The Commentariat -- March 17, 2015

Internal links & defunct video removed.

HAPPY SCIENCE DAY!

** Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "House Republicans on Tuesday will unveil a proposed budget for 2016 that partly privatizes Medicare, turns Medicaid into block grants to the states, repeals the Affordable Care Act and reaches balance in 10 years, challenging Republicans in Congress to make good on their promises to deeply cut federal spending. The House proposal leans heavily on the policy prescriptions that Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin outlined when he was budget chairman.... The plan envisions a remaking of the federal government.... The budget 'repeals all of Obamacare,' Representative Diane Black, Republican of Tennessee, said the same day the Obama administration announced that the law had provided coverage to 16.4 million previously uninsured people." Read it & gasp. ...

... Julie Pace of the AP: "More than 16 million Americans have gained insurance coverage as a result of President Barack Obama's health care law, the administration said Monday as the White House prepares to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the law's signing. In releasing the latest estimates, Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell called it 'the largest reduction in the uninsured in four decades.'" ...

Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, a Republican, says that there will be 'turmoil' if the Supreme Court strikes down subsidies under ObamaCare.... 'If on June 30, if that's when the case comes down, and they say no more subsidies for federal exchanges ... it is going to cause a lot of turmoil,' Mead said at a press conference, according to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. 'Not just for the state, and for those people, but for the private sector as well.'" ...

... Joan McCarter of Daily Kos: "Mead would be challenged to get his Republican legislature to agree to a plan to set up their own exchange, if past experience is a guide. The governor spent months and months working with the federal government to find a Medicaid expansion compromise, eventually devising a plan that the Koch-backed Republican senate killed."

Seung Min Kim & Burgess Everett of Politico: "Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's strategy of blocking a vote on President Barack Obama's attorney general nominee until the White House relents on immigration executive actions ran into a brick wall Wednesday: his own GOP colleagues. Republican senators dismissed Cruz's proposal for denying Loretta Lynch a confirmation vote in the Judiciary Committee and on the Senate floor as part of the Texas firebrand's strategy to use 'every procedural tool' at the Senate's disposal to override Obama's actions, which could affect nearly 5 million undocumented immigrants." ...

... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "It is 'unconscionable' that attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch has not yet received a confirmation vote in the Senate, the White House said Monday.... [Senate Majority Leader Mitch] McConnell on Sunday said he would delay action on Lynch's nomination until Democrats agree to cooperate on legislation intended to combat human trafficking.... Democrats blocked the bill last week over a provision that would prohibit the use of federal funding for abortions." ...

... Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "After several years of troubles with spending bills that were once routinely bipartisan, the Senate has now found a way to disagree on a bill that would protect victims of sex trafficking. And in the process, that dispute has ensnared President Obama's largely uncontroversial nominee for attorney general, Loretta E. Lynch..... A provision in the Senate bill would prevent the fees from being used for abortions for the victims. Democrats say Republicans sneaked it into the bill. Republicans firmly deny the charge. And Democrats now say they will not vote for it unless the language is removed, something that Republicans decline to do.... Although Mr. McConnell suggested that the Senate could not approve nominations before the trafficking bill was addressed, the Senate did take up two lower-profile executive branch appointments on Monday."

Juan Williams of the Hill: "The TV drama 'House of Cards,' with all of its fictional backstabbing, looks lame compared to the current, real-life political drama on Capitol Hill starring Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)."

Carol Morello of the Washington Post: "Iranian negotiators meeting with U.S. officials Monday expressed concern over a letter from Senate Republicans warning that a nuclear deal with President Obama might not outlast his time in office." ...

... Tommie One-Note. CW: I've noticed over the past week or so is that Tom Cotton's only response to some straightforward questions is this nonanswer: "Right now I and most every other senator is focused on stopping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon," or some slight variation thereof. Here he was Sunday, talking to Bob Scheiffer:

... When Jon Karl of ABC News said to Cotton last week, "But you've been quite clear that your goal in all of this is to kill this deal because you do not think that President Obama's negotiating a good deal," Cotton replied, "My only goal, for years now, has been to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon." (ABC News has taken down the video, but my recollection is that he repeated this answer when Karl asked him another question.) Cotton is not a serious person. ...

... To show how little he knows about Iran, Cotton added this: "... the ballistic missile program that Iran has ... is designed solely to strike the United States right here at home." Excellent news! On the eve of the Israeli elections, Cotton tells Netanyahu that it turns out Israel has nothing to worry about. All of Iran's missiles will whiz right over Israel on their way to Kansas.

