The Commentariat -- July 14

I've posted an Open Thread for today's Off Times Square. I've added my comment on Kristof's column, which the Times rejected, so you'll have to read it here is #34 on page 2 of the Times comments pages. I've also posted a response to a commenter who says default on the federal debt is no big deal.

Greg Sargent: Democrats, including President Obama & Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, are singling out & isolating House Majority Leader Eric Cantor for his intransigence on taxes, but the ploy may not work. "... the harshness of Reid’s attack on Cantor doesn’t bode well for the likelihood of a deal." Sargent has the full transcript of Reid's remarks on the Senate floor. ...

... Nate Silver crunches the numbers & finds what you already knew: "The Republicans in the House of Representatives are extremely conservative on fiscal matters and are significantly out of step with the public as a whole." ...

     ... NEW. Paul Krugman takes a look at Silver's analysis and observes, "What Obama has offered — and Republicans have refused to accept — is a deal in which less than 20 percent of the deficit reduction comes from new revenues. This puts him slightly to the right of the average Republican voter." CW: Yeah, see my comment on Kristof.

... AND Nicholas Kristof  plays "spot the contradictions" in Republican party fiscal policy. ...

... Greg Sargent: "House liberals are launching an organizing drive inside the Democatic caucus, in an effort to line up Democrats and get them to commit to opposing any final deficit deal that contains any cuts to entitlements benefits, according to a letter I’ve obtained." Sargent reports elsewhere that he hears at least 54 House Democrats have signed on to the letter. ...

... Joan McCarter of DailyKos: as both Democratic & Republican members of the House continue to dig into their respective (and opposing) positions, Speaker "Boehner's choices are shrinking by the minute." ...

... Jonathan Bernstein, in the Washington Post, gets into the weeds & explains how Sen. Mitch McConnell's debt-ceiling go-around could pass in the House. Bear in mind that the whole purpose of McConnell's proposal is that Republicans won't have to vote to raise the debt ceiling, or increase either the deficit or taxes. They can just stand by as Democrats do the deeds while they express shock & horror & Democratic perfidy & profligacy.

New York Times Editors: "In three new rulings, federal judges in different states have acted to block immediate enforcement of measures that restrict abortion rights and women’s access to affordable contraception, lifesaving cancer screenings and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. These rulings are important victories for women’s health and reproductive rights.... While these rulings are preliminary, each is a determination that enforcing the law would cause irreparable harm and that the plaintiffs are likely to prevail at trial. They do not, however, address other threats to women’s health" by governors (Chris Christie [R-N.J.]) state legislatures & the U.S. Congress.

Seung Min Kim of Politico: "New York Republican Pete King is calling on the FBI to investigate whether Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation hacked into the voicemail accounts of Sept. 11 victims, calling the allegations of the scandal 'disgraceful.'” CW: it may be a watershed moment when one of the Republicans' biggest media hogs lays into Murdoch. ...

... "It Smells of Collusion." Nick Davies, the Guardian reporter who tenaciously pursued the News of the World hacking story, comments on Metropolitan police testimony before a committee of Parliament:

... Jeremy Peters & John Burns of the New York Times: "The decision [of News Corporation] to withdraw the bid for BSkyB ... was made as a contentious family drama played out in recent days. James Murdoch, a leading contender to replace his father as chairman and the driving force behind the News Corporation’s bid to take over BSkyB, argued that the company should press for regulatory approval of the deal.... But Rupert Murdoch and the News Corporation’s chief operating officer, Chase Carey, overruled the younger Mr. Murdoch, consulting him only after the decision was all but final."

"Jews Are Abandoning Obama!" More on the meme that won't die. Adam Serwer: "The phrasing in this poll [by John McLaughlin & Pat Caddell] is comically skewed towards eliciting the most negative responses possible. As always, the game is to perpetuate the sad conservative meme that this time, really this time, American Jews are going to abandon their liberalism and vote Republican because Obama is a huge anti-Semite. The only thing this poll reveals is how badly some want to keep this storyline going." ...

     ... Ron Kampeas of JTA calls the poll what it is: a push poll.

Chris Bray photos.Christine Zap of Yahoo! News: "Thirty years ago, the first space shuttle launched into the stratosphere. Chris Bray and his father Kenneth watched -- and took a picture. Then last Friday, the shuttle Atlantis took its final trip. Again, the Bray men were there. And again, the two snapped a photo to capture the moment. The side-by-side photos, which are up on Chris Bray's Flickr photostream, immediately went viral on the Web."

