The Commentariat -- April 23, 2015
Internal links removed.
Afternoon News:
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "Loretta E. Lynch's long wait to become U.S. attorney general ended Thursday, with the Senate voting to confirm the veteran New York prosecutor's nomination five months after President Obama submitted it to Congress. Ten Republicans joined the Senate's 44 Democrats and two independents in supporting Lynch's confirmation, a margin slightly wider than expected ahead of the vote.... Twenty Republicans supported a procedural move earlier Thursday to close debate and proceed to Lynch's confirmation. But only half of them voted to confirm her in the final vote: Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) Thad Cochran (Miss.), Susan Collins (Maine), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Orrin G. Hatch (Utah), Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Rob Portman (Ohio). [Leader Mitch] McConnell joined them after expressing reservations in the weeks leading up to the vote." ...
... The New York Times story, by Jennifer Steinhauer, is here.
Adam Goldman of the Washington Post: "David H. Petraeus ... pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified materials he provided to his former mistress and biographer. Petraeus will be spared prison time but will face a two-year probationary period and a $100,000 fine.... The deal angered FBI agents who worked on the two-year investigation and who thought Petraeus should have been treated more harshly because of the information in the notebooks and what they considered his lack of candor while running the CIA. When FBI agents confronted him in his CIA office in October 2012, Petraeus said he had never provided classified information to [his lover Paula] Broadwell, prosecutors said. Making a false statement to a federal law enforcement agent during an investigation is a felony, a crime punishable by up to five years in prison." ...
... The New York Times story, by Michael Schmidt & Matt Apuzzo, is here. "The sentencing was the end of a leak investigation that embarrassed Mr. Petraeus and created bitter disputes inside the Justice Department about whether he was receiving too much leniency from Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.... Giving special treatment to Mr. Petraeus was a double standard, some argued, particularly when the Justice Department has led an unprecedented crackdown on leaks and prosecuted several low- and midlevel officials for disclosing secrets to reporters." ...
... CW: Pardon my conspiratorial musings, but I wonder if the delay in Lynch's confirmation had something to do with Holder's decision to go easy on the GOP's favorite general. Maybe they feared Lynch would throw the book at loverboy.
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Representative Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House committee investigating the 2012 Benghazi attacks, is pushing ahead with plans to make Hillary Rodham Clinton testify further about the attacks and her use of a private email account as secretary of state."
*****
Peter Baker & Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Obama on Thursday offered an emotional apology for the accidental killing of two hostages held by Al Qaeda, one of them American, in a United States government counterterrorism operation in January, saying he takes 'full responsibility' for their deaths.... Mr. Obama said he had ordered the incident declassified because the families of Mr. Weinstein and Mr. Lo Porto 'deserve to know the truth":
Nahal Toosi of Politico: "U.S. counterterrorism operations aimed at Al Qaeda mistakenly killed an American and an Italian hostage earlier this year along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, while also killing two prominent American members of the terrorist network, the White House announced Thursday. In a statement, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that an operation aimed at an Al Qaeda-associated compound in January killed Warren Weinstein, an American held by Al Qaeda since 2011, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian national held by the group since 2012." ...
... David Taintor of NBC News: "An American held by al-Qaida for four years, and two other U.S. citizens who fought for the terror group, were killed in U.S. strikes in January along the Afghan-Pakistan border, the U.S. government acknowledged for the first time Thursday. An Italian citizen held hostage since 2012 was also killed in one of the strikes on an al-Qaida compound, likely by a drone."
Jenny Staletovich & Patricia Mazzei of the Miami Herald: "President Barack Obama on Wednesday paid his first visit to the Everglades, delivering an Earth Day speech linking the threat rising seas pose to the imperiled River of Grass and South Florida's drinking water to wider climate change risks across the nation. His choice of a venue, Everglades National Park, also was clearly calculated to make political points. Voters will elect Obama's successor in 18 months, and the Republican field so far is teeming with would-be candidates, including two from Florida, who question whether climate change is man-made, despite significant scientific scholarship concluding that it is largely a result of carbon emissions." Here's a clip:
The President's full speech:
Jack Ewing of the New York Times: "Deutsche Bank will pay a $2.5 billion penalty to United States and British authorities to settle accusations that it helped manipulate the benchmarks used to set interest rates on trillions of dollars in mortgages, student loans, credit cards and other debt, American and British officials said on Thursday. The penalty is by far the largest in a yearslong investigation into whether large banks conspired to set the price of debt in ways that would be profitable for them. Until Thursday, the largest fine was the $1.5 billion the Swiss bank UBS agreed to pay in 2012. The fixing of interest rates by Deutsche Bank employees in London and Frankfurt from 2005 to 2009 was deliberate and the employees were aware that it was wrong, Benjamin M. Lawsky, the New York State superintendent of financial services, said in a statement on Thursday."
