The Commentariat -- August 20, 2012

My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on Brian McFadden's comic strip. The NYTX front page is here. ...

... Dean Baker has a great piece -- it's short -- on the New York Times as Paul Ryan cheerleader.

When $11,000 a Year is Too Rich. Carla Johnson & Kelli Kennedy of the AP: "Governors [of] five [Southern] states have said they'll reject the Medicaid expansion underpinning Obama's health law after the Supreme Court's decision gave states that option. Many of those hurt by the decision are working parents who are poor -- but not poor enough -- to qualify for Medicaid. Republican Mitt Romney's new running mate ... Paul Ryan, has a budget plan that would turn Medicaid over to the states and sharply limit federal dollars. Romney hasn't specifically said where he stands on Ryan's idea, but has expressed broad support for his vice presidential pick's proposals." ...

... CW: what NOBODY EVER SAYS is that Medicaid is pretty much a business subsidy. The working poor are poor because their employers don't pay them a living wage & don't provide health insurance. Our tax dollars go to Medicaid because many of the places we do business won't pay fair compensation. Ironically, the woman featured in the Johnson-Kennedy story works as a health aide. She's caring for people, but thanks to America's Worst Governor Rick Scott (RTP-Florida) won't be eligible for Medicaid. Thanks to contributor Dave S. for the link.

Larry Summers, who's right about some things, has an op-ed in today's Washington Post which responds to Paul Ryan, et al. idea of shrinking government: "For structural reasons, even preserving the amount of government functions that predated the financial crisis will require substantial increases in the share of the U.S. economy devoted to the public sector.

Presidential Race

Here's the latest Obama ad, this time appealing specifically to women, on reproductive rights:

Jane Mayer of the New Yorker: President Obama doesn't enjoy fundraising.

CW: haven't read it, by Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker has a long piece on what President Obama might do in his second term. I think I'll save it till after I find out if he has a second term.

This is quite sweet. Ralph Maxwell is a 92-year-old former Fargo, North Dakota, trial judge and World War II veteran. Watch it through. The text for Judge Maxwell's poem is here at the Blue Virginia site. Thanks to contributor Lisa for the links:

Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: "The nation’s painfully slow pace of growth is now the primary threat to Mr. Obama's bid for a second term, and some economists and political allies say the cautious response to the housing crisis was the administration's most significant mistake.... Peter P. Swire, Mr. Obama's special assistant for economic policy in 2009 and 2010, said both the administration's successes in repairing financial markets and its shortcomings in helping homeowners could be traced to the president's reliance on Mr. Geithner and Mr. Summers." CW: for what it's worth, I think those "economists & political allies" are exactly right. Besides, there are ways to help underwater homeowners at no cost to taxpayers -- like allowing them to refinance at a lower interest rate & not allowing the banks to charge refinancing fees.

Faking the Real Romney. Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Working from makeshift offices at a hockey arena [in Tampa, Florida], a team of Romney advisers, producers and designers have been staging and scripting a program for the Republican National Convention that they say they hope will accomplish something a year of campaigning has failed to do: paint a full and revealing portrait of who Mitt Romney is."

CW: as long as you think it's okay to be an autocrat who thinks he personally speaks for Jesus, Jason Horowitz of the Washington Post has written a fairly glowing piece about Romney as a church leader. ...

... CW: speaking of crazy anti-abortion ideas, as we do in the Congressional Races section below & in today's Comments, this version of "Bishop Mitt Tries to Stop a Woman from Having a Life-Saving Abortion," by Erin Ryan of Jezebel & published last October, is a bit more specific than was the version in the New York Times. If Prof. Judith Dushku is telling the whole truth, then the story has even broader application. It tells us why Mitt will "say anything, do anything" to get elected -- it's a church-approved tactic.