Paul Waldman: "Now that deficits have declined so dramatically, the time is ripe for Republicans to start advocating for a dramatic increase in the military. New GOP celebrity Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.) is trying to lead the charge, invoking Hitler (of course) and saying that 'Our enemies, sensing weakness and hence opportunity have become steadily more aggressive.'" ...

... Steve M.: As Cotton & Cohort gear up the nation for another disastrous war, "These guys aren't overlooking the fact that their plans would explode the debt -- they know. What they also know is that when the debt skyrockets, they can blame 'tax-and-spend liberals,' and liberal social programs such as Medicare and Social Security, which, they'll say, have to be drastically curtailed because 'we' have been too greedy. Centrist pundits will nod sagely in agreement. Ordinary Americans, they hope, will fall for the bait-and-switch -- and certainly will never understand how they've been duped. And the rich will just get richer."

The Most Transparent Administration Evah! Gregory Korte of USA Today: "The White House is removing a federal regulation that subjects its Office of Administration to the Freedom of Information Act, making official a policy under Presidents Bush and Obama to reject requests for records to that office. The White House said the cleanup of FOIA regulations is consistent with court rulings that hold that the office is not subject to the transparency law. The office handles, among other things, White House record-keeping duties like the archiving of e-mails."

New York Times Editors: "While [Paula] Broadwell's book ... contains no classified information, [David Petraeus's] sharing the notebooks displayed a shocking level of hubris and recklessness. In sharp contrast, the government has been unsparing in its prosecution of lower-ranking officials who have shared sensitive information for more defensible reasons."

When Loyalty Is a Sometime Thing. Paul Waldman wonders, "If Israel is led by a Labor Party prime minister and begins to change some of its policies, will Republicans decide that 'support' is more complicated than they used to think? It may be hard to remember now, but Israel became a Republican fetish object relatively recently." ...

... Steve M.: "But we know how Republicans' loyalty works in reference to the other country they say they love without qualification, America. Republicans say that America is the greatest country in the history of the human race and that it's totally unacceptable to criticize America ... except when the 'wrong' government comes to power.... Republicans will still say they love Israel without qualification, while ignoring the fact that that love comes with the huge qualification of hating whoever isn't in sympathy with Likud. Sure, it's cognitive dissonance. But Republicans are very comfortable at that." ...

... CW: I'm pretty sure Netanyahu will win big now because Chuck Norris, somewhat belatedly, has just cut a YouTube campaign video for him: "I watched Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech before Congress, and I saw a man who loves his country with all his heart and soul," Norris says. Also, Norris is an expert on Israel: "I have done three movies in Israel, Delta Force being my favorite, and I formed many friendships while there." ...

... Paul Waldman: "Unfortunately, Norris did not record his ad in Hebrew, which would have been awesome."

Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times: Joseph Clancy, "the new director of the U.S. Secret Service, faces lawmakers Tuesday for the first time since recent allegations of misconduct among agency personnel raised doubts about whether a longtime insider was the right man for the job."

Playing President. Evan McMorris-Santoro of BuzzFeed: "Rep. Aaron Schock owns what appears to be a fairly accurate replica of 'The Falcon' -- the internal White House nickname for one of President Obama's official podiums -- and based on photos, uses it at times when speaking in his Peoria, Illinois, district." And it cost $5,123. CW: Sadly, you can't get your own presidential "Falcon," because the manufacturer has quit making them -- they "weren't making any money on them."

Des Beiler of the Washington Post: San Francisco 49ers linebacker "Chris Borland made a stunning announcement Monday, telling ESPN that he will be retiring from the NFL after an outstanding rookie season. The 49ers linebacker told 'Outside the Lines' that he was concerned about the possible effects that head injuries could have on his quality of life.... His retirement for essentially precautionary reasons is another indication of the growing concern among NFL players over the effects of repeated head trauma, as numerous studies have suggested a link between the violence of football and debilitating brain injuries such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)." ...

... CW: Good for Borland. As more young men who can envision life outside of football opt out of playing pro ball, the game is destined to become more & more of a gladiator sport, with only those young men who have few other viable options being willing to play the game for cash. So in one more aspect of this American life, we shall become a caste-based society, with the poor serving or entertaining the rich, often at a high cost for the poor.

Presidential Race

Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "The subjects of Ireland and tea made for an unpleasant brew in Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 campaign for president. Her primary opponent, Barack Obama, once belittled her as having merely 'had tea with' world leaders as first lady.... Then she was accused of overstating her own contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process. On Monday, Mrs. Clinton nodded to that back story as she was honored by an Irish-American group on the eve of St. Patrick's Day.... She did not portray herself as instrumental to the Good Friday Agreement that President Clinton brokered in 1998, but said her outreach to women in Belfast on multiple visits during that period had played a critical role.... Mrs. Clinton, who was inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame, did not miss the chance to curry favor with a devoted ethnic constituency...." ...

... Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast: "The rapidly deflating Clinton email 'scandal' looks like it has more to do with a sclerotic government bureaucracy than any personal wrongdoing on the part of Hillary." Tomasky takes another whack at the New York Times reporting, while he's at it. ...

... Jonathan Ladd: "With the media feeding frenzy the past two weeks over Hillary Clinton maintaining a private e-mail account while she was secretary of state, the 1990s dysfunctional marriage between the Clintons and the DC press has come roaring back -- no lessons learned or maturity built up on either side since Bill was president. On the Clinton side, there is a hostility and lack of openness to the press that is self-defeating. It provokes the negative coverage it intends to avoid. On the press side, the DC establishment media always seems to believe that the current scandal will be the one to bring down the Clintons, all evidence to the contrary." Via Paul Waldman.

Al Gore for President! Ezra Klein: "The most ambitious vision for the Democratic Party right now rests with a politician most have forgotten, and whom no one is mentioning for 2016: Al Gore. Gore offers a genuinely different view of what the Democratic Party -- and, by extension, American politics -- should be about.... The rest of his positions are closer in line with Democratic Party activists than, say, Clinton's. He opposed the Iraq War and endorsed single-payer health care, for instance." ...

... John Schwartz of the New York Times profiles Al Gore.

"Your World Is on Fire." Ed Kilgore: "... this is an extremely common millenialist fantasy among conservative evangelicals.... And it would be a completely natural concept for those who suspect the 44th president of the United States is, if not the Antichrist, then one of his tribunes. So next time you hear a Republican pol announce 'the world's on fire,' you're probably hearing a conscious or unconscious dog whistle." ...

... Sandra Westfall of People: Mom says three-year-old daughter is "beyond over-the-moon excited" about Ted Cruz," thinks he's "a hero," & is calling him "Uncle Cruz." CW: Somebody call Social Services.

Beyond the Beltway

Motor Voter. Shelby Sebens of Reuters: "Sweeping first-in-the nation legislation making voter registration automatic in Oregon was signed into law on Monday by Governor Kate Brown, potentially adding 300,000 new voters to state rolls. The so-called Motor Voter legislation will use state Department of Motor Vehicles data to automatically register eligible voters whose information is contained in the DMV system, with a 21-day opt-out period for those who wish to be taken off the registry."

Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "A lawyer for Jeffrey L. Williams, the 20-year-old suspect charged with shooting two officers during a demonstration outside the police station [in Ferguson, Mo.,], said Monday that he did not believe that his client had fired the shots. The lawyer, Jerryl Christmas, who spoke to Mr. Williams on Monday in jail, said Mr. Williams was unclear on how the officers were shot early Thursday. 'I don't think they have the right person in custody,' said Mr. Christmas, adding that he could not discuss the details of what his client had told him. 'I don't think he shot anybody.'"

Jonathan Watts of the Guardian: "The bad news just keeps coming for Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff. On Monday, the treasurer of the ruling Workers' Party was formerly charged with corruption. The day before, enormous anti-government demonstrations filled the streets of more than 160 cities. The economy is faltering, inflation is rising and poverty reduction is at risk of stalling. Her cabinet are in crisis mode, but they are hamstrung by a fractious legislature and a debilitating scandal at the state-run oil firm Petrobras, which has led to investigations of 34 sitting politicians, including the speakers of both houses of Congress." ...

... CW: Yeah, I was wondering when I saw the news of those demonstrations Sunday, which spilled onto a beach, if Bill O'Reilly was down there performing heroics in the "war zone." Or maybe looking at pictures of the war zone.

News Ledes

New York Times: "An Air Force veteran from New Jersey, recently fired from his job as an airplane mechanic, has been charged with trying to support the Islamic State by seeking to join the group. The veteran, Tairod Nathan Webster Pugh, a 47-year-old American citizen, tried to travel into Syria in January after being fired from his job in the Middle East, prosecutors said. But when he tried to go from Egypt to Turkey to Syria, Turkish authorities sent him back to Egypt. From there, he was deported to the United States."

Haaretz is liveblogging the Israeli elections without the usual online impediments he has been throwing up of late. "The Central Elections Committee has issued an injunction against live broadcasting a statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later this evening."

     ... Update 1: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 'no one will shut us up,' after the Central Elections Committee barred the media from airing his address, deeming it 'illegal election propaganda.'"