Right Wing World *

"We Must Rewrite the Constitution Because 'Elections' Haven't 'Worked.'" -- Mitch McConnell:

     ... Ian Millhiser of Think Progress has the print story. (Thanks to Bonnie for the link.) The balanced budget proposal which McConnell is advocating for is what Ezra Klein rightly calls "The Worst Idea in Washington." Of course, if you think California state government is working well, you'll love McConnell's proposed amendment to the Constitution. It would effectively end any oppotunity ever to raise revenues. ...

... All 47 Senate Republicans introduced a constitutional amendment to balance the federal b udget.... This is quite possibly the stupidest constitutional amendment I think I have ever seen. It looks like it was drafted by a couple of interns on the back of a napkin. Every senator cosponsoring this POS should be ashamed of themselves. -- Bruce Bartlett, policy advisor to Presidents Ronald Reagan & George H. W. Bush

Dana Milbank: Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Steve King (R-Iowa) & Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) say the U.S.'s defaulting on its debt payments is no big deal. Treasury could pay some stuff and forget about everything else.

Sarah Palin cannot stop repeating gun imagery, despite the trouble it has visited on her. Here she talks about "reloading," and the person she is, well, taking aim at is the POTUS. It is irresponsible to puy this woman in front of a microphone:

* Where facts seldom intrude.

News Ledes

President Obama & Vice President Biden met with Congressional leaders late this afternoon. New York Times post-meeting report: "President Obama threw the deadlocked budget negotiations back to Congress on Thursday, telling Republicans and Democrats to try to work out an agreement to avert a government default, and suggesting that more ambitious efforts to cut the deficit had hit a wall.... The president said he might summon the leaders to the White House over the weekend if there was no progress; he has scheduled a news conference for Friday morning to argue his case publicly."

New York Times: "China, the United States’ biggest creditor, urged the United States government on Thursday to act to protect investors’ interests, highlighting rising concerns around the globe about the protracted budget talks taking place in Washington."

This process is confirming what the American people think is the worst about Washington: that everyone is more interested in posturing, political position and protecting their base than solving real problems. -- President Obama, near the end of yesterday's meeting with leaders

Los Angeles Times: "President Obama abruptly left debt negotiations with congressional leaders Wednesday at the White House when a top Republican said there was no longer time to engage in the large-scale deficit reduction discussions.... The flare-up came at the end of the nearly two-hour session during which House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told the president that Congress should instead consider a series of debt ceiling votes based on spending cuts that already have been identified." ...

... Global Warning. AFP: "President Barack Obama and Republicans prepared for more tough talks Thursday to avert an August debt default, after Moody's held out the threat of downgrading the sterling US credit rating. The credit ratings agency sparked worldwide concern when it placed Washington's triple-A debt rating on a downgrade watch because of rising prospects that bitterly divided US leaders would fail to strike a deal." ...

... Guardian: "America's debt crisis reached a critical stage on Thursday as lawmakers remained deadlocked over whether to raise the US debt ceiling, and Moody's threatened to downgrade the country's credit rating.... The dollar lost ground against most major currencies after Moody's and Chinese ratings agency Dagong both put the US on negative watch."

NEW. DOJ Screws up Again. New York Times: "The federal judge presiding over Roger Clemens’s perjury trial declared a mistrial Thursday, saying the government allowed the jury to hear inadmissible testimony that prejudiced it against Clemens."

Bloomberg News: "The Environmental Protection Agency’s powers to set clean-water standards would be limited under legislation passed by the Republican-led U.S. House over threats of a veto by the Obama administration. The bill blocks the EPA from tightening water pollutant limits without a state’s consent if the agency previously approved the state standard. The measure, which passed 239-184 yesterday, is part of an effort to rein in what Republicans say is an agency’s regulatory overreach threatening the economy. Sixteen Democrats joined Republicans to support the measure."

NEW. Guardian: "MPs have dispatched the deputy serjeant at arms of the House of Commons to Wapping to deliver a summons in person to Rupert Murdoch and his son James to insist they turn up to give evidence to a select committee over the phone- hacking scandal.... Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of News International, agreed on Thursday morning to attend and face MPs ... Tuesday...." though she warned she wouldn't say much.

