The Commentariat -- Jan. 23, 2015
Internal links removed.
Tim Egan: "... if you look beyond capital gasbags, and consider the big ideas in Obama's [SOTU] speech, you can see the inevitability of his philosophy.... Eventually, if Obama's finish matches the flourish of the last two months, the United States will resemble the country he envisioned on Tuesday night. Long odds make for better endings." ...
... Greg Sargent: "To hear Republicans and conservatives tell it, the only two elections that mattered in the last decade were those that took place in 2010 and 2014. Thus, when President Obama, in his State of the Union address, took the extraordinarily brazen step of using the high-profile occasion to outline a series of proposals he and his party support, Republicans widely treated it as proof that Obama is ignoring What America Really Wants, which was supposedly laid out for all to see in the last election. Fortunately, this morning Gallup posted a piece recapping what its polling shows about what the American people actually think of the proposals Obama outlined. The key economic proposals, it turns out, have broad support."
Coral Davenport of the New York Times: "The Senate on Thursday again voted to reject two measures related to the Keystone XL pipeline that declared that humans are a cause of climate change -- the second set of votes on the issue in two days. Senators are using the Keystone debate to argue over climate issues. The Democrats want to force their Republican colleagues to come out one way or another on whether they believe humans have a role in changes to the climate and the rise of global temperatures. Republicans telegraphed their intent to attack President Obama's climate policy agenda. Mr. Obama is expected to veto the underlying bill that would force federal approval of the Keystone pipeline and allow construction to begin. Still, the debate has led to the first Senate floor votes in eight years on climate change measures."
Week one, we had a Speaker election that didn't go as well as a lot of us would have liked. Week two, we spent a lot of time talking about deporting children, a conversation a lot of us didn't want to have. Week three, we're debating reportable rape and incest -- again, not an issue a lot of us wanted to have a conversation about. I just can't wait for week four. -- Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.)
Sahil Kapur of TPM: "Tens of thousands of Americans descended on Washington for the annual March For Life on Thursday only to see House Republicans melt down over their signature issue: abortion." ...
... Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "House Republicans struggled on Thursday to mend another unwelcome rift that threatens to tarnish their party's image with women and younger voters, shelving a contentious bill that would outlaw most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Party leaders, facing a revolt from Republican women members who objected that the legislation did not do enough to accommodate victims of rape, instead called a vote on a separate but more limited measure to forbid the use of taxpayer money for abortions. It passed 239 to 179, with only one Republican voting no. But the vote tally masked a divide so deep that some conservatives left the Capitol saying they did not know when Congress could take up the issue again, despite pledges from leaders in both chambers to do so now that Republicans controlled the House and the Senate." ...
... Jennifer Bendery of the Huffington Post: "Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) said the [modified] legislation is 'nonsense' for many reasons, including its tax hike on small businesses. The bill 'penalizes small businesses that offer comprehensive health coverage to female employees,' Pingree said. 'It's just outrageous.'" CW: Who says Republicans won't raises taxes? ...
... Steve King Had the Perfect Solution! Ed Kilgore: "Remember when you hear that this fiasco was produced by a 'revolt of moderate Republicans' that Marsha Blackburn -- not a 'moderate' by any measurement -- was in the middle of it. Maybe she can have a discussion of the mess with Iowa's Steve King, whose Iowa Freedom Summit she is attending this weekend along with half the 2016 presidential field. King offered a way out of the 'reported rape' problem yesterday: 'I would not make exceptions for rape and incest, and then the reporting requirement would not be necessary.'" ...
... Gene Robinson: "There they go again. Given control of Congress and the chance to frame an economic agenda for the middle class, the first thing Republicans do is tie themselves in knots over ... abortion and rape.... It's important to understand that the 'Pain-Capable' bill was never anything more than an act of political fantasy. The only purpose of the planned vote was to create an 'event' that the annual antiabortion March for Life, held Thursday in Washington, could celebrate.... There is no generally accepted scientific basis for the premise of the 'Pain-Capable' bill. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has said there is no legitimate research supporting the idea that fetuses feel pain at 20 weeks."
... John Cole of Balloon Juice: "... much press has been given to the notion that the women in the GOP caucus were afraid of the optics of this kind of bill being passed so early in congress, but I think the real reason they are balking is because it is a very extreme bill that is completely unnecessary, and folks who actually have and use their ladyparts might have a different idea how awful this bill is than some southern male godbothering jackass." ...
... Erin Ryan of Jezebel: "Today, on the 42nd anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling on Roe v. Wade, let's take a moment to pause, reflect, and thank our lucky fucking stars that we have men like Lindsey Graham in Washington to bloviate about what's best for women's bodies." ...
