The Commentariat -- September 6
Joe Nocera: Rep. "Jim Cooper, a Blue Dog Democrat from the Nashville area, remembers the day when Congress still worked.... To Cooper, the true villain is not the Tea Party; it’s Newt Gingrich. In the 1980s, when Tip O’Neill was speaker of the House, 'Congress was functional,' Cooper told me. 'Committees worked. Tip saw his role as speaker of the whole House, not just the Democrats.' Gingrich was a new kind of speaker: deeply partisan and startlingly power-hungry." Read the whole column. ...
... I've posted a Nocera page on Off Times Square. ...
... CW: A Compelling Indictment of President Obama -- Joe Mason, a Country Doctor, for President (from the site Vote Third Party -- via Jim Fallows, who comments on the video):
Jon Cohen & Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "Public pessimism about the direction of the country has jumped to its highest level in nearly three years, erasing the sense of hope that followed President Obama’s inauguration and pushing his approval ratings to a record low, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. More than 60 percent of those surveyed say they disapprove of the way the president is handling the economy and, what has become issue No. 1, the stagnant jobs situation. Just 43 percent now approve of the job he is doing overall, a new career low; 53 percent disapprove, a new high." ...
... Nate Silver: "... jobs creation estimates put forward by economists have been biased upward. Negative surprises have been about twice as common as positive ones over the past 12 years." CW: that is, don't be surprised when you read that "jobs creation was lower last month than expected." More often than not, that will be the case because economists usually overestimate jobs growth, a set-up for "failure."
Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) in a Washington Post op-ed, on the goals of the deficit reduction supercommittee: "Debt and deficit reduction should be wrapped into a strong cord of job creation, budget cuts and revenue raisers. Pursuing them separately will weaken our efforts and could doom our mission." Clyburn is the third-ranking House Democrat & a member of the supercommittee. ...
... Dan Eggen of the Washington Post: "Nearly 100 registered lobbyists used to work for members of the supercommittee, now representing defense companies, health-care conglomerates, Wall Street banks and others with a vested interest in the panel’s outcome, according to a Washington Post analysis of disclosure data. Three Democrats and three Republicans on the panel also employ former industry lobbyists on their staffs. The preponderance of lobbyists adds to the political controversy surrounding the supercommittee, which will begin its work in earnest this week as Congress returns to Washington. The panel has already come under fire from watchdog groups for planning its activities in secret and allowing members to continue fundraising while they negotiate a budget deal."
Michael Fletcher of the Washington Post: "Until recently, most states ... have attacked their pension problems by cutting benefits for new hires while preserving retirement packages for current employees. Others have rolled over their pension debt by taking out loans or papering them over with what some have called unrealistic projections about investment earning and life expectancy. But with states facing, by one estimate, a combined $3 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities and the economic downturn continuing to dampen government tax revenue, states are beginning to make changes once considered unthinkable — such as cutting pensions for people in retirement."
Click on image to see McFadden's other suggestions.
New York Times Editors: "... we are skeptical that the [Obama] administration has a comprehensive strategy to help build up a government that Afghans would be willing to fight for." The editors outline several problems that must be addressed.
Bill Glauber of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin of Madison announced Tuesday that she is entering the 2012 race to succeed retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl. Baldwin is the first Democrat in the field and likely the front-runner for her party's nomination." Here's Baldwin's campaign site & here's her announcement video:
... AND Looks as if She's Running, Too. Noah Bierman of the Boston Globe: "Elizabeth Warren has yet to officially declare that she is running for US Senate, but the former presidential aide took another step yesterday.... Introducing Warren at the annual Labor Day breakfast yesterday, the president of the Greater Boston Labor Council compared her to the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, while the state’s top union and Democratic political leaders stood and applauded her fiery keynote address at the event." You can watch Warren's speech here, but it's been recorded on ShakyCam, so maybe just listen.
Dem on the Take. Eric Lipton of the New York Times: Rep. Shelly Berkley's [D-Nev.] "actions were among a series over the last five years in which she pushed legislation or twisted the arms of federal regulators to pursue an agenda that is aligned with the business interests of her husband, Dr. Larry Lehrner."
Right Wing World
CW: I thought about covering this yesterday, but it's such a stupid story, that I'll let Steve Benen -- who shares my low opinion of it -- handle it for me. It seems Fox "News" & the usual suspects went nuts yesterday after Fox took a remark of James Hoffa, Jr.'s out of context. Not only did they wingers go into histrionics over what Hoffa didn't say, they faulted President Obama for not condemning Hoffa for saying what he didn't say. ...
... Or, as Dave Weigel asks, "Can we skip this little drama where conservatives pretend that Hoffa was ordering goon squads into action to pull Republican congressmen out of their homes and break their knees?"
"Al Gore's Texas Cheerleader," or How to Make the New Guy Look Good to Opposition Party Voters (and the scary music is a nice "Texas Chain-Saw Massacre" touch). Via Alex Altman of Time:
Fox "News": "Citing health reasons, veteran GOP strategist Ed Rollins stepped down as [Michele Bachmann's] campaign manager.... Speaking to CNN, where he was a contributor before the Bachmann campaign, the 68-year-old Rollins said the front-runners were now former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry. He said Perry's late entry into the race slowed Bachmann's buzz and fundraising. 'I think legitimately it's a Romney-Perry race,' he said.
News Ledes
New York Times: "Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta is supporting a plan that would keep 3,000 to 4,000 American troops in Iraq after a deadline for their withdrawal at year’s end, but only to continue training security forces there.... The recommendation would break a longstanding pledge by President Obama to withdraw all American forces from Iraq by the deadline."
