The Commentariat -- February 6

Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman, center back, meeting with leaders of Egyptian parties and the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo today. AP photo. 

Quote of the Day: President Mubarak needs to be treated as he deserved over the years, because he has been a good friend. -- Dick Cheney ...

"Our Son of a Bitch." Scott Shane of the New York Times on our long history of propping up repressive dictators. ...

... CW: Benedict Moran of Al Jazeera asks the same questions I've been asking for more than a week: where the hell is the United Nations Security Council? Video & print stories. ...

... David Sanger of the New York Times: "... the Obama administration is struggling to determine if a democratic revolution can succeed while President Hosni Mubarak remains in office, even if his powers are neutered and he is sidelined from negotiations over the country’s future." ...

     ... Jake Tapper has the backstory: "The Obama administration on Saturday distanced itself from comments about Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak made by a man the president had used as an envoy to Mubarak just days before. Saying he was speaking for himself, former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner said at a security conference in Munich, Germany, that 'President Mubarak remains utterly critical in the days ahead as we sort our way toward the future.'" CW: Wisner is a diplomat??? WTF? ...

... "A Neo-Sultanistic Regime." Will Englund & Samuel Sockol of the Washington Post do a fair job of explaining how President Mubarak maintained power and the dynamic that caught him off guard: "Hosni Mubarak kept Egypt under total control for nearly three decades, not through charisma or inspiration, but by building a system of patronage and brutality that was beyond challenge.... Change here has been pushed by a new generation that refuses to accept the rationalizations of its parents. When the economy began to sour two years ago, young people discovered that a system built on nepotism and bribery was shutting them out of university slots and jobs." ...

... Nichols Kristof interviewed protesters in Tahrir Square, and is optimistic about Egypt's ability to self-govern. Also, see the rationale put forward by the insufferable snob David Brooks in the post below. What a contrast! ...

... Frank Rich disputes "the default assumption that the Egyptian uprising, like every other paroxysm in the region since the Green Revolution in Iran 18 months ago, must be powered by the twin American-born phenomena of Twitter and Facebook."

Bryan Bender of the Boston Globe: "Once a key supporter of President Obama’s surge of troops in Afghanistan, [Massachusetts Sen. John] Kerry said he has concluded that the US strategy in Afghanistan has to be revised. He is calling for a more limited focus and fewer American troops.... In the coming weeks, Kerry [who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee] said he will hold a series of oversight hearings" on the progress of & prospects for the war effort.

Budget Director Jacob Lew in a New York Times op-ed, describes a few of the painful budget cuts President Obama is proposing to make in programs he supports, but he says these cuts won't be nearly enough to address the deficit in any significant way. The President urges Congress to reform the tax code.

Eric Dash of the New York Times: "... lawmakers and regulators pushed Wall Street to overhaul its pay practices. Big banks responded by shifting more compensation into stock, a move intended to align employees’ interests more closely with those of investors and discourage excessive risk-taking. But it turns out that executives have ... [used] complex investment transactions ... [to] limit the downside on their holdings, or even profit, as other shareholders are suffering. More than a quarter of oldman Sachs’s partners ... used these hedging strategies from July 2007 through November 2010.... One prominent Goldman investment banker avoided more than $7 million in losses over a four-month period. Such transactions are at the center of a debate over whether Wall Street executives should be allowed to hedge their stock holdings."

Here's a video by Russia Today on last week's protest of the billionaire Koch brothers' appropriately named Rancho Mirage retreat for rich right-wing political movers & shakers. Thanks to Gilda S. for forwarding the video.

... I hate to get my U.S. news from Russia Today, but the content of the video is accurate, as far as I know. Here's a transcript of the video's text. AND here's the New York Times story on the protest, to which I linked last week.

