The Commentariat -- March 3, 2012
President Obama's Weekly Address:
... The transcript is here. AP story here.
... M. J. Lee of Politico: "Minutes after Fluke appeared on MSNBC, White House press secretary Jay Carney confirmed the call in a press briefing with reporters, saying, 'He wanted to offer his support to her. He wanted to express his disappointment that she has been the subject of inappropriate personal attacks and thank her for exercising her rights as a citizen to speak out on an issue of public policy.'” ...
... Washington Post Editorial Board: "Mr. Limbaugh has abused his unique position within the conservative media to smear and vilify a citizen engaged in the exercise of her First Amendment rights, and in the process he debased a national political discourse that needs no further debasing. This is not the way a decent citize behaves, much less a citizen who wields significant de facto power in a major political party. While Republican leaders owe no apology for Mr. Limbaugh’s comments, they do have a responsibility to repudiate them — and him." ...
... Greg Sargent: "... reporters now have just the hook they need to ask Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum for comment on Rush’s remarks. Indeed, Rush is apparently doubling down on them today — and the fact that this is now a full-fledged national controversy means it’s time to hear from the GOP candidates about it." ...
... So Wolf asks Saint Rick about it. One of his handlers told him to use the word "absurd." It is apparently the only word he is allowed to use in "criticizing" Limbaugh, whom he characterizes as an "entertainer" and owned that "an entertainer can be absurd" -- in other words, "It's okay if Rush Limbaugh does it":
... CW: You might be a Rick Santorum voter if ... you find it "absurdly entertaining" when an "entertainer" singles out a young woman, calling her a "prostitute" and a "slut" & making numerous lewd remarks about her private life. ...
... Jim Acosta of CNN: "Mitt Romney steered clear of the Rush Limbaugh controversy until Friday evening, even avoiding a CNN reporter earlier in the day, when he addressed the issue after an event in Cleveland. 'I'll just say this which is it’s not the language I would have used,' Romney said." With video. ...
... CW Translation: I would not call a college student a 'slut,' a 'prostitute,' and a 'feminazi.' I would not speculate or comment on the nature or frequency of her sexual activity. I would not demand that a student post videos of her sexual encounters online. If videos are posted online, Ann and I do not intend to watch them. I'm running for President, for Pete's sake. -- Mitt Romney, making a bold stand for women's rights ...
... Rush Limbaugh’s comments are reprehensible. He should apologize. -- Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), in a tweet ...
... NBC News: "Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, already under fire from Democrats over his language in discussing a Georgetown University law student who testified about contraception, ratcheted up his rhetoric on Thursday, saying the student should post an online sex video if taxpayers are forced to pay for contraception." ...
... Brian Stelter of the New York Times: "Some of the same activists that persuaded advertisers to boycott Glenn Beck’s television show on Fox News in 2009 are now mobilizing against Rush Limbaugh in the wake of his verbal attacks on a Georgetown University law school student this week. Actually, they are remobilizing. A Twitter account, 'Stop Rush,' which has been dormant since late 2010, woke up on Wednesday, when Mr. Limbaugh first called the student, Sandra Fluke, a 'slut.'” The Stop Rush Twitter account is here. ...
... Daily Kos has a petition to Limbaugh's advertisers urging them to cancel their ads. CW: I've signed. P.S. To my great shock & surprise, I haven't heard from my Congressman CoMa a/k/a Connie Mack (R-Florida) or from the local radio station owner who carries Limbaugh with their responses to my complaints about Limbaugh. I wasn't home during business hours today, but I hope to be home part of the day Monday, so I'll phone them then. In the meantime, I've re-mailed my complaints. ...
... Dana Milbank: "When will Republicans stop their vagina monologue? March is federally recognized as Women’s History Month, and Republicans have been celebrating the occasion in a most unusual style: with a burst of interest in women’s private parts."
