The Commentariat -- Sept. 1, 2015
Internal links & defunct video removed.
Breaking! (Okay, it was breaking at 8:36 this morning, but it's still important. Andy Borowitz: "Saying that 'things just didn't work out,' the billionaire Koch brothers have decided to put Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker up for sale. The Kochs, who earlier had purchased Gov. Walker with great fanfare, announced their plan to sell the politician in a terse statement from Koch Industries headquarters in Wichita."
Ian Lovett of the New York Times: "California has agreed to an overhaul of its use of solitary confinement in its prisons, including strict limits on the prolonged isolation of inmates, as part of a landmark legal settlement filed in federal court on Tuesday. The settlement is expected to sharply reduce the number of inmates held in the state's isolation units, where inmates are often kept alone for more than 22 hours a day inside cells that sometimes have no windows, and cap the length of time prisoners can spend there."
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Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Obama on Tuesday will propose speeding the acquisition and building of new Coast Guard icebreakers that can operate year-round in the nation’s polar regions, part of an effort to close the gap between the United States and other nations, especially Russia, in a global competition to gain a foothold in the rapidly changing Arctic." ...
... Julie Davis & Steven Myers of the New York Times: "President Obama on Monday issued a global call for urgent action to address climate change, declaring that the United States was partly to blame for what he called the defining challenge of the century and would rally the world to counter it.... The president spoke at the beginning of a three-day Alaska trip choreographed to lend vivid visual justification -- in the form of receding glaciers, eroded shorelines and rising seas -- to his drive for an international accord to reduce heat-trapping emissions leading up to a United Nations summit meeting in Paris in December.... He offered scathing criticism of those who question the need for such measures or deny the science behind them, making an implicit dig at Republican presidential candidates. 'Those who want to ignore the science, they are increasingly alone,' Mr. Obama said. 'They're on their own shrinking island'":
... Dana Milbank: President "Obama went to the very top this weekend -- to 20,320 feet to be exact -- and stripped North America's highest peak of its official name of the last century, Mt. McKinley, returning it to what Alaskans had called it for centuries: Denali, or Great One. Obama's opponents immediately condemned him for acting like a dictator, taking unconstitutional action, overstepping his authority, engaging in a partisan stunt and, of course, exhibiting racial animus.... Obama is perfectly within his authority to make the change. If his opponents are really outraged, they can overrule him in Congress or they can elect a president who will change the name back. The problem with both of these is that Alaska, run by Republicans, want the name to be Denali and have been trying to make the change for decades.... There's also the small matter of conservatives claiming to support local control...; in this case, they're demanding the federal government to continue to overrule a state's wishes." ...
I'm not certain he [Obama] has the authority to have done what he did [rename Mount McKinley]; the designation was granted by law of Congress in 1917.* In a more jocular way, the guy ought to be more gracious to the guy who made it possible for him to be President. [Hawaii, Obama's home state, was annexed under McKinley's presidency.] -- Karl Rove, who says he just wrote a book about McKinley
A 1947 law gives the secretary [of the Interior] the authority to change names on her own when the board does not act in a reasonable time. -- Gregory Korte of USA Today
... Timothy Cama of the Hill: "Donald Trump promised Monday that he would return the name of North America's largest mountain to Mount McKinley, undoing President Obama's decision to call it Denali. [Trump called] Obama's act a 'great insult to Ohio.'... [Ohio Gov. John] Kasich had tweeted his opposition earlier in the day, saying Obama had overstepped the limits of his authority."
Kimberly Hefling of Politico: "Columbia University President Lee Bollinger caused a stir Monday by reportedly announcing that President Barack Obama will be coming to the New York-based campus in 2017. The Columbia Daily Spectator student newspaper reported that Bollinger made the announcement at convocation.... The university late on Monday clarified that Bollinger was not making a big reveal. 'Lee Bollinger's comment at Convocation today that he was looking forward to welcoming back Columbia's most famous alumnus only reiterated the May 12 statement by the Barack Obama Foundation that it 'intends to maintain a presence at Columbia University...' and reflected no further developments concerning President Obama's plans. White House deputy press secretary Jen Friedman ... [said] in a statement, "The President has long talked about his respect for Columbia University and his desire to continue working with them. However, at this point no decisions have been finalized about his post-Presidency plans.'"
AP: "President Barack Obama said people who attack Jews who support the Iran nuclear deal are like African-Americans who differ with him on policy and then conclude he's 'not black enough.' Obama, in an interview with the Jewish newspaper 'Forward,' was asked whether it hurt him personally when people say he's anti-Semitic." Here's the transcript of the full interview.
