The Commentariat -- July 23

I've posted an Open Thread on Off Times Square. ...

... President Obama's regularly weekly address:

... An angry President Obama holds a press briefing on the demise of the deficit reduction talks:

     The transcript is here.

... New York Times Editors: "At the White House podium..., the president radiated a righteous fury he rarely displays in public, finally placing the blame for this wholly unnecessary crisis squarely where it belongs: on Republicans who will do anything to upend his presidency and dismantle every social program they can find. 'Can they say yes to anything?' he asked, noting the paradox of Republicans, who claim that financial responsibility and debt reduction are their biggest priorities, rejecting yet another deal that would have cut that debt by at least $3 trillion." ...

At some point, I think, if you want to be a leader, then you've got to lead. -- Barack Obama, obviously referring to John Boehner ...

... Andrew Leonard of Salon: "After Obama finished speaking, Boehner addressed the nation and repeated the boilerplate from his letter: 'The White House won't get serious. We will.' But to anyone who has followed the ins and outs of the last few weeks of negotiation, his stance is nonsense. The truth is that Boehner simply cannot make a deal. His caucus forbids it. Compromise with Obama would mean the end of his political career."

... Law Profs. Eric Posner & Adrian Vermeule, in a New York Times op-ed: "President Obama should announce that he will raise the debt ceiling unilaterally if he cannot reach a deal with Congress. Constitutionally, he would be on solid ground. Politically, he can’t lose. The public wants a deal." ...

     ... Steve Benen parses President Obama's public statements & notes that Obama has not categorically ruled out the Constitutional option.

... Republican Bruce Bartlett of the Fiscal Times says what liberals have been saying for more than a year: "... Obama took office under roughly the same political and economic circumstances that Nixon did in 1968 except in a mirror opposite way. Instead of being forced to manage a slew of new liberal spending programs, as Nixon did, Obama had to cope with a revenue structure that had been decimated by Republicans.... Although Republicans routinely accuse [Obama] of being a socialist, an honest examination of his presidency must conclude that he has in fact been moderately conservative to exactly the same degree that Nixon was moderately liberal." Bartlett gives examples. ...

... Today is "Marie Was Right Day." First the law professors, then Bruce Bartlett, now Steve Benen, who has the solution that dare not speak its name: a clean debt ceiling bill.

Joe Nocera lands an exit interview with Elizabeth Warren.

Only Muslims Can Be "Terrorists." Glenn Greenwald: At least that's what the New Yorks Times thinks. "Terrorism has no objective meaning and, at least in American political discourse, has come functionally to mean: violence committed by Muslims whom the West dislikes, no matter the cause or the target.  Indeed, in many (though not all) media circles, discussion of the Oslo attack quickly morphed from this is Terrorism (when it was believed Muslims did it) to no, this isn't Terrorism, just extremism (once it became likely that Muslims didn't).

News Ledes

Reuters: "The United States has wasted some $34 billion on service contracts with the private sector in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a study being finalized for Congress."

AP (via the NYT): "Retired Army Gen. John Shalikashvili, the first foreign-born chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who counseled President Bill Clinton on the use of troops in Bosnia and other trouble spots, has died, according to a statement from the White House. He was 75. Shalikashvili suffered a severe stroke on August 2004 that paralyzed his left side, and he underwent grueling physical therapy."

Guardian: "The singer Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her flat in north London at the age of 27. The award-winning artist, famous for hits including Rehab from the critically acclaimed album Back to Black, was discovered by police in the late afternoon. Her death was being treated on Saturday night as 'unexplained'." The Guardian's obituary is here. The Telegraph's obit is here.

President Obama & Vice President Biden meet with Congressional leadership this morning. AP story here. The New York Times has a post-meeting report: "But senior Congressional aides said privately that despite the White House session, the serious talks about a solution were now under way among top members of Congress."

The Guardian has a liveblog on the domestic terror attacks in Norway that killed at least 91 people. Here's the Guardian's lead story. AP: "Norway's national news agency says police are investigating whether a second suspect was involved in a shooting spree on an island where 84 people were killed."

