The Commentariat -- Sept. 13, 2015

Internal links removed.

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama on Saturday abandoned his two-year effort to have the government create a system that explicitly rates the quality of the nation's colleges and universities, a plan that was bitterly opposed by presidents at many of those institutions. Under the original idea, announced by Mr. Obama with fanfare in 2013, all of the nation's 7,000 institutions of higher education would have been assigned a ranking by the government, with the aim of publicly shaming low-rated schools that saddle students with high debt and poor earning potential. Instead, the White House on Saturday unveiled a website that does not attempt to rate schools with any kind of grade, but provides information to prospective students and their parents about annual costs, graduation rates and salaries after graduation." See also this week's presidential address in the right column.

Jamelle Bouie: "... as much as the White House can justly gloat over its strategy for securing Senate support [of the Iran nuclear deal], we shouldn't ignore the extent to which it had a huge ally in persuading Democrats to stand with the deal. Namely, the Republican Party.... Again and again, the GOP's great obstacle -- and Democrats' great ally -- is itself. Its intransigence might win elections -- Obamacare helped the GOP win the 2010 midterms, and Republicans hope that Iran will do the same for 2016 -- but it comes at a cost: policy that's more liberal than the alternative."

New York Times Editors: "This past June, in the heat of their outrage over gay rights, congressional Republicans revived a nasty bit of business they call the First Amendment Defense Act.... It would not ... defend the First Amendment. To the contrary, it would deliberately warp the bedrock principle of religious freedom under the Constitution.... The act would bar the federal government from taking 'any discriminatory action' -- including the denial of tax benefits, grants, contracts or licenses -- against those who oppose same-sex marriage for religious or moral reasons.... The bill makes matters worse by covering for-profit companies, which greatly multiplies the potential scope of discrimination against gays and lesbians. These are radical proposals, but they are accepted without question by many in today's Republican Party."

Bob Cesca in Salon: There's a direct link between Republican politicians' attacks on Planned Parenthood & acts of terrorism. ...

Jeb! & Prescott Bush.... Once Upon a Time -- Granddad & His Doofus Progeny. Prescott Bush was a founder of Planned Parenthood & its first treasurer. And then there was Jeb! He boasts of defunding Planned Parenthood when he was governor of Florida, says the federal government should defund Planned Parenthood because "they're not actually doing women's health issues" (not sure how you "do" "issues," but that's Jeb!speak), & says Congress should investigate Planned Parenthood. (Which it is, & doing a damned fine job of it, too.) Sorry, Granddaddy.

** Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), in the Washington Post, reviews Ari Berman's Give Us the Ballot; The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America."

Presidential Race

Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "The company that managed Hillary Rodham Clinton's private e-mail server said it has 'no knowledge of the server being wiped,' the strongest indication to date that tens of thousands of e-mails that Clinton has said were deleted could be recovered."

Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: Donald Trump got rock-star treatment when he showed up at the "Iowa Republican Party's tent in the parking lot before the big Iowa vs. Iowa State football game on Saturday.... Three other Republican candidates not named Trump also glad-handed and posed for selfies among the tailgating football fans before the game. But their receptions were of a different order.... Cheers went up several times over false sightings. A sign read: 'The Trump Will Set You Free.' (It was countered by a protester's sign: 'Mr. Hate, Leave My State.')... There was no applause for [Scott] Walker.... Earlier, Senators Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky worked the tailgaters, not all of whom were thrilled to have a presidential candidate and his entourage interfering with their meat grilling, beer drinking and game playing."

Andrew O'Herir of Salon: Donald Trump's appeal is to primitive tribalism. "Even Donald Trump would not come right out in 2015 and say that he's in favor of cruelty and hypocrisy and the denial of reason, but he doesn't have to. He demonstrates his devotion to those virtues with every second of every public appearance, every hateful comment directed at women who presume to challenge him, every poisonous calumny about the immigrants..., and every preening pronouncement that he plans to exert power and authority well beyond that allotted to the president by the Constitution, or that he possesses a magical solution for some nonexistent problem but won't tell us what it is.... [Bernie] Sanders and Trump are almost negative images of each other, so much so as to represent alternative and perhaps impossible pathways for the human future."

Katie Glueck & Daniel Strauss of Politico: "Scott Walker's standing in Iowa has disintegrated, and he can't blame Donald Trump. The Wisconsin governor once-heralded by political insiders as the front-runner for the GOP nomination is struggling with perceptions that he is inconsistent at best and a full-out flip-flopper at worst.... In Iowa, where Walker was supposed to perform best among the early-voting states, he is now polling at only 3 percent, according to a Friday poll from Quinnipiac University. And short of a miracle on the debate stage next week, other Republicans say, it's hard to see how he comes back. 'There was a ton of excitement about Scott Walker, and that's subsided some,' said Karen Fesler, a prominent Iowa activist who is aligned with Rick Santorum." CW: How any sane human being could feel "a ton of excitement" about this nincompoop is way beyond me. ...

... Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Scott Walker has canceled two speeches he was scheduled to give next weekend in Michigan and California so that he can instead spend time meeting voters in South Carolina and Iowa." CW: Don't worry, Scottie. You seem like the perfect candidate to pick off all those Rick Perry caucus-goers.

Beyond the Beltway

The Gay Harasser. Mark Stern of Slate: "After promising [a judge he would] comply with federal law, [Texas Attorney General Ken] Paxton [RTP] pulled an about-face, actively fighting to prevent a lesbian from inheriting her dead partner's estate.... What's especially bizarre about Paxton's legal theory is that it's disproved by Obergefell itself. Paxton argues that, because [a wife in the case] is already dead, the state cannot recognize her relationship as a valid marriage. Yet that was exactly what James Obergefell asked the Supreme Court to do." CW: You do have to wonder why people like Paxton are so consumed with hatred of people they don't even know.

