The Commentariat -- July 7, 2014
Internal links removed.
** Eli Saslow of the Washington Post on what happens to "immigration orphans": minors who are natural U.S. citizens whose parents have been deported or are in danger of deportation because they are in the country illegally. "The federal government doesn't track what happens to the children of deported parents, and no state or federal officials monitor how many children" are protected by guardians like Nora Sandigo, the (heroic) woman Saslow profiles. CW: These kids aren't "lost in the system"; there is no system.
In a CNN opinion piece, House Speaker John Boehner "explains" why he is bringing to the House floor legislation authorizing the Congress to sue President [link corrected; see comment below by Steve V.] Obama: "Constitution something something..., accountability something something..., Constitution something something." ...
... CW: As safari remarked in yesterday's Comments, "Boner, in due form, lacks any substance whatsoever besides fishing for right wing talking points about jobs, the economy and of course the Sacred Constitution." There's a lot more substance is safari's comment than in Boehner's piece. ...
... Mike Lillis of the Hill: "House Republicans plan to bring legislation to the floor authorizing a lawsuit against Obama's use of executive action, a move they believe will underline the importance to their base voters of coming to the polls in November to elect a GOP House and Senate." CW: What? What? This isn't about protecting Constitutional government? It's a political ploy? Hard to believe. ...
... ** Speaking of the Constitution. E. J. Dionne: "For too long, progressives have allowed conservatives to monopolize claims of fealty to our unifying national document. In fact, those who would battle rising economic inequalities to create a robust middle class should insist that it's they who are most loyal to the Constitution's core purpose. Broadly shared well-being is essential to the framers' promise that 'We the people' will be the stewards of our government." You can download a pdf of the article by Joseph Fishkin & William Forbath, which Dionne cites, here.
Sue John Boehner. Larry Summers, in a Washington Post op-ed, blames Congress for the U.S.'s diminished influence in the world: "A failure to engage effectively with global economic issues is a failure to mount a strong forward defense of U.S. interests. That we cannot do everything must not become a reason not to do anything. While elections may turn on domestic preoccupations, history's judgment will turn on what the United States does internationally." ...
... CW: Except that Larry loves him some international trade agreements, it's quite a good piece -- & unusually readable for jargon showoff Prof. Summers. BTW, it's worth contrasting Summers' ideas on how to foster international influence & Robert Kagan's ideas, referenced in the NYT piece by Josh Heilbrunn & linked below as a presidential election stories.
Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "The gun-control group founded by former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (I) will begin surveying all federal candidates in the 2014 midterm elections on gun issues Monday as it tries to become a political counterweight to the National Rifle Association.... Bloomberg's group, Everytown for Gun Safety, is asking all Senate and House incumbents and candidates to complete a 10-part questionnaire stating publicly where they stand on issues such as expanding background checks for gun buyers, limiting the capacity of ammunition magazines and toughening gun-trafficking statutes."
Sam Frizell of Time: "The upstart Mayday PAC that seeks to reduce the influence of money in politics has crossed its fundraising goal of $5 million, according to a Friday email from founder and academic Lawrence Lessig.... Mayday PAC, which seeks to fund politicians that will pass restrictions on campaign funding, had raised just $75,000 by the beginning of May, but has been expanding rapidly. Here's one place to contribute. CW: I suspect Mayday PAC spent its $75K wisely -- by purchasing mailing lists.
Greg Clary of CNN: "Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said Sunday the Obama administration will take steps to fix the nation's broken immigration system, even without the help of Congress."
Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: Harry Reid was literally sitting on a gold mine in his home in Searchlight, Nevada. But now he has sold out to "a small South Dakota company that bought an abandoned mine next door in 2010 and has high hopes for a new era of gold production. The $1.75 million deal was a handsome payout for Reid (D), who is paid a Senate salary of $193,400 per year. Nearly all of the land had been in Reid's family for decades, much of it originally deeded to his father and some bought by Reid from family members. His brother will continue to live in Searchlight, where Reid will also retain some holdings." Reid & his wife Landra will move to Las Vegas.