The Commentariat -- July 22

President Obama holds a townhall meeting at the University of Maryland:

Paul Krugman sees the economies of the world continuing in what he calls the "Lesser Depression," a self-inflicted recession/depression brought about by really stupid policy moves:

Even if we manage to avoid immediate catastrophe, the deals being struck on both sides of the Atlantic are almost guaranteed to make the broader economic slump worse. In fact, policy makers seem determined to perpetuate what I’ve taken to calling the Lesser Depression, the prolonged era of high unemployment that began with the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and continues to this day, more han two years after the recession supposedly ended.

(... Meanwhile, that pompous little know-nothing David Brooks is cheerfully advocating for those very policies that will worsen the economy and hurt ordinary Americans.)

... I've posted a "Lesser Depression" page on Off Times Square. Karen Garcia & I have added comments. Don't miss Garcia on Brooks. ...

      ... Update: Garcia has repurposed her response to Brooks in a blogpost that is even tougher on that little shit.

When Right-Wing Billionaire Energy Moguls Collide. Ken Vogel of Politico: "An increasingly bitter personal rift between billionaires T. Boone Pickens and Charles and David Koch has morphed into an expensive political battle that is testing the commitment of House Republicans to the tea party principles many of them have publicly embraced. The fight centers on legislation backed by Pickens that would grant tax breaks to the natural gas industry, and it is forcing Republican members to choose sides between a traditionally GOP-allied industry and the free-market purism of many conservatives." CW: oh, please, gentlemen, can't we all just get along? I'm sure Republicans can find some nasty little domestic program to gut in the interest of more Breaks for Boone. Food stamps? Pell grants?

John Zogby is a lousy pollster, but I think the central premise in his Forbes column is right: President Obama's legacy may be the withering of the American dream.

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones dedicates this tongue-in-cheek (though coincidentally accurate) graph to the Heritage Foundation:

Tidbits

Uh-Huh. Michelle Cottle of the Daily Beast. God is always "calling" Republicans to run for president. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is the latest to get The Word.

Oh. The anti-gay Michele Bachmann's anti-gay husband Marcus is more than likely gay. CW: and what better way to meet attractive gay men who won't tell than providing confidential counseling services to pray away the gay? Stories by Robert Paul Reyes of SOP here and Richard Lawson of Gawker here elaborate. And here's Jon Stewart, who just won't go there:

... Fortunately, Dr. Seinfeld gave Stewart some comedy repression therapy:

Oh My. Greg Sargent. Anti-tax pledge guy Grover Norquist told the Washington Post editorial board yesterday that, "“Not continuing a tax cut is not technically a tax increase.” That is, Congressmembers who voted to discontinue the Bush tax cuts wouldn't be violating the stupid no-new-taxes pledge they made to him. As soon as the story came out and Democrats began hammering it home, Norquist walked back his assertion, saying, “any failure to extend or make permanent the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, in whole or in part, would clearly increase taxes on the American people.” So the WashPo released the audio of Norquist and Post writer Ruth Marcus, which is fairly hilarious and relatively unambiguous. ...

     ... Update: Grover Norquist tries to explain himself in a New York Times op-ed. Bottom line: taxes are very, very bad.

Uh Oh. David Leigh & Nick Davies of the Guardian: "James Murdoch appears to have given misleading parliamentary testimony about a key phone-hacking cover-up, according to evidence obtained by the Guardian." Not only did he grossly understate a huge payment to settle a legal case brought against News of the World, he misstated key facts about the negotiations, in which he was apparently intimately involved. ...

     ... Update: Jo Becker & Don Van Natta of the New York Times: "Two former News International executives publicly contradicted James Murdoch’s testimony to a parliamentary committee, saying Thursday that they told him of evidence in 2008 that suggested that phone hacking at one of the company’s tabloid newspapers was more widespread." Guardian story here. ...

... Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "The fury against Murdoch ... [in Britain] reflects the anger of politicians who long have been intimidated by the tactics of aggressive tabloids and who have felt the need to curry favor with powerful media barons, especially Murdoch, to win the support of those newspapers and to shield themselves from their intrusive reporting. In Britain, money plays a smaller role in politics than it does in the United States, and politicians have few ways to communicate effectively with the public outside the media filter. Television advertising plays no significant role in campaigns; for the most part, it is not allowed." ...

... AND/BUT as Driftglass remarks, "If you think anything is going to happen to Murdoch on this side of the Atlantic, you're living in a Frank Capra movie.... Murdoch owns a majority share of the Party of God, has had most of its candidates for President on the payroll, and more importantly, owns the souls of every bigot, lunatic and slack-jawed imbecile who gets his opinion piped directly into his tiny, tiny brain via Fox News."

News Ledes

Can they say yes to anything? -- Barack Obama ...

... Breaking. Obama says Boehner breaks off talks, wouldn't return Obama's phone call. NBC News: "Gridlock stubbornly held the high ground in the steamy capital Friday, as Republican House Speaker John Boehner called President Barack Obama to announce that he is withdrawing from the debt ceiling talks." C-SPAN has Speaker Boehner's (obnoxious) remarks on the House floor here.

Bloomberg News: "The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will halt some operations at midnight after the House of Representatives and Senate adjourned today without agreeing on legislation to extend the agency’s authority. The disagreement means the FAA has to furlough as many as 4,000 workers tomorrow and stop collecting about $200 million a week in airplane-ticket and other taxes until it is resolved, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said yesterday. Air- traffic controllers, considered essential employees, would remain on the job." CW: the article doesn't say so, but the "disagreement" is Republicans' objections to union organizing. (See this Daily Kos article I linked earlier in the week.)

New York Times: "Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on Friday across Syria, residents and antigovernment activists said, with enormous protests in two of the country’s five largest cities suggesting a growing momentum that the government of President Bashar al-Assad seemed at a loss to stanch." Al Jazeera has a liveblog here.

Politico: "President Barack Obama on Friday formally certified that the military is ready to allow gays to serve openly in the armed forces, clearing the way for an end to the 17-year old 'Don’t Ask Don’t Tell' law in September.... Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen both signed off on the certification on Thursday."

The Hill: "The Senate voted 51-46, along strict party-lines, on Friday to kill the House Republicans' 'cut, cap and balance' legislation. The measure would have cut spending by $111 billion in 2012, capped spending over the next decade and prohibited more borrowing until Congress had passed a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. President Obama had threatened to veto the bill, which was dead on arrival in the Senate." Here's the New York Times story, which also includes news about President Obama's townhall meeting this morning. The Washington Post story is here.

Reuters: "A huge bomb devastated the main government building in Norway's capital Oslo on Friday, and state radio said two people were killed and several others wounded. Though the attack was on the very heart of power in the small Nordic state, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was safe. There was no claim of responsibility." ...

     ... Update: "A bomb ripped through Oslo's central government district on Friday and a gunman dressed as a policeman then opened fire at a youth camp on a nearby island, killing at least 17 people altogether." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Norway suffered a pair of devastating attacks on Friday when powerful explosions shook the government center here, killing seven people, and shortly after a gunman stalked youths at an island summer camp for young members of the governing Labor Party, killing at least 80. The police arrested a Norwegian man in connection with both attacks, the deadliest on Norwegian soil since World War II.... After the shooting the police seized a 32-year-old Norwegian man on the island.... He was later identified as Anders Behring Breivik and characterized by officials as a right-wing extremist, citing previous writings including on his Facebook page."

President Obama held a townhall-style meeting at the University of Maryland late this morning.

Politico has a pretty good rundown of what the various factions have said in the past 24 hours about the deficit reduction/debt ceiling catastrophe of Washington's own making.

I’m the Senate majority leader — why don’t I know about this deal? -- Harry Reid (D-Nev.), to Obama OMB Director Jack Lew

AP: "House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that Republicans controlling the chamber are willing to compromise on legislation increasing the government's borrowing authority." CW: This is almost a sick joke. According to news reports, Obama has cut a "deal" which does not require any compromise whatsoever. ...

