The Commentariat -- Jan, 13, 2014

Internal links removed.

Rubio & Ryan Are No Robin Hoods. Paul Krugman: "It's not much of an exaggeration to say that right now Republicans are doing all they can to hurt the poor, and they would have inflicted vast additional harm if they had won the 2012 election. Moreover, G.O.P. harshness toward the less fortunate isn't just a matter of spite (although that's part of it); it's deeply rooted in the party's ideology, which is why recent speeches by leading Republicans declaring that they do too care about the poor have been almost completely devoid of policy specifics."

** Profs. Jason Stanley & Vesla Weaver in a New York Times op-ed: "... the practical reality of the criminal justice system in the United States is far from colorblind. The evidence suggests that the criminal justice system applies in a radically unbalanced way, placing disproportionate attention on our fellow black citizens. The United States has a legacy of enslavement followed by forced servitude of its black population. The threat that the political ideals of our country veil an underlying reality of racial democracy is therefore particularly disturbing. Starting in the 1970s, the United States has witnessed a drastic increase in the rate of black imprisonment, both absolutely and relative to whites."

Mark Sherman of the AP: The Supreme Court "is hearing arguments Monday in a politically charged dispute that also is the first in the nation's history to explore the meaning of a provision of the Constitution known as the recess appointments clause. Under the provision, the president may make temporary appointments to positions that otherwise require confirmation by the Senate, but only when the Senate is in recess. The court battle is an outgrowth of the increasing partisanship and political stalemate that have been hallmarks of Washington over the past 20 years, and especially since Obama took office in 2009." For context, see also the piece by Peter Shane linked in yesterday's Commentariat. ...

... David Hockings of Roll Call: "The stakes for Senate Republicans are so high that the court gave them 15 minutes of argument time. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will be on hand as their case is presented by Miguel Estrada. (His nomination by President George W. Bush to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals failed to advance during seven cloture votes in 2003...) ... Legal scholars are salivating over the outcome of what they say is the most important separation of powers case in at least two decades. That's because it not only reflects the most basic argument about constitutional law (whether strict constructionist originalism is most important, or applying precedent and common sense to real world situations) but also could have the effect of theoretically invalidating thousands of decisions by dozens of recess appointees dating back more than 200 years. But for senators expecting to be around next year, it's a clear-cut case of power politics."

Greg Miller & Adam Goldman of the Washington Post: "As general counsel to the director of national intelligence, [Robert] Litt has assumed an unusually high-profile role in the aftermath of the Snowden leaks, serving as the point person in defending the massive surveillance programs to Congress and the public. He has defended spy agencies aggressively in dozens of congressional hearings and other settings. He has battled news organizations to keep some Snowden material out of news reports and fired off a steady stream of ­e-mails accusing reporters of sloppy or sensationalized work. He has also alienated some key lawmakers, including Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who for the past six months has effectively banned Litt from appearing before the panel, even behind closed doors." ...

... Margaret Talbot of the New Yorker compares the break-in of & theft of documents from the Media, Pennsylvania, FBI field office in 1971 & Edward Snowden's theft of NSA documents.

Michael Gordon & Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "Iran and a group of six world powers completed a deal on Sunday that will temporarily freeze much of Tehran's nuclear program starting next Monday in exchange for limited relief from Western economic sanctions. The main elements of the deal, which is to last for six months, were announced in November. But its implementation was delayed as negotiators worked out technical details. The agreement faced opposition from Iranian hard-liners and Israeli leaders, as well as heavy criticism from some American lawmakers, who have threatened to approve further sanctions despite President Obama's promise of a veto."

Andrew Bacevich in the Los Angeles Times: "The truth is something few people in the national security establishment are willing to confront: Confusing capability with utility, the United States knows how to start wars but has seemingly forgotten how to conclude them.... As a consequence, instead of promoting stability -- perhaps the paramount U.S. interest not only in the Islamic world but also globally -- Washington's penchant for armed intervention since the end of the Cold War, and especially since 9/11, has tended to encourage just the opposite.... Fundamentally, a pronounced infatuation with armed might has led senior civilian officials, regardless of party, and senior military leaders, regardless of service, to misunderstand and misapply the military instrument." ...