Paul Krugman: "Confronted with a conflict between evidence and what they want to believe for political and/or religious reasons, many people reject the evidence.... Hardly any of the people who predicted runaway inflation have acknowledged that they were wrong, and that the error suggests something amiss with their approach.... You might wonder why monetary theory gets treated like evolution or climate change.... Well, it turns out that money is indeed a kind of theological issue.... When faith -- including faith-based economics -- meets evidence, evidence doesn't stand a chance."
David Sanger & Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "The Obama administration on Sunday sought to play down new disclosures that the National Security Agency has swept up innocent and often personal emails from ordinary Internet users as it targets suspected terrorists in its global surveillance for potential threats. Administration officials said the agency routinely filters out the communications of Americans and information that is clearly of no intelligence value. The statements came in response to a report by The Washington Post [linked here yesterday], based on a large trove of conversations intercepted by the N.S.A."
Weekend Reading -- A Day Late. CW: Based on the title, I read this book review by Gene Healy in the libertarian mag Reason on our "elective monarchy" with a view toward panning it. Instead, I found the thesis of the book under review -- The Once & Future King by conservative F. H. Buckley -- pretty interesting. As always, of course, read critically. Healy points out a major flaw in Buckley's thesis. And Healy himself is not all that into accuracy. For instance, he writes that "Last September, Secretary of State John Kerry kept insisting that 'the president has the power' to wage war 'no matter what Congress does.'" There's a reason Healy left the phrase "to wage war" out of the citation: um, that's not what Kerry said. Moreover, Healy never mentions that Kerry & the administration actually went to Congress to get approval on the air strikes at issue, & that -- in large part due to Congressional misgivings, the air strikes never happened. So -- lump of salt.
Beyond the Beltway
Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: "North Carolina's voter identification law, which has been described as the most sweeping attack on African American electoral rights since the Jim Crow era, is being challenged in a legal hearing that opens on Monday. Civil rights lawyers and activists are gathering in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, for the start of the legal challenge that is expected to last all week. They will be seeking to persuade a federal district judge to impose a preliminary injunction against key aspects of HB 589, the voting law enacted by state Republicans last August."
Mark Lifsher of the Los Angeles Times: California's "minimum wage rose one dollar Tuesday to $9 an hour.... California's new minimum wage is the fourth highest in the country, behind the District of Columbia at $9.50 an hour, Washington state at $9.32 and Oregon at $9.10."
Mollie Reilly of the Huffington Post: "An Independence Day parade in Norfolk, Nebraska included a float depicting President Obama's presidential library as an outhouse, sparking outcry from residents as well as the state's Democratic Party. The float, which did not identify its sponsor, featured an overall-clad dummy standing in front of an outhouse. Nailed to the structure were wooden signs reading 'Obama Presidential Library.... The presidential library outhouse comparison has become somewhat of a conservative meme in recent years.... Rick Konopasek, a member of the Norfolk parade committee, defended the float, comparing it to a political cartoon and noting that multiple parade judges awarded it an 'honorable mention.' 'It's obvious the majority of the community liked it,' he said. 'So should we deny the 95 percent of those that liked it their rights, just for the 5 percent of people who are upset?'" ...
... CW: Really, Rick? Ninety-five percent? How did you come to that calculation? And why would you boast that almost all of the people who watched your parade were no better than the contents of an outhouse?
Oh, Yippie. Cliven Bundy is back in the news, so I don't have to rely on months-old Stephen Colbert skits (see Saturday's Commentariat) to remember that old SOB. Unfortunately, the news he's in is the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which promises to sue my ass if I cite a single line of their untouchable text. (Yes, they'd lose the suit, but I'd have a heap of bills to pay to defend myself.) ...
... Update. Tom Boggioni of the Raw Story has the particulars: "In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial board, Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie said that BLM-defying rancher Cliven Bundy must be 'held accountable' for his actions. Gillespie said he had spoken with Bundy multiple times in the months before the BLM rounded up his cattle which were grazing on government land despite Bundy's refusal to pay grazing fees. Gillespie said that he he made it clear to Bundy that, if there was going to be a protest, it must be peaceful. However, the sheriff said, Bundy crossed the line when he allowed supporters, including armed militia members, onto his property to brandish weapons at police."
