The Commentariat -- July 20

Maureen Dowd on the Murdoch Inc. testimony: "The hunters became the hunted during three hours of riveting testimony in the House of Commons.... They stuck to a hoary formula for scandals, claiming the cognitive advantage that being on top of the world left them out of touch." ...

... I've posted a Dowd page on Off Times Square. ...

... NEW. John Cook of Gawker has an excellent, accurate take on the performances of Murdoch, Murdoch & Brooks. If you skipped the hearings & want to know what went down, read Cook. With videos. ...

... Jeremy Peters & Brian Stelter of the New York Times: analysts say Rupert & James Murdoch did their companies & themselves no harm in their appearance before a parliamentary committee yesterday. ...

... Reid Epstein of Politico: "Rupert Murdoch came across as old, out of touch, and unfamiliar with even the basic workings of his company during Tuesday’s high-stakes Parliament hearing -- but some suggested that was just a ruse.... During nearly three hours of testimony, the News Corp. CEO, wrote the Guardian’s John Plunkett, 'revealed the full extent of his ignorance.' ... But the Telegraph’s U.S. editor, Toby Harnden, wrote that Murdoch’s old-man act unaware of the details of his newspapers was a con job."

... Custard Pie. AND Wendi Deng Murdoch Whacks the Pieman:

     ... The Guardian has full video and transcript of the proceedings. ...

... Freedom of the Press, British Edition. AND, the House of Commons revoked the press pass of BBC producer Paul Lambert for this video. Pretty ironic considering the vid was shot at a hearing where the subjects, so-called newspapermen, were extolling the virtues of a free press. The New York Times' The Lede has this & other breaking stories related to the scandal here:

"The Debt Default Enablers." Jonathan Chait of The New Republic: "It's not 'the politicians in Washington' who don't understand the risks of failing to raise the debt ceiling. It's the Republican Party.... The problem is that various reporters, pundits, and business types appear intent on blurring that reality. That's an important reason why Republicans are playing debt ceiling chicken. If the Republicans believe that the blame for a debt default will be aimed at the diffuse 'politicians in Washington,' they have little incentive to avoid it." ...

... Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "... now Wall Street is finally reacting and (most) reporters are finally telling the story pretty straight: gambling with the debt ceiling is really dangerous and it's the GOP that has its fingers on the button." CW: which is why we're now seeing polling results like this:

     ... Americans Are Catching on. Dan Balz & Jon Cohen of the Washington Post: "... the public views the GOP leaders as particularly intransigent, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Fifty-eight percent [of Republicans] say their leaders are not doing enough to strike a deal, up from 42 percent in March.... A majority view the president as more committed to protecting the interests of the middle class and small businesses, while large majorities see Republicans as defending the economic interests of big corporations and Wall Street financial institutions.... Exactly half of all Democrats say the president is 'too willing' to compromise.... More than eight in 10 — including 80 percent of Republicans — say there would be serious harm to the U.S. economy if the government could not continue to borrow money to fund its operations and pay its debts after Aug. 2." ...

     ... Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post: "Seventy-two percent — said they favored the idea of raising taxes on those making $250,000 or more to help shrink the debt.... Eighty-seven percent of Democrats supported such a move, so did 54 percent of self-identified Republicans. And, nearly six in 10 people said they would support raising taxes on oil and gas companies, including 55 percent of Republicans who agreed with the idea. Those numbers suggest that the notion that any tax increase is anathema to the party base — a belief that seems to be guiding much of House Republicans’ negotiating strategy to date — may be misguided or, at least, overstated.... Making major changes to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security for the general population were broadly unpopular."

... AND Now for a Really Important Poll. Dave Weigel: "Only 19 percent of Republicans think Obama would be raptured up."

In case you're wondering what's in the Gang of Six (or Seven, but who's counting?) deficit reduction plan, Tim Fernholz of the National Journal has the summary. ...

... As Jonathan Chait of The New Republic points out, discussion of the Gang of Six proposal is mostly academic, since the plan doesn't stand a chance of getting past the anti-tax, anti-government crazoids in the House. ...

... AND there's this from Alexander Bolton & Erik Wasson of The Hill: "Senate Democratic whip Dick Durbin (Ill.), a member of the Gang of Six, said Tuesday the group’s plan is not ready to be attached to legislation to increase the debt limit."

