The Commentariat -- June 1, 2013

The President's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here.

Robert Pear of the New York Times: "The financial outlook for Medicare has improved because of a stronger economy and slower growth in health spending, and the financial condition of Social Security has not worsened, but is still unsustainable, the Obama administration said Friday."

** Sorry, Wingers. IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman was not making weekly visits to the President's residence to powwow with Obama on which of you to audit. Garance Franke-Ruta of the Atlantic digs into the White House records & discovers that Shulman made about ELEVEN, not 157, visits to the White House, & most of those meetings were with HUD deputies re: the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. If the records are correct, Shulman & Obama attended only THREE events together, one for a daily briefing, one for a bill signing (both of these were group events), & one for a departure photo op. Shuman was cleared to attend 157 meetings or so, but in most cases, his deputies went instead. CW: If you want to know the difference between journalism & the Daily Caller, here it is. ...

... OR, as Kevin Drum puts it, in which he describes as a "technically correct sense," "That Story You Knew Was Bullshit? Yeah, It Was Bullshit." ...

... Kim Dixon of Reuters: "The Treasury Department's inspector general will issue a new report in the coming weeks that could heap more bad news on the Internal Revenue Service, showing results of an audit of the IRS use of taxpayer-funded conferences, a Republican critic of the agency said on Friday.... [A] congressional aide said the hearing would be about 'an upcoming audit uncovering information about excessive spending at IRS conferences.'"

Dana Milbank: "Eric Holder is in a mess of his own making."

Justin Sink of the Hill: "President Obama called on Congress to pass legislation to prevent an increase in student loan rates, picking a fight with Republicans on what has previously been a winning issue for the White House. Speaking from the Rose Garden, Obama warned that higher student loan interest rates will restrict access to higher education and argued legislation passed by the Republican House could leave students paying more." Here's the video:

... Greg Sargent on Congressional Republicans will use the "scandals" to avoid actual policy discussions -- by claiming, for instance, that Obama had only one reason to highlight what they call "insignificant" differences between his & the House's proposals to extend low student-loan rates: to create a "distraction" from the scandals.

Pemy Levy, in the International Business Times, on why Sen. Chuck Grassley's (RDopey-Iowa) bill to reduce the number of judges in the D.C. Circuit Court is bullshit (in a technically correct sense). Via Jonathan Bernstein. ...

... New York Times Editors: "Senator Grassley insists that the District of Columbia court 'is the least busy circuit in the country.' But that is simply not true,* if measured by the number of pending appeals divided by the number of active judges. By that count, the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, encompassing seven states in the Midwest, including Iowa, has the lowest workload of any circuit. That was apparently of no concern to the senator when he recently helped speed through the confirmation of Jane Kelly to the court. Arguing about the caseload, however, misses the point. As Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. explained in a 2005 lecture -- 'What Makes the D.C. Circuit Different?' -- the court has a 'special responsibility to review legal challenges to the conduct of the national government.'"

* Another phrase for "bullshit."

... Paul Waldman of the American Prospect on President Obama's judicial appointments.

Matthew Duss in the American Prospect: "The 'war on terror' was pretty good for conservatives. They won't give it up without a fight.... It's hard to avoid the conclusion that the sharp reaction to Obama's shift away from a 'global war' framing has more to do with fear of the loss of advantageous rhetorical ground than it does with any genuine, substantive difference in threat analysis."

** Joe Nocera on the force-feeding of Guantanamo prisoners. Not an easy read.

Peter Finn & Sari Horwitz of the Washington Post have the latest version of the shooting death of Ibragim Todashev. CW: The weapon Todashev reputedly used to attack the FBI agent has gone from being a knife to a metal pole to a broomstick to "part of a broomstick." My guess it that it will whittle down to the pencil the agent gave Todashev to write his confession.

Dan Morse & Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post: "The U.S. Naval Academy is investigating allegations that three of the school's football players sexually assaulted a female midshipman at a party last year -- an explosive allegation that surfaced Friday as the military faces increased scrutiny over whether it pursues such cases aggressively enough."

