The Commentariat -- August 22

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It's always something. -- Gilda Radner

Steve Kornacki of Salon: "... if this is, in fact, it for [Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi], it should do damage to a particularly obnoxious anti-Obama talking point from hawks on the right -- the idea that he’s excessively deferential, naïve and just plain weak on the world stage and that his foreign policy can only lead to failure and humiliation."

E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post: "President Obama has only one option as he ponders a world economy teetering on the edge: He needs to go big, go long and go global. Obama should not be constrained by what the Tea Party might allow subservient Republican leaders in Congress to do. He should state plainly, eloquently and in detail what he thinks needs to happen. Neither history nor the voters will be kind to him if he lets caution and political calculation get in the way."

Monica Davey of the New York Times: "In the months after a flurry of Republican wins of governors’ offices and state legislatures in 2010, perhaps nowhere was the partisan rancor more pronounced than in the nation’s middle — places like Wisconsin and Ohio, where fights over labor unions exploded. But now, at least in those states, there are signs that the same Republicans see a need to show, at least publicly, a desire to play well with others. In both states, critics dismiss the moves as desperate attempts to shore up sinking popularity ratings or disingenuous, tardy strategies to appear agreeable after already ramming through their agendas."

"Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion in Secret Fed Loans." Bradley Keoun and Phil Kuntz of Bloomberg News: "Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s unprecedented effort to keep the economy from plunging into depression included lending banks and other companies as much as $1.2 trillion of public money, about the same amount U.S. homeowners currently owe on 6.5 million delinquent and foreclosed mortgages. The largest borrower, Morgan Stanley (MS)>, got as much as $107.3 billion, while Citigroup took $99.5 billion and Bank of America $91.4 billion, according to a Bloomberg News compilation of data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests, months of litigation and an act of Congress." [Emphasis added.]

If you can stand to read it, Jeffrey Toobin of the New Yorker: "In several of the most important areas of constitutional law, [Clarence] Thomas has emerged as an intellectual leader of the Supreme Court.

Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: "The Ninth Congressional District seat to be filled in the Sept. 13 special election, became vacant this summer when [Rep. Anthony] Weiner quit over an online sex scandal. The race was widely viewed as a sleepy sideshow — a mere formality that would put David I. Weprin, a Democratic state assemblyman and heir to a Queens political dynasty, into a seat known for its deep blue hue. Instead, the race has become something far more unsettling to Democrats: a referendum on the president and his party that is highlighting the surprisingly raw emotions of the electorate."

Karen Garcia: "Just when we were finally convinced that Congress is but a giant shill for the millionaires, Roll Call comes out with its annual list of the 50 richest legislators.... The biggest surprise this year was that a relative unknown (outside of Texas, that is) beat out last year's winner, alleged arsonist and car thief Darryl Issa, to top The List. Mike McCaul, representing the 10th Congressional district (a long and winding road from Austin to Houston, courtesy of Tom Delay-machinated redistricting), saw his net worth increase by a stunning 300 percent, to $294.21 million, thanks to a very generous Sugar Daddy-in-Law. McCaul's wife is the daughter of Lowry Mays, CEO of Clear Channel Communications, the media conglomerate most famous for being the home of Right Wing Hate Radio." Here's the Roll Call list.

Noah Bernstein in a New York Times op-ed: "... colleges and universities are making it harder for average American families to afford higher education, while making it easier for the wealthy.... Monthly payment plans, and prepayment plans ... pack a double punch. On one hand, they make it more expensive for struggling families to send their children to college. On the other hand, they make it cheaper for wealthy families to do so."

Right Wing World

NEW. Paul Krugman responds: "I guess Ross Douthat’s column requires some sort of reply.... All the critics need to show is that Texas is not in fact the miracle Perry claims. And it isn’t.... You’d expect job growth in Texas to be higher than in the rest of the country even in a recession, and the key question is whether that growth has been sufficiently high to keep up with population — and it hasn’t.... Did they hear anything we said?" You can read Douthat's fact-challenged column here. Here's a chart Krugman provides:

This is the president of the United States that has killed more jobs in America than I think any president in history, certainly in my lifetime. I think the only job he cares about is the one he’s got. -- Rick Perry

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: "Judging from Perry’s statements in his first week as a candidate, he doesn’t seem to care all that much about even technical accuracy; he just shoots from the hip. Unless the economy turns around in the next 18 months, Obama is on track to have the worst jobs record of any president in the modern era. That would be an accurate statement. But he also became president in the midst of the worst recession of our lifetimes — and it seems a real stretch to make him personally responsible for every one of those lost jobs, without bothering to offer a shred of evidence for the claim."

Amateur Hour. Ben Smith: Rick Perry sez Social Security is, is sort of, is not unconstitutional after all.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Goldman Sachs’ chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, has hired high-profile Washington defense lawyer Reid Weingarten. News that Mr. Blankfein had hired separate legal counsel immediately raised questions across Wall Street as to whether Mr. Blankfein himself had received a subpoena in connection to the outstanding inquiries. But a person close to the matter ... said the firm is cooperating and no executive at the firm has received an individual subpoena. Shares of Goldman, which had been trading around $111 a share all day, fell nearly 5 percent...."

Washington Post: the Martin Luther King, Jr., memorial opened in Washington, D.C., today. New York Times story here.

New York Times: "Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s grip on power dissolved with astonishing speed on Monday as rebels marched into the capital and arrested two of his sons, while residents raucously celebrated the prospective end of his four-decade-old rule. Colonel Qaddafi’s precise whereabouts remained unknown and news reports said loyalist forces still held pockets of the city, stubbornly resisting the rebel advance." ...

... Al Jazeera: "Heavy fighting and gun battles have broken out in areas of Tripoli after opposition fighters gained control overnight of much of the Libyan capital in their battle to end Muammar Gaddafi's decades-long rule. Clashes erupted on Monday after tanks left Bab Azaziya, Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli, to confront the rebel assault." ...

... Al Jazeera's liveblog is here.

New York Times: "Three months after authorizing Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s swift indictment after his arrest on sexual assault charges, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., has decided to ask a judge to dismiss the case, a person briefed on the matter said on Sunday." ...

     ... Update: "Prosecutors in the office of Cyrus R. Vance Jr., the Manhattan district attorney, have filed papers requesting that all charges be dropped against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund."

Guardian: "A defiant president Bashar al-Assad warned against outside interference in Syria and shrugged off international criticism in a live interview with state television on Sunday night. His fourth address during a growing revolt against his rule was aimed as much at the international community who have sided decisively with protesters as it was at the nation.." ...