The Commentariat -- Dec. 7, 2012

Betty McIntosh, ca. 1941.** Elizabeth P. McIntosh, in the Washington Post: "On Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor, I was working as a reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. After a week of war, I wrote a story directed at Hawaii's women; I thought it would be useful for them to know what I had seen. It might help prepare them for what lay ahead. But my editors thought the graphic content would be too upsetting for readers and decided not to run my article. It appears here for the first time." The Post also has a video interview of McIntosh here, but it wasn't working this morning. Update: a half-hour later, the video suddenly started playing; definitely worth your watching.

Cliff Notes

Oh, Mano a Mano. Jonathan Weisman & Peter Baker of the New York Times: "At House Speaker John A. Boehner's request, Senate leaders and Representative Nancy Pelosi have been excluded from talks to avert a fiscal crisis, leaving it to Mr. Boehner and President Obama alone to find a deal, Congressional aides say." Here's the video of President Obama's visit to a Virginia family who needs that middle-class tax cut.

Over there in Right Wing World, where they are pretending this month that they really do like the darker-complexioned people, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is again being touted as one of the GOP's most brilliant thinkers & a contender for the presidency. Jindal has been doing everything he can to raise his profile, including writing an op-ed in Politico about the danger of the fiscal cliff, which he says is nothing compared to Fiscal Cliffs II & III, etc. that are a-coming. The only trouble is, as Jon Chait of New York magazine points out, Jindal has no fucking idea what the fiscal cliff is. Like many Americans, he has it ass-backwards. He thinks if the fiscal arguments aren't resolved, deficits will explode. Of course, the opposite is true. Sequestration will cut expenditures & higher taxes will raise revenue. This, my friends, is what passes for brilliance in Right Wing World. Jindal's op-ed is here. ...

... Oh, I see Paul Krugman says what I said. Only he didn't use the word "fucking." "... you have to wonder even more about the state of mind that induces you to write an op-ed about a subject you don't comprehend at all." ...

... AND here Krugman, via Dean Baker, points out that the Washington Post headline writers don't understand the fiscal cliff, either. "It speaks to the state of confusion that all the deficit fearmongering has created. And if headline writers at a major newspaper can't get it straight, how can you expect ordinary voters to get it?" CW: the Post has been serving as Deficit Hawk Central, so if anybody should get that the fiscal cliff is not about Deficit Armageddon, it's the Post staff.

AND in another Stupid Republican Trick, Sahil Kapur of TPM reports, "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wanted to prove on Thursday that Democrats don't have the votes to weaken Congress' authority on the debt limit. Instead they called his bluff, and he ended up filibustering his own bill." ...

... Pausing to watch the videotape of this moment in Senate history is worth three minutes of your time:

... CW: when Mitch McConnell stands on the Senate floor and says, "I object to myself," we should applaud him. ...

...Shane Goldmacher & Elahe Izadi of the National Journal: "... people on both sides of the aisle acknowledged that McConnell's failed maneuver cost the GOP some precious negotiating ground." ...

... Matt Yglesias on how Obama can beat the Republicans in their debt-ceiling game: "... the federal government still has a lot of tax revenue coming in. You use that money to make sure bond holders get paid in full and there's no default ... & to make sure Social Security checks keep paying out. You keep paying federal workers' wages. But contractors, state governments, and health care providers just get IOU notes..., you tell them to keep doing their jobs, and [you] tell them that if they want money they should ask congress."

Paul Krugman: we don't have a fiscal crisis; we have a jobs crisis. "So why aren't we helping the unemployed? ... It's about class. Influential people in Washington aren't worried about losing their jobs; by and large they don't even know anyone who's unemployed."

Tim Egan: "For the politicians and pundits who do the gun industry's bidding, the First Amendment does not apply to the Second Amendment. It took a sportscaster, accustomed to parsing the nuances of a stunt blitz, to break the code of shameful silence."

The Decline and Fall of the GOP

James Downie of the Washington Post on the 38 Republican Senators who voted against the disability treaty: "It was nothing less than moral cowardice, a failure that should shame them for the rest of their lives." ...