Yesterday, contributor P. D. Pepe linked this "fact sheet" by Sen. Bernie Sanders on "why the TPP must be defeated." I've put "fact sheet" in scare-quotes because Sanders doesn't back up his assertions with footnotes or other data. Like Pepe & others, I remain confused about the deal. I am aware that NAFTA was a disaster for American workers & a boon for certain corporations, & Sanders makes the TPP sound way worse even as he notes he doesn't really know what's in it because the insider parties to the deal are not revealing the details. But if this is so, as Victoria D. (I think it was) asked the other day, why is President Obama pushing it? ...
... Zach Carter of the Huffington Post: "The rift between President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats over trade policy deepened Wednesday as the administration opposed an effort to fully restore aid for American workers who lose their jobs to international trade.The conflict threatens to undermine Obama's repeated claim that he is revamping trade policy to fix problems Democrats have cited in prior trade pacts."
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Jonathan Chait: Ed Rogers, a Beltway GOP hack in good standing, writes in the WashPo about climate change without bothering to find out anything about efforts to abate it. "At some level Rogers is probably embarrassed by outright climate-science denial, but he wants to land on the conclusion that the Republican do-nothing stance is correct, and he also doesn't want to bother paying attention to anything that's happening with the issue."
Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "The Senate passed legislation on Wednesday aimed at combating sex trafficking, ending a delay that stretched more than six weeks amid partisan sparring about abortion restrictions embedded in the bill. In the end, the practical effect of the bill approved on a 99-to-0 afternoon vote was not discernibly different than the bill that came to the Senate floor in early March. But amendments adopted Wednesday under a bipartisan compromise allowed Democrats to claim that they had blocked a subtle expansion of long-term federal abortion restrictions.... With the anti-trafficking bill's passage, [Attorney General Nominee Loretta] Lynch is expected to win Senate approval Thursday afternoon."
WTF? Dave Philipps of the New York Times: "The nationwide scandal last spring over manipulated wait times at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals led to the ouster of the secretary of veterans affairs and vows from the new leadership that people would be held accountable. Then in February, the new secretary, Robert A. McDonald, asserted in a nationally televised interview that the department had fired 60 people involved in manipulating wait times.... In fact, the department quickly clarified after that interview, only 14 people had been removed from their jobs, while about 60 others had received lesser punishments. Now, new internal documents show that the real number of people removed from their jobs is much smaller still: at most, three." Three. Three. Emphasis added.
Missy Ryan & Adam Goldman of the Washington Post: "The Pentagon plans to move up to 10 detainees out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, possibly in June, as officials scramble to reduce the prison's population before Congress attempts to stop future transfers and derail President Obama's plan to shutter the U.S. military facility." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post, who just won a Pulitzer for her reporting on Secret Service lapses, is still on the case: "The Secret Service took more than a year to replace a broken alarm system at former president George H.W. Bush's home, raising concerns within the agency about the safety of the Houston residence and the Bush family, according to a government report scheduled to be released Thursday."
Jennifer Steinhauer & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Responding to a series of computer security breaches, the House is expected on Wednesday to pass a bill, years in the making, that would push private companies to share access to their computer networks and records with federal investigators.... The cybersecurity bill, similar to a measure approved overwhelmingly by the Senate Intelligence Committee, would be Congress's most aggressive response yet to a burst of computer attacks...." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
In a New York Times op-ed, Newt Gingrich, of all people, makes sense, arguing that today's Congress, as did Congress back in Newt's day, should double the National Institute of Health's budget: "As a conservative myself, I'm often skeptical of government 'investments.'" But when it comes to breakthroughs that could cure -- not just treat -- the most expensive diseases, government is unique. It alone can bring the necessary resources to bear. (The federal government funds roughly a third of all medical research in the United States.) And it is ultimately on the hook for the costs of illness. It's irresponsible and shortsighted, not prudent, to let financing for basic research dwindle.
