The Commentariat -- May 21, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is on the failure of the Times to fully identify op-ed writer Campbell Brown. The NYTX front page is here. ...

... A related post by Ali Gharib of Think Progress is here. ...

... AND Tom Friedman loses on "Jeopardy!"

Frank Rich of New York magazine: "There has been change on the American playing field of race since Inauguration Day 2009 -- not so much for the better or the worse, but a shift into a kind of twilight zone where the nation's racial conversation has moved from its usual gears of intractability, obfuscation, angry debate, and platitudinous sentimentality to the truly unhinged." ...

... Also in New York magazine, Benjamin Wallace-Wells on George Romney: "When the governor of Michigan ran for the Republican nomination, in 1968, he tried to stand up against the more radical wing of his party. His defeat was swift, tragic, and, for his son, instructive." CW: this was one of those pieces I wanted to read all the way thru. And I did.

George Packer of the New Yorker on how the Joe Biden has been Barack Obama's conscience on civil rights not unlike the way Lyndon Johnson was John Kennedy's.

Kim Severson of the New York Times: "... the two lives of John Edwards have collided spectacularly in a federal courthouse here, where the government is trying him on six counts of campaign finance fraud and conspiracy."

Nichloas Lemann of the New Yorker: "In higher education, the United States may be on its way to becoming more like the rest of the world, with a small group of schools controlling access to life membership in the élite. And higher education is becoming more like other areas of American life, with the fortunate few institutions distancing themselves ever further from the many. All those things which commencement speakers talk about -- personal growth, critical-thinking skills, intellectual exploration, breadth of learning -- will survive at the top institutions, but other colleges will come under increased pressure to adopt the model of trade schools." CW: I've got news for Lemann: a small group of schools has always controlled access to life membership in the American elite.

Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "President Obama was struggling to balance the United States' relationship with two crucial but difficult allies on Sunday, after a deal to reopen supply lines through Pakistan to Afghanistan fell apart just as Mr. Obama began talks on ending the NATO alliance's combat role in the Afghan war."

Presidential Race

Paul Krugman: Mitt Romney's "whole candidacy is based on the claim that his experience at extracting money from troubled businesses means that he'll know how to run the economy -- yet whenever he talks about economic policy, he comes across as completely clueless."

WTF? Raymond Hernandez of the New York Times: Newark Mayor Cory Booker, an "Obama surrogate," goes on "Press the Meat" to denounce Obama ad criticizing Romney for his Bain Capital record. CW: I think I just found Romney's running mate. You can hear Booker's comments here, about 4 min. into the video. ...

     ... Update: During his presser, President Obama made a terrific response to a question about Booker's comment. I'll get up a link to some report when it becomes available. ...

     ... NEW. Here ya go: Michael Memoli of the Los Angeles Times: "President Obama said Monday that using Bain Capital to question Mitt Romney's economic credentials is not only fair game, but part of his core argument against his Republican foe in the coming general election campaign.... 'My opponent, Gov. Romney -- his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. He's not going out there touting his experience in Massachusetts. He's saying, "I'm a business guy. I know how to fix it." And this is his business,' Obama said. 'When you're president as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot.... But understand that their priority is to maximize profits. And that's not always going to be good for communities or businesses or workers,' he said.'" ...

     ... AND here's the video:

... Digby: "Sadly, this is exactly the kind of concern trolling that will make the Village declare that the Democrats are hitting below the belt by criticizing Bain Capital and the Dems will fall in line. Indeed, the fact that it's Cory Booker who's saying it today indicates that it's the Democrats themselves saying 'stop us before we hurt the Masters of the Universe's feelings again.'" ...

... Karoli of Crooks & Liars: "Mitt Romney's time at Bain Capital is one of the few quantifiable ways voters can see how he intends to approach employment issues and corporations, and the Obama campaign has done a terrific job of pointing out the 'vulture capitalist' Romney so desperately tries to hide." ...

     ... As David Axelrod said (unrelated to Booker's remarks), "Romney's business record became fair game because it is 'the only credential' Romney has offered for his candidacy."

