The Commentariat -- November 16

Some politicians may physically remove us from public spaces -- our spaces. You cannot evict an idea whose time has come. -- Occupy Wall Street, via Bloomberg News!

The Occupy Wall Street movement has been committed to peaceful, nonviolent action from its inception. And it will keep spreading no matter what elected officials tell police to do. But that doesn’t mean these raids are acceptable. In fact, they are inexcusable. -- Richard Trumka, President, AFL-CIO

Cara Buckley of the New York Times: "In New York, where the police temporarily evicted Occupy Wall Street protesters from Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, and in other cities, dozens of organizers maintained that the movement had already reshaped the public debate. They said it no longer needed to rely solely on seizing parks, demonstrating in front of the homes of billionaires or performing other acts of street theater.... Even before the police descended on Zuccotti Park overnight, some early proponents of Occupy Wall Street had begun suggesting that it was time to move on. On Monday, Adbusters, the Canadian anti-corporate magazine that conceived of the movement, indicated that the protesters should “declare victory” and head indoors to strategize." ...

... So here's the Washington Post's take on the Occupy movement: Eli Saslow & Colum Lynch: "... lately the most divisive issue has become the protests themselves. The Occupy Wall Street encampments that formed across the country to spotlight crimes committed on Wall Street have become rife with problems of their own. There are sanitation hazards and drug overdoses, even occasional deaths and sexual assaults. On Tuesday, New York and other cities across the country continued the chaotic, disruptive process of picking sides. Police made arrests in at least six states; three civil rights groups filed lawsuits on behalf of protesters. Mayors and city officials from coast to coast held emergency meetings...." ...

... The Official Presidential Waffle is here. ...

... CW: my response to Tom Friedman's column appears in today's editon of the New York Times eXaminer. Take a look at the eXaminer's front page, as there's quite a lot of interest. You can find my column here. Here's the lede graph:

The news of the day was that Mayor Michael Bloomberg shut down Zuccotti Park where protesters were advocating for the 99 Percent. But Tom Friedman, America’s No. 1 Very Serious Person, is in India, so he was not in a New York state of mind when he wrote his column for today’s New York Times. Friedman is a multimillionaire, and as Belén Fernández noted in a recent New York Times eXaminer interview, he has boasted that he has 'total freedom, and an almost unlimited budget, to explore.' We assume that his current sojourn in India is a similarly extravagant exploration. Really, contemplating America’s 99 Percent would not be on his itinerary.

... New York Times Editors: "We suspect there was a better, less-disruptive way to get demonstrators to deal with problems cited by the city and the park’s owner, Brookfield Office Properties." CW: if you read the whole editorial, you'll find plenty of waffle -- with syrup -- here, too. The Times editors clearly want to stay on Bloomberg's team. ...

... Meanwhile, Alex Pareene of Salon has the goods on the New York Daily News in the title to his blogpost: "Daily News cheers Occupy Wall Street raid, until Daily News reporter is arrested." Pareene writes, "They [the Daily News] seem totally uninterested in the NYPD’s excessively violent tactics, including the harassment, abuse and arrest of various reporters, which doesn’t get a mention in the editorial. Then a Daily News reporter was arrested, along with at least two other reporters. Now, according to the Daily News Twitter feed, at least, the NYPD’s behavior is 'alarming.' The newspaper has alerted its attorney. The Daily News is owned and published by billionaire real estate mogul Mort Zuckerman."

... In is not just radical lefties who are complaining about Baron von Bloomberg's secretive, militaristic midnight raid on Zuccotti Park. Here are Brian Stelter & Al Baker of the ever-so MSM New York Times on "police suppression of the press.... At a news conference ... Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg defended the police behavior, saying that the media was kept away 'to prevent a situation from getting worse and to protect members of the press.'" So the press can go into war zones with bullets flying, but they can't go to downtown Manhattan. Seems reasonable. ...

... Paul Krugman: "By acting so badly, Bloomberg has made it easy to see who won’t be truthful and can’t handle open discourse. He’s also saved OWS from what was probably its greatest problem, the prospect that it would just fade away as time went on and the days grew colder. Quite a night’s work." ...

... Felix Salmon of Reuters: when Paul Krugman debated Larry Summers. An interesting read. ...

     ... Krugman responds: "... my pessimism has been selective; I’ve been pessimistic about unemployment and growth, but optimistic about interest rates and inflation. So it’s not just about crying doom, doom. I think that counts for something — especially since I’ve been right."

Brian Beutler of TPM: "CBO Director Doug Elmendorf’s testimony before the Senate Budget Committee Tuesday was full of bad news for the unemployed, and thus for President Obama. This is the stuff Republicans blasted out to reporters: Unemployment will likely be sky high through next year, GDP growth has been and will continue to be anemic. But his prepared remarks confirm this is in part a product of the GOP’s unwillingness to pass the big-ticket items in Obama’s jobs bill. And they also imply that the GOP’s economic counter-proposals would do almost nothing to actually improve things." Read Beutler's whole post, which includes the money (literally) quote of Elmendorf's testimony.

CNN: "Americans are skeptical that a congressional super committee will reach a deficit reduction agreement by next week's deadline, according to a new national survey. And a CNN/ORC International Poll released Wednesday, one week before the panel's November 23 deadline, also indicates that a plurality of the overall public, as well as crucial independent voters, would blame the Republicans more than the Democrats if no agreement's reached." CW: good. Some people are paying attention. ...