Thomas Edsall, in an antidote to Brian Beutler's claim that seniors' attitudes about the Affordable Care Act shouldn't matter (linked in the April 21 Commentariat), explains why seniors oppose ObamaCare & other social welfare programs: they're concerned the federal government will shift spending from Medicare & Social Security to programs for younger Americans/ "The Kaiser Family Foundation has data (see chart 2) that shows how even with Medicare, out-of-pocket health costs are larger for over-65 households -- both in dollar terms and as a percentage of income -- than for younger households: In other words, the data suggest that the elderly are right to be worried."
Bertrand Olotara in a Guardian op-ed: "Every day, I serve food to some of the most powerful people on earth, including many of the senators who are running for president: I'm a cook for the federal contractor that runs the US Senate cafeteria. But today... I'm on strike ... because I want the presidential hopefuls to know that I live in poverty.... I'm a single father and I only make $12 an hour; I had to take a second job at a grocery store to make ends meet. But even though I work seven days a week -- putting in 70 hours between my two jobs -- I can't manage to pay the rent, buy school supplies for my kids or even put food on the table. I hate to admit it, but I have to use food stamps.... My co-workers and I ... want the current president -- and those running to succeed him -- to make sure that federal contracts are preferentially awarded to good American companies that pay workers a living wage, offer decent benefits like paid leave and allow us to collectively bargain so that we don't need to strike to have our voices heard." ...
... CW: Unfortunately, Olotara's right to be paid a living wage conflicts with the policies & plans of these guys ...
... Koch America. Ken Vogel of Politico: "The Koch brothers' political machine is expanding into new states and recruiting new donors as it seeks to shape the Republican Party -- and its presidential field -- headed into 2016, according to interviews with multiple sources, as well as confidential donor briefing documents obtained by Politico. The documents detail plans to beef up the network's state-of-the-art data system, and pay hundreds of staff embedded in local communities across the country in preparation for get-out-the-vote efforts that are unprecedented from a third-party group." ...
... Joan McCarter of Daily Kos: "That they're moving into deep red states just demonstrates that they're ready to complete their acquisition of the Republican party. It's not enough to have allies among the GOP -- the GOP must be assimilated wholly into the Kochs' machine."
Ed Kilgore is still having fun. See George Packer's complaint, linked in yesterday's Commentariat. CW: As for me, I find the Clown Car continually amusing. See Randy's Ray-Bans, below. Or Carly Fiorina for POTUS, for pete's sake. ...
... Brad DeLong: "Does George Packer really think the purpose of American politics is to thrill him?"
Dana Milbank: "Michigan Republican Tim Walberg was a Christian minister before winning election to Congress in 2010 -- and he hasn't entirely changed jobs. In a rare Tuesday-night committee meeting at which House Republicans advanced a bill curtailing reproductive rights, Walberg took the even rarer step of lecturing his colleagues on Scripture.... Claiming Jesus in a political dispute is inflammatory, particularly when you accuse your opponents, as Walberg did, of 'a continued attack on religion.' The appeal to theocracy Tuesday night was even more incendiary because it was used to justify a bid to strike down a new District of Columbia law protecting women from workplace discrimination if they receive fertility treatments, use birth control or have abortions." ...
... CW: Walberg is one ignorant minister. The Scripture he cites -- "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and God what is God's" -- has zip to do with women or reproductive rights. It is, ironically enough, the gospel writers' argument for the separation of church & state, precisely the opposite of what Walberg was doing.
Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "In the summer of 2010, Richard C. Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, began recording a secret audio diary, detailing his frustrations with a White House that he believed was too willing to listen to the military and too often mistook domestic political calculations for strategic thinking.... The notes are featured in 'The Diplomat,' a documentary about Mr. Holbrooke that will have its premiere on Thursday at the Tribeca Film Festival and will be shown on HBO in the fall.... The notes lay bare Mr. Holbrooke's doubts that President Obama's decision to send tens of thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan would lead to an end of the war."
