The Commentariat -- May 13

I've posted an Open Thread on Off Times Square and have added my comments on Brooks & Krugman. Update: Karen Garcia & Kate Madison have posted their comments, too, and they are fabulous! I love the intros to their comments, too. None of us really expects to make the Times cut on Brooks. Update 2: Garcia & Madison did; I didn't. -- CW

Here's economist Dean Baker, writing in Business Insider, on Brooks: "Did David Brooks' mother tell him that the debt is 'ruinous' or does he just enjoy beating up the elderly?" Brooks tells "readers that he is excited over the possibility that there may be a deal to address the 'nation’s ruinous debt problem.' ... Since there is no evidence in the world that would justify calling the debt problem 'ruinous,' we can assume that this is just the sort of belief that was passed on to Brooks by his parents, in the same way that religious beliefs can be passed on." Thanks to Denis N. for the link.

Why should Carl Levin be the one who needs to do this? Where's the SEC? Where are any of the regulatory bodies? -- Elliot Spitzer ...

** ... Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone. "Thanks to an extraordinary investigative effort by a Senate subcommittee [headed by Carl Levin {D-Mich.}] that unilaterally decided to take up the burden the criminal justice system has repeatedly refused to shoulder, we now know exactly what Goldman Sachs executives like Lloyd Blankfein and Daniel Sparks lied about. We know exactly how they and other top Goldman executives, including David Viniar and Thomas Montag, defrauded their clients. America has been waiting for a case to bring against Wall Street. Here it is, and the evidence has been gift-wrapped and left at the doorstep of federal prosecutors, evidence that doesn't leave much doubt: Goldman Sachs should stand trial." CW: Where, I'd like to know, is Barack Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder? It seems obvious he has decided not to aggravate super-connected big campaign donors by charging them with multiple counts of fraud and perjury. The fix is in. Thanks to reader Karen S. for the link. ...

... Binyamin Appelbaum of the New York Times: in fully half of the major federal agencies involved in regulatory overhaul, the seat at the top is (or will soon become) empty.

Paul Krugman explains why nothing could be worse than a cap on spending and why  Republican/Tea Party Members of Congress are charlatans at best and horrible human beings in all likelihood: "... when people like Mr. Boehner reject out of hand any increase in taxes, they are, in effect, declaring that they won’t preserve programs benefiting older Americans in anything like their current form. It’s just a matter of arithmetic."

Steve Benen on the GOP debt-ceiling strategy: "McConnell and other Republicans are eager, practically desperate, to make major changes to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security — changes that the public won’t like. What the GOP needs more than anything is bipartisan cover. They want Obama to make it so, to use McConnell’s word, this isn’t 'usable' in the next election, because if Republicans tried to do this on their own, the electoral consequences would be severe."

What's Driving the Deficit, from the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities. Oh, look, it isn't TARP or the Obama stimulus package. despite your claim. Why, it's George Double-U Bush & his big, fat tax cuts along with the deregulation that led to the recession:

The Washington Post has published the Senate Ethics Committee's full report on John Ensign. It's 75 pages long, but schadenfraude is a powerful incentive so I'll at least skim it. Yesterday's WashPo story -- that the Ethics Committee has asked the DOJ to get off its ass -- is here. ...

... Shorter Version. Manu Raju & John Bresnahan of Politico report on the "bombshells" in the Senate report -- AND they say there are "salacious" details. Sounds like a read that will be at least half as fun as Ken Starr's report on the Lewinsky affair. Tidbit: Rick Santorum is worse than santorum.

Wednesday President Obama conducted a townhall-style meeting on CBS. CBS News has lotsa video clips here, including portions that didn't air. AND here's the full transcript. The full event (minus the outtakes):

I was eating souffle at Rise Restaurant with Laura and two buddies. I excused myself and went home to take the call. Obama simply said 'Osama Bin Laden is dead.' ... I told Obama, 'Good call.'
-- George W. Bush, on how he learned of bin Laden's death. More here from ABC News. No mention of whether or not the souffle had fallen by the time he got back to the restaurant. Maybe he just left it for Obama to finish. -- CW

Following up his Washington Post op-ed I linked yesterday, John McCain gives a Senate floor speech against torture. Joan McCarter of the Daily Kos has some background:

     ... Marcy Wheeler examines the new information McCain presented in his op-ed and floor speech. While she acknowledges the public still doesn't know enough to draw a definitive conclusion, the McCain info provides a window into "why the torture apologists have been so vehement. Because one of their narratives, after all, is that they needed torture to get the key information." But if all the information gleaned to locate Osama bin Laden came from detainees who were not tortured or from detainees when they were not being tortured, the torture advocates lose their one quasi-viable excuse for torture -- they did it "to keep America safe." ...

