The Commentariat -- May 2, 2013

Obama 2.0. Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Obama will nominate Penny Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune and a longtime financial backer of the president, to be the new commerce secretary.... The president will also nominate Michael Froman, a top national security official, to be the new United States trade representative." ...

... Matt Vasilogambros of the National Journal sketches Pritzker's biography & alludes to some of the issues she likely will face in the confirmation process. ...

... ** Romney 1.0. Obama 2.0, Ctd. John Cassidy on Obama's bad pick to head the FCC -- veteran communications industry lobbyist Tom Wheeler. CW: Wheeler sounds just like the kind of nominee Mitt Romney would select -- and make Democrats howl.

Obama 1.Stupid. Pam Belluck & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The Obama administration moved Wednesday to keep girls under 15 from having over-the-counter access to morning-after pills, as the Justice Department filed a notice to appeal a judge's order that would make the drug available without a prescription for girls and women of all ages.... The decision to appeal is striking in part because, before [HHS Secretary Kathleen] Sebelius overruled it in 2011, the F.D.A. -- the Justice Department's client in this case -- had moved to do exactly what Judge [Edward] Korman ordered last month. ...

... Josh Lederman & Lauran Needgaard of the AP: "The Obama administration's decision to appeal a court order lifting age limits on purchasers of the morning-after pill set off a storm of criticism from reproductive rights groups, who denounced it as politically motivated and a step backward for women's health." ...

... CW: Linda Greenhouse addressed the case in her column two weeks ago (which I linked timely), writing that Judge Korman's decision was "worth reading in full by anyone who wants to observe the judicial process at its finest." Greenhouse wrote that she hoped the Obama administration would accept Korman's decision, "and thus display judgment and courage that it has conspicuously lacked on this issue until now." Sorry, Ms. Greenhouse, but the president's desire to control his daughters' activities trumps science & all the unnecessary & often dangerous pregnancies that will occur because ... Obama's daughters.

** "Who's Sorry Now." Linda Greenhouse reflects on Sandra Day O'Connor's recently-expressed doubts about Bush v. Gore.

Tom Hamburger & Dina ElBodhdady of the Washington Post: "The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued subpoenas to a firm [Height Securities] and individuals in connection with the leak last month of a federal funding decision that appeared to cause a surge in stock trading of several major health companies. The move deepens the government's scrutiny of the growing 'political intelligence' industry, which has been thriving on delivering valuable information from Washington to investors."

I cannot force Republicans to embrace those common-sense solutions...It's tough. Their base thinks that compromise with me is somehow a betrayal. They're worried about primaries.... And we're going to try to do everything we can to create a permission structure for them to be able to do what's going to be best for the country. But it's going to take some time. -- President Obama, at his press conference Monday

... ** Brian Beutler of TPM: "... as a long shot [President Obama] and his allies can create atmospheric and procedural and rhetorical conditions that might allow House Republicans to give Obama something he wants without appearing to have consorted with him in any way. Ideally while retaining a pretense that they've somehow dealt him a defeat.... That's precisely what Obama meant at his press conference on Tuesday when he talked about building a 'permission structure' upon which Congressional Republicans might engage in some responsible budgeting." Beutler neatly calls out Maureen Dowd & wonders if the term "permission structure" "isn't leadership-y sounding enough." ...

** NEW. Jonathan Chait: "You don't use 'leadership' against your opponents!" Read the whole post. ...

... Mark Murray of NBC News tries to explain basic Constitutional principles to MoDo: "... the greatest legislative achievements in American history have come when one party controls the White House and Congress -- usually by overwhelming numbers. In the 1930s, as Congress was passing Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, Democrats held between 69 and 75 Senate seats, as well as 300-plus House seats. In 1965, during Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, Democrats controlled 68 Senate and 290-plus House seats. Talk about supermajorities. Even the top legislative accomplishments under Obama -- the stimulus, the health-care law, financial reform, 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' repeal -- came when Democrats held 60 Senate seats (or close to it) and a majority in the House. But when there's divided government? That's typically a recipe for gridlock." ...

