WA: "Stoner Standoff Pot Movement Clashes over Dueling Pot Initiatives"

Dominic Holden (The Stranger):

The spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood will awaken in blissful harmony this weekend at Hempfest, the world's largest celebration of the magickal cannabis plant, as activists unite behind a communal strategy to legalize marijuana.

Just kidding.

These activists are at each other's fucking throats.

Specifically, two factions of the marijuana legalization movement will clash in Myrtle Edwards Park this weekend (August 19–21) with dueling initiatives. So if you sign a pot petition at Hempfest and somebody asks you to sign another petition a few minutes later, it may be a different one. Because even though Hempfest will likely be another breezy affair in a marijuana-friendly city, Seattle's pot movement is divided by money, policy, and (of course) cultural differences.

The front-running campaign filed an initiative in June—with a cast of straitlaced sponsors, including former US attorney John McKay and travel personality Rick Steves—and has already raised a quarter-­million dollars. The pioneering initiative would raise hundreds of millions in tax dollars for the state by allowing adults to purchase marijuana in stores, but it would ban people from growing marijuana at home. Between 85 and 100 petitioners are signed up to canvass the crowd to place this measure on next year's fall ballot, says campaign director Alison Holcomb.

The group is called New Approach Washington—known for short as NAW.

So what's the problem?

"I think NAW is a piece of shit," says Douglas Hiatt, who ran the campaign for another initiative, Sensible Washington, which raised relatively little money and failed to gather enough signatures two years in a row. He believes federal drug laws would nullify most of the NAW measure, and a provision that establishes an automatic penalty for driving under the influence of pot would turn medical marijuana patients who drive into criminals.

"I think it's divided the community pretty severely," Hiatt says about the hundreds of volunteers he's worked with and Seattle's robust medical marijuana industry. He calls the NAW measure "an expensive publicity stunt."

So on July 27, a new group filed a petition to legalize marijuana, based on the text of Sensible Washington's twice-failed measure. This statewide initiative would simply remove all state penalties for marijuana. That approach, says spokesman Don Skakie, would let you "grow it for yourself" without paying taxes on the pot.

The name of that new group? Yes End Penalties—or YEP!

That's right: It's YEP versus NAW. MORE...

(Seattle) "Mayor McGinn shares his thoughts on the Approval of Referendum 1" (with video)

Seattle's Q13 FOXNEWS, with video (04:55):

Q13 FOX News Political Analyst C.R. Douglas interviewed Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn to discuss his thoughts on the results of Referendum 1, which asked voters if they approve of City Council process on the tunnel project.

Howie P.S.: Andrew @ the NPI ADVOCATE offers his thoughts on the vote and the Prop 1 campaign.

Ari Melber on "The impracticality of compromise" (video)

MSNBC-Dylan Ratigan, video (05:50).

"Does Obama camp see upside in pissing off the left?"

Greg Sargent:

The story exploding on the left right now is that the Obama campaign’s state director in New Mexico sent out an email containing a blog post mocking Paul Krugman and the “firebagger liberal blogosphere”for criticizing the debt ceiling deal negotiated by the White House. Liberal bloggers are asking whether this is the latest sign that the Obama team sees percentage in dumping on the left — or “hippie punching,” as the blogospheric parlance has it.

The Obama official, Ray Sandoval, circulated the email just after the debt ceiling deal passed Congress, hammering lefty critics for deriding the deal as a surrender. Sandoval’s email included a blog post that derided Krugman as a “political rookie” and decried critics for “pure, fanatic, indomitable hysteria.”

The term “firebagger” appears to be a reference to Firedoglake, whose bloggers frequently hammer the White House for giving too much ground to Republicans.

The Obama campaign is now going on the record distancing itself from the email. A campaign spokesman, Katie Hogan, emails: “The views expressed in this email do not represent the views of the campaign.”
(SNIP)
...this story does provide a window into what I think is a real problem —the nature of the Obama team’s frustration with liberal critics. The problem is that some on the Obama team don’t reckon with what it is lefty critics are actually saying. Obama advisers get angry when they think liberal critics are refusing to accept the limits placed on him by current political realities, and when lefties presume at the outset that Obama will inevitably sell out. That’s reflected in Sandoval’s angry email and in other periodic explosions of anger at the “professional left.”
MORE...

Goldy's Only in Seattle Counterintuition: "The Big Winner in Yesterday's Tunnel Referendum? Mayor Mike McGinn"

Goldy (SLOG):

Here's a bit of contrarian punditry for you: The biggest winner in yesterday's pro-tunnel victory was our anti-tunnel mayor, Mike McGinn.

"Whaaaaa...?" You might be asking yourself. "Is Goldy still drunk on all those free Big-Business/Big-Labor beers?" The answer is "No" (although I do have a bit of headache), and it's not a conclusion to which I've recently come. I expected the tunnel referendum to pass by a double-digit margin, I don't view it as a profoundly anti-McGinn vote, and I'm convinced that the referendum's passage was the best thing that could happen for McGinn's 2013 reelection prospects. And judging from his terse yet graceful response to yesterday's results, I'm guessing the politically savviest of the mayor's people agree with me. MORE...

Howie P.S.: I'll take a pass on this particular shot of free booze.

"The Last of Wisconsin's Recall Elections" (with video)

Anna Lekas Miller (The Nation) with video (04:44)from MSNBC-ED Show:

After a summer of outside money and fake candidates, Wisconsin's historic recall elections are finally over. Despite the media's coverage of the "failed recall elections," the actual numbers show that Democrats won five seats while Republicans won four...an overall victory for Democrats. Not only is the state Senate only one seat away from having a Democratic majority, but one of the moderate Republicans currently in the senate was against Scott Walker's union busting agenda. In other words, Wisconsin has a pro-union state Senate.

