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Monday, 03/02/15Iraq launches counter-offensive against ISIS with support from Iran
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Walker embraces a familiar anti-intellectualism
As president, George W. Bush had an annoying habit of telling one specific joke over and over again: "I remind people that, like, when I'm with Condi, I say, 'She's the Ph.D. and I'm the C student and just look at who's the president and who's the advisor.'"
Republican audiences invariably laughed whenever Bush told the joke, but the humor always struck me as misplaced. It's not exactly a positive message to young people: study, get good grades, and work hard in school, and someday you too can take orders from a guy who struggled to graduate.
In 2011, then-Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) made similar jokes, poking fun at his poor grades and boasting about what a lousy student he was in school. "I graduated in the top 10 of my graduating class -- of 13," Perry bragged, invariably prompting laughter and applause from GOP audiences.
This year, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) isn't yet offering similar punch-lines, but he is keeping the anti-intellectual strain alive.
Walker responded by ticking through his recent itinerary of face time with foreign policy luminaries: a breakfast with Henry Kissinger, a huddle with George P. Shultz and tutorials at the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institution.But then Walker suggested that didn't much matter. "I think foreign policy is something that's not just about having a PhD or talking to PhD's," he said. "It's about leadership."
I don't much care that Walker dropped out of college and never got a degree. I do care, however, about him dismissing those with doctorates, as if vague platitudes about "leadership" are a meaningful substitute for actual expertise.
Wall Street loves Obama's brand of socialism
When Rudy Giuliani recently attacked President Obama's patriotism, the former mayor thought he could clean up his mess by making additional dumb comments. Eventually, the New York Republican was defending his ugly thesis by saying Obama had been "influenced" by communists "from the time he was 9 years old."
At this point, it seems the how-to-be-a-good-communist lessons just didn't stick. If the president is a hyper-liberal opponent of capitalism, he's executing his plan very poorly.
The last time the tech-laden Nasdaq stock closed above 5,000, Bill Clinton occupied the White House, America Online had agreed to buy Time Warner for $165 billion and beloved "Peanuts" cartoonist Charles Schulz had died in his sleep.The index closed slightly above that level on Monday, unofficially ending Monday at 5,008.10, up 44.57 or nearly 1 percent, as investors celebrated an interest rate cut in China and upbeat economic data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 also advanced.
Some of this interest, I'll concede, is the result of people liking round numbers. In a practical sense, Nasdaq 5000 isn't more exciting than Nasdaq 4999.
But the numeric milestone nevertheless offers an opportunity to pause and consider the big picture. Since President Communist took office, the Nasdaq index has nearly tripled. The same is true of the S&P. Looking back over the last several generations, Wall Street gains under Obama are far stronger than under Reagan, and rival the bull market of the Clinton era.
Hillary Clinton at the center of email flap
Congress' latest Benghazi committee asked former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to make available emails from her official State Department account. There was just one problem: Clinton never used email through her official State Department account.
Likely presidential candidate Hillary Clinton may have run afoul of federal record keeping regulations by using only a personal email account during her entire tenure as secretary of state, according to a new report from The New York Times. [...]Clinton did not have an official government account while at State, using a personal email account to conduct all her business, the Times reported Monday evening.
A spokesperson for Clinton told the New York Times her use of the personal account is consistent with the "letter and spirit of the rules," though it's not yet clear how.
There's no shortage of problematic angles to this. Obviously, there's the question of transparency and compliance with the Federal Records Act. Clinton wasn't the first Secretary of State to make use of a personal email account -- Colin Powell did the same thing during his tenure in the Bush/Cheney administration -- but preservation rules have changed and Clinton apparently faced more stringent requirements.
There's also the matter of security: as Secretary of State, Clinton sent and received highly sensitive information on a daily basis, including classified materials, from officials around the world. By relying on private email, instead of an encrypted State Department account, Clinton may have created a security risk.
Politically, though, Republicans find themselves in an awkward position. The RNC issued a statement asking, "[I]t all begs the question: what was Hillary Clinton trying to hide?"
Putting aside the misuse of "begs the question," the Republican track record makes this a difficult question to ask.
Netanyahu heads to Capitol Hill as Dems balk
At the invitation of the House Republican leadership, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint session of Congress today. His goal is simple: the Israeli leader, in the midst of his own re-election campaign, hopes to derail international diplomatic talks with Iran.
Quite a few congressional Democrats, who have no interest in bolstering Netanyahu's goals, have decided to make other plans today.
[T]he impending speech has further strained already-tense relations between the White House and House Republicans. And now, dozens of Democrats -- including 2016 hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren, according to a scoop by The Boston Globe -- have announced that they will not be attending Netanyahu's speech.
Estimates vary on exactly how many Dems intend to skip Netanyahu's address -- NBC News puts the total at 47 members (39 in the House, 8 in the Senate), while The Hill's tally shows 55 members (47 in the House, 8 in the Senate) -- but the fact remains that what was a small contingent has obviously grown considerably in recent weeks.
What's more, the totals don't include Vice President Biden, who will also not attend, and President Obama, who said he will not meet personally with the prime minister during his D.C. visit.
The entire incident, as has been well documented, has put an ugly and unnecessary strain on U.S./Israeli relations, and cut across some of the predictable lines: on the one hand, there are some Democrats who will welcome Netanyahu, while on the other, many notable Israeli leaders, including former members of Netanyahu's own cabinet, have criticized the speech and urged the prime minister to cancel.
Jeffrey Goldberg added last week, "For decades, it has been a cardinal principle of Israeli security and foreign-policy doctrine that its leaders must cultivate bipartisan support in the United States, and therefore avoid even the appearance of favoritism. This is the official position of the leading pro-Israel lobbying group in Washington, AIPAC, as well, which is why its leaders are privately fuming about Netanyahu's end-run around the White House. Even though AIPAC's leadership leans right, the organization knows that support for Israel in America must be bipartisan in order for it to be stable."
