The Commentariat -- July 21
I've posted an Open Thread on Off Times Square.
Fareed Zakaria: "There was no golden age in Washington when people were more high-minded than they are today. But 40 years ago, the rules and organizing framework of politics made it easier for the two parties to work together. Since then, a series of changes has led to the narrowcasting of American politics." ...
... Zakaria recommends this piece by former Rep. Mickey Edwards (R-Okla.) in The Atlantic on how to get Congress to start governing again.
Suicide Watch
My gut tells me that we'll need a weekend of drama - maybe a weekend of the government not paying its bills - politicians need drama to make something happen. As soon as Social Security checks don't go out, the politics will change. I suspect it'll take artificial drama to get closure past the house.... Boehner understands that a shutdown is bad for his caucus and that there's something viable short of a shutdown but right now... it's a 50-50 chance that we go into a few days of disruption. -- Judd Gregg, former Senator (R-N.H.)
... Lisa Mascaro of the Los Angeles Times, in a straight news report, "... House Republicans face increasing political isolation in their opposition to sweeping budget reforms that President Obama has pushed for and polls show most Americans now prefer. Republican resistance to compromise has turned a significant bloc of voters against them, according to several new polls, and has frustrated members of their own leadership as well as establishment GOP figures." ...
... Jonathan Allen & Manu Raju of Politico: "Senate Republicans are starting to send a message to their increasingly isolated House counterparts: It’s time to abandon the hard line or face a public backlash." ...
... E. J. Dionne: "Our capital looks like a lunatic asylum to many of our own citizens and much of the world.... Boehner and Cantor don’t have time to stretch things out to appease their unappeasable members, and they should settle their issues with each other later. Nor do we have time to work through the ideas from the Gang of Six. The Gang has come forward too late with too little detail. Their suggestions should be debated seriously, not rushed through." ...
... Greg Sargent: "Some eighty House Republicans have now signed a letter calling on GOP leaders not to even let the McConnell plan get to the floor for a vote." ...
... Steve Benen: "So, where does that leave us? The House won’t pass a clean bill; it won’t pass a Grand Bargain; it won’t pass the Gang of Six proposal; and at least 80 House Republicans are prepared to try to kill the Plan B compromise." ...
... BUT Jonathan Bernstein, in the Washington Post, makes the case: "What we’re really seeing right now is Republicans attempting to implement an organized retreat and surrender." ...
... Mike Lillis of The Hill: "House Democratic leaders are attacking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) debt-ceiling fallback plan, characterizing it as a political ruse intended to scapegoat Democrats and taint them at the polls." ...
... John Schoen of NBC News: "... Congress and the White House may have passed the point of no return in avoiding a U.S. government debt downgrade. If Uncle Sam loses his coveted AAA rating, the cost of borrowing goes up, the economy slows further and jobs get even tougher to find." ...
... Louise Story & Julie Creswell of the New York Times: "... on Wall Street, financial players are devising doomsday plans in case the clock runs out. These companies are taking steps to reduce the risk of holding or angling for ways to make profits from any possible upheaval. And even if a deal is reached in Washington, some in the industry fear that the dickering has already harmed the country’s market credibility."
... Meanwhile, here's one of the ads, produced & paid for by labor unions, targeting Congressional Teabaggers:
Lara Moritz of KMBC-TV, Kansas City, Missouri, interviews President Obama on a wide range of issues. Video here.
Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone: "I keep hearing is that there is a growing, and real, possibility that a second 'one-time tax holiday' will be approved for corporations as part of whatever sordid deal emerges from the debt-ceiling negotiations.... Tax repatriation is one of the all-time long cons and also one of the most supremely evil achievements of the Washington lobbying community.... We’re seriously talking about defaulting on our debt, and cutting Medicare and Social Security, so that Google can keep paying its current 2.4 percent effective tax rate and GE, a company that received a $140 billion bailout en route to worldwide 2010 profits of $14 billion, can not only keep paying no taxes at all , but receive a $3.2 billion tax credit from the federal government. And nobody appears to give a shit." Thanks to reader Russ C. for the link.
Flight Global: "When the Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down today some 3,200 workers at NASA contractors waved goodbye to an icon of American technology, and to their jobs. Another 12,000 jobs had already gone in the run-up to the end of the 30-year programme, which at its peak in 1992 employed about 30,000 people, inside and outside NASA. All that will be left are about 3,500 civil service jobs that have depended on the Shuttle." And not just any jobs -- the expertise that is being laid off be lost forever. ...
... Judith Smelser of WMFE Radio: "It's been more than seven years since President George W. Bush announced the end of the Space Shuttle program. Since then, local leaders have been able to lure about 1,600 new aerospace jobs to the Brevard County area to help absorb some of the displaced shuttle workforce. But the total number of shuttle-related layoffs is expected to approach 9,000." CW: I these figures are for the part of the program centered in Florida; many more jobs have been lost in Houston & other sites. ...
... St. Petersburg Times Editors: "NASA faces a difficult challenge and so does Florida. As the shuttle era ends, the agency needs to find a way to prevent a brain drain from undercutting a national effort to venture into deep space. The phaseout of the shuttle means the loss of at least 7,000 space-related jobs along the east coast of Florida."
New York Times Editors: "In an encouraging development for women’s health, an advisory panel of leading experts has recommended that all insurers be required to offer contraceptives as well as other preventive services free of charge under the new health care law. The Obama administration seems inclined to follow the advice, which is even better news. The panel’s recommendation has drawn strong opposition from the Roman Catholic Church and socially conservative groups.... Their objections should not deter the administration...."
Jonathan Turley, in a New York Times op-ed, advocates for plural marriages. Turley is lead counsel for the family of Kody Brown, whose family is the subject of a reality TV show. "They are not asking for the state to recognize their marriages, Turley writes. "They are simply asking for the state to leave them alone."
Right Wing World *
Seung Kim & Marin Cogan of Politico: "Several House Democratic women on Wednesday called on Rep. Allen West to apologize to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz for his e-mail that called her 'vile,' 'despicable' and 'not a Lady.' The lawmakers said they were sending a letter to House GOP leadership.... The group of five House Democrats said West’s e-mail was indicative of a larger problem – both inside Congress and out – of gender discrimination in the workplace." ...
... SO, West tells the Huffington Post that he had "just apologized" to Wasserman Schultz. And she says,
... SO, now West's office says he did not apologize & he demands an apology from Wasserman Schultz. Roll Call includes a transcript of the audio tape of West's conversation with the HuffPost, in which he twice indicates he apologized. Subsequently, in a fundraising letter titled "vile despicable and unprofessional,” West wrote, “[T]hose three words sum up my feelings about Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. By now, you’ve probably heard the story. But I wanted you to hear it from me." Wasserman Schultz is “an attack dog for the liberal, progressive wing of the Democratic Party." He then solicited “$25 or more” for his campaign.
Sen. Al Franken, at a hearing on the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal DOMA, addresses a report written by witness Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family -- whom Republicans invited to be an "expert" witness at the show-and-tell). In his report, Minnery cites an HHS study as "proof" that children are better off with opposite-sex parents. Thanks to Think Progress. Enjoy:
... AND, Igor Volsky of Think Progress: Sen. Patrick Leahy forces Minnery to admit that "children living with same-sex parents are hindered by the lack of legal protections and benefits that are denied to them by DOMA." With video.
Steve Benen: some of Eric Cantor's rich donors have contacted him & urged him to go along with tax hikes for the rich; i.e., themselves. "So..., the White House wants the wealthy to pay a little more; most the Senate wants the wealthy to pay a little more; the Gang of Six expects the wealthy to pay a little more; polls show the vast majority of the American public wants the wealthy to pay a little more; economists believe having the wealthy pay a little more won’t hurt the economy; and the wealthy themselves are comfortable with paying a little more. But Eric Cantor and House Republicans still consider the very idea outrageous."
Dave Weigel of Slate: "Michele Bachmann's campaign has sent out a letter from the attending physician of the House, Brian Monahan. In it, he writes that Bachmann is able to control her condition with sumatriptan and odansetron." Includes facsimile of Monahan's letter. CW: a nice reminder that a candidate who puts repealing the Affordable Care Act at the top of her agenda has a terrific, publicly-funded doctor of her very own. ...
Art by Dave Weigel.... Update. Gabriella Schwarz of CNN: "Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty walked back earlier criticism of rival Michele Bachmann's migraines on Wednesday, calling the attention over her headaches 'a sideshow.' Earlier in the day the former Minnesota governor said 'candidates are going to have to be able to demonstrate they can do all of the job, all of the time.'"
* Where lies and subterfuge are cool and where you support the oligarchs but they don't support you.
News Ledes
New York Times: " and the Republican House speaker, John A. Boehner, once again struggled against resistance from their respective parties on Thursday as they tried to shape a sweeping deficit-reduction agreement that could avert a government default in less than two weeks." ...
... Washington Post: "Democrats reacted with outrage as word filtered to Capitol Hill, saying the emerging agreement appeared to violate their pledge not to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits as well as Obama’s promise not to make deep cuts in programs for the poor without extracting some tax concessions from the rich."
New York Times: "After years of resistance, European leaders agreed Thursday to reduce Greece’s debt burden in a last-ditch effort to preserve and stem a broader financial panic."
New York Times: Greg Miskiw, "a key figure in ’s widening phone hacking scandal who had worked as an editor at surfaced in Florida on Thursday, saying he was preparing to return to Britain and was talking to the British police.
New York Times: "Expressing frustration with the paralysis at the national and international levels on setting policies to combat , Mayor announced on Thursday that he would donate $50 million to the ’s campaign to shut down coal-fired power plants across the United States."
At 12:55 pm ET Jay Carney said that reports there was a debt ceiling deal were incorrect. No link.
AP: "Germany and France have overcome differences over how to combat the continent's debt crises ahead of what many in the markets are terming a make or break summit of EU leaders Thursday.... Despite indications earlier this week that a solution may not emerge, some sort of deal appears to have been thrashed out between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy."
AND in the U.S., Teabaggers Get EVEN LOONIER. Daily Kos: "The Federal Aviation Administration could shut down on Friday because House Republicans are tying its funding to an anti-democratic (note the small "d") provision to hinder union organizing. The anti-union provision is not included in the Senate bill, and President Obama has said he might veto it. If they don't reach an agreement, the FAA's operating authority expires on Friday and it shuts down."
AP: "Atlantis and four astronauts returned from the International Space Station ... Thursday, bringing an end to NASA's 30-year shuttle journey.... A record crowd of 2,000 gathered near the landing strip, thousands more packed the space center and countless others watched history unfold from afar as NASA's longest-running spaceflight program came to a close." New York Times story here.
Los Angeles Times: "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, opening Thursday, is the first major agency launched in Washington in nearly a decade and the first since the early 1970s that is specifically focused on American consumers."
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