The Commentariat -- Sept. 12, 2012

John Cook of Gawker: "Kurt Eichenwald, the disgraced former New York Times reporter whose career went up in flames after he got caught secretly paying thousands of dollars to a child pornographer he wrote about, is on the comeback trail. Today he published an op-ed in the New York Times claiming to have evidence that the Bush Administration is guilty of 'significantly more negligence' in ignoring 9/11 warning signs 'than has been disclosed.' That may be true, but save for a few interesting details, the evidence he presents has been in the public record for nearly a decade." CW: I linked Eichenwald's op-ed the other day, & it got lotsa positive press attention. Cook provides the antidote.

Mike Konczal of Business Insider presents "The Complete Guide To America's Jobs Crisis And The Failure Of Monetary Policy Using Animated Gifs." Fun AND informative; e.g., Ben Bernanke's policy:

Matthew Cunningham-Cook, writing in The Nation, has a very good pro-union piece on the Chicago teachers' strike. ...

... Laura Clawson of Daily Kos: "Chicago teachers are taking on the education agenda of the one percent, and that means they're taking a beating in the media. But a new poll shows that ... 47 percent [of Chicago voters] support the strike, with 39 percent opposed."

Presidential Race

** Lydia Saad of Gallup: "The U.S. Gallup Economic Confidence Index surged to -18 for the week ending Sept. 9, up 11 points from -29 the prior week.... It appears that the spark for the dramatic rise in Americans' economic confidence last week was the Democratic National Convention. A review of Gallup's nightly tracking results shows that the index was consistently near or below -25 each night in late August and early September, but then sharply improved on Sept. 4, the first night of the convention, to -18. Confidence then held at or near -18 through Sunday, despite the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' mixed August unemployment report Friday.... More specifically, the convention appears to have given Democrats and, to a lesser degree, independents, fresh optimism about the economy."

James Downie of the Washington Post ties President Obama's convention speech about citizenship to the nation's reaction to 9/11, when -- for however brief a moment -- we all became citizens.

AP: "Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney criticized the Obama administration in the wake of attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions in Egypt and Libya on Tuesday, [September 11]. The assaults were linked to a video being promoted by an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christi, an in the U.S." Romney said, "'It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.' Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a statement released about the same time as Romney's, condemned the attack in Libya 'in the strongest terms.'" CW: I would favor fitting Romney for a muzzle in the interest of national security. I hope when the President makes or issues a statement about the consulate killings (which surely he will), he'll tactfully tell Romney to STFU (which he probably won't). Suggesting that the President would favor violence (and ultimately murder) against U.S. consulate personnel is what is "disgraceful." But anything to suggest Obama is a secret Muslim fundamentalist is evidently A-Okay. See Michael Tomasky column linked below. It took less than 24 hours for Tomasky's prediction to come true. ...

     ... Byron Tau of Politico: "The Obama administration is disavowing a statement from its own Cairo embassy that seemed to apologize for anti-Muslim activity in the United States. 'The statement by Embassy Cairo was not cleared by Washington and does not reflect the views of the United States government,' an administration official told Politico. The U.S. embassy in Cairo put out a statement early Tuesday that apologized for an anti-Muslim film being circulated by an Israeli-American real estate developer." CW: the embassy statement may somewhat mitigates Mitt's remarks. But not much.

     ... Update. Maggie Haberman of Politico: "Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt pushes back with this statement of his own: 'We are shocked that, at a time when the United States of America is confronting the tragic death of one of our diplomatic officers in Libya, Governor Romney would choose to launch a political attack.' Romney's remarks, initially embargoed until the 9/11 anniversary was officially over but then made public before that, also came as the situation was still unfolding -- there are now four reported deaths, including U.S. Ambassador John Christopher Stevens...." ...

     ... Update. Peter Baker & Sarah Wheaton of the New York Times have Romney's full statement: "'I'm outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi,' Mr. Romney said in a statement. 'It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.'" Mr. Romney was making an apparent reference to a statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo condemning a Web film that denounces Islam made my an Israel-American. The statement, which rejects 'efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims,' was released before the protests started in an effort to cool tensions." CW: So, in my book, Romney himself is still "disgraceful" -- AND an "outrage." ...

     ... Update. Tampa Bay Times: "The U.S. ambassador to Libya and three American members of his staff were reportedly killed Tuesday in riots sparked by outrage over a film backed by Terry Jones, the Gainesville pastor whose burning of Korans last year led to days of rioting in Afghanistan." CW: so basically, Mitt Romney is on that whacked-out guy's side.

     ... Update: Steve Kornacki of Salon: "The foolishness of Romney's reaction is glaring. Pretending that the statement from the U.S. embassy in Cairo was anything other than a completely understandable and reasonable attempt by its occupants to save their own lives borders on disgraceful. Romney's implication that the statement was issued at the height of the attacks is also false; it was actually released earlier in the day, a preventive measure aimed at keeping the protests from turning violent." ...