Ed Connolly & Michael Luo of the New York Times: "Tens of thousands of gun owners ... bought their weapons legally but under the law should no longer have them because of subsequent mental health or criminal issues.... Policing these prohibitions is difficult, however, in most states.... California is unique in the country ... because of its computerized database.... It was created, in part, to enable law enforcement officials to handle the issue pre-emptively.... The list had 18,374 names on it as of the beginning of this month — 15 to 20 are added a day — swamping law enforcement’s ability to keep up. Some police departments admitted that they had not even tried."

Right Wing News

Maureen Dowd reviews Don Rumsfeld's memoir which is to hit the bookstores this week. Dowd liked it as much as Dana Milbank did. AND here's a more serious review by Michiko Kakutani. You won't want to rush out a buy a copy.

The Family Plot. Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "Ginni Thomas’ new career advising clients on how to donate money to political causes" appears to be a direct result of her husband Clarence's siding with the 5-4 majority in the Citizens United v. FEC case. "Clarence Thomas released countless amounts of corporate spending on U.S. elections, and Ginni Thomas can get rich advising those corporate clients on how to direct that spending."

David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network (Pat Robertson's outfit) interviews Sarah Palin: "In an exclusive interview with The Brody File, Sarah Palin criticized President Obama for his handling of the situation in Egypt saying that this was his, '3am White House phone call' and, 'that call went right to the answering machine.' Her answers about Egypt are the first time she’s talked publicly about the situation." Includes a partial transcript of the interview, which you know is authentic because it's in classic Palin-speak -- an incoherent, syntactically-challenged, non-specific criticism that in the end says nothing more than "Obama, Muslims bad." ...

... Jeremy Meyer of the Denver Post: "Saying it received an 'onslaught of personal attacks,' a Colorado nonprofit announced in a news release today that it was canceling a scheduled May appearance ... by former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin."

Happy Hundredth Birthday, Mr. President. Alex Seitz-Wald of Think Progress: "ten things conservatives don't want you to know about Ronald Reagan." Actually, the post should probably be titled "ten things conservatives don't know about Reagan," because most really seem to be completely ignorant of Reagan's careless policies and his unpopularity during his presidency.

Local News

Karen Garcia on the draconian, Tea Party-friendly measures of New York's"Democrat-in-Nane-Only" Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

News Ledes

Fox "News": "The United States can't force out Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but the Egyptian people will no longer allow unresponsive government without representation or free and fair elections, President Obama said in an interview Sunday with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly." See video above.

New York Times: "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned on Sunday that removing President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt too hastily could threaten the country’s transition to democracy. Her remarks were the Obama administration’s most explicit sign yet of its growing emphasis on averting instability in Egypt, even at the expense of the key demand from the Egyptian protest movement: Mr. Mubarak’s immediate removal."

... New York Times: "As the United States and leading European nations threw their weight behind the Egyptian vice president’s attempt to defuse a popular uprising, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood said it would meet with him for the first time on Sunday in what seemed a significant departure in the nation’s uprising and political history." The Times story has been updated to reflect the results of the meeting: "The opposition groups ... said that there were no new agreements or concessions." -- CW: which is to say that HuffPost banner headline "Protesters Win Major Concessions" just ain't true. ...

     ... AP Update: "Representatives from a wide range of Egypt's major opposition groups met Sunday with Vice President Omar Suleiman to discuss a blueprint for reforms.... The opposition groups represented included the youthful supporters of leading democracy advocate Mohamed ElBaradei, who are one of the main forces behind nearly two weeks of mass protests." ...

     ... ** AP Update 2: "Egypt's vice president met a broad representation of major opposition groups ... and agreed to allow freedom of the press, to release those detained since anti-government protests began nearly two weeks and ago and to lift the country's hated emergency laws when security permits. Vice President Omar Suleiman endorsed a plan with the opposition to set up a committee of judiciary and political figures to study proposed constitutional reforms.... The regime also pledged not to harass those participating in anti-government protests.... The government agreed not to hamper freedom of press and not to interfere with text messaging and Internet." ...