Sarah Bailey of the Washington Post: "Pope Francis, who has taken a public role in U.S.-Cuba relations, will visit Cuba on the way to the United States this fall, the Vatican announced Wednesday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Presidential Race
Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times: "... this year, we're reaching new lows: The Republican race has devolved into a battle among headstrong billionaires, each with a pet candidate. David Koch, whose family made its money in coal, has Walker.... Norman Braman, who owns 23 car dealerships, has Marco Rubio. Robert Mercer, a New York hedge fund manager, has Ted Cruz. Foster Friess, an investment manager, has Rick Santorum. (Yes, Santorum is still in the running -- thanks in large part to the generosity of Friess.) The biggest mega-donor of them all, Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, is still playing hard to get." P.S. Thanks, Supremes! (CW: for an update, see Alex Isenstadt's report below.) ...
... See also Ken Vogel's piece on Koch America, linked above, & related links, AND Digby's & Steve M.'s posts, linked below.
Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Bill Clinton was paid at least $26 million in speaking fees by companies and organizations that are also major donors to the foundation he created after leaving the White House, according to a Washington Post analysis of public records and foundation data. The amount, about one-quarter of Clinton's overall speaking income between 2001 and 2013, demonstrates how closely intertwined Bill and Hillary Clinton's charitable work has become with their growing personal wealth." CW: Looks the WashPo has just published its first Breitbart News Special, although Helderman claims, "This article is based on reporting and documents collected independently from [Breitbart contributor Peter] Schweizer's book." ...
... Wait, Wait, There's More. Jo Becker & Mike McIntire of the New York Times catch up to Helderman: "As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One[, a mining & production company,] in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation.... Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for national security, the deal [to sell off to Russians what was a Canadian company d/b/a the U.S.] had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of United States government agencies. Among the agencies that eventually signed off was the State Department, then headed by Mr. Clinton's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton." ...
... CW: Becker & McIntire acknowledge, "Some of the connections between Uranium One and the Clinton Foundation were unearthed by Peter Schweizer...." Let's face it. Bill Clinton always has been a sleazy character, & his wife has always enabled or aided him. (I have reluctantly done so myself, twice, & I'll probably be forced to abet him again.) The particulars may be news, but the dynamics are not. The arrangement has served them well. Every GOP presidential candidate is just as sleazy as Bill; the difference is that they have been -- so far -- less successful than Bill (although in fairness, I have to admit their product line is a much tougher sell than his). ...
... Jonathan Allen of Reuters: "Hillary Clinton's family's charities are refiling at least five annual tax returns after a Reuters review found errors in how they reported donations from governments, and said they may audit other Clinton Foundation returns in case of other errors.... The charities' errors generally take the form of under-reporting or over-reporting, by millions of dollars, donations from foreign governments, or in other instances omitting to break out government donations...." ...
... Margaret Hartmann: "...so far, there's no smoking gun.... If the early reports are any indication, untangling the former (and possibly future) first couple's professional and charity work is going to be an arduous task for journalists, and the findings may test the limits of America's interest in Clinton scandals." ...
... Anne Gearan of the Washington Post: "Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign on Wednesday accused congressional Republicans of politicizing the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, by dragging out an investigation until the waning months of the 2016 election. The House Select Committee on Benghazi said its investigation would not be completed this year, as earlier planned.... The committee cited factors 'beyond the committee's control,' including what a spokesman characterized as delays and foot-dragging by the Obama administration, for being unable to complete its work until sometime in 2016." ...
... Joshua Green of Bloomberg defends Clinton Cash writer Peter Schweizer: "... he wrote a well-regarded book about the Bush dynasty and another, detailing insider trading in Congress, that led to a new law, the bipartisan STOCK Act of 2012.... Schweizer is working on a similar investigation of Jeb Bush's finances that he expects to publish this summer." ...
... CW: Sorry, Josh. A Breitbart/Hoover fellow "and the author of a hagiographic book about Ronald Reagan" who trashes Bushes & Clintons does not necessarily show bipartisan creds in the trashing.
Tim Alberta & Tiffany Stanley of the National Journal: Jeb Bush may not seem like the candidate of the Christian right now, but ".... powerful Christian conservatives are operating what amounts to a stealth campaign on Bush's behalf."
Nick Gass of Politico: "Marco Rubio runs best against Hillary Clinton among all Republican 2016 contenders, according to a new Quinnipiac University national poll released Thursday. Clinton has a clear lead over all potential Republican opponents in prospective match-ups, with the exception of Rubio, whom she leads by just 45 percent to 43 percent -- within the margin of error." ...