     ... CNN Update: "The FBI has launched an investigation into Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. after a report that employees or associates may have attempted to hack into phone conversations and voice mail of September 11 survivors, victims and their families."

AP: "A suicide bomber concealing explosives in his turban blew himself up inside a mosque in southern Afghanistan on Thursday during a memorial service for the president's assassinated half brother, officials said. At least four people were killed."

The Commentariat -- July 13

I've posted an Open Thread on Off Times Square for today. Since I doubt the Times will publish it, I've added my comment on Maureen Dowd's column.

** "Do You Believe in Magic?" Paul Krugman says he's doesn't want to go tit-for-tat with the magical-thinking David Brooks, but he does. CW: to each and every one of my conservative commenters: read this post. It might not make you all better, but it will help you recover from your "Brooks is right" delusions.

Your Chart of the Day, from Ezra Klein, with explanation here: (as one commenter to Klein's blogpost wrote, "Obama has got to be the worst negotiator in history"):

"The Negotiators." Act 4, Scene 2, the White House, Tuesday, July 12: Eric Cantor demands that President Obama offer the details of his vision for a “grand bargain.”

Cantor (angrily, to Obama): Where’s your paper?

Obama (snapping): Frankly, your speaker has it.  Am I dealing with him, or am I dealing with you?

Sneerer-in-Chief. Dana Milbank: "What [House Majority Leader Eric] Cantor wants now is power — and he is prepared to risk the full faith and credit of the United States to get it. In a primacy struggle with House Speaker John Boehner, he has done a deft job of aligning himself with Tea Party House members in opposition to any meaningful deal to resolve the debt. If the U.S. government defaults, it will have much to do with Cantor."

Ezra Klein on Mitch McConnell's debt ceiling plan: "I kinda like it.... McConnell is proposing to permanently disarm the bomb that is the debt ceiling. He’d formalize the informal arrangement the parties have had in recent years, which is that the debt ceiling is used to embarrass the party in power, but it’s not allowed to threaten the American economy. If his plan passed, it’d become easier for the minority party to embarrass the majority party, but harder for them to threaten the economy. It’s win-win.... The cynical interpretation of McConnell’s motivations is that McConnell sees that the White House is winning the politics of this issue...." CW: see today's Ledes for the backstory. Also this WashPo story by Lori Montgomery, et al. ...

... Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "... apparently McConnell had started to realize that shutting down the government over tax breaks for hedge fund billionaires and shorter depreciation schedules for corporate jet owners was really, really, not going to go down well, even among Republicans. So he pushed the eject button and tried to bail out. It probably won't work, though. The political cynicism of his proposal is almost certainly too much for some Democrats, and giving up on spending cuts will be too much for most Republicans. Still, it provides a hint about who has the upper hand in the debt ceiling negotiations right now. And it ain't McConnell." ...

... Josh Marshall of TPM: "McConnell's 'evil genius' move seems like all it does is make the Democrats go to the public with what they believe is best for the country and be accountable for it. I have a hard time seeing that as being a meaningful threat. Since that's what people who are given the power to govern are supposed to do." ...

... Markos Moulitsas: "So McConnell's plan gives Republicans the ability to bash Democrats for spending, which they would do anyway, and this is a big victory for them? Genius? Hardly. This is a capitulation. Just watching teabagger heads explode will be worth the price of admission."

This debt limit increase is his [Obama's] problem. -- John Boehner, yesterday

Steve Benen: "... by most measures, [John Boehner] has a legal obligation to protect the full faith and credit of the United States. But as of today, with the crisis quickly approaching, the Speaker of the House, one of the most powerful officeholders in our system of government, has decided this isn’t his 'problem.'” In the past, Boehner has repeatedly said, on the record, the Congress must raise the debt ceiling. ...

... Chris Moody of Yahoo! News: "Conservative groups that had been anxiously hoping to use this summer's debt ceiling vote as a rare opportunity to reduce government spending were furious Wednesday when Senate Republicans outlined a plan to raise the limit without ensured spending cuts."

... Larry Summers (yes, that Larry Summers) advocates for immediate economic stimulus in a Financial Times opinion piece: "Decisions about spending and taxing over the next year or two will have a significant impact on job creation over the next year, the economy over the next decade and on the path of US national debt over an even longer horizon." ...

