The Commentariat -- June 5, 2012
In Hong Kong's Victoria Park, thousands remember Tiananmen Square. Photo via MSNBC.... James Fallows of the Atlantic: "That so many people would turn out, in a supremely business-minded community that has been legally part of the People's Republic of China for nearly 15 years, to observe the Tiananmen anniversary that is leading to detentions, tightened censorship, and crackdowns in other parts of China, is impressive and heartening. (It also is impressive and heartening that Hong Kong's legal regime remains independent enough to allow such demonstrations and comments, after these nearly 15 years.)"
Quote of the Day. Conservatives seem to believe that the rich will work harder if we give them more, and the poor will work harder if we give them less. -- E. J. Dionne, Washington Post
CW: I just couldn't stomach David Brooks today (and I tried), but Dean Baker does a very nice job of flaying a part of Brooks' latest nonsense.
Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: Congressional Democrats & the White House engaged in "an unusual example of all-hands-on-deck coordination ... in advance of a key procedural vote on the [Paycheck Fairness Act] set for Tuesday.... The bill came up for a procedural vote in the Senate in 2010 and failed, as no Republican supported it. It heads to the Senate floor again on Tuesday for another procedural vote to begin debate; it is expected to fail once again.... The paycheck legislation seems to have vexed the Romney campaign -- Mr. Romney will not state clearly whether he supports it." CW: the gist of the report seems to be to diss Democrats for being uniformly behind a bill that would help women in the workplace. Nice work, Steinhauer.
"Our Imbecilic Constitution." Sheldon Levinson, in a New York Times "Campaign Stop": "... the Constitution is enveloped in near religious veneration. (Indeed, Mormon theology treats it as God-given.) ... What was truly admirable about the framers was their willingness to critique, indeed junk, the Articles of Confederation. One need not believe that the Constitution of 1787 should be discarded in quite the same way to accept that we are long overdue for a serious discussion about its own role in creating the depressed (and depressing) state of American politics." Sorry, don't know how I missed this one, but it has not reached its use-by date. Plus, another reason not to vote for Brother Willard.
Steve Benen: Chris Hayes gives Mann & Ornstein some airtime, after other news talkshows rebuff the scholars, who have written a book -- and some essays -- fingering Congressional Republicans as the real obstructionists.
Joe Nocera has not been palling around with Wall Street terrorists quite so much lately. Today it dawns on him that labor unions were a major factor in reducing income inequality in the last century. No kidding.
CW: You wouldn't know it from reading Larry Summers' jargon-laden op-ed in the Washington Post, but the headline writer helpfully titled the piece "It is time for governments to borrow more money." I fee so much better knowing Larry doesn't feel he has to talk down to me. Jerk.
Nathaniel Popper of the New York Times: "As the European crisis intensifies, a growing number of companies in the United States are warning investors that sales in the region are slowing and could get much worse."
Greg Sargent thinks voters are too dense to appreciate the argument that Republicans are sabotaging the economy. I'm not so sure. I wouldn't make sabotage my main campaign theme, but Democrats should hold Republicans accountable, in part, for the lousy economy. On the other hand,
Presidential Race
The Republican Congress and their nominee for President, Gov. Romney, have adopted Europe's economic policies. Their economic policy is austerity and unemployment now, and then a long term budget that would explode the debt when the economy recovers so the interest rates would be so high, nobody would be able to do anything. -- Former President Bill Clinton, at a fundraiser with President Obama & finally getting with the program (for now) ...
... Jackie Calmes of the New York Times: former President Bill Clinton, appearing with President Obama at fundraisers in New York City, tried to clean up his earlier remarks praising Mitt Romney's business acumen. ...
... Roger Simon of Politico has quite a good take on Bill Clinton, campaign surrogate: he's "out of control." ...
... Why can't Clinton be more like Ed Gillespie? -- whom Michael Scherer of Time nominates for Best Surrogate for his performance on Chris Wallace's show Sunday. What a performance!
Mitt Romney Explains Why He Is Running for President. Pat Garofalo of Think Progress: "According to an analysis from Citizens for Tax Justice, 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney would save himself $5 million in taxes in 2013 by winning November's election (assuming he could get his tax plan enacted into law)."
When Willard Loved the Individual Mandate. Mark Maremont of the Wall Street Journal gets his hands on a few e-mails the Gov. Romney team accidentally forgot to destroy.
Local News
Annie-Rose Strasser of Think Progress: "... in court last week, one of [Wisconsin Gov. Scott] Walker's closest confidants contradicted the Governor's claim that he's been fully cooperative with the [corruption] investigation, which has already claimed three of Walker's former staffers and associates. The probe is aimed at locating government officials who engaged in a range of criminal activities while employed by Walker when he was Milwaukee County executive. Tim Russell, an old Walker adviser who has himself been charged with felony embezzlement, told a local reporter that Walker has not been cooperative with the corruption probe. In fact, Russell's information shows that Walker has been 'stonewalling' investigators." ...
... PolitiScoop: "Scott Walker's closest political aide has just been named in Milwaukee County Circuit Court Monday as the source of damaging revelations that undermine Walker's claim that he has cooperated with the John Doe criminal corruption probe into his current and former administrations." Thanks to reader Jeanne B. for the link. ...
... Charles Pierce has the whole story & tells it as only Charles Pierce can. ...
... AND Obama finally gets with the program:
... AP: "President Barack Obama's press secretary says the president hopes Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett beats Republican Gov. Scott Walker in Tuesday's recall election."
