The Commentariat -- April 11, 2014
Internal links, graphic removed.
Tom Hamburger & Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is stepping down, according to an Obama administration official, ending about a five-year-long run in her job. President Obama intends to nominate Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell as her replacement, the official said Thursday." The New York Times story, by Michael Shear, is here. ...
... Shear profiles Burwell here. ...
... Ben Jacobs of the Daily Beast: "Burwell's nomination signals a shift in the position of HHS Secretary in the Obama administration to more of a bureaucratic, managerial one. The current OMB head is a Robert Rubin protégée who is firmly ensconced in the economic policy establishment of the Democratic Party. After working in the Clinton administration, she worked in nonprofits, first for the Gates Foundation and then running the Walmart Foundation before being nominated to lead OMB in March 2013." ...
... Edward-Isaac Dovere & Carrie Brown of Politico: Senate Republicans are looking forward to attacking ObamaCare during Burrell's upcoming confirmation hearings. "The good news for the White House is that they'll be rid of a Cabinet secretary who was disappointing internally and externally, who managed to make the already extremely difficult job of revamping the nation's health care system much, much harder. The not-so-good news, White House aides know, is that the confirmation could open the administration to a new inquisition, records requests -- maybe even subpoenas. House Republicans, though they don't get a vote on confirmations, may try to get in on the action too." ...
... Jonathan Cohn: "Sebelius brought two main assets to her job. She had experience regulating insurers and, as a successful Democrat in Kansas, she knew how to work with Republicans. But what Obamacare needed more was a deft, aggressive manager. Case in point: By all accounts, Sebelius did not grasp the severity of tech problems at healthcare.gov until the day it went live and crashed.... The memories of Obamacare's difficult start will certainly linger. But to the millions of people around the country who now have access to affordable medical care, I'm not sure that really matters." ...
... Paul Krugman: "... Jonathan Gruber, one of the principal architects of health reform -- and normally a very mild-mannered guy — recently summed it up: The Medicaid-rejection states 'are willing to sacrifice billions of dollars of injections into their economy in order to punish poor people. It really is just almost awesome in its evilness.' Indeed. And while supposed Obamacare horror stories keep on turning out to be false, it's already quite easy to find examples of people who died because their states refused to expand Medicaid. According to one recent study, the death toll from Medicaid rejection is likely to run between 7,000 and 17,000 Americans each year.... There's an extraordinary ugliness of spirit abroad in today's America, which health reform has brought out into the open. And that revelation, not reform itself -- which is going pretty well -- is the real Obamacare nightmare."
Darius Tahir in the New Republic: "Even if transparency about physician billing may not cure the disease of rising health care costs, it can be part of the treatment."
Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Obama on Thursday paid tribute to the Civil Rights Act a half century after its passage transformed American society and ultimately paved the way for the day when the United States might have an African-American man serve in the Oval Office":
... Jim Kuhnhenn of the AP: "On Friday, [President] Obama was to address Al Sharpton's National Action Network conference in New York where, the White House says, the president will take issue with Republican measures in some states that make it more difficult for Americans to vote."
** Elizabeth Dias of Time interviews Jimmy Carter.
Nelson Schwartz of the New York Times: "The Treasury Department said on Thursday that the federal budget deficit for the first half of the 2014 fiscal year totaled $413 billion, down $187 billion from where it stood at this point last year, as tax revenue surged and spending sank." CW: Somewhere Pete Peterson is sobbing uncontrollably. Erskine Bowles & Alan Simpson have torn out their hair. See illustration.
Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Despite all the 'we already paid for it' rhetoric popular among seniors, seniors did not pre-pay for their entitlements. If anything, they paid for their parents' entitlements, which were more modest than the benefits today's retirees receive. So who's making up the difference between what seniors paid yesterday and what they receive today? Millennials..., as well as Gen-Xers and both groups' children. And absent a major influx of working-age immigrants, the burden per worker stands to grow enormously in the coming years." Rampell argues that these payments should be reduced because "Money for other worthy, traditionally liberal causes -- education, infrastructure, children, the deeply poor — is being gobbled up by increasingly expensive and unfunded promises to the old." ...
... CW: Rampell's analysis, while it may be accurate, misses the larger point: if the majority of Americans received adequate pay, their contributions to senior (and other) social safety net programs would be significantly larger. The problem isn't that seniors are, as that kindly old gentleman Alan Simpson put it, moochers sucking "a milk cow with 310 million tits." Rather, the problem is that average Americans don't earn enough to pay for their own retirement benefits. The aggreived Very Serious People are never very serious about what actually ails our economy.
