The Commentariat -- March 7, 2015
Internal links removed.
"Bloody Sunday." John Lewis (on the ground at right) among those police attacked on the Edmund Pettis Bridge during the March 7, 1965 voting rights march.... Don Gonyea of NPR: "This weekend, the president; first lady Michelle Obama; and their teenage daughters, Malia and Sasha, will help mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Ala. It was there in 1965 -- on the Edmund Pettus Bridge -- that state troopers violently attacked a peaceful civil rights march. Obama will speak Saturday, putting a spotlight on the issue of race relations in the United States -- something he has not done frequently in his presidency." ...
... The President is scheduled to speak at 12:15 pm ET.
... Christopher Sheridan of Al Jazeera. The killers of Pastor Jim Reeb, who was in Selma to participate in the march across the bridge, never paid for their crime. The Rev. Clark Olsen, whom white segregationists attacked at the same time, remembers Reeb's murder. On March 15, 1965, the same day Reeb was buried, President Johnson went before Congress to urge them to pass the Voting Rights bill." CW: That is the same bill, which became law, that Republicans in Congress are refusing to restore after the Supremes gutted it last year. ...
... The Shame of the Confederates. Mary Troyan of USA Today: "Many of the Republican members [of Congress] will be participating for the first time in the annual commemoration of the 1965 voting rights marches in Selma. But back in Washington, GOP lawmakers have mostly resisted efforts to advance a bill -- the Voting Rights Amendment Act.... The legislation pending in Congress would restore a Voting Rights Act provision nullified by the Supreme Court in 2013. That provision had required states with a history of voting-related discrimination -- including Alabama -- to get federal permission, or 'pre-clearance,' before making any changes to their election systems. Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who introduced the Voting Rights Amendment Act last year when he was chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has yet to find a Republican cosponsor." ...
... Wesley Lowery of the Washington Post: In Shelby County, Alabama, north of Selma, black leaders say they have nothing to celebrate. "It was here in 2013 that local officials won a major victory when the Supreme Court struck down a key provision of the federal law that resulted from those historic marches in Selma.... Civil rights leaders locally and nationally were incensed [by the ruling]. One of the movement's biggest victories -- won in no small part due to the blood shed and lives lost during the Selma marches -- had been invalidated.... The impact of the decision was near-immediate as Southern states, now freed of their federal chaperone, began rapidly upending their voting policies -- passing new voter identification laws, and curbing early voting and same-day registration." ...
... The difference between the cops who beat the marchers on the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the confederates in the Congress, in state legislatures, in the governors' mansions, in local political circles and on the Supreme Court is that the batons & billy clubs wielded by today's confederates are metaphorical. But they are just as brutal. There is no such thing as "genteel bigotry," and the smug bastards from Steve Scalise to Sam Alito to Ferguson Judge Ronald Brockmeyer might as well be swinging nightsticks at innocent Americans. ...
... Katie Zezima of the Washington Post: "Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday the Department of Justice is ready to take any and all steps that are needed to reform the Ferguson, Mo., police department, including the potential dismantling of the force. Speaking to reporters at Andrews Air Force Base after a trip to South Carolina with President Obama, Holder said he was stunned by what the investigation uncovered, and will go to all necessary lengths to address racial bias and other systemic issues within the force." ...
... Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Obama on Friday backed his attorney general's decision not to indict the white police officer who shot and killed an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., last year, but said the city must work to correct a broader pattern of racial misconduct":
... Video of the full event is here. President Obama begins speaking about 2:45 min. in. CW: Although I do love Jimmy Carter, every time Obama gets up to speak, I am reminded we have never had a president I personally liked as much as I do Barack Obama. ...
A toast for Ronald Brockmeyer, the Worst Worm of the Week.... Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "The judge in Ferguson, Missouri, who is accused of fixing traffic tickets for himself and colleagues while inflicting a punishing regime of fines and fees on the city's residents, also owes more than $170,000 in unpaid taxes. Ronald J Brockmeyer, whose court allegedly jailed impoverished defendants unable to pay fines of a few hundred dollars, has a string of outstanding debts to the US government dating back to 2007, according to tax filings obtained by the Guardian from authorities in Missouri." ...
... Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times: "Two police supervisors in Ferguson, Mo., have resigned after being linked to racist emails turned up by a Justice Department investigation, city officials said on Friday. The two supervisors, Capt. Rick Henke and Sgt. William Mudd, left the force on Thursday, the city's information office said. A third employee, Mary Ann Twitty, clerk of the Municipal Court, was fired on Wednesday for her role in the emails."
Mark Mazzetti of the New York Times: "John O. Brennan, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is planning to reassign thousands of undercover spies and intelligence analysts into new departments as part of a restructuring of the 67-year-old agency, a move he said would make it more successful against modern threats and crises."
Matt Apuzzo of the New York Times: "The Justice Department expects to file corruption charges against Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, a law enforcement official said Friday, culminating an investigation that has dogged the senator for two years. The investigation has focused on his relationship with a Florida eye doctor who is a longtime friend and political benefactor. Federal prosecutors said Mr. Menendez did political favors for the doctor, Salomon Melgen." CW: Gee, a crooked New Jersey politician (alleged). What a shocker. ...
... The Washington Post story, by Sari Horowitz & others, is here. Evan Perez & Shimon Prokupecz of CNN broke the story. ...
... Philip Bump of the Washington Post "spoke with Richard Briffault, a professor ... who works in the area of public corruption. Briffault summarized the question at stake: 'Is there a connection between the donation and some relatively specific thing that the officeholder is expected to do, or says he will do?' As in all legal cases, the element of burden of proof weighs in. Can the government prove beyond a reasonable doubt, through whatever evidence it can present, that Menendez was 'influenced to commit a specific use of his office' on behalf of the likely donor at the center of the case, Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen? 'The phrase is quid pro quo. The question on this one is the pro,' Briffault said." ...
... David Graham of the Atlantic: "... in 2006, a young Republican U.S. attorney was accused of launching an investigation into Menendez right before an election in an attempt to sway the result. The investigation went nowhere, but the prosecutor, Chris Christie, did. If Menendez were forced to step down or was removed from office, Christie -- now governor and himself dogged by scandal -- would have the chance to fill the seat temporarily, until a special election was held."
Here's why the pizza lobby doesn't like the Obamas. (See Krugman's column, linked yesterday):
White House: "In this week's weekly address, President Obama discusses an issue close to his heart: education for adolescent girls around the world":
David Savage of the Los Angeles Times: "When the Supreme Court justices met in private Friday to cast their votes and decide the reach of President Obama's healthcare law, the outcome probably turned on the person who spoke first: Chief Justice John G. Roberts.... Roberts uncharacteristically said little when the case was argued Wednesday. But the one substantive comment he did make has received intense scrutiny from lawyers and others trying to forecast whether the healthcare law will survive or be largely unraveled." ...
... Audio of the oral arguments is here. ...
... Sarah Ferris of the Hill: "New Hampshire on Friday became the sixth state to earn approval from the federal government to launch its own version of the ObamaCare Medicaid expansion. The plan will help about 35,000 uninsured people to buy private insurance plans. The program was negotiated by both the state's Democratic governor, Maggie Hassan, and its GOP-controlled legislature."
Nancy Pelosi, Unsung Hero. Or How Pelosi Got the Best of Boehner. Again. Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "With a partial Department of Homeland Security shutdown looming, Pelosi saw a way to torpedo Boehner, and get exactly what she and other Democrats wanted for President Obama. The plan was simple: when Boehner needed her the most, she would not be there for him. She explained her plan to Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) in a private meeting in Reid's office. He concurred.... Five days later, Democrats got exactly what they wanted: DHS was fully funded without any rollback of Obama's executive actions on immigration." ...
... Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "On the same day that she helped the vote to fund the Department of Homeland Security sail through the House thanks to Democratic support, Ms. Pelosi, the minority leader, served as the embodiment of White House rage over a speech by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to a joint meeting of Congress.... Ms. Pelosi's continued reign often surprises, but it is based largely on her ability to manage her members, one at a time." ...