... Loaves & Fishes, Republican-Style:

... David Leonhardt of the New York Times: sooner or later the free lunch has to end. The nostalgic view of the federal budget (CW: promulgated by Republicans) "depends on a misunderstanding of the budget. It imagines a budget in which the United States indefinitely has the world’s highest medical costs, its largest military, an aging population and, nonetheless, taxes that are among the world’s lowest." ...

... John Sides of the Monkey Cage: there are a number of possible outcomes to the debt ceiling talks, but "Obama’s reelection effort gets a boost from a budget deal only if the deal doesn’t itself hurt the economy and if the economy improves enough that the GOP needs another issue to campaign on." ...

... NEW. Krugman explains to those living & working in the Washington bubble that the average voter, much less the average "independent" (low-information) voter is just not that into you.

Michael Likosky in a New York Times op-ed: "While we have channeled capital into wars and debt, our competitors in Asia and Latin America have worked with infrastructure banks to lay a sound foundation for growth. As a result, we must compete not only with their lower labor costs but also with their advanced energy, transportation and information platforms, which are a magnet even for American businesses." Likosky advicates for a bill by Sens. John Kerry & Kay Bailey Hutchison to pump cash & loans into infrastructure projects.

Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now!" in a TruthDig commentary: "President Barack Obama just announced a reversal of a long-standing policy that denied presidential condolence letters to the family members of soldiers who commit suicide. Relatives of soldiers killed in action receive letters from the president. Official silence, however, has long stigmatized those who die of self-inflicted wounds. The change marks a long-overdue shift in the recognition of the epidemic of soldier and veteran suicides in this country and the toll of the hidden wounds of war."

Landon Thomas, Jr., of the New York Times on three generations of Prime Ministers Papandreou. CW: my husband, who knew Andreas, always used Andreas as an excuse for not taking me to Greece: he said Andreas would have him arrested! I think my husband just did not want to go to Greece. Besides, Italy has examples of Greek antiquity as fine as those in Greece. Or so my husband says.

At this point it’s starting to look as if News Corp is better viewed as a criminal enterprise than as a media organization. -- Paul Krugman ...

... Sarah Lyall & Graham Bowley of the New York Times: "... as the phone hacking scandal spreads, [British PM David] Cameron has been placed in the unaccustomed position of appearing vulnerable and behind the curve. He has been maneuvered into embarrassing U-turns nearly every step of the way, and on Tuesday performed the latest one: suddenly joining the opposition Labour Party, his bitterest foes, in calling for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation to withdraw its $12 billion bid to buy British Sky Broadcasting, known also as BSkyB."

Right Wing World *

Giant Demonic Idol.You know there's a statue in New York harbor called the Statue of Liberty. You know where we got it from? French Freemasons. Listen folks that is an idol, a demonic idol, right there in New York harbor.... It's a statue of a false goddess, the Queen of Heaven. We don't get liberty from a false goddess, folks; we get our liberty from Jesus Christ and that Statue of Liberty in no way glorifies Jesus Christ.... So I'm just telling you we practice idolatry in America in ways that we don't even recognize.
-- John Benefiel, a pastor prominently featured in literature for Gov. Rick Perry's (R-Texas) upcoming "giant prayer-fest to help tackle the nation's problems" (TPM has the video)

* Where there shalt not be "demonic idols" like the Statue of Liberty.

News Ledes

Guardian: "Mumbai, [India,] was struck by three powerful bomb blasts during the evening rush hour on Wednesday that killed at least 21 people and injured dozens more.... India's home minister, P Chidambaram, warned that the death toll could rise further. It is the fourth major attack by suspected terrorists on India's financial capital since 2003."

Guardian: the high court in London heard arguments today in the case of Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, who is appealing his extradition to Sweden. He remains in Norfolk, under house arrest, until the court renders its decision, which will be in about a month.

President Obama & Vice President Biden met with Congressional leaders on the debt ceiling talks this afternoon. ...

     ... Update: Washington Post, post-meeting: "Two top Republican leaders clashed Wednesday over a plan that could allow the government to avoid a potentially catastrophic default but would not ensure the deep cuts in federal spending that party members seek. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) ... offered a proposal this week that would allow President Obama to raise the federal debt limit without guaranteed spending cuts.... But House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.) rejected McConnell’s plan for resolving the debt stalemate, instead vowing to press ahead with the campaign to roll back government spending." ...

