The Commentariat -- Sept. 24, 2013

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly, [President] Obama sounded a cautiously optimistic tone about the prospects for diplomacy, saying he had instructed Secretary of State John Kerry to pursue face-to-face negotiations with Iran on its nuclear program":

... Jay Solomon, et al., of the Wall Street Journal: "Plans were set Monday for the highest-level engagement between the U.S. and Iran in more than 30 years, fueling cautious optimism about the prospect for progress in curtailing Iran's nuclear work after a decade of threats and stalled diplomacy."

Darlene Superville of the AP: "President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton ... are set to appear together Tuesday to discuss Obama's health care law at a session sponsored by the Clinton Global Initiative, the former president's foundation. The joint appearance comes exactly one week before people who don't have health insurance can start signing up on Oct. 1 for coverage plans through new insurance marketplaces. It also comes as the Obama administration and those who stand to benefit from the law's success, such as insurance companies, launch a campaign to inform consumers about their options under the law."

Ramsey Cox of the Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) threw the first punches Monday in what is likely to be a weeklong slugfest over ObamaCare.  Cruz asked for unanimous consent to pass the House continuing resolution that would fund the government while stripping money for ObamaCare, but Reid objected. Cruz then tried to call up the measure and hold all amendment votes to a 60-vote threshold -- and Reid objected to that as well." ...

... Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Facing opposition from the Senate's most conservative hard-liners, [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid has set up a series of procedural tallies, starting on Wednesday, that should culminate on Sunday in votes to remove language from the House spending bill that would strip funding from the Affordable Care Act and then to pass a spending measure to keep the government operating through mid-December. It would be up to House Republican leaders to accept that Senate bill or precipitate a shutdown. 'We will not bow to Tea Party anarchists,' Mr. Reid said Monday, denouncing what he called 'extremist Republicans' and 'fanatics.'" CW: Alexander Bolton of the Hill reported last Thursday that Reid would make these maneuvers. Reid's tactics are reliant, to a great extent, on the tacit cooperation of Mitch McConnell. Guess what? -- Weisman reports, "Signaling a serious split among Republicans, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, announced that he would not support efforts by the most conservative Senate Republicans to block consideration of the House bill in an effort to slow down the legislative process." ...

     ... CW: As Paul Kane of the WashPo reports (linked below), Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the minority whip, who often acquiesces to Cruz's crazy plans -- reputedly out of fear that a Friend of Ted will primary him -- is nixing this one. ...

... Dana Milbank: No, the Republican members of Congress are not insane for voting to shut down the government & preparing to cause the government to default on the debt; they are rationally following their own self-interest. "211 of the 234 Republican seats in the House are 'safe,' leaving only 23 even marginally competitive.... Many of them are safe because district lines have been drawn to make them uncompetitive. The only way these Republican lawmakers would lose their seats is if they were ousted by a challenger in a low-turnout primary dominated by conservative activists and distorted by an explosion of independent expenditures by ideological group."

Juliet Lapidos of the New York Times takes on the Koch-brothers funded group, Generation Opportunity whose Crazy Uncle Sam ads "perpetuate outright lies" bent on "sabotaging the Affordable Care Act by discouraging young people from signing up for health insurance exchanges." CW: unfortunately, this is post, which does not appear in the print edition, is an editorial. The paper's news story on the never-ending anti-ObamaCare ads, by Michael Shear, mentions the "creepy Uncle Sam ads," but does not identify them as Koch-funded & does not even hint that the ads "perpetuate outright lies." If you want to know how the New York Times aids & abets right-wing propaganda, there's your answer. ...

... It turns out the fine federal agencies leveled against JP Morgan Chase aren't as big a loss to the company as one would think. Andrew Sorkin of the New York Times writes that the money is not coming from the bank; it's coming from shareholders: "The same shareholders who were ostensibly the victims of the scandal that already cost them $6 billion. The victims, if you want to call them that, become victimized twice." ...

... Ben Protess & Jessica Silver-Greenberg of the New York Times: "JPMorgan Chase ... is bracing for a lawsuit from federal prosecutors in California who suspect that the bank sold shoddy mortgage securities to investors in the run-up to the financial crisis, according to people briefed on the matter. The case, expected as soon as Tuesday, could foreshadow other actions stemming from the bank’s crisis-era mortgage business. Federal prosecutors in Philadelphia, the people briefed on the matter said, are also investigating JPMorgan's sale of mortgage securities."

Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A former Federal Bureau of Investigation agent has agreed to plead guilty to leaking classified information to The Associated Press about a foiled bomb plot in Yemen last year, the Justice Department announced on Monday. Federal investigators said they identified him after obtaining phone logs of Associated Press reporters. The retired agent, a former bomb technician named Donald Sachtleben, has agreed to serve 43 months in prison, the Justice Department said. The case brings to eight the number of leak-related prosecutions brought under President Obama's administration; under all previous presidents, there were three such cases."

Charlie Savage: "The military on Monday effectively pronounced the end of a mass hunger strike among detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba -- a six-month protest that at one point swept through a majority of the inmate population, refocused global attention on the prison, and pushed the Obama administration to revive the effort to shutter it." The number of prisoners on strike is now 19, down from 106 at the height of the strike. "David Remes, a lawyer for several Guantánamo detainees, said participation had fallen off because detainees had largely achieved their goals."

** Joe Nocera: "What has been most stupefying about the reaction to the Navy Yard rampage is how muted it has been. After the horror of Newtown, people were galvanized. This time, the news seemed to be greeted with a resigned shrug. 'Is this the new normal?' David Gregory asked Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association on Sunday on 'Meet the Press.'.... It's sure starting to feel that way." ...

... Becca Clemmons of the Los Angeles Times: "Washington Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis obtained a secret-level security clearance after a federal personnel report failed to mention that a 2004 arrest involved a firearm, the Navy said Monday." Although the Navy learned of the altercation thru a fingerprint check (Alexis failed to report it on his app), their report states that Alexis was arrested for "deflating the male person's tires." But "the Seattle police report says Alexis shot out the tires and was charged with malicious mischief.... The personnel office said Seattle police would not provide records on the 2004 incident. The office interviewed Alexis, who did not say that a weapon was involved. The personnel office said it could not force police departments to cooperate."

     ... CW: sounds like a bullshit excuse to me. The NSA can read my e-mails, but the Navy can't get a police report for the purposes of a security clearance? News reporters get them all the time.

Paul Kane of the Washington Post with the next installment of the Nobody Likes Ted Show. Kane brings us up-to-date on Cruz's antics in yesterday's brief Senate session. ...

... Far-right Wall Street Journal editors write a withering critique of Ted & Mike's Excellent Adventure:

When Mr. Cruz demands that House Republicans "hold firm," he means they should keep trying to defund ObamaCare even if it results in a shutdown that President Obama will blame on Republicans. It's nice of him to volunteer House Republicans for duty. The supposedly intrepid General Cruz can view the battle from the comfort of HQ while the enlisted troops take any casualties.

The Lee-Cruz strategy, to the extent it's about more than fund-raising lists or getting face time on cable TV, seems to be that if the House holds "firm" amid a shutdown, then the public will eventually blame Mr. Obama and the Democrats, who will then fold and defund ObamaCare.... Miracles happen, but it would rank as one for the ages if Mr. Obama agreed to defund his signature Presidential achievement.

... Jason Zengerle profiles Ted Cruz for GQ. Cruz is one arrogant dick. "He has come to the reluctant but unavoidable conclusion that he is simply more intelligent, more principled, more right -- in both senses of the word -- than pretty much everyone else in our nation's capital." Zengerle provides plenty of examples & testimonials. ...

... Frank Bruni piles on. Here's the Chris Wallace interview (conducted this past Sunday), which Bruni recommends. Wallace reminds Tailgunner Ted of Senate Rule 22, which he says has been around for years:

     ... Catherine Thompson of TPM: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Monday wasn't rattled by news that some of his fellow Republicans encouraged a Fox News anchor to trash him on air, and instead called his detractors 'fearful' of him for not following 'the clubby way Washington does business.'" ...

... Republican strategist Steve Schmidt "deeply regrets" his part in aiding & abetting the winger "freak show," which he did by giving Sarah Palin a national presence:

Gubernatorial Race

Ben Pershing & Peyton Craighill of the Washington Post: "Democrat Terry McAuliffe has vaulted into the lead over Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II..., according to a new Washington Post/Abt SRBI poll. McAuliffe leads 47 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, with Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis's 10 percent suggesting an unrest among voters not satisfied with either major-party contender.... The shift in the race has come almost exclusively from female voters, who prefer McAuliffe by a 24-point margin over Cuccinelli. The candidates were effectively tied among women in a Washington Post poll in May."

News Ledes

AFP: "The Israeli delegation will boycott Iranian President Hassan Rowhani's address to the UN General Assembly later Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced."