... Scott Lemieux, in LGM, explains Roe v. Wade to the risible right. ...
... The White Man's Party, Ctd. James Downie of the Washington Post: During this week's SOTU address, & "Not for the first time, President Obama called for legislation 'that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work.' Last year, when the president made the same call, both parties applauded. This year, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and many Republicans stayed firmly in their seats.... It's tough to avoid the conclusion that many Republicans, including Boehner, simply care about female voters so little that they won't even go through the motions anymore of expressing 'support' for women. Already, though, the GOP is seeing the damage of ignoring women in its own caucus.... What should have been a smooth coordination with Thursday's big pro-life march in Washington collapsed into shambles.... If the party doesn't change its attitude, it will see the same disaster play out on a grander scale with female voters." ...
... Quit complaining, all you whiney-babies. The ladies are the problem. Ali Weinberg of ABC News: "Republican women candidates must fight the perception that they are more moderate than male primary opponents simply because they are female, a group of pollsters and Republican leaders said Wednesday morning. One of the most effective ways women can do this is to downplay attributes typically associated with females, including a penchant for compromise, they said."
Fernando Espuelas of Univision in a Hill opinion piece: "It's difficult to imagine how Republicans can be competitive in 2016 with a 'defend the wealthy and push down the middle class' message. As one prominent conservative thinker recently wrote, 'Republicans are likely to lose the 2016 presidential election" if the GOP is once again positioned as the water carrier for its wealthy donors and doesn't embrace a pro-middle class set of policies that addresses the serious drop in middle-class spending power that has occurred since President Reagan first experimented with trickle-down policies in the 1980s.'" ...
... CW: Wait, wait, Fernando. They get it. At least some in the GOP now know they have to pay lip service to the evils of growing inequality:
... Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Someone up the GOP food chain seems to have decided that inequality and poor people now belong in everyone's talking points, class warfare be damned.... For the 'compassionate conservatism' reboot to be convincing and guilt-alleviating this time around, though, Republicans need to offer strong anti-poverty proposals of their own. So far -- with the exception of Paul Ryan's plan last year -- we've mostly heard more of the same tax-cutting, deregulating shtick, whose relevance to inequality and poverty is tenuous at best." ...
... CW: Actually, Catherine, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) has a plan to help some poor people, especially minorities: lower the minimum wage. (I think maybe McClintock stole this excellent idea from advocate-for-the-poor Michele Bachmann):
... David Edwards of the Raw Story: "California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock said on Thursday that the minimum wage should not be raised because low pay was necessary for minorities and other unskilled workers who were not worth more than $7 an hour." CW: Edwards somewhat twists McClintock's words, but I don't see how you can read the sense of McClintock's remarks in any other way. He admits that $7/hour is not a living wage. But, hey, it's okay for minorities &, say, divorced women with children who have never worked outside the home before. Let 'em starve. ...
... Laura Clawson of Daily Kos: "Seriously, [McClintock] just swept 'minorities' into the hopper with teenagers and people who've never had a job as people who cannot possibly expect to be paid enough to raise a family and would be rendered 'permanently unemployable' if for some insane reason the government were to require companies to pay them family-supporting money." ...
... CW: Don't know why Clawson is so outraged. Why, at some lousy minimum wages jobs -- like the ones at a Virginia McDonald's franchise -- minorities allegedly can't get jobs at all. Because they don't "fit the profile" of these fine eateries:
... McRacist? Bruce Horovitz of USA Today: "Ten former McDonald's workers on Thursday filed a civil rights lawsuit against the fast-food giant -- alleging racism and sexual harassment -- in a case almost certain to test just how responsible McDonald's is for the actions of its franchisees. The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, alleges that the company last May simultaneously fired more than a dozen black workers who 'didn't fit the profile' desired at its restaurants. In the lawsuit, nine African-American workers and one Hispanic worker claim they were subjected to 'rampant racial and sexual harassment' by supervisors at three restaurants run by McDonald's franchisee Michael Simon, who operates Soweva Co. The workers also are claiming wrongful termination."
Rick Rojas of the New York Times: "A federal judge has decided to make permanent an injunction overturning Arizona's ban on issuing driver's licenses to young immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children and spared from deportation by President Obama in 2012. Judge David G. Campbell of Federal District Court issued the permanent injunction on Thursday, citing the 'irreparable harm' caused to the young immigrants by not being able to have a license under an executive order issued by former Gov. Jan Brewer. Ms. Brewer, a Republican who left office this month, argued that President Obama did not have the authority to act unilaterally in deferring deportations." ...