... Robert Gates talks to CBS "News"'s Rita Braver about his new memoir:

... Gates tells NBC's Matt Lauer that he's disappointed reporters & pundits are accurately quoting the digs he made about top government officials. CW: Really, people, limit your reviews to citing the parts of the book where I depict myself, Bob Gates, as a genuine hero, especially as compared to the lowlifes & know-nothings I had to work with. ...

... Steve Inskeep of NPR interviewed Gates at some length. The transcript is here. The audio is here.

Presidential Election 2008

Politico Magazine publishes an excerpt of Johnathan Allen & Amie Parnes' forthcoming book on Hillary Clinton. Here they dish on Bill & Hillary Clinton's "hit list" of those who didn't but should have helped Hillary in 2008. Aides assigned each lawmaker on the list a number, based on the perceived notion of how much they helped or didn't help the Clintons.

Local News

Steven Yaccino of the New York Times: "While Republican-majority legislatures across the country are easing restrictions on gun owners, few states are putting more pressure on municipalities right now than Kansas. The new law has forced some local leaders to weigh policy conviction against fiscal pragmatism in a choice that critics say was flawed from the start: Open vulnerable locations to concealed side arms or stretch meager budgets to cover the extra security measures." Thanks to contributor Whyte O. for the link.

Coral Davenport & Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "Last week's major chemical spill into West Virginia's Elk River, which cut off water to more than 300,000 people, came in a state with a long and troubled history of regulating the coal and chemical companies that form the heart of its economy.... Critics say the problems are widespread in a state where the coal and chemical industries, which drive much of West Virginia's economy and are powerful forces in the state's politics, have long pushed back against tight federal health, safety and environmental controls."

Chris Frates of CNN: "CNN has learned that federal officials are investigating whether Christie improperly used [Hurricane Sandy] relief funds to produce tourism ads that starred him and his family. The news couldn't come at a worse time for the scandal-plagued Republican.... As bad as the bridge scandal is for Christie, if investigators find he improperly spent Sandy funds, it could get far worse, tarnishing the signature achievement that has made him a serious contender for the White House." ...

... N. R. Kleinfield of the New York Times writes a useful overview narrative of the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandalette. ...

... Shawn Boburg of the Bergen Record: New Jersey "Assemblyman John Wisniewski said he plans to issue subpoenas demanding documents from the governor's former deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly and spokesman Michael Drewniak, along with other aides whose names surfaced last week in documents related to the lane closures...." ...

... Margaret Hartmann of New York: More New Jersey Democratic mayors suspect that Christie's endorsement "requests" came with strings & threats. ...

... Dylan Stableford of Yahoo! News: "Prominent Republicans hit the Sunday morning talk show circuit to defend New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, comparing the possible 2016 presidential hopeful's handling of the burgeoning bridge scandal to President Barack Obama's response to the Benghazi terror attack and the IRS' targeting of conservative groups. 'Chris Christie has been totally open here,' Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said on NBC's 'Meet The Press' Sunday." CW: Sorry, Reince, we ain't buying that bridge. ...

... David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Republican strategist Karl Rove asserted on Sunday that New Jersey's Gov. Chris Christie's (R) handling of the George Washington Bridge Scandal showed he had the right qualities to be president of the United States." ...

... How did President Obama not know about the IRS targeting right wing groups? ... This is what happens in political operations. I mean, people get wrong messages. It happens all the time. It happened, again, I go back to the IRS scandal. The people in the IRS though President Obama wanted them to do this. President Obama didn't want them to do this. But they got the sense because of that culture that they were supposed to target right wing groups. It was totally wrong. -- Rudy 9/11 Giuliani on ABC News's "This Week"

Of course, crack host Martha Raddatz let Giuliani get away with mischaracterizing the IRS probes, which were directed at both left- and right-leaning fake "social welfare" groups, not to mention that President Obama doesn't work out of the Cincinnati IRS office. -- Constant Weader

As you can see, the word has gone forth that the best way to deal with the Christie scandal is to whine and blubber about the bogus IRS scandal and Benghazi! -- digby

... Charles Pierce has a rundown of Sunday morning shows, where the deal is that congenial hosts welcome lying politicians & pundits with the apparent understanding that prevarication & inapt analogies will ever go unchallenged. ...

