The Commentariat -- July 24

I've posted an Open Thread for today's Off Times Square. Karen Garcia and I have added our comments on MoDo & Bruni. Update: The Times axed both of my comments, so you'll have to read them here. Garcia's made the cuts.

Boehner Creates a New Crisis. Steve Clemons of The Atlantic: "Reports have emerged that House Speaker Boehner told his caucus that their team needs to 'provide a positive signal on a plan to avert a U.S. default by tomorrow.' That's right, by the time markets in Asia open tomorrow....  Instead of August 2nd being the debt default deadline, Boehner's tactics and now his statement to his own troops have created market expectations that will either be met -- or be disappointed, possibly creating a real sell-off in American treasuries. Perhaps he should have thought about that before he stormed off." ...

... AND at the plush SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills, Clemons rubs shoulders with today's Scott Fitzgerald crowd -- super-rich hipsters who know nothing about Afghanistan, Pakistan, the debt ceiling, the unemployment rate, the end of DADT: "... these folks seem very buffered from the real world, unburdened, lightly taxed if all -- and that is why what Obama and Boehner are wrestling over is so important. We need the burdens in this country -- as well as the opportunities -- much more equally shouldered." ...

CW: Here are two columns I would not normally link, the first because the writer is a British conservative & the second because the writer -- a good reporter -- works for the Huff Post. But if you read these two columns in tandem it's hard not to see how democracy, here and in Britain, has disappeared & moneyed interests have taken complete hold of government:

     ... Conservative Charles Moore of the Telegraph: "The rich run a global system that allows them to accumulate capital and pay the lowest possible price for labour. The freedom that results applies only to them. The many simply have to work harder, in conditions that grow ever more insecure, to enrich the few. Democratic politics, which purports to enrich the many, is actually in the pocket of those bankers, media barons and other moguls who run and own everything.... And when the banks that look after our money take it away, lose it and then, because of government guarantee, are not punished themselves, something much worse happens. It turns out – as the Left always claims – that a system purporting to advance the many has been perverted in order to enrich the few."

     ... Ryan Grim: Boehner's latest plan is to create a "Super Congress" of 6 Republicans & 6 Democrats who would have extraordinary power to craft legislation & "would find it easier to strip the public of popular benefits." (Legislation they created would be subject to straight up-or-down votes in both Houses of the Little Congress.) In case you think President Obama & his veto pen will protect you from Super Congress excesses, Grim reminds us of the Catfood Commission Obama appointed: "Obama has shown himself to be a fan of the commission approach to cutting social programs and entitlements.... The White House made two telling appointments to chair the commission: The first was former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.), a well-known and ill-informed critic of Social Security who earned notoriety by suggesting, among other things, that the American government had become 'a milk cow with 310 million tits!' Yet Obama's Democratic appointment was even more indicative of whose interests took priority: former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles. Bowles is a member of Morgan Stanley's board of directors; an adviser to Carousel Capital, a private equity firm; and a director of Cousins Properties Incorporated...." ...

... Nicholas Kristof: "Forget about Iran. These days,  the most dangerous threat to national security comes from [elected Republican Tea Partiers}. While one danger to national security comes from the risk of default, another comes from overzealous budget cuts — especially in education, at the local, state and national levels." ...

... New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire Republican, on raising taxes on the rich. Via Think Progress:

... Dan Balz of the Washington Post is not a brilliant guy, & this analysis is of the "there's blame all around" genre, but his central point is correct: "What the country is watching is a breakdown in governing that could be as corrosive to the political system as the possible financial default looming could be to the economy."

Maureen Dowd compares Rupert Murdoch to the Pope, who according to Taoiseach Enda Kenny attempted "to frustrate an inquiry in a sovereign, democratic republic as little as three years ago, not three decades ago." Here's Kenny's speech:

Frank Bruni: "Michele Bachmann will likely not win the White House, but, in the meantime, she is manna for the pundits."

Peter Beaumont of the Guardian profiles Andes Behring Breivik, the Norwegian terrorist and sees: "a disturbing picture: a Christian fundamentalist with a deep hatred of multiculturalism, of the left and of Muslims, who had written disparagingly of prominent Norwegian politicians." CW: if that description doesn't sound familiar, you haven't been reading the Tea Party News.

