The Commentariat -- May 8, 2012

My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on Brooks' nonsense of the day. The NYTX front page is here.

Alec MacGillis of The New Republic writes a fabulous post on "Robert Caro and Our 'Great Man" Fetish."

Paul Krugman speaks to Chrystia Freeland about stimulus spending & jobs growth:

Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "After months on the sidelines, major liberal donors including the financier George Soros are preparing to inject up to $100 million into independent groups to aid Democrats' chances this fall. But instead of going head to head with the conservative 'super PACs' and outside groups that have flooded the presidential and Congressional campaigns with negative advertising, the donors are focusing on grass-roots organizing, voter registration and Democratic turnout."

Presidential Race

Steve Peoples of the AP: "Campaigning in the backyard of America's auto industry, Mitt Romney re-ignited the bailout debate by suggesting he deserves 'a lot of credit' for the recent successes of the nation's largest car companies. That claims comes in spite of his stance that Detroit should have been allowed to go bankrupt." CW: That's the lede. Later in the piece, Peoples writes, "Romney has repeatedly argued that Obama ultimately took his advice on the auto industry's woes of 2008 and 2009. But he went further on Monday by saying he deserves credit for its ultimate turnaround. The course Romney advocated differed greatly from the one that was ultimately taken. GM and Chrysler went into bankruptcy on the strength of a massive bailout that Romney opposed.... Romney opposed taxpayer help." It is worth emphasizing that this is an AP story -- one that may appear in many papers throughout the U.S. The MSM -- even in straight news stories -- is beginning to point to Romney's implausible stories. ...

... ** In a comment on this story, Akhilleus offers hope that Willard will be abducted by aliens. (CW Update: to clarify, I guess I should say that by "aliens" I mean extraterrestrials, not those nice young men who used to mow & trim the Romneys' lawns before Willard was running for President, for Pete's sake.)

Beth Reinhard of National Journal: "... it’s hard to see [President Obama's] unwillingness to declare his support for gay marriage as anything other than political expedience. For evidence, look no further than  North Carolina, poised on Tuesday to join the majority of states with constitutional bans on gay marriage." ...

... Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post: No, Obama's positions on gay rights are not just like Romney's. ...

... BUT Greg Sargent: "Some leading gay and progressive donors are so angry over President Obama's refusal to sign an executive order barring same sex discrimination by federal contractors that they are refusing to give any more money to the pro-Obama super PAC, a top gay fundraiser's office tells me. In some cases, I'm told, big donations are being withheld." ...

... NEW. Walter Shapiro, writing for Yahoo! News: "In 2013, either as a second-term president or as a private citizen beyond political ambition, Obama almost certainly will reinvent himself as a supporter of gay marriage." ...

... NEWER. Dana Milbank: Jay Carney didn't have a big enough mop to clean up this mess. A funny, if frustrating, reprise of yesterday's press briefing wherein Carney's briefs were tied in knots.

... NEWEST. Peter Wallsten & Dan Eggen of the Washington Post: "Several people close to the White House said the [Biden] episode has exposed internal tensions within Obama’s team between those who want the president to say he favors same-sex marriage before the November election and others who worry about a political backlash if he does -- not just among conservatives and working-class voters but among African Americans.... About one in six of Obama's top campaign 'bundlers' are gay..., making it difficult for the president to defer the matter. Activists are planning a campaign for the adoption of a pro-gay-marriage plank in this year's Democratic Party platform. And a series of referendums this year on same-sex marriage -- including one in the swing state of North Carolina on Tuesday -- are putting the issue at the forefront." ...

... AND New York Times Editors: "By failing to go the next step and actually say that he supports the freedom to marry as Mr. Biden does and as polls show nearly a majority of Americans do, Mr. Obama risks dampening the enthusiasm of allies without gaining the support of equality's opponents. It's not an unfamiliar place for this president to be, unfortunately."

