The Commentariat -- February 6, 2016

Norman Schwartz of the New York Times: "After years of scant real gains despite steadily falling unemployment and healthy hiring, wages picked up significantly last month, a sign the job market could be tightening enough to force companies to pay more to attract and retain employees. The half a percentage point increase in average hourly earnings in January was the brightest spot in a generally positive Labor Department report on Friday, which showed job creation slowing from the white-hot pace of late 2015 even as the unemployment rate fell to an eight-year low of 4.9 percent.... President Obama ... said the jobs numbers were further signs of progress":

I know that's still inconvenient for Republican stump speeches as their doom and despair tour plays in New Hampshire. I guess you cannot please everybody. -- President Obama, during yesterday's White House press briefing ...

Sarah Wheaton of Politico: "The White House delivered a low blow on Friday, accusing congressional Republicans who are denying the president a chance to pitch his budget of pulling a 'Donald Trump.' The raw feelings stem from the House and Senate Budget committees' announcement on Thursday that they won't invite Obama's budget director to Capitol Hill to discuss the administration's final several-hundred-page proposal, which is to be released on Tuesday. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Republicans' refusal to play ball was just as bad as Trump's refusal to take part in the last GOP debate after getting into a nasty spat with Fox News. 'They're just not going to show up,' Earnest said during the daily briefing, adding that the maneuver smacked of a 'Donald Trump approach' to the debate over spending priorities."

An Extraordinary Friday Afternoon Docu-dump. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "The Pentagon on Friday released 198 photographs from detainee abuse investigations in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The pictures, taken more than a decade ago during the Bush administration, consist largely of close-up views of scrapes and bruises on detainees' bodies. However, the military is continuing to block the disclosure of about 1,800 other photos from the same criminal investigations, saying that their release would endanger American service members serving abroad. The photographs are a focus of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in 2004 by the American Civil Liberties Union in the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal." The photos are here (slow-loading pdf).

Capitalism Is Awesome, Ctd. Hey, remember how the WalMart behemoth killed off local businesses, especially in small towns? Well, now, with its mass closings, Lydia DePillis of the Washington Post reports, there's a realistic fear the loss of revenue & convenience will shut down the towns themselves. "A Washington Post analysis of the stores on the closure list shows that they are in relatively lower-income, less dense census tracts.... Most of the Walmart locations being shuttered are in the Southeast." CW: So screw you, Real America.

Krishnadev Calamur of the Atlantic: "Twitter says that since the middle of last year it has suspended 125,000 accounts 'for threatening or promoting terrorist acts, primarily related to ISIS.'... Twitter added it works with law-enforcement agencies when appropriate and partners with groups that work to counter extremist content online...." Twitter's announcement is here.

Mitch Smith of the New York Times profiles the Virginia Tech team whose persistence helped expose the toxicity of Flint, Michigan's, city water supply.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Liberals Should Not Be Debate Moderators. Howard Kurtz of Fox "News": "Rachel Maddow did a pretty good job in questioning Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders at MSNBC's Democratic debate last night. But she shouldn't have been on that stage as a moderator, sitting next to Chuck Todd, NBC's political director and moderator of 'Meet the Press.'... She is an unabashedly liberal commentator who rips the Republicans every night on her program. She should not have been put in that position." CW: But IOKIYAR. Every single Fox "News" moderator of every Fox debate has been a conservative, except all the ones who are ultra-conservatives.

Weird Headline of the Week: "Wife crashes her own funeral, horrifying her husband, who had paid to have her killed. Sarah Kaplan of the Washington Post: "The husband, Balenga Kalala, ultimately pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years in prison for incitement to murder, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corp. (the ABC)." The hitmen Kalala hired kidnapped his wife but let her go.

Presidential Race

Politico photo.... This Poitico slide show, titled "Bernie's Vermont," is kind of amusing. CW: I like the guy who says, '"I don't agree with handouts. Except for veterans. People have to work for what they get. Veterans can get whatever they want, but that's all I'll give.' [He] is a Vietnam vet who ... frequently visits the White River VA Medical Center...." He sells maple syrup at a roadside stand. I doubt he's "giving" much to federal coffers today. Everybody's a special interest.

Gail Collins with a few of the things we can all agree on; for instance, "Rick Santorum is the worst friend in the world.... We are enjoying the idea that Donald Trump screwed up the deal.... Hillary Clinton should not have given those speeches for Goldman Sachs.... Jeb Bush is the worst campaigner in the history of campaigns." ...

... CW: Collins also thinks "It's kind of pathetic they're not letting Carly Fiorina into the Republican debate." I disagree. Her exclusion (because of her low polling) is a reminder that half of the candidates in the Democratic race are a woman & none of the viable candidates on the Republican side is. And the little kerfuffle that surrounded Fiorina's exclusion is a reminder that (a) female Republican candidates suck ( Michele Bachmann), & (b) even the Republican base has figured that out.

Eliza Collins of Politico: "The Democratic race has dramatically tightened, according to a new Quinnipiac University national poll out Friday that shows Hillary Clinton with a razor-thin lead over Bernie Sanders. Clinton leads Sanders 44 percent to 42 percent, well within the margin of error of the poll, which was conducted after the Iowa caucuses." CW: Remember that national polls aren't particularly dispositive. In October & November, Ole Doc Ben was leading in some GOP national polls. Last heard from, he was in Florida darning his socks & comparing Ted Cruz to Hillary Clinton.

Yamiche Alcindor of the New York Times: "Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont plans to travel to New York this weekend to appear on 'Saturday Night Live,' interrupting his campaign in New Hampshire for some national television exposure, according to a senior campaign official. Larry David, who has played the senator several times on the show to wide acclaim, will host the episode and interview Mr. Sanders." ...

... This is worth reprising (except for the faggy portrayal of Anderson Cooper, which is both insulting & inauthentic):

Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: Hillary "Clinton is using the closing days of the New Hampshire campaign to set the tone for the contests in Nevada and South Carolina, as well as the dozens of big-state primaries and caucuses that follow in March and beyond."

Steven Myers & Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "... a battle has played out between the State Department and the intelligence agencies -- as well as Congress -- over what information on Mrs. Clinton's private server was classified and what was the routine business of American diplomacy.... At the center of that argument ... is a 'top secret' program of the Central Intelligence Agency that is anything but secret. It is the agency's long effort to track and kill suspected terrorists overseas with armed drones, which has been the subject of international debates, numerous newspaper articles, television programs and entire books. Obama administration's decision to keep most internal discussions about that program -- including all information about C.I.A. drone strikes in Pakistan -- classified at the 'top secret' level has now become a political liability for Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign." ...