Paul Krugman: "Ryanomics is and always has been a con game, although to be fair, it has become even more of a con since Mr. Ryan joined the ticket.... What Mr. Ryan actually offers, then, are specific proposals that would sharply increase the deficit, plus an assertion that he has secret tax and spending plans that he refuses to share with us, but which will turn his overall plan into deficit reduction. If this sounds like a joke, that's because it is. Yet Mr. Ryan's 'plan' has been treated with great respect in Washington." ...

... What Con Game? What Hypocrisy? Here's Paul Ryan in 2002, taking to the well of the House to argue in favor of deficit spending to stimulate the economy. Notice how he is as passionately for it as he is now passionately against it. Thanks to contributor "Nisky Guy" for the link:

... Robert Reich: Paul Ryan's "faux populism obscures the main point. A much smaller government still dominated by money would continue to do the bidding of billionaires like casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, energy moguls like the Koch bothers, military contractors, and other high rollers now actively trying to put Ryan and Romney into the White House. It just wouldn't do anything for the rest of us.

Worth reading: Amy Davidson's post from last week on the social safety net which was available to Paul Ryan when his father died young.

Congressional Races

Nate Silver: "Based on some loose historical precedents, the remarks that the Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin of Missouri made about pregnancy and rape could be enough to swing the polls to the incumbent, Claire McCaskill." ...

... What comments might those be? Rebecca Berg of the New York Times reports: "Comments by Representative Todd Akin, a Republican running against Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, are drawing condemnation after he asserted that victims of 'a legitimate rape' have biological mechanisms to prevent pregnancy. 'If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down,' Mr. Akin told KTVI-TV of St. Louis in an interview that was broadcast on Sunday." CW Translation: "If the fetus remains viable, then you were asking for it, you slut." ...

... John Eligon & Michael Schwirtz of the New York Times elaborate. ...

... Apparently the anti-abortion crowd, which would appear to include whatever Roman Catholic hierarchy was -- at least once upon a time -- responsible for determining the school sex education curriculum, has long passed around the idea that women only get pregnant when they "want it." Several months ago, Anna North of BuzzFeed rounded up some remarks from other charter members of Todd Akin's Sex & Science Club. Considering that at least one of the club members is a Bush-appointed federal judge, are we amazed that (white) rapists often get away with the she-consented defense? ...

... Amy Davidson of the New Yorker has a good post on Akin's views, & she is among those who note that Paul Ryan's views are not a lot different from Akin's -- no matter what "statements" the R&R campaign put out.

Local News

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "In a state crucial to Mitt Romney's battle to replace President Obama, a law passed in 2011 by the Republican legislature and signed by Gov. Rick Scott (R) has created an awesome wake of litigation. The law imposes more than 75 changes, including restrictions on who can register voters and limits on the time allowed for early voting.... Every Democratic lawmaker, called it a partisan ploy to suppress voters who traditionally favor Democrats."

News Ledes

President Obama holds a news conference:

New York Times: "President Obama on Monday threatened military action against Syria if there was evidence that the government of President Bashar al-Assad was moving its stocks of chemical or biological weapons. It was Mr. Obama's most direct warning of American intervention in Syria, where Mr. Assad's military is fighting an 18-month-old rebellion." CW: the full presser is above, & is worth listening to on several counts.

New York Times: On Monday, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "became one of the first two female members admitted to Augusta National Golf Club, the home of the Masters tournament, which has excluded women as members throughout its 80-year history. The other new member is Darla Moore, a South Carolina financier and philanthropist who was on the cover of Fortune in 1997 as 'The Toughest Babe in Business.'"

New York Times: "Phyllis Diller, whose sassy, screeching, rapid-fire stand-up comedy helped open the door for two generations of funny women, died on Monday at her home in Brentwood, Calif. She was 95."

Los Angeles Times: "The Los Angeles County coroner's office and Los Angeles Police Department were both investigating the death of filmmaker Tony Scott, including interviewing witnesses.... Los Angeles police first learned of the incident after 12:30 p.m. from a 911 caller who said that an unidentified man had leaped off the suspension bridge that connects San Pedro and Terminal Island. It's a 185-foot fall from the bridge roadway to the waters of L.A. Harbor."

