The Commentariat -- September 23, 2017
** Jordain Carney of the Hill: "Sen. John McCain> (R-Ariz.) announced on Friday that he will vote against the latest GOP effort to repeal ObamaCare, potentially dooming the legislation. 'I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal. I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried,' he said in a statement, referring to the legislation spearheaded by GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C) and Bill Cassidy (La.)." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Thomas Kaplan & Robert Pear of the New York Times: "Senator John McCain of Arizona announced on Friday that he would oppose the latest proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act, leaving Republican leaders with little hope of succeeding in their last-ditch attempt to dismantle the health law and fulfill their longstanding promise to conservative voters. For Mr. McCain, it was a slightly less dramatic reprise of his middle-of-the-night thumbs-down that killed the last repeal effort in July. This time, the senator, battling brain cancer and confronting his best friend in the Senate, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, issued a statement saying that he could not 'in good conscience' support the proposal by Senators Graham and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.... A spokeswoman for the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, declined to comment on whether he would press forward with a vote." ...
... Seung Min Kim, et al., of Politico: "Senate Republicans failed on their last Obamacare repeal attempt in July when McCain, Murkowski and Collins teamed up to tank the so-called 'skinny repeal' plan. But unlike then, it's not clear whether McConnell could even open debate on the bill this time. More than a half-dozen senators were not committal or non-responsive to inquiries Friday about how they would vote for the motion to proceed to the House-passed repeal bill." ...
... Alicia Cohn of the Hill: In a series of tweets, "President Trump on Saturday said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) 'let down' his party, the people of Arizona and 'his best friend' by opposing the GOP's latest attempt to repeal and replace ObamaCare.... Trump alleged that McCain had been influenced in his decision by Minority Leader >Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).... 'Sad,' Trump wrote." Trump also suggested that Rand Paul & Lisa Murkowski ultimately would back the bill. ...
... Can't wait for trump's Saturday morning toilet tweets about John McCain. Will he be despicable, dotard, reprehensible or trump's favorite, the one he can spell, 'sad'. -- Forrest M., the Oracle of Reality Chex, in yesterday's Comments thread
... Louis Nelson of Politico: "... Donald Trump warned Republicans Friday morning to fall in line behind last-ditch legislation in the Senate to repeal and replace Obamacare, writing online that any GOP lawmaker who votes against the bill will be remembered as 'the Republican who saved Obamacare. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), one of the repeal-and-replace bill's loudest opponents in the Senate, was singled out by the president.... 'Rand Paul, or whoever votes against Hcare Bill, will forever (future political campaigns) be known as "the Republican who saved ObamaCare,'" Trump wrote on Twitter." ...
... Nolan McCaskill of Politico: "Rand Paul, a definitive 'no' on Senate Republicans' last-ditch effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, 'won't be bribed or bullied' into supporting the bill, the Kentucky Republican said Friday." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Joe Lawlor of the Portland (Maine) Press Herald: "U.S. Sen. Susan Collins all but said she would vote 'no' on an Affordable Care Act repeal bill on Friday morning at an event in Portland. 'I'm leaning against the bill,' the Maine Republican said after listing a series of serious deficiencies in the Graham-Cassidy repeal bill." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: In theory, there are now three GOP votes against Graham-Cassidy if Collins keeps a-leaning till she topples over. That's all they need. But I'd feel a lot better if Murkowski & several other Republican senators announced "no" votes. ...
...Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress: "In one of the more surreal chapters in the ongoing Trumpcare saga, the Independent Journal Review's Haley Byrd reports that some of Sen. Lisa Murkowski's (R-AK) Republican colleagues hope to entice her into supporting their latest effort to repeal Obamacare by letting Alaska keep much of Obamacare.... If Murkowski ultimately is offered the deal described by Byrd, however, it would raise serious constitutional concerns. According to Georgetown law professor Brian Galle, the Alaska Purchase probably runs afoul of a provision of the Constitution requiring the U.S. tax code to have a degree of uniformity." -- safari...
