DOG BITES MAN

Did Dick Cheney lie to the FBI?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/us/politics/31cheney.html
Former Vice President Dick Cheney denied in an interview with a special prosecutor investigating the C.I.A. leak case that he had played any role in the disclosure of the identity of Valerie Wilson as an intelligence officer . . .

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/10/22-things-dick-cheney-cant-remember-about-plame-case
[Nick Baumann] In the interview, Cheney demonstrated a behavior common among Bush administration officials under investigation: he couldn't remember much of anything. Here's a non-comprehensive list of 22 things Dick Cheney claimed he couldn't recall about the Plame case . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/cheney_wanted_mcclellan_to_exonerate_libby_as_well.php
[Zachary Roth] Dick Cheney told FBI investigators he wasn't happy when Scott McClellan, then the White House press secretary, publicly told reporters that Karl Rove wasn't the source of the Plame leak. . . .

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/10/30/bushs-july-7-2003-discussion-about-wilson/
[Marcy Wheeler] One thing DOJ redacted in this document–the most highly protected part of the document–was Cheney relaying what was said about Joe Wilson at a meeting with Bush, probably on July 7, 2003.

When Fitzgerald asked Cheney whether he ever spoke about Wilson with Condi Rice, Andy Card, and Karl Rove, Cheney answered this way . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/dont_even_point_cheneys_extreme_view_of_presidenti.php
[Zachary Roth] It's not news that Dick Cheney takes an expansive view of executive privilege. But one passage from the just released Plame interview documents makes clear just how far he took it. . . .

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/10/30/why-did-terry-odonnell-tell-michael-isikoff-what-cheney-refused-to-tell-fitzgerald/

The CBO, which has always had its thumb on the scale in favor of the Baucus approach to health care reform, deals a damaging blow to the House alternative

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/public-option-premiums-higher-on-average-in-house-health-care-bill.php

http://www.slate.com/id/2234175/

Well, it worked before

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/29/mcconnell-cost-life/
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that the public option “may cost you your life” . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/fox-trying-to-make-death-panels-story.html
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), "So with regard to the death panel, nothing much has changed." . . .

The game plan: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/30/republican_guide_to_undermining_health_care_reform.html

Looks like we’re going to see the same Republican nonsense over the climate change bill

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/report-gop-to-boycott-cap-and-trade-markup-tuesday.php
GOP To Boycott Cap-And-Trade Markup Tuesday

Joe Lieberman – is he going out of his way to be an ass?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/30/lieberman/index.html
Lieberman: I'll support Republicans in 2010

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#33558053

White House seems to be prepping for a rough round of election results on Tuesday

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/white-house-taking-long-view-and-not-worried-about-tuesdays-elections-1.php

Liz Cheney keeps showing what she and her dad mean by "keeping America safe" – it means undermining Obama at every opportunity

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/liz-cheney-bush-had-more-class-than-obama-when-it-comes-to-fallen-soldiers.php
Liz Cheney Suggests Obama Honored Fallen Soldiers For The Publicity

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/big_fibbin_2.php

Yeah, not like THIS guy: http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/30/attention-bush-apologists-reagan-greeted-fallen-americans-at-an-air-force-base-idiots/

Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) friends

http://washingtonindependent.com/65849/bachmann-endorses-fundraiser-whose-lead-speaker-likens-obama-to-hitler-says-he-paves-way-for-antichrist
Bachmann Backs Fundraiser; Speaker Likens Obama to Hitler, Says He Paves Way for Antichrist

Bonus item: Jon Stewart nails Fox News

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/30/stewart_on_fox_news.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:56 AM

 
DECISIONS, DECISIONS

The House presents its health care bill, with a public option. Like it or hate it?

Like it: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/house_bill_wins_over_progressives.php
[Chris Good] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's newly unveiled health care package isn't as ambitious as what most progressives have called for, but they're praising it as a big step toward passing a reform package that includes a public option. . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/30/opinion/30krugman.html
[Paul Krugman] [T]he bill does include a “medium-strength” public option, in which the public plan would negotiate payment rates — defying the predictions of pundits who have repeatedly declared any kind of public-option plan dead. It also includes more generous subsidies than expected, making it easier for lower-income families to afford coverage. And according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, almost everyone — 96 percent of legal residents too young to receive Medicare — would get health insurance. . . . [read on]

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/10/29/11-ways-the-house-bill-is-much-better-than-the-baucus-bill/
11 Ways The House Bill Is Much Better Than The Baucus Bill

http://www.slate.com/id/2234002/
Why the House Bill Is Better

Hate it: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/grijalva_progressives_will_push_for_change_to_house_bill.php
Grijalva: Progressives Will Push For Changes To House Bill

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/10/29/blue-dogs-win-huge-victory-for-the-health-insurance-industry/
Blue Dogs Win Huge Victory For The Health Insurance Industry

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/10/29/house-health-care-bill-a-death-sentence-for-my-fellow-breast-cancer-survivors
House Health Care Bill: A Death Sentence For My Fellow Breast Cancer Survivors

REALLY hates it: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33541678#33541678
Did Pelosi give away too much?

Now, this is worth thinking about. The Repubs say that Pelosi’s support for health care reform is driving her party off the cliff. But if they really believed that, wouldn’t they just shut up and let her do it? Or is this supposed to be seen as constructive advice?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/gop-pelosi-driving-dem-house-members-off-a-cliff.php

Republicans promised a health care alternative more than four months ago. Will they ever come up with one?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020696.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/house-gop-knows-what-it-doesnt-want-wont-yet-say-what-it-does.php
“Sometime soon”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/29/798514/-The-Republican-Health-Care-Plan
[John Boehner, R-OH] We have a number of ideas that we would like to proffer in this process, and we’re not quite sure how the majority intends to proceed. And so until we understand how they intend to proceed, it’s pretty difficult for us to have a solid plan.

[NB: Now, THAT’S leadership]

“Unprecedented obstructionism”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020695.php

And they really mean it

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/joementum-2012
[The Weekly Standard] Joementum 2012? . . . Is he the greatest senator ever? . . . [read on]

What is “cloture”?

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/everything-you-always-wanted-to-know.html

3.2% growth in GDP: good news, bad news

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/29/798388/-Good-News,-Bad-News

Let’s play “suppose this was a Democratic President”

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/29/disgraceful-in-8-years-george-w-bush-never-greeted-fallen-troops/
His predecessor. . . visited the families of dead troops but never received the bodies at the base, in Dover, Delaware. . . . [and] did not go to military funerals . . .