... Now, contrast the Obama plan to cut trillions from programs for poor & middle class people with this good news: AP: "General Electric Co. said Friday that earnings grew 21 percent in the second quarter as its GE Capital lending arm continued to recover from the recession." GE's CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, heads President Obama's Jobs Commission. GE has sent thousands of American jobs offshore.

AP: "Pentagon chief Leon Panetta has decided to end the ban on gays serving openly in the armed services and certify that repealing the 17-year-old prohibition will not hurt the military's ability to fight, officials said Thursday."

Who Needs NASA? New York Times: "Spurred by a $30 million purse put up by Google, 29 teams have signed up for a competition to become the first private venture to land on the Moon.... At the very least, a flotilla of unmanned spacecraft could be headed Moonward within the next few years, with goals that range from lofty to goofy."

The Commentariat -- July 21

I've posted an Open Thread on Off Times Square.

Fareed Zakaria: "There was no golden age in Washington when people were more high-minded than they are today. But 40 years ago, the rules and organizing framework of politics made it easier for the two parties to work together. Since then, a series of changes has led to the narrowcasting of American politics." ...

... Zakaria recommends this piece by former Rep. Mickey Edwards (R-Okla.) in The Atlantic on how to get Congress to start governing again.

Suicide Watch

My gut tells me that we'll need a weekend of drama - maybe a weekend of the government not paying its bills - politicians need drama to make something happen. As soon as Social Security checks don't go out, the politics will change. I suspect it'll take artificial drama to get closure past the house.... Boehner understands that a shutdown is bad for his caucus and that there's something viable short of a shutdown but right now... it's a 50-50 chance that we go into a few days of disruption. -- Judd Gregg, former Senator (R-N.H.)

... Lisa Mascaro of the Los Angeles Times, in a straight news report, "... House Republicans face increasing political isolation in their opposition to sweeping budget reforms that President Obama has pushed for and polls show most Americans now prefer. Republican resistance to compromise has turned a significant bloc of voters against them, according to several new polls, and has frustrated members of their own leadership as well as establishment GOP figures." ...

... Jonathan Allen & Manu Raju of Politico: "Senate Republicans are starting to send a message to their increasingly isolated House counterparts: It’s time to abandon the hard line or face a public backlash." ...

... E. J. Dionne: "Our capital looks like a lunatic asylum to many of our own citizens and much of the world.... Boehner and Cantor don’t have time to stretch things out to appease their unappeasable members, and they should settle their issues with each other later. Nor do we have time to work through the ideas from the Gang of Six. The Gang has come forward too late with too little detail. Their suggestions should be debated seriously, not rushed through." ...

... Greg Sargent: "Some eighty House Republicans have now signed a letter calling on GOP leaders not to even let the McConnell plan get to the floor for a vote." ...

... Steve Benen: "So, where does that leave us? The House won’t pass a clean bill; it won’t pass a Grand Bargain; it won’t pass the Gang of Six proposal; and at least 80 House Republicans are prepared to try to kill the Plan B compromise." ...

... BUT Jonathan Bernstein, in the Washington Post, makes the case: "What we’re really seeing right now is Republicans attempting to implement an organized retreat and surrender." ...

... Mike Lillis of The Hill: "House Democratic leaders are attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) debt-ceiling fallback plan, characterizing it as a political ruse intended to scapegoat Democrats and taint them at the polls." ...

... John Schoen of NBC News: "... Congress and the White House may have passed the point of no return in avoiding a U.S. government debt downgrade. If Uncle Sam loses his coveted AAA rating, the cost of borrowing goes up, the economy slows further and jobs get even tougher to find." ...

... Louise Story & Julie Creswell of the New York Times: "... on Wall Street, financial players are devising doomsday plans in case the clock runs out. These companies are taking steps to reduce the risk of holding Treasury bonds or angling for ways to make profits from any possible upheaval. And even if a deal is reached in Washington, some in the industry fear that the dickering has already harmed the country’s market credibility."