... CW: I see Steve Kornacki of Salon agrees with me: "More [than] likely, Booker went on the show to help himself.... And on that score, his appearance was a success.... It's not at all surprising to see Booker going to bat for private equity. The allies he's cultivated on Wall Street and in the financial industry (think, for instance, of his chummy relationship with Michael Bloomberg) have made Booker a prolific fundraiser, and when he ventured into the ultra-expensive statewide game, he’ll need them more than ever. Many of them have turned fiercely against Obama over the past few years, convinced that he's unfairly targeted them. Booker's words on 'Meet the Press' may have enraged the average Obama supporter, but to the Wall Street class they were probably close to heroic -- finally, a big-name Democrat with the cojones to call out Obama on his class warfare!" ...

... NEW. Jamelle Bouie: "Cory Booker's gaffe -- in the classic, truth-telling sense -- gets to a broader, more important problem in American politics: the extent to which Wall Street has become the only viable funding mechanism for major national elections."

... Ooh, Booker tries to walk it back (I can't figure out if his scriptwriter was Tom Friedman or David Brooks):

... Here's what Booker clearly doesn't get. E. J. Dionne: "The back-and-forth about Bain Capital ... is part of something larger. So is the inquest into the implications of multibillion-dollar trading losses at JPMorgan Chase.... The trick is to get the most out of what capitalism does well, while containing or preventing the problems it can cause.... But having made an issue of Bain on the plus side, [Romney] also has to answer for the pain and suffering -- or, as defenders of capitalism like to call it, the 'creative destruction' -- that some of Bain’s deals left in their wake."

CW: speaking of attack ads, Josh Israel of Think Progress reports that Reince Priebus, the brilliant chair of the RNC, told Candy Crowley of CNN yesterday that the Ricketts race-baiting ad brouhaha was all Obama's doing -- a ploy to keep the conversation away from the bad economy. Man, that Obama is clever -- bringing up Jeremiah Wright so he wouldn't have to focus on jobs numbers.

CW: I think we were also sort of alarmed -- for a number of reasons -- by Jodi Kantor's story on Romney's faith (linked in yesterday's Commentariat). Digby makes this point: "... when people talk about America as the God's Chosen Country, suddenly you can excuse anything." That's exactly how we got into the war in Iraq.

Local News

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel endorses Scott Walker. CW: This is one of those pieces I didn't want to read. And I didn't.

News Ledes

The Hill: "The Senate confirmed Paul J. Watford for the 9th Circuit court in California on Monday. The vote was 61 to 34. Earlier in the day Senate Majority vitiated cloture on Watford's nomination so the chamber could hold a roll-call vote." CW: yes, it's always news when the Senate confirms a judicial nominee, especially for the 9th Circuit, which Newt Gingrich wants to eliminate.

New York Times: "A judge [in New Brunswick, New Jersey,] sentenced Dharun Ravi to 30 days in jail on Monday for using a webcam to spy on his roommate having sex with a man, a punishment that angered prosecutors and did little to quiet the debate over using laws against hate crimes to fight antigay bias. His roommate, Tyler Clementi, killed himself in September 2010, two days after discovering that Mr. Ravi had spied on him in their room at Rutgers University, galvanizing national concern about suicide among gay teenagers.:

AFP: "A Yemeni soldier packing powerful explosives under his uniform blew himself up in the middle of an army battalion in Sanaa Monday, killing 96 troops and wounding around 300, a military official and medics said."

Guardian: "Thousands of people marched towards [Chicago's] McCormick Place in the downtown area of the city [yesterday], where 51 world leaders are meeting for the two-day summit. However, the demonstration on Sunday ended in ugly scenes as police used batons to control the crowd. The violence came as a fifth person was charged with terrorism-related offences in relation to alleged plots to disrupt the summit." ...

... Chicago Tribune: "At least 20 people arrested or detained by Chicago police during Sunday's NATO protests were released from custody overnight, according to other protesters and representatives of a lawyers' organization offering them free legal advice. A total of 45 people were arrested during Sunday's protests, police said, citing unofficial numbers." There's more on the NATO summit & related protests on the linked page. ...