Donors are furious. We haven't kept our promise. -- Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) on why Republicans had to repeal ObamaCare ...
... Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "The backlash from big donors as well as the grass roots panicked Senate Republicans and was part of the motivation behind the sudden zeal to take one last crack at repealing the health care law before the end of the month.... As more than 40 subdued Republican senators lunched on Chick-fil-A at a closed-door session last week, Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado painted a dire picture for his colleagues. Campaign fund-raising was drying up, he said, because of widespread disappointment among donors over the inability of the Republican Senate to repeal the Affordable Care Act or do much of anything else. Mr. Gardner is in charge of his party's midterm re-election push, and he warned that donors of all stripes were refusing to contribute another penny until the struggling majority produced some concrete results." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Okay, okay, Republicans are bent on denying health security to millions of Americans in service of their own narrow self-interest. But Chick-fil-A? Really? That's a whole 'nother political statement. Chick-fil-A is an anti-gay, family-owned company whose CEO spoke out forcefully against gay marriage. And despite its CEO's promise to quit bankrolling anti-LGBTQ groups, is still doing so. You could not shove a Chick-fil-A nugget down my throat (not sure if they sell nuggets, but whatever)...
... Matt Zoller Seitz of New York: "Countless pundits and talk-show hosts have been warning viewers about the ramifications of the hastily written bill, which is opposed by every reputable health-care group in the country. But only [Jimmy] Kimmel managed to communicate why that was, to millions of people, in language everybody could understand.... Kimmel and his writing staff have done a better job of explaining the health-care battle in a handful of broadcasts than most of the supposed professionals who have been decrying or defending it since January, when President Donald Trump and the GOP made repealing Obamacare a top priority. Mainstream news outlets, Kimmel's more politically focused late-night competitors, and the entire spectrum of the American left would do well to study what happened on ABC this week and steal pages from the host's playbook." --safari ...
... Paul Waldman in the Week: "Most [Senate Republicans] barely know what's in [the Graham-Cassidy bill], and couldn't care less. As such, it is the perfect and final expression of the GOP's nihilism and cruelty on this issue.... 'If there was an oral exam on the contents of the proposal, graded on a generous curve, only two Republicans could pass it. And one of them isn't Lindsey Graham,' a senior GOP aide told Axios' Caitlin Owens."
Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "Donald Trump gave one of his signature stream of consciousness speeches in Huntsville on Friday night as he tried to get out the vote for embattled Alabama Republican senator Luther Strange. During an address inside the Wernher Von Braun Center that lasted an hour and 20 minutes, the president called North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un 'Little Rocket Man', said NFL owners should cut players who kneel for the national anthem and returned to familiar targets like John McCain and Hillary Clinton.... He talked at length about the wall he hopes to build on the Mexican border, insisting it needed to be see-through. Trump said this was because drug dealers are currently using catapults to send 100 pound bags of drugs over the existing concrete wall and they are landing on people's heads in the United States. He also responded the familiar cheers of 'lock her up' directed at Hillary Clinton." --safari...
... So Unpresidential. Judd Legum of ThinkProgress: "During a 90-minute speech in Alabama, purportedly to support Senator Luther Strange who faces a special primary election next Tuesday, Trump diverted into an extended rant on the NFL. His ire was focused primarily on Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players who have participated in silent protests during the national anthem. 'Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'get that son of a bitch off the field right now. He is fired. He's fired!,'' Trump shouted to a cheering audience.... Some NFL players are responding to Trump on social media." --safari ...
... Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: Trump's endorsement in the Louisiana GOP primary of Sen. Luther Strange was less than ringing. At one point Trump said, "I'll be honest, I might have made a mistake." Meanwhile, "Housing and Urban development Secretary Ben Carson issued a statement on Friday backing [Mrs. McC: despicable Judge Roy] Moore's candidacy, an extraordinary endorsement that came hours before Trump was set to arrive in Alabama to campaign for Strange."
