The Commentariat -- Oct. 26, 2012

Rerun from Yesterday Afternoon's Commentariat: My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on Steven Pinker's NYT post "Why Are States So Red and Blue?" Another column, by a professor of religious studies, Ira Chernus, also disagrees with Pinker, though Chernus is meaner than I am. I actually disagree with Chernus, too.

Presidential Race

Nate Silver: "Mitt Romney clearly gained ground in the polls in the week or two after the Denver debate. However, the FiveThirtyEight forecast finds a slightly favorable trend for President Obama over the past 10 days."

We're Not Racists, But We're Voting for the White Guy. Jon Cohen & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "The 2012 election is shaping up to be more polarized along racial lines than any presidential contest since 1988, with President Obama experiencing a steep drop in support among white voters from four years ago. At this stage in 2008, Obama trailed Republican John McCain by seven percentage points among white voters. Even in victory, Obama ended up losing white voters by 12 percentage points.... But now, Obama has a deficit of 23 percentage points, trailing Republican Mitt Romney 60 percent to 37 percent among whites, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News national tracking poll." ...

... Frankly, when you take a look at Colin Powell, you have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues or whether he's got a slightly different reason for preferring President Obama.... I think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being President of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him. -- John Sununu, Romney surrogate campaign chair

Yes, because "when you take a look at Colin Powell," the former Secretary of State, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs & a fellow Republican, all you can see is a black man. -- Constant Weader

Four years ago, when former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed Barack Obama, Rush Limbaugh led the charge, accusing Powell of only supporting the Democrat because of race. In 2012, the same argument is being pushed by the national chairman of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. -- Steve Benen

Washington Post Editors endorse President Obama for re-election:

... there is no way to know what Mr. Romney really believes. His unguarded expression of contempt for 47 percent of the population seems as sincere as anything else we've heard.... At times he has advocated a muscular, John McCain-style foreign policy, but in the final presidential debate he positioned himself as a dove. Before he passionately supported a fetus's right to life, he supported a woman's right to abortion. His swings have been dramatic on gay rights, gun rights, health care, climate change and immigration. His ugly embrace of 'self-deportation' during the Republican primary campaign, and his demolition of a primary opponent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, for having left open a door of opportunity for illegal-immigrant children, bespeaks a willingness to say just about anything to win.... Rarely has a politician gotten so far with only one evident immutable belief: his conviction in his own fitness for higher office.

So voters are left with the centerpiece of Mr. Romney's campaign: promised tax cuts that would blow a much bigger hole in the federal budget while worsening economic inequality. His claims that he could avoid those negative effects, which defy math and which he refuses to back up with actual proposals, are more insulting than reassuring.

By contrast, the president understands the urgency of the problems as well as anyone in the country and is committed to solving them in a balanced way. In a second term, working with an opposition that we hope would be chastened by the failure of its scorched-earth campaign against him, he is far more likely than his opponent to succeed. That makes Mr. Obama by far the superior choice.

Douglas Brinkley interviews President Obama for Rolling Stone. ...

... Brinkley recounts a conversation between Rolling Stone editor Eric Bates & President Obama that took place after the interview wrapped up. In part, it went like this: "'Thought about lowering the voting age?' Bates joked. 'You know, kids have good instincts,' Obama offered. 'They look at the other guy and say, "Well, that's a bullshitter, I can tell."'" The Bullshitter Romney campaign is totally pissed. ...

... BTW, according to Paul Krugman, Romney is promising us a pony. I guess Obama misrepresented the source of the shit. Here's what else Krugman says: "... a slow job is better than a snow job. Mr. Obama may not be as bold as we'd like, but he isn't actively misleading voters the way Mr. Romney is. Furthermore, if we ask what Mr. Romney would probably do in practice, including sharp cuts in programs that aid the less well-off and the imposition of hard-money orthodoxy on the Federal Reserve, it looks like a program that might well derail the recovery and send us back into recession."

Horror Story. Tim Egan foretells how a Romney presidency would go.

"Winners & Losers." Would Mitt Romney really make better choices than President Obama has? --

... Oh, There's This. Callum Borchers of the Boston Globe: "Mitt Romney testified under oath in 1991 that the ex-wife of Staples founder Tom Stemberg got a fair deal in the couple's 1988 divorce, even though the company shares Maureen Sullivan Stemberg received were valued at a tenth of Staples' stock price on the day of its initial public offering only a year later.... 'In my opinion, [$2.25 was] a good price to sell the securities at,' Romney ... testified in June 1991. But on April 28, 1989, barely a year after Sullivan Stemberg sold more than half of her shares on the premise that they were worth less than $2.50 apiece, the company made its initial public offering at $19 per share and ended its first day at $22.50." ...

... Elizabeth Amon of Bloomberg News: "... Mitt Romney, as a board member of Staples Inc., voted to set a low price on the stock and create a new class of shares as a 'favor' to its co-founder who was involved in a divorce. Romney, in testimony in 1991 in the divorce case of Staples co-founder Tom Stemberg, said the special class of Staple shares was created because Stemberg 'needed a settlement with his wife.'" ...

