The Commentariat -- February 11, 2012

President Obama's Weekly Address. Text here:

Move Over, Clint Eastwood:

** "Obama Punks the GOP on Contraception." Amanda Marcotte of Slate: "The fun part of this is that Obama just pulled a fast one on Republicans. He drew this out for two weeks, letting Republicans work themselves into a frenzy of anti-contraception rhetoric, all thinly disguised as concern for religious liberty, and then created a compromise that addressed their purported concerns but without actually reducing women's access to contraception, which is what this has always been about.... What most people will remember is that Republicans picked a fight with Obama over contraception coverage and lost.... I expect to see some ads in the fall showing Romney saying hostile things about contraception and health care reform, with the message that free birth control is going away if he's elected. It's all so perfect that I'm inclined to think this was Obama's plan all along." ...

... Republicans Demur. Gail Collins: "National standards, national coverage — all of that offends the Tea Party ethos that wants to keep the federal government out of every aspect of American life that does not involve bombing another country. But that shouldn’t be a Catholic goal. The church has always been vocal about its mission to aid the needy, and there’s nobody needier than a struggling family without health care coverage. The bishops have a chance to break the peculiar bond between social conservatives and the fiscal hard right that presumes if Jesus returned today, his first move would be to demand the repeal of the estate tax." ...

... When It Comes to Women's Health Issues, Men Know Best. Thanks to Think Progress:

... I don't think we did anything wrong. -- Cardinal Edward Egan, on his handling of the sexual abuse scandal in Bridgeport, Connecticut, for which he initially apologized in 2002. More than 90 Bridgeport parishoners made abuse claims ...

... CW: I missed this one in all the brouhaha. Andy Newman of the New York Times: "In 2002, at the height of the outcry over the sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests, the Archbishop of New York, Edward M. Egan, issued a letter to be read at Mass. In it, he offered an apology about the church’s handling of sex-abuse cases in New York and in Bridgeport, Conn., where he was previously posted.... Now..., in retirement, Cardinal Egan has taken back his apology.... He said many more things in the interview, some of them seemingly at odds with the facts. He repeatedly denied that any sex abuse had occurred on his watch in Bridgeport. He said that even now, the church in Connecticut had no obligation to report sexual abuse accusations to the authorities. (A law on the books since the 1970s says otherwise.)” CW: this might not have been the best week to remind Americans about priests having sex for fun with children, what with the rest of the Church hierarchy all puffed up in righteous indignation about ladies having sex for fun.

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "President Obamawill lay out a budget blueprint on Monday that amounts to an election-year bet that a plan for higher taxes on the rich and more spending on popular programs like infrastructure and manufacturing will trump concerns over the deficit. The new budget proposal contrasts with the deficit-cutting promises that attended the budget rollout last year and the debates that followed."

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "At a time when President Obamaand his opponents are blamed for shrinking from painful remedies for a sluggish nation, Michelle Obama is back on the road as a tireless, cheerful dispenser of them." ...

New York Times Editors: "Spain’s Supreme Court this week found the Judge Baltasar Garzón guilty of misapplying the country’s wiretap law and suspended him from the courts for 11 years. Judge Garzón has played an important role in Spain’s transition to democracy, as a scourge of corrupt politicians left and right and a powerful champion of international human rights law.... As this week’s miscarriage of justice plainly demonstrates, Spain still needs his help in keeping its judiciary fearless and independent." CW: Garzon also was the judge investigating Bush-era torture facilitators John Yoo & five others.

Right Wing World

Quote of the Day. Rick Santorum isn’t the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. He’s the conservative alternative to reality. -- Steve Stromberg of the Washington Post

 Runner-up. I know it seems like government doesn't like you. I love you. -- Mitt Romney, to 900 businesspeople. See, he is concerned about the wealthy, after all. ...

... Steve Benen lists the five top Romney lies of the week. ...

... "Severely Conservative." Ewen MacAskill of the Guardian: "Mitt Romney attempted to get his presidential campaign back on track Friday with a speech aimed at winning over conservatives at their mega-conference in Washington. Romney ... dispensed with his normal stump speech and instead set out his credentials as a conservative to a largely sceptical audience. He used the word 'conservative' more than 20 times in his speech and described himself, in an odd choice of words, as 'severely conservative'. [Rick] Santorum and Newt Gingrich also appeared before crowded rooms, each receiving standing ovations Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the biggest gathering of conservatives in the country." The New York Times story, by Jeff Zeleny, is here. Washington Post story, by David Fahrenthold, here. ...

... "Nattering Nabobs of Negativism." Dana Milbank went to CPAC, too, and he says Republicans have "an anger management problem." He does a nice job of gleaning the flavor of the rhetoric at CPAC.

** Prof. Molly Worthen in the New York Times: Rick "Santorum’s [string of bigoted] statements reflect not knee-jerk prejudice, but something much more powerful: philosophically reasoned prejudice, based on centuries of Roman Catholic natural law.... According to the tradition of natural law, every part of our bodies has a telos too. In the case of our genitalia, that natural end is heterosexual sex for the purpose of procreation. It follows that marriage between a man and a woman 'is fundamentally natural,' Santorum writes.... Natural law is a noble tradition that has shaped Western jurisprudence, but in the hands of conservative activists like Santorum it has become a dangerous cult of first principles." ...