... Meanwhile, here's one of the ads, produced & paid for by labor unions, targeting Congressional Teabaggers:

Lara Moritz of KMBC-TV, Kansas City, Missouri, interviews President Obama on a wide range of issues. Video here.

Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone: "I keep hearing is that there is a growing, and real, possibility that a second 'one-time tax holiday' will be approved for corporations as part of whatever sordid deal emerges from the debt-ceiling negotiations.... Tax repatriation is one of the all-time long cons and also one of the most supremely evil achievements of the Washington lobbying community.... We’re seriously talking about defaulting on our debt, and cutting Medicare and Social Security, so that Google can keep paying its current 2.4 percent effective tax rate and GE, a company that received a $140 billion bailout en route to worldwide 2010 profits of $14 billion, can not only keep paying no taxes at all , but receive a $3.2 billion tax credit from the federal government. And nobody appears to give a shit." Thanks to reader Russ C. for the link.

Flight Global: "When the Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down today some 3,200 workers at NASA contractors waved goodbye to an icon of American technology, and to their jobs. Another 12,000 jobs had already gone in the run-up to the end of the 30-year programme, which at its peak in 1992 employed about 30,000 people, inside and outside NASA. All that will be left are about 3,500 civil service jobs that have depended on the Shuttle." And not just any jobs -- the expertise that is being laid off be lost forever. ...

... Judith Smelser of WMFE Radio: "It's been more than seven years since President George W. Bush announced the end of the Space Shuttle program. Since then, local leaders have been able to lure about 1,600 new aerospace jobs to the Brevard County area to help absorb some of the displaced shuttle workforce. But the total number of shuttle-related layoffs is expected to approach 9,000." CW: I these figures are for the part of the program centered in Florida; many more jobs have been lost in Houston & other sites. ...

... St. Petersburg Times Editors: "NASA faces a difficult challenge and so does Florida. As the shuttle era ends, the agency needs to find a way to prevent a brain drain from undercutting a national effort to venture into deep space. The phaseout of the shuttle means the loss of at least 7,000 space-related jobs along the east coast of Florida."

New York Times Editors: "In an encouraging development for women’s health, an advisory panel of leading experts has recommended that all insurers be required to offer contraceptives as well as other preventive services free of charge under the new health care law. The Obama administration seems inclined to follow the advice, which is even better news. The panel’s recommendation has drawn strong opposition from the Roman Catholic Church and socially conservative groups.... Their objections should not deter the administration...."

Jonathan Turley, in a New York Times op-ed, advocates for plural marriages. Turley is lead counsel for the family of Kody Brown, whose family is the subject of a reality TV show. "They are not asking for the state to recognize their marriages, Turley writes. "They are simply asking for the state to leave them alone."

Right Wing World *

Seung Kim & Marin Cogan of Politico: "Several House Democratic women on Wednesday called on Rep. Allen West to apologize to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz for his e-mail that called her 'vile,' 'despicable' and 'not a Lady.' The lawmakers said they were sending a letter to House GOP leadership.... The group of five House Democrats said West’s e-mail was indicative of a larger problem – both inside Congress and out – of gender discrimination in the workplace." ...

     ... SO, West tells the Huffington Post that he had "just apologized" to Wasserman Schultz. And she says,

     ... SO, now West's office says he did not apologize & he demands an apology from Wasserman Schultz. Roll Call includes a transcript of the audio tape of West's conversation with the HuffPost, in which he twice indicates he apologized. Subsequently, in a fundraising letter titled "vile despicable and unprofessional,” West wrote, “[T]hose three words sum up my feelings about Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. By now, you’ve probably heard the story. But I wanted you to hear it from me." Wasserman Schultz is “an attack dog for the liberal, progressive wing of the Democratic Party." He then solicited “$25 or more” for his campaign.