     ... Andrew Sullivan: "... the lie that torture had anything to do with the killing of Osama bin Laden is accepted as a premise on the propaganda network [i.e., Fox "News"].

David Sanger & John Markoff of the New York Times: "Almost two years after outlining a broad strategy intended to strengthen the security of the nation’s computers and networks, the Obama administration said Thursday that it was sending proposed legislation to Congress that would strengthen penalties for any invasion of private computer systems. But the White House ... said it had elected not to seek authority for stringent top-down regulations that would require companies to erect specific barriers to computer intrusions — which corporations feared would be enormously costly and soon be outdated.

Mike Littwin of the Denver Post has a boffo column on the Republican presidential field, and specifically on why Newt Gingrich is, "in many ways..., just what so many Republicans insist they want.... In Gingrich-speak, nothing is out of bounds, nothing too far below the belt, nothing too unforgivable to say. If I were like Newt Gingrich, here's what I'd say about him: He's everything that is wrong with America today. Since I'm not, I'll just say this: Newt Gingrich? Seriously?"

Right Wing World *

Big Fat Liar Announces Presidential Run. Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post fact-checker, reviews Newt Gingrich's remarks in his first appearance on Hannity's Fox "News" show since Gingrich announced his presidential candidacy. Kessler includes video of the interview. Newt is so mendacious that Kessler gives him the worst rating possible.

Ezra Klein paraphrases the Newest Mitt Romney: “The plan I passed in Massachusetts was great policy, but as president, I pledge to oppose it and enable the insurance industry to undermine any state that attempts to implement it. I believe in the rights of whichever state wants to give the insurance industry the most sweetheart deal first, and a functioning health-care market second." ...

... Dana Milbank on the Romney Twins. ...

... Hey, newly-minted presidential candidate Newt Gingrich loves loved the individual mandate, too. ...

... Ezra Klein: "A lot of Republicans supported the individual mandate" because it was pretty close to Republican policy. Klein lists some prominent Republicans who signed onto federal bills that featured the mandate. ...

... Right Wing World Corollary: It's only bad/unconstitutional if Democrats do it. -- Constant Weader

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

AP: "Texas Rep. Ron Paul has officially announced that he’s running for president. Paul announced on ABC’s 'Good Morning America' that he will seek the GOP nomination for president in 2012":

Blogger is Back. Blogger Buzz explains why Google's Blogger was down for 20.5 hours.

AP: "People have no right to resist if police officers illegally enter their home, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in a decision that overturns centuries of common law. The court issued its 3-2 ruling on Thursday, contending that allowing residents to resist officers who enter their homes without any right would increase the risk of violent confrontation. If police enter a home illegally, the courts are the proper place to protest it, Justice Steven David said."

AP: "Two U.S. officials say pornography was among the items seized when U.S. Navy SEALs raided the Pakistani hideout of Osama bin Laden almost two weeks ago. The officials say it was unclear who the material belonged to, or whether Bin Laden viewed it. Bin Laden's son and two other adult male couriers lived at the compound, the officials said...."

New York Times: "President Obama’s chief envoy to the Middle East, former Senator George J. Mitchell Jr., is leaving that post after two mostly futile years pressing Israelis and Palestinians to make peace, administration officials said on Friday.... The news comes ahead of a critical week in which the president is to deliver a much-anticipated speech on policy toward the Middle East in the wake of the killing of Osama bin Laden and revolutions in the Arab world, and then to meet with the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom the White House has had fraught relations."

Talking Points Memo: "Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) has officially announced his retirement. Kohl's decision to not seek reelection in 2012 opens up a potential top-tier Senate race, in a swing state that has become the center of a polarizing political debate over labor unions in the wake of Republican Gov. Scott Walker's anti-public employee union legislation.... Kohl told reporters that he believed the divisions in the state, triggered by Walker's legislation, would make it easier for the Democrats to hold the seat. "I think whoever we nominate is going to have a very good chance of winning," said Kohl. "To some extent the Republicans have overreached, and people have recoiled, and the landscape will be more favorable."

President Obama will meet with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen at 10:00 am ET.