... How to Cut a Million American Jobs. Stephen Gandel of Time: "Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, ran the numbers on what a deal that either cuts spending or raises taxes in order to reduce the deficit by $2 trillion would mean to the economy." Based on Elmendorf's assumptions, Gandel writes that "a debt-ceiling deal of the size Elmendorf is talking about could cost the economy as much as over a million jobs during the next three years.

Would a Republican President Do All This? Steve Benen: "President Obama has successfully repealed the 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' law; expanded federal benefits for the same-sex partners of executive-branch employees; signed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act into law; cleared the way for hospital-visitation rights for same-sex couples; lifted the travel/immigration ban on those with HIV/AIDS; ordered the Federal Housing Authority to no longer consider the sexual orientation of applicants on loans; expanded the Census to include the number of people who report being in a same-sex relationship; and hired more openly gay officials than any administration in history.... And today, the president has offered his well-timed endorsement of the Respect For Marriage Act. [which repeals DOMA]... There have also been more symbolic gestures...."

You are the most vile, unprofessional, and despicable member of the US House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face, otherwise, shut the heck up.
-- Allen West (R-Fla.), in an e-mail to Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) ...

... Here's video of the floor speech which inspired Teabagger West's intemperate letter, the full text of which Ben Smith has here:

     ... You go, Girl! ...

     ... NEW. Max Read of Gawker: "... West, who was drummed out of the Army for torturing an Iraqi cop, is more or less completely nuts — a violent, short-fused Islamophobe who thinks 'Planned Parenthood women' are 'neutering American men' and who recently said Obama supporters were a 'threat to the gene pool.' .... And why is he demanding pistols at dawn? Apparently because Wasserman-Schultz called him out (as 'the gentleman from Florida' ...) as 'supportive of this plan that would increase costs for Medicare beneficiaries.' This didn't sit well with West. '... Focus on your own congressional district!' West told her. The funny thing is: West actually lives in Wasserman-Schultz's district."

Michele Bachmann's Bad Day. Jonathan Bernstein, commenting on Bachmann's staff roughing up ABC News reporter Brian Ross (see yesterday's Right Wing World): "There are a number of reasons why Members of the House, especially junior Members, don't compete seriously for presidential nominations. One of them ... is that most of them have virtually no experience at all in contested elections with an attentive press."

Right Wing World *

... A more moderate/former liberal like Ronald Reagan ... would never be elected today in my opinion. -- Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.)

Dana Milbank: A hundred "years after Reagan’s birth, it’s clear that the Tea Party Republicans have little regard for the policies of the president they claim to venerate.... During the debt-limit debate, a procession of Democrats ... claimed Reagan’s support for their position.... Half a century after he left the party, the Gipper is winning one for the Democrats."

Where "courage" means never having to understand the first damned thing about legislation on which you are required to vote:

... A Real Headache. CW: I haven't covered the Bachmann migraine story, except as it related to Bachmann's personnel roughing up reporter Brian Ross who was trying to question her about it. A disgruntled former Bachmann staffer initiated the story that Bachmann suffered from "incapacitating ...stress-induced medical episodes that she has characterized as severe headaches," & the irresponsible right-wing Daily Caller published it. But now Kasie Hunt & Molly Ball of Politico dig deeper, and it turns out migraines have incapacitated Bachmann in the past. ...

... ** I Am a Headache. In a fairly sympathetic post, Karen Garcia posits a plausible explanation for Michele Bachmann. Period.

     ... Luckily, Joshua Green of The Atlantic finds "The Christian Cure for Bachmann's Headaches":

* Where Ronald Reagan would not be welcome and it's courageous to be willfully ignorant.

News Ledes

Michelle Obama announces a plan to team with grocers and other retailers to bring healthy and affordable food to communities that typically have not had access to fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods:

     ... Related New York Times story here.

New York Times: "Prime Minister David Cameron went before a rowdy special session of Parliament on Wednesday to defend his record in Britain’s phone hacking scandal and for the first time seemed to distance himself from a former Murdoch employee he hired to work in 10 Downing Street. Shortly before he spoke, a parliamentary panel investigating the spreading hacking scandal released a scathing report accusing the Murdoch empire of “deliberate attempts” to thwart its investigations and said police inquiries had been a 'catalog of failures.'” A pdf of the parliamentary report is here. ...