News Ledes

Los Angeles Times: "In fewer than 12 hours, the [Valley fire in Lake County, California,] had scorched 40,000 acres. As firefighters evacuated homes in its path, the fire would jump ahead of them, threatening more homes before firefighters could advance.... Experts said the Valley fire moved faster than any other in California's recent history."

Reuters: "Egypt's police and military killed 12 Egyptians and Mexicans and injured 10 when they accidentally shot at a Mexican tourist convoy whilst engaging militants in the country's western desert, the ministry of interior said on Monday."

New York Times: "Moses Malone, the N.B.A center known as the Chairman of the Boards for prodigious rebounding that propelled him to the Basketball Hall of Fame and acclaim as one of the top 50 players in the league's first half-century, died during the weekend in Norfolk, Va. He was 60."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 12, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

White House: "In this week's address, the President announced the launch of a new College Scorecard, meant to help students and parents identify which schools provide the biggest bang for your buck":

AFP: "Barack Obama will not stay at New York's Waldorf Astoria during the UN general assembly this month after the hotel was bought by a Chinese insurance firm. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama and the US delegation would stay at the nearby New York Palace Hotel.... Earnest would not say whether the Chinese acquisition of the Astoria had raised concerns about possible espionage.... For years the Waldorf has been used as a base for US operations when leaders from around the world descend on Manhattan for the UN general assembly meeting. The State Department has long held a suite at the Waldorf for the US ambassador to the United Nations, currently Samantha Power."

Karoun Demirjian of the Washington Post: "The House on Friday passed a set of bills intended to send a clear message to President Obama that the Republican-led body will continue to attack the Iran nuclear deal and warn against rolling back economic sanctions imposed on Tehran. But at this point these efforts amount to a political protest because Republicans lack the votes to stop the White House from implementing the agreement." House Speaker John Boehner is still threatening to sue President Obama administration. ...

Do not sacrifice the safety, the security and the stability of 300 million Americans for the legacy of one man. -- Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), during Friday's House debate, as he stood next to a poster of the Twin Towers burning on September 11, 2001

... Lauren French of Politico: "For weeks, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has been penning handwritten, personalized thank you notes to the nearly 150 House Democrats who publicly backed President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran. The personal touch caps a months-long behind the scenes campaign by the California Democrat, who has worked hard to ensure the survival of the crowning foreign policy achievement of Obama's second term. And it came just months after Pelosi ... rallied opposition against his push for a sweeping free trade agreement. In an interview with Politico on Thursday, Pelosi said she worked hand-in-glove with the White House, pinpointing skeptical Democrats and helping to make sure Obama called them all." ...

... "Atomic Obamacare." Steve Benen: "It's striking the degree to which Republicans ... see the Affordable Care Act, lurking in every corner, representing everything they abhor in all contexts.... [So] An international agreement to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons is 'Atomic Obamacare.'... If there is a compelling parallel between 'Obamacare' and the international nuclear agreement it's this: Republicans abandoned rational thought in their contempt for the idea, and despite pleas for an alternative solution to an important pressing problem, they offered nothing but slogans and cheap talking points. Five years later, every GOP prediction about the Affordable Care Act has been discredited and proven false. Here's hoping, five years from now, opponents of the Iran deal appear equally foolish about the efficacy of the national security policy."

Burgess Everett & John Bresnahan of Politico: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview Friday he will back a plan to fund the government into December with no conditions, rejecting in his strongest terms yet calls from within his party to defund Planned Parenthood as part of a larger budget bill. 'It's an exercise in futility,' the Kentucky Republican said of a strategy that would likely provoke a government shutdown. 'I'm anxious to defund Planned Parenthood' but 'the honest answer of that is that's not going to happen until you have a president who has a similar view.'" ...

... CW: I'm not all that sure Mitch is so opposed to Planned Parenthood. His wife Elaine Caio sat on the board of Bloomberg Philanthropies which works with Planned Parenthood Global "to improve access to family planning information, contraceptives and reproductive health services for women...." (Caio quit the Bloomberg board after it became an issue in McConnell's 2014 Senate campaign, but the issue was Bloomberg's anti-coal initiative, not reproductive health.)

Surprise, Surprise. Harry Stein of the Center for American Progress, in Politico: "'Hardly anyone knows it,' [Ron] Haskins], a former Bush II staffer,] wrote in the New York Times, 'but since its earliest days the Obama administration has been pursuing the most important initiative in the history of federal attempts to use evidence to improve social programs.' But even though Congress appears to support evidence-based policymaking in theory, a closer look shows that it is waging a quiet war on the idea. The current versions of spending bills on Capitol Hill would defund data collection, analysis, and pilot programs that are helping to solve some of the toughest challenges facing the nation.... This Congress seems to be targeting evidence-based initiatives in particular, and for reasons that seem deeply political. THE ATTACK IS most apparent in the field of climate science." Congress is also cutting research funding for gun research, healthcare reform & other areas.

Kristina Wong of the Hill: "Navy Secretary Ray Mabus on Friday criticized a Marine Corps study that showed that female Marines in a mixed unit did not perform as well as men in several key areas. 'They started out with a fairly largely component of the men thinking this is not a good idea, and women will not be able to do this,' he said in an interview with NPR. 'When you start out with that mindset, you're almost presupposing the outcome,' he said."

Is that a shoephone in your hand -- or a pocket heater?Never Mind. Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "When the Justice Department arrested the chairman of Temple University's physics department this spring and accused him of sharing sensitive American-made technology with China, prosecutors had what seemed like a damning piece of evidence: schematics of sophisticated laboratory equipment sent by the professor, Xi Xiaoxing, to scientists in China. The schematics, prosecutors said, revealed the design of a device known as a pocket heater ... used in semiconductor research, and Dr. Xi had signed an agreement promising to keep its design a secret. But months later..., independent experts [whom Xi's attorney brought forward] discovered ... the blueprints were not for a pocket heater.... The Justice Department on Friday afternoon dropped all charges against Dr. Xi, an American citizen. It was an embarrassing acknowledgment that prosecutors and F.B.I. agents did not understand -- and did not do enough to learn -- the science at the heart of the case before bringing charges that jeopardized Dr. Xi's career...." ...