... Julie Pace & Steve Peoples of the AP: "... Mitt Romney is ... facing continued pressure to break his silence on a GOP Senate candidate's statement that any pregnancy resulting from rape is 'something God intended.' ... [Romney] is also trying to move past new questions about his role in a key supporter's divorce. Court documents released Thursday reveal that Romney created a special class of company stock for Staples founder Tom Stemberg's then-wife as a 'favor.'"

New York Times Editors: during the final two weeks of the campaign, "Mr. Romney is providing nostrums instead of policies.... By comparison, Mr. Obama, though he waited too long to begin providing specifics on his second-term agenda, has decided to spend the last two weeks describing them."

Nicholas Confessore & Derek Willis of the New York Times: "President Obama and Mitt Romney are both on pace to raise more than $1 billion with their parties by Election Day, according to figures released by the campaigns on Thursday."

Karl Rove, Social Welfare Missionary. S. V. Date of NPR: "Karl Rove's tax-exempt Crossroads GPS group just months ago said it was only interested in advancing issues, not engaging in electoral politics. This week, it began running a minute-long ad telling viewers to vote for Republican Mitt Romney -- and it doesn't mention at all those very issues it had been saying were central to its mission." CW: Read the whole post; sounds like the IRS may have some bad news for Brother Karl and his secret mega-donors. Thanks to contributor Diane for the link. ...

... BUT none of his lyin' ads is as terrific as this one. Thanks to contributor Lisa for the link:

... AND The End of Virginity. Filmmaker/actor Lena Dunham tells about her "first time":

Greg Sargent has a useful piece on early voting & why the Obama campaign is urging its supporters to vote early. Early voting starts in Florida Saturday, & we just got our sample ballots Thursday. My husband & I will be voting during the next week. Especially if you live in a Voter Suppression state (like mine), I think it's a good idea to try to vote early in case you encounter an impediment & need time to clear it up. ...

... President Obama voted Thursday in Chicago:

** Writing in the New York Times, Joe Stiglitz, Dean of the Dismal Science, gives depressing a lecture on income inequality in the U.S. & why Mitt Romney will make it even worse. CW: most Reality Chex readers already know all this, but it's helpful to see the story summed up in one piece.

About Those Battleships. David Axe of Wired: "A bigger maritime force has the possibility of personally enriching one of [Mitt Romney]'s top advisers. In fact, it already has.... For one of Romney's most important advisers on Navy issues, a man who oversaw a massive naval expansion for Pres. Ronald Reagan, there's more at stake than U.S. national security. John Lehman, an investment banker and former secretary of the Navy, has strong and complex personal financial ties to the naval shipbuilding industry. He has profited hugely from the Navy's slow growth in recent years -- raising the prospect that he could make even more if Romney takes his advice on expanding the fleet." Thanks to reader Kay S. for the link.

Michelle Obama appeared on Jimmy Kimmel's show last night. You can watch her appearance, divvied into 93 segments, here.

Congressional Races

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The Indiana Senate candidate Richard E. Mourdock's reintroduction of rape and abortion into the political dialogue this week is the latest in a series of political missteps that have made the Republican quest to seize control of the Senate a steeper climb. Once viewed as likely to win the Senate, Republicans are now in jeopardy of losing seats in Massachusetts and Maine." CW: yes, indeedy, it's just a "misstep" to accidentally reveal you're a misogynist loon. ...

... CW: Sorry to O.D. on Stewart today, but this is why satire & "fake news" is more informative than the New York Times (and of course Joe Scarborough):

Other Stuff

Mark Clayton of the Christian Science Monitor: "In four key battleground states -- Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, and Colorado -- glitches in e-voting machines could produce incorrect or incomplete tallies that would be difficult to detect and all but impossible to correct because the machines have no paper record for officials to go back and check." CW: I suppose Chuck Todd thinks the Christian Science Monitor is spreading crazy conspiracy theories.

File This Under "Things You Don't Expect to Find on the Front Page of the New York Times." Joseph Goldstein: "In one of the most disturbing and unusual arrests involving a police officer, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents took Officer ... Gilberto Valle, a six-year veteran of the New York Police Department..., into custody on Wednesday, after they uncovered several of his plots to kidnap, rape, cook and eat women. 'I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus,' he wrote to a co-conspirator in one electronic communication intercepted by law enforcement authorities. 'Cook her over a low heat, keep her alive as long as possible.'"

How to Fire a CEO. Jessica Silver-Greenberg & Susanne Craig of the New York Times: "Vikram Pandit's last day at Citigroup swung from celebratory to devastating in a matter of minutes. Having fielded congratulatory e-mails about the earnings report in the morning that suggested the bank was finally on more solid ground, Mr. Pandit strode into the office of the chairman [of the board] at day's end on Oct. 15 for what he considered just another of their frequent meetings.... Instead, Mr. Pandit ... was told three news releases were ready. One stated that Mr. Pandit had resigned, effective immediately. Another that he would resign, effective at the end of the year. The third release stated Mr. Pandit had been fired without cause. The choice was his."