... New York Times: "The Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, warned Wednesday that allowing a federal default could have disastrous political consequences for his party and 'destroy' the Republican brand."

Ronald Reagan repeatedly took steps that included revenue in order for him to accomplish some of these larger goals. And the question is, if Ronald Reagan could compromise, why wouldn't folks who idolize Ronald Reagan be willing to engage in those same kinds of compromises? -- Barack Obama

     ... Related Los Angeles Times story here. You can go to the CBS News site & click on the videos at the bottom of the page. And good luck; CBS News videos are just a mess.

New York Times: "... Ben S. Bernanke gave a subdued account of the economy’s health Wednesday, saying that he expected the economy to grow at a moderate pace during the rest of the year, with unemployment declining 'only gradually.' The unexpected weakness is forcing the Fed to reconsider its determination early this year to refrain from new efforts to stimulate growth. While no additional actions appear imminent, Mr. Bernanke said in Congressional testimony Wednesday that the Fed would be prepared to act if necessary.”

New York Times: "The Catholic Church in Ireland was still covering up sexual abuse of children by priests as recently as 2009, long after it issued guidelines meant to protect children, and the Vatican tacitly encouraged the cover-up by ignoring the guidelines, according to a scathing report issued on Wednesday by the Irish government." The full report via the NYT is here; however, I kept getting errors on the page; the Irish Times has a pdf of the full report here. The Irish Times' main story is here, & their main page for the report, with multiple links, is here. The IT has a very brief rundown of the Cloyne Report's main findings here.

New York Times: "One of the biggest revenue-raisers proposed by President Obama in negotiations with Congress is what he describes as an arcane change in the tax treatment of business inventories — things like steel, groceries and oil.... The effect of the change would be substantial. Lobbyists from companies of all sizes are swarming around Congress to kill the proposal, which would prohibit the use of an accounting technique known as last in, first out, or LIFO." ...

... New York Times: The ideas of budget negotiators "to cut Medicare and Medicaid they have managed to provoke opposition from almost every major group that represents beneficiaries and health care providers." Proposals by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) "touched off howls of protest from lobbyists and Democratic lawmakers who saw details for the first time on Tuesday."

New York Times: "President Obama raised more than $86 million for his re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee in the last three months, besting previous campaign fund-raising records for the quarter and far outpacing the Republicans who are hoping to replace him in the White House. Mr. Obama’s campaign, Obama for America, raised $47 million, while the president’s frequent fundraisers boosted the D.N.C.’s coffers by $38 million. Democrats had set a goal of raising a combined $60 million for both groups by the end of June." With video of Jim Messina giving a pitch.

Los Angeles Times: "In a hard-fought special congressional election marked by sharp divisions in ideology and even sharper personal attacks, Democrat Janice Hahn defeated underdog Republican Craig Huey on Tuesday. Unofficial election night returns showed Hahn won 54.6% to 45.4%."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Candidates backed by the Democratic Party won all six Senate primary elections, all but one of them by substantial amounts. They'll all go on to face the Republican incumbents on Aug. 9, in an attempt by Democrats to regain control of the state Senate and put the brakes on Gov. Scott Walker's agenda."

AP: "A CIA officer who oversaw the agency's interrogation program at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and pushed for approval to use increasingly harsh tactics has come under scrutiny in a federal war crimes investigation involving the death of a prisoner, witnesses told The Associated Press. Steve Stormoen, who is now retired from the CIA, supervised an unofficial program in which the CIA imprisoned and interrogated men without entering their names in the Army's books."

AP: Former First Lady Betty "Ford, who died Friday at age 93, was memorialized Tuesday by some 800 friends and family members, including no fewer than four current and former first ladies and one ex-president."

Guardian: "A key US senator has called for an investigation into whether any of News Corporation's organisations in the country have hacked US citizens. Senate commerce committee chairman Jay Rockefeller has asked the authorities to investigate if any journalists working for Rupert Murdoch had targeted US citizens, and warned of 'serious consequences' for the media group if that were the case." NBC News story here. ...