... Alexander Bolton of The Hill: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that Democrats will block Republican efforts to torpedo cuts to the Pentagon should the supercommittee on deficit reduction fail. Reid’s threat is yet another signal that Democrats are preparing for a supercommittee flop, and are largely comfortable with the cuts that would be triggered if there is no bipartisan agreement." ...

... ** Steve Benen writes a short post that tells you pretty much all you need to know about the impending Super Committee fail: "When this panel fails next week, major news organizations will tell the public that “both sides” chose not to reach an agreement. Those reports will be wrong." Read the whole post. ...

... Here's a contrary view from Jay Newton-Small of Time, who looks at the up- and downsides -- for Democrats -- of a Super Committee washout.

Law Prof. Einer Elhauge, in a New York Times op-ed: "For decades, Americans have been subject to a mandate to buy a health insurance plan — Medicare.... Many opponents dismiss this argument because Medicare (unlike the new mandate) requires the purchase of health insurance as a condition of entering into a voluntary commercial relationship, namely employment, which Congress can regulate under the commerce clause.... Even if you accept this distinction, it means that Congress can mandate the purchase of health insurance as long as it conditions that mandate on engagement in some commercial activity." And guess what? We all "engage in commercial activity." The Court has decided in the past, for instance, that even producing your own food can be regulated under the commerce clause. CW: in other words, the individual mandate is a slam-dunk, unless you take a look at yesterday's Commentariat & see what Justices Scalia & Thomas are up to -- in which case, all objective arguments are moot.

Two Three "Big Picture" Think Pieces

     Prof. Andrew Bachevich in Common Dreams: "... the most disturbing aspect of contemporary American politics, worse even than rampant dysfunction borne of petty partisanship or corruption expressed in the buying and selling of influence.  Confronted with evidence of a radically changing environment, those holding (or aspiring to) positions of influence simply turn a blind eye, refusing even to begin to adjust to a new reality." P.S. Read the comments, too, especially the one by "Siouxrose." Thanks to reader Lisa for all three links.

      Prof. Juan Cole: though you wouldn't know it from listening to or reading American media, the protests movements in the U.S., Europe & the Middle East, including Israel, are all about the same thing: the concentration of wealth in a corrupt, connected elite that deprives ordinary citizens of a decent standard of living.

     Tom Engelhardt in Al Jazeera on the "other" American dream: imperialism a/k/a the imaginary Pax Americana. Um, it's a nightmare.

The DOJ Loves Banksters. Catherine Rampell of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutions for financial institution fraud have tumbled over the last decade, despite the recent troubles in the banking sector.... Federal prosecutions for other crimes have grown tremendously, with the number of total new prosecutions filed for all federal crimes nearly doubling over the last decade." With charts to prove it. CW: if you don't think this is a reflection of Wall Street control of Washington, call me; I've got a bundle of swell mortgage derivatives to sell you.

Carol Leonnig & Joe Stephens of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration, which gave the solar company Solyndra a half-billion-dollar loan to help create jobs, asked the company to delay announcing it would lay off workers until after the hotly contested November 2010 midterm elections..., newly released e-mails show.... The announcement [of layoffs] ultimately was made on Nov. 3, 2010 — immediately following the Nov. 2 vote."

Scott Brown, Overnight Populist. Pat Garofalo of Think Progress: "In an attempt to burnish his Wall Street reformer credentials ahead of his race against Harvard Law Professor and consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) today plans to introduce the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2011, which would apply laws against insider trading to members of Congress.... Brown’s move comes after a 60 Minutes report [featured in yesterday's Commentariat].... [Brown] earlier endorse[d] President Obama’s nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. But these positions don’t change the fact that Brown worked to water down key provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law before granting the law his support, actions which earned him the appreciative donations of the financial services industry."

Right Wing World

President Newt. Steve Thomma of McClatchey News: "Newt Gingrich is the strongest Republican candidate when matched head to head against Democratic President Barack Obama, according to a McClatchy-Marist Poll released Tuesday. The former speaker of the House of Representatives is neck and neck with the incumbent president, back just 2 percentage points among registered voters. Obama leads 47 percent to 45 percent."

Gingrich is definitionally what conservatism, properly speaking, opposes. Conservatism was born in the eighteenth century against the grand pronouncements of the French philosophes; it roots itself in practice not theory; it distrusts massive, profound reorganization of anything. In all of this, Gingrich is, in fact, conservatism's nemesis: an autodidact megalomaniac, contemptuous of existing institutions, and bent on dragging an entire culture, country and, yes, civilization into a fantastic pocket of his own small mind. -- Andrew Sullivan, putting the Newt into historical perspective

 News Ledes

Public Opinion has some of the latest developments in the Occupy movement, via the AP. A very good synopsis. ...

... ABC News: "President Obama and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday announced that the US military will begin a permanent presence Down Under — part of a greater Obama administration strategy to contain the rise of China in the Pacific. By mid-2012, a company-sized rotation of Marines, between 200-250, will be stationed at an Australian military base in the Northern territory. That will ramp up to a full force of 2,500 Marine personnel as part of a Marine, Air, Ground Task Force In addition, the US Air Force will be able to use Australian Air Force facilities significantly more than it does now."

ABC News: "... authorities are increasingly concerned that a man sought in connection with a bizarre shooting incident on the Washington Mall last week may pose a threat to President Obama. The Secret Service now suspects that a bullet fired in this incident may have hit the White House after a bullet round was found in a White House window, though the round had not yet been conclusively linked to the incident.  The round was stopped by ballistic glass behind the historic exterior glass, while an additional round has been found on the exterior of the White House. Police believe the suspect, 21-year-old Oscar Ramiro Ortega of Idaho, is mentally ill." With video.

