The Commentariat -- July 24, 2016

Afternoon Update:

Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "Michael R. Bloomberg, who bypassed his own run for the presidency this election cycle, will endorse Hillary Clinton in a prime-time address at the Democratic convention and make the case for Mrs. Clinton as the best choice for moderate voters in 2016, an adviser to Mr. Bloomberg said. The news is an unexpected move from Mr. Bloomberg, who has not been a member of the Democratic Party since 2000; was elected the mayor of New York City as a Republican; and later became an independent."

Abby Phillip of the Washington Post: "The release of thousands of embarrassing internal email exchanges among Democratic officials threatens to overshadow the party's message of unity on the eve of the its convention in Philadelphia. A trove of messages released by hackers on the website WikiLeaks apparently show party officials working to boost Hillary Clinton's candidacy during the primary.... On Sunday, [Bernie] Sanders renewed his call for [Debbie] Wasserman Schultz to resign and said that the emails vindicate his claims during the primary that party officials were actively working to undermine his candidacy." -- CW ...

... Jeff Zeleny & Eric Bradner of CNN: "Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will not have a major speaking role or preside over daily convention proceedings this week, a decision reached by party officials Saturday after emails surfaced raising questions about the committee's impartiality during the Democratic primary. The DNC Rules Committee has named Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, as permanent chair of the convention, according to a DNC source. She will gavel each session to order and will gavel each session closed. 'She's been quarantined,' another top Democrat said of Wasserman Schultz, following a meeting Saturday night. Wasserman Schultz faced intense pressure Sunday to resign her post as head of the DNC, several party leaders told CNN, urging her to quell a growing controversy threatening to disrupt Hillary Clinton's nominating convention. David Axelrod, a former top adviser to Barack Obama's presidential campaigns and a CNN senior political commentator, said Wasserman Schultz should resign."

*****

Presidential Race

AP: "Hundreds of neighbors and other well-wishers greeted ... Sen. Tim Kaine, when Kaine and his wife returned to their home in Richmond, Virginia.... Cheers erupted when Kaine and wife Anne Holton arrived at their home in the tree-lined Ginter Park neighborhood on Richmond's north side about 10:30 p.m." -- CW ...

... Amy Chozick & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton debuted her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine, to boisterous and bilingual cheers [in Miami, Florida,] on Saturday, calling him a 'progressive who likes to get things done' even as some liberal Democrats began making clear that they were disappointed with her choice.... Mr. Kaine bounded up to the microphone, appearing immediately comfortable in his brand new role as Mrs. Clinton's top cheerleader.... He slipped easily between English and Spanish, animating the receptive and mostly Latino crowd at Florida International University by mixing political rhetoric with homey reflections on his own life story." -- CW ...

     ... C-SPAN has video of the full program here. Tune in at 19:30 min. for Sen. Kaine's speech. ...

... Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast: "Holy crap. He killed it. I'm not trying to spin you.... Tim Kaine was unbelievable. He was natural. He was smart. He was relaxed and funny, and he was serious. He was proud of himself and his wife and family but never arrogant. He was humble without ever being cloying in that way the politically humble can often be. He was genuine. He was unbelievable.... He is the perfect choice for her because he comes across as so at ease and so real. These are two things, as we know, that Hillary Clinton has a lot of trouble with." -- CW

Binders Full of Candidates. Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "When Hillary Clinton delivered the news to Tim Kaine that he was her pick for running mate, the senator from Virginia was in Rhode Island ... raising money for his colleague Jack Reed at the Newport Shipyard. The call came through at 7:32 p.m. Friday. Clinton offered the job, Kaine accepted and then the former secretary of state said: 'Now, I don't want to alarm you, but John Podesta is outside your building right now.' So it was that a process begun in secret more than three months ago -- which had remained a mystery throughout, even to those who were being vetted -- came to its cloak-and-dagger conclusion." -- CW ...

