The Commentariat -- February 16, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is titled "Roma Locuta Est, Causa Finita Non Est" and discusses Gary Gutting's post in today's New York Times on "the nature and basis of religious authority." Despite the Latin title & Gutting's status as a philosophy professor, neither his post nor my column is heavy-lifting. Both put different perspectives on the contraceptive coverage issue. The NYTX front page is here. You can contribute to the NYTX here. Gutting's post, which is worth reading in full, is here. ...

... CW: I coulda told 'em this: Katie Thomas of the New York Times: "The Obama administration thought it had found a way to ease mounting objections to a requirement in the new health care act that all employers — including religiously affiliated hospitals and universities — offer coverage for birth control to women free of charge. It would make the insurers cover the costs, rather than the organizations themselves. But ... many religiously affiliated organizations choose to insure themselves rather than hire an outside company to assume the risk." Nationwide, 60 percent of workers with health insurance are covered by companies that self-insure; it's 82 percent for companies with more than 200 employees. (I didn't know the percentage was that high.) So it looks Obama solved about 20 percent of the problem, tops. ...

Where Are the Women?

... Susan Reimer of the Baltimore Sun: "In the extreme and ill-tempered debate over the availability of contraceptives for women, we have heard from the president, the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church, the Republican presidential candidates, members if Congress and various talking heads on TV. All of them, so far as I can tell, are men. Men discussing the reproductive rights of women.... Where are all the women in leadership in this country — from small-business owners to presidents of corporations to Cabinet officers? Why are they not stepping forward to say that because they could control their family size they were able to go to college, or law school, or campaign for office?" Reimer notes that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (who is a Roman Catholic) has only two children. "Didn't she have any testimony to offer about what control of her reproductive life might have meant to her?" Thanks to reader Doug C. for the link. ...

... ** Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "This morning, Democrats tore into House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) for preventing women from testifying before a hearing examining the Obama administration’s new regulation requiring employers and insurers to provide contraception coverage to their employees.... Ranking committee member Elijah Cummings (D-MD) ... demand[ed] that Issa consider the testimony of a female college student. But the California congressman ... denied the request. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) walked out of the hearing in protest of his decision, citing frustration over the fact that the first panel of witnesses consisted only of male religious leaders against the rule. Holmes Norton said she will not return, calling Issa’s chairmanship an 'autocratic regime.'” ...

... Dana Milbank writes a LOL column on Republican legislators (and one Democrat) who "marched before the cameras" to express their outrage at the contraception coverage ruling. Milbank is funny, by the MOCs are funnier. Oh, if you don't laugh, you'll cry. ...

... Erik Eckholm of the New York Times: both sides see the contraceptive coverage issue as a winning one. Oh, P.S. The bishops, besides running a media campaign, "are asking parish priests to raise the matter with congregations and to circulate petitions." CW: Never mind separation of church & state. If they go with this -- and the will -- the Church should lose its tax-exempt status.

Michael Lind of Salon argues that conservatives have lost the culture war. See if you agree with him. I mostly don't. Of course I suppose it's important to keep in mind that Congress itself is configured in such a way that low-population, conservative states are overrepresented.

Matt Miller in the Washington Post: time for Congress to impose the "Dimon Rule" -- for Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase CEO, who favors a higher tax rate for the super-rich, like him.

Steve Benen: "The latest New York Times/CBS News poll included a straightforward question on this: 'Do you support or oppose a recent federal requirement that private health insurance plans cover the full cost of birth control for their female patients?'

Support: 66%       Oppose: 26%       Don't Know: 8%"

      ... Self-identified Roman Catholics agree with Obama's line, 67% to 25%, and even a majority of self-identified Republicans feel the same way. By the reasoning of many congressional Republicans, nearly two-thirds of the country likes contraception access so much, they're willing to endorse an outrageous assault on religious liberty."

Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times: "An audit by San Francisco county officials of about 400 recent foreclosures there determined that almost all involved either legal violations or suspicious documentation, according to a report released Wednesday.... The detailed and comprehensive nature of the San Francisco findings suggest how pervasive foreclosure irregularities may be across the nation."

