The Commentariat -- April 15, 2015

Internal links removed.

Afternoon News:

Disqualified! Robert Barnes & Dan Morse of the Washington Post: "John G. Roberts Jr. showed up for jury duty in Rockville[, Maryland].... [He did not mention] his own line of work, which would be listed on a questionnaire. He then talked with attorneys and the judge privately at the bench. Roberts was not selected, and left court without comment.... Justices are often called for jury duty ... but rarely chosen."

CW: Sorry, I kept meaning to run this NYT story by Patricia Cohen, which is now two days old: "The idea began percolating, said Dan Price, the founder of Gravity Payments, after he read an article on happiness. It showed that, for people who earn less than about $70,000, extra money makes a big difference in their lives. His idea bubbled into reality on Monday afternoon, when Mr. Price surprised his 120-person staff by announcing that he planned over the next three years to raise the salary of even the lowest-paid clerk, customer service representative and salesman to a minimum of $70,000."

*****

Jonathan Weisman & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "The Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously approved legislation granting Congress a voice in negotiations on the Iran nuclear accord, sending the once-controversial legislation to the full Senate after President Obama withdrew his opposition rather than face a bipartisan rebuke. Republican opponents of the nuclear agreement on the committee sided with Mr. Obama's strongest Democratic supporters in demanding a congressional role as international negotiators work to turn this month's nuclear framework into a final deal by June 30. The bill would mandate that the administration send the text of a final accord, along with classified material, to Congress as soon as it it completed. It also halts any lifting of sanctions during a congressional review and culminates in a possible vote to allow or forbid the lifting of congressionally imposed sanctions in exchange for the dismantling of much of Iran's nuclear infrastructure. It passed 19 to 0." ...

... Mke DeBonis & Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post: "A Senate committee, with tentative White House support, unanimously advanced legislation Tuesday that would give Congress the power to review a potential nuclear deal with Iran but only after negotiations are completed by a June 30 deadline." ...

... Mike Lillis of the Hill: "House Democratic leaders are quickly jumping aboard legislation empowering Congress to review an emerging nuclear deal with Iran. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) endorsed the Senate bill on Tuesday, shortly after it passed unanimously through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who had rejected an earlier version of the Senate proposal, said she'll also back the measure." ...

... Karen DeYoung, et al.: "Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that Tehran was negotiating a comprehensive nuclear deal with world powers, not the U.S. Congress, and called a Senate committee's vote to give Congress the power to review any potential deal a domestic U.S. matter. The Iranian leader, speaking in a televised speech in the northern Iranian city of Rasht, also repeated earlier statements that his country will not accept any comprehensive nuclear deal with world powers unless all sanctions imposed against it are lifted." ...

... The New York Times Editors call the Senate panel's move "reckless": "Congress has formally muscled its way into President Obamas negotiations with Iran, creating new and potentially dangerous uncertainties for an agreement that offers the best chance of restraining that country's nuclear program. ...

... Greg Sargent tries to explain why the White House is tentatively supporting the bill. ...

... Dana Milbank: "There are plenty of good reasons to be suspicious about the tentative deal the Obama administration and international partners negotiated with Tehran. But as Secretary of State John Kerry gives classified briefings on the deal to lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week, the criticism coming from Republicans and from Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Israel is tangled by inconsistencies and logic discrepancies. The one constant: They are opposed to what Obama is doing -- whatever it is.... [For example,] in criticizing Obama's agreement last week, Netanyahu said sanctions -- sanctions he had said weren't working -- had 'proven effective' against Iran."

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved sweeping changes in the way Medicare pays doctors, clearing the bill for President Obama and resolving an issue that has bedeviled Congress and the Medicare program for more than a decade. The 92-to-8 vote in the Senate, following passage in the House last month by a vote of 392 to 37, was a major success for Republicans, who devised a solution to a complex policy problem that had frustrated lawmakers of both parties. Mr. Obama has endorsed the bill, saying it 'could help slow health care cost growth.' The bill, drafted in the House in negotiations between Speaker John A. Boehner and Representative Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader, also extends the Children’s Health Insurance Program for two years, through 2017."

