The Commentariat -- December 19

This guy looks happy anyway. A Regent Street, London store greeter revels in the snowstorm that has snarled traffic throughout Europe. BTW, it appears they have a happier class of greeter in Regent Street than we do in American Wal-Marts. Guardian photo.Historian Eric Foner compares & contrasts Presidents Lincoln & Obama. While he finds one valid comparison -- "both made their national reputations through oratory rather than long careers of public service" -- Foner contrasts the two Presidents' relationships with liberal critics:

Obama’s rather petulant response to liberal critics of his tax deal, however, reveals a fundamental difference between the two men. Obama accuses liberals of being sanctimonious purists.... Lincoln, however, was open-minded, intellectual curious, and willing to listen to critics in his own party – qualities Obama appears to lack. Lincoln met frequently in the White House with abolitionists and Radicals and befriended Radicals.... Obama has surrounded himself with yes men. 

John Schwartz of the New York Times on the Supreme Court & the Affordable Health Act: "Predicting how justices will vote, and especially the reasoning they will use to get there, becomes especially dicey when questions concerning the extent of government power come up." ...

... Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "A new study ... showed that the percentage of business cases on the Supreme Court docket has grown in the Roberts years, as has the percentage of cases won by business interests."

David Gregory interviews Vice President Joe Biden:

Charles Babington of the AP: "The 2010 census report coming out Tuesday will include a boatload of good political news for Republicans and grim data for Democrats hoping to re-elect President Barack Obama and rebound from last month's devastating elections. The population continues to shift from Democratic-leaning Rust Belt states to Republican-leaning Sun Belt states, a trend the Census Bureau will detail in its once-a-decade report to the president. Political clout shifts, too, because the nation must reapportion the 435 House districts to make them roughly equal in population, based on the latest census figures."

Assange Gets Wikied. John Burns & Ravi Somaiya of the New York Times get hold of parts of the Swedish police reports on Julian Assange. This is as close as the Times gets to engaging your prurient interests. Nick Davies of the Guardian has a bit more, all along the same lines.

On a more uplifting note, Nicholas Kristof of the Times has his usual thoughtful, constructive gift suggestions.

In our relief over repeal of DADT, we should not forget that the Senate, in a 55-41 vote, failed to reach cloture on The DREAM bill, a bill that would have allowed innocent, undocumented young people who served in the military or furthered their education to obtain U.S. citizenship. Five of the Senators voting against the bill were so-called Democrats: Max Baucus (Mont.), Kay Hagan (NC), Ben Nelson (Neb.), Mark Pryor (Ark.) & John Tester (Mont.). Joe Manchin (WV), who opposed the bill, didn't bother to show up because he had to go to a party. If five of those six Democrats had voted for cloture, the DREAM bill -- which had passed the House -- would have become law. BTW, three Republicans: Dick Lugar, Lisa Murkowski & Bob Bennett voted for it. -- Constant Weader ...

... Julia Preston of the New York Times: "The vote by the Senate on Saturday to block a bill to grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant students was a painful setback to an emerging movement of immigrants and also appeared to leave the immigration policy of the Obama administration, which has supported the bill and the movement, in disarray."

** How Our Politicians Kill Us. Kate Pickett, an epidemiologist who is co-author with Richard Wilkinson of The Spirit Level, explains that income & social inequality in rich countries like the U.S., leads to illness & earlier deaths among the "least equal":

     ... The Equality Trust Website includes some of Wilkinson & Pickett's data as well as answers to criticisms of their work. As for how the states rate in income inequality, you can check your state (2007 data) on this PBS-Now interactive map. Utah has the least income inequality, followed by New Hampshire; New York state has the largest gap, followed by Alabama & Mississippi.

Frank Rich writes a terrific column deriding the clueless No Labels pseudo-movement (what? you've forgotten it already or never heard of it?) & explains to its insider promoters why they're so ridiculous:

WHAT America needs is not another political organization with a toothless agenda and less-than-transparent finances. The country will not rest easy until there are brave leaders in both parties willing to reform the system that let perpetrators of the Great Recession escape while the rest of us got stuck with the wreckage.