New York Times: "As a steady drizzle began early Wednesday morning, only a few dozen protesters remained in Zuccotti Park.... There were no tarps or sleeping bags — just a few dozen people clustered together or slumped on granite benches, shielding themselves with whatever they had: umbrellas, rain coats, pieces of cardboard and garbage bags."

Al Jazeera: "Syrian activists say that army defectors have attacked an intelligence complex in the Damascus suburbs in what appears to be one of their boldest assaults so far against government security forces. Members of the Free Syrian Army fired heavy weaponry and machine guns at a large air force intelligence complex situated in Harasta on the northern edge of the capital along the Damascus-Aleppo highway early on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Syrian Revolution General Commission told Al Jazeera."

The Commentariat -- November 15

Since I'm boycotting the New York Times comments, I've found a new (and pretty exciting) venue for my comments on Times op-ed columns: the New York Times eXaminer. Please consider becoming a NYTX subscriber. My comment on David Brooks' column is here. The lede paragraph:

If you think you’re better than Joe Paterno, you’re vain. So says David Brooks in today’s New York Times op-ed section. Brooks turns to science and history to explain away Penn State head coach Joe Paterno’s failure to stop one of his coaches, Jerry Sandusky, from serially raping young boys.... To make his case, Brooks lumps assistant coach Mike McQueary in with Paterno.... False equivalencies are Brooks’ specialty, so let’s see how this one works.

A Conspiracy of Mayors. Gregg Levine of Firedoglake: "Embattled Oakland Mayor Jean Quan, speaking in an interview with the BBC..., casually mentioned that she was on a conference call with leaders of 18 US cities shortly before a wave of raids broke up Occupy Wall Street encampments across the country."

The Gothamist has several stories on the Zuccotti Park evictions. Here's the lede on one:

During our coverage of the eviction of the Occupy Wall Street protesters early this morning, a NPR reporter, a New York Times reporter, and a city councilmember were arrested. Airspace in Lower Manhattan was closed to CBS and NBC news choppers by the NYPD, a New York Post reporter was allegedly put in a "choke hold" by the police, a NBC reporter's press pass was confiscated and a large group of reporters and protesters were hit with pepper spray. ...

... Also see the Democracy Now! main page. ...

... NEW. Chris Spannos of the New York Times eXaminer on the Times' coverage of the Zuccotti Park eviction: "The Times coverage does include some quotes from protesters, and their allotment of some space to Adbusters’ views is complementary. However, the overall framing and emphasis trivializes Occupy Wall Street while at the same time emphasizes the struggles of Mayor Bloomberg." ...

... NEW. Al Baker & Joseph Goldstein of the New York Times: the NYPD's operation to evict protesters from Zuccotti Park was a "minutely planned, almost military-style operation.... Hundreds of officers were involved. The overnight hours of Monday into Tuesday were chosen because it was believed the park would be at its emptiest, the police said. The operation was kept secret from all but a few high-ranking officers, with others initially being told that they were embarking on an exercise when they set out on Monday evening."

How to Make a Million Dollars. First, Become a Congressman ...

     ... Carolyn Lochhead of the San Francisco Chronicle: "Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill ... called the report 'a right-wing smear' based on a new book by conservative author Peter Schweizer of the Hoover Institution, a think tank based at Stanford University.... Pelosi spokesman Hammill said '60 Minutes' relied heavily on a 'discredited conservative author who has made a career out of attacking Democrats,' citing Schweizer books such as 'Do as I Say (Not as I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy.'" ...

     ... Update. Daniel Stone of the Daily Beast details the relationship among then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, her husband investor Paul Pelosi, and Visa, whose headquarters are in Pelosi's San Francisco Congressional district. I see a definite conflict-of-interest but no smoking-gun evidence that Pelosi allowed her husband's financial interests to trump her legislative agenda. Just business-as-usual for the One Percenters. Still, I'd like to see your take on Off Times Square.

How to Make $100 Million. First, get a job at Fannie or Freddie.... Chris Isidore of CNN Money: "Mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac received the biggest federal bailout of the financial crisis. And nearly $100 million of those tax dollars went to lucrative pay packages for top executives, filings show. The top five executives at Fannie Mae received $33.3 million in 2009 and 2010, while the top five at Freddie Mac received $28.1 million. And each company has set pay targets of as much as $17 million for its top managers for 2011." CW: this isn't news, but it's a good reminder of one place your tax dollars are going to enrich the One Percenters.

Dear Super Committee: A Politico poll (here) "is getting lots of attention today because it found solid public skepticism that the deficit supercommittee will reach a deal before the November 23rd deadline. But the numbers in the poll that are more interesting are the ones that clearly display what the public wants the supercommittee to do to cut the deficit. There’s no mystery here. When it comes to the two most contentious items on the agenda, the public strongly backs tax hikes on the rich, and strongly opposes cuts to entitlements." Sincerely, Greg Sargent.

Dear Supreme Court: "A new CNN poll on the issue of health care reform finds that support for the law’s central and most controversial element, the individual health insurance mandate, has climbed into majority territory. In the new poll, support for the individual mandate — requiring people to get health insurance — has climbed to 52%, with 47% opposed. When the last survey was taken in June, that a majority of 54% opposed it, with 44% in support." ...

     ... Paul Krugman comments on the newfound popularity of the individual mandate but adds, "... as one commenter at TPM put it, Republicans appear to have had an eTiffany: New National Polls Show Newt Leading In GOP Race. I’m trying to think of something sarcastic to say, but really, how can satire and parody compete with this kind of reality?" ...