Justin Gillis & Leslie Kaufman of the New York Times: "Leaked documents suggest that an organization known for attacking climate science is planning a new push to undermine the teaching of global warming in public schools, the latest indication that climate change is becoming a part of the nation’s culture wars. The documents, from a nonprofit organization in Chicago called the Heartland Institute, outline plans to promote a curriculum that would cast doubt on the scientific finding that fossil fuel emissions endanger the long-term welfare of the planet." CW: Among the donors: Microsoft & Charles Koch. ...

... Brad Johnson of Think Progress elaborates on Microsoft's claim that it does not support Heartland's views on climate change, but donated software licenses, "just like [sic.] we do for thousands of other eligible non-profits every year."

No Surprise Here. Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post: "Joseph Kennedy III, a scion of the famous political family, announced Thursday that [he] will run for the Massachusetts House seat being vacated by Rep. Barney Frank (D).... The grandson of Robert F. Kennedy and son of former Rep. Joseph Kennedy II, the 31-year-old Kennedy was working as a prosecutor and before that as an assistant district attorney in Massachusetts." Here's Joe's announcement:

Right Wing World

** Juan Cole lists "the top ten Catholic teachings Santorum rejects while obsessing about birth control." Here's one: "The bishops want welfare for all needy families, saying 'We reiterate our call for a minimum national welfare benefit.... A decent society will not balance its budget on the backs of poor children.'” CW: Even for "blah" people, Rick. ...

... James Downie of the Washington Post: a national audience should hear Santorum & Gingrich explain their "cafeteria Catholicism." In the upcoming debates, questioners should ask them "whether they agree with [humanel] church doctrines, and if not, why not." Downie helpfully lists some papal decrees that Santorum & Gingrich ignore, like support for unions & universal health care & opposition to the death penalty.

Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Mitt Romney and his allies at the super PAC Restore Our Future are spending $1,240,230 in Michigan this week, according to a Republican media buyer. [Rick Santorum] ... is spending $42,443 — not a typo — and none of his super PAC supporters have spent anything. That means there will be 29 times more Romney ads than Santorum ads on the air in the Wolverine state." ...

... BUT. Steve Kornacki of Salon argues that Romney's attacks on Santorum don't pack the punch his attacks on Gingrich did; after all, Gingrich is such a flawed candidate, some of the anti-Gingrich ads "wrote themselves." Includes sample ads. ...

... Massimo Calabresi of Time: "Mitt Romney’s making ... much of the dangers of government 'picking winners and losers' when they give subsidies to companies. But the private equity firm he founded and ran took full advantage of such government goodies." Calabresi lists a few deals Romney's Bain Capital put together that depended on government subsidies. ...

... Garrett Haake Of NBC News: "In back-to-back appearances before two separate audiences under the same roof here tonight, Mitt Romney made part of his Michigan strategy clear: Pick a fight with 'big labor' by labeling their support of President Barack Obama as 'crony capitalism.'" CW: this seems like a stupid move to me, since many union members vote Republican; however, it is at least consistent with the GOP policy of undermining unions whenever possible.

CW: Rasmussen, which is not the most reliable pollster, nonetheless reports that "The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Republican Primary Voters [emphasis added] finds Santorum with 39% support to ... [Romney]’s 27%. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich follows from a distance with 15% of the vote, and Texas Congressman Ron Paul runs last with 10%." ...

... Jed Lewison of Daily Kos: Mitt Romney can kiss his "electability" argument buh-bye. According to Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling, "Mitt Romney's electability advantage in PPP polling has disappeared in the wake of Rick Santorum's surge. Before the surge, Romney consistently outperformed his leading Not Romney rival in a hypothetical contest against President Obama by 7 points in July, 6 points in August, 7 points in September, 6 points in October, 3 points in November and 7 points in December. But in PPP's first post-surge poll, it's Santorum who fares better against President Obama."

AP: "Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum released four years of federal income tax returns on Wednesday night, showing a sharp rise in his personal wealth spurred by his growing work as Washington-based corporate consultant and media commentator." ...