Sen. Al Franken, at a hearing on the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal DOMA, addresses a report written by witness Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family -- whom Republicans invited to be an "expert" witness at the show-and-tell). In his report, Minnery cites an HHS study as "proof" that children are better off with opposite-sex parents. Thanks to Think Progress. Enjoy:

     ... AND, Igor Volsky of Think Progress: Sen. Patrick Leahy forces Minnery to admit that "children living with same-sex parents are hindered by the lack of legal protections and benefits that are denied to them by DOMA." With video.

Steve Benen: some of Eric Cantor's rich donors have contacted him & urged him to go along with tax hikes for the rich; i.e., themselves. "So..., the White House wants the wealthy to pay a little more; most the Senate wants the wealthy to pay a little more; the Gang of Six expects the wealthy to pay a little more; polls show the vast majority of the American public wants the wealthy to pay a little more; economists believe having the wealthy pay a little more won’t hurt the economy; and the wealthy themselves are comfortable with paying a little more. But Eric Cantor and House Republicans still consider the very idea outrageous."

Dave Weigel of Slate: "Michele Bachmann's campaign has sent out a letter from the attending physician of the House, Brian Monahan. In it, he writes that Bachmann is able to control her condition with sumatriptan and odansetron." Includes facsimile of Monahan's letter. CW: a nice reminder that a candidate who puts repealing the Affordable Care Act at the top of her agenda has a terrific, publicly-funded doctor of her very own. ...

Art by Dave Weigel.... Update. Gabriella Schwarz of CNN: "Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty walked back earlier criticism of rival Michele Bachmann's migraines on Wednesday, calling the attention over her headaches 'a sideshow.' Earlier in the day the former Minnesota governor said 'candidates are going to have to be able to demonstrate they can do all of the job, all of the time.'"

* Where lies and subterfuge are cool and where you support the oligarchs but they don't support you.

News Ledes

New York Times: "President Obama and the Republican House speaker, John A. Boehner, once again struggled against resistance from their respective parties on Thursday as they tried to shape a sweeping deficit-reduction agreement that could avert a government default in less than two weeks." ...

... Washington Post: "Democrats reacted with outrage as word filtered to Capitol Hill, saying the emerging agreement appeared to violate their pledge not to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as Obama’s promise not to make deep cuts in programs for the poor without extracting some tax concessions from the rich."

New York Times: "After years of resistance, European leaders agreed Thursday to reduce Greece’s debt burden in a last-ditch effort to preserve the euro and stem a broader financial panic."

New York Times: Greg Miskiw, "a key figure in Britain’s widening phone hacking scandal who had worked as an editor at The News of the World, surfaced in Florida on Thursday, saying he was preparing to return to Britain and was talking to the British police.

New York Times: "Expressing frustration with the paralysis at the national and international levels on setting policies to combat climate change, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Thursday that he would donate $50 million to the Sierra Club’s campaign to shut down coal-fired power plants across the United States."

At 12:55 pm ET Jay Carney said that reports there was a debt ceiling deal were incorrect. No link.

AP: "Germany and France have overcome differences over how to combat the continent's debt crises ahead of what many in the markets are terming a make or break summit of EU leaders Thursday.... Despite indications earlier this week that a solution may not emerge, some sort of deal appears to have been thrashed out between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy."

AND in the U.S., Teabaggers Get EVEN LOONIER. Daily Kos: "The Federal Aviation Administration could shut down on Friday because House Republicans are tying its funding to an anti-democratic (note the small "d") provision to hinder union organizing. The anti-union provision is not included in the Senate bill, and President Obama has said he might veto it. If they don't reach an agreement, the FAA's operating authority expires on Friday and it shuts down."

AP: "Atlantis and four astronauts returned from the International Space Station ... Thursday, bringing an end to NASA's 30-year shuttle journey.... A record crowd of 2,000 gathered near the landing strip, thousands more packed the space center and countless others watched history unfold from afar as NASA's longest-running spaceflight program came to a close." New York Times story here.

Los Angeles Times: "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, opening Thursday, is the first major agency launched in Washington in nearly a decade and the first since the early 1970s that is specifically focused on American consumers."