New York Times: "A Chinese court on Monday handed Gu Kailai, the wife of a disgraced Communist Party leader, a suspended death sentence for killing a British business associate who she reportedly feared was plotting to harm her son. In the Chinese legal system, such a sentence is tantamount to life in prison."

The Commentariat -- August 19, 2012

Lawrence Downes of the New York Times laments the popularization & dillution of Woody Guthrie, who would be 100 this year. ...

... An actual protest song against government-sponsored mass murder:

James Risen & Duraid Adnan of the New York Times: "When President Obama announced last month that he was barring a Baghdad bank from any dealings with the American banking system, it was a rare acknowledgment of a delicate problem facing the administration in a country that American troops just left: for months, Iraq has been helping Iran skirt economic sanctions imposed on Tehran because of its nuclear program."

Prof. Jennifer Scanlon, who wrote a biography of Helen Gurley Brown, on Brown's "other revolutionary idea: saving money is sexy." In the Washington Post.

Childhood Redux -- when the comic strip was the best part of the paper. Brian McFadden of the New York Times on campaign reporting:

CLICK ON CARTOON TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.

Presidential Race

Joe Conason in the National Memo: "Veteran Republican political consultant, unrepentant dirty trickster, and recently reborn libertarian Roger Stone yesterday published a startling accusation against Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney on his personal website, The Stone Zone. According to Stone, the billionaire Koch brothers purchased the Republican vice presidential nomination for Ryan from Romney in late July by promising to fork over an additional $100 million toward 'independent expenditure' campaigning for the GOP ticket. Any such transaction would represent a serious violation of federal election laws and perhaps other statutes, aside from the ethical and character implications for all concerned. What he has written amounts to a gleeful felony indictment of everyone involved. Will any of them demand a retraction or even issue a denial?" CW: Absent a confession from one or more of the interested parties or testaments from numerous fatcats within earshots, proving the case against Romney-Koch is virtually impossible. Thanks to contributor Lisa for the link.

Gov. Romney's just sort of a guy that you never want to play pick-up basketball with. He's always fouling, and he's always crying foul. -- Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-Maryland)

CW: Jim Kuhnhenn & Philip Elliott of the AP write a fairly classic he-said/he-said report on the Medicare debate and provide a fine example of the sloppy sort of reporting McFadden (above) lampoons. Kuhnhenn & Elliott write that "Romney's and Ryan's were at the ready, too, to point out Obama had shifted billions from the program to pay for Democrats' health care law.... On Saturday, Ryan accused Obama of raiding the Medicare 'piggybank' to pay for his health care overhaul. Obama countered that seniors shouldn't trust their golden years to Romney." Note that the reporters never say that Ryan's two budgets would have made the same cost savings Ryan is bashing on the campaign trail & that rather than repurposing those cost savings for healthcare needs for Americans of all ages (including those +65), Ryan would have used the savings "to reduce the deficit." Now that Ryan has "evolved," I guess he & Willard are committed to either increasing the deficit by $716BB or cutting more out of food stamps, Pell grants & such.

The Transformation of Barack Obama. Ta-Nehisi Coates in the New York Times: "Before Obama became the Great Deceiver of Men, he was a pinot-noir-sipping weakling who was a horrible bowler, marveled at arugula and otherwise failed at manhood.... And so, no longer able to portray Obama as weak, the authors of Willie Horton, swift-boating and modern day poll-taxing have been reduced to other tactics -- among them wildly yelping, 'Please, Mr. President, nothing to the face.' Arugula partisan that I am, I must admit to some glee here.... [But] Obama's tough guy bona fides were largely built on the expansive bombing campaign he launched against Al Qaeda, a campaign that regards due process and the avoidance of civilian casualties as indulgences.... It is an ambiguous feat, accomplished by going to the dark side, by walking the G.O.P.'s talk, by becoming the man Dick Cheney fashioned himself to be."

