The Commentariat -- August 9

Today is election day in Wisconsin.

Still no Off Times Square. I'm no longer frustrated. I'm calm. Some stage of grief, I guess.

Irony Grab

Investors piled out of stocks and into a few 'safe havens,' such as gold and Treasury bonds. The appetite for Treasury bonds suggests that the Standard & Poor's downgrade has not shaken investors' faith in U.S. bonds. -- Nathaniel Popper of the Los Angeles Times

Let me see if I have this right: investors are fleeing stocks because Standard & Poors downgraded U.S. debt, and they're moving their money into....U.S. Treasury bonds. -- Jill of Brilliant at Breakfast ...

... Pundits Are Making Paul Krugman's Head Explode: "Carnage in stock markets ... and all of the headlines I see attribute it to S&P’s downgrade.... What triggered economy fears? To some extent I think this is a Wile E. Coyote moment, with investors suddenly noticing just how weak the fundamentals are. Also, the mess in Europe.... But all the Very Serious People, having totally misdiagnosed our problems so far, will probably double down on that wrong diagnosis as markets fall."

Economist Brad DeLong: "... the only strong [economic] policy views in the administration's internal debate mix right now are those of people who were wrong in the summer of 2009. And when I talk to their staffs, the message I hear is not 'we were wrong about how the world works, and are rethinking the issues from the ground up to figure out what to do' but instead 'we were unlucky: our policies were good'."

Paul Kane of the Washington Post handicaps the potential members of the Congressional deficit-reduction Super Committee. The leaders will choose the committee members by August 16.

"Why?" Dana Milbank: President Obama is “the leader of the free world. Why isn’t he leading this process?” Politico's Glenn Thrush asked Jay Carney. "That," writes Milbank, "is the enduring mystery of Obama’s presidency. He delivered his statement on the economy beneath a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, but that was as close as he came to forceful leadership. He looked grim and swallowed hard and frequently as he mixed fatalism ('markets will rise and fall') with vague, patriotic exhortations ('this is the United States of America'). ...

... CW: I'm going to give you an answer that I myself don't buy. But you decide. Profs. Andrew Burstein & Nancy Isenberg, writing in Salon, compare Presidents Obama and James Madison., the Constitutional authority. The writers claim the two presidents' belief in the separation of powers defined their terms in office and that that belief is what has kept Obama from entering the Congressional fray; i.e., kept him from leading. CW: if this were so, what about Obama's expanded claims of executive privilege? What about those signing statements?

Jonathan Chait of The New Republic: because Obama has called for a payroll tax, Republicans suddenly don't like it any more; instead, they "are floating the possibility of trading the payroll tax cut extension for a tax break for repatriating overseas corporate funds." There could not be a worse idea, as Chait explains. So, "Republicans oppose a payroll tax cut extension that does not add significantly to the long-term deficit on newfound anti-deficit grounds, unless it can be traded for another, far more regressive tax cut that does significantly add to the long-term deficit. Then they'll demand that either Obama submit to that policy or be complicit in an economy-harming tax hike." CW: Chait misses one important point that Krugman has made: Republicans only like tax cuts for the rich, as this potential trade deal further attests.

Nina Power of the Guardian on the British riots: "Since the [Parliamentary] coalition came to power just over a year ago, the country has seen multiple student protests, occupations of dozens of universities, several strikes, a half-a-million-strong trade union march and now unrest on the streets of the capital.... Each of these events was sparked by a different cause, yet all take place against a backdrop of brutal cuts and enforced austerity measures.... Combine understandable suspicion of and resentment towards the police ... with high poverty and large unemployment and the reasons why people are taking to the streets become clear." CW: Read her whole column, & if you're an American, ask yourself if it could happen here. Hint: see today's Ledes for a partial answer.

Sam Baker of The Hill: "The Medicare agency heralded a test program Monday that it says will serve as a model for healthcare reform's accountable care organizations (ACOs). The agency said it has seen strong results from a five-year demonstration project with goals that are similar to ACOs' — lowering costs by improving quality and shifting away from paying doctors to perform more procedures."

Common Cause: "ALEC -- the American Legislative Exchange Council – is a secretive front group of hundreds of corporations that are investing millions of dollars a year to write business-friendly legislation at the expense of the middle class. ALEC is holding its annual meeting this week in New Orleans. That means that hundreds of state legislators from all over the country are right now sitting side-by-side with corporate representatives hammering out 'model bills' that could be coming to your state capitol in a matter of weeks or months." On the linked page, there is a terrific form message to send to your legislators asking them to fill out lobbyist registration forms. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link. ...