MoDo, sprawling, if not across a staircase. ... Might as well throw in Charles Pierce's delightful takedown of MoDo here: "It is the job of the voters not to elect morons. It is the job of the non-morons in the congressional leadership to keep the morons from driving the entire train over a cliff. When those two checks fail, as they obviously have, it still is not the job of the president to be the country's chief moron-wrangler. I think we are heading into the endless thicket of Dowdian Daddy Issues here again." ...

... MEANWHILE, E. J. Dionne wants Obama to be more upbeat: "Obama’s calling card was hope. There is more to be hopeful about right now than his own public weariness would suggest." ...

... NEW. AND, actually, Frank Rich remarks, Obama can show some leadership on Gitmo, where he has demonstrated a "weirdly passive refusal to be proactive in dealing with the 86 inmates who've been cleared by our own intelligence agencies for transfer out." ...

... BUT Toomey Goes on the Record. Amanda Terkel of the Huffington Post: "Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) revealed that some members of his party opposed expanding background checks for gun sales recently because they didn't want to 'be seen helping the president.'" CW: Oh gosh, E.J., MoDo, et al., isn't that just what Obama said (if a little more elegantly)? ...

... Steve Benen: "According to Toomey -- who presumably has a pretty good sense of the motivations of his own colleagues in his own party -- the media's blame game had it backwards. No amount of presidential arm-twisting can overcome the will of lawmakers who want to defeat the president's agenda because it's the president's agenda.... This is unsustainable. The American system of government is dependent on a series of compromises...." ...

... CW: the question is not, "Why can't Obama be more like LBJ or FDR (or Michael Douglas or Jeremy Irons)?" but "Why can't Congress have lots more Democrats?" ...

... That is, Real Democrats. Thomas Edsall, in the New York Times: "Conservative politicians..., [according to results from an academic study], overestimate the conservative leanings of constituents by the largest margins -- by about 20 percentage points; liberals overestimate by about 10 points; and centrist Democrats like [Heidi] Heitkamp overestimate by about 15 points. This suggests that Heitkamp, Begich, Pryor and Baucus are likely to have overestimated the conservatism of their constituents in making judgments on the political cost of voting for the background check amendment.... Insofar as [they] take the easy way out, they reinforce the stereotype of an all-powerful N.R.A.... Submission [to the N.R.A.] serves only to reinforce the image of Congress as the captive of special interests." ...

... Michael Tomasky of Newsweek makes the case that Manchin-Toomey will pass the 60-vote threshold the next time around, which could come before the August break. ...

... Let's end this with a related remark by Charles Pierce: "... anyone who takes idly the effect of some of the rhetoric that's been launched against this president and his policies is sleeping on a genuine national-security problem.

The survey, aimed at measuring public attitudes toward gun issues, found that 29 percent of Americans agree with the statement, 'In the next few years, an armed revolution might be necessary in order to protect our liberties.'

      ... CW: when you have a sitting member of Congress (Louie Gohmert) accusing the U.S. attorney general of siding with terrorists (see yesterday's Commentariat), is it so surprising that millions of Americans are girding (and many of them arming) themselves for the revolution? Gohmert's incendiary remarks are potentially a lot more damaging than tossing out perjoratives to describe minorities or scrubbing campaign accounts.

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Obama is warning liberal supporters that their push to make changes in a comprehensive immigration bill could jeopardize the strategy of Senate leaders, who are aiming to win up to 70 votes for the measure.... Obama and other Democrats have mounted a behind-the-scenes campaign in recent days aimed at mollifying advocates, who argue that an 844-page Senate bill excludes too many illegal immigrants and makes it too hard for the rest to become citizens.... In a private meeting with a dozen Latino leaders at the White House this week, Obama emphasized that securing a large margin in the Senate is crucial to putting pressure on House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to accept the general framework of the legislation."