The Nation's John Nichols joins The Ed Show to discuss what the victory means for Scott Walker's anti-union political agenda.

Joan Walsh: "What Obama really said about unions"

Joan Walsh (Salon):

His comments on public sector workers were more sympathetic than critical, even as he called for "shared sacrifice."---On MSNBC's "The Ed Show" last night, Sirius XM radio host Joe Madison and I listened to a short clip of President Obama in Decorah, Iowa, answering a teacher's question about the importance of collective bargaining rights, especially for public sector workers. In the clip, Obama acknowledged the role of unions in improving wages and conditions for all workers, but quickly pivoted to his time-honored appeals for "reform" and "shared sacrifice." Madison and I both criticized the president for failing to back public sector unions more fully and for acting as though unions hadn't already sacrificed.

Tuesday a reader pointed me to Obama's full remarks, and having read the whole transcript, I think my reaction was unfair.MORE...

Seattle: "Godden, Hague could face tough re-election in Nov."

Chris Grygiel (SeattlePi.com):

Two-term incumbent City Councilwoman Jean Godden captured just 46 percent of the vote in early primary returns Tuesday evening, suggesting the incumbent seen as most vulnerable in November could be in for a tough re-election fight.

Godden's foe in November will most likely be long-time City employee and manager Bobby Forch, who as running second for the Position 1 seat with 24 percent.

All of Godden's Council colleagues who are up for re-election easily made it into the general election: Bruce Harrell will face former financial journalist and Municipal League Chairman Bradley Meacham; Sally Clark (who was getting 71 percent of the early primary vote) will face off with Dian Ferguson; Tom Rasmussen will run against accountant Dale Pusey, and Tim Burgess against architect David Schraer. (Harrell, Rasmussen and Burgess each only faced one opponent and did not have to run in the primary).

Meanwhile King County Council incumbent Jane Hague also looks to be in trouble. She was getting just 39 percent of early votes. She'll face either Richard Mitchell or John Creighton (Mitchell appeared to have the edge in early returns). The other County Councilmember up for election, Joe McDermott, will run against Diana Toledo. County voters were also easily approving the renewal of Proposition 1, the Veterans and Human Resources levy. The six-year measure to pay for programs to assist veterans and their families, as well as general human services programs, would cost the owner of a $400,000 home $20 a year in property taxes. MORE...

Seattle: "Why the Anti-Tunnel Campaign Lost"

McGinn in front of the viaduct in 2010 (Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com file photo)

Sandeep Kaushik (publicola):

It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. A few short months ago, as pro-tunnel backers fought — and failed — to keep a tunnel referendum off the ballot, the conventional wisdom was that Seattle voters would surely vote against the tunnel if they were given the chance for an up-or-down vote.

I shared that view. Polling showed that the tunnel is the first choice of only about 35 percent of Seattle voters. While downtown interests were united in supporting the tunnel, for a diverse array of reasons skepticism about the tunnel plan ran deep among the public. Seemingly all the anti-tunnel campaign needed to do was amplify those doubts to emerge victorious.

While they were always likely to be outspent by the pro-tunnel interests, they supposedly had an army of energized activists to take their message directly to doorsteps across the city. And after all, hadn’t Mike McGinn’s election as mayor proved that grassroots passion trumps establishment money in Seattle elections? At a June fundraiser for Dow Constantine, guests were asked to pick the outcomes of upcoming races. I guessed that Referendum 1 would go down to defeat, 54-46.

So what happened? The campaign happened. As the Let’s Move Forward pro-tunnel side ran an effective, disciplined campaign — central message: tens years of debate is long enough, it is time to move forward — the anti-tunnel forces floundered, making a series of strategic and tactical errors that damaged their cause.

Here, in my view, are the errors made by the anti-tunnel side...MORE...

"Obama strikes realist tone" (CNN interview)

Abby Phillip (Politico):

President Barack Obama acknowledged Tuesday that he may be a one-term president if voters’ patience with the pace of the economic recovery runs out by next November.

“The mess has been bigger than a lot of people anticipated at the time,” Obama said in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer from Peosta, Iowa. “We have made steady progress on these fronts but we’re not making progress fast enough. What I continue to believe is that ultimately the buck stops with me. I’m going to be accountable.”

Throughout the interview, whether asked about the economy or next year’s campaign, the president struck a realist tone — conceding the scale of problems facing the country while insisting his administration is working diligently to fix them.

Obama said that even though Americans understand that the economy’s problems are “decades in the making,” voters are “impatient” to see more progress on the economy.

“I understand that and I’m sympathetic to that,” Obama said. MORE...

(Seattle) "Students Take On The School System" (with audio)

"Weekday High' interns Chetan Chandrashekhar and Kamna Shastri."

KUOW-WEEKDAY-Steve Scher, with audio:

There are four Seattle School Board positions up for election, but none are reserved for a student–age member. Some teenagers believe a student should have a permanent seat at the table to help align school board policy with the desires of the student body. Is this a good idea? Are you a student? What do you think is right or wrong with public schools? Parents, what desires did you have for your school as a student? Does that jive with what you want for your kids? A panel of students join us with their take on our educational system.

Guest(s)

Chetan Chandrashekhar is a senior at Nathan Hale High School and a member of the Seattle Youth Commission. He's also a part of the "Weekday High" internship program.

Alex Jonlin was a founder and member of the Legislative Youth Advisory Council. He graduated from Garfield High School last year and will be attending University of California, Berkeley in the fall.