... ** NEW. James Oliphant of the Los Angeles Times: "The day the Supreme Court gathered behind closed doors to consider the politically divisive question of whether it would hear a challenge to President Obama’s healthcare law, two of its justices, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, were feted at a dinner sponsored by the law firm that will argue the case before the high court.... Bancroft PLLC, was one of almost two dozen firms that helped sponsor the annual dinner of the Federalist Society.... Another firm that sponsored the dinner, Jones Day, represents one of the trade associations that challenged the law, the National Federation of Independent Business. Another sponsor was pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc, which has an enormous financial stake in the outcome of the litigation.... In attendance was, among others, Mitch McConnell, the Senate’s top Republican and an avowed opponent of the healthcare law. The featured guests at the dinner? Scalia and Thomas." CW: what could possibly be wrong with that? ...

... Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times on how the individual mandate became law.

Sunday, Off Times Square commenter Trish Ramey rightly criticized a New York Times Magazine article by Adam Davidson in which Davidson claimed the middle class -- which he defined down to those earning $30,000 a year or more -- would have to "give up some benefits ... or ... pay more in taxes" to reduce the deficit. Ramey & I pointed out a few errors in Davidson's analysis. Now comes Real Economist Dean Baker, in a New York Times eXaminer story, who goes further: Davidson "too quickly dismisses the possibility of getting substantial additional tax revenue from the wealthy." Baker notes that Davidson also ignores healthcare reform as a source of reducing federal expenditures. "At some point," Baker writes, "we likely will need more revenue from the middle class since we will probably want to increase government spending in some areas like infrastructure, education, and research and development. However, this is not a near-term prospect and quite possibly not even something that will be necessary over the course of a decade." 

** Andrew Cohen of The Atlantic: "Celebrating his affinity for crazy talk, Herman Cain said Saturday night ... that he would leave it up to our military to determine what is and what is not torture. Fellow future also-ran Michele Bachmann picked up the ignorance stick and carried it even further down the road; water-boarding those terror detainees, she said, was 'very effective.' Not to be outdone, noted historian Newt Gingrich tried to make believe that Anwar Al-Awlaki, the U.S. citizen killed in a drone strike a while back, was first duly 'convicted' of  being a terrorist.... I would like to blame President Barack Obama for the silliness.... He practically invited it when he refused to authorize a national commission on torture -- a so-called 'Truth Commission' -- that would have filled with factual testimony and documentary evidence the vacuum that now exists on the topic...." Read the whole post. See also today's Right Wing World, wherein we learn Mitt Romney has jumped on the torture bandwagon. ...

... Political science Prof. Jonathan Bernstein dissents: "So, yes, blame Obama for not addressing an issue he should have addressed, but do remember that controlling what the opposition says and believes is far beyond the powers of the presidency." CW Translation: Cain will still be ignorant, Bachmann will still be crazy & the Newt will still be a congenital liar.

Pretty clear Elizabeth Warren is no Martha Coakley. -- Chuck Todd, MSNBC, Tweet ...

... Scott Brown Is Worried. Bobby Caina Calvan of the Boston Globe: "Senator Scott Brown today endorsed the nomination of Richard Cordray, the former Ohio attorney general, to lead the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- whose chief architect, Elizabeth Warren, is challenging Brown in his reelection bid next fall. Cordray’s nomination is being fiercely opposed by Senate Republicans, 44 of whom signed a letter to President Obama in May expressing their concerns that there is too little oversight over the new agency.... Brown ... did not sign the letter...."

Right Wing World

Public Policy Polling: "Newt Gingrich has taken the lead in PPP's national polling. He's at 28% to 25% for Herman Cain and 18% for Mitt Romney. The rest of the Republican field is increasingly looking like a bunch of also rans: Rick Perry is at 6%, Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at 5%, Jon Huntsman at 3%, and Gary Johnson and Rick Santorum each at 1%." ...

Michael Tomasky, in the Daily Beast: "The idea that [Newt Gingrich is] a serious presidential candidate is preposterous. Even if he were the nominee..., he’d say crazy things. He’d reignite the whole Obama-is-a-Kenyan-anticolonialist business.... He’d be a disaster.... The guy has more baggage than a Stones tour.... Poll respondents probably don’t remember the government shutdown or even have any idea it ever happened. They’re also probably not quite fully aware that his wife is his ex-mistress, the woman with whom he was committing infidelity at precisely the same moment he was baying that Bill Clinton had driven America to ruination by doing the same." ...

... Clea Benson of Bloomberg News: "Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said during a Nov. 9 debate that he earned a $300,000 fee to advise Freddie Mac as a 'historian' who warned that the mortgage company’s business model was 'insane.' Former Freddie Mac officials familiar with the consulting work Gingrich was hired to perform for the company in 2006 tell a different story. They say the former House speaker was asked to build bridges to Capitol Hill Republicans and develop an argument on behalf of the company’s public-private structure that would resonate with conservatives seeking to dismantle it."

Roger Simon of Politico: "Obama ... may not even need an opposition research team this election. All he needs is a guy with a DVR and the patience, the grit, the sheer fortitude to watch every minute of every Republican debate.... There have been 10 major debates over the past six months. And what has been the result? They have made Obama look better." An amusing & apt commentary.