Working mom & Fox "News" anchor Megyn Kelly calls out Erick Erickson & Lou Dobbs for their misogynistic worldview. (See yesterday's Commentariat for context.) Really worth watching:

     ... James Poniewozik, Time's media critic, writes a related -- & fairly funny -- piece.

Right Wing World

Guess I'll Buy Me a Family-Sized Box o' Cheerios. Cord Jefferson of Gawker: "A nice Cheerios advertisement whose only discernible difference from other Cheerios commercials is that it depicts an interracial family was forced to disable its YouTube comments section [Thursday] after it became inundated with virulent racism."

For those of you already missing Michele Bachmann, never fear. There are more where she comes from....

... David Roberts of Raw Story: "In a video posted by the Far North Dallas Tea Party on Thursday, Texas Eagle Forum President and former Chairman of the Texas Republican Party Cathie Adams presented evidence that [anti-tax lobbyist Grover] Norquist was part of a 'stealth jihad' in the United States. Adams said that Norquist, who is married to a Muslim woman, was 'trouble with a capital "T" because 'he's showing signs of converting to Islam himself. As you see, he has a beard,' she pointed out.... Adams went on to suggest that CIA Director John Brennan could also be a secret Muslim. 'Where is the outcry?' she asked. 'Thank God that Ted Cruz is now in the United States Senate!'" CW: I guess Tailgunner Ted has in his hand a list of 205 names of Muslims who have infiltrated the government. ... AND, of course ...

The Louis Gohmert Weekly Reader

McCain Complicit in Benghazi Attack

... if it had not been for Sen. McCain and President Obama being for what we knew at the time included al-Qaeda in the rebel forces then we would still have a U.S. ambassador and three others alive today because Benghazi would not have happened. -- Louis Gohmert

Congressional Races

A Fundraising Letter that Might Be a Mistake. Emily Schultheis of Politico: Mitch McConnell sent out a fundraising letter for Gabriel Gomez, the GOP candidate for Senate in a Massachusetts special election, reminding potential contributors that a Gomez win was crucial to, well, making McConnell the majority leader. "The solicitation from a top Washington Republican -- and symbol, at least among the left, of congressional dysfunction -- is somewhat surprising given Gomez's mandate to win in a predominantly Democratic state."

Eric Black of MinnPost: Democrat Jim Graves, who came close to beating Michele Bachmann in 2012 & was planning to run her again (where polls showed him ahead), has dropped his candidacy now that Bachmann has said she won't run again. CW: this is a heavily-Republican district, so more than likely Republicans will retain the seat.

When Politico does a better analysis than the New York Times. (No, hell has not frozen over.):

     ... Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: Republicans are weighing whether to attack President Obama in 2014, a decision made more difficult by the fact that he has a 79% likeability rating. ...

     ... Oh, & there's this, Jeremy. Ben White of Politico: "The 2014 midterm election is shaping up as something the United States has not seen in nearly a decade: a campaign run in a strengthening economy with deficits on the decline.... The altered terrain, if it holds, could benefit Democrats and challenge Republicans...."

Local News

Peter Applebome & Elizabeth Maker of the New York Times on the police shooting last week in Ridgefield, Connecticut, of businessman & philanthropist John Valluzzo.

News Ledes

New York Times: "The United States and China have agreed to hold regular, high-level talks on how to set standards of behavior for cybersecurity and commercial espionage, the first diplomatic effort to defuse the tensions over what the United States says is a daily barrage of computer break-ins and theft of corporate and government secrets."

New York Times: "Jean Stapleton, the character actress whose portrayal of a slow-witted, big-hearted and submissive -- up to a point -- housewife on the groundbreaking series 'All in the Family' made her, along with Mary Tyler Moore and Bea Arthur, not only one of the foremost women in television comedy in the 1970s but a symbol of emergent feminism in American popular culture, died on Friday at her home in New York City. She was 90."

AP: "Emergency officials were preparing to survey tornado damage Saturday morning following the second major fatal storm to strike the Oklahoma City metropolitan area in several days.... Five people were reported killed, including a mother and baby found in a vehicle."

AP: Speaking at a security conference in Singapore, "Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered a two-pronged message to Beijing -- holding out hope for a slowly improving military relationship with the Asian giant while issuing a stern warning on cyberattacks coming from that country. But he was met with immediate skepticism from the Chinese delegation in the audience, who questioned America's role in the Pacific." Washington Post story here.