Kamna Shastri is a senior at Inglemoor High School, which is part of the North Shore School District. She's also part of the "Weekday High" internship program.

Kian Vesteinsson is a junior at Garfield High School and a member of the Seattle Youth Commission.

"FDR Went to Wisconsin to Battle 'Economic Royalists,' But Obama Avoids The State and the Fight"

John Nichols:

President Obama is interrupting his long vacation to bus across the battleground states of the Midwest this week [1], on an officially “non-political” journey that his aides obviously hope will renew a connection with the people who overwhelmingly elected him president in 2008. It is an essential endeavor, as Obama’s uncertain tenure has frustrated voters who once saw him as a transformational leader but now wonder whether there is a point to his presidency.

The disconnect between Obama and his base has grown more profound this year, as he has focused on the compromises of Washington while working people in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and other states have engaged in “Which side are you on?” fights against a Republican austerity agenda that threatens the very underpinnings of civil society and democratic experiment. MORE...

"Obama Bus Tour Takes President To Midwest To Talk Jobs, Economy" (with video)

HuffPost Politics, with video (04:49):

Hitting back against an emboldened GOP, President Barack Obama launched a rare direct attack Monday on the Republican presidential field, criticizing his potential 2012 rivals for their blanket opposition to any deficit-cutting compromise involving new taxes.

"That's just not common sense," Obama told the crowd at a town hall-style meeting in Cannon Falls, Minn., as he kicked off a three-day bus tour through Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. MORE...

"Starbucks CEO Calls For Americans To Boycott Political Campaign Donations" (with video)

Josh Feldman (MEDIAite) with video (02:38) from CBS News:

Are you sick and tired of partisan politicians doing what’s in their best interest and no one else’s? Well, the CEO of Starbucks agrees with you. And he is calling for a boycott on all campaign contributions until Washington gets its act together.

As CBS News reports, Congress is at a record 82 percent disapproval level, spurred on by the partisan bickering over the debt deal. It inspired a profanity-laced Twitter trend, and now it’s inspired Starbucks CEO and Chairman Howard Schultz to take a stand against partisanship. MORE...

"The new old Obama"

E. J. Dionne Jr.:

For Obama’s lieutenants, his comeback from the ’07 summer doldrums provided an overlearned lesson that encouraged them to ignore external criticism and cruise along with complete confidence in their man’s almost magical powers of restoration.

The president’s loyalists still have faith in him and still love to criticize media narratives they think underestimate him. But this time, both he and they are expressing a level of frustration that may be the healthiest thing happening to Obama in what is an otherwise dismal moment in his presidency. A White House crowd often too sure of itself is fully aware of the ferocious fight Obama faces and the seriousness of the problems he confronts. Their mood and past experience suggests that a new Obama — or, in many ways, the old Obama of 2008 — is about to reappear. MORE...

"White House Debates Fight on Economy"

"President Obama heading to Michigan last week, where he visited a factory and urged voters to turn their anger on Republicans."

Binyamin Appelbaum and Helene Cooper (NY Times):

As the economy worsens, President Obama and his senior aides are considering whether to adopt a more combative approach on economic issues, seeking to highlight substantive differences with Republicans in Congress and on the campaign trail rather than continuing to pursue elusive compromises, advisers to the president say.

Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Plouffe, and his chief of staff, William M. Daley, want him to maintain a pragmatic strategy of appealing to independent voters by advocating ideas that can pass Congress, even if they may not have much economic impact. These include free trade agreements and improved patent protections for inventors.

But others, including Gene Sperling, Mr. Obama’s chief economic adviser, say public anger over the debt ceiling debate has weakened Republicans and created an opening for bigger ideas like tax incentives for businesses that hire more workers, according to Congressional Democrats who share that view. Democrats are also pushing the White House to help homeowners facing foreclosure.

Even if the ideas cannot pass Congress, they say, the president would gain a campaign issue by pushing for them. MORE...

Howie P.S.: After 20 articles each month, the paywall goes up.

"Sanders says he doesn't know who would step up to primary Obama"

Michael O'Brien (The Hill):

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said this weekend he still expects President Obama to be the Democratic nominee for president in 2012, and doesn't know of anyone who might step forward to challenge Obama.

Sanders said he still supports the concept of a primary challenge for Obama, because, Sanders said, even Republicans have done a better job of keeping their campaign promises than Obama.

"I don't know of anybody in mind, but I am sure there are serious and smart people out there who can do it," Sanders said of the prospect of a primary challenge during C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program, airing on the network this weekend. MORE...

"Cantwell Calls S&P Downgrade 'Interesting' In Light Of '08 Collapse" (video)

KIROTV.com, video (00:42):

Sen. Maria Cantwell says Standard & Poor's downgrade of the U.S.'s debt rating is "interesting," given S&P's stance on derivatives leading up to the 2008 financial collapse.

Joan Walsh: "Mistakes of the 2008 Democratic primary"

Joan Walsh (Salon):

Every time I try to get out of this discussion about whether liberals made the wrong choice in the 2008 Democratic primary, someone pulls me back in. The Nation's Ari Melber, a writer I like a lot, asked me my thoughts via Twitter Monday night. Even more intriguing, a Salon reader who criticized me regularly but always respectfully for my Obama skepticism in 2008 posted on Facebook that I had been right back then. OK, I live for being told I was right -- but I have no way to know whether Hillary Clinton would have been a tougher Democratic president than Barack Obama. MORE...

"Janeane "Katherine Harris" Garofalo Previews Tonight's GOP Debate" (video)

Sam Seder, with video (13:25):

From the Majority Report, M-F 11:30am EST at http://Majority.FM:
Katherine Harris (Janeane Garofalo) surprises the Majority Report with a call! She talks tonight's GOP debate, 'austerity celebrations', what she's been up to + more!