Karen Herzog of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Tuition and fees this fall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison would top $10,000 for in-state students, and UW-Milwaukee would be close behind, if a recommended 5.5% tuition increase is approved by the Board of Regents this week." CW: I've linked this only because it shocked me. When I went to the UW-Madison in 1962, in-state tuition was $300/year. Even adjusted for inflation, the 1962 fee would be $2,255 today.
News Ledes
New York Times: "In a hard-fought race that pitted two Democrats and onetime friends against each other, Representative Bill Pascrell Jr. won the primary in the Ninth Congressional District on Tuesday. With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Pascrell had 64 percent of the vote, beating Representative Steve Rothman, with 36 percent, according to The Associated Press."
Los Angeles Times: "U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) leaped to a commanding lead against 23 little-known challengers, according to absentee ballot returns Tuesday night. Feinstein captured about 51% of the early balloting, assuring her a place in the general election under the state's new 'top-two' primary rules. Autism activist Susan Emken, a Republican, polled about 12% of the absentee tally, making her the early favorite to face Feinstein in the fall."
NBC News projects Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has survived the recall effort @ 9:55 pm ET. Update: Wisconsin GOP Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch also holds her seat @ 10:15 pm ET. Sen. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald projected to survive recall @ 10:40 pm ET.
New York Times: "Al Qaeda's deputy leader, Abu Yahya al-Libi, was killed in a drone strike in northern Pakistan, an American official confirmed on Tuesday, in the biggest single success in the controversial campaign's eight-year history in the country."
Boston Globe: "Senate Democrats lost a key vote Tuesday to expand rights of working women to challenge employers on pay discrimination.... Democrats mustered 52 votes for passage, far short of the 60 needed to block a GOP-led filibuster. All 47 Republicans opposed the bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid voted with Republicans as a procedural tactic to allow him to again bring up the measure."
Guardian: "Syria has severed almost all its remaining diplomatic links with the west, declaring that envoys from the US and most of western Europe were no longer welcome in Damascus, in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsion of Syrian diplomats last week. The Assad regime announced that 17 diplomats from the US, UK, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany and Canada were considered 'personae non gratae' as well as the entire Turkish mission in Damascus."
Guardian: "One of the highest-profile prosecutions stemming from the Iraq war period is to go ahead after the US supreme court refused to dismiss manslaughter and weapons charges against four employees of the private security company Blackwater Worldwide. Supreme court justices declined to review a ruling by a US appeals court that reinstated the criminal charges against the guards for their involvement in the incident, in which 17 Iraqi civilians died and 20 were wounded."
The New York Times has a liveblog of the Wisconsin election. ...
... Los Angeles Times: "As Wisconsin residents decide today whether Gov. Scott Walker keeps his job, reports have surfaced of automated calls instructing voters who signed the recall petition that they don't need to cast a vote to oust the controversial governor." ...
... Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Over 200 students statewide reported confusion at the polls Tuesday and many left without casting a vote, according to the League of Women Voters. 'We know there has been disenfranchisement. We know this has happened. We know students left their polling places without voting,' said Carolyn Castore, the League's coordinator for the statewide election protection hotline." ...
... AP: "Regardless of the outcome, Wisconsin voters will make history today. Either Gov. Scott Walker will become only the third governor in U.S. history to be removed from office before his term is up, or he'll be the first to survive such a challenge." The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's election day coverage is here. ...
... ABC News has a rundown of contests in other states.
New York Times: "Pressed by a banking crisis and turmoil in the markets, Germany has indicated that it is prepared to accept a grand bargain that would provide greater support for its most indebted euro zone partners in exchange for more centralized control over government spending in Europe."
New York Times: "In late April, the military's Special Operations Command presented the State Department and Congress with an urgent request for new authority to train and equip security forces in places like Yemen and Kenya.... But in a rare rebuke to [Admiral William McRaven] and his command, powerful House and Senate officials as well as the State Department, and ultimately the deputy cabinet-level aides who met at the White House on the issue on May 7, rejected the changes."
Washington Post: "The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that Secret Service agents are shielded from a lawsuit brought by a man who said his free speech rights were violated when he was arrested after confronting then-Vice President Dick Cheney."
AP: "A federal appeals court in San Francisco plans to announce Tuesday if it will rehear a legal challenge to California's same-sex marriage ban or send the landmark case on to the U.S. Supreme Court. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Monday it was ready to reveal whether a majority of its actively serving judges has agreed or refused to reconsider a February ruling by two of its member judges declaring the ban unconstitutional." ...
... NBC News Update: "A federal appeals court said Tuesday it will not rehear arguments on California's Proposition 8, meaning the final word on the constitutionality of the state's ban on same-sex marriage will likely come from the U.S. Supreme Court."
New York Times: "The Walt Disney Company, in an effort to address concerns about entertainment's role in childhood obesity, plans to announce on Tuesday that all products advertised on its child-focused television channels, radio stations and Web sites must comply with a strict new set of nutritional standards."
AP: "Despite his repeated efforts to delay it, Jerry Sandusky's child molestation trial was set to begin with the start of jury selection, as prosecutors and his defense lawyers choose 12 people from the area around Penn State to decide his guilt or innocence."
AP: "Crowds cheering 'God save the queen!' and pealing church bells greeted Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday as she arrived for a service at St. Paul's Cathedral on the last of four days of celebrations of her 60 years on the throne. Poignantly, the queen was without Prince Philip, her husband of 64 years, who was hospitalized on Monday for treatment of a bladder infection."
Reuters: "Lawyers for George Zimmerman ... said on Monday they would ask a judge to release him from jail again after his bail was revoked last week."