Washington Post: "A top Iranian envoy suggested Tuesday that 'main issues' have been cleared in nuclear talks and a framework on a possible deal could be reached before an end-of-month deadline."

The Commentariat -- March 16, 2015

Internal links removed.

Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "Three months into the expanded Republican majorities on the Hill, White House aides see a landscape in which President Barack Obama is more in charge now than he was before the midterms. Rather than moving forward on their own priorities as Republican leaders promised after their midterm sweep, the House and Senate find themselves reacting to Obama. So far, most legislation hasn't moved at all, and the most prominent votes have been on bills they already know Obama won't sign." ...

... Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The congressional push this week to secure the first Republican budget plan in nearly a decade is revealing a chasm between fiscal hawks determined to maintain strict spending caps and defense hawks who are threatening to derail any budget that does not ensure an increase for the military. 'This is a war within the Republican Party,' said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, who has vowed to oppose a final budget that does not ensure more military spending. 'You can shade it any way you want, but this is war.' The divisions will be laid bare Tuesday when congressional leaders unveil blueprints that hew to spending limits imposed by the budget battles of 2011." ...

... HOWEVER, as Jennifer Steinhauer wrote in yesterday's New York Times, "... when it comes to what is left of his viable policy agenda on Capitol Hill, Mr. Obama’s biggest problems are now often with Democrats. The administration's most pressing goal, expansive trade legislation, is adamantly opposed by scores of Democrats in the House and Senate even as most Republicans support it. Mr. Obama's formal request for congressional authorization to fight the Islamic State is deeply imperiled, in no small measure because Senate Democrats find it wanting."

Michelle Lee of the Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Sunday that the confirmation of Loretta Lynch as attorney general may hinge on whether Congress works out its gridlock over a human trafficking bill. 'It's not a threat. We need to finish this human trafficking bill that came out of the Judiciary Committee unanimously . . . because the next week we'll be doing the budget and the next two weeks after that Congress is not in session,' McConnell said on CNN's 'State of the Union.'" ...

... CW: Funny, both Dana Bash & reporter Jeremy Diamond took your stance as a threat, Mitch.

Jennifer Haberkorn & David Rogers of Politico: "In a rare display of bipartisanship, House leaders are actively pursuing a deal to permanently change the way Medicare pays doctors and extend a children's health program for two years. The estimated $200 billion package could be introduced as soon as this week by House committees responsible for health care policy. Both Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi are personally involved...."

Bradley Klapper of the AP: "U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he would be willing to talk with Syrian President Bashar Assad to help broker a political resolution to the country's civil war. Kerry said in an interview with CBS News that the U.S. is pushing for Assad to seriously discuss a transition strategy to help end Syria's four-year conflict, which has killed more than 220,000 people, given rise to the Islamic State group and destabilized the wider Middle East. 'We have to negotiate in the end,' Kerry said. 'What we're pushing for is to get him to come and do that, and it may require that there be increased pressure on him of various kinds.'" ...

... Kyle Balluck of the Hill: "Secretary of State John Kerry said in an interview broadcast Sunday that a letter to Iranian leaders signed by 47 Republican senators was 'absolutely calculated directly to interfere with these negotiations.' 'It specifically inserts itself directly to the leader of another country saying, 'Don't negotiate with these guys because we're going to change this,' which by the way, is not only contrary to the Constitution with respect to the executive's right to negotiate, but it is incorrect because they cannot change an executive agreement,' Kerry said on CBS's 'Face the Nation.' 'So it's false information and directly calculated to interfere and basically say, "Don't negotiate with them. You've got to negotiate with 535 members of Congress,' he added." ...

... Sam Stein & Jessica Schulberg of the Huffington Post: "... the White House penned a letter Saturday night warning senators to hold back on legislation that would detract from the president's ability to affect and approve a final agreement with Iran. The letter, written by White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), reiterates a veto threat of the bill, while insisting that Congress will have a say in reviewing and affecting the ultimate outcome. But in far more detailed and foreboding terms than normal, McDonough lays out the administration's concerns should Corker's Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 end up becoming law." ...

     ... The full text of McDonough's letter to Corker is here. ...

** Susan Glasser of Politico interviews William Burns, former career ambassador & ambassador to Russia under Bush II, who has served under several U.S. presidents, & who began the negotiations with Iran. (This is probably news to Tom Cotton.) As Burns says (are you listening, John McCain?), "The reality is that the Iranians have developed over the course of the last decade or more the know-how to enrich, they know their way around basic enrichment technology, and you can't wish that away, you can't dismantle it away, you can't bomb it away." CW: If the Senate's 47 Percent read this interview, they might get a little insight into why we don't have 535 members of Congress conducting negotiations with foreign powers, especially when the majority of them are as ignorant as Tom Cotton. ...