Washington Post: "Twin suicide bombings outside a paramilitary training center in Pakistan’s northwest killed least 80 people early Friday, in what appeared to be militants’ first major retaliatory attack since the death of Osama bin Laden." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Senior police officials said on Friday that a suicide attack that killed more than 80 cadets from a government paramilitary force was most likely retaliation for an army offensive in Pakistan’s tribal areas, and not for the death of Osama bin Laden, as the Pakistani Taliban claimed."

Reuters: "Libyan rebels will meet senior White House officials in Washington on Friday to seek cash and diplomatic legitimacy in their battle to topple Muammar Gaddafi. The United States, Britain and France say they will maintain their NATO-led air campaign until Gaddafi is forced from power but the rebels say they also need cash to hold their besieged positions on the ground." ...

     ... Update. Here's the White House's read-out: "National Security Advisor Tom Donilon met this afternoon with Dr. Mahmoud Gibril, the President of the Libyan Transitional National Council’s Executive Bureau."

CNN: "Three of Osama bin Laden's widows have been interviewed by U.S. intelligence officers under the supervision of Pakistani's intelligence service, according to sources in both governments. The women -- who were all interviewed together this week -- were 'hostile' toward the Americans, according to a senior Pakistani government official ... and two senior U.S. officials.... The eldest of the three widows spoke for the group."

Washington Post: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell "sought Thursday to clarify his party’s stance on Medicare heading into high-stakes talks with the White House, telling President Obama he wants 'significant' changes to the program in exchange for lifting the legal limit on government borrowing."

Poets at the White House

Sometimes something for our selves.

The Commentariat -- May 12

I've posted an Open Thread for comments on Off Times Square for today.

E. J. Dionne: "As you watch the lawsuits against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act work their way through the courts, consider that what you are really seeing is a great republic tying itself into as many knots as possible to avoid facing up to a challenge that every other wealthy capitalist democracy in the world has met...." Read the whole column.

William Cohan, in his last New York Times op-ed page post, urges you to stay mad at the banksters who haven't paid for their likely crimes. And won't. Government agencies -- specifically the Department of Justice -- have not held them accountable.

Meredith Atwell Baker. Some sleazy operators wear pearls. Getty image.Revolving Door. Edward Wyatt of the New York Times: "Four months after the Federal Communications Commission approved a hotly contested merger of Comcast and NBC Universal, one of the commissioners who voted for the deal said on Wednesday that she would soon join Comcast’s Washington lobbying office. Meredith Attwell Baker, a former Commerce Department official who worked on telecommunications issues in George W. Bush’s administration, announced that she would leave the F.C.C. when her term expires at the end of June. At Comcast, she will serve as senior vice president for government affairs for NBC Universal, which Comcast acquired in January.... Ms. Baker can lobby members of Congress immediately upon beginning her new job."

Connections. Pete Lattman & Azam Ahmed of the New York Times: Raj Rajaratnam's "vast Rolodex of tipsters included former business school classmates, fellow hedge fund traders and technology industry executives whose origins, like his, were from the Indian subcontinent.... Mr. Rajaratnam, a ... Sri Lankan native, sought out information that was confidential, beyond the reach of research, and illegally traded on it, a jury in Federal District Court in Manhattan found on Wednesday, convicting him on all 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy." Includes video which explains the case.

Cantor, Boehner, Kyl, McConnell -- Not-Ready-for-Primetime Players. Photo via the Washington Post."Amateurs." David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "... professional [negotiators] ... have learned the rules that help resolve unsolvable standoffs: Don’t lie to a man on a high ledge. Don’t box yourself in with sweeping threats. Don’t tell your adversary to 'act like an adult.' Now, they have watched the two parties bend or break those three rules. They worry that the politicians’ mistakes might only prolong their dispute — at a moment where every day of delay adds to Wall Street’s worries."

Uh oh. The Maverick jumps the corral fence again. John McCain in a Washington Post op-ed: intelligence gained as a result of torture did not lead to the killing of Osama bin Laden, but "was obtained through standard, noncoercive means.... Much of this debate [over the means used to locate bin Laden] is a definitional one: whether any or all of these methods constitute torture. I believe some of them do, especially waterboarding, which is a mock execution and thus an exquisite form of torture. As such, they are prohibited by American laws and values, and I oppose them."