Li'l Randy is an accomplished liar, but then it's in his genes. Via Driftglass:

Congressional Morons Re-Introduce Pro-Ignorance Bill. Dylan Matthews of the Washington Post: "Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) is rolling out the Census Reform Act this week.... The bill ... would abolish the Current Population Survey, which is used to compute the unemployment rate and labor force participation rate. We wouldn't have an unemployment rate if Duncan and his cosponsors -- who include GOP House libertarian-leaners like Jason Chaffetz, Raul Labrador, Thomas Massie, Steve Stockman and Walter Jones -- get their way.... It's hard to overstate the loss of knowledge that this bill would bring about.... This has a concrete impact on government spending.... You shouldn't worry too much about the Duncan bill becoming law ... because it has garnered the strong opposition of businesses" that "use the survey to make decisions." ...

This is not a scientific survey. It's a random survey. -- Jeff Duncan, in an exceptional display of ignorance ...

Of course, randomness is a prerequisite for scientific validity in surveys, not a barrier to it. -- Dylan Matthews

CW: I missed this Monday night, but Jon Stewart had a couple of great segments on Congress's response to airport delays:

Congressional Race

Dana Milbank: Mark "Sanford is now poised to ... hand the [Congressional] seat to Democrats for the first time since 1978, when they still had a foothold in the South. Sanford's opponent, Elizabeth Colbert Busch, has been aided by her brother, comedian Stephen Colbert, who has helped with fundraising. In this there is a cruel irony: The 'Comedy Central' personality is helping to keep from Congress a man who would be an endless source of comedy. Not since Anthony Weiner sheathed his camera phone has a public figure exhibited such poor public judgment as Sanford has over the past five weeks." ...

... Gail Collins, in a column that wrote itself because for laughs all you have to do is copy down what Mark Sanford says/does, has her way with the hapless candidate.

Right Wing World *

Science Daily: "When it comes to deciding which light bulb to buy, a label touting the product's environmental benefit may actually discourage politically conservative shoppers." Thanks to James S. for the link.

* The best place to find dim bulbs.

News Ledes

New York Times: "In an unexpected turn in the investigation into the deadly collapse of the Rana Plaza building, the Bangladeshi police on Thursday arrested the engineer who warned a day before the disaster that the building was unsafe."

Boston Globe: "The family of Tamerlan Tsarnaev picked up the body of the alleged Boston Marathon bomber from the state medical examiner's office this afternoon, a state official said."

AP: "The FBI announced Wednesday that it is seeking information on three people who were on the grounds of the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, when it was attacked last year. The bureau posted photographs of the three people and said they may be able to provide information to help in the investigation of the attack." The linked story includes images of the three men of interest.

New York Times: "North Korea said Thursday that its Supreme Court had sentenced an American citizen to 15 years of hard labor for committing hostile acts against its government. The citizen, Kenneth Bae, 44, a Korean-American from Washington State who ran a tour business out of China, was arrested in the special economic zone of Rason in northeastern North Korea in November after leading a group of businessmen there from Yanji, China. On Saturday, the North said it was indicting him on charges that he tried to overthrow Pyongyang's government." ...

     ... Update: "The United States said Thursday that North Korea should immediately release an American citizen who was sentenced this week to 15 years of hard labor, setting up a potential new source of confrontation between the two countries that could aggravate tensions still high over North Korea's nuclear war threats."

New York Times: "... in response to the disclosures last year that the entertainer Jimmy Savile had been a serial sexual predator with scores of victims, many of them under age," British law enforcement officials have been investigating numerous aged minor celebrities for alleged sexual abuses that occurred decades ago. Two have been arrested.

The Commentariat -- May 1, 2013

Obama 2.0. Shahien Nasiripour of the Huffington Post: "President Barack Obama will nominate Mel Watt, a longtime Democratic congressman from North Carolina, to oversee government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a move that may give the White House greater control over housing policy. Obama will announce his nomination of Watt to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency on Wednesday...." ...

... Obama 2.0, Ctd.. Jessica Yellin of CNN: "President Barack Obama will announce Wednesday he's nominating Tom Wheeler, a top fundraiser for the president's re-election campaign, to head the Federal Communications Commission, according to a White House official."

Megan Three-Brenan of the New York Times: "Americans are exhibiting an isolationist streak, with majorities across party lines decidedly opposed to American intervention in North Korea or Syria, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll." ...