... John Nichols of The Nation: "Founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich and other conservative activists frustrated by recent electoral setbacks, ALEC is a critical arm of the right-wing network of policy shops that, with infusions of corporate cash, has evolved to shape American politics. Inspired by Milton Friedman’s call for conservatives to 'develop alternatives to existing policies [and] keep them alive and available,' ALEC’s model legislation reflects long-term goals: downsizing government, removing regulations on corporations and making it harder to hold the economically and politically powerful to account. Corporate donors retain veto power over the language, which is developed by the secretive task forces." Thanks to Dave S. for the link.

Right Wing World *

I Pledge Allegiance to Grover Norquist. Brian Beutler of TPM: "In a Monday memo to the House GOP caucus, [House Majority Leader Eric Cantor] candidly acknowledged that S&P faulted the party's unyielding stance on tax revenues for the downgrade. But he encourages members not to erase this bright line: 'I firmly believe we can find bipartisan agreement on savings from mandatory programs that can be agreed to without tax increases. I believe this is what we must demand from the Joint Committee as it begins its work.'"

Ben Adler of The Nation: "It is clear from Standard & Poor’s statement downgrading the federal government’s credit rating that it places the blame squarely on Republican actions and policies.... So, how are Republican presidential candidates responding? By blaming President Obama, instead of their co-partisans in Congress who are actually responsible." ...

... Danny Yadron of the Wall Street Journal: the Mittigator has since slightly mitigated his earlier screed against Obama by saying, “I don’t think it’s simply the president’s fault. I’m sure there are many people to share responsibility for the excessive spending in Washington over the past couple of decades.” He then goes on to blame Obama -- again -- and absolve the current Republican Tea Party Congress.

Too bad for Mitt. The Colbert SuperPac gets behind Rick Perry:

... Contra Colbert, Alex Pareene of Salon writes a post titled, "If Rick Perry is seriously a presidential front-runner there's something wrong with all of us," wherein he writes, "I mean, Rick Perry may be a neo-Confederate sympathizer with a recurring tendency to bring up secession, but he doesn't look as weird in a photograph as Bachmann does, I guess."

Steve Benen: "... two weeks ago [during the debt/default debate], Fox viewers were told a downgrade might be a good thing. This morning, Fox viewers were told repeatedly that the downgrade the GOP caused is a tragedy that must be blamed on the White House. There’s a good reason Fox viewers seem so confused so often." ...

... The Fox "News" Austerity Program. Kevin Drum of Mother Jones explains: while doing his morning stretches, Drum learned from Fox "News" that we have to cut government spending because people are too fat. "We have sinned and we deserve it. Austerity will make the pain worse, but that's all for the best too. Because we deserve it. Oh, and maybe it will also help get that socialist Obama out of office. Boo-yah."

* Where what's true today is false tomorrow. Update: but might be true the next day.

Local News

Abe Sauer of The Atlantic has a hilarious recap of Wisconsin pre-election shenanigans including video of a god-awful Tea Party musical sing-along.

David Siders of the Sacramento Bee: "Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation this morning committing California to an interstate compact to award electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the most votes nationwide. The agreement would become effective only if states possessing a majority of the nation's 538 Electoral College votes agree. Eight other states and the District of Columbia have signed on, committing 74 electoral votes. The bill Brown signed today adds California's 55." Thanks to James S. for the link. CW: if you want to learn more about the National Popular Vote movement, their site is here.

News Ledes

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has updated coverage of the Wisconsin senate election results here (you may have to refresh the page). So far (10:45 pm ET), sad to say, they've called two seats for Republicans. Update: the AP has called three races for Republicans and one for Democrat Jennifer Shilling. A second Democrat, Jessica King, has won her race. ...

... Here's the (Madison) Wisconsin State Journal election liveblog. ...

... Channel 3000: Wisconsin "Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation on Monday that would redraw the boundaries of the congressional and legislative districts throughout Wisconsin. The governor signed into law two bills that redraw political boundaries for state legislative districts as well as Wisconsin's eight congressional districts in ways that benefit Republican lawmakers. Walker signed the bills privately Tuesday, just before a deadline for him to take action and as voters decided whether to recall six Republican state senators from office."

Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) has selected Sen. Patty Murray of Washington to serve as co-chair of a new congressional committee charged with reducing the debt, Reid’s office announced Tuesday. Reid has also chosen Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) to serve on the panel, which was created under the terms of the recent deal to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, the statement said." Reid's statement is here.

AP: "Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs has been sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting two underage followers he took as brides in what his church deemed 'spiritual marriages.'”

New York Times: "President Obama traveled to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Tuesday to pay his respects to the 30 American servicemen killed in a helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan over the weekend. Four helicopters took the president and a coterie of military and administration officials for the 45-minute unannounced trip from Fort McNair in Washington to Dover, where the remains of the Americans, including the 22 Navy Seal commandos killed in Saturday’s attack, were being transported."

New York Times: "Stocks pushed broadly higher on Tuesday, ending a volatile trading session in which the market fluctuated widely between gains and losses." ...

... New York Times: "Stocks shed some of their gains on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve released a statement in which it signaled that rates would remain exceptionally low through mid-2013 and said it would deploy additional measures as needed." ...

... New York Times: "The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that it will hold short-term interest rates near zero through mid-2013 to support the faltering economy, but it announced no new measures to further reduce long-term interest rates or otherwise stimulate renewed growth."

New York Times: "An extraordinarily tumultuous trading day in Asia extended into Europe on Tuesday, while gold prices hit new highs and the dollar fell, dashing hopes that the global stock market sell-off that has flattened investors over the last two weeks would lose steam."

After the Horse Is out of the Barn. Reuters: "The Senate Banking committee has begun looking into last week's decision by Standard and Poor's to downgrade the U.S. credit rating, a committee aide told Reuters on Monday. The aide said the panel was gathering information about the S&P move but no decision had been made on whether it will hold hearings into the downgrade." CW: so where were they during the aughts when S&P was giving AAA ratings to junk "securities"?

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "Tuesday brings a series of recall elections unprecedented in the history of the state or nation. With control of the Wisconsin Senate in the balance, six Republican state senators will face a recall vote Tuesday. One Democratic senator has already weathered a recall attempt, and on Aug. 16, two more Democrats will be up for recall."

Think It Couldn't Happen Here? New York Times: "Prime Minister David Cameron said Tuesday that Parliament would be recalled and police numbers would more than double after a third night of rioting and looting spread across and beyond London in what the police called the worst unrest in memory. ...

For a society already under severe economic strain, the rioting raised new questions about the political sustainability of the Cameron government’s spending cuts, particularly the deep cutbacks in social programs. These have hit the country’s poor especially hard, including large numbers of the minority youths who have been at the forefront of the unrest.

      ... Guardian: liveblog here. Includes videos. ...

     ... Guardian Update: "Central Manchester and Salford saw serious looting and disorder as gangs waged running battles with police, ransacking dozens of shops. Similar, if less widespread, trouble flared in Birmingham and elsewhere in the West Midlands. The most serious disorder came in Manchester." ...

     ... Guardian Update 2: "Mark Duggan, whose shooting by police sparked London's riots, did not fire a shot at police officers before they killed him, the Independent Police Complaints Commission said on Tuesday. Releasing the initial findings of ballistics tests, the police watchdog said a CO19 firearms officer fired two bullets, and that a bullet that lodged in a police radio was 'consistent with being fired from a police gun'."

... How about This? Philadelphia Inquirer: Philadelphia's "Mayor Nutter announced yesterday that the city will have earlier curfews and increase police patrols in Center City and University City in an effort to crack down on roving groups of youths who recently have committed acts of violence."

** Congressional Leaders Stand up to Obama. New York Times: "In an unusual break with the White House, the Democratic leaders of Congress told the Supreme Court on Monday that President Obama was pursuing a misguided interpretation of federal Medicaid law that made it more difficult for low-income people to obtain health care.... The brief was filed by seven influential Democrats, including Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, an architect of Medicaid; Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House minority leader; Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader; and Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the chairman of the Finance Committee." Read the whole story.

New York Times: Nafissatou Diallo, "the hotel housekeeper who has accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her in his 28th-floor suite, sued him in State Supreme Court in the Bronx on Monday, seeking unspecified damages for a 'violent and sadistic attack' that humiliated and degraded her and robbed her 'of her dignity as a woman.'” Diallo's lawyer Kenneth Thompson "indicated in court papers that he was prepared to introduce testimony from other women who say they were attacked by Mr. Strauss-Kahn in 'hotel rooms around the world,' and in apartments specifically used by him 'for the purpose of covering up his crimes.'"