AP: "Turkey's government on Saturday appeared to be trying to placate demonstrators on the second day of anti-government demonstrations, even as police let off more tear gas and pressurized water against protesters trying to reach a main square in Istanbul or the Parliament building in the capital, Ankara."

AP: "The United Nations mission to Iraq says more than 1,000 people were killed in violence in the country last month -- the highest monthly death toll in years. The figures released Saturday showed 1,045 civilians and security personnel killed in May. That surpassed the 712 killed in April, the deadliest month recorded since June 2008. More than half of those killed were in the capital district of Baghdad."

The Commentariat -- May 31, 2013

AP: "College students are joining President Barack Obama at the White House as he calls on Congress to keep federally subsidized student loan rates from doubling on July 1. Friday's White House event marks the beginning of a public campaign by Obama to temporarily extend current rates or to find a long-term compromise that avoids the scheduled rate increase."

Dan Donahue, et al., of CNN: "Officials intercepted Thursday a letter addressed to President Barack Obama that was similar to threatening letters sent to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a gun-control group he founded. (See also Thursday's News Ledes.) 'The law enforcement people I've spoken to say that the letters are virtually identical," said Congressman Peter King, R-New York.... Initial testing on the two letters sent to Bloomberg and his group came back positive for ricin, which has become the deadly poison of choice lately for mail attackers. A source tells CNN that those letters contained the message:

You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. Anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God given right and I will exercise that right till the day I die.

... CW: You can thank the NRA & its Congressional (& Supreme Court) enablers for inciting this kind of dangerous crackpot. This was definitely not what the Founders had in mind.

... Update. Aaron Katersky, et al., of ABC News: "FBI agents are questioning a man they consider a person of interest in the mailing of letters possibly laced with the poison ricin to public officials, according to a source familiar with the case. The agents are questioning a man from New Boston, Texas, whose wife called authorities after she noticed strange material in her refrigerator, and noticed computer searches for ricin, the source said."

Michael Schmidt & Ellen Berry of the New York Times: "A man who was killed in Orlando, Fla., last week while being questioned by an F.B.I. agent about his relationship with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects, had knocked the agent to the ground with a table and ran at him with a metal pole [or maybe a broomstick!] before being shot, according to a senior law enforcement official briefed on the matter." ...

... Dashiell Bennett of the Atlantic: "Law enforcement officials are still trying to explain how a supposedly peaceful interview with an important witness in the Boston bombing case turned into a deadly shooting, but as usual, every new attempt to explain the death of Ibragim Todashev only raises more troubling questions. After originally accusing the suspect and potential murderous accomplice of Boston bomber Tamleran Tsarnaev of attacking an FBI agent with a knife, and then walking back that claim entirely, an new anonymous source says Todashev, may have injured the agent with a table and a metal pole. Or maybe not.... The new version of event also doesn't answer the question of why the FBI agent immediately began firing his weapon or why the other police officers in the room failed to intervene. Which leaves us right back where we started: A confusing scene, an apparently unnecessary death, and a lot of unanswered questions. And on top of all that, the FBI lost what could have been one of their most valuable sources of information on what the Tsarnaev brothers were really up to before the carried their attack."

Also from Bennett: "A new report by the Congressional Budget Office finds that just ten popular tax breaks eat up more of the federal budget than Medicare, Social Security, or defense spending. And -- prepare to be shocked -- the benefits skew overwhelmingly to the rich." ...

... Paul Krugman extols the many virtues of food stamps. "So what do Republicans want to do with this paragon of programs? First, shrink it; then, effectively kill it.... Why must food stamps be cut? We can't afford it, say politicians like Representative Stephen Fincher, a Republican of Tennessee, who backed his position with biblical quotations -- and who also, it turns out, has personally received millions in farm subsidies over the years, [a nice irony since the Ag department administers both farm subsidies & food stamps].... The supposed rationale: We're becoming a nation of takers, and doing stuff like feeding poor children and giving them adequate health care are just creating a culture of dependency -- and that culture of dependency, not runaway bankers, somehow caused our economic crisis.... This is a time to get really, really angry."