New York Times: "The Obama administration said on Tuesday that it would seek to save the deficit-plagued Postal Service from an embarrassing default by proposing to give it an extra three months to make a $5.5 billion payment due on Sept. 30 to finance retirees’ future health coverage. Speaking at a Senate hearing, John Berry, director of the federal Office of Personnel Management, also said the administration would soon put forward a plan to stabilize the postal service, which faces a deficit of nearly $10 billion this fiscal year and had warned that it could run out of money entirely this winter."
New York Times: "Carol A. Bartz, >Yahoo’s chief executive, was fired Tuesday, ending a rocky two-year tenure in which she tried to revitalize the online media company."
New York Times: Richard Cordray, "the nominee to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told a Senate committee on Tuesday that he would make it a priority “to streamline and cut back” a mountain of regulations that has grown up over the last 30 years, which he said excessively burdened some banks and discourages them from lending money to consumers."
"Dear Mr. President." AP: "In a letter to [President] Obama Tuesday, Speaker John Boehner and House Republican Leader Eric Cantor asked the president to meet with the bipartisan leadership of Congress this week to discuss his proposals in advance of his jobs address Thursday to a joint session of Congress. The letter lists GOP proposals that have already passed the House that they said would be worthy of his consideration."
AP: "David Petraeus, the newly retired general with the megawatt media profile, was sworn in Tuesday as CIA director.... Retired last week after 37 years in the Army, Petraeus was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden...."
Washington Post: "The College of William and Mary on Tuesday announced that [former Secretary of Defense Robert] Gates has been named the school’s next chancellor, an honorary appointment that will return the former secretary to his alma mater. Gates will succeed former Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor, whose term ends in February."
New York Times: "Wall Street took a tumble at the opening of trading Tuesday, following a choppy day in Europe and Asia, as investors returned from the Labor Day holiday in the United States. The turmoil of recent weeks showed no signs of letting up, with gold rising to another record and the currency market jolted by action from the Swiss authorities to weaken the franc, which has soared because of its role as a haven."
AP: Wildfires have destroyed at leat 500 Texas homes. "At least 5,000 people were forced from their homes in Bastrop County about 25 miles east of Austin, and about 400 were in emergency shelters, officials said Monday. School and school-related activities were canceled Tuesday." ...
... Houston Chronicle: "The most destructive wildfire on record in Texas showed no signs of slowing down Monday, destroying 25,000 acres in Bastrop County and 476 homes, more houses than any single wildfire before and more than all other fires this year combined, according to the Texas Forest Service." ...
... Chronicle: "Firefighters continue this morning to battle a large wildfire that has blackened thousands of acres, forced hundreds of residents to flee and shut down several roads in Montgomery, Grimes and Waller counties."
AP: "The destructive remnants of Tropical Storm Lee rolled north Tuesday after spawning tornadoes, sweeping several people away, flooding roads and knocking out power to thousands across the South. More rain was expected in parts of Tennessee, where records have already been broken."
Al Jazeera: "A large convoy containing between 200 and 250 military vehicles Libyan armoured vehicles has crossed into Niger. Military sources from France and Niger told the Reuters news agency that the convoy, escorted by the Niger army, arrived in the northern desert town of Agadez on Monday. Amid the reports about the convoy, Libyan opposition fighters have been holding talks with tribal leaders in Bani Walid to enter the town peacefully. They are also negotiating with some tribes in Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown, to lay down arms." ...
... The Al Jazeera liveblog on Libya is here. ...
... Reuters: "Libyan forces plan to enter the pro-Gaddafi desert town of Bani Walid on Tuesday after reaching a deal with delegates from the town to avoid fighting, Al Jazeera television said. The pan-Arab news channel, citing the anti-Gaddafi forces, said the fighters were expected to enter the city after the deal is formalized, which would likely be around midday." ...
... Washington Post: "A chaotic and apparently ill-coordinated effort by rebels to track down Moammar Gaddafi is being led by competing factions of military commanders and bounty hunters, as well as Libyan commandos commissioned by civilian leaders. Libyans involved in the hunt say they are not getting much help from NATO, despite the alliance’s state-of-the-art electronic and aerial surveillance methods. Instead, they are relying on a deluge of human intelligence from informers and witnesses, but seem to be struggling to sift, process and share all the information that is coming in." ...
... The New York Times story, which is a comprehensive summary of reporting by other news agencies, is here. ...
... Guardian: "A Libyan rebel leader who was rendered to Tripoli with the assistance of MI6 [the British intelligence service] said on Monday that he had told British intelligence officers he was being tortured but they did nothing to help him. In a claim that will increase the pressure for further disclosure about the UK's role in torture and rendition since 9/11, Abdul Hakim Belhaj said a team of British interrogators used hand signals to indicate they understood what he was telling them."
Al Jazeera: "Turkey is 'totally suspending' all trade, military and defence industry ties with Israel, the Turkish prime minister said.... Turkey has not frozen military ties with Israel, Amos Gilad, the head of the Israeli defence ministry's diplomatic-security bureau, told Israel's Army Radio, saying that the Israeli military attache in Turkey is still serving as usual."
The Guardian has live video & a liveblog on ongoing testimony in the Rupert Murdoch phone hacking scandal. The front-page headline is "New Evidence Puts Pressure on James Murdoch [Rupert's son]." ...
... New York Times: "As the phone hacking scandal in Britain continues to gnaw at Rupert Murdoch’s media empire, a parliamentary panel opened new hearings on Tuesday, seeking to determine who knew about unauthorized voice mail intercepts ordered by the now defunct tabloid."
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