Presidential Election 2016
Edward Klein of the New York Post: "President Obama has quietly promised Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren complete support if she runs for president -- a stinging rebuke to his nemesis Hillary Clinton, sources tell me.... Obama has authorized his chief political adviser, Valerie Jarrett, to conduct a full-court press to convince Warren to throw her hat into the ring. In the past several weeks, Jarrett has held a series of secret meetings with Warren. During these meetings, Jarrett has explained to Warren that Obama is worried that if Hillary succeeds him in the White House, she will undo many of his policies." CW: Do not get your hopes up, people. It's the New York Post. Also, Actual President Jarrett (according to our best winger sources) met with Rupert Murdoch a few weeks ago. It's just as likely she's urging him to run for president. Yeah, I know, Murdoch is not a natural-born citizen, so he's not eligible. But, hey, neither is Obama, & look where he's sitting now. ...
... Steve M. is also a little bit skeptical: "... the same Ed Klein told us back in 2005, when he was promoting a book called The Truth About Hillary, that Hillary is (as the book puts it) 'notoriously left-wing.' ... Is Ed Klein 2014 saying that Ed Klein 2005 was lying to us? After all, if Hillary is so secretly radical, why doesn't that radical Marxist Barack Obama consider her the one who will continue his life's work of 'transform[ing] America into a European-style democratic-socialist state'?" ...
... This New York Times piece, by Jacob Heilbrunn, is more serious: Heilbrunn posits that some prominent neocons may be aligning with Hillary Clinton. As evidence, Heilbrunn notes that "Strobe Talbott, who was deputy secretary of state under President Bill Clinton and is considered a strong candidate to become secretary of state in a new Democratic administration..., called [an article by neocon Robert] Kagan [urging the U.S. to exert its power to maintain a global liberal world order] 'magisterial,' in what amounts to a public baptism into the liberal establishment." (CW: By contrast, see also Larry Summer's WashPo column linked above.) ...
... Also, this Wall Street Journal article, by Peter Nicholas, is in line with Heilbrunn's speculation (& of course with Klein's!): "Hillary Clinton has begun distancing herself from President Barack Obama, suggesting that she would do more to woo Republicans and take a more assertive stance toward global crises, while sounding more downbeat than her former boss about the U.S. economic recovery." CW: Firewalled; if the link doesn't work, copy & paste a part of the lede sentence into Google search.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Israel and the militant group Hamas seemed set on a collision course on Monday, with an escalation of cross-border clashes around the Gaza Strip, Hamas vowing to avenge the deaths of six of its fighters, and preparations underway for a possible large-scale Israeli operation in the Palestinian coastal territory. Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said that the army was completing the deployment of two infantry brigades along the border with Gaza and that the government had approved the call-up of 1,500 reservists, mainly Home Front Command and aerial defense units." ...
... AP: "Three Israeli suspects in the killing of a Palestinian teenager who was abducted and burned to death last week confessed to the crime on Monday and were re-enacting the incident for authorities, an official said, as the country's leaders raced to contain a public uproar over the slaying."
New York Times: "Pope Francis on Monday held his first meeting with victims of clerical sex abuse, leading them at a private Mass at a small Vatican chapel where he asked for forgiveness and described the abuse as a 'grave sin,' even as some critics called the meeting a publicity stunt."
New York Times: "Eduard A. Shevardnadze, who as Mikhail S. Gorbachev's foreign minister helped hone the 'new thinking,' foreign and domestic, that transformed and ultimately rent the Soviet Union, then led his native Georgia through its turbulent start as an independent state, died Monday. He was 86."
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Reader Comments (21)
If "President Obama has quietly promised Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren complete support if she runs for president ..." how come Ed was privy to this political whisper? And the rest of his alleges smack of silly speculation––although sometimes these rags reveal bits and pieces of "da trudt."
Strobe Talbot and Bill Clinton were roomies at Oxford and the two have remained close ever since. Talbot is well versed in everything Russian–-wrote a book about Russia–-and when he was in the Clinton administration I recall him scolding those whose foreign policy mindset was one of thinking one could be buddies with leaders of other countries (something Bush thought he could do with Putin, for instance).