... Maggie Haberman of Politico: "The [returns] can be found here, here, here and here. The returns are the most in number that have been released by any of the major GOP contenders." (Link to Haberman's post here.)

Los Angeles Times Editorial Board: "... we still can't help but be awe-struck by the mess the House of Representatives is preparing to make of the federal transportation bill.... On Tuesday, the House Republican leadership unveiled its version of the five-year bill. It isn't just that this bill is so thoroughly partisan that it has no chance of being approved by the Democratic-controlled Senate; it's that it is less a serious policy document than a wish list for oil lobbyists.... If it weren't already abundantly clear that this bill is intended simply to pander to the GOP base during an election year, Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) seasoned the red meat by promising to attach a rider mandating approval of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline...."

Hypocrite of the Week: Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) who is celebrating an additional $3 million in annual funding he secured for the Richmond University Medical Center. The funding comes from the Affordable Care Act, a law Grimm vehemently opposes. Steve Benen writes, "Grimm is the same House member who rejected calls a year ago that he turn down government-funded health care, because of his ideological opposition to government-funded health care.... Two weeks later, he voted to take away health care coverage from millions of Americans. A year later, he celebrated hospital funding included in the law he's eager to kill." ...

... Oh, wait. It gets worse. Much worse. Read this report in today's New York Times which leads the reader to believe Grimm is a serial, small-time crook. Of course he's presumed innocent....

News Ledes

Wall Street Journal: Both Houses of the New Jersey state legislature have passed a bill allowing for same-sex marriage, but Gov. Chris Christie (R) says he will veto it. The bill passed the state Senate 24-15 & the Assembly 42-33. "An override vote ... would require 27 votes in the Senate and 54 votes in the Assembly."

Washington Post: "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday sought to bring debt collectors and credit bureaus under its purview, marking the first time the often controversial industries would be subject to federal supervision.... It is the first attempt by the watchdog agency to define which businesses in the vast swath of nontraditional financial institutions will be subject to the same examination process as banks." CW: It isn't clear to me from the article whether or not the CFPB needs authorization from Congress and/or the administration to do this. CW: according to the New York Times story: "The proposal now enters a 60-day comment period. The bureau expects to finalize the rule by July, the two-year anniversary of the agency’s creation." So I guess the CFPB can do it.

AP: "The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell to the lowest point in almost four years last week, the latest signal that the job market is steadily improving. The Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment benefits dropped 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000. It was the fourth drop in five weeks and the fewest number of claims since March 2008." CW: Sorry, GOP!

New York Times: "Members of a House-Senate committee charged with writing a measure to extend a payroll tax reduction said Wednesday that their work was done, just shy of an hour before their deadline to get a bill ready for a Friday vote. After fighting until the very final hour over how to pay for parts of a $150 billion plan that would also extend unemployment benefits and prevent a pay cut for doctors who accept Medicare, leaders of both parties put together a bill that the majority of the committee could support." Washington Post story here.

AP: "General Motors earned its largest profit ever in 2011, two years after it nearly collapsed into financial ruin." CW: Sorry, Mitt!

New York Times: "President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan arrived in Pakistan on Thursday after saying he wanted to explore how Islamabad could help foster peace negotiations with his adversary, the Afghan Taliban. Mr. Karzai’s arrival came after he said Wednesday in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that his representatives had begun talks with the Taliban and the United States government, a potentially significant development suggesting that the Taliban were dropping longstanding objections to face-to-face discussions with his government."

Reuters: "A federal judge is set to decide on Thursday if the Nigerian man who pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a U.S. airliner bound for Detroit in 2009 will spend the rest of his life in prison. A bomb hidden in the underwear of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, now 25, caused a fire but failed to explode on a Delta Airlines flight carrying 289 people on December 25, 2009." ...

     ... Bloomberg News Update: "Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was sentenced to life in prison for attempting to bomb a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day 2009 with explosives hidden in his underwear. The Nigerian-born defendant pleaded guilty in October to eight felony counts, including attempted murder and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds in Detroit today sentenced him to life in prison on five counts and 20 years on three counts."