... Stephanie Gaskell of Politico: "The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [Martin Dempsey] hit a cautionary note on Syria Tuesday, questioning just how effective U.S. military intervention might be in ending the two-year civil war there." ...

... Mark Landler & Rick Gladstone of the New York Times: "The White House is once again considering supplying weapons to Syria's armed opposition, senior officials said Tuesday. Such a decision would be a policy shift for the Obama administration, which has stepped up its nonlethal aid but stopped short of lethal weaponry and has expressed reluctance about greater military entanglements in the Syrian civil war."

Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "Wall Street bankers and some of the world's top finance ministers are waging a bitter international campaign to block Washington financial regulators from extending their policing powers far beyond the nation's shores.... A former investment banker, [Gary] Gensler [chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission,] defends his proposals, arguing that too many bad bets in the global derivatives market can be traced to overseas locations -- including the $6 billion loss last year by a JPMorgan Chase trader called the London Whale -- and threatened markets in the United States."

Jamelle Bouie of the American Prospect: "Barack Obama Asks Press to Maybe, Possibly Hold Republicans Responsible Sometime.... Much of Washington is in the grips of what several observers call the 'Green Lantern Theory of Presidential Power.' For those unfamiliar with the comics, the Green Lanterns are a galaxy-spanning corps of space police. Each Lantern is given a power ring that emits a green energy. With it, Lanterns can do anything -- the only limit is their will. Likewise, pundits and journalists from across the spectrum seem to understand the president as a singular figure whose power flows from his willingness to 'get things done.'" ...

... Greg Sargent: "here's the problem: If a reporter or analyst were to call out Republicans for failing to compromise with Obama, that reporter or analyst would be calling on them to adopt a particular policy position.... It would amount to a criticism of the Republican position.... This is impermissible for the neutral writer, because it constitutes an ideological judgment. On the other hand, faulting Obama for failing to get Republicans to move his way does not constitute taking any kind of stand on who is right, ideologically speaking. It only constitutes a judgment of Obama for failing to manipulate the process adequately." CW: so it's all about reportorial neutrality. But an opinion writer does not have to jump through the neutrality hoop. So that doesn't account for ...

... Green Lantern Aficionado MoDo: "Actually, it is[ Obama's] job to get [Congress] to behave. The job of the former community organizer and self-styled uniter is to somehow get this dunderheaded Congress, which is mind-bendingly awful, to do the stuff he wants them to do. It's called leadership." CW: She does bring up one point of which I was unaware: "Congress put restrictions on transfers of individuals [in Guantanamo] to other countries with bad security situations. But, since 2012, Congress has granted authority to the secretary of defense to waive those restrictions on a case-by-case basis. [Emphasis added.] The administration hasn't made use of that power once. So it's a little stale to blame Congress at this point." ...

... Ah, Charlie Savage of the New York Times explains: "The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Representative Howard P. McKeon, Republican of California, noted that the Obama administration had never exercised the power it has had since in 2012 to waive, on a case-by-case basis, most of the restrictions lawmakers have imposed on transferring detainees to countries with troubled security conditions." ...

... New York Times Editors: "If [President Obama] is serious about moving toward closure [of Guantanamo], there are two steps proposed by the American Civil Liberties Union that could get the ball rolling. He could appoint a senior official 'so that the administration's Guantánamo closure policy is directed by the White House and not by Pentagon bureaucrats,' the A.C.L.U. said, and he could order Mr. Hagel to start providing legally required waivers to transfer detainees who have been cleared. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has urged Mr. Obama to urgently review the status of those prisoners -- a primary issue for the hunger strikers."

Allison Kopicki of the New York Times: "Nearly half of Americans agree with the Obama administration's contention that the economy will be hurt by the spending cuts prompted by the sequestration, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. About one-third said the automatic cuts to military and domestic programs that went into effect because President Obama and Republicans in Congress could not agree on a budget plan would have no effect on the economy one way or the other. Just 1 in 10 said the automatic cuts would help the economy."