... Steve Kornacki of Salon: "It's striking to compare the two Senate votes, for the ADA in '90 and against the treaty this week. In '90, there was overwhelming bipartisan support for the ADA, with only a handful of dissenters -- all Republicans. The initial Senate vote, in October 1989, was 76-8, and the final bill (the compromise between the Senate and House versions) passed on a 91-6 vote in July '90. Most of the Republicans who voted no all hailed from what was then considered the far-right fringe.... This week's Senate roll call was a mirror image of the ADA, at least on the Republican side." What's more, there were actual concerns about the ADA; there are none about the treaty. ...

... BUT Greg Sargent sez "It seems perfectly possible that DeMint’s new post could put him in an even better position than before to enforce ideological purity on Republican candidates -- including in the House -- who would otherwise be inclined towards moderation, balance, and compromise to toe the Tea Party line. This is the sort of thing that risks discouraging moderates from running for office." CW: this assumes, erroneously I think, that forcing ideological purity is a winner. Yeah, it will work in some states and/or districts which don't need forcing anyway. But nation-wide, people are fed up with the far-right Tea Party absurdity. You have to be invested in Reynolds Wrap haberdashery & Rushbo Media Enterprises to buy this nonsense. The more the economy improves & the more people get jobs, the less people will be swayed by Right Wing World fantasies. ...

... Hunter of Daily Kos has a rundown of reaction to DeMint's career move: "In any case, we may have found the single most widely lauded decision of Sen. Jim DeMint's storied career, and by a wide margin. No matter what you think about Jim DeMint, everyone involved agrees: the best single thing he's ever done is leave."

Joe Conason of the National Memo: "The suddenly sensible sounds emanating from the business community are astonishing when contrasted with the anger displayed toward the president by many of these corporate suits only weeks ago, when they berated Obama as 'anti-business' and loudly yearned for a corporate-style Romney presidency. Resoundingly rebuked by the electorate, which overwhelmingly favors Obama's positions on taxes and entitlements -- and stands ready to blame the Republicans if no budget agreement is achieved -- the business leaders are backing ever so subtly away from their traditional alliance with the GOP. These brand-conscious executives suddenly have realized that the Republican brand, especially at the congressional level, is politically toxic. And they would rather not be too closely identified with it at this dangerous moment."

Tim Noah of The New Republic writes "Requium for a Wingnut." The wingnut would be Jim DeMint, of course. ...

... Paul West of the Los Angeles Times: "The surprise resignation of Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina on Thursday could prove to be a marker for a decline in the influence of the tea party movement he has helped lead.... Republican losses in the election weakened his position.... A wide survey in DeMint's very conservative home state, released this week, found that more South Carolinians now disapprove of the tea party movement than approve of it.... DeMint's decision could also open the way for him to run for the GOP presidential nomination." Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

... Neda Semnani of Roll Call: "Immediately following Sen. Jim DeMint's announcement that he would be ditching the Senate to lead the Heritage Foundation, tweeters everywhere began playing their new favorite game: How many ways can we start rumors about Stephen Colbert being appointed to South Carolina's Senate seat? The truth is, it might not be the craziest idea ever." Semnani lists four reasons Gov. Nikki Haley should consider appointing Colbert to DeMint's seat. ...

... Andy Kroll of Mother Jones: "A Colbert for Senate Twitter account, @ColbertforSC, sprung up almost immediately." Colbert is "looking forward to Gov. Haley's call," a spokesperson said.

AP: "Obama's approval rating stands at 57 percent, the highest since May 2011, when U.S. Navy SEALs killed [Osama bin Laden], and up 5 percentage points from before the election. And 42 percent say the country is on the right track, up from 35 percent in January 2009.

Dylan Matthews of the Washington Post suggests ten ways to reduce income inequality that have nothing to do with the tax code. CW: A number of his suggestions are obvious, but the last one stunned me.

Ian Millhiser of Think Progress: Justice Antonin Scalia is just not into free speech. He "abhors" the Court's decision in the landmark New York Times v. Sullivan case, in which the Court "held that reporters and other individuals cannot be held liable for making unintentionally false statements against public figures so long as they do not do so with 'reckless disregard of whether [their statement] was false or not.'" ...

... Speaking of right-wing nuts, John Brenahan & Manu Raju of Politico post this gem: "The National Republican Senatorial Committee quietly sent $760,000 to the Missouri Republican Party in early November, just as the state GOP was mounting a last-minute TV ad blitz to boost Rep. Todd Akin's sagging Senate campaign.... The disclosure is highly significant because the Senate GOP campaign committee promised to abandon Akin after failing to push the conservative congressman out of the race following his August declaration that 'legitimate rape' rarely leads to pregnancies because female bodies often shut down." ...