... AND David Brooks defended Christie on Friday: "If they're going to vote for Christie, they don't want a charmer. They want a big bully. And this will not hurt him, I think.... people get -- pick the rough guy when they're really fed up":

... Driftglass: "Should Christie somehow survive thanks to extraordinary political life-support measures taken by Mr. Brooks, Mark Halperin, David Gregory, Joe Scarborough and the rest of the Beltway Both Sider monkey-house, Mr. Brooks will no doubt very modestly and humbly call back to this moment as evidence of his boldly contrarian political sagacity." ...

... E. J. Dionne: "Even assuming that Christie's disavowal of complicity holds up, he faces a long-term challenge in laying this story to rest. History suggests that beating back a scandal requires one or more of these assets: (1) a strong partisan or ideological base; (2) overreach by your adversaries; or (3) a charge that doesn't fit people’s perceptions of you. Christie has trouble on all three fronts."

Lawless Lawmakers. Jordan Shapiro of the AP: "Having failed in an earlier effort to bar federal agents from enforcing gun regulations in Missouri, conservative lawmakers are trying a new tack this year: banding together with other like-minded states to defy certain federal laws at the same time. Supporters believe it will be more difficult for the federal government to shrug off such statutes if more states act together. Missouri's latest proposal, introduced this past week, would attempt to nullify certain federal gun control regulations from being enforced in the state and subject law enforcement officers to criminal and civil penalties for carrying out such policies. The state's Republican-led Legislature came one vote shy of overriding Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon's veto of such a measure last year. This year's bill adds a new twist, delaying the effective date for several years to allow time for other states to join the cause."

Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "A state assemblyman from western New York, Dennis H. Gabryszak, said on Sunday that he would step down amid mounting accusations that he sexually harassed women who worked in his office." The Buffalo News story is here. ...

... Margaret Hartmann: "Gabryszak didn't apologize in his statement.... Previous ethics investigations were dropped after the Assembly member stepped down, and the Daily News notes that after 32 years of government service, Gabryszak can collect a pension estimated to be worth $53,000 a year or more."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "On Monday, a court-martial is scheduled to begin for a Navy supervisor in connection with the deaths of [two Navy scuba divers] ... on Feb. 26 in the man-made pond at the Army's test center, in Aberdeen, Md."

New York Times: "Ariel Sharon, Israel's 11th prime minister, was eulogized on Monday as a fighter and pragmatic politician whose life was intertwined with the land of Israel whose security he defended relentlessly."

Washington Post: "After years of failing to heed U.S. advice to broaden his outreach to Iraq’s Sunni minority and to accept more U.S. counterterrorism assistance, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki now appears ready to listen, according to senior Obama administration officials."

Reuters: "Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet in Moscow on Tuesday, the Kremlin said on Monday, and a diplomatic source said they were likely to sign a nuclear cooperation deal."

The Commentariat -- Jan, 12, 2014

Paul Krugman: "... the social troubles of urban blacks emerged, not because there was something inherently wrong with their culture, but because job opportunities in inner cities dried up. Sure enough, when the God-fearing (and definitely white) people of Appalachia face a loss of employment opportunity, their region turns into what [conservative Kevin] Williamson [in the National Review] calls the Great White Ghetto. And this in turn says that the problem isn't that we're becoming a nation of takers; it's the fact that we're becoming a nation that doesn't offer enough economic opportunity to the bottom half, or maybe even the bottom 80 percent, of its citizens." ...

... As Digby documents, Williamson retorts.

... Michael Isikoff of NBC News: "The chairman of a New Jersey legislative panel investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures said Gov. Chris Christie's top aides had engaged in a 'cover-up' and the governor could be impeached if it is determined he was aware of efforts to use the bridge for political purposes. 'Using the George Washington Bridge, a public resource, to exact a political vendetta, is a crime,' New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski, who is spearheading the bridge probe, told NBC News on Saturday." ...