Fareed Zakaria in the Washington Post: "This is a time for action, to finally push [Pakistan] toward moderation and genuine democracy.... Having come to power hoping to clip the military’s wings, Pakistan’s democratically elected government has been reduced to mouthing talking points written for it by the intelligence services.... Pakistan’s civilian government, business class and intellectuals have an ever-larger role in this struggle. They should not get distracted by empty anti-American slogans or hypernationalism. This is Pakistan's moment of truth.... The opportunity might not come again."

David Corn of Mother Jones offers up an amusing bedtime story about Newt & Callista. Bedtime is the key word here. As Corn writes, "there must be dozens (hundreds? thousands?) of stories like this one. Many will seep out, as long as Gingrich is a candidate for the highest office in the land...." CW: As I commented on the Collins-Brooks "Conversation" yesterday, "I'm definitely going with Newt in 2012" because his campaign will be so amusing -- for Democrats.

Right Wing World *

Paul Krugman: forty-two Republican Congressmen write to President Obama to ask him to get Democrats to quit "trying to use issues to win votes." The issues they don't want Dems to talk about about are ending Medicare & increasing the deficit as does the Ryan budget they all voted for. ...

     ... Steve Benen reminds us that "... the criticism of the GOP plan from Democrats and the left has been accurate.... In 2010 — just last year — many of these same freshmen managed to get elected by using wildly misleading attack ads accusing Democrats of hurting seniors and 'cutting' Medicare."

"Reading, 'Riting and Revenues." If you were wondering why public education in the U.S. is becoming a national embarrassment, Gail Collins has a few answers, and they all center around "the craze for privatization." Collins makes a dull subject irritate the hell out of you. ...

... BUT even Collins, whose examples of Republican-led legislatures' dubious efforts to privatize K-12 education are sickening, can't beat a virtual sample of what the right has in mind when it comes to an appropriate course of study for the kids in a privatized venue. As Evan McMorris-Santoro of TPM reports, popular presidential non-candidate Mike Huckabee is selling for the paltry sum of about $15 per video, what he calls "unbiased" American history lessons for the kids, produced by Learn Our History. First video? "The Reagan Revolution." Here's a preview. Look out for the scary black gang member at the top of the video whom we assume Reagan will vanquish:

What does it mean that Learn Our History is "unbiased"?

Learn Our History's products have been developed to correct the 'blame America first' attitude prevalent in today's teaching. While we recognize that America is not perfect and has never been perfect we celebrate our incredible history with a balanced account of the events that created this great nation. We don't feel bad about the great things America has achieved -- we celebrate our success!

Matt Miller of the Washington Post on "Boehner's awe-inspiring hypocrisy on the debt limit: ... How can a [Republican] party that just passed a budget blueprint with historic new levels of debt and virtually no middle-class entitlement reform in the next decade try, with a straight face, to pin the blame for a debt-limit increase on the president?"

Jed Lewison of Daily Kos finds Mitt Romney touting the individual mandate in December 2007. (RomneyCare includes an individual mandate; i.e., Massachusetts residents must purchase health insurance):

... AND, via Greg Sargent, here's Romney in 2008 explaining to voters in easy-to-understand, logical terms why the individual mandate is a good idea:

... Ya know what? He's right. But that's the Old Romney. Steve Benen translates the New Romney's position du jour: "That radical, communistic, freedom-killing health care policy you hate so intensely? Don’t worry, I only support that at the state level.” ...

... BUT Romney was for a federal mandate before he was against it, as Dave Weigel reports: "... running uphill against Ted Kennedy, Romney said he'd support the health care compromise introduced by Sen. John Chafee. That compromise included a mandate to buy health insurance, something Democrats never tired of pointing out in 2009 and 2010 when the Affordable Care Act's compromise was characterized as tyranny or socialism." ...

... OR, As The Onion put it in an April headline, "Mitt Romney Haunted by Past of Trying to Help Uninsured Sick People." The article is a spoof, but the headline is too true. ...

... Michael Shear of the New York Times: "On Thursday, Mr. Romney will make his most direct effort yet to explain why he really wants to kill sick people find a politically safe middle ground, saying in a speech that he doesn’t regret his actions as governor, while vowing that, if elected, he would begin efforts to repeal Mr. Obama’s heath care law on his first day in the Oval Office."

* Where facts never intrude.

Local News

N. C. Aizenman of the Washington Post: Florida legislators passed a drastic Medicaid "reform" bill mimicking a pilot program that was an apparent disaster. It will go into effect if the Obama Administration approves it. ...