     ... CW: This sounds like a plot-line from "Get Smart," only as Dr. Xi said, "This is not a joke.... I barely came out of this nightmare." Why can't we get better federal agents? I'm glad the Times put this story in a prominent position in its online edition. Xi deserves as much publicity for his exoneration as he got for his false arrest.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd., Politico Edition. Politico is still Politico. In a story titled, "Obama Wins Ugly on the Hill," Lauren French & John Bresnahan write, "President Barack Obama is winning ugly. Despite hostile GOP majorities and balky Democratic progressives dogging him on some issues, Obama is using the powers of his office to finally get stuff done on Capitol Hill. While Republicans rolled to big Election Day wins last November, Obama has emerged on top since then in bruising showdowns over trade, Iran, Attorney General Loretta Lynch's nomination, Patriot Act reauthorization, immigration and funding for the Department of Homeland Security.... Past fights were, in part, Obamaps own fault. He spent six years in the Oval Office eschewing the type of glad-handing needed to build relationships with lawmakers that are fundamental to winning tough votes." CW: Res ipsa loquitur.

Presidential Race

Philip Rucker & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Bernie Sanders is fast expanding his political staff, crafting a delegate strategy and cultivating a vast volunteer corps and digital fundraising network that he believes can seriously challenge Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. Dismissed only a couple months ago as a fringe candidate, the self-described democratic socialist senator from Vermont has proven in recent weeks that he is a contender to win the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.... Asked if there was a strategy to 'humanize' Sanders like the Clinton campaign has, [Sanders strategist Tad] Devine burst out laughing. 'Is he going to change to earth tones?' Devine said. 'Is he going to take the pens out of his pocket? No. This is it. Nothing's changing.'"

Dana Milbank: "We knew [Hillary] Clinton was going to be funny and warm [when she appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show] because her aides told the New York Times she was going to be funny and warm. 'Hillary Clinton to Show More Humor and Heart, Aides Say,' was the headline on Amy Chozick's piece week, reporting that 'there will be new efforts to bring spontaneity to a candidacy that sometimes seems wooden and overly cautious.... Maybe they seemed poll-tested because they were poll-tested.... Planned spontaneity? A scripted attempt to go off script? This puts the 'moron' into oxymoron. Here's a better idea: Find and fire people who talk about her that way. Thin out the whole bloated campaign and its cadre of consultants...." ...

... The other day, Charles Pierce advised Clinton to "Fire everybody." ...

... Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Making her 2015 debut in Scott Walker's home state of Wisconsin, Hillary Clinton on Thursday unleashed her harshest and most extended diatribe yet against a Republican rival not named Donald Trump, accusing the governor of being a tool of the billionaire Koch brothers." ...

It seems to me, just observing him, that Governor Walker thinks because he busts unions, starves universities, guts public education, demeans women, scapegoats teachers, nurses, and firefighters, he is some kind of tough guy on a motorcycle, a real leader. Well, that is not leadership folks. Leadership means fighting for the people you represent.... It looks like he just gets his marching orders from the Koch brothers and just goes down the list. -- Hillary Clinton, in Milwaukee

... ** James Downie of the Washington Post: "Wednesday, Clinton gave a speech at the Brookings Institution about the Iran deal and U.S. foreign policy. On the surface, it sounded like a speech the Democratic base could agree with.... But beneath that, a more hawkish Clinton kept peeking out.... It was a speech short on hope and long on danger; while no one would confuse her and George W. Bush, the address, as the Atlantic's Steve Clemons said, certainly felt 'neocon-influenced.'... The more one listens..., the less it seems that she learned much from the Iraq war or even the 2008 campaign.... Her Brookings appearance crystallizes just how much room [Bernie Sanders] has to her left, giving him a chance to repeat then-Sen. Obama's success using foreign policy against Clinton." ...

... CW: When I listened to (part of) Clinton's speech, I interpreted her sabre-rattling to be an answer to universal GOP chest-thumping. But Downie is causing me to rethink my initial impression. Also, see Kate M.'s related comment at the end of yesterday's thread, which expands on one of Downie's points.

... AP: "Hillary Clinton had the right to delete personal emails from her private server, the US justice department has told a federal court. Lawyers for the government made the assertion in a filing this week with the US district court in Washington, part of a public records lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group that seeks access to Clinton's emails.... Clinton asserts she had the right under government rules to decide which emails were private and to delete them. This week's filing puts the justice department's approval on Clinton's claim."

Jim Sullivan of the Boston Globe: "A senior state Democratic Party official likened the national party chairwoman's tenure to a 'full-fledged dictatorship,' amplifying growing unease among some top Democrats about party leaders' efforts to restrict the number of candidate debates during the presidential primaries. Deb Kozikowski, vice chairwoman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said the chief of the Democratic National Committee, US Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, had done a disservice to grass-roots volunteers by allowing Republicans to dominate the airwaves for the last month."

Seema Mehta of the Los Angeles Times: "In the first casualty of the 2016 presidential race, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry suspended his campaign Friday amid anemic fundraising and little traction in the polls. Perry's departure, coming days before the second GOP presidential debate, is unlikely to affect the contours of the race, given Perry's lack of support among Republican primary voters. But it appears to mark the end of a 30-year political career of a man once viewed as a swaggering star of the Republican Party. ...

... Here's the Washington Post story, by Dave Weigel & others. ...

... Gail Collins: "His departure is a crushing blow for those of us who have already put in the time to read 'Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America From Washington,' in which Perry announced that Americans were tired of being bossed around and being told 'how much salt we can put on our food, what windows we can buy for our house' and 'what kind of cars we can drive.' I will not even have the opportunity to point out that Washington doesn't actually tell us any of those things." ...

... One Last Time:

CW: Here's a hopeful note. We live in a country where Bernie Sanders is more popular than Rick Perry. At least that's something.