Right Wing World *

Yay! A New Conspiracy Theory. Brad Johnson of Think Progress: According to Rush Limbaugh, the heat index is "manufactured by the government to tell you what it feels like when you add the humidity in there." With audio. ...

... CW: I'm guessing Rush has A/C. But a lot of people don't. Marie Diamond of Think Progess: "Budget cuts have forced thousands of poor families to go without air conditioning as a record heat wave sweeps across the country. Many states have been facing budget crises and programs that help needy families pay their electric bills are often the first thing to go.... The [federal] government [which provides aid to states] cut $400 million for low-income energy assistance this year," causing states to cut back at the same time the recession has caused applications for home energy assistance to skyrocket.

* Where even the weather is a government conspiracy.

News Ledes

This Is Insane. Washington Post: "Hours before Asian financial markets were set to open Sunday evening, talks over the federal debt limit were at a standstill and House and Senate leaders were threatening to pursue two different approaches to averting a government default in a messy legislative showdown." ...

... New York Times: "Speaker John A. Boehner said Sunday that the House would prepare its own deficit reduction package if Congress and the White House failed to agree on a bipartisan plan by Sunday afternoon, as lawmakers forged ahead in an increasingly grim standoff over whether to raise the nation’s debt ceiling." CW: this doesn't even make sense. The House can't acti unilaterally. ...

... The Hill: "After a morning meeting at the White House and an evening meeting at the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he was 'disappointed in the status of negotiations with my Republican colleagues.'" Politico has more on how the leaders' meeting went last night. Here's a sample:

Reid was 'very angry' in the meeting with [Speaker] Boehner and [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell, according to a Democratic official. Following the meeting, [House Minority Leader Nancy] Pelosi escorted Reid back to her office because she didn’t want the furious majority leader to say anything to the press. Reid is 'adamant' about no short-term extension of the debt ceiling, the official said...

... Washington Post: "Congressional leaders raced Saturday to develop a new strategy for raising the federal debt limit that House Speaker John A. Boehner told his troops would include an ambitious plan to reduce future borrowing by as much as $4 trillion.... Boehner (Ohio) said he is confident lawmakers will avert a historic U.S. default — a possibility just 10 days off." CW: in other words, he's negotiating with himself & will produce a bill that only a Tea Partier could love -- just as he did last week with Duck, Dodge & Dismantle bill. ...

... AP: "House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he wants to announce the outlines of a plan by 4 p.m. EDT Sunday, to assure investors of the nation's financial and political stability before Asian stock markets open Monday."

New York Times: "Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples across New York State began marrying on Sunday — the first taking their vows just after midnight — in the culmination of a long battle in the Legislature and a new milestone for gay rights advocates seeking to legalize same-sex marriage across the nation."

... New York Times: "The Norwegian man charged with attacks in and near Oslo, killing over 90 people, has admitted 'to the facts' of the case, the police and his lawyer said on Sunday, and claims to have acted alone in a strike eerily foretold in a detailed manifesto calling for a Christian war to defend Europe against the threat of Muslim domination. But, acting police chief Sveinung Sponheim told a news conference, 'he is not admitting criminal guilt' and his claim to have acted alone contrasted with 'some of the witness statements,' Reuters reported."

AP: "North Korea's vice foreign minister will visit the United States this week to discuss the next steps needed to resume international negotiations aimed at ridding the communist nation of its nuclear programs, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday."

The Commentariat -- July 23

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

... President Obama's regularly weekly address:

... An angry President Obama holds a press briefing on the demise of the deficit reduction talks:

     The transcript is here.

... New York Times Editors: "At the White House podium..., the president radiated a righteous fury he rarely displays in public, finally placing the blame for this wholly unnecessary crisis squarely where it belongs: on Republicans who will do anything to upend his presidency and dismantle every social program they can find. 'Can they say yes to anything?' he asked, noting the paradox of Republicans, who claim that financial responsibility and debt reduction are their biggest priorities, rejecting yet another deal that would have cut that debt by at least $3 trillion." ...