... AND Oops! As of October 21 of this year, having sex will be illegal in Florida. However, there's a ray of hope, according to the blogger officially known as the Southern Fried Scientist, who discovered that Florida's poorly-written anti-bestiality law prohibits sex between (or among, I guess) humans:

... if you’re living in Florida on October 1, 2011 and would like to have sexual intercourse with a consenting adult, please check with your veterinarian or local livestock breeder first to make sure you abide by 'accepted animal husbandry practices, conformation judging practices, or accepted veterinary medical practices.'

News Ledes

CBS News: information from Navy SEALs helmet-cams provides more details of the operation in which Osama bin Laden was killed:

... The print story is here.

New York Times: "The Senate Ethics Committee on Thursday asked the Justice Department to reopen its investigation of former Senator John Ensign, saying it had found evidence that he had conspired to help a former aide violate a lobbying ban, had broken campaign finance laws and had obstructed an investigation into wrongdoing, which began after he admitted having had an affair with the aide’s wife." Washington Post story here.

Washington Post: "President Obama announced Thursday that he is seeking a two-year extension of Robert S. Mueller III’s term as FBI director, saying he cannot afford to lose the longtime FBI chief at a time of terrorist threats. The request for Congress to extend Mueller’s 10-year term comes as the White House had been searching for a candidate to succeed him."

Washington Post: "... the Senate Finance Committee grilled senior executives of the five biggest oil companies Thursday about whether they really need tax incentives that some Democrats on the panel said the nation can no longer afford." New York Times: "Executives of five of the largest oil companies, under heavy fire over near-record gasoline prices and their high first-quarter profits, pushed back on Thursday against calls for cuts in tax subsidies benefiting the industry."

New York Times: in a speech in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Mitt Romney tries to distinguish RomneyCare from ObamaCare, which he says should be repealed.

President Obama & Vice President Biden honored the National Association of Police Organization's top cops this afternoon.

Wall Street Journal: "Sixty-two business groups ... urged congressional leaders on Wednesday to raise the federal debt ceiling amid fears that political brinkmanship could lead to another financial crisis. The letter comes less than one week before the U.S. government is expected to hit the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling. Treasury has already taken steps to avoid defaulting on its obligations, but officials believe it will run out of maneuvers on Aug. 2." ...

... The Hill: "A bill to raise the debt limit without spending cuts attached would not get a single Republican vote in the House, the GOP’s top vote-counter [Kevin McCarthy]said Wednesday."

New York Times: "Two men who the authorities said intended to carry out a terrorist attack in New York City were arrested late Wednesday, two law enforcement officials said with knowledge of the matter. The two men had sought to purchase hand grenades and guns. They were arrested after what one law enforcement official described as a sting operation, saying that their aims appeared 'aspirational.' The identities of the men were not released but another official characterized the suspects as 'homegrown' and another said one of the young men was of Moroccan descent."

Washington Post: "The Pentagon is considering allowing the families of detainees at Guantanamo Bay to visit them, an unprecedented step to ease the isolation of inmates who in some cases have been held at the U.S. facility for close to a decade, according to congressional aides."

New York Times: "In what has emerged as one of the most brutal waves of repression since the Arab Spring began, the Syrian military shelled Homs, the country’s third-largest city from tanks on Wednesday, forcing hundreds to flee and detaining hundreds more."

Al Jazeera: "At least ten people protesting the rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president, have been killed and 226 injured after security forces opened fire on thousands of anti-government demonstrations in several cities across the country." With video.

AP: "Though hunted and in hiding, Osama bin Laden remained the driving force behind every recent al-Qaida terror plot, U.S. officials say, citing his private journal and other documents recovered in last week's raid...."

New York Times: "Administration officials said the president was eager to use Bin Laden’s death as a way to articulate a unified theory about the popular uprisings from Tunisia to Bahrain.... The first sign of this 'reset' could come as early as next week, when Mr. Obama plans to give a speech on the Middle East in which he will seek to put Bin Laden’s death in the context of the region’s broader political transformation."

Washington Post: "Flood the farms to save the cities. That’s the trade-off staring at the Army Corps of Engineers in Louisiana this week as a historically high Mississippi River rolls south, flooding towns in Mississippi on Wednesday, prompting evacuations farther south, and threatening the heavily industrialized petrochemical corridor running from Baton Rouge to New Orleans and beyond." With video.

AP: "Retired U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk was convicted of thousands of counts of acting as an accessory to murder at a Nazi death camp and sentenced on Thursday to five years in prison — closing one chapter in a decades-long legal battle."