Washington, D.C., as Art Form

If the characters in Washington seem all-too-familiar to you, maybe it's because you've seen them before. Here's an excerpted e-mail exchange among some friends & me:

A: You're back just in time to see Obama bitch-slapped yet again by Boehner over this stupid appearance before Congress. Fuck them, Obama should just tell the networks he wants to address the nation. They have no interest in what he says anyway. Does he never get tired of playing Pedrolino to Boehner's Il Capitano? It's like Commedia dell'Arte where he (Obama) comes, the naif of the world, bouncing by hoping to have a wonderful day and is hit in the face with a bat by the cowardly, stridently militant Capitano. Again, and again, and again. Day in, day out. This might be comedy to the Italians but it's tragedy to Americans. But I suppose it depends on what kind of American you are. If you are the kind who hopes and believes in the ideal of the American experiment, the Constitution, Bill of Rights, separation of powers and separation of church and state, and a balanced concept of the role and limitation of governments, you might find it tragic. If you're the other kind, a Teabagging Republican, you're convulsed. As Mel Brooks once said, defining comedy "If I cut my finger, that's a tragedy. If you fall into an open manhole and die, THAT's comedy."

Marie: Ha! Commedia dell'Arte is a great metaphor for the whole damned Washington show. And how about Candide? Of course, Candide finally gave up on optimism, or did so at least partially. I guess it's Barack Pangloss Obama.

A: Funny you should mention Candide, I'm reading it currently. It has quite a few eerie connections with current events. For instance, at one point, Candide and his troop, including the above mentioned, eternally and stupidly optimistic Pangloss, enter Lisbon, where the undergo natural disasters of an earthquake, a tsunami, and a fire. Sound familiar? Of course the local theologians proclaim, a la Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, that it's all God's plan and he's clearly pissed at someone, whom they determine to be Candide. He and Pangloss are readied to be sacrificed so morality can return to Lisbon ... and so it goes. He goes on about political 'philosophers' who maintain their course no matter what the facts or world conditions dictate.

It all sounds quite modern.

But Washington is too Commedia dell'Arte for all that. Voltaire, even at his broadest, is still too subtle for such as Mitch McConnell and Eric Cantor, who would probably want him hanged for treason. Or something.

(Dr. Pangloss's lecture on "The Best of All Possible Worlds" from Leonard Bernstein's "Candide":)

B: I just re-read Candide myself recently. The part about the Lisbon earthquake and auto de fe was quite timely and compelling. Voltaire was a comedic version of Orwell. Best of all possible worlds, my ass.

The Commentariat -- September 1

I've posted another Open Thread for today's Off Times Square. And I do plan to read what-all you've written over the past several days. What I did get to was terrific, as usual.

Gene Lyons in Salon: "This just in: Americans really don't care about Libya.... Every poll, however, shows how badly the White House's rope-a-dope strategy has damaged Obama politically.... People ... divide 49 percent to 47 percent about whether he's a strong leader at a time when the nation definitely needs one who can spell J-O-B-S. The wonder is that anybody thinks so." ...

... A Show about Nothing. Ezra Klein in Bloomberg News: "Obama’s speech will achieve nothing.... A speech can rally the base, and maybe even temporarily change the topic in the news. But it can’t change the fundamental fact of politics right now, which is that the two parties disagree on the most profound question in Washington. It’s not: How do we fix the economy? It is: Who should win the next election?"

Nicholas Kristof: "Libya, for the time being, has become a shining example of successful humanitarian intervention. Well played, President Obama."

Simon Denyer & Leila Fadel of the Washington Post: The "rapid disintegration [of pro-Gaddafi forces] Aug. 20 and 21 suggests that support for Moammar Gaddafi was far more shallow than the government had portrayed over the course of the six-month uprising. But the way many of Gaddafi’s supporters just melted away into the night also prompts concern about whether some die-hard loyalists are simply lying low, waiting for the day they can regroup and launch their own insurgency."

Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: "Dick Cheney is living proof that if we are not brave enough to enforce our laws, we will forever be at the mercy of a handful of men." ...

Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! talks to Lawrence Wilkerson, Secretary of State Colin Powell's chief-of-staff about Dick Cheney's memoir. The transcript is here. Here's the interview:

... Here's the Glenn Greenwald post discussed in the interview. The lede: "Less than three years ago, Dick Cheney was presiding over policies that left hundreds of thousands of innocent people dead from a war of aggression, constructed a worldwide torture regime, and spied on thousands of Americans without the warrants required by law, all of which resulted in his leaving office as one of the most reviled political figures in decades. But thanks to the decision to block all legal investigations into his chronic criminality, those matters have been relegated to mere pedestrian partisan disputes, and Cheney is thus now preparing to be feted -- and further enriched -- as a Wise and Serious Statesman with the release of his memoirs this week: one in which he proudly boasts (yet again) of the very crimes for which he was immunized." ...

... Dana Milbank provides the CliffsNotes of Cheney's memoir. Short form: Cheney never did anything wrong, but everybody else did.

Peter Finn & Julie Tate of the Washington Post: "For all the secrecy that once surrounded the CIA [rendition] program, a significant part of its operation was entrusted to very small aviation companies whose previous experience involved flying sports teams across the country." Some of the story is coming out in a billing dispute case being heard in Upstate New York.

Patrick McGeehan of the New York Times: "One of the most frustrating and stubborn aftereffects of Tropical Storm Irene has been the inability to restore electricity to swaths of the Northeast, especially in Connecticut, where roughly 300,000 customers were still without power on Wednesday night. Some whole towns in New England were cut off, while almost every home and business in New York City had been running on full power for days. The slow restoration of the connections ... prompted a lot of grumbling from elected officials and their constituents, most of it aimed at big utility companies."

Right Wing World *

CW: Living in Know-Nothing World, as I have been for several days, I missed Paul Krugman's Monday column. It's a must-read: "Jon Huntsman Jr. ... has been willing to say the unsayable about the G.O.P. — namely, that it is becoming the 'anti-science party.' This is an enormously important development. And it should terrify us.... Now, we don’t know who will win next year’s presidential election. But the odds are that one of these years the world’s greatest nation will find itself ruled by a party that is aggressively anti-science, indeed anti-knowledge." ...

... A Case on Point. Tanya Somanader of Think Progress: "Ever resilient against the onslaught of facts, [Michele] Bachmann doubled down on her call to drill the Everglades yesterday, stating 'Let’s access this wonderful treasure trove of energy that God has given us in this country.' And for those inconvenient truthers who point out there’s no actual evidence of oil under the Everglades, Bachmann told Tampa Bay’s 10News that they’re nothing more than 'radical environmentalists.'“ CW: so is god a radical environmentalist who forgot to give us that "wonderful treasure trove of energy" under the Everglades? As far as I know, the only oil in the Glades comes from swampbuggy spills. ...

... This whole hurricane thing, the earthquake -- these were just god's way of telling Washington politicians to quit wasting money on poor people. Or so sez Bachmann, more or less. CW: So. What? The iPhone didn't work for god either? Surely god can think up a better way to communicate than via earthquakes & hurricanes.

Karen Garcia really has the goods on House Majority Leader Eric Cantor; a terrific read about the guy whose "trifecta of heartless rebuffs to victims of a tornado, an earthquake and a tropical storm all in the space of just a few months ... even made New Jersey Governor Chris Christie mad. One of the nastiest GOP governors who ever lived thinks Cantor is way beyond mean and nasty." Read the whole post. ...

... CW: See the video below to get a good look at the no-account rabble-rousing unemployed lazy bums purporting to be constituents whom Leader Cantor's staff labelled as "suspicious" and called the cops on to have them removed from his office. I do think the polite, measured way these women spoke to everyone on Cantor's staff was likely a subversive ploy. (Their Blue Virginia blogpost on the incident is here.)