Michael Shear & Ron Nixon of the New York Times: "President Trump's ban on travelers from six majority-Muslim countries is set to be replaced as soon as this weekend with more targeted restrictions on visits to the United States that would vary by country, officials familiar with the plans said on Friday. The new restrictions, aimed at preventing security threats from entering the United States, could go into effect on Sunday after the conclusion of a 90-day policy review undertaken as part of the administration's original travel ban. Though the restrictions would differ for each country, people living in the targeted nations could be prevented from traveling to the United States or could face increased scrutiny as they seek to obtain a visa." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: Hard to tell at this point, but the move looks a bit like part of the de-Bannonization of the White House.
Brian Bennett of the Los Angeles Times: "Senior aides to President Trump repeatedly warned him not to deliver a personal attack on North Korea's leader at the United Nations this week, saying insulting the young despot in such a prominent venue could irreparably escalate tensions and shut off any chance for negotiations to defuse the nuclear crisis. Trump's derisive description of Kim Jong Un as 'Rocket Man' on 'a suicide mission' and his threat to 'totally destroy' North Korea were not in a speech draft that several senior officials reviewed and vetted Monday, the day before Trump gave his first address to the U.N. General Assembly, two U.S. officials said. Some of Trump's top aides, including national security advisor H.R. McMaster, had argued for months against making the attacks on North Korea's leader personal, warning it could backfire. But Trump, who relishes belittling his rivals and enemies with crude nicknames, felt compelled to make a dramatic splash in the global forum.... As predicted, Kim took Trump's jibes personally and especially chafed at the fact that Trump mocked him in front of 200 presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and diplomats at the U.N."
Geoff Mulvihill & Jake Pearson of the AP: "The federal government on Friday told election officials in 21 states that hackers targeted their systems before last year's presidential election. The notification came roughly a year after U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials first said states were targeted by hacking efforts possibly connected to Russia. The states that told The Associated Press they had been targeted included some key political battlegrounds, such as Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin. The AP contacted every state election office to determine which ones had been informed that their election systems had been targeted. The others confirming were Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Washington. Being targeted does not mean that sensitive voter data was manipulated or results were changed.... Even so, the widespread nature of the attempts and the yearlong lag time in notification from Homeland Security raised concerns among some election officials and lawmakers."...
...Luke Barnes of ThinkProgress: "After previously saying it was 'crazy 'to suggest Facebook helped Donald Trump become president, Mark Zuckerberg announced on Thursday that the social media giant will hand over 3,000 Russia-linked ads to Congress to help with their investigation into the Kremlin's election interference...But the 470 fake accounts, and the 3,000 ads purchased for $100,000 seem like strangely small numbers...Senator Mark Warner, who is leading the investigation into Russian interference, also thinks that the 470 accounts show only a fragment of Russia's Facebook presence. 'By the time the French elections happened in the Spring, Facebook worked with the French and took down 50,000 accounts they felt were related to Russian activity,' he told CNN. 'In America, Facebook has only identified 470 accounts. To me, that doesn't pass the smell test.'" --safari
Tommie & the Jets. Dan Diamond of Politico: "The HHS inspector general's office is reviewing HHS Secretary Tom Price's taxpayer-funded travel on private jets, a spokesperson told Politico. 'We take this matter very seriously, and when questions arose about potentially inappropriate travel, we immediately began assessing the issue,' the spokesperson said. 'I can confirm that work is underway and will be completed as soon as possible.' Politico first reported on Tuesday that Price had been taking private jets to conduct official business for months. Democrats on Wednesday formally requested an investigation. The review focuses on whether Price complied with Federal Travel Regulations but may address related issues, the spokesperson said. Those regulations expressly advise officials that 'taxpayers should pay no more than necessary for your transportation.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Dan Diamond: "HHS Secretary Tom Price has been taking private jets because an unreliable commercial flight once forced him to cancel an important meeting, a Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson says, part of his agenda to meet with average Americans outside of Washington. But the flight in question -- to a two-day industry conference at a Ritz-Carlton hotel in Southern California -- didn't get off the ground on a day when storms virtually shut down air traffic in the Washington region, preventing even private jets from getting out.... Charmaine Yoest, HHS spokeswoman..., did not respond to Politico's questions about why Price chose to make a two-day trip to a California industry conference and what the value was for taxpayers. She also declined to confirm that the scrapped April trip was the impetus for Price's subsequent travel." ...