The Nationalization of State & Local Politics. Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "... the strategic deployment of campaign cash has helped consultants and donors accelerate or arrest states' natural drift toward one party or the other.... Not unlike a political version of Cayman Islands banks, the networks allow political strategists to sidestep regulations and obscure the source of funds. Campaign contributions that would be banned or restricted in one state can be sent to a state where the rules allow money to flow more freely, often scrubbed of the identity of the original donor."

What Happens When a Politician Tries to Do the Right Thing. Shaila Dewan of the New York Times: "Gayle McLaughlin, the mayor of Richmond, Calif..., has a plan to help the many Richmond residents who owe more money on their houses than their houses are worth, but it's one that banks like Wells Fargo, large asset managers like Pimco and BlackRock, real estate interests and even Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants, have tried to quash. Her idea involves a novel use of the power of eminent domain to bail out homeowners by buying up and then forgiving mortgage debt."

Pete Kasperowicz of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he is now open to considering Republican amendments to a bill extending emergency unemployment benefits through most of 2014."

Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Democratic senators are pleading with President Obama to abandon his proposal to trim Social Security benefits before it becomes a liability for them in the midterm elections. The president proposed a new formula for calculating benefits in his budget last year, in hopes that the olive branch to Republicans would persuade them to back tax increases in a broader fiscal deal."

Alleged Arsonist & Car Thief Determined to Remain a Worthless Scumbag. Molly Hooper of the Hill: "Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) in 2014 will pursue the IRS scandal, the deadly Benghazi attack and the botched Fast and Furious operation in what will likely be his last year as the House GOP's chief investigator."

Washington & his first Cabinet.Peter Shane, in the Atlantic, debunks the conservative "myth of the anti-government Constitution." The gist of the myth: "It is not merely that the Framers wanted to avoid re-creating a monarchy. They actually sought to make it difficult for government to function. If the Senate can't come to terms with the president, then liberty demands that the government be paralyzed." But Shane points out, "The Framers, in John Marshall's words, 'had experienced the embarrassments' of government under the Articles of Confederation, They wanted a government that worked." Thanks to contributor safari for the link.

Shadee Ashtari of the Huffington Post: " The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday said it will hear a challenge to an Ohio law that forbids candidates and issue groups from making false campaign statements. The case, involving an anti-abortion group's claim that Ohio's False Statement Law violates free speech, will likely be argued in April, with a ruling announced during the last months of the Supreme Court's term in May or June." ...

... Digby: "I guess some members of the court are concerned that the anti-abortion zealots are being obstructed from lying. You can't blame them. Blatant dishonesty is a big part of the forced childbirth movement strategy.... I expect they will rule that lying in political ads is perfectly acceptable under the First Amendment. And maybe it is.... Politicians of all partisan stripes lie, but there is one group that makes a particular fetish of it. And they have an endless supply of money."

Katie McDonough of Salon: "According to a comprehensive new study published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, the overwhelming majority of women who seek abortion care do not change their minds after receiving and viewing a sonogram.... Laws forcing women to undergo an ultrasound at least one day in advance of the procedure (and that the ultrasound be performed by the same physician who performs the abortion) contradicts medical best practice. Ultrasounds are generally provided by technicians, not physicians. Having a physician present for two days can drive up the cost of an abortion, putting the procedure out of reach for many low-income women. (This is all the more significant now that restricting insurance coverage for abortion is a major agenda item for anti-choice lawmakers across the country.)" CW: Another cruel, misogynistic law designed to remind poor women not to have sex.

Gospel

Ashley Alman of the Huffington Post: "Christopher Schaeffer, a Pastafarian minister, was sworn into the Pomfret, N.Y. Town Council last week wearing a colander, the Observer reported on Friday. Schaeffer is a member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a group founded by an atheist in 2005 that has adopted the spaghetti strainer as its symbol. 'It's just a statement about religious freedom,' Schaeffer told the Observer. 'It's a religion without any dogma.'" Via Steve Benen.