Chicago Tribune: "Two men in their 20s opened fire into a park on the South Side -- wounding a 3-year-old boy and 12 other people -- after one of the men had been grazed by a bullet hours earlier, police said today. They did not aim at anyone in particular but 'just shot into the park' because they believed it was controlled by a rival gang, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters. Police identified the gang member[s] out for vengeance as Bryon Champ, 21..., [and] Tabari Young, 22. Kewane Gatewood, 20, supplied the high-powered gun Champ used, while Brad Jett, 22, acted as a lookout, police said."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 23, 2013

A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The frog asks, 'How do I know you won't sting me?' The scorpion says, 'Because if I do, I will die too.'

The frog is satisfied, and they set out. But in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown, but has just enough time to gasp, 'Why?'

Replies the scorpion: 'It's my nature.'

-- Aesop (and others)

... ** Roger Simon of Politico: "There are scorpions among us. They sit in Congress, committed not to solving problems, but blocking solutions. They would take the food out of the mouths of children. They would put the insurance companies back in charge of health care. They would shut the government down, refuse to pay the nation's bills, destroy the trust that other countries place in us when they buy our bonds, they would do all this rather than give President Obama the slimmest of political victories. Why? It is their nature." ...

... ** Paul Krugman: "Conservatives seem, in particular, to believe that freedom’s just another word for not enough to eat. Hence the war on food stamps, which House Republicans have just voted to cut sharply even while voting to increase farm subsidies.... SNAP, in short, is public policy at its best. It not only helps those in need; it helps them help themselves. And it has done yeoman work in the economic crisis, mitigating suffering and protecting jobs at a time when all too many policy makers seem determined to do the opposite. So it tells you something that conservatives have singled out this of all programs for special ire."

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Federal officials often say that health insurance will cost consumers less than expected under President Obama's health care law. But they rarely mention one big reason: many insurers are significantly limiting the choices of doctors and hospitals available to consumers. Even though insurers will be forbidden to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, they could subtly discourage the enrollment of sicker patients by limiting the size of their provider networks." ...

At heaven's door, St. Peter is probably not going to ask you much about what you did about keeping government small. But he is going to ask you what you did for the poor. -- Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio), encouraging Ohio's Republican legislature to accept the Medicaid expansion provision of the Affordable Care Act

Practicality and compassion are both missing in the manufactured rage against the abstraction known as 'Obamacare.' -- E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post

... Carrie Brown & Glenn Thrush of Politico attempt to follow the history of Barack Obama's evolution on health insurance reform. They claim it all started when Obama aides needed to come up with something for him to say at a 2007 healthcare forum on a topic about which rival Hillary Clinton was an expert. According to Brown & Thrush, the aides thought Obama "probably wasn't going to get elected anyway," so it didn't matter WTF he said. CW: I wouldn't take this report as gospel.

Igor Volsky's "Compete Guide to the GOP's Three-Year Campaign to Shut down the Government." "Past Congresses have used the debt ceiling as a 'vehicle for other legislative matters' or nongermane amendments, but as the timeline [in this post] demonstrates, the Republicans that came to power after the 2010 midterm elections demanded something entirely different: they threatened to push the nation into default and shut down the government unless Congress approves deep structural budget cuts during a period of economic recession." Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

Brigid Schulte & Paul Duggan of the Washington Post: "President Obama, addressing yet another memorial gathering after a deadly mass shooting, said Sunday evening that he senses 'a creeping resignation' in the United States that homicidal lunacy like the Washington Navy Yard massacre 'is somehow the new normal.' But he said ;it ought to be a shock to us all' and should spur Americans to demand 'a common sense' balance between gun rights and gun control. 'We cannot accept this,' Obama said of the Sept. 16 attack that killed a dozen people at the Navy Yard. 'As Americans bound in grief and love, we must insist here today there's nothing normal about innocent men and women being gunned down where they work'":

Coral Davenport of the National Journal: "President Obama sees his new global-warming regulations as a cornerstone of his legacy. Republicans see them as fresh political ammunition. On Friday, the Environmental Protection Agency unveiled the first in a series of historic and controversial climate-change rules aimed at reining in carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants, the nation's top source of greenhouse-gas emissions.... An hour after Obama's EPA chief, Gina McCarthy, formally announced the climate rules, [GOP] strategists began linking them to 2014 Democratic candidates."

Christi Parsons of the Los Angeles Times: "President Obama travels Monday to New York for a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, where he is scheduled to sit down with world leaders and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He will also address the General Assembly, focusing on the challenges in the Middle East, including the use of chemical weapons in Syria, Iran's nuclear ambitions and peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians." ...

