The Commentariat -- Jan. 25, 2015
Photo removed.
The Times of India has a "breaking news" banner on its front page which, at least currently, relates to the Obamas' visit to India. ...
... Update: The "breaking news" banner is gone, but the paper now has a liveblog of the Obamas' visit.
Julie Pace of the AP: "President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi say they have achieved a breakthrough understanding to free up U.S. investment in nuclear energy development in India. The two countries had been at an impasse over U.S. insistence on tracking fissile material it supplies to India and over Indian liability provisions that have discouraged U.S. firms from capitalizing on a 2008 civil nuclear agreement between the U.S. and India." ...
... CW: My favorite part of the press conference was near the end, where President Obama, in describing the ties between the U.S. & India, noted that we were "two former colonies." ...
... Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "When President Obama walked off Air Force One here Sunday morning, he was greeted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who walked up to Obama and gave him a big hug. The airport meeting, a break from tradition, and embrace comes as the two countries are looking to reinvigorate a relationship that had stagnated in recent years -- and one that both men hope will benefit from a personal rapport they developed last year."
Reality Strikes Back against GOP Ideology. Adam Nagourney & Shaila Dewan of the New York Times: "Republican governors across the nation are proposing tax increases -- and backing off pledges to cut taxes -- as they strike a decidedly un-Republican pose in the face of budget shortfalls and pent-up demands from constituents after years of budget cuts."
Michael Strain of the right-wing American Enterprise Institute argues in a Washington Post op-ed that it's okay if people die as a result of losing access to health insurance via the ACA. Because, um, the government makes these tradeoffs all the time: e.g., if states lowered the speed limit to 10 mph fewer people would die in road accidents. ...
... Competing with Strain for weekend's worst op-ed, Maureen Dowd writes another column about how awful Obama is. ...
... He's No Krugman. Bill Curry writes a sensible column in Salon questioning the sincerity of President Obama's sudden bout of populism. CW: I do think Curry has glossed over Obama's longstanding advocacy for the poor & middle class. The difference now, as I see it, is that the proposals in his SOTU speech were more robust than those he's made in the past, when he put forward policy proposals that he thought might have a shot at getting through Congress, even if further watered down. Still, Curry's reminder of Obama's mixed signals is important to keep in mind.
** Salon publishes an excerpt from Julian Zelizer's book The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress & the Battle for the Great Society. Read the whole excerpt. Here's an excerpt of the excerpt:
At 4 a.m. on November 23, 1963, the day after Kennedy's assassination gave him the presidency, [Lydon] Johnson reclined on his bed, his top advisers arrayed around him for an impromptu meeting.... The new president told Jack Valenti, Bill Moyers, and Cliff Carter, with 'relish and resolve,' according to Valenti, 'I'm going to get Kennedy's tax cut out of the Senate Finance Committee, and we're going to get this economy humming again. Then I'm going to pass Kennedy's civil rights bill, which has been hung up too long in the Congress. And I'm going to pass it without changing a single comma or a word. After that we'll pass legislation that allows everyone anywhere in this country to vote, with all the barriers down. And that's not all. We're going to get a law that says every boy and girl in this country, no matter how poor, or the color of their skin, or the region they come from, is going to be able to get all the education they can take by loan, scholarship, or grant, right from the federal government.... And I aim to pass Harry Truman's medical insurance bill that got nowhere before.'
Joanna Rothkopf of Salon reminds us of McDonald's outstanding history of dickishness.
Emily Satchell of WRIC Richmond: "The Virginia State Bar Disciplinary Board has stripped former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell of his law license. The Virginia State Bar said in a release that McDonnell's license to practice law in the Commonwealth is suspended, effective January 29, based on his conviction on 11 public corruption charges. 8News legal expert Russ Stone says that, 'If he wanted to obtain it again once he is out of prison, he would have to apply with the bar to have his license re-instated.'" CW: Said Bob, once a likely presidential contendah, "On the whole, I'd rather be in Des Moines." ...
Presidential Race
Ashley Parker & Trip Gabriel of the New York Times: "A crowded field of potential Republican presidential candidates scrapped for the hearts of the party's conservative base [in Des Moines, Iowa] on Saturday, implicitly rejecting more moderate choices like Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney, who did not attend." ...
... Jon Ward of Yahoo! News: "The tone, from the outset, was gloomy. America is 'mired in darkness,' said David Bossie, a conservative filmmaker and activist who organized the event. Conservative talk show host Jan Mickelson opened the event by saying, 'Nobody from Iowa cares a sliver about immigration. All of us came from somewhere. What we do care about is illegal gate crashers.' Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called President Barack Obama 'an overgrown little boy' for his executive action last year on immigration. And television personality Donald Trump criticized [Jeb] Bush for saying last year that some illegal immigrants come to the United States as an 'act of love' to provide for their families. 'Remember,' Trump said, in a gross mischaracterization of undocumented immigrants, 'half of them are criminals.'" ...