Oops! Confidential House ethics investigation info leaked

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/29/AR2009102904597.html

I am starting to think that the huge national investment in NY-23 is not because of enthusiasm for Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who looks like a real stiff – but because the post-election meme if he wins will be “conservative wing of the Republican party takes over.” A win for far-right theocrat Bob McDonnell in Virginia will fit that narrative, as will primary wins by Rubio over Crist in Florida and Perry over Hutchison in Texas. Sarah Palin will promote herself as a kingmaker by always backing the candidate furthest to the right. Sounds GREAT to me

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/three-candidates-debate-in-ny-23-a-moderate-democrat-versus-two-republicans.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/29/798185/-NY-23:-Gaming-it-out

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/scarce/conservative-dirty-tricks-ny-23

The GOP will burn down the building before they let this pass

http://washingtonindependent.com/65719/ellison-introduces-national-same-day-voter-registration-bill
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) has introduced a bill that would allow Election Day registration for federal elections across the country. . . . [read on]

That’s why they call it “astroturf”

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/hw_much_phony_opposition_can_7_million_buy_you.php

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is a brilliant jurist, people keep telling us. Really? I wouldn’t accept this reasoning from an undergraduate

http://washingtonindependent.com/65732/justice-scalia-thinks-a-cross-is-a-secular-symbol
Susan Jacoby in The Washington Post points out a largely overlooked exchange with Justice Antonin Scalia in that cross case heard by Supreme Court earlier this month. The case revolved around whether the government can keep a war memorial consisting of a solitary cross on public parkland. But while American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Peter Eliasberg made the argument that a statue of a soldier, for example, might be a better memorial to those who died in World War I, Scalia appeared shocked that the Jewish lawyer didn’t understand that the cross represents all the dead soldiers. “The cross is the most common symbol of…of…of the resting places of the dead,” Scalia insisted.

Sarah Palin’s $100,000 payday

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/29/palin_wants_speaking_fee_for_iowa_visit.html

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/cynicism-and-greed-stand-in-the-way-of-sarah-palins-political-aspirations.php

Or not? http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/10/29/sarah-palin-iowa-speaking-fee.aspx

Rush hasn’t been getting enough attention lately, I guess, so he ramps up his rhetoric to “11”

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/rush-limbaugh-master-eliminationism
You -- In 2008, in our presidential election, we had a, a, a war veteran, Vietnam War veteran, John McCain, against an elitist, five-minute career senator of a hundred and fifty days. That senator was running as a Democrat, and had actively sought the defeat of the U.S. military in Iraq -- had actively sought to undermine General Petraeus, who was the author of the surge that led to a turnaround in Iraq and a victory. And now that same man is dithering in Afghanistan while American soldiers -- not Bush soldiers, not Obama soldiers, American soldiers -- are dying. At record numbers.

The threat that people in this country who want to be free face is now within our own borders. . . . [read on]

No, MSNBC is not the progressive equivalent of Fox News

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/meme-alert-msnbc-left-wing-equivalent-of-fox-proves-white-house-hypocrisy/

Bonus item: Theocracy watch

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/on_the_scene_w_randall_terry.php
Randall Terry and fellow anti-abortion protestors staked out congressional staffers this morning with costumes and street theater dramatizing how said staffers will soon be burning in hellfire along with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for supporting health care reform. . . . "The fire hurts!!!"

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:12 AM

 
WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE

Joe Lieberman, filibuster hypocrite

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/joes_other_switcheroo.php
[Josh Marshall] Reformers are all up in arms over Joe Lieberman's new effort to scuttle health care reform, for good reason. What got far less attention was that between yesterday and today Joe completely changed his rationale for why he thinks the public option is a bad idea. Indeed, explanation two contradicts explanation one. And number two is so nonsensical as to suggest he's making up the reasons for his opposition as he goes along. . . . [read on]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/key-senators-react-to-liebermans-fuzzy-public-option-logic.php
Key Senators React To Lieberman's Fuzzy Public Option Logic

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/key-democratic-senators-correct-lieberman-on-the-public-option.php
Key Democratic Senators Correct Lieberman On The Public Option

Watch: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#33524742

Look, Joe’s gonna get his air time on Fox News and elsewhere. Everybody will be talking about him for a few days. He’ll be “relevant” again – and then he will back down

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/28/798090/-About-the-Lieberman-Problem
[McJoan] [W]hat else could you expect from Lieberman? . . . [read on]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/28/white-house-wont-hit-lieb_n_337098.html
White House Won't Hit Lieberman Hard For Health Care Opposition

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020673.php

Nice summary of the different kinds of “public option” still in play

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/public_option_options.php

Given the importance of separating a vote for cloture and a vote on the bill, much-discussed here, WHY would a Democrat help the GOP narrative, which conflates them?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020671.php

Are the CIA and US military working at cross purposes in Afghanistan?

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/11545

http://washingtonindependent.com/65542/how-cia-money-drug-money-and-taliban-money-mix-in-the-same-pot

http://www.slate.com/id/2233851

Watch: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#33524845

Obama signs hate crime legislation – therefore the right must find a way to attack it. But this is an ingenious line of attack: Obama is restricting the religious freedom to hate

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/pence-obama-has-used-his-position-as-commander-in-chief-to-advance-a-radical-social-agenda.php
[Michael Pence, R-IN] Hate crimes legislation is antithetical to the First Amendment, unnecessary and will have a chilling effect on religious freedom. . . . [read on]

Just another Republican sex freak

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/they_know_how_to_party.php

The Great Republican Comeback continues

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/28/the-republican-brand-in-ruins-75-of-americans-dislike-republicans-over-70-think-palins-not-qualified-to-be-president/
The Republican Brand in Ruins: 75% of Americans Dislike Republicans; Over 70% Think Palin’s Not Qualified to be President

“The Persecution of Sarah Palin,” for sale now in the Humor aisle

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/oh-boo-hoo-hoo-by-digby-liberal-media.html

Bonus item: just a coincidence?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/arnold-speaks

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/28/just_a_weird_coincidence.html
[T]he odds of his message appearing are just .00000000000053937610200661%.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:25 AM

 
SAY IT AIN’T SO, JOE

Joe Lieberman, who loves being in the position of The Most Important Member of Congress, now says he will help the GOP block health care reform. I doubt he actually will, in the end, but in the meantime he’ll get plenty of attention

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28788.html

Much ado about nothing? http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/27/analyzing_liebermans_threat.html
Senate Democratic aides tell Political Wire that too much is being made of Sen. Joe Lieberman's declaration that he would back a Republican filibuster of health care reform legislation. They think he's just jockeying for influence . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/27/reid_lieberman/index.html
Reid: "Joe Lieberman is the least of Harry Reid's problems"

http://www.slate.com/id/2233743/
[Tim Noah] Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., says that "Joe Lieberman is the least of [my] problems" in passing health reform with a public option. I'm not so sure. . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020651.php

Lieberman: a stunning ingrate (so what else is new?)

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/memories-by-digby-pardon-bygones-will.html

Lieberman’s lies

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/27/797737/-FLASHBACK:-Lieberman-pledged-support-for-health-reform

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/27/797755/-Lieberman-Lies,-Trad-Media-Doesnt-Care

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020653.php

What’s next?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/so_what_happened_today.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/end-game-so-when-will-health-care-really-happen.php

Inside baseball: how the sequence of votes will happen in the Senate

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/gaming_out_joes_threat.php
There will be several turning points . . .