Dave Weigel of Slate: "New Frontiers in Neo-Swiftboating: Obama Was Ready to Blame the Troops!" The right wing, including former Bush AG Mike Mukasey, goes insane trying -- without success -- to find ways to undermine Obama's success in the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Reid Epstein of Politico: "Faced with a questioner who declared that President Barack Obama should be 'tried for treason,' Mitt Romney calmly answered the woman’s question about constitutional principles and then allowed her a follow-up question.... As the event ended, Romney told reporters on the ropeline [who asked] if he agreed that Obama should be tried for treason. 'No, no, no,' he said, shaking his head. 'No, of course not.'” ...

... Andy Rosenthal: "Why do politicians have this cowardly habit of standing by while their supporters say ridiculous things, without making the slightest attempt to set them straight? Afterward, they say they have no control over their supporters. But presumably they have some control over themselves." ...

... Jonathan Bernstein: "If everything that Mitt Romney, Republican Members of Congress, and the other Republican presidential candidates say about Barack Obama was true, then Obama should be tried for treason. It's that kind of rhetoric that's the problem, not Romney's immediate response to what someone says at a rally."

Brian Bakst & Stephen Ohlemacher of the AP: "Don't tell Ron Paul the Republican primary is over. He's too busy mucking up Mitt Romney's efforts to accumulate enough convention delegates to officially claim the GOP nomination for president. Paul's supporters won control of state GOP conventions in Maine and Nevada last weekend, stripping Romney of delegates in Maine but graciously letting him keep the ones he won in Nevada's February caucuses. Next up: Republican state conventions in Minnesota, Missouri, Louisiana and Iowa."

AND "The Dog Ate My Birth Certificate." In another interesting presidential election aside, Prof. Janet Davis, in a New York Times op-ed: "Our fears of consuming canines ... have had more to do with moralistic xenophobia and exclusion than with animal welfare, public health or ethical taboo. The flap over Mr. Obama's youthful consumption of dog meat is a resurrection of the birther-conspiracy wolf dressed in dog's clothing."

News Ledes

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Shrugging off millions of dollars spent by labor groups to defeat him, Tom Barrett walked to victory in Tuesday's Democratic primary and set up a more taxing sprint toward June 5 -- a historic recall that will be a rematch of his unsuccessful 2010 race against Gov. Scott Walker."

New York Times: "Richard G. Lugar, one of the Senate's longest-serving members, a collegial moderate who personified a gentler political era, was turned out of office on Tuesday, ending a career that had spanned the terms of half a dozen presidents and had seen broad shifts in the culture of Washington."

AP: "North Carolina voters have approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman, making it the 30th state to adopt such a ban. With 35 percent of precincts reporting Tuesday, unofficial returns showed the amendment passing with about 58 percent of the vote to 42 percent against."

Raleigh News & Observer: "Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney added to his big lead in the race for convention delegates Tuesday by winning Republican presidential primaries in North Carolina and Indiana, inching closer to the number of delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination."

Yahoo! News: "After learning of the alleged sex tape featuring John Edwards and his mistress, Rielle Hunter, during the 2008 presidential campaign, a former Edwards adviser said he tried to warn the Obama campaign not to consider Edwards for a spot in the administration."

New York Times: "Maurice Sendak, widely considered the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century, who wrenched the picture book out of the safe, sanitized world of the nursery and plunged it into the dark, terrifying and hauntingly beautiful recesses of the human psyche, died on Tuesday in Danbury, Conn. He was 83 and lived in Ridgefield, Conn."

ABC News: "In a stunning intelligence coup, a dangerous al Qaeda bomb cell in Yemen was successfully infiltrated by an inside source who secretly worked for the CIA and several other intelligence agencies, authorities revealed to ABC News." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "The suicide bomber dispatched by the Yemen branch of Al Qaeda last month to blow up a United States-bound airliner was actually an intelligence agent for Saudi Arabia who infiltrated the terrorist group and volunteered for the mission, American and foreign officials said Tuesday. The suicide bomber dispatched by the Yemen branch of Al Qaeda last month to blow up a United States-bound airliner was actually an intelligence agent for Saudi Arabia who infiltrated the terrorist group and volunteered for the mission..."