... Speaking of right-wing nuts, a great piece by Jason Linkins of the Huffington Post on Sheldon Adelson, "low-information billionaire." The irony is that despite the $150 million Adelson spent on Gingrich, Romney, et al., the policies he favors pretty much reflect, as Linkins puts it, "the platform of the average Daily Kos diarist." CW: Linkins is too circumspect to say so, but I feel pretty confident that the reason Adelson puts his money where he does is that he's a "savvy businessman" who knows damned well who's for sale. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link. ...

Jim Yardley of the New York Times: "... 112 workers were killed in a blaze last month [in a Bangladesh garment factory] that has exposed a glaring disconnect among global clothing brands, the monitoring system used to protect workers and the factories actually filling the orders. After the fire, Walmart, Sears and other retailers made the same startling admission: They say they did not know that Tazreen Fashions was making their clothing.... The global apparel industry aspires to operate with accountability that extends from distant factories to retail stores.... But much of the factory's business came through opaque networks of subcontracts with suppliers or local buying houses."

Local News

Steve Yaccino & Monica Davey of the New York Times: "As labor supporters crowded into the [Michigan state] Capitol chanting their dismay, this state's Republican leaders announced on Thursday their intent to swiftly pass limits on unions in Michigan, a state with deep ties to organized labor." CW: -- once again proving that if you are a regular person trying to earn an honest wage for your labor, Republicans hate you.

Stacey Solie of the New York Times: "By 5 p.m. Thursday..., the first day that same-sex couples were able to apply [for marriage licenses in Washington state,] the [Seattle, King County] office had issued 481 [marriage] licenses -- most of them to same-sex couples -- doubling the previous record for licenses issued in a single day.... in another part of town, a different kind of party was taking place under the city's Space Needle, where dozens of people had gathered to celebrate the vote to legalize recreational use of marijuana in the state." ...

     ... CW: as contributor Kate Madison's brother (a Biblical scholar, I'm sure) noted, the Old Testament preordained the Washington votes: "If a man lies with another man he should be stoned." -- Leviticus 20:13. ...

... Uh oh. Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "Senior White House and Justice Department officials are considering plans for legal action against Colorado and Washington that could undermine voter-approved initiatives to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in those states...." CW: IMHO, senior White House & Justice Department officials should chill out. I can think of something that might help them in that regard.

Erica Goode of the New York Times: Missouri "authorities are investigating allegations that [Bethany] Deaton, 27, was drugged, sexually assaulted and killed on the orders of her husband, Tyler Deaton, 26, a man described by witnesses as a Pied Piper-like leader who gathered a band of young people around him and pressured them to engage in sexual practices under the guise of religious devotion. [Micah] Moore, [who confessed to suffocating her at Tyler Deaton's insistence] has been charged with first-degree murder. Mr. Deaton and others are still under investigation."

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: New Jersey Gov. Chris "Christie, a Republican who supported Mitt Romney, endured a half-hour of grilling from [Jon Stewart] about his political beliefs, his personal style and even a hug he recently received from Bruce Springsteen." The extended interview, which is a three-parter, starts here. ...

... Here's one of the issues on which Stewart challenges Christie. Jason Millman of Politico: "New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie rejected a state-run health insurance exchange Thursday, paving the way for the federal government to step in and run one."

Right Wing World

Guns Don't Kill People; People Kill People Women Who Get near Gun Owners Get Killed. Annie-Rose Strasser of Think Progress: "Bush White House Press Secretary-turned-Fox News host Dana Perino asserted Wednesday night that women who are victims of violence should 'make better decisions' to avoid being hurt." CW: Perino managed to put herself to the right of a bunch of Second Amendment stalwarts.

News Ledes

Guardian: "A nurse at the private hospital treating the pregnant Duchess of Cambridge has been found dead in a suspected suicide three days after being duped by two Australian radio presenters in a hoax call." The New York Times has a follow-up here.

New York Times: "President Obama proposed a $60.4 billion emergency spending bill on Friday to finance recovery efforts in states pummeled by Hurricane Sandy, a sum White House officials called a 'robust' investment in the region but that was far less than the amount the states had requested. The spending plan would pay for most but not all of the $82 billion in damage identified by the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut...."