New York Times Editors: "Republican attacks on President Obama's plans for Medicare are growing more heated and inaccurate by the day. Both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan made statements last week implying that the Affordable Care Act would eviscerate Medicare when in fact the law should shore up the program's finances. Both men have also twisted themselves into knots to distance themselves from previous positions, so that voters can no longer believe anything they say. Last week, both insisted that they would save Medicare by pumping a huge amount of money into the program, a bizarre turnaround for supposed fiscal conservatives out to rein in federal spending. The likelihood that they would stand by that irresponsible pledge after the election is close to zero." ...

... Trip Gabriel & Helene Cooper of the New York Times finally do some due diligence: In a retirement community in Florida, "Paul D. Ryan wove a story of generational obligation on Saturday to make the case for his controversial Medicare plan.... Mr. Ryan accused Mr. Obama of being the bigger threat to the program because of savings wrung from the growth of spending in the program contained in the president's health law of 2010. The savings -- or cuts, in the eyes of Mr. Ryan -- are used to help pay for health care for the currently uninsured.... Left unsaid was that his own budget plan passed by the House in March includes the same $716 billion in savings, to be used to reduce the deficit." ...

... BUT Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post went the "he said/he said" route, refusing to call our Ryan. ...

... Don't Kid Yourselves, Seniors. Elise Viebeck of The Hill: "Medicare is not the only entitlement Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has big plans to reform. Its sister program, Medicaid, would lose about three-quarters of its federal funding by 2050 under proposals from the Republican vice presidential candidate, according to federal budget auditors. Medicaid provides healthcare for the poor and the disabled. Over 10 years, Ryan's budget plan would cut the program's budget by about $810 billion.... Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors [said,] 'It pays for 40 percent of the country's births and the majority of the nation's long-term care [for the elderly].'"

Shannon Young of the AP: "Speaking before 2,300 supporters in a crowded high school gym [in Windham, New Hampshire, President] Obama touched on his proposals to fix the economy, while drawing comparisons between his plan and that of Republican challenger Mitt Romney and running-mate Rep. Paul Ryan."

Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Are taxes a form of charitable donation? ... Mitt Romney seemed to suggest that he might think so last week, when he responded to questions about how much he pays in taxes by suggesting that people should take into account his total contributions to the government and charities.... Experts ... said it was an inadvertently revealing moment, a brief window into the deep philosophical differences between how liberals and conservatives view government and society." CW: not mentioned in the story -- Romney seems to think that taxes -- like charitable gifts -- are optional. Also, the other day when I commented on Romney's remark, I exaggerated his gift to the Mormon Church. According to Helderman's story, the Romneys don't tithe.

Maureen Dowd lets other people take down Paul Ryan. But in the end, she writes, "Beyond the even-keeled Ryan mien lurks full-tilt virulence. A moderate demeanor is not a sign of a moderate view of the world." ...

... Dowd refers to a Rolling Stone essay by Tom Morello, the guitarist for Rage Against the Machine. Here's the post: "Ryan claims that he likes Rage's sound, but not the lyrics. Well, I don't care for Paul Ryan's sound or his lyrics. He can like whatever bands he wants, but his guiding vision of shifting revenue more radically to the one percent is antithetical to the message of Rage."

I voted to send people to war. -- Paul Ryan, on why he has more foreign policy experience than President Obama did in 2008. Really, he said that. ...

... Andrew Kirell of Mediaite: "Speaking to Fox News’ Carl Cameron Saturday morning, Republican VP nominee Paul Ryan made the case for why he believes his foreign policy credentials are stronger than President Obama's, emphasizing that he has been a voting member of Congress longer than the president. Ryan cited his votes in favor of the Iraq War as evidence that he has had more foreign policy experience than Obama. 'I've been in Congress for a number of years,' he told Cameron. 'That's more experience than Barack Obama had when he came into office. 'I voted to send people to war,' he added."