Keith Bradsher of the New York Times: "The Chinese government swiftly blocked access early Friday morning to the Chinese-language Web site of The New York Times from computers in mainland China and intermittently halted most access to the English-language site as well after the news organization posted an article in both languages describing wealth accumulated by the family of the country's prime minister."

News Ledes

AP: "Just two days after announcing he won't run in spring elections, former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to four years in prison Friday in a verdict that could see him barred from public office for five years.... The court, which began hearing the case in 2006, also said Berlusconi could not hold public office for five years or manage any company for three years.... In a statement, Berlusconi's lawyers ... said they would appeal."

AP: "'Frankenstorm' is looking more ominous by the hour for the East Coast, and utilities and local governments are getting ready. Meteorologists expect a natural horror show of high wind, heavy rain, extreme tides and maybe snow to the west beginning early Sunday, peaking with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday and lingering past Halloween on Wednesday."

AP: "The U.S. economy grew at a slightly faster 2 percent annual rate from July through September, buoyed by more spending by consumers and the federal government."

Washington Post: "The 'fiscal cliff' is still two months off, but ... is already reverberating through the U.S. economy, hampering growth and, according to a new study, wiping out nearly 1 million jobs this year alone. The report, scheduled for release Friday by the National Association of Manufacturers, predicts that the economic damage would deepen considerably if Congress fails to avert the cliff, destroying nearly 6 million jobs through 2014 and sending the unemployment rate soaring to near 12 percent." CW: so if the government is superfluous to the vaunted market economy, why do manufacturers claim the so-called fiscal cliff would wreak havoc?

AP: "In a stirring tribute Thursday to former Sen. George McGovern, Vice President Joe Biden hailed the onetime presidential nominee as the 'father of the modern Democratic Party' for his forceful stand against the Vietnam War and for helping open the party to more women, young people and minorities."

Reuters: Fighting in Syria killed several people on Friday as a ceasefire brokered by international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to mark a holy Muslim day frayed almost before it had begun."

Reuters: "A suicide bomber killed at least 40 people in a mosque in Afghanistan's relatively peaceful north on Friday as worshippers gathered for prayers marking the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.... The attack in Maimana, capital of Faryab province, also wounded 40...."

Reuters: "President Vladimir Putin flatly rejected on Thursday Western criticism of the imprisonment of the Pussy Riot punk protest band, saying its three female members deserved their fate because they threatened the moral foundations of Russia."

The Commentariat -- Oct. 25, 2012

My column in the New York Times eXaminer is on Steven Pinker's NYT post "Why Are States So Red and Blue?" Another column, by a professor of religious studies, Ira Chernus, also disagrees with Pinker, though Chernus is meaner than I am. I actually disagree with Chernus, too, but what the hell?

October Surprise. Ben Protess of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors in New York sued Bank of America on Wednesday, accusing it of carrying out a mortgage scheme that defrauded the government during the depths of the financial crisis. In a civil complaint that seeks to collect $1 billion from the bank, the Justice Department took aim at a home loan program known as the 'hustle,' a venture that has become emblematic of the risk-fueled mortgage bubble. The complaint adds to a flurry of federal and private lawsuits facing Bank of America's beleaguered mortgage business."

Presidential Race

Des Moines Register: "Without comment, campaign officials for President Obama this morning released to the Des Moines Register a transcript of an interview he had Tuesday with Laura Hollingsworth, president and publisher of the Register, and Rick Green, editor/vice-president of news. Initially, the White House had asked that the conversation be considered off-the-record and its details not shared with readers. Its release comes on the heels of a Tuesday evening DesMoinesRegister.com blog post by Green questioning why an endorsement interview with the Register would be off-the-record." So here's the transcript of the interview. Definitely worth reading. P.S. he's still loving that granny-starving Grand Bargain. ...

... Update. Lori Montgomery & Peter Wallsten of the Washington Post: "President Obama, criticized as failing to offer a vision for a potential second term, has begun sketching out his agenda with greater specificity in recent days, including a pledge to solve the nation's budget problems within 'the first six months.' In an interview made public Wednesday, Obama said he would pursue a 'grand bargain' with Republicans to tame the national debt and would quickly follow that with a push to overhaul the nation's immigration laws." ...

... Jamelle Bouie in the Washington Post: "If this interview raises a question, it’s this: Why hasn't Obama been this clear more often in articulating his case for a second term, and his plans for the next four years? It's not that he doesn't have them, but until recently, talking about them has been less of a priority for Team Obama. Why?"

Jeff Zeleny & Ashley Parker of the New York Times: Mitt Romney assures supporters that he will win the presidency, but "the Romney team is mindful that the new enthusiasm has not opened any new paths to winning 270 electoral votes.... While both campaigns are still advertising in nine battleground states, advisers to both sides say that the most competitive fight is now taking place in seven: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin. A huge get-out-the-vote effort is under way in all states, with only a sliver of undecided voters remaining." CW: gee, a sane report from the New York Times. Refreshing, especially considering the reporters here are Fox "News" contributor Zeleny & Maureen Dowd acolyte Parker. ...

Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling: "A new Public Policy Polling survey in Virginia ... finds Barack Obama expanding his lead in the aftermath of his debate victory Monday night. He now has 51% to 46% for Mitt Romney, up from a 49/47 advantage last weekend." Greg Sargent points out that the PPP poll is "out of sync with the averages."

Lydia Saad of Gallup: "For the first time in more than five years, slightly more Americans are feeling financially better off, rather than worse off, compared with a year ago, by 38% to 34%. This represents a significant improvement since May of President Barack Obama's first year as president, when the majority -- 54% -- said they were worse off."

Republican Colin Powell endorses Barack Obama again. It's a realistic & well-informed endorsement, & he has to repeatedly correct that ignorant blowhard Charlie Rose. CBS News print story here:

Women Get Stupid. Jennifer Agiesta & Nancy Benac of the AP: "... Mitt Romney has erased President Barack Obama's 16-point advantage among women, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows. And the president, in turn, has largely eliminated Romney's edge among men. Those churning gender dynamics leave the presidential race still a virtual dead heat, with Romney favored by 47 percent of likely voters and Obama by 45 percent, a result within the poll's margin of sampling error...."

Deborah Charles of Reuters: "Two weeks before what could be one of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history, efforts to mislead, intimidate or pressure voters are an increasingly prominent part of the political landscape. Analysts say tactics typically seen in the last few days before an election are already in play."

Nicholas Kristof: "If you want to see how Romney's economic policies would work out, take a look at Europe. And weep. In the last few years, Germany and Britain, in particular, have implemented precisely the policies that Romney favors, and they have been richly praised by Republicans here as a result. Yet these days those economies seem, to use a German technical term, kaput."

The Leno interview is a five-parter. Here's Part 1. The other four parts are here:

     ... Helene Cooper of the New York Times writes a "Caucus" post on the interview. Jeff Mason of Reuters also covers the interview. Both lead with the President's comments on Indiana GOP candidate Richard Mourdock's remarks about rape.

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: Benghazi is so not a scandal.

Michelle Obama appears in a generic GOTV Spanish-language campaign ad. According to Sarah Wheaton of the New York Times, this is the First Lady's first (& only) ad:

Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post: Mitt Romney doubles down on "misstatements" [a/k/a lies] he told during the final presidential debate.

Ouch! "Mitt Romney IS Bain Capital." This Workers Voice PAC ad will run in Ohio & Wisconsin:

Charles Blow: Paul "Ryan — the man whose budget would wreak havoc on the poor — steps to a podium and pretends to be a defender of the poor [in a speech in Ohio]. Sometimes you just run out of words for galling."

Henry Decker of the National Memo lists ten Romney scandals that the mainstream media have forgot about. CW: it is inconceivable that a Democrat could get away with this kind of resume'.

Alec MacGillis of The New Republic is bummed that the media are so lacking in self-awareness that they think they have no influence over people's perceptions of events.

Paul Krugman's worst-case-scenario result of a Romney presidency. "There's almost no bottom on what can happen":

Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times: blogger David Twede of MormonThink is quitting the Mormon Church rather than face excommunication for his posts criticizing Mormon beliefs & Mitt Romney. Twede's Website is here.

Denise Lavoie of the AP: "A Massachusetts judge will hold another hearing before deciding whether to unseal testimony that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave in the divorce case of Staples founder Tom Stemberg. Ex-wife Maureen Sullivan Stemberg appeared in court Wednesday with lawyer Gloria Allred. They said they did not object to a Boston Globe motion to lift an impoundment order on Romney's 1991 testimony in the case. Attorneys said Romney's testimony dealt with financial matters." ...

     ... TMZ has the scoop on what that's all about: "Mitt Romney LIED under oath when he testified in the divorce of his good friend and screwed the friend's wife out of a lot of money in the process ... so claims the ex-wife of Staples' founder Tom Stemberg.  Multiple sources ... tell TMZ ... during Tom's uber nasty divorce case with ex-wife Maureen, Mitt Romney gave a deposition and testified during the trial that Staples was worth virtually nothing.... Partly as a result of Romney's testimony, Maureen got relatively little in the divorce, but we're told just weeks after the divorce ended, Romney and Tom went to Goldman Sachs and cashed in THEIR stock for a fortune." There's more. ...

... David Corn of Mother Jones has some more info & corroborating evidence.

Whatever Happened to Sarah Palin? Oh, She's Still Around. Neetzam Zimmerman of Gawker: "... on her Facebook page, Palin called on President Obama to end his 'shuck and jive shtick with these Benghazi lies.' Palin ... is purposely aiming slave-owner terminology at a black person." ...

... Greg Krieg of ABC News: "'Shuck and jive' is a racially loaded expression that has mostly disappeared from public discourse over the past half-century. 'She never ceases to amaze," ABC News political analyst Nicolle Wallace, a former aide to Palin during the 2008 election, said today. 'It's entirely possible that she was ignorant about the racial implications of her comments, but at this point, I'm not sure what's more incredible -- her ignorance or her eagerness to offend.'"