New York Times: "With a polarized Congress already on the defensive, President Obamaon Tuesday will outline a five-point 'to do' list for lawmakers that packages job creation and mortgage relief ideas he has proposed before, administration officials say." ...

     ... Yahoo! News Update: "President Barack Obama pressed Congress on Tuesday to act on a modest five-item 'to-do list' to fight unemployment, showcasing the tasks on a virtual Post-It note he mockingly said would not 'overload' lawmakers."

There are elections today in Indiana, Wisconsin & North Carolina:

     ... Indianapolis Star: "Polls opened at 6 a.m. today as Hoosiers make their final picks for Republican and Democratic nominees for the November election. Headlining today's election is the Republican race for U.S. Senate between Sen. Richard Lugar and Treasurer Richard Mourdock." ...

     ... Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "The four Democratic candidates Monday rolled into their final day of campaigning before the primary election in Wisconsin's historic gubernatorial recall."

     ... Raleigh News & Observer: "A final poll of likely North Carolina voters conducted over the weekend continues to give a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions an easy margin of victory in Tuesday’s election while the Democratic contest for governor is tightening." The News & Observer election page is here.

AP: "The Senate is steaming toward a showdown on a Democratic proposal to keep student loan interest rates from doubling for 7.4 million students. In a measure of how the upcoming election is driving work in Congress these days, it's a vote Democrats won't terribly mind losing -- which is probably what will happen."

New York Times: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the chairman of the opposition Kadima Party struck a deal early Tuesday morning to form a unity government, a surprise move that staves off early elections and creates a new coalition with a huge legislative majority."

New York Times: "Chen Guangcheng, the blind activist whose escape last month from house arrest and subsequent flight to the American Embassy here triggered a diplomatic crisis, said Tuesday that Chinese authorities have begun to assist him in applying for permission to travel to the United States."

New York Times: "Late last year, fishermen began finding dead dolphins, hundreds of them, washed up on Peru’s northern coast. Now, seabirds have begun dying, too, and the government has yet to conclusively pinpoint a cause."

Washington Post: "U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter announced to his staff Monday morning that he was stepping down this summer after serving less than two years on the job."

Washington Post: "Rick Santorum, who bowed out of the Republican nominating contest after capturing 11 states and some 3 million votes, endorsed Mitt Romney late Monday. In a letter to his supporters, the former Pennsylvania senator said that he was impressed with Romney's 'commitment to economic policies that preserve and strengthen families.'”

The Commentariat -- May 7, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is on "The Life of Ross." The NYTX front page is here. My thanks to Douthat for giving me an excuse to write a column in which mention of young Douthat's limp member and blow-up dolls is more-or-less appropriate. ...

... Chris Spannos, the NYTX editor, writes a terrific piece correlating the New York Times' poor coverage of Occupy Wall Street with its own bad labor practices.

Robert Morgenthau, the Manhattan District Attorney for more than three decades, in a New York Times op-ed: "... it's not just the low tax rates that make [island] jurisdictions attractive to those following the rules. The secrecy of offshore jurisdictions allows some individuals and corporations to engage in outright tax fraud, costing America at least $40 billion each year.... The secrecy laws in these tax havens are at the root of serious crimes: fraud, money laundering and international terrorism.... There's more money on deposit in the Caymans than in all the banks in New York City combined.... Many American corporations, including Halliburton, have done business with Iran through their offshore tax haven subsidiaries." Congress can act, but it won't, despite pending legislation.

On Speaking Evangelical. T. M. Luhrmann in the New York Times: "If Democrats want to reach more evangelical voters, they should use a political language that evangelicals can hear. They should talk about the kind of people we are aiming to be and about the transformational journey that any choice will take us on. They should talk about how we can grow in compassion and care. They could talk about the way their policy interventions will allow those who receive them to become better people and how those of us who support them will better ourselves as we reach out in love. They could describe health care reform as a response to suffering, not as a solution to an economic problem."

Paul Krugman: "The French are revolting. The Greeks, too. And it’s about time." ...