Tim Egan: "Today, many Republicans, cornered into rethinking their absolutist position by the nation's inevitable demographics, still oppose a pathway to citizenship for undocumented people who have been in the United States for years. They want storybook immigrants, nothing less -- a blanket fantasy. Of course, there are those who waited in line, and had the money or connections or smarts to come into the country clean. But so many others, who are productive, proud Americans in every way but their citizenship papers, started their new lives in the shadows."

Linda Greenhouse has a good overview of how all three branches of government have thwarted the closing of the prison at Guantanamo.

Michael Calderone of the Huffington Post: "Media executives and editors are divided over whether to attend an off-the-record meeting this week with Attorney General Eric Holder to discuss guidelines for dealing with journalists in leak investigations, an issue that's gotten a lot of attention amid controversies involving the AP and Fox News. Here's how it looks so far if any meeting with Holder remains off-the-record:

"Not going: New York Times, AP, Huffington Post, McClatchy, CNN, CBS News, Fox News, Reuters, and NBC News.

"Going: The Washington Post, Politico, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times/ Chicago Tribune, ABC News, Bloomberg, USA Today." ...

... Jonathan Easley & Jordy Yager of the Hill: "The boycotting news outlets said that the Department of Justice's insistence that the media groups not report on the content of the discussions violated their journalistic guidelines or was a conflict of interest." ...

... Erik Wemple of the Washington Post: "A Justice Department official confirmed to the Erik Wemple Blog that two meetings of Washington bureau chiefs on Thursday and Friday would be off the record. Another round of discussions will pull in media executives and counsel under the same off-the-record ground rules. What it all means is that the folks in attendance can't emerge from the meeting and write accounts of the meeting's ins and outs." ...

... CW: when the Justice Department keeps doing stuff wrong, one is inclined to invoke the adage, "A fish rots from the head down." ...

... CW: Most of the U.S. attorneys general whose names I can remember were horrible or fairly horrible: John Mitchell, Ed Meese, Janet Reno, John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales. Nick Gillespie of the Daily Beast explains why. ...

... Dylan Byers of Politico on Walter Pincus's column on the press's overheated reactions to the AP & James Rosen cases. Pincus's controversial column (also linked May 29) is here.

E. J. Dionne: "In fact, Bachmannism is far from finished. The Minnesota right-winger deserves to be memorialized with an 'ism' because she perfected a tactic well-suited to the current media environment: continually toss out outlandish, baseless charges, and, eventually, some of them will enter the mainstream media.... Her video provided choice examples of the Bachmann method and the extent to which it is now being emulated by others." ...

... The smart person's Michele Bachmann is of course Ted Cruz. Greg Sargent demonstrates how deftly and effectively Cruz manages to use unfounded suppositions & unrelated events to deftly "explain" his outlandish positions. See also my response in today's Comments to OldStone50. Cruz's twisting of facts is of the same ilk as OldStone50's. Cruz, of course, knows what he's doing.

... Henry Decker of the National Memo: "According to a new study from the nonpartisan Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, Republicans are significantly more likely to lie than Democrats -- and the gap is widening as President Barack Obama spends more time in office.... Notably, the credibility gap seems to be growing with time. In May, as Republicans have obsessively tried to tie the president to a series of scandals, their percentage of false claims has risen to 60 percent." CW: the good news for Republicans? Since the study is slightly sciencey, they can just pretend it's a hoax. OR THIS ...

... Billy Hallowell of Glenn Beck's the Blaze says the results may reflect PolitiFact's bias against Republicans. ...

... Tim Graham at NewsBusters agrees with Hallowell. ...

... CW: Oh, I'm being so unfair. It turns out Red State's Erick Erickson is totally into science:

I'm so used to liberals telling conservatives that they're anti-science. But liberals who defend this and say it is not a bad thing are very anti-science. When you look at biology, when you look at the natural world, the roles of a male and a female in society and in other animals, the male typically is the dominant role. The female, it's not antithesis, or it's not competing, it's a complimentary role. -- Erick Erickson ...