... CW: Looks like a mean-spirited governor "did not have the authority" to decide the Constitutional limits of presidential power. Funny that. The decision is very good news. Campbell is a Bush II appointee. As ACLU lawyer Dan Pochoda said (cited in Rojas' story), "I think it's effectively the end." It should never have begun. Let's hope Campbell's ruling discourages other governors & legislatures from punishing DREAMers.
** Roberts' Dilemma. Greg Sargent interviews Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe on King v. Burwell, the case before the Supreme Court in which the plaintiffs pretend that the ACA dictates that health insurance subsidies are available only to residents of states which have established their own insurance exchanges. Tribe: "There is a fundamental legal principle about not tricking and pulling the rug out from under states. The fact that there might be chaos in the insurance markets, as well as a serious disappointment of justified expectations on the part of states, all fit into a legal construct the Chief Justice believes in." ...
... Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times: "The people who could lose their health insurance as a result of a Supreme Court decision this year are predominantly white, Southern, employed and middle-aged, according to an Urban Institute analysis." CW: Um, in other words, the Republican base. Yet the GOP leadership is cheering the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell, on the theory that if King wins, the Congress can repeal & replace the ACA with a big nothingburger. If the Supremes rule for King, I think the GOP has a problem, not an "opportunity," as Senate Leader McConnell claims.
John Bresnahan & Jake Sherman of Politico: "A liberal watchdog group has filed an ethics complaint against Texas GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert alleging that he improperly used campaign funds to cover his expenses from a recent trip to London. In a filing with the Office of Congressional Ethics, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) claims that Gohmert may have violated House rules by charging nearly $6,300 to his campaign account for the late November trip. Members are barred from using campaign funds to cover personal expenses.... Anne Weismann, CREW's interim executive director, [said,] 'I would note that [Federal Election Commission] rules might have permitted it, but House rules do not. The real issue here is who paid for it. Campaign funds were used for a trip that under no stretch of the imagination can you say is campaign related.'"
Paul Krugman: "... Europe's economy was wrecked in the name of responsibility. True, there have been times when being tough meant reducing deficits and resisting the temptation to print money. In a depressed economy, however, a balanced-budget fetish and a hard-money obsession are deeply irresponsible. Not only do they hurt the economy in the short run, they can -- and in Europe, have -- inflict long-run harm, damaging the economy's potential and driving it into a deflationary trap that's very hard to escape." Somebody e-mail this to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, please (see yesterday's Commentariat).
Dear U.S. Congressional Ignoramuses: Please, please, please, please give diplomacy with Iran a chance. Yours truly, Laurent Fabius, Philip Hammond, Frank-Walter Steinmeier & Federica Mogherini , the foreign ministers of France, Great Britain, Germany & the E.U., respectively, in a Washington Post op-ed ...
... Byron Tau of the Wall Street Journal: "Citing the need to remain neutral in the upcoming Israeli elections, the White House said President Barack Obama won't meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visits in March. 'As a matter of long-standing practice and principle, we do not see heads of state or candidates in close proximity to their elections, so as to avoid the appearance of influencing a democratic election in a foreign country,' said ... a spokeswoman for the National Security Council." See also today's comments. ...
... Calev Ben-David of Bloomberg: "Israeli opposition lawmakers criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on March 3, calling it a blatant political move at the height of Israel's general election campaign.... The opposition Meretz Party said it would file a complaint with the Central Elections Committee demanding that it prohibit Israeli television and radio stations from broadcasting Netanyahu's congressional address. 'This is a blatant violation of campaign laws,' Meretz spokeswoman Aya Mizrachi said by phone." ...
... Charles Pierce: "This whole thing is a mess, a ludicrous misuse of the institutions of American government to throw sand in the gears of a policy initiative of which Netanyahu disapproves being formulated by a president of whom Boehner disapproves, and one that is placing a very large thumb on the scales of an Israeli election.... What Boehner's doing is an embarrassment to diplomacy and to the political processes both here and in Israel. Allies don't do this stuff."
... Paul Waldman gets real about the "unwavering" partnership of the U.S. & Israel: "For years we've had one party (the Republicans) that is fervently committed to the right-wing Likud's vision for Israel, and another party (the Democrats) that is much more committed to the Israeli Labor party's vision. When each holds the White House, they put those beliefs into policy. But both will say only that we all have a bipartisan commitment to 'support' the Jewish state, as though what 'support' means is always simple and clear."
Shahan Mufti, in the New Republic, doesn't say so, but he does show that Mohandas Gandhi & Pope Francis were on the same page. A thoughtful essay.