As noted before, you will see a big fight to frame what a vote for cloture means: the Dems will say, it’s just a vote to give the bill an up-or-down vote and to prevent GOP obstructionism (some will vote for cloture but vote against the bill). The Repubs will say, a vote for cloture is tantamount to a vote for the bill, and they will try to hang the outcome around the neck of any conservative Dem who dares to oppose them. How will the press cover this distinction?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/59.php
I'd say it's assumed that, if the Dems are going to win this, several of the centrist and conservative Dems will vote no on the bill itself (where they only need 50) but yes on cloture (the key vote where they need 60). . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/mcconnell-says-a-vote-for-cloture-is-a-vote-for-health-care-reform.php
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell made clear today what the GOP has been suggesting for months: moderate Democratic senators fearful that voting for health care reform will cost them their seats (think Blanche Lincoln) can't get away with voting for cloture and against a bill on the floor. . . .

I said this yesterday: the opt-out option is a diabolical trap for the GOP

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/10/the-lethal-politics-of-the-optout-public-option.html

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/politics-opt-out

Will we end up talking about reconciliation again?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/27/797740/-Reconciliation,-Here-We-Come

The next big fight: climate bill hearings begin

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/major-climate-hearings-start-today-on-capitol-hill-as-administration-makes-green-announcements.php

Are we trying to influence the runoff election in Afghanistan?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/world/asia/28intel.html
Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country’s booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials. . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/28/797945/-NY-Times:-CIA-Put-President-Karzais-Drug-Smuggling-Brother-on-Its-Tab

http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/10/27/so-uh-how-much-cia-money-inadvertently-funds-the-taliban/
So, Uh. How Much CIA Money Inadvertently Funds The Taliban? . . .

What we knew . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/intel_panel_cia_misled_lawmakers_on_torture_other.php
Intel Panel: CIA Misled Lawmakers On Torture, Other Issues

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/10/27/the-cias-lies/

The Repubs love being associated with the Tea Bagger fringe. We should let them

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/27/797695/-Republicans-Want-To-Honor-Teabagging-On-House-Floor

Third straight poll shows that GOP popularity is at an all-time low – but the Wise Men “know” that the Repubs are poised for a big comeback

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/27/192957/25

Bonus item: Bush gives his “motivational” speech: Who cares about being popular? Just so long as God (and Dick Cheney) tell you that you’re right

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/27/bush-debuts-as-motivational-speaker/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:47 AM

 
WINNING THE BATTLE

Well, gotta hand it to Harry Reid: he stared down the conservaDems and said no to Olympia Snow. The Senate bill has the public option (with an “opt-out” clause – more on that in a moment)

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/26/public_option/index.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/opt-out-opt-in-by-digby-so-good-news-is.html

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/so_what_is_the_opt-out_compromise.php

Watch: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/26/184748/92

A feel-good moment for the Dems

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/26/797341/-Obama,-Reid,-and-Baucus-Deliver

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020630.php

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/10/26/senate-health-care-bill-still-unsettled-on-a-host-of-issues/

Did progressive pressure force the issue?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/26/durbin-progressives-force_n_334438.html

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/schumer-we-prevailed-on-the-white-house-that-public-option-was-the-way-to-go.php

Haw, haw. Now that the Dems are prepared to pass a popular health care reform bill with no GOP support – after months of Republican obstructionism and intransigence – after it has become clear that they’ve got no chance to stop the public option – the GOP perceives a political and public relations meltdown. So NOW they say . . . .

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/cantor-lets-have-a-bipartisan-health-care-bill----with-no-public-option.php
In an op-ed for CNN.com, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor called for a bipartisan bill -- but one that doesn't include a public option. . . .

The GOP calls Harry Reid “a partisan bully” (ha -- as if)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/26/797395/-Republicans-Respond-to-Senate-Bill

Counting votes

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/the-trigger-lives-trigger-still-has-more-votes-than-opt-out-in-senate/

Weak links on the Democratic side – one down, two to go

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/oct/26/harry-reid-public-option-healthcare
Mary Landreiu of Louisiana, a declared public-option foe and one of the most conservative of the Democratic senators, says she's "not right now inclined to support any filibuster," meaning that she would vote the party line on cloture.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020626.php
[Steve Benen] It seems likely that the two most problematic votes in the Senate Democratic caucus on health care reform will be Sen. Ben Nelson (D) of Nebraska and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D) of Arkansas. Nelson weighed in yesterday, telling CNN he's not "excited about" the public option with the state opt-out compromise, adding that he's made "no promise" to the leadership on cloture.

Today, Lincoln is also hedging. . . . "Senator Lincoln has not committed her vote to anyone," Niebaum emailed, adding that "she will have to see the legislative language and cost first and will evaluate it based on its impact on Arkansans."

Olympia Snowe doesn’t close the door all the way

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/not-that-we-care-but-did-snowe-leave.html
[Bloomberg News] HUNT: Even a public option that gives states the option, even that would be a deal-killer for Olympia Snowe?

SNOWE: Well, I wouldn’t say - characterize it as, you know, in such strong terms as deal-breakers, but yes, I’m opposed to it. . . .

Does she matter any more? http://www.slate.com/id/2233604/

On “opting-out.” What governor is going to deny the citizens of a state access to a popular, low-cost health care option? I think this element of the bill is actually a very clever trap for Republican govs

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/sen-brown-on-opt-out-public-option-confident-states-will-put-families-ahead-of-insurers.php

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/10/26/reids-opt-out-the-devil-is-in-the-details/

Annals of Republican obstructionism – it isn’t just health care

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_46/news/39864-1.html
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) . . .appears to be losing patience with Republican demands to vote on amendments that Democrats consider purely political, and he has moved in the past few weeks to step up efforts to prevent Republicans from offering amendments that he deems extraneous.

“Sen. Reid is going to continue to work with Republicans to move these bills forward but at some point in time, you’ve got to ask the question, ‘Are Republicans serious about moving this country forward?’” said one senior Senate Democratic aide.

http://www.slate.com/id/2233309/
[Doug Kendall] It's still early in President Obama's first term, but not too soon to conclude that the president's effort to "put the confirmation wars [for judges] behind us" is not going well. Only three of his 22 lower court nominees have been confirmed so far . . .

It seems clear that Senate Republicans are prepared to take the partisan war over the courts into uncharted territory—delaying up-or-down votes on the Senate floor for even the most qualified and uncontroversial of the president's judicial nominees. . . . [read on]

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/filibusters-and-holds
Not a single appellate judge has gotten a vote yet . . .

http://washingtonindependent.com/65048/senators-slog-while-unemployed-suffer
A protracted and very partisan Senate skirmish has left hundreds of thousands of jobless Americans without unemployment benefits — an impasse that Democrats leaders are hoping to break this week. . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-do-they-sleep-at-night-by-digby.html

Interesting: Yet another hopeful for the Republican party nomination for President in 2012 is endorsing a third-party conservative AGAINST the Republican party candidate

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/pawlenty-endorses-conservative-partys-hoffman-in-ny-23.php

More proof that the GOP wants to TALK about bipartisanship, but doesn’t actually WANT bipartisanship

http://washingtonindependent.com/65256/ny-23-congressman-endorses-hoffman-to-stop-bipartisanship
[Rep. John Linder (R-Ga.)] The biggest concern I have with the Republican candidate in this race is that her long held positions on unions, taxes and spending incline me to believe that she will give Nancy Pelosi a Republican vote so that these many outrageous grabs for power and control will be called “bipartisan.” I am confident that Doug will not do that.