Michael Tomasky adds his voice to pundits who are sick of reporters lumping Bernie Sanders in with Donald Trump & (Ben Carson): "People on the left are angry about economics -- about inequality and the new Gilded Age, and they have rallied to Sanders because of his positions. People on the right are angry about liberals and moochers and society and culture, and they have rallied to Trump and Carson because of who they are (or aren't)." ...

... CW: I don't think Tomasky has that quite right: I don't know about Carson's supporters -- they may all be seeing Ben Carson as the Vehicle of the Lord who's a'coming to beam them up -- but Sanders & Trump have tapped into the same anger: it's just that Sanders supporters correctly see the Masters of the Universe & their political sock puppets as responsible for wealth & income inequality, while Trump supporters fantastically blame "liberals & moochers," most especially those of color. The difference is between reality & knee-jerk racist scapegoating. In addition, many of Sanders' supporters are altruistic -- they are not rallying to him in furtherance of their own self-interest -- while Trump's supporters -- angry white men -- are just your average greedy bastards.

Dave Weigel: Ben "Carson was the first declared candidate of either party to visit [Ferguson, Missouri], though Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) held a 'listening session' before announcing his bid, and Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig made a visit before launching his. Unlike Paul, Carson kept the roundtable -- and the tour -- closed to press. According to Mayor James Knowles, who has invited any and all contenders to Ferguson, Carson's tour included a stop at the city's only coffee shop, lunch at an Italian restaurant, and conversations with the people who happened by."

... Jane Timm of NBC News: "In the interview portion of his appearance..., Trump eventually conceded, 'I will absolutely apologize sometime in the distant future if I'm ever wrong.'"

Heather Haddon of the Wall Street Journal: "Donald Trump estimated that it will take 18 months to two years to get the roughly 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally to leave the country, and that he would then build a wall running along the border with Mexico." CW: It would take 18 months to two years to get the first court date to respond to the tens of lawsuits brought against a Trump administration that might try this stunt.

Jim Sullivan: Mitt Romney's former campaign staffers & prominent political backers are now working for different candidates, but they're allied on one matter: Stop the Donald.

Ed Kilgore: "Perhaps the most important news about the treatment of the [GOP] field by CNN is that one candidate, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, was excluded from both debates on grounds that he has no discernible political pulse."

Congressional Election

Chicago Tribune/Wire Services: "Darin LaHood, a Republican state senator and son of former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, easily won a special election Thursday to replace disgraced former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, sending a familiar name to Washington from Illinois."

Beyond the Beltway

Patrick McGreevy of the Los Angeles Times: "The [California] state Senate on Friday sent Gov. Jerry Brown a bill that would allow physicians to prescribe life-ending drugs to Californians diagnosed as having less than six months to live. Two days after the bill cleared the Assembly, the Senate approved the measure, sending it to the governor's desk."

Benjamin Mueller & Nate Schweber of the New York Times: "The New York Police Department released surveillance video of the arrest [of former tennis star James Blake] on Friday, offering a minute-long glimpse of the manhandling of a biracial celebrity by a white plainclothes officer that compelled police officials to swiftly strip the officer of his gun and badge.... Officer [James] Frascatore's history of excessive force complaints, including at least three filed against him with the Civilian Complaint Review Board in 2013 and several lawsuits, revealed a pattern of residents claiming they were detained without explanation and manhandled despite complying":

Chris Geidner of BuzzFeed: "Lawyers for Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis asked a federal appeals court on Friday to effectively end the requirement, currently in place under an order from the trial judge, that all couples be allowed to marry in the county.... Shortly after this latest motion was filed on Friday, the 6th Circuit directed that the plaintiffs file a response to Davis's request 'on or before the close of business, Tuesday, September 15, 2015.' Davis also has appealed the contempt order itself and asked the 6th Circuit to halt Gov. Steve Beshear from enforcing what her lawyers refer to as a same-sex marriage 'mandate.'" CW: They're really racking up those Billable Hours for Jesus, aren't they? ...

... Miranda Blue of Right Wing Watch: "... almost as soon as they arrived [in Rowan County, Kentucky], the Oath Keepers are packing up and going home. Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes writes in an email to members today that [Kim] Davis, through her attorneys at the Religious Right legal group Liberty Counsel, has (probably wisely) declined their offer of assistance. He encourages members to save their gas money for another mission, such as 'our planned upcoming operation to guard Texas border ranches against drug cartel violence and invasion.'"

La Ti Da. Katharine Seelye & Jess Bidgood of the New York Times: One of Harvard's all-male clubs, Spee, made the revolutionary move of inviting women to join. According to the club's president, Spee now "welcomes all genders." "It was not clear Friday whether any of the other eight clubs, known as 'final' clubs because they were once the last organizations that students were likely to join before they graduated, would follow suit."

Way Beyond

Stephen Castle of the New York Times: "Britain's opposition Labour Party on Saturday took a remarkable leftward turn, electing as its leader Jeremy Corbyn, a longtime socialist committed to nationalizing key industries, scrapping Britain's nuclear missile system and reversing the centrist policies of previous leaders such as Tony Blair. The result of the contest, announced on Saturday morning in London, gave stewardship of the Labour party to the hard left for the first time in more than three decades, a development seen here as one of the most surprising upsets in modern British politics." ...

... The Guardian's liveblog is here.

News Ledes

AP: "Police say 82 people were killed in two nearly simultaneous explosions in a crowded restaurant in central India. Inspector Mewa Lal Gond says a cooking gas cylinder exploded in the restaurant on Saturday and triggered a second blast of detonators stored nearby."

AP: "The head of Saudi Arabia's civil defense directorate says high winds caused a massive crane to topple over and smash into Mecca's Grand Mosque, killing at least 107 people ahead of the start of the annual hajj pilgrimage."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 11, 2015

Internal links removed.

Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "Senate Democrats delivered a major victory to President Obama on Thursday when they blocked a Republican resolution to reject a six-nation nuclear accord with Iran, ensuring that the landmark deal will take effect without a veto showdown between Congress and the White House. A procedural vote fell short of the number needed to break a Democratic filibuster. It culminated hours of debate on the Senate floor and capped months of discord since the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China announced the agreement with Iran in July." ...

... Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "The Senate voted 58-42, short of a required 60-vote threshold, on whether to end debate on the Iran deal, thus failing to even reach an up-or-down vote on the disapproval resolution itself." ...

... President Obama's statement is here. ...

... Or as John Cole of Balloon Juice put it, "All Over but the Wanking." Now we shall take a brief time out for the wankery ...

... Karoun Demirjian & Kelsey Snell of the Washington Post: "The House plans to vote Friday on a resolution of approval ... instead of a resolution of disapproval ... that was previously planned. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) promised Thursday that House Republicans will 'use every tool at our disposal to stop, slow and delay this agreement from being fully implemented' up to and including suing President Obama to keep him from enforcing the agreement.... The strategy shift comes after a group of House Republicans successfully pressed leaders Wednesday not to play ball with Obama over two confidential side agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that lawmakers have never seen.... There's just one problem: In the eyes of the administration, the play clock runs out on Sept. 17. If Congress hasn't rejected the deal via a disapproval resolution by then, the pact will take effect." ...

... Ed Kilgore: House Republicans "are preparing votes on a resolution approving the deal (which is kinda beside the point now), a resolution denying the deal was ever properly submitted to Congress (good luck in court on that one!), and still another measure seeking to stop the administration from easing sanctions on Iran (ditto). The whole Republican effort seems mainly designed to remind the international community that they'll blow up the deal if they win next year's elections. I guess the other way to look at it is that House Republicans believe they haven't lost this fight if they don't admit it's lost!" CW: Reality is not a feature of Right Wing World. ...

... Burgess Everett & Seung Min Kim: "Republicans are plotting to make Democrats pay dearly for backing an agreement the GOP argues hinges on an historic enemy of the United States playing nice. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to return to the floor next week to force Democrats to take more votes Republicans say they'll regret as soon as Iran violates the terms of the deal or sponsors terrorist attacks, which critics believe is just a matter of time. After that will come the attack ads, national GOP officials say." ...

... CW: If Republicans knew anything about the agreement, they would know it does not "hinge on" Iran's "playing nice." See the WashPo op-ed below by the leaders of France, Germany & Great Britain, & Hillary Clinton's speech on the deal. For starters. ...

... MEANWHILE, French President Francois Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel & British Prime Minister David Cameron write a joint Washington Post op-ed in support of the deal. Yo, crazy GOP, it's you nutsos against the world.

Juiet Eilperin & Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "President Obama has directed the U.S. government to accept at least 10,000 refugees from Syria in the next fiscal year, White House press secretary Josh Earnest announced Thursday, a six-fold increase over the number admitted this year to the United States."

Reuters: "Relatives of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 11 September 2001 attacks are due to gather in New York, Pennsylvania and outside Washington on Friday to mark the 14th anniversary of the hijacked airliner strikes carried out by al-Qaida militants." ...

Washington Post photo.... Kevin Sullivan of the Washington Post: "... the $26 million Flight 93 National Memorial visitor center ... opened this week, remembering the legacy of the 9/11 attacks and honoring the courage of 40 passengers and crew members who fought back against their four hijackers, preventing the plane from hitting its presumed target, the U.S. Capitol.... The visitors center and museum is set between two soaring concrete walls that rise 40 feet high, one foot for each of those who died. It is set directly on Flight 93's flight path, with a black stone walkway indicating the precise route that the plane followed. On the valley floor below, a large boulder marks the point of impact, serving almost as a headstone in a place where very few human remains were recovered."

Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian: "Barack Obama's intelligence chief is said to be in frequent and unusual contact with a military intelligence officer at the center of a growing scandal over rosy portrayals of the war against the Islamic State, the Guardian has learned. James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, is said to talk nearly every day with the head of US Central Command's intelligence wing, Army Brigadier General Steven Grove -- 'which is highly, highly unusual', according to a former intelligence official. Grove is said to be implicated in a Pentagon inquiry into manipulated war intelligence."

"The War on Women Is Over -- And Women Lost." Molly Redden of Mother Jones: "This is what 2015 looks like: Abortion providers struggle against overwhelming odds to stay open, while women 'turn themselves into pretzels' to get to them, as one researcher put it.... The onslaught of new abortion restrictions has been so successful, so strategically designed, and so well coordinated that the war in many places has essentially been lost. Most abortions today involve some combination of endless wait, interminable journey, military-level coordination, and lots of money.... The struggle [for abortion providers] just to stay open is all-consuming."

Jessica Glenza of the Guardian: "Vice-President Joe Biden on Thursday joined the top US prosecutor [Loretta Lynch] and the Manhattan district attorney to announce a $79m initiative to end a backlog of untested sexual assault DNA kits. The initiative is funded by a $41m congressional allocation to the Justice Department and through $38m in civil forfeitures seized by the office of Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance. The joint effort promises to test more than 56,000 backlogged 'rape kits' in 32 jurisdictions in 20 states, over two years. Grants to local agencies to carry out such tests will range from $97,000 to nearly $2m."

Jonathan Chait: "The rapid willingness of the rest of the world to reduce its emissions has merely redoubled the [Republican] party's commitment to destroy any cooperative structure to reduce emissions.... The speed at which Republicans have changed from insisting other countries would never reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions to warning other countries not to do so ... says everything you need to know about the party's stance on climate change.... The Republican climate-change strategy has been hatched by a group of Republican politicians and fossil-fuel lobbyists so tightly intermingled there seems to be no distinction between the interests of the two.... Beyond the straightforward self-interest of coal and oil companies, there is the ancient right-wing distrust of international agreements in general. Plus, of course, Republicans continue to follow a policy of across-the-board opposition to the whole Obama administration agenda."

Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "A federal district judge on Wednesday delivered a blow to the Obama administration, ruling that the House Republican lawsuit against ObamaCare can move forward. 'The Court concludes that the House has standing to pursue those constitutional claims,' Judge Rosemary Collyer wrote in a 43-page decision. The ruling is an early victory for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who has repeatedly touted the lawsuit to his conference.... 'The Court stresses that the merits have not been briefed or decided; only the question of standing has been determined,' Collyer wrote. The Obama administration said it plans to immediately appeal the decision." Collyer is a Bush II appointee. ...

... Jonathan Cohn of the Huffington Post takes a deep dive into the ramifications of the case.

Paul Krugman: "... Japan needs to make a decisive break with its deflationary past. You might think this would be easy. But it isn't: Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, has been making a real effort, but he has yet to achieve decisive success. And the main reason, I'd argue, is the great difficulty policy makers have in breaking with conventional notions of responsibility."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Jonathan Chait: "If you have heard about Jeb Bush's new tax plan by reading political reporters, you have probably heard that it is a 'proposal to reform the tax code' that will 'crack down on hedge fund managers' (CNN), that it is 'mainstream and ordinary' with 'a populist note' (NPR), that it 'challenged some long-held tenets of conservative tax policy' (the New York Times), and has 'a nod to the populist anger roiling both parties' (The Wall Street Journal). It is, in other words, the same sort of coverage George W. Bush received when he unveiled his tax cuts in 1999.... On the other hand, if you have learned about the tax plan from some of the new policy-focused writers, you have drawn a very different impression. The difference lies between journalists who write narratives drawn from quotes from campaign sources and those who build their coverage on data. George W. Bush was fortunate that data-based journalism barely existed 16 years ago. His brother is counting on the power of narrative to obscure the data." ...

... CW: Because most readers will look at only the first couple of grafs of a report, especially a report on a subject they don't know much about -- like tax structure -- the MSM stenographers, probably purposely, do a terrible disservice to the democratic process. ...

... Ed Kilgore: "The 'wonkosphere' is very much onto Jeb's act, but its influence remains limited. And so, Jeb is able to turn a weakness -- he, like his brother, is in thrall to wealthy interests and cannot conceive of an economic 'plan' that doesn't begin with giving them pretty much all they want -- into a perceived strength: Jeb wants to cut your taxes and jump-start the economy, O ye middle-class voters! It is indeed the very essence of a misdirection play, and unfortunately, it’s working better than it should...."

Presidential Race

Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., in an emotional, wide-ranging interview on Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' on Thursday, expressed doubt about the likelihood that he would run for president, saying that 'I'd be lying if I said that I knew I was there'":

... Steve M.: "My guess: Biden won't run. Maybe that's a good thing. But I'll be sorry if we never get to see him debate the GOP nominee, who, I'm more and more convinced, will be Trump. Biden can seriously talk policy, but I wonder if the quantity of blarney he tosses into the mix, and especially the quality of sentiment, could be the magic bullet against Trump. Watch the Colbert interview -- when Biden talks about his son, you can hear a pin drop. I don't think Trump's bombast would be a match for that."

Ryan Cooper of the Week: "Would Hillary Clinton actually perform that much better than [Bernie] Sanders (or another challenger) in a general election? There are good reasons to suspect not. To be sure, a great deal of Clinton's poor performance of late is likely due to blatantly unfair treatment from the mainstream media. We're now several weeks into wall-to-wall coverage of Clinton's email server thing, and there is still no hint that this supposed controversy is anything more than a minor bureaucratic foul-up.... Both [Clinton & Sanders] have some pluses and minuses.... The difference between any two Democratic presidents is going to be relatively tiny compared to that between a Democrat and a Republican.... So as far as the primary is concerned, Clinton better not rely on her supposed electability."

Glenn Thrush & Hadas Gold of Politico: Clinton backer & Media Matters founder David Brock trades insults with the New York Times re: their Clinton coverage. ...

... Rachel Bade of Politico: "The State Department inspector general opened a 'criminal investigation' of Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin in 2013 over allegations of 'theft' -- referring to overpayments she received and overtime she allegedly wrongfully billed. But the Justice Department declined to take up the issue.... Abedin's lawyers have acknowledged the $10,000 overpayment issue weeks ago and said they're fighting it. They maintain that she was actually working during the maternity leave and vacation time, though it doesn't appear she properly logged the information into the State Department system. But they've denied that the overpayment dispute, widely known, ever turned into a criminal investigation."

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "In a video produced in conjunction with IJ.com, [Martin] O'Malley, the former governor of Maryland who moonlights as an Irish folk rocker, took his guitar to Wall Street this week to show the world how to 'make an honest buck' in the heart of the financial world." Scroll down the page for Rappeport's item:

     ... CW: When I tried to play this video, it ended. To watch it, I had to click on the replay right away, or I got whatever video YouTube put up next in a thread. So it works about as well as Maryland's ObamaCare exchange worked. Update: It seems to be working better here than on YouTube. ...

... Jennifer Epstein of Bloomberg: "Facing increasing resistance from candidates and party officials, Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Thursday stood firmly by her plan to hold exactly six presidential debates -- and jabbed at [Martin O'Malley,] the candidate who's been most aggressive in agitating for more.... 'Every candidate does what they believe they need to to attract attention to their campaign,' she told reporters. 'He has chosen to focus on debates, rather than substance. That is certainly his prerogative.'" ...

... Evan McMorris-Santoro: "The Democratic Party is having a very loud, very public fight over the presidential primary debate calendar, pitting leaders at the Democratic National Committee against chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Top party leaders say Wasserman Schultz rolled out the debate calendar without consulting them and refused to listen to concerns that the tightly-limited calendar would cause problems. For her part, Wasserman Schultz says there's no way the calendar she set up will change.

The ALEC Candidate. Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "In an attempt to kickstart his flagging campaign, [Scott] Walker, who made his name nationally by taking on Wisconsin's public sector unions, has come up with a new union-bashing ruse. In a speech on Thursday at the alma mater of his hero Ronald Reagan, Eureka College in Illinois, he pledged to destroy the political activities of federal employee unions by blocking their political funding.... The idea of hitting public unions by cutting off their political funding has been promoted by ... the American Legislative Exchange Council, Alec, since at least 1998."