AP: "The U.S. economy added 146,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008. The government said Superstorm Sandy had only a minimal effect on the figures." CW: bear in mind that had Romney won the election, he now would be getting credit for inspiring "confidence" in businesses to hire & expand their operations.

AP: "Thousands of Egyptians took to the streets after Friday midday prayers in rival rallies and marches across Cairo, as the standoff deepened over what opponents call the Islamist president's power grab, raising the specter of more violence. President Mohammed Morsi responded to bloody clashes outside his palace with a fiery speech denouncing his opponents, deepening the crisis. The opposition turned down his appeal for talks, saying the president had not fulfilled their conditions for beginning negotiations."...

     ... Guardian Update: "Egypt's opposition National Salvation Front (NSF) has angrily rejected calls by the president, Mohamed Morsi, for a national dialogue and warned that he has lost legitimacy after recent unrest and bloodshed."

AP: "The exiled Hamas chief broke into tears Friday as he arrived in the Gaza Strip for his first-ever visit, a landmark trip reflecting his militant group's growing international acceptance and its defiance of Israel. Khaled Mashaal, who left the West Bank as a child and leads the Islamic militant movement from Qatar, crossed the Egyptian border, kissed the ground, and was greeted by a crowd of Hamas officials and representatives of Hamas' rival Fatah party."

The Commentariat -- Dec. 6, 2012

News Flash: Michael O'Brien of NBC News: "South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, an influential Republican who has helped prod his party rightward, will step down from his seat in January to become the next director of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank."

Cliff Notes

Quinnipiac University: "American voters give President Barack Obama a 53 - 40 percent job approval rating - his best score in three years - and by a wider 53 - 36 percent they trust the president and Democrats more than Republicans to avoid the 'Fiscal Cliff,' according to a Quinnipiac University poll...."

Devin Dwyer, et al., of ABC News: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, "President Obama's lead negotiator in the 'fiscal cliff' talks, said the administration is 'absolutely' willing to allow the package of deep automatic spending cuts and across-the-board tax hikes to take effect Jan. 1, unless Republicans drop their opposition to higher income tax rates on the wealthy."

Josh Marshall of TPM: "House Republicans are saying they'll regroup around the debt limit and force the president's hands when they have all the power -- probably late next month or in early February. This assumes a replay of 2011.. But the President says he won't negotiate under any circumstances. And his top advisors say he&'s adamant on the point -- not just because of the current impasse but to take hostage taking over the national debt off the table for good."

Molly Hooper of The Hill: "Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) warned his conference on Wednesday that leaders are 'watching' how the rank and file vote to determine committee assignments, according to sources in a closed-door meeting. Boehner addressed the firestorm over the removal of four lawmakers from plum committee assignments at the weekly GOP conference meeting."

Lori Montgomery & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "A growing chorus of Republicans is urging House leaders to abandon their staunch opposition to higher tax rates for the wealthy with the aim of clearing the way for a broad deal that would also rein in the cost of federal health and retirement programs." CW: sounds choreographed to me.

Dana Milbank: "Right now, [Speaker Boehner] is hoping to lead his fractious GOP to an orderly surrender. The question is no longer whether Republicans will give on taxes; they already have. All that remains to be negotiated is how they will increase taxes, and whether they will do it before or after the government reaches the 'fiscal cliff.'" Read it and gloat.

Here's Frank Rich on the fake fiscal cliff, etc. He seems to be hoping that at his next stay at a Marriott, Mitt Romney will be the concierge & Ann Romney will bring him fluffier towels. Hey, it could be good for the Romney marriage -- a little hanky-panky in Room 207, etc. Ann could learn that one need not be Leader of the Free World to have fun. Thanks to MAG for the link.

If you don't like Rich's take on the fiscal cliff, here's Montgomery Burns (no relation) to give you the rich person's perspective:

... But some top CEOs are breaking with Mr. Burns & supporting a tax hike for the wealthy, as Ryan Grim & Sabrina Sidiqui of the Huffington Post report. ...