Local News

Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "Former New Jersey governor Thomas H. Kean, one of the state's most revered figures and a mentor to current Republican Gov. Chris Christie, contends that the leadership qualities Christie has shown while in office should give pause to voters nationally, as they begin to size up Christie as a potential president.... Kean's own breach with his onetime protege occurred last year, when Christie attempted to unseat Kean's son, Thomas H. Kean Jr. (R), as state Senate minority leader. Christie's power play failed -- in one of the few times he has not gotten his way with his party in the legislature. Kean said the aggressiveness that Christie had shown toward his son, who was feuding with a Christie ally, was typical: 'If you come at him, he&'s going to come back at you harder.'" ...

... Michael Linhorst of the Bergen Record: "The incoming [New Jersey] Assembly speaker says he'll call a special session next week to renew the subpoena power of the panel investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures." ...

... Martin Longman makes the case in the Washington Monthly that Chris Christie was a corrupt U.S. attorney who politicized his office to the satisfaction of the corrupt Bush "Justice" Department, so we should not be surprised he's still politicizing supposedly non-political institutions like the Port Authority. ...

... Olivia Nuzzi of Politico runs down a list of other "controversies" that have dotted Christie's career. CW: Still waiting to see Mitt's oppo file on Christie -- the one that made him decide Paulie would be a better veep candidate. ...

... David Simon: "He knew. We can say this now with certainty if we ask ourselves one basic question about human nature: What good does it do a political operative to screw over the opposition if you can't then tell your boss about it? Where is the joy for any lickspittle hack in the office hierarchy if he or she can't pull off a dirty trick against a political adversary, then walk down the hall and tell the boss just how well you did on his behalf? What would be the point? ... Anger and argument lose all charm when they are employed for stakes so small, stupid and selfish. He knew. And he's lying about it now." Via Annie Laurie in Balloon Juice. ...

... Maureen Dowd: "The Christie saga is still unraveling. Maybe he was a dupe in the dark.... Let's just say, I'm not yet permitting him in my circle of trust. ...

... Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "A Mr. Richard Feder from Fort Lee, N.J., has a question. Thanks to Nisky Guy for the link.

James Hohmann of Politico: "Terry McAuliffe, the legendary Democratic fundraiser and political fixer, had a message for Republicans during his rain-drenched inauguration Saturday as Virginia's governor: Let's make a deal. With a Republican-controlled General Assembly and control of the state Senate up for grabs in two contested special elections, McAuliffe struck a conciliatory tone following a bitter campaign, praising outgoing Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, and even quoting Thomas Jefferson in calling for compromise on subjects such as Medicaid expansion. 'The impediments to consensus are well known: ideology, personal political ambition, partisanship or score-settling,' the 56-year-old said as longtime allies Bill and Hillary Clinton looked on. 'No one who has served as an elected official has looked back and wished they had been more rigid, more ideological or more partisan.'" The Richmond Times-Dispatch story, by Jim Nolan & Olympia Meola, is here. The Washington Post story, by Laura Vozella & others, is here. ...

... Laura Vozella of the Washington Post: "In the nine weeks since Election Day, political observers say, Terry McAuliffe (D) has been shockingly gubernatorial. With moderate Cabinet picks and an ardent courtship of Republicans, the colorful former Democratic National Committee chairman and political fundraiser has projected an image of seriousness, caution and bipartisanship that critics had doubted he could muster."

AP: "A Wisconsin judge quashed subpoenas and ordered the return of property to the targets of a secret campaign-finance investigation involving Governor Scott Walker. Judge Gregory A. Peterson ruled Friday some of those subpoenas were improper. He's overseeing the so-called John Doe investigation into Walker's campaign and more than two dozen conservative groups. Peterson wrote they 'do not show probable cause that the moving parties committed any violations of the campaign finance laws.'"

News Ledes

Reuters: "Restaurants and shops were reopening on Sunday in parts of West Virginia where the water supply was poisoned by a chemical spill, although up to 300,000 people spent a fourth day unable to use tap water for anything besides flushing toilets.... It could still be several days before people in nine counties and Charleston, the state capital and largest city, can once again use the water from their faucets...."

New York Times: "Pope Francis continued reshaping the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday by appointing his first group of cardinals with an emphasis on Asia, Africa and Latin America, even as he also made omissions that signal his distaste for the traditional clerical career ladder." None of the new cardinals are from the U.S.