Lauren Gambino of the Guardian: "Members of the Black Lives Matter movement have disavowed all political parties after the Democratic establishment adopted a resolution in support of the movement, which has interrupted the party's frontrunners at several campaign events in recent months. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) unanimously adopted a resolution in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement on Friday afternoon during a summer meeting in Minneapolis." ...
... ** Charles Pierce: "There is no greater mystery in politics right now than the continued employment of Debbie Wasserman Schultz as chairperson of the Democratic National Committee.... I'm damned if I can see what she's accomplished as a national chairperson.... If, as it appears, as national chairman of the president's party, she actively campaigned against a measure designed to show the support of the president's party for a monumentally important White House policy initiative, then she should have been fired from that post yesterday."
Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: Last week, on the anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, Glenn Beck held an "All Lives Matter" rally in Birmingham, Alabama. Twenty thousand people showed up, but the media largely ignored it.
Schoolhouse Rock, Tea Party-Style. Rebekah Sanders of the Arizona Republic: "U.S. Rep. Matt Salmon's [RTP] Friday civics lesson to second- and third-graders at a Gilbert charter school took a dark turn, veering into nuclear warfare and suicide bombers. Some parents complained it left the children frightened and confused. Salmon's office said the congressman's remarks weren't any more shocking than the local news.... 'It should have probably just been a good civics lesson for kids who initially were excited to meet their congressman,' parent Scott Campbell told [KPHO-TV]. But when Salmon brought up the United States' negotiations with Iran, Campbell said the congressman asked, "'Do you know what a nuclear weapon is? Do you know that there are schools that train children your age to be suicide bombers?"'" CW: Baggers are not just crazy; they're scary-crazy. Keep out of reach of children.
Dick Cheney Still a Dick. David of Crooks & Liars: "Former Vice President Dick Cheney embraced his Darth Vader persona in a recent interview with CBS, arguing that politicians with 'warmth and friendliness and so forth' could not protect the country." Also said waterboarding works & the Iraq War was "the right thing to do." ...
... ** Jonathan Chait: "The overarching theme of Cheney's op-ed [in the Wall Street Journal] is that world peace has been maintained because presidents of both parties, from Harry Truman through the guy who was president before Barack Obama, believed in American goodness and strength. Now it has all been ruined by Barack Obama.... Measured by results, rather than sound bites, Cheney was the greatest thing that happened to the radical regime in Iran since it took power.... Why were sanctions [against Iran] so weak under Bush, and so much stronger under Obama? Because the Obama administration used the promise of negotiations to build strong support for sanctions.
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Monday refused to allow a county clerk in Kentucky who objects to same-sex marriage on religious grounds to continue to deny marriage licenses to all couples, gay or straight." ...
... So What? Chas Danner of New York: "Today, that same woman, Rowan County clerk Kim Davis, remains defiant, citing 'God's authority' over any other, according to the Associated Press. When her office opened this morning, Davis once again refused to issue marriage licenses to two same-sex couples, and when one couple who had been denied a license for the fifth time objected, she asked them to leave her office."
Robert Barnes & Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post: "Former Virginia governor Robert F. McDonnell will avoid prison while the Supreme Court decides whether to review his conviction on corruption charges, the justices decided Monday. The one-paragraph order was a dramatic -- perhaps unprecedented -- reprieve for the Republican former governor, who lost a lower-court appeal and who would have had to begin serving a two-year prison sentence without the Supreme Court's intervention. As is customary in granting a stay, the court did not explain its reasoning; none of the justices signaled disagreement."
Sliding Down the Slippery Slope. Adam Liptak: "Employers do not need to provide insurance coverage for contraception even if their objections are moral rather than religious..., Judge Richard J. Leon of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ... ruled on Monday. The case concerned a group called March for Life, which was formed after the Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right to abortion in 1973 in Roe v. Wade. The group, Monday's decision said, 'is a nonprofit, nonreligious pro-life organization.'... The government is likely to appeal the decision...." ...
... Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: "Judge Richard Leon is a George W. Bush appointee with a history of handing down conservative opinions. His opinion in March for Life v. Burwell is no exception.... Leon's reasoning on this issue is, frankly, hard to follow.... In essence, however, Leon appears to object to the government's decision to exempt churches and other inherently religious organizations from the birth control rules without also extending this exemption to secular employers because such a rule discriminates against secular employers. The problem with this argument is that the Supreme Court has explicitly held that when the government 'acts with the proper purpose of lifting a regulation that burdens the exercise of religion' there is 'no reason to require that the exemption come packaged with benefits to secular entities.'"