Yep, in today’s GOP Newt Gingrich is a moderate

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/newt-gingrich-you-cant-write-entire-region

http://washingtonindependent.com/65261/conservatives-laugh-off-gingrich-presidential-dreams

In case you’re wondering why they call it “The Village”

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/uncategorized/on-the-origins-and-meaning-of-the-term-the-villagers/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/le-hameau-de-la-potomac-by-digby-i-have.html

Bonus item: Dissensus

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/conflicted.php
[Josh Marshall] Republicans can't seem to decide whether to attack the Census and encourage citizens to boycott it or create RNC mailers that pretend to be Census mailers so people will open them and feel obligated to fill them out. [read on]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:39 AM

 
GETTING TO 60?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/schumer-dems-very-close-to-60-votes.php
Appearing on Meet The Press, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that Democrats are approaching 60 votes for a compromise public option: "The liberals, they like it stronger, but they're willing to live with level playing field, opt-out. The more moderate Democrats, there are some who actually like it. As long as it's a level playing field, they're comfortable with it. There are others who say that, 'I'm not sure I like it, but I won't hold up passage of the bill.' I think we're very close to getting the 60 votes we need to move forward, and my guess is that the public option level playing field with the state opt-out will be in the bill. But Leader Reid will make that decision after he talks to everybody several times."

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/the_very_latest_on_the_public_option.php
[Josh Marshall] The White House still appears wedded to the belief that the Snowe/trigger path is the surest one to getting a bill to the president's desk (though perhaps there've been some small signs of loosening over the last 48 hours). And they're worried and/or skeptical that Reid's plan, while perhaps better legislation in the abstract, will crash and burn before final passage. Whether that analysis makes sense or not, it's the clearest explanation of all the facts. And a "senior administration official" told Cohn on Sunday that they'll be with Reid "100 percent behind whichever direction [he] decides to go."

More: http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-treatment/obama-cool-the-opt-out
Senate Dems to Obama: Um, a Little Help Here?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020612.php
WHY PULLING THE 'TRIGGER' IS A BAD IDEA

Why?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/219382
[Howard Fineman] [T]he pursuit of Snowe is pretty close to obsessive, which is not a good thing either for Democrats or for the prospects of health-care reform worthy of the name. First, Snowe's exaggerated prominence is both the result and symbol of Obama's quixotic and ultimately time--wasting pursuit of "bipartisanship." In case the White House hasn't noticed, Republicans in Congress are engaged in what amounts to a sitdown strike. They don't like anything about Obama or his policies; they have no interest in seeing him succeed. Despite the occasional protestation to the contrary, the GOP has no intention of helping him pass any legislation. Snowe may very well end up voting for whatever she and Democrats craft, but that won't make the outcome bipartisan any more than dancing shoes made Tom DeLay Fred Astaire.

Nor would Snowe's vote mollify the GOP grassroots: they don't think of her as a Republican anyway. . . . [read on]

More: http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/huffpost-obama-wants-bipartisan-refor
HuffPost: Obama Wants Bipartisan Reform Cover for Blue Dogs and Conservatives

The GOP, captives of their base

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/enough_of_the_base.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/25/796815/-Where-Did-All-The-Republicans-Go

Does anyone seriously believe Sarah Palin has a chance to become President, or is this continuous courting of her just a confluence between her own appetite for celebrity and the party’s cynical desire to keep her supporters mobilized and motivated?

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/09/neocons-ride-again-sarah-palin

George Will is never wrong

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/george-will-claims-bill-not-line-thats-bee

Fox News declares victory in their fight with the WH, say Robt Gibbs apologized to them. Would it shock you to hear that the story isn't true?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/white-house-insists-gibbs-didnt-apologize-to-fox.php

Bonus item: News vs. opinion, huh?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/24/796835/-The-Fox-Nutworks-coy-game

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:13 AM

 
THE VILLAGE PEOPLE

Despite their best efforts to unilaterally declare the public option dead, the Villagers are beginning to embrace the new reality, that a public option in some form is inevitable

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/10/24/village-surprise-on-health-care/

But, but. . . it costs too much! http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/24/796720/-Where-Our-Money-Goes

Where things go from here

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/24/AR2009102401194.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102304081.html

More: http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/good-update-on-health-care-reform-in.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/24/796740/-Public-Option,-Triggers,-Opt-Out,-Oh-My

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020606.php

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-20/whats-the-public-option-again/

Against triggers

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/trigger-unhappy-by-digby-so-rumor-is.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/bipartisan-fail-by-digby-policy-wonk.html

A different kind of trigger: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/24/796681/-A-different-kind-of-trigger

We know Obama’s popularity has dropped – we know because the Wise Ones keep telling us that it has. But guess what?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/24/obama_has_won_over_more_than_hes_lost.html
Public Policy Polling notes President Obama's approval rating with people who didn't vote for him is 14% and his disapproval rating with people who voted for him is 6%.

"So he's won over twice as many people as he's lost since he got elected. Who in the national media is going to write that story? Not bad for someone whose support is supposedly falling apart."

The Queen of the Village thinks Alan Grayson is just so uncouth . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/sally-quinn-sniffs-gauche-alan-grays

Obama and Nixon huh?

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200910230015

I love it when self-described conservative intellectuals end up trolling the same dark corners of the Republican id as the Tea Baggers and other fringe groups. Who’s caving to whom?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/23/AR2009102303193.html
[George Will, on Michele Bachmann] Some of her supposed excesses are, however, not merely defensible, they are admirable. . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/22/AR2009102203801.html
[Charles Krauthammer] Fox's flagship 6 o'clock evening news out of Washington (hosted by Bret Baier, formerly by Brit Hume) is, to my mind, the best hour of news on television. . .

Glenn Beck, dangerously crazy

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/beck-goes-batshit-depict-obama-white

Ann Coulter, dangerously creepy

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/ann-coulter-claims-all-presidential-assass

Sunday talk show line-ups – and ANOTHER moment with John McCain

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/the-sunday-show-line-ups-26.php
• ABC, This Week: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO).

• CBS, Face The Nation: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI).

• CNN, State Of The Union: Dr. , Afghan presidential candidate; Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA).

• NBC, Meet The Press: Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY.

Bonus item: Dems vs GOPers, in the style of Mac/PC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrPCicGcoIQ



***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:51 AM

 
KABUKI

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/sources-white-house-pushing-back-against-senate-public-option-opt-out-compromise.php
Multiple sources tell TPMDC that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is very close to rounding up 60 members in support of a public option with an opt out clause, and are continuing to push skeptical members. But they also say that the White House is pushing back against the idea, in a bid to retain the support of Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME).

