The Commentariat -- October 17
Paul Krugman: "... until a few weeks ago it seemed as if Wall Street had effectively bribed and bullied our political system into forgetting about that whole drawing lavish paychecks while destroying the world economy thing. Then, all of a sudden, some people insisted on bringing the subject up again. And their outrage has found resonance with millions of Americans." So now the Wizards of Wall Street are whining. ...
... I've added a page for comments to Krugman's column on Off Times Square. ...
... Groupthink. In commenting on this latest Rupert Murdoch scandal (which I also linked last week), Krugman offers an insight that I think many of us may have missed or not fully grasped:
My sense, after 11 years of punditizing, is that people are complicated, but gangs of people less so. Individuals are often mixed in their behavior: incorruptible politicians may cheat on their spouses, political scoundrels may have impeccable personal lives. But groups, like a politician’s inner circle or the management team of a media empire, tend to behave similarly on multiple fronts. If they lie and cheat routinely in one domain, they tend to do it in others as well.
... Krugman adds that this is how he knew the Bush team was making a fake case for war with Iraq; they had routinely made fake cases for their economic policies. ...
... ** Peter Beinart of the Daily Beast has an excellent analysis of how Occupy Wall Street fits into the recent (past 50 years) history of American protests and why it has such resonance. ...
... Off Times Square contributor Elizabeth Adams helped organize a 99 Percent rally in the small, conservative town of Marysville, California (north of Sacramento). Adams writes that her daughter, Olivia Key, is quoted in the local paper (story linked below), as is she. She says, "We plan to do this again next Sunday." ...
... Someone yelled, 'Take a shower.' It's not like we've been here for weeks. -- Elizabeth Adams ...
... Nancy Pasternack of the Appeal-Democrat: "Marysville, not generally known for street protests or liberal sentiment, attracted more than 50 demonstrators to Washington Square in support of the 'We are the 99 percent' movement during the peak of an afternoon rally Sunday.... They got some honks of support and a few drive-by cheering sections as well as some flipped middle fingers and derogatory remarks. ...
... ALSO see Off Times Square's weekend thread for reports from Meredith, who was in Times Square for the huge Occupy Wall Street event, and from Julie, who attended the Occupy Boston protest. ...
... Toilets of the Rich and Famous. Karen Garcia: "Alas, there are no toilet facilities in Zuccotti Park.... The New York Times broke the story about the bathroom crashers of OWS when the encampment was entering its third week. The paper of record still can't seem to make up its mind whether to jump on the revolutionary bandwagon and celebrate the movement, or continue siding with the oligarchs over how stressed the whole thing is making them feel.... But unlike the OWS'ers, the million dollar wunderkinds don't have to worry about their next bathroom break. Again, from the New York Times ... comes the story of a luxury toilet called the Numi," which costs 81 times the price of a Home Depot crapper. ...
Do you feel your cause is hurt by the fact that you’re dressed like a Viking? -- "Daily Show" correspondent John Oliver, interviewing a Zuccotti Park protester who was, well, dressed like a Viking ...
... TRIPOLI (The Borowitz Report) – As arrests mounted in the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City, Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) issued a stern statement today warning the NYPD to exercise restraint.... Libyan government officials also hinted that if the arrests continue, it would consider forming a NATO coalition'“to ensure the safety and security of the American people.' While it did not state it as an explicit goal, insiders believe that if the arrests continue Libya may seek the ouster of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose whereabouts remain unknown."
Michael Fletcher of the Washington Post: "Despite the marketing pitch from the armed forces, which promises to prepare soldiers for the working world, recent veterans are more likely to be unemployed than their civilian counterparts. Veterans who left military service in the past decade have an unemployment rate of 11.7 percent, well above the overall jobless rate of 9.1 percent, according to fresh data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The elevated unemployment rate for new veterans has persisted despite repeated efforts to reduce it."
Adam Goldman & Mark Apuzzo of the AP: "Three months ago, one of the CIA's most experienced clandestine operatives started work inside the New York Police Department.... The CIA is prohibited from spying domestically, and its unusual partnership with the NYPD has troubled top lawmakers and prompted an internal investigation."
Nicholas Confessore & Griff Palmer of the New York Times: "Since the beginning of the year, [President] Obama and the , for which the president is helping raise money to finance his party’s grass-roots efforts, have spent close to $87 million in operating costs.... That amount is about as much as all the current Republican candidates together have raised so far in this campaign."
Mitt Romney, Vulture Capitalist. Steve Benen: "... literally all of the Republican [presidential] candidates ... want to eliminate all of the [financial regulatory] safeguards approved in 2010, but this seems to pose an even more acute problem for Mitt Romney. He not only wants to lift any measure of accountability for the financial industry, he’s also from that industry — Romney got very wealthy heading up a vulture capitalist fund, which made money by breaking up companies and firing their American workers.... By most measures, Romney is the strongest Republican candidate, but if voters are basing their decision in part on frustrations with Wall Street, a Romney nomination could very well be a gift to the Democratic Party."