Karen DeYoung: "President Obama has decided to lift the U.S. designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, a decision that removes a principal impediment to establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries and accepts that Havana's role as an agent of revolution has long since slipped into history. The long-awaited action, which was announced by the White House in a message to Congress on Tuesday, follows a pledge made by Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro last December to move toward normalized relations." ...

... The Miami Herald story, by Mimi Whitefield, is here.

Happy Tax Day! Your Tax Dollars at Work. AP: "US Drug Enforcement Administration agents attended sex parties with prostitutes while stationed overseas as far back as 2001, according to a report released Tuesday. Money to pay prostitutes at a farewell party for a high-ranking DEA official was included in an 'operational budget' that used government funds for the party, the report said. DEA agents also rented undercover apartments in Colombia and used them for parties with prostitutes, the DEA said in an internal report. Excerpts of the DEA report were released by the House Oversight committee.... Representative Trey Gowdy, a Republican, called it 'stunning' that no one had been fired in the wake of the allegations. [MIchele] Leonhart, who has been the DEA's top official since 2007 and was deputy for three years before that, responded that civil service protections make it difficult to fire DEA agents." ...

... Happy Tax Day! The House GOP Bill to Ensure a Permanent American Aristocracy. Dana Milbank: "On Tuesday afternoon, the House Rules Committee took up H.R. 1105, the 'Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015,' with plans to bring it to a vote on the chamber floor Wednesday -- Tax Day. It is an extraordinarily candid expression of the majority's priorities: A tax cut costing the treasury $269 billion over a decade that would exclusively benefit individuals with wealth of more than $5.4 million and couples with wealth of more than $10.9 million.... This is the ultimate perversion of the tea party movement, which began as a populist revolt in 2009 but has since been hijacked by wealthy and corporate interests.... Never in the history of plutocracy has so much been given away to so few who need it so little." See also safari's & Patrick's comments in today's thread. CW: Democrats should get every GOP candidate for any federal office on the record on this. Then hammer each & every one of them who favors it, either by vote or declaration.

Max Ehrenfreund of the Washington Post: The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides data on how Americans spend their money, by economic class. Sadly for Republicans, "... the bureau doesn't have data on lobster and filet mignon...."

Jay Weaver of the Miami Herald: "Charged just weeks ago in a political corruption case with a U.S. senator[, Bob Menendez (D-N.J.)], West Palm Beach eye doctor Salomon Melgen was arrested late Tuesday on new Medicare fraud offenses involving more than $190 million in billing to the taxpayer-funded program. Melgen, recognized as one of Medicare's top billers in the nation, collected more than $105 million in reimbursements based on substantial 'fraudulent' claims for eye injections and other treatments between 2008 and 2013, according to an indictment."

Annals of "Justice," Ctd. Charles Pierce: "Something has gone permanently squirrelly with law-enforcement in this country. There is the change in attitude by which police increasingly feel and behave like an occupying army in American cities. There is the preposterous increase in available armament. On a wider scale, there is the triumph at all levels of government of an attitude that we will not tax ourselves, ever, for anything, even our own safety. So we wind up with traffic cops who look on, ahem, certain citizens as resources to be pillaged, or we wind up with septuagenarian insurance salesmen empowered to shoot people in the street under color of law, because they were willing to buy guns and ammo privately for a public purpose. This is Kafka rewritten by Grover Norquist and Bozo The Clown. You get what you pay for, and we're not willing to pay for anything any more." ...

... CW: Actually, Charles, U.S. law enforcement has always been "squirrelly." And much worse. ...

... Michael Miller of the Washington Post: "... as many as 120 African-American men on Chicago's South Side ... were allegedly tortured by [Chicago Police Commander Jon] Burge between 1972 and 1991.... On Tuesday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the establishment of a $5.5. million fund for these victims. The compensation would 'close this book, the Burge book on the city's history,' Emanuel said according to the Chicago Tribune."