... Judd Gregg, former governor of & U.S. from New Hampshire, & all-around stuffed shirt, writes an op-ed in The Hill warning that the French election results are a foreboding of a socialist takeover of the U.S. government. CW: I wish.

... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "For President Obama, the sight of Nicolas Sarkozy, a fellow member of the Presidential class of 2007-2008, being sent packing by French voters will bring mixed feelings."

Kevin Sieff of the Washington Post: "The United States has for several years been secretly releasing high-level detainees from a military prison in Afghanistan as part of negotiations with insurgent groups, a bold effort to quell violence but one that U.S. officials acknowledge poses substantial risks."

Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "... it is the rare oral argument that wins or loses a case.... Oral arguments are ... far less important than the written briefs."

Ian Shapira of the Washington Post tells the story of Barbara Annette Robbins, killed in the 1965 car-bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, whom the CIA finally acknowledged last year was "one of their own. But the slain secretary holds enough historic titles to make her an object of curiosity within the CIA. Robbins was the first woman at the male-dominated CIA killed in the line of duty. She is the youngest CIA employee ever killed. And, according to [Leon] Panetta, she was also the first American woman to die in the Vietnam War." Here's a related photo gallery.

Ahrnold's Back. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a Los Angeles Times op-ed: "... the extreme right wing of the [Republican] party is targeting anyone who doesn't meet its strict criteria. Its new and narrow litmus test for party membership doesn't allow compromise. I bumped up against that rigidity many times as governor.... It's time to stop thinking of the Republican Party as an exclusive club where your ideological card is checked at the door, and start thinking about how we can attract more solution-based leaders...."

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: Angus King, the front-runner for Maine's open U.S. Senate seat, is "a two-term independent governor who, because he refuses to say whom he would support for majority leader next year, may well decide which party controls an evenly divided Senate."

Presidential Race

I missed this essay by Charles Pierce on President Obama's failure to use the bully pulpit -- or even to understand what to say -- but it's worth a read, because it is exactly right. Many of us have been saying the same thing for a long time, but not so well. AND it remains hard for me to reckon how someone so politically savvy could really think that if he was just a little nicer, just a little more accommodating, the Republicans in Congress would step up & do the jobs they were sworn to do.

NEW. Andrew Kaczynski of BuzzFeed: "... in 1981 presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney was arrested for disorderly conduct. The issue of Romney's arrest first came to light during his 1994 Senate run against incumbent Senator Ted Kennedy...." A magistrate dropped the charges -- which were Mickey Mouse anyway -- when Romney threatened to sue. CW: Meh. Now imagine, if you will, the hysteria on the right if Obama had been arrested for disorderly conduct for participating in a demonstration or whatever.

The Obama-Biden campaign's latest one-minute ad is a shorter version of the 7-minute "Forward" ad:

George Packer of the New Yorker: "Mitt Romney has dropped the severe conservatism, stopped denouncing the children of illegal immigrants, and started claiming authorship of the auto-bailout plan, which he had formerly dismissed as a goodbye kiss to the industry. By Election Day, he will have replaced so many parts so many times that nothing of the original Romney will be left but the hair."

Alex Koppelman of the New Yorker and others see Vice President Biden's endorsement of gay marriage as a flareup of Biden's foot-in-mouth disease. Here's Biden, via Igor Volsky of Think Progress:

... Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "The comments, which aides described as the off-the-cuff views of a vice president not known for fidelity to a script, sent the White House scrambling to clarify that Mr. Biden was not articulating an official change in policy, a reaction that highlighted the administration's unease over the subject." ...

... Jamelle Bouie of the American Prospect: "I don't see any reason for why Obama shouldn’t come out in support of same-sex marriage.... With the exception of conservatives, support is broad-based...." ...

... Steve Kornacki of Salon: in context, it appears Biden's remarks may be all about Biden: "... to be a contender for '16, he needs to build and sustain as much goodwill as possible with his party's base. And by now, rank-and-file Democrats are far, far ahead of the Obama White House when it comes to gay marriage." ...