Shannon Pettypiece of Bloomberg: "Wal-Mart Stores Inc., in the midst of spending $1 billion to raise employees' wages and give them extra training, has been cutting the number of hours some of them work in a bid to keep costs in check. Regional executives told store managers at the retailer's annual holiday planning meeting this month to rein in expenses by cutting worker hours they've added beyond those allocated to them based on sales projections." ...
... The New York Times Editors point to some other ways retailers manipulate schedules to shaft workers. CW: But by highlighting these unfair practices, aren't the editors destroying capitalism & jobs & all that is good?
Monica Davey & Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Cities across the nation are seeing a startling rise in murders after years of declines.... Rivalries among organized street gangs, often over drug turf, and the availability of guns are cited as major factors in some cities, including Chicago. But more commonly, many top police officials say they are seeing a growing willingness among disenchanted young men in poor neighborhoods to use violence to settle ordinary disputes."
Spencer Ackerman of the Guardian (August 29): "An assistant professor in the law department of the US military academy at West Point has argued that legal scholars critical of the war on terrorism represent a 'treasonous' fifth column that should be attacked as enemy combatants. In a lengthy academic paper, the professor, William C Bradford, proposes to threaten 'Islamic holy sites' as part of a war against undifferentiated Islamic radicalism. That war ought to be prosecuted vigorously, he wrote, 'even if it means great destruction, innumerable enemy casualties, and civilian collateral damage'." His paper "appeared in the most recent issue of the National Security Law Journal, a student-run publication at the George Mason School of Law.... The National Security Law Journal's editor-in-chief has called the article's publication a 'mistake' and an 'egregious breach of professional decorum'." Bradford's academic creds are fake & his career checkered. CW: Congrats on a great hire, West Point. ...
... Via Charles Pierce: "This is just the kind of guy you want teaching young people who one day may be commanding heavy weapons platoons."
Best Year to Confess to Abortion: 2016. Sarah Bailey & Michael Boorstein of the Washington Post: "In a letter, Pope Francis said he would allow all priests to formally forgive women who have had abortions and seek absolution during the Roman Catholic Church's upcoming Holy Year."
Presidential Race
** Anne Tompkins in a USA Today op-ed: "Former attorney general Michael Mukasey recently compared the inquiry into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of State with former CIA director David Petraeus' federal conviction for the unauthorized removal and retention of classified information. As the former U.S. attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, I oversaw the prosecution of Gen. Petraeus, and I can say, based on the known facts, this comparison has no merit. The key element that distinguishes Secretary Clinton's email retention practices from Petraeus' sharing of classified information is that Petraeus knowingly engaged in unlawful conduct, and that was the basis of his criminal liability." ...
... Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "The State Department released another tranche of emails from Hillary Clinton's private server late Monday. The release -- which contained 7,000 pages of emails sent and received from 2009-2010, about topics ranging from Middle East policy to a controversial Rolling Stone cover story about American general Stanley McChrystal -- is the latest monthly instalment of messages that Clinton turned over to the State Department from her private 'homebrew' server." ...
... Peter Baker & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The [State] department initially said it had redacted information from roughly 150 emails because they contained sensitive information, then reduced that estimate to 125. The information was deleted because 'confidential' materials -- the lowest classification of government intelligence -- had been discovered in the correspondence. None of the documents were [sic!] marked classified at the time they were sent, said Mark Toner, a spokesman for the State Department. ...
... Shock! David Brooks is largely correct about Hillary Clinton. CW: I'd add this: when people vote for president, they take it personally. They're voting for their own futures as much as for the nations'. Hillary nearly won the Democratic primary in 2008 because her very candidacy suggested a hope for a country which more fully embraced women's equality. Supporters were passionate about Hillary because she was a woman, not because she was Hillary Clinton. That moment has passed. Her near-win showed Americans that on the Democratic side gender equality was a given. Hillary's agenda, as far as she has articulated, is fine with many Democrats & independents. A "fine" agenda is okay for candidates for lower offices. For president, it is not enough.
Bern-Storming. Jason Horowitz of the New York Times: Bernie Sanders has expanded his campaign staff in Iowa & elsewhere. The Iowa organization "now has 53 people on staff, with a 'robust hiring plan' made possible by Mr. Sanders's fund-raising success with small donors, according to his campaign manager, Jeff Weaver. This past weekend alone, he said, the campaign's 1,700 volunteers marched out of 15 campaign offices throughout the state to knock on 17,000 doors and make 10,000 phone calls. They call it Bern-Storming."
Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "For years, Republicans have run for office on promises of cutting taxes and bolstering business to stimulate economic growth, pledging allegiance to a Reaganesque model of conservatism that has largely become the party's orthodoxy. But this election cycle..., [Donald Trump] is taking a different approach, and it is jangling the nerves of some of the party's most traditional supporters.... In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on American companies that put their factories in other countries. He has suggested he would increase taxes on the compensation of hedge fund managers. And he has vowed to change laws that allow American companies to benefit from cheaper tax rates by using mergers to base their operations outside the United States." ...
... Jim Tankersley of the Washington Post: "Critics, including many leading conservative economists in Washington, call Trump's plans 'nativist,' 'protectionist' and incompatible with the party's core pro-market beliefs. They also worry Trump's ideas could spread to other GOP contenders." Tankerley cites some winger economists who are all upset that Trump isn't sticking to the party line on "free-market" economics & exploiting cheap labor in other countries.
Jonathan Easley of the Hill: "Donald Trump and Ben Carson are tied for the lead of Republican presidential candidates in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa, according to a Monmouth University poll released on Monday. The survey found Trump and Carson taking 23 percent support each.... Former business executive Carly Fiorina is in third place in the poll with 10 percent support, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 9 percent support." CW: So the top three candidates are not politicians, & the fourth is an anti-Washington loudmouth. Iowa Republicans really don't like professional pols.
Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump released a chilling video Monday attacking opponent Jeb Bush for once suggesting that undocumented immigrants entered the United States as 'an act of love.'... Trump posted [the video] to Instagram and Twitter...":
... The Wimpiness of the Doofus. Jonathan Chait: "The ad juxtaposes Bush with images of undocumented immigrants who committed murder.... Bush hits back at Trump by calling him ... liberal.... So the only response to this kind of crude, dishonest nativism is to get to your opponent's right?"
Gene Robinson makes fun of Scott Canadian Wall, Chris Fedex. Bobby Invasion, not to mention Donald Deportation. "... as long as other candidates are competing to sound tougher-than-thou, as long as the conversation is about how high to build new walls and blame is ascribed to immigrants for not assimilating quickly enough, the GOP is digging itself a hole that will be hard to escape." ...
... Eliza Collins of Politico: Canadian Defense Minister Jason Kenney is not amused by the Walker Wall. Scottie, as he always does, is trying to backpedal, this time blaming unnamed "people" in "law enforcement" for "expressed" "security concerns." ...
... Dana Liebelson of the Huffington Post: "Canada responded on Monday to GOP presidential contender Scott Walker's controversial comments about building a northern border wall by pointing out that the terrorists responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks had U.S. visas." ...
... CW: By his own account, Scottie has been to Canada "a million times." Earlier this year, he went on a taxpayer-funded jaunt trade mission to Quebec, where he says he'd never been before. Maybe the Frenchiness of Quebec made him suddenly realize that the Canada he thought he knew so well was actually a dangerous foreign country full of radical sovereignists. At the same time, if your aim is to drum up Canadian business for your state, building a wall between Canada & said state would seem a bit counterproductive.
Your government might have grown too large if they have 48 federal SWAT teams. The Department of Education has a SWAT team. They arrested a man and handcuffed him for six hours for nonpayment of student debt. Unfortunately, it wasn't his student debt. Turns out it was his girlfriend's student debt. The Department of Agriculture has a SWAT team. You know what they arrested somebody for not too long ago? Selling milk directly from the cow. We've gone crazy. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), speech in Alaska, Aug. 25, 2015
Paul's description of federal agencies with law enforcement officers, the DOE case and the raw milk cases was inaccurate on almost all fronts. The federal government does not have 48 SWAT teams; it has one, with the FBI. There are dozens of agencies with specialized forces, or armed agents to carry out the agency's criminal enforcement -- which is not the same thing as a SWAT team. The DOE case he described was debunked after the original local report.... His second story also is inaccurate. The FDA (which he called USDA) does not have a SWAT team. The two sellers prosecuted in the case were not just penalized for selling unpasteurized milk.... The California store owner did not obtain proper licenses, and the Pennsylvania farmer was prosecuted for interstate commerce, which is illegal. -- Michelle Lee of the Washington Post
Everything Is Obama's Fault, Ctd. Allegra Kirkland of TPM: "Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) suggested President Obama bore some of the blame for Friday's fatal shooting of a sheriff's deputy in Houston, Texas. During a campaign stop in New Hampshire, Cruz ... said. "And I do think we're seeing the manifestation of the rhetoric and vilification of law enforcement, of police, that is coming from the president of the United States and it's coming from senior officials.'... Local authorities, including Harris County Sherriff Ron Hickman, believe [Darren] Goforth 'was a target because he wore a uniform.' Cruz suggested President Obama's condemnation of the fatal shootings of unarmed black teenagers in cities including Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland helped to inflame anti-cop sentiment."...