New York Times: "The Japanese authorities arrested seven central figures in the huge accounting scandal at Olympus — including the camera maker’s former chairman and executive vice president — on Thursday as part of investigations into a decade-long cover-up that has prompted concern over what critics say is lax corporate governance at Japanese companies."

The Commentariat -- February 15, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is on a New York Times post regarding President Obama's revision of the contraceptive mandate. The NYTX front page is here. You can contribute here. ...

... CW Update: I see Elizabeth Warren agrees with me. And she knows how to clobber Sen. Scott Brown with it. Which was the point of my column.

Suzy Khimm of the Washington Post on Obama's budget proposal: "Obama’s budget provides a plan under which sequestration — that is, the cuts triggered by the supercommittee’s failure to pass a $1.2 trillion deficit reduction plan — won’t actually happen. Obama’s budget would cut the deficit by nearly $2 trillion in 2021 through higher taxes, thus allowing the government to avoid the spending cuts by going well beyond the $1.2 trillion requirement."

Jim Rutenberg & Alison Kopicki of the New York Times: "President Obama’s political standing is rising along with voters’ optimism that the economy is getting better, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, a shift that coincides with continued Republican disquiet over the field of candidates seeking to replace him." ...

... Nate Silver reassesses Obama's chances in a New York Times Magazine piece headlined "Why Obama Will Embrace the 99 Percent."

Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: "The near-unified front led by the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops to oppose a mandate for employers to cover birth control has now crumbled amid the compromise plan that the Obama administration offered last week to accommodate religious institutions."

Peter Hart: contrary to the assertion of New York Times tech writer David Pogue, Apple products do not have to be made in Chinese sweatshops to be affordable. It might help Pogue, Hart writes, to read his own newspaper, which covered this very subject in an important expose' of Apple's Chinese ops.

David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times on Fayza Abul Naga, the Egyptian prosecutor who is investigating 16 American aid workers for organizing opposition to the Egyptian government. Abul Naga, a holdover from the Mubarak regime reportedly has even the ruling generals afraid to cross her. CW: we're missing a piece of the puzzle here.

Right Wing World

"Zombie Politics." John Sides of the Monkey Cage: tho Southern whites without college degrees have trended Republican over the past 50 years, "The white working class has not, as a whole, become more Republican."

Adam Serwer of Mother Jones: Republicans find another way to gut the Affordable Care Act. The act "requires all health care plans to offer certain services and benefits, including birth control. Last week, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) offered a 'conscience amendment,' to the law, pitching it as a way to allay religious employers' qualms about providing birth control to their employees. But Blunt's proposal doesn't just apply to religious employers and birth control. Instead, it would allow any insurer or employer, religiously affiliated or otherwise, to opt out of providing any health care services required by federal law—everything from maternity care to screening for diabetes. Employers wouldn't have to cite religious reasons for their decision; they could just say the treatment goes against their moral convictions." Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has signed onto the bill; Senate Democrats intend to call Republicans' bluff & will schedule a vote.

Santorum Meets Occupy: 'I think it’s really important for you to understand what this radical element represents, because what they represent is true intolerance,' Santorum said, after two protesters were taken to the ground and placed in handcuffs by police. The protesters, Santorum suggested, 'instead of standing here unemployed, yelling at somebody' should instead 'go out and get a job.' -- Juana Summers, Politico ...

... Nothing says tolerance like calling people presently being handcuffed for yelling at you 'intolerant.' -- Charles Pierce, Esquire

... Seriously? Santorum? Steve Kornacki of Salon: "Rick Santorum has won four of the first nine Republican nominating contests, leads in three of the four most recent national polls, and has even pulled ahead of Mitt Romney in Michigan, Romney’s native state." But the conventional wisdom is that he doesn't have a shot at the nomination. Kornacki outlines four reasons why, but he concludes, "... there’s one key difference between Santorum and the others who’ve vied with Romney for the lead this year: He’s a genuinely competent candidate.... This is more than can be said for Gingrich, Rick Perry and Herman Cain."