Brig. Gen. John Johns (Ret.), in a New York Times op-ed: "The problem with [GOP presidential candidates' bellicose] arguments is that they flatly ignore or reject outright the best advice of America’s national security leadership. Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, former congressman Admiral Joe Sestak and former CENTCOM Commander General Anthony Zinni are only a few of the many who have warned us to think carefully about the repercussions of attacking Iran. Two months ago, Sestak put it bluntly: 'A military strike, whether it’s by land or air, against Iran would make the aftermath of the Iraqi invasion look like a cakewalk with regard to the impact on the United States’ national security.'”

Must See Teevee. In a conversation with Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel editors, Herman Cain tries to remember what Libya is. Maybe he has it confused with "Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan":

     ... Richard Oppel, Jr., of the New York Times: "Video of Mr. Cain’s appearance on Monday before editors and reporters at The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel went viral almost immediately after it was posted online, and drew immediate comparisons to Rick Perry’s recent stumble in a debate when he froze in discussing which federal agencies he would eliminate." ...

     ... Adam Serwer of Mother Jones: "There are plenty of valid criticisms of Obama's Libya effort.... Cain didn't mention any of [them]." ...

     ... Prof. Daniel Drezner in Foreign Policy: "The Herman Cain Mercy Rule Is Now in Effect.... I have a personal preference that ignoramuses should be drummed out of presidential politics as quickly as possible.... There's no point in blogging about him anymore.  I can only pick on an ignoramus so many times before it feels sadistic." ...

     ... Charles Pierce of Esquire channels Cain: "How come they know so much about Libya in Milwaukee? How come they know so much about Wisconsin in Milwaukee? What is all this stuff twirling around in my head? Ideas? Ahh, probably not, but you can never tell."

He Hears Voices. I have had one very well known Muslim voice say to me directly that a majority of Muslims share the extremist views. -- Herman Cain, to GQ Magazine. Later in the interview (linked), Cain confirmed he was talking about American Muslims. Later in the day, Cain's spokesman said Cain was talking about Muslims "in another country." ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: " Victor Zuckerman, a pediatrician, said on Monday that he was dating Sharon Bialek in the 1990s when she told him that Herman Cain had touched her inappropriately. Dr. Zuckerman held a news conference Monday with Gloria Allred, the lawyer who represents Ms. Bialek, in an attempt to buttress the allegations that Ms. Bialek lodged against the Republican presidential candidate last week."

"Pre-arranged Dishonesty -- A Conspiracy before the Fact." David Bernstein of the Boston Phoenix recounts the deal Mitt Romney made with William Bain before agreeing to head up Bain Capital. "To me, this vignette perfectly gets to the core of Mitt Romney.... Romney always leverages his considerable assets ... to manipulate circumstances to avoid personal risk.... The number-one goal is to protect, at all costs, the Mitt Romney brand.... It's very hard to tell whether people have agreed to lie on someone's behalf or not. But it certainly seems that Romney has always been able to seize credit for successes, and avoid blame for problems." Via Greg Sargent. ...

... "Faking It." Steve Benen. "... one of Romney’s key rhetorical problems — he can fake it when it comes to giving the appearance of competence, which raises expectations, but the facade falls apart when anyone stops to consider the details. Indeed, Saturday night’s debate was a disaster for Romney, at least for those who gave his answers meaningful scrutiny." ...

... Waterboard Romney. Rachel Weiner of the Washington Post: "Mitt Romney did not weigh in during the debate, but aides later told reporters that the former Massachusetts governor does not believe waterboarding is torture and did not rule out its use in a Romney administration. At the debate, candidates got cheers for supporting waterboarding — but so did Paul for declaring it torture." CW: in his press conference Sunday, President Obama responded to the GOP presidential candidates' support of torture. "They're wrong," he said. And elaborated. (See video of full press conference under Monday's Ledes.)

Charles Pierce: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) is busy being a populist again. He's incensed about "welfare for the well-off," something he apparently never noticed before. Pierce writes,

The problem, of course, is that, even if you believe Coburn is sincere, and not using this as a dodge to avoid putting the top rate back where it belongs, every one of these loopholes can be recreated in a heartbeat when the 'millionnaires and billionnaires' and their tax lawyers get a hold of whatever 'reform' passes to close them. That's not even to mention that lurking behind Coburn's ostensible concern ... is the argument for a flat tax 'with no loopholes at all.' The cuts to Social Security and Medicare will be real and they will be permanent. Oligarchy, on the other hand, never sleeps.

"Tea Party Plans Premeditated Felony." Paul Tascoupe of PolitiScoop: "The kick off campaign to recall embattled governor Scott Walker [R-Wisc.] kicks off in just four days and with that date approaching, the tea party has plans of its own. Politiscoop has received several screen shots of tea party and right wing activists planning to pass themselves off as those circulating petitions to recall the governor. In one facebook post a user named Charles Atlas Shrugging begins the plan by saying 'I'd like to collect signatures of those who want to recall Walker ... so I can have something to feed my shredder....'" Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link. ...

     ... In a follow-up post, Tascoupe identifies "Charles Atlas Shrugging" as Charles Brey. Besides his litany of Tea Party activities, which includes an appearance on "Fox & Friends," Brey "belongs to a Militia known as 'The Regulators Anti-Socialism Vigilance Committee.'"

News Ledes

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Organizers started the official clock Tuesday on gathering more than a half million recall petitions against Gov. Scott Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four senators. Surrounded by media cameras and led by two possible Walker opponents if a recall election is triggered - former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin President Mahlon Mitchell - the recall group United Wisconsin marched through downtown here to make the filing with state elections officials." Wisconsin State Journal story here.

