The Commentariat -- September 16
All Krugman All the Time. Paul Krugman in today's column: "... compassion is out of fashion — indeed, lack of compassion has become a matter of principle, at least among the G.O.P.’s base. And what this means is that modern conservatism is actually a deeply radical movement, one that is hostile to the kind of society we’ve had for the past three generations — that is, a society that, acting through the government, tries to mitigate some of the 'common hazards of life' through such programs as Social Security, unemployment insurance, Medicare and Medicaid." ...
... I've added a Krugman page to Off Times Square. Karen Garcia, Akhilleus & I have posted comments. ...
... More on the U.S. Census poverty report from the first Nobel Laureate below (and above): "It ... documents the ways in which safety-net programs have at least mitigated that damage — notably, uninsurance among children has actually fallen thanks to SCHIP and Medicaid, unemployment insurance has literally kept millions above the poverty line, and the early features of the Affordable Care Act.... But what struck me is [that] many measures of pain were rising right through the 'Bush boom', and have merely continued that rise." ...
Stephen Colbert interviews some Nobel Laureates:
"Steve Jobs is Esther Williams":
** Anthony McCartney of the AP: "A new book offering an insider's account of the White House's response to the financial crisis says that U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner ignored an order from President Barack Obama calling for reconstruction of major banks. According to Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ron Suskind, the incident is just one of several in which Obama struggled with a divided group of advisers.... The book states Geithner and the Treasury Department ignored a March 2009 order [from Obama] to consider dissolving banking giant Citigroup while continuing stress tests on banks, which were burdened with toxic mortgage assets. In the book, Obama does not deny Suskind's account, but does not reveal what he told Geithner when he found out. "Agitated may be too strong a word," Suskind quotes Obama as saying." Thanks to reader Bob M. for the link. ...
... Mark Landler of the New York Times: "A new book claims that ’s response to the economic crisis was hampered by a White House economic staff plagued by internal rivalries, a domineering chief adviser and a Treasury secretary who dragged his feet on enforcing decisions with which he disagreed. The book, by ..., quotes White House documents that say Mr. Obama’s decisions were routinely 're-litigated' by ... .... In this rough-and-tumble environment, the book reports, female staff members often felt bruised. At a dinner with Mr. Obama in November 2009, several top female aides — including Anita Dunn, who was the communications director, and , the chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers — told the president about being talked over in meetings by male colleagues or cut out altogether."
Karen Garcia comments on James Carville's panicky call for White House action, linked in yesterday's Commentariat. Garcia writes, "I couldn't help but wonder how he can, in good conscience, draw a paycheck from the same network that 'teamed up' with the Tea Party Express to present a travesty of a GOP debate Monday night." Here's the CNN clip she references.
Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic: President Obama has done a very good job advocating for his Jobs Act. But he needs help, & not just from his natural allies:
... where are the coalitions of business leaders, whose livelihoods depend on growth, clamoring for this? And where are all the fiscal scolds, whom Obama has tried so hard to please by demanding (unlike the previous administration) that Congress pay for new initiatives and that long-term deficit reduction remain a goal? By refusing to engage more forcefully, and more pointedly, they empower and reward the Republicans who brazenly risked the nation's credit rating -- and who refuse to contemplate tax increases, making deficit reduction impossible as a practical matter. ...
... AND What about Democrats? The New York Times Editorial Board: "Republican opposition is bad enough, but The Times’s Jennifer Steinhauer reported that many Congressional Democrats are hanging back, saying they could support one or another of the components of the jobs plan, but not the whole package.... The last thing Democrats should do now is ... cow in the face of Republican tirades against government help."
NEW. Obama Solves a Murder Case. Christine McConville of the Boston Herald: "A paroled killer’s 'Obama' bumper sticker was the break that helped cops nab the man accused of the cold-blooded murder of a Tedeschi’s convenience store clerk, jurors in Edward Corliss’ murder trial learned yesterday. 'It struck me as odd,' state parole officer Kevin Devlin testified yesterday.... 'He’s a guy from Somerville, so I was surprised he was supporting Obama,' Devlin said.... After the shocking 2009 execution, Devlin learned police were looking for a car exactly like his parolee’s and dropped the dime that led cops to Corliss."