Russell Goldman of ABC News: "Donald Trump's 'major news" is now Twitter laughingstock.... Trump today pledged $5 million to a charity of President Obama's choice, provided the president makes public his college applications and transcripts and releases his passport history, a far cry from the October-surprise bombshell Trump had promised.... When asked about Trump's comments, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe told reporters: 'Direct your questions to Boston [Mitt Romney's campaign headquarters], he's Romney's biggest supporter.'" Here are some other Twitter responses. ...

... Dana Milbank: "This was trumped up even by the Donald's self-aggrandizing standards. Denunciations and derision rang out from the political left, right and center. The bookmaker that took bets on Trump's bombshell refunded the wagers. The real estate mogul had managed to make his real announcement resemble the Onion's spoof article: 'Donald Trump announced that he is a very sad man who has nothing to live for other than drawing attention to himself.'" ...

... ** Michael Grunwald of Time: Donald Trump's latest flame-out reminds us that Americans should get over the cult of the CEO. "... there is no reason to think that CEO's have any more insight into the national interest than their workers do."

Congressional Races

Rosalind Helderman & Jason Horowitz of the Washington Post: "In the battle for control of the U.S. Senate, there are now at least eight critical contests in which polling shows essentially a dead heat, encouraging Republicans' hopes that they may yet snag the chamber, which very recently seemed beyond their reach. Some of the GOP boost is coming from the top of the ticket in the form of Mitt Romney, whose recent surge in the polls seems to be helping Republican candidates across the country." CW: this tells quite a different story from the Real Clear Politics story I linked yesterday which opined that Republicans were not likely to gain control of the Senate. How would this be a disaster? See Krugman's remarks above.

Lizette Alvarez of the New York Times reports on contentious Florida Congressional races. CW: Alvarez' piece is like reading Gail Collins, only the candidates are the jokes & provide the snark. I was born in Florida. I grew up here. And now, after a decades-long sojourn in other parts, I am back. Nonetheless, I do think I'll update my passport, pack my bags in due course & apply for a visa to Calyban's Enlightened States of America.

Gail Collins: "'I got into the race after looking at the faces of my six little grandchildren,' said Linda McMahon. She is the Republican candidate for the United States Senate in Connecticut, and, over the last three years, she has spent more than $77 million attempting to get elected. When the little grandchildren are grown into the heirs to the McMahon family fortune, do you think they'll regard that as a good choice?"

New York Times Editors: "Representative Joe Walsh, a Republican freshman congressman known for legislation like the Save Christmas Act and for shooting off his mouth, is battling Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat and war veteran, in a race that stands out for its saturating quantities of rancor, negativity and outside cash. The lowlights of Mr. Walsh's campaign include screaming at constituents, denigrating Ms. Duckworth's military service and, most recently, insisting that there is no such thing as an abortion to protect a woman's life or health because of 'advances in science and technology.' Beyond his deplorable remarks, Mr. Walsh has also drawn criticism for the questionable amounts of money flooding into his race." One of his biggest contributors: a Super PAC he helped found.

Other Stuff

Fareed Zakaria in the Washington Post: "Increasingly, the evidence suggests that the United States has come out of the financial crisis of 2008 in better shape than its peers -- because of the actions of its government."

Lynn Beisner (a pseudonym) explains the conservative Christian's view of why bad things happen to bad people: see, girls, if you're going out & about without the protection of male family members, you're asking to be raped. It's god's way of teaching you to be more virtuous. "The idea that rape is God's will is not an isolated misogynistic idea. It is but one logical outcome of a theology which says that God hurts us to help us -- that when we intervene in another person's suffering, we may be stopping God from doing his loving work in the person's life.... Think about ... what it would look like if you applied that theology to all public policy. And now you understand the Tea Party." CW: BTW, there is no such lesson in the Gospels; this is "theology" invented out of whole cloth. Rather, the lesson from the Sermon on the Mount is "[God] causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." (Matthew 5:45) The same thesis is expressed elsewhere in the Gospels. Thanks to contributor Marvin S. for the link.

The always-provocative Steven Pinker guest-blogs on the New York Times' "Opinionator" philosophy column "The Stone" to try to put the red state/blue state divide in historical context. I'll comment on his column in Thursday's New York Times eXaminer as I think Pinker is on the right track but misses some essential elements that help explain the philosophical divide. Thanks to contributor MAG for the link.

Do read the obituary of Judge Betty Binns Fletcher. What a woman!

New York Times Editors: Kentucky should abolish the death penalty. "The death penalty in Kentucky is colossally unfair, costly and riddled with constitutional error. From 1976 through last year, of the 78 people sentenced to death in the state, 50 had their sentences overturned on appeal, with 15 of those for prosecutorial mistakes or misconduct. Last December, a report conducted by the American Bar Association based on a two-year review by a team of lawyers, professors and former members of the State Supreme Court found enormous problems with the state's capital system."

Matthew Purdy & Christine Haughney of the New York Times: Mark Thompson, formerly head of the BBC & incoming Times CEO, has changed his story in the last 10 days on what he knew & when he knew it re: the Jimmy Savile sexual-abuse scandal. Said one former BBC producer who is now an MP, "Mr. Thompson was well paid 'to, apparently, not know what was going on under his own roof.'"