     ... Update. Greg Sargent: "Mitt Romney just held a press availability about the attacks in Libya and Egypt and the death of the U.S. ambassador John Christopher Stevens. Remarkably, Romney doubled down on his claim that the Obama administration 'sympathized' with the attackers.... This press conference looks to me like a serious mistake on Romney's part. The whole thing reeked of political opportunism and didn't convey any sense of leadership or reassurance amid a crisis. It was also somewhat incoherent." ...

     ... Ben Smith of BuzzFeed: "Mitt Romney's sharply-worded attack on President Obama over a pair of deadly riots in Muslim countries last night has backfired badly among foreign policy hands of both parties, who cast it as hasty and off-key, released before the facts were clear at what has become a moment of tragedy." ...

     ... Update. Scott Wong of Politico: "Republicans on Capitol Hill strongly condemned the attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Libya and Egypt that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. But they're leaving ... Mitt Romney out on a limb after he criticized President Barack Obama's 'disgraceful' handling of the assault...." ...

... Andy Rosenthal of the New York Times: "... it's perfectly reasonable that embassy staff tried to pacify the rioters by condemning 'efforts to offend believers of all religions.' During the Danish cartoons flap, the Bush administration said 'we certainly understand why Muslims would find these images offensive.' ... It would be one thing if Mr. Romney had his big ideas about foreign policy and legitimate disagreements with Mr. Obama. All he offers is blind partisan attack and fortune-cookie pronouncements." ...

... David Sessions of Newsweek: "In the wake of an attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, Tuesday that left an American envoy dead, conservatives are bringing back one of the most deeply dishonest narratives of the Obama administration: that the president apologizes for the United States."

... Mark Thompson of Time: "The news of the killing of Chris Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, in an attack at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi is bitter. It was Benghazi, after all, that was the heart of the Libyan revolution last year. Libyan leader Muammar Ghadafi vowed to exterminate the rebels there like 'rats.' It was to protect the civilians of Benghazi that the U.S. went to war over Libya in 2011, along with its NATO, and some Arab, allies. Ghadafi was killed last October and now Stevens -- who championed the rebels' cause from his post in Benghazi -- has sadly met the same fate.... The immediate political statements by both sides in the presidential race cheapens Stevens' sacrifice.... A White House spokesman denounced Romney's comment as a 'political attack.'" ...

... AND this tweet from RNC Chair Reince Priebus: "Obama sympathizes with attackers in Egypt. Sad and pathetic."

Mitt Who? Dana Milbank: "House Republican leaders ... uttered 1,350 words in their opening remarks at the news conference but made no reference to" Mitt Romney. "That Romney would go on 'Meet the Press' and say that last year's bipartisan spending deal was a 'mistake' -- never mind that Romney had applauded Boehner for negotiating the deal at the time -- made clear that the GOP nominee does not wish to run on the record of congressional Republicans. That House Republicans would not so much as breathe Romney's name makes clear the sentiment is mutual.... The estrangement seen in the past few days is part of a broader dynamic in which the Republican Party seems to be readying itself to cut and run from its nominee."

A new Obama ad going up in swing state:

No Rest for the Warmongers. Matt Vasilogambros of the National Journal: "On the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Republicans aligned with Mitt Romney attacked President Obama over his foreign policy actions, from the decision to withdraw troops from Iraq to the conflict that still plagues Syria. 'As far as the Middle East is concerned, this president's national security policy has been an abysmal failure,' said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Fox & Friends. Taking a similar tone, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani criticized Obama's handling of the Iran's nuclear program."

Sahil Kapur of Think Progress: "Conservatives are increasingly worried that Mitt Romney's vagueness about tax reform and other policy issues will be his downfall on Election Day. Romney's sympathizers are raising red flags, after he and his running mate repeatedly declined to provide details during a round of Sunday interviews about the loopholes he'd close to pay for large tax rate cuts." ...

... Paul Waldman of American Prospect has a very good post on Mitt Romney's vagueness: "It's one thing to be vague because you think getting bogged down in a discussion of details will distract from your broader message, but it's another thing to be vague because a discussion of details will reveal that you're promising things you can't possibly deliver." ...

... Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic: "The more Romney talks about his plans, the more he'll have to acknowledge the unpopular trade-offs -- and not just on health care. If Romney provides details on his tax plan, he'll have to tell non-wealthy voters he's raising their taxes or admit that his plan will, on its own, increase the deficit. If he provides more details on his spending plan, he'll have to tell the voters about massive cuts to federal programs they cherish. If he goes into detail about his economic agenda, he'll have to admit that serious economists doubt that agenda will do much to create jobs in the short run." ...

... Jamelle Bouie in the Washington Post: "Between his promise to restore Obama's Medicare cuts, his promise to fight defense cuts, and his promise to cut taxes without saying how they'd be paid for, Romney has offered nothing that would reduce the deficit.... Conservatives have urged Romney to provide more detail the public, but given the degree to which his policy proposals do not meet their stated goals, that's probably not a good idea. Second, the move to hit Obama on defense cuts is another sign that Team Romney is moving away from its "Obama failed on the economy" message, and toward a broader set of right wing attacks on a variety of issues. The problem is that it's hard to capitalize on issues like this when you're running mate is on the other side. This was the case with Medicare cuts, it is the case with the sequester...."