Right Wing World
Killing Them Not-so-Kindly with His Song-and-Dance. CW: Karen Garcia's comment on today's Off Times Square has me boiling. She highlighted the story -- first reported by Seth Abramovitch of Gawker -- of Ken Snyder, one of Ron Paul's top 2008 presidential campaign manager, who -- uninsured and broke -- died of viral pneumonia at the age of 49, two weeks after Paul suspended his campaign. Paul, a physician who had a $35 million war chest, did not offer his campaign employees health insurance. When Wolf Blitzer asked Paul during this week's presidential debate whether a person should be allowed to die because he didn't buy health insurance, Paul blithely replied,
He should do is whatever he wants to do, and assume responsibility for himself....That's what freedom is all about: taking your own risks. This whole idea that you have to take care of everybody —
... The audience interrupted Paul with cheers, & hooted Blitzer when he pressed Paul with a follow-up question:
So did Snyder fail to "assume responsibility for himself" when he went to work for Ron Paul? Or was he just "taking his own risks" because "that's what freedom is all about"? And what kind of "personal responsibility" did Ron Paul exhibit when he chose not to provide his staff with insurance? I guess he was just exercising his libertarian "freedom." ...
... Update: In this CNN story, Paul claims he did everything he could for his longtime friend. Right. It turns out Snyder had a pre-existing condition & could not get health coverage if the Paul campaign had offered it. Even the fairly clueless Blitzer notes that under "Obamacare," Snyder would be able to get insurance, but Paul still vehemently opposes the Affordable Care Act, calling it "montrous" & "bad for your health." Paul himself doesn't have to worry; as a U.S. Congressman, he & his family are eligible for Cadillac coverage:
Note that Paul "raised" (i.e., didn't give) $50,000 to help cover his good friend Snyder's bills, which came to $400,000 for his final care. And where were "the churches" Paul said were responsible to take care of the indigent? I guess they're irresponsible, too.
Steve Stromberg of the Washington Post: "At a speech to the Economic Club of Washington, [House Speaker John] Boehner articulated a hard-right line on taxes that even the most moderate of Democrats could never accept.... Tax increases? Not a chance — they 'are off the table,' Boehner said, repeating the dubious argument that planning to raise revenue many years down the road would hurt job creation now. If you’re looking for deficit reduction, Boehner barked, 'the joint committee only has one option — spending cuts and entitlement reform.'” ...
At this moment, the Executive Branch has 219 new rules in the works that will cost our economy at least $100 million. That means under the current Washington agenda, our economy is poised to take a hit from the government of at least $100 million — 219 times. -- John Boehner, in his speech yesterday ...
... Glenn Kessler, the Post's fact checker: "... the number of potential regulations [Boehner cited] is inflated, as well as the potential impact. Many of the regulations may turn out to have substantial costs, but others could have benefits, as a report on the speaker’s website makes clear." CW: the explanation here is complicated; you'll have to read Kessler's post.
NEW. Amy Sullivan of Time: Federal courts are striking down as unconstitutional state laws & amendments banning sharia law (whatever that is) & Planned Parenthood funding. Are conservative interest groups upset? Not necessarily. They "recognize the political benefit to agitating about the dangers of Planned Parenthood or sharia–a catch-all word used by people who fear Islam and Muslims. A generous description of the political upside to these campaigns would be 'framing the cultural debate.' Another one would be 'fear-mongering.' ... The strategy ... plays directly into a narrative conservative Christians have been weaving for over a generation.... For the past few decades ... many conservative Christians have viewed themselves as soldiers in a fight against government representatives who want to impose secular values on them."