Netanyahu and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) are putting all of this at risk, and it comes to a head on Capitol Hill later this morning.
Execution on hold and other headlines
Georgia woman's execution postponed because of problem with drug. (WXIA)
Cross section of Democrats to snub Netanyahu's speech. (New York Times)
Obama: Iran must halt key nuclear work for at least a decade. (NBC News)
Obamacare case: all eyes on two Justices. (Politico)
McConnell's move to quickly pass DHS bill attracts grumbling. (The Hill)
Fierce clashes outside Iraq's Tikrit after new offensive. (AP)
'Jihadi John' recording: Mohammed Emwazi denied extremism. (BBC)
Citations for the March 2, 2015 TRMS
Tonight's guests:
- Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News foreign correspondent
- Chris Jankowski, former Republican State Leadership Committee President, former RedMap executive director
Tonight's links:
Monday's Mini-Report, 3.2.15
Today's edition of quick hits:
* ISIS: "The Iraqi military, alongside thousands of Shiite militia fighters, began a large-scale offensive on Monday to retake the city of Tikrit from the Islamic State, a battle that could either become a pivotal fight in the campaign to reclaim north and west Iraq or deepen the country's bloody sectarian divide."
* Stunning news out of Moscow: "A prominent Russian opposition leader, Boris Y. Nemtsov, was shot dead in central Moscow late Friday night within sight of the Kremlin walls."
* BBC published a list of "violent deaths" suffered by Vladimir Putin's Russian opponents.
* LAPD: "An enhanced version of a video recording of L.A. police officers fatally shooting a homeless man on skid row Sunday appears to show the man's hand reaching in the direction of an officer's waistband. A Times review of the video shows the officer quickly pulling away at that moment. Then, three of his colleagues open fire on the man."
* Tamir Rice: "In a response to a lawsuit filed by the family against the officers, the City of Cleveland last week blamed Rice and his family for his death. The injuries alleged by the child and his family 'were directly and proximately caused by their own acts, not this Defendant,' the city wrote."
* Ferguson: "The Justice Department has nearly completed a highly critical report accusing the police in Ferguson, Mo., of making discriminatory traffic stops of African-Americans that created years of racial animosity leading up to an officer's shooting of a black teenager last summer, law enforcement officials said."
* A tough sell: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to defuse tensions Monday ahead of his highly-anticipated address Tuesday before the U.S. Congress.... 'My speech is not intended to show any disrespect for President Obama,' he said."
* Nebraska joins a growing club: "On Monday, U.S District Judge Joseph Bataillon -- a President Bill Clinton appointee -- struck down the Cornhusker State's voter-approved amendment prohibiting gay and lesbian couples from marrying.
Dick Cheney has found his base
The running joke for much of the Bush/Cheney era was that it was hard to know where Vice President Dick Cheney was on any given day because he was always at "an undisclosed location." Lately, however, his location isn't a mystery at all: Cheney spends a lot of time on Capitol Hill.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney will speak to the House Republican whip team Monday evening, a source familiar with the meeting said.Cheney will likely address the series of foreign policy issues before Congress, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming joint address on Tuesday and the ongoing negotiations with Iran over Tehran's nuclear program.
In addition to the Politico report this morning, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise's (R-La.) office later confirmed that Cheney will, in fact, participate in tonight's meeting with the House Republican whip team.
The point of these meetings, by the way, is fairly specific: when Congress is in session, the House GOP whip team meets weekly to "outline its strategy and message for the week." Apparently, they're looking for some guidance from the former vice president.
Cheney will be back on Capitol Hill in a few weeks to headline a fundraising dinner for the National Republican Congressional Committee.
All of this comes on the heels of a briefing Cheney delivered in the fall to House Republicans on foreign policy.
Which came on the heels of Cheney delivering a foreign policy briefing to House Republicans.
Where Congress excels: manufactured crises
Since the Republican victories in the 2010 midterms, Congress has become dysfunctional on a historic scale. Lawmakers have no meaningful legislative accomplishments since the Democratic majorities of 2010, and tasks that were once simple are now nearly impossible.
But since January 2011, Congress has excelled in one area: manufacturing avoidable crises. If there's one thing a GOP majority has guaranteed, it's that the nation's legislative branch will careen, over and over again, from one self-imposed crisis to the next.
* April 2011: House Republicans threaten a government shutdown unless Democrats accept GOP demands on spending cuts.
* July 2011: Republicans create the first-ever debt-ceiling crisis, threatening to default on the nation's debts unless Democrats accept GOP demands on spending cuts.
* April 2012: Republicans threaten another shutdown.
* December 2012: Republicans spend months refusing to negotiate in the lead up to the so-called "fiscal cliff."
* September 2013: Republicans threaten another shutdown.
* October 2013: Republicans actually shut down the government.
* February 2014: Republicans raise the specter of another debt-ceiling crisis.
* December 2014: Republicans threaten another shutdown.
* February 2015: Republicans threaten a Department of Homeland Security shutdown.
I suspect for many Americans who only passively follow current events, the crisis cycle has become exasperating, and they're right -- great nations can't expect to function this way indefinitely. But it's important to realize this isn't just the result of historic differences between the two major political parties. Rather, it's the result of a deliberate approach to modern governance -- and it's quite new in historic terms.
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About The Rachel Maddow Show
Launched in 2008, “The Rachel Maddow Show” follows the machinations of policy making in America, from local political activism to international diplomacy. Rachel Maddow looks past the distractions of political theater and stunts and focuses on the legislative proposals and policies that shape American life - as well as the people making and influencing those policies and their ultimate outcome, intended or otherwise.