... CW: Probably just a bit of garbled syntax, but Tom Cotton seemed a little confused Sunday as to what country Tehran was in. Maybe he sent that "open letter" to the Iranian leaders because he couldn't find their address. ...

And then I got flak for appearing on a video for BuzzFeed, trying to reach younger voters. What nonsense. You know, you don't diminish your office by taking a selfie. You do it by sending a poorly written letter to Iran. (Laughter and applause.) Really, that wasn't a joke. -- President Obama at the Gridiron Club dinner Saturday

... Ben Terris of the Washington Post has President Obama's full remarks at the dinner. There are some LOL moments.

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "The plea deal given to retired Gen. David H. Petraeus, which spares him prison time even though he gave military secrets to his mistress, reveals a 'profound double standard' in the way the Obama administration treats people who leak classified information, [Abbe Lowell,] a lawyer for an imprisoned government contractor, wrote in a letter to prosecutors. The sharply worded letter calls for the Justice Department to immediately release from prison Stephen J. Kim, an arms expert and former State Department contractor who is serving a 13-month sentence for disclosing classified information about North Korea to Fox News. Mr. Kim has said he was trying to call public attention to the threat posed by that country.... Mr. Lowell ... has previously highlighted the fact that top government officials disclose classified information for political purposes while prosecuting others for the same activity."

Karyn Bruggeman of the National Journal: "Campaign-style spending ... is becoming increasingly common for sitting governors, mayors, and other holders of high office. It's a spillover from a recipe for election success that has become pervasive since the Supreme Court struck down campaign-finance rules: Raise mass quantities of outside money, often from undisclosed donors.... Now, after winning, officials across the country are applying the same strategy to governing, relying on outside money -- and advocacy groups funded by that money -- to push their legislative agenda."

Election 2016

Onward, Christian Soldiers. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: "Evangelicals aim to mobilize an army for Republicans in 2016."

The Huckster. It's kinda hard to tell if Mike Huckabee would rather be POTUS or king of the late-nite infomercial realm. Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: In one ad, Huckabee "tells viewers to ignore 'Big Pharma' and instead points them to a 'weird spice, kitchen-cabinet cure,' [for diabetes] consisting of dietary supplements.... The American Diabetes Association and the Canadian Diabetes Association caution against treatments like the one peddled by the company Mr. Huckabee represents." Huckabee's spokesperson says his quack contract has expired, but the company's CEO "seemed to dispute that." Ads that appear on his newsletter include a "cure for cancer hidden in the Bible" & survival food kits.

... CW: Sure, the Huckster may be a charlatan preying on the gullible, but bear in mind he's just the most obvious one in a field of fraudsters. Viewed from the GOP gutter, Hillary looks like a dream candidate.

Marc Caputo of Politico: A problem for Marco Rubio: his longterm, close relationship with "David Rivera: Scandal-plagued former congressman under investigation in a federal campaign-finance probe."

"Yes, Your World Is on Fire!" David Edwards of the Raw Story: Ted Cruz frightens a child. With video. Exchange starts at about 1:40 min. in. ...

     ... The first video here is better; you can see that the child is just past toddler-stage & you can hear her ask the question. Cruz should come with a child-safety warning label.

... Whatever Works. Steve M.: "... as soon as it was clear that the kid was upset, Cruz switched off the 'America under the Democrats is dooooomed!' tape in his head and switched on the 'America is the greatest country in the world! Woo! Woo! Woo! U-S-A! U-S-A!" tape, as if they're interchangeable."

Beyond the Beltway

Manny Fernandez & John Eligon of the New York Times: "A 20-year-old man was charged with first-degree assault in the shooting of two police officers in front of the Ferguson Police Department early Thursday morning, according to Robert P. McCulloch, the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, who announced the charges in Clayton on Sunday. The man, Jeffrey Williams, acknowledged firing the shots, Mr. McCulloch said. He said that Mr. Williams, who is from north St. Louis County, was inside a car 'at least for some of the shots.'... The suspect was found through information provided by community members.... 'He is a demonstrator,' Mr. McCulloch said. 'He was out there earlier that evening as part of the demonstration. He's been out there on other occasions, part of the demonstrations.'" CW: The racial animus inherent in that statement is sickening. McCulloch wants to exploit racial tensions. He's the Rudy Giuliani of St. Louis. ...