... Marco Takes Lead in Adelson Primary. Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Before Iowa and New Hampshire, GOP candidates are competing in the Sheldon Adelson primary, and some will travel to his posh Venetian hotel in Las Vegas this in hopes of winning it. But one candidate -- Marco Rubio -- has emerged as the clear front-runner, according to nearly a half-dozen sources close to the multibillionaire casino mogul."
Digby, writing in Salon, posits that David Koch's sudden denial of his apparent endorsement of Scott Walker was the result of Walker's little chat with Glenn Beck, during which Walker suggested he was against even legal immigration "to protect American workers & American wages." "It's hard not to fall down laughing (or lose your lunch) over the most notorious union buster in America waxing on about protecting American jobs, but he's the last person to understand the irony of his comments." CW: Remember, too that Scottie seemed to think $7.25/hour-- or less -- was plenty to live on. ...
... Steve M., however, notes that another anti-immigration hardliner -- now-Texas Gov. Greg Abbott -- "earned" Koch money & speculates that Walker is counting on Koch support by serving their interests in other ways.
Randy Ray-Banned. Molly Hooper & Alexandra Oliveira of the Hill: "Ray-Ban has asked Sen. Rand Paul's presidential campaign to quit selling the brand’s Wayfarer sunglasses, which Paul had imprinted with the 'Rand' logo. The Rand-Ban sunglasses were for sale for $150 on Paul's website as recently as Tuesday. The website described the product as 'the intersection of politics and cool.' But the campaign didn't have Ray-Ban's consent, and the company didn't think that was cool." The campaign removed the purloined product from its site. Without comment. Thanks to Akhilleus for the lead. See also his comment in yesterday's thread. ...
... AP: "A son of Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul has been cited for driving under the influence of alcohol in Kentucky. Police in Lexington say William H. Paul was driving a 2006 Honda Ridgeline at 11:24 a.m. on Sunday when he crashed into the back of an unoccupied parked car. Some people nearby heard the crash and alerted authorities.... A campaign spokesman said Sen. Rand Paul does not comment on any private matters in regards to his family." CW: Sorry, Randy, this is a public offense, not a "private matter." And, no, your son's bad acts do not speak to your qualifications -- or lack thereof -- for high public office.
This is hilarious. Li'l Randy & his good buddy Tailgunner Ted (whom Paul Waldman suggests would fight to the death if Sheldon Adelson told them to) write a joint op-ed in the Wall Street Journal urging passage of a fast-tracking bill they claim would "put Congress in charge" of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, when in fact, as Steve Benen points out, fast-tracking would put the President in charge....
... Benen: "When Obama launches a military offensive against ISIS, congressional Republicans effectively tell the president, '... You wage war; we'll wait over here.' But when Obama negotiates an international nuclear agreement with Iran, Republicans switch gears, effectively telling the president, 'Congressional oversight is everything, and we demand multiple opportunism to derail a diplomatic solution.' And when Obama works on the TPP, suddenly Republicans switch back, this time effectively telling the president, 'Forget about that oversight stuff. Let us know when the deal's done so we can rubber-stamp it.'" ...
... CW: Being a Republican means never having to be truthful, consistent or embrace a coherent political philosophy. ...
... John McCain & Lindsey Graham coordinate their counterattack on Rand Paul, who called the two "lapdogs" for President Obama's foreign policy. The McCain-Graham line: Paul is the "worst possible candidate." McCain elaborated: "worse than Cruz." Note to Randy: Do not go out of your way to piss on lapdogs pitbulls.
Daniel Strauss of TPM: "Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina will launch her campaign for president on May 4, according to The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday."
CW: If you'd like to know why Bobby Jindal is "protecting" the faithful from the gays, go to the NYT front or opinion page & click on his op-ed. I could not be bothered.
Beyond the Beltway
Emma Fitzsimmons of the New York Times: "A federal judge in Manhattan on Tuesday ordered the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to display an ad from a pro-Israel group on buses after the agency declined to run it last year.... The ad shows a man with a scarf across his face next to the words, 'Killing Jews is Worship that draws us close to Allah,' attributed to 'Hamas MTV.' Below that, it reads: 'That's his Jihad. What's yours?' The judge, John G. Koeltl, of United States District Court, ruled that the ad qualified as protected speech and granted a preliminary injunction ordering the transportation authority to run the ad. He said the order would not take effect for 30 days so the agency could consider whether it would appeal the decision."