... George Packer of the New Yorker: "In plain language [based on the U.N. investigative report], President Bashar al-Assad, along with other members of his regime, is a war criminal. His patron, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, has been exposed as a liar.... A political solution leading to a new Syrian government has always been the Administration's official policy, but Obama has shown little energy in pursuing it.... The latest debate over the use of force has passed, while the war goes on. What remains on the table is the use of politics.

Joe Hagan of New York interviews Hillary Clinton. It's her first post-Secretary interview & a long piece (you'll have to click through as the single-page versions is screwed up [at 5:00 am ET]).

David Cohen of Politico: "Bill Clinton says Lawrence Summers, his former Treasury secretary, did not deserve the criticism he received when he was under consideration to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve." ...

... Here's Bill Clinton, in the same interview with Fareed Zakaria, on President Obama's decision to go to Congress re: Syria & on the NSA leaks:

Frank Rich sees Rand Paul as a "valuable" voice in the Republican party. CW: Paul may be the "wacko bird" in the eyes of his party's hawks & chicken-hawks, BUT ...

Nobody Likes Ted. Evan McMurry of Mediaite: "Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace said Sunday morning that he'd received opposition research from other Republicans about Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) in advance of Cruz's appearance [Sunday] morning, a serious indication of how upset the GOP is with the Senator leading the risky charge to defund ObamaCare." ...

... Here's one reason Republicans Don't Like Ted. Jonathan Chait on how Ted Cruz turned the GOP ObamaCare defunding plan "from disaster to utter fiasco." ...

... Steve Benen: "... even if Senate Republicans felt overwhelming pressure from unhinged Tea Party activists and actually endorsed [Cruz's latest] scheme, they'd make it impossible to blame Democrats for the shutdown -- GOP senators would have created the shutdown by filibustering their own bill." ...

... CW: Last week contributor Keith Howard wrote, "I think any person with a functioning brain only needs to watch Cruz in action for a few minutes to conclude that he is a dangerous psychopath -- a completely selfish backstabber, vicious, untrustworthy, and void of any moral principle." (Howard has argued elsewhere that mincing words in unproductive.) I don't like to make derogatory comments about anyone's personal appearance, but Cruz does look to me like a Hollywood casting director's pick for the villain in a psychopath-on-the-rampage flick. For instance, looking at this picture of Cruz smiling & Sen. Mike Lee scowling, I think Happy Cruz looks a lot scarier than Angry Lee.

Whether or not you watched any of the Sunday shows, Charles Pierce's recap is well-worth a read. CW: What's discouraging is that regular, honorable Americans tune into those shows & have no fucking idea they are being had by the GOP AND the lovely hosts.

This map, developed by Deadspin, was first published several months, ago, but it's worth a look-see, as it does speak to our priorities:

Justin Rosario of Addicting Info links the map above to this clip, which I think is from the first episode of the first season of the HBO series "The Network Newsroom." The character, news anchor Will McAvoy (played by Jeff Daniels, who just won a Emmy for his second-season performance) is obnoxious & the speech is holier-than-thou preachy, but the substance is well-taken:

News Ledes

New York Times: "Chancellor Angela Merkel scored a stunning personal triumph in Sunday's national elections in Germany, becoming the only major leader to be re-elected twice since the financial crisis of 2008 and winning strong popular endorsement for her mix of austerity and solidarity in managing troubled Europe."

Washington Post: " Kenyan security forces swept into an upscale shopping mall late Sunday to try to end a two-day standoff with heavily armed Islamist militants after a gruesome attack that reflected the surprising resiliency of one of Africa's most brutal insurgent groups. Authorities later said that most hostages had been freed, but they provided few details. It appeared that at least some members of Somalia's al-Shabab militia, which asserted responsibility for the attack, were still holed up early Monday in the Westgate Premier Shopping Mall, where they killed 68 people in the deadliest terrorist attack in Kenya in 15 years." ...

     ... Update: "By Monday evening, Kenyan security forces said they controlled much of the Westgate Premier Shopping Mall, although several militants from al-Shabab, a group allied with al-Qaeda, appeared dug in, determined to fight to the death.... Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed said Monday that 'two or three Americans' and 'one Brit' were among the perpetrators of the attack. "

The Commentariat -- Sept. 22, 2013

We probably can’t defeat or get rid of Obamacare.... I will continue to lead the fight until we win. I will not vote for any CR that funds Obamacare and if there is one penny for Obamacare I will vote no. -- Sen. Rand Paul (RTP-Ky.) ...