News Ledes

New York Times: "Margaret Osborne duPont, a tenacious and durable American tennis champion who won six Grand Slam singles titles in the middle decades of the 20th century while becoming one of the most dominant doubles players of her era, died Wednesday at her home in El Paso. She was 94."

New York Times: "Weeks after [Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu struggled to repair a rift with the Obama administration about public comments on the Iranian nuclear threat, the prime minister and his aides were trying to head off any political problems over a report in The New York Times on Sunday saying that Washington and Tehran had agreed in principle to have direct talks after the American presidential election.... Both sides wanted to control the message to avoid further flare-up."

AP: "The U.S. military did not quickly intervene during the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya last month because military leaders did not have adequate intelligence information and felt they should not put American forces at risk, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday in his most extensive comments to date on the unfolding controversy surrounding the attack in Benghazi."

AP: "Hurricane Sandy made landfall Thursday just west of Santiago de Cuba in southern Cuba, where residents boarded over windows and cleared drainage gutters ahead of the strengthening storm that had roared across Jamaica and left two dead in the Caribbean. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Sandy, which had strengthened to a category 2 hurricane, was located over southeastern Cuba and moving north at 18 mph (30 kph), with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph) and is expected to remain a hurricane as it moves through the Bahamas."

Market Watch: "Sales of new single-family homes in the U.S. rose 5.7% in September to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 389,000, the highest pace since April 2010, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported Wednesday." ...

... AND USA Today: "The number of first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell 23,000 to a seasonally adjusted 369,000 the week ended Oct. 20, the Labor Department said Thursday, reflecting an improving labor market." ...

... BUT Bloomberg News: "North American companies have announced plans to eliminate more than 62,600 positions at home and abroad since Sept. 1, the biggest two-month drop since the start of 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg."

Reuters: "President Bashar al-Assad's forces fired heavy tank and rocket barrages at a Damascus suburb on Thursday, killing five people, opposition activists said, a day before a UN-brokered ceasefire is due to come into force."

The Commentariat -- Oct. 24, 2012

** Charles Pierce ties Chuck Todd to the cult of American Exceptionalism. But forget Chuck Todd. Pierce's lesson is something that American men & women smarter than Chuckie need to learn. It's a hard lesson to learn, perhaps because we learned it as "fact" in grade school in the same way & at a proximate time so many of us learned about God & Jesus (or whichever of God's purported sidekicks your mentors preferred). God Bless America.

Presidential Race

Nielsen: "An estimated 59.2 million people tuned in to watch the third and final debate between President Barack Obama and ... Mitt Romney on Monday, October 22."

Jon Cohen of the Washington Post: "The new Washington Post-ABC News national tracking poll has 49 percent of likely voters supporting Republican Mitt Romney, and 48 percent President Obama, a seesawing result that shows the continued narrowness of the contest." ...

... Gallup daily tracking now has Romney up by five, a one-point drop from yesterday. ...

... Nate Silver writes that there's a 50-50 chance Ohio will decide the election. ...

David Jackson of USA Today: "In blasting what he calls 'Romnesia' -- his opponent's habit of changing positions -- Obama told backers Tuesday in Ohio: "Now, we joke about Governor Romney being all over the map, but it speaks to something important -- it speaks of trust. There's no more serious issue in a presidential campaign than trust,' Obama said during a rally in Dayton. 'Trust matters. You want to know that the person who's applying to be your President and Commander-in-Chief is trustworthy, that he means what he says, that he's not just making stuff up depending on whether it's convenient or not.'" The Romney campaign responded by saying Obama broke "virtually every [campaign] promise" he made in 2008.

... President Obama, in Ohio, pretty much calls Mitt Romney a liar. Obama is hoarse already:

Jillian Hughes of CBS News: "... the Obama campaign is feeling good: the president's advisers insist they are winning nationally and in battleground states. And they say this is the race they have always prepared for. 'This is a race we believe we're leading,' said senior strategist David Axelrod on a conference call with reporters, 'We believe we're leading nationally and we're leading in these battleground states.'" ...

... Jonathan Chait of New York: "Despite a lack of any evident positive momentum over the last week -- indeed, in the face of a slight decline from its post-Denver high -- the Romney camp is suddenly bursting with talk that it will not only win but win handily.... This is a bluff. Romney is carefully attempting to project an atmosphere of momentum, in the hopes of winning positive media coverage and, thus, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.... Obama's lead is narrow -- narrow enough that the polling might well be wrong and Romney could win. But he is leading, his lead is not declining, and the widespread perception that Romney is pulling ahead is Romney's campaign suckering the press corps with a confidence game." ...

... Michael Tomasky of Newsweek concurs: creating alternate realities is what conservatives do. ...

... Alec MacGillis of The New Republic: the so-called "liberal media," bored with an election it appeared Obama would win, picked up on the Romney comeback story half-way through the Denver debate, & even though Romney-Ryan have lost every debate since then, the "liberal media" are not letting go of their story. ...

... Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "The press mostly seems to be stuck in its post-first-debate groove of insisting that Mitt Romney has all the momentum and is closing fast on President Obama. And maybe so. But that's not what our best forecasters think. Models from both Sam Wang and Nate Silver show the same thing: Romney surged after the first debate, but by October 12 that started to turn around. Since then, the momentum has mostly been Obama's."