Julia Preston of the New York Times: "Gay advocates were sharply disappointed to find that same-sex couples were excluded from the [immigration reform] legislation.... But in the lengthy closed-door negotiations that produced the overhaul proposal, the four Republicans in the bipartisan group made it clear early on that they did not want to include such a hot-button issue in a bill that would be a challenge to sell to their party even without it.... Now, with the immigration bill scheduled to advance next week toward a vote in the Judiciary Committee, Democrats are in a quandary about whether to offer an amendment that would give green cards to same-sex partners."

The People Who Make Your Lovely Clothes Are Dead. Jim Yardley of the New York Times: Sohel "Rana, 35, is under arrest, the most reviled man in Bangladesh after the horrific collapse of Rana Plaza last week left nearly 400 people dead, with many others still missing. On Tuesday, a top Bangladeshi court seized his assets, as the public bayed for his execution, especially as it appears that the tragedy could have been averted if the frantic warnings of an engineer who examined the building the day before had been heeded. But Mr. Rana ... is partly a creation of the garment era in Bangladesh, during which global businesses have arrived in search of cheap labor to keep profits high and costs low. Directly or indirectly, international brands are now sometimes interlinked with men like Mr. Rana.... Television stations reported the cracks in the building the night before it collapsed, but no local authority prevented Mr. Rana from opening the building the next morning." ...

... Made in the USA. Brad Plumer of the Washington Post: "Lenovo..., Caterpillar, GE and Ford are among those that have announced that they're shifting some manufacturing operations back to the United States. And economists are debating whether these stories are a blip -- or whether they signal the beginning of a major renaissances for American manufacturing.... The narrowing of the wage gap between China and the United States is the most significant factor. China has been getting wealthier, and its factory workers are demanding ever-higher wages. Whereas the gap in labor costs between the two countries was about $17 per hour in 2006, that could shrink to as little as $7 per hour by 2015...." CW: as I've always believed, we're better off when people in other countries are better off. Being the world's biggest economic power may be great for American fat cats, but it is bad for American workers.

Kaiser Foundation: "Four in ten Americans (42 percent) are unaware that the [Affordable Care Act] is still the law of the land, including 12 percent who believe the law has been repealed by Congress, 7 percent who believe it has been overturned by the Supreme Court, and 23 percent who don't know whether or not the ACA remains law." Via Alex Rogers of Time.

Kathleen Miles of the Huffington Post: About half of the L.A. Times' reporters say they would quit if the Koch brothers bought the paper. CW: I doubt that the Koch boys care; they can tap into that deep bench of A-Plus "reporters" from Breitbart, Daily Caller, etc.

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "The contentious political fight over gun control moved into the White Mountains of New Hampshire on Tuesday as gun-control activists began to focus on Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) as a prime target in their effort to revive their push for stricter gun laws."

Steve Benen on Tailgunner Ted: "All of this dishonest grandstanding ... should ... cause Cruz some trouble on Capitol Hill. Senators have traditionally forged relationships with their colleagues in order to build coalitions and be more effective in passing legislation. Cruz is going out of his way to do the opposite -- scolding his veteran colleagues, lecturing them on his wisdom, and creating conditions in which just about everyone who knows him dislikes him. This should make it all but impossible for Cruz to play a constructive role in the chamber, though that may not matter to him, since he doesn't seem especially interested in governing anyway." ...

... Steve M. of No More Mister Nice Blog: "Cruz is the future of GOP politics. He doesn't even bother trying to seem cooperative. He defines everyone to the left of him, even the likes of Jennifer Rubin, as sellouts and RINOs.... His goal is noncooperation until the wingnut revolution happens, and then merciless application of right-wing Correct Thinking afterward. He's the counterrevolutionary New Man." ...

... Robert Costa of the National Review: "Freshman senator Ted Cruz is considering a presidential run, according to his friends and confidants." Via Alex Rogers. CW: wonder if Tailgunner Ted & fellow Savior-of-the-Constitution Li'l Randy will remain best buds when they each notice the other guy wants to be president, too.

Poster Boy. Cameron Easley & Lisa Weissmann of WCSC, Columbia: "A website connecting users looking for casual, and often extramarital, affairs is making Mark Sanford the face of their new marketing campaign. AshleyMadison.com unveiled a billboard on Interstate 26 in Columbia...."