... New York Times: "The tremors from the phone-hacking scandal shaking Rupert Murdoch’s media empire spread yet further through the British political establishment on Wednesday as Prime Minister David Cameron urged Mr. Murdoch to abandon his ambitions to complete a takeover of the country’s biggest satellite broadcaster." ...

     ... Guardian Update: "Rupert Murdoch's media group News Corporation bowed to pressure from the public and parliament on Wednesday and withdrew its bid to take full control of pay-TV company BSkyB."

AP: "Italy's finance minister says the government's package of austerity measures will be strengthened and passed in both houses by Friday. Giulio Tremonti sought to reassure markets during a speech to a banker's association meeting in Rome that Italy would speed reforms and austerity measures that seek to balance the budget by 2014."

The Commentariat -- July 12

Poor David Brooks, who is dumber than a post, and who got his ass whupped by Krugman yesterday, writes, "The world economy is a complex, unknowable organism." ...

... I've added a Brooks page to Off Times Square. You might want to help out Our Mister Brooks, the Chauncey Gardner of the op-ed world. I've done my best. AND thanks to Driftglass, who has given up on "The Greatest Fraud in American Journalism," for the heads-up. ...

Art by Driftglass.

... Economics Nobel Laureate Joe Stiglitz in TruthOut: "... a resurgence of right-wing economics, driven, as always, by ideology and special interests, once again threatens the global economy – or at least the economies of Europe and America, where these ideas continue to flourish. In the US, this right-wing resurgence, whose adherents evidently seek to repeal the basic laws of math and economics, is threatening to force a default on the national debt." Thanks to commenter Carlyle for the link. ...

... History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. -- Mark Twain  ...

... Historian Robert McElvaine in a Washington Post op-ed: "To the extent that our current history sounds like the 1930s, it is because of the lack of sense on the part of politicians. We know better than to slash spending and allow the rich to become even richer in a weak economy, but we’re set on doing it anyway. If there is a new Great Depression, it won’t be without rhyme, but it will be without reason." Thanks to Trish R. for the link. ...

... New York Times Editors: "A balanced [deficit reduction] plan, like the one Senator Kent Conrad is circulating among Senate Democrats, would cut spending and raise revenue equally, and would make it possible to pay for programs that kick-start the economy. Americans need to hear the hard economic truth that there is no way to both cut the deficit and revive the economy without finding additional sources of revenue." CW: a reminder: Kent Conrad, a ConservaDem has a plan that is more liberal than the one Obama is pushing. ...

... Mark Landler & Carl Hulse of the New York Times write an interesting report on Monday's debt ceiling negotiations. Unsurprisingly, the talks did not go well. ...

... President Obama Doesn't Care about Poor People. Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "... five separate sources with knowledge of negotiations have said that 'the president offered an increase in the eligibility age for Medicare, from 65 to 67, in exchange for Republican movement on increasing tax revenues.'" CW: okay, not just poor people, but anyone whose work involves physical labor. Volsky doesn't mention that raising the eligibility age would prove an inconvenience for many white-collar workers in the 65-67 age group, but it would work a true hardship on older blue-collar workers whose bodies are no longer adept at physical labor. In addition, it would force millions of older Americans to stay on the job for a few extra years, hanging onto jobs they don't want -- jobs younger Americans need and would often be more able to do. If these "five different sources" are right, this is one stupid & callous move on Obama's part. ...

     ... AND in his June 12 column, Paul Krugman explained why raising the eligibility age is a costly, terrible idea. CW: it now looks to me as if President Obama is just as smart as Joe Lieberman. And Joe Lieberman "isn't actually all that smart." ...

...NEW. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) has introduced a Senate resolution to protect Social Security & Medicare (from President Obama's proposed "bipartisan" cuts). You can painlessly "write" to your senator in support of Whitehouse's resolution at this CREDO site. ...

... Dave Weigel of Slate wonders why President Obama is so bad at explaining the debt ceiling to the public. "How many Americans realize, for example, that if Paul Ryan got everyone drunk on $350 wine and got his budget signed into law, we would still exceed the debt limit many times into the future?" CW: well, Dave, maybe it's because he "isn't actually all that smart." ...

... Derek Thompson of The Atlantic poses a pretty good reason not to govern by opinion polls: "The massive financial bailout, which Americans still hate, could still make a profit of more than $100 billion. Meanwhile, not raising the debt ceiling, which Americans have supported, could cost the economy more than $100 billion."

