The Commentariat -- Aug. 17, 2013
CW: In my link to Barton Gellman's blockbuster story in yesterday Washington Post, I did not include this sentence: "The documents, provided earlier this summer to The Washington Post by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, include a level of detail and analysis that is not routinely shared with Congress or the special court that oversees surveillance." I didn't notice it, but I should have, and I should have included it. As Charles Pierce writes, "... this story really ought to end the debate over whether or not Snowden is a 'whistleblower' or not. He shared with The Washington Post -- and therefore, with the country that pays the bills for it all -- information proving that the government agency for which he worked regularly violated its own regulations, and that it at best actively deceived the responsible oversight authorities in both the Department Of Justice and in the intelligence community." ...
... David Firestone of the New York Times: "The lack of oversight revealed in The Post's report is staggering.... So much for President Obama's recent assurance that the government is not abusing its authority. And Congress, as usual, is nowhere to be found.... Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall just issued a statement saying the mistakes and rule-breaking reported by the Washington Post are just the 'tip of the iceberg' of a much larger body of classified violations, which they are unable to reveal." ...
... Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post has some officials' reactions to the Post story. Entertaining. ...
... New York Times Editors: "... the Justice Department was in federal court on Thursday defending its refusal to release memos containing information about its policies governing the use of GPS and other potentially invasive technologies.... The public has a right to know the government's policies on these matters. There is very good reason to be concerned about the government's interpretation of its police powers, especially given the Obama administration's insensitivity to privacy in its mass collection of phone data in the national security sphere.... It is distressing that the administration, which claims to welcome a debate over the government's surveillance practices, time and again refuses to be transparent about those practices. Instead of awaiting a court order, the administration should release the tracking memos on its own."
James Hohmann of Politico: "The Republican National Committee passed a resolution Friday to bar NBC and CNN from hosting GOP primary debates in 2016 if the networks move forward with their Hillary Clinton projects. But the vote was not just about Clinton. But the vote was not just about Clinton. The RNC's very vocal outrage over the projects gave party leaders a perfect excuse to do what they've long wanted to do anyway: get some control over a process that led to 20 grueling primary debates last cycle and gave Mitt Romney many chances to get himself into trouble with comments about self-deportation, contraception and the like." ...
... Dylan Byers of Politico: "While NBC and CNN's competitors stand to benefit from the RNC's decision, there's another potential winner who has gone unmentioned: Univision. On Friday, RNC communications director Sean Spicer told Politico that the boycott would extend to NBC and CNN's Spanish-language channels: Telemundo and CNN Español." ...
... CW: nobody ever mentions ABC. Will Reince let former Clinton guy Snuffolopoulos question the wackos? ...
... Greg Sargent: "And so, it looks as if one of the recommendations in that RNC autopsy [which determined that the party needed to broaden its base by reaching out to 'alienated' groups] has finally been acted on. Only it just happens to be one that is all about (again) playing to the base and encouraging an insular view -- that outside news sources offering information that counters what is heard inside the conservative entertainment complex are only out to get Republicans -- rather than broadening the party's appeal.... It's [also] possible this could have the effect of minimizing the exposure of GOP outsized rhetoric and policy to a broader audience." ...
... Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "As a blogger, I would really look forward to making the GOP clown show even more clownish. I know that hardly seems possible, but think about it. "Governor Jindal, do you think Christian churches should merely be free of all government interference, or do you think that state governments should require the adoption of Christian curricula in our schools?" "Representative Ryan, do you think global warming is a myth, or do you think it's actually a sinister plot by the scientific community to destroy the economy?" Bring it on!" ...
... Paul Waldman of the American Prospect: "The problem isn't that the network personalities are liberals, it's that they're just terrible. They try to come up with clever 'gotcha' moments to trap Republicans and Democrats alike, and they ask one inane question after another, like what sporting event they'll be watching this weekend or what kind of pizza they prefer.... Let's not forget that primaries are supposed to be partisan. The point isn't for the country to choose a candidate, it's for a party to choose its representative. Ideological questioners are going to ask the questions to which primary voters want to know the answers." ...
... Bill Carter of the New York Times: "An outlet of Fox Entertainment said on Friday that it would not be involved with the hotly debated Hillary Rodham Clinton mini-series on NBC, after all. And though the decision by the Fox Television Studios production company came on the same day as a vote by the Republican National Committee to ban any presidential debates in the 2016 primary season from NBC because of the proposed movie, an executive involved in the negotiations between the Fox studio and NBC said political pressure was not a factor. Rather, the executive said, the financial terms being offered by NBC simply were not attractive enough to Fox." ...
... Jane Timm of NBC News: "From same-sex marriage to race in America, Republican leaders lack 'the guts to stare down the crazies in their own party,' Joe Scarborough said on Morning Joe today during a conversation that exposed the hypocrisy of GOP officials willing to show compassion in private but not in public.... The Republican Party is sending out signals, Scarborough said: 'If you're not white, you're really not welcome in this party.'" With video. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link. ...
