she brief President Obama 100 percent of the time when his security is breached. But she didn't tell him about the Atlanta incident. ...

... AND Scarier. Carol Leonnig: "The man who jumped over the White House fence and sprinted through the main floor of the mansion could have gotten even farther had it not been for an off-duty Secret Service agent who was coincidentally in the house and leaving for the night. The agent who finally tackled Omar Gonzalez had been serving on the security detail for President Obama's daughters and had just seen the family depart via helicopter minutes earlier. He happened to be walking through the house when ... the intruder dashed through the main foyer.... [Julia] Pierson did not reveal during her testimony that the agent who tackled him was not actually assigned to the post where he confronted Gonzalez." ...

... Peter Baker of the New York Times: Democrats notice that Republicans are using "concern for the President's security" to undermine the President. No kidding.

... New York Times Editors: "... the Secret Service has revealed itself to be as bungling and dysfunctional as many other once-revered Washington institutions. It not only failed in its most fundamental task of protecting the White House premises, but it has failed to properly investigate threats after they occurred, and has not been forthcoming with the public about those lapses. The agency initially said [Omar] Gonzalez was subdued at the White House door, only admitting the truth about the extent of his intrusion after it was uncovered on Monday by Carol D. Leonnig of The Washington Post. 'I wish to God you protected the White House like you're protecting your reputation here today,' Representative Stephen Lynch, a Democrat of Massachusetts, told the Secret Service director, Julia Pierson, at a hearing Tuesday morning. Ms. Pierson was unimpressive in her testimony at the hearing on security breaches, delivering passive, pro forma answers and failing to persuade questioners of either party that she has either the strategy or the will to right an essential but troubled agency." ...

... Frank Bruni: "The guard dogs didn't guard. The alarm boxes didn't alarm. The front door couldn't be locked automatically as he sprinted toward it, because it wasn't rigged that way. We can fly drones over Pakistan, but we can't summon a proper locksmith to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?... In the end, it's people who make the difference. The Secret Service needs better ones." ...

... Dana Milbank: "... Julia Pierson "was brought in to change the frat-house culture seen in the Miami and Amsterdam. She claims to have improved that problem ('We've instituted an Office of Professional Integrity'), but she's now allowing an equally pernicious culture to flourish -- a culture of concealment and coverup." ...

... CW: Milbank doesn't mention that Pierson neglected to tell Congress that the agent who stopped Gonzalez was off-duty & just happened to be near the Green Room when he saw & tackled the intruder. It was after Pierson's testimony that the press revealed this relevant detail, which she chose not to share. Nor does Milbank note that Pierson lied to Congress when she said she informs the President "100 percent of the time" of security breaches: she didn't tell him about the Atlanta incident, according to Leonnig. So, more "concealment & coverup," including an outright lie to a Congressional committee. ...

    ... Update: Josh Voorhees of Slate: "Tuesday's hearing ... was an example of lawmakers doing a job only they could do, not in spite of their desire for political theater but because of it." CW: Voorhees makes all the same points I do above. ...

... Charles Pierce blames the attacks on President Obama on "a dark energy on the other side."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Steve M. points out that the Washington Post editorial board thought it would be an excellent idea to publish an op-ed by a former Secret Service agent who suggests that the Allen West would be a "perfect" choice to head up he Secret Service. Steve mentions a couple of things to suggest West might not be the best person for the job....

     ... CW: It is hard to credit a newspaper as a serious journalistic enterprise when its editors make such decisions. The media not only fail to ID the "complete fking loons" as such, as Charles Pierce complained recently, but a major outlet like the Post is actually encouraging the looniest among them. I guess this is what we can expect from the Post's new publisher & former Reagan aide Fred Ryan. ...

... digby: "But if the fellow who wrote [the] op-ed for the Washington Post is indicative of the sort of people who are protecting the president, I am now truly afraid for him.

