The Commentariat -- July 28

The question for today's Off Times Square is "How's Obama Doing?"

The Washington Post has a handy chart that compares the Boehner & Reid deficit reduction/debt ceiling proposals.

** The Plot to Kill Social Security. Robert Scheer of TruthDig brings clarity to the debt ceiling crisis, & demonstrates how Republicans, Wall Street & the ratings agencies are conspiring to use "what should have been an uneventful moment" to cut social programs which are entirely unrelated to the debt and deficit. CW: this is really a good plot summary, with an emphasis on "plot."

** S&P Runs the Debt Limit Show. Bob Reich: Ratings agency "Standard & Poor’s has ... warned it might lower the nation’s credit rating even if Democrats and Republicans make a deal to raise the debt ceiling. Standard & Poor’s insists any deal must also contain a credible, bipartisan plan to reduce the nation’s long-term budget deficit by $4 trillion — something neither Harry Reid’s nor John Boehner’s plans do.... If Standard & Poor’s had been doing the job it was supposed to be doing between 2000 and 2008, the federal budget wouldn’t be in a crisis — and Standard & Poor’s wouldn’t be threatening the United States with a downgrade.... So why has Standard & Poor’s decided now’s the time to crack down on the federal budget — when it gave free passes to Wall Street’s risky securities and George W. Bush’s giant tax cuts for the wealthy, thereby contributing to the very crisis its now demanding be addressed? Could it have anything to do with the fact that the Street pays Standard & Poor’s bills?"

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz talks to Politico about Republicans' irresponsibility re: raising the debt limit (audio only):

... Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) says conservative members of Congress are "deceiving the American" people with their "bizarro" assertion that the Senate can incorporate a balanced budget amendment in the deficit reduction bill. (McCain favors a BBA):

     ... Here's a print story by Shannon Travis of CNN.

... David Corn of Mother Jones: Speaker Boehner, other Republicans & Karl Rove's Crossroads/GPS (in an ad) perpetuate the "Obama wants a blank check" lie, and the media let them get away with it.

Ta-Nahisi Coates explains the Emancipation Proclamation to President Obama, who views it as a good example of practical compromise:

Rendering the hallowed Proclamation as a seminal act of hippy-punching is understandably attractive to the Very Serious People of Washington. But, in Mr. Obama’s case, it also evinces a narrow politicocentric view of democracy that holds that the first duty of a loyal opposition is to stay on message and fall in line.

NEW. Class Warfare, Billionaire Edition. Michael Winship of Salon: it is so wrong to pick on those nice gentlemen who brought us the financial crisis & got filthy rich bringing down the world economy, paid little for it & are back in the money again.

NEW. Karen Garcia must have a mole in Obama's Chicago campaign HQ (maybe it's frequent Obama shill NYT commenter Winning Progressive) because she sure is good a digging up first drafts of Obama campaign e-mails. This one from Jim Messina is a hoot.

NEW. Glenn Greenwald: "... every Terrorist plot is immediately exploited as a pretext for expanding America's Security State; the response to every plot: we need to sacrifice more liberties, increase secrecy, and further empower the government. The reaction to the heinous Oslo attack by Norway's political class has been exactly the opposite: a steadfast refusal to succumb to hysteria and a security-über-alles mentality." Read the whole post. ...

... Linda Greenhouse on how the terrorist attack in Oklahoma City, combined with the ascendance of a conservative Congress, a shell-shocked president and a compliant Supreme Court, severely limited the Constitutional right of habeas corpus.

Chris Matthews talks to Reagan/Bush I economic advisor Bruce Bartlett about the sources of the deficit & other stuff related to the economy. Thanks to reader Bob M.:

What about Bears? Kirk Johnson of the New York Times: as climate change forces more and more bears into areas occupied by humans & as more & more people take advantage of recreational areas that are bear habitats, expect more bear-human encounters, not all of which will end happily. Public policy varies from incident to incident. CW: a bear visits my lake cottage regularly, and I don't like it at all.

News Ledes

Legal Times: In Washington, D.C., "U.S. District Judge Richard Leon issued a series of orders this morning denying motions to dismiss or relocate former U.S. Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod's defamation lawsuit against conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart."

Politico: Democrats are proposing a compromise debt-ceiling bill in which "Congress could still get a second crack at voting on the debt limit within months. But rather than linking the vote to Congress approving the recommendations of a new 12-member committee — as it would be in Boehner’s bill — Democrats prefer McConnell’s proposal that allows President Barack Obama to lift the debt ceiling unless two-thirds of both chambers override his veto of a disapproval resolution, the officials said."

Guardian: "Sara Payne, whose eight-year-old daughter Sarah was abducted and murdered in July 2000, has been told by Scotland Yard that they have found evidence to suggest she was targeted by the News of the World's investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who specialised in hacking voicemail." Payne, whom News of the world editor Rebekah Brooks had befriended, previously had been told she was not a target, but new information disputes that. Brooks gave Payne a telephone.

New York Times: "Though [House Republicans] appeared to be just shy of enough votes to assure passage of the [Boehner] plan that would allow a debt limit increase in two stages, lawmakers and top aides expressed confidence they could win over enough members to prevent a humiliating defeat for the speaker and the party."

     ** ... Update: story has a new lede: "House Speaker John A. Boehner abruptly delayed an expected vote on Republican debt ceiling legislation late Thursday as it became clear the Republican leadership did not have the votes needed for passage."

New York Times: "Officials said Wednesday that the [Treasury] department would address [how it will pay bills] ... later this week unless it became clear that Congress would vote by Aug. 2 to let the government borrow more money.... The implication is that the government will need to pay bills in the order that they come due."

Time: House & Senate leaders are working behind the scenes to merge the Boehner debt/deficit bill with a proposed Senate bill. ...

... Washington Post: "House Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn (S.C.), Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (Conn.) and Caucus Vice-Chairman Xavier Becerra (Calif.) said after a closed-door caucus meeting Wednesday that they are calling on Obama both to veto a short-term deal and sign an executive order invoking the Constitution’s 14th Amendment to avert default on Aug. 2." ...

... Washington Post: Federal workers are both worried & angry about a possible government default, which could imperil their paychecks.

New York Times: "... Republicans in the House of Representatives are loading up an appropriations bill with 39 ways — and counting — to significantly curtail environmental regulation."

Washington Post: "The White House is waging an aggressive behind-the-scenes campaign to reassure core Democratic activists, following weeks of criticism from liberals who fear that President Obama has given too much ground in his debt-ceiling talks with Republicans."

New York Times: "A lawyer [Kenneth Thompson] for the hotel housekeeper [Nafissatou Diallo] who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her in May said Wednesday that taped conversations, two of them made a day after the encounter, prove that his client had no intention of exploiting the charges against Mr. Strauss-Kahn to make money.... After listening to the recording on Wednesday, Mr. Thompson told reporters at a news conference that Ms. Diallo’s statements had been mischaracterized."