Senator Sanders is the only person who I think would characterize me, a woman running to be the first woman president, as exemplifying the establishment. -- Hillary Clinton, during Thursday's Democratic debate ...

... Danielle Allen of the Washington Post: "The problem with the remark is obvious. Clinton does not merely exemplify the establishment. She and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, are the Democratic Party establishment. We're in the realm of description, not characterization. That candidate Clinton could deliver her line with a straight face goes to the heart of her trustworthiness problem." ...

... In her column, Allen refers to this New York Review of Books article by Simon Head. Head details, based largely on previous reporting, some of it linked on the Commentariat contemporaneously, the Clintons' web of financial contributors.

Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register: "Iowa Democratic Party officials are reviewing results from the Iowa caucuses and making updates where discrepancies have been found. Party Chairwoman Andy McGuire the day after Monday's caucuses said no review would be conducted, and that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's narrow victory over Bernie Sanders was final. But as errors are being discovered, the final tally is being changed, party officials confirmed to the Des Moines Register on Friday." ...

... Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "In the Iowa Democratic party's chaotic attempt to report caucus results on Monday night, the results in at least one precinct were unilaterally changed by the party [from Sanders to Clinton] as it attempted to deal with the culmination of a rushed and imperfect process overseeing the first-in-the-nation nominating contest.... The shift of one delegate at a county convention level would not have significantly affected the ultimate outcome of the caucus, but rather, it raises questions about the Iowa Democratic party's management of caucus night. The Iowa Democratic party had long been plagued with organizational issues around the caucus and failed to find hundreds of needed volunteers to oversee individual precinct caucuses just over a week before Monday.... Although Andy McGuire, the chair of the Iowa Democratic party, is a longtime Clinton supporter whose license plate once read HRC 2016, no one familiar with the issue has accused the error of being a partisan process. Instead, they have blamed simple mismanagement." ...

     ... Charles Pierce: "In the old days, when Democrats knew how to do politics right, a change like this would have required a substantial bribe of whiskey and strippers, as well as a decent county job for the idiot nephew of the county chairman."

Jack Shafer of Politico Magazine: The press should stop treating Chelsea Clinton as if she's still the teenaged daughter of the POTUS. "Today, Chelsea serves as vice chair of the politically controversial Clinton Foundation, which has raised $2 billion since 2001. She's a board member at Barry Diller's IAC (paid a reported $300,000 a year, plus stock awards). She charges $65,000 per speech."

The Swindler. Nicholas Confessore & Sarah Cohen of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump once boasted that he could someday be the only person to turn a profit running for president. He may be closer than anyone realizes. Mr. Trump's campaign spent just $12.4 million in 2015, according to disclosures filed with the Federal Election Commission, millions less than any of his leading rivals for the Republican nomination. More than half of Mr. Trump's total spending was covered by checks from his supporters, who have thronged to his stump speeches and bought millions of dollars' worth of 'Make America Great Again' hats and T-shirts. About $2.7 million more was paid to at least seven companies Mr. Trump owns or to people who work for his real estate and branding empire, repaying them for services provided to his campaign." ...

It's very important. February 9. You've got to get out and vote. Don't think we're going to win, don't think we're going to win. Just go out... No matter how you feel, I don't give a damn. You've got to go out, you've got to get out of bed, you've got to vote. -- Donald Trump, Thursday, at a Portsmouth, New Hampshire rally ...

... The Great White Wimp. Mr. Trump Regrets He's Unable to Rally Today. Charles Pierce: "As unexpectedly heavy snow hit southern New Hampshire [Friday] morning, Trump's campaign sent out this release: 'Due to the weather and the airports being closed, Mr. Trump is unable to attend today's Town Hall at the Londonderry Lions Club.' Understandable, except for the fact that the airports weren't closed this morning.... The man who has promised to 'beat the shit' out of anyone who attacks America has been shovel-whipped by six inches of snow." ...

... CW: Not only that, the snowstorm had been predicted for at least a week. Londonderry is in the populous southeastern part of the state. There are hotels around those parts, & the roads were open.

... Scott Bronstein & Drew Griffin of CNN: "New Hampshire voters may be stunned to hear the latest robocall asking for their vote; it's from white nationalists with a simple, disturbing message. 'We don't need Muslims. We need smart, educated, white people,' according to the male voice on the calls, which began Thursday night and urge voters in New Hampshire to vote for Donald Trump. Three white nationalist leaders have banded together to form their own super PAC in support of Trump, even though Trump doesn't want their support."

Dana Milbank rips Ted Cruz, beginning with convincing evidence that Cruz's dismissive term "New York values" is an anti-Semitic dog-whistle. "Cruz has Joe McCarthy's knack for false insinuation and underhandedness. What sets Cruz apart is the malice he exudes." CW: I would add to Milbank's evidence. Cruz's campaign manager Jeff Roe used the same tactic against Democrat Kay Barnes in a Congressional race: Barnes favored same-sex marriage; Roe's candidate Sam Graves (who won the election in a landslide) accused Barnes of having "San Francisco values," though Barnes (as far as I know) had no connection to San Francisco. ...

     ... BTW, Arlette Saenz of ABC News reported earlier this week that "Sen. Ted Cruz's attack on Donald Trump's 'New York values' helped secure him a victory in the Iowa caucuses Monday...." ...

... Looks Like Ted Is the Most Hated Man in His Hometown, Too. Mary Jordan of the Washington Post: "... in the city where Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was born [Calgary, Alberta], many Canadians give less than a hockey puck about whether their native son is eligible to be the U.S. president. Many of them are just glad he's not running for anything in Canada.... Many here are bingeing on the U.S. election as if it were an addictive TV drama.... Harry Sanders, a local historian in Calgary, said if Cruz ever comes back to see where he was born, he should know that his big show of renouncing his Canadian citizenship in 2014 as he prepared for his presidential bid is remembered. 'He treated it like some stain that he had to get removed,' he said. 'That got Calgarians' attention.'" CW: I doubt if the mayor of Calgary, who is Muslim, will be giving Ted a key to the city. ...

... MEANWHILE, Ellie Shechet of Jezebel went looking for Friends of Ted from his undergraduate days. She didn't find many, but most of those she interviewed were horrified by the idea of a Cruz presidency.