... For more detail, we go to our friends at Politico, whose little hearts must be throbbing:
... Ben Schreckinger: "Chris Christie on Saturday made the case to the Republican base that he embodied a strain of true conservatism that can succeed nationally. The New Jersey governor, who is considering running for president, was the most prominent establishment-backed 2016 contender to appear at Rep. Steve King's Iowa Freedom Summit...." ...
... Jonathan Topaz: "Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Saturday hailed his record as a conservative leader, previewing his likely 2016 presidential pitch as an outsider and a fighter for bold reform. The potential presidential candidate spent the majority of his address at the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines highlighting his accomplishments as governor and contrasting them with the broken ways of Washington." ...
... Schreckinger: "Sen. Ted Cruz called on Republican voters to hold presidential candidates accountable for their conservative credentials Saturday in a speech to the party's grassroots faithful at Rep. Steve King's Iowa Freedom Summit." CW: I guess Ted couldn't "highlight his accomplishments" the way Walker did because "read the kids a bedtime story written by a leftist on national teevee" is not nearly as impressive as "whacked a lot of public employees, especially those nasty teachers." ...
... Schreckinger: "Rick Perry touted his economic record as governor of Texas Saturday." CW: Also won the award for candidate who killed the most death row inmates ever, including at least one innocent man. ...
... Schreckinger: "Mike Huckabee mocked the notion that climate change is a major threat to Americans in a speech to conservative activists Saturday. 'A beheading is a far greater threat to an American than a sunburn,' cracked Huckabee, referring to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, and its tactic of beheading its enemies. The line drew laughter and applause from the grassroots faithful...." CW: Hilarious. Idiots. ...
... Schreckinger: "Rick Santorum laid out a populist vision for grassroots Republicans on Saturday, saying the party needs to be pro-growth but also pro-worker." CW: What if you had a meeting & the most sensible guy in the room was Rick Santorum? Impossible? No, I think it just happened. ...
... Topaz: "Ben Carson on Saturday delivered a forceful defense of conservatism, arguing for dramatically scaling back the federal government and saying that he wouldn't support Obamacare even if it worked. Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who has become a darling among grassroots conservatives, drew raucous applause from the crowd at the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines." CW: These people are so not racists. ...
... Topaz: "Donald Trump on Saturday slammed Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush as potential 2016 presidential candidates -- a move that delighted the crowd of Iowa conservatives and demonstrated the two candidates' potential liabilities in a GOP primary." ...
... Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register: "In a sit-down interview with The Des Moines Register, [Trump] said the two presumed GOP frontrunners, Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, are doomed to lose -- and he expressed regret that he hadn't run himself in 2012. Trump said he should be in the White House right now. 'I was leading in every poll. ... I regret that I didn't stay in,' he said.... 'I would've won the race against (President Barack) Obama. He would've been easy. Hillary (Clinton) is tougher to beat than Obama, but Hillary is very beatable.'"
... AND Let Us Not Forget the Lovely Host. Topaz: "Rep. Steve King, at the opening of his Iowa Freedom Summit, took another jab at so-called DREAMers, saying they come from a different 'planet.'... 'We're a great people. We have a vitality that's unequaled on the planet. We come from every possible planet, uh, every possible continent,' King said, to laughter from the crowd. After a brief pause, the congressman referenced the DREAM Action Coalition, an immigration advocacy group protesting the event in Des Moines. 'They're across the street, those people that come from the other planet,' he said, prompting more laughs and applause from the audience." CW: As I said, these people are so not racists. Never mind that they deem young people from Central America to be not human. ...
... Roger Simon: "The Republican Party's clown car has become a clown van.... At the Freedom Summit [in Des Moines] Saturday, two dozen speakers ground through 10 hours of speeches in front of more than 1,000 far-right Republicans.... Sarah Palin, who has been teasing the press with hints she might actually run for president, appeared to end much hope of that Saturday by delivering a 33-minute speech of such incoherence that even veteran Palin-watchers were puzzled.... I would provide some context, but there wasn't any. It is possible she was improperly inflated." CW: Really sexist, Roger, but I don't care. ...
... MEANWHILE, in the Brainland. Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Jeb Bush previewed the ideas at the heart of his likely presidential campaign, delivering a sweeping address [in San Francisco] Friday about the economy, foreign affairs and energy exploration, and challenging the country to question 'every aspect of how government works.' In his first major speech since stepping into the 2016 presidential sweepstakes in December, the Republican former Florida governor spoke confidently and in significant detail about the broad range of issues beginning to shape the campaign for the White House." ...