... Amanda Marcotte, in Slate: "Erickson must have this nifty scientific 'fact' by studying the animals in the well-known academic text, The Berenstain Bears, which clearly shows Papa Bear going out and earning the money while Mama Bear stays at home and cooks the food for the cubs. Of course, in the actual natural world, bears don't make money -- plus there's a lot of diversity in how animals raise their young." Please read the whole piece, in which Marcotte takes on the all-male panel Fox "News" chose to discuss the news that in 40% of families with children, the female is the primary breadwinner. ...

... Steve Benen: "... the key takeaway from the all-male Fox panel Erickson participated in: men, they said, should be economically dominant in American society. To disagree is in Fox's Doug Schoen's words to invite 'catastrophic' consequences that 'could undermine our social order.'"

Local News

Steve Eder of the New York Times: "New details about the vetting process [of Rutgers' new athletic director Julie Hermann], which included a 28-member search committee that even its own members found unwieldy, raise serious questions about the thoroughness of the search, and how much university officials, including Dr. [Robert] Barchi, [the university president,] knew about their high-profile hire. Interviews with people close to the search process, as well as internal e-mails, show that it felt rushed and secretive, leaving some elected officials, major donors and search committee members deeply uneasy with how Rutgers responded to one of the biggest scandals in its history." ...

... AND Ted Sherman & Jenna Portnoy of the Star-Ledger: "Rutgers University, beset by the ongoing scandal in its athletics program, got more bad news yesterday from Wall Street, which raised questions about the school's complex merger with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Moody's Investor Service downgraded Rutgers' bond rating, saying it had concerns about the impact of the merger on the university's finances."

News Ledes

Houston Chronicle: "Four firefighters died in a five-alarm blaze that broke out at a restaurant Friday afternoon along U.S. 59 in southwest Houston, according to the mayor's office. An arson explosive task force is now involved in the investigation at the scene of the fire, said Franceska Perot, spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives."

New York Times: "Japan and South Korea suspended some imports of American wheat, and the European Union urged its 27 nations to increase testing, after the United States government disclosed this week that a strain of genetically engineered wheat that was never approved for sale was found growing in an Oregon field. Although none of the wheat, developed by Monsanto Company, was found in any grain shipments -- and the Department of Agriculture said there would be no health risk if any was shipped -- governments in Asia and Europe acted quickly to limit their risk."

Reuters: "Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannon on Friday at demonstrators in central Istanbul, wounding scores of people and prompting rallies in other cities in the fiercest anti-government protests in years."

AP: " After years of heartbreakingly close calls, Arvind Mahankali conquered his nemesis, German, to become the champion speller in the English language. The 13-year-old from Bayside Hills, N.Y., correctly spelled 'knaidel,' a word for a small mass of leavened dough, to win the 86th Scripps National Spelling Bee< on Thursday night. The bee tested brain power, composure and, for the first time, knowledge of vocabulary."

AP: "Russia's MiG aircraft maker said Friday it plans to sign a new agreement to ship at least 10 fighter jets to Syria, a move that comes amid international criticism of earlier Russian weapons deals with Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime."

Bloomberg: "Consumer spending in the U.S. unexpectedly declined in April as incomes stagnated, putting the biggest part of the U.S. economy on shaky ground at the start of the second quarter."

Reuters: "Unemployment has reached a new high in the euro zone and inflation remains well below the European Central Bank's target, stepping up pressure on EU leaders and the ECB for action to revive the bloc's sickly economy. Joblessness in the 17-nation currency area rose to 12.2 percent in April, EU statistics office Eurostat said on Friday, marking a new record since the data series began in 1995."

Missed this: Reuters: "A Colorado judge on Wednesday rejected challenges to the state's insanity defense statute and death penalty law by accused movie theater gunman

The Commentariat -- May 30, 2013

Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "President Obama plans to nominate James B. Comey, a former hedge fund executive who served as a senior Justice Department official under President George W. Bush, to replace Robert S. Mueller III as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to two people with knowledge of the selection." ...