     ... Guardian: "The prime minister has refused to deny that he discussed the BSkyB bid with senior executives at News International since the election. Repeatedly pressed on the issue following a Commons statement on the phone hacking scandal, David Cameron would only say: 'I have never had one inappropriate conversation.'" ...

... The Telegraph has a liveblog of the scandal, which includes the amusing back-and-forth in the House of Commons.

I'm at a point where I'm saying we need to hear from the House of Representatives. We have a plan to go forward over here. But until we hear from the House of Representatives, really our, all of our work here would be for naught. I await the word from the Speaker. -- Harry Reid ...

... The Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday claimed his chamber has a 'path forward' for raising the debt ceiling but said he's waiting on Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to tell him what can pass the House.  ...

... Reuters: "The Federal Reserve is actively preparing for the possibility that the United States could default as a deadline for raising the government's $14.3 trillion borrowing limit looms.... Charles Plosser, president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank, said the U.S. central bank has for the past few months been working closely with Treasury, ironing out what to do if the world's biggest economy runs out of cash on August 2."

... CNN: "President Barack Obama sat down with television stations from three key political states." He said politics was interfering with efforts to raise the debt ceiling. "'This is actually a self-created crisis in some ways. It has to do with folks who are digging into set positions rather than saying how do we solve a problem,' the president told KMBC, a CNN affiliate in Kansas City, Missouri."

New York Times: "At the Royal Courts of Justice in London, lawyers for the actor Hugh Grant and his former girlfriend, the socialite Jemima Khan — once the subject of relentless tabloid attention — mentioned The News of the World and unspecified 'other newspapers' while demanding police information on Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who was jailed in 2007 for hacking into the phones of royal staff members. It was the first suggestion that Mr. Mulcaire, who had an exclusive contract with The News of the World, might have sold his information to other publications.”

The Latest Twist. After repeatedly saying a short-term extension was a non-starter, Politico reports that "President Barack Obama would support a short-term extension of the debt limit if Democrats and Republicans reach agreement on a broader deficit-cutting deal but need more time to move it through."

Guardian: "Lawyers representing the two women who claim Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape them have met for the first time in New York, raising the prospect that they will join forces to strengthen their cases against the former IMF boss."

Reuters: "Applications for home mortgages surged last week, racking up the biggest increase in four months on a flood of refinancing demand as interest rates remained low, an industry group said on Wednesday."

Milwaukee Jounal Sentinel: "Democratic state Sen. Dave Hansen of Green Bay was the first of nine state senators to face a final recall election, and he easily survived Tuesday. Hansen won a lopsided victory over his Republican challenger, wind farm developer David VanderLeest of Green Bay, against whom Democrats and their allies have been hammering away on his personal and legal problems."

AP: "China, the biggest holder of U.S. Treasury debt, appealed to Washington on Wednesday to take steps to boost confidence in the dollar and protect its investors."

Reuters: "Iran has shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane over its Fordu nuclear site, a state-run website reported Wednesday, a day after it confirmed it was installing a new generation of advanced uranium enrichment centrifuges.... The Pentagon denied that report but acknowledged some spy planes had crashed in the past due to mechanical failure."

The Commentariat -- July 19

"The Tables Are Turned" Joe Nocera: Rupert Murdoch has happily dished it out, but he doesn't know how to take it. ...

... I've posted a Nocera page on Off Times Square for today. ...

... John Burns of the New York Times: the Murdoch hacking scandal is posing a threat to the survival of British PM David Cameron, who has extremely close ties to Murdoch & his minions. ...

... Jo Becker & Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times: "... a small group of [News Corp.] executives pursued strategies for years that had the effect of obscuring the extent of wrongdoing in the newsroom of The News of the World.... And once the hacking scandal escalated, they scrambled in vain to quarantine the damage. Evidence indicating that The News of the World paid the police for information was not handed over to the authorities for four years. Its parent company paid hefty sums to those who threatened legal action, on condition of silence. The tabloid continued to pay reporters and editors whose knowledge could prove embarrassing even after they were fired or arrested for hacking. A key editor’s computer equipment was destroyed, and e-mail evidence was lost."