Washington Post/Bloomberg News: "The richest people on the planet got even richer in 2013, adding $524 billion to their collective net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a daily ranking of the world's 300 wealthiest individuals. Bill Gates ... was the year's biggest gainer.... Sheldon Adelson ... was the second-biggest gainer in 2013...."

The Commentariat -- Jan, 11, 2014

Internal links removed.

The President's Weekly Address:

... Annie Lowrey & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: " The surprisingly weak December jobs report might have strengthened Democrats' hand in the current fight over emergency jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed even as it weakened the party in the larger midterm election battle.... With a Senate showdown set for Monday night on legislation to revive expired benefits for 1.3 million out-of-work Americans, those numbers handed Democrats a cudgel to break Republican resistance. The number of Americans out of work for more than six months and actively job-hunting stands at 3.9 million. In addition, about 347,000 Americans dropped out of the labor force in December." ...

... Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge: The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 6.7 percent, but only because so many dropped out of the labor market altogether. Durden has the numbers. ...

... ** New York Times Editors: "No jobs, no benefits and lousy pay." A few ways Congressional Republicans are actively fighting against working Americans & those willing to work.

David Firestone of the New York Times: Tea Party Congressmembers are still holding up the omnibus appropriations bill that funds the government with attempts to defund ObamaCare & other nonsense, like "forbidding the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing its rule on the safe removal of lead paint."CW: This last is clearly racist -- there's lead paint in old houses everywhere, but it is a particular problem in substandard housing. especially in poor urban areas.

Juliet Eilperin & Amy Goldstein of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration has decided to jettison CGI Federal, the main IT contractor that was responsible for building the defect-ridden online health insurance marketplace and has been immersed in the work of repairing it. Federal health officials are preparing to sign a 12-month contract worth roughly $90 million, probably early next week, with a different company, Accenture, after concluding that CGI has not been effective enough in fixing the intricate computer system underpinning the federal Web site, HealthCare.gov, according to a person familiar with the matter." ...

Nancy Pelosi at a press conference Thursday.... Donna Cassata of the AP: " The House overwhelmingly passed a bill to impose new security requirements on President Barack Obama's health care law as Republicans maintained an election-year focus on the contentious program and its troubled rollout. The vote Friday was 291-122 for the measure that Republicans said would address potential data breaches, though they offered no examples in which personal data had been compromised through the government website."

From the Department of Unintended Irony. I was put off by the way the president closed the meeting. To his very closest advisers, he said, "For the record, and for those of you writing your memoirs, I am not making any decisions about Israel or Iran. Joe, you be my witness." I was offended by his suspicion that any of us would ever write about such sensitive matters. -- Robert Gates, in his memoir, after recounting the discussion of said sensitive matters

To a Louse

... O wad some Power the gift gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us! -- Robert Burns

Local News

Michael Linhorst & John Reitmeyer of the Bergen Record: "Port Authority officials did collect traffic data during the George Washington Bridge local lane closures in September, according to newly released documents. But even before the closures began, the authority's top engineers warned that the changes could lead to 'potential disaster.' The thousands of subpoenaed documents, released by Assembly Democrats on Friday afternoon, contain no documents connecting Governor Christie directly to the decision to close two local access lanes...." ...

... Mark Santora & Kate Zernicke of the New York Times: "Officials loyal to Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey went to elaborate means to make it appear that the September closing of lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, N.J., was part of a traffic study, even though their private communications suggest the move was purely political, documents released on Friday show. The documents also show a concerted effort to keep their true motivation hidden, including the insistence by one official of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in an email that communications about the matter should not be conducted by email or discussed publicly.... The documents make it clear that the [purported traffic] study was rushed and ordered only after Ms. Kelly apparently directed Mr. Wildstein to cause a traffic problem. The study was ... four pages long and found that, in essence, closing toll lanes creates traffic backups." ...