** Rick Green, editor of the Des Moines Register, on Obama's "informative, passionate, genuine insightful" bid for re-election -- the one you will never hear. CW: very stupid move on the part of the Obama campaign. The POTUS should never be off the record when he speaks to journalists.

President Obama in Delray Beach, Florida, on Tuesday. "You might have Romnesia if ..." riff begins about 3:30 in:

Igor Volsky of Think Progress: in 41 minutes of debate speaking time, Romney told 24 lies myths. CW: Oh, Igor, that's nothing. His campaign told 5 lies in one 30-second ad. ...

... Joe Conason of the National Memo points out a whopper: "'... I like American cars,' said Mitt Romney [during the presidential debate].... 'And I would do nothing to hurt the U.S. auto industry.' That might be considered true -- unless moving the most important American auto parts manufacturer to China counts as hurting the U.S. auto industry.... Those words now stand as one of Romney's most glaring falsehoods in the final debate." ...

... AND Jon Stewart fact-checks Romney's debate performance:

Romney Endorses Obama. Video by the Huffington Post:

Liz Goodwin of Yahoo! News: "Mitt Romney's 2008 op-ed 'Let Detroit Go Bankrupt' soared to the top of The New York Times' online 'Most Viewed' list Tuesday, following a testy exchange between the former governor and President Barack Obama over the auto bailout at Monday night's debate." Romney's op-ed is here. CW: His prescription sucked for a number of reasons: (1) it was completely unworkable, as no private financiers would lend money to the automakers; (2) his first & lengthiest suggestion was to stick it to autoworkers; & (3) he expects the government to fund R&D to help U.S. automakers. We can argue about (3), but -- with some exceptions -- I'm opposed to the government's spending my tax dollars to enrich the titans of industry. This is something that happens too often at the federal, state & even local levels.

Ben Adler of the Nation: in exchange for their endorsement, Mitt Romney secretly promised the Log Cabin Republicans -- the most prominent Republican gay rights organization -- he would support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a major piece of gay rights legislation. ...

... John Aravosis of AmericaBlog: "Let's all count down together to how long it will take for Romney to issue a statement revoking his secret pact to support ENDA: 3, 2, 1...." In an update, Aravosis reports that the American Family Association is not amused: "ENDA will be the official end of religious freedom in America." Blah blah.

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: Clint Eastwood has cut a 30-second ad for American CrossRove's in support of Mitt Romney. In the scripted ad, Eastwood says the U.S. can't survive another four years of Obama. Blah blah.

Michael Cieply & Brian Stetler of the New York Times: "President Obama will have a starring role in a television drama about one of his biggest accomplishments -- the killing of Osama bin Laden -- that will be shown just two nights before the presidential election.... Set for a prime-time debut on Nov. 4 on the National Geographic Channel, and a release the next day on Netflix, the film -- 'SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden' -- is being backed by Harvey Weinstein, a longtime Democratic contributor and one of the Obama campaign's most vigorous backers." Here's the trailer:

Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post: "The radicals who dominate the Republican Party have entertained Romney's turn to the center as a necessary electoral expedient. The day after a Romney victory, their blitzkrieg will begin -- leaving the moderate Mitt of the general election to historians specializing in short-lived phenomena."

Myles Tanzer of Gawker: "... Donald Trump has been parading around this week alleging that he had a bombshell so big that it was 'bordering on gigantic.' A story so big that it would 'possibly' change the state of the election.... It seems Trump has found some long lost divorce papers drawn up by Michelle Obama." ...

... A few excited tweets from the media about Trump's gigantic announcement, via Politico:

That is not Obama's real hair. #Trumpsurprise -- David Corn, Mother Jones

If a blowhard moron spouts bile about a president and EVERYONE ignores it, does he make a sound? #trump -- Matt Spence, Times of London Washington bureau

I don't want to be too judgmental, but Donald Trump couldn't be dumber if you cut his head off. -- Roger Simon, Politico

AND Welcome to the World of Right-Wing "Fact-Checkers." David Martosko of The Daily Caller has a SCOOP: "In a response to Romney's barb that Obama has allowed the U.S. Navy's inventory of battleships to approach a historic low mark, Obama snarked that 'we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed.' But horses and bayonets both remain vital parts of the U.S. arsenal." (Emphasis added, because it's such a BIG SCOOP.) Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs awards Martosko the "Stupidest Wingnut Article of the Day" prize.

Congressional Races

Rape Is Part of God's Plan. Life is that gift from God that I think even if life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen. -- Richard Mourdock (RTP), Indiana U.S. Senate candidate, during a televised debate

... Ian Millhiser & Travis Waldron of Think Progress have more. They also note that Mitt Romney cut a TV ad for Moredick -- the only ad Romney has made for another GOP candidate this year. Moderate Mitt? Not so much. ...