Congressional Race

Martin Finucane & Michael Levenson of the Boston Globe: "Gabriel E. Gomez, a 47-year-old son of immigrants who became a Navy pilot and SEAL before becoming a private equity investor, won the Republican nomination tonight for the US Senate special election to replace John F. Kerry, bringing a fresh face to a race that had drawn scant interest from an electorate distracted by the Boston Marathon bombings. Meanwhile, veteran US Representative Edward J. Markey beat fellow Representative Stephen F. Lynch in the race for the Democratic nod in the traditionally blue state." ...

... Alexandra Jaffe of the Hill: "Markey defeated Rep. Stephen Lynch (D) for the Democratic nomination with 57 percent support to Lynch's 43 percent support, with 60 percent of precincts reporting.... Washington Democrats ... hammered Gomez as 'way outside the mainstream' of Massachusetts voters in a statement from Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee deputy executive director Matt Canter. 'A small group of Republican voters in Massachusetts have decided that Gabriel Gomez, a former spokesman for a Super PAC that attacked President Obama over the killing of Osama bin Laden, best represents their extreme right wing views....'"

The Louis Gohmert Weekly (or is it Daily?) News

Igor Volsky of Think Progress: Rep. Louie Gohmert (RTP-Texas) "suggested on Tuesday that Attorney General Eric Holder permitted a federal judge to read Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev his Miranda rights because the Obama cabinet official is biased towards terrorism."

News Ledes

Boston Globe: "Two men from Kazakhstan and a man from Cambridge were arrested and charged today in the Boston Marathon bombings investigation, federal prosecutors said. Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev, both 19 and of New Bedford, were charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice by plotting to dispose of a laptop computer and a backpack containing fireworks belonging to bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the US attorney's office said in a statement. Robel Phillipos, 19, of Cambridge was charged with making false statements to law enforcement officials in a terrorism investigation, prosecutors said. All three were, or had been, students at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Tsarnaev, 19, was also a student."

Guardian: "Three British soldiers have been killed and several others injured after the heavily armoured vehicle they were travelling in was hit by a large roadside bomb while they were on a routine patrol in Afghanistan."

The Commentariat -- April 30, 2013

Zachary Goldfarb & Scott Wilson of the Washington Post: "President Obama said he would take another stab in his second term at closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, a first-term campaign promise that a Democratic-led Congress rejected. With reports that about 100 of Guantanamo's 166 detainees are on hunger strike, Obama said at a news conference at the White House that the existence of the facility is harmful to U.S. interests and he will reach out to lawmakers to try to shut it down."

Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "President Obama defended U.S. law enforcement's efforts to scrutinize the Boston Marathon bombing suspects in the year leading up to the attacks, and lashed out at critics he accused of chasing headlines. In his first news conference since the Boston attack, Obama also said that law enforcement agencies had performed in 'exemplary fashion' in the hunt for the bombers. Dismissing critics on Capitol Hill, Obama rebuked Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C) for suggesting last week that the bombings in Boston showed that U.S. security measures were slipping":

Pardon My Schadenfreude. Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling: "New PPP polls in Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, and Ohio find serious backlash against the 5 Senators who voted against background checks in those states. Each of them has seen their approval numbers decline, and voters say they're less likely to support them the next time they're up for reelection. That's no surprise given that we continue to find overwhelming, bipartisan support for background checks in these states." ...

... Igor Volsky of Think Progress: "... the National Rifle Association ... is running radio ads thanking [Sen. Kelly] Ayotte [R-N.H.] for focusing on 'meaningful bipartisan solutions' and opposing 'misguided gun control laws that would not have prevented Sandy Hook.'” Ayotte voted against the Manchin-Toomey amendment. ...

... Elizabeth Drew in the New York Review of Books: "The nonsense about what it takes for a president to win a victory in Congress has reached ridiculous dimensions. The fact that Barack Obama failed to win legislation to place further curbs on the purchase of guns -- even after the horror of Newtown, Connecticut — has made people who ought to know better decide that he’s not an 'arm-twister.'”