... Ed Kilgore: "There you have it: express concern about the police shooting black people without cause and you are inciting cop-killers. Yet in the same breath Cruz accuses of Obama of inflaming 'racial divisions.'"
Beyond the Beltway
Guardian: "A federal appeals court considering whether California's death penalty is unconstitutional because of excessive delays focused on Monday mainly on procedural issues over whether a killer's novel legal theory had been addressed by the state supreme court. In the case of a Los Angeles rapist and murderer on death row for more than two decades, three judges on the ninth US circuit court of appeals wanted to know if all appeals were exhausted in state court before a federal judge ruled last year that the death penalty was dysfunctional because of unpredictable delays that have seldom led to executions."
Manny Fernandez of the New York Times: "The man charged with killing a sheriff's deputy at a suburban gas station Friday emptied his 15-round handgun into the back and the back of the head of the deputy, as witnesses watched in horror and surveillance cameras captured the shooting, prosecutors said Monday. The man, Shannon Jaruay Miles, 30, walked into a courtroom crowded with sheriff's deputies and police officers for his first court appearance [in Houston, Texas,] Monday morning...." ...
... Guardian: "The man accused of shooting and killing a suburban Houston officer has a history of mental illness and once lived in a homeless shelter, authorities said on Monday." ...
... Charles Pierce: "Over the past several weeks, a number of police officers in a number of places have been killed. Goforth's murder, however, coming on the heels of the slaughter of the Virginia news crew last week, has assumed a very large place in the national spotlight and, as such, is being used as a rally point for the unmistakable beginnings of a national backlash. It began with the very first press conference in the aftermath of Goforth's murder." ...
... CBS/AP: "After a white Houston sheriff's deputy was ambushed and fatally shot by a black man at a gas station, the sheriff linked the killing to heightened tension over the treatment of African-Americans by police, citing the 'Black Lives Matter' movement.... 'We've heard Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter. Well, cops' lives matter, too,' [Harris County Sheriff Ron] Hickman said Saturday." ...
... CW: Can a mentally-ill, serially-criminal black person murder a white cop in cold blood (with a gun he should not be allowed to own) -- and not be part of a political movement? Although Texas does not require prosecutors to show motive to prove their case, local law enforcement officials are working mighty hard to discover Miles' motive. ...
... CW: Well, this doesn't help. Nicole Norfleet of the Minneapolis Star Tribune: "The president of the St. Paul police union has sharply criticized some protesters at Saturday's Black Lives Matter march to the Minnesota State Fair for what he calls a 'disgusting' chant.... Some demonstrators shouted chants criticizing police as they were being escorted by officers who cleared the way for the demonstration, said David Titus, head of the St. Paul Police Federation.... A short video posted on Twitter shows that at one point in the march, at least several protesters were at the front carrying a banner and shouting, 'Pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon!' as the camera pans to show police on bikes, squad cars and a utility vehicle. 'Quite simply -- that promotes death to cops,' Titus said in a statement posted on the union's Facebook page." ...
... Caitlin MacNeal of TPM: "During a segment on the Black Lives Matter movement on Monday morning, 'Fox and Friends' host Elisabeth Hasselbeck suggested that the organization be labeled a hate group. Fox brought on conservative African-American writer Kevin Jackson to discuss the Saturday Black Lives Matter protest at the Minnesota State Fair and the Friday shooting of a Texas sheriff's deputy.... 'Well they should do it, but unfortunately it's being financed by the leftists,' Jackson said in response."
Ciara McCarthy of the Guardian: "The death of a man at a jail in Texas earlier this month was caused in part by sheriff's deputies restraining him and one placing his knee on the man's back and throat, authorities in Dallas said on Monday. Joseph Hutcheson, who suffered from a heart condition and had consumed illegal drugs, died on 1 August of a homicide, according to the Dallas County medical examiner's office."
Manny Fernandez & Ashley Southall of the New York Times: "The fatal shooting of a Texas man by sheriff's deputies in San Antonio last week was captured on video that appears to show he had his hands up when the officers fired. The Bexar County Sheriff's department identified the man on Monday as Gilbert Flores, 41."