"They're skeptical of opt out and are generally deferential to the Snowe strategy that involves the trigger," said one source close to negotiations between the Senate and the White House. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/23/796363/-HuffPost:-Reid-one-or-two-votes-shy-of-opt-out-public-option
HuffPost: Reid one or two votes shy of opt-out public option

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/source-senate-leadership-counting-votes-on-trigger-and-its-closest-to-60-votes/
Senate Leadership Also Counting Votes On “Trigger,” And It’s Closest To 60 Votes

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/white_house_denies_report_that_it_wants_to_weaken_public_plan.php
White House Denies Report That It Wants To Weaken Public Plan

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/23/796335/-White-House-again-voices-support-for-public-option
White House again voices support for public option

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/10/eleventy-seven-dimensional-chess.html
[Atrios] The optimistic reading of this is that Obama is willing to trade for Snowe's support for the Senate bill and then push for a better bill in the conference with the House.

The less optimistic reading is obvious.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28651.html
Pelosi lacks votes for most sweeping public option

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/pelosi-house-firm-in-backing-public-option/
Pelosi: House Firm in Backing Public Option

The GOP alternative on health care reform? Restrict malpractice lawsuits

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/republican-malpractice-myths

Yeah, Alan, but how do you REALLY feel about him?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/grayson-cheney-has-blood-that-drips-from-his-teeth.php
During an appearance yesterday on Hardball, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) jokingly suggested that former Vice President Dick Cheney is a vampire. . . .

"Well, my response is -- and by the way, I have trouble listening to what he says sometimes, because of the blood that drips from his teeth while he's talking," said Grayson. . . .

How’s that big Republican comeback going?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020594.php
CNN, releasing the results of its new poll this afternoon, reports, "The Republican Party's favorable rating among Americans is at lowest level in at least a decade . . .”

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/poll-gops-favorability-at-its-worst-in-a-decade.php

Yep

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/leveling_with_the_public.php
Pressed for comment by NBC, President Obama says that Fox News is essentially a TV version of a talk radio station. . . .

Fox claims that their critics confuse their news operation with their opinionators – but when things like this happen, how do we keep them separate?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/foxs_john_stossel_to_rally_agaisnt_healthcare_refo.php
John Stossel of Fox News will join a conservative activist group for rallies designed to build opposition to health-care reform.

Americans For Prosperity (AFP) has announced that Stossel, a "renowned health care reporter and analyst," will participate in three "Health Care Town Halls," starting next week in Arkansas.

In a press release, AFP says that the events will be designed in part to "discuss the dangers of government-forced health care." . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020597.php

Another fake right-wing hissy fit

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/fox_news_outfoxes_itself.php
[David Kurtz] If you've had Fox News on today, you've seen them cranking up the indignation machine over a supposed new incident between the network and the White House. The claim is that the White House denied Fox the same access other networks had to a press briefing at the Treasury Department yesterday. But we've looked into it, and it turns out that's not what happened. Christina Bellantoni has the details on how a miscommunication over the TV pool feed has Fox playing First Amendment victim.

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/wh-were-happy-to-exclude-fox-but-didnt-yesterday-with-feinberg-interview.php

Oh please oh please oh please oh please: Fox head Roger Ailes pushed to run for President

http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0910/fox_head_could_make_run.html

Caught in a lie, Rush and Fox say . . .

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200910230018

http://washingtonindependent.com/65015/the-obama-thesis-hoax

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200910230019
Limbaugh says he doesn't care if thesis quotes are fake, "I know Obama thinks it"

Sean Hannity is dumb – and thinks you are too

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/23/796016/-Hannity-stupidity
[Jed Lewison] Every once in a while, it's worth taking a step back and reminding ourselves that Sean Hannity isn't just a Republican partisan hack, he's also a dumb partisan hack. A very, very dumb hack.

Case in point . . .

Bonus item: Tech-addled GOP spent five times as much for a GOP.com web site that everyone thought was a joke

http://washingtonindependent.com/65033/the-bill-for-gop-com-1-4-million

More: The man who says he never uses the Internet (even email) now wants to lead regulation to destroy it

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/10/23/mccain-rediscovers-his-passion-for-screwing-us-with-bad-telecom-policy/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:29 AM

 
WAR BY OTHER MEANS

More smoke signals that an “opt-out” public option will be in the Senate bill. Olympia Snowe says she won’t support it, but maybe, finally, the Dems are realizing that they don’t need her anyway.

By the way, a simple distinction that seems to be beyond most of the press. You hear often that “the Democrats need 60 votes to pass the bill” or “fewer than 60 Dems support a public option.” When the press does this they are serving the Republican cause. You don’t need 60 votes to support a particular plan – all you need is 60 votes to prevent a Republican filibuster, even if some of those people end up voting against the bill itself.

Can Senate Dems hold their team together? I don’t know.

But there does seem to be a growing sense among the Dems that it will be political suicide after all this to fail in passing a final health care reform bill – and to give the GOP a massive crowing victory if they can kill it

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/how-high-will-public-option-trial-balloon-fly-in-the-senate.php
[Brian Beutler] For days there was silence. And then this morning and afternoon, the floodgates opened. Senators began saying, on the record, that Democratic leadership was leaning toward putting a public option--with an opt out clause--in the base Senate health care bill. . . .

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/10/hopey.html
[Atrios] I can't predict the future but remain (very) cautiously optimistic about the end result of HCR. I was worried for awhile there, when I realized that it seemed that one thing many of our very important senators had forgotten to consider was that people actually have to kind of like this plan, and forcing people to buy shitty insurance would probably not make voters happy. I get the sense (not that I really know) that it's become a bit more of the conversation, and hopefully that'll lead a few more people to understand that pleasing Olympia Snowe and AHIP can't be the only considerations.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/22/796044/-ABC:-Public-Option-Will-be-in-Senate-Bill,-Baucus-Apoplectic
[Max] Baucus "Apoplectic" [read on]

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/did-something-happen-on-way-to-debacle.html
Ben Nelson is depressed . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/snowe-i-do-not-support-public-option-opt-out-compromise.php?ref=fpblg
Snowe: I Do Not Support Opt Out Compromise, Would Likely Filibuster Public Option Bill

Let’s be perfectly clear about what’s going on here

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020574.php
AHIP URGES GOP NOT TO GIVE 'COMFORT TO THE ENEMY' . . . [read on]

Evil Uncle Dick calls Obama a coward

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/22/cheney-hammers-afraid-obama/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/10/22/more-insane-rantings-from-the-crazy-man-in-the-attic/

Is Obama a naïf? (thanks to Bill C. for the link)

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n20/brom01_.html

We seem to be seeing the emergence of a Palin/Bachmann wing of the GOP. How wonderful to see these two Mensa members lined up together

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/22/796133/-NY-23:-Palin-and-Bachmann-Agree...Down-With-the-GOP

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/palin-endorses-conservative-partys-hoffman-in-ny-23.php

Heh: http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/going-rouge-to-come-out-same-day-as-palins-book.php
A collection of essays about former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, titled Going Rouge, will be released the same day as Palin's own much-awaited book, Going Rogue.

The essays [“Going Rouge”] collected by The Nation senior editors Richard Kim and Betsy Reed and written by Max Blumenthal, Katha Pollitt, Matt Taibbi and several others, will examine "the nightmarish prospect of her continuing to dominate the nation's political scene."