Nick Gass of Politico: "Bobby Jindal pulled no punches against Donald Trump on Thursday, raining down a deluge of criticisms on the current Republican leader in the polls, calling him 'a narcissist,' 'an egomaniac,' 'non-serious,' 'substance-free,' 'insecure,' 'weak,' 'shallow,' 'unstable,' among other knocks." ...

You may have recently seen that after Trump said the Bible is his favorite book, he couldn't name a single Bible verse or passage that meant something to him. And we all know why, because it's all just a show, and he hasn't ever read the Bible. But you know why he hasn't read the Bible? Because he's not in it.— Gov. Bobby Jindal in remarks prepared for a speech at the National Press Club

... CW: The guy is gonna kick sand in your face, Bobby. Here it is (via Gass): "Trump responded later in the day, remarking that Jindal 'did not make the debate stage and therefore I have never met him.' 'I only respond to people that register more than 1 percent in the polls. I never thought he had a chance and I've been proven right,' he said in a statement."

New York Times: "Donald J. Trump said Thursday he was not referring to Carly Fiorina's looks when he was quoted as saying, 'Look at that face' and, 'Would anyone vote for that?' Mr. Trump told CNN on Thursday: 'I'm not talking about looks. I'm talking about persona.'" CW: Of course that bull, because right after he said it & his staff failed to guffaw on cue, Trump said, "I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not s'posedta say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?" (See yesterday's Commentariat.) ...

... Has anyone showed Donald Trump his own face? -- Anna Merlan of Jezebel

... Eliza Collins of Politico: "'Many of those comments are made as an entertainer because I did The Apprentice and it was one of the top shows on television,' [Donald Trump] told Greta Van Susteren on Thursday night. 'Some comments are made as an entertainer and as everybody said, as an entertainer is a much different ball game.'" CW: Very entertaining. Especially to someone like Van Susteren, who had serious cosmetic surgery to make her face more Trump-friendly. ...

... The Party of Misogyny. CW: Disparaging an older woman's appearance is an extension of the war on women. Republicans have all the bases covered. They have done their best to rescind the reproductive rights of young women. Their canonization of "traditional families," which hasn't worked out all that well, was a longstanding attempt to undermine & denigrate career women -- Trump's attacks on Megyn Kelly for a "lack of professionalism" was a riff on that theme. Just as confederates have never accepted equality for racial & ethnic minorities, they cannot accept female equality. Why is it exactly that Scott Walker & Chris Christie have attacked teachers' unions in particular? Even GOP tax policies are subtle backhands to feminism: the underlying rationale for Jeb!'s (& Marco's) plans to increase the Earned Income Credit is an incentive for "you girls to stay home & make more babies." Paid family leave, however? Faggedaboudit. Equal pay laws? Ha! Raise the minimum wage (which disproportionately affects women & minorities)? Bad for business. Social welfare programs (from which women benefit more than men)? Hammocks! The GOP's attitude is nearly cradle-to-grave oppression of women. ...

... Bradford Richardson of the Hill: "Donald Trump is going after Rolling Stone in the latest of a series of attacks against the media, saying the magazine's editors added 'a lot of garish stuff' to his controversial interview.... 'The writer actually called me and said, "I'm so upset, I wrote this great story and [publisher] Jann Wenner screwed it up" -- he told me that,' Trump said on CNN's 'New Day.' 'They added a lot of stuff, a lot of garish stuff, that I think is disgusting.'" ...

     ... CW: Trump's claim about the call from the writer seems at least believable. As Steve M. pointed out yesterday, "The profile's author, Paul Solotaroff, seems to be in awe of Trump and his trappings."

Trump to Face "That Face." Guardian: "Carly Fiorina, the sole female Republican presidential candidate, will join the line-up for the next prime-time televised debate, the only contender to step up from the so-called 'kids' table' to the main platform.... In total, 11 candidates have qualified for next week's main debate, the largest group to share a presidential debate stage in modern American political history." ...

... Patrick Healy & Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "The Republican presidential candidates, increasingly certain that their televised debates can have make-or-break consequences for their campaigns, are preparing aggressive new tactics for their next face-off on Wednesday, hoping to draw voters away from the surprisingly durable Donald J. Trump as the 2016 race enters a more combative phase."

Government of the Rich People, by the Rich People, for the Rich People. Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: Jeb Bush "would make out like a bandit under his own plan. According to my quick-and-dirty, back-of-the-envelope calculations based on Bush's 2013 tax return, his liability for that year would have fallen by about $800,000, or about a quarter of what he paid Uncle Sam." CW: What a surprising coincidence. ...

... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "Just like Reagan, Jeb's brother George, and Mitt Romney in 2012, Jeb talks about simplifying the tax code, boosting American competitiveness, stimulating growth, and restoring 'the opportunity for every American to rise and achieve earned success.' That's how voodoo economics is always marketed. But, despite the welcome addition of a few populist touches, such as pledging to euthanize the carried-interest deduction, Bush is writing the same old tired script."

CW: I don't usually cite the latest stupid thing Mike Huckabee has said, but this was too much to ignore:

... the Dred Scott decision of 1857 still remains to this day the law of the land which says that black people aren't fully human. -- Mike Huckabee, on the radio

This isn't necessarily a mistake on Huckabee's part. He probably doesn't believe that the post-Civil War Amendments to the Constitution are valid. -- Constant Weader

... While we're at it, the Huckblocking of Ted Cruz? That was because the Mike & Kim Show was "our event" & Huck wasn't about to let Cruz crash it. CW: I'll have to admit I don't want Ted coming to my party, either.