At some point, I think, if you want to be a leader, then you've got to lead. -- Barack Obama, obviously referring to John Boehner ...

... Andrew Leonard of Salon: "After Obama finished speaking, Boehner addressed the nation and repeated the boilerplate from his letter: 'The White House won't get serious. We will.' But to anyone who has followed the ins and outs of the last few weeks of negotiation, his stance is nonsense. The truth is that Boehner simply cannot make a deal. His caucus forbids it. Compromise with Obama would mean the end of his political career."

... Law Profs. Eric Posner & Adrian Vermeule, in a New York Times op-ed: "President Obama should announce that he will raise the debt ceiling unilaterally if he cannot reach a deal with Congress. Constitutionally, he would be on solid ground. Politically, he can’t lose. The public wants a deal." ...

     ... Steve Benen parses President Obama's public statements & notes that Obama has not categorically ruled out the Constitutional option.

... Republican Bruce Bartlett of the Fiscal Times says what liberals have been saying for more than a year: "... Obama took office under roughly the same political and economic circumstances that Nixon did in 1968 except in a mirror opposite way. Instead of being forced to manage a slew of new liberal spending programs, as Nixon did, Obama had to cope with a revenue structure that had been decimated by Republicans.... Although Republicans routinely accuse [Obama] of being a socialist, an honest examination of his presidency must conclude that he has in fact been moderately conservative to exactly the same degree that Nixon was moderately liberal." Bartlett gives examples. ...

... Today is "Marie Was Right Day." First the law professors, then Bruce Bartlett, now Steve Benen, who has the solution that dare not speak its name: a clean debt ceiling bill.

Joe Nocera lands an exit interview with Elizabeth Warren.

Only Muslims Can Be "Terrorists." Glenn Greenwald: At least that's what the New Yorks Times thinks. "Terrorism has no objective meaning and, at least in American political discourse, has come functionally to mean: violence committed by Muslims whom the West dislikes, no matter the cause or the target.  Indeed, in many (though not all) media circles, discussion of the Oslo attack quickly morphed from this is Terrorism (when it was believed Muslims did it) to no, this isn't Terrorism, just extremism (once it became likely that Muslims didn't).

News Ledes

Reuters: "The United States has wasted some $34 billion on service contracts with the private sector in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a study being finalized for Congress."

AP (via the NYT): "Retired Army Gen. John Shalikashvili, the first foreign-born chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who counseled President Bill Clinton on the use of troops in Bosnia and other trouble spots, has died, according to a statement from the White House. He was 75. Shalikashvili suffered a severe stroke on August 2004 that paralyzed his left side, and he underwent grueling physical therapy."

Guardian: "The singer Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her flat in north London at the age of 27. The award-winning artist, famous for hits including Rehab from the critically acclaimed album Back to Black, was discovered by police in the late afternoon. Her death was being treated on Saturday night as 'unexplained'." The Guardian's obituary is here. The Telegraph's obit is here.

President Obama & Vice President Biden meet with Congressional leadership this morning. AP story here. The New York Times has a post-meeting report: "But senior Congressional aides said privately that despite the White House session, the serious talks about a solution were now under way among top members of Congress."

The Guardian has a liveblog on the domestic terror attacks in Norway that killed at least 91 people. Here's the Guardian's lead story. AP: "Norway's national news agency says police are investigating whether a second suspect was involved in a shooting spree on an island where 84 people were killed."

The Commentariat -- July 22

President Obama holds a townhall meeting at the University of Maryland:

Paul Krugman sees the economies of the world continuing in what he calls the "Lesser Depression," a self-inflicted recession/depression brought about by really stupid policy moves:

Even if we manage to avoid immediate catastrophe, the deals being struck on both sides of the Atlantic are almost guaranteed to make the broader economic slump worse. In fact, policy makers seem determined to perpetuate what I’ve taken to calling the Lesser Depression, the prolonged era of high unemployment that began with the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and continues to this day, more han two years after the recession supposedly ended.

(... Meanwhile, that pompous little know-nothing David Brooks is cheerfully advocating for those very policies that will worsen the economy and hurt ordinary Americans.)