... Edward-Issac Dovere & Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "For the finalists in the hunt to be Hillary Clinton's running mate, it was five weeks of questions and follow-up, and follow-up to the follow-up questions, starting from when they were summoned one-by-one to meet with campaign chairman John Podesta and lawyer Jim Hamilton and told to bring along just one trusted person who'd serve as the point of contact.... They had to turn over every password for every social media account for every member of their families. They had to list every piece of property they'd ever owned, and copies of every résumé that they'd put out for the past 10 years. Every business partner. Every gift they'd ever received, according to those familiar with the details of the vetting process." -- CW

Steve M.: "Clinton can certainly win the election with Kaine, but he won't help her with [white working-class men]." -- CW

Sheryl Gay Stolberg & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "For [Tim] Kaine..., no issue has been as fraught politically or personally as the death penalty. His handling of capital punishment reveals a central truth about Mr. Kaine: He is both a man of conviction and very much a politician, a man of unshakable faith who nonetheless recognizes -- and expediently bends to, his critics suggest -- the reality of the Democratic Party and the state he represents.... He opposes both abortion and the death penalty, he has said, because 'my faith teaches life is sacred.' Yet he strongly supports a woman's right to choose and has a 100 percent rating from Planned Parenthood. And Mr. Kaine presided over 11 executions as governor, delaying some but granting clemency only once. He cast his decisions in simple terms: As Virginia's governor, he was sworn to uphold the law -- a message that helped him get elected governor." -- CW

Stephen Braun & Eileen Sullivan of the AP: "... Kaine's cautious, left-leaning political profile in a closely contested state is blurred by his ties to energy industry interests and his personal qualms over abortion.... Oil and gas interests rank with law firms and investment and technology companies among Kaine's strong campaign financiers.... Some state environmentalists said Kaine, as governor, helped undermine clean-coal and other anti-pollution efforts in Virginia.... [BUT] Leaders of two national environmental groups, the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club, voiced approval of Clinton's choice of Kaine, who backs Obama on climate change and opposed construction of the Keystone XL pipeline." -- CW

Moriah Balingit & Emma Brown of the Washington Post: "In tapping Sen. Timothy M. Kaine (D-Va.) as her running mate, Hillary Clinton ... also chose one half of a Virginia power couple with a history of public service and advocacy on issues related to child welfare and education.... Anne Holton, his wife -- who serves as Virginia's secretary of education -- has an even more extensive record [than her husband] when it comes to advocating for children, particularly foster youth. As a schoolgirl in 1970, she was on the front lines of the fight to desegregate Virginia's public schools. Holton is the daughter of Virginia Gov. A. Linwood Holton (R), who championed integration in a state that was known for its vigorous efforts to resist it." -- CW

Washington Post Editors: "In choosing Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, [Hillary Clinton] has picked someone not only supremely capable of serving as her No. 2 but also fully prepared -- from day one -- to be president.... In every office he has held -- from Richmond mayor to Virginia governor to U.S. senator -- he has shown a steady hand marked by a mastery of policy details and politics." -- CW

New York Times Editors: "Hillary Clinton's choice of Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate is a safe and solid choice.... His political success as a liberal Democrat -- with a perfect score from Planned Parenthood and an F rating from the National Rifle Association -- in a state with a deeply conservative tradition shows an ability to retain his principles while being pragmatic enough to work with Republicans." -- CW

Gail Collins has a brief profile of Hillary Clinton. Collins suggests that Clinton is relaxed and "natural" when she isn't the center of attention. CW: For the rest of her life Clinton, who is about to become the Leader of the Free World, will find herself the center of attention, so I guess relaxed, natural Hillary can be seen only thru a rear-view mirror. ...

Karen Tumulty writes a long profile of Hillary Clinton. -- CW

Catherine Lucey of the AP: "Efforts by Bernie Sanders supporters to eliminate or reduce the influence of superdelegates failed at a meeting of the Democratic National Convention rules committee Saturday. At the gathering in a Philadelphia conference room Saturday, an amendment to get rid of superdelegates -- party insiders who can vote for the candidate of their choice at the convention -- was defeated, as were a number of efforts to limit the power of super delegates. The proposals did win enough support to potentially move on to the convention floor for votes next week, though compromise plans were still being discussed by the Democratic campaigns." -- CW

Maryclaire Dale of the AP: "Protesters, party leaders and city officials were making final plans as Philadelphia prepared to host the four-day Democratic National Convention that starts Monday. More than 5,000 delegates are among the 50,000 people set to attend the gathering at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia, which is expected to culminate with Hillary Clinton being named the party's official nominee for president." -- CW ...

... ** Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "The Democratic Party arrived [in Philadelphia] still divided over the results of its presidential primary season, with anger at the nominating process, the Clinton-Kaine ticket and hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee spilling into the party's final meetings before the convention begins. On each count, supporters of Bernie Sanders found new reasons to bristle about their choice in November." -- CW ...