Todd Frankel of the Washington Post: "Europe's top antitrust czar on Wednesday is expected to formally accuse Google of violating antitrust rules by directing users of its Web search to the company's own products." ...

     ... Update: James Kanter & Mark Scott of the New York Times: "The European Union's antitrust chief on Wednesday formally accused Google of abusing its dominance in web searches to the detriment of competitors and began official proceedings into whether its Android smartphone software forces phone makers to favor the company's own service and applications."

On the 150th anniversary of the death of Abraham Lincoln, if you want to know more, Jaime Fuller of New York provides numerous sources. Oddly enough, Fuller does not include Marco Rubio's op-ed, referenced below.

Presidential Race

Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Hillary Rodham Clinton is calling for changes to the nation's campaign finance system, saying here Tuesday that she would support a constitutional amendment if that's what it takes to fix what she called a 'dysfunctional' system." ...

... Paul Lewis of the Guardian: "Hillary Clinton said campaign finance reform would be a central plank of her presidential bid on Tuesday, revealing a determination to reinvent her political profile as a more humble, populist figure for the 2016 election.... In a sign her advisers want to break with the past, and win over progressives on the left of the party, Clinton incorporated campaign finance reform into what is a solidly populist economic platform." ...

     ... Fun tidbit about Hillary's "road trip" to Iowa, via Lewis: "The former first lady, it turns out, has not driven her own vehicle since 1996." Anne Gearan of the WashPo describes her travel mode as "a chauffeured van." CW: In view of Hillary's long-held preference for "chauffeurs," it's just as well she didn't take my advice to drive the van.

... More Fun & Games. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "On Monday, graphic designer Rick Wolff created a typeface he calls 'Hillary Bold' or 'Hillvetica.' It uses the same (weird) look and feel of the logo from the Hillary Clinton campaign for president, which became (in)famous shortly after her campaign went public on Sunday.... Wolff ... was kind enough to let us use his typeface (plus a few extra characters) for a little tool that will allow you -- yes, you! -- to make your own Hillary Clinton-style campaign slogan." Fill in the blank near the bottom of the post. ...

... You Are about to Witness a New Brand of Journalism -- Scooby Chasers. Or Maybe Scoobirazzi:

HILLARious. Brian Beutler of the New Republic, who seems at least half-serious: "Because Hillary Clinton is white and no longer young, a strain of political thought holds that she might lack Barack Obama's inherent appeal to new and minority voters.... The challenge, then, is to make sure Clinton's age and ethnicity don't discourage Obamais youthful, diverse supporters from turning out in November 2016. Fortunately, there's an easy way to make sure that doesn't happen. Clinton simply has to select Barack Obama as her running mate." Beutler argues -- along with the aid of some legal scholars -- that it's totally Constitutional. CW: I'm pretty sure this would go down well. ...

... CW: Of course, this could work, and it would be unquestionably Constitutional....

     ... Caveat: I don't doubt there's a contingent in the GOP who would argue that since the founders had men in mind for every elected office, girls are not qualified to run in any contest, save beauty pageants. After all, under Article II of the Constitution, "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years...." If Hillary is elected president, look forward to suits challenging her chromosomal qualifications. The litigants will accomplish one thing: making birthers appear comparatively rational. ...

... Not That Wingers Are Sexists: "Brian Tashman of Right Wing Watch: Don Feder of the World Congress of Families is out today [Tuesday] with a column [link fixed ]titled 'Top Ten Reasons Why Hitlery Will Never Be President,' in which he calls the former secretary of state 'a frustrated, middle-aged feminist who's perpetually incensed.' Feder, decrying Clinton as an elitist and a radical ideologue, ends his piece by asserting that Clinton will be brought down by 'the hideousness factor.' The 'pro-family' activist writes that 'Lyndon Baines Johnson was the last profoundly ugly candidate to be elected president,' adding that 'voters don't want a leader who looks frazzled or frumpy.'" See Dreamboat on left. ...

