The Commentariat -- March 23, 2012
My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is here. It's mostly on Gail Collins.
"President Obama announces an order to expedite a pipeline project that will help move oil more quickly and efficiently from Cushing, Oklahoma to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. Encouraging oil development and infrastructure in a way that protects the health and safety of the American people is part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy to develop every available source of American energy":
... Clifford Krauss & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "... the increasing production and declining consumption [of oil and gas] have unexpectedly brought the United States markedly closer to a goal that has tantalized presidents since Richard Nixon: independence from foreign energy sources, a milestone that could reconfigure American foreign policy, the economy and more. In 2011, the country imported just 45 percent of the liquid fuels it used, down from a record high of 60 percent in 2005."
Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic: if the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional, so are Medicare & Social Security.
Steve Collender of Capital Gains & Games: "We now have some real indications that the fiscal 2013 budget plan proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is going to be as much a political albatross as a plus for Republicans.... It's hard not to wonder how hard the House Republican leadership will try to help Ryan get the budget resolution adopted when it's debated by the House. He could well be on his own." ...
... Reader MAG sees a resemblance, which I find totally unfair:
Chris Johnson of the Washington Blade: Elizabeth Warren says it's time for President Obama to "evolve" on gay marriage.
Larry Sabato rolls his crystal ball at U.S. Senate races.
Right Wing World
** Paul Krugman: "... the kind of pandering [Mitt Romney] has engaged in during his quest for the nomination matters. Whatever Mr. Romney may personally believe, the fact is that by endorsing the right’s paranoid fantasies, he is helping to further a dangerous trend in America’s political life. And he should be held accountable for his actions."
If they’re going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a risk with what may be the Etch A Sketch candidate for the future. -- Rick Santorum
I was disappointed to hear that Rick Santorum would rather have Barack Obama as president than a Republican. -- Mitt Romney
Chris Moody of Yahoo! News: "Rick Santorum suggested Thursday that re-electing President Barack Obama would be better than electing Republican rival Mitt Romney, a statement that is arguably his toughest criticism of Romney to date.... The Santorum camp later clarified the candidate's remark, saying he didn't mean to insinuate that voters would be better off re-electing Obama than choosing Romney."
Chris Moody: Romney "campaign political director Rich Beeson wrote in the memo. 'So as Senator Santorum continues to drag out this already expensive, negative campaign it is clear that he is becoming the most valuable player on President Obama's team.'"
Brendan Nyhan of the Columbia Journalism Review on "How the media constructed another Romney gaffe — and why it is unlikely to matter." CW: we'll see.
Alec MacGillis of The New Republic: Mitt Romney's primary competition is utterly incompetent; they don't have the sense to charge a campaign intern with doing Nexis searches of Romney's past statements. Good luck in the general election, Willard.
Olivier Knox of Yahoo! News: "The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Karl Rove on Thursday in which he played down the significance of President Barack Obama's decision to order the May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden -- and twists Bill Clinton's words ... almost beyond recognition, making him say essentially the opposite of his meaning in the film.... [and] to make it seem the former president agrees with Rove." ...
... Jeff Bercovici of Forbes: "Shocker! Karl Rove endorses Obama in Wall Street Journal op-ed." Or so it would appear, if you butchered Rove's written statements the way Rove butchered Bill Clinton's. P.S. Looks like Bercovici forced the WSJ to post a correction. ...
... David Corn of Mother Jones writes a terrific rebuttal to Rove's op-ed: "Rove, the fellow who put a president in a flight suit and had him land on an aircraft carrier where he spoke in front of a 'Mission Accomplished' banner, now contends [the decision to go after bin Laden] was no big deal. He obviously hasn't ... bothered to consider the facts."
Local News
Henry Curtis of the Orlando Sentinel: "Sanford police let George Zimmerman go home after he shot and killed Trayvon Martin last month, but Central Florida police agencies routinely make arrests for murder in 'stand your ground' cases — and then let courts decide if a killing is justified." ...
... Miami Herald: "Angela Corey, the special prosecutor Gov. Rick Scott appointed to handle the Trayvon Martin shooting case, has a reputation as a tough-on-crime state attorney who has the distinction of prosecuting the youngest murder defendant in Jacksonville history, 12-year-old Cristian Fernandez." CW: thanks to reader savecristian for the input on Angela Corey. The linked post gives some background about Corey which is consistent with savecristian's comments about her.