Way Beyond the Beltway

Esther Addley, et al., of the Guardian: "A UN panel may have found that Julian Assange is subject to 'arbitrary detention' and called for him to be allowed to walk free, but the WikiLeaks founder remains ... inside Ecuador's London embassy and locked in a three-nation war of words. Britain and Sweden immediately rejected the UN report.... The British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, described the findings as 'ridiculous' and the Australian as a 'fugitive from justice'.... The Swedish government ... has insisted the report changes nothing, and that it cannot interfere in an independent prosecutor's ongoing attempt to extradite Assange for questioning over an allegation of rape dating from 2010, which he denies. Meanwhile, for Ecuador ... the findings meant it was time for the two countries to allow Assange to walk free, and to compensate both him and them for the lengthy period he has been holed up in one of its [embassy's] few rooms."

The Commentariat -- February 5, 2016

Whiteout. We're having quite a little winter wonderland moment today. If history provides any lesson, I may lose power. For a while. -- Constant Weader

Presidential Race

Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times: "A long-simmering battle between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders burst into public view Thursday, as the former secretary of State denounced her rival for what she said was a campaign of 'innuendo' and 'insinuation' amid a continuing fight over each other's progressive credentials. The first one-on-one debate between the Democratic presidential hopefuls delivered fireworks immediately, as Clinton delivered a spirited rebuke to the charge Sanders has been making on the campaign trail that she is not a genuine progressive." ...

... Here's the first half-hour of the debate, which might be titled "Democrats Yelling at Each Other":

... Eric Levitz of New York thought it was boffo: "One of the Best 10-Minute Exchanges in The History of American Political Debates." CW: That part of the debate, at the end of the clip above (beginning about 26 min. in), was fewer than ten minutes. ...

... Within his column Levitz notes what Jordan Weissman of Slate (and others) have pointed out: "Hillary Just Successfully Attacked Bernie Sanders for Supporting a Bill Her Husband Signed." Bill Clinton has later said his support of the bill -- "the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, a bill that essentially banned the government from regulating derivatives, such as the credit default swaps that helped bring down the global economy during the financial crisis" -- was a mistake.

... MSNBC has a highlights page here. Full debate video, of the pirated sort, is here, for now. ...

... The Washington Post has an interactive annotated transcript, which includes some snark & fact-checking. ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic has a good -- and I think fair -- overview of the debate. The "Who Won?" headline sucks, but Graham isn't very interested in pursuing it. He concludes, "Sanders entered with momentum and did nothing to lose it, meaning he probably gains more from the debate -- but it's hard to make a case that Clinton lost the debate. The big winner from the night might be the American people: After months of overcrowded debates, the chance to see just two serious presidential candidates engage each other was a valuable and refreshing change of pace." Graham's analysis is followed by a fairly useful liveblog of the debate by other Atlantic writers." ...

... Jonathan Chait thinks he has a handle on the essential difference between Clinton's & Sanders' views. CW: I think he's close, but he may be painting Sanders as too much of a one-note candidate while giving Clinton a bit too much credit for a sort of enlightened pluralism, and that may be Sanders' fault as much as Chait's. ...

... Greg Sargent expands on Chait's argument. ...

... Jamelle Bouie: "The big takeaway from the MSNBC debate is that the DNC should have held more debates.... "On the main, anyone who watched the debate had a chance to see two politicians and public servants argue for their vision of the country and its future. This was a real contrast to the Republican debates, which tend to focus less on policy and more on dominance displays (Trump versus Bush, for example) and outright aggression (Cruz on carpet bombing)." ...

... CW: Josh Voorhees of Slate comments on Hillary's claim that she couldn't possibly be an establishment candidate because she's "a woman running to be the first woman president." Voohees misses the point: Clinton did this in 2008, not in 2015 or '16. And her husband helped, a lot. During my lifetime, ante-Clinton, every American president except FDR (who as undersecretary of the Navy attempted to enlist) was a veteran (yeah, even Reagan, sort of). Bill Clinton broke that mold, & not without controversy. But his successful run provided a huge opening to women, few of whom served in the military until recently. Today, even most Republicans & other traditionalists at least pretend that women are as qualified as men to serve as president. Hillary was the trailblazer who establish women's credibility in her first run for president. She deserves full credit for it. But it doesn't make her any less a member of the "establishment" today because -- thanks to her -- there is no longer much of a crusty old counter-revolutionary movement to insist she stay home & bake cookies. (Anyone who wants to cite Bob Woodward's complaint that Clinton has an "unrelaxed" delivery [see Amy Chozick's report on shouting, linked below] as evidence to the contrary would be justified. Woodward is indeed a vestige of the good ole days when women knew their place.) ...

... Elizabeth Bruenig of the New Republic: "Like her 9/11 answer in November, her new strategy on Thursday night to downplay her relationship with Goldman Sachs and to win trust for her plans for Wall Street regulation will likely fail, if not backfire. And despite her insistence that she stridently agrees with Sanders on how to address Wall Street, the two differ in both tone and tactics, something voters aren't likely to miss. Lastly, this particular effort at wrapping up the Wall Street question on Clinton's behalf has the potential to call her opposition to Citizens United into question, given her claim that money in politics shouldn't necessarily be read as a corruption threat." ...

... CW: To me, the Clintons' Wall Street connections are only part of the point. The objections to Bill & Hillary's profiteering should extend to all the corporate entities (here & abroad) who have paid the Clintons. Here's the list of paid speeches Hillary Clinton reported from 2013 to 2015. Tyler Durden of Zero Hedge: "... the disclosure omits an unknown number of speeches that the Clintons delivered while directing the payment or honoraria to the Clinton Foundation, despite instructions on the and guidance from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, saying that honoraria directed to a charity should be reported. Still, as readers will note, even the 'modest' data that Hillary chose to share is quite stunning." Durden also appended a list of Bill Clinton's speeches during the period. ...

... Amy Chozik of the New York Times seems to do a fair job of reprising Hillary Clinton's relationship with Wall Street. She puts 2008 Clinton to the left of 2008 Obama. (And I would say to later Obama.)

... Steven Cohen of the New Republic: "Bernie Sanders can do better on foreign policy than bringing up Hillary Clinton's Iraq War vote." Cohen points to a moment in the debate which he says contrasts the candidates' basic differences on U.S. foreign policy: "Sanders, in other words, is primarily concerned with proliferation and the possibility of war, while Clinton is preoccupied with a more traditional understanding of American hegemony, and the great power rivalries it implies.... It would be nice if [Sanders] could find a more compelling way of conveying that." ...

... MSNBC is airing a debate at 9:00 pm ET Thursday night, in Durham, New Hamshire, between Bernie Sanders & Hillary Clinton. The New York Times is liveblogging the debate. The Washington Post liveblog is entertaining.

