The Commentariat -- Feb. 25, 2016

Julie Davis & David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Mr. Obama ... telephoned senators and pulled one aside [-- Orrin Hatch (R-Ossified-Utah) --] on Wednesday, took to the Internet to detail his 'careful deliberation' over potential nominees, and reproached Republicans for siding with 'extreme' elements in their party.... In what appeared to be a political feint, one potential nominee's name leaked out, Nevada's Republican governor, Brian Sandoval, a candidate seemingly calculated to demonstrate the depths of Republican obstreperousness. The president invited senior Republicans and Democrats to the White House Thursday to discuss the process, then postponed the meeting Wednesday night after it became clear Republicans were unlikely to show." ...

     ... UPDATE: Burgess Everett of Politico: "President Barack Obama plans to pick a 'moderate' Supreme Court nominee, Sen. Orrin Hatch said in an interview Thursday after meeting with the president a day earlier. 'I saw him yesterday, and he told me he'll send somebody that'll be moderate. And, we'll wait and see...,' said Hatch, the most senior Republican senator." ...

... Dana Milbank: With few better options, Democratic Senators hold a sham hearing on their Republican colleagues' planned obstruction of any Supreme Court nominee.

... Kevin Liptak & Manu Raju of CNN: "President Barack Obama said Wednesday it would be 'difficult' for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to explain his decision not to consider a Supreme Court nominee without looking like he's motivated by politics. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid suggested a Republican, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, as a potential nominee. A source confirmed to CNN that the White House is vetting Sandoval." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Here's President Obama's blogpost on ScotusBlog, outlining the criteria he intends to use in selecting a nominee. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Charles Pierce thinks a Sandoval nomination would be a good idea. At least liberals can hollar with honesty against his nomination; maybe that would make Senate Repubicans blink. But to what end? ...

... Josh Marshall of TPM: "... let's not forget the massive stakes for Republicans in the next Supreme Court nominee. Many Republicans would genuinely prefer to maintain control of the Supreme Court than elect the next President. Republican control of the Court, a de facto reality for more than a generation with total control going back a decade, is that big a deal. Yet there's a lot more weakness to Senate Republicans' embrace of the 'three nos' yesterday than I think most observers, certainly most Beltway observers, realize. Not just no confirmation, but no vote, no hearings, not even courtesy meetings.... The battle captures an aspect of governmental dysfunction, the arbitrariness of the breakdown of governance that matters a great deal to ... people who aren't tightly aligned with one party or ideology."

** Crackpot Justice Dies during Crackpot Secret Society Hunting Party. Amy Brittain & Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died 11 days ago at a West Texas ranch, he was among high-ranking members of an exclusive fraternity for hunters called the International Order of St. Hubertus, an Austrian society that dates back to the 1600s.... Members of the worldwide, male-only society wear dark-green robes emblazoned with a large cross and the motto 'Deum Diligite Animalia Diligentes,' which means 'Honoring God by honoring His creatures.'... Some hold titles, such as Grand Master, Prior and Knight Grand Officer.... It is unclear what, if any, official association Scalia had with the group." ...

... CW: I wrote shortly after his death that it would be interesting to find out who-all was in Scalia's hunting party. Ha! Now, maybe this is just a bunch of jolly good sports, but it sounds to me like a walk on the Dark Side. Maybe that wasn't a pillowcase over Scalia's head; it was a hood. Anyhow, time's up on that "De mortuis nihil nisi bonum" thing. No need to invent crackpot conspiracy theories when the old boy croaked while perhaps participating in a ritualized conspiracy. BTW, the "lord protector" of the Order of St. Hubert is the former King Juan Carlos. of Spain. And why is Juan Carlos the former king? Because he got caught killing elephants for sport (oh, in company of a German mistress), & the Spanish public said basta! BTW, the person who introduced me to Juan Carlos was Hillary Clinton. It's a club, people, and we're not in it. ...

... Ariana Cha of the Washington Post: Antonin Scalia may have died because he forgot to activate a breathing apparatus that helps mitigate his sleep apnea, "a potentially life-threatening condition caused by either a blockage of the airway or a signaling issue from the brain regarding breathing during sleep." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

John Fritze & Yvonne Wenger of the Baltimore Sun: "President Barack Obama on Wednesday nominated the longtime director of Baltimore's public library system to lead the Library of Congress, a venerable institution that has faced criticism in recent years for a perceived reluctance to embrace technology. Carla Hayden, the CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library since 1993, would become the first woman and the first African-American to oversee the 214-year-old library...." ...

... CW: Yeah, so what? Hayden seems like a highly-qualified candidate, but the next sentence in the Sun's report begins with a kicker: "If confirmed by the Senate...." Plus, there's this: "Hayden, a former president of the American Library Association, captured national attention in 2003 for a public spat with then-Attorney General John Ashcroft over the Patriot Act. Hayden objected to a provision that allowed federal authorities to look at library borrowing records to identify potential terrorists.... Republican reaction to Hayden was muted Wednesday." ...

Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "After President Obama on Tuesday morning revealed his plan to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) threw it right in the trash. A video uploaded to Twitter shows Roberts holding Obama's proposal to close the prison used to detain terrorists. 'This is what I think of the President's plan to send terrorists to the United States,' Roberts says in the video before crumpling the plan into a ball and throwing it into a wastebasket." ...

... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly: "Even for those who deny the inherent racism involved in attempting to delegitimize this country's first African American president, it is obvious that ... it is dangerous to the very underpinnings of our democracy. When the people have spoken and elected someone to lead this country - but they are thwarted in carrying out their Constitutional duties to do so by attempts from the opposing Party to undermine them - it is ... a challenge to all of us who participated in that electoral process.... Our democracy is not based on all of us agreeing with each other. The founders gave us a process for voicing those disagreements...."

Eliza Collins of Politico: "President Barack Obama is using his first job as an ice-cream scooper at Baskin-Robbins to announce a new summer job initiative for young people. Obama announced the Summer Opportunity Project in a post on LinkedIn Thursday. 'My first summer job wasn't exactly glamorous, but it taught me some valuable lessons. Responsibility. Hard work. Balancing a job with friends, family, and school,' Obama wrote in the post." ...

... This is from last week, but it's funny enough to run late rather than never:

... P.S. from Miss Emily Manners-Post: If you aren't black, don't try this yourself.

Matt Apuzzo & Katie Benner of the New York Times: "Apple engineers have begun developing new security measures that would make it impossible for the government to break into a locked iPhone using methods similar to those now at the center of a court fight in California, according to people close to the company and security experts.... The only way out of this scenario, experts say, is for Congress to get involved. Federal wiretapping laws require traditional phone carriers to make their data accessible to law enforcement agencies. But tech companies like Apple and Google are not covered, and they have strongly resisted legislation that would place similar requirements on them."

White Boys' Town. Mike McPhate of the New York Times: "Men far outnumber women as directors, writers and industry executives. Minorities are drastically underrepresented in acting roles. Lesbian, gay and transgender characters are almost nonexistent. This is the portrait of an 'epidemic of invisibility' in Hollywood described by researchers in a study released on Monday of more than 400 movies and scripted television series from 2014 and 2015."

Presidential Race

Manu Raju of CNN: "Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid announced Wednesday in an exclusive interview with CNN that he is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, a sign that Democratic leaders are eager to put the party's contentious primary fight behind them."

Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: In Columbia, S.C., "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont began his day of campaigning Wednesday by criticizing Hillary Clinton’s support of welfare reform in 1996, accusing her of backing legislation that ultimately increased poverty levels and led more Americans to face economic anxiety. Mr. Sanders said Mrs. Clinton helped round up votes to pass the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the welfare reform legislation that President Bill Clinton signed into law. The senator said the bill hurt Americans by punishing poor people rather than helping them." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Jordan Weismann of Slate: "Bernie Sanders has rightfully taken flack for his campaign's willingness to promote wildly optimistic claims about how his policy ideas would supercharge the American economy. But when it comes to growth, Sanders gets at least one thing absolutely right: Even though we aren't in a recession, the United States needs some good old-fashioned Keynesian stimulus spending right now, and dropping a gaudy sum of money to rebuild our decaying roads and bridges would be a great way to do it."

Ben Smith of BuzzFeed: "If Hillary Clinton manages to beat Bernie Sanders, the early primaries have already revealed that there's only one strategy for the general election against a Republican, be it Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, or Ted Cruz: Scorch the earth.... 'The slogan is "Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid,"' said Paul Begala, who is an adviser to the pro-Clinton super PAC Priorities USA.... 'It will be her versus a fucking asshole in almost any scenario,' mused one prominent Obama loyalist." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "Truth is, Bernie Sanders is just as likely as Hillary Clinton to 'go negative' in a general election, and with good reason: His entire agenda depends on arousing so much popular anger at conservative perfidy that a 'political revolution' -- currently a complete nonstarter -- becomes feasible."

The Republican candidates debate again tonight. CNN will air the debate beginning at 8:30 pm ET.

Charles Bagli & Megan Twohey of the New York Times: "In his quest for the Republican presidential nomination, Mr. Trump has stoked his crowds by promising to bring back jobs that have been snatched by illegal immigrants or outsourced by corporations, and voters worried about immigration have been his strongest backers. But he has also pursued more than 500 visas for foreign workers at Mar-a-Lago[, his Palm Beach, Florida, club,] since 2010, according to the United States Department of Labor, while hundreds of domestic applicants failed to get the same jobs.... According to federal records, only 17 [American residents] have been hired.... In Palm Beach County, Tom Veenstra, senior director of support services at CareerSource, a job placement service, took issue with Mr. Trump's contention that he could not staff his clubs with locals. 'We have hundreds of qualified applicants for jobs like those,' he said.... Industry experts say [guest workers] can be attractive to employers because they are essentially a captive work force." ...

     ... OR, as the headline writer for Eric Levitz of New York sums it up: "Donald Trump Has Turned Away Hundreds of American Workers to Hire Cheap Foreign Labor Instead." ...

... The Devoluption of TrumpCare. Gail Collins: "The bottom line is that once you really pin him down, Donald Trump is a mail-order conservative Republican, except more trash-talking about Muslims and Mexicans. Surrender hope and be careful not to die in the streets." ...

... Fox "News": "There might be a 'bombshell' revelation to be discovered in ... Donald Trump's tax returns, 2012 party nominee Mitt Romney said Wednesday. He also called on the entire GOP field to release their tax returns. 'I think there's something there,' Romney said of Trump's returns, 'Either he's not anywhere near as wealthy as he says he is, or he hasn't been paying the kind of taxes we would expect him to pay,' Romney ... told Fox News' Neil Cavuto...." ...