Presidential Race
Gary Langer of ABC News: "Hillary Clinton's potential place in history and her husband's tenure in the White House boost her presidential prospects, while Jeb Bush's political legacy and Mitt Romney's 2012 run for the office are negatives, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll finds. Clinton leads both in hypothetical head-to-head matchups at this early stage -- as well as Rand Paul, Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee alike." ...
... Amie Parnes of the Hill: "Major donors are ready to announce huge financial commitments to Hillary Clinton as soon as she announces a second run for the White House, according to Clinton allies and Democratic fundraisers. The Clinton team wants to build excitement about her campaign launch, which is expected in March or April. The money blitz would be a show of Clinton's strength meant to scare away potential primary rivals."
Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney did not emerge from a Salt Lake City meeting on Thursday with a proposal about how to reconcile their competing plans to run for the White House next year, advisers to both men indicated after the talk.... The meeting was cordial...." ...
... Guess I'll Have to Get out the Old Flip-Flops. Michelle Price of the AP: "Mitt Romney says one of the biggest challenges facing the country is climate change and that global solutions are needed to combat it." ...
... Tim Murphy of Mother Jones: "For Romney, this is his second about-face on climate change." ...
... Steve M.: "Mitt Romney's 2016 presidential campaign is now pretty much over.... He's a Republican with presidential ambitions, so I don't know what the hell's gotten into him.... Romney simply can't get the 2016 Republican nomination if he's saying that climate change is a problem that needs to be dealt with.... Maybe he'll flip-flop again on the climate. (Would you put that past him?) He'll have to, because this is going to be a litmus test in the 2016 primaries. And he's failing it." ...
... Rebecca Leber of the New Republic: "took one day for the party of climate change denial to rediscover science -- a few of them, anyway. Mitt Romney ... told a Utah audience, 'I'm one of those Republicans who thinks we are getting warmer and that we contribute to that.'.... Then, 15 Republican senators voted in favor of a conservative climate amendment that said 'human activity contributes to climate change.' One of those senators was Rand Paul.... The 2016 GOP primary won't feature the climate-change debate that the country needs, but it step in the right direction -- away from ignorance, toward reason."
Jonathan Karl of ABC News: "Sen. Marco Rubio [R-Fla.] has begun taking concrete steps toward launching a presidential bid, asking his top advisors to prepare for a campaign, signing on a leading Republican fundraiser, and planning extensive travel to early-voting states in the coming weeks, ABC News has learned."
Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register: "The team that is building Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's political organization for a possible presidential campaign has brought on a GOP strategist with Iowa ties: David Polyansky..... Walker will be in Iowa Saturday as one of a couple dozen Republicans who will speak at U.S. Rep. Steve King's all-day Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines. [Mike] Huckabee and several other presidential-maybes are among the featured speakers." Via Greg Sargent. ...
... Ed Kilgore is really looking forward to "the Steve King/Citizens United Iowa Freedom Summit this weekend in Des Moines." He borrows an analysis from the Iowa Republican on what each candidate needs to do at the summit to "ignite the passions" of attendees.
Senate Race
Christopher Cadelago of the Sacramento Bee: "Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer said Thursday he will not be a candidate to succeed U.S. Senate Barbara Boxer and instead will continue his focus on helping fellow Democrats and working to reverse the effects of global climate change.... Steyer came to his decision after watching President Barack Obama and California Gov. Jerry Brown give recent speeches in which they made protecting the environment a top priority. Steyer's exit from the field shifts attention to a possible run for governor in 2018, and more immediately to other potential Boxer successors such as former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has indicated he is looking closely at the Senate seat."
Beyond the Beltway
Shaila Dewan & Richard Oppel of the New York Times: "... interviews and recently released video and police records show how a series of miscommunications, tactical errors and institutional failures by the Cleveland police cascaded into one irreversible mistake": the shooting death of Tamir Rice by a young policeman.
Charles Pierce: Lawyers for Boston Marathon bomber suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev "released the answers from 1373 potential jurors who'd filled out questionnaires at the request of federal judge George O'Toole, who apparently is determined to hang onto this case with his teeth, if necessary. They found that nearly 70 percent of the respondents already believed Tsarnaev to be guilty of the offenses with which he is charged, offenses that could send him to the federal death house.... What this case needs is justice, reached in as cool and rational a manner as possible, and that is plainly impossible in Boston. What this case needs is a jury, which it is evidently impossible to seat in Boston."