... Maryalice Parks of ABC News: "Bernie Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said his team was 'disappointed' by the emails from the Democratic National Committee leaked through WikiLeaks.... 'Someone does have to be held accountable,' Weaver said during an interview with ABC News.... Weaver said the emails showed misconduct at the highest level of the staff within the party and that he believed there would be more emails leaked, which would 'reinforce' that the party had 'its fingers on the scale.... You had in this case a clear example of the DNC taking sides and looking to place negative information into the political process.'" -- CW ...

... Kristen East of Politico: Brad Marshall, the chief financial officer of "the Democratic National Committee has apologized after suggesting that the organization use Bernie Sanders' religious beliefs against him in the Democratic primary." CW: Gee, Brad, that's mighty odd, because 24 hours earlier you told the Intercept that the e-mail where you slammed the Jew who might be an atheist wasn't Bernie Sanders at all, but some other candidate for some other office on a planet far, far away. (See yesterday's Commentariat.)

Senate Race

Christopher Cadelago of the Sacremento Bee: "Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez, in an interview with Univision 19 that aired this weekend, suggested that President Barack Obama's endorsement of U.S. Senate rival Kamala Harris [D] was in part based on race.... Speaking in Spanish, she noted that Obama and Harris are longtime friends, then added: 'She is African American. He is, too.'... Her remarks come days after she ripped Obama for endorsing Harris, arguing he should be focused on helping Democrats win the presidential race rather than inserting himself in a contest between two party members." -- CW

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd.

The Fox Casting Couch. Jim Rutenberg, et al., of the New York Times: "The Times spoke with about a dozen women who said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment or intimidation at Fox News or the Fox Business Network, and half a dozen more who said they had witnessed it. Two of them cited [former chief Roger] Ailes and the rest cited other supervisors.... Several said that inappropriate comments about a woman's appearance and sex life were frequent. Managers tried to set up their employees on dates with superiors." -- CW ...

... Gabriel Sherman of New York has more on Rudi Bakhtiar, who is featured in the Times story, & "who says she was fired from Fox News after complaining about sexual harassment." -- CW

Way Beyond the Beltway

Sayed Salahuddin & Pamela Constable of the Washington Post: "At least 80 people were killed and more than 230 wounded Saturday when attackers detonated explosives amid a huge crowd of peaceful protesters in the Afghan capital, most of them from the country's Shiite ethnic Hazara minority, Afghan officials said. Spokesmen for the Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility for the attack at a traffic circle jammed with demonstrators, according to Afghan media." -- CW

News Lede

New York Times: "Olympic officials said on Sunday that all Russian athletes were tainted by the country's state-run doping system and would not be allowed to compete in the Summer Games unless they convinced individual sports federations of their innocence. With just 12 days before the Games begin, the International Olympic Committee said in a statement that 'all Russian athletes seeking entry to the Olympic Games Rio 2016 are considered to be affected by a system subverting and manipulating the antidoping system.'" -- CW

A Letter from a Close Friend

Here's an e-mail I received Friday evening from my close personal friend Hillary. (How close, you ask? Well, as you can see, we're on a first-name basis. For reasons of national security I can't say much more, but you wouldn't be wrong if you guessed my Windows Live mailbox is full of baby pix of Chelsea's kids and quite a few e-mails marked "Top Secret.") -- Constant Weader

Marie --

I'm thrilled to share this news: I've chosen Tim Kaine as my running mate.

Tim is a lifelong fighter for progressive causes and one of the most qualified vice presidential candidates in our nation's history.

But his credentials alone aren't why I asked him to run alongside me.

Like me, Tim grew up in the Midwest. During law school, he too took an unconventional path -- he took time off and went to Honduras to work with missionaries, practicing both his faith and his Spanish.

When he returned to the states and graduated from Harvard Law, he could have done anything. But instead of going to some big corporate firm, he chose to fight housing discrimination as a civil rights lawyer in Richmond. He and his wife joined a church, built a home centered around their faith, and raised three beautiful children. Then, after 17 years of practicing law, Tim ran for city council -- and won.

Tim says his experience on city council taught him everything he knows about politics. To the people in Richmond, an underfunded school wasn't a Democratic or Republican problem. It was simply a problem that needed fixing, and his constituents were counting on him to solve it. So Tim would do it. He'd roll up his sleeves and get the job done, no matter what.