... Eli Stokols of Politico: "... interviews with GOP consultants, party officials and the largest conservative super PACs point to an emerging narrative [portraying Hillary Clinton as] a wealthy, out-of-touch candidate who plays by her own set of rules and lives in a world of private planes, chauffeured vehicles and million-dollar homes. The out-of-touch plutocrat template is a familiar one: Democrats used it to devastating effect against Republican Mitt Romney in 2012. While Hillary Clinton's residences in New York and Washington may not have car elevators, there's still a lengthy trail of paid speeches, tone-deaf statements about the family finances and questions about Clinton family foundation fundraising practices that will serve as cornerstones of the anti-Clinton messaging effort." ...

... Paul Waldman argues this likely won't work: "When you have a rich candidate advocating policies that benefit the rich, the personal details and the policy arguments complement and enhance one another. When there's a dissonance between the two, it isn't quite as compelling.... What Republicans can do, though, is enlist the news media to help them in their task. If they establish this now as one of their key arguments against her, reporters will be on the lookout for events and moments that reinforce it...." (See Anne Gearan's WashPo piece linked above: "She visited a small coffee shop ... in the city of Le Claire.... After greeting the shop owners, Clinton ordered a Masala Chai tea, plus a Caramellow latte and a glass of water.") CW: Masala Chai? Tea? Really? Next time, Hillary, ask for "coffee, regular," even if that might mean with cream (in NYC) because "coffee, black" might seem overly-ethnic. Already, you can see how much Hillary needs me to advise her campaign, my failure to consider road safety in my van-driving advice notwithstanding. ...

... Andy Borowitz: "With a stop in Iowa on Tuesday, the Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton officially embarked on a nineteen-month marathon of looking concerned. Sitting with patrons at Jones Street Java House, in Le Claire, the former Secretary of State listened intently, sipped from a cup of coffee, and nodded her head at appropriate junctures, flawlessly reënacting a brief scene from her first campaign video." ...

(... CW: As we now know, a bit of misreporting on Andy's part. That's not coffee; that's chai tea.) ...

... Michael Schmidt of the New York Times, who is obsessed with has been covering the Benghaaaazi! e-mail story: "Hillary Rodham Clinton was directly asked by congressional investigators in a December 2012 letter whether she had used a private email account while serving as secretary of state, according to letters obtained by The New York Times. But Mrs. Clinton did not reply to the letter. And when the State Department answered in March 2013, nearly two months after she left office, it ignored the question and provided no response." ...

Scranton Times-Tribune: "The grave- stone of Hugh Rodham, Hillary Clinton's father, was found toppled over in the Washburn Street Cemetery, police said."

MEANWHILE, in the Biggest Liar Contest:

And so our leaders put us at a disadvantage by taxing and borrowing and regulating like it was 1999. -- Marco Rubio, campaign announcement speech, Monday

The problem with the senator's statement is that the government is neither taxing, nor borrowing, nor regulating like it did in 1999. In fact, in 1999 there was a surplus, shrinking the debt owned by the public. Taxes were much higher in 1999 -- 19.2 percent of gross domestic product, versus 16.7 percent in 2013, with President Barack Obama agreeing to permanently extend the Bush-era tax cuts for 99 percent of taxpayers at the end of 2012. As for regulating, 1999 was notable in part for repealing key sections of the Glass-Steagall Act. -- Steven Dennis, Roll Call

... Jonathan Chait, who covers the same territory Dennis does: In his latest economic plan, "Rubio's elimination of the estate, interest, dividends, and capital gains taxes would go far beyond the Bush administration's most plutocratic dreams. It is also true that Rubio plans to cut taxes for some middle-class families. But obviously that lost revenue has trade-offs, which he has failed to specify. The massive revenue hit would require very large cuts to existing programs. Given his party's propensity to aim the bulk of its tax-cutting at the programs that direct their biggest benefits to Americans of modest incomes, there is no plausible way to imagine Rubio's plan would do anything but engineer a massive upward redistribution of resources.... Paradoxically, the incoherence of Rubio's plan is an asset. Because its effects cannot be precisely measured, reporters and pundits describe it in vague and frequently positive terms that flatly contradict its actual features. This reality is ... is a feature [of Rubio's plan]. His full, unapologetic embrace of tax cuts for the rich has allowed him to surge back into contention." ...