Our national identity is not based on race or some kind of exclusionary belief. Historically, the unwritten contract has been: Come legally to this country, embrace our values, learn English, work, and you can be as American as anybody else. Immigrants are an engine of economic vitality. -- Jeb Bush, Friday
God News
Richard Dawkins reads his fan mail. Thanks to P. D. Pepe for the link. These God-fearing folks sure use a lot of dirty words. Also, they seem absolutely obsessed with gay sex:
Dennis Augustine, a former Pentecostal minister, fires God. Via Helmant Mehta.
Way Beyond the Beltway
And Way Beyond Stupid
Ed Vulliamy of the Guardian: "Leaders of Jewish communities and Holocaust memorial groups in Britain and the Netherlands have reacted with rage and despair at the arrival in Rotterdam of the world's biggest ship, the Pieter Schelte, named after a Dutch officer in the Waffen-SS. The vice-president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jonathan Arkush, said: 'Naming such a ship after an SS officer who was convicted of war crimes is an insult to the millions who suffered and died at the hands of the Nazis. We urge the ship's owners to reconsider and rename the ship after someone more appropriate.'... Allseas is owned by a Dutchman, Edward Heerema, who is the son of Pieter Schelte Heerema."
News Ledes
Weather Channel: "New York City is under a blizzard warning and Boston is under a blizzard watch in anticipation of Winter Storm Juno, which will be a major snowstorm for the Northeast Monday through Tuesday night, lingering into Wednesday morning. Parts of the region will see blizzard conditions and more than 2 feet of snow."
Washington Post: "After five years of extreme austerity prescribed to treat an epidemic of debt, a battered but defiant Greece on Sunday emphatically rejected the medicine. With millions of voters turning out ... the country delivered a historic win to Syriza, a radical leftist party that could put Greece on a collision course with the rest of Europe. The expected showdown has already rattled Greek financial markets and may challenge the core principle behind Europe's currency union."
Los Angeles Times: "An electronic device that could be a drone has been recovered on the White House grounds, Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a briefing early Monday in New Delhi, India. Asked about media reports on the device, Earnest said the device 'doesn't pose any ongoing threat' to the Obama family. The Secret Service is reportedly investigating."
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Reader Comments (18)
Watching this Republican POTUS nomination game is causing a confusing set of emotions. Laugh, cry, puke: tough choice.
The Clown Car full of Republican wannabe candidates in Iowa is outdoing itself. Meanwhile, and I'm not happy to say this, Jeb Bush is starting to appear as a serious, articulate and well equipped challenger for the Republicans. It only takes one.
I, frankly, have had it with Maureen Dowd. I think she is still pissed off that Obama no longer invites her to ride on Air Force One. And why would he? She is angry, bitter and not in the least funny to be with. She probably has bored him silly in the wasted time he has spent with her in the past. She needs to retire and write a self-published memoir that nobody except her family, Tommy Freedom and our Miss Brooks will buy. And maybe that guy with the blow-up doll.
The dramatis personnae at the King's Iowa Corn- belt Ho-Down otherwise known as a freedom summit is straight out of a Mel Brooks film minus the beans––although the farts certainly were present. As an American I am embarrassed that my country has a bunch of mediocre (I am being kind here) persons running for the highest office . Santorum might sound as if he's making sense, but his stance on women's/religious issues are WAY off center. The fact that someone like Donald Trump can actually believe he could have been president is BEYOND belief, but telling in the sense that some think any fool can be be at the helm in this country. Ha!
Oh, dear, Maureen is at it again. She's churlish and girlish at the same time taking those mean stabs at the man (notice she uses the word "cat" at one point––a wee dig at black Jazz speech?) and having such a hard time growing up (I agree with Kate––think she's pissed she's not one of "the Potus circle) The irony is criticizing a grownup who has had to deal with children for most of his presidency. As far as foreign friends my understanding is he is respected if not always agreed with but the populace in many countries admire him and welcome him with much warmth as we see today in India.
From yesterday's reference to the film "American Sniper" and the imbroglio around it–– while talking to my mister about this we both remembered one of our favorite Vietnam centered films, "Casualties of War," a Brian De Palma film that depicts a soldier who suffers a crisis of conscience and sick remorse when the men on his patrol capture, rape and eventually murder a Vietnamese girl and try to cover up the crime. (I recall sobbing during my viewing of this film–-very powerful) I mention this because Tahibi in his article is critical about American films not depicting the other side of our wars. We also recalled an Eastwood film about Pearl Harbor that divided the film into parts–-the Japanese story and the American.