Howie P.S.: Love my Janeane.

"Ed Schultz calls out Obama about engagement in Wisconsin" (with video)

Gaius Publius (AMERICAblog) with video (15:54) from MSNBC-ED Show:

This is a terrific piece from Ed Schultz on Obama's non-involvement in the Wisconsin recall elections. Ignore for a second the "bad advice" framing that gives Obama a public pass (my notes on that are below).

The rest is pure calling-out. Watch and learn (and enjoy John Nichols at the end; always a treat): MORE...

"UB40 - Oh America!" (Extended Version) (video)

RootsReggae91, with video (06:17):

UB40 album track 'Oh America' written and performed by UB40 featuring Spencer Love aka One Love and Rasa Don from Arrested development. Taken from the UB40 album Twenty Four Seven

Howie P.S.: I you like that one try this: "Securing The Peace," video (03:38).

"Nervous Democrats say President Obama must be bolder on economy" (with video)

Karen Tumulty and Peter Wallsten (WaPo), with video (02:20) from AP:

With President Obama’s reelection on the line, Democrats are increasingly anxious about what they see as his failure to advance a coherent and muscular strategy for addressing the nation’s economic ills.

Growing numbers of Obama’s allies, beyond the liberal activists who have expressed disappointment in the past, contend that he has trimmed his sails too much since the party’s electoral defeats last fall. This sentiment has sharpened in the wake of the negotiations over the debt ceiling, when the president accepted Republican demands for spending cuts without obtaining guarantees of tax revenue increases, which he said were necessary for a “balanced approach.” MORE...

H/t to Greg Sargent.

Ari Melber Rants on MSNBC on GOP Obstruction (video)

ptdennis1906, with video from MSNBC(03:37):

MSNBC guest host Matt Miller was leading Dylan Ratigan's self titled show and ended with a rant about Republican obstruction from The Nation's Ari Melber. I don't have tell you this was music to my ears, because I am a fan of Ratigan, but yesterday, he was just flat wrong, when he said the Left funded corporate and Republican deregulation policies in the late 1990s. Republicans passed it in the US House and Senate, and a former small southern state gov, Bill Clinton, no man of the LEFT signed it.

"Jan Schakowsky Announces New Budget Plan With Focus On Jobs"

Jordan Howard (HuffPo):

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, announced on Wednesday that she will introduce a progressive-minded budget outline aimed at putting more than two million people to work.

Titled the “Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream Act,” the plan would cost $227 billion and would be implemented over two years. It would be financed by separate legislation introduced by Schakowsky called the "Fairness in Taxation Act," which would raise taxes for Americans who earn more than $1 million and $1 billion. It would also eliminate subsidies for big oil companies while closing loopholes for corporations that send American jobs overseas.

The congresswoman said that her plan would create 2.2 million jobs and decrease the unemployment rate by 1.3 percent. MORE...

"Al Gore calls B.S. on global warming naysayers"

Troy Hooper (Real Aspen):

Al Gore is pissed.

The former vice president dropped in on an Aspen Institute media forum titled “Networks an Citizenship” on Thursday and railed against corporate evildoers who put profit above society.

Gore referenced the book “Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming” by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, which tells of how petroleum, steel, utilities and other industries enlisted lobbyists to cloud the climate debate. MORE...

Greg Sargent on the Wisconsin recall vote results

Greg Sargent:

Labor and Dems lost. They should be proud of what they accomplished.---The history of the American labor movement is crowded with losing battles and crushing disappointments. The men and women who have fought for workers’ rights, often against tremendously long odds, have all too often suffered defeat and humiliation, only finding consolation in the idea that their efforts perhaps succeed in awakening a bit of public sympathy for their plight, inching their larger cause forward in unseen ways. MORE...

"Mad As Hell: Dylan Ratigan Goes On Epic Rant Over ‘Trillions Extracted From U.S.’ (with video)

Colby Hall---MEDIAite, with video from MSNBC (05:20):

Dylan Ratigan is mad as hell and he isn’t going to take it anymore. While hosting a discussion on the seemingly endemic problems that the U.S. political process is enduring — specifically how it relates to responsibly fiscal policy — the MSNBC host blew a gasket over what he sees as the real mathematical problem at play. The impassioned diatribe was delivered in the context of the recent credit downgrade and market volatility, and Ratigan placed equal blame on both Republicans and Democrats, but mostly argued about the entire integrated system, which included banking, trade and taxation. MORE...

Howie P.S.: The commercial for the oil company that precedes the video is more than ironic.

The New Yorker on the American economy (audio and cover)

The New Yorker, audio (12:47):

Hendrik Hertzberg and James Surowiecki on the debt-ceiling deal and the 2012 campaign.

Greg Sargent on the recall vote today in Wisconsin

Greg Sargent:

Whatever ends up happening, Wisconsin Dems and labor have already succeeded in one sense: They reminded us that it’s possible to build a grass roots movement by effectively utilizing the sort of unabashed and bare-knuckled class-based populism that makes many of today’s national Dems queasy. Their effort — whether or not they take back the state senate — could provide a model for a more aggressive, populist approach for national Dems in 2012. MORE (from Sargent's always worthwhile 'The Morning Plum)...

"Ed Schultz: When Will ‘Tea Partiers Stop Cheering About Economic Hardship’ They Contributed To?" (with video)

MEDIAite with video (04:07) from MSNBC:

Last night Ed Schultz hosted his show in front of a huge live crowd in Wisconsin, the site of today’s recall election. The raucous crowd actually added a very enjoyable element to Schultz’s proceedings, as they loudly cheered and booed various statements made by Schultz and his guests throughout the show. MORE...