... CW: Not only is Rubio a fraud, as Brian Beutler outlined the other day, Chait asserts reporters are falling for the scam. ...

... It matters not what century he's reminiscing about, Marco gets his American history assbackwards. Apparently, he penned an op-ed for Monday's USA Today, misremembering Abe Lincoln. Ed Kilgore responds: "Aside from the obvious mischaracterization of Obama;s 'ideas,' it takes a lot of damn gall to lecture an African-American about Lincoln's legacy, which was one of an 'united America' achieved by violent suppression of a rebellion by people who sounded uncomfortably like many of today's Republicans in their conceptions of liberty, states rights and Constitutional originalism." ...

... ** Steve M. The Rubio/Bush Sword Story: Preppiness Made More Ridiculous (and Vaguely Homoerotic)." CW: Once again, Rubio gets "an F in post-World War II history." So does Rubio's secret-society sponsor Jeb Bush. You'll have to read Steve's post. I cannot do justice in a brief graf to the ignorance, vapidity & "vaguely homoerotic tendencies" of these jackasses. Steve, however, has it down. The story would be -hilarious if not for the possibility that one of these clueless ideologues could become POTUS. ...

... Charles Pierce insists that the musical accompaniment here is mandatory. So we'll oblige:

... With unintended irony, Rubio says he is running for president "grounded by the lessons of our history." (See video clip in linked story.)

... Steve M. digs up more startling news about Marco. "Marco Rubio, who defines himself as a Catholic, nevertheless has regularly attended a Protestant Miami megachurch, Christ Fellowship," a virulently anti-gay church where Pastor Rick Blackwood preaches that the theory of "Evolution is fundamentally an attack by Satan on the glory of God." Steve wants to know: "Does Marco Rubio think evolution is satanic? Jeremiah Wright's most intemperate language got hung around Barack Obama's neck -- will anyone ask Rubio if he repudiates the more extreme things Blackwood and his colleagues say? And if not, press corps, why not?" ...

... CW: It's true that Marco is not a scientist, man, & one need not be a scientist to qualify for the Top Job. But the POTUS does have to accept established scientific theory (and have at least a vague grasp of American history). ...

... AND if Rubio ever understood anything about macroeconomics, he used that knowledge to oppress the poor. Perry Bacon of MSNBC: "Marco Rubio aggressively tried to push Florida to the political right during his two-year stint as speaker of the state's House, often warring with the more moderate Republicans who ran the Florida Senate and then-Gov. Charlie Crist, a centrist Republican." His big "legacy" agenda was to abolish Florida's progressive property tax & replace it with a regressive sales tax hike.

Beyond the Beltway

Marc Santora & Nate Schweber of the New York Times: "More than two decades after Rosean S. Hargrave was convicted of murdering an off-duty correction officer in Brooklyn, a judge on Tuesday afternoon ordered him released from prison, saying that his trial was deeply flawed and unfair. The case against Mr. Hargrave was built, in part, on the work of Detective Louis Scarcella and his partner, Stephen W. Chmil, and it is one of dozens of cases that have come under review since accusations emerged that Mr. Scarcella once framed an innocent man."

News Ledes

Washington Post: "U.S. Capitol Police said that a small gyrocopter with one occupant landed on the West Lawn of the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon. One person has been detained, Capitol Police spokeswoman Kimberly Schneider said in an e-mail.... The Tampa Bay Times wrote about Doug Hughes, a 61-year-old mailman from Florida, who planned to fly to the Capitol." Includes Hughes' own video. ...

... Here's more from the WashPo on Hughes' brilliant plan. ...

     ... CW: If this is the kind of mail carrier we have in Florida, no wonder the USPS can't seem to get all my mail to me.

New York Times: "A jury in Fall River, Mass., found Aaron Hernandez guilty of first-degree murder on Wednesday after seven days of deliberation. Mr. Hernandez was sentenced by Judge E. Susan Garsh to the mandatory term of life in prison without the possibility of parole." ...

... The boston.com story is here.

LIVE -- The White House

The Commentariat -- April 14, 2015

Internal links removed.

The Guardian is liveblogging or livefeeding or something Hillary's Clinton's first campaign stop in Iowa. She looks rested & ready to go after that long, hard drive across the Northeast.

National Constitution Center: "It was 150 years ago tonight the President Abraham Lincoln was shot while watching a play at Ford's Theater. Lincoln died the next morning, and in the aftermath, some odd facts seemed to pop up." The writers elaborate.

NEW. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Tuesday that the panel had reached an accord on a bipartisan bill giving Congress a vote on an international deal to rein in Iran's nuclear program. The compromise measure would shorten a review period for a final deal and soften language that would make the lifting of sanctions dependent on Iran's ending support for terrorism. The agreement, struck between Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the committee's chairman, and Senator Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, its ranking Democrat, still must be voted on this afternoon, but leaders in both parties expressed their support. One senior Democratic aide said the bill would now have overwhelming, veto-proof support in the full Senate."

Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "One former Blackwater security contractor received a life sentence on Monday and three others received 30-year sentences for killing unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square in 2007. The shooting left 17 people dead and was a gruesome nadir in the war in Iraq. It transformed Blackwater Worldwide from America's wealthiest and most politically powerful security contractor into a symbol of unchecked and privatized military power. Nicholas A. Slatten, a former Army sniper from Tennessee, was convicted of murder for firing the first fatal shots. Three others -- Dustin L. Heard, also of Tennessee; Evan S. Liberty of New Hampshire; and Paul A. Slough of Texas -- were convicted of manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and the use of a machine gun in a violent crime." ...

... The Washington Post story, by Spencer Shu & Victoria St. Martin, is here.

Neil MacFarquhar of the New York Times: "President Vladimir V. Putin on Monday approved the delivery of a sophisticated air defense missile system to Iran, potentially complicating negotiations on Tehran's nuclear program and further straining ties with Washington. The sale could also undermine the Obama administration's efforts to sell Congress and foreign allies on the nuclear deal, which Iran and the United States are still struggling to complete. It might also reduce the United States' leverage in the talks by making it much harder for the United States or Israel to mount airstrikes against Iran's nuclear infrastructure if the country ignored such an agreement."

Emily Wax-Thibodeaux of the Washington Post: "Not even completed yet, [a] $1.7 billion [VA hospital] facility [in Aurora, Colorado, is already among the most expensive hospitals in the world, and it's just one of several VA hospital projects that are greatly over budget and behind schedule, according to the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

Manu Raju of Politico: "Sen. Patty Murray is refusing to endorse Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin for the job of Democratic whip, a sign that the Washington senator is keeping open the option of seeking the No. 2 position in her caucus hierarchy."

Jim Newell of Salon: Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wants you to know that President Obama, who is worse than Neville Chamberlain, is leading us on a path to nuclear war. Sometimes Cotton has to change his rationale mid-graf, but everything leads us to -- Obama = Ka-Boom!

Annals of "Justice," Ctd. Digby, in Salon: "The horrific story of the unarmed Walter Scott's death at the hands of Officer Michael Slager continues to reverberate.... And on even further investigation it was found thatthis jurisdiction is known as 'Taser town.'... Tasers guidelines vary by department and jurisdiction, but generally their use is only considered reasonable when the subject poses a safety threat. Clearly, shooting an unarmed 50-year-old man when he runs from the taser is not one of those cases."