John Eligon of the New York Times: "A white supremacist was convicted of capital murder on Monday in the shooting deaths of three people a year ago at a Jewish community center and an assisted living facility in suburban Kansas City. After a weeklong trial, jurors deliberated for about two hours before convicting Frazier Glenn Miller Jr., 74, a former Ku Klux Klan leader with a history of racist and anti-Semitic actions. Proceedings to determine Mr. Miller's punishment were scheduled to start Tuesday morning. Mr. Miller could receive the death penalty."
News Lede
Washington Post: "Overwhelmed by thousands of asylum-seekers, Hungarian authorities Tuesday briefly halted rail traffic from their nation's main train station, the latest blow to borderless movement in Europe.... The asylum-seekers, many of whom are fleeing conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, hope to make it onward to Germany, which has promised shelter and sustenance for Syrians. By midday in Budapest, the train station had been reopened, but migrants were being kept away, Hungary's state-owned news agency reported."
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Reader Comments (11)
Picture, if you will, practitioners of certain professions who are as ignorant as Republicans when it comes to what can and cannot be done. Every time the president does something the Reeking Chorus starts in with "He has NO right to do that!" And every single time they make that claim they are immediately proven wrong, demonstrating exactly how insensible they are to the rules of law governing their chosen line of work. Every. Single.Time.
How about a ballplayer who complains that an umpire has no right to call him out after the third strike?
How about a doctor who eschews best medical practices in favor of "gut feeling" and decides to operate on a patient without taking a history or doing any preliminary tests?
Or a trial lawyer who disputes the judge's power to rule on an objection.
Or imagine military officers who have not the slightest familiarity with military codes of conduct or handbooks demanding to know what gives a general the right to tell them what to do.
How long would any of these people be allowed to continue practicing their professions, being as they obviously are, so embarrassingly ignorant of the basics of that profession?
But nescient Confederates, safe under their blanket of stupid, continue to pretend that they know what they're doing and waste not only their time but ours as well.
These fools are a disgrace.
But, Akhilleus, they wouldn't continue to say so many stupid things, remarks that have no basis in reality, airy fantasies like Scott's Canadian wall, just plain wrong-headed claims like the over-stated violent crime statistics for recent documented or undocumented immigrants, or outright lies like the ones in Lil' Randy's anti-government pandering referenced above IF they did not have a receptive audience for them.
They are saying what they have good reason to believe their audience wishes to hear. Immigrants and blah people are bad. Terrorists are everywhere. The government is the enemy. That they are invariably wrong about all these things is not the point. They are politicians. Their skill (shill?) set is not about governing; it is about retaining their public's support by encouraging and reinforcing that public's viewpoint, as unrealistic and ultimately harmful as it is.
Because these politicians don't set out to govern, we may resent it (I certainly do), but in the political arena their persistent presence is a sure sign of their success. It's real and it's what they do.
And like C.S. Lewis said about bad literature, its existence may not so much be the fault of the writers who produce it but of the audience that eats it up.*
*When it comes to my reading, not governance, I confess I'm often as guilty as Lewis charged.
Ken,
That goes without saying. My problem with these people (one of the many) is that they are not leaders, not even cheerleaders. They are subservient to the mob, abetting their worst instincts. Their role as elected officials is to lead, not follow, to show a better way, not to crawl in the mud.
In many instances, I'm sure they say what the idiots want to hear, but in just as many they are truly ignorant of how government works and what laws allow and do not allow.
One of the supposed big guns in the Confederate camp doesn't even know how many justices are on the Supreme Court!
So what we have is a vicious loop, a feedback circuit in which demagoguery drummed up by politicians and cynical pundits and media outlets is ingested by a gullible public which then takes the lies as gospel. They then send others infected with these lies back to congress, idiots who, because, as you correctly say, have no interest in governance, simply continue the spread of the dis-ease. They have no ability or skill to do otherwise or interest in doing anything positive. So they feed the monster.
But now we're approaching a tipping point. A few months ago, most of us could never seriously have considered that Trumpy had any chance at more than a pitiful showing. He certainly, we thought, had no shot at the nomination, never mind the White House. But the balance is so out of whack now that I am considering this as a real possibility. His juggernaut campaign is relying on the sort of hatred of government you mention, true. But he is also aided by the weakness of his opponents on the Republican side.
Then there's Hillary. The entire media is arrayed against her. She is a detested figure for much of the electorate, and held to be highly suspicious by many more who don't, as of yet, actively hate her. She hasn't done much to turn this around and, as Marie suggests, her inner circle seems to be doing their job of telling her that everything she's doing is perfect.
Everyone is still saying that Trump will trip over his tongue and sooner or later say something beyond the pale. Well, he's already done that half a dozen times in as many weeks but has suffered no consequences. In fact, he's gotten stronger. And here's why. Trump, although he has zero experience as a politician, has had many years experience as a political player and immense success at building his brand.