... CW: what I see happening is that perhaps the public has taken a glance at the most untrustworthy presidential nominee in recent history & is seeing -- an untrustworthy candidate: he won't release his taxes, he won't say anything more about his jobs agenda than that he'll create the same number of jobs that would be created anyway, he claims his Bain experience makes him qualified to handle the economy but he won't say how, he wants to cut taxes on the rich, he wants to voucherize everything but his family's horse (which he's incorporated), he's been caught in well-publicized (at long last) lies, he criticizes President Obama on foreign policy but he has no foreign policy of his own other than Russia-Bad/USA-good, China-Bad/USA-good, Israel-good/Obama-bad. And his vapid wife Lady Romney thinks living for a couple of years the way most students live for several years is a heart-rending hardship.

CW: Jeb Bush got up at the GOP convention & chastised President Obama for "blaming my brother" for everything. Ross Douthat must have been playing with his blow-up Lady Romney doll during that speech because the point of his post today is that Romney's bad standing is totally Bush's fault.

What [Romney] did was to say it worked in Massachusetts, but it can't work nationally. The problem he has is that's a totally illogical position, and he looks like an idiot.... They're the same fucking bill. -- Jonathan Gruber, who worked on developing both RomneyCare & ObamaCare ...

... Charles Pierce, in a full-length Esquire piece, writes that he is thankful for RomneyCare, even if Willard Romney isn't. (Click on the printer icon [just above the portrait of Gov. Willard] to read the story on one page.)

Not that it matters, BUT. Katie Glueck of Politico: "A survey by the German Marshall Fund of the United States ... [found that] 38 percent of respondents in the European Union said they did not know whether they had a favorable or unfavorable view of Romney, or refused to respond.... Of the European respondents who were familiar with Romney, 39 percent viewed him unfavorably, while just 23 percent had a positive take on the candidate, according to the survey." CW: Yeah, well, whaddaya expect from socialists?

Lies, Damned Lies & Fox "News" "Statistics." Steve Benen: Fox "News" put up a graphic comparing the standard unemployment rate in 2009 to the current rate that "includes part-time workers who want to work full-time and those who've given up." In other words, comparing apples & cantaloupes. Based on these totally cooked figured, Fox then claimed that unemployment has doubled under president Obama. They added a phony figure to show that "government workers" had a low unemployment rate, when the opposite is true. As Benen writes, "The public sector hasn't had it better than everyone else; the public sector has had it worse than everyone else. After the graphic aired, Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham asked, 'Other than Fox News, where are you really seeing those statistics?' What a good question."

Michael Tomasky of Newsweek predicts that Candidate Do-Anything-Say-Anything will amp up the race-baiting if it becomes clear he can't win on the economy & other culture-war issues. Let's remember this & see if Tomasky is right. ...

... Here's a good example of what Tomasky is writing about:

Brian Bakst of the AP: "Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan plans to begin airing ads in Wisconsin as he asks voters to elect him to an eighth House term...."

News Ledes

President Obama remarks on the attack on U.S. diplomats in Libya:

Secretary of State Clinton on the killing of Ambassador Stevens & others in the U.S. diplomat corps:

Washington Post: "News agencies reported Wednesday that the U.S. ambassador to Libya, John Christopher Stevens, was killed in an assault outside the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, after protestors stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to protest a U.S.-released film that protesters said insulted the prophet Muhammad. Stevens and three other embassy employees were fatally wounded by rocket fire outside the consulate on Tuesday, news agencies said. Neither the White House nor the State Department had confirmed Stevens' death as of Wednesday morning." Story has been updated. The White House has confirmed the killings. "Wire services and reporters on the ground said that Stevens and the others were fleeing the consulate when a rocket-propelled grenade struck their vehicle. Al-Jazeera's correspondent in Benghazi said the bodies of the dead had been taken to the Benghazi airport." ...

     ... Al Jazeera story here....

     ... New York Times story here. The Times story had been updated to include this new information: "Initial accounts of the assault in Benghazi were attributed to popular anger over what was described as an American-made video.... But administration officials in Washington said the attack in Libya may have been plotted in advance." ...

     ... Politico Update: "The consulate where the American ambassador to Libya was killed on Tuesday is an 'interim facility' not protected by the contingent of Marines that safeguards embassies." ...

     ... AP: "An Israeli filmmaker based in California went into hiding Tuesday after his movie attacking Islam's prophet Muhammad sparked angry assaults by ultra-conservative Muslims on U.S. missions in Egypt and Libya, where one American was killed. Speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, writer and director Sam Bacile remained defiant, saying Islam is a cancer and that the 56-year-old intended his film to be a provocative political statement condemning the religion." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "The film that set off violence across North Africa was made in obscurity somewhere in the sprawl of Southern California, and promoted by a network of right-wing Christians with a history of animosity directed toward Muslims. When a 14-minute trailer of it -- all that may actually exist -- was posted on YouTube in June, it was barely noticed."