Here's a pretty funny Santorum ad whacking Romney for his attack ads:

This week, President Obama will release a budget that won't take any meaningful steps toward solving our entitlement crisis. The president has failed to offer a single serious idea to save Social Security and is the only president in modern history to cut Medicare benefits for seniors. -- Mitt Romney Campaign

... Um, that reads, Obama failed to cut "entitlements" at the same time he cut them. Steve Benen: "Taken together..., Romney contradicted his own talking points, lied about the Affordable Care Act, and engaged in some remarkable hypocrisy, accusing Obama of doing what Romney himself intends to do. That's pretty impressive for one paragraph."

"Bailout Politics." Chris Bury of ABC News: "As Republicans Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich scramble to overtake native son Mitt Romney in the Michigan primary, scheduled for Feb. 24, the state's economy appears to be climbing out of a deep, dark hole." ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: Mitt Romney pens an op-ed in the Detroit News trying to explain why he was right all along about the auto bailout. CW: Though this is a straight news story, Shear sort of lets you know Romney's claims are one lie atop another. You can read his op-ed here. ...

... Todd Spangler of the Detroit Free Press: Three top Michigan Democrats -- former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, & Reps. Sander Levin & John Dingall challenged Romney's op-ed. “I’d say he stabbed us in the back in our darkest hour,” Granholm said. ...

... Rep. Gary Peters (D-Michigan) gives a point-by-point on why Romney was wrong then and he's wrong now. ...

... Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic cites several places Romney misstated the facts; then he takes on Romney for calling the deal with the UAW "crony capitalism." "Prioritizing workers over investors may seem strange to the co-founder of Bain Capital. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong." ...

... Travis Waldron of Think Progress has another good post here. Funny how Romney thinks it's great when Bain Capital gets a government bailout but not when the auto companies do.

Rachel Maddow reported last week that every GOP state presidential election/caucus has been flawed in one way or another. The Maine caucuses held Saturday, subsequent to Maddow's report, are no different. They're still counting & arguing. ...

... Eric Russell of the Bangor (Maine) Daily News: "Pressure is mounting on the Maine Republican Party to reconsider its weekend declaration that Mitt Romney won the state’s caucuses, at least until all votes have been counted. The Maine GOP announced Saturday that Romney narrowly edged Ron Paul, 39 percent to 36 percent, in a nonbinding presidential preference poll taken during the caucuses. The margin was fewer than 200 votes. A number of communities were not included in that poll because they had not held their caucuses by the deadline spelled out by the state party."

Igor Volsky of Think Progress: on contraception exemption, Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) flip-flops on former State Rep. Scott Brown. He was against it before he was for it before he was against it before he was for it. Something like that.

News Ledes

President Obama was in Wisconsin to speak about insourcing jobs:

Yahoo! News: "While touring a factory owned by Master Lock on Wednesday, President Obama urged manufacturers to bring jobs back to the U.S. "Right now we have an excellent opportunity to bring manufacturing back -- but we have to seize it," Obama said. Obama praised Master Lock during his State of the Union Address for re-shoring about 100 jobs from China to its Milwaukee plant."

The Hill: "Lawmakers raced against the clock Wednesday to put the final touches on a payroll tax cut package before day’s end so the House could hold a Friday vote on the measure."

That Went Well. Washington Post: "Chinese officials denied a visa to a top State Department envoy and refused to meet with her to discuss issues of religious freedom days before this week’s high-profile visit to Washington by China’s vice president, according to rights advocates and others. Suzan Johnson Cook, the U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom, was scheduled to travel to China on Feb. 8, according to several rights advocates who were invited to brief her ahead of the visit."

New York Times: "Iran struck back against a European oil embargo by cutting supplies to six European countries Wednesday as state media in Tehran said that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was being briefed “on new nuclear achievements” expected to be announced later in the day. The oil cutoff affects the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Portugal."

AP: "Trapped inmates screamed from their cells as a fire swept through a Honduran prison, killing at least 300 inmates, authorities said Wednesday. Lucy Marder, chief of forensic medicine for the prosecutor's office, said early Wednesday some 356 people on the prison roster are unaccounted for among 852 prisoners."