... In 2007, Comey testified before a Senate committee (that's Chuck Schumer asking the questions) about the March 2004 incident in which White house counsel Alberto Gonzales & chief-of-staff Andy Card invaded the hospital sickbed of AG John Ashcroft to get him to sign off on reauthorizing an electronic surveillance program. Massimo Calabresi of Time provides context:

Charlie Savage & Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., a lightning rod of Republican attacks during President Obama's first term, is now contending with a new round of criticism over the Justice Department's campaign against leaks to the news media." Some major news organizations, including the New York Times & the Associated Press, will not attend an off-the-record session Holder called to get media input on how leak investigations should be modified. ...

... Igor Bobic of TPM: "The Department of Justice claims it has proof it alerted the parent company of Fox News of a subpoena used to obtain the phone log records of Washington correspondent James Rosen as part of an investigation into a 2010 leak of classified information, according to CNN.... The Justice Department previously said it had notified News Corp. of the seizure on Aug. 27, 2010, but company official over the weekend countered by claiming they had no such record. News Corp.'s chief legal counsel at the time also issued a strong denial of ever receiving a subpoena from the government." ...

... CW: Fred Kaplan of Slate, who is an actual expert on national security, makes the same point I did as soon as I learned of James Rosen's Fox "News" report: that Rosen's report breached national security. "... the alarm bells went off not because he reported that North Korea was about to conduct a nuclear-weapons test but because he reported that the CIA learned of this fact from a source inside North Korea. In other words, Rosen revealed that the CIA had a source inside North Korea. It's unclear whether the source was a human spy or a communications intercept; it's also irrelevant because, thanks to this story, the source is probably no longer alive or active." Responsible reporters know better & will self-censor, delay or even kill a story that could compromise national security &/or security personnel.

Droning On. Mark Mazzetti & Declan Walsh of the New York Times: "Less than a week after President Obama outlined a new direction for the secret drone wars, Pakistani officials said that a C.I.A. missile strike on Wednesday

** Q: How is the Miss America Pageant like the Tea Party? A: They're both tax-exempt social welfare organizations. Michael Grunwald of Time: "... why should any group be tax exempt? The entire concept of a tax-exempt nonprofit -- not only the controversial 501(c)(4) social-welfare shelters but also motherhood-and-apple-pie 501(c)(3) charities and foundations -- is odd. An organization that doesn't make any taxable profit shouldn't need a special status to avoid paying taxes.... Charities, foundations and other intentional nonprofits shouldn't need tax exemptions unless they have profits they need to shelter. Which many of of them do. In 2012, the U.S. had 1,616,053 tax-exempt organizations, 10 times the number of fast-food restaurants. Harvard University is tax exempt even though it has a $31 billion endowment; it's basically a huge hedge fund with a lucrative merchandising operation attached to a school." CW: forgive Grunwald for making sense. ...

     ... CW: what Grunwald doesn't mention is that donors use the tax-exempt charities & "charities" as a tax dodge, too, and indeed the tax dodge is their incentive to donate. As I understand it, donations to 501(c)(4)s, like these Tea Party groups & Karl Rove's Americans for Prosperity, are not tax-exempt. But AFP's sister organization, Americans for Prosperity Foundation, "is a 501(c)(3), which allows donations to be tax-deductible but has restrictions on political activity." The Heritage Foundation (now under the direction of former Sen. Jim DeMint [RTP-S.C.]) is another example of a C-3 "charitable organization," & you can deduct your contributions to it from your taxes. So your civic-minded wealthy winger can redirect his tax contribution from the government to organizations dedicated to undermining said government.

Congressional Races

We've got a great chance of taking back the House. And I'm going to be working tirelessly wherever I get the opportunity to make the case to the American people that our ideas are the right ones. -- Barack Obama, in Chicago yesterday

John Byrne & Kim Geiger of the Chicago Tribune: "President Barack Obama came home to Chicago on Wednesday to raise money for Democratic congressional candidates as part of his party's push to take back control of the House and preserve Democrats' majority in the Senate next year." ...

... Demographics. In a Hill op-ed, Democrat Mark Mellman explains why retaking the House will be difficult for Democrats.

... Dana Milbank: "Bob Dole must be some kind of prophet.Not 72 hours after Fox News Channel aired the former Republican leader's suggestion that the GOP put out a 'closed for repairs' sign, Michele Bachmann announced that she's going out of business. Just like that, the Republican conglomerate got an unexpected chance to shutter one of the balkiest shops in its supply chain." ...