Washington Post: "The deepening dispute between the United States and Israel over how to stop Iran's nuclear program broke into public view Tuesday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggesting that the Obama administration did not have the 'moral right' to forestall military action. Netanyahu's remarks -- and a White House decision that President Obama will not meet with the Israeli leader later this month -- threatened to further exacerbate tensions between the two allies and possibly push the disagreement over Iran into the U.S. presidential campaign."

AP: "Germany's highest court paved the way for the creation of Europe's €500 billion rescue fund after it rejected Wednesday calls to block it."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 11, 2012

REALITYCHEX HAS BEEN HACKED. Sorry for the inconvenience to everybody. Update: back in business after many hours. Update 2: not hacked; "internal issued." (See today's Ledes.)

Reporter Kurt Eichenwald in a New York Times op-ed: "I have ... come to an inescapable conclusion: the [Bush II] administration’s reaction to what Mr. Bush was told in the weeks before that infamous briefing reflected significantly more negligence than has been disclosed. In other words, the Aug. 6 document, for all of the controversy it provoked, is not nearly as shocking as the briefs that came before it." Read the whole piece: neocons advised Bush, et al., that the CIA's warnings of an imminent attack by bin Laden were wrong & the administration should ignore the CIA. Thanks to Victoria D. for the link.

CW: I'll have to leave it to the reader to decide whether Neil Barofsky or Tim Geithner is right on the payoff of the A.I.G. bailout -- my "arithmetic" isn't good enough. Here's one impressive opinion: "The Government Accountability Office, which is not swayed by politics, estimated in May that taxpayers will receive a profit of about $15 billion from the A.I.G. bailout."

George Will Is Crazy. Jon Chait of New York: "George Will is a longtime hater of liberalism, and a longtime hater of football, so it makes sense that he would try to align his hatreds and write a column arguing that college football is an expression of liberalism." Chait liberally cites Will's column, so I won't bother to link to it. ...

... Paul Krugman: "Last year [George Will] uncovered our plot to undermine individualism by making people ride trains; now he's uncovered our long-term strategy of inculcating collectivist values through, um, college football. Foiled again."

Presidential Race

Julie Pace & Philip Elliott of the AP: "Both President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney plan to take down their negative ads in honor of the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Neither planned to appear at overtly political events.... Obama has scheduled a moment of silence at the White House and a trip to the Pentagon, the target of one of four planes al-Qaida hijacked 11 years ago. Romney, meanwhile, is set to address the National Guard, whose members deployed as part of the U.S. response to the attacks."

Gary Langer of ABC News: "Barack Obama has emerged from the nominating conventions in his best position against Mitt Romney since spring, a 50-44 percent race among registered voters in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll. But Romney recovers to a virtual dead heat among van those most likely to vote, keeping the contest between them wide open." ...

... Charlie Cook of National Journal: "... if President Obama is reelected, it will be despite the economy and because of his campaign; if Mitt Romney wins, it will be because of the economy and despite his campaign."

Van Duzer & Obama in motion:

     ... Greg Krieg of ABC News: "Earlier [Monday], users flooded the rate and review website Yelp, sending Big Apple Pizza's overall rating in a tailspin.... But just as quickly as Big Apple's stars disappeared, they were back. The backlash to the backlash was delivered swiftly. By late afternoon, Van Nuzer's [sic.] pizza spot was back up in the rankings, registering a full five stars." ...

     ... Kevin Cirilli of Politico has a related story here.

Michael Hastings, et al., of BuzzFeed: the Obama campaign sees a clear Obama advantage over Romney on national security issues. Romney's defense goes something like this: "I can speak French! I've met Russian ice dancers! I have money hidden all over the world!" CW P.S.: Romney's French sucks.

Lyndsey Layton & Bill Turque of the Washington Post: "Teachers in Chicago went on strike for the first time in 25 years on Monday in a bitter dispute with Mayor Rahm Emanuel that is reverberating across the country as the issues at the core of the conflict.... The fact that the fight revolves around Emanuel, a former chief of staff to President Obama, has pushed the municipal labor fight into prime time and complicated the political calculus. Obama is relying heavily on the support of unions in his reelection bid...." Despite the fact that President Obama has not addressed the strike, Romney issued a statement saying, "Teachers unions have too often made plain that their interests conflict with those of our children, and today we are seeing one of the clearest examples. President Obama has chosen his side in this fight." ...

... Chris Moody of Yahoo! News: "Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan spoke out against the Chicago Teachers Union strike on Monday, saying he stands behind Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's opposition to the demonstration."

Matt Miller in the Washington Post: "Instead of 'Believe In America,' the de facto GOP motto has become: 'Let other people's children fight our wars, funded by debt other people's children can pay off later.' ... It's the ultimate proof the GOP has gone off the rails. The amazing thing is that Democrats almost never make the tax argument this way."

Ezra Klein on why Romney's repeated bait-&-switch ploys are biting him. Example: "Among the most popular parts of President Obama's health reforms is the protection for people with preexisting conditions. So Romney wants to keep that bit... [But] if you don't let insurers turn away people with preexisting conditions, you need some way to keep healthy people from only buying insurance once they get sick. That means you need an individual mandate, or something like it. And if you're going to have some sort of mandate-like policy, you need subsidies to help people afford the insurance the government is now pushing them to buy. And so, soon enough, you've got Obamacare -- or, as it was known in Massachusetts, Romneycare. And Romney opposes Romneycare/Obamacare." ...