He’s a man of relentless optimism who believes no problem is unsolvable if you're willing to put in the work. That commitment to delivering results has stayed with him throughout his decades-long career as a public servant. So I could give you a laundry list of things he went on to accomplish -- as mayor of Richmond, governor of Virginia, and in the United States Senate.

But this is what’s important: Tim has never taken a job for the glory or the title. He's the same person whether the cameras are on or off. He's sincerely motivated by the belief that you can make a difference in people's lives through public service.

That quality comes through in every interaction. To know Tim is to love him. When I was talking to people about this decision, I couldn't find anyone -- Democrat or Republican -- who had a bad thing to say about him. From his staff over the last 20 years to his colleagues in the Senate, Tim's beloved.

He is a genuinely nice person, but Tim is no one's punching bag. He will fight tooth and nail for American families, and he'll be a dogged fighter in our campaign against Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

Marie, I want you to know that I didn’t make this decision lightly.

I’ve had the privilege of seeing two presidents and two vice presidents up close. I want a vice president who can be my partner in bringing this country together. I want someone who will be able to give me their best advice, look me in the eye, and tell me they disagree with me when they do.

But what matters most is a simple test that’s not so simple to meet: whether the person could step in at a moment’s notice and serve as president.

I have no doubt that Tim can do the job.

I want him by my side on the trail and in the White House.

Welcome him to our team, Marie, and let him know you're proud to have him. Chip in today: (Emphasis original.)

The Commentariat -- July 23, 2016

One-day Special! Tomorrow Only! Reality Chex will be a Trump-free Zone. -- Constant Weader 

Presidential Race

** Ho-hum. Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton named Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia to be her running mate Friday, selecting a battleground state politician with working-class roots and a fluency in Spanish, traits that she believes can bolster her chances to defeat Donald J. Trump in November. Mrs. Clinton's choice, which she announced via text message to supporters, came after her advisers spent months poring over potential vice-presidential candidates who could lift the Democratic ticket in an unpredictable race against Mr. Trump. In the end, Mrs. Clinton decided Mr. Kaine, 58, a former governor of Virginia who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and speaks fluent Spanish, had the qualifications and background and the personal chemistry with her to make the ticket a success." -- CW ...

... In her profile of Kaine, Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times claims, "At heart, Mr. Kaine is an old-fashioned liberal, dyed in the wool." -- CW ...

... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Several organizations, including some with ties to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)..., sharply questioned Kaine's liberal bona fides, pointing to Kaine's support of trade deals and regulations favorable to big banks.... Kaine's selection was touted by other traditional boosters of the Democratic Party, including several labor union leaders." -- CW ...

... Nora Caplan-Bricker of Slate on the history of Tim Kaine's positions on reproductive rights. -- CW ...

... Patrick Healy of the New York Times: "In selecting Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia as her running mate, Hillary Clinton is sending the clearest signal yet that she is confident she will win the presidential election. If she were worried, she would have chosen Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who could have helped her win that critical Midwestern state.... And Mr. Brown could have energized progressives nationally.... Other picks could have helped her more on Election Day. Former Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa, for instance, would have turned out Democrats and independents in his swing state. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey would have galvanized fellow African-Americans in key cities.... Tom Perez, labor secretary, and Julian Castro, housing secretary, might have boosted Hispanic voting in Florida and the West. Mr. Kaine, by contrast, doesn't bring obvious political rewards."

Mrs. Clinton also wants a vice president who would have a good relationship with Mr. Clinton, especially since the two-term president would likely have some sort of policy role and be an outside presence in the White House.... Mr. Kaine is also a relatively low-key person who understands the importance of ceding the spotlight to the Clintons, according to Democrats close to him. CW: In other words, exactly the scenario I dreaded -- Bull Clinton causing mischief again in the White House. Hillary not only expects it; she's encouraging it. ...

... Zaid Jilani of the Intercept: Shortly before Hillary Clinton announced she had chosen Kaine as her running mate, Kaine "praised the [Trans-Pacific Partnership] as an improvement of the status quo, but maintained that he had not yet decided how to vote on final approval of the agreement." -- CW ...

... Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "Republicans have signaled in recent days that they will use Kaine's acceptance of [gifts from deep-pockets donors] as a line of attack against the newly selected vice presidential candidate, looking to stoke concern among Democrats that Kaine is not the progressive candidate they had hoped for. 'He followed the rules, but it's a question of whether the Democrat Party can stomach that coziness with donors,' said former attorney general Jerry Kilgore, the Republican who Kaine defeated in 2005.... There are stark differences between Kaine's gifts and [those of Gov. Bob] McDonnell's. For one, Kaine's gifts were properly disclosed; McDonnell failed to disclose some of what he received. For another, Kaine has never faced accusations of promising state action in exchange for any of his gifts." -- CW

** Fire Debbie! Michael Shear & Matthew Rosenberg of the New York Times: "Top officials at the Democratic National Committee criticized and mocked Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont during the primary campaign, even though the organization publicly insisted that it was neutral in the race, according to committee emails made public on Friday by WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks posted almost 20,000 emails sent or received by a handful of top committee officials and provided an online tool to search through them. While WikiLeaks did not reveal the source of the leak, the committee said last month that Russian hackers had penetrated its computer system. Among the emails released on Friday were several embarrassing messages that suggest the committee's chairwoman, Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, and other officials favored Hillary Clinton over Mr. Sanders -- a claim the senator made repeatedly during the primaries." -- CW ...

... Elliot Smilowitz & Joe Uchill of the Hill: "Top officials at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) privately planned how to undermine Bernie Sanders's presidential campaign, according to a trove of emails released by WikiLeaks on Friday." -- CW ...

... Daniel Strauss & Bianca Ocasio of Politico: DNC chair "... Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz once referred to Bernie Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver as a 'damn liar' in an internal email to an aide." In other internal correspondence she called Weaver "particularly scummy" and "an ASS." -- CW ...

... Sam Biddle of the Intercept: "Among the nearly 20,000 internal emails from the Democratic National Committee, released Friday by Wikileaks and presumably provided by the hacker 'Guccifer 2.0,' [who later claimed to be the hacker] is a May 2016 message from DNC CFO Brad Marshall. In it, he suggested that the party should 'get someone to ask' ... Bernie Sanders about his religious beliefs.... It is also unclear why the Democratic National Committee, which isn't supposed to favor one Democratic candidate over another..., would have attempted to subvert the Sanders campaign on the grounds that 'he is an atheist.'" CW: Unbelievably. Marshall denied to Biddle that he was writing about Sanders; he claimed the e-mail must have referred to some other Jewish atheist, a claim for which Marshall should be awarded the Paul Manafort Prize for Today's Biggest Whopper by a Political Operative. ...

... Tom Hamburger & Karen Tumulty of the Washington Post: "The cache of emails also includes communications with journalists and discussions of news organizations, and the emails provide a new perspective on the deference shown to major donors -- and the efforts to carefully calibrate rewards based on a contributor's financial generosity." -- CW ...

... Muzzle Mika! Ben Norton of Salon: "Debbie Wasserman Schultz ... was furious when she was criticized by MSNBC host Mika Brzezinski. Wasserman Schultz called for Brzezinski to 'apologize' and told her co-worker Chuck Todd 'this must stop.' The DNC chair even complained to MSNBC's president. In May, Brzezinski held a segment on the program 'Morning Joe' in which she condemned Wasserman Schultz's 'unfair' treatment of Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary. 'This has been very poorly handled from the start. It has been unfair, and they haven't taken him seriously, and it starts, quite frankly, with the person that we just heard speaking,' Brzezinski said, referring to Wasserman Schultz. 'She should step down,' Brzezinski added." ...

     ... Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. CW: "Chuck, this must stop"? Debbie is just as dismissive of a free & independent press as is Donnie the Dictator. And, Chuck Todd, who is, theoretically at least, a member of the free & independent press, seems happy to discuss "stopping" Brzezinski. [The Intercept's reproduction of the e-mail exchange shows Chuck asking a DNC staffer if an MSNBC-DNC joint call is "a good idea." So Chuck was maybe kinda wondering about journalistic ethics & all, even if he did think a political operative was the person to consult on such matters.] They're all good pals: Debbie mentions "our breakfast"; it's not clear who was breakfasting with whom, but the suggestion is that at least Debbie and MSNBC president Phil Griffin were having pancakes in their PJs. Very Fox "Newsy." Phil & Chuck should explain themselves.