Monica Potts of the American Prospect: "Added up over a year, the 23-cent pay-gap [between men & women's hourly wages] means women lose $11,000. They never make it up, and it just accumulates over their lives."
David Nir of Daily Kos: "Well, well, well. After a surprisingly quiet 15 months, Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine has decided to make a stink.... Now King is saying, much as he did throughout 2012 when he was running for the Senate, that he might caucus with the GOP come 2015.... Principled Angus King is not. But he also doesn't seem to understand how far to the left of the Republican Party he is.... King would be extremely out of place among the Republicans, and for that reason, he's probably full of bluster about this whole caucus switching nonsense."
Lucy McCalmont of Politico: Pretend Democrat "Sen. Joe Manchin on Thursday strongly defended the Koch brothers from attacks by fellow Democrats, saying the wealthy and politically active businessmen are taxpaying Americans who are creating jobs." CW: I keep getting Manchin mixed up with Texas genius Rick Perry.
Tim Alberta of the National Journal: "Several dozen frustrated House conservatives are scheming to infiltrate the GOP leadership next year -- possibly by forcing Speaker John Boehner to step aside immediately after November's midterm elections.... Boehner isn't the only target. The conservatives find fault with the entire leadership team.... [Majority Leader Eric] Cantor, next in line for speaker and once considered a shoo-in to succeed Boehner, has found himself in conservatives' crosshairs in recent weeks."
Ken Ritter of the AP: "Hillary Clinton ducked a thrown shoe, expressed surprise, cracked a couple of jokes that drew applause and continued her keynote speech on stage in front of a Las Vegas convention audience. Moments later, still in the stage spotlight, the former secretary of state reflected calmly on what she called 'an atmosphere and attitude in politics' that she said rewards inflexibility and extremism.... Meanwhile, a woman was taken into federal custody after admitting she threw the shoe. She didn't say why she did it."
... CW: Here's the part of Ritter's story that gets me: "Brian Spellacy, U.S. Secret Service supervisory special agent in Las Vegas..., and Mark Carpenter, spokesman for the recycling institute, said the woman wasn't a credentialed convention member and wasn't supposed to have been in the ballroom."As a former first lady, Hillary Clinton is entitled to Secret Service protection. So how the hell does the Secret Service allow a non-credential convention member into the room? The number of fuckups we've seen from the Secret Service really concerns me. ...
... Frank Rich on Clinton sex scandals. Rich claims, credibly, that they'll help Hillary. The serious sleeze is the Clinton fundraising machine.
When it comes to American women over all, what we've seen over the past five and a half years is less income and more poverty. That's the story Senate Democrats don't want to talk about. -- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
What does McConnell think the [Paycheck Fairness A]ct was for, if not to improve the economic lives of women? -- Monica Potts
Apparently Republicans no longer feel any need whatsoever to make sense. -- Constant Weader
... Politics Is Evah So Distasteful. Ruth Marcus of the Washington Post is very upset that Democrats are "demagoguing" Republicans' blocking of the Paycheck Fairness Act. She's all for the act, she says & for equal pay & all, but she doesn't think Democrats should use it as a political tool. Right.
Tim Egan: The Heartland is dying. There are ways to fix it but little political will to do so.
Building on a Northwestern study (the overview linked here yesterday), Jamelle Bouie observes that the U.S. could become Mississippi. "The racial polarization of the 2012 election -- where the large majority of whites voted for Republicans, while the overwhelming majority of minorities voted for Democrats -- could continue for decades.... To accomplish anything -- to the meet the challenges of our present and future -- we'll need a measure of civic solidarity, a common belief that we're all Americans, with legitimate claims on the bounty of the country."
** Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) & Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) in a Washington Post op-ed: "The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence voted 11 to 3 last Thursday to declassify and make public the executive summary and the findings and conclusions of its report on the CIA's detention and interrogation program. Those documents have been sent to the president for declassification.... We have confidence that [the public] will conclude, as we have, that this program was a mistake that must never be repeated."
Adam Goldman & Julie Tate of the Washington Post: "The FBI's transformation from a crime-fighting agency to a counterterrorism organization in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has been well documented. Less widely known has been the bureau's role in secret operations against al-Qaeda and its affiliates in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other locations around the world. With the war in Afghanistan ending, FBI officials have become more willing to discuss a little-known alliance between the bureau and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) that allowed agents to participate in hundreds of raids in Iraq and Afghanistan."
... Brett Grubb of the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald: "The German software developer who introduced a security flaw into an encryption protocol used by millions of websites globally says he did not insert it deliberately as some have suggested. In what appears to be his first comments to the media since the bug was uncovered, Robin Seggelmann said how the bug made its way into live code could 'be explained pretty easily'." ...