 ... The Guardian has the full text of the statement on today's meetings from Suleiman's office (English trans.) on their liveblog @ 3:46 pm GMT.

... Politico: "The White House is now openly pushing for replacing Egypt President Hosni Mubarak with a temporary caretaker government that includes the military and is applauding a decision by Mubarak’s son to step down as head of the country’s ruling party. But a senior administration official said those steps weren’t enough -- and suggested that Mubarak needs to take 'additional steps' to quell the chaos in the streets of Cairo, which is threatening to sink Egypt’s already foundering economy."

AP: "An Iranian court began closed-door proceedings Sunday in the espionage trial of three Americans — two still in custody and one freed on bail — whose detention has been the subject of impassioned family appeals and backdoor outreach by Washington through an Arab ally in the Gulf. The case also highlights the power of Iran's judiciary, which is controlled directly by the nation's ruling clerics and has rejected apparent efforts by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to urge for some leniency."

"The 40 Percent Nation"

David Brooks is at his 100 percent best, which is none too good, when he assesses Egypt's ability to master a democratic form of government.  He concludes, "It’s a 40 percent nation, mediocre in the world rankings, but not a basket case," but, "if led wisely, it has a reasonable shot at joining the normal, democratic world." He writes,

Many countries end up in a ‘gray zone,’ with semi-functioning governments and powerful oligarchies.... But the quality of the educational system is terrible.... The government’s economic reform effort illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of the governing institutions.... Socially, the country seems stymied. The biggest gap, by far, is political.

The Constant Weader comments:

Mr. Brooks, if you had not kept typing the word “Egypt” in between the sentences I cited, I would have thought you were writing about the U.S.

Egypt has the one thing a country seems to need to govern itself – a middle class. That’s how we got started, after all. We had a group of educated men and gentlemen farmers, and a whole lot of illiterate men and women, some of whom were slaves, and none of whom was allowed to vote or otherwise enjoy full participation in the government.

Please look at the history of our own democracy before you look down your nose at Egypt and label it a “40 percent nation.” And, speaking of fractions of the whole, even though Egyptians invented arithmetic, they don’t count anyone as three-fifths of a person. I’d say the odds are at least as good as ours were that Egyptians can develop a functioning democratic system. They won't want to use us as a model, though.

The Commentariat -- February 5

Job Opening. Dictator of Egypt. Annual Pay -- $2 Billion. Susanna Kim of ABC News: "Experts say the wealth of the Mubarak family was built largely from military contracts during his days as an air force officer. He eventually diversified his investments through his family when he became president in 1981. The family's net worth ranges from $40 billion to $70 billion, by some estimates." ...

... Wall Street Pit: "... gross national income is $2,070 per family in Egypt with about 20% of the population living below the poverty line." ...

... Meanwhile, in Iraq, Al-Maliki Gets the Message. Lara Jakes of the AP: "Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will not run for a third term in 2014, an adviser said Saturday, limiting himself in the name of democracy and with an eye on the popular anger directed at governments across the Middle East.... Al-Maliki adviser Ali al-Moussawi said the premier also wants to change the Iraqi constitution before he leaves to limit all future prime ministers to two terms.... Saturday's stunning announcement follows al-Maliki's decision a day earlier to return half of his annual salary to the government — a move he said aimed to narrow the wide gap between rich and poor Iraqis." ...

... Craig Whitlock & Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post: "... both President Hosni Mubarak and the people calling for his head are counting on the country's military leadership to secure Egypt's political future, even if neither is sure where its loyalties will end up. The 470,000-strong Egyptian military is far more than just a defense-related institution; like the Chinese military, it controls a wide array of factories, hotels and businesses, and its generals constitute a stratum of Egypt's elite." ...