... Prince Reibus Never Called Mitt a Racist. Brent Logiurato of Business Insider: "Correction, 12:26 p.m. ET: An original version of this story said that Reince Priebus referred to Mitt Romney's comments as 'racist.' He said it 'hurts us.' Business Insider regrets the error." CW: I had to listen to the tape three times, but on the third time, I decided that Priebus did say "hurts us," not "racist":
"Tell him to stop lying." Sy Mukherjee of Think Progress: "Obamacare critics who have incessantly demonized the reform law and pushed for its repeal have been brushing up against a growing number of people that support its consumer protections." Here's Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) being questioned by constituents who are fearful of not having health coverage. The pushback begins at about 2:10 min. in when Webster claims that both he & the President agree that "ObamaCare is bad for America":
... Steve Benen on the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity misleading/lying ads against ObamaCare: "If Obamacare were really as horrible as right-wing activists and lawmakers claim, shouldn't it be easier to attack the law without making stuff up? Wouldn't conservatives be eager to simply give people the truth, rather than resort to ugly demagoguery? Careful, Kochs, your desperation is showing."
Gubernatorial Race
Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, does a pretty good job, in a Washington Post op-ed, of defending his involvement with & investment in GreenTech Automotive.
Local News
Adam Nagourney of the New York Times: California Gov. Jerry "Brown -- who at 75 is the oldest governor in the nation and about to become the longest-serving governor in the history of California -- is enjoying a degree of success and authority he and his opponents could scarcely have imagined when he returned to Sacramento to begin a second tour as governor in 2010."
The Hits Just Keep on Coming. Rosalind Helderman & Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "Maureen McDonnell, the first lady of Virginia, twice purchased stock in Star Scientific in the same timeframe she and Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) were taking steps to promote the dietary supplement company, a spokesman for McDonnell's legal team confirmed Friday night. Spokesman Rich Galen said the first lady did not inform the governor either time she purchased stock, which he said she bought to assist her and her children.... Evidence that the couple took official acts to indirectly help their own financial stake in a single company would likely increase their legal jeopardy in a potential criminal case."
John Schwartz of the New York Times: "A state judge in Pennsylvania on Friday prohibited enforcement of a strongly contested law requiring voters to show state-approved identification. Enforcement of the law, one of the toughest in the nation, had been blocked by judicial order in two prior elections, and the state had agreed not to require ID to vote in November. But poll officials were required to tell voters that they would have to show ID's in the future or be turned away.... Judge Bernard L. McGinley of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania ... said that the ban on enforcing the law should be extended until the matter of whether to issue a permanent injunction on enforcement could be heard in court and decided on the merits of the case." ...
... Charles Pierce on National Review editor Rich Lowry's defense -- in Politico -- of North Carolina's new voter suppression law (yes, I know that's not what they call it, but that's what it is). Pierce dregs up National Review founder Bill Buckley's 1969 column, "On Negro Inferiority." "So Rich Lowry and his little racist fk of a magazine can pretty much bite it. It's been on the wrong side of history since the first issue rolled off the press."
News Ledes
AP: "Egyptian security forces stormed a Cairo mosque Saturday after a heavy exchange of gunfire with armed men shooting down from a minaret, rounding up hundreds of supporters of the country's ousted president who had sought refuge there overnight after violent clashes killed 173 people."
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Reader Comments (5)
Re: NSA. I don't think the President really knows what NSA is doing; I doubt if anyone does. There is no way to adequately supervise that many employees. This thing has metatisized beyond its original purpose. whatever [classifed] it was. The first thing to do is repeal the "PATRIOT" Act.
Again, regardless of what our fearless leader knows or does not know about the NSA's activities, I agree with Barbarossa. The sports cliche "momentum" explains much. Along with its companion "inertia" these two physical laws can be seen at work everywhere in our history. Faulkner's dictum that the past is not past was only another (memorable) way to say the same thing. Once the human race gets started on a path, it's hard to reverse course, especially when we are foolish enough to make sure that path is showered with money or paved with gold.
Our religious institutions, our defense and security industry and our health care monster are only three instances of these laws in operation. A true conservative would think at least twice before initiating or abetting the growth of an apparatus designed from its inception to consume all that any lover of freedom, libertarian or just plain liberal, would hold dear. But then that's not what conservative means these days; it means frightened of everything but money.
Akhilleus, in our benighted universe is it too late for a Hari Sedon to set us on the right course?
Does anyone have any candidates in mind for the job? As much as I admire our current President, I don't think he's the One.
Make that SELDON!
Note to Rich Lowry from a progressive keyboard. I completely understand the only argument left is lying when you are speaking through a slit in a white hood as you piss all over democracy and claim its raining. Cross burning at 10 p.m., immediately following the revival meeting for the elimination of homosexuals, debunking of man made climate change and a treatise of the true role of women.
Just watched "Inside Job" again. Larry Summers is a peach.