The Commentariat -- July 24, 2012
** "Mayberry, R.I.P." Frank Rich looks over the apocalyptic literature heralding the End of American Exceptionalism & does a very nice job of demonstrating how his old colleagues Tom Friedman & David Brooks -- among many other Very Serious People -- are evah-so-polite racists. "That [Obama's] unlikely rise has somehow been twisted into a synonym for America's supposed collapse over the past four years may be the most disturbing and intractable evidence of our decline of all." ...
... Helene Cooper & Richard Oppel of the New York Times: "President Obama directed a sharp assault on Mitt Romney's foreign policy credentials on Monday, as the weekend political truce that followed the shooting rampage in Colorado dissolved into the more familiar political punch and counterpunch. President Obama directed a sharp assault on Mitt Romney's foreign policy credentials on Monday, as the weekend political truce that followed the shooting rampage in Colorado dissolved into the more familiar political punch and counterpunch."
Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Senate Republicans will press this week to extend tax cuts for affluent families scheduled to expire Jan. 1, but the same Republican tax plan would allow a series of tax cuts for the working poor and the middle class to end next year.... About 13 million families would see their tax refunds reduced, and some would see their taxes increase.... In all, the Republican plan would extend tax cuts for 2.7 million affluent families while allowing tax breaks to expire for 13 million on the bottom of the income spectrum, tax analysts say. ...
... AP Update: "A standoff with Congress that results in the January expiration of wide-ranging tax cuts would mean 114 million families would see average tax increases of $1,600 next year, the White House says."
The GAO on More Stupid Republican Tricks. Report (pdf): "GAO estimated that delays in raising the debt limit in 2011 led to an increase in Treasury's borrowing costs of about $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2011. However, this does not account for the multiyear effects on increased costs for Treasury securities that will remain outstanding after fiscal year 2011. Further, according to Treasury officials, the increased focus on debt limit-related operations as such delays occurred required more time and Treasury resources and diverted Treasury's staff away from other important cash and debt management responsibilities." CW: those Tea Party jerks wasted a lot of your money with their grandstanding obstructionism. Via Adam Sorensen of Time.
Hope Yen of the AP: "The ranks of America's poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net. Census figures for 2011 will be released this fall in the critical weeks ahead of the November elections." CW: One thing nostalia crowd forgets about Mayberry: folks were dirt poor. Another thing: they could get out of Mayberry by attending low- and no-tuition state colleges that made them eligible for good jobs. Not any more.
Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The Justice Department is investigating Pennsylvania's new voter identification law, a letter sent to the state government Monday indicates.... It's the first sign of interest by the federal government recently in a voter ID law in a state that is not covered by the pre-clearance requirements of the Voting Rights Act."
Greedy Bastards. Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times: "... in what has become a test case in American labor relations, Caterpillar is ... seeking steep concessions from its workers even when business is booming. Despite earning a record $4.9 billion profit last year and projecting even better results for 2012, the company is insisting on a six-year wage freeze and a pension freeze for most of the 780 production workers at its factory [in Joliet, Illinois]. Caterpillar says it needs to keep its labor costs down to ensure its future competitiveness. The company's stance has angered the workers, who went on strike 12 weeks ago." CW: as I recall, President Obama has pointed to Caterpillar as a big success story. Let's hear him weigh in on the side of the workers. Thanks to Victoria D. for the link.
Quote of the Day. Politicians go to the N.R.A., Democrats and Republicans, and they basically read a script, which is not much different from a hostage video. -- Steve Schmidt, GOP strategist
Ron Brownstein of the National Journal: "... gun control is now overwhelmingly unpopular among the portions of the white electorate Obama is least likely to win anyway -- and maintains solid majority support among the Americans most likely to actually vote for him." ...
... CREDO has a petition asking Obama & Romney to urge Congress to reinstate the assault weapons ban. You can sign it here. ...
... OR, forget gun control. How about bullet control? Via Andrew Rosenthal, who has a good post on the subject:
Juan Cole, who is an actual expert on Middle East politics: "There is a figure in the Federal government that has suspicious ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Muslim fundamentalist movement that began in Egypt in 1928. It is Michele Bachmann." Cole makes the connections.
Presidential Race
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Mitt Romney will set the stage on Tuesday for a weeklong trip abroad with a tough speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in which he accuses President Obama of allowing devastating defense cuts and of failing to stop leaks of classified national security secrets."
... Story has been updated; new lede: "Mitt Romney set the stage on Tuesday for a weeklong trip abroad with a tough speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in which he accused President Obama of allowing devastating defense cuts and of failing to stop leaks of classified national security secrets."
Obama's latest appeal to undecided voters:
... BUT. Susan Page of USA Today: "Despite concerted Democratic attacks on his business record, Republican challenger Mitt Romney scores a significant advantage over President Obama when it comes to managing the economy, reducing the federal budget deficit and creating jobs, a national USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds. By more than 2-1, 63%-29%, those surveyed say Romney's background in business, including his tenure at the private equity firm Bain Capital, would cause him to make good decisions, not bad ones, in dealing with the nation's economic problems...."