The Commentariat -- February 14, 2012

My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on David Brooks' scary advocacy of Bourgeois Paternalism -- worse than Michele Bachmann's dreaded "re-education camps." The NYTX front page is here. You can contribute here.

The Senate may vote as early as today (Tuesday) to greenlight construction of the Keystone XL pipeline without any environmental or economic review, overriding President Obama's decision to table action. Here are links to petitions telling the Senate to reject the pipeline bill that will be delivered to the Senate by MoveOn.org, the Other 98 Percent, Oil Change International and Democracy for America. Thanks to contributor Dave S. for the links. AND here's one from CREDO. 

The New York Times has a fancy interactive graphic on the administration's FY 2012 proposed budget which is worth visiting just as an homage to the people who designed it & input the data. ...

... The budget itself is here; Jeff Zeints, the Acting OMB Director, provides an overview. ...

... New York Times Editors: "President Obama’s 2013 budget ... offers a clear and welcome contrast to the slashing austerity — and protect-the-wealthy priorities — favored by Republican Congressional leaders and the party’s presidential candidates. The president’s budget calls for long-term deficit reduction, but its immediate priority is to encourage the fledgling economic recovery. Instead of trying to stabilize the budget on the backs of the poor, it would raise taxes on the wealthy and on big banks and eliminate many corporate tax loopholes.... Republicans, on the other hand, would cut taxes for the rich and cut almost all of that spending, heedless of the pain that it would inflict on the economy and the millions of Americans still reeling from the downturn’s effects." ...

... Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic has a pretty good take on Obama's proposed budget. It is not all complimentary -- he thinks the proposal does not go far enough to raise revenues, but it sure beats the GOP-Grover Norquist let-'em-die plan.

Jonathan Bernstein, in the Washington Post: only the Democrats are serious about deficit reduction. As of Monday afternoon, GOP House leaders "are now supporting a payroll tax cut extension that isn’t paid for.... In other words, when push comes to shove, they’d much rather increase the federal budget deficit than to raise even a dime of taxes on wealthy Americans."

Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "While GOP senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has pledged to fight the Obama administration’s modified regulation requiring health insurers and businesses to offer contraception coverage without additional cost sharing, the revised rule 'appears to have won over' two of the five Republican women senators. Sens. Olympia Snowe (ME) and Susan Collins (ME) — both of whom have sponsored legislation requiring insurers to offer contraception benefits in all health plans — are in favor of the new compromise."

Joe Romm of Think Progress: Joe Nocera has joined the ranks of the climate ignorati. CW: an excellent takedown. Romm suggests Nocera talk to some actual climat scientists as opposed to, say, Exxon executives.

International lawyer Eric Lewis, in a New York Times op-ed, on the eight-year detention of two Pakistanis who have never been charged with crimes. Picked up in Iraq by British soldiers, the two men are being held in Bagram AFB in Afghanistan "in conditions far worse than those at Guantánamo Bay."

New York Times Editors: "Ten years ago, Cardinal Edward Egan, then the leader of the New York archdiocese, famously apologized to his parishioners for the church’s failure to deal with priests who abused children. Now, three years after his retirement, he suddenly feels moved to renounce that courageous move.... Court records that the church fought to keep secret revealed cases in which then-Bishop Egan did not alert secular authorities in Bridgeport, failed to aggressively investigate allegations, moved offending priests to other parishes and authorized hush-money payments.... Cardinal Egan’s feckless ruminations are Exhibit A on the problem of shepherds hiding from their responsibilities."

Jake Tapper of ABC News: "Tomorrow outside the Westminster dog show at Madison Square Garden at noon the group 'Dogs Against Romney' will protest 'to ensure pet lovers are aware that Mitt Romney is mean to dogs,' according to the group’s press release." ...

Right Wing World

Lydia Saad of Gallup: "Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are now statistically tied for the lead in Republican registered voters' preferences for the 2012 GOP nomination -- 32% to 30%, respectively. Newt Gingrich, who led the field as recently as late January, is now third, favored by 16%, while Ron Paul's support has dwindled to 8%, the lowest level yet seen for him in 2012." ...