... CW: AND NOW, our report turns to diminishing Pelosi's accomplishments. Because balance: "It is generally easier to maintain cohesion in the minority, where members live to block the will of the majority. Further, two Republican waves in the House swept out most moderate Democrats, rendering the caucus more ideologically unified against Republicans, and more aligned with her brand of liberalism. 'I don't think it takes a lot of skill to vote against an agenda,' said Representative Charlie Dent, Republican of Pennsylvania." Oh yeah? When Pelosi was majority leader of a "less unified" caucus, she held it together, too. We have -- unless the Supremes knock it out -- ObamaCare because she (a) pressured the President & Senate to go for it, and (b) whipped the votes needed for passage in the House.
Presidential Race
Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "The White House, State Department and Hillary Clinton's personal office knew in August that House Republicans had received information showing that the former secretary of state conducted official government business through her private email account -- and Clinton's staff made the decision to keep quiet.... But those involved deferred to Clinton's aides, and they decided not to respond. In the end, Clinton's staff waited six months -- until after the New York Times published a story on Tuesday about the email account and the possibility that it hampered public access to official records -- to begin their response.... White House press secretary Josh Earnest took care to point out that Obama himself was unaware of any issues with Clinton's email." ...
... Jack Shafer in Politico Magazine: "Clinton's political foes and the press tend to view her glacial strategy as stonewalling -- without acknowledging that good stonewalls make good politics and sometimes even better press coverage. Everybody knows the press has a short attention-span.... The only time you need to 'get ahead of bad news' is when you can't avoid doing so."
... Josh Gerstein of Politico: "In a reversal, the State Department acknowledged Friday that a Congressional investigation into the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi played a role in the agency's decision to ask Hillary Clinton and three other secretaries of state to turn over copies of all work-related emails they sent or received on private accounts during their tenure.... Earlier this week, [State spokeswoman Marie] Harf and other state department officials said the decision to approach the former secretaries about searching their personal email accounts stemmed solely from a broad effort to update the State Department's electronic recordkeeping efforts." ...
... Do as I Say, Not as I Do. Josh Rogin & Eli Lake of Bloomberg View: "As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton repeatedly criticized other governments for not living up to high standards of openness and transparency with their citizens, while shielding her own e-mails from the U.S. archives.... In fiscal year 2012, Clinton's last full year in office, the State Department ranked last out of the top 15 government agencies for its handling of FOIA requests, earning an 'F' grade, according to the Center for Effective Government." ...
... Definition of Insanity. Dana Milbank: "In trying so hard to avoid mistakes -- in this case, trying to make sure an embarrassing e-mail or two didn't become public -- [Hillary] Clinton made a whopper of an error. What's troubling is that she's been making a variation of this mistake for nearly a quarter-century." ...
... Jonathan Chait isn't sure Hillary Clinton can manage a successful presidential campaign -- or an administration. ...
... Ken Thomas of the AP: "Former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala has been tapped to run the Clinton Foundation as Hillary Rodham Clinton prepares for her expected 2016 presidential campaign and the philanthropy faces scrutiny of its fundraising practices. Former President Bill Clinton said Friday that he had chosen Shalala, the outgoing president of the University of Miami, to serve as the next president and chief executive officer of the sprawling philanthropy. He announced his choice during a weekend meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University in Coral Gables, Florida."
Senate Race
Adrian Carrasquillo of BuzzFeed: "A major Democratic donor and activist Friday blasted Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid's endorsement of Rep. Chris Van Hollen in the Maryland Senate race, which could feature high-profile black Democrats Rep. Donna Edwards and former NAACP head Ben Jealous, who are mulling a run in the state that is 30% black. 'For Harry Reid to come out and endorse Van Hollen is insulting period,' said Steve Phillips, the founder of the progressive group PowerPAC+.... 'But to do it on the anniversary of the Selma 50th anniversary -- to make an endorsement that would make the Senate less diverse -- is outrageous and insulting.'"
News Ledes
New York Times: "Two male suspects have been detained in the murder of the opposition leader Boris Y. Nemtsov, the head of Russia's internal law enforcement agency announced on Saturday. Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service..., named the two suspects as Anzor Kubashev and Zaur Dadayev and said they were residents of the southern Caucasus, state-run television reported."