Oliver Laughland & Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "The Baltimore police supervisor suspended over the death of Freddie Gray was accused of threatening to kill a man as part of an alleged 'pattern of intimidation and violence' that led to a temporary restraining order.... [Lt. Brian] Rice, 41, was one of six officers suspended pending a criminal inquiry into the death of Gray, who died after his neck was '80% severed' by the breaking of three vertebrae, according to his family's attorney, who said Gray's voice box was almost crushed." ...
... Swaine & Laughland: "The Baltimore police officer who led the initial chase of Freddie Gray, the young man who died after being arrested and suffering a broken neck, has twice been accused of domestic violence and was temporarily ordered by a court to stay away from a second person. Lieutenant Brian Rice faced actions in Maryland's civil courts over alleged domestic violence in 2008 and 2013, according to public filings. In both cases, requests for protective orders were denied by the judge." ...
... Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "What happened to ... Freddie Gray, 25, when he was arrested by Baltimore police officers has been a mystery since his death on Sunday, a week after his arrest."
Jon Swaine: "The family of Michael Brown, the unarmed black 18-year-old whose fatal shooting by police led to months of unrest last year, are suing the city of Ferguson, Missouri, their lawyers said on Wednesday evening."
Scott Lemieux in LG&M: Florida Gov. Rick "Scott and his allies aren't opposed in principle to the federal government giving Florida money to cover health care for poor people. They're opposed to the federal government giving Florida money to cover health care for poor people if it's done via 'Obamacare.' It's pretty hard to argue that there's some sort of major liberty interest involved when you're literally making (idiotic) arguments that the state of Florida is constitutionally entitled to federal health care grants." ...
... Paul Waldman: "Written like someone who doesn't truly understand freedom."
News Lede
AP: "Frail and tired of leading a secret life for four decades, 66-year-old Clarence David Moore called police this week to surrender.... Moore escaped from police custody three times during the 1970s and eventually settled into a quiet life, living in Kentucky since at least 2009. His health is poor from a stroke late last year and he has difficulty speaking. When Franklin County Sheriff Pat Melton showed up at Moore's house to make the 'arrest,' Moore was in a hospital bed. He broke down in tears. He told the sheriff he needed medical help." CW: Great. Now we can all pay for Moore's upkeep in his declining years.
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CSpan scene: Harry Reed, mit shades, is standing talking to a colleague when several feet away we see Rand Paul rise from his seat, cross over toward Reed, suddenly whip out his Ray-Bans, put them on and when face to face with Reed the two fist-bump. Elizabeth Warren, whom we see conversing with someone in the forefront, stops talking when she sees Rand striding toward Reed, wondering I suppose what that was all about. She watches Rand stride back to his seat and shakes her head.
And speaking of Warren: she was on Rachel last night yummering about the TTP saying that she had read it, but the public needs to read it, then tells us we will be able to do that when all the kinks are out, but she never tells us specifically what she finds objectable (unlike Bernie Sanders in the link I posted yesterday). So Victoria, I, too, am still confused.
This morning I heard an interview with former Bush flack Dana Perino, out and about flogging a book, who let it slip that she used to give the finger, surreptitiously, to reporters who pissed her off or asked the wrong kind of questions ("What about all those lies, Dana?"). Very mature. Very Bush like.
She went on to relate one of those behind the scenes stories designed to paint certain famous people in a good light, make them more approachable, more human. Unfortunately, this story had the opposite effect.
So Perino was accompanying The Decider to Walter Reed to visit some of the hordes of horribly wounded veterans returning from the War Based on Lies. According to Perino, the soldiers and their family members were all just so in awe of the CIC, everyone was thrilled to see that he had taken time away from his daily naps to visit. All except one mom, whose son had been terribly mangled serving in Bush's War of Choice. She screamed at Bush that his kids were fine and dandy while her son's life was pretty much over, because of him.
Bush, according to Perino, was stunned to meet someone who didn't love him. But "to his credit" he stood there and took the abuse. Finally he moved on to other rooms where he could be accorded the kind of reception he was used to in his bubble.
Later, he said "That mom sure was mad at me." Then he shed a tear.
Awwww....cry me a fuckin' river, Dana.