... Public Policy Polling: "Rick Santorum's taken a large lead in Michigan's upcoming Republican primary. He's at 39% to 24% for Mitt Romney, 12% for Ron Paul, and 11% for Newt Gingrich. Santorum's rise is attributable to two major factors: his own personal popularity (a stellar 67/23 favorability) and GOP voters increasingly souring on Gingrich. Santorum's becoming something closer and closer to a consensus conservative candidate as Gingrich bleeds support." Willard's father George was a popular governor of Michigan. ...

... Greg Sargent: "In November, Romney was beating Obama among these voters, 53-41. Now those numbers are upside down: Obama is beating Romney among them, 51-42. That’s a net 19 point swing of independents in Obama’s direction in three months." ...

... Ezra Klein: "The mounting danger for Romney is that his candidacy will lose its central justification: That he’s the most electable Republican in the field." ...

... David Frum in the Daily Beast: "In his charmingly blunt way, [during his CPAC speech, Grover] Norquist articulated out loud a case for Mitt Romney that you hear only whispered by other major conservative leaders; to wit: Romney will be a weak president who will do what congressional Republicans tell him to do. "This is ... not a very realistic political program: congressional Republicans have a disapproval rating of about 75%. If Americans get the idea that a vote for Romney is a vote for the Ryan plan, Romney is more or less doomed." Thanks to contributor Jack Mahoney for the link.

Frank Bruni: "To understand voters’ bottomless cynicism, look no farther than politicians’ boundless revisionism. Republicans have no monopoly on it [CW: examples of Obama lies, please, Frank], but they occupy center stage at the moment, shedding culpability for past deeds even as they ask us — as leaders do and should — to take responsibility for our own."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Members of a House-Senate committee charged with writing a measure to extend a payroll tax reduction and provide added unemployment benefits reached a tentative agreement Tuesday evening, with Republicans and Democrats claiming a degree of political victory in a fight with significant election-year implications."

New York Times: "The health care products giant Johnson & Johnson continued to market an artificial hip in Europe and elsewhere overseas after the Food and Drug Administration rejected its sale in the United States based on a review of company safety studies. During that period, the company also continued to sel in this country a related model, which earlier went on the market using a regulatory loophole that did not require a similar safety review."

New York Times: "A proposed wireless broadband network that would provide voice and Internet service using airwaves once reserved for satellite-telephone transmissions should be shelved because it interferes with GPS technology, the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday. The F.C.C. statement revokes the conditional approval for the network given last year. It comes after an opinion by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which said that 'there is no practical way to mitigate the potential interference at this time' with GPS devices."

New York Times: "A team of European and American mathematicians and cryptographers have discovered an unexpected weakness in the encryption system widely used worldwide for online shopping, banking, e-mail and other Internet services intended to remain private and secure."

Guardian: Chinese Vice President "Xi Jinping, the man destined to lead China in the coming decade..., arrived [in the U.S.] on Monday, and the highlight of his full four days in America will be an Oval Office meeting on Tuesday with president Barack Obama." Reuters story here.

ABC News: "After a relatively quiet weekend that saw nearly 50 people killed, heavy shelling resumed this morning in the neighborhood of Bab Amr in the city of Homs, Syria. Tuesday marks the tenth day of the Syrian Army's assault on Homs, and activists tell ABC News that over 500 people have been killed since February 4th."

Haaretz: Israeli "Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Tuesday that the attempted bombing in Bangkok proves that Iran and its proxies continue operating in the ways of terror.... Earlier on Tuesday, a man thought to be an Iranian national was seriously wounded in Bangkok when a bomb he was carrying exploded and blew his legs off. Shortly before, there had been an explosion in a house the man was renting in the Ekamai area of central Bangkok."

Guardian: "News Corporation executives could be vulnerable to individual prosecution by US anti-bribery authorities under the so-called 'willful blindness' clause that holds company chiefs culpable if they chose to be unaware of any specific wrongdoing by their employees. The FBI and other law-enforcers are probing Rupert Murdoch's media empire under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that seeks to punish US-based companies engaging in bribery abroad. News Corp is headquartered in New York."