... Matt Pearce of the Los Angeles Times: "McCulloch said Williams had previously attended demonstrations and had been at the demonstration on the night of the shooting. But local activists, organizers and journalists largely said they didn't know Williams or recognize him from his mugshot." ...

... Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Los Angeles Times: "Despite an effort being mounted to recall him, Ferguson Mayor James Knowles hopes to keep his job. Other former Ferguson leaders have resigned in the wake of a DOJ report exposing rampant racism & corruption in the town.

William Booth & Ruth Eglash of the Washington Post: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned supporters at a rally [in Tel Aviv] Sunday that he and his Likud party may not win Tuesday's election, a potentially dramatic fall for a consummate political survivor whose nine years in office transformed him into the public face of contemporary Israel. A loss by Netanyahu -- or a razor-thin win and the prospect that he would be forced to enter into an unwieldy 'government of national unity' with his rivals -- would mark a sobering reversal for Israel's security hawks, in a country where the electorate has been moving steadily rightward for the past 15 years." ...

... Diaa Hadid of the New York Times: "Now, polls cited by the Israeli media suggest the Arab alliance is likely to become the third-largest faction in [Israel's] Parliament with 13 of its 120 seats, potentially preventing Mr. Netanyahu from cobbling together the 61 seats he needs to form a coalition and stay in power." ...

... Paul Krugman: "Once upon a time, Israel was a country of egalitarian ideals.... Since then..., however, key measures of inequality have soared; Israel is now right up there with America as one of the most unequal societies in the advanced world.... Roughly 20 families control companies that account for half the total value of Israel's stock market.... The political economy of the promised land is now characterized by harshness at the bottom and at least soft corruption at the top.... And Israel's experience shows that this matters, that extreme inequality has a corrosive effect on social and political life.... Many Israelis see Mr. Netanyahu as part of the problem. He's an advocate of free-market policies; he has a Chris Christie-like penchant for living large at taxpayers' expense, while clumsily pretending otherwise."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Iran has deployed advanced rockets and missiles to Iraq to help fight the Islamic State in Tikrit, a significant escalation of firepower and another sign of Iran's growing influence in Iraq."

New York Times: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Monday that as long as he is the leader, a Palestinian state would not be established, reversing his support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mr. Netanyahu made the assertion on the eve of an election in which he is trailing in the polls."

Washington Post: "Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first public appearance in more than 10 days on Monday, following intense speculation about his health or other reasons he was out of view. 'It would be boring without gossip,' Putin told reporters outside St. Petersburg in his first public event since March 5. But he offered no other immediate details on why he missed a series of meetings and postponed one state visit during the period."

The Commentariat -- Ides of March 2015

Internal links & defunct removed.

Mitt Romney has an op-ed in USA Today urging the Obama administration to show some "courage" & walk away from negotiations with Iran because "agreements with tyrants & fanatics" always fall apart.

Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "... the United States, largely because of poor oversight and loose financial controls, has sometimes inadvertently financed the very militants it is fighting. While refusing to pay ransoms for Americans kidnapped by Al Qaeda, the Taliban or, more recently, the Islamic State, the United States has spent hundreds of billions of dollars over the last decade at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of which has been siphoned off to enemy fighters."

I really do have a lot of close friends who are Democrats. I even have Hillary's private e-mail. . . It's HillaryClinton@Wallstreet.com. You know the best part of that joke, Elizabeth Warren wrote it for me. -- Scott Walker, at the Gridiron dinner

[Walker] punted on the question of evolution, which I do think is a problem. I absolutely believe in the theory of evolution -- when it comes to gay marriage. -- President Obama, Gridiron dinner

Ben Terris of the Washington Post: President Obama & other politicos cracked wise as the Gridiron Club's off-the-record annual dinner last night. ...

... The AP reports more jokes.

God News

** Kevin Kruse, in a fascinating New York Times op-ed, explains -- as a reaction to the New Deal -- "how corporate America invented Christian America," which is the subtitle of his recent book. Thanks to Victoria D. for the link.

Elizabeth Barber of Reuters: "Two homosexual rights groups will march in Boston's St. Patrick's Day parade on Sunday after organizers lifted a longtime ban on lesbian, gay and transgender (LGBT) organizations joining the annual Irish-American march.... The Massachusetts contingent of Knights of Columbus, an organization of Catholic men, pulled out of the parade on Friday, calling the event 'politicized and divisive.' [CW: Also, gay people frighten them.]... In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he will boycott the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade again this year, with its organizers refusing to admit more than one gay rights group."