Hey, Remember the Most Interesting Man in Politics? Russell Berman of the Atlantic: "On Thursday, [Rand] Paul sought to reclaim his standing in the campaign by turning to this year's most-popular method of attention-grabbing: yelling just a little bit louder and challenging his party's leadership. Paul headlined a rally on the National Mall to demand that Republicans defund Planned Parenthood in the coming budget fight. Standing alongside Sarah Palin and a group of conservative women, Paul said Republicans 'must hold our ground,' even if it results in a government shutdown that his party leader, Mitch McConnell, is trying to avoid." CW: Yes, Randy, there's no more "interesting" man than one who uses & abuses poor women in pursuit of his own personal gain.

From Goat Shed Dwellers to Billionaire Cruz Donors. Michael Kranish of the Boston Globe: "Brothers Farris and Dan Wilks grew up [in Cisco, Texas,] in a converted goat shed amid the ranchlands.... They had little money to spare and didn't show much interest in politics. Then, one day in 2002, they decided to invest in ... 'fracking.' Before long, two things changed: The brothers became fabulously wealthy, and election laws were upended by the Supreme Court. By the time the Wilks brothers sold their company, Frac-Tech, in 2011, they both were billionaires. This year, seizing upon the opportunity presented by loosened election laws, they have made a new investment: the race for the presidency.... Their cumulative $15 million has gone to support Senator Ted Cruz...." Farris is obsessively worried about "the gay agenda" & Dan wants to "bring the Bible back into the school."

Congressional Race

Robert Schmidt of Bloomberg: "Corporate and Wall Street donors have already been shying away from ... New Jersey Republican [Scott Garrett] since he reportedly made anti-gay remarks at a private gathering in July. Now, some key Washington insiders are coalescing around his likely 2016 challenger, Democrat Josh Gottheimer. Later this month, James Cicconi, the Republican head of external affairs at AT&T Inc., and JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Peter Scher, a Democrat, will host a breakfast 'meet and greet' for Gottheimer.... The backlash is even more notable considering the power [Garrett] wields as the head of the House subcommittee on capital markets -- a panel known informally ... as the ATM, mainly because of the money lawmakers can extract from the industry." ...

Daily Kos: "Garrett voted against re-electing John Boehner as speaker in January, and his opposition to the Export-Import Bank also did not put him on Wall Street's good side. The final nail in the coffin may have been a Politico report describing how Garrett refused to donate to the NRCC over their support for gay candidates. Major Wall Street donors canceled a fundraiser for Garrett after the news broke...."

Beyond the Beltway

Kate Zernike & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "It was a traffic jam that, in the end, rerouted the career of the chief executive of the world's fourth-largest airline, and how one led to the other is a tale of power, politics and New Jersey wheeling-dealing.... Like a never-ending thread, the federal investigation into the [GWB] lane closings led prosecutors to look into the dealings of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the bridge, and its chairman at the time, David Samson. This revealed his close relationship with officials at United, the largest carrier at Newark Liberty International Airport, which the authority runs.... People close to the case said those same prosecutors had been asking questions about the role played by Jamie Fox, a longtime friend of Mr. Samson's and United's onetime lobbyist whom [Gov. Chris] Christie, a Republican, appointed state transportation commissioner last year."

Kathleen Gray of the Detroit Free Press: "It took 14 hours, two failed votes and a day full of drama, but at 3:12 a.m. Friday, state Rep. Todd Courser [RTP] resigned from his state House seat, and an hour later, Rep. Cindy Gamrat [RTP] was expelled on a 91-12 vote, ending a controversial sex and cover-up scandal that has rocked Lansing for the last month." ...

... NEW. We call them Evangenitals. -- Forrest M.

Benjamin Mueller, et al., of the New York Times: New York City "Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York City's police commissioner [Bill Bratton] apologized on Thursday for the mistaken arrest of James Blake, a retired top-10 professional tennis player, who said he was slammed to the ground outside his hotel in Midtown Manhattan after being confused for a suspect in a credit card fraud investigation.... Mr. Bratton, speaking at a news conference on Thursday, said he had concerns about 'the inappropriateness of the amount of force that was used during the arrest.' An initial review of video evidence of the arrest, he said, led him to believe that it may have been excessive. The officers failed to report the mistaken arrest, as they were required to do.... The officer's decision to throw an unarmed, compliant man to the ground added to the sense that black people are often roughed up by the police out of view, with few resources to bring attention to their grievances." CW: No kidding. Would police have body-slammed me & roughed me up if they mistook me for a white-collar criminal? I doubt it.

Miranda Blue of Right Wing Watch: "The Oath Keepers, the anti-government 'Patriot' group that mounted an armed standoff with the Bureau of Land Management at the Bundy Ranch, stationed armed guards outside of military recruitment centers after the Chattanooga shooting, and unsettled Ferguson protestors when they showed up carrying assault rifles, is now offering anti-gay Kentucky clerk Kim Davis a 'security detail' to protect her from further arrest if she continues to defy the Supreme Court's marriage equality ruling." ...

... Steve M.: "Since [both Mike Huckabee & Ted Cruz] described [the federal government's efforts to force Kim Davis to comply with the law] as government tyranny, and they both say that privately owned firearms are a citizen's defense against tyranny, aren't they obligated to participate in an armed intervention if an evil federal judge sends Davis back to jail? If not, why do they hate freedom?"

News Ledes

Al Jazeera: "At least 107 people have been killed and 238 others injured after a crane collapsed in Mecca's Grand Mosque, Saudi Arabia's civil defence authority says."

AP: "US officials have arrested a man who allegedly tried to help plan an attack on a 9/11 memorial event. The US attorney's office said Joshua Ryne Goldberg, 20, of Orange Park, Florida, had been charged with distributing information relating to explosives, destructive devices and weapons of mass destruction."

AP: "Prosecutors have released new photos taken in the chaotic aftermath of the Colorado theater shooting, including pictures of the auditorium where James Holmes killed 12 people. The images, which prosecutors released in response to open-records requests, also show the elaborate homemade explosives in Holmes' apartment, which he had rigged into a potentially deadly booby trap." Includes slideshow.