... Here's President Obama, pitching his deficit reduction plan to some of those CEOs & urging them to pressure their Republican friends not to create another debt ceiling crisis:

... Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Through phone calls, White House invitations and old-fashioned political flattery, Mr. Obama has dispensed with some of the populist language of the campaign trail to appeal to corporate America's palpable desire for certainty. In groups and one by one, the president is making a case to business leaders that siding with him will put the nation back on a firm fiscal footing and unleash the economy.... White House officials have been encouraged by what they describe as a more positive reaction than expected."

Sahil Kapur of TPM: "The possibility that Democratic and Republican leaders will agree to slowly increase the Medicare eligibility age to 67 is creating strange bedfellows: liberals -- both in and out of Congress -- and the health insurance industry. The reason: hiking the Medicare eligibility age would throw seniors aged 65 and 66 off Medicare and into the private market, forcing insurers, who will soon be required to cover all consumers regardless of health status, to care for a sicker, more expensive crop of patients."

Gail Collins on Republican Senators who voted down the disabilities treaty: "The big worry was, of course, offending the Tea Party. The same Tea Party that pounded Mitt Romney into the presidential candidate we came to know and reject over the past election season. The same Tea Party that keeps threatening to wage primaries against incumbents who don't do what they're told. The Tea Party who made those threats work so well in the last election that Indiana now has a totally unforeseen Democratic senator. The threat the Republicans need to worry about isn't in the United Nations." ...

Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: "For the first time in U.S. history, white men are in the minority of the House Democratic caucus and Nancy Pelosi doesn't want you to forget that." ...

... Oh, let's take one more look at the House GOP leadership:

In response to criticism, Boehner later appointed a white lady to head up the secretaries' pool or something like that. ...

... Erik Loomis of Lawyers, Guns & Money on "the coming Republican coalition" and how Republicans are going out of their way to win over -- well, maybe crazy white Christian bigots. Hard to say.

The Democratic Governors Association celebrates, well, themselves. They did have a few surprising wins in November:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) likes the middle class. He said so in a speech Wednesday night. Thirty-five times, by Dave Weigel's count. But, also according to Weigel, everything Rubio said about helping the middle class was already on the regular GOP menu. ...

... Oh, and now Marco believes in science, too. Andrew Rosenthal of the New York Times: "On Wednesday, Mr. Rubio told Mike Allen of Politico: 'There is no scientific debate on the age of the earth. I mean, it's established pretty definitively, it's at least 4.5 billion years old.'" Then he does an Olympics-class backtracking pretzel flip, where he pretends he didn't say what he said a few weeks ago. CW: most of the news agencies that covered Marco's marvelous move called the word from Marco the Science Guy a "clarification."

New York Times Editors: states should invest in citizens, not big corporations. "... targeted [corporate] incentives ... are little more than transfers of wealth to a handful of powerful corporations from all other taxpayers, including other businesses. If the problem is excessive tax burdens on businesses in general, then the solution is broad tax reform that also benefits small business owners, who are more likely to stick around ... and who are unlikely to hopscotch around the country in search of a bigger tax break."

Ryan Reilly of TPM: "Sen. Barbara Boxer plans to introduce an election reform bill designed to prevent long lines at polling places on Wednesday... The LINE Act ... would require the attorney general to set national standards for a minimum number of voting machines, poll workers and other resources during federal elections by Jan. 1, 2014. The goal would to be prevent voters from having to wait more than an hour to vote at any polling place in the country."

MAG is right. Charles Pierce writes a fierce & funny putdown of Brother Ross Douthat.

James Risen, et al., of the New York Times: "The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats.... The experience in Libya has taken on new urgency as the administration considers whether to play a direct role in arming rebels in Syria, where weapons are flowing in from Qatar and other countries."

Paul Waldman of American Prospect: "It ain't easy being Fox.... It needs to simultaneously cater to the establishment, to the Tea Party, to the elite, to the base, and to everyone in between. That can be a difficult juggling act. Fox plays a much more central role in the conservative movement than MSNBC does in the liberal movement, which is good for business, but it also brings complications. But don't worry about Karl Rove. He'll be back on the air before you know it, telling conservatives why their victory is inevitable."

Local News

Scott Keyes of Think Progress: Two Democratic Florida legislators have introduced bills to extend early voting to 14 days -- which is what it was before Gov. Rick Scott (RTP) took over -- and to allow local elections officials to extend hours & voting venues. Republicans control the state legislature, so good luck with that. Thanks to Jeanne B. for the link.