Howie P.S.: John Nichols visits with ED in Madison, WI.

"Obama defends U.S. economy" (video)

Video (01:48) from AP:

U.S. President Barack Obama says the U.S. always is and always has been a triple-A country, despite its rating agency downgrade.

Joel Connelly: "With WaMu, white-collar crime goes unpunished - again!"

Joel Connelly (SeattlePI.com):

The Senate report details how two WaMu risk managers were marginalized by company brass. One of them told Senate investigators that executives began providing the Office of Thrift Supervision with outdated loss estimates. A risk manager tipped off regulators, and was fired.

The Office of Thrift Supervision did get mad - at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which downgraded WauMu's safety-soundness rating shortly before its collapse.

The office's top guy, John M. Reich, wrote a snarling e-mail in which he said of F.D.I.C. Chair Sheila Bair: "I cannot believe the continuing audacity of this woman." The words were written in September of 2008, just two weeks before WaMu failed. (F.D.I.C. sseized the company and sold it to J.P. Morgan Chase.

Don't any of these activities, the fraudument documents and false information given federal regulators, and the winking and profiting by higher-ups, qualify for prosecution? Shouldn't the federal government be shamed by its record?

As columnist Zach Carter wrote after a Senate hearing on WaMu last year: "Everything WaMu did could have been stopped not only by an engaged regulator who worried about the company's bottom line, but by a regulator who cared about consumer protection in any degree whatsoever."

The bottom line: Large-scale white collar crime goes unpunished in America, except for out-and-out Ponzi schemes.

Who, I ask, has gone to jail among those who issued reckless and fraudulent loans that triggered the housing crisis? The practice went on, to use the name of another big player, Countrywide.

Yet, efforts are underway in the U.S. House of Representatives and among Senate Republicans to eviscerate a financial reform bill that Congress enacted just last year. Critics say it places too many burdens on the financial services industry. MORE...

Michael Cohen (GuardianUK): "The dysfunction that lies at the very heart of American politics"

Michael Cohen (GuardianUK):

This clash over the proper role for government in the US is one that has defined our national politics for more than a century. But in the last several years this conflict has become an existential one, with Republicans basically abdicating their responsibility to govern. When in power they made little effort to deal with the nation's many challenges. In opposition, and particularly in the two and a half years since Obama took office, they have used the tool of the Senate filibuster and various other procedural impediments to try to stop nearly all Democratic initiatives in their tracks. Whatever legislation passed in the past few years is almost solely a product of Democratic cohesion (an attribute that is generally in short supply) – and a brief window in which Democrats enjoyed a filibuster-proof majority in the US Senate.
(SNIP)
Why do voters put up with such a situation? Polling suggests that the electorate wants their leaders to focus on jobs, rather than the deficit; and work toward compromise, rather than gridlock. So why then do they reward political parties, such as the Republicans, that act decidedly against not only their preferences but also their interests?

The answer lies in the apathy of the American people toward their own government. The ultimate check on Republican nihilism would be voter revolt. But in the last congressional election, voters rewarded unprecedented Republican obstructionism with control of the House of Representatives.
(SNIP)
One problem is that Americans have been so inundated with anti-government rhetoric over the past 40 years they seem to have trouble identifying any link between government engagement and a robust economy.

Worst of all, Americans may prefer Democratic policies, but they have little confidence in government's ability to fulfil those promises and then blame both parties for inaction. They are so mistrustful of government and shockingly uninformed about its working that, perversely, via the ballot boxes, they directly contribute to the political stalemate they so regularly decry.

The result is a political system that is perhaps more incapacitated than at any point in modern history. MORE...

John Nichols on Standard & Poor's: "Downgrading Democracy"

John Nichols (The Nation):

The notion that a credit rating firm could or should steer the direction of the American political discourse—and, potentially, should be unsettling to Democrats and Republicans, independents and third-party activists, liberal and conservatives, socialists and libertarians and even centrists.

If S&P can set the parameters of the debate in the United States, then it is not just downgrading a credit rating. S&P is downgrading democracy. MORE...

"PRESIDENT OBAMA FIFTIETH BIRTHDAY FUNDRAISER IN CHICAGO (with video )

C-SPAN, with video (31:18):

President Obama spoke at a Democrtic fundraiser organized to honor the president's 50th birthday. After acknowledging several dignitaries in the audience, he highlight his administration's economic achievements and outlined the economic challenges ahead. He also talked about his administration's achievements in other areas such as health care, civil rights, energy policy, and infrastructure improvements.

Mayor Rham Emanuel's introduction of the president was joined in progress.

"How can the US rebuild its economy?"--- Rachel Maddow on MTP (video)

MSNBC-MTP, video (15:38):

How can the US rebuild its economy? Dr. Alan Greenspan, Austan Goolsbee, Rachel Maddow and Alex Castellanos share their ideas for growth during our economic roundtable.

"What Happened to Obama?"

Drew Westin (NY Times):

As a practicing psychologist with more than 25 years of experience, I will resist the temptation to diagnose at a distance, but as a scientist and strategic consultant I will venture some hypotheses.
(SNIP)
A final explanation is that he ran for president on two contradictory platforms: as a reformer who would clean up the system, and as a unity candidate who would transcend the lines of red and blue. He has pursued the one with which he is most comfortable given the constraints of his character, consistently choosing the message of bipartisanship over the message of confrontation. MORE....

H/t to Glenn Greenwald.

"Deficit Memories": Progressive messages invade a cartoon... (image)

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

Jen Sorenson, "Slowpoke.