... I will shut down the entire federal government to make a political point about a hopeless cause. -- CW Translation

It’s rather extraordinary, if you think about it, that there are efforts under way to prevent Americans from getting benefits that they lawfully could enjoy and should enjoy. -- Jay Carney, presidential press secretary ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: "Starting this week, the White House will kick off a six-month campaign to persuade millions of uninsured Americans to sign up for health coverage as part of insurance marketplaces that open for business on Oct. 1. If too few people enroll, the centerpiece of the president's Affordable Care Act could collapse. But instead of offering the kind of grudging cooperation that normally follows even the most bitter of legislative battles, Mr. Obama's foes have intensified their opposition, trying to deepen the nation's anger about the health insurance program, which both sides often call Obamacare." ...

... CW: I try to avoid giving any space to Sarah Palin unless she does something really newsworthy -- like quitting the governor gig -- but her opinion piece in Breitbart is an excellent summation of Tea Party anti-ObamaCare rationale. Sadly, millions of Americans believe this nonsense. Not sure who wrote the headline: "... Bombs Away on Obamacare; Cruz Is over the Target," but it is certainly consistent with Palin's past use of violent imagery aimed at Democrats. Also, didn't know Texans were smaller than Alaskans.

Joe Picard of the Hill: "President Obama phoned Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Friday to tell him he will not negotiate with Republicans on the debt ceiling...."

"SNAP Judgments." Paul Krugman: "The idea that food stamps represent a problem -- not a small blessing that has made this ongoing economic disaster marginally less awful -- represents an awesome combination of ignorance and cruelty." Krugman provides a chart, demonstrating that the food-stamp program is far from "out of control," as Republicans claim. CW: But, hey, what are facts to MOCs who have watched Fox "News"'s Lobster Boy "documentary"? Somebody please send those nasty idiots DVDs of "A Place at the Table." And make them take a pop quiz to prove they watched it. ...

... Josh Barro of Business Insider: "Yesterday, House Republicans voted overwhelmingly for a plan that cuts the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by 5% over the next decade. But 15 Republicans voted no, and some of them are explaining why." CW: I told you there were some decent Republicans. They'll probably be primaried back to civilian life. But don't worry; they'll become well-paid lobbyists. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

Charles Arthur of the Guardian: "A major American computer security company has told thousands of customers to stop using an encryption system that relies on a mathematical formula developed by the National Security Agency (NSA). RSA, the security arm of the storage company EMC, sent an email to customers telling them that the default random number generator in a toolkit for developers used a weak formula, and they should switch to one of the other formulas in the product. The abrupt warning is the latest fallout from the huge intelligence disclosures by the whistleblower Edward Snowden about the extent of surveillance and the debasement of encryption by the NSA."

Robert Reich in the New York Times: economic inequality, with most Americans on "a downward escalator," explains the anger that accompanies the ideological divide.

Maureen Dowd takes a field trip to Georgetown U. where Warren Buffett gives a lecture. Fairly interesting. Nancy Pelosi apologizes for being late: "We were busy taking food out of the mouths of babies."

Congressional Race

Apocalypse Now. We are witnessing the end of a Western Christian empire. -- Dean Young, Tea Party candidate in an Alabama Congressional race

... Campbell Robertson of the New York Times: "... the outcome of Tuesday's [Republican] primary [in Alabama's First Congressional District], though likely to be a function of turnout here, may provide some hints on how much further the Republican shift to the right might go."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "Gunmen stormed a popular high-end shopping mall in the Kenyan capital Saturday afternoon, lobbing \ grenades and firing weapons in an attack that left at least 59 people dead and more than 150 injured, Kenyan officials said. On Sunday morning, nearly a full day after the initial assault, the attackers, strapped with grenades and wielding machine guns and AK-47 rifles, remained holed up with scores of hostages within the Westgate Premier Shopping Mall, exchanging gunfire with Kenyan police andsoldiers."

New York Times: "Bo Xilai, the pugnacious Chinese politician whose downfall shook the Communist Party, was sentenced to life in prison on Sunday after a court found him guilty of bribetaking, embezzlement and abuse of power in a failed attempt to stifle murder allegations against his wife."

New York Times: "A suicide attack on a historic Christian church in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 75 people on Sunday, in one of the deadliest attacks on the Christian minority in Pakistan for years."

Guardian: "Germany goes to the polls on Sunday in elections whose outcome will be vital for Europe's future.... While [Chancellor Angela] Merkel's party is expected to once again emerge as the most powerful force in the new Bundestag, the German chancellor will be anxiously watching the performance of the anti-euro Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party, which could enter parliament for the first time if it gains more than 5% of the vote."