** New York Times Editors: "As astonishing as it was to see Sheldon Silver, the speaker of the New York Assembly, surrender to the F.B.I. on corruption charges Thursday morning, it is even more incredible that he can choose to go on serving in his job while he defends himself against bribery and kickback charges involving millions of dollars."
News Ledes
Washington Post: "The Obama administration has been forced to suspend counterterrorism operations with Yemen in the aftermath of the collapse of its government, according to U.S. officials, a move that abruptly eases pressure on al-Qaeda's most dangerous franchise.... U.S. officials said that the Yemeni security services that provided much of the intelligence that sustained [the] U.S. air campaign are now controlled by Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who have seized control of much of the capital."
AP: "Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine rejected a previously signed peace deal Friday and launched a new multipronged offensive against Ukrainian government troops, upending recent European attempts to mediate an end to the fighting." ...
... New York Times: "Unexpectedly, at the height of the Ukrainian winter, war has exploded anew on a half-dozen battered fronts across eastern Ukraine, accompanied by increasing evidence that Russian troops and Russian equipment have been pouring into the region again."
Washington Post: "Saudi Arabia's new king joined in prayers Friday before the simple burial of the country's late ruler, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, even as attention shifted to the new map of royal succession that puts a younger generation closer to the throne. King Salman acted quickly to clarify the top tier of the Saudi hierarchy, seeking to project stability and resolve at a time when the country faces challenges on multiple fronts, including threats from Islamist militants and a political breakdown in neighboring Yemen."
Washington Post: "In separate news conferences after [U.S. & Cuban officials met], at the end of their first round of talks Thursday, both sides pronounced it 'productive,' respectful and positive. But both acknowledged that 'profound differences' remain."
Wired: "Barrett Brown, who became a cause célèbre after he was charged with crimes related to the 2011 Stratfor hack, will not go free as his supporters hoped. He was sentenced [Thursday] in Texas to five years and three months in prison. Brown was facing a possible eight-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty earlier this year to two charges related to aiding-and-abetting and obstruction of justice and a separate charge involving threats he made to an FBI agent."
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Reader Comments (25)
Jean Cole has a compelling if depressing column entitled "Republicans Importing Netanyahu to Ensure War with Iran." The title sums it up.
http://www.juancole.com/2015/01/netanyahu-imported-again.html
@Victoria. Linked in yesterday's Commentariat.
Marie
Oops, sorry Marie. I did look for it before I posted but missed it, obviously. Also spelled his name wrong - oh dear.
Anyway, Cole's is a worthwhile essay and lends context to the joint Op-Ed by European leaders appearing in WaPo that you linked today. That was well worth reading; thanks for posting it.
I find Boehner's "slap -in-your-face-Mr. President" invite to Netanyahu outrageous––and even somewhat dangerous. Bibi's stance toward Iran is different than ours encouraging, I imagine, some of our politicians to put the kibosh on the diplomatic maneuvers this administration is implementing. I remember the last time––a year ago?––when he addressed our Congress and the right practically slobbered all over him. As I mentioned before, we give Israel $3 billion annually––you would think we would have more leverage, but we don't and because of that fact it pains me when Bibi gets more of a welcome than our own president. He, however, is in election mode and his appearance in the US perhaps gives him some clout. He's been running into trouble in his own little country that he keeps expanding.
Re: this abortion business which gives me one big headache. I do find it uncanny that the right takes this up once again when they told us they were going to concentrate on the economy––really? So, Lindsey, like some others, say, oh, sure, it's ok to have an abortion in the case of rape or incest, but they forget or don't know that each state has a different criteria for incest: in N.C.there is a listing a mile long of all the incestuous acts (I think animals are in that list) but not a sexual act between adopted children and their parents or step children. Imagine the complications that could arise when someone actually took a look at what incest in this case really means.
Evidently Matt's piece in Rolling Stone on the "Sniper" really rattled our friendly Fox bots––Hannity was beside himself––how dare anyone talk that way about our men in service.
We need to honor when honor is due; we need to call out dishonor and immoral behavior when it shows its face. Our tenancy to hero worship is strong in this country––the old "you can't handle the truth" is not too far from the truth.
@PD Pepe & Victoria D.:
Here's a link to the transcript of the Hannity Outrage of the Day show on "American Sniper."
Re: the WashPo op-ed by the European foreign ministers, I'm just waiting for the GOP, after inviting Netanyahu to make a political speech before a joint session of Congress, to get all outraged about those "foreigners" meddling in American affairs.
Marie
It's clear to me where Republicans' loyalties lie, and it's not with the USA.
Invite the leader of a foreign nation to address the legislative branch without coordinating with the executive branch? Couldn't have anything to do with Sheldon Adelson's money and loyalties could it?