... the documents submitted by David Wildstein and his attorney are documents they deemed specifically related to the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge as per our subpoena request. Included in these documents is a reference to what appears to be a meeting between Port Authority Chairman David Samson and the governor one week before Bridget Kelly issued the order to cause 'traffic problems' in Fort Lee. By submitting these documents, Mr. Wildstein is telling us they are related to the lane closures in some way. The question that demands answering is how? -- John Wisniewski (D), Chair of the New Jersey Assembly's Transportation Committee

... Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "New documents related to a traffic jam planned by a member of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) staff show for the first time how furiously Christie’s lieutenants inside the Port Authority worked to orchestrate a coverup after traffic mayhem engulfed Fort Lee last year. Inside the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Christie's top appointees neglected furious complaints from Fort Lee's police chief as well as from angry rush-hour commuters.... The Republican governor's appointees instructed subordinates to stonewall reporters who were asking questions." ...

... Dana Milbank: "Even in disgrace, the New Jersey governor ... managed to turn his nationally televised news conference into a forum on the virtues of his favorite subject: himself. Use of the word 'I': 692 times. I'm: 119. I've: 67. Me: 83. My/myself: 134.... Christie's greatest obstacles are his own self-regard and his blindness to the possibility that he might have erred.... This certainty of his own infallibility will be more of an impediment to Christie than any lane closures in Fort Lee." ...

... The Democratic National Committee collects some of the teevee reporting on the revelation that  Christie's staff ordered the lane closings:

... Gail Collins demonstrates that Chris Christie is really presidential! ...

... Ezra Klein: "Chris Christie is actually a bully.... What makes Christie unusual is that he's a bully with power. That can be a dangerous combination.... Chris Christie rose because he's a bully. It might be why he falls, too."

** Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Obama administration on Friday said that it would recognize as lawful the marriages of 1,300 same-sex couples in Utah, even though the state government is refusing to do so":

Right Wing World

Chris Christie is a heroic guy who took responsibility for the GWB scandalette & fired those responsible right away, unlike President Obama who has never taken responsibility or fired anybody for the Benghaaaazi! & IRS scandals. And ObamaCare. ...

... As Jed Lewison of Daily Kos writes, "It's not a joke from the Onion." It's what they're pushing over there at Fox "News." ...

... Tyler Hansen & Olivia Marshall of Media Matters have much more along the same vein. ...

... Tom Kludt of TPM: Also, Mika Brzezinski, the "liberal" on Joe Scarborough's MSNBC show, adopts the right-wing meme. As Kludt writes, "The comparison to the IRS ordeal makes little sense. Both liberal and conservative groups were improperly flagged by the agency and, as some have pointed out, the comparison would be more appropriate had Christie officials also ordered lane closures near cities led by mayors who supported him. Not to mention that one of Christie's closest aides is at the center of the bridge scandal. There's no evidence that Obama was that close to the IRS targeting." ...

... David Edwards of the Raw Story: Also, the 'bridge thing' is ruining coverage of Bob Gates' supposed Obama-bashing book -- the one that hasn't been published yet so none of the Fox "News" critics have read. ...

... Hannity & friends agree. Also, the media are complicit. CW: Yes, they are. Ferinstance, if none of the media had asked questions, Christie's press conference would have run for 15 minutes instead of two hours. The media were simply prolonging the sensational story.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Egypt's top military officer on Saturday offered the clearest indication yet that he sees this week's referendum on a revised constitution as a prelude to a bid for the presidency, moving to consolidate his power after his ouster of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.The officer, General Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, swiftly emerged as Egypt's paramount decision maker after the military takeover in July...."

New York Times: "Ariel Sharon, one of the most influential figures in Israel's history, a military commander and political leader who at the height of his power redrew the country's electoral map only to suffer a severe stroke from which he never recovered, died on Saturday in a hospital near Tel Aviv. He was 85."

Washington Post: 'About 300,000 people in West Virginia remained without water for drinking, cooking or bathing Friday as a chemical spill into the Elk River near Charleston closed schools, sharply curtailed commerce and prompted residents to strip grocery shelves of bottled water.... The U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia opened an investigation into how as much as 5,000 gallons of a chemical used to process coal leaked into the river Thursday and found its way into the treatment plant that supplies water to much of the greater Charleston area."