Nelson Schwartz of the New York Times: "Tens of thousands of Bank of America’s most distressed borrowers could be evicted and lose their homes more quickly as a result of a proposed settlement between the bank, which is the country’s largest mortgage servicer, and investors in its troubled mortgage securities.... While powerful investors stand to benefit from the $8.5 billion settlement over the bank’s bundling of shoddy mortgages as securities, the fallout for the nearly 275,000 borrowers who took out those loans depends greatly on how deep they are in the foreclosure process and whether they earn enough money to dig themselves out.

Caesar's Wife. Keli Goff on the legacy of Betty Ford & the impossible standards First Ladies are supposed to meet:

... Rick Perlstein writes a lovely memorial to Ford on the New York Times op-ed page: "... few Americans changed people’s lives so dramatically for the better."

Nate Silver: "... first-term Republicans are considerably more conservative, relative to their districts, than those who also served in the 111th Congress." For this reason, and because the 2010 electorate was skewed Republican (the "enthusiasm" factor), their seats are highly vulnerable. CW: let's do something about that, Libruls!

Ahmed Sharai & Joseph Braude in a New York Times op-ed: "Morocco appears to have found a new model for political transition," a power-sharing arrangement, backed by a new constitution, between the king & a prime minister chosen by the parliament's elected majority.

An Interesting Aside: Saeed Shah of the Guardian: "The CIA organised a fake vaccination programme in the town where it believed Osama bin Laden was hiding in an elaborate attempt to obtain DNA from the fugitive al-Qaida leader's family.... CIA agents recruited a senior Pakistani doctor to organise the vaccine drive in Abbottabad.... The doctor, Shakil Afridi, has since been arrested by the Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) for co-operating with American intelligence agents."

Right Wing World *

"Pray Away the Gay" (Then Deny You Tried Any Such Nonsense):

     ... Here's the print story. AND here's an earlier, more extensive, story from Mariah Blake of The Nation. ...

... "Her record of accomplishment is nonexistent":

     ... Conor Friedersdorf of The Atlantic: "Pawlenty is right.... [Bachmann] has no foreign policy experience, no executive experience, has never sponsored or co-sponsored a bill that became law, has never chaired a committee or subcommittee, and cannot even claim notable success outside the public sector like Mitt Romney." ...

... AND Bachmann calls the police. A lot. Marc Caputo of the Miami Herald pulls her complaints. Like the one where a former nun held Bachmann against her will in a ladies room. Uh-huh. Punchline: "None of the inquiries resulted in arrests."

* Where the definition of "gay" is "happy to be straight."

News Ledes

New York Times: "House Republicans on Tuesday failed to advance a measure that would repeal regulations that increase efficiency standards for light bulbs, rules that they have assailed as an example of government overreach.... But Democrats, despite being in the minority in the House, were able to defeat the repeal on a vote of 233 to 193 because the measure was brought up under rules that require a two-thirds majority for passage.

The BBC reports on former PM Gordon Brown's remarks re: the Murdoch empire's hacking of his personal information:

Guardian: "Rupert Murdoch will face the humiliation of the Commons issuing a unanimous all-party call for his scandal-ridden News Corporation to withdraw its £8bn bid for BSkyB, the great commercial prize he has been pursuing to cement his dominance of the British media landscape. In an extraordinary volte-face, David Cameron will disown the media tycoon by leading his party through the lobbies to urge him to drop the bid. Murdoch can defy parliament and press ahead with the bid, prompting a Competition Commission inquiry, but he risks finding himself ostracised by a political class that once scrambled to bend to his wishes." CW: oh, pardon my schadenfreude. ...

... Washington Post: "Parliament summoned [Rupert] Murdoch for questioning next week along with top executives overseeing his British subsidiary: his son James Murdoch, 38, and Rebekah Brooks, 43, a former editor of two of his papers."

Armageddon:

President Obama & Vice President Biden met with Congressional leaders to discuss you-know-what this afternoon. Update: New York Times post-meeting report: "From the White House and Congress to financial centers, pessimism spread on Tuesday about the prospects of a debt-limit deal between President Obama and Republicans, prompting the Senate Republican leader to propose a 'last-choice option' that piqued the administration’s interest but angered conservatives in his own party."