Nia-Malika Henderson of CNN: "Ben Jealous, the former head of the NAACP, will endorse Bernie Sanders, a source familiar with the campaign told CNN." ...

... Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post on why the kids feel the Bern: "... millennials actually seem to prefer socialism to capitalism.... It's not just Sanders's socialist label that sells; it's his socialist ideas, too. To a generation that's broke, in debt, underemployed and stuck in its parents' basements, promises of a political revolution, more equitable distribution of (other people's) wealth, a more robust social safety net and free college can sound pretty appealing.... It is precisely Sanders's au-naturel-ness that endears him to his young fans: his unkempt hair, his ill-fitting suits, his unpolished Brooklyn accent, his propensity to yell and wave his hands maniacally.... These qualities are what make him seem 'authentic,' 'sincere' even -- especially when contrasted with Clinton's hyper-scriptedness." Rampell says female candidates can't get away with unkempt authenticity. ...

... Or Shouting. Amy Chozick: Critics are criticizing critics of Hillary Clinton's "shouting" voice. CW: I've got news for women & men: shouting is offputting. It bugs me when Bernie shouts; it bugs me when Hillary shouts. It doesn't bug me when Trump or Cruz shouts because I never listen to them anyway. What with the new invention of microphones, it is possible to speak with force & passion without raising one's voice. Neither Angry Hillary nor Angry Bernie is an attractive general election candidate. "Undecided" voters are weighing whether they want a candidate in their living rooms for four years. They don't want a shouter. ...

     ... Update: I've been listening to some of the debate. Both candidates have shouted every word. Why? They're responding to questions posed by people who are not yelling at them. Are they called "moderators" because they don't holler?

Burgess Everett of Politico: "The number of Democratic senators willing to insert themselves in the increasingly divisive contest for the Democratic contest remains slim despite the fact that 39 of the caucus's 46 members have endorsed Clinton. But it is growing."

Outrageous Fortune. Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News: Hillary "Clinton has been fueled by millions from a network of well-connected Washington lobbyists, Wall Street bundlers and billionaire donors. Here is a Yahoo News guide to some of the key players in Clinton's $157 million campaign."

... Karen DeYoung & Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "Hillary Clinton gained an apparent ally Thursday in her fight to limit the political damage from her growing email controversy, as former Republican secretary of state Colin L. Powell said he disagreed with a State Department decision to retroactively classify two emails from his personal account while in office.... Powell has said in the past that he found the State Department computer system, including Internet and email, to be woefully inadequate when he took office there in 2001. He devoted substantial resources to improving it but also made liberal use of his personal AOL account." ...

... Hillary Clinton has another ally who hasn't formally endorsed her (and won't): Paul Krugman. Today's column is Krugman's third in fewer weeks unloading on Bernie Sanders. Krugman starts by slamming Ted Cruz, but he quickly switches to Sanders.

... James Hohmann of the Washington Post on Hillary Clinton's "flip" answer to Anderson Cooper's question about her well-paid Wall Street speeches. "The most problematic part of her answer came when she insisted something that is demonstrably untrue: 'They're not giving me very much money now, I can tell you that much. Fine with me.'... The latest FEC reports reveal that Hillary reached a major milestone during the fourth quarter of 2015: Donors in the financial sector have now given more to support her campaigns than Bill's." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "ABC News made the Republican primary in New Hampshire a single-debate show in a news release on Thursday, and [Carly] Fiorina, who did not meet ABC's polling requirements, was not added. Donald J. Trump will again find himself at the center of the podium on Saturday, making his return to the debate stage after skipping the last debate in Iowa because of a feud with Fox News. On either side of him will be Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida. Rounding out the stage will be Jeb Bush, Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Ben Carson. Republican candidates past and present had been arguing for Mrs. Fiorina to make the stage." CW: Because they're feminists.

Arturo Garcia of Raw Story: "Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-TX) campaign called precinct chairs in Iowa to encourage them to misrepresent Ben Carson's campaign status, Breitbart News reported. A precinct captain supporting the senator, who identified herself as Nancy Bliesman, produced two voicemails she received from the campaign telling her to tell Carson supporters he was leaving the race. 'It has just been announced that Ben Carson is taking a leave of absence from the campaign trail,' one voicemail stated. 'So it is very important that you tell any Ben Carson voters that for tonight, uh, that they not waste a vote on Ben Carson, and vote for Ted Cruz. He is taking a leave of absence from his campaign.' The two voicemails were left at 7:07 p.m. and 7:29 p.m. local time, after CNN reported that Carson would be traveling to his home in Florida after the caucuses, but not ending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination." ...

... Ruthless People. Steve M. has the goods on Cruz's campaign guru Jeff Roe: "Kevin McDermott of the St. Louis Post Dispatch notes that this and other eyebrow-raising Cruz tactics are being ascribed to Jeff Roe, a Kansas City political consultant who's managing Cruz's campaign, and who has a reputation for ruthlessness." Read on. Roe has pulled this very same trick in the past. CW: No wonder Cruz hired him; they're vultures of a feather. ...

... Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) on Thursday slammed Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-TX) presidential campaign for disseminating reports that Ben Carson was planning to drop out of the race during the Iowa caucuses. 'Cruz did some questionable things,' Branstad told Radio Iowa. 'This thing that they distributed on caucus night saying that Dr. Carson was likely to drop out and his supporters should support Cruz, that is, I think, unethical and unfair and I think there'll be repercussions to that. We have a strong sense of fairness in Iowa,' Branstad added. 'Distributing information that was not true about a candidate right at the time people are voting in the caucuses is an inappropriate thing.'"

Michael Kranish of the Washington Post: "In a GOP presidential campaign dominated by anger over illegal immigration, distrust of establishment leaders, and aggressive courtship of evangelicals..., Ohio governor [John Kasich] is trying to turn Tuesday's New Hampshire primary into a test of whether his party has room for a throwback brand of Republicanism.... He opted not to compete in the Iowa caucuses, which were heavily influenced by religious conservatives, and tells New Hampshire voters that he will drop out if he does poorly here."

Robert Costa of the Washington Post: "Ben Carson ... will cut more than 50 staff positions Thursday as part of an overhaul and downsizing of his campaign. Salaries are being significantly reduced. Carson's traveling entourage will shrink to only a handful of advisers. And instead of flying on private jets, Carson may soon return to commercial flights." CW: I'm thinking this means he flew a private jet from Iowa to Florida to pick up "a change of clothes." Your donations were well-spent, Carsonites.

