We, the People -- Are Screwed

Art by Crockett Johnson.Frank Rich: "It’s the very top earners, not your garden variety, entrepreneurial multimillionaires, who will be by far the biggest beneficiaries if there’s an extension of the expiring Bush-era tax cuts for income over $200,000 a year (for individuals) and $250,000 (for couples). The resurgent G.O.P. has vowed to fight to the end to award this bonanza, but that may hardly be necessary given the timid opposition of President Obama and the lame-duck Democratic Congress."

The New York Times moderators again found my comment too -- something. So here it was:

The President has been hinting for weeks that he will roll on tax cuts for the wealthy. His faint, equivocal denials are merely a redeployment of the tactic he used during the healthcare debate on provisions like the public option. Every remark he has made is a signal to Republicans that he'll go along with them. Political observers should stop pretending that the President really opposes tax cuts for the super-rich, & he would let them expire if it weren't for those darned Republicans. Everybody in Washington knows what s/he's doing, and everybody will play his or her role in seeing that the oligarchy remains intact and continues to prosper at the expense of the rest of us.

What will happen is this: Democrats will get almost enough Congressional votes to let tax cuts for the rich be decoupled from those for the rest of us. But, gosh, they'll just fall short. A few "villains" like Joe Lieberman or Ben Nelson or a disgruntled Arlen Specter or a nothing-to-lose Blanche du Arquansau will hold out. The President will sigh audibly & repeat a slightly-more eloquent version of David Axelrod's "We have to deal with the world as we find it." Then he will quietly sign the bill extending tax cuts to all. Everyone in Washington will have played his part and most partisans from both sides will be none the wiser. That, Mr. Axelrod, is "the world as we find it." It's pretty disgusting. And so are you, for playing your role so well.

If that scenario sounds familiar to you, it's because you've witnessed it before: on the public option drama, on the plan to allow those 55 and older to buy into Medicare, on curbs to derivatives trading. The Congress proposes, the Congress disposes. Somehow they just can't quite pass legislation that helps us commoners.

There is a way out of the tax cuts impasse. It won't succeed, but it's a darned good backup plan. It's the suggestion of Sen. Mark Warner, a brilliant businessman & politician himself. Warner suggests a Republican-friendly compromise that has eluded All the President's Men: scrap the tax cuts for the rich & put the cuts, at least temporarily, into growth businesses that will create jobs for middle-class Americans. Let's see how far Warner's reasonable compromise goes. Enjoy the idea while you can. You may never hear of it again.

Who will stand up to the rich? Nobody in Washington. It's pitchfork time. You will find me among the angry mob.

The Commentariat -- November 14

Anne Kornblut of the Washington Post writes that "After nearly two weeks of introspection, President Obama's top advisers have concluded that the 'shellacking' Democrats took on Election Day was caused in large part by their own failure to live up to expectations set during the 2008 campaign, not merely the typical political cycles and poor messaging they pointed to at first." CW: so does this mean the President will veer left & -- mind you, in an effort to win re-election & not because he gives a shit -- try to do keep some campaign promises? ...

... Kornblut's colleague Greg Sargent assesses the reality as opposed to the storyline: "My guess is that insiders are, understandably, mainly leaking along these lines to project a sense that they 'get the message' of the elections, and that we'll ultimately see a different and more sophisticated comeback strategy play out. Also: Note that officials seem to recognize above that overseeing tangible improvements in the economy will do more to brighten Obama/Dem prospects than any high-profile displays of 'compromise' will. That's good." ...

... Steve Benen: "the White House should imagine Republicans being as reckless, irresponsible, ignorant, ill-tempered and child-like as humanly possible -- and then expect that to happen, because it probably will."

Alex Seitz-Wald of Think Progress: duplicitous John McCain moves the goalposts again on DADT. With video of McCain's star turn on "Press the Meat," as my friend Karen Garcia aptly calls it.

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "The intense focus on the coming struggles between President Obama and congressional Republicans obscures one of the most important and underreported results of the midterm elections: the GOP takeover in the states. Republicans picked up at least 675 state legislative seats Nov. 2. As with the increases in the House, that gain is the biggest any party has made in state legislative seats since 1938 and is far larger than the GOP's tally in its 1994 landslide. Given the distribution of those gains, Republicans have the power to work their will in the states in ways they can't begin to think about doing in Washington."