** Joe Conason in the National Memo: "Former President Bill Clinton says that he would invoke the so-called constitutional option to raise the nation’s debt ceiling 'without hesitation, and force the courts to stop me' in order to prevent a default, should Congress and the President fail to achieve agreement before the August 2 deadline. Sharply criticizing Congressional Republicans in an exclusive Monday evening interview with The National Memo, Clinton said, 'I think the Constitution is clear and I think this idea that the Congress gets to vote twice on whether to pay for [expenditures] it has appropriated is crazy.'" CW: the former President took the words right out of my mouth. I've been saying exactly this for weeks, even as numerous commenters on Off Times Square, not to mention Constitutional expert Larry Tribe, argued I was dead wrong. ...

... "Unbalanced Approach." Jason Furman, National Economic Council director, in a White House blog, rips apart the House's Cut, Cap & Balance bill. ...

... "Ryan Plan on Steroids." Dylan Matthews in the Washington Post: in a conference call with news outlets, "Furman called CCB a 'extreme, radical, unprecedented' proposal, and [White House Communications Director Dan] Pfeiffer described it as 'the Ryan plan on steroids.' Perhaps most interesting was that Pfeiffer and Furman emphasized strongly the negative economic impacts of immediate cuts, noting that CBO director Doug Elmendorf has said a $100 billion annual cut would have a noticeable impact on near-term GDP growth. They insisted that Obama’s preferred debt plan would heavily backload spending cuts....” ...

...Jonathan Cohn: "Would securing a major deficit reduction package reduce opposition to government spending and, perhaps, build support for liberal initiatives in the future," as President Obama has claimed? "... three prominent public opinion experts ... were skeptical, although not without qualification." ...

... George Packer of the New Yorker: "What does either side have to offer the tens of millions of Americans who have settled into a semi-permanent state of economic depression? Virtually nothing. But if responsibility were fused with conviction — if politics were a vocation in Washington toda — the [needy] would be represented at the negotiating table." CW: a very fine essay that encapsulates what's the matter with Washington. ...

... "Scribblers & Madmen." Paul Krugman: a major reason Republicans don't understand Keynesian economics is that they listen to a cadre of professional economists who don't understand macroeconomics either.

As Kate Madison noted in yesterday's Off Times Square, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee has launched a Draft Elizabeth Warren campaign. You can sign on here. ...

... Peter Schroeder of The Hill: "Elizabeth Warren ... said Monday she would think about running for Sen. Scott Brown's (R-Mass.) seat in 2012":

... Noah Bierman of the Boston Globe: "Elizabeth Warren ... will spend early August assessing whether to try to unseat Senator Scott Brown, an adviser said." ...

... Steven Syre of the Boston Globe: "The president would have done better simply by nominating Warren to run the national consumer agency she invented.... The president would have helped himself by nominating Warren, too. Standing up for consumers by nominating an able watchdog chief opposed by a wall of bankers is a good political alternative to what the president actually did - choosing someone else in an apparent concession." ...

... Lee Fang of Think Progress: harassing Elizabeth Warren pays off for Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.).

Dana Milbank: "The remarkable thing about what happened on the Senate floor Monday night was that it was utterly unremarkable. The matter under consideration – the nomination of the first openly gay man to serve on the federal bench – would at one time have been a flashpoint in the culture wars. But Paul Oetken was confirmed without a word of objection on the Senate floor and with hardly a mention in the commentariat." ...

... Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "... the federal bench is currently losing judges twice as fast as new ones are being confirmed.... The moment President Obama took office, Senate Republicans launched an unprecedented game of obstruction against his judicial nominees, slowing the judicial confirmation to just over half what it was during at this point in the last two presidencies."

Right Wing World *

Steve Benen finds another "not very bright" Congressman -- Todd Rokita (R-Ind.) -- who doesn't have a clue about what raising the debt limit means, so Benen decides a rebranding is in order: let's call it "The Pay America's Bills Act," and maybe dimwits like Rokita will understand. CW: I doubt it. As Benen himself point out, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has become willfully ignorant about the debt limit. ...

... Brian Beutler of TPM: one big reason for the willful ignorance? Conservative interest groups like the malevolent Club for Growth insist they vote for draconian budget cuts. ...

     ... Update: here's a letter (pdf) from a coalition of right-wing nut jobs telling members of Congress they will withhold their support from any who vote for the McConnell plan & will "rally organizations and activists" against them & any candidates who express support for raising the debt ceiling. ...

... AND Alex Seitz-Wald of Think Progress has perhaps the looniest conspiracy theory of all time from perhaps the dimmest bulb of all -- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas): President Obama probably manufactured & timed the debt ceiling crisis to coincide with his 50th birthday. ...