... Since we're talking about the philosophy of wingers, Krugman has a good post on how Charles Murray -- author of Coming Apart -- uses one standard for poor people & another for the rich; to wit, if poor people earn less, they'll work harder; if rich people earn less (because the government taxes 'em at a higher rate), they'll quit working. ...

     ... A commenter to Krugman's post, skeptoeconomist, writes, "Different wage-effort slopes are quite common in all sorts of conservative politico-economic rhetoric, for example comparing the effects of rewards on the efforts of CEO's and physicians versus those on the efforts of teachers and other civil servants." CW: S/he's right; somehow millions in profits/shareholder dividends must be diverted to compensate (or even to fire) a CEO if a company wants to get (fire) a "good" CEO, but teachers take home way too much & get far too many benefits.

Peter Hart: New York Times reporter Trip Gabriel s Newt Gingrich as "the candidate of big ideas, hatched from a deep knowledge of politics and policy," etc. Hart begs to differ.

Local News

First Posted Late Yesterday. Pat Garofalo of Think Progress: "... Under the terms of the [foreclosure] settlement [see above], Wisconsin is set to receive $140 million, $31.6 million of which comes directly to the state government. And [union-bustin' man of the people Gov Scott] Walker is planning to use $25.6 million of that money to help balance his state’s budget." The underlying story, by Jason Stein & Paul Gores of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is here. CW: that jerk never quits. The big question is, will he be indicted before he's recalled? Thanks to reader AJT for the heads-up.

News Ledes

AP: "Whitney Houston, who reigned as pop music’s queen until her majestic voice and regal image were ravaged by drug use, erratic behavior and a tumultuous marriage to singer Bobby Brown, has died. She was 48."

     ... Los Angeles Times Update: "Singer Whitney Houston ... was found dead in a Beverly Hills hotel room Saturday. Law enforcement sources told The Times that paramedics arrived at the Beverly Hilton hotel, where Houston was staying, and found her dead. Her cause of death was unknown...."

New York Times: "The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops have rejected a compromise on birth control coverage that President Obama offered on Friday and said they would continue to fight the president’s plan to find a way for employees of Catholic hospitals, universities and service agencies to receive free contraceptive coverage in their health insurance plans, without direct involvement or financing from the institutions."

Washington Post: "Mitt Romney won the support of those attending Republican presidential caucuses in Maine Saturday.... Romney’s superior organization and dominating advantage with endorsements of top state Republicans had given him a significant edge in the low-turnout and nonbinding affair. But Texas Rep. Ron Paul had aggressively worked the state’s grass roots in hopes of snagging his first win of the presidential primary season in Maine. Romney won 39 percent of the votes...; Paul took 36 percent of the vote, while ... Rick Santorum captured 18 percent.... Newt Gingrich won 6 percent." New York Times: "... fewer than 6,000 votes were cast — about 2 percent of registered Republicans." CW: What enthusiasm gap? ...

... New York Times: "Mitt Romney won the annual straw poll of conservative activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, conference officials announced on Saturday in Washington. Mr. Romney received 38 percent of the 3,408 votes cast, compared to 31 percent for Rick Santorum, 15 percent for Newt Gingrich and 12 percent for Representative Ron Paul of Texas, who did not attend the meeting this year."

Washington Post: "The daylight assassination of a top general in a residential neighborhood of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Saturday underscored the growing militarization of the uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, and also perhaps its increasing militancy.... Brig. Gen. Issa al-Kholi was fatally shot by three gunmen waiting outside his home in the Rukn Eddin neighborhood...." New York Times story here.

New York Times: "British authorities arrested eight people on Saturday, including five employees of Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid, as part of an investigation into bribery of public officials by journalists, Scotland Yard and the parent company of the newspaper said. In addition to the Sun employees, those arrested included a serving police officer, a government official and a member of the British armed forces." ...

... Guardian: "The Sun has been plunged into crisis following the arrest of five of its most senior journalists, including the deputy editor, over allegations of inappropriate payments to police and public officials."

Reuters: "Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ... is under investigation by federal authorities, a source with direct knowledge of the probe said. The source told Reuters on Friday that several people linked to Nagin or the New Orleans city administration during his two terms as mayor ending in 2010 were cooperating with the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI."

Global Post: "Bradley Manning, the US army officer accused of linking information to WikiLeaks, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the group The Movement of the Icelandic Parliament."

AP: "A 49-year-old brigadier general died Friday in Afghanistan of apparent natural causes, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. soldier to die there, the military said Saturday. Fort Hood announced Brig. Gen. Terence Hildner's death in a statement posted on its website."

Reuters: "Syrian forces unleashed new tank and rocket bombardments on opposition neighborhoods of Homs on Saturday while diplomats sought U.N. backing for an Arab plan to end 11 months of bloodshed in Syria."

AP: "Thousands of cheering supporters swarmed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday as the democracy icon took her historic campaign for a parliament seat to the southern constituency she hopes to represent for the first time."

Comments

[Lisa]

I totally agree with Amanda Marcotte's premise that Obama has punked the Republicans and I hope he can continue capitalizing on revealing the cancer that they are to this country. For decades, the extreme right have successfully infiltrated the government, the courts, public organizations and corporations with the sole purpose of reversing many of the progressive ideas that made the US so successful. Their stealth capabilities and their messaging prowess have allowed them to stay under the radar while they corroded our country's foundations. Both this birth control fight and the Komen debacle represent just the tip of the iceberg. I hope Obama will create the climate change that will melt this iceberg and reveal the true nature and goals of this fossilized mind-set.