The only thing in the middle of the road is a thick yellow line of cowardice. And a lot of skunks. -- Karen Garcia, commenting on Rich's column (#7)

      ... Update: Karen tells me this was her inspiration, so thanks to Loudon Wainwright III:

     ... SO David Gregory gets the instigators of the No Labels group together to refudiate Rich. Naturally, Gregory helps them out:

AND Maureen Dowd polls opinionators on whether or not the U.S. is ready for a gay president.

If John McCain gets any more hostile toward his Senate colleagues, they might consider having him go through the metal detector before he enters the Capitol. -- Dana Milbank ...

... Milbank recounts McCain's latest antics & reports, "McCainologists in the Capitol speculate that on this and other issues he's driven less by policy consideration than by personal animosity. A decade ago, his antipathy toward President George W. Bush led him to seek common cause with Democrats.... Now his antipathy toward President Obama has made him a leading Republican hardliner." Luckily, we have the modest, self-effacing Joe Lieberman to put it all in perspective: "I just think we leave this fight knowing that I was right and he was wrong. I mean, it's as simple as that." ...

... Dennis G. of Balloon Juice has a few more thoughts on "crazy bitter John McCain" & the media's waning love affair with him. ...

... As does Ta-Nehisi Coates, who includes a class clip of McCain predicting gays will be responsible for a lot of military deaths.

Joe Manchin -- Fake Democrat. Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "When the Senate took two of its most highly anticipated votes of the lame-duck session on Saturday, West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin was nowhere to be found.... A Manchin spokesperson told the Charleston Gazette that the senator and his wife had 'planned a holiday gathering....' Manchin's absence stood in contrast to the presence of another Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who despite a recent diagnosis of prostate cancer, made it in for Saturday's votes. (Wyden is slated to undergo surgery on Monday.)... The Democrat ... has voted no on a host of Democratic-sponsored bills in recent weeks." He opposed both the DREAM bill & repeal of DADT.

CW: Shep Smith & Chris Wallace of Fox "News" go after legislators (no mention of "Senators") who blocked the 9/11 Responders bill, but notice they NEVER identify those blocking the vote as Republicans -- which is what they are. Fox must have a hard-&-fast "Never speak ill of Republicans" rule:

Attention, Wal-Mart Shoppers, This Is Store Manager Ebenezer Scrooge Speaking. Matthew Boyle of the Washington Post: "Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ... raised prices on hundreds of toys this month, squeezing more out of sales during the biggest shopping period of the year. Wal-Mart managers in the U.S. received instructions to mark up an average of 1,800 types of toys per store, according to a company e-mail dated Nov. 30...."

Richard Lardner of the AP: the AP has obtained U.S. documents which "... describe previously undisclosed offenses committed by more than 200 contract employees in Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries between 2004 and 2008. They were working under a broad State Department security services contract shared by DynCorp of Falls Church, Va.; Triple Canopy of Reston, Va.; and the company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide — Xe Services of Moyock, N.C. Most of the infractions, which include excessive drinking, drug use, sexual misconduct and mishandling weapons, were violations of corporate and U.S. policies that probably went unnoticed by ordinary Afghans and Iraqis. But other offenses played out in public, undermining U.S. efforts in both countries and raising questions about how carefully job candidates are screened."

Steven Lee Myers, et al., of the New York Times: "Even as contingency planning for any lasting American mission [in Iraq] has quietly continued in Baghdad and at the Pentagon..., the shifting political landscape in both countries has made it increasingly possible that the 2011 withdrawal could truly be total...."

Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times describes mortgage loan servicing -- the operations who "act as intermediaries between borrowers and their lenders" -- as "a perfect setup for administrators who want to take advantage of both borrowers and lenders." And they do.

The Commentariat -- December 18

Julia Preston of the New York Times: "Latino leaders have turned up the pressure on senators facing a vote on Saturday on a bill that would grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrant students, saying support of the measure will be used as a litmus test by Latino voters in the 2012 elections.

** Dana Milbank: "The only reason WikiLeaks has been a sensation is the absurd secrecy of the Obama administration, in some ways worse than that of George W. Bush.... The [WikiLeaks] episode spotlighted Obama's surprisingly poor record on government openness. The administration has already undertaken four prosecutions of government leakers, more than any predecessor, in some cases using the arcane, World War I-era Espionage Act. At the same time, the administration stymied efforts in Congress to pass a 'shield law' to protect journalists' confidential sources." ...