Does the Congressman consider disagreement or requests for action as suspicious? -- One of the "suspects" in the video below

... CW: This incident reminds me to thank all of you who take the trouble to go to townhall meetings (Cantor didn't hold any during the recess) and otherwise make yourselves a presence in the political arena. That includes commenter E Adams and daughter who attended "a town hall meeting for Tom McClintock, a Repug congressman representing the 4th district in California." Adams recounts their experience in the August 31 Off Times Square Open Thread.

Update: here's the news report by Joe Brines of the Placer Herald Correspondent re: Rep. McClintock's town hall. Its headline: "Locals on the Attack...."

Elizabeth Adams, before Rep. Tom McClintock's (R-Calif.) townhall meeting. Photo by the Herald Correspondent.

With protesters waving signs outside, Congressman Tom McClintock defended his voting record to a standing-room only crowd packed into the Sunset Center.... Prior to the meeting, McClintock was greeted by a dozen protest signs addressing various issues....

Marysville resident Elizabeth Adams displayed a sign reading 'Oligarchy Sucks,' a reference to a power structure led by a small number of people. 'I’m here to meet other like-minded people so that we can realize that we’re not alone,' Adams said. 'There are other voices than the tea party.' And the Tea Party was represented by about a dozen people wearing the trademark tea party T-shirt.

* Where those of us in Know-Nothing World fit right in.

Local News

Maria Recio of McClatchy News: "Six years after Hurricane Katrina, a relative of Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour was found by a federal court to have masterminded a massive fraud against the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the inspection of the legendary trailers that housed storm refugees along the Gulf Coast. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims found last week that Rosemary Barbour's company ... had engaged in a fraudulent billing scheme as part of a $100 million, five-year maintenance contract with FEMA.... In often colorful language, the judge described the testimony of Rosemary Barbour during an eight-day trial in May in Jackson as 'exasperating' and 'bumble-headed.' ... The judge also criticized FEMA for its 'inexcusable mismanagement' of the contract.... Rosemary Barbour is a controversial figure in North Mississippi who received millions of dollars in often no-bid federal contracts after Katrina to provide showers, tents and laundry facilities.... Her company is still operating and is listed as being 'in good standing' by the Mississippi secretary of state." Thanks to reader Bob M. for the link.

Lizette Alvarez of the New York Times: "Florida has long been the nation’s center of the illegal sale of prescription drugs: Doctors here bought 89 percent of all the Oxycodone sold in the country last year. But with the help of tougher laws, officials have moved aggressively this year to shut down so-called pill mills and disrupt the pipeline that moves the drugs north. In the past year, more than 400 clinics were either shut down or closed their doors.... New laws are also cutting off distribution.... As a result, doctors’ purchases of Oxycodone fell by 97 percent...." No thanks to the worst governor in America: "Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, and State House Republican leaders opposed the creation of [a] database [used in a majority of states to track drug-shopping], saying it raised too many privacy concerns and was not the most effective way to curb the problem."

News Ledes

New York Times: "A long-awaited United Nations review of Israel’s 2010 raid on a Turkish-based flotilla in which nine passengers were killed has found that Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza is both legal and appropriate. But it said that the way Israeli forces boarded the vessels trying to break that blockade 15 months ago was excessive and unreasonable."

New York Times: "News organizations in dozens of countries are panning for nuggets in the latest and largest dump of diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks, which last week suddenly accelerated its posting of the confidential State Department documents. Over a few days, the group made public nearly 134,000 cables — more than six times the total number published by WikiLeaks and many news organizations over the past nine months."

Los Angeles Times: "... The [California] state Senate approved a bill that for the first time would give them access to public financial aid. Part of a two-bill package known as the California Dream Act, the measure would allow undocumented students who qualify for reduced in-state tuition to apply for Cal Grants, community college waivers and other public aid programs.... The measure passed 22-11 on a party-line vote, with Democratic support and Republican opposition. It is expected to return this week to the Assembly, which previously approved it, for concurrence on Senate amendments. If approved, it will be sent to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature."