... Washington Post Editors: "Mr. Price for years styled himself as a warrior against waste, fraud and abuse. By excelling at waste and abuse, he seems determined to prove himself the fraud."
Steven Mufson & Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt has met regularly with corporate executives from the automobile, mining and fossil fuel industries -- in several instances shortly before making decisions favorable to those interest groups, according to a copy of his schedule obtained by The Washington Post. There were, by comparison, only two environmental groups and one public health group on the schedule, which covers the months of April through early September. It is the first time Pruitt's schedule has been made public and it adds to understanding about how he makes decisions."
Stephanie Saul & Kate Taylor of the New York Times: "Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Friday scrapped a key part of government policy on campus sexual assault, saying she was giving colleges more freedom to balance the rights of accused students with the need to crack down on serious misconduct. The move, which involved rescinding two sets of guidelines several years old, was part of one of the fiercest battles in higher education today, over whether the Obama administration, in trying to get colleges to take sexual assault more seriously, had gone too far and created a system that treated the accused unfairly." ...
... Mrs. McCrabbie: But she flies around in her own plane(s) & doesn't charge the government. Well, maybe mostly. As Maxwell pointed out in yesterday's thread, her accountant may have figured out a way to take tax deductions for the costs of the flights.
(Way) Beyond the Beltway
Amy Davidson Sarkin of The New Yorker: "Angela Merkel ... [is] busy campaigning for what could -- and almost certainly will -- be her fourth term as Chancellor of Germany, keeping her post as the most powerful woman in a world filled with unstable men. The German election is on Sunday." -- safari: Good article on implications of Merkel's potential 4th term.
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Reader Comments (8)
Come on––don't hold back–-sing a long with Elton who could never have imagined that the bully from Trump Tower would use the title of one of his songs to incriminate another bully from N.Korea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR7oS8SaxgU
The Alaska 'adjustment' to National Murder Millions act is nothing more than a BRIBE. Hopefully Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) won't take it. And Trump says that McCain's job is to help his friend, not America.
THE POST LITERATE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY: Jeet Heer
Trump is truly the first TV president and a harbinger of the decline in intelligence to come in U.S. politics.
https://newrepublic.com/article/144940/trump-tv-post-literate-american-presidency
The rights of the Graham/Cassidy (this guy is either really stupid or can lie without blinking an eye) bill are deep and poisonous. Francis Wilkinson takes on this issue with an eager ferocity:
"For advocates of quality health- care, broadly delivered, Graham's paean to the county courthouse smells as healthful as a gust of napalm in the morning."
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-09-23/conservatives-and-the-rotten-smell-of-states-rights
"leaving Republican leaders with little hope of succeeding in their last-ditch attempt to dismantle the health law and fulfill their longstanding promise to conservative voters".
Last ditch effort #186.
By jove, I think we've got it.
And Dan––Rex Harrison agrees!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDSPwexlyTo
Anyone disrespecting the flag needs to be fired according to Trump. So all those people buying nachos or on their phones during the national anthem at the Alabama v Vanderbilt game (or any other game) need to start updating their resumes.
How exactly did ex-Senator Santorum inject himself into this debate? Felt a sudden tug of civic duty? I smell a rat. (Only because he resembles a rat.)