AP: "Hundreds of police officers in riot gear raided Zuccotti Park early Tuesday, evicting dozens of Occupy Wall Street protesters from what has become the epicenter of the worldwide movement protesting corporate greed and economic inequality. Hours later, the National Lawyers Guild obtained a court order allowing Occupy Wall Street protesters to return with tents to the park. The guild said the injunction prevents the city from enforcing park rules on Occupy Wall Street protesters." ...

     ... The New York Times City Room has a liveblog here. The main Times story, which I also linked in yesterday's Ledes, and which has been updated numerous times, is here. ...

     ... The Guardian has a liveblog here which looks to be slightly more timely than the NYT liveblog. Update: The Guardian has switched to a new liveblog (here). So for background go to the first link; for the latest, check out the second. ...

     ... AP Update: "A New York judge has upheld the city's dismantling of the Occupy Wall Street encampment, saying that the protesters' first amendment rights don't entitle them to camp out indefinitely in the plaza. Supreme Court Justice Michael Stallman on Tuesday denied a motion by the demonstrators seeking to be allowed back into the park with their tents and sleeping bags." New York Daily News story here. The text of the judge's decision is here. ...

     ... New York Times Update: "The police opened the gates to Zuccotti Park just after darkness fell and let in a single-file line of people as a crowd surrounded the park.... 'You have to walk through a gantlet of officers,' said Andy Nicholson, 54, of Manhattan.... One by one, about 750 people crowded into the park. Those carrying backpacks and large amounts of food were turned away, and the evening’s general assembly meeting began with logistics, like where demonstrators would be able to eat and sleep."

AP: "Pounding away with executive actions, the White House is laying out new steps to cut fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, keeping up its campaign of acting without Congress as President Barack Obama tends to diplomacy — and relaxation — far from Washington. Many of the moves that support Obama's "we can't wait" mantra are modest and bureaucratic, including the newest measures being announced Tuesday, but are nevertheless intended to show a president in action while he largely faces gridlock over jobs with Republicans in Congress."

Al Jazeera: "At least 70 people have been killed in violence across Syria over the past 24 hours in one of the bloodiest days since an anti-government uprising began eight months ago, activists reported. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday that 27 civilians were shot dead by security forces and 34 soldiers as well as 12 suspected army deserters were killed in clashes. Most of the victims were killed in the southern flashpoint province of Deraa, the observatory said in a statement."

NEW. Tampa Tribune: "Penn State assistant coach Mike McQueary 'didn't just turn and run' after witnessing Jerry Sandusky allegedly sodomize a boy and 'made sure it stopped,' according to an email McQueary sent to friends and former teammates."

NEW. Guardian: "The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has lodged an application to take to the (British) supreme court his case against extradition to Sweden. Assange, 40, who faces sex crime allegations, recently lost a high court battle against removal.... He will ask senior judges in London on 5 December to certify that his case raises a question of general public importance, and should be considered by the highest court in the land."

The Commentariat -- November 14

POTUS for a Day. Today's question on Off Times Square: if you could impose only one policy change on the federal government, what would it be?

No, Regulations Do Not Kill Jobs. Jia Lynn Yang of the Washington Post: "In the face of the country’s unemployment crisis, many politicians have portrayed regulations as the economy’s primary villain.... The critique of regulations fits into a broader conservative narrative about government overreach. But it also comes afteir a string of disasters in recent years that were tied to government regulators falling short, including the financial crisis of 2008, the BP oil spill and the West Virginia mining accident last year.... Economists who have studied the matter say that there is little evidence that regulations cause massive job loss in the economy, and that rolling them back would not lead to a boom in job creation. Firms sometimes hire workers to help them comply with new rules. In some cases, more heavily regulated businesses such as coal shrink, giving an opportunity for cleaner industries such as natural gas to grow.... Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that very few layoffs are caused principally by tougher rules.... In 2010, 0.3 percent of the people who lost their jobs in layoffs were let go because of 'government regulations/intervention.'" CW: that's 3/10ths of one percent. This is a news analysis, not an opinion piece. It appears in the right-leaning Washington Post. Guess if it will do anything to silence GOP fiction writers.

Kevin Bogardus of The Hill: "Unions and Occupy Wall Street protesters will be joining forces next week for a 'day of action' to pressure lawmakers on jobs. The AFL-CIO, the Service Employees International Union and the Laborers’ International Union of North America will partner with Occupy Wall Street for 'We are the 99 percent' rallies on Thursday. Liberal groups like MoveOn.org and the American Dream Movement plan to participate." ...

... Aren't the Cops among the 99 Percent? Peter Moskos in Slate: "If you think of police as coming whenever you call for help, you may be surprised to learn that police do not work for you. Officers work first for the police department and then for the city that pays them. A force designed to maintain order and the status quo will never sing Kumbaya with protesters who combine a desire for change with a privileged sense of agency and entitlement.... There are guidelines of protest behavior that can mitigate police unpleasantness: 1) don’t hurt yourself or others, 2) don’t shut down the city, 3) don’t antagonize the police, and 4) no surprises."

Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post: "The Obama administration will announce Monday as much as $1 billion in funding to hire, train and deploy health-care workers, part of the White House’s broader 'We Can’t Wait' agenda to bolster the economy after President Obama’s jobs bill stalled in Congress. Grants can go to doctors, community groups, local government and other organizations that work with patients in federal health-care programs such as Medicare and Medicaid." 

CW: As a service to readers, I intended to read Bill Keller's column in today's New York Times about how Mitt Romney could win the presidency. But right near the top, Keller wrote this:

Despite efforts to polarize our politics into ideological base camps, in presidential elections the deciding vote still belongs to the middle. These voters have been drowned out lately by the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street, but they are the main prize in 2012.