New York Times: "As world leaders gathered on Thursday for a major conference to try to consolidate international support and reconstruction aid for Libya, Russia recognized the fledgling rebel government despite its opposition to the NATO bombing campaign." ...

... New York Times: "A top official of Libya’s transitional government said Wednesday that its fighters had cornered Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in a desert redoubt 150 miles from the capital and were exhorting him to give up, in what would bring a sense of finality to the prolonged uprising that routed him and his family from Tripoli a week ago.  But one of Colonel Qaddafi’s fugitive sons, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi..., said ... in an audio statement..., 'Our leadership is fine.... We are drinking tea and coffee.'" ...

     ... Update: "The Libyan rebels’ transitional government on Thursday extended by a week its ultimatum demanding the surrender of the loyalists of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi who control his hometown, Surt. Also on Thursday, the fugitive Libyan leader released an audio recording proclaiming that Surt was now the Libyan capital."

AP: "The headless remains of Australia's most infamous criminal, Ned Kelly, have been identified, officials said Thursday, ending a decades-long mystery surrounding the whereabouts of the folk hero's body. Kelly, who led a gang of bank robbers in Australia's southern Victoria state in the 19th century, was hanged in 1880. His final resting place was unknown...."

Los Angeles Times: "Amazon.com Inc. is offering to build at least two distribution centers [in California] and hire as many as 7,000 workers if lawmakers back away — at least temporarily — from trying to force the Internet giant to collect sales taxes on purchases made by California customers."

The Commentariat -- August 31 a/k/a Day 4 with No Power

The President's speech from earlier today:

     ... The transcript is here.

As an official know-nothing, I've posted a new Open Thread on Off Times Square.

David Kocieniewski of the New York Times: At least 25 top United States companies paid more to their chief executives in 2010 than they did to the federal government in taxes, according to a study released on Wednesday. The companies — which include household names like eBay, Boeing, General Electric and Verizon — averaged $1.9 billion each in profits, according to the study by the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal-leaning research group. But a variety of shelters, loopholes and tax reduction strategies allowed the companies to average more than $400 million each in tax benefits...."

David Dayen of Firedoglake: "Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto’s amended complaint in a lawsuit against Bank of America ... is a stick of dynamite to the foreclosure fraud settlement, exposing it as a useless whitewash that won’t deter banks from their criminal practices. Masto joins other skeptical AGs here in not acceding to such a dereliction of duty, and instead she lays out a thorough case of systematic fraud, in this case by Bank of America, at every step of the mortgage process." CW: read Dayen's whole post. See also today's Ledes. for the backstory.

Sam Youngman of The Hill: "President Obama is preparing to fight a political war this fall on two fronts -- the first against Republicans who want his job and the second against Republicans who want to make his job more difficult."

Right Wing World *

Right Every Time (Even Though I Was Surrounded by Idiots) -- Dana Milbank's suggestion for a retitle of Dick Cheney's memoir In My Time

** GOP War on the Poor, Part 1. New York Times Editors: "In a decade of frenzied tax-cutting for the rich, the Republican Party just happened to lower tax rates for the poor, as well. Now several of the party’s most prominent presidential candidates and lawmakers want to correct that oversight and raise taxes on the poor and the working class, while protecting the rich, of course.... This is factually wrong, economically wrong and morally wrong." ...

... GOP War on the Poor, Part 2: Mike Lillis of The Hill: "House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's insistence that federal disaster aid be offset elsewhere in the budget runs directly counter to his position in the past when the money went to help his Virginia district. In the summer of 2004, after Tropical Storm Gaston slammed into Richmond, Cantor was on the front lines of efforts to secure millions of dollars in federal assistance to clean the wreckage and repair damaged infrastructure. Although the funding was not offset, Cantor cheered its arrival." ...