Cool

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/musicians_protest_music_at_gitmo.php
A handful of musicians have joined up with the movement to close Guantanamo, protesting the reported use of loud music to soften up detainees for interrogation. The group includes Trent Reznor, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, David Byrne, Jackson Browne, Rise Against, Rosanne Cash, Billy Bragg, the Roots, Tom Morello, Michelle Branch, Steve Earlie, Rise Against, the Entrance Band, Joe Henry, Rise Against, and T-Bone Burnett.

According to accounts of detainee treatment, loud music was part of the regimen for some prisoners held there, as part of the U.S. government's reverse-engineering of the SERE program, which trains officers how to resist such techniques if captured by enemies. The selection has allegedly included Metallica, Britney Spears, Eminem and Dr. Dre, Bruce Springsteen, the Bee Gees, Nine Inch Nails, and Rage Against the Machine. Music has been used along with flashing lights to disorient prisoners and deteriorate their mental faculties.

"The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me-- we need to end torture and close Guantanamo now," said Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello. . . .

Silly science

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/abc-testosterone-of-mccain-voters.html
Testosterone of McCain Voters Dropped Post-Election

More: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/chart-day-3

Yep

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/22/795906/-Its-not-the-White-House-War-on-Fox,-stupid.
[Jed Lewison] It's not the White House War on Fox, stupid. . . . it's actually Fox's War on the White House.

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/photofeatures/2009/10/fox-news-v-white-house.php

Bonus item: Glenn Beck channels Dwight Schrute – hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUfOd27c4q4



***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:19 AM

 
SAND IN THE GEARS

The “opt-out” public option option returns again

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/rockefeller-warms-to-public-option-opt-out.php

I’ve said all along that the 60 vote majority of the Dems has been exaggerated, and I predicted at the start that there would never be an instance in which those 60 votes, and only those votes, decided an issue. And we haven’t seen it yet. Imagine what the Repubs would do with a filibuster-proof hammer like that.

Meanwhile, Harry Reid is whining again . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/21/235451/91
[Politics Daily] Senate procedures give Republicans an array of tactical maneuvers that they have used to delay, if not derail, Reid's agenda. . . .

On Wednesday, Reid said the entire Senate agenda was falling prey to the GOP of past and present. . . .

A radical notion

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/compromise-is-a-two-way-street.php
Compromise is a Two-Way Street . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/democrats-united-by-digby-youve.html

After health care reform two more big issues on the horizon – climate change legislation and financial regulation. On the latter:

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB125616828727300265-lMyQjAxMDI5NTI2MjEyNjI4Wj.html
Wall Street Steps Up Political Donations, Lobbying

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/10/issue-that-could-fracture-both-right.html
[Nate Silver] It's becoming increasingly likely that regulation of the banking and financial sector is liable to be the issue that dominates the first half of 2010. . . .

From a 30,000-foot view, the debate will be between the Volckerists and the Summersists, with the Volckerists arguing that large financial institutions need to be broken up -- probably through something resembling a modern Glass-Steagall Act -- and the Summersists arguing instead for more extensive regulations.

The 'hard', online left will almost certainly take the Volckerist position. In fact, I expect this to be the "public option" of 2010 . . .

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/trading-it-all-leverage
[Kevin Drum] I don't understand. Why do I have to choose? These aren't mutually exclusive . . .

More: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/improving-the-administrations-too-big-to-fail-approach.php

Why can’t Congress pass a much-needed extension of unemployment benefits?

http://washingtonindependent.com/64513/expanded-unemployment-benefits-stalled-by-gop-acorn-immigration-amendments

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/21/795299/-Party-Of-No-Obstructs-Extending-Unemployment-BenefitsDemocrats-Let-Them

The GOP is becoming a regional party

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/21/795220/-GOP-looks-great-in-South,-not-so-much-in-the-rest-of-America

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/21/AR2009102102849.html
[E.J. Dionne] Is there room in the Republican Party for genuine moderates? Truth to tell, the GOP can't decide. . . . [read on]

Liz Cheney continues her fight for American security and freedom . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/liz-cheney-white-house-fight-with-fox-news-is-censorship-and-abuse-of-power.php
Liz Cheney: White House Fight With Fox News Is 'Censorship' And 'Abuse of Power'

More: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/fox_news_iii_enemies_list_really.php
[Marc Ambinder] Sen. Lamar Alexander weighed in on the Fox News controversy today, accusing the White House of "street brawling" and likening their actions to a modern day "enemies list." Alexander noted that he was a young aide in the Nixon White House who saw the culture of attack and paranoia infect the presidency. All I can say is, "Really?"

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/dana-perino-white-house-is-burning-brides-with-conservative-critics-by-attacking-them/
Dana Perino: White House Shouldn’t Attack Conservative Critics Because It Will “Burn Bridges”

Yeah, the Bush gang never did anything like that: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/21/795543/-Beck-supported-Bush-White-House-attacks-on-NBC

http://www.jamesgoodale.net/bushswar.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:40 AM

 
GETTING MOTIVATED

Time for Obama to get involved on health care

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/hill-aides-more-senators-would-back.html
Hill Aides: More senators would back Public Plan if Obama pushed harder

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/senate-aide-its-time-for-the-white-house-to-take-a-stand-on-the-public-option.php
Top Aide: It's Time For The White House To Take Stand On Public Option

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/10/20/door-open-on-the-public-option-president-obama-need-only-walk-through-it/
Door Open On The Public Option, President Obama Need Only Walk Through It

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/dems-have-been-begging-white-house-for-leadership-on-public-option-for-weeks-now/
Dems Have Been Begging White House For Leadership On Public Option For Weeks Now

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/obama-to-dems-keep-eye-on-health-care-prize-and-unify.php
Obama Tells Dems They Can Be 'Own Worst Enemies'

Wow, just wow. Former President George W. Bush begins his next career – as a motivational speaker!

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/classy_gig_for_ex-president.php

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#33406617

The sharks are eating each other in upstate New York: in a congressional race with a conservative and slightly less conservative Republican splitting the vote against a lucky Democrat, the two Republicans are killing each other. This is another legacy of unleashing the Tea Baggers – now anyone who isn’t hard right, even within their party, is a “radical leftist.”

More proof that “moderate Republican” is a vanishing species

Watch: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#33406478

http://washingtonindependent.com/64543/ny-23-hoffman-calls-on-scozzafava-to-leave-the-race
The campaign of Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party’s candidate in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, is clearly enjoying the bar fight between The Weekly Standard and GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava. After seeing that Scozzafava’s campaign released private emails between a spokesman and the Standard’s reporter John McCormick, a Hoffman spokesman called on the troubled Republican candidate to hang it up.

“It’s obvious that with every passing day and with every drop in the polls, Dede Scozzafava is becoming more desperate,” said Hoffman’s senior communications adviser Rob Ryan. “The best thing she can do for her own career and for the Republican Party is to drop out of this race.” . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/20/ny_special/index.html
Dede Scozzafava is the Republican Party's candidate in a special election to fill a congressional seat in upstate New York. More than that, she's served -- as a Republican -- in the state Assembly for more than 10 years, and is a member of her party's leadership. But according to conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, Scozzafava is a "radical leftist."