... Max Read of Gawker comes up with a short list of some of Rep. Gohmert's other theories & escapades. This man is a United States Congressman.

NEW. New York Times Editors: "It used to be that a sworn oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution was the only promise required to become president. But that no longer seems to be enough for a growing number of Republican interest groups, who are demanding that presidential candidates sign pledges shackling them to the corners of conservative ideology. Many candidates are going along, and each pledge they sign undermines the basic principle of democratic government built on compromise and negotiation.... Only one candidate, Jon Huntsman Jr., has refused to sign any pledge, saying he owes allegiance to his flag and his wife."

Bachmann Predicted the World Would End in 2008. Dave Weigel: "An audio tape of Michele Bachmann praying for You Can Run, But You Cannot Hide Ministry.... Bachmann says 'We are in the last days' and 'the Harvest is at hand.' The clip is from 2008, from that brief period when it looked like Bachmann might lose re-election.... It is a jarring thing to hear from the contender to the 2012 GOP nomination":

... As she weighs in on critical debates like whether or not to let the U.S. default on its obligations, it’s troubling that Bachmann is rooting for the apocalypse. -- Marie Diamond of Think Progress

Could It Be Impeachment Time? Josh Gerstein of Politico: In a letter to AG Eric Holder, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus accused President Obama "of committing 'an apparent crime' when he recorded a video in the White House as part of a raffle to raise money for his reelection campaign. The letter is here [pdf].

This letter is an embarrassment to the Republican Party, of which I count myself a part. The small donors get nothing in return for their donation except a chance to support a candidate they believe in — until this raffle. Now they get a raffle ticket entitling them [to] a very small chance of getting the type of meeting that a big donor has for the asking. To call this a crime yet ignore the larger problem is absurd. Writing this kind of letter — after standing in the way of campaign finance reform — is laughable. -- Richard Painter, an ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House

* Where even remedial lessons won't help.

News Ledes

President Obama on the status of debt ceiling & deficit negotiations & on the proposal by the Senate's "Gang of Six":

Sign me up. -- Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) (Via Wall Street Journal)...

... Washington Post: "President Obama on Tuesday hailed an ambitious new deficit-reduction plan that is gaining momentum in the Senate, saying it could provide the vehicle to break an impasse over raising the federal borrowing limit while cutting the nation’s debt. Appearing at the regular White House news briefing, Obama said the bipartisan proposal is 'broadly consistent' with the approach he has advocated in that it reduces discretionary spending and tackles health-care spending and entitlements while also raising additional revenue." Update: the New York Times story is here. See video above.

Guardian: "In a hesitant performance in front of MPs on Tuesday, punctuated by long pauses before many of his answers, [Rupert Murdoch,] the News Corporation chairman and chief executive, said it was 'the most humble day of my life'. He appeared to have little knowledge of key events and figures who played a prominent part in events that have consumed his company."

The Hill: "Liberal Democrats are stepping up their attacks on President Obama for his plan to extend a payroll tax break by a year. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) blasted Obama last week for his 'stupid Social Security tax holiday,' arguing that money would be better used on more stimulative spending."

Another DOJ Screw-up. New York Times: "Embarrassed Justice Department officials rushed on Tuesday to correct their own filing in a lawsuit over the 2001 anthrax letters after learning that it appeared to contradict the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s conclusion that Bruce E. Ivins, an Army scientist, prepared the deadly powder in his Army laboratory."

New York Times: "The Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences..., recommended on Tuesday that all insurers be required to cover contraceptives for women free of charge as one of several preventive services under the new health care law."

New York Times: "President Obama will endorse a bill to repeal the law that limits the legal definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman, the White House said Tuesday, taking another step in support of gay rights."

New York Times: James W. Margulies, "a lawyer who helped to plot a $100 million securities fraud scheme that sold fundamentally worthless stocks to a series of investors, including Yale University, was convicted of grand larceny on Tuesday, prosecutors said."

Politico: "Rolling the dice on default, the House pushed further to the right in the debt debate Tuesday, even as a fledgling Senate deficit plan raised hopes that some bipartisan consensus may yet emerge from the crisis — if only the nation can get past its Aug. 2 deadline.... [There was] a tough, almost party line 234-190 vote Tuesday evening as the leadership muscled through its so-called Cut, Cap and Balance bill, championed by party conservatives."