... Nicole Perlroth & Quentin Hardy of the New York Times: "When the Heartbleed bug was disclosed on Monday, the attention focused on the fallout for major Internet companies.... But security experts said the potential for harm could extend much further, to the guts of the Internet and the many devices that connect to it. By Thursday, some of the companies that make those devices began revealing whether they had been affected." ...
... Contributor MAG recommends KrebsonSecurity to keep up-to-date with the Heartbleed bug. Krebs' latest post, as of 7 am ET today, "Heartbleed Bug: What can you do?"
Senate Race
Katharine Seelye of the New York Times: "... On Thursday night, after a yearlong buildup made even longer by a few minutes of amiable chitchat, in which he noted that both of his daughters are getting married this summer, [Scott] Brown, once a Republican senator from Massachusetts, formally declared his candidacy for his old job, just from a different state. 'Starting today, I am a candidate for the United States Senate for the state of New Hampshire,' he told a crowd of 200 people at a hotel ballroom [in Portsmouth, New Hampshire]."
Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Brown will embark Friday on what his campaign has dubbed the 'Obamacare Isn't Working' tour a day after he officially launched his campaign with an address emphasizing his opposition to the law and Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's support for it." ...
... CW: BUT What About This? Judge Jonathan Baird in the Concord Monitor (April 6): "The passage of legislation expanding Medicaid coverage to low-income citizens in New Hampshire is a historic accomplishment. Gov. Maggie Hassan signed the bill on March 27, and the program becomes available for most people on July 1. Medicaid expansion will cover 50,000 poor residents who previously had no health insurance coverage.... Since the New Hampshire Senate is controlled by Republicans, getting the majority in the Senate to support the Medicaid expansion was no easy task.... The Medicaid expansion will inject hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds into New Hampshire's economy. It will allow low wage workers to spend money on other critical needs like housing, food and utilities. This should be a direct benefit for local businesses."
News Ledes
Washington Post: " The Obama administration said Friday that it would block Iran's nominee as ambassador to the United Nations from entering the United States, setting up a new confrontation with Tehran just as relations with the Islamic republic appeared to be improving."
Guardian: "Australia is confident that search teams have located the missing Malaysian plane's black box to 'within some kilometres', the prime minister, Tony Abbott, said on Friday. But the head of the Australian team co-ordinating efforts to find MH370 stressed that there had been 'no major breakthrough' in a statement released minutes later."
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Reader Comments (12)
A few solid statistics to go along with the "Americanization" of future Americans. If these ideas are correct, and I think they are, then the old GOP teabaggers might reconsider building themselves their Citadel fortress (haha remember that!) and retreat from civilization into the woods. That way they can keep their race white and interbreed until babies start coming out with three arms or a cyclops third eye. Yeah pretty much like a Total Recall underground. But they'd all be white so that's cool! And imagine, three boobs! Now that's a superior race.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/87359/national-geographic-concludes-what-americans-will-look-like-in-2050-and-it-s-beautiful?utm_source=policymicFB&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social
Happy Friday
Judging by the Georgia Legislature, Republicans are becoming more violent (Guns Everywhere) and meaner (Fuck The Poor). Chris Matthews posed the question "Are They Trying to Destroy the Government?." Sadly even if they aren't trying to, the results are the same.
The blond who threw a shoe at Hillary Clinton should have her own show on Fox by next week.
Any comparisons to the incident in Baghdad during which an Iraqi reporter threw a shoe at President Bush should be stifled. First, Bush expressed complete incredulity that anyone would do that to him, the guy personally responsible for destroying half the country, whose lies to start an unnecessary war killed, maimed, or displaced hundreds of thousands. He had no clue why anyone could be upset with him. Security forces dragged the man, Muntadhar al-Zaidi (who had already been abducted and beaten then arrested twice more by US forces) out of the room and began beating him bloody. As his screams were heard back in the room, The Decider quipped "That's what people do in a free society. Draw attention to themselves."
Is it possible that we have ever had a more sociopathic reptile in the White House?
As for Hillary, she displayed admirable equanimity rare in politics these days. The fact that the woman also threw papers up in the air related to some classified Bolivian Army operation in 1967 is just weird. Maybe she thinks Benghazi is in Bolivia. Or maybe she thought a 20 year old Hillary Clinton was running a covert operation in South America as a class project while a student at Wellesley College.
Fox must have replayed the shoe toss several hundred times by now because of its national significance, of course.