(Updated) Howard Dean on "Face the Nation" Today (with video)

UPDATE II: CBS News-video (09:32):.

Bob Schieffer spoke with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Gov. Howard Dean (D-Va.) on the bipartisan efforts needed to resolve the issues that lead to Standard and Poor's downgrade of the U.S. credit rating.

UPDATE: Rachel Maddow will be on "Meet the Press" today, which airs in Seattle @ 10am on KONG (16).


CBS News, with video (00:39):

This Sunday's Guests on "Face the Nation" are Obama Campaign Adviser David Axelrod, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Howard Dean, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Months of debate over the crisis created over the debt ceiling have given way to a new cold reality in Washington - the economy. As the government dithered to fix its own mess, the stock market erased all of its gains from 2011, roughly a trillion dollars in value lost in a matter of weeks, capped off by a 513 point drop Thursday.

Howie P.S.: Face the Nation airs live in Seattle @8:30am on KIROTV (7). I have been wondering what Howard Dean has to say about our current situation. I will post video of the show when it becomes available online.

Chomsky: "America in Decline--in no small measure self-inflicted."

Noam Chomsky:

Another common theme, at least among those who are not willfully blind, is that American decline is in no small measure self-inflicted. The comic opera in Washington this summer, which disgusts the country and bewilders the world, may have no analogue in the annals of parliamentary democracy. MORE...

"2010 Census numbers on same-sex couples in Seattle" (with interactive map)

Seattle Times, with interactive map:

State sees surge in gay couples, especially outside Seattle | While Seattle's Capitol Hill remains the center of gay life in the area, the number of same-sex couples there barely budged over the decade -- growing only slightly for male couples and not at all for female couples. Meanwhile, neighborhoods such as West Seattle and suburbs like Lynnwood, Shoreline and Lake Forest Park saw the number of same-sex couples rise sharply. Read full story.

Howie P.S.: Surprising (to me) factoid from the story:

Vashon Island, population 10,600, has the highest concentration of same-sex couples in the state. Some 5.5 percent of all couples there were same-sex, followed by Seattle, at 5.4 percent.

"Forgetting Lessons of Keynes and FDR Brings On the ‘Obama Recession’"

David Woolner (new deal 2.0):

In the past two years we have heard official after official claim that they do not want to repeat “the mistakes of the Great Depression.” Yet the recent behavior of both the Obama Administration and senior members of Congress belies this claim. Rather than fight for economic policies that would stimulate the economy and put people back to work, this Administration — and even many senior democratic party officials — have chosen to ignore the lessons of the past. Instead of focusing on jobs and growth — the real crisis in our economy — they have embraced the sky-is-falling rhetoric of the Republican Party extremists. MORE...

"The U.S. Doesn’t Have a Debt Problem. It Has a Crisis of Values"

Imara Jones (Colorlines.com):

One key reason that markets have showed continued confidence in U.S. debt is that unlike debt problems in, say, Greece and Portugal, U.S. deficits are largely the result of government policy rather than a fundamental structural problem with economy. The majority of U.S. debt since 1980 is the result of tax cuts and wars—first the Reagan tax reductions in the 1980s and his administration’s Cold War build up, then the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The U.S. doesn’t have a debt problem; it has a values problem. MORE...

Dear Mr. President- (friendly advice)

Paul Krugman:

The point is that it’s now time — long past time — to get serious about the real crisis the economy faces. The Fed needs to stop making excuses, while the president needs to come up with real job-creation proposals. And if Republicans block those proposals, he needs to make a Harry Truman-style campaign against the do-nothing G.O.P.

This might or might not work. But we already know what isn’t working: the economic policy of the past two years — and the millions of Americans who should have jobs, but don’t. MORE...

Bob Schrum:

Time and again, most recently during the manufactured debt crisis, the president has already proved that he's the reasonable person in the room. Now he has to prove that he's the passionate person in the room — and that he's passionate about the things that matter to ordinary, hard-working, and out-of-work Americans. This is where he would do well to listen to his progressive ranks and his own progressive instincts. He has to put an edge on his message, as FDR and Harry Truman did. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Meanwhile, the President has an idea of his own, "Obama Pushing Jobs For Unemployed Military Veterans":

President Barack Obama is asking Congress to approve new initiatives to help some of America's 1 million unemployed military veterans find work, including tax credits for companies that hire out-of-work vets.

The proposal Obama is to outline Friday is part of the president's efforts to return to a focus on jobs after spending weeks mired in the contentious debt-limit debate that consumed the White House for much of the summer.MORE...

H/t to Greg Sargent.

Matt Taibbi on Countdown-"Evil Corporate Tax Holiday Deal Still Alive" (with video)

MiniRtist with video (07:26) from Current TV.

Howie P.S.: Taibbi writes about this in latest post on the Taibblog:

For people interested in this story, I definitely recommend reading this Bloomberg article focusing on Cisco, one of the biggest lobbyers in favor of the tax holiday. This is a company whose CEO, John Chambers, wrote an editorial last October in the Wall Street Journal predicting that the tax holiday would generate a trillion dollars in repatriated earnings, money that Chambers insisted would outdo even Barack Obama’s stimulus as a job-creation engine...MORE...

"Food Stamp Participation" (Chart of the Day)

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

H/t to Shaun.

NY Times poll: "plurality blames Bush, not Obama, for the deficit"

Greg Sargent:

* The new New York Times poll finds a plurality blames Bush, not Obama, for the deficit, and 72 percent disapprove of the GOP’s handling of the debt ceiling fight, versus only 47 percent who disapprove of Obama’s handling of it.