Dave S. writes, "Behold the president of Ireland [Michael Higgins] kicking wingnut propagandist ass!" (via Daily Kos):
"Somebody Else Should Do Something!" Steve Benen on Sen. Olympia Snowe's "bipartisan" message: "Snowe would routinely stress the importance of 'working together' to find 'common ground,' but it was the transition from platitudes to policy that led to breakdowns -- Snowe wanted her colleagues to work cooperatively, but consistently seemed reluctant to take the lead, despite her power." ...
... Jonathan Chait of New York magazine: "... moderates like Snowe and their fans worship bipartisanship for reasons that have nothing to do with good government. A Republican representing a blue state, or a Democrat representing a red state, faces an inherently precarious situation. Often she will find the demands of her party’s national base pitted against those of her home state electorate.... Creating legislation ... is not done out of a desire to bring bills closer into alignment with any abstract standard of good government, but to ensure her vote sits comfortably in the middle of a wide swath of support from both sides.... For her, though, such careful positioning was a matter of political self-preservation."
Kevin Drum on public opinion about the cause of rising gas prices: "... only 1% of Americans blame environmental restrictions on domestic drilling, despite a full-bore Republican campaign to convince them otherwise.... The vast majority of Americans still have no clue what's driving all this."
Travis Andersen of the Boston Globe: "Republican US Senator Scott Brown now has a 9-point lead over Elizabeth Warren, his likely Democratic opponent in the November election, a new poll has found."
Right Wing World
Quote of the Day: "Mitt Romney has a near Pavlovian reflex of lapsing into falsehoods in order to rearrange reality to his liking. -- Newt Gingrich, who knows all about lying ...
... Steve Benen totes up twelves of Mitt Romney's Pavlovian lies of the week. Busy week, Willard. ...
... Mitt Romney, Extremist for the Privileged. E. J. Dionne: "The evidence from his tax plan ... is that he's an extremist for the privileged. We’re witnessing what should be called the Two Cadillacs Fallacy: Romney’s rather authentic moments suggesting he doesn’t understand the lives of average people (such as his comment on his wife’s two Cadillacs) are dismissed as 'gaffes,' while Santorum’s views on social issues are denounced as 'extreme.' But Romney’s gaffes are more than gaffes: They reflect deeply held and radical views about how wealth and power ought to be distributed in the United States." ...
... Steve Benen posts this chart to show the change in effective federal tax rates under Romney's plan: taxes would go up for the poor, are almost flat for the lower middle-class, down for the rich & way down for the super-rich (including of course Romney himself):
More Ways Wingers Wreck the Economy. Brad Johnson of Think Progress: "Relentless attacks on the Chevy Volt from Rush Limbaugh and Republican politicians have taken their toll, as General Motors has announced a five-week suspension in production of the range-extended electric car. Conservative enemies of clean energy and the Obama administration ... call[ed] the cars 'Obama-mandated death traps.' Limbaugh even said GM was a 'corporation that’s trying to kill its customers.' After an investigation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determined that the Volt is just as safe as any gasoline-powered vehicle on the road."
Top Ten Other Things Romney Likes about Michigan's Trees:
Local News
Josh Rogers of NPR: "New Hampshire, one of the least religious states in the nation, has become the latest front in the political battle over contraception. State GOP leaders oppose the new federal rule compelling insurers to provide birth control to employees of religious organizations. They want to change a 12-year-old state law that requires contraceptive coverage under insurers' prescription drug policies.... New Hampshire has required contraceptive coverage in all prescription drug plans since 2000. The law was passed by a Republican Legislature and signed by a Democratic governor. Nobody at the time, it seems, saw the policy as a blow against religious liberty. Democratic state Rep. Terie Norelli, who co-sponsored the law, said that objection never came up." ...
... Digby: Where was the Catholic Church in 2000? What? Not demanding their First Amendment rights? "Ooopsie. Of course, the Catholic Church was very busy during that period if you know what I mean. They can't keep tabs on everything." Read her whole post.