Or Breadbags Ernst stumping for a foreign nation to use our heartland as a passthrough to move dirty oil to the gulf for shipment overseas. Couldn't have anything to do with the Koch brothers money could it?
John Nichols:
http://m.thenation.com/blog/195401-joni-ernst-will-provide-koch-brothers-rebuttal-state-union
John McCain is for a war with Iran, hence Netanyahu. If we do get into a war with Iran, IMHO they'll be really sorry. I don't think they realize how big Iran is, both in population and area.
Surely the foreign ministers of France, Great Britain, Germany and
the E.U. must realize that diplomacy doesn't create billionaires. The
only reason "some folks" want endless wars is more military
contracts, which translates to lining the pockets of "some folks".
But then those same folks would probably call it job creation.
Barbarossa,
An excellent observation.
Republicans are decidedly not working in the best interests of either Americans or the United States of America.
They are peddling US land and reputation for their own personal political ends and in the service of foreign powers and billionaire oligarchs such as the Kochs.
The invitation to Netanyahu, done without consultation with the Office of the President of the United States, is an outrageous ramping up of partisanship even for the current GOP, arguably the most partisan political party in US history. I was going to qualify that last statement by saying something like "the most partisan party, with the exception of single issue fringe parties such as the Know Nothings and John Calhoun's Nullifier Party" but the current Republican Party is about as fringe as you can get on many issues. As has been pointed out, here they are with the reins of power, immense possibilities arrayed before them to improve Americans' lot, and what's their first item of business? Abortion.
If one were to measure the self-awareness of these people, you could not fairly put it above sea level. Hours after decrying what they see as a partisan speech on the president's part, and with calls for bipartisan action, they make what is arguably the most partisan move in national history short of treason or secession. They're like three year olds, unaware of any ramifications of their actions outside of feeding their immediate need for self satisfaction.
And quite apart from the willfully insulting, bush league nature of this invitation (I won't even get into the equally insulting aspect of Netanyahu's acceptance. He has shown his colors many times as a rank political opportunist) is the realpolitik component.
A chance for a more amicable relationship with Iran offers a serious opportunity to advance the cause of peace in the middle east, no matter what Bibi and Boehner think, and Netanyahu, especially, has no business trying to upend an American initiative at attempting to resolve longstanding difficulties between two sovereign nations.
Republicans seek to keep us on a permanent war footing. Netanyahu seeks to stack the deck in his favor, both electorally back in Israel, and internationally by attempting to skew American negotiations with Iran. And the Republican Party is helping a foreign leader to bolster his electoral chances back home and aiding his goal of capsizing the foreign policy initiatives of the United States. In neither case are the rights and best interests of the American people front and center.
In fact, as with most of the Republican agenda, the American people come last.
Disgraceful.
PD,
Regarding the US's seeming inability to influence Israel given the amount of foreign aid they receive from us, it's certainly possible for us to exert more pressure but we don't and never have.
Israel, alone, has a special place in the hierarchy of our allies, and operates under a different set of rules. They spy on us, take our money, insult us, and then kick us down the back stairs. And we keep comin' back for more.
Five years ago, during a trip by the vice-president to Israel, Netanyahu deliberately insulted Biden and the US by announcing, right in the middle of his trip to explore the possibility of renewing peace talks with Palestinians, a plan to build 1,600 more homes in occupied East Jerusalem. It was a deliberate insult. Netanyahu is not a "chickenshit". He's an asshole. But he was demonstrating to Obama, who had not been treating him the way he was used to being treated by Bush, that he could give us the finger anytime he chose.
Granted, Israel has always occupied a precarious place in the world. The country was cobbled together after WWII and pretty much every bordering nation would dance the Tarantella if they woke up one morning and it had been nuked out of existence. Hell, Harper Collins recently tried to help them out on that score with an Israel-less map, if you recall.
And there is a powerful Israeli lobby in this country that knows how to work its will with American pols. They deserve our support, but we deserve their respect in turn. Instead, time and again, we get the back of their hand.
Obama. as I mentioned, has attempted to adopt a less supine position than we typically take with Israel and it has won him enemies, both here and there. Israel has also benefited from the volatility of American fundamentalists who, not all that long ago, still considered Jews Christ killers. Now, however, they see Israelis as useful friends in the battle against Mooslims who might want to build a mosque on the site of that stable in Bethlehem, so the pols they help elect and influence in disproportionate ways, will happily grab their ankles for Bibi and the Likud.
So much for influence.