... ABC News: "A hacking group affiliated with Anonymous took responsibility for temporarily crippling the Chicago Police and NATO websites [yesterday], proving authorities now have more than just street protests to worry about on the first day of the military alliance's summit." Tribune Story here.

New York Times: "The rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah signed an agreement late Sunday in Cairo that paves the way for elections and a new unity government for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, officials said."

AFP: "Disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn's legal woes deepened Monday as French prosecutors opened a preliminary probe into accusations he took part in a gang rape in the US."

The Commentariat -- May 20, 2012

My column in today's New York Times eXaminer is on "Willard's Whoppers." The NYTX front page is here.

** David Sanger of the New York Times on the evolution of President Obama's thinking on Afghanistan. This is an adaptation of part of a book by Sanger & really is a must-read. CW: Main takeaway: Obama agreed with reasonable peaceniks all along. I'd love to read your reactions. Secondary takeaway: it looks to me as if the military was able to snooker Obama in a way it ultimately lost to Kennedy's better judgment in the Cuban missile crisis.

New York Times Editors: "Racial discrimination in voting is 'one of the gravest evils that Congress can seek to redress,.' Judge David Tatel wrote in a crucial ruling on Friday upholding the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act."

Maureen Dowd: "... it makes me sad to see the Catholic Church grow so uncatholic, intent on loyalty testing, mind control and heresy hunting. Rather than all-embracing, the church hierarchy has become all-constricting."

In comments to yesterday's Commentariat, P. D. Pepe mentioned a book review by Prof. David Greenberg, writing in The New Republic, of a Dwight Eisenhower biography by Jean Edward Smith. Here's the link. 

Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Nelson Schwartz of the New York Times: the cause of the now-$3 billion JPMorgan Chase loss -- Lyme disease! CW: if you read this story, keep in the back of your mind James Kwak's observation that JPMorgan was simply regressing toward the mean. The two theories -- the Times' and Kwak's -- are not necessarily mutually exclusive. ...

... Steven Pearlstein of the Washington Post: "Aside from the embarrassment and the short-term financial hit, the real damage to JPMorgan is that it exposed how the big Wall Street banks were planning to get around the new Volcker rule....: The way JPMorgan traders constructed their "hedges" "has very little to do with hedging and a lot to do with gambling.... What useful social or economic purpose do [credit default swaps/derivatives] serve?" Actually, the CDSs cause a lot of damage -- for instance, the 2008 financial crisis. "Banking and finance have become too detached from the real economy they were meant to serve."

Dan Eggen & T. W. Farnam of the Washington Post: "Conservative interest groups have dumped well over $20 million into congressional races so far this year, outspending their liberal opponents 4 to 1 and setting off a growing panic among Democrats struggling to regain the House and hold on to their slim majority in the Senate."

Presidential Race

Nancy Cohen, writing in Rolling Stone, on the many, many reasons "President Romney" would be a disaster for women.

Jodi Kantor of the New York Times: Mitt's policies are Mormon policies, but none of his friends can figure out how Romney rationalizes his untruthful attacks on his political opponents. P.S. He used to pray for Bain Capital!

Right Wing World

It Depends upon What the Meaning of "Entitlement" Is. Jed Lugum & Josh Israel of Think Progress: Joe Ricketts was ready to spend $10 million to smear President Obama, but after members of the press & the public criticized that plan, Ricketts has decided instead to put the money into a superPac he controls called "Ending Spending Political Action Fund." Yet he has asked taxpayers to spend hundreds of millions on him and his family. When it comes to spending on his interests, however, Ricketts sings a different tune. CW: read the whole post.

News Ledes

Rolling Stone: "Robin Gibb, one-third of the Bee Gees, died Sunday after a long battle with cancer, his spokesperson has confirmed via a statement. Gibb was 62 years old."

Washington Post: "Republican leaders doubled down Sunday on a renewed push to secure spending cuts as part of any deal to increase the national debt limit, drawing a sharper line in an emerging fight over the issue."

Reuters: "The former Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people has died, his brother said on Sunday. He was 59. Abdel Basset al-Megrahi died at home after a long battle with cancer. His health had deteriorated quickly overnight, his brother Abdulhakim told Reuters."