Washington interlocutors should be prepared to meet an aged and change-resistant [Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein] Tantawi. He and Mubarak are focused on regime stability and maintaining the status quo through the end of their time. They simply do not have the energy, inclination or world view to do anything differently. -- then-Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone, from a 2008 WikiLeaked cable

... Mark Mazetti of the New York Times: "President Obama has criticized American spy agencies over their performance in predicting and analyzing the spreading unrest in the Middle East, according to current and former American officials. The president was specifically critical of intelligence agencies for misjudging how quickly the unrest in Tunisia would lead to the downfall of the country’s authoritarian government....' ...

... Liz Sly of the Washington Post: "Since the country's pro-democracy protests first erupted Jan. 25, [Al Jazeera's] phone lines have been cut, nine of its staffers have been detained at various times, its satellite signal has been repeatedly blocked and on Friday, al-Jazeera said..., a 'gang of thugs' stormed its bureau, smashing equipment and setting it ablaze. Yet throughout, al-Jazeera has remained on air, broadcasting live pictures of the masses gathered in Tahrir Square with pre-positioned cameras and airing phone interviews with analysts and correspondents across the country. And in what represents perhaps an ultimate act of defiance to the effort to shut the network down, demonstrators in the square have rigged up a giant screen so that even those protesting can follow al-Jazeera's supposedly banned coverage." ...

... Souad Mekhennet & Nicholas Kulish of the New York Times describe their 24-hour detention in Cairo: "Our detainment threw into haunting relief the abuses of security services, the police, the secret police and the intelligence service, and explained why they were at the forefront of complaints made by the protesters." ...

... Reeza Aslan in the Washington Post on the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egyptian politics: "For decades the United States has swallowed Mubarak's lie that ... even the slightest weakening of his oppressive, authoritarian regime would result in the immediate takeover by radical Islamists.... Now, the same lie is being peddled to Americans by people like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, two men whose views on the role of religion and politics are almost identical to those of the Muslim Brotherhood." ...

... CW: here's something startling I learned from Aslan's post: "Six-in-ten Americans (61%) say it is important that members of Congress have strong religious beliefs." -- Pew Research Center. I guess that makes me a thirty-niner.

Here's my Super Bowl coverage. Every bit of it. Ben McRath of the New Yorker on "Football and Concussions": "... trying to remove violence from football, as the N.F.L. now seems bent on doing, is like trying to remove the trees from a forest.... Credit for the public’s increased awareness of these issues must go to the Times, and to its reporter Alan Schwarz...."

Right Wing News

** History Lesson/Fact Check. Will Bunch in the Washington Post outlines "Five Myths about Ronald Reagan." Here's one: "Reagan was a tax-cutter.... While wealthy Americans benefitted from Reagan's tax policies, blue-collar Americans paid a higher percentage of their income in taxes when Reagan left office than when he came in."

Ginny Gets a Job. Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times: "The wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, who has raised her political profile in the last year through her outspoken conservative activism, is rebranding herself as a lobbyist and self-appointed 'ambassador to the Tea Party movement.' ... She promised to use her 'experience and connections' to help clients raise money and increase their political impact." Oh, yeah.

New York Times Editors: "Both [Justices Scalia & Thomas] seem to have trouble with the notion that our legal system was designed to set law apart from politics...."

Gail Collins, who is usually funny, is not funny today. Her column on House Republicans' "Siege of Planned Parenthood" is an exposé of sheer depravity.

Dana Milbank reviews former Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld's 815-page memoir: "... after four years of reflection, Rumsfeld remains dismissive of those less brilliant than he is -- which is pretty much everybody."

Ben Dimiero of Media Matters: Fox "News" Headline: "Obama Botches Bible Verse at Prayer Breakfast." Well, not exactly. He was reading from the NIV, the most commonly-accepted modern English translation of the Bible, but the biblical scholars at Fox apparently hadn't heard of any translation made after 1604.

House GOP: We're Cutting Your Benefits, Not Ours. Andrew Taylor of the AP: "A new GOP proposal would reduce domestic agencies' spending by 9 percent ... [and] could lead to layoffs of tens of thousands of federal employees, big cuts to heating and housing subsidies for the poor, reduced grants to schools and law enforcement agencies, and a major hit to the Internal Revenue Service's budget. Congress, on the other hand, would get nicked by only 2 percent, or $94 million."

Rick Scott, the Worst Governor in the U.S., will unveil his state budget proposal at a tea party event. Now that's one brilliant way to conduct state business. Via the St. Pete Times. ...

... AND defenestrated Rep. Mark Foley trolls for Young Republicans. Via CNN.

News Items

Washington Post: "Egyptian opposition parties opened negotiations Saturday with Vice President Omar Suleiman in an apparent concession after earlier insisting they would not agree to talks until Mubarak steps down. Suleiman met with representatives from several opposition parties, although it was not clear whether the largest -- the Muslim Brotherhood -- had participated." The WashPo story has been updated; the new lede: "The united front among Egyptian opposition parties fractured Saturday as several of them began negotiating with Vice President Omar Suleiman, despite earlier promises that they would not agree to talks until President Hosni Mubarak stepped down." Wall Street Journal story here. ...

... AP: "State TV says the top leadership body of Egypt's ruling party, including the president's son Gamal Mubarak and the party secretary-general Safwat el-Sharif, resigned Saturday in a new gesture apparently aimed at convincing anti-government protesters that the regime is serious about reform." ...

... New York Times: "The Obama administration on Saturday formally threw its weight behind a gradual transition in Egypt, backing attempts by the country’s vice president, Gen. Omar Suleiman, to broker a compromise with opposition groups and prepare for new elections in September.... Whether such a process is acceptable to the crowds on the streets of Cairo is far from clear: there is little evidence that Mr. Suleiman ... would be seen as an acceptable choice, even temporarily." ...

... ** New York Times: "President Hosni Mubarak appeared increasingly isolated on Saturday, with protests entering their 12th day and the Obama administration and some members of the Egyptian military and civilian elite pursuing plans to nudge him from power. The country’s newly named vice president, Omar Suleiman, and other top military leaders were discussing steps to limit Mr. Mubarak’s decision-making authority and possibly remove him from the presidential palace in Cairo — though not to strip him of his presidency immediately, Egyptian and American officials said. A transitional government headed by Mr. Suleiman would then negotiate with opposition figures to amend Egypt’s Constitution and begin a process of democratic changes." ...

... New York Times: "Reporters in Cairo faced a second day of violent intimidation and government detention on Friday even as dozens of foreign journalists and rights advocates were still being detained, suggesting that the effort to stifle the flow of news out of Egypt had slowed but not ended." ...

... Washington Post: "After an initially cautious response, European leaders are largely backing the increasingly tough line on Egypt taken by Washington, with Britain, France and Germany all reiterating President Obama's insistence that a transition happen 'now.'" ...

... Washington Post: "Egypt temporarily suspended its natural gas supply to Israel as a security precaution after an explosion at a terminal in the northern Sinai Peninsula, Israel radio said Saturday. The Egyptian regional governor told Nile News TV that he suspected 'sabotage' at the el-Arish gas terminal but did not elaborate, the Associated Press reported. The blast set off a fire that could be seen for dozens of miles." ...

     ... AFP Update: "Unknown saboteurs attacked an Egyptian pipeline supplying gas to Jordan, forcing authorities to switch off gas supply from a twin pipeline to Israel, an official told AFP. The attackers used explosives against the pipeline in the town of Lihfen in northern Sinai, near the Gaza Strip, the official said. It was initially thought the pipeline to Israel was attacked."

The Hill: "President George W. Bush has canceled an event in the famously neutral country Switzerland because of expected protests to his presence there. Bush was supposed to give the keynote address at a Jewish group's charity gala on Feb. 12 in Geneva. Leftist groups had planned to protest the visit.... But several human rights groups had also filed criminal complaints against Bush...."