News Ledes

New York Times: "Resignations rocked the government of President Mohamed Morsi on Thursday as tanks from the special presidential guard took up positions around his palace and the state television headquarters after a night of street fighting between his Islamist supporters and their secular opponents that left at least 6 dead and 450 wounded." ...

... Reuters: "Egypt's Republican Guard restored order around the presidential palace on Thursday after fierce overnight clashes killed seven people, but passions ran high in a struggle over the country's future. The Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, criticised by his opponents for his silence in the last few days, was due to address the nation later in the day, state television said."

New York Times: "A new round of diplomacy on the conflict in Syria will begin on Thursday afternoon when Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations special envoy, hosts an unusual three-way meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov."

Washington Post: "Afghanistan's national intelligence director [Asadullah Khalid] was badly wounded in a brazen suicide bombing in the Afghan capital Thursday afternoon. Officials described the attack as an assassination attempt and said the bomb exploded as the director was greeting a visitor at his private guest house."

New York Times: "For the first time in years, Apple will manufacture [some] computers in the United States, the chief executive of Apple, Timothy D. Cook, said in interviews with NBC and Bloomberg Businessweek."

The Commentariat -- Dec. 5, 2012

Cliff Notes

Meghashyam Mali of The Hill: "President Obama will appeal to business leaders on Wednesday, calling on them to press lawmakers to raise the U.S. debt limit during 'fiscal cliff' negotiations. Obama, who will meet with executives from the Business Roundtable on Wednesday, hopes to avoid another protracted fight over the debt ceiling and has sought to include it in ongoing deficit talks."

David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "President Obama said Tuesday that there is still a chance that the White House and Congress can reach a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, but he warned that the latest offer from House Republicans' remains 'out of balance.' In his first one-on-one interview since his reelection, Obama told Bloomberg TV that he remains firmly committed to his demand that the GOP agree to raise tax rates on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans." ...

... Here's the Bloomberg story, by Julianna Goldman & Mike Dorning:

Manu Raju & Jake Sherman of Politico: "Speaker John Boehner's pitch of $800 billion in new tax revenues already has tea party-backed conservatives accusing GOP leaders of peddling a plan that would destroy job growth. Conservative outside groups are urging their party's rank-and-file to rebel and reject any new taxes. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his leadership team pointedly declined to endorse the proposal." ...

... "You're Fired." Jonathan Strong of Roll Call: "With a small purge of rebellious Republicans -- mostly conservatives -- from prominent committees Monday, Speaker John A. Boehner is sending a tough message ahead of the looming vote on a fiscal cliff deal. David Schweikert of Arizona and Walter B. Jones of North Carolina were booted from the Financial Services Committee. Justin Amash of Michigan and Tim Huelskamp of Kansas were removed from the Budget Committee; Huelskamp lost his place on the Agriculture Committee as well."

Ezra Klein has a short & sour summary of what-all is in the Simpson-Bowles plan. He adds, "Republicans may want to associate themselves with Erskine Bowles, and they may want to attack Obama for not doing enough to support Simpson-Bowles, but they want nothing to do with Simpson-Bowles itself." And if Wall Street & corporate CEOs had any idea what was in it, they wouldn't like it either, their oft-repeated claims to love it notwithstanding.

Jonathan Chait of New York sees an early January deal as the most likely scenario. And he sez why -- which is mostly that's how Republicans can best save face. They really are pathetic.

Here's the "On Point with Tom Ashbrook" (WBUR) segment which contributor Janice recommends -- libruls, including Paul Krugman, talk about the so-called fiscal cliff:

     ... AND here's Stephanie Kelton's follow-up.

Matt Spetalnick of Reuters: "President Barack Obama is expected to announce his nominees for secretaries of state and defense in the next two weeks, with former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel on the short list of potential choices to head the Pentagon, senior administration officials said on Tuesday. Hagel ... met the Democratic president at the White House this week to discuss a post on his national security team."

Carrie Johnson of NPR: "In a tug of war between President Obama and Congress, a federal appeals court panel in Washington, D.C., will hear arguments Wednesday on the legality of Obama's controversial recess appointments. The White House says it was forced to install three new members of the National Labor Relations Board in January because of inaction by Senate Republicans. But those lawmakers argue the Senate wasn't really in a recess at the time." With audio.