Jonathan Cohn: "The latest legal challenge to Obamacare just won a round in court. On Tuesday, a federal district judge ruled in favor of a lawsuit challenging the federal government's authority to provide millions of people with tax credits for buying private health insurance. The decision, in a case called Pruitt v. Burwell, came from a Republican-appointed judge in Oklahoma. His opinion was succinct, strongly worded and betrayed not a hint of self-doubt.... The judge stayed his ruling, pending the Obama Administration's likely appeal to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. The real question now is what effect (if any) Tuesday's announcement has on the justices of the Supreme Court, who are contemplating whether to hear a similar lawsuit and make a definitive ruling on the matter."

Jeff Toobin in the New Yorker: On Hobby Lobby, Justice Ginsburg "was right: the decision is opening the door for the religiously observant to claim privileges that are not available to anyone else." One example: "Just days after the decision, the Court's majority allowed Wheaton College, which is religiously oriented, to refuse to fill out a form asking for an exemption from the birth-control mandate -- while retaining the exemption.... If just filling out a form can count as a 'substantial burden,' it's hard to imagine any obligation that would not." CW: Also obvious, Sam Alito is a lying snake. If you didn't read Chermerinsky's piece, linked yesterday, on Our Crappy Supreme Court (possible not the actual title), read it soon.

CW: A couple of days ago, I said the trial of Hank Greenberg's case against the federal government should be entertaining. Here's John Cassidy of the New Yorker with the first installment: "Most news organizations are covering the trial straight, as if it were a deadly serious affair. It is, in fact, an absurdist comedy, rich in ironies, worthy of the Marx Brothers or Mel Brooks." Greenberg made in the neighborhood of $300MM on the bailout. "That's three hundred million dollars he wouldn’t have had if Ben Bernanke and Tim Geithner ... and Hank Paulson ... had allowed A.I.G. to go belly up. Rather than hauling those three musketeers into ... court..., Greenberg should be taking them out to dinner."

Beyond the Beltway

Patrick McGreevey of the Los Angeles Times: "Four months after a disturbed man killed six UC Santa Barbara students and wounded 13 others, Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed legislation allowing the temporary seizure of guns from people determined by the courts to be a threat to themselves or others. The Isla Vista massacre in May occurred even though the family of Elliot Rodger had sought help because of concerns about his strange behavior before the shootings."

American "Justice," New York City Edition, Ctd. The Anonymity of a Snitch. Benjamin Weiser of the New York Times: "For five years, Kenneth Creighton was held in jail, suspected of involvement in the killing of a bystander outside a bodega in the Bronx. In 2012, the charges were dropped. Mr. Creighton was released from Rikers Island. He has since filed a lawsuit against New York City for false arrest and malicious prosecution, and has sought the name of his accuser.... Criminal defendants, generally, have the right to know and confront their accusers. But when the accuser happens to be a confidential witness, the calculus can be more complicated."

Nathaniel Rich, in the New Republic: "Louisiana is disappearing. Since 1932, the Gulf of Mexico has swallowed 2,300 square miles of the state's wetlands, an area larger than Delaware.... The loss of the marshes has catastrophic implications, because they are the state's first, and strongest, defense against hurricanes. Two culprits are responsible for most of the destruction. The first is the Army Corps of Engineers, which over the past 130 years has built many of the levees that pin the modern Mississippi River in place to prevent flooding.... The other major destructive force in the region is the fossil fuel industry."

Presidential Election 2012 (& 2016??)

Charles Pierce assesses Mitt Romney's character. This is a short read.

News Lede

Jacksonville Times-Union: A Jacksonville jury today found Michael Dunn guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis. "Under Florida law Dunn must be sentenced to prison for life with no possibility of parole for the murder of Davis. He also faces a minimum of 60 years for the attempted murders of Leland Brunson, Tommie Stornes and Tevin Thompson, friends of Davis who were in the Dodge Durango with Davis when he died.... A previous jury deadlocked on his guilt in Davis' death in February while convicting him of the second-degree attempted murders of Brunson, Stornes and Thompson."