Not Ready for Prime Time. Time: Bachmann team uses "unusual force" to rough up ABC News reporter Brian Ross, who was following Bachmann to her vehicle to ask her a question.

New York Times: "Demand for same-sex marriage in New York is so great that the city has decided to cap at 764 the number of couples who can be wed at clerks’ offices on Sunday, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said on Tuesday."

Washington Post: "Republican lawmakers moved ahead Monday on a doomed plan to amend the U.S. Constitution to require a balanced federal budget, one day after President Obama met with the top two House GOP leaders in hopes of reaching a debt-limit agreement that could win approval from the hostile House."

Reuters: "Libyan and U.S. officials have met in secret, with Tripoli seeking talks with no preconditions, but Washington saying it delivered the clear message that Muammar Gaddafi must go. The face-to-face meeting occurred at the weekend as Libyan government forces fought rebels for control of the oil port of Brega, which insurgents said on Monday they now had surrounded in what would be a major boost to their campaign. Tripoli denied this."

AP: "Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Philadelphia archbishop Cardinal Justin Rigali on Tuesday, sending him into retirement as the archdiocese faces accusations that it covered up a long-running priest sex abuse scandal. The pope named conservative Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput to succeed him." Philadelphia Inquirer story here.

Reuters: "News Corp independent directors are fully behind Rupert Murdoch, a board member told Reuters on Monday, as his iron grip on his vast media empire came under question because of the hacking scandal that already has consumed his London newspaper company." CW: see Bloomberg report in yesterday's Ledes.

Wall Street Journal: "Worries about government debt rocked capital markets on both sides of the Atlantic Monday, as fears that the Greek crisis will spread combined with concerns at the standoff over the U.S. debt ceiling. The selloff started in Europe, hitting bonds and stocks in countries regarded as vulnerable to contagion from Greece, and spread to the U.S. where the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at its lowest level since late June after a wild session."

New York Times: "The fate of [Wisconsin Democratic state senator Dave Hansen] ... will be decided by voters on Tuesday."

McClatchy News: "The Justice Department has called into question a key pillar of the FBI's case against Bruce Ivins, the Army scientist accused of mailing the anthrax-laced letters that killed five people and terrorized Congress a decade ago.... Justice Department lawyers have acknowledged in court papers that the sealed area in Ivins' lab — the so-called hot suite — didn't contain the equipment needed to turn liquid anthrax into the refined powder that floated through congressional buildings and post offices in the fall of 2001.The government said it continued to believe that Ivins was 'more likely than not' the killer."

The Commentariat -- July 18

Paul Krugman says there's no rhyme nor reason that federal officials are pressing "state attorneys general to accept a very modest settlement from banks that engaged in abusive mortgage practices." ...

... I've posted an Off Times Square page on the Economy. But you have the usual leeway to veer off topic. Karen Garcia, Kate Madison & I have commented on Krugman's column. ...

... E. J. Dionne: "The House Republican strategy to link a normally routine increase in the nation’s debt limit with a crusade to slash spending has already had a high cost, threatening the nation’s credit rating and making the United States look dysfunctional and incompetent to the rest of the world.... What’s even worse is that this entirely artificial, politician-created crisis has kept government from doing what taxpayers expect it to do: Solve the problems citizens care about." ...

Then there is the coming debate over a 'balanced budget' amendment to the Constitution that would limit government spending to 18 percent of gross domestic product and require a two-thirds vote to raise taxes. It’s an outrageous way for members of Congress to vote to slash Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, aid to education and a slew of other things, to lock in low taxes on the rich — and never have to admit they’re doing it. It’s one of the most dishonest proposals ever to come before Congress, and I realize that’s saying something. ...

... David Rogers of Politico: "Turning right with a vengeance, Republicans will bring to the House floor Tuesday a newly revised debt-ceiling bill that is remarkable for its total absence of compromise at this late date, two weeks before the threat of default." CW Note: this story has a new lede:

President Barack Obama and the two top House Republican leaders [John Boehner & Eric Cantor] held an unannounced meeting at the White House Sunday, trying to get debt talks back on track with just two weeks left before the threat of default. ...

... Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post explains in terms a child could understand why the Tea Party's three main arguments for not raising the debt ceiling are idiotic. ...