News Ledes
"If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon":
AP (via the NYT): "A Republican member of the improperly revealed information about the agency’s private deliberations to outside parties who had cases pending before the board.... The board’s inspector general said the member, Terence F. Flynn, violated ethics rules.... A report from Inspector General David P. Berry also faulted Mr. Flynn for a 'lack of candor' during the investigation. President Obama appointed Mr. Flynn ... in January."
Elections Have Consequences. Time: "In a surprise move, President Barack Obama on Friday named Dartmouth President Dr. Jim Yong Kim as his nominee to head the World Bank." Washington Post story here. BBC News story here.
New York Times: "The Obama administration is moving to relax restrictions on how counterterrorism analysts may retrieve, store and search information about Americans gathered by government agencies for purposes other than national security threats.... The guidelines will lengthen to five years — from 180 days — the amount of time the center can retain private information about Americans when there is no suspicion that they are tied to terrorism." Washington Post story here.
AP: "Undercover NYPD officers attended meetings of liberal political organizations and kept intelligence files on activists who planned protests around the country, according to interviews and documents that show how police have used counterterrorism tactics to monitor even lawful activities.The infiltration echoes the tactics the NYPD used in the run-up to New York's 2004 Republican National Convention, when police monitored church groups, anti-war organizations and environmental advocates nationwide."
Guardian: President "Obama announced Thursday that he was directing federal agencies to expedite a 485-mile [pipe]line from Oklahoma to refineries on Texas' Gulf Coast that would remove a critical bottleneck in the country's oil transportation system. The directive would also apply to other pipelines that alleviate choke points."
Washington Post: "A U.S. counterterrorism official ... said Thursday that [Mohammed] Merah, [the accused French terrorist killed Thursday in Toulouse] was also on the list of known or suspected terrorists prohibited from flying to the United States and had been since 2010."
AP: "The wife of Syrian President Bashar Assad will be hit with a travel ban and have her assets in the EU frozen, a European Union official said Friday. A total of four members of the Assad family, along with eight government ministers, will be targeted in the latest round of sanctions aimed at stopping the violent crackdown on members of the Syrian opposition...."
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Reader Comments (6)
State Attorney Angela Corey is well known for prosecuting harshly, which is good news for Trayvon Martin and his family. He deserves justice. But Corey is known for not listening to the public. She has been prosecuting a 13 year old hispanic boy who is facing life without parole in the accidental death of his brother since he was barely 12 years old. She has said she isn't seeking life without parole for him but he is facing not ONE criminal trial but TWO. If convicted he will be the youngest in our country to be sentenced to life and it is a mandatory sentence in Florida. When over 182,000 people petitioned and asked her to try him as a juvenile because he is a juvenile she said she doesn't "prosecute by petition". I guess the one benefit here is more people will become more aware of the injustice that has happened to Cristian Fernandez of Jacksonville, Florida and it could help him.
Having the most children prosecuted as adults is one area where Florida leads the nation. That is a Florida type of leadership. But remember, there is no state income tax.
Regarding the Paul Ryan comparison: by "unfair," I hope you mean unfair to PeeWee Herman. Ryan looks much worse!
@Victoria. I think Ryan looks like he just peed his pants--probably because Boehner came out of hiding long enough to tell him his fucking budget was an albatross.
Cenk Uygur had a good segment tonight on the Trayvon Martin case. Stand Your Ground Laws are a separate issue, and one that needs debate. This is about a person who watched too many Die Hard movies and was itching to use that weapon. Florida law gave him the excuse. The NRA is right about one thing: "Guns don't kill people, people do." Seems a pretty good argument to me that there are people who shouldn't be allowed to own...much less patrol the streets with....guns.
My first thought was how can this be self defense? Just look at Zimmerman and Martin. The whole thing is a travesty.
Dear Weader-- I fear you have been watching too much of Jon Stewart. Gail Collins is every bit as brilliant as Stewart, wittier maybe. but more subtle. After all, she doesn't get to use the F word when she skewers the NRA as she did in he Wednesday NYT column. Frankly, I like them both. Each one uses an effective tool in satirizing the extreme right, and I've come to look for Gail's reminder that Willard drove to Canada with Seamus on the car roof, each time placing the line in some place unexpected-- another hallmark of humor.