ObamaCare Has Become "The New Normal." Amy Fried of Pollways: "Obamacare ... is putting pressure on Romney. A key reason is that Obamacare created a new normal in who's covered. The law requires insurance companies to take all comers. People with pre-existing conditions cannot be excluded... [Romney] wants to associate himself with the new normal, the popular provision on pre-existing conditions. However, from the policy point of view, this is impossible without a mandate.... Obama's advantage on health care is seen in more and more polls, as he favored on healthcare over Romney." Via Jonathan Bernstein. ...

... Pema Levy of TPM: "Democrats are accusing Mitt Romney of purposefully misleading on the issue of pre-existing conditions in order to win over undecided voters." CW: yeah, me too. ...

... Update. Very nice. Robert Pear & Amy Goodnough of the New York Times try to figure out ways RomneyCare Part 2 could work without a mandate. Maybe they should just become advisors to the Romney campaign.

Alex Altman of Time on the two campaigns of Mitt Romney. Romney originally planned to run solely on a platform of bashing Obama on the economy. But when his campaign saw that wouldn't work, they tailored red-meat base-motivating rhetoric to selective audiences. CW: evidently, the campaign is unaware the national media are following Willard around.

Richard Cohen of the Washington Post writes about one good column out of a hundred. This one is it: Ann Romney doesn't understand poverty. "Poverty, after all, is not about bookcases made of planks and bricks but about utter hopelessness." CW: Lady Romney is just an embarrassment.

Kevin Roose of New York: actually, Bain Capital isn't the worst of the private equity firms.

** Thomas Edsall in the New York Times: "... the Ryan budget contains an $897 billion sinkhole: massive but unexplained cuts in such discretionary domestic programs as education, food and drug inspection, workplace safety, environmental protection and law enforcement. The scope of the cuts -- stunning in their breadth -- is hidden.... While the Ryan budget does specify cuts in programs serving the poor, many of whom are Democratic constituents (Medicaid, food stamps, unemployment benefits), it hides under the abstruse veil of 'Function 920 allowances' the cuts in programs popular with many other voters. This maneuver stands in stark contrast to Ryan's campaign rhetoric." ...

... Paul Krugman: "... the Ryan story isn't just about Ryan; it's about how the establishment allowed itself to be taken in by such an obvious shyster, despite warnings from many of us that he was, well, an obvious shyster."

Suzy Khimm of the Washington Post comes up with two more whoppers by Ryan in his "Face the Nation" Lie-a-Thon: (1) that Obama never proposed an alternative to the sequester -- he did, for 10 years; and (2) that "'the supercommittee offered' a sequester alternative. In fact, the supercommittee failed to come to an agreement." (See also yesterday's Commentariat.)

Eric Hananoki of Media Matters: "Fox News contributor Elaine Chao has recently appeared on Fox Business to criticize Obama over the economy and push the falsehood that he stripped the work requirement from welfare. During these appearances, Fox didn't disclose that Chao is a national chair of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Fox News has made it a regular practice to not disclose some of its frequent guests' ties to the Romney campaign.... News Corp., the parent company of Fox News, recently nominated Chao to join its Board of Directors. Chao is married to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).... Fox News contributors John Bolton and Walid Phares, and Fox regular Jay Sekulow, have all appeared on the network to criticize Obama without disclosing they're Romney advisers." Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

Congressional Races

Jonathan Weisman & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "With less than two months until Election Day, the Senate landscape is both broader and more fluid than it has been in years, with control of the upper chamber now anyone's guess. Both parties have seen new opportunities and new challenges, but the net result is that Democrats appear to be in less danger of losing the Senate, while Republicans have a more difficult path to gaining the majority."

Reid Wilson of National Journal learns that Republicans are going to run ads pushing the Democratic Senate candidate in Maine in hopes she will peel off votes from the popular independent Angus King, who is likely to caucus with Democrats if he wins. CW: Say anything; do anything.

News Ledes

Washington Post: "The Internal Revenue Service awarded $104 million to a banker-turned-whistleblower who helped the government penetrate a scheme in which Switzerland's largest bank helped its American clients dodge taxes. The award, confirmed by the IRS on Tuesday, was announced by the legal team representing Bradley Birkenfeld. The former UBS banker gave federal investigators an inside account of the bank's conduct over several years, but he ended up serving nearly three years in prison after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to helping one of his clients evade taxes."

Washington Post: "Signaling a deepening dispute with Washington over issuing ultimatums for Iran's nuclear program, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that those who won't make such demands on Tehran 'don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel.'" CW: wouldn't be trying to influence the U.S. election, would you, Bibi?

New York Times: "After two years of study, a panel of top scientists and military experts working for the National Research Council has concluded that the nation's protections against missile attack suffer from major shortcomings, leaving the United States vulnerable to certain kinds of long-range strikes."