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Dylan Byers of Politico: "FiveThirtyEight founder and statistics guru Nate Silver has accused Ezra Klein's Vox.com of stealing other people's charts without attribution. 'Yo, @voxdotcom: Y'all should probably stop stealing people's charts without proper attribution,' he tweeted Monday. 'You do this all the time, to 538 & others.' Silver wasn't alone: Anthony De Rosa, the editor-in-chief at Circa, a mobile news app, joined the fray, claiming that he'd reached out to Vox.com content director Max Fisher 'about this about dozen times and he never responds.'" Klein did respond to Byers, & Byers updated his post with the response.

Presidential Race

NEW. Caren Bohan, et al., of Reuters: "Hillary Clinton, under pressure from the left wing of her Democratic Party to aggressively campaign against income inequality, voiced concern about the hefty paychecks of some corporate executives in an email to supporters. Striking a populist note, Clinton..., said American families were still facing financial hardship at a time 'when the average CEO makes about 300 times what the average worker makes.' In a tightly scripted campaign launch in which there were few surprises, the comments were unexpected, at least by progressives, who saw them as an early sign she may shift away from the centrist economic policies pursued by her husband, former President Bill Clinton." ...

... Jordan Fabian of the Hill: "President Obama will not automatically endorse Hillary Clinton now that she has formally declared her candidacy for president, the White House said Monday. Press secretary Josh Earnest said that Obama and Clinton have 'become friends' during Clinton's years serving as secretary of State but 'there are other people who are friends of of the president' who are considering their own campaigns." ...

... Digby, in Salon: "... it's vital that Clinton's campaign realizes that this is not 2008 and the issues and political terrain have changed in seven years.The time is ripe for a woman president and it's ripe for an unabashed progressive populist agenda. If Hillary Clinton seizes this moment and runs with it, she could make history in more ways than one." ...

... Peter Beinart of the Atlantic does a bit of textual analysis of Hillary's announcement video & concludes that "absent serious primary competition that might have forced her left in the primaries, Hillary has gone left anyway: with culturally progressive imagery, a class-oriented economic message, and a purely domestic focus." ...

... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "What is striking is the convergence in thinking [about income & wealth inequality] between the center and center-left that has taken place in recent years, as the basic facts about rising inequality have become impossible to ignore. Now it's up to Clinton and her advisers to exploit this convergence. As long as they are willing to defy some of their more conservative and tax-phobic donors, there is plenty of common ground on which to construct an inequality agenda that will satisfy ... progressives."

... Dylan Scott of the New Republic: "Clinton has been openly enthusiastic about the [Affordable Care Act] in the weeks leading up to her announcement." ...

... Ben Adler of Grist, in Mother Jones: "Clinton's record and stances [on climate change] are cut from the same cloth as Obama's." ...

... Juan Cole: "it seems to me that Sec. Clinton's Middle East foreign policy would be very similar to that of President Obama, but more interventionist. She differs with Israel, as all presidents have since 1967, over its occupation of the West Bank. But she is closer to the government of Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu than is Obama."

... Heather of Crooks & Liars: "Here's Bloody Bill Kristol with the false equivalency of the day.... Kristol: If they get to nominate Hillary Clinton, why don't we get to nominate Dick Cheney. I mean, he has a much -- he has a much better record...; He has a much better record... [Tavis] Smiley: God help us all."

NEW. Luciana Lopez & Scott Malone of Reuters: "New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican trying to gain traction in a crowded 2016 presidential field, on Tuesday proposed a major overhaul of the popular Social Security program for older Americans that would cut benefits for wealthy people. At a New Hampshire appearance later on Tuesday, Christie plans to propose Social Security 'means-testing' that would reduce the size of benefits for people earning more than $80,000 annually and phase them out entirely for those earning $200,000 or more."