Other News

Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "President Obama's budget request to Congress will include a new fee on oil companies, requiring them to pay $10 to the federal government for every barrel of oil they produce, the White House said on Thursday. The money, which could bring in up to $32 billion in new federal revenue annually, would be spent on a variety of transportation and infrastructure projects, including bridges and highways, high-speed rail and research on advanced vehicles such as electric and self-driving cars. The proposal to further increase costs for fossil fuel production is part of a broader effort by Mr. Obama to fight climate change.... [CW: Speaking for oil barons everywhere,] The House speaker, Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, attacked the proposal."

Laura Koran of CNN: "President Barack Obama addressed the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, speaking about the need to overcome fear through faith, just one day after making a historic visit to a Baltimore mosque where he delivered a message of religious inclusivity.... Ben Carson ... attended the event but did not address the crowd." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) CW: I expect most of the GOP candidates to express "disappointment" in CNN for allowing a reporter named Koran to report on the Christian nation' prayer breakfast. I listened to the end of President Obama's speech. It was very moving:

Ken Dilanian of NBC News: "State Department officials have determined that classified information was sent to the personal email accounts of former Secretary of State Colin Powell and the senior staff of former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, NBC News has learned. In an interview with NBC News, Powell challenged the conclusion, saying nothing that went to his personal account was secret. A Rice spokeswoman said the emails were about diplomatic communications."

CW: This, if true, is surprising. Jake Sherman & Rachel Bade of Politico: "House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz has been quietly planning a probe into the federal government's record keeping -- an investigation he acknowledges could put Hillary Clinton in the cross hairs. In an interview with Politico published Tuesday, Chaffetz said the probe wouldn't focus on Clinton, but "when she creates her own private email system, she's ensnarled herself.' But on Wednesday evening, Speaker Paul Ryan and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy summoned Chaffetz (R-Utah) to the Capitol to let him know that he is not permitted to launch an investigation that involves Clinton in any way.... Ryan and McCarthy ... believe the FBI and Justice Department should handle the investigation into Clinton's use of personal email..., and that congressional involvement could disrupt the criminal probe and give the appearance of a GOP witch hunt. Ryan, however, had given Chaffetz a green light to proceed -- with caution -- investigating systematic problems within his committee's broad jurisdiction, while making clear his preference that Chaffetz steer clear of Clinton personally. Now, following the Politico story, GOP leadership says he may not even investigate systematic issues if they involve Clinton."

Andrew Pollack of the New York Times: "In a testy exchange with lawmakers, Martin Shkreli declined to testify before a House committee on Thursday about his actions in increasing the price of a decades-old drug fiftyfold overnight. Mr. Shkreli, who left Turing Pharmaceuticals, the drug company he started, after being indicted on federal securities fraud charges in December, repeatedly exercised his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination, angering various members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 'I don't think I've ever seen the committee treated with such contempt,' Representative John Mica, a Florida Republican, said after Mr. Shkreli was excused and left the room.... The theatrics surrounding Mr. Shkreli's appearance, which included his smirking at some remarks by committee members and calling them 'imbeciles' on Twitter after he left the hearing, overshadowed some of the more substantial discussion about huge overnight price increases in the prices of old drugs by Turing and another company, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... ** Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times: "Members of the House Oversight Committee were probably giving each other high-fives Thursday for making Martin Shkreli look like a smug jerk under their questioning about the high drug prices at his former company, Turing Pharmaceuticals.... Some of [the Congressmen] were smug jerks about it themselves. (I'm looking at you, Reps. Jason Chaffetz [R-Utah] and Trey Gowdy [R-Va.]).... Not only is it no big challenge to make Shkreli look like a jerk, but the responsibility for sky-high prices charged even for old generic formulations is entirely their own.... The reason that the U.S. leads the world in stratospheric drug prices is that government policy allows it. For example, the largest single pharmaceutical customer in the U.S., Medicare, isn't permitted by law to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers. U.S. customers are forbidden to acquire their drugs in Canada or overseas, where they're often cheaper.... Why won't Congress act? As always, it comes down to money. Pharmaceutical companies are consistently among the biggest contributors to Washington campaign chests."

CW: By my count, that's two lowlifes who got something right during yesterday's news cycle. (1) Cruz: "Trumpertantrum"; (2) Shkreli: "imbeciles." Maybe we should add Kerry Eleveld's "Crump." And kudos to Gloria, via Akhilleus, for coming up with "the Crumps & the Rubes." Sounds like a couple of street gangs, which is appropriate.

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said late Wednesday that partisan extremism is damaging the public's perception of the role of the Supreme Court, recasting the justices as players in the political process rather than its referees.... Roberts said he thought the public skepticism concerning the court starts with the Senate confirmation process." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

CW: David Brooks gets 800 words a column (I think), and in today's it's worth reading two: "concrete leap." I suspect Brooks missed many of his high-school English classes. Or else his copy editors gave up before she got to the last graf & has departed to some forsaken land in search of saving the needy for her own fulfilment.

Beyond the Beltway

Progress Michigan: "An email obtained by Progress Michigan shows that Harvey Hollins, a principal adviser to Governor Rick Snyder, was aware of an uptick in Legionnaires disease in Genesee County and that a county health official was attributing the cases directly to the Flint River as the source of drinking water in Flint. The email, sent to Hollins by former DEQ Communications Director Brad Wurfel, was sent on March 13, 2015 ten months prior to Governor Snyder informing the public. Governor Snyder claimed he had only recently been informed of the outbreak at his press conference in January."

Way Beyond

Liz Sly & Zakaria Zakaria of the Washington Post: "Syrian rebels battled for their survival in and around Syria's northern city of Aleppo on Thursday after a blitz of Russian airstrikes helped government loyalists sever a vital supply route and sent a new surge of refugees fleeing toward the border with Turkey. The Russian-backed onslaught against rebel positions in Aleppo coincided with the failure of peace talks in Geneva, and helped reinforce opposition suspicions that Russia and its Syrian government allies are more interested in securing a military victory over the rebels than negotiating a settlement."

Andrew Roth of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church will meet in Cuba for the first time next Friday as part of an effort to heal a schism that has divided Christianity between East and West for nearly 1,000 years. The meeting, the first ever between a sitting pope and Russian patriarch, will take place at José Martí International Airport, where the two will sign a joint declaration."