I have a proposal: Have McConnell and Boehner pick ten people from both the House and the Senate take turns living with a family of slender means for one week (they might want to bring their own cot). They then all write up their experiences and present them to the public. Just like Cory Booker who claimed to have lived on food stamps for a week and said he was hungry most of the time these twenty Congress critters will have first hand experiences. Now for a name. How about
"The In-Family Living" bill. Not a good idea you say? Too sensible? Too revealing? No family would stand for it? (except maybe they would if they got a stipend for that extra mouth to feed.). Think of Bobby Kennedy going down to Appalachia territory and being absolutely stunned by the poverty, reporting back to his rich brother that "we better do something about this." Well––just an idea.
Thinking of all this infighting, extracurricular fighting, pettiness, ignorance, insolence, and did I say pettiness?--you know who I'm talking about--I cannot help but compare the present state of Republican led (is it still leading if everyone is running around in circles with their hair on fire?) congress to "Lord of the Flies".
Still not sure who plays Jack (Boehner? Cruz? McConnell?), but the aggression, stupidity, militarism, torture, superstition, and tribal fundamentalism that hold sway over the "savages" who are out to kill anyone who won't become like them, and who burn down the island to get what they want, certainly sounds a lot like the current GOP.
Golding, happily, employed a deus ex machina sort of ending for the boys on the island, with the metaphorical return of a civilizing force.
Don't believe there is such a force anywhere on the horizon for us, however. Guess we'll have to hold out long enough to outlast the bastards or find some other way to keep them burning down our island.
Maybe they'll knock each other off.
Or maybe we're in a different book altogether. Any suggestions?
@ Ak: Re: Israel: Exactly! And I have always liked the fact that Obama is not licking Bibi's feet.
PD,
How 'bout the "Humane Existence Bill"?
As an addition to the comments from PD and Barbarossa: http://www.jta.org/2014/03/31/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/sheldon-adelson-approved-to-buy-israeli-newspaper-website; it appears Adelson owns the most widely circulated newspaper in Israel if the purchase went through. The alignment of Republicans, Adelson, Israel and Bibi appears complete.
PD: you mentioned $3 billion worth of support to Israel. http://www.wrmea.org/2006-july/a-conservative-estimate-of-total-direct-u.s.-aid-to-israel-$108-billion.html. I don't know the exact details of this website, but they say they are, "The American Educational Trust (AET) is a non-profit foundation incorporated in Washington, DC in 1982 by retired U.S. Foreign Service officers to provide the American public with balanced and accurate information concerning U.S. relations with Middle Eastern states".
Thanks all for shining a light on who is driving us to permanent conflict with Iran just like Cuba.
Akhilleus,
"Lord of the Flies" works, but in the last decade of so I've been often reminded of a Heinlein short novel, from the 40's I believe, "If this goes on..." I think it was called, which projected an American future dominated by a dictatorial theocracy. Don't remember the dates on Heinlein's Future History so can't compare them to today's calendar, but the world of Nehemiah Scudder, I think it was, is one the Right now in control of our Congress, despite all their naive cries of "freedom," seems truly to hanker for.
Maybe the point is, however one looks at it, the Right's desired future (perpetual war, a raped planet, subjugated women, intolerance of all stripes) is in all respects dystopian.
Ak, my only suggestion would Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle." One could argue that the republicans are using it as their template for the time in American history they want to return us to.
@ PD Pepe: I think your definitely on to something there. I'm thinking cameras should be involved, a sort of Big Brother reality show with Boehner sneaking flask shots at night caught by the infra-red camera and McConnel dragging his blankie down the hallway sucking his thumb.
I'm a little late to the party re: baguette loafers a la Ernst, but I've got my own cynical interpretation after my years of studying Republican double-speak. Besides the obvious common folksy BS, I interpreted her speech as watering the seeds of complacency among the middle class citizens who are sinking into poverty thanks to GOP policies. No shame in sandwich bag shoes not only lowers expectations of 'entitlements' (if having a decent pair of shoes is now considered a luxury in Right Wing World) but it's also seeds the message to suck it up and deal with it when economic ruin comes to your family.
Given the insistence of the GOP and their suggardaddies to denounce the 'jealousy' and the ´envy' of the blah people towards the job creators, coupled with the undeniable statistical truth of soaring wealth inequalities, I can't help thinking that her robotic persona was actually a double-speak message designed for our future: start saving up your sandwich bags people...
Ken and Unwashed,
Both fine choices.
I was a big Heinlein fan when I was younger. I can't say I read all the Future History stories, but enough to get the sense of Heilein's particular vision for a dystopic future: theocracy and totalitarianism, all in the name of Freedom. Sounds just right.