M. J. Lee & Patrick Reis of Politico: "Senate Democratic leaders have picked [Senator-Elect Elizabeth Warren] to fill one of the [Banking Committee]'s open spots, a Democratic source with knowledge of the situation said Tuesday."

John Bresnehan & Manu Raju of Politico: "Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet will serve as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 2014 election cycle."

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) writes an excellent op-ed in USA Today on the need for filibuster reform, & he explains why a simple majority of the Senate can change the rules for the filibustering. Spoiler: it's in the Constitution.

NEW. Kate Masur in the Atlantic on Spielberg's Lincoln film: "The compromises that Lincoln did not make are more significant than the ones he did." CW: in other words, quit listening to Doris Kearns Goodwin; she has a VSP agenda, not an accurate historical perspective. BTW, I saw a photo of her (I think) sitting in the President's box at the Kennedy Center Honors gala. I guess that's one way to make her think you're paying her some attention. It won't shut her up, though.

New York Times Editors: Megabank "UBS has reached a conditional immunity deal [for manipulating interest rates] with the antitrust arm of the Justice Department, though the department's criminal unit could still take action against the bank. Unless civil penalties are paired with high profile criminal prosecutions, they will not add up to meaningful punishment or effective deterrence."

Costas Apologizes for Being Right. Cindy Boren of the Washington Post: "Bob Costas said he made a 'mistake,' violating his own rule of not trying to compress a nuanced topic into small bit of air time, with his controversial halftime commentary Sunday night on the murder-suicide committed by Jovan Belcher of the Kansas City Chiefs the day before." ...

     ... Update: Lawrence O'Donnell interviews Bob Costas. Also read the related post:

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "Former President George W. Bush weighed back into the nation's volatile immigration debate on Tuesday by calling on policymakers in Washington to revamp the law 'with a benevolent spirit' that recognizes the contribution of those who move here from other countries."

Ta-Nehisi Coates of The Atlantic on Thomas Jefferson, slaveholder. BTW, I hope many of you had a chance to read Jefferson's writings on slavery which I linked earlier this week in the Comments section but not in the Commentariat itself.

E. J. Graff of American Prospect has an excellent response to Douthat's column "More Babies, Please." "We can't all be royals."

Bad News. Maureen Dowd is already obsessing over Hillary 2016.

Ed Pilkington of the Guardian: Bradley Manning's civilian attorney David "Coombs addressed an audience of Bradley Manning supporters in a Unitarian church in Washington on Monday night and lashed out at the military hierarchy for allowing the intelligence analyst to be subjected to nine months of harsh suicide prevention regime against the advice of doctors. 'Brad's treatment at Quantico will forever be etched into our nation's history as a disgraceful moment in time,' he said."

Jonathan Ansfield of the New York Times: a fatal car crash cover-up led to the downfall of Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Ah, Democracy!

Our Fantastic Electorate. Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post: "A new poll from Public Policy Polling found that an impressive 39 percent of Americans have an opinion about the Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction plan.... Before you start celebrating the new, sweeping reach of the 2010 commission's work, consider this: Twenty-five percent of Americans also took a stance on the Panetta-Burns plan." CW: Unfortunately, Leon & I have not actually developed a deficit-reduction plan. Maybe I should call him.

Our Well-Informed Electorate. Paul Krugman: "... by a margin of almost four to one, people think that going over the fiscal cliff will cause the deficit to increase. In a way, I understand this: the VSPs have been pounding the drum over and over again about how deficits are bad, evil; now they are warning about a fiscal something-or-other, so how are people supposed to know that they're suddenly worried that we'll reduce the deficit too much?"

Our Wacko Right Wing Electorate. Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling: "49% of GOP voters nationally say they think that ACORN stole the election for President Obama. We found that 52% of Republicans thought that ACORN stole the 2008 election for Obama, so this is a modest decline, but perhaps smaller than might have been expected given that ACORN doesn't exist anymore.... 25% of Republicans say they would like their state to secede from the union.... Since the election we've seen a 5 point increase in Democratic identification to 44%, and a 5 point decrease in Republican identification to 32%." Read the whole post as there are other interesting/odd results.