... CW: You know I don't do polls only do polls I really like: "a new CBS News poll show[s] a majority disapprove of all the involved parties' conduct [in the debt ceiling crisis], but Republicans in Congress fare the worst, with just 21 percent backing their resistance to raising taxes. President Obama earned the most generous approval ratings for his handling of the weeks-old negotiations, but still more people said they disapproved (48 percent) than approved (43 percent) of what he has done and said."

... Is Harry Reid Royally Screwing up the McConnell Proposal? Erik Wasson of The Hill: "Liberal and centrist budget experts are joining conservatives in raising red flags about the debt-ceiling plan that is being hashed out by Senate leaders as a last-ditch option for avoiding a national default." Rebecca Theiss of the liberal Economic Policy Institute said it now "appears to involve only spending cuts and not tax increases," making it "a worse option than the original McConnell proposal, which involved a clean debt-ceiling increase." ...

... Chris Bowers of Daily Kos writes a post on the successful "class war" Democrats are waging in Wisconsin, but his opening salvo, which speaks to a larger issue, gets to the heart of what's going on in Washington:

As you read this, rich and powerful people in Washington, DC are trying to determine not whether they should cut programs designed to help low and middle-income Americans, but by how much they should cut those programs. The rich and powerful people in DC are making these cuts in order to pay for tax breaks they recently gave to rich people and large corporations. Additionally, the cuts are being made at the behest of the lobby organizations and media operations owned by rich people and large corporations. If that isn't a class war, I don't know what is.

Elizabeth Warren in a White House blogpost: "There's lots of good news, but make no mistake: this agency still has enemies in Washington, D.C. And they have a plan.... I remain hopeful that those who want to cripple this consumer bureau will think again and remember that the financial crisis -- and the recession and job losses that it sparked -- began one lousy mortgage at a time.... I'm not taking my eye off those who want to cripple this agency. We got this agency by fighting, we stood it up by fighting, and, if takes more fighting to keep it strong and independent, then we can do it." ...

... Elizabeth Warren for Senate! Robert Kuttner of American Prospect: "In Massachusetts, the Democratic field right now is stunningly weak, and Warren is the one candidate who can galvanize voters and take back the seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy." ...

... Glen Johnson of the Boston Globe assesses the field of Democratic candidates running against Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown (R), & writes that Brown is in excellent shape to win a full term.

James Traub of the New York Times writes a nice profile of Sen. John Kerry (R-Mass.), who has used his new position as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee to good effect.

"Obama's Last Lecture." David Dayan of Firedoglake parses the President's remarks to a group of college students. Watch the video, then read Dayan. CW: I think Dayan has it exactly right:

Larry Summers, who did such a fine job saving our economy (oh, don't get me started) writes a Washington Post op-ed in which he advised Europeans on what they can do to save theirs. Sorry to say, I didn't read that genius's advice, but maybe you'll want to.

** CW: Paul Krugman & commenter Calyban highly recommends this article by the New York Times' David Carr on Rupert Murdoch's tactics. So do I. A taste from the top:

Time and again in the United States and elsewhere, Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation has used blunt force spending to skate past judgment, agreeing to payments to settle legal cases and, undoubtedly more important, silence its critics. In the case of News America Marketing, its obscure but profitable in-store and newspaper insert marketing business, the News Corporation has paid out about $655 million to make embarrassing charges of corporate espionage and anticompetitive behavior go away. ...

... CW: I never thought I'd ever link to a Wall Street Journal editorial, but this whiney, everybody's-picking-on-us effort is too good to pass up: "We also trust that readers can see through the commercial and ideological motives of our competitor-critics. The Schadenfreude is so thick you can't cut it with a chainsaw." Yup. (BTW, they usually firewall their editorials.)

Right Wing World *

Manu Raju of Politico: Republican presidential candidate "Herman Cain says voters across the country should have the right to prevent Muslims from building mosques in their communities.

* Where there is no First Amendment right to freedom of religion, except, I guess, some voter-approved Christian denominations.

News Ledes

Bloomberg: "News Corp. is considering elevating Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey to chief executive officer to succeed Rupert Murdoch, people with knowledge of the situation said. A decision ... depends in part on Murdoch’s performance before the U.K. Parliament today.... News Corp. executives who watched Murdoch, 80, rehearse for his appearance had concerns about how he handled questions...."

... Guardian: "Detectives are examining a computer, paperwork and a phone found in a bin near the riverside London home of Rebekah Brooks." Brooks' husband Charlie Brooks tried to reclaim it," but a "security guard refused to release it" and "called the police." ...