* But: The poll also finds that only 15 percent think the spending cuts in the deal went too far, versus 44 percent who said they don’t go far enough.

Those numbers mirror Gallup’s findings and suggest yet again that the public has internalized key aspects of the conservative economic worldview. MORE...

Howie P.S.: I hope the electorate is able to figure out by time the next elections roll around that G. W. only managed to create the deficit with the help of many others in his party and with the aid and comfort of some DINOS (DemocratsInNameOnly).

Rachel Maddow on how the 'job creators' are doin' great without creating the jobs! (video)

MSNBC-Rachel Maddow, video (15:03).

"At Obama’s birthday party in Chicago, a warm embrace from die-hard supporters" (with video)

David Nakamura (WaPo), with video (00:41)and photo gallery:

Leo Henton, 52, a Boeing engineer from Seattle who was on vacation with his wife, Cynthia, said that Obama was realistic in the face of stiff Republican opposition to raising taxes and cut the best deal he could.

“My opinion is that the deal is for 10 years and there’s a trigger,” said Henton, who was third in line. “We’re in a recession right now, or what sure looks like a recession to me. The heavy cuts will not come in for another two years. He did the wise thing in terms of the deal.” MORE...

(Updated) Ari Melber: "'Super Committee' not so super" (video)

UPDATE: NEW headline for this post now @The Nation.com: "The Spending Cuts Are Two Sacred Cows Strapped Together With a Time Bomb." Don't believe me? Here it is.


MSNBC-Dylan Ratigan, video (04:40).

H/t to Pam Eakes.

Patty Murray Explains Why She Supports the Debt Limit Bill (video)

SenatorPattyMurray, video (07:40).

Knute Berger on Tim Ceis: "it's time for Seattle to move its ass."

Knute Berger(Crosscut):<

The deep-bore wisdom of Tim Ceis---A master strategist and former deputy mayor talks about the tunnel, redistricting, and Seattle politics. Ceis is pushing pragmatism, but how pragmatic is a risky tunnel? MORE...

Somewhat Discouraging Thought of the Day

This is the Gingrich government shut down all over again, but better played and against a decidedly less adept enemy.

-from John Aravosis (AMERICAblog) on "Tea Party Envy."

"President Obama: Next Chapter Of Deficit Reduction Will Include New Tax Revenue" (with video)

Colby Hall (MEDIAite) with video from MSNBC (08:20):

President Obama took to the White House lawn today and addressed the press shortly after the recent bill had been passed that raised the debt ceiling, and aimed to pivot the focused conversation to “a more balanced approach” to the fall season. The president’s response was muted in tone, downplaying any celebratory tone, and immediately presented the political agenda for next few months: lowering taxes for the lower and middle class and putting more revenue burden on the wealthy.

The president insisted that the next chapter of deficit reduction will focus on a revamped tax code and also hit some of the same talking points he made in the last few days, namely that the people may have voted for a divided government and not a dysfunctional one. “It shouldn’t take the risk of default or catastrophe for people in this town to come together and get something done.”

(Updated) Peter Daou: "How the Democratic establishment shunned the left, spawned the Tea Party and moved America right" (with video)

UPDATE: Booman comments on Daou's post:

I agree with a lot of Peter Daou's analysis. I especially agree on three points. First, the culture of Washington DC is absolutely toxic and really does resemble a bad movie about high school. Second, the political Establishment, including the Democratic Establishment, is not in tune with progressive politics. Third, if we're ever going to stop losing ground to the radical right, the Democratic Establishment is going to have to learn to work with the activist base. Where I have a problem with Daou's take on things is that he places all the blame for this less-than-ideal relationship on the Democratic Establishment and he gives the progressive blogosphere a complete pass. MORE...

Peter Daou:

At the root of the problem is this: the GOP benefits from a superior communications mechanism with which to shape and reshape conventional wisdom. Faced with a public that holds opposing views, politicians can either change their positions to match the public’s views or change the public’s views to match their positions — Republicans almost always choose the latter, bolstered by a highly sophisticated framing and messaging infrastructure crafted and funded over decades. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Daou ends his piece with this

The one thing that gives me hope is that the inexorable march of human progress is the activist left’s secret weapon, ultimately trumping manufactured conventional wisdom, the deceptions of the right and the weakness of the Democratic establishment. It’s a harrowing journey, but eventually progress wins out.

Post Debtmadgeddon Pundit Super-Roundup

Greg Sargent (The Morning Plum):

Lori Montgomery (WaPo), Karen Tumulty and Perry Bacon Jr.(WaPo), Timothy Geitner (WaPo op-ed), Steve Benen, Mark Landler and Jeff Zeleny (NY Times), Erik Wasson and Mike Lillis (The Hill), Naftali Bendavid And Carol E. Lee (Wall Street Journal), David M. Drucker and Humberto Sanchez (Roll Call), Joan Walsh (Salon).

"Abbreviated Pundit Roundup" (Daily Kos):

Peter Nicholas, Ezra Klein, Mark Gongloff, NY Times.

Seattle Times ed-board: "spending cuts ought to have been balanced with some revenue increases."

Seattle Times editorial board:

The federal government is not going to be available to do new things. It is not going to be able to fight three wars at a time. It will not be a font of new social benefits. It is not going to be able to bail out state governments.

The political questions will not be what things to do more of, but what things government will have to do less of in order to preserve the things that are essential. MORE...

The Maddow Blog: "Look Ma, no revenue!" (with chart)

(CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE)

The Maddow Blog:

The most asked-after item from last night's show is this chart showing the ratio of cuts to tax revenue in past deficit deals.