President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to Army Sgt. Leroy Arthur Petry this afternoon. Washington Post post-event story here. New York Times story here.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Voters get their first chance Tuesday to weigh in on the recall fever that's swept the state for the last four months when they vote in six primary races pitting Democratic recall challengers against 'fake' or 'protest' Democrats put up by the Republican Party. As election day approached, some activity was reported in favor of the Republican-backed candidates in at least four of the districts, but Democrats said they're confident their get-out-the-vote efforts will help their candidates survive."

Politico: Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), who is running for president for a third time, will not seek re-election to the House.

Washington Post: "A sprawling coalition of Wall Street and Main Street business leaders sent an unmistakable message to lawmakers Tuesday: ... Get the debt ceiling raised. The message [was] sent in a letter to President Obama and every member of Congress.... Republicans rely heavily on corporations for political support and have regularly cited the opinions of these 'job creators' in their opposition to new tax revenues. Many of the House GOP freshman most opposed to a compromise were swept into office with the help of financial support from groups behind the letter."

Politico: Senate leaders from both parties are trying to figure out ways to cover their asses on some kind of complicated (everything in the Senate is complicated) series of voting procedures. CW: not exactly the wording of the reporters, but close enough.

AP: "Afghan President Hamid Karzai's powerful half brother [Ahmed Wali Karzai], a lightning rod for criticism of all that is wrong with the Afghan government, was assassinated by a bodyguard Tuesday at his home in the southern province of Kandahar, officials said." New York Times story here. ...

     ... Washington Post Update: "In the months before his death by an assassin’s bullets on Tuesday, Ahmed Wali Karzai had quietly rebuilt his relationship with the United States and emerged as the most influential ally for American commanders and diplomats seeking to quell the Taliban insurgency in southern Afghanistan. They believe Ahmed Karzai, President Hamid Karzai’s half-brother and the leader of Kandahar’s provincial council, had started to evolve earlier this year from a self-interested strongman to a regional leader willing to take nascent steps to share power with political and tribal rivals. U.S. officials were initially skeptical of Taliban claims of responsibility for the assassination but now believe that the killer, a trusted Karzai security official, was a Taliban sleeper agent."

Waste, Fraud & Abuse. Who Cares? AP: "The federal government's systems for analyzing Medicare and Medicaid data for possible fraud are inadequate and underused, making it more difficult to detect the billions of dollars in fraudulent claims paid out each year, according to a report released Tuesday. The Government Accountability Office report said the systems don't even include Medicaid data. Furthermore, 639 analysts were supposed to have been trained to use the system — yet only 41 have been so far, it said."

Washington Post: "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has lost the legitimacy to rule after pro-government demonstrators stormed the U.S. Embassy in Damascus on Monday in what U.S. officials described as an orchestrated attack. Regime supporters hurled rocks, smashed windows and tore down the American flag at the embassy, triggering the strongest U.S. condemnation yet of the Syrian government."

AP: "The United States and its partners in the international diplomatic 'quartet' on the Middle East failed on Monday to reach agreement on how to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, dealing a blow to urgent efforts to avert a looming confrontation at the United Nations over recognizing Palestine as an independent nation..... A Monday night meeting between Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, E.U. foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was unable to produce a unified statement on how to proceed."

AP: "Michelle Obama and three former first ladies were among dignitaries heading to Palm Desert to pay tribute to Betty Ford at a funeral focusing on her twin passions: politics and her world famous Betty Ford Center for substance abuse and alcohol treatment." CW: read this one; it's interesting.

New York Times: "Shortly after Scotland Yard began its initial criminal inquiry of phone hacking by The News of the World in 2006, five senior police investigators discovered that their own cellphone messages had been targeted by the tabloid and had most likely been listened to. The disclosure, based on interviews with current and former officials, raises the question of whether senior investigators feared that if they aggressively investigated, The News of the World would punish them with splashy articles about their private lives. Some of their secrets, tabloid-ready, eventually emerged in other news outlets." ...

... NEW. New York Times: "Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown brought new and alarming charges on Tuesday to the broadening scandal enveloping Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in Britain, accusing one of the most prestigious newspapers in the group of employing 'known criminals' to gather personal information on his bank account, legal files and tax affairs." ...

... NEW. The New York Times' The Lede is following the latest developments on the Murdoch scandal. It's really a saga of one horrible intrusion after another. Includes videos.