Paul Krugman on the catfood commission's mandate: it was supposed to "produce a package good enough to accept as is.... Instead, it produced a PowerPoint that is one part stuff that has long been on the table, one part conservative wish-list, and one part just weirdly ill-considered."

** Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times: "A secret history of the United States government’s Nazi-hunting operation concludes that American intelligence officials created a 'safe haven' in the United States for Nazis and their collaborators after World War II, and it details decades of clashes, often hidden, with other nations over war criminals here and abroad." A pdf of the Justice Department report is here.

Brian Friel of the Congressional Quarterly, in a New York Times op-ed: ten issues Darrell Issa, et al., are likely to "investigate," and ten they should (but probably won't) look into, according to oversight experts.

New York Times Editorial Board: "... there are too many signs that Republicans relish tooth-and-claw politicking from within government as the easy alternative to the actual labor of governing.... Profiles of the incoming Republican freshmen are not encouraging. Half deny the science of global warming, and 39 percent signed on to the know-nothing move to end birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment....

Eric Lipton of the New York Times: former Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.), a lobbyist for creating tax loopholes for big corporate interests, returns to the Senate, where he hopes to get on the Finance Committee -- the one that creates tax loopholes for big corporate interests.

Nina Mandell of the New York Daily News: Cindy McCain was against DADT before she was for it.

Our Most Superficial President Ever. AP: "Former President George W. Bush says he doesn't miss much about the White House, just the pampering. Bush told more than 3,000 people at a sprawling central Florida retirement community on Saturday that he misses the convenience of Air Force One and never waiting in traffic jams. The 43rd president said, most of all, he misses being commander in chief of the U.S. military."

Have a Big Mac, Fatty. Felicity Lawrence of the Guardian: In Britain, "the Department of Health is putting the fast food companies McDonald's and KFC and processed food and drink manufacturers such as PepsiCo, Kellogg's, Unilever, Mars and Diageo at the heart of writing government policy on obesity, alcohol and diet-related disease...." CW: this is what you get with conservative government.

The Commentariat -- November 13

Dick Cavett, who's on a book tour, appears on Parker-Spitzer:

Thanks to reader Jeanne B., I linked to this Louisville Courier-Journal editorial excoriating Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for his incredible duplicity. Rachel Maddow covers the story here:

... AND the Courier-Journal has more on Mitch's unmatched hypocrisy, this time related to his plan to file a brief in support of a lawsuit (go to page 2) challenging the Affordable Care Law. But what about McConnell's long-standing horror of "activist judges," the editors wonder. 

QE2 Is Not an Oceanliner. Timothy Aeppel of the Wall Street Journal describes "the Federal Reserve’s decision to restart a government bond buying program — known as QE2, shorthand for the second round of quantitative easing.... The idea is that buying up bonds should push the U.S.’s currently low inflation rate slightly upwards, so that real, or inflation-adjusted, interest rates are lowered. That should stimulate growth and hiring." He asks economists if it will work, & they pretty much say, "no."

Okay, two Republican pollsters Douglas Schoen & Pat Caddell, who get a lot of space in the Washington Post, have terrific advice for President Obama on how he can be remembered as "a great president." Get ready: "we believe Obama should announce immediately that he will not be a candidate for reelection in 2012." Thanks for nothing, boys.

It Would Be So Wrong to "Punish" Millionaires. Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post: "With tax breaks for millions of Americans set to expire Dec. 31, President Obama has opened the door to a compromise with Republicans, signaling a new willingness to accept tax breaks for the wealthy to avoid immediate tax hikes across the board."

Ben Armbruster of Think Progress: Eric Cantor: "I pledge allegiance to Israel." Cantor promises Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu in a private meeting that he, Cantor, will undermine Obama administration peace efforts...

...  ** Glenn Greenwald expands on the subject.

Karl Rove Claims He's for Social Welfare. Sort of. Jeanne Cummings of Politico: "In the 2010 midterms, Crossroads GPS and the American Action Network talked proudly of their political clout, spending millions across the country to buy TV ads to defeat Democrats.... Both groups now are under pressure to spend more noncampaign dollars than campaign dollars or risk running afoul of Internal Revenue Service rules.... In order to keep their donors secret, Crossroads GPS — which was founded with help from Bush advisers Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie — and American Action Network classified themselves as 501(c)(4) 'social welfare' groups rather than political organizations. But critics say ... in any plain-English reading of the law, Crossroads GPS and American Action Network are political groups, not 'social welfare' organizations...."