... Guardian: "Sean Hoare, the former News of the World showbiz reporter who was the first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson was aware of phone hacking by his staff, has been found dead.... Hoare, who worked on the Sun and the News of the World with Coulson before being dismissed for drink and drugs problems, is said to have been found dead at his Watford home." The police are treating Hoare's death as "unexplained" but not "suspicious." ...

... Guardian: "The Metropolitan police assistant commissioner John Yates has become the second high-profile Scotland Yard officer to resign over the phone-hacking scandal. The resignation of Yates – the country's top counter-terrorism officer – comes a day after his boss, the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, stepped down." More from the Guardian on Yates here. ...

     ... Telegraph: The Independent Police Complaints Commission is "considering Mr Yates's decision in 2009 that there was no need to re-open the hacking inquiry and allegations that he inappropriately secured a job for a friend's daughter." ...

     ... Here's the Telegraph's liveblog of news related to the hacking scandal, which is practically a necessity to keep up with this stuff.

President Obama announced the nomination of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He also spoke about the debt ceiling & deficit.

Release: The President formally announces he would veto the House's so-called "Cut, Cap & Balance Act." Jay Carney just called the bill the "Duck, Dodge & Dismantle Act." Here's the Washington Post story.

Reuters: "Ratings agency Moody's on Monday suggested the United States should eliminate its statutory limit on government debt to reduce uncertainty among bond holders. The United States is one of the few countries where Congress sets a ceiling on government debt, which creates 'periodic uncertainty' over the government's ability to meet its obligations, Moody's said in a report."

New York Times: "Gen. David Petraeus handed over command of American and coalition forces to Gen. John Allen on Monday, ending a year that saw the costly counterinsurgency strategy he espoused and implemented coming under increasingly heavy criticism."

New York Times: "Prime Minister David Cameron cut short an African trip on Monday and ordered a special parliamentary session back home just hours after Britain’s top police officer resigned and Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s News International, was arrested on suspicion of illegally intercepting phone calls and bribing the police." ...

... Bloomberg: "Independent directors of New York-based News Corp. have begun questioning the company’s response to the crisis and whether a leadership change is needed." ...

... Washington Times: "Speaking on NBC’s 'Meet the Press,' Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, said Congress should join an FBI investigation into whether News Corp. — the parent company of Fox News, the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal — engaged in illegal activity."

AP: "Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces have taken control of three bases of an Iranian Kurdish opposition group in neighboring Iraq, the state news agency reported Monday."

AP (via the NYT): "Egypt's prime minister named 12 new Cabinet members Sunday in a reshuffle under pressure from protesters demanding a purge of remnants of the former regime, state television reported. A lawyer for Hosni Mubarak, meanwhile, said the ousted president had suffered a stroke and was in a coma — a claim that was quickly denied by Mubarak's lead doctor."

More on the Murdoch Mess

Guardian: "Elisabeth Murdoch is emerging as the strongest family contender to take over at the helm of her father's empire after reports that she had pushed for Rebekah Brooks's resignation against the wishes of her brothers James and Lachlan last week. The revelation comes as James Murdoch, the News Corporation deputy chief operating officer and heir apparent to Rupert Murdoch until he was engulfed by the phone-hacking scandal, is facing calls to stand down as chairman of BSkyB."

... Think Progress: CNN has reported on the Murdoch scandal more than the other major news networks, but they aren't covering the part played by "Piers Morgan, the British journalist and talk show host who took over for CNN’s venerable Larry King." Morgan "is a former editor of the now-defunct News of the World.... Moreover, Morgan has been implicated in a separate celebrity phone hacking scandal while he was editor of the U.K’s Daily Mirror." In a book Morgan wrote in 2005, he explained how easy it is to hack a another person's phone messages. ...

... New York Magazine: "Rebekah Brooks ... is said to be in line for a $5.6 million payout. Others likely to leave with a well-padded envelope ... include ... Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton. One condition of the severance deals: gagging orders so none of them get the company in any more trouble than it's already in."

Media Matters: "CNN And MSNBC Report On News Corp. Scandal More Than Twice As Often As Fox News. According to a Media Matters analysis, in the nine days since the News Corp. phone-hacking scandal reignited, CNN reported on the developing story in 108 segments, MSNBC covered the story in 71 segments, and Fox News; covered the story in 30 segments."