... John Avlon of the Daily Beast on Michele Bachmann's Congressional career (which ain't over yet, folks): "Over her eight years in congress, Bachmann quickly achieved notoriety because of her cavalier disregard of facts (her staff told me she gets most of her information from WorldNetDaily) and her impulse to play mini-McCarthy (routinely accusing political opponents of being anti-American) and then turn around and play the victim card to raise millions of dollars online.... The way Bachmann chose to use her time at the podium of public service was a disgrace. She degraded national debate, consistently chose fearmongering over facts, and exhibited every impulse of the demagogue and the ideologue." ...

... Reid Wilson of the National Journal: "Rep. Michele Bachmann's decision to retire from Congress next year in the face of investigations by at least five different government agencies will bring to a close a political career full of sound and fury, signifying -- well, not much.... The FBI, the Federal Election Commission, the Office of Congressional Ethics, the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee and the Urbandale, Iowa, police department are all investigating various aspects of Bachmann's campaign.... her enduring legacy may be the lessons she taught in how to lose friends and become completely uninfluential. With her exit, Democrats lose a potent fundraising tool. Republicans lose a headache they would just as soon do without." ...

... Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post fact-checker: "As one of our colleagues put it, 'The entire fact checking industry may have to hold a national day of mourning.'" ...

... Gail Collins: "... the Tea Party caucus Bachmann founded in the House has lost its traction. In the Senate, right-wing newcomers like Rand Paul and Ted Cruz have captured the limelight from the congresswoman from Minnesota who once won the Iowa straw poll." ...

... Mistermix of Balloon Juice: "I expected [her videotaped announcement] to end with 'Marcus' arrest for activities in a truck stop restroom had no bearing on my decision to pack up my bags and go home.'" ...

... In view of the FBI investigation of Bachmann, Steve M. of No More Mister Nice Blog seems all surprised: "Wait: a proud constitutional conservative and fervent believer in limited government is under investigation by the FBI -- part of Antichrist Eric Holder's Justice Department -- and the GOP and right-wing noise machine aren't rushing to her defense? No one's calling this a witch hunt? No one's claiming that this is part of the Obama jihad against True Patriots? No one's dismissing the other investigations as traffic-ticket stuff? Well, obviously the GOP establishment considers Bachmann a liability -- it's done no pushback on her behalf." ...

     ... CW: I would add that the Grand Old White Boys do not like a grandstanding dame who, among countless other outrageous acts of self-promotion, gave her own State of the Union response instead of endorsing the Paul Ryan's official party response. As Tim Murphy of Mother Jones noted a few years ago, "... in an interview with Politico, a [former Minnesota Gov. Tim] Pawlenty [R] aide [said]: 'She's a real pain in the ass.' Former state Sen. Dean Johnson, who was the Republican minority leader during Bachmann's stint in St. Paul, has said, 'I don't think I ever served with anybody who I mistrusted more, from either side of the aisle.'" Murphy's column reprises some of Bachmann's greatest hits. ...

... Jonathan Chait of New York assembled his own list of "Bachmann’s ten greatest insights as President of Crazyland." ...

... Andrew Rosenthal of the New York Times: "Some of her comments were just amusing, in an ignorant sort of way, like when she said the Revolutionary War began in New Hampshire. Some were distinctly unamusing, in an ignorant sort of way, like when she suggested that the vaccine against H.P.V. made people 'retarded.' Some were sinister, like comments intended to suggest that armed insurrection is a nice way to express your political views. Last year, for example, she said she wanted 'people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax.' In July of 2012, she accused Huma Abedin, an adviser to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of being a jihadist infiltrator in the government."

Alexander Burns of Politico: "Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, [who was formerly a Republican,] will formally switch his party registration Thursday, abandoning his status as an independent and joining the Democratic Party, the governor's office told Politico. Chafee quietly informed President Barack Obama of his intention to affiliate as a Democrat after reaching that decision in private....