Ed O'Keefe & Manuel Roig-Franzia of the Washington Post: "Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the son of Cuban immigrants who made a remarkably rapid ascent through Florida politics, announced that he is running for president Monday afternoon, in front of supporters in Miami.... Rubio, 43, first told supporters the news earlier Monday, during a conference call." CW: The most exciting thing about Rubio's announcement is that it opens up Senate seat. ...

... Alex Isenstadt & Marc Caputo write the Politico story. ...

... Brian Beutler: "Marco Rubio Is the Most Disingenuous Republican Running for President. He's not a reformer. He's a fraud.... Either Rubio is promising to run up bigger deficits than any president in history, or he's swindling someone. Upper income tax cuts, middle class tax credits, anti-poverty spending -- at least one of these will have to give. The experience of watching his tax plan evolve tells us a great deal about which one won't." ...

... Ed Kilgore: "So Rubio has already surrendered to the status quo to the extent that he packages an even larger boon to the wealthy than other Republicans ... but acceptance for some 'family-friendly tax credits.'... All this dubious maneuvering actually looks worse when you contrast it to Rubio's impressive lack of nuance when it comes to foreign policy, where he's a full-on champion of every Neocon position... Those who are impressed by the heterodoxy of positions he's already abandoned might want to think about that more carefully." Kilgore wants to know if Marco "gets credit for the positions he's abandoned." ...

... Nate Cohn of the New York Times: Rubio's "central problem is that Jeb Bush has found considerable support from the party's mainstream conservative and moderate donors in the so-called invisible primary -- the behind-the-scenes competition for elite support that often decides the nomination.... Despite the initial insurgent bid against Charlie Crist that made him a Tea Party hero, Mr. Rubio has always been an establishment-oriented candidate..... Mr. Rubio is not the obvious leader of any major faction of the party, and his message isn't obviously oriented toward any wing of the party, either." ...

... Contra Cohn, Harry Enten of 538 writes, "Florida Sen. Marco Rubio's campaign ... has so far attracted paltry support from Republican voters, according to polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as nationally. He's down near Chris Christie! Yet, when we talk about him in the FiveThirtyEight office, we usually put Rubio in the top tier, in front of everyone except Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, the two candidates at the top of the polls. Why? Rubio is both electable and conservative, and in optimal proportions." Enten calls Rubio "the first real contender" to enter the presidential race. ...

... David Graham of the Atlantic: "Here's one theory, though: Rubio is the perfect second choice for GOP voters."

Beyond the Beltway

Jon Schuppe of NBC News: "Tulsa, Oklahoma reserve sheriff's deputy was charged with second-degree manslaughter Monday for the shooting death of an unarmed black man. The charges against Robert Charles Bates came hours after the family of the dead man, Eric Courtney Harris, accused deputies of treating him inhumanely after he was shot at the conclusion of an April 2 foot chase stemming from a sting operation in which Harris had allegedly arranged to sell a gun to undercover officers from the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office Violent Crimes Task Force."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Atlanta educators convicted of racketeering in a huge public school cheating scandal who rejected a sentencing deal received prison time during proceedings on Tuesday in a Fulton County court.... Among those declining [sentencing] deals were three higher-level administrators, Sharon Davis-Williams, Michael Pitts and Tamara Cotman, all regional directors at Atlanta Public Schools. An irate Judge Jerry W. Baxter of Fulton County Superior Court sentenced each of them to 20 years, with seven to be served in prison, and the remainder on probation. Each must also pay a $25,000 file and perform 2,000 hours of community service."

Washington Post: "Jason Rezaian, a reporter for The Washington Post imprisoned in Iran for almost nine months, has had only one brief, cursory visit with his lawyer in advance of his upcoming trial, according to information provided by his family on Tuesday."

CBS Denver: "A CBS4 investigation has learned that two Transportation Security Administration screeners at Denver International Airport have been fired after they were discovered manipulating passenger screening systems to allow a male TSA employee to fondle the genital areas of attractive male passengers. It happened roughly a dozen times, according to information gathered by CBS4."