New York Times Editors: Elizabeth "Warren talks about the nation’s growing income inequality in a way that channels the force of the Occupy Wall Street movement but makes it palatable and understandable to a far wider swath of voters. She is provocative and assertive in her critique of corporate power and the well-paid lobbyists who protect it in Washington, and eloquent in her defense of an eroding middle class. It is an informed and measured populism.... She is a remarkably eloquent and appealing Senate candidate." ...
... And allies of House Democrats are trying to climb onto the populist bandwagon, as evidenced by this negative spot against Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisc.) produced by the HouseMajorityPac:
Adam Cohen of Time: "Abortion opponents have a new weapon of choice: the 'heartbeat bill.' A coalition of anti-abortion groups told the Associate Press last week last week that it was pushing to enact laws in all 50 states that would make women listen to a fetus's heart beat before they could abort. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has introduced a similar federal bill, The Heartbeat Informed Consent Act, in Congress. When the Supreme Court decided Roe, critics of abortion vowed to get it overturned. They have not succeeded in that. But they have managed to pass a wide array of laws — some upheld by the courts, others struck down — making access to abortion more difficult."
Right Wing World *
Susan Saulny of the New York Times: "Herman Cain ... was pushed to admit that his signature economic plan, 9-9-9, would result in increased taxes for some people.... He also sought to back away from fiery comments he had made just hours earlier, saying he was only joking about killing people trying to cross the border from Mexico with an electrified fence.... Beyond that, Mr. Cain acknowledged that he was unfamiliar with the neoconservative movement, and was not exactly sure what the word 'neoconservative' meant. All this was in the space of a 20-minute interview....” Here's the interview featuring our favorite hard-hitting journalist:
Enemy of the Earth. Chris Tomlinson of the AP: Texas Gov. Rick "Perry has cut funding for clean air programs and sued the Environmental Protection Agency to avoid enforcing laws to make the air cleaner. As part of his Republican presidential campaign, he routinely blasts the White House for tightening environmental standards."
Note to Conservatives: the MSM Is Not Obama's PR Unit. Keach Hagey of Politico (yes, Politico!) The right constantly asserts that President Obama has the media "in his back pocket" (Sarah Palin's description) & there is a "longstanding complaints from conservatives that the mainstream media treated the tea party with contempt.... But a study by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism finds that, in the past five months, the reverse has actually been true: Obama has received the most unremittingly negative press of any of the presidential candidates by a wide margin, with negative assessments outweighing positive ones by four to one. Pew found that just 9 percent of the president’s coverage was positive, while 34 percent was negative — a stark contrast to the 32 percent positive coverage and 20 percent negative that it found Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the most covered Republican, received." CW: C'mon, Keach. Don't confuse us with the facts.
* Where one defense for saying you plan to kill people looking for work is to say, "I was only kidding."
News Ledes
President Obama spoke at West Wilkes High School in Millers Creek, North Carolina, this afternoon. Update: the video is here.
AP: "A lawyer for Dominique Strauss-Kahn says the former IMF chief wants to be questioned by police so that he can debunk claims he was linked to a suspected hotel prostitution ring."
President Obama speaks on the American Jobs Act in Ashville, North Carolina, & appropriately mocks the Republicans' "Real American Jobs Act," which would probably actually cut jobs:
Guardian: "A lawyer acting on behalf of an Occupy Wall Street protester who was allegedly assaulted by a New York police officer on Friday has called for an investigation into the behaviour of the deputy inspector involved after video evidence appeared to show the same officer [Johnny Cardona] engaging in the rough handling of a woman protester in an earlier incident." With videos which you really should watch; the NYPD look more like barroom brawlers than peace officers.
AP: "Greek unions lashed out at the government Monday with protests, strikes and ministry building sit-ins, intensifying resistance to more austerity cuts as both Greece and the 17-nation eurozone faced a crucially decisive week. Strikes halted ferries to the Greek islands and left rotting trash piling up on the streets of Athens for a 16th straight day. Tax collectors and customs officers walked off the job and protesting civil servants occupied the finance and labor ministry buildings in the Greek capital."
New York Times: "Three years after needing a federal bailout to survive, Citigroup reported its seventh-straight quarterly profit, with a 74 percent rise in the third quarter despite dismal results of its investment bank. Citigroup announced a profit of $3.8 billion, or $1.23 a share, beating analyst consensus estimates of 81 cents per share. The bank had reported a $2.2 billion profit, or 72 cents a share, a year ago in the third quarter."
Guardian: "Far from requesting that the 300-strong crowd be removed from [London's St. Paul's] Cathedral steps on Sunday , the Rev Dr Giles Fraser, canon chancellor of St Paul's, requested that the police themselves move on as the Occupy London Stock Exchange protest entered its second day."
New York Times: "The British company, , said Monday that a partner in a well that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, , had agreed to pay $4 billion to settle claims relating to last year’s oil spill. The settlement ends a long dispute between BP, which operated the well in the gulf, and Anadarko, which owned a 25 percent stake, about accepting responsibility for compensating those affected by one of the worst ever in the United States."
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