So racist beefcake boy Scott Brown is doing an "Obamacare Sucks" tour, eh?
He'd have been the guy in the fifties doing the "Polio Vaccine Doesn't Work" tour. The "Penicillin is Bad for You" tour in the forties, the "Social Security Is Crazy" tour in the thirties, and the "World is NOT Round" tour in the 15th century.
Republicans. They're not only on the wrong side of history. They're on the wrong side of the present.
Bqhatevwr
From the They All Flew Into the Cuckoo's Nest Department.
John Boehner is being targeted by the bagger-bots. But so also is Eric Cantor? So who will be loonies' next speaker? The person to lead them to the promised land of no taxes, microscopic government, zero tolerance for immigrants, no healthcare for the poor, privatized social security, and a standing army of three million? Can't be Paul Ryan. He's tainted by his connection to loser RINO Mittens. Issa is too busy examining things that drop out of his ass. Who does that leave?
Wait....can you hear it? The chanting?
Listen......
"Loo-eee, Loo-eee-Loo-eee..."
@AK,
Perhaps you are hearing the chorus (courtesy of The Kingsmen):
Louie Louie, oh no
Me gotta go
Aye-yi-yi-yi, I said
Louie Louie, oh baby
Me gotta go
source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/
Oh, no! Akhilleus...you can't be hearing Loo-eee, Lou-eee! That's so insane. This could spoil the 50's golden oldie, Louie, Louie for me!
By the way, Charlie Pierce has a very compassionate & fair commentary on the departure for the much-maligned Kathleen Sebelius, who managed grace under Congressional fire. As Pierce points out she assumed responsibility and didn't cast blame. http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/Kathleen_Sebelius_Says_Goodbye
@CW the Frank Rich article on Hillary is a great read, thanks for the alert.
MAG and Nisky Guy,
Don't worry. There isn't a single member of the wingnut House who has any rhythm anyway (see the post about conservative rock and roll from last week). My first rock band (sixth-seventh grade) played this song and I'm pretty sure we'd have wiped the floor with those 'bagger schmoes.
And even if they were going to try to mimic the Kingsmen, I'm hoping that subconsciously they would reflect remorsefully on their endemic mendacity and the lyrics would come out "Louie Lou Lies, Oh baby, He gotta go...."
Ehhh....wishful thinking, right?
Oh woe is me! We live less than 15 miles from the NH border, and thus have been and will be assaulted by pretty boy Brown attack ads against Shaheen. Better make sure the mute button is in working order, otherwise may have to give up Jeopardy for the year.
It's pretty clear that the MSM won't give up Both Sides Do It anytime soon, but now they're veering dangerously into Democrats Are to Blame Even if Republicans Did It.
The other day an NPR story on the ongoing pile of steaming crap-ola that is the Republican jihad against the IRS for doing its job, reiterated several times, without qualification or clarification that the GOP dickheads were concerned because the IRS had targeted right-wing groups. It's one thing to report that this is happening, but to do it as if it were true, without ever once saying that the claim has long been discredited and that the IRS also looked at left leaning groups as well, and stating clearly that neither the Tea Party nor Crossroads were being put in the crosshairs for partisan gain, is unconscionable.
But not to be left behind, NBC, in the wake of the changeover at HHS, touts Sylvia Burwell as the woman who shut down the government. I shit you not. In the story there is not a single mention of the asshole who actually DID shut down the government, Ted Cruz. Nor is there any mention of the Tea Party plan to shut down the government and the GOP support for such a plan. Not one.
Sylvia Burwell shut down the government.
The rest of the article is background on Burwell, which does mention that she frequently butts heads with Republicans.
So the takeaway is that the president just appointed the Woman Who Ordered the Government Shutdown, who also has difficulty working with the GOP, to one of the more important cabinet positions.
So it's not Both Sides Do It anymore. It's Democrats Do It and Poor Republicans are Victimized Again!
This is beyond the fucking pale, people.
A headline only Republicans and Chuck Todd could admire.
Julie,
At least you won't have to worry about Racist Beefcake Boy actually appearing on Jeopardy. He wasn't even smart enough to make sure that his deputy chief of staff, chief counsel and party supporters didn't show up at an Elizabeth Warren rally doing racist tomahawk chop moves and giving with war whoops like bloodthirsty Indians from a fantasy 50's cowboy show.
Here's hoping Jean Shaheen teaches him some new moves, like the Riding Out of the State on a Rail move.
Conservative gun freaks... ya gotta love'em.
http://www.salon.com/2014/04/11/anti_choice_lawmakers_in_south_carolina_want_to_arm_pregnant_women_to_protect_the_unborn/