Washington Post: "The U.S. government's debt rating could be heading for the 'fiscal cliff' along with the federal budget. Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday said it would likely cut its 'Aaa' rating on U.S. government debt, probably by one notch, if budget negotiations fail."

Washington Post: "The detainee who was found dead over the weekend at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was a Yemeni who had recently gone on a hunger strike and had previously attempted to kill himself multiple times, according to his lawyer. Adnan Latif, 36, was discovered unresponsive in his cell Saturday and did not respond to emergency treatment. After extensive lifesaving measures were performed, the detainee was pronounced dead by a physician, the military said."

President Obama speaks at the Pentagon:

Vice President Biden spoke in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Video here.

USA Today: "President Obama said Tuesday the 9/11 anniversary is always a difficult day, but the United States has emerged stronger in the 11 years since the terrorist attacks on New York City and the Pentagon."

New York Times: "GoDaddy, the Web services company, said on Tuesday that its extensive technical problems on Monday were a result of internal issues, not an attack by a supporter of Anonymous, the loose confederation of rogue hackers."

Chicago Tribune: "Talks between Chicago's school board and the city's striking teachers failed to produce an agreement Monday, leaving more than 350,000 children locked out of the classroom for a second day. As parents faced another day of figuring out how to care for their children without school, thousands of teachers in red T-shirts flooded the Loop on Monday afternoon to show solidarity for the strike, filling streets and stopping traffic."

AP: "A territorial flare-up between China and Japan intensified Tuesday as two Beijing-sent patrol ships arrived near disputed East China Sea islands in a show of anger over Tokyo's purchase of the largely barren outcroppings from their private owners."

Guardian: "WikiLeaks has released a batch of more than 32,000 emails relating to the Syrian foreign ministry." (The story is on the Guardian's liveblog of the Middle East.)

New York Magazine: in an interview to be aired on the CBS morning show today, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta calls out former Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette for writing about the Osama bin Laden raid, a raid in which Bisonnette participated.

The Commentariat -- Sept. 10, 2012

Sabrina Tavernise of the New York Times: "The share of young adults without health insurance fell by one-sixth in 2011 from the previous year, the largest annual decline for any age group since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began collecting the data in 1997, according to a new report released on Monday." P.S. Thank you, Democrats.

New York Times Editors: Citizens United notwithstanding, there are still ways for states & the federal government to impose some restrictions on campaign financing, as a ruling by the Eighth Circuit Court demonstrated last week. Obstructing those restrictions at the federal level: Republicans. Big surprise.

Once Again, It's Paul Krugman v. a Panel of Idiots. You are looking at a screenshot of two powerful know-it-alls who in fact don't know shit about what they're talking about but are unashamed to go on national teevee & flaunt their ignorance:

... Paul Krugman: "... you’d expect government employment to grow with population (remember, the typical government employee is a schoolteacher). And here's what has happened to government employment per capita:"

Michael Schmidt & Thom Shanker of the New York Times: "American authorities have discovered at least three models of a new and sophisticated drug-trafficking submarine capable of traveling completely underwater from South America to the coast of the United States."

Presidential Race

Ethan Bronner of the New York Times: "The November presidential election, widely expected to rest on a final blitz of advertising and furious campaigning, may also hinge nearly as much on last-minute legal battles over when and how ballots should be cast and counted, particularly if the race remains tight in battleground states. In the last few weeks, nearly a dozen decisions in federal and state courts on early voting, provisional ballots and voter identification requirements have driven the rules in conflicting directions, some favoring Republicans demanding that voters show more identification to guard against fraud and others backing Democrats who want to make voting as easy as possible. The most closely watched cases -- in the swing states of Ohio and Pennsylvania -- will see court arguments again this week, with the Ohio dispute possibly headed for a request for emergency review by the Supreme Court."

President Barack Obama, right, is picked-up and lifted off the ground by Scott Van Duzer, owner of Big Apple Pizza and Pasta Italian Restaurant during an unannounced stop, Sunday in Fort Pierce, Florida. Van Duzer, a Republican, says Obama has his vote. AP Photo by Pablo Martinez Monsivais.

Sex, Lies and Tax Cuts. That's because all [the Republicans] got to offer is the same prescriptions that they've had for the last 30 years -- tax cuts, tax cuts, gut some regulations, oh, and more tax cuts. (Laughter.) Tax cuts when times are good; tax cuts when times are bad. Tax cuts to help you lose a few extra pounds. (Laughter.) Tax cuts to improve your love life. (Laughter.) It will cure anything, according to them. -- Barack Obama, at a campaign stop in New Hampshire. Read the whole post.

E. J. Dionne: Right now, Obama has the advantage. BUT. "The debates next month are Romney's biggest opening, and he's very disciplined in his approach to such encounters. He used them effectively to turn back primary challenges from Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. The president, on the other hand, is out of practice. And although Obama performed well in the 2008 debates against John McCain by directing almost every word he spoke to swing voters, debating has never been his strongest suit. Indeed, some of Obama's most loyal supporters see an additional debate risk for him: The president can look arrogant and dismissive when he doesn't respect an opponent or when he feels he has the upper hand."