... Mark Hosenball & Jeremy Pelofsky of Reuters: "WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange's crusade for greater official transparency could backfire by provoking a U.S. government crackdown on leaks that might entangle even journalists, legal experts warn."

Read Charles Blow's column in the New York Times. Then read the comments, which are wonderful.

Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "A month ago President Obama was the big loser of 2010, the leader whose party had given up historic losses in the House and who was facing questions about his future. On Friday, with the stroke of his pen on a compromise tax bill, he reminded his adversaries of the essential resilience of the occupant of the Oval Office." ...

... Peter Wallsten of the Washington Post: "As President Obama prepared to sign his $858 billion tax deal Friday, White House aides moved quickly to soothe the anger among liberal constituency groups.... An e-mail distributed to black leaders declared the package a 'major victory for African-Americans,' arguing that a series of middle-class tax cuts will give 'targeted' aid to minorities. The White House also invited ... the Rev. Al Sharpton to Friday afternoon's bill signing and scheduled a private meeting with top labor union leaders who had railed against extending the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy."

In an article titled, "Explaining the Crisis with Dogma," Joe Nocera of the New York Times follows up on Paul Krugman's criticism [see yesterday's Commentariat] of the Republicans on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. Nocera both mocks & laments their imaginative Cliff Notes "presponse" to the commission's final report, to be published next month.

Matt Yglesias & Ezra Klein attack the Ryan-Rivlin health "reform" plan:

     ... Yglesias (you'll have to read his whole post; it's complicated) says the plan represents "a sleight of hand designed to make you think that the structural shift is saving money' when in fact it does nothing of the sort." CW: sounds like "death panels for all" to me. ...

    ... Klein says Paul Ryan, Alice Rivlin (& Republican proponents of this crappy idea) are really promoting a version of ObamaCare with another name & a lousier deal. "Right now, Medicare is much cheaper than private insurance. If you think that moving Medicare to a model of private insurance sold on exchanges will make it even cheaper, what you're saying is that an ObamaCare model will not only be cheaper than the current private-insurance system, but cheaper than the even-cheaper Medicare system."

Rachel Maddow, Jon Stewart & Rep. Anthony Weiner on the 9/11 Responders Bill, which Senate Republicans are filibustering (because they are subhuman):

Mark Mazzetti & Salmon Masood of the New York Times: "The Central Intelligence Agency’s top clandestine officer in Islamabad was pulled from the country on Thursday amid an escalating war of recriminations between American and Pakistani spies, with some American officials convinced that the officer’s cover was deliberately blown by Pakistan’s military intelligence agency."

CW: evidently you don't have to be intelligent to get on the House Intelligence Committee. Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times reports that Weeper of the House-to-be John Boehner has appointed as one of its new members Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.

To Hell with Little Girls. ABC News: "This week, House Republicans blocked passage of a bipartisan bill to protect women and girls in developing countries from child marriages. The bill needed a two-thirds majority of the House to pass, but fell short by the count of 241-166." The Senate had passed the bill unanimously. At the last minute, Republican leadership sent out a memo claiming the bill "could end up funding abortions."

Help the Torturers! AP: "When the CIA decided to waterboard suspected terror detainees in overseas prisons, the agency turned to a pair of contractors. The men designed the CIA's interrogation program and also personally took part in the waterboarding sessions. But to do the job, the CIA had to promise to cover at least $5 million in legal fees for them in case there was trouble down the road, former U.S. officials said."

** New York Times: "The Obama administration issued long-awaited, long-delayed guidelines on Friday to insulate government scientific research from political meddling and to base policy decisions on solid data. Under the guidelines, government scientists are in general free to speak to journalists and the public about their work, and agencies are prohibited from editing or suppressing reports by independent advisory committees."

The Commentariat -- December 17

"PolitiFact editors and reporters have chosen 'government takeover of health care' as the 2010 Lie of the Year."

President Obama signs the tax-cut deal into law:

... Washington Post: "President Obama signed into law the most significant tax bill in nearly a decade Friday, a day after overcoming liberal resistance in Congress to continue for two more years tax breaks enacted under president George W. Bush and to provide a fresh federal boost for the tepid economic recovery." ...