Robert Pear of the New York Times: "In last year’s campaigns, Republicans ripped into Democrats for failing to perform one of Congress’s most basic duties: providing money in a timely way for the operations of government. But Republicans acknowledged Thursday that they would miss the deadline they had promised to meet. They began to rush a stopgap spending bill through the House because, they said, Congress could not finish work on any of the 12 regular appropriations bills before the new fiscal year starts in two weeks, on Oct. 1.... Republicans offered several [CW: dog-ate-my-homework] reasons for missing the deadline."
NEW. John Ellis of Business Insider: Rick Perry has tried a phone-it-in technique in the two Republican debates, and showing up unprepared is not working for him. If he doesn't start doing better, he won't be the nominee.
Lee Fang of Think Progress: "... the group American Family Voices filed a formal ethics complaint against Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, regarding the “symbiotic relationship” the congressman has established between his business interests and public responsibilities. Listing Issa’s many conflicts of interest, the letter, sent to the Office of Congressional Ethics, heavily cites a New York Times piece as well as original ThinkProgress investigations." Here's a press release from the American Family Group on their complaint. Thanks to reader Jeanne B. for the link. Alexander Bolton of The Hill also has a story here.
News Ledes
President Obama signs the America Invents Act:
The Hill: "President Obama has signed legislation overhauling the nation’s patent and trademark laws, a move the administration claims will speed the patent process and spur job growth. Appearing at an event at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., Friday, Obama signed the America Invents Act into law, changing the U.S. from a first-to-invent to a first-to-file patent system." Video above.
New York Daily News: New York Mayor Michael "Bloomberg warned Friday there would be riots in the streets if Washington doesn't get serious about generating jobs."
The Hill: "House Republican leaders assessed President Obama’s jobs plan Friday in a memo to their rank and file, and they found plenty of proposals to criticize. The leaders cited trade agreements and incentives for small businesses and veterans as the ideas they liked the most, but signaled little support for proposals they said were too similar to provisions of the 2009 economic stimulus package. The Republicans also criticized, as they have repeatedly, the tax increases that the president proposes as a means to pay for his $447 billion plan."
Washington Post: "Worried that a mounting debt crisis in Europe could trip up the global economy, the Federal Reserve opened its vault Thursday to the central banks of other countries in an effort to head off a crippling shortage of dollars. The main recipient of the Fed’s money is the European Central Bank, which will in turn extend dollar loans to banks in the nations that use the euro currency." ...
AP: "UBS was under pressure on Friday to explain how its managers failed to catch a $2 billion loss due to rogue trading, with experts calling into question the Swiss bank’s ability to turn around its scandal-hit image."
AP, via the NYT: "A black man convicted of a double murder in Texas 16 years ago was at least temporarily spared from lethal injection when the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review his lawyers' claims that race played an improper role in his sentencing. The court on Thursday halted the execution for Duane Buck, 48, two hours into a six-hour window when he could have been taken to the death chamber. Texas officials, however, did not move forward with the punishment while legal issues were pending."
AP: "Denmark's prime minister-designate started work Friday on molding a united government from a scattered 'red bloc' of ex-communists and pro-market liberals that ousted a right-wing coalition in a parliamentary election. Social Democratic leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt, 44, is set to become Denmark's first female head of government after her alliance secured 92 seats and a narrow majority in the 179-seat Folketing."
Reuters, via the NYT: "Forces loyal to Libya's new rulers surged into the desert town of Bani Walid on Friday in a fierce attack on one of the last strongholds still in the hands of Muammar Gaddafi loyalists that could prove a major turning point in the war."
AP: "Officials in Saudi Arabia and Yemen say that President Ali Abdullah Saleh will not return to Sanaa [the Yemen capital] and will, instead, remain in Riyadh, where he has been since June recuperating from serious wounds after an attack on his compound in June.... On Thursday, the U.S. State Department said in a statement that it believes Saleh could sign a Gulf-sponsored proposal to transfer power to his vice president within a week."
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