Might as well throw this in, too. "The biker lady — who was photographed with the vice-president at Ohio's appropriately named Cruisers Diner — has not been identified.... Biden also reportedly asked to borrow one of the male biker's motorcycles. Judging by the looks on their faces here, it's not surprising that he responded 'probably not.'" -- Caroline Bankoff of New York magazine

John Heilemann of New York profiles Joe Biden. No mention of the biker lady.

Annie Lowrey & David Kocieniewski of the New York Times try to figure out Mitt Romney's arithmetic-challenged tax plan: "Mr. Romney has pledged to cut individual income tax rates for everyone, and to do it without increasing the federal budget deficit or putting new tax burdens on middle-income people to make up for the lost revenues from the rate cuts. But he has provided no further specifics, confounding analysts.... Asked on ... 'Meet the Press' ... which tax deductions he would eliminate, he said only that he would target 'some of the loopholes and deductions at the high end' while lowering the 'burden on middle-income people.' Democrats -- as well as a broad range of economists from the left, right -- and center -- say that the consequence of ending tax breaks substantial enough to offset the lost revenue from income tax rate cuts would be to hurt middle-class Americans. Many independent analysts contend that the only way to raise the revenue Mr. Romney is talking about would be to eliminate breaks like the preferential treatment of investment income or the mortgage-interest deduction."

Paul Krugman explains, for the umpteenth time, Republicans' cynical obstruct-and-exploit policy. He mentions something I noticed this weekend, too: "Right now Mitt Romney has an advertising blitz under way in which he attacks Mr. Obama for possible cuts in defense spending -- cuts, by the way, that were mandated by an agreement forced on the president by House Republicans last year. And why is Mr. Romney denouncing these cuts? Because, he says, they would cost jobs! This is classic 'weaponized Keynesianism' -- the claim that government spending can't create jobs unless the money goes to defense contractors, in which case it's the lifeblood of the economy. And no, it doesn't make any sense."

CW: I've been looking for a good synopsis of Greggers' interview of Willard. Haven't found it yet. But a number of them -- like this post by Michael Barbaro & Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times -- mention this: "When the show's host, David Gregory, asked Mr. Romney what elements of Mr. Obama's health care program he would maintain, Mr. Romney said..., 'I'm not getting rid of all of health care reform.... There are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I'm going to put in place. One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage.'" But, so far, none of the reports has mentioned that this is a change in policy. Earlier this year, Romney told Jay Leno that people with pre-existing conditions should be denied coverage. ...

     ... Incredible Update. Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "Within Hours, Mitt Romney Takes Back Everything He Said About Preexisting Conditions." A few hours after promising on 'Press the Meet' that he would guarantee insurance to people with pre-existing conditions, a Romney spokesman "'clarified' what he meant: '... He was not proposing a federal mandate to require insurance plans to offer those particular features.'" CW: in other words, he assures a national audience that they can get coverage if they have pre-existing coverage -- that his program will be as good as ObamaCare; then he tells the insurance companies, sotto voce, "Don't worry. I'm not gonna make you cover those losers." What a despicable, lying prick. ...

     ... PLUS Judd Legum of Think Progress: "A Romney campaign aide sends a statement to BuzzFeed stating that Romney 'will ensure that discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions who maintain continuous coverage is prohibited.' This does not mean he supports the protections in Obamacare and would leave millions uninsured." ...

... Driftglass: "Half of Gregger's interview spent on Mitt and Ann's campaign bus with Mitt's arm half-around him asking giggly, open-ended fluff. Greggers spent the other half of the interview in big, comfy white chairs on the roof of the Romney campaign headquarters tossing Mitt softballs (nothing on Mitt's taxes, one-count-em-one question on abortion, etc.) which Romney deflected with big wads of pre-chewed talking points -- 'I'm as Conservative as the Constitution!' -- for which Gregory had no substantive follow-up questions of any kind."

"I Didn't Vote for the Bill I Voted for." -- Paul Ryan. Zack Beauchamp of Think Progress: "Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan has gotten in hot water before for criticizing President Obama for the very same defense cuts that he voted for in 2011. When confronted with this incongruity today on Face The Nation, Ryan simply denied that he ever voted for the cuts, telling an incredulous Norah O’Donnell that he didn't actually vote for the cuts he's on record as voting for.... Moreover, Ryan's statement after voting for the bill contained not a single word of criticism about the defense cuts...."

... Paul Ryan Again Demonstrates His Uncanny Ability to Look Directly into the Camera & Lie:

... Jim Fallows of the Atlantic: "Paul Ryan's fame has depended on his reputation as the man who knew the obscure details of federal budget policy, and who was brave and honest enough to tell the public the unvarnished truth about those details.... Therefore questions of selectively presented truth, or incomplete honesty, count against his reputation more than they would someone who is seen as a run-of-the-mill partisan.... In his speech at the GOP convention, Paul Ryan really laid on the 'selectively presented truths,' more than other major speakers from either party." Fallows gives kudos to O'Donnell for knowing the facts & repeatedly challenging Ryan's lies.

Steve Coll of the New Yorker doesn't really say anything you haven't read before or figured out for yourself, but he does write a good, short synopsis/compare-&-contrast of the conventions.