... Paul Waldman: We don't know what kind of general-election candidate Trump would be, but he has already signaled that he will change the color of his hair from reddish to bluish. "He's only presenting himself as a conservative Republican now -- to the degree that he's even doing that -- because he's running in a Republican primary.... While ordinary politicians try to convince you of their consistency, Trump proudly says that he'll turn himself into whatever the situation demands. And if it demands someone who has moderate positions, that's what he'll be." ...

Speaking from a goldplated, silk-wrapped Louis XV-style throne in a gilt & marble salon dripping crystal chandeliers -- which looks pretty much like most people's rec rooms -- Melania Trump says she keeps life "as normal as possible" for her son. The hard-hitting interviewer, natch, is Mika Brzezinski. Via Jessica Roy of New York. One thing I learned from listening to Mrs. T: Slovene doesn't have articles (like "the" and "a"). So the interview was educational. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Thoroughly Conventional Marco. Greg Sargent: "At a rally late yesterday, Rubio called out Trump by name and faulted him for being insufficiently hostile to Obamacare and insufficiently supportive of Israel. 'He thinks parts of Obamacare are pretty good,' Rubio scoffed, before casting himself as the only true scourge of the law. Rubio noted that Trump 'has said he's not going to take sides on Israel versus the Palestinians because he wants to be an honest broker.'... Rubio's new attacks on Trump remain comfortably within the boundaries of GOP orthodoxy.... But if we've learned anything, it's that ... Trump does not proceed from the assumption that government is the problem; government mismanaged by stupid and/or corrupt elites is the problem." ...

... CW: This is why Rubio (and the Tailgunner, too) is a worse candidate than Trump. Frankly, I'd rather see the government (1) engage in a make-work "beautiful" border wall & expand Medicare than see (2) an equally-harsh immigration policy, sans wall, & a return to pre-ObamaCare days. Of course it is impossible to know what a President Trump would do. It appears he has some conventional GOP lackeys write his policy papers, & those flacks pretty much ignore what the candidate says. It's likely these would be the same kind of people who would write Prez Trump's actual proposed legislation while the boss was busy with trivial pursuits; a disastrous Dubya presidency on steroids.

Dana Milbank: "There is something amusing in watching Rubio and Donald Trump come to the shocking discovery that Cruz is a scoundrel.... Cruz has been smearing and fabricating since he arrived in Washington three years ago.... Back in the 1950s, Joe McCarthy rose during the Truman years with his smears about communists in the government. But when he began to go after fellow Republicans in the Eisenhower administration in 1953, he quickly lost support and within two years was censured by the Senate. Now that Republicans are suffering from Tricky Ted's smears, perhaps they will come to a similar conclusion about the damage he does." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Finally. The Grifter's Tale. David Graham of the Atlantic: "For months, reporters and political operatives (including me) have been pointing out that Ben Carson's campaign bears many of the hallmarks of a political scam operation. Now Carson seems to agree. On CNN on Tuesday, Carson discussed his year-end staff shake-up: 'We had people who didn't really seem to understand finances,' a laughing Carson told CNN's Poppy Harlow..., adding, 'or maybe they did -- maybe they were doing it on purpose.' It's a remarkable statement -- especially because he's so blithe about it.... Carson seemed to suggest ... he was taken advantage of by aides who treated the campaign as an ATM." ...

... Aaron Rupar of Think Progress: "The profligacy of Carson's campaign stands in sharp contrast to the discussion of fiscal responsibility on his website, which says, 'The fiscal irresponsibility of our federal government must stop. We cannot go on mortgaging our future to wasteful spending and pretend that nothing is wrong. I will institute fiscal discipline in Washington in order to restore a bright future for our children and grandchildren.'..." ...

... digby: "... it's pathetic that he keeps right on chugging, appearing in debates, messing up the primary and collecting money from average Americans who think he's that guy who wrote 'Healing Hands' instead of the creepy weirdo he is today."

Congressional Election

Harper Neidig of the Hill: "Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) said on Wednesday that he still plans to retire at the end of the year, saying that he wants to leave office at the same time as the first black president."

Beyond the Beltway

Kirk Johnson of the New York Times: "Defendants charged with leading an armed occupation at a federal wildlife refuge in rural southeastern Oregon this year formally pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in a hearing [in Portland, Oregon] at Federal District Court, saying little and sitting obediently.... The 25 men and women face up to six years in prison on charges that they impeded federal government employees from performing their duties in occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in a 40-day standoff. At a pretrial hearing on Wednesday, prosecutors in Federal District Court said they still intended to file more charges based on evidence compiled after the last occupation holdouts surrendered earlier this month."

Peggy Fikac & David Rauf of the Houston Chronicle: "Texas' highest criminal court on Wednesday tossed out the remaining charge against former Gov. Rick Perry in the abuse-of-power case against him. The court also affirmed a previous ruling for Perry that dismissed a second felony charge of coercion of a public official." CW: Like all candidates, Perry suspended, not ended, his presidential campaign. Maybe he should get back in the race now that he's free of any outstanding felony charges. I'll see you one "Oops!" for three "The American people ... people ... people." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

"A Militia of Toddlers." Lindsey Bever of the Washington Post: Iowa's "House of Representatives voted Tuesday to pass a bill that would permit children under age 14 to use 'a pistol, revolver or the ammunition' while under direct parental supervision.... The current law has no restrictions on children using long guns or shotguns under their parents' instruction but prohibits them from using handguns."