Kate Pickert of Time: "... the Affordable Care Act contains clear language allowing the federal government to take over major reform components that states refuse to implement. This means state leaders opposed to 'government takeovers' could be inviting just that."

Ethics-Free Supremes. Lee Fang of Think Progress caught up with Justice Samuel Alito as he entered a fundraising dinner for a far-right-wing organization which Alito has supported in the past. When Fang asked him if attending a fundraiser with RNC Chairman Michael Steele & big Republican donors, Alito told him, "It’s not important that I’m here.” Fang noted that conservatives Justices Antonin Scalia & Clarence Thomas had participated in similar events. But, as reader Jeanne B. pointed out, the conservatives Justices' political activities violate basic Federal Judiary guidelines, which state that "a judge should refrain from political activity."

Derek Kravitz of the Washington Post: "Following the uncovering of a terrorist plot last month to blow up cargo planes en route to the United States, the TSA has instituted a new type of pat-down of passengers.... If a full-body scanning machine shows something strange or a passenger declines to go through the machine..., an officer will perform a more personal search.... But the new pat-downs have prompted a growing backlash among pilots and flight attendants, civil liberties groups and security-weary passengers who say the touching goes too far."

In their usual hyperbolic way, the Huffington Post headline writers describe "shocking admissions" & "confessions" of foreclosure document robo-signers. This time, they're right.  William Alden & Ryan McCarthy for the Huffington Post: "In more than two hours of video footage recently uploaded to YouTube, three alleged 'robo signers' describe how they approved thousands of mortgage documents a day without reading them." With video clips & partial transcripts.

What's Wrong with this Policy? David Kocieniewski of the New York Times: "The government, which by its own admission has data that could be helpful in tracking down the thousands of missing children in the United States, says that taxpayer privacy laws severely restrict the release of information from tax returns. The privacy laws, enacted a generation ago to prevent Watergate-era abuses of confidential taxpayer information, have specific exceptions allowing the I.R.S. to turn over information in child support cases....But because of guidelines in the handling of criminal cases, there are several obstacles for parents and investigators pursuing a child abductor — even when the taxpayer in question is a fugitive and the subject of a felony warrant."

Harumph. Ted Koppel, in a Washington Post op-ed, remembers that "broadcast news was a more virtuous operation 40 years ago" & laments "the death of real news."

Witch Hunter-in-Chief. Joe Conason of Salon: Republican Rep. Darrell Issa plans to bring down the Obama administration for its scandalous use of road signs!

CW: I hate to give Glenn Beck any attention at all, but his anti-Semitic attack on George Soros are too disgusting to ignore. Cenk Uygur, a First Amendment advocate, calls for Beck's firing over his "horrific" misstatements on how a young Soros survived the Holocaust. The backstory by Michelle Goldberg in the Daily Beast. More detail from Matt Gertz at Media Matters. AND, from Brian Stelter of the New York Times: "Fox stood by Mr. Beck. Joel Cheatwood, a senior vice president at Fox News, said in a statement Thursday afternoon that the 'information regarding Mr. Soros’s experiences growing up were taken directly from his writings and from interviews given by him to the media, and no negative opinion was offered as to his actions as a child.'” Thanks to reader Helen S. for calling Beck's smears of Soros to my attention.

AP: "Antonin Scalia, 74, the longest-serving current justice, appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan, and Stephen Breyer, 72, appointed by Democrat Bill Clinton, shared the stage in front of a crowd of thousands during a West Texas event organized by Texas Tech University Law School. They particularly clashed on the question of capital punishment."

"Too Lazy to Write His Own Memoir." Ryan Grim: George W. Bush's Decision Points is "a mash-up of worn-out anecdotes from previously published memoirs written by his subordinates, from which Bush lifts quotes word for word, passing them off as his own recollections. He took equal license in lifting from nonfiction books about his presidency or newspaper or magazine articles from the time. Far from shedding light on how the president approached the crucial 'decision points' of his presidency, the clip jobs illuminate something shallower and less surprising about Bush's character: He's too lazy to write his own memoir."

The Devil Made Me Do It. AP: "Citing a shortage of priests who can perform ]the rite, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops are holding a conference on how to conduct exorcisms." The New York Times has a story, too.