Politico: "Donald Trump was up early on Saturday morning, and he had some thoughts to share about Hillary Clinton's choice of running mate.... On Friday, the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell all attacked Kaine with similar messages, casting him as a continuation of the 'status quo' embodied by President Barack Obama." CW: Yeah, but Mitch didn't call Elizabeth Warren "Pocahontas" as Chief Tweets-in-the-Night did.

Alan Rappeport of the New York Times: "After bragging that he had unified the party in one of the most 'love-filled' conventions in political history [Friday morning], Mr. Trump went on an extended diatribe against Mr. Cruz, who declined to endorse him during his own convention speech on Wednesday night and urged people to vote with their conscience. The speech embarrassed Mr. Trump and cast a shadow of discord over the convention." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Dan Spinelli of Politico: "A day after accepting the Republican Party's nomination for president, Donald Trump rehashed a conspiracy theory that claims the man who killed President John F. Kennedy once cavorted with Ted Cruz's father. -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...

... Nick Gass has more on Trump's remarks about Cruz. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Daniel Drezner of the Washington Post: "Trump's acolytes can spin this however they want, but this was a factually incorrect and morally abhorrent speech." ...

... The Marshall Project "truth-tests" Trump on his law-and-order claims. Maybe if they grade on a curve, he could get a D-. Via Paul Waldman, linked below.

Midnight in America. Dana Milbank: "For more than an hour, [Donald Trump] shook his fists, chopped the air, stuck out his chin, bared his bottom teeth, paced behind the lectern, tugged on his lapels -- and delivered the darkest piece of rhetoric spoken by a major political figure in modern American history.... Trump's warnings of imminent catastrophe serve a purpose: In times of panic, the appeal of an authoritarian is greater. And Trump presented himself as the classic strongman." -- CW ...

... Paul Waldman: "Republicans are exploring an election day plan to post someone at every polling place who will shout 'Oh my god look behind you there's a terrorist!!!' at every voter on their way in." CW: Don't worry; Waldman is kidding. But maybe he shouldn't give the Trumpsters any ideas. ...

... CW: On that note, I don't think Apocalypse Now! will work as a campaign strategy. Americans are generally optimists, & most will quickly tire of Trump's "vision" of the U.S. as a third-world country that must turn inward & pledge allegiance to an insane despot to save itself from the savage hordes. ...

... Andrew O'Hehir of Salon, who was in the room, on the contrary thought the dark message resonated well enough to give Trump a victory in November. CW: O'Hehir is an astute observer, so it's worth reading his analysis. ...

... Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland, in the New Republic, compares Donald Trump's acceptance speech with the one he claims it was modeled on: Richard Nixon's 1968 convention speech: "... last night I sat in person through the whole damned 77-minute hot mess, and I'm here to say: Mr. Trump, I've studied Richard Nixon. And you're no Richard Nixon." -- CW ...

... Philip Bump: "Faced with a real threat, [George W.] Bush appealed to America's strengths. After building a Potemkin crisis, Trump told Americans that only he was good enough to deal with it. The question that lingers for those skeptical of Trump's view of the world is this: What would he have done if he were in Bush's place on September 11?" -- CW ...

Philip Bump of the Washington Post can't figure out who Ivanka Trump was endorsing in her convention speech inasmuch as her claims about her father's support for equal opportunity for women is pretty much nonexistent beyond his claim to be "the best for women" & a promise to "look into [equal pay] very strongly." (CW: whatever that means). (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...

... ** Washington Post Editors, in a rare full-page editorial: "DONALD J. TRUMP, until now a Republican problem, this week became a challenge the nation must confront and overcome. The real estate tycoon is uniquely unqualified to serve as president, in experience and temperament. He is mounting a campaign of snarl and sneer, not substance. To the extent he has views, they are wrong in their diagnosis of America's problems and dangerous in their proposed solutions. Mr. Trump's politics of denigration and division could strain the bonds that have held a diverse nation together. His contempt for constitutional norms might reveal the nation's two-century-old experiment in checks and balances to be more fragile than we knew." -- CW

Frank Rich on the Republican convention, the Roger Ailes scandal & the future of the Republican party: "... the only defense we have against Trump is his opponent. She must make sure that the other America, the America that is appalled, victimized, and scandalized by Trump and what he represents, goes to the polls to vote "no." Is Hillary Clinton up to it? I don't know." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Other News & Views

Mark Landler of the New York Times: "President Obama on Friday rejected what he described as Donald J. Trump's vision of America as a nation 'on the verge of collapse.'... During a White House news conference, Mr. Obama said that any 'vision of violence and chaos everywhere doesn't really jibe with the experience of most people.' Countering Mr. Trump's assertion of a crime wave in the country, offered during an acceptance speech..., Mr. Obama said the rate of violent crime had fallen to the lowest levels 'in the last three or four decades.'... Turning to Mr. Trump's assertion that the United States was being inundated with illegal immigrants, Mr. Obama said that 'we have far fewer undocumented workers crossing the border than we did in the '80s, the '90s, or when George Bush was president. That is fact.'" -- CW ...