The Commentariat -- February 4, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Laura Koran of CNN: "President Barack Obama addressed the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, speaking about the need to overcome fear through faith, just one day after making a historic visit to a Baltimore mosque where he delivered a message of religious inclusivity.... Ben Carson ... attended the event but did not address the crowd." CW: I listened to the end of President Obama's speech. It was very moving:

Andrew Pollack of the New York Times: "In a testy exchange with lawmakers, Martin Shkreli declined to testify before a House committee on Thursday about his actions in increasing the price of a decades-old drug fiftyfold overnight. Mr. Shkreli, who left Turing Pharmaceuticals, the drug company he started, after being indicted on federal securities fraud charges in December, repeatedly exercised his Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination, angering various members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. 'I don't think I've ever seen the committee treated with such contempt,' Representative John Mica, a Florida Republican, said after Mr. Shkreli was excused and left the room.... The theatrics surrounding Mr. Shkreli's appearance, which included his smirking at some remarks by committee members and calling them 'imbeciles' on Twitter after he left the hearing, overshadowed some of the more substantial discussion about huge overnight price increases in the prices of old drugs by Turing and another company, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International."

CW: By my count, that's two lowlifes who got something right today. (1) Cruz: "Trumpertantrum"; (2) Shkreli: "imbeciles."

Robert Barnes of the Washington Post: "Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said late Wednesday that partisan extremism is damaging the public's perception of the role of the Supreme Court, recasting the justices as players in the political process rather than its referees.... Roberts said he thought the public skepticism concerning the court starts with the Senate confirmation process."

James Hohmann of the Washington Post on Hillary Clinton's "flip" answer to Anderson Cooper's question about her well-paid Wall Street speeches. "The most problematic part of her answer came when she insisted something that is demonstrably untrue: 'They're not giving me very much money now, I can tell you that much. Fine with me.'... The latest FEC reports reveal that Hillary reached a major milestone during the fourth quarter of 2015: Donors in the financial sector have now given more to support her campaigns than Bill's."

*****

Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "President Obama is being pressed by some of his top national security aides to approve the use of American military power in Libya to open up another front against the Islamic State. But Mr. Obama, wary of embarking on an intervention in another strife-torn country, has told his aides to redouble their efforts to help form a unity government in Libya at the same time the Pentagon refines its options.... The use of large numbers of American ground troops is not being considered." CW: Hmm, these aides aren't helping Hillary's campaign.

Gardiner Harris of the New York Times: "President Obama reached out to Muslims in the United States on Wednesday in an impassioned speech, embracing them as part of 'one American family,' implicitly criticizing the Republican presidential candidates and warning citizens not to be 'bystanders to bigotry'":

Joe Davidson of the Washington Post: "President Obama will include an average 1.6 percent pay raise for federal employees in his fiscal 2017 budget proposal. This year, the average raise is 1.3 percent. The 2017 pay increase was announced in a conference call with administration and union officials."

Andrew Pollack of the New York Times: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will hold a hearing this morning on soaring drug prices. "While the focus of the hearing is the price of drugs, it is expected to zero in on the actions of two companies -- Valeant [Pharmaceuticals] and Turing Pharmaceuticals -- in acquiring the rights to decades-old drugs and increasing their prices by huge amounts overnight."

Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "A key congressional committee on Wednesday launched its investigation into the Flint, Mich., water crisis with its Republican chairman issuing subpoenas to force depositions from two officials, while Democrats complained the state's governor has not been called to testify for political reasons. House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) accused the two officials of not being cooperative and was particularly critical of Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley, whose lawyer declined to accept an earlier subpoena seeking his testimony before the panel. 'We're calling on the U.S. marshals to hunt him down and give him that subpoena,' [Chaffetz] said at a hearing, sparking a round of applause." ...

     ... CW: Earley is a Democrat -- and he's black. Just thought you'd want to know. Hunt him down, Jason. Maybe you'll want to call out a pack of bloodhounds. But of course you're not a racist. ...

     ... Todd Spangler of the Detroit Free Press: "A lawyer for former Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley says if his client is again subpoenaed by a congressional committee looking that the Flint water crisis, he'll accept it.... [Attorney Scott] Bolden had told the Free Press on Tuesday night that he refused the subpoena because neither he nor Earley had time to prepare but said he would accept another subpoena as long as it isn't issued on such short notice." ...

... Oliver Milman & Ryan Felton of the Guardian: "The Environmental Protection Agency warned of an unfolding toxic water crisis in Flint but was 'met with resistance' by Michigan authorities, a fiery congressional hearing into the city's public health disaster has heard.... Congress was also told that flawed water testing practices, now eliminated in Flint, are happening unchecked across the US, risking a much wider public health crisis in other cities." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... Todd Spangler & Maureen Groppe of the Detroit Free Press & USA Today: "Calling the situation in Flint 'a failing at every level' of government, U.S. House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, directed most of his criticism at the Environmental Protection Agency, saying there have been 'festering' problems there for years and disputing Deputy Assistant Administrator Joel Beauvais' contention that responding to the Flint water crisis was the agency's highest priority."

Newt Gingrich & Tom Daschle write a Washington Post op-ed in which they propose "a step toward bipartisan health-care reform." It involves pretty much allowing the states to set up their own programs via a provision of the ACA. CW: I'll bet the Southern states, in particular, would do a great job.

Take Care. Linda Greenhouse: "... the court's action two weeks ago in accepting the Obama administration's appeal in a major immigration case was startling. The surprise was not that the court agreed to hear the case, United States v. Texas, an appeal from a ruling that the president lacked authority under the immigration laws to defer deporting undocumented immigrants whose children are American citizens or lawful permanent residents. It was rather the blockbuster constitutional question that the justices added to the case, a question the court had not been asked, and one that neither of the lower federal courts had even addressed when they ruled on purely statutory grounds against the administration. This is what the court said in its Jan. 19 order: 'In addition to the questions presented by the petition, the parties are directed to brief and argue the following question: "Whether the Guidance violates the Take Care Clause of the Constitution, Art. II, §3.' Wow." Read on.

Presidential Race

This is the headline: "Clinton blasts Wall Street, but still draws millions in contributions." Matea Gold, et al., of the Washington Post: "Even as Hillary Clinton has stepped up her rhetorical assault on Wall Street, her campaign and allied super PACs have continued to rake in millions from the financial sector, a sign of her deep and lasting relationships with banking and investment titans. Through the end of December, donors at hedge funds, banks, insurance companies and other financial-services firms had given at least $21.4 million to support Clinton's 2016 presidential run -- more than one of every 10 dollars of the $157.8 million contributed to back her bid, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission filings by The Washington Post."