News Ledes
Seattle Times: "Mitt Romney shook off his Republican rivals to win Washington's Republican caucuses Saturday, giving the GOP frontrunner an air of increasing momentum heading into Super Tuesday. With about 54 percent of the precinct votes counted Saturday evening, Romney had about 38 percent of the vote, with Ron Paul and Rick Santorum vying for second place with about 24 percent each. Newt Gingrich trailed with more than 11 percent. The Associated Press and CNN called the race early Saturday evening."
New York Times: "BP and the lawyers for plaintiffs in the trial over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have agreed to settle their case."
New York Times: "A frantic day and night of fast-moving tornadoes and severe thunderstorms churned across the South and the Midwest on Friday, leaving behind at least 27 deaths, hundreds of injuries and countless damaged buildings in several states." Reuters story here, with video. AP story here, with photos.
New York Times: "American and Afghan officials investigating the Koran-burning episode that has brought relations between the countries to a new low say that the destruction could have been headed off at several points along a chain of mishaps, poor judgments and ignored procedures, according to interviews over the past week.... On Friday, an American official close to a joint Afghan-American investigation into the episode noted that the final report would call for disciplinary review for at least six people involved in the Koran burning, including American military 'leaders' and an American interpreter." BTW, it turns out four copies of the Koran were burned before an Afghan worker stopped the book-burning.
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Reader Comments (8)
Marie: According to Sen. Bill Nelson, CoMa has a homestead
tax exemption on his condo in Fort Meyers. His wife Rep.Mary Bono, has a similar exemption at her home in California.
Is this legal, ethical, or just good ol' Florida politics?
In 1964 Stephen Sondhiem wrote the lyrics for the musical "Anyone Can Whistle" and in was a duet that was later cut, but what I think now would be a terrific piece for the GOP; here are a few verses:
There's always a woman
To spoil the illusion,
...
And a new bumper sticker: BE ULTRA SOUND––VOTE REPUBLICAN
CW: I had to whack much of this comment for copyright infringement, but see the video in my post on Limbaugh, which includes all the content I cut.
And would someone please explain what the heck Nocera is talking about when he says: "." During the McGovern-Mondale era, the Democrats were exactly where the Republicans are now: the party had been taken over by its most extreme liberal faction, and it had lost touch with the core concerns of the middle class, just as the Republicans have now."
Extreme how, pray tell?
Sac Bee reports that Dream Train is ending association with Limbaugh over Fluke remarks. See:
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/03/03/4307823/sleep-train-cuts-ties-to-rush.html
Sleep Train... sorry.
To CW-
Not sure if this is stealing, but I read the perfect coment re Santorum
that I am reposting it, with credits.
If it is wrong, beg pardon and delete, please.
"Santorum is a modern-day Savonarola,
you know, the popular Dominican preacher in Renaissance Florence who got into power. Once there, since he was convinced that Florence's sins would cause the end of the world, he, rounded up all the art of the Renaissance (books and paintings) and had them set them on fire
(a.k.a, the original Bonfire of Vanities). Then he sent the
children out to spy on their elders' anti-Christian activities so they
could be punished. Finally, the papacy couldn't stand it any more,
had him declared a heretic,
and Savonarola was burned at the stake in
downtown Florence. That's justice for you!
{posted on NY times comments under Charles Blow's column today.
11;50 a.m. by "harrassed woman"
Mae Finch
@ Carlyle. According to the Naples News, the Lee County property assessor says Mack & Bono are eligible for two exemptions if they live apart and maintain separate households. The assessor is going to look into it when he gets around to it, but Mack & Bono will have to provide evidence to make their case. I know the Lee Assessor occasionally gets on a tear tracking down snowbirds who may be taking double exemptions, which makes him look suspiciously lackadaisical in the Mack-Bono case.
@ P. D. Pepe: I agree completely re: Nocera. I wrote a column for NYTX on that very subject, but I didn't submit it till early this afternoon, so I assume it won't be published till tomorrow's edition, tho it is likely to be up earlier than usual.