... New York Times: "Congress at midnight Thursday approved an $801 billion package of tax cuts and $57 billion for extended unemployment insurance. The vote sealed the first major deal between President Obama and Congressional Republicans.... Administration officials said Mr.Obama would sign the package into law on Friday. The final vote in the House was 277 to 148 after liberal Democrats failed in one last bid to change an estate-tax provision in the bill that they said was too generous to the wealthiest Americans and that the administration agreed to in a concession to Republicans. The amendment failed, 233 to 194." Washington Post story here.

Sam Graham-Felsen, Barack Obama's chief blogger during the 2008 campaign, has had enough, as he writes in the Washington Post: "... at seemingly every turn, Obama has chosen to play an inside game. Instead of actively engaging supporters in major legislative battles, Obama has told them to sit tight as he makes compromises behind closed doors.... Obama has made it clear that, for the most part, his administration isn't seriously interested in deploying this massive grass-roots list - which was once heralded as a force that could reshape politics as we know it - to fight for sweeping legislative change."

Howard Fineman: "The new, more Republican Congress won't arrive in town until next month, but the Tea Party Era unofficially began on the Hill Thursday night.... The GOP brass, led by Senate party leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)..., eagerly back[ed] the successful efforts of Tea Party favorites to block debate on a $1.1 trillion 'omnibus' spending bill that would fund the entire federal government until next October -- but which contained billions of dollars in 'earmarks' Republicans, including McConnell, once stoutly defended." ...

... BUT Alex Pareene of Salon wonders how long it will take Republicans to demoralize their base. Even Fox "News," Pareene points out, is already calling out "real Republicans" on their hypocrisy on earmarks. "The right is paying attention, and it is even beginning to actually hold its leaders accountable for their rhetoric -- by demanding that they live up to its apocalyptic incoherence." ...

... AND Jonathan Chait figures out the "Secret Senate Plan," which explains some weird voting patterns of moderate Republicans. ...

... AND, speaking of the Secret Senate Plan, Jon Stewart devotes his entire show to the First Responders' Bill, which passed in the House, but which Senate Republicans blocked en masse:

     ... You can watch the rest of the show here. Or click on the other segments at the end of the video above.

Igor Volsky of Think Progress: Majority Leader Reid won't make promises on when or if significant legislation, including DADT repeal, will be brought up for a vote in the lame-duck session. With video. ...

... Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times on a Senate vote on DADT repeal: "The bill’s greatest obstacle is no longer votes, but the clock." ...

... Sam Stein Update: "Reid announced that he was filing cloture on two of the party's other major priorities: the DREAM Act, which would grant pathways to citizenship for children of illegal immigrants, and the stand-alone repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, the military law that restricts openly gay members from serving. Votes on those measures, a leadership aide told The Huffington Post, would now come on Saturday morning."

CW: forget Michael Gerson's first paragraph; remember, he's a first-joint winger. But his assessment of President Obama's strategy on "selling" the tax-cut deal & on his other ham-fisted political miscalculations is closer to the mark. On the tax-cut deal:

Obama launched into an assault on partners and opponents. Republicans are 'hostage-takers' who worship the 'Holy Grail' of trickle-down economics. Liberal opponents are 'sanctimonious,' preferring their own purity to the interests of the poor.... It is difficult to imagine the president's advisers sitting in the Oval Office and urging this approach: 'Mr. President, the best course here would be to savage likely supporters of the bill and to embitter your political base. This will show just how principled you are, in contrast to the corruption and fanaticism all around you.' -- Michael Gerson

Paul Krugman makes sport of the Republicans on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, who wrote their own separate report, one that "is all of nine pages long, with few facts and hardly any numbers. Beyond that, it tells a story that has been widely and repeatedly debunked — without responding at all to the debunkers." Krugman adds, "... we learned ... what happens when an ideology backed by vast wealth and immense power confronts inconvenient facts. And the answer is, the facts lose."  Here's a pdf of the Republican members' "Financial Crisis Primer."