It's based in part on this one from early July from Jared Bernstein. His chart is focused on specific bills. Ezra Klein made a similar one at the time time, but grouped the data by president. He includes the expectation at the time that revenue would make up 17% of the debt deal signed into law today. As Chris pointed out last night, that number is actually zero. Our chart adds in a couple of iterations of the debt deal, including President Obama's initial pitch and an early plan from Republicans.

Robert Reich--"The Hostage Crisis Continues: "Why Obama Can’t Pivot to Jobs and Growth"

Robert Reich:

The radical right has not only captured the federal budget. In convincing so many Americans the problem is the size of government rather than their shrinking paychecks and growing economic insecurity, the radical right has also captured the American mind. MORE...

"Katrina vanden Heuvel: Debt Deal Exposes America's Democratic Deficit" (with audio)

The Nation with audio (48:00) from The Diane Rehm Show (NPR):

GDP growth is sluggish, unemployment remains high and poll after poll shows that Americans want job creation, not deficit reduction. Yet today's debt deal shows just how disconnected both parties are from the real economy. Instead of passing a jobs plan, Washington continues to implement budget cuts and austerity measures that will further depress the economy.

On The Diane Rehm Show this morning, The Nation's Katrina vanden Heuvel discusses the emerging "democratic deficit" separating the political and economic elite from the rest of the country. You can find her latest article on the debt ceiling negotiations here.

"Something is definitely wrong here" (cartoon)

(CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

The Economist (cartoon).

Ari Melber on "TheLastWord" - Winners and Losers in Congress's #Debt Deal (with video)

Anna Lekas Miller (The Nation) with video (07:29):

Barack Obama continually told the American people that he believed in a "balanced approach" to solve the debt crisis. Instead, he eventually conceded decades of progressive principles in a deal that the Congressional Black Caucus's Emanuel Cleaver denounced as a "sugar-coated Satan sandwich." While the poor, elderly and disabled now face deep cuts to essential social services, the rich and corporations will continue to enjoy their wealth without sacrificing more in taxes.

Still, despite the imminent threat of default, seventy per cent of the American public was against raising the debt ceiling. The Nation's Ari Melber joined MSNBC's The Last Word last night to describe how Barack Obama might have made the debt ceiling and eventual debt deal more of a compromise and less of a concession.

Gore: "U.S. suffering from a ‘broken system’ of government" (with video)

Stephen C. Webster--Raw Story with video (07:52) from Countdown:

In an interview with progressive news host Keith Olbermann, former vice president and Current TV founder Al Gore called the U.S. system of government “broken” and “in real trouble,” delivering a passionate plea for Democratic voters to make the 2012 election a “referendum” on conservative tactics. MORE...

Eugene Robinson: "A hold-your-nose debt deal"

Eugene Robinson:

It’s supremely galling. It’s unbalanced, unfair and mostly unwise. For President Obama and the Democratic Party, it’s a comprehensive defeat. But it’s not the end of the world.

The deal struck Sunday to free the U.S. economy from its Republican hostage-takers is impossible for progressives to love. It gets all the big things wrong, starting with the most fundamental: Obama never should have acquiesced to linking a routine hike in the debt ceiling — necessary to pay bills Congress has already incurred — with all the difficult spending questions that should be dealt with in the budget process. MORE...

Howie P.S.: Greg Sargent

"As many observers have noted already, Democrats have effectively given up on trying to make the case for further government spending. The result has been bipartisan agreement to marginalize that argument to the point where it’s entirely vanished from the conversation. It’s only in this context... that the deal ...makes any sense." MORE@the link.

Jay Inslee

"...don’t like debt deal, but I’m for it."

John Aravosis (AMERICAblog)

We keep being told that the Obama administration endorsed the GOP talking points on the deficit, and gave away the farm in negotiations with the Republicans on the debt ceiling, as part of a strategic play to win independents come the next election. Only problem? Independents care more about jobs, which aren't being addressed, and which will be hurt by the President's budget deal.

"Geography of the Vote" (interactive graphic)

UPDATE: I can't locate him on the map, but Jay Inslee is listed as a "YES" on the chart that accompanies the graphic @ the link.

NY Times:

Move your mouse over this interactive map to see how each member of Congress voted.

"Why the debt deal should be good for progressives" (video)

MSNBC-Morning Jokesters, video (06:25):

Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy Eugene Sperling explains how the new debt deal protects a lot of the president’s priorities.

David Plouffe: "Debt deal will pass" (with video)

The ED Schultz Show, with video from the TODAY Show(04:36):

Senior White House adviser David Plouffe said the new deal to avoid a government default lifts a big cloud over the economy, even if the country had to first endure a "three-ring circus" in Washington.

Plouffe acknowledged that there were key elements of a compromise that eluded the White House and President Barack Obama.

He said, for example, that the administration will continue to push for new tax revenues. MORE...

Greg Sargent: "Did the president surrender, or did he do the best he could?"

Greg Sargent:

Again, I want to stress that I wish Obama had done all the things critics say he should have done. Why didn’t he? Was it a political decision to project a desire for compromise at the outset to win independents? Did he, as Jonathan Chait argues, seriously misjudge opponents? I tend to think Obama sincerely decided that a more table-pounding approach would have been counter-productive. That’s who Obama is. Whatever the reason, we simply can’t know whether a more aggressive approach from Obama would have changed the basic dynamics of the situation or resulted in a better deal.

But it’s precisely because we can’t know that I hope he will do things differently next time, perhaps when the battle rejoins over the expiration of the Bush tax cuts — a fight which, if he wins, will make the current deal far better. The current dynamic just has to be changed somehow, because it’s untenable. MORE...