... NEW. Drew Katchen of NBC News: "On Morning Joe, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan echoed Biden. Asked by TIME's Mark Halperin whether he thinks same-sex couples should be legally allowed to marry, Duncan said flatly: 'Yes I do.'"

News Ledes

CNN: "U.S., Yemeni and other intelligence agencies broke up a plot to bomb a U.S. airliner around the anniversary of the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a U.S. counterrrorism official said Monday, although a second U.S. counterrorism official said that the threat was not timed to coincide with the death of the al Qaeda leader."

ABC OTUS News: "In May 2011, just weeks before John Edwards was indicted for allegedly using $725,000 from an elderly heiress to hide his pregnant mistress, Edwards asked Rachel "Bunny" Mellon for an additional $3 million, her librarian testified today."

AP: "Vladimir Putin took the oath of office in a brief Kremlin ceremony on Monday, while on the streets outside thousands of helmeted riot police prevented hundreds of demonstrators from protesting his return to the presidency."

AP: "In a video released Sunday by al-Qaida, American hostage Warren Weinstein said he will be killed unless President Barack Obama agrees to the militant group's demands.... Weinstein was abducted last August in Lahore, Pakistan, after gunmen tricked his guards and broke into his home. The 70-year-old from Rockville, Md., is the country director in Pakistan for J.E. Austin Associates, a Virginia-based firm that advises a range of Pakistani business and government sectors." With video excerpt.

AP: "Al-Qaida militants staged a surprise attack Monday on a Yemeni army base in the south, killing 20 soldiers and capturing 25 just hours after a U.S. drone strike killed a senior figure in the terror network wanted in connection with the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen."

Reuters: "Syrians voted in a parliamentary election on Monday touted by authorities as a milestone of political reform but dismissed by the opposition as a facade while people are killed every day in an anti-government uprising. Violence persisted across the country between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels fighting to end four decades of dynastic rule by his family."

Reuters: "Greek and French election results rattled investors on Monday by undermining confidence in the region's plans to cut spending and tackle its debt crisis, sending the euro to a three-month low."

The Commentariat -- May 6, 2012

Super moon over the Temple of Poseidon SE of Athens, Greece, yesterday. AP photo.There's a pretty good slideshow of photos here.

President Obama kicked off his 2012 campaign yesterday in Columbus, Ohio:

It Depends on Where You Get Your News:

     ... Glenn Thrush of Politico: "The [Obama] campaign was only able to muster 14,000 supporters at the first event in an arena designed to hold more than 18,000. Several thousand empty seats ringed its upper deck, mostly out of view from the cameras. About 8,000 supporters turned out for the VCU rally, a full house, and most seemed to like their candidate's blend of hope, change and Romney-bashing." ...

     ... Alexander Marlow of Breitbart "News": "Obama launches campaign in empty arena. Barack Obama launched his campaign in unspectacular fashion today at Ohio State University, the largest college in the crucial swing state. A photo posted to twitter by Mitt Romney's campaign spokesman Ryan Williams reveals sparse attendance."

Christopher Bodeen of the Associated Press: Gary Locke, the U.S. Ambassador to China, played a pivotal role in the drama over legal activist Chen Guangcheng. Locke is popular among the Chinese people. "Locke has drawn overflowing audiences to his speeches at Chinese universities and been the subject of magazine cover stories. Huge crowds showed up when he visited his ancestral home in the southeastern province of Guangdong. At one point, Chinese Foreign Ministry officials complained to the U.S. Embassy about Locke's popular image of being thrifty as an attempt to defame the Chinese government."

Alice Randall in a New York Times op-ed: "Four out of five black women are seriously overweight. One out of four middle-aged black women has diabetes. With $174 billion a year spent on diabetes-related illness in America and obesity quickly overtaking smoking as a cause of cancer deaths, it is past time to try something new."