Re: Boehner's stumbling rhetoric that lacks substance. What has always infuriated me is when he constantly refers to "the American people"––––what kinds of people is he talking about? There are millions of Americans like myself who vehemently disagree with him on most issues. Have another drink, John, and stuff it!
The shameful display of disrespect on display in Norfolk, Nebraska on, of all days, the Fourth of July, reminds anyone who cares to think about it of some essential elements of wingnut ideology.
First, the depiction of a presidential library as an outhouse demonstrates an idea originating in and appealing to drooling ignorance. I will bet everything I own that the perpetrators of this stunt haven't been in a real library since they were in grammar school and don't read anything but approved right-wing propaganda. I won't mark them down for moving their lips when they do, but the standard wingnut distrust, not to say hatred, of any intellectual pursuit of true knowledge (as opposed to their famous "gut feeling") is acutely evident.
Second, speaking of the perpetrators, no one, apparently, knows who they are. No one has taken responsibility, another hallmark of wingnut ideology. Demand your rights but never feel the need to accept any responsibility, and in fact, run from it if it might get you in trouble. The coward's way.
Third, the disrespect stemming from teeth grinding hatred.
Fourth, it's about as racist as you can get without placing a burning cross next to the outhouse.
Stupid, irresponsible, cowardly, disrespectful, hateful, and racist.
The Modern GOP.
@Akhilleus writes, "... speaking of the perpetrators, no one, apparently, knows who they are. No one has taken responsibility, another hallmark of wingnut ideology. Demand your rights but never feel the need to accept any responsibility, and in fact, run from it if it might get you in trouble. The coward's way."
An excellent point. Beyond that, I don't believe the town &/or the parade committee has no fucking idea who entered that shithouse into the parade. Unless the town's leadership is completely stupid & irresponsible -- admittedly, a distinct possibility -- the town certainly has liability insurance to cover the parade, & the insurer would require them to provide the identities of parade participants because, well, things can go wrong in parades.
They know; they're just protecting the perps.
Marie
Hi Marie. The first article you point to is a Guardian article about ancient erotic graffiti, which is not remotely close to Boner. May want to correct that.
Best regards, Steve
Its ridiculous on several levels to believe Obama is secretly urging Warren to run against Clinton with his support. A contest of that sort is exactly what would put a Republican in the WH. Obama is far too practical for such a bonehead move. I'd sooner think, if there were meetings at all, they were to suggest a coordinated effort with Clinton, probably on her behalf. Its a matter of what Warren will want for that cooperation. Don't forget the Clintons are politicians above all else and Obama surely doesn't want the GOP in the WH. He's taken a battering for the ground he has managed to hold thus far. He's neither stupid or vindictive in my view.
Akhilleus: The outhouse on a truck (not really a float) is stupid, bad taste, objectionable, etc. But how is it racist? I can imagine those same folks putting together such a display for Bill Clinton (admittedly, our first black president) or Jimmy Carter, JFK, etc.
Also, I wonder why the effigy is using a walker? Hillary?
Ignoring for the moment the mildly amusing irony of a PAC raising money to limit the influence of money in politics, Mayday joins a growing list of causes I either do or am likely to support, but...
...its birth suggests the Left might be far better off with one or two Big Boys or Girls out there fighting the fight, instead of the I don't know how many--dozens?--tykes that appear in my inbox almost every day, asking for money so they can better confront--in the immortal words of Art Buchwald, "nose to kneecap"--the gargantuan interests that oppose them.
I don't know to whom or how to convey the message but it would seem a coordinated, if not conjoined effort on the part of Public Citizen, People for the American Way, Common Cause, (now there's an idea!), OFA (if it's still functioning; I lose track), a slew of environmental groups etc. could be far more effective than the scattered approach fostered by any number of good-hearted folks, duplicating their efforts, going their own way...
There's a reason wars are not fought successfully by volunteers who all have their own strategy...
Sometimes in my sleep I hear the Kochs and their minions laughing.
@Steve V.: Thanks, Steve. Link corrected. Actually, the Guardian story is all about boners. I think my error was apt.