@PD Pepe: Thanks for the heads-up on "Casualties of War." You can watch it on YouTube for a mere three bucks. (And if you have a Google dongle, Blue Ray or other such device you can throw it to your teevee.)
Marie
Michael Tomasky has an excellent column on the moral case for estate taxes.
He also places the debate in historical perspective:
"The conservative position here is not only immoral. It’s un-American, and explicitly so. Our Founding Fathers, as a group, loved inheritance taxes. Loved them. And it stands to reason—they were founding a nation that would throw off the old weights and chains of Europe. Those weight and chains very much included laws of primogeniture and inheritance that resulted in all those layabout royals and their massive estates. America, they vowed, would not be like that. Social position would be earned, not inherited."
Re; Class half empty; when Donald Dump says that half the emigrants are criminals I got to ask about the other half. Church goers? Hard workers? Salsa of the earth? Come on Mr. Dump, if you had a half of mind you'd still be a half short.
All of people listening to him agree and cheer; my dollar to your doughnut, not more than five or ten have ever had a real conversation with a emigrant. No, "clean my toilets doesn't count." Nor does "pick my grapes, haul my trash, butcher my pigs" (balls removed by girl wearing plastic bags for shoes, odd.) or all the rest of the shit work that half the emigrants that are not criminals are told to do.
When you listen, you learn; turns out little Hector is doing good in math, Jesus is a good futball player and wants to go to community college, Esperanza loves music and studies the voila, Martin is very sick and the doctor bills are killing his Dad, and yea, Ricardo is going to county on a grand theft auto.
You see, Mr Dump, we are the new tide, most good, some bad, but we are the tide of tomorrow. You and the people that listen you know nothing about us. No worries here, we are the tide, put your best hair piece on, take your throne down to the water's edge and in your best voice command the tide to turn. Good luck.
Thanks so much, Victoria, for that wonderfully written piece on estate taxes. Tomasky is right when he says Democrats should put that info in their quivers and use those arrows when need be.
@Victoria: Thanks. I'll try to remember to link this in tomorrow's Commentariat. I think what we're seeing -- again & again -- is the Democrats' failure to market.
I checked some polling on the estate tax, & tho I didn't find anything very recent, I did find that the majority of Americans want to repeal the estate tax. I wonder how many of them are anticipating receiving inheritances of over $5.43 million. Not many, I'll wager, even if Americans are notoriously optimistic.
The problem is, as Jonathan Gruber said, "the stupidity of the American people," aided & abetted by the stupidity of the Democratic party. If the Democratic party had explained -- in simple slogans -- the current status of the estate tax, & if they had explained, as Tomasky does, that our venerated Founders loved the estate tax, I suspect those Tea party fanatics would be aiming their pitchforks at Republicans who are fighting this tax on the richy-rich.
Marie
Pretty sure I know the answer, but just to be clear...... Which is beyond stupid? Naming the ship after an SS officer, or objecting to it?
@ A. Nonny Mouse:
Which is beyond stupid?
(a) Naming the ship after an SS officer
(b) Objecting to it
(c) Your question
More than one answer may be correct.
Marie
Go screw yourself, Marie.
Don't be offended because your use of language was imprecise and I happened to point that out.
You must have a surfeit of readers that you feel safe in alienating so many.
Wow! Two ships in the night...
Mike Huckabee reassuring the yokels that global warming amounts to little more than a sunburn is like Rasputin convincing the Romanovs that they had nothing to fear from either Germany or the Bolsheviks.
Good job Mike. Just remember what happened to The other mad monk.
Now that Indian PM Modi has demonstrated a positive connection with Obama and an interest in improving relations between two of the world's largest and most influential democracies, look for the wing nuts to ask for a declaration of war on that country and for the Fox shills to "uncover" numerous scandalous revelations about Modi.
The friend of our enemy, etc.
As usual it will have zero to do with what's best for the country, but everything to do with their irrational, undying hatred for a black president who recently told them, in no uncertain terms, to select the largest nearby object and ram it up their collective ass.
@James Singer: Actually, I thought the question was a joke pointing out that, syntactically speaking, I could have meant either one. So I answered with a joke.
Well, the joke's on me. I was heretofore unaware that self-described vermin were both thick-headed & thin-skinned.
Marie
I used to love Maureen Dowd. I liked her sharp tongue and some of her more acidic remarks directed at the same people that I longed to insult, but I, too, have become tired of her ceaseless zingers directed at Obama. I no longer read her columns, directing them into the same bin wherein live Ross D and David B... It seems we can no longer count on The New York Times to feature only the best. Maybe only the tired, the smug, the outdated...meh. I much prefer the Chex mix...
Be sure and watch 60 minutes tonight. The Boehner and the
Turtle are scheduled to embarrass themselves.