... CW: The Hostage Taking, Con'd. Here's the backstory, a version of which I linked to way last week before Irene hit the U.S. mainland: Michael Stickings of the Moderate Voice: "Just as Republicans held the country hostage over the debt ceiling ('give us what we want, or else'), Cantor is now trying to do the same over disaster relief (some of which may be needed in his home state of Virginia, which is in Irene’s path). As his spokesperson explained, 'Eric has consistently said that additional funds for federal disaster relief ought to be offset with spending cuts.' ... This is ugly ideological extremism operating as insensitivity to suffering, political hostage-taking with lives and livelihoods in the balance.”

Aman Batheja of the Fort Worth, Texas, Star-Telegram: "Since his first race for office more than a quarter century ago, Gov. Rick Perry has emphasized his roots as a rural farmer. Yet Perry's bank account no longer reflects those humble beginnings as his bottom line has soared in recent years, records show, thanks largely to a handful of real estate deals that critics allege were achieved through the presidential candidates's political connections." ...

Either faith in Christ can cleanse all people of their sin, or none, but not some. The truth of Christ’s death, resurrection, and power over sin is absolute. -- Rick Perry, in a book titled On My Honor, as if he had any ...

... "Rick Perry Is a Theocrat." Dana Milbank: "My problem with Perry’s zeal is one of my problems with the Tea Party generally: Though it claims to be libertarian, it is remixing the religious right’s greatest hits." ...

... Ruth Marcus, one of the fake liberals over on the Washington Post editorial page (a/k/a/ "Fox on 15th") is nonetheless appalled by Rick Perry's Fed Up!: "Perry’s ideas range from wrongheaded to terrifying: requiring federal judges to stand for reappointment and reconfirmation; and letting Congress override the Supreme Court with a two-thirds vote in both houses."

Isn't He Amusing?

Evan McMorris-Santoro of TPM: "For some undefined but Texas governor-sized-and-shaped reason, Mitt Romney is suddenly very interested in attending tea party events." ...

... An Invitation to a Tea Party. Get off the Bus, Gus. Alex Altman of Time: "FreedomWorks, the big-time Tea Party booster run by seasoned Washington insiders, has been a co-sponsor of the latest cross-country bus tour organized by the Sacramento-based Tea Party Express.... But Mitt Romney’s planned appearance on the tour has opened a fissure between the two. On Wednesday, citing opposition to Romney, FreedomWorks announced that it will sever its ties to the tour and join local New Hampshire Tea Party groups in protesting Romney’s speech."

Glen Johnson of the Boston Globe: in his campaign speeches, Mitt Romney regularly bashes Harvard University, never mentioning that not only did he attend Harvard, so did his sons & many of his advisory staff. CW: And did you know one of Mitt's son's is named "Tagg"? Maybe he changed it from "George" after he learned the names of the Palin kids Track, Trig & Tripp.

* Where the villains are too villainous to be believable characters.

News Ledes

New York Times: "The California Legislature is poised to pass a law that would allow illegal immigrants to receive state-financed aid for college. Known as the California Dream Act..., the state law would do nothing to provide a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, [but] it would provide them with more education benefits than they have in any other state."

Trivial Pursuits. New York Times: "President Obama and Speaker John A. Boehner clashed over, of all things, the date and time of the president’s much-awaited speech to the nation about his proposal to increase jobs and fix the economy.... Congressional historians say that Mr. Boehner’s move was unprecedented."

New York Times: "The Justice Department sued on Wednesday to block AT&T’s proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile, a deal that would create the largest carrier in the country and reshape the industry." ...

... Washington Post: "AT&T vowed on Wednesday to challenge a Justice Department lawsuit that seeks to block its $39 billion bid for T-Mobile, setting up titanic legal war between the telecommunications giant and the Obama administration.The company said it will ask a federal court for an expedited hearing on the matter, saying Justice’s lawsuit came as a 'surprise' and 'disappointment' as government officials had not indicated in repeated meetings that they would reject the deal."

BBC News: "A Kosovo man has told a German court he regrets shooting dead two US servicemen at Frankfurt airport and does not understand why he did it. Arid Uka, 21, told the court he had been radicalised by jihadist propaganda videos he watched online. Prosecutors believe he acted alone in carrying out the first deadly attack by an Islamist on German soil."