      ... So that's as far as I got. Several weeks ago, after Keller described OWS as "warmed-over anarchists," he got -- and acknowledged -- a flood of protest letters from people, many of them nicer than I, explaining to him what OWS was all about. I guess Keller didn't do well in math, because there's something about "99 Percent" he just can't grasp. Ninety-nine percent is not a fringe -- unless Keller, whose father was CEO of Exxon -- thinks everyone who is not part of the One Percent is the left-wing fringe.

"Green Graft." Peter Schweizer provides an excerpt of his book Throw Them All Out to the Daily Beast & Newsweek: "A large proportion of the winners [of DOE alternative energy grants] were companies with Obama-campaign connections. Indeed, at least 10 members of Obama’s finance committee and more than a dozen of his campaign bundlers were big winners in getting your money. At the same time, several politicians who supported Obama managed to strike gold.... According to the Department of Energy’s own numbers..., [in one of the programs,] $16.4 billion of the $20.5 billion in loans granted as of Sept. 15 went to companies either run by or primarily owned by Obama financial backers.... The department’s loan and grant programs are run by partisans who were responsible for raising money during the Obama campaign from the same people who later came to seek government loans and grants.... These programs might be the greatest — and most expensive — example of crony capitalism in American history. Tens of billions of dollars went to firms controlled or owned by fundraisers, bundlers, and political allies, many of whom—surprise!—are now raising money for Obama again."

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "With a little over a week left to reach a deal, members of the Congressional deficit reduction panel are looking for an escape hatch that would let them strike an accord on revenue levels but delay until next year tough decisions about exactly how to raise taxes."

** Jason Zengerle of New York Magazine has a fine profile of Elizabeth Warren, whom he contrasts to President Obama: "'I’ll just be blunt, I thought the whole fight was 2008,' she says. 'We’d put sensible people in place, we’d write sensible rules, and we’d spend 50 years rebuilding America’s middle class.' The question that hangs over Obama — and the entire Democratic Party, for that matter — is why that didn’t happen." Here's another tidbit:

Congressman Barney Frank says he advised Obama that nominating Warren to head the CFPB was 'a win-win, because if the Republicans filibuster her, they’ll make her a hero who can run for the Senate, and because of that, to avoid her being a Senate candidate, you might get them to confirm her.' But the White House didn’t have the stomach for such a confrontation....

       ... Here's the "Daily Show" segment from January 2010 which Zengerle refers to at the top of his profile:

Votes, No. Guns, Yes. Michael Luo of the New York Times: "Under federal law, people with felony convictions forfeit their right to bear arms. Yet every year, thousands of felons across the country have those rights reinstated, often with little or no review. In several states, they include people convicted of violent crimes, including first-degree murder and manslaughter.... While previously a small number of felons were able to reclaim their gun rights, the process became commonplace in many states in the late 1980s, after Congress started allowing state laws to dictate these reinstatements — part of an overhaul of federal gun laws orchestrated by the National Rifle Association. The restoration movement has gathered force in recent years, as gun rights advocates have sought to capitalize on the 2008 Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to bear arms."

Occupy APEC! Zaid Jilani of Think Progress: At a meeting of APEC leaders, including President & Mrs. Obama & others heads of state & their guests, "Hawaiian guitarist Makana opened his suit jacket to reveal a shirt that read 'Occupy Aloha,' and played “We Are the Many,” the protest ballad he wrote. Thanks to reader Lisa for the link. In the video below, Makana describes the event:

... Here's a CNN report:

 "A Culture of Impunity." Chris Hayes of The Nation & NBC News speaks with Rick Herzberg, Elizabeth Holtzman, Victoria Defrancesco, Michael Eric Dyson & David Zirin about the Penn State scandal:

     ... CW: Taylor Branch, in a long Atlantic article published last month, argues that college athletes should be paid. I didn't read it, but generally speaking, I'd say Branch has the "solution" to the exploitation of young athletes ass-backwards. Instead of making millions & billions off the kids & then paying them for their contributions, the programs should be cut back to the ideal of the "student athlete" that Branch claims never existed.

Right Wing World

In today's column, Paul Krugman elaborates on the post we linked in Saturday's Commentariat: Mitt Romney's bright idea to privatize veterans' health care, despite the fact that the V.A. program is a phenomenally successful healthcare delivery system, and even partially privatizing it would inevitably make it worse. Why privatize? "Ideology, of course. It’s literally a fundamental article of faith in the G.O.P. that the private sector is always better than the government, and no amount of evidence can shake that credo. In fact, it’s hard to avoid the sense that Republicans are especially eager to dismantle government programs that act as living demonstrations that their ideology is wrong."

... David Atkins in Hullabaloo: "At some point the pearl clutchers and bipartisan fetishists are going to acknowledge that there is a political civil war in this country, that the right wing is going off the rails at an accelerated pace, and that these people represent a grave threat to democracy should they ever take power again."

Rick Perry's Mindless Moment. E. J. Dionne:  "Forgetting an idea at the heart of your program ... is not the same as forgetting a phone number.... Perry’s memory lapse showed that he wasn’t asserting anything that he is truly serious about because he is not serious about what government does, or ought not to do. For him, governing seems a casual undertaking.... The [conservative] movement has been overtaken by a quite literally mindless opposition to government."

Nia-Malika Henderson of the Washington Post: "In her first televised interview ever [with Fox "News"'s Greta Van Susteren], Gloria Cain, wife of Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain, sat down with her husband and said that the allegations of sexual harassment against him don’t square with the man she knows.... Cain’s wife, who is ... a registered Democrat according to her husband, has steered clear of the spotlight and has not assumed the traditional role of candidate’s wife."