Christopher Rowland & Callum Borchers of the Boston Globe: "Mitt Romney promised 'complete transparency' when he took charge of the scandal-plagued Salt Lake City Olympics, a pledge that included access to his own correspondence and plans for an extensive public archive of documents related to the Games. But some who worked with Romney describe a close-to-the-vest chief executive unwilling to share so much as a budget with a state board responsible for spending oversight. Archivists now say most key records about the Games' internal workings were destroyed under the supervision of a staffer shortly after ... Romney had returned to Massachusetts." ...
... CW: NOW watch Maggie Haberman of Politico make a positive out of "Secret Mitt." He's just so darned modest & reserved, he would never boast about himself. Aw, shucks. Or how about, people think his religion is weird, he did a lot of ruthless stuff at Bain, he spents lots of tax money on his secret Olympics, he did librul stuff as governor & he's a tax dodger whose main policy position today is a bigger tax dodge for him & his. What's not to like?
"You Didn't Build That." John Distaso of the New Hampshire Union Leader: "In the Mitt Romney campaign web and television ads that received national attention last week, a blunt Jack Gilchrist of Gilchrist Metal Fabricating in Hudson [N.H.] tells President Barack Obama that he, his father and his son -- and not the government -- built his company. But as it turns out, Gilchrist did receive some government help for his business, albeit a long time ago."...
... Via Greg Sargent. Sargent notes this remark from Gilchrist: "Defense business is a good way to help the economy. But the President wants to cut the crap out of the defense budget." "That," says Sargent, "would appear to mean that the star of Romney's ad believes federal spending -- on defense, at least -- is good for the economy. That would make him a 'weaponized Keynesian,' i.e., someone that does believe federal spending creates jobs and is good for businesses, but will only say so when it concerns defense." In talking to Gilchrist, Sargent learned that the guys also acknowledges roads & bridges help the economy, but, um, he just doesn't think we should spend any more on them. CW: What's this? I've got mine? When you parse the GOP "philosophy," it almost always turns out to be nonsensical. ...
... Jake Tapper of ABC News has more in a post titled, "Star of Romney 'My Hands Didn't Build This' Ad Received Millions in Government Loans and Contracts." Here again, you see the perversity of the GOP "philosophy." Gilchrist says of the government largesse: "As far as I'm concerned, I'm getting some of my tax money back." It's never "welfare" or "socialism" when they're getting government assistance, because they deserve it. It is bad when somebody else -- especially if the somebody else is a person of color -- is getting aid. ...
(... AND when they flame out spectacularly, upending their employees' lives and costing the taxpayers millions, well, it's the government's fault. I'll bet Martha Coakley knows who Curt Schilling is now. Via Adam Sorensen.) ...
... Greg Sargent: "Senator Scott Brown has just released a new Web video ... tying Obama's remarks to [Brown's Democratic rival Elizabeth] Warren's and painting them as vaguely anti-American.... Brown, apparently taken with the plaudits Romney has earned from the right for lying relentlessly about Obama's quote, has now done the same.... The Republican argument -- Romney's argument -- is partly that Obama's active ill will towards business owners and entrepreneurs is helping stall the recovery, so you should replace him with a president who wants people to succeed." ...
... Ed Kilgore of Washington Monthly on Romney's blackmail campaign. CW: as Kilgore illustrates, this is an old trick: the GOP claims that business leaders will purposely kill the economy if Democrats take the White House & Congress. ...
... Steve Benen: "If President Obama and Elizabeth Warren genuine oppose the free market -- they don't, but if they did -- why do Mitt Romney and Scott Brown have to lie [by editing Obama's words to change their meaning]? Shouldn't the truth be enough?" ...
... Stephanie Cutter of the Obama campaign:
... Here are Obama's original remarks:
BUT with talented, informed supporters like this, how can Romney lose? --
Keep your wig trimmed!
Local News
Danny Hakim of the New York Times: "Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's administration, already drawing attention for its focus on secrecy, has now begun editing his record as New York attorney general, sending aides to the state archives to remove key documents from public view." CW: President Cuomo? No, thank you.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official in the United States to be convicted of covering up sexual abuses by priests under his supervision, was sentenced to three to six years in prison on Tuesday." Philadelphia Inquirer story here.
New York Times: "The New Orleans Police Department and the United States Department of Justice on Tuesday are expected to announce a sweeping agreement to reform the city’s scandal-ridden police force." Times-Picayune story here.
Reuters: "Prime Minister David Cameron's ex-media chief and Rupert Murdoch's former UK newspaper boss are to be charged with phone-hacking offences in the most significant development in a scandal that has rocked Britain's establishment. Prosecutors said on Tuesday Andy Coulson, who was Cameron's communications chief from 2007 until January 2011, and Rebekah Brooks, who was courted by a succession of prime ministers including Cameron in her role as Murdoch's UK newspaper chief, would be charged with offences linked to the hacking." ...
... New York Times Update: "After a year of furious controversy over the widespread phone hacking by one of Rupert Murdoch's tabloid newspapers, British prosecutors brought criminal charges on Tuesday against eight of the most prominent figures in the scandal, including Andy Coulson, who was Prime Minister David Cameron's communications chief at 10 Downing Street until the scandal forced his resignation last year."
AP: Dianne Feinstein, "the Democratic leader of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Monday that the White House appears to be responsible for some leaks of classified information.... The California lawmaker said she was certain that President Barack Obama, who receives a daily intelligence briefing, isn't disclosing secret information, but she was uncertain about others at the White House."