AND the Boston Globe's editors say Vice President Biden should apologize for his "back in chains" remark.

Congressional Races

Parker of Fired Up Missouri: "f it's a day that ends in Y, extremist Rep. Todd Akin (R-Clayton) is saying something outrageous and/or dumb. Today [Friday] is no different. From Fox 2:

Republican Congressman Todd Akin said Friday afternoon he thinks it's time for a second look at federal "civil rights and voting rights" laws. The republican U.S. senate candidate told FOX 2's Charles Jaco states not the federal government should set voter rules. Congressman Akin of course is trying to unseat democratic Senator Claire McCaskill. And Akin has always said the federal government's role should be much smaller than it is. But Akin says that federal voting rights laws may need to be looked at, changed or overturned is something new. Those laws were passed in 1964, 1965 and 1968.

     ... CW: Obviously, the very need for these laws was created by the states themselves -- states that denied black Americans their Constitutional rights. So mark Friday as a day Todd Akin said something both dumb and outrageous -- which likely doesn't make Friday unique in any way.

News Ledes

AP: "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange planned to make his first public appearance Sunday since he took refuge inside Ecuador's embassy in London two months ago, seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over sexual misconduct allegations." The Guardian is liveblogging the event. ...

     ... Update: "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has called on President Barack Obama to end a 'witch hunt' against his secret-spilling website, after appearing in public for the first time since he took refuge inside Ecuador's embassy in London two months ago."

AP: "At least some of the seven people arrested in a fatal shootout with Louisiana deputies have been linked to violent anarchists on the FBI's domestic terrorism watch lists.... Detectives had been monitoring the group before Thursday's shootout in Laplace in which two deputies were killed and two more wounded, said DeSoto Parish Sheriff Rodney Arbuckle. His detectives and other law enforcement discovered the suspects were heavily armed adherents to an ideology known as the 'sovereign citizens' movement. The FBI has classified 'sovereign citizens'" as people who believe they are free from all duties of a U.S. citizen, like paying taxes."

Guardian: "United Nations observers have begun to leave Damascus as their mission in Syria comes to an end. The last 100 out of 300 observers have been departing throughout Saturday -- their mandate expires after midnight on Sunday -- as their commander spoke of his frustration at being unable to minimise the violence."

The Commentariat -- August 18, 2012

The President's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here. ABC News story here.

The Way We Were When the South Was Away. Charles Pierce writes an excellent piece on the Morrill Act of 1862. Really, read it. Pierce's essay -- and Morrill's vision -- are antidotes -- and a retort -- to everything the "zombie-eyed granny-starver" stands for. And, in my opinion, another argument against the Civil War. The North shoulda let 'em get away & stay away.

David Adams & Alex Dobuzinskis of Reuters: "The Obama administration's new policy to grant temporary legal status to millions of young illegal immigrants will end the immediate threat of deportation but may not give them the same privileges as legal residents. Within hours of the policy's going into effect on Wednesday, Arizona's Republican governor, Jan Brewer, issued an executive order denying public benefits such as driver's licenses to illegal immigrants who are given temporary legal status.... Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman, a Republican, issued a statement on Friday saying the state will continue to deny driver's licenses, welfare benefits and other public benefits to illegal immigrants even if they are granted temporary legal status."

Presidential Race

Two new Obama-Biden ads with significant buys in swing states:

In this Web video, Stephanie Cutter of the Obama campaign does a great job of explaining the differences between whatever the Romney-Ryan plan is & Obama's Medicare plan:

** "Buyer's Remorse?" Ezra Klein: "Here's the weird thing about Paul Ryan being named to the Republican presidential ticket: It's all part of Barack Obama's campaign plan -- a plan that's working better than his strategists could have hoped. It could also backfire more disastrously than they could have ever imagined.... By pitting his presidency against Ryan and his budget, Obama helped make Ryan the de facto leader of the Republican Party. As Mitt Romney emerged as the all-but-certain Republican presidential nominee, the Obama administration began calling Ryan's budget the 'Romney-Ryan budget.' ... If Obama loses, Republicans will have won the presidency with a mandate to enact a deeply conservative agenda."