Marie
@Patrick. My thoughts, too. However, I think it's the effigy -- a photo of which I just posted -- particularly the way it is dressed, which makes "Obama" look like a cotton-picking slave. Oddly, the effigy is wearing a white shirt & tie under his cotton-picking overalls. I'm not sure the intent of the symbolism here; maybe the overalls represent the "real Obama" & imply the White House dress-up was a ruse.
I suppose the walker (which I hadn't noticed before) is there to depict a broken-down Obama. And/or maybe a reference to ObamaCare.
Anyway, I think if you were watching the parade & saw that depiction of Obama, your immediate reaction would be "black stereotype."
Marie
Looks like a whole ton of stupid got into the Texas water supply. Again.
As reported by Charlie Pierce: "The State Republican Party in Texas Is Now the Craziest in America" http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/Crazy_In_Texas#comments
Marie: Right, the front face picture of the effigy is pretty darn racist.
". . . the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which promises to sue my ass if I cite a single line of their untouchable text. (Yes, they'd lose the suit, but I'd have a heap of bills to pay to defend myself.)"
CW: They'd probably have to pay your attorneys' fees if they lose. But whether your attorneys' fees are reimbursed or not, you'd have a host of loyal and grateful readers who would chip in: starting with me!
Patrick,
Even in the absence of the points Marie makes about the physical characteristics of the effigy, one has to place this type of display in the context of the plethora of racist imagery applied to the Obamas (even the kids) by teabaggers, run of the mill white supremacists, angry wingnut voters, and even official GOP politicians and their staff who routinely share pictures of the first lady as a gorilla, the White House lawn as a watermelon patch, and the president in a urinal.
Sure, they could have done such things to Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, and JFK, but they didn't. They did some pretty terrible things to the Clintons but the kind of hatred focused on this particular president comes from a much different place. They hated Clinton for a lot of things. They hate Obama for a lot of things too, but for the vast majority of them, that hatred starts with who and what he is.
You've never heard anyone, out loud, threaten to assassinate Bill Clinton if he were to be reelected. They did that to Obama. You've never heard a member of Congress or a Supreme Court justice insult a white president--to his face--at a State of the Union address. They did that to Obama. Rush Limbaugh calls him an Oreo and the Magic Negro. Beck and Drudge blame him for attacks on white school children and being a racist. A former Speaker of the House accuses him of harboring African colonial hatred for whites. The whole birther movement was--and still is--a thinly veiled racist attack. Some wingers (and professional douchewads like Donald Trump) didn't have the balls to come right out and own their racism (more dodging of responsibility for what they really believe) so they latched on to the idea that his illegitimacy as a president had to do with where he was born. They felt exposed saying right out that a black man had no business being president. Sarah (Supreme Asshole) Palin, this past Martin Luther King day came right out and demanded that Obama stop playing the race card because the GOP was all for racial unity. Oh yeah. That's so obvious. That's like telling the guy you're mugging with a 2x4 to renounce such violent behavior.
There is just no getting around the racial element in the right-wing enmity towards Barack Obama and his family. And, by extension, to all African Americans, or, as former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum calls them, blah people. Part of the idea behind the giddy evisceration of the Voting Rights Act has to do with keeping Democrats away from voting booths, but the enormous subtext, the dark underbelly of their rationale is racial in nature.
But as Charlie Pierce reminds us, it's never about race.
Because, in so many cases, that's exactly what it is.
There was an AP yarn Sunday on the Cliven Bundy-Sheriff Gillespie-BLM froofrah. Which, as near as I can tell from the summaries above, covered the latest happenings pretty well. But it also featured a BLM spokswoman calling out Gillespie for cowardice and renegging on his avowal to aid in the round-up. Sounds like some real bad blood between the Feds and the Sheriff's office.
@Akhilleus: Nonetheless, it is possible to criticize President Obama, and even to do so crudely, absent racial overtones.
The problem for most of his critics on the right, however, is that they can't look at the guy without first thinking "black, black, blackity-black." Thus, even their legitimate (or quasi-legitimate) criticisms are apt to include racist innuendo, at the least. They can't help themselves.
Marie
The E.J. Dionne piece about Republicans claiming the Constitution for themselves uncovers a pattern of behavior for the GOP.