Jillian Rayfield of Salon: "Could this be the final straw for Erick 'David Souter is a “goat-f*cker"' Erickson? Erickson, who's both a CNN contributor and blogger for the conservative website Red State, is being targeted by a women's advocacy group after he tweeted this about the female speakers during day one of the DNC:

First night of the Vagina Monologues in Charlotte going as expected.

      ... "He tweeted an apology shortly after... But that wasn't enough for the women's advocacy group UltraViolet, which shortly after launched a petition to get him yanked off of CNN.... The petition [also] noted how Erickson defended Rush Limbaugh's attack on Sandra Fluke." CW: you can sign the petition here. I did.

Congressional Races

Steve Coll: "Some of the Senate races ... look like Three Stooges punch-ups. In Florida, Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat, is in a dead heat with Republican congressman Connie Mack IV (half-Mack, as he is known to those who thought his father, Mack III, was a better politician). Nelson's TV admakers introduced their Republican opponent this way: 'Florida, meet Connie Mack IV. A promoter for Hooters with a history of barroom brawling, altercations and road rage…' (Incidentally, Florida Politifact, a fact-checking nonprofit, rated Nelson's ad 'Mostly True.')"

If you're a New Yorker subscriber, you can read Jeff Toobin 's profile of Elizabeth Warren. The profile will probably be available to non-subscribers in a few weeks.

News Ledes

Reuters: "The first eight months of 2012 have been the warmest of any year on record in the contiguous United States, and this has been the third-hottest summer since record-keeping began in 1895, the U.S. National Climate Data Center said on Monday. Each of the last 15 months has seen above-average temperatures, something that has never happened before in the 117 years of the U.S. record...."

New York Times: "After nearly a year of discord and delay, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo reached an agreement on Monday to resume construction of the Sept. 11 museum at ground zero in Manhattan."

AP: "Another prisoner has died at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the U.S. military said Monday, two days after the man was apparently found unconscious in his cell at the isolated, high-security prison."

AP: "An airstrike killed al-Qaida's No. 2 leader in Yemen along with six others traveling with him in one car on Monday, U.S. and Yemeni officials said, a major breakthrough for U.S.-backed efforts to cripple the group in the impoverished Arab nation. Saeed al-Shihri, a Saudi national who fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, was killed by a missile after leaving a house in the southern province of Hadramawt, according to Yemeni military officials. They said the missile was believed to have been fired by a U.S.-operated, unmanned drone aircraft."

ABC News: "A Taliban spokesman said Monday that the terror group would use 'all our strength' to kidnap or kill the U.K's Prince Harry, who has just begun serving a four-month tour of duty as a chopper pilot in Afghanistan."

New York Times: "Tests commonly recommended to screen healthy women for ovarian cancer do more harm than good and should not be performed, a panel of medical experts said on Monday."

New York Times: "President Obama announced Monday that he would nominate Robert Stephen Beecroft, a career diplomat, as the next ambassador to Iraq after his first choice was forced to withdraw after the disclosure of racy e-mail messages. Mr. Beecroft is now the No. 2 American civilian official in Baghdad and therefore already set to run the embassy temporarily until the Senate votes on his confirmation."

Boston Globe: "The Rev. Paul A. LaCharite, 65, of Boston faces one count of assault with intent to rape a child and three counts of indecent assault and battery on a child. The crimes allegedly occurred over a 10-year period at the St. James Episcopal Church in Somerville..., prosecutors said. The victim is 26 years old now.... LaCharite, who is currently affiliated with the Old North Church in Boston, 'vehemently denies' the allegations against him...."

New York Times: "A supporter of Anonymous, the loose hacking collective, claimed responsibility on Monday for an attack that apparently brought down Web sites hosted by Go Daddy." ...

... "Millions of Sites Down." Tech Crunch: "According to many customers, sites hosted by major web host and domain registrar GoDaddy are down. According to the official GoDaddy Twitter account the company is aware of the issue and is working to resolve it. Update: customers are complaining that GoDaddy hosted e-mail accounts are down as well, along with GoDaddy phone service and all sites using GoDaddy's DNS service."

NBC News: "The federal government is expected to recognize that rescue workers and people living near ground zero on September 11, 2001, got cancer as a result of the terror attacks. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is expected to announce Monday that 14 categories of cancers, for a total of 50, will be added to the illnesses covered in the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act."

Chicago Tribune: "Striking for the first time in 25 years, Chicago's teachers set up picket lines this morning after talks with public school officials ended over the weekend without resolution. 'Rahm says cut back, we say fight back,' picketers chanted this morning outside Chicago Public Schools headquarters. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis announced late Sunday night that weekend talks had failed to resolve all the union's issues."

Washington Post: "The U.S. military prison in Afghanistan known as Bagram, infamous for its association with abuse of detainees during the 11-year war against al-Qaeda and the Taliban, was officially transferred to Afghan control Monday. The long-demanded handoff occurred amid tensions between Washington and Kabul over the Afghan army's ability to guarantee security at the prison, and the Afghan court system's preparedness to competently adjudicate detainee cases."