Right Wing World

Lawrence Downes of the New York Times: "Former Senator Bob Dole, 89 years old and in a wheelchair, went onto the floor of the Senate today to urge his former colleagues to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities.... One by one ... the senators approached Mr. Dole to pat his shoulder or clasp his hand.... Then he was wheeled away, and all but a handful of the Republicans bailed out on him. The treaty failed.... The vote was a triumph for Glenn Beck, Rick Santorum and others on the hard-right loon fringe, who have been feverishly denouncing the treaty as a United Nations world-government conspiracy to kill disabled children (you can look it up)." ...

... This treaty was supported by every veterans group in America and Bob Dole made an inspiring and courageous personal journey back to the Senate to fight for it. It had bipartisan support, and it had the facts on its side, and yet for one ugly vote, none of that seemed to matter. We won't give up on this..., but today I understand better than ever before why Americans have such disdain for Congress and just how much must happen to fix the Senate so we can act on the real interests of our country. -- Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.)

Ken Vogel of Politico: "Dick Armey left [the Tea Party group FreedomWorks] ... over a clash with a top lieutenant who Armey and others in the organization believed was using the group's resources to pad his pockets.... Armey was concerned that [FreedomWorks president Matt] Kibbe structured the deal to personally profit from the book, despite relying on FreedomWorks staff and resources to research, help write and promote it -- an arrangement he and others at the group believed could jeopardize its tax exempt status." CW: it's always such a surprise when you find out these guys are avaricious hacks.

News Ledes

One of the reasons I believe in jazz is that the oneness of man can come through the rhythm of your heart. It's the same anyplace in the world, that heartbeat. It's the first thing you hear when you're born -- or before you're born -- and it&'s the last thing you hear. -- Dave Brubeck

New York Times: "Dave Brubeck, the pianist and composer who helped make jazz popular again in the 1950s and '60s with recordings like 'Time Out,' the first jazz album to sell a million copies, and 'Take Five,' the still instantly recognizable hit single that was that album's centerpiece, died on Wednesday in Norwalk, Conn. He would have turned 92 on Thursday."

New York Times: "Oscar Niemeyer, the celebrated Brazilian architect whose flowing designs infused Modernism with a new sensuality and captured the imaginations of generations of architects around the world, died on Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro. He was 104."

New York Times: "Angry mobs of Islamists battled secular protesters with fists, rocks and firebombs in the streets around the presidential palace for hours Wednesday night in the first major outbreak of violence between political factions here since the revolt against then-President Hosni Mubarak began nearly two years ago."

New York Times: "President Obama plans to ask Congress for about $50 billion in emergency spending to help rebuild the states ravaged by Hurricane Sandy, according to administration and Congressional officials briefed on the discussions."

New York Times: "Citigroup announced on Wednesday that it would cut 11,000 jobs, reducing its work force by roughly 4 percent in an effort to cut costs."

New York Times: "Rescue teams were trying to reach isolated villages in the southern Philippines on Wednesday after a powerful out-of-season typhoon tore through the region, leaving more than 270 people dead...."

AP: "Serbia's ambassador to NATO was chatting and joking with colleagues in a parking garage at Brussels Airport when he suddenly strolled to a barrier, climbed over and flung himself to the ground below, a diplomat said. By the time his shocked colleagues reached him, Branislav Milinkovic was dead."

AP: "Negotiators reached an agreement late Tuesday to end an 8-day strike that crippled the nation's largest port complex and prevented shippers from delivering billions of dollars in cargo to warehouses and distribution centers across the country."

Guardian: "The former Syrian foreign ministry spokesman, Jihad Makdissi, is on his way to the United States after apparently defecting, the Guardian has learned. Makdissi, the most senior Christian official yet to abandon Bashar al-Assad's regime, was reported on Monday to have variously been sacked or defected and to have arrived back in London, where he used to serve in the Syrian embassy."

Al Jazeera: "NASA plans to send a new rover to Mars in 2020 as it prepares for a manned mission to the Red Planet, the US space agency said on Tuesday. The announcement came a day after NASA released the results of the first soil tested by the Curiosity rover, which found traces of some of the compounds like water and oxygen that are necessary for life."

AP: "Jack Brooks, who spent 42 years in Congress representing his Southeast Texas district and was in the Dallas motorcade in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, has died. He was 89.... Brooks was among the last links to an era when Democrats dominated Texas politics and was the last of 'Mr. Sam's Boys,' protégés of fellow Texan and legendary 21-year Democratic House Speaker Sam Rayburn in the state's congressional delegation." CW: the last of the breed: liberal-ish Southern white Congressmen.