"Sure was mad at me". Oh, you think? This is the revelation that's supposed to soften his image as a sociopathic war mongering monster?
This is supposed to show The Decider's "human side"? Sorry, stunned disbelief that someone whose son had been torn apart fighting an unnecessary war could possibly react like that is not a stellar example of one's humanity. It makes him look like an insulated, ignorant, coddled solipsist, a fool who has no clue how to even spell humanity.
But don't forget that for Bush's entire run as king, he traveled only in protected bubbles. His campaign stops were vetted and attendees forced to take loyalty oaths to Bush personally before being allowed in. No protesters were ever allowed near his royal person. If his handlers suspected that there would be protesters in a city he was visiting, they were shunted by police into fenced in "free speech zones" miles from Bush's motorcade.
So I'm truly fucking sorry that I don't think this fleeting and infinitesimal display of the realization of the depths of his evil choices makes him a candidate for some kind of humanitarian award.
I do think it makes him a candidate for an orange jumpsuit, however.
Then again, he could have teared up because that mom didn't immediately love him like everyone else, didn't give him flowers. Might have nothing to do with the mangled body on the bed.
So let's have no more thinking about the dead and the mangled. It's just too distasteful. Back to painting the toes. But hey, that story about flipping off White House reporters was the bomb. More of that, Dana!
On Scandals.
Whitewater, Troopergate, Travelgate, The McDougals, Madison Guaranty, cattle futures, David Hale, Vince Foster, Ken Starr, Monica Lewinsky.
To which we can now add Benghazi, Benghazi, BENGHAZI!!!
I think it was Charlie Pierce who recently wrote that of all the so called scandals that surrounded the Clintons during part the first of the vast right-wing conspiracy, the wingers had exactly one thing. One. That Clinton lied about a blow job. So they started impeachment proceedings. It was a scandal. An OUTRAGE. He was the worst ever. (Until now.)
If just one of those other myriad charges and accusations that bubbled up out of the fetid swamps of right-wing world, paid for by the likes of Richard Mellon Scaife, had borne fruit, had had any substance at all, they'd have tracked the Clintons to the ends of the earth with it.
What they had was exactly bupkis. Zilch. Zero. Zip.
Which brings me back to something I've no doubt railed about before, and that is the relative magnitude of what constitutes a scandal for the right and for the left and the way media kaleidoscopes greatly color and exaggerate or diminish the outrage levels.
Lying about a blowjob is pretty low, but was it a horrible scandal worthy of tens of millions of dollars and thousands of hours of effort and investigations leading to impeachment? Benghazi was a bad scene, no doubt, but bad shit happens often in touchy spots around the world.
But how what happened at Benghazi transmutes into a scandal that puts things like Abu Ghraib and the financial crash, caused by negligence and an absentee landlord approach to the economy, into the shade, I can't begin to fathom.
But it does. It's amazing, but Confederates get traction for the most miniscule stuff while allowing their own to skate away from scandalous action of epic, historic proportion.
And the media, with their "exclusive deals" and never ending Clinton mania, help.
It's like focusing national attention on a Democratic jay walker while across the street armed GOP gangsters are robbing a bank and killing all bank employees.
But Republicans will demand an investigation and congressional hearings on the jay walking "scandal".
And they'll get them.
I'm not saying there's nothing at all to what has been going on at the Clinton Foundation and what Hillary has hidden away somewhere. But I'm pretty sure it's nothing compared to lying to start a war. Or gumming up congressional work for nearly a decade because you hate that there's a black guy in the White House. Now THAT'S a fucking scandal.
But you'd never guess that was the case, especially now that the press and the Confederates are cranking up the next chapter of the vast right-wing conspiracy.
More "scandals" to come.
And speaking of true scandals that are painted as business as usual, how about the clearance sale of the country for billionaires sponsored by Little Johnny and the Dwarfs. Now that's a scandal.
The idiots running for the GOP nomination, fools, braggarts, blowhards, and incompetents, treated as if they were giants of political acumen and legislative achievement. Now that's a scandal.
A TV network promoting itself as fair and balanced that concentrates solely on the well being of one party and uses whatever lies and subterfuge it can manage to tear down the other. That's a scandal.
Fill in your own true scandal. There's plenty to go around.