New York Times: "Hurricane Irene will most likely prove to be one of the 10 costliest catastrophes in the nation’s history, and analysts said that much of the damage might not be covered by insurance because it was caused not by winds but by flooding, which is excluded from many standard policies." ...

... AP: "As emergency airlift operations brought ready-to-eat meals and water to Vermont residents left isolated and desperate, states along the Eastern Seaboard continued to be battered Tuesday by the after effects of Irene, the destructive hurricane turned tropical storm. Dangerously-damaged infrastructure, 2.5 million people without power and thousands of water-logged homes and businesses continued to overshadow the lives of residents and officials from North Carolina through New England, where the storm has been blamed for at least 44 deaths in 13 states."

... New York Times: "Four-wheel drive vehicles carrying supplies were able by Wednesday morning to get into all but one of 13 Vermont towns that have been cut off since this weekend without running water or power by floodwaters from the remnants of Hurricane Irene, officials said." ...

... New York Times: "From the Hudson Valley to areas farther north [in New York state], along the Mohawk River and Schoharie Creek, New York growers, many of whose farms have been in the family for generations, were dealt a devastating blow by the storm, which dumped heavy rain on the region." ...

... The Hill: "White House press secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday took a shot at House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor for insisting disaster aid for Hurricane Irene should be offset with other spending cuts. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Carney said the federal government’s priority should be to respond to the disaster. He also noted that Cantor (R-Va.) hadn’t demanded offsets when the Bush administration rang up 'unprecedented bills.'”

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: "Speaking to thousands of veterans gathered in Minneapolis on Tuesday, President Obama vowed to ensure that returning soldiers have the job skills they need to succeed and made an ironclad commitment to the military and veterans. He pledged to create a job training "boot camp" for veterans who are struggling to find employment in the private sector, a rising problem nationally. He also said he will press states to make it easier for vets to get professional licenses." Video below.

New York Times: "The Obama administration on Tuesday replaced two top Justice Department officials associated with an ill-fated investigation into a gun-trafficking network in Arizona that has been at the center of a political conflagration. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced the resignation of the United States attorney in Phoenix, Dennis K. Burke, and the reassignment of the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Kenneth E. Melson."

New York Times: "The attorney general of Nevada is accusing Bank of America of repeatedly violating a broad loan modification agreement it struck with state officials in October 2008 and is seeking to rip up the deal so that the state can proceed with a suit against the bank over allegations of deceptive lending, marketing and loan servicing practices."

Reuters: "A federal judge temporarily blocked key provisions of a Texas abortion law on Tuesday that would require women seeking the procedure to view a sonogram and listen to the heartbeat of their fetus. The law, which had been due to go into effect on Thursday, was a major part of Republican Governor and presidential candidate Rick Perry's agenda in this year's Texas legislative session." The Austin Statesman story is here.

Al Jazeera: "Thousands of Libyans have gathered in Tripoli to mark the end of Ramadan and celebrate Eid al-Fitr, kneeling in prayer in Martyrs' Square as they rejoiced in the collapse of Muammar Gaddafi's regime." ...

... Al Jazeera's liveblog on Libya is here. ...

... NEW. Washington Post: "The spokesman for Moammar Gaddafi’s collapsing government on Wednesday rejected a rebel ultimatum to surrender or face an all-out military assault." ...

... Guardian: "New details have emerged of the route used by Muammar Gaddafi's family to escape into neighbouring Algeria, triggering a diplomatic row over their fate.... The manhunt for Gaddafi and his most powerful sons, Saif al-Islam, Mutassim and Khamis, is moving southwards to the Bani Walid-Sebha desert road. It was being assisted by western intelligence and special forces, including MI6 officers and the SAS. However..., their role is to pick up signals from intercepting equipment not available to the Libyans and identify their significance...."

President Obama spoke to the American Legion in Minneapolis yesterday: