The Commentariat -- July 28, 2012
P. D. Pepe, et al., inspired me. I just put up a NYTX column on David Brooks' Lessons from the Olympics. The NYTX from page is here.
The President's Weekly Address:
... The transcript is here.
On the Raid on Osama bin Ladin's Compound
At the end of the day, make no mistake about it, it was the president of the United States that shouldered the burden of this operation, that made the hard decision.... The president of the United States is fantastic. I'm not a political guy. I've worked in both [administrations,] very much enjoyed working with President Bush and I very much enjoy working for President Obama. This isn't about politics. This is about a Commander in Chief who I have the opportunity to engage with on a routine basis.... I'll tell you as an interested observer of this, [Obama's national security team] were magnificent how they handled this start-to-finish. The president asked all the right questions.... The president gave me ample time to prepare once the conversations were through. -- Adm. Bill McRaven, U.S. Special Operations Commander, in a rare interview
Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order. -- Mitt Romney
Commenting on the weak economy, Paul Krugman publishes a chart, which he says "isn't a picture of an economy hobbled by Big Government; it’s a picture of an economy hobbled by premature austerity." CW: The hobblers-in-chief mostly have an (R) after their names.
Yo, Democrats -- It Pays to Fight Back. Jennifer Haberkorn & Kathryn Smith of Politico: "This spring, Republicans were on a mission: repeal the Obama administration's rule to require employers to cover birth control. House Speaker John Boehner even stood on the floor of the House in February and promised that Congress would act.... But now, with the rule set to take effect Wednesday..., few on Capitol Hill are saying anything about it at all. And that House vote to block the rule? Never happened -- and isn't in the works either.... What looked like a great attack line against the president on religious liberty -- and a chance to rally evangelical and Catholic voters against President Barack Obama — quickly morphed into another example of what the left dubbed the Republicans' 'war on women.'" ...
... BUT Haberkorn & Brett Norman: "A U.S. district judge in Colorado on Friday blocked the Obama administration from enforcing its requirement that a Colorado employer provide its workers with insurance coverage of contraceptives without a co-pay. The judge, [a Jimmy Carter appointee,] issued a three-month temporary injunction, allowing for further legal review.... The ruling applies to one specific business, and does not stop the whole rule from going into effect next Wednesday."
Part of the Olympics opening ceremonies. No mention of the Mittster, except that some British pundits were referring to him as Mr. Bean. The "real" Mr. Bean does have a cameo here (and besides, Mrs. Fromtheheartland [see today's Comments] gets it exactly right):
... Guardian story here. And a good overview by Sarah Lyall of the New York Times. ...
... Charlotte Higgins of the Guardian: As Danny Boyle's extraordinarily bonkers Olympic opening ceremony progressed, you could feel left-of-centre Britain gradually giving into its curious and often unintentionally hilarious charms, while Tory Britain little by little grew more enraged.... It was Boyle's impassioned poem of praise to the country he would most like to believe in. One that is tolerant, multicultural, fair and gay friendly and holds the principles of the welfare state stoutly at its heart. One that is simultaneously silly and earnest, mainstream and subversive, 'high' and 'low' in its culture." CW: hope it made Mitt uncomfortable. ...
... The Daily Mail has more commentary here. ...
... Queen Elizabeth II welcomes dignitaries, including Michelle Obama:
David Maraniss of the Washington Post: President Obama's "virulent detractors ... are the frauds and fabricators," not Obama. ...
... Dan Pfeiffer of the White House: "Now, normally we wouldn't address a rumor that's so patently false, but just this morning the Washington Post's Charles Krauthammer repeated this ridiculous claim in his column. He said President Obama 'started his Presidency by returning to the British Embassy the bust of Winston Churchill that had graced the Oval Office.' This is 100% false. The bust still in the White House. In the Residence. Outside the Treaty Room":
President Obama shows British PM David Cameron a bust of Sir Winston Churchill in the private residence of the White House, July 20, 2010. White House photo.
... Randall Gross of Little Green Footballs: "Mitt Romney also got this totally wrong -- and unfortunately, ABC News repeated the falsehood without catching it: 'President Obama returned the bust in 2009, drawing ire from the British press who said that the move had made some leaders "nervous" about what the gesture meant for U.S.-U.K. relations. The bust had a home in the Oval Office during President George W. Bush's administration.'" ...
... Here's the ABC News report by Emily Friedman, which is interesting in its own right as she links Romney to the unnamed advisors who criticized President Obama for not getting the "special Anglo-Saxon connection" between the U.S. & the U.K. Friedman, despite the dogged reporting of her colleague Jake Tapper (see below), has not corrected her report. ...
... Markos Moulitsas: "... only in America does the self-styled 'patriotic American' party get insanely outraged when a bust of a foreign leader gets replaced with that of an American president. And a Republican president, at that." ...
... Jake Tapper of ABC News: "Like a plot twist in a sitcom, IT TURNS OUT THERE ARE TWO CHURCHILL BUSTS!!!!! The one in the White House residence was a gift to the White House from the British Embassy during the Johnson administration. The other one was loaned to President George W. Bush by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.... How did I figure out what was really going on? I never gave in. Never, never, never never. In nothing great or small, large or petty." (CW: See also Pfeiffer's post on this.)
Presidential Race
Every Olympics is ready, I don't care whatever he [Romney] said. I swear, sometimes I think some Americans shouldn't leave the country. Are you kidding me, stay home if you don't know what to say. -- Carl Lewis, Nine-time Olympic gold-medal winner
At this rate, Mitt Romney may provoke an international incident with the United Kingdom by the weekend. -- Christina Boyle & Jonathan Lamire of the New York Daily News
The opening ceremonies aren't until Friday, but Romney is already in medal contention for the gaffe-cathlon. -- Republican strategist
It's not good for us as a country -- it's not good for him -- but as a country to have somebody that's nominated by one of the principal parties to go over and insult everybody. -- Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Senate Majority Leader
We Really Don't Care about You People. Chris McGreal of the Guardian: "Mitt Romney's campaign is scrambling to limit the damage from his gaffe-strewn visit to London -- which has drawn mocking put-downs from the city's mayor and the British prime minister, and 'Mitt the twit' headlines in the UK -- by saying that Americans don't care what the foreign press prints.... Romney also avoided the risk of further gaffes by declining to make any public comments when he met the Irish prime minister, Enda Kenny, in London."
Mark Mardell of BBC News: Romney's "team are not yet willing to talk on or off the record about the drubbing he got at the hands of the British press. Not wishing to indulge in even a little face-saving spin must be a sign of deep trauma. I'm told Mr Romney thought the opening ceremony was 'absolutely amazing', and wanted to thank the organisers for a spectacular show. But as no cameras were allowed near Mr Romney, we don't know how he felt during the Olympics' literally all-dancing celebration of the single-payer health scheme (the NHS). This musical tribute to what he calls the 'European entitlement society' can't have made him stand up and cheer."
E. J. Dionne: "Does this trip make any sense at all for Romney? It is very hard to see how Romney will ever win the debate over foreign policy.... I think Romney will want to stay away from foreign policy. The more we talk about it, the better Obama will do."
Dana Milbank: "It's understandable that Romney would be reluctant to discuss dressage. Seamus may have made him look odd, or insensitive. Rafalca makes him look like a super-rich playboy.... Nothing says 'man of the people' quite like horse ballet.... The candidate's disavowal of dressage as 'Ann's sport' isn't quite right.... Rafalca's trainer, Jan Ebeling, said Mitt Romney selected the music for the horse's routine at an international competition; Ebeling ... said [Mitt Romney] 'really enjoys the horses.' Romney joined his wife at an Olympic qualifying dressage event in April 2008, and the couple declared a $77,731 loss on their 2010 tax returns for their share of Rafalca's care."
CW: here's something I missed. Judith Ireland of Australia's National Times (July 23): After meeting in the U.S. with Australia's foreign minister, Sen. Bob Carr, Romney told attendees at a fundraiser that Carr had told him about his and other Australians' concern that "America is in decline." "But despite headlines today such as 'Mitt Romney Gets Grim Warning From Australian Leader', a spokesman for Senator Carr says Australia's Foreign Minister was talking up the US economy, not talking it down. That is, any fears that Australia's foreign minister has been overseas criticising a key alliance partner, would be misplaced." So either Bob Carr is lying because he got caught privately dissing an ally while on its soil, or the Republican nominee for president is completely misrepresenting a private conversation he had with a leader of one of our closest allies. I know what my guess is: Mitt Romney is dangerous even out of office. That's before he got to "England" and further embarrassed the U.S.A.
What Friends Are for. Irina Ivanova & Wayne Barrett of Mother Jones look into Romney's long-time friendship/business relationship with Kem Gardner, a Salt Lake City real estate developer tangentially implicated in the 2002 Olympics scandal but who still managed to secure the Olympics job for Romney. Romney returned the favor by pushing through a lucrative no-bid contract for Gardner for a key real estate deal associated with the Olympics employing a method that specifically violated Romney's own ethics rules (it's legal if the president does it). In return, Gardner has been a big financial booster -- sometimes making illegal contributions -- to Romney's political career. Thanks to contributor Dave S. for the link.
Jonathan Chait takes one more stab at "You Didn't Build That" to explain why it's working. He says the clip makes Obama sound like an "angry black man," the leader of the cabal of people of color who are robbing the middle class of their stake in the country. "The entire key to the rise of the Republican Party from the mid-sixties through the nineties was that white Americans came to see the Democrats as taking money from the hard-working white middle class and giving it to a lazy black underclass. Reactivating that frame is still the most mortal threat to the Democrats and to Obama. That is why Obama is reacting so urgently to reestablish himself." CW: I think Chait is right; this is a lie that feeds into the Great Republican Stereotype. It's disgusting at every level, but the GOP pitch has been disgusting at every level for decades, so it's nothing new. This is not to disparage individual Republicans but the party's essential divisive, racist strategy. That's a lot more un-American than telling lies about where the President put Churchill's bust. ...
... A related piece from Chait pointed me to this remarkable June 1 post by Sasha Issenberg, in Slate. Even puppies can be the victims of racism. Really. ...
... AND, if this Romney interview, cited by Chait, is a harbinger of things to come, Romney will incite a Middle East catastrophe before the week is out. I hope Obama doesn't have to send in the Marines to rescue Romney from whatever trouble he instigates. I find it entirely in character for Romney to be arguing for less democracy & more benevolent Arab dictators, as seems to be the case. ...
... Harriet Sherwood of the Guardian: "An American military strike against Iran's nuclear sites should not be ruled out, Mitt Romney has said in interviews with the Israeli media before his visit to the Jewish state. He also suggested it was not 'right' for the US to act as a negotiator between Israel and the Palestinians, and he accused President Barack Obama of publicly criticising its 'friend and ally'.... Presidential candidates traditionally refrain from attacking their opponents while abroad but, in an interview given before his departure from the US, Romney denounced Obama for public criticism of Israel."
Donovan Slack of Politico: "A highly touted Gallup poll released Thursday suggested that business owners had soured on President Obama with their approval of him dropping 6 percent in just three months.... But Gallup did not take into account party affiliation in its samples, and according to data provided to Politico by the polling organization, more Republicans and fewer Democrats were surveyed for the second quarter results."
Wilful Ignorance. Amy Bingham of ABC News: "Three and a half years into President Obama's first term as president, half of Americans cannot accurately say what religion he is, according to a poll released this week. Only 49 percent of respondents said that Obama was Christian while 17 percent inaccurately said he was Muslim. Nearly one-third of respondents said they did not know the president's religion.... More people - 60 percent - knew that Romney, who has not held elected office in a decade, was Mormon...."
Congressional Races
Gail Collins continues her North Dakota sojourn, tagging along with U.S. Senate candidate Heidi Heitkamp. ...
Collins mentions this guy:
The other happy Senate surprise for the Democrats is Arizona, where the party somehow came up with a Hispanic physician who is a disabled Vietnam veteran and former surgeon general for the Bush administration, as well as the hero of several dramatic rescues, during one of which he shot a deranged suspected murderer. I believe I speak for all the political hopefuls in America when I say that the bar for a potential upset win is being set unacceptably high. ...
... Read "Rich's Story." It's -- literally -- a made-for-TV movie. Notice how Carmona never says in his ad that he's running as a Democrat. --
"Let's go to work!":
... Justin Sink of The Hill: "The ad, which argues for additional spending on infrastructure and education, is intended to counter a spot released by the Brown campaign earlier this week that linked Warren to President Obama's 'you didn't build that' comment. "
Right Wing World
New York magazine: "What Makes Us Exceptional -- A debate between Barack Obama and the GOP, as culled from public remarks."
Local News
Lucy Morgan of the Tampa Bay Times: "In a wide-ranging deposition that spanned two days in late May, former Florida Republican Party chairman Jim Greer denounced some party officials as liars and 'whack-a-do, right-wing crazies' as he described turmoil in the months before his resignation. Greer said some GOP leaders were meeting to discuss ways they could suppress black votes while others were constantly scheming against each other." CW: this is some deposition.
News Ledes
Strange News. New York Times: "A kidnapped man was found bound and gagged in a police detective's garage in Queens, leading to the detective's suspension and the arrest of four other men, the authorities said on Saturday.
Al Jazeera: "Syrian government forces have launched a ground assault in the largest city Aleppo, and are bombarding rebel-held areas with heavy artillery...."
BBC News: "Ethnic clashes in southern Ethiopia are reported to have left at least 18 people dead and 12 others injured. More than 20,000 people have crossed into Kenya to escape the fighting, the Kenyan Red Cross says."
New York Times: "Despite warnings of a potentially crippling cyberattack, a group of lawmakers led by Senator John McCain has successfully weakened bipartisan legislation that the Obama administration said was crucial to protecting computer systems responsible for operating the nation's critical infrastructure.... Mr. McCain ... and others on behalf of the business community forced Democratic and Republican supporters of the legislation to drop provisions that would have given the federal government the power to enforce minimum standards on systems that run power plants, air traffic control systems, dams and similar facilities."
Chicago Sun-Times: "U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who has been on medical leave from Congress for more than six weeks, is now being treated at the prestigious Mayo Clinic in Minnesota 'for extensive inpatient evaluation for depression and gastrointestinal issues.'"
New York Times (via NBC): "Apple, which has stumbled in its efforts to get into social media, has talked with Twitter in recent months about making a strategic investment in it."
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Reader Comments (6)
The Mitt keeps hitting the fan:
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/romney-kem-gardner-2002-olympics-deal
Quote of the week for me was an NPR report this morning and because I can't find the quote I'll paraphrase:: The Olympics has survived two world wars and a terrorist attack, and Mitt Romney thinks he saved it because of a financial scandal? I don't think so.
Has anyone else noted how cozy Romney seems with the health care industry?
Great Britain salutes its National Health Service in the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. Now that's civilized.
We were watching the end of the opening ceremony and my wife said to me, "Mitt does not belong there!" She always has been direct and to the point. Rmoney could no more relate to the essence of the olympic spirit than . . . well I just don't know who to compare him to.
Read something interesting in the August 16 NYRB by Michael Tomasky reviewing a book by Robert Draper: "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the US House of Representatives." Draper claims that about "fifteen Republicans gathered, along with Newt Gingrich and their savant-pollster Frank Luntz, at a lobbyists' expense account restaurant not far from the Capitol on Jan. 20, 2009" during the time the Obamas' were going from ball to ball dancing the night away. The above group resolved that their position would be simple:
"They would take back the House in November 2010. They would use the House as the Republican spear point to morally wound President Obama in 2011. Then they would retake the White House and the Senate in 2012."
And Paul Ryan made the crucial strategic point: "The only way we'll succeed is if we are united [shades of Lincoln again and his house divided phrase]. If we tear ourselves apart, we're finished."
As Tomasky says: "So there it was: before the new president had made one concrete proposal Republicans already agreed that they would oppose him and would do so, to the extent possible, unanimously. I've not seen this dinner reported anywhere else, and if Draper has it right, it confirms liberals' worst suspicions."
Draper seem privy to a whole lot of information about who did what and who said that, but we wonder as does Tomasky how accurate some of his tales are since he neglects to name sources, plus he takes himself out of the story having us wonder, if he wasn't there himself, who gave him the information. However, much of what he does tell us has been fact checked and the dinner with the schemers sounds legitimate having witnessed the outcome of this front and center. Too bad someone couldn't make a nifty video of all those guys sitting around a table planning the demise of a newly elected president while chowing down on pork butts and drinking good American ale. It could even include dancing.
P.S. High fives for our detective in residence, Ms. Burns, dogged damsel determined to get to the bottom (or top) of this Bust business. Oh, what a delight to discover that Churchill number one still resides in its glory in the White House and its clone was the one who sailed back to Tony or as David Brooks likes to say, England. Rest in peace to both busts.
loved the way the Olympic opening ceremony acknowledged the roles of "the people" - laborers and women suffragists - in the success of their country and how they took pride in their national healthcare, almost thumbing their nose at any detractors. Their British pride was infectious and effective at showing how "this is for everyone."