Matt Miller in the Washington Post: Lawrence Lessig, the professor who has made campaign finance reform his cause, proposes a "money bomb" to encourage legislators to quit spending half their days dialing for dollars. You'll have to read Miller's column to see how Lessig's plan would work (or not). CW: I thought this anecdote was interesting: "When I worked in the Clinton White House, I heard Al Gore say something I've never forgotten. It was in an early meeting on health care reform in the Cabinet Room. Gore observed matter-of-factly that 'we'll never do health care reform right unless we do campaign finance reform first.' Twenty years later, his point still rings true for every major plank on the agenda for American renewal."

Local News

Kelly Heyboer of the Star-Ledger: "The controversy over the appointment of Julie Hermann as Rutgers athletic director continued today as e-mails emerged showing infighting within the university over whether the new hire was properly vetted.... Ssme in the 28-member [search committee] felt the process of appointing a new athletic director was rushed."

Dr. Doug Cox, a conservative Republican Oklahoma state legislator, writes an op-ed in the Oklahoman against his fellow legislators' obsession with passing bills "aimed at limiting abortion and contraception.... What happened to the Republican Party that felt that the government has no business being in an exam room, standing between me and my patient? Where did the party go that felt some decisions in a woman's life should be made not by legislators and government, but rather by the women, her conscience, her doctor and her God?" ...

... Tara Culp-Ressler of Think Progress: "This year, Cox was the recipient of Planned Parenthood's Barry Goldwater Award, which is presented to 'outstanding' public officials in the Republican Party who have demonstrated their support for reproductive health issues." ...

... By contrast, here's what happens when you have a Democratic legislature:

... Patrick McGreevy & Chris Megerian of the Los Angeles Times: "California lawmakers Wednesday advanced a dozen gun-control measures, including background checks for ammunition buyers, and gave early approval to a tax penalty on the Boy Scouts for barring openly gay leaders."

Bryce Covert of Think Progress: "The California Assembly is expected to vote on Wednesday on a Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, which passed both the Assembly and Senate last year only to be vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown (D). The bill, AB241, would guarantee housekeepers, nannies, and caregivers for the elderly and disabled overtime pay, meal and rest breaks, and the right to use kitchen facilities. It also provides live-in workers the right to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep." ...

... AP: "Republican Assemblyman Brian Jones of Santee says the bill would make in-home help unaffordable for all but the wealthy. Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill last year citing the financial effects on families." CW: how does this make sense? What about the "financial effects" on the families of domestic workers?

Leave It to BuzzFeed. Benny Johnson compiles puns on Anthony Weiner's last name that made it into print during his 2011 sexting debacle, most courtesy of the New York Post. The best, IMHO, was not a pun on Weiner's name, but -- also from the Post -- this headline: "Erections Have Consequences."

News Ledes

Los Angeles Times: "Ibragim Todashev was being interrogated in his Orlando, Fla., home by the FBI and Massachusetts police when he was killed early in the morning of May 22. Now his family and friends want an independent investigation of how Todashev, an acquaintance of the man accused of organizing the bombing of the Boston Marathon, died at the hands of authorities.... In an interview with the Los Angeles Times after his news conference, Todashev said it appeared that his son had been shot by multiple agents from both the front and back."

New York Times: "The federal authorities are investigating whether the person responsible for sending poison-laced letters to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and a lobbyist for his gun-control campaign in recent days may have also sent a similar letter to President Obama...."

Seattle Times: "In a proposed deal to avoid the death penalty, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales has agreed to plead guilty to killing 16 Afghans during a March 2012 tour of duty with an Army unit from Joint Base Lewis-McChord.... If the deal is approved, Bales would receive a life sentence, either with or without the possibility of parole.... In Afghanistan, the plea deal could inflame tensions."

AP: "Two threatening letters containing traces of the deadly poison ricin were sent to Mayor Michael Bloomberg in New York and his gun-control group in Washington, police said."

AP: " The Syrian president has told Lebanon's Hezbollah-owned TV station that Damascus received the first shipment of Russian air defense missiles, according to remarks released by the station Thursday.... Israel's defense chief, Moshe Yaalon, said earlier this week that Russia's plan to supply Syria with the weapons is a threat and that Israel was prepared to use force to stop the delivery.... Israel has long lobbied Moscow over the planned sale of S-300 air-defense missiles to Syria. However, on Tuesday, Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said his government remained committed to the deal."