This Tim Wallberg theocracy bullshit is exactly what I was talking about the other day when I mentioned that we are in an abusive relationship with Confederates. They push, push, push, chip away, chip away, chip away. Little by little, day by day, until a slap and a shove doesn't seem all that bad anymore. The days of simple ol' name calling and verbal abuse are long gone. Now guns are waved around ominously. Threats are made on a daily basis. And it all begins to seem.....normal. Not right....just....normal. It's just the way it is.
But it doesn't mean it's not abuse.
We either start pushing back (bullies hate that), or we start looking for a safe house.
Akhilleus and all,
OK, true confession time:
My home is on the flight path from Andrews Air Force Base. I often see some interesting air traffic including, occasionally, Air Force One. On inauguration day, 2009 I watched events on TV and saw Duh-bya take off on his flight home. Gave it a few minutes, then walked outside in time to see the plane fly by.
I mooned him.
D.C.,
Ha-ha.
Thanks, I needed a good laugh today.
The Decider may not have seen it however. By then he probably already had his shoes and socks off, sketch pad in hand.
And while over in Iraq suicide bombers were tearing up Baghdad and American troops were swerving like drunks on New Year's Eve to avoid IED's, Bush was looking out the window, lolling his head back and forth singing "This little piggie went to market, this little piggie stayed home...oh look, a man with his pants down. That's nice."
My! my! my! I see Sheldon Adelson is planning to do for Marco Rubio what he did to/for Newt Gringrich! Or was it the other way around?
@CR because you refused I thought I wade into the Bobby Jindal NYT op-ed swamp and read what you wisely decided against. Glad you probably had more important things to do —like wash your socks! The next time, Jindal writes again, I'm reaching for the Tide gel caps!
That the TPP is a Big Secret is only one of its big problems. Another is the dark history of other recent trade deals, from NAFTA to our recent "deal" with Korea, which have all shuttered our factories, lowered wages and increased our trade deficits. Those are facts, and absent a clear look at the provisions of the TPP not even the President, bless him, should be looking askance at trade deal skeptics. They've learned from experience.
The TPP's third problem, maybe the biggest of all, is its negotiators. Only corporations are present. Not labor, not those concerned with the environment, not you or I. Instead, we have bigger-than-nations corporations like, let's say Walmart, who care so little about their workers that they are now abruptly closing stores in retaliation for labor unrest...
http://crooksandliars.com/2015/04/walmart-closing-five-stores-plumbing
Those are the type of people at the negotiating table we're supposed to trust.
I don't. I called my Senators yesterday. One is on the Finance Committee and voted to approve....
We do have Senators and Representatives here from the State of Boeing.
So Trey Gowdy will be pursuing Hillary Clinton right up to the election. I can see him now trying to force her to testify for the 78th time the afternoon of a general election debate. And if she's elected, they will keep the investigations going as long as they can. Hey, they interfered with a sitting president and took years to investigate a blow job. That playbook is still useful.
They've been investigating Obama for everything from non-existent IRS conspiracies to the fact that he puts his feet up on the desk (only white Republican presidents get to do that) in the Oval Office and once asked for spicy mustard (the BROWN kind) for his hamburger, rather than ketchup or the radioactive yellow mustard that all real 'mericans are s'posed to ask for (I am not even kidding...that idiot Hannity had a freakin' conniption about this).
Fox might as well start a spin-off offering: The Clinton Investigation Network. Maybe they can see what kind of pantyhose Hillary prefers and make an issue out of that ("Nylon made by Christians enslaved by the atheist Red Chinese who are secretly working for the Clinton Foundation...").
It will never end.
Ah shucks, Ak., I bit the bullet and clicked on to your link to Hannity and listened to the GREAT MUSTARD MISHAP (I had fortunately forgotten about this) and was infuriated once again over the idiocy of these people––mainly Ingraham who goes on and on about this to the point where you do have to ask––does she drink or do drugs? For these "folks" since no blow jobs seem to be on the horizon they go after mustard–––What! No ketsup? Americans always put ketsup on their burgers, Obama doesn't, hence––he's not a true blue American. And they seem not to know that "Grey Poupon" is a brand, not the type of mustard ( I use "Maille" myself). How does one wrap themselves around such a display? How desperate they must be. And yes, their guns are turned on Hillary now –––pantyhose from China? We may get to know what kind of toilet paper––the softest elite kind??? horrors!