NBC News: "Pope Francis has said he will probably remain pope for only a few years, adding that his predecessor was very brave for retiring." Also, he misses being able to go out & get a pizza. CW: It's true that in Rome, where the pizza is delicious. that's a hardship.

Brendan James of TPM: "A group of Catholic nuns condemned Fox News host Bill O'Reilly [last] Sunday for saying that he had 'seen' the murders of their sisters in El Salvador in 1980.... 'Maryknoll Sisters were deeply saddened when our Sisters were killed in El Salvador, and shocked when we learned of Mr. O'Reilly's statement inferring he witnessed their murder,' the statement said.... The Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland also offered a statement, calling for reporters covering the tragedy to do so with a spirit of 'integrity and honesty.'" Via Steve Benen.

Greg Horton of Religion News Service: "In an effort to block the state's involvement with gay marriage, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday (March 10) to abolish marriage licenses in the state.... [The bill's sponsor, Todd] Russ [R,] said the intent of the bill is to protect court clerks caught between the federal and state governments.... The bill would require court clerks to issue certificates of marriage signed by ordained clergy or affidavits of common-law marriage. The Senate has not yet voted on the measure. Nor has Gov. [Mary] Fallin [R] indicated what she will do if the bill passes the Senate."

Kyle Mantyla of Right Wing Watch: Evangelical leader Franklin Graham says the reason President Obama won't fight ISIS is that he wants to protect Islam because "His mother must have been a Muslim." Via Benen. CW: Never mind that Obama is fighting ISIS & his mother was not a Muslim & neither is he. It is never, never necessary to say anything even vaguely factual if you believe in Jesus. So let that be a lesson to those nuns who are ragging Bill O'Reilly for making up stuff. It's the Christian thing to do, Sisters.

Ben Hooper of UPI: "Authorities in Florida said a church has lost its tax-exempt status after it was found to be hosting nude paint events and slumber parties with the 'sexiest ladies.'... The events hosted at the facility included an 'anything but clothes' body painting party and a slumber party billed as 'a pajama and lingerie party hosted by the sexiest ladies on the beach.'"

Presidential Race

Jonathan Karl, et al., of ABC News: "House Speaker John Boehner is expected to announce this week a new investigation into Hillary Clinton's email practices as Secretary of State, including her admission that more than 31,000 emails were destroyed because she determined them to be personal, top House Republicans told ABC News today." CW: What a surprise! ...

Gohmert! I suspect she didn't want Louie Gohmert rifling though her e-mails, which seems to me to be a kind of reasonable position for someone to take. -- James Carville, on ABC News's "This Week," today

... The "Little Woman" Excuse. David Remnick of the New Yorker: At her press conference, Hillary Clinton should have been returning to those feminist themes [she expressed in her U.N. speech], but she used the opportunity to claim that she was only trying to protect the sanctity of her communications about her 'yoga routines,' her daughter's wedding, and her mother's funeral. This was a notably transparent exploitation of gender. It's one thing for a politician to be stupid; it is quite another for her to assume that we are. And what to make of a politician who protested the war in Vietnam and investigated the Watergate scandals but now writes a valentine to Henry Kissinger in the Washington Post -- a book review in which Clinton calls Kissinger 'surprisingly idealistic'? The peoples of Chile, Cambodia, Argentina, Bangladesh, and East Timor surely want to know more." ...

... Maureen Dowd writes a pretty good "Open Letter to hdr22@clintonemail.com". ...

... Just So You'll Know. Ed Klein of the New York Post: "It's the vast left-wing conspiracy. Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett leaked to the press details of Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail address during her time as secretary of state, sources tell me. But she did so through people outside the administration.... In addition, at Jarrett's behest, the State Department was ordered to launch a series of investigations into Hillary's conduct [as Secretary of State].... I'm told that the e-mail scandal was timed to come out just as Hillary was on the verge of formally announcing that she was running for president.... Members of Bill Clinton's camp say the former president suspects the White House is the source of the leak and is furious.... According to this source, Bill added: 'The Obamas are out to get us any way they can.'" CW: Klein's "sources," BTW, are notoriously unreliable. But that's okay; the Post made this its cover story....

Worse Than Hillary ...

... CW: Yesterday, I linked an NYT story on how "Jeb Bush has rebuked Hillary Rodham Clinton for her use of a private email account as secretary of state, holding up his own conduct as an example of transparency in government. But it took Mr. Bush seven years after leaving office to comply fully with a Florida public records statute requiring him to turn over emails he sent and received as governor." ...

...Way Worse Than Hillary ...