... Nick Gass of Politico: "President Barack Obama wasted no time Friday delivering another implicit rebuke of Donald Trump on Mexico and immigration, hours after the Republican nominee officially claimed the party mantle to take on ... Hillary Clinton in November. 'Let me start by saying something that is too often overlooked, but bears repeating -- especially given some of the heated rhetoric that we sometimes hear. The United States values tremendously our enduring partnership with Mexico and our extraordinary ties of family and friendship with the Mexican people,' Obama said at the start of a joint press conference with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Manuel Roig-Franzia, et al., of the Washington Post: "News of [Gretchen] Carlson's firing [from Fox 'News'], and the lawsuit she filed shortly thereafter, have now prompted 25 women to come forward with what they describe as similar harassment claims against [Fox 'News' chief Roger] Ailes that stretch across five decades..., according to Carlson's attorney, Nancy Erika Smith.... Many of the allegations that have become public ... are clustered in the decades long before Ailes became" CEO of Fox "News" in 1996. BUT, "'It became common knowledge that women did not want to be alone with him,' [a] former [Fox 'News'] staffer said. '... It became a locker room, towel-snapping environment. He would say things like, "She's really got the goods" and "look at the t--s on that one.'" Sometimes, the former staffer said, Ailes made 'jokes that he liked having women on their knees. The tone he set went through the organization.'" ...

     ... CW: My prediction: Ailes will help Trump "News" get up and running in 2017.

Beyond the Beltway

Fenit Nirappil & Jenna Portnoy of the Washington Post: Virginia "Gov. Terry McAuliffe's decision to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 felons violates Virginia's constitution, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday, dealing a major blow to the Democratic governor with implications for the November presidential race in the crucial swing state. In a 4-to-3 decision, the court ruled that McAuliffe overstepped his clemency powers by issuing a sweeping order in April restoring rights to all ex-offenders who are no longer incarcerated or on probation or parole.... A defiant McAuliffe released a statement late Friday saying that he would pick up his executive pen and restore the rights of those felons on an individual basis, even if it means signing more than 200,000 orders." -- CW

Mark Berman & Sarah Larimer of the Washington Post: "Authorities in North Miami, Fla., said Friday that they had placed a second police officer on leave as part of the investigation into a police shooting there earlier this week in which an officer shot and wounded an unarmed man. The second officer was placed on unpaid administrative leave because of 'conflicting statements given to the investigators' looking into the shooting,Larry M. Spring Jr., the North Miami city manager, said at a news conference." -- CW

Way Beyond

Rukmini Callimachi, et al., of the New York Times: "A shooting rampage outside a shopping mall in Munich on Friday evening left 10 people dead and at least 21 wounded and sent Germany's third-largest city into lockdown as the police scrambled to find what they initially said were as many as three assailants. By early Saturday, the police said the attack was probably the work of single gunman whose body was found less than a mile from the mall. Officials said he had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The officials also said the police were using a robot to examine the contents of a backpack belonging to the suspect, who was not identified." -- CW ...

... The Guardian has live updates here. The "gunman was [an] 18-year-old German of Iranian descent." -- CW ...

... Souad Mekhennet, et al., of the Washington Post: "Munich authorities said Saturday that the gunman who went on a rampage at a shopping center Friday, leaving nine people dead, had no ties to the Islamic State or other extremist groups. Instead, police believe he was obsessed with mass killings and may have been mentally ill." -- CW

Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "Boris Johnson appeared to distance Britain from Donald Trump on Friday, saying that the country's decision to leave the European Union should not be likened to the Republican presidential candidate's 'America first' isolationist foreign policy. The foreign secretary also claimed European countries had shown a willingness to move quickly to reach a settlement on the terms of Britain's exit from the trade block and insisted that a 'balance can be struck' between free trade and the free movement of workers." -- CW