Yesterday on NPR, a reporter noted that in direct opposition to Trump's self-promoted status as a real estate genius and magnate par excellence, only a handful of buildings with his name on them, in NYC alone, are actually owned by Trump. Often, projects he has failed at dismally, having eventually to sell off the buildings at a pittance, seem to be successes because part of every deal has allowed him to keep his name on the buildings. So even when he fucks up royally and fails, his name is still out there. He knows how to make shit shine like gold. He never wavers, never apologizes, and never backs down from the most heinous statements. He's been practicing this for years. Longer than Hillary Clinton has been in politics, in fact. And he's good at it. He makes inveterate liars like Cruz and Walker look like bumbling amateurs.
The press doesn't challenge him. Voters don't ask much of him. And they all hate Hillary.
This is not good.
So now we're seeing the potential apotheosis of the follower as leader.
The Confederate Legacy.
And the truly interesting thing is that this guy is not even a true believer. He's a cynical, conniving operator, an opportunistic invasive species. If he wins, the Confederate "victory" will be as illusive as Trump's abilities to get things done in the sphere of governance. Everyone will lose.
I had to read twice the article on Pope Francis and the availability of absolution for women who had abortions.
What I couldn't figure out was why it was a news story. Even in the article itself, the writers state that a priest has always been able to absolve a penitent's contrite confession.
What I also couldn't figure out was whether abortion had somehow become a "special" sin, not absolvable by your parish priest. Nope, the text says not so. Bishops confirm their dioceses' priests' authority to absolve (sort of a license to forgive) routinely, for all sins. The Church considers abortion a grievous mortal sin, but has never said priests can't absolve it in contrite confession.
So ... why is this a story? Because Francis made a point of saying that absolution is available? That's not news. And it's not a liberalization of any church teachings or standards, although the headline implies it is some kind of change.
I have the impression that the writers thought something big had happened, and in the course of developing the story realized that the Church on Tuesday is pretty much the same as it was last Friday, but they had done all this research and writing so might as well publish SOMETHING.
Meanwhile ... the pope is still catholic ... bears still defecate in the woods ...
Akhilleus,
Agreed, of course. I think we all share the same fears. I know I do. The Trump phenomenon is disturbing and may well represent a tipping point beyond and over which we may all slide into oblivion.
But the demagogues themselves don't interest me so much as does their receptive audience, those who actually cheer when they speak and vote them into office, something the demagogues can't do themselves.
Why do these people ("those" people?) act so stupidly and self-destructively? Therein, for me, lies endless fascination.
I think we can all come up with answers, but the one that recently rings most true for me has directly to do with that same seeming unwillingness to govern effectively so evident on the Right.
The Right speaks deliberately and effectively to people who really do want government. But the government they want is for other people, never themselves. What they want for themselves is freeedom. Their enemies are those who limit theirs.
Trump's success comes from a canny assessment of who those other groups are, taking absolutist positions, and from adding more to the list.
Extending the Right's anti-immigrant position, he wants wholly to control, govern with an iron fist, all immigrants, but he also breaks new Rightist ground by appealing to the middle class Tea Partiers who coalesced post-crash around a combined anti-government and anti-Wall Street sentiment.
Raise taxes on the rich hedge-fund managers? Control those dudes? Done. It's only right.
When it comes to foreign policy, his promises are more vague but still absolute. Bring China, another perceive enemy, to heel, he says, claiming that during his Presidency, we will be treated to one "win" after another, implying that he can exert control on all those other nations, all those "others" beyond our shores that bother us, too.
Of course the means to accomplish all these foreign policy "wins" is never mentioned, but for his audience the mere hint that he will do it is enough to make them feel good for now.
The curious element in all this is the paradox at its heart. In each case he mentions, Trump will fulfill his supporters' dreams by vastly expanding the powers of the government they say they already resent.
But as I said, it's not governing they don't like; they just don't like it when the wrong people get governed.
There's adequate precedent for that kind of successful politician. Hitler and many others that students of history could name come to mind.
Ken,
I think the Confederate desire, as you put it, for more controls on The Other and less on themselves stems in part from a general sense of victimization on their part, combined with the worst aspects of tribalism.