... Today, Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post piles on: "Jeb Bush used his private e-mail account as Florida governor to discuss security and military issues such as troop deployments to the Middle East and the protection of nuclear plants, according to a review of publicly released records. The e-mails include two series of exchanges involving details of Florida National Guard troop deployments after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the review by The Washington Post found.... Bush ... has sharply criticized ... Hillary Rodham Clinton for her use of a private e-mail account...." A Bush aide called O'Keefe's story a "Democrat opposition research dump."

Where's Scottie? Jason Stein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "For more than a week, aides to Gov. Scott Walker have declined to say whether he's in Wisconsin on those days that have no public events scheduled.... In many cases in recent months, the first indication that Walker has left the state comes when news outlets at his destination report on his trips, which have taken him to Iowa, California, New Hampshire and New York in the past week alone. On five of the past eight days, Walker has been out of Wisconsin for at least part of the day. On one of those days, it was unclear in what state the governor was located." CW: Maybe he's meeting in an undisclosed location with Putin.

An illustration in "Southern Partisan," 1999.Vote Lindsey Graham for President of the CSA. Andrew Kaczynski & Ilan Ben-Mier of BuzzFeed: Richard Quinn, "one of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's longtime advisers, was the editor-in-chief of [Southern Partisan,] a neo-Confederate magazine -- a magazine Graham gave an interview to in 1999." Quinn claims to have rejected his long-held racist views, evidently because it was politically expedient for him to do so: "The issue of Quinn's past came up while serving as an adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign.... McCain stood by Quinn and said he had never read his writing. He cited Quinn's work for Ronald Reagan, Strom Thurmond, and others." Thanks to safari for the link. ...

... David Firestone of the New York Times, Jan. 12, 2000: "Over the last three days, Senator John McCain has made three conflicting statements on the Confederate battle flag issue raging in the key primary state of South Carolina, and with each statement, his position has become less clear.... His top South Carolina strategist, Richard M. Quinn, said ... that Mr. McCain had called the flag a symbol of heritage 'at least 150 times in the past.'... [McCain's] characterization of the flag's symbolism makes him the only major presidential contender to empathize with the flag's supporters." In late April, more than a month after he had withdrawn from the presidential race, McCain apologized for his support for the racist symbol.

Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: New Hampshire could be crucial for GOP presidential candidates this year, especially the so-called "moderates," & the candidates are giving the state a lot of attention. There is no clear frontrunner.

Beyond the Beltway

Jack Healy & John Eligon of the New York Times: "On April 7, Ferguson will cast its first votes for local leaders since [Michael] Brown's death in August.... For years, local leaders in Ferguson ran unopposed in elections that drew 12 percent of registered voters, only single-digit percentages of black residents and almost exclusively white candidates.... Four African-Americans are running this year, compared with a total of three in Ferguson's previous 120 years."

Michael Rosenwald of the Washington Post: "... pistol and rifle teams, which, like other college shooting teams, have benefited from the largesse of gun industry money [have] become so popular that they often turn students away. Teams are thriving at a diverse range of schools: Yale, Harvard, the University of Maryland, George Mason University, and even smaller schools.... Once they fire a gun, students say they find shooting relaxing -- at MIT, students call it 'very Zen' -- and that it teaches focusing skills that help in class.... And that's precisely what the gun industry hoped it would hear after spending the past few years pouring millions of dollars into collegiate shooting...."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Where's Vlad, Ctd. Julia Ioffe, in a Washington Post piece, on Vladimir Putin's strange disappearance. The Kremlin doesn't have a cover story, & even if it did, no one would believe the tale.

News Ledes

AP: "Secretary of State John Kerry, returning to talks with Iran on its nuclear program, said Sunday that most of the differences still barring an agreement are political rather than technical."

New York Times: "Robert A. Durst, the scion of a New York real estate family, was arrested on Saturday in New Orleans on a warrant issued in a homicide investigation by Los Angeles County, law enforcement officials said. For years, questions have swirled around Mr. Durst about the unsolved killing of a close friend and confidante in Los Angeles 15 years ago, and about his first wife's disappearance in 1982 and the shooting and dismemberment of a Texas neighbor in 2001. HBO has been airing a documentary about Mr. Durst, called 'The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,' and the final episode is scheduled to be shown Sunday night." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "On Sunday night, in the final moments of the final episode of a six-part HBO documentary about him, 'The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,' Mr. Durst seemed to veer toward a confession that could lift the shroud of mystery that surrounds the deaths of three people over the course of three decades. 'What the hell did I do?' Mr. Durst whispers to himself in an unguarded moment caught on a microphone he wore during filming. 'Killed them all, of course.'"