Yes, the special election in New York's 23rd congressional district has gotten a little odd. . . .

The story gets weirder: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/weekly-standard-hits-back-at-scozzafava-camps-accusations-call-to-the-police.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/ny23-gop-campaign-and-weekly-standard-feud-read-the-emails.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/gop-candidates-husband-called-police-against-weekly-standard.php

There is just no shaking the conventional Beltway wisdom that the Republicans are poised for a big comeback, facts be damned

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200910200015
Despite God-awful polling results, WashPost's Cillizza claims Republicans have had a "good year"

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-party/gop-in-same-position-in-generic-matchup-as-in-2008-and-2006/
GOP In Same Position In Generic Matchup As In 2008 And 2006

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/20/173230/30
Democrats Crush GOP in Fundraising

Only 39% of Republicans like their own party leader

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/poll-steele-viewed-favorably-by-39-of-republican-voters-with-high-undecideds.php

More proof that there is nothing, nothing Pat Buchanan can say or write that will undermine his pundit status on that “liberal” network, MSNBC

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/buchanan_white_americans_are_losing_their_country.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/20/234954/73

Of course there isn’t any difference between “news” and “opinion” on Fox News. None at all

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRx5ethd8JU

More: http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/fox-news-caught-cropping-dunn-quote-to.html
FOX News caught cropping Dunn quote . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/was-becks-anonymous-concerned-parent
Was Beck's anonymous 'Concerned Parent' actually just a blacked-out Chris Wallace?

Bonus item: War is good for you

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/proposed-army-program-will-encourage
Proposed Army Program Will Encourage Soldiers to Look On The Bright Side of Combat

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 5:36 AM

 
DON’T BOTHER US WITH THE FACTS

Item 1: The Village has decided that there can’t be/won’t be a public option in the final health care bill – so why won’t those silly leftist Dems stop talking about it?

Exhibit A, Chris Matthews: “How Will President Obama Lead the Left to Accept No Public Option?”

http://video.thechrismatthewsshow.com/player/?fid=31183

Fact: there probably WILL be a public option in the final bill

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/house-leaders-work-to-present-conservative-democrats-with-fiscally-responsible-health-care-bill.php
Pelosi Aims to Squeeze Skeptics on Public Option With Cheaper Bill Than Senate

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/baucus-the-public-option-is-alivewere-just-not-sure-what-type.php
Baucus: The Public Option Is Alive...We're Just Not Sure What Type

http://washingtonindependent.com/64204/a-political-game-of-win-the-docs
With the nation’s insurers having dropped their support for the health reforms moving through Congress, Senate Democrats are taking daring steps to rally the backing of another powerful medical lobby: doctors. . . .

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/wapo-poll-majority-wants-public-option-more-than-bipartisanship-for-its-own-sake/
WaPo Poll: Majority Wants Public Option More Than Bipartisanship

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/chopped-liver-by-digby-i-know-that.html
[ABC] President Obama's holding the line at an even division in public views on health care reform, boosted by support for two key elements --- a personal mandate and a public option --- and aided by continued weakness in the opposition party. . . .

Meanwhile . . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/19/daily_pulse_republicans_launch_strategy_to_derail_bill.html
"Senate Republicans, acknowledging they lack the votes to block a health care reform bill outright, have implemented a comprehensive political strategy to delay, define and derail," Roll Call reports. . . [read on]

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/steele-we-dont-need-comprehensive-health-care-reform.php
Michael Steele: We Don't Need Comprehensive Health Care Reform

Item 2: The Village has decided that the Dems are in really, really serious electoral trouble

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/19/three_threats_for_democrats.html
[Dan Balz] "Three forces threaten Democrats in the 2010 elections: populist anger on the right, disaffection in the middle and potential disillusionment on the left." . . . [read on]

Fact: the Republicans are even worse

http://www.samefacts.com/2009/10/campaigns/one-of-the-two-major-parties-is-seriously-sucking-wind/
[Mark Kleiman] One of the two major parties is seriously sucking wind . . . [read on]

Now, you tell me if this looks like a resurgent party movement (the "Contract with America," this ain't)

http://washingtonindependent.com/64236/im-not-gonna-hit-you-but-id-like-to
Conservative fire-starter John Ziegler, the radio host and producer of the pro-Sarah Palin movie “Media Malpractice,” got booted from a panel at this weekend’s Western CPAC after badgering American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/crist-rewrites-history-on-stimulus-support.php
Facing a primary challenge from the right, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is suddenly attacking President Obama for stimulus spending just six months after backing the stimulus package. . . .

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/sc-gop-explains-that-jim-demint-is-like-a-penny-watching-jew-in-a-good-way.php
SC GOP Explains That Jim DeMint is Like a Penny-Watching Jew (In a Good Way!)

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/vitter-alone-in-silence-over-justice-who-refuses-to-marry-biracial-couple.php?ref=fpb
Vitter Alone In Silence Over Justice Who Refuses To Marry Biracial Couple

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/intern_spy_hunt_delayed.php
[Josh Marshall] It is our somber duty to inform you that four Republican members of Congress appear not have the courage of their own shameless convictions. You'll remember, last week four GOP members of the House -- Reps. Broun, Shadegg, Myrick and Franks -- came forward to announce a conspiracy to infiltrate secret Muslim intern spies on to key committees on Capitol Hill. The four said that in addition to alerting the Justice Department and the IRS they were asking the House Sergeant at Arms to investigate the threat.

We have, of course, been closely monitoring the story. But as of today, none of the four have actually brought the matter to the Sergeant at Arms. The office of Sue Myrick, the apparent leader of the group, told us that she plans to bring the matter to the Sergeant at Arms in the next few days but did not explain the delay.

[NB: You would think, of course, that if this were real concern over a real security threat -- and not just a stupid political stunt -- they would feel a bit more urgency about pressing the investigation.]

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/draft-dont-use
[In the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court race] His opponent is Joan Orie Melvin from Pittsburgh who also serves on the Superior Court. Her website tells us that she has been a lifelong Republican. Her faith is the cornerstone of her life. She comes from a family of nine children raised with the principles of God and Country. . . .

In her previous visit to Wilkes-Barre in May she gave a long rambling speech to the local GOP faithful. In that speech she listed as one of her selling points was the upcoming redistricting after the 2010 Census telling the partisan crowd that they needed a Republican on the court to rule in favor of Republicans in any challenges to whatever plan emerges.

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/pa-gop-runs-ad-replacing-o-in-obamas-name-with-soviet-style-hammer-and-sickle.php
PA GOP Runs Ad Replacing 'O' In Obama's Name With Soviet-Style Hammer And Sickle

More: http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/pennsylvania-gop-uses-hammer-and-sick

Are we surprised?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/costs_of_the_freak_show.php
[Josh Marshall] The Secret Service is getting tasked with investigating so many different threats to President Obama's life that it lacks the budget and staff to keep up with them all.