Andrew Knapp & Dave Munday of the Charleston, South Carolina, Post & Courier: "A woman who was arrested at a hospital over the summer for failing to pay court fines died the next day because she was deprived of water at the Charleston County jail, her family's attorneys said Wednesday.... [Joyce] Curnell's death came at a time of increased scrutiny of how black women are handled behind bars."

The Commentariat -- Feb. 24, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Kevin Liptak & Manu Raju of CNN: "President Barack Obama said Wednesday it would be 'difficult' for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to explain his decision not to consider a Supreme Court nominee without looking like he's motivated by politics. Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid suggested a Republican, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval, as a potential nominee. A source confirmed to CNN that the White House is vetting Sandoval." ...

... Here's President Obama's blogpost on ScotusBlog, outlining the criteria he intends to use in selecting a nominee.

Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: In Columbia, S.C., "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont began his day of campaigning Wednesday by criticizing Hillary Clinton's support of welfare reform in 1996, accusing her of backing legislation that ultimately increased poverty levels and led more Americans to face economic anxiety. Mr. Sanders said Mrs. Clinton helped round up votes to pass the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, the welfare reform legislation that President Bill Clinton signed into law. The senator said the bill hurt Americans by punishing poor people rather than helping them."

Peggy Fikac & David Rauf of the Houston Chronicle: "Texas' highest criminal court on Wednesday tossed out the remaining charge against former Gov. Rick Perry in the abuse-of-power case against him. The court also affirmed a previous ruling for Perry that dismissed a second felony charge of coercion of a public official." CW: Like all candidates, Perry suspended, not ended, his presidential bid. Maybe he should get back in the race now that he's free of felony charges. I'll see you one "Oops!" for three "The American people ... people ... people."

Dana Milbank: "There is something amusing in watching Rubio and Donald Trump come to the shocking discovery that Cruz is a scoundrel.... Cruz has been smearing and fabricating since he arrived in Washington three years ago.... Back in the 1950s, Joe McCarthy rose during the Truman years with his smears about communists in the government. But when he began to go after fellow Republicans in the Eisenhower administration in 1953, he quickly lost support and within two years was censured by the Senate. Now that Republicans are suffering from Tricky Ted's smears, perhaps they will come to a similar conclusion about the damage he does."

Ariana Cha of the Washington Post: Antonin Scalia may have died because he forgot to activate a breathing apparatus that helps mitigate his sleep apnea, "a potentially life-threatening condition caused by either a blockage of the airway or a signaling issue from the brain regarding breathing during sleep."

Speaking from a goldplated, silk-wrapped Louis XV-style throne in a gilt & marble salon dripping crystal chandeliers -- which looks pretty much like most people's rec rooms -- Melania Trump says she keeps life "as normal as possible" for her son. The hard-hitting interviewer, natch, is Mika Brzezinski. Via Jessica Roy of New York. One thing I learned from listening to Mrs. T: Slovene doesn't have articles (like "the" and "a"). So the interview was educational.

*****

Thanks again to everyone for the excellent commentary. I like most comments -- certainly all the ones from return commenters -- even when I disagree with them. It's a conversation; not a cheering squad. P.S. Possums? Other than Pogo, yech! -- Constant Weader

** We Will Not Do Our Jobs. We Will Not Perform Our Constitutional Duties. We Will Forswear Our Oaths of Office. P.S. Screw You, U.S.A. David Herszenhorn of the New York Times: "Senate Republican leaders ... said on Tuesday they would not even meet with President Obama's nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, urged the president to reconsider even submitting a name. At the same time, Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans issued a letter unanimously rejecting any confirmation hearings" ...

... Jason Noble of the Des Moines Register: "A White House invitation for U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley to discuss the current U.S. Supreme Current vacancy with President Barack Obama has so far gone unanswered. Turning down the meeting would represent a break in protocol from two previous high court vacancies during Obama's presidency, when the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee as well as the Senate majority and minority leaders attended Oval Office meetings." Grassley's spokesperson said the Senator will take the President's invitation "under consideration." CW: Very white of you, Chuck. Very white. ...

... ** Jonathan Chait: "... never before in American history has the Senate simply refused to let the president nominate anybody at all simply because it was an election year.... They have asserted that they are merely following historical precedent. This is demonstrably false." ...

... Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: AND McConnell won't commit to allowing the next president to fill Scalia's seat -- or any other -- either. ...

... CW: Since I read over the weekend that Sandra Day O'Connor was too frail to attend Antonin Scalia's funeral -- tho that may have been an excuse inasmuch as she didn't like Scalia -- my next suggestion for a recess appointment is another GOP presidential appointee: David Souter. I think he's still serving as an Appellate Court judge, & he knows how to do the job; I'll bet Republicans would be ever-so-pleased to see Souter back on the top court. However, it is unlikely Senate Republicans will slip up & go into official recess at any time prior to January 20, 2016. ...

... John Cole of Balloon Juice helps us understand the Republican strategy on this & other moves: "Merely imagine the dumbest, most venal, and most cynical self-serving immediate choice, add in a heap of racism and a little bit of Jesus, and you have whatever the Republicans will propose." He goes on. ...

... Charles Pierce: "Could it be that the Republican Party's capacity to walk in lockstep off a cliff -- known to medical science as The Schiavo Syndrome -- has now surpassed the Democratic Party's capacity to step on its own dick when presented with a political opportunity? If the president has brought about that turn of events, his whole two terms have been worth electing him in the first place."