ABC News: "A fire outside the White House prompted Secret Service agents into a lock-down shortly before President Obama and the first family left for Selma, Alabama, today. Washington, D.C, firefighters had contained the blaze at a vendor cart east of the North Lawn, said Secret Service officials. The first family was scheduled to leave the White House at 10:30 a.m. but left about an hour later than planned."
CNN: "Former Vice President Walter Mondale has been hospitalized with influenza, his former boss said. Mondale, 87, was diagnosed after he went to the hospital for a routine checkup following a fever, former President Jimmy Carter said Friday."
Reuters: "An Ohio man claiming sympathy with Islamic State militants and charged with plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol said in a television interview that he would have shot President Barack Obama in the head. Christopher Cornell, 20, told Cincinnati's FOX 19 WXIX TV that if he had not been arrested by FBI agents in January, he would have carried out an alleged plot to plant pipe bombs on the Capitol and at the Israeli Embassy."
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Reader Comments (7)
I am sure what Menendez did is corrupt, but it seems no different then the everyday activity of most members of Congress.
Steve Phillips' apparent fury at Reid for endorsing Van Hollen, calling it "outrageous and insulting," is way off the mark. The two potential candidates for the Maryland Senate seat, Edwards and Jealous are, according to the article, MULLING over this move and have not made a decision. Van Hollen has proved himself more than worthy, is one of our finest, therefore, the endorsement by Reid, who has worked closely with Van Hollen, makes sense. Could Reid have withheld this until later? I'm not sure he connected the whole Selma anniversary and the fact that the Senate is not as diverse as we would like with this decision. It's amazing that he's done as well as he has given that he can only see out of one eye and is suffering from sore limbs. But to be fair to Phillips, I can understand his disappointment and frustration, but to say he is outraged and insulted is stirring up a pot of empty broth––another example of over-the-top reactions that seem to be so prevalent these days.
" CW: Although I do love Jimmy Carter, every time Obama gets up to speak, I am reminded we have never had a president I personally liked as much as I do Barack Obama. ."
Me, too. Although Kennedy comes close.
In Chait's piece (linked above) he quotes Paul Begala's ass kissing in Macy's window statement. Too bad he had to steal it from LBJ:
""I want loyalty. I want him to kiss my ass in Macy's window at high noon and tell me it smells like roses. I want his pecker in my pocket." (LBJ on the qualities of a presidential assistant)
I wonder if Menendez opposition to Obama's Cuba policy has anything to do with Florida's sugar barons not wanting Cuban competition?
@PD Pepe: Thanks. Looks as if, from my cursory Googling, "kiss my ass in Macy's window" is a commonplace & was used before LBJ borrowed it. LBJ may have got it from "From Here to Eternity," in which a character says, "I'll kiss your ass in Macy's window at high noon." LBJ might have added the "and tell me it smells like roses," as I didn't find any earlier reference to that colorful part of the saying.
I expect Begala was familiar with the LBJ quote & was making a reference to it. Chait's a young guy & may not have got the reference; I think I'd heard it before but I hadn't remembered it till you brought it up.
I wouldn't call "kiss my ass in Macy's window" an idiom (although the "kiss my ass" part is), but I don't think Begala stole it any more than you & I & everybody regularly "steal" commonly-heard phrases. Sometimes I do it consciously, as in the two "headlines" above: "Do as I say, not as I do" & "Definition of insanity." Other times I do it without thinking as Don Gonyea of NPR did in the linked piece when he wrote "... putting a spotlight on....". Gonyea certainly didn't make up the metaphor, but no one would accuse him of stealing it.
Marie
FOR MARIE––ACE DECTECTIVE EXTRAORDINAIRE:
The "Good poets borrow, great poets steal" quote search by someone as good as you are at this:
https://nancyprager.wordpress.com/2007/05/08/good-poets-borrow-great-poets-steal/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/05/1368815/-Greenland-passes-tipping-points-Positive-feedback-accelerates?detail=email
This can't be true if the earth is only 6,000 years old. For those of us who are grounded in reality, it's worrisome. Senator Imhofe and his ilk will say "So what? Humans had nothing to do with it."