Justin Sink of The Hill: "Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said in an interview published this weekend that she is no longer certain that the Supreme Court should have taken Bush v. Gore, the controversial case that ended the 2000 Florida recount and decided that year's presidential election." CW: Ah, well, no harm done, Justice O'Connor. ...

... Ian Millhiser of Think Progress has more.

John Harwood of the New York Times: "... an immense challenge fac[es] the Obama administration as it puts in place the most significant parts of the 2010 [Affordable Care Act]. Few government initiatives reach so many corners of the American economy and society -- and have as much potential to generate trouble for the party in the White House. Among the complex imperatives: pushing reluctant states to set up insurance marketplaces and expand Medicaid programs, keeping an eye on insurance companies as they issue new rate schedules, measuring the law's effects on small-business hiring, and coaxing healthy young people to buy coverage so the system works economically for everyone else." CW: in reading Harwood's report, it would appear that one is the biggest problems is beating back the lies about the law coming out the GOP propaganda machine. ...

... Jonathan Cohn of The New Republic: don't believe all the horror stories you hear about ObamaCare. Because it is so complex, it may get off to a rocky start, but most people will be better off either when the plan is implemented or later on.

Jason Collins in Sports Illustrated: ""I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay." ...

... Some positive responses via Twitter, from, among others, Bill Clinton & Barack Obama. ...

... BUT Annie-Rose Strasser of Think Progress: "An ESPN sportscaster went on the air on Monday to publicly gay-bash Jason Collins, the NBA player who came out Monday morning in an emotional op-ed, the first active male player of a major American sport to come out. Speaking on ESPN's Outside The Lines, Chris Broussard said that he would 'not characterize [Collins] as a Christian.' He made the comments in front of his openly gay colleague, LZ Granderson." ...

     ... UPDATE. David Bauder of the AP: "ESPN says that it regrets the 'distraction' caused by one of its reporters who described Jason Collins as a sinner after the NBA center publicly revealed that he was gay. Chris Broussard, who covers the NBA for ESPN, had said on the air that Collins and others in the NBA who engage in premarital sex or adultery were 'walking in open rebellion to God, and to Jesus Christ.' Broussard, a former reporter for The New York Times, spoke during ESPN's 'Outside the Lines' program Monday discussing Collins' announcement." ...

... Benoit Denizet-Lewis in The New Republic: "Many gay black men in America grow up feeling they have to choose between their skin color and their sexuality. Afraid of being shunned by their families or churches and of finding no real home in mainstream gay culture ('The gay identity has long been constructed in the media as white and privileged,' says openly gay black writer Keith Boykin), many black men with same-sex attractions believe they have no choice but to live secret sexual or romantic lives. To say 'I'm black, and I'm gay' is to try to upend that narrative." ...

... Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones: "Although his coming out in Sports Illustrated is big news, NBA star Jason Collins is not the 'first openly gay athlete in professional North American team sports,' as some have claimed. Claiming as much implies that either women's sports don't matter as much (or don't exist at all), or that coming out is somehow less of a big deal for professional athletes who happen to be women." Sheppard lists a few of them. CW: One of the tweets reported in the story above was from Martina Navratilova, who came out in 1981.)

Bad News for Bob. Rosalind Helderman & Jerry Markon of the Washington Post: "FBI agents are conducting interviews about the relationship between Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, his wife, Maureen, and a major campaign donor who paid for the food at the wedding of the governor's daughter, according to four people familiar with the questioning. The agents have been asking associates of the McDonnells about gifts provided to the family by Star Scientific chief executive Jonnie R. Williams Sr. and actions the Republican governor and his wife have taken that may have boosted the company, the people said." CW: this is the lede story in the Post's online edition. This can't be helping Bob's chances to be President Bob.

New York Times Editors: "To hear Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina tell it, the way forward on Syria is clear. The United States should be doing more -- directly arming the rebels seeking overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, establishing a no-fly zone.... What the senators and like-minded critics have not offered is a coherent argument for how a more muscular approach might be accomplished without dragging the United States into another extended and costly war and how it might yield the kind of influence and good will for this country that the interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan have not.... Mr. Obama must soon provide a clearer picture of how he plans to use American influence in dealing with the jihadi threat and the endgame in Syria." ...