Just looked at this PolitiFact page of recent campaign ads & remarks: Obama gets a lot of "Mostly True"s; Romney gets only "Mostly False"s. (And PolitiFact is notoriously tough on Democrats.)

Road to Ruin. Charles Blow: "Shady money, voter suppression, shifting positions, murky details and widespread apathy. If there is a road map for a Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan win in November, that's it."

Web of Greed. John Swaine of the London Telegraph: while Romney was governor of Massachusetts "appears to have profited from a marketing company that was contracted by the state of Massachusetts after receiving $5 million (£3.2 million) in financial backing from Bain Capital, Mr Romney's investment firm. One of [Paul Ryan]'s brothers, who is a former Bain consultant, was at the time of the investment a senior executive at the marketing company, Imagitas, which was co-founded by another former Bain executive. Both Mr Romney and Tobin Ryan, who omits his work at Imagitas from his corporate biography, also apparently stood to benefit from the $230 million (£146 million) sale of the company in 2005, while Mr Romney remained in office. Massachusetts law requires that all state employees divest themselves of financial interests in private sector contracts with state agencies. At the time, failure to do so could have resulted in a $2,000 (£1,273) fine or a 2.5-year prison sentence." ...

     ... CW: Now we're beginning to see why Romney won't release his tax returns. They would, for instance, show his profits from Imagitas, which appear to be ill-gotten gains.

R&R Admit to Smoke & Mirrors Strategy. Mike Allen & Jim Vandehei of Politico: "The Romney strategy is simple: Hammer away at Obama for proposing cuts to Medicare and promise, in vague, aspirational ways, to protect the program for future retirees -- but don't get pulled into a public discussion of the most unpopular parts of the Ryan plan. 'The nature of running a presidential campaign is that you're communicating direction to the American people,' a Romney adviser said. 'Campaigns that are about specifics, particularly in today's environment, get tripped up.'" ...

... Greg Sargent: "As Steve Benen asks: 'what does it say about the merit of Romney's policy agenda if voters are likely to recoil if they heard the whole truth?' And this is coming after the campaign touted the selection of Paul Ryan as proof that the GOP ticket is deeply serious about policy and committed to making the tough decisions Democrats won't." ...

... Imani Gandy in Balloon Juice: "Better to be vague and accuse President Obama of being black than to tell voters what you stand for, (or, as the case seems to be, than to tell voters just how much you're going to screw them when you get elected.)"

Steve Benen has an interesting lead-in to his 30th installment of "Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity": In a speech this week, Romney said "'How can you go out there and tell people things that just aren't true? ... This is a time for truths.' ... Romney was referring to Obama's claim that 'we're adding jobs in the coal industry.'" This is true. "Romney was looking for an example of the president saying something that 'just isn't true,' and he pointed to an Obama quote that happened to be accurate, though he told his audience the opposite. It's hard not to appreciate the ironic circle -- the president said something true, Romney lied when he said the accurate claim is false, and then he complained about falsehoods in the campaign.... It's actually a little scary to think of a leader ... who can convince himself that his falsehoods are true, and that others' truths are falsehoods." ...

... Speaking of falsehoods, reader Jeanne B. reminds us that Romney & his team have previously (and repeatedly) lied to the public about what was in his tax returns.

Kaili Gray of Daily Kos: "After weeks of insisting that the Romney campaign had learned the hard lessons of 2008 and would very deliberately do the opposite of everything McCain did, including seeking an 'incredibly boring white guy' for the VP spot to avoid any Palintastrophes, the fact that the campaign ... is now following the same disastrous roadmap McCain did, starting with, in McCain's own words, 'a pretty bold choice' for the VP slot, is pretty shocking." ...