They're not giving me that much money now. -- Hillary Clinton, at the town hall last night, in response to Anderson Cooper's question about Wall Street contributions to her campaign

I guess it depends on the meaning of "that much." -- Constant Weader

This is the headline: "Something smells in the Democratic party." Des Moines Register Editors: "What happened Monday night at the Democratic caucuses was a debacle, period. Democracy, particularly at the local party level, can be slow, messy and obscure. But the refusal to undergo scrutiny or allow for an appeal reeks of autocracy. The Iowa Democratic Party must act quickly to assure the accuracy of the caucus results, beyond a shadow of a doubt. First of all, the results were too close not to do a complete audit of results. Two-tenths of 1 percent separated Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.... Second, too many questions have been raised.... Too many of us, including members of the Register editorial board who were observing caucuses, saw opportunities for error amid Monday night's chaos.... Dr. Andy McGuire, chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party, dug in her heels and said no [to the Sanders campaign's request for a comparison with its own tabulations]. We need answers to what happened Monday night. The future of the first-in-the-nation caucuses demands it." ...

... CW: The Register, if you recall, endorsed Clinton.

M.J. Lee of CNN: "Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders traded barbs Wednesday night over who best embodies progressive values. At a CNN town hall in Derry, New Hampshire, ahead of next Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary, Sanders slammed Clinton, arguing that she's out of step with the party's base on issues ranging from campaign finance to climate change, trade and the Iraq War.... The race, however, isn't nearly as negative as the Republican primary contest, which was dominated on Wednesday by personal attacks between Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and Ben Carson." ...

... Video of the full town-hall event is here.

Greg Sargent: "The campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have agreed on a rough schedule for four new debates over the next few months, according to various sources, a move that shows the Democratic primary is now set to shift into a higher gear and signals we may be headed for a long, drawn-out battle. The four debates will be sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee, a spokesman for the DNC, Luis Miranda, confirms to me." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The National Archives is fighting a lawsuit trying to force disclosure of several draft indictments of Hillary Clinton prepared by a Whitewater prosecutor in the 1990s. In a brief filed late Tuesday, Justice Department lawyers and the Archives argue that disclosure of the draft indictments would lead to an unwarranted invasion of Clinton's privacy and violate a court rule protecting grand jury secrecy."

You know, I get accused of being kind of moderate and center. I plead guilty. -- Hillary Clinton, ca. September 10, 2015, at an Ohio event ...

... Amber Jamieson of the Guardian: "At a town hall meeting in Derry, New Hampshire on Wednesday, [Hillary] Clinton accused [Bernie] Sanders of a 'low blow' for saying that the former secretary of state was only a progressive on 'some days'. 'I hope we keep it on the issues,' Clinton said, 'because if it's about our records, hey, I'm going to win by a landslide.' A reporter had questioned the Vermont senator on Tuesday about whether his Democratic opponent was a truly progressive liberal. 'Some days, yes. Except when she announces that she is a proud moderate, and then I guess she is not a progressive,' replied Sanders." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** Brent Budowsky of the Hill: "The message that Clinton needs to hear -- and needs to understand -- is that despite her overpowering and overwhelming advantages of money and power and the virtually unanimous support from the Democratic establishment, it was Sanders who won the most important battle of the Iowa caucuses by fighting her to a draw. Instead of attacking Sanders for having dreams too great, the former first lady should share with the nation the dreams she has, without fear or favor about which interest group might be offended. She should speak of her dreams with passion, principle, courage and authenticity with her voice, as Sanders does with his." Read the whole column. ...

... CW: Sorry, Brent, but as David Axelrod suggested as late caucus result were dribbling in (see Tuesday's Commentariat), Hillary's "dreams" are all about Hillary. Hillary & Bill were the stars of the "Me generation," & their personalities & goals haven't changed much. It's difficult to speak with "passion & authenticity" about matters that are only ancillary to your objective.

Hanna Trudo of Politico: "Elizabeth Warren defended Bernie Sanders on Wednesday after Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said the Vermont senator's anti-Wall Street rhetoric could be 'dangerous.'... 'When Blankfein says that criticizing those who break the rules is dangerous to the economy, then he's just repeating another variation of "too big to fail," "too big to jail," "too big even to prosecute,"' she said."

Stephanie Condon of CBS News: "Former President Jimmy Carter told the British Parliament on Wednesday that if he had to choose between Republican candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, he'd prefer to see Trump win the White House.... '... the reason is Trump has proven already that he's completely malleable. I don't think he has any fixed opinions that he would really go to the White House and fight for.' By contrast, Mr. Carter said, 'Ted Cruz is not malleable. He has far right-wing policies, in my opinion, that would be pursued aggressively if and when he would become president'":

Charles Pierce: "For all the Scripture he spouts, and for all of his devotion to our God-kissed Constitution, Cruz has the soul of a true ratfcker.... At least Nixon's ratfcking stemmed from his human weaknesses and his inbred paranoia. Cruz believes he is commanded to his by the Lord. This scares me much more.... Anyway, this is a guy with an awful lot of money, almost no conscience, and a demonstrated proclivity for using both in a way destructive to a national election. I don't particularly want him to get his hands on the FBI." ...

... Nick Gass of Politico: Ted "Cruz reacted to [Donald] Trump's accusations [that Cruz had stolen the Iowa caucuses] with amusement, and ridiculed the real estate mogul as an unstable person throwing a 'Tempertrantrum.' [sic.; s/b 'Trumpertantrum'] 'I wake up every day and laugh at the latest thing Donald has tweeted because he's losing it,' Cruz told reporters in Goffstown, New Hampshire. 'We need a commander-in-chief, not a Twitterer-in-chief. We need someone with judgment and the temperament to keep this country safe. I don't know anyone who would be comfortable with someone who behaves this way having his finger on the button,' Cruz continued. 'I mean, we're liable to wake up one morning and Donald, if he were president, would have nuked Denmark.'" ...

... Ben Kamisar of the Hill: "... Donald Trump on Wednesday chided President Obama for visiting a mosque, a move the president made in part as a counter to Trump's controversial comments on Muslims. '... I don't know, maybe he feels comfortable there,' Trump said Wednesday on Fox News' 'On the Record with Greta Van Susteren' 'There are a lot of places he can go, and he chose a mosque.'" ...

... Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "In the lead-up to Donald Trump's loss in Iowa, staffers sought additional funding for campaign infrastructure and were denied. Now, six days from the New Hampshire primary and looking for his first win, Trump is still refusing to shake up his ground game. He has added just one paid organizer in the state, a move that came a month ago. Instead, he is pushing ahead with plans to campaign outside of the state in the final week of voting and will count on the glamour of famous surrogates, including his sons, who plan to tour New Hampshire beginning this weekend." ...

... Charles Pierce: "... it's time to lay to rest the idea that Trump is a brilliant campaign strategist. Save for the fact that this guy has managed to co-opt more free media than the Pope, Trump's run a campaign that would embarrass a candidate for seventh grade class treasurer." ...