... I've posted a "Lesser Depression" page on Off Times Square. Karen Garcia & I have added comments. Don't miss Garcia on Brooks. ...

      ... Update: Garcia has repurposed her response to Brooks in a blogpost that is even tougher on that little shit.

When Right-Wing Billionaire Energy Moguls Collide. Ken Vogel of Politico: "An increasingly bitter personal rift between billionaires T. Boone Pickens and Charles and David Koch has morphed into an expensive political battle that is testing the commitment of House Republicans to the tea party principles many of them have publicly embraced. The fight centers on legislation backed by Pickens that would grant tax breaks to the natural gas industry, and it is forcing Republican members to choose sides between a traditionally GOP-allied industry and the free-market purism of many conservatives." CW: oh, please, gentlemen, can't we all just get along? I'm sure Republicans can find some nasty little domestic program to gut in the interest of more Breaks for Boone. Food stamps? Pell grants?

John Zogby is a lousy pollster, but I think the central premise in his Forbes column is right: President Obama's legacy may be the withering of the American dream.

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones dedicates this tongue-in-cheek (though coincidentally accurate) graph to the Heritage Foundation:

Tidbits

Uh-Huh. Michelle Cottle of the Daily Beast. God is always "calling" Republicans to run for president. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is the latest to get The Word.

Oh. The anti-gay Michele Bachmann's anti-gay husband Marcus is more than likely gay. CW: and what better way to meet attractive gay men who won't tell than providing confidential counseling services to pray away the gay? Stories by Robert Paul Reyes of SOP here and Richard Lawson of Gawker here elaborate. And here's Jon Stewart, who just won't go there:

... Fortunately, Dr. Seinfeld gave Stewart some comedy repression therapy:

Oh My. Greg Sargent. Anti-tax pledge guy Grover Norquist told the Washington Post editorial board yesterday that, "“Not continuing a tax cut is not technically a tax increase.” That is, Congressmembers who voted to discontinue the Bush tax cuts wouldn't be violating the stupid no-new-taxes pledge they made to him. As soon as the story came out and Democrats began hammering it home, Norquist walked back his assertion, saying, “any failure to extend or make permanent the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, in whole or in part, would clearly increase taxes on the American people.” So the WashPo released the audio of Norquist and Post writer Ruth Marcus, which is fairly hilarious and relatively unambiguous. ...

     ... Update: Grover Norquist tries to explain himself in a New York Times op-ed. Bottom line: taxes are very, very bad.

Uh Oh. David Leigh & Nick Davies of the Guardian: "James Murdoch appears to have given misleading parliamentary testimony about a key phone-hacking cover-up, according to evidence obtained by the Guardian." Not only did he grossly understate a huge payment to settle a legal case brought against News of the World, he misstated key facts about the negotiations, in which he was apparently intimately involved. ...

     ... Update: Jo Becker & Don Van Natta of the New York Times: "Two former News International executives publicly contradicted James Murdoch’s testimony to a parliamentary committee, saying Thursday that they told him of evidence in 2008 that suggested that phone hacking at one of the company’s tabloid newspapers was more widespread." Guardian story here. ...

... Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "The fury against Murdoch ... [in Britain] reflects the anger of politicians who long have been intimidated by the tactics of aggressive tabloids and who have felt the need to curry favor with powerful media barons, especially Murdoch, to win the support of those newspapers and to shield themselves from their intrusive reporting. In Britain, money plays a smaller role in politics than it does in the United States, and politicians have few ways to communicate effectively with the public outside the media filter. Television advertising plays no significant role in campaigns; for the most part, it is not allowed." ...

... AND/BUT as Driftglass remarks, "If you think anything is going to happen to Murdoch on this side of the Atlantic, you're living in a Frank Capra movie.... Murdoch owns a majority share of the Party of God, has had most of its candidates for President on the payroll, and more importantly, owns the souls of every bigot, lunatic and slack-jawed imbecile who gets his opinion piped directly into his tiny, tiny brain via Fox News."

News Ledes

Can they say yes to anything? -- Barack Obama ...