Pastor Bob Still Not Impressed with Willard. Peter Nicholas of the Wall Street Journal: "Mitt Romney might have been hoping to make inroads with Christian conservatives when he questioned the Obama administration's handling of the case involving the blind Chinese dissident, Chen Guangcheng.... Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas..., said it wasn't the time to criticize administration officials working toward a solution.... Asked about Mr. Romney's statements, he added: 'I don't think now is the time to engage in political partisanship.' Mr. Jeffress stirred a controversy last year when he called the candidate, who is Mormon, a 'non-Christian.' He has since endorsed Mr. Romney in the general election race."

Presidential Race

In his "This Week in God" post, Steve Benen notes that the religious right have "forced one of Romney's spokespersons to resign, and right about now, they're wondering what else they can make the campaign do."

Right Wing World

More GOP Super Sperms. George Talbot of the Mobile, Alabama, Press-Register: "Bill Johnson, a former Alabama [Republican] gubernatorial candidate, has left his wife and family in Prattville to be with babies he secretly conceived as a sperm donor in New Zealand. Johnson’s wife, Kathy Hale Johnson, told the New Zealand Herald that Johnson recently returned to live in New Zealand where he donated sperm to at least 10 women without her knowledge." Here's the New Zealand Herald story.

News Ledes

Reuters: "Voting started in mainland France on Sunday in an election that could make Nicolas Sarkozy the 11th European leader to be swept from office by the economic crisis and crown Francois Hollande as France's first Socialist president in 17 years." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "François Hollande swept into office on Sunday, becoming the first Socialist to be elected president of France since François Mitterrand left office in 1995."

Reuters: "Greeks enraged by economic hardship voted on Sunday in a deeply uncertain election that could reignite Europe's debt crisis and throw into doubt the country's future in the euro zone." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Greek voters appeared to radically redraw the political map on Sunday, bolstering the far left and neo-Nazi right in a wave of protest against the dominant political parties they blame for the country's economic collapse."

New York Times: "Lawyers for five men charged before a military commission with conspiring in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, complained on Sunday that the process was rigged to lead to the execution of their clients, and they offered new details and explanations for a sometimes chaotic daylong arraignment on Saturday."

New York Times: "A senior Qaeda militant in Yemen linked to the deadly bombing of an American warship there in 2000 was killed in an airstrike on Sunday, the Yemeni government said, in the latest sign of an escalating American campaign to counter the terrorist threat there. Yemeni authorities said the militant, Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso, 37, who has been on the F.B.I.'s Most Wanted list in connection with the bombing of the Navy destroyer Cole that killed 17 sailors in October 2000, died in the strike in Shabwa Province in one of the rugged tribal areas controlled by insurgents."

New York Times: "Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said on Sunday that he was 'comfortable' with same-sex marriages, a position that appeared to go beyond the 'evolving' views that President Obama has said he holds on the issue."

Washington Post: "After signing a 10-year lease and spending more than $80 million on a site envisioned as the United States' diplomatic hub in northern Afghanistan, American officials say they have abandoned their plans, deeming the location for the proposed compound too dangerous."

AP: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to announce Sunday night that he'll dissolve parliament to hold early elections, a move designed to fend off domestic critics and perhaps put him in a stronger position to act against Iran." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel on Sunday called for early elections, vowing to win a 'renewed mandate' and 'form the broadest government that is possible' to 'guarantee the future of the people of Israel in the land of Israel, for eternity.'"

... Haaretz: "Israel's High Court justices sharply criticized the government on Sunday for not fulfilling its legal commitment to demolish a West Bank settlement."

AP: "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will use a two-day visit to India this week to urge further reductions in Indian imports of Iranian oil."

AP: "Connecticut lawmakers' approval of the use of medical marijuana includes strict regulations for the cultivation and distribution in an attempt to avoid problems other states have run into when legalizing the plant for medical use."

Here's the Al Jazeera report on the Guantanamo hearing.

AP: Against 15-1 odds, "I'll Have Another ran down Bodemeister in the final furlong Saturday to win the Kentucky Derby, winding up in the winner's circle despite a rookie jockey, a more famous stable pony, and a price tag of just $11,000 as a yearling."