AP: "World leaders weary of war will tackle Afghanistan's post-conflict future -- from funding for security forces to upcoming elections -- when the summit opens Sunday." ...

... New York Times: "The United States and Pakistan are not expected to secure a deal to reopen supply lines to Afghanistan before a NATO summit begins on Sunday, casting a pall over talks that are to focus on winding down the alliance’s combat role in the Afghan war, American officials said." ...

... AP: "Protesters gathering in Chicago for the NATO summit were gearing up for their largest demonstration Sunday, when thousands are expected to march from a downtown park to the lakeside convention center where President Barack Obama and dozens of other world leaders will meet."

AP: "Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting campaign spending. The states led by New York are asking the high court to preserve Montana's state-level regulations on corporate political expenditures, according to a copy of a brief written by New York's attorney general's office and obtained by The Associated Press ahead of Monday's filing."

AP: "The western United States and eastern Asia will be treated this weekend to a rare solar spectacle when the moon slides across the sun, creating a 'ring of fire.' The solar spectacle will first be seen in eastern Asia around dawn Monday, local time.... Then, the late day sun (on Sunday in the U.S.) will transform into a glowing ring in southwest Oregon, Northern California, central Nevada, southern Utah, northern Arizona and New Mexico and finally the Texas Panhandle." Use protective eyewear.

AP: "Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg updated his status to 'married' on Saturday. Zuckerberg and 27-year-old Priscilla Chan tied the knot at a small ceremony at his Palo Alto, Calif., home, capping a busy week for the couple."

Priscilla Chen & new hubby.

The Commentariat -- May 19, 2012

The President's Weekly Address:

     ... The transcript is here. Reuters: "President Barack Obama on Saturday called on the U.S. Congress to back his efforts for tough new financial industry oversight, saying a $2 billion trading loss at JPMorgan underscored the need for such regulation."

Former First Lady Laura Bush in a Washington Post op-ed: "Many of the vital gains that Afghan women have achieved over the past decade were made because of the sacrifice and support of the United States and the broader NATO alliance.... As the U.S. and NATO mission in Afghanistan changes, the world must remember the women of Afghanistan."

Adam Serwer of Mother Jones: "At least it's on the record: Most House Republicans support the indefinite detention without trial of American citizens.... If nothing else..., it's illuminating to watch 'small-government' Republicans -- who have spent the last three years lamenting the loss of freedom caused by a higher marginal tax rate or the regulation of derivatives -- defend the most arbitrary big government power imaginable." ...

New York Times Editors: "On Wednesday, a federal judge struck down a law allowing the indefinite detention of anyone suspected of terrorism on American soil as a violation of free speech and due process. Two days later, the House made it clear it considered those to be petty concerns, voting to keep the repellent practice of indefinite detention on the books.... The overall defense bill was approved by the House, and President Obama has threatened to veto it -- not because it fails to prohibit detention, but because it violates an agreement on the military budget and tries to prohibit same-sex marriages on military property, among other flaws. The Senate has an opportunity to fix this bill to restore the due-process rights found in the Constitution."

Paul Krugman: "Since former President Bush is going to favor us with a book on How to Succeed in Economic Policy Without Really Trying -- and since Mitt Romney is essentially planning a return to Bushonomics -- it might be worth looking at Bush's job record compared with that of Obama so far." CW: Ha!

Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post: "... our national conversation about contraceptives isn’t over -- and that groups on the both sides intend to keep the discussion very much alive." ...

... Irin Carmon of Salon on House Subcommittee to Oppress Women (Especially Women of Color) Chairman Trent Franks' [RTP-Ariz.] refusal to allow Washington, D.C. delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton to speak before his committee on his plan to ban abortions after 20 weeks in the District. Norton would have said "the so-called Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act 'is the first bill ever introduced in Congress that would deny constitutional rights to the citizens of only one jurisdiction in the United States....'" Carmon notes, "The National Right to Life Committee has called the bill its 'top congressional priority for 2012,' and will score members based on their votes, even though it likely has no chance of getting past the Senate -- or the president." CW Note: Carmon didn't designate the official name of the subcommittee, so I was just guessing there.