They claim sacred-like loyalty to the Constitution, but most of them have never read it (even--and especially--many politicians) and have no interest in many amendments and other parts of the Constitution. They cherry pick those sections which serve their ideology and attack those that don't.
The GOP has long painted itself as the protector of America, the Great Defender of Freedom, and specialists when it comes to national security. But under the last three Republican presidents we've seen outrageously bad policy decisions that made America far less safe. Wars begun as chest thumping stunts, ignorance of world history and regional backgrounds, and emptying coffers to pay for unworkable military boondoggles at the expense of things like armor for men and women on the ground and pragmatic (and useful) weapons and defense systems.
America's success in both world wars of the last century came under the leadership of Democrats. And a surprising number of Democrats have served in uniform, compared to a paltry showing by Republicans who had other priorities, fantasized that they were in the military doing great things, or simply ran away.
They also claim to be the biggest proponents of democracy but they specialize in stealing and rigging elections and disenfranchising as many Americans as they can. So much for champions of democracy.
Republicans pride themselves on being doyens of fiscal sobriety. The exact opposite is true. Reagan blew up the federal budget. Both Bushes held the reins while terrible fiscal policies drove the American economy off the rails, the last one was almost fatal.
The last Democratic president ended his stint with the federal budget in the black. The current Democratic president has spent the last 6 years fixing the problems caused by Republican malfeasance and criminal economic irresponsibility.
They have claimed to be both the Party of Minority rights (Lincoln freed the slaves...) and the Party Which Wasn't the One Attacking Women (nothing need be added to that one).
My guess is any day now they'll come out and declare that they are the Science Party. And maybe even the Party of Facts.
Don't believe it.
The pattern is, if they say they're good at UP, that means they're great at DOWN.
Add "liars" and "delusional" to the earlier list of wingnut qualities.
Marie,
Quite so. And legitimate criticism, sans the snide racial under and sometimes over-tones, would be a valuable thing. But we do not have a loyal opposition in this country. Anyone on the other side who fit that description has either decamped of their own accord, knuckled under to the troglodytes, or been defenestrated by the Ideology Police.
You're right. They can't help themselves. And even the ones who might want to are cast down and never spoken of again in tribal councils, where the chiefs and their underlings run around wearing Obama masks and hooting like monkeys.
Because Freedom, I guess.
A little history of the Las Vegas Review Journal (RJ), their parent group Stephens Media, and their creation Righthaven can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Righthaven
Stephens Media is part of the Stephens Group, an investment consortium that owns a bunch of oil, gas, and mining interests. They bought the RJ and have used it as a platform to editorialize in favor of gutting environmental legislation. They have also written many editorials in favor of turning over federal lands to private interests. There's an editorial in today's paper, for instance, leading the cheers for increased fracking.
They are also rabidly opposed to anything even remotely Democratic. Sherman Frederick, their former publisher and current columnist, is obsessed with bringing down Harry Reid and Barack Obama, Reid in particular. In 2010 the RJ gave up any pretense of objectivity in its cheerleading for Sharron Angle, even going so far as to publish some poll results on the eve of the election showing Angle with a large lead. The poll was biased in the extreme, of course.
Because of the Angle debacle and the failure of Righthaven, Frederick was forced out as publisher, but he remains a strong influence at the paper. That they would take notice and threaten you in this fashion speaks well for you, Marie.
Speaking of: "possible to criticize President Obama". Has anyone ever heard of the Obama administration suppression of the Freedom of Info Act called the "Craig Memo"? http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2014/07/letter-from-the-editor-craig-memo-neuters-48-year-old-foia/#.U7r-3dxUNjE.
Troubling, if true.
@625. Flynn's diatribe is long on rhetoric and short on evidence. He sounds like a crank.
@Citizen 625: If you follow the money, you'll find that the recent disclosure of this so-called "Craig memo" (it's not the only so-called "Craig memo") was made by a Koch-funded group.
The supposed memo itself has been "reproduced" in a pdf that has no letterhead. I'm not saying it's a fake or that the White House doesn't try to control release of info; I'm saying I wouldn't take it seriously. If I see a report in a major news outlet, I'll revisit it. So far the only "major news outlet" I've seen report on it is Glenn Beck's the Blaze.
Marie