It's a wonder conservatives haven't tried to force libraries to ban "The Jungle", even after all these years, what with all that talk about soshulism and the way it treats undeserving poors with kid gloves. Not to mention the fact that it was directly responsible for the creation of....drum roll....regulation! in the form of the FDA.
Corporations should be free to put all kinds of poisonous crap into food if it improves their bottom line, right? Because Freedom!
Stop the presses! GOP Women Not Stupid Enough. But Getting There.
Marie links an ABC piece by Ali Weinberg which extols the virtue of being a dick. Wingnut women, pay attention. You need to be just as arrogant, pig-headed, and intransigent as the Wingnut Men you should be serving, at least according to the Bible. But I don't recall the Bible saying anything about being as stupid as those men. That's a conservative addition.
But now here's an interesting conundrum. I read an article last week in the Times about why some groups are smarter than others, why some teams get things done and why others spin their wheels and get nowhere.
Splitting hundreds of volunteers into numerous groups, two MIT researchers (oops...bad sign right there for the wingnuts...smart people) gave the groups a variety of assignments and studied, not just the results, but how efficient the groups were and why some were simply smarter than others (there's that word again! break out the cloves of garlic and the crucifixes!).
It's a short article and worth reading, but here's the skinny.
First, in the smart groups, all members contributed equally rather than letting the blowhards hold forth to the exclusion of everyone else. (We've all been in these groups at some point, right? Kill me now.)
Second, the smart groups had a higher emotional intelligence, they were better at sensing complex emotions in other members and listening to what everyone had to say.
But the biggest reason certain groups were smarter?
Women.
The best groups had more women, and women who were better at number two, what the researchers call "mind reading".
But Republicans would prefer that their women behave less like those women and more like the men who are less emotionally in tune, who are more arrogant, pig-headed, and long-winded.
What Republicans are asking, in effect, is for stupider groups who get less done with more effort.They seek out dysfunction and ineffectiveness. They nurture impotence and ineptitude. The Party of Stupid now wants their women to be just as ineffective and stupid as the men.
Update: GOP Women Trying Their Best to be Stupid and Ineffective. Many Already There.
Oh...meant to include this little tidbit to bolster the previous comment about the way the GOP wants their women to line up and be manly and not get all wussy and emotional like, you know, women.
So you've all read about the GOP taking over, ready to go to work and what do they do first? They all grab a shovel and start digging in the same dry hole they've been stuck in for decades: abortion.
Except this time, their latest scheme to deny choice for women--the 20 week thing--has been temporarily stymied by one of their own. GOP Rep Renee Ellmers from North Carolina, who balked at the idea that no abortion would be allowed even in cases of rape.
GOP men have dropped the anvil on her for being so....woman-like. Of course, they know what's best for women and she needs to get in line, act like one of them, or just STFU.
So now she's attacked as "Abortion Barbie" because aren't all women who don't fit the wingnut male's mold of obedient little woman some kind of horrible, scary, murderous plastic toy doll, like something out of the Twilight Zone?
An article on Red State suggests that she is not worthy of living now that she has pissed off the Patriarchy.
See my point? The GOP will not let women be women. They must be idiots like the wingnut men.
And so they'll all go out tomorrow, pick up their shovels and go back to digging in dry holes, while all the other problems facing the nation fester.
Par-tee of Stu-pid.
Regarding Boehner’s invite to Bibi: Has it occurred to anyone else that the Right’s base is likely anti-Semitic? And that this dumb Obama-baiting may have unintended consequences especially in the bible-thumping sunbelt?
@James Singer: As I understand it, the right's base is antisemitic in a unique way. I refer in this case to the Christian fundamentalist right.
They are pro-Israel today because they believe that a united Israel is a prerequisite to the end times. However, when Jesus lands back on earth -- in Israel, I presume -- he will separate the sheep from the goats, the sheep being Christians in good standing.
I think the goats have a short window of opportunity to convert to Christianity, but if they don't, they will be left behind, presumably to burn in hell, fire & brimstone when their rotten life on earth is over.
If you give this scenario any thought, you'll probably find it less plausible than the likelihood of an invasion of unicorns. Still, this is what millions of God-fearing Americans take seriously. As I understand it.
If anyone wants to correct me on the particulars, I'd love to hear them.
Marie
Thanks, Marie. The prospect of seeing goats turn into sheep has me in thrall. I hope I live to see it. Hot damn!
From first hand experience, I can assure CW and James that the Israel-end-times fantasy is established and widespread.
Marie: Check out www.raptureready.com/faq/rap23.html for
all the latest Jesus news that's fit to print.