What you are seeing today in this Supreme Court situation is nothing more than the continuous and unprecedented obstructionism that President Obama has gone though. And this is on top of the birther issue -- which we heard from Donald Trump and others -- a racist effort to try and delegitimize the president of the United States. -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, Tuesday night

... Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "As the Supreme Court faces the increasing prospect of having an eight-member bench for a year or more, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said on Tuesday that 'we will deal with it,' noting that the court has had an even number of members in the past.... Asked about what sort of person should succeed Justice Scalia, Justice Alito demurred. 'We don't choose our colleagues,' he said. 'Presidents choose. I have enough trouble with the questions that I have to decide.' But Justice Alito did suggest that there were advantages to appointing a sitting judge, in light of the many kinds of legal issues that reach the Supreme Court."

Amy Brittain & Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post: "A Texas sheriff's department released an incident report late Tuesday that revealed new details of the discovery of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia's body, as well as the name of the friend who accompanied him on the hunting trip and the items found inside the ranch bedroom where the justice was found."

Charlie Savage & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Obama on Tuesday sent Congress a long-awaited plan for closing the Guantánamo Bay prison, beginning a final push to fulfill a campaign promise and one of his earliest national security policy goals in the face of deep skepticism from many Republican lawmakers. Unveiling the plan from the Roosevelt Room at the White House, the president made clear his frustration at how what was once a bipartisan goal shared by both his predecessor, President George W. Bush, and his 2008 Republican opponent, Senator John McCain, had become a partisan dispute. He urged Congress to give his plan a 'fair hearing,' saying the prison wasted money, raised tensions with allies and fueled anti-American sentiments abroad":

... CW: No worries. The GOP is on the Gitmo case already. Cristina Marcos of the Hill: "A House Republican introduced a resolution that would authorize a lawsuit against the Obama administration if it attempts to transfer detainees at the Guantánamo Bay prison to the U.S., hours after the president outlined a plan on Tuesday to close the facility. Rep. Jeff Duncan's (R-S.C.) measure would give the House authority to file a lawsuit if the Obama administration violates the terms of the most recent defense authorization."

I do not believe in regulation for regulation's sake -- contrary to rumor. This idea that somehow I get a kick out of big government is just not the case. The truth of the matter is, if something is working without us being involved, we've got more than enough to do without getting involved in it. We really do. It's not like I'm waking up every morning thinking, "How can I add more work for me?" I don't think that way.... Even on some of the big regulations you hear about that you don't like, they're not issued unless we think that the benefits substantially outweigh the costs. And we have the numbers to prove it. So for those of you who think that I'm just a big government, crazy liberal, we're actually -- we crunch some numbers around here. We take it very seriously. -- Barack Obama, at a meeting with governors Monday

Republicans ... assume Dems see the world the same way they do, only in reverse. For the right, shrinking government is necessarily good. Why? Because it's shrinking government. But what makes that worthwhile? Because if government shrinks, it's, you know, smaller. And by this same reasoning, Republicans believe Democrats must see increasing government as an inherent good. Except, they don't. It's just not how Obama, or the party in general, approach problem-solving. -- Steve Benen

Eric Lichtblaum & Joseph Goldstein of the New York Times: "The Justice Department is demanding Apple's help in unlocking at least nine iPhones nationwide in addition to the phone used by one of the San Bernardino, Calif., attackers. The disclosure appears to buttress the company's concerns that the dispute could pose a threat to encryption safeguards that goes well beyond the single California case.... The existence of the other demands came to light in a drug-trafficking case in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, where prosecutors are seeking access to the data held in an iPhone linked to a methamphetamine distribution ring." ...

... Brett Molina of USA Today: "Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates says he was 'disappointed'" in reports claiming he sides with the FBI in its battle with Apple over breaking into an iPhone. He says the reports did not reflect his view on the issue. During an interview with the Financial Times, Gates was quoted as downplaying concerns by Apple CEO Tim Cook that creating software to break into the phone used by one of the killers in the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings would establish a 'master key' -- in Cook's words -- for access to any iPhone. 'This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information,' Gates told the Financial Times. 'They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case.'"

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal judge has turned down a request to block a federal official's move allowing three states to enforce proof-of-citizenship requirements for people attempting to register as voters.U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon declined to issue the temporary restraining order civil rights and voting rights groups sought to block approval of changes the states of Alabama, Kansas and Georgia obtained recently to a federal form that can be used in lieu of state voter registration applications.... The judge is an appointee of President George W. Bush." And he's a winger, through & through.

Matt Lee-Ashley of Think Progress: "Less than two weeks after the arrest of Cliven Bundy and the armed militants who were occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, the U.S. House of Representatives will consider three bills that would dispose of vast stretches of national forests and other public lands across the country. The bills, which will be heard in a meeting of the House Natural Resources Committee on Thursday, represent an escalation of the political battle being waged by the Koch brothers' political network, anti-government extremist groups, and a small group of conservative politicians led by the committee's chairman, U.S. Representative Rob Bishop (R-UT)." CW: See, if you codify lawlessness, it isn't lawless any more. Thanks to forrest m. for the link. See forrest's commentary below.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

Trump's Friends Are Just Like Trump. Hadas Gold of Politico: "CNN will no longer have Donald Trump ally and former adviser Roger Stone on air.... Stone had made disparaging remarks on Twitter about CNN political analyst Ana Navarro.... Stone sent out tweets over the past few days calling Navarro, who was a Bush supporter, 'Entitled Diva Bitch,' 'Borderline retarded' and 'dumber than dog s---.'... He also previously called Navarro and former contributor Roland Martin 'quota hires' for the network.... In an email, Stone said CNN's decision 'smacks of Soviet style censorship.'" CW: Yes, because only in the Soviet Union were there consequences for calling your colleagues names & making racist remarks about them.