Tom Friedman, You're an Idiot. Brendan Nyhan in the Columbia Journalism Review: "What’s so frustrating about pundits' hype of Americans Elect is that its failure was so predictable."

Matt Gutman of ABC News: "A closer look at the witness statements and audio testimony taken in the immediate aftermath Trayvon Martin's death provides the first insight into George Zimmerman's behavior after he shot the unarmed teen." ...

... Serge Kovaleski of the New York Times: "A girl who talked on the phone with Trayvon Martin on the night of Feb. 26 has told a state prosecutor [under oath] that she heard rising fear in Mr. Martin's voice that peaked with words like 'get off, get off,' right before she lost contact with him and he was shot to death." ...

... Judd Legum of Think Progress: "Among the evidence in the Trayvon Martin case released by the Florida state prosecutor yesterday was a 15-minute interview with a former work colleague of George Zimmerman. The man, who is not identified by name, says that Zimmerman relentlessly bullied him at work. Zimmerman, according to the witness, targeted him because he was Middle Eastern." Includes audio of interview.

Benedict Carey of the New York Times: Prominent psychiatrist Robert Spitzer is sorry for his "sexual orientation disturbance." He apologizes to the LGBT community.

Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times: Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), chair of the House Ways & Means Committee, earmarks $17,000 drip pans for Black Hawk helicopters. Comparable pans cost $2,500.

The Excellence in Journalism Prize Goes to Runner-up Is ... the National Review. Alex Pareene of Salon: "The National Review says Elizabeth Warren is guilty of the gravest crime a writer can commit: Plagiarism. Katrina Trinko compares passages from 'All Your Worth: The Ultimate Money Lifetime Plan,' Warren's book with her daughter, Amelia Warren Tyagi, with passages from 'Getting on the Money Track,' a book by Rob Black. The passages line up perfectly. The wording and even the punctuation are identical. It’s plagiarism all right. Except it looks very much like Warren is actually the victim." Later, editor Rich Lowry acknowledged the mistake & took down the story. CW: wouldn't it have been clever to fact-check the story before publishing it? Pareene found it awfully easy to debunk the National Review's claim. ...

... The Excellence in Journalism Prize Goes to the Washington Times. Mariah Blake of Salon: "...in a handful of columns over the last year [Washington Times columnist & former editor Arnaud de Borchgrave] has lifted passages verbatim, or nearly verbatim, from the Internet and other sources, without attribution -- a fact the Washington Times' leadership tried to sweep under the rug, according to insiders at the paper." CW: read the story; it's pretty amazing.

Presidential Race

Willard's Whoppers. Steve Benen: the Mittster racked up 19 lies this week. "I'm curious," he writes, "is Romney also allowed a certain number of falsehoods before people begin to doubt his character? And if so, what is that number?"

What Would Willard Do? Greg Sargent notes that Thursday, Romney said, "America's economy runs on freedom. And he has been attacking economic freedom from the first day he came into office." Sargent responds, "What's missing from this narrative is what, if anything, Romney would have done if he had been president in January of 2009, when the economy was on the brink of global meltdown. The implication of Romney's remarks above is that doing nothing at all would have been preferable to what Obama did." C[mon, reporters, if Willard ever lets you ask him a question (and he's trying hard not to), that's a good one to ask.

CW: I think Krugman is onto something: "My take has always been that [Romney is] a smart guy who also happens to be both ambitious and completely amoral.... More and more, however, he has been coming out with statements suggesting that he is, in fact, a dangerous fool.... I'm beginning to suspect that ... outside of whatever he did at Bain, Romney really is ignorant as well as uncaring."

Andrew Leonard of Salon: "When Meg Whitman ran for governor of California in 2010, the former eBay CEO told voters that her business background made her the right choice to boost job creation in a state troubled by high unemployment.... It’s the same spiel we hear from Mitt Romney every single day." As the new CEO of Hewlett-Packard, she "is planning to cut its workforce by around 30,000 jobs." HP is probably more likely to take the money saved via a tax break and spend it on a new R&D center in Shanghai than it is to staff up in Silicon Valley." CW: also, as I noted in yesterday's News Ledes, Whitman promised as governor she would create 500,000 jobs a year in California. Right.