David Sanger of the New York Times: "Even the toned-down, public version of the one-year [Afghanistan-Pakistan War] progress report released by the White House on Thursday makes clear President Obama is still in search of the leverage he needs to persuade, or compel, Pakistan to close down the safe haven for terrorists and insurgents that has let a battered al Qaeda leadership and a vigorous Taliban survive." ...

... Dan Froomkin: "President Barack Obama asserted on Thursday that the White House's questionable assessment of progress in Afghanistan 'reflect[s] the dedication of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, whose memory we honor and whose work we'll continue.' But the reality is that a year ago, when Obama was choosing between escalation and deescalation in the region, Holbrooke was one of several top advisors who cautioned him that the path he ultimately chose -- sending in 30,000 more American troops -- simply could not succeed." ...

... Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "The White House report on Afghan strategy released Thursday was notable as much for what it did not say as for what it did.... President Obama is on a political timetable, needing to assure a restless public and his political base that a withdrawal is on track to begin by the deadline he set of next summer and that he can show measurable success before the next election cycle. Afghanistan, and the American military, are running on a different clock, based on more intractable realities." ...

... New York Times Editors: "For Americans, anxious about the war in Afghanistan, there is not a lot of comfort or clarity to be found in President Obama’s long-promised strategy review." ...

... Brave New Foundation more starkly puts the lie to the Administration's rosy assessment of "progress":

... Mark Thompson of Time has more on the "difficulties" NATO forces face. Problems with Pakistan aside, "The get-out-of-Afghanistan card for the nearly 100,000 U.S. troops now there requires training sufficient Afghan army and police to take their place. The U.S. is trying to build an Afghan security force 305,000 strong (171,000 troops, 134,000 police) by next October. Currently, they're up to 250,000, including 146,000 soldiers and 115,000 cops." CW: see "Afghan Police Jumping Jacks" video in yesterday's Commentariat for a reality check on how well that effort is going.

Anne Kornblut & Ashley Halsey of the Washington Post: "Nine years after the Sept. 11 attacks and decades after hijackers first began to target passenger airliners, the United States has invested billions of dollars in an airport system that makes technology the last line of defense to intercept terrorists. It has yet to catch one." ...

... My old friend Bob Poole, a leading libertarian, has been railing against TSA policies & practices for years. Here he is a year ago, suggesting "a risk-based approach to aviation security," and a month ago suggesting a refinement of the risk-based approach.

Ben Armbruster of Think Progress: a World Public Opinion polls provides more statistical evidence that Fox "News" watchers are more misinformed and less knowledgeable about issues than are people who get their news elsewhere.

This idea that you can’t be an honest man and a Washington politician is a myth, a crock made up by sellouts and careerist hacks who don’t stand for anything and are impatient with people who do. It’s possible to do this job with honor and dignity. It’s just that most of our politicians – our president included, apparently – would rather not bother. -- Matt Taibbi ...

... ** "Bernie Sanders Puts Barack Obama to Shame." Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone: "In an era of Democratic waffling and compromise, the Independent from Vermont actually stands up for what he believes in."

... if there’s one thing that’s truly toxic in this country, it is its middle class, with its debt-laden suburban mansions, humongous S.U.V.’s and minivans, garages crammed with yesterday’s gadgets and an insatiable need to surpass the Joneses. If in 2030, these middle-class “values” of overconsumption and waste were to infect half a billion Indians, it would be a disaster for our planet. -- Sridhar Subramanian, who immigrated to the U.S. from India, in a letter to the editor of the New York Times in response to David Brooks' truly stupid column suggesting we export our middle class values

Peter S. Goodman of the Huffington Post on the Home Affordable Modification Program: "Even those who supposedly manage to get help have wound up battered and mistreated along the way, highlighting how many more simply give up along the way."

Barry Meier of the New York Times: "Unlike new drugs, many of which go through a series of clinical trials before receiving approval from the Food and Drug Administration, critical implants can be sold without such testing if a device, like an artificial hip, resembles an implant already approved and used on patients.

"The End Is Near." Gordon Dickson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: "Two weeks after controversy erupted because the Fort Worth Transportation Authority accepted ads with the atheist message 'Millions of Americans are Good Without God,' the T board revised its policy Wednesday night to ban all religious ads effective Jan. 1."