CW: in case you'd like to know why Michele Bachmann says the liberal media outlet CBS News is discriminating against her -- a story I avoided all day yesterday -- Jeremy Peters of the New York Times has all the details of the scandalous disclosure that CBS would rather talk to a candidate whose poll numbers are not -- like Bachmann's -- in the single digits.

News Ledes

New York Times: "The New York City police began clearing Zuccotti Park of the Occupy Wall Street protesters about 1 a.m. Tuesday, telling the people there that the camp would be 'cleared and restored' before the morning and that any demonstrator who did not leave would be arrested." The story has been updated. Michael Moore is livestreaming here. Global Revolution has a two-camera feed here with commentary.

New York Times: "Close to 10 [would that be 9??] additional suspected victims have come forward to the authorities since the arrest of the former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky on Nov. 5 on 40 counts of sexually abusing young boys, according to people close to the investigation. The police are working to confirm the new allegations.... In a phone interview with Bob Costas that was broadcast Monday night on 'Rock Center,' Sandusky said he was innocent of the charges against him and declared that he was not a pedophile. He did acknowledge, 'I shouldn’t have showered with those kids.' ... On Sunday, Jack Raykovitz, the chief executive of the [Second Mile] foundation for 28 years, resigned."

New York Times: "At a special session of the Nebraska Legislature, a state senator announced Monday that TransCanada had agreed to adjust its intended route of the Keystone XL oil pipeline to avoid the environmentally sensitive Sand Hills region of the state."

New York Times: "As members of the Congressional deficit reduction panel retreated to conference rooms Monday to continue negotiations, House Republicans and Senate Democrats were putting their final touches on a series of spending bills that they hope will avert another showdown over short-term financing of the government."

AP: "The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear arguments next March over President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.... The decision to hear arguments in the spring allows plenty of time for a decision in late June, just over four months before Election Day.... The justices announced they will hear more than five hours of arguments, an extraordinarily long session, from lawyers on the constitutionality of a provision at the heart of the law and other related questions about the act." ...

     ... New York Times: "The Supreme Court agreed to hear appeals from just one decision, from the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, the only one so far striking down the mandate.... The appeals court went no further, though, severing the mandate from the rest of the law." Washington Post report here. The Supremes' cert grant is here (pdf). Also, SCOTUSblog has a good summary of the writ.

New York Times: "President Obama will be far from Washington this week meeting with Pacific Rim allies, but on Sunday he weighed in on simmering domestic issues, warning Congressional Republicans that voters will turn them out if they do not pass some of his job-creation proposals. Speaking at a press conference at the conclusion of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum here, Mr. Obama also defended his policies on Iran against assaults from Republican presidential candidates and boasted of those policies’ support among foreign leaders." AP story here.

... Oakland Tribune: "Hundreds of police officers raided the Occupy Oakland tent city early Monday morning. In anticipation, protesters from Occupy Oakland had gathered overnight in the intersection of Broadway and 14th Street. Some campers started taking down their tents early." This is a liveblog, so go back for updates. ...

     ... San Francisco Chronicle Update: "About 1,000 Occupy Oakland protesters returned Monday night to Frank Ogawa Plaza, 12 hours after police evicted the movement's tent city, and debated a range of reactions from re-establishing the encampment to refocusing on community organizing. The city reopened the newly cleared plaza outside City Hall around 5 p.m. and said protesters could gather there around the clock. However, police said they would prevent camping from now on, and as the night went on, there were no tents in evidence."

... Oregonian: "... in daylight hours Sunday, after throngs of supporters had gone home to sleep..., Portland police successfully cleared the two downtown parks where protesters had camped since Oct. 6, but the evictions sparked an hourslong standoff as protesters spilled into the streets and filled Pioneer Courthouse Square into the evening." ...

AP: "The Department of Transportation said Monday it has fined [American Eagle Airlines,] a regional affiliate of American Airlines, $900,000 for keeping hundreds of passengers cooped up for hours on planes in Chicago earlier this year, a clear warning to airlines on the eve of the holiday travel season that similar incidents won't be tolerated.

NBC News: "The judge who granted bail to former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky was a volunteer for his Second Mile organization, according to the biography on her former law firm's website. Sandusky was arrested on Nov. 5 and charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of young boys over a 15-year period. Deadspin, a sports blog, reports that upon Sandusky's arraignment, prosecutors requested $500,000 bail for Sandusky. They also wanted him to wear a leg monitor. However, Judge Leslie Dutchcot freed Sandusky on $100,000 unsecured bail, meaning he’ll only have to pay if he doesn’t show up for court." Also watch Mike Isikoff's video report, which is embedded on the linked page.

AP: "Italy's premier-designate Mario Monti began talks on Monday to create a new government of non-political experts tasked with overhauling an ailing economy to keep market fears over the country from threatening the existence of the euro. Investors initially cheered Monti's appointment, though concern lingered about the sheer amount of work his new government will have to do to restore faith in the country's battered economy and finances."

New York Times: "Afghan and coalition forces may have captured a prominent spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, three Afghan officials said Monday."

Guardian: "The names of 28 News International employees appear in notebooks belonging to Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who worked for the News of the World, the Leveson inquiry into press standards heard on its first day at London's high court. Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry also heard that Mulcaire wrote the words "Daily Mirror" in his notepad, which suggests he may have carried out work for the paper." CW: and nobody gave a hint to James or Rupert Murdoch about News Corps' tactics. Right.