... This commentary by Frank Rich on the Ryan roll-out is a few days old but still worth reading. Rich was not impressed.

** Paul Krugman: "what [Ryan's] budget actually proposes (as opposed to vaguely promises) in its first decade...:

Spending cuts: $1.7 trillion
Tax cuts: $4.3 trillion

     "This is, then, a plan that would increase the deficit by around $2.6 trillion. How, then, does Ryan get to call himself a fiscal hawk? By asserting that he will keep his tax cuts revenue-neutral by broadening the base in ways he refuses to specify, and that he will make further large cuts in spending, in ways he refuses to specify. And this is what passes inside the Beltway for serious thinking and a serious commitment to deficit reduction." ...

     ... CW: instead of having Joe Biden debate Ryan, why can't we have Paul Krugman fill in? ...

... Harsha Natata in Think Progress: "A Center for American Progress Action Fund analysis shows that Ryan voted to add a grand total of $6.8 trillion to the federal debt during his time in Congress, voting for at least 65 bills that either reduced revenue or increased spending."

Now that Romney & Ryan are "on the same page," whatever page that might be, Gail Collins write a handy column to help the uninformed voter tell them apart. She includes this aside:

Practically the only person in America who claims to have no idea who he's going to vote for is Senator Joseph Lieberman, who recently declared himself absolutely and totally undecided. People, do you think it's possible that the entire presidential campaign is now being waged just for the benefit of Joseph Lieberman? On the one hand, that's a real waste of about $1 billion. On the other, it's exactly what Joseph Lieberman has been waiting for all his life.

      ... CW: The only sad thing about saying goodbye to Joe Lieberman is that we might be saying hello to the super-rich wrestler lady. Please, Connecticut voters, you have already saddled us with Loathsome Joe. Don't add insult to injury.

Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: Romney has such a lousy personality, the GOP convention will focus on his business acumen instead of his person qualities -- which is the usual thrust of conventions. CW: I'm paraphrasing.

Romney to Ryan: "Keep yer mouth shut, kid." Steve Peoples of the AP: "Ryan has been directed to avoid taking questions from reporters who travel with his campaign and to agree only to a handful of carefully selected interviews.... Romney's Boston headquarters -- so far, at least -- seems to prefer that ... [Ryan] talks about camping and milking cows instead of the transformational budget proposals that made him a conservative hero.."

Jerry Markon & David Fallis of the Washington Post: Paul Ryan "has often ... [sought] federal funds for his Wisconsin district, sometimes from existing pools of money and other times in ways that would increase federal spending.... It complicates the image that Ryan, and now the Romney campaign, have sought to project of a man who is single-mindedly focused on sharply cutting the federal budget and erasing the nation's deficit.... In several instances, he sought earmarks opposed by the George W. Bush administration. In 2009, he urged the Obama administration to award millions of economic stimulus dollars for 'green' jobs in his district, even though he had voted against the stimulus package that year.... [His] stance ... drew more attention this week when he [twice] denied that he had ever sought stimulus dollars.... He backtracked Thursday and acknowledged he had sought stimulus funds, but he said his office had mishandled the requests. He continued to voice opposition to the stimulus program, which he has called a 'wasteful spending spree.'"

Friday Afternoon News Dump. Craig Gilbert of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Paul Ryan and his wife Janna paid an effective tax rate of 15.9% in 2010 and 20% in 2011, according to tax returns provided by the Romney-Ryan campaign to the Journal Sentinel Friday."

David Firestone of the New York Times: "Among the many falsehoods in the Romney campaign's new Medicare ad is this remarkable line pitched to the elderly: 'The money you paid in for guaranteed health care is going into a massive new government program that's not for you.' ... The implication is that Obamacare is for the poor, the uninsured, blacks, Hispanics, immigrants, anyone but the upstanding older Americans that the Romney-Ryan ticket is suddenly very afraid of losing. 'It's not for you.' As it happens, the ad is incorrect. For instance, the president's health care bill eliminated the notorious Medicare 'doughnut hole,' which forced beneficiaries to use their own money for prescription drugs after they reached a limit. That hole, created by President George W. Bush and Congress, had a serious health effect on millions of older Americans."