... Breaking. Obama says Boehner breaks off talks, wouldn't return Obama's phone call. NBC News: "Gridlock stubbornly held the high ground in the steamy capital Friday, as Republican House Speaker John Boehner called President Barack Obama to announce that he is withdrawing from the debt ceiling talks." C-SPAN has Speaker Boehner's (obnoxious) remarks on the House floor here.

Bloomberg News: "The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration will halt some operations at midnight after the House of Representatives and Senate adjourned today without agreeing on legislation to extend the agency’s authority. The disagreement means the FAA has to furlough as many as 4,000 workers tomorrow and stop collecting about $200 million a week in airplane-ticket and other taxes until it is resolved, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said yesterday. Air- traffic controllers, considered essential employees, would remain on the job." CW: the article doesn't say so, but the "disagreement" is Republicans' objections to union organizing. (See this Daily Kos article I linked earlier in the week.)

New York Times: "Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on Friday across Syria, residents and antigovernment activists said, with enormous protests in two of the country’s five largest cities suggesting a growing momentum that the government of President Bashar al-Assad seemed at a loss to stanch." Al Jazeera has a liveblog here.

Politico: "President Barack Obama on Friday formally certified that the military is ready to allow gays to serve openly in the armed forces, clearing the way for an end to the 17-year old 'Don’t Ask Don’t Tell' law in September.... Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen both signed off on the certification on Thursday."

The Hill: "The Senate voted 51-46, along strict party-lines, on Friday to kill the House Republicans' 'cut, cap and balance' legislation. The measure would have cut spending by $111 billion in 2012, capped spending over the next decade and prohibited more borrowing until Congress had passed a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. President Obama had threatened to veto the bill, which was dead on arrival in the Senate." Here's the New York Times story, which also includes news about President Obama's townhall meeting this morning. The Washington Post story is here.

Reuters: "A huge bomb devastated the main government building in Norway's capital Oslo on Friday, and state radio said two people were killed and several others wounded. Though the attack was on the very heart of power in the small Nordic state, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was safe. There was no claim of responsibility." ...

     ... Update: "A bomb ripped through Oslo's central government district on Friday and a gunman dressed as a policeman then opened fire at a youth camp on a nearby island, killing at least 17 people altogether." ...

     ... New York Times Update: "Norway suffered a pair of devastating attacks on Friday when powerful explosions shook the government center here, killing seven people, and shortly after a gunman stalked youths at an island summer camp for young members of the governing Labor Party, killing at least 80. The police arrested a Norwegian man in connection with both attacks, the deadliest on Norwegian soil since World War II.... After the shooting the police seized a 32-year-old Norwegian man on the island.... He was later identified as Anders Behring Breivik and characterized by officials as a right-wing extremist, citing previous writings including on his Facebook page."

President Obama held a townhall-style meeting at the University of Maryland late this morning.

Politico has a pretty good rundown of what the various factions have said in the past 24 hours about the deficit reduction/debt ceiling catastrophe of Washington's own making.

I’m the Senate majority leader — why don’t I know about this deal? -- Harry Reid (D-Nev.), to Obama OMB Director Jack Lew

AP: "House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that Republicans controlling the chamber are willing to compromise on legislation increasing the government's borrowing authority." CW: This is almost a sick joke. According to news reports, Obama has cut a "deal" which does not require any compromise whatsoever. ...

... Now, contrast the Obama plan to cut trillions from programs for poor & middle class people with this good news: AP: "General Electric Co. said Friday that earnings grew 21 percent in the second quarter as its GE Capital lending arm continued to recover from the recession." GE's CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, heads President Obama's Jobs Commission. GE has sent thousands of American jobs offshore.

AP: "Pentagon chief Leon Panetta has decided to end the ban on gays serving openly in the armed services and certify that repealing the 17-year-old prohibition will not hurt the military's ability to fight, officials said Thursday."

Who Needs NASA? New York Times: "Spurred by a $30 million purse put up by Google, 29 teams have signed up for a competition to become the first private venture to land on the Moon.... At the very least, a flotilla of unmanned spacecraft could be headed Moonward within the next few years, with goals that range from lofty to goofy."