Gail Collins looks forward to the party conventions, for which "you, the taxpayer, are paying." So enjoy!

Right Wing World *

Remington Shepard of Media Matters: Joe Ricketts & Mitt Romney drop the Jeremiah Wright hoohah, but Hannity & Friends can't let go.

In yesterday's comments, contributor James Singer obliquely suggested that Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett was beyond description. Ever curious, I wanted to know why. Well, here ya go: Catalina Carnia of USA Today: "... Ken Bennett, a Republican exploring a 2014 race for governor, issued a statement insisting he is not a 'birther....'" [But] "Bennett told a radio interviewer yesterday it was 'possible' he would keep Obama off the ballot if the" State of Hawaii doesn't provide him with verification of little Barry's birth certificate. CW: if you are an Arizona resident (& not a damned foreigner) & are looking for a sinecure, you might think of running for secretary of state. Apparently, it is a job that leaves plenty of time to do whatever the hell you feel like.

* Where undermining the government is the primary function of the government.

News Ledes

New York Times: "For the second straight race, the Kentucky Derby winner I'll Have Another ran down Bodemeister in deep stretch, winning the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore."

Reuters: "World leaders backed keeping Greece in the euro zone on Saturday and vowed to take all steps necessary to combat financial turmoil while revitalizing a global economy increasingly threatened by Europe's debt crisis. A summit of the G8 leading industrialized nations came down solidly in favor of a push to balance European austerity -- an approach long driven by German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- with a dose of U.S.-style stimulus seen as vital to healing ailing euro-zone economies."

Chicago Tribune: "Three out-of-state men arrested in a Bridgeport [Illinois?] apartment raid days before the NATO summit considered hitting President Obama's campaign headquarters, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's house and police stations with 'incendiary devices,' according to court documents. The trio, who are being held on $1.5 million bond apiece, are charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, providing material support for terrorism and possession of an explosive or incendiary device."

Reuters: "Around 500 demonstrators gathered outside the home of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Saturday to protest the recent closure of mental health clinics as part of a series of rallies and marches timed to coincide with a NATO summit here. But the protest was much smaller than one attended by an estimated 2,500 people at a downtown plaza on Friday. The biggest rally is expected to be on Sunday near the convention center where world leaders will gather."

New York Times: "Walter Wink, an influential liberal theologian whose views on homosexuality, nonviolence and the nature of Jesus challenged orthodox interpretations, died on May 10 at his home in Sandisfield, Mass. He was 76."

AP: "A blind Chinese activist was hurriedly taken from a hospital Saturday and boarded a plane that took off for the United States, closing a nearly monthlong diplomatic tussle that had tested U.S.-China relations. Chen Guangcheng, his wife and their two children were on United Airlines Flight 88, which took off late Saturday afternoon from the Beijing airport. The flight was scheduled to arrive in Newark, N.J., Saturday evening. ...

     ... New York Times Update: 'Chen Guangcheng, the blind legal advocate who made an improbable escape from virtual house arrest and sought refuge in the American Embassy here, arrived in Newark on Saturday, ending a fraught diplomatic drama that threatened to disrupt relations between China and the United States."

NEW. Los Angeles Times: "The Obama administration ordered tariffs of 31% and higher on solar panels imported from China, escalating a simmering trade dispute with China over a case that has sharply divided American interests in the growing clean-energy industry. The Commerce Department announced the stiff duties Thursday after making a preliminary finding that Chinese solar panel manufacturers 'dumped' their goods -- that is, sold them at below fair-market value."

NBC News: "A key witness to the Trayvon Martin shooting changed the story he had given Sanford, Fla., police, telling state authorities he was not sure who was screaming during the altercation with George Zimmerman. The man known as Witness #6 originally told Sanford police Zimmerman cried for help.... On March 20, according to the Orlando Sentinel, while sitting for a follow-up interview by a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigator the witness said that he was no longer sure who was calling for help."