... Andy Borowitz: "A growing chorus of Republican lawmakers are demanding that President Obama take some action in Syria so that they can attack whatever action he took in Syria."

O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
-- "To a Louse," by Robert Burns ...

... To a Louse, by Peter Hart, in Common Dreams, writing on the "sick madness" of Tom Friedman. Thanks to Bonnie for the link; Bonnie suggests reading some of the comments, too.

The Distinguished Gentleman from Texas. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "In his short time at the Capitol, Senator Ted Cruz, a freshman Republican from Texas, has shown little regard for long-standing rules of decorum. But on Friday, he publicly discussed the closed-door dealings of the Senate Republican Conference -- and trashed his colleagues in the process. Stopping by a Texas meeting of the Tea Party-aligned group FreedomWorks, Mr. Cruz called many of his colleagues 'squishes,' forced to stand on conservative principles by the uncompromising stands of a triumphant trio of Republican 'constitutionalists': himself and Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky." CW: Joe Lieberman's retirement broke up the old Three Stooges of the Senate. So it's nice to know we have a brand-new worser version. ...

... Liberals Can Fear-Monger, Too: Climate Change Will Force Women into Prostitution. Peter Kasperowicz of The Hill: "Several House Democrats are calling on Congress to recognize that climate change is hurting women more than men, and could even drive poor women to 'transactional sex' for survival. The resolution [comes] from Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and a dozen other Democrats."

Congressional Races

Today is primary day in Massachusetts for the U.S. Senate special election.

When we talk about fiscal spending and we talk about protecting the taxpayers, it doesn’t mean you take that money we saved and leave the country for a personal purpose. -- Elizabeth Colbert Busch, in her debate with former Appalachian-trail hiking fraudster Mark Sanford. Sanford & Busch are running for a Congressional seat vacated when Gov. Nikki Haley appointed Rep. Tim Scott to the Senate.

Commentariat Conversations

... Watching Fox news cuts into my daily visits to Breibart's grave. -- Diane, in response to Akhilleus

Bad news for Diane. (Via Kate Madison) -- Constant Weader:

News Ledes

he Hill: "A dust mask allegedly discarded by the man accused of sending ricin-laced letters to President Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) tested positive for the poison, according to a court document made public on Tuesday." ...

... When the FBI Comes Knocking (OR, Actually, Breaking Down the Door). AP: "Attorneys for a Mississippi man who was briefly charged with sending ricin-laced letters to the president and others are encouraged after speaking with the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's office about repairing or replacing the man's house after an intensive search left it uninhabitable."

CBS News: "George Zimmerman told a judge in court Tuesday morning that he will not seek a 'stand your ground' immunity hearing before his trial on charges of second-degree murder in the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin."

AP: "Willem-Alexander became the first Dutch king in more than a century Tuesday as his mother, Beatrix, abdicated after 33 years as queen. The generational change in the House of Orange-Nassau gave the Netherlands a moment of celebration, pageantry and brief respite as this trading nation of nearly 17 million struggles through a lengthy recession brought on by the European economic crisis." ...

     ... Reuters UPDATE: "Willem-Alexander - who is a water management specialist, a useful expertise in a country where much of the land is below sea level - and his wife Maxima, a former investment banker from Argentina, are expected to bring a less formal touch to the monarchy at a time of national austerity and budget cuts. April 30, or Queen's Day, has always been an occasion for partying in the Netherlands, and Amsterdam has been awash with orange - the color of the House of Orange - for days."

Boston Globe: Massachusetts holds primaries today for the special election of a U.S. Senator to replace John Kerry.

Washington Post: "FBI special agents spent about 90 minutes Monday inside the Rhode Island home of the parents of Katherine Russell, the widow of suspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, an FBI spokesman said.... Two law enforcement officials said that investigators found female DNA on a piece of one of the bombs from the marathon. The DNA could have come from a woman who helped the suspects make the bombs or from a person in a store who handled the materials the suspects bought, said the officials...." ...

... New York Times: "Federal authorities are closely scrutinizing the activities of the wife of the dead Boston Marathon bombing suspect in the days before and after the attacks."