... CW: It's not about politics, Charles. Politics is boring. It's about fawning fans.

Jonathan Chait: President Obama's visit to a Baltimore mosque Wednesday "offended Marco Rubio, who called it yet another example of Obama's 'constant pitting people against each other. I can't stand that.'... Obama and Rubio follow very different theories of the proper treatment of social minorities. One of those men is president of the United States, and the other has no business holding that position." CW: Chait does a great job of explaining why Marco is offended, but I just want to box Marco's Dr. Spock ears. Why isn't it offensive when Obama attends a Christian religious service (as opposed to addressing people of faith)? Why isn't that pitting Christians against everybody else? ...

... "'The Boy in the Bubble,' Running Scared." Dana Milbank: Marco Rubio "is stumping through New Hampshire as if he's campaigning to win the Cautious Caucus. He gives the same speech everywhere. The most tightly managed candidate in the race, he shuns risk and appears to live in mortal terror of mentioning the man who dominates the race.... Rubio's strong Iowa finish has brought new attention -- and over-capacity crowds -- in New Hampshire. But the would-be supporters are greeted by a robot." ...

... That's funny, because Gail Collins notes that even if Marco has been giving the same speech since 2010, he's still "growing" on some issues, especially where "growth" = "flipflop."

Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Sen. Marco Rubio locked up a handful of congressional endorsements on Wednesday.... The endorsements are the latest in a rapidly increasing list of congressional backers who have thrown their support behind Rubio, who has now vaulted ahead of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the so-called 'endorsement primary.'" ...

... Michael Barbaro & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "... Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is embarking on a scalding effort over the next week to discredit Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, the man he blames for undermining his campaign and whose ascendancy he deeply resents. And Mr. Christie has a secret ally: Jeb Bush.... The shared concern has even prompted the opening of a back channel: Members of the Bush and Christie campaigns have communicated about their mutual desire to halt Mr. Rubio's rise in the polls...." ...

... Jonathan Martin & Ashley Parker of the New York Times: Jeb! "is facing growing pressure to either demonstrate his appeal to voters or leave the race. Specifically, many Republicans -- including some of his supporters and donors -- said Tuesday that Mr. Bush must finish ahead of Mr. Rubio in the primary [in New Hampshire] on Tuesday to justify continuing his campaign into South Carolina.... Yet there are signs Mr. Bush may still have some work to do to finish in the top tier here. Speaking to a crowd at the Hanover Inn near the Vermont border during his final stop of the day, Mr. Bush finished a fiery riff about protecting the country as commander in chief -- 'I won't be out here blowharding, talking a big game without backing it up,' he said -- and was met with total silence. 'Please clap,' he said, sounding defeated. The crowd laughed -- and then, finally, clapped." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. Akhilleus comments, near the end of yesterday's thread, on poor ole Jeb! ...

... Scott Lemieux: "I'm almost tempted to feel bad for the guy, but then I remember the 2000 African-American voter purge and Terri Schiavo." ...

... Kerry Eleveld of Daily Kos: "... the last thing establishment Republicans want is for Jeb! Bush and Marco Rubio to continue tearing each other to shreds with a little Kasich and Christie on the side. They need to coalesce against the enemy -- Crump!... There's one problem, the establishment built a hideous financial beast that they might not be able to control: FrankenBush."

Ashley Parker & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania plans two major announcements on Wednesday night about his candidacy amid speculation that he is pulling out of the race." CW: Darn! I was sure Santorum was going to win. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

     ... Update. Daniel Strauss: "Rick Santorum on Wednesday dropped out of the Republican primary race, and immediately threw his support behind Florida Sen. Marco Rubio." CW: Yes, because they both would ban abortion and limit contraception for every woman excepting their wives & any occasional lovers they might have. ...

... Update: With repeated prodding, Rick Santorum can't name a single accomplishment Marco Rubio achieved in the Senate:

Post Mortem for the Most Interesting Man in Politics. Jamelle Bouie: Rand Paul's attempts to embrace minorities was no match for Donald Trump's racism. "As a vehicle for [his] message [of inclusion], the Kentucky senator wasn't perfect.... Still, unique among the GOP's presidential aspirants, Paul tried.... Whereas Paul wanted to appeal to minority voters, Trump aimed to antagonize them, sharing racist and anti-black memes on Twitter and warning voters of a dangerous, brown-skinned menace.... Republican voters have flocked to this, and in response, mainstream Republican candidates have aped the approach.... After almost eight years of Obama, what Republican voters want is strength and aggression. And in Trump and his imitators, that's what they have."

Beyond the Beltway

Graham Bowley, et al., of the New York Times: "The sexual assault case against Bill Cosby can proceed, a judge ruled Wednesday, saying that prosecutors are not bound by a predecessor's decision 11 years ago to not prosecute Mr. Cosby in the case of a young Temple University staff member who said the entertainer had drugged and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia home."

Way Beyond

Nick Cumming-Bruce & Somini Sengupta of the New York Times: "The United Nations on Wednesday temporarily suspended the fledgling talks aimed at ending the war in Syria and called on the countries fueling the conflict to do more to yield results, as Syrian government forces sharply escalated an offensive on a strategic rebel-held city."

Simon Romero of the New York Times: "The surging medical reports of babies being born with unusually small heads during the Zika epidemic in Brazil are igniting a fierce debate over the country's abortion laws, which make the procedure illegal under most circumstances. Prominent legal scholars in Brasília, the capital, are preparing a case to go before Brazil's highest court, arguing that pregnant women should be permitted to have abortions when their fetuses are found to have abnormally small heads, a condition known as microcephaly that Brazilian researchers say is linked to the virus. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Liam Stack of the New York Times: "Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, said on Thursday that he would turn himself in to the British police if a United Nations panel ruled that the years he has spent in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, trying to avoid extradition to Sweden, did not constitute a de facto form of illegal imprisonment." ...

     ... Update. Matt Siegel and Guy Faulconbridge of Reuters: "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's three-and-a-half-year stay in the Ecuadorian embassy in London amounts to 'unlawful detention', a United Nations panel examining his appeal will rule on Friday, the BBC reported.... The British police said Assange would face arrest if he leaves the embassy."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Pregnant women whose male sexual partners have spent time in a country with confirmed transmissions of the Zika virus should either abstain from sex or use condoms during intercourse for the duration of their pregnancy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced.'

New York Times: "Maurice White, the founder and leader of Earth, Wind & Fire, whose genre-defying music made it one of the most successful bands of the 1970s, has died at his home in Los Angeles. He was 74."