Thomas Franks' book "What's the Matter With Kansas" pondered this crowd as well, wondering why time and again most of these people voted against their own interests. The answer, in most cases, I believe is that tribal instincts, mixed with their inbred sense that the walls are closing in on them, pushed inwards by immigrants, liberals, uppity women, blah people, all the usual suspects populating the "enemies" column in all Fox segments, have caused them to circle the wagons in support of those who call themselves friends. Even if this means friends as unlikely as Donald Trump who represents, as just about no one else in the '16 campaign can, northeastern economic elitist royalty. But as long as he whacks away at their hated targets, they don't mind how many divorces he's had or how many average Americans he's thrown out of work.
And because they've been told never to trust smart sounding people, people who will try to discuss policy and international strategy, they are A-Ok with Trumpy's comfort food promises to kick ass, take names and WIN, whatever that really means. I heard a line the other day, I think it was from Bill Clinton, that Republicans love someone who appears to be strong no matter how wrong he is, but hate someone who appears to be weak even if his or her solutions are exactly right. So you don't have to smart but you do have to be aggressive and unyielding. Trump fits.
It's the same with topics like global warming. If liberals and scientists and academics are for it (its acknowledgement as a problem we need to address) then they are, ipso facto, against it. Second grade thinking? Sure. But every day I run into people who appear to be bright, successful individuals, proficient at their jobs, who say psychotic things about stuff like climate change being a hoax, gun control being a commie plot to make sure that only the wrong people (you know who I mean) get guns, and how Obama only wants us all to die. This is seriously psycho stuff, mouthed by people who to all outward appearances, seem sane.
Simple answers have always been a staple of Republican political science. Crime's a problem? More jail cells. Drugs a problem? Ridiculously long sentences for first time non-violent offenders. Easy peasy. But now the penchant for easy answers has devolved into a love of fantasy answers. It's been a long time coming though. But now we're hearing a presidential candidate saying a wall on the Canadian border is a legitimate idea.
And even if some or most Confederate voters think it's probably not a good or even legitimate idea, they've already bought into where that stupidity comes from.
But you're right. Walls and security forces to shoot at The Others are another way of desiring controls for everyone else but them.
They need to be able to let loose their own inner Cliven Bundys even as they Ferguson everyone else.
Sad news about Scottie Walker. Now that the Koch boys have put his sorry ass on the block, it will be interesting to see if there are any takers among the Confederate billionaire class.
The early word is that Pete Peterson, private equity mogul and anti-debt quack was interested because of Walker's eagerness to hobble his state, economically in blind pursuit of "debt relief", but his interest cooled when he realized that Walker couldn't do long division. Even with a calculator.
The Walton family thought that Walker's dour campaign demeanor might make him a perfect choice as a greeter at one of their stores. A more sour bunch you couldn't hope to meet, but Walker balked at wearing the funny apron. Hey, beggars can't be choosers, Scottie.
Rupert Murdoch considered giving him his own show on Fox then remembered the Canadian wall thing. A bridge too far even for him.
The best bet so far, so to speak, might be for the Kochs to sell Scottie to Sheldon Adelson. Adelson, anxious to keep his money out of the hands of successful gamblers in his casinos is always on the look out for "coolers", Jonah type jinxers and losers whose bad luck and stupidity are so overwhelming, they spill the banks over anyone they stand near. One call from the pit boss, Scottie shows up and turns the winning streak of a lifetime into a visit to bankruptcy court for the unhappy players.
Sounds perfect.
Just think if he ever became president.
Patrick,
Given that many believe that women obtaining abortions, their doctors, and anyone counseling them should be jailed and or executed, perhaps the pope was trying to let all those good Christians know that if they believe what the profess, they might not be on solid ground with their hypocritical moralizing and demands for such severe punishments.
Not to mention the fact that in many places it's legal, no matter what any church says.
Here is a minor example of a reporter getting a fact 100% wrong ... but not quite worthy of the "Annals" ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/09/01/within-clintons-circle-resentments-against-obama-persisted-for-years/
The reporter interprets as a snub HRC's instruction that David Axelrod should communicate with her staff (i.e. not send to her e-mail address) during working hours.
It was not a snub. During working hours, when she was in her DC office, HRC would not have access to her personal handheld e-mail device. Such things (cellphones, PDAs, iPads, etc.) must be checked outside the door. This is common practice in all agencies' offices that house classified communications. So HRC was letting Axelrod know that if he needed to get to her during the day, he could send to her staff.
As many have noted, HRC brings many of her troubles on herself. But so do reporters/commenters who don't know what they are talking about.
Memo to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, DNC Chairwoman:
It's time to go.
Please go right now.
Go by land, or air, or cow
We really do not care just how.
But won't you please, oh please, go now?
Kate- I love it! I posted two days ago that DWS should leave, but Pierce's column made me realize it was really, really, REALLY time. Long overdue.