     ... Update. Chris Good of ABC News: "Democrats wasted no time linking ... Mitt Romney to Mourdock. Earlier this week, Romney personally appeared in a TV ad for the Indiana state treasurer, offering his endorsement. 'Richard Mourdock's rape comments ... have become part and parcel of the modern Republican Party's platform toward women's health, as Congressional Republicans like Paul Ryan have worked to outlaw all abortions and even narrow the definition of rape,' Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement released to press." She called on Romney to denounce Mourdock & request that the ad be taken down. The Romney camp "distanced itself" from Moredick's remarks. ...

     ... The Indianapolis Star story, by Mary Beth Schneider & Carrie Ritchie, is here.

Charlie Mahtesian of Politico: In Connecticut, Republican wrestler lady/U.S. Senate candidate Linda McMahon tries to ride the coattails of -- Barack Obama.

Caitlin Huey-Burns of Real Clear Politics: "Republicans face an uphill climb in claiming the [Senate] majority. Of the 33 Senate races across the country, 10 are truly competitive. Democrats have 23 seats to defend. Republicans have 10 of their own to protect, but have to gain four additional seats -- three if Romney is elected -- to gain the upper hand. With Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson's retirement, Nebraska is likely to turn red. But Republicans hold four of the tossup seats -- two of which are in states where the president could help down-ballot candidates. 'Democrats are cautiously optimistic we will hold the majority,' said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Communications Director Matt Canter."

Other Stuff

Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "Women are attending college at higher rates than men, graduating in greater numbers and earning higher grades. Yet one year after graduation, women were making only 82 percent of what their male colleagues were paid, according to a report by the American Association of University Women set to be released Wednesday." CW: this helps explain the gender gap for both presidential candidates. An awful lot of men think women should earn less than men because women are just not as competent. Men know Mitt Romney will help ensure gender inequality, & they think that's great, even if they won't say so. The basis for my assertion? I've known quite a few men who were willing to say as much back in the day. Now they mostly know not to say it, just as they know not to use sexist & racist slurs. Richard Moredick's God-sanctioned rape is a product of this line of thinking. ...

... Update. Along those lines, Prof. Christina Wolbrecht writes a fascinating piece attributing the electoral gender gap to -- men! She's done the research to prove it.

Edward Wyatt of the New York Times: "Debt collection agencies, whose sometimes aggressive tactics have earned them scrutiny from consumer protection groups and state regulators, will come under federal supervision for the first time beginning Jan. 2, when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau begins oversight."

Christine Haughney & David Carr of the New York Times: "Mark Thompson, the former head of the British Broadcasting Corporation who has been drawn into the scandal involving allegations of sexual abuse against the former television personality Jimmy Savile, reiterated in an interview on Tuesday that he was not aware of an investigative report prepared for the BBC program 'Newsnight' into Mr. Savile's behavior until after the investigation was canceled."

News Ledes

** New York Times: "Betty Binns Fletcher, a federal appeals court judge whose liberal record inspired conservative opposition in the Senate when her son was named to serve alongside her on the same Western court, died on Monday in Seattle. She was 89."

New York Times: "The Federal Reserve held its course on Wednesday, announcing no changes in its campaign to stimulate the economy after a two-day meeting of its policy-making committee. The Fed issued an appraisal of the economy almost identical to the one it released six weeks ago. The economy is growing 'at a moderate pace,' it said. Job growth is slow. Housing is doing a little better. Inflation remains under control."

Reuters: "Palestinians fired dozens of rockets into Israel from Gaza on Wednesday and an Israeli air strike killed a militant, a day after the Emir of Qatar made a rare visit to the enclave's Hamas leadership. Hamas claimed responsibility for some of the rocket and mortar bomb attacks...."

Reuters: "April Pettit, an infectious diseases specialist at Vanderbilt University..., who ordered 'extra tests' on the spinal fluid of a patient is credited by colleagues with unlocking the mystery of a devastating fungal meningitis outbreak and prompting a national alert that may have saved lives."

New York Times: "Rajat K. Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs director, was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay a $5 million fine on Wednesday for leaking boardroom secrets to the former hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam. Mr. Gupta, 63, who ran the consulting firm McKinsey & Company and served as a major adviser to the philanthropic efforts of Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, is the most prominent figure to face prison in the government's sweeping crackdown on insider trading."

AP: "The Paris appeals court has upheld former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel's conviction for covering up massive losses, sentencing him to three years in prison and ordering him to pay back a staggering €4.9 billion (about $7 billion) in damages."

New York Times: "European regulators on Wednesday charged Microsoft with an antitrust violation for failing to live up to a prior agreement to give users of its Windows software better access to rival Internet browsers."

AP: "The U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria says the Syrian government and some rebel leaders have agreed to a ceasefire during the upcoming Muslim four-day holiday."

Reuters: "Officials at the White House and State Department were advised two hours after attackers assaulted the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 that an Islamic militant group had claimed credit for the attack, official emails show. The emails, obtained by Reuters from government sources not connected with U.S. spy agencies or the State Department and who requested anonymity, specifically mention that the Libyan group called Ansar al-Sharia had asserted responsibility for the attacks." ...

     ... Update: "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday a Facebook post in which an Islamic militant group claimed credit for a recent attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya did not constitute hard evidence of who was responsible."