Open Mic. Matt Taiibi of Rolling Stone: Comedian Harry Shearer caught Joe Scarborough & Mika Brzezinski on tape, cozying up to Donald Trump & more-or-less promising him softball questions in their Trump forum or whatever it was. "Trump, like the Chinese emperors of yore who surrounded themselves with eunuchs as palace guards, refuses to interact with anyone who threatens him in any way.... My idea is that [Joe & Mika] would be the royal media under the upcoming Trump monarchy/dictatorship. It's easy to imagine Joe in an official state journalist uniform, with epaulettes and a flying Trump-mane insignia."

Presidential Race

Via Politico.

Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump was declared the winner of the Nevada caucuses on Tuesday night, according to the Associated Press, gaining a third consecutive victory in an early-voting state and strengthening his position in the Republican presidential race before the wave of Super Tuesday elections on March 1."

And the Runner-up Is ... Marco gets his first second-place ribbon.

Margaret Hartmann on how chaotic the Nevada caucuses were, thanks to the disorganization of the "organizers." People weren't asked for any IDs, some claimed they saw people voting twice, ballots were left lying around, etc. The Las Vegas Sun liveblog also reports on chaos on the ground. CW: Gosh, hardly seems like the same party that requires D.A.R. credentials to cast a vote in a general election.

@ Midnight ET, CNN has projected Trump as the winner of the Nevada caucuses. The AP also has called the caucuses for Trump.

@ 11:50 pm ET, the Times liveblog is reporting that in the few precincts that have tallied results, Trump is winning "by a lot," getting as much 70 percent of the vote in some.

Maeve Reston of CNN: Nevada, a "state that has long embraced its reputation as the wild west of politics is expected to embrace anti-establishment candidate Donald Trump in a blowout in the Nevada Republican caucuses Tuesday night." ...

... Megan Messerly of the Las Vegas Sun: "A victory by ... Donald Trump in the Nevada caucuses today is all but certain, and Rubio and Cruz are expected to again vie for second place. But a decisive second place win could buoy either candidate up as the three spar over the Republican nomination." ...

... The Las Vegas Sun is liveblogging the caucuses. New York Times live updates are here.

Ah, for the Good Old Days. Nick Corasaniti & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "In his final rally on Monday before the Nevada caucuses, Donald J. Trump said he wanted to punch a protester, who had been ejected from the event, in the face.... As the man was being escorted away, Mr. Trump repeatedly told the crowd that he wished for the 'old days,' adding, 'You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher.'... Addressing another protester, a man holding a sign that read, 'Veterans to Trump: End Hate Speech Against Muslims,' Mr. Trump repeatedly said, 'Get him the hell out,' as the crowd booed the man's exit." ...

... Jamelle Bouie: "Trump's entire appeal is built around aggression and, yes, violence. To call for mass deportation, for example, is to entertain and endorse state violence. To back waterboarding and recite violent fantasies of wartime revenge against Muslims is to do the same. Donald Trump isn't just running as a man who 'makes deals,' he's running as a nationalist and a bully who will humiliate the nation's adversaries -- actual foes like Iran, as well as alleged ones like China and Mexico -- and restore America's symbolic manhood." ...

... Daddy Warbucks Lives! Jeet Heer of the New Republic: Donald Trump "has fashioned himself after comic-strip champions and masked crusaders." CW: I think Heer is onto something.

Sahil Kapur of Bloomberg: "'A number of the pundits said, "Well, if a couple of the other candidates dropped out, if you add their scores together it's going to equal Trump,'" he said in a mocking tone. 'But these geniuses -- they don't understand that as people drop out I'm going to get a lot of those votes also. You don't just add them together.' Trump has a point, and a close examination of Republican voter data shows that the "winnowing" theory has four serious flaws." ...

... Brian Beutler of the New Republic: "When Will Republicans Start Recognizing How Screwed They Are? There's almost nothing the GOP can do at this point to stop Donald Trump." ...

... Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News: "This spring, just as the GOP nomination battle enters its final phase, frontrunner Donald Trump could be forced to take time out for some unwanted personal business: He's due to take the witness stand in a federal courtroom in San Diego, where he is being accused of running a financial fraud. In court filings last Friday, lawyers for both sides in a long-running civil lawsuit over the now defunct Trump University named Trump on their witness lists." ...

Anna Palmer & Eli Stokols of Politico: "The Republican establishment has finally fallen in love with Marco Rubio, but it may be too late. With the specter of Donald Trump terrifying mainstream Republicans, Ted Cruz being Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush dropping out, lawmakers and party operatives are tripping over themselves to back the Florida senator's presidential bid."

Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "Ted Cruz's presidential bid is in turmoil after repeated allegations of unsavory campaign tactics by his Republican rivals, leading some key supporters to call for a shake-up in the candidate's message and strategy a week ahead of the crucial Super Tuesday primaries." ...

... Matt Flegenheimer of the New York Times: "As Mr. Cruz has elbowed into the top tier of candidates, his campaign has conspicuously reflected the brand of its principal architect: Jeff Roe, an operative with a reputation for scorching earth, stretching truths and winning elections.... Back home [in Missouri], Mr. Roe's allies and opponents alike have seen a familiar imprint in the Cruz campaign's recent exploits, which have included a Photoshopped image of Mr. Rubio and the misleading suggestion, on the night of the Iowa caucuses, that Ben Carson was leaving the race."