Juliet Lapidos of the New York Times on "Paul Ryan & the Auto Bailout." Ryan said at a campaign stop & in an interview Thursday that the auto bailout didn't work because GM shut down its Janesville, Wisconsin, plant. "What's his argument? That the auto bailout, which saved GM, was a failure because it didn’t save one particular GM plant? That Janesville proves the president might as well have let Detroit go bankrupt? ... On Talking Points Memo, Benjy Sarlin reports that the Janesville plant closed in 2008, before Mr. Obama took office. Mr. Ryan, moreover..., supported the Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act in the waning months of the Bush administration. That bill, which died in the Senate, would have extended a $14 billion loan to Chrysler and GM." CW: just an all-around tip-top Olympic-calibre hypocrite.

CW: in honor of its new favorite son, Janesville should at least temporarily change its name to Janusville because that guy is so incredibly two-faced.

Steve Kornacki of Salon: the whole point of the untrue Romney-Ryan Medicare attack ads is to obfuscate, and it could work. "Just because Romney's running mate is the author of a reviled Medicare plan doesn't necessarily mean that the GOP ticket will pay a price for it."

Ready for His Close-Ups. Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, has emerged as the choice to play Representative Paul D. Ryan in mock debates with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr."

CW: Ed Klein, author of a"stunning exposé" of "the real Barack Obama," reveals that "As recently as a couple of weeks ago, the White House was putting out feelers to see if Hillary Clinton was interested in replacing Joe Biden on the ticket." Klein said Bill Clinton was encouraging the move. "Klein ... quoted unnamed sources who revealed that top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett put the vice presidency on the table during a lunch with the secretary of state."

Hillary Clinton's spokesman Philippe Reines responded, sort of "Cat in the Hat" style:

This did not happen
They did not have lunch
They did not have any meal
They did not meet this month
They did not meet last month
They did not meet in 2012
They did not meet in 2011, 2010, 2009
This is not happening
Truth is that Ed Klein is an idiot with not a shred of credibility
Truth is that Ed Klein's motto is 'If at first you don't succeed, lie lie again.'

Congressional Races

Alison Cowan of the New York Times: "According to a criminal complaint unsealed on Friday..., Ofer Biton ... schemed to commit immigration fraud and other illegal acts.... According to the complaint, Mr. Biton deceived the government in June 2010 about the source of $500,000 that he claimed to have put into a new business that was to make him eligible for a permanent visa.... While it was not mentioned in the complaint, Mr. Biton has also emerged as a key figure in the 2009-10 Congressional campaign of Representative Michael G. Grimm, a Republican who represents Staten Island and Brooklyn.... Though Mr. Biton is barred from raising money for federal election campaigns because he is an illegal immigrant, he is said to have raised much of Mr. Grimm's campaign money...."

Local News

Rich Abdill of Wonkette: "Kentucky Republicans passed education legislation in 2009 that made it easier to compare the state's students to other states. Now they're very upset that the results came back Stupid. ACT, the state's testing company, interviews professors to figure out the things most important to student readiness for college, which sounds like a smart thing to do. Unfortunately, those professors have bad news: If you want students to do well in biology classes, they have to know about evolution."

News Lede

Politico: "Lost in the hubbub last weekend over Rep. Paul Ryan's selection as Mitt Romney's running mate was the fact that Obama signed a bill that eliminates the need to obtain Senate confirmation for about 170 executive branch posts: the Presidential Appointment Efficiency and Streamlining Act of 2011. The bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), addresses concerns that the Senate's confirmation process has become so constipated that in many cases, especially with lower-profile posts, nominations were being held up without anyone really trying."