Marcobot. Driftglass: The Bill O'Reilly Comedy Hour runs a segment with a robot who gets "stuck in redirect loop again."

Steve M. reacts to a Boston Globe editorial urging Massachusetts Democrats to save the Republican party by voting in the GOP primary for John Kasich: "I say Trump should win the nomination. Let the party wallow in its own stink.... in some ways, he'd be a less dangerous president than Marco Rubio or John Kasich. Unlike Rubio, Trump is not promising the elimination of the capital gains tax, which could literally allow some billionaires to pay no income tax whatsoever. And unlike Kasich, Trump is not demanding a balanced budget amendment, which if it had been in effect in 2007, would have made it impossible for Presidents Bush and Obama to stimulate the economy enough to avoid a full-blown 1930s style depression. And that's just a small portion of what we have to fear from a mainstream Republican presidency in the era of the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson. Trump is a menace, but he's far from the only menace in his party." ...

     ... CW: I'm totally with Steve on this. The Globe editors are fools. ...

... In an earlier post, Steve notes that Trump's rivals imitate him only on his right-wing "policies"; they don't copy his views on Social Security or the Iraq War, for instance. "I think Trump's rage and hatemongering are just so satisfying to GOP voters that they give him a pass on deviations from right-wing orthodoxy and attacks on sacred cows.... Trump can get away with [some leftish-leaning] heresy, but I doubt the rest of them can, Look at what happened to Jeb Bush and Rand Paul, or Jon Huntsman four years ago." CW: In fairness, Bush, Paul & Huntsman are terrible public speakers; they just can't whip up a crowd. Trump is an awful public speaker, too, but I guess wingnuts find great satisfaction in his vehement validation of their hideous views. In the minds of the hateful, that's entertainment.

There Are Women & There Are Ladies. Emily Atkin of Think Progress: After John Kasich talks about what a great friend he is to women, students called him out for signing a bill Sunday defunding Planned Parenthood in Ohio. "Though a grand jury recently cleared Planned Parenthood of any unlawful acts, the lawmakers who authored the legislation used the videos as the main evidence for defunding the organization. On Monday, Kasich also appeared to use the videos as reason for defunding the organization, saying Planned Parenthood had 'discredited itself' and that other women's health centers would be funded instead." CW: Republicans are friends only to nice white ladies who give teas for candidates & consider sex a unpleasant wifely duty.

Finally, Elizabeth King, a self-described feminist leftist (to the left of Sanders!) reminds us that leftists are stoopid, too. In a piece Salon editors think worthy to publish, King self-righteously declares that she's sitting out the election because she's too fine & principaled a person to vote for anybody she "doesn't believe in." CW: You're a better woman than I am, Gunga King. Thanks for rolling out the welcome mat for President Trump & Justice Attila.

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that State Department officials and top aides to Hillary Clinton should be questioned under oath about whether they intentionally thwarted federal open records laws by using or allowing the use of a private email server throughout Clinton's tenure as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. The decision by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Washington came in a lawsuit over public records brought by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal watchdog group, regarding its May 2013 request for information about the employment arrangement of Huma Abedin, a longtime Clinton aide." CW: Bill Clinton appointed Sullivan. ...

... Spencer Hsu & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Clinton has struggled on the campaign trail to move past the issue of her email use. Republicans have made clear that they will make the subject a centerpiece of attacks against her should she win the nomination, with Marco Rubio saying her use of a private server 'disqualified' her to be president and Donald Trump telling Fox News this week that she 'seems to be guilty' of a crime before amending that to say it would be something he would look in to if elected."

Andrew O'Hehir of Salon reminds us that Hillary Clinton doesn't look like a very good candidate when compared to Donald Trump. "Her campaign largely rests on the idea that she has wide appeal to the demographic groups that make up the future of the Democratic electorate and the country, whereas Sanders' revolutionary crusade speaks largely to privileged white folks. If Clinton's victory in Nevada was built on low turnout and the support of older white voters, on the other hand, she is left with no story at all, facing a likely fall opponent who has nothing but stories, and spins a new one every day." CW: Clinton's whole campaign against Sanders is premised on the reality that a Democratic president can't really do much, but she'll do what little she can for ordinary Americans, & she'll do it competently. So, in Jeet Heer's construction, that would be Not-Wonder Woman v. Batman. If Trump's fans are any indication, Americans will choose Batman.

Dan Diamond & Rachana Pradhan of Politico: "Hillary Clinton wants to bring back the public option, offering a competing vision to Bernie Sanders' support for a more progressive health care system. Clinton's campaign has updated its website to note her continued support for the government-run health plan that was dropped from Obamacare during the law's drafting. The idea was popular among progressives who prefer a single-payer plan -- like the one Bernie Sanders is touting. Clinton supported the public option in her 2008 presidential campaign.... But Clinton has hardly referenced her previous support for the idea during the 2016 campaign, and instead has called for building on President Barack Obama's health care law. A new version of Clinton's campaign website suggests she won't try to push the public option through Congress, but instead will work with governors using existing flexibility under Obamacare "to empower states to establish a public option choice."

Once again, the New York Times thinks its a good idea to delve into Bernie Sanders' religious identity & practices. CW: If Sanders were making religion central to his campaign, such a report would be justified. However, the point of these articles is that Sanders doesn't go around wearing his religion on his sleeve. These stories make me suspect the Times, & some other outlets, are trying to "otherize" Sanders. ...

... Spike Lee endorses Bernie Sanders in a 60-second radio ad directed at South Carolina voters. Cool.

Beyond the Beltway

Rebecca Cook of Reuters: "Residents of Flint, Michigan, one of the poorest cities in the United States, will get $30 million to help pay their water bills after a lead contamination crisis, under a bill unanimously approved by the Michigan Senate on Tuesday. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, plans to sign the bill, which had been passed unanimously by the state's House last week." ...

... Paul Egan, et al., of the Detroit Free Press: "The drinking water catastrophe in Flint is the result of a failed model of trying to run state government like a business, says a former adviser to Gov. Rick Snyder, who also predicted the governor won't survive a recall vote if the question makes the ballot. Dennis Schornack, who retired after serving more than three years as a senior adviser on transportation issues to Snyder during his first term, is the first current or former Snyder official to directly criticize the governor and his management style for contributing to the public health crisis." ...

... Charles Pierce: "If I were Schorneck, I'd watch my back. He has meddled with the primal forces of Republican nature. If government cannot be run like a business, then privatization is the scam everyone is beginning to see that it is. If what Schorneck says is true, then the idea of devolving federal power to 'the states,' where politicians are more cheaply bought and paid for, and where crazy ideas with constituencies are more free to gambol on the heads of the citizenry, is as wholly unmoored from human experience as everyone who's ever covered a state legislature knows that it is."

The Commentariat -- Feb. 23, 2016

Thanks to everyone for carrying on in my absence. I'm still absent, but here's a page to keep you going. -- Constant Weader

Chris Mooney of the Washington Post: "A group of scientists says it has now reconstructed the history of the planet’s sea levels arcing back over some 3,000 years — leading it to conclude that the rate of increase experienced in the 20th century was 'extremely likely' to have been faster than during nearly the entire period.... Unsurprisingly, the study blames the anomalous 20th-century rise on global warming — and not just that. It also calculates that, had humans not been warming the planet, there’s very little chance that seas would have risen so much during the century...." CW: This is the sort of crackpot liberal reporting, BTW, that caused Justice Scalia to drop his subscription to the Washington Post. ...

Remembering Nino. CW: I had been awaiting Jeff Toobin's take on Antonin Scalia. Toobin may have taken a while to write it; maybe the New Yorker editors were saving it for this week's magazine; or perhaps, like me, Toobin prefers not to speak ill of the dead before there's a pile of dirt holding down the remains. Anyhow, Scalia's gone & Toobin isn't: "Antonin Scalia ... devoted his professional life to making the United States a less fair, less tolerant, and less admirable democracy. Fortunately, he mostly failed. Belligerent with his colleagues, dismissive of his critics, nostalgic for a world where outsiders knew their place and stayed there, Scalia represents a perfect model for everything that President Obama should avoid in a successor." ...

... Pretending Women Matter. Sandhya Somashekhar of the Washington Post: "When the Supreme Court meets next week to hear its first abortion-related case in nearly a decade, the justices will consider the most significant challenge to an argument that has become central to the antiabortion cause: that abortion hurts not just a fetus but also its mother.

Presidential Race

Matt Flegenheimer & Nick Corasaniti: "Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign erupted in turmoil on Monday as Mr. Cruz fired his chief spokesman for spreading a misleading video of Senator Marco Rubio.... He has cast himself as the candidate of honesty and integrity, with a faith-based pitch and a backdrop that reads 'TrusTed' during speeches.... At issue was a video of a hotel lobby encounter between Mr. Rubio and a Cruz staff member who had a Bible with him. The video’s subtitles suggested Mr. Rubio had said there were “not many answers” in the Bible. Mr. Cruz’s communications director, Rick Tyler, posted the video on Facebook and Twitter on Sunday, needling Mr. Rubio for an 'awkward remark.' In fact, Mr. Rubio had said the Bible had 'all the answers.'”

Paul Krugman: "... when Mr. Rubio genuflects at the altars of supply-side economics and hard money, he isn’t telling ordinary Republicans what they want to hear — by and large the party’s base couldn’t care less. He is, instead, pandering to the party’s elite, consisting mainly of big donors and the network of apparatchiks at think tanks, media organizations, and so on. In the G.O.P., crank doctrines in economics and elsewhere aren’t bubbling up from below, they’re being imposed from the top down.... So don’t let anyone tell you that the Republican primary is a fight between a crazy guy and someone reasonable. It’s idiosyncratic, self-invented crankery versus establishment-approved crankery, and it’s not at all clear which is worse." This was yesterday's column ...

... AND today's top news? Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Mainstream Republican donors and elected officials flocked to Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) on Monday amid a growing sense that he is the last best chance to prevent Donald Trump from running away with the ­Republican presidential nomination."

Beyond the Beltway

Today in Responsible Gun Ownership. If you have small children, don't own guns. That's a simple, easy-to-follow rule. "Keep guns out of reach of children" is a simple rule, too, but many people are too busy or distracted to follow it. Seriously, if you own a gun & are responsible for the care of a child, lose one of them.

News Lede

New York Times: "Health authorities in the United States said they were investigating 14 new reports of the Zika virus possibly being transmitted by sex, including to pregnant women. If confirmed, the unexpectedly high number would have major implications for controlling the virus, which is usually spread by mosquito bites. Scientists had believed sexual transmission of Zika to be extremely rare."