Can we get more attention on this now that it's a fiscal discipline issue? Do you feel reassured?

Terrible, terrible news. . . if true

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/peter-bergen-taliban-and-al-qaeda-have-merged.php
Peter Bergen: Taliban and al-Qaeda Have Merged

The fact that this is treated as astonishing news tells you so much

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/unusual-setback
[WP] Big financial firms losing power on Capitol Hill . . . [read on]

Theocracy watch

http://www.abpnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4496&Itemid=53
[W]hy are Christians so willing to believe unsubstantiated rumors? And more troubling, why are Christians, who should hold the highest standards of truth-telling, so eager to spread such rumors -- and even downright libels? . . . [read on]

Al Sharpton’s gonna sue Rush Limbaugh – and it looks as if he has a pretty good case

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33387715#33387715

On Fox News’ "opinion vs. news" defense

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/news_at_fox_news.php

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/hes_got_a_point.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/19/794947/-David-Waldman-debates-WH-vs.-Fox-on-CNN.com-panel

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/19/794781/-Sunday-Loon-Watch

Bonus item: an interesting thought experiment

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020516.php
[David Frum] Suppose an agent arrived in the offices of Limbaugh/Beck/Hannity/O'Reilly etc. with an offer. "I can guarantee you a deal that will pay you twice as much -- bring you twice as much fame -- and extend your career twice as long -- if you'd say the exact opposite of what you are saying now." Which of them would sign? . . . [read on!]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:44 AM

 
FOXES IN THE HENHOUSE

The four men who hold the future of health care reform in their hands

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/17/AR2009101701810.html
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) sits at the head of a wooden table at his office as he and Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) work to merge two competing versions of health-care legislation into one bill. The three men will be joined by top aides as well as by members of President Obama's health-care team, led by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. . .

The health care reform we’re NOT going to get

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/18/135422/50

The deals Obama has had to make to get health care reform at all – and what they will cost

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/robert_reich/2009/10/why-obama-has-to-do-what-lette.php

Karl Rove, prince of hardball politics, whines that the Obama admin is just too darn hard on Fox News

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/19/project-much/
[Attaturk] Ever have one of those moments when somebody says something you do a double-take and think they would not dare say something so laughable? . . . [read on]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020494.php

What has Fox News had to say about the John Ensign (R-NV) scandal – one of the biggest political stories of the moment?

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/chris-wallace-thinks-asking-eric-cantor-on

Fox News: “un-American”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/218192

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/knowing-thyself-by-digby-everybodys.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020495.php

Bonus item: Right-wing commentators compare Rush Limbaugh with Martin Luther King. I kid you not

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020490.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:41 AM

 
YES, IT’S TRUE

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/10/16/new-report-conservative-republicans-are-delusional-paranoids/
Conservative Republicans Are Delusional Paranoids

You think that’s an exaggeration?

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/nra-call-should-third-world-dictators----and-hillary-clinton----dictate-our-gun-rights.php
NRA: Should Third World Dictators -- And Hillary Clinton -- Dictate Our Gun Rights?

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/9988
Muslim Supervillains On Rampage!

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/militia-madness-online-game-based-am
Online game based on American civil war in 2011 after 'Obama's coup fails'

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/17/late-night-pre-halloween-special-wanna-get-scared-contemplate-what-the-hell-glenn-beck-could-say-that-his-cretin-fans-wouldnt-believe/
[W]hat could Glenn Beck ever tell these people that they wouldn’t swallow? That Obama is a space alien zombie? That his “Czars” are Nazi laser biker hypnotists? That voting makes you gay? One shudders to think.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/17/11431/658
[Charles Lemos] It is not difficult to see that conservatives in the United States see themselves as besieged. Read any conservative blog and what jumps out other than the sheer amount of unbelievable ignorance that pervades and a deep, irrational adherence to failed socio-economic policies that have accrued an eleven trillion national debt and brought about an ever-widening chasm between rich and poor is a notion that their America is disappearing. I am not really sure that their America ever really existed, but that aside, the conservative mindset is a frightened, paranoid one. . . . [read on]

Apparently, there’s nothing you can do or say that discredits you in the eyes of the right. On the contrary: slowly, subtly, they will rehabilitate you and the ideas you stand for

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/post_16.php
[Josh Marshall] Back in July we brought you the story of Dr. David McKalip, the Tea Party movement anti-anti-reform activist who was caught circulating a racist email with a photo of loincloth wearing President Obama in the guise of a witch-doctor.

After we publicized the email, McKalip apologized, later said he was withdrawing from the public debate over health care and felt compelled to resign as the head of the local medical association.

So we were surprised when . . . McKalip resurfaced as an expert on health care reform for none other than Glenn Beck at Beck's town hall style meeting to discuss the horrors of reform. . . .

In or out?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/17/793903/-Remember-the-Painless-Filibuster
[NYT] Democratic aides say that Senate leaders working with the White House to meld the two bills are inclined to leave the public option out and to let supporters propose amendments to add it during floor debate. . . . [read on]

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/10/16/rumor-public-option-to-be-left-out-of-merged-senate-bill/
[David Dayen – formerly known here as “D-Day”] Left out of this story is the fact that any amendment to the bill on the Senate floor would in all likelihood need a cloture vote – in other words, 60 votes – in order to pass. Therefore the placement of the public option inside or outside of the merged bill is crucial, as there are probably not 60 votes to either insert it or remove it from the legislation. So allowing an amendment as a “compromise” is not really a compromise at all. . . . [read on]

Is the time of the Individual Blogger disappearing?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/glory-days-by-digby-it-would-appear.html
[Digby] It would appear that the days of the single, old country blogger like myself are definitely on the wane. I would guess that within just a few years there won't be more than a handful of the sole proprietor, uncredentialed bloggers of today . . .

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/10/on-my-way-out.html
[Atrios] I'm so old I can remember when I was a very popular blogger.

The rankings: http://techpresident.com/blog-entry/top-us-politics-blogs-technoratis-update

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/the-sunday-show-line-ups-25.php
• ABC, This Week: White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod.

• CBS, Face The Nation: White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH).

• CNN, State Of The Union: White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA).

• NBC, Meet The Press: White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ), California First Lady Maria Shriver, Center for American Progress president John Podesta.

Bonus item: a Rep for every need

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_IAN081P8I



***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:50 AM

 
HARDBALL

It’s about time

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/us/politics/18address.html
Obama Threatens Insurers’ Anti-Trust Exemption
President Obama mounted a frontal assault on the insurance industry on Saturday, accusing it of airing “deceptive and dishonest ads” to derail his health care legislation and threatening to strip the industry of its longstanding exemption from federal anti-trust laws.

In unusually harsh terms, Mr. Obama cast insurance companies as obstacles to change interested only in preserving their own “profits and bonuses” and willing to “bend the truth or break it” to stop his drive to remake the nation’s health care system. The president used his weekly radio and Internet address to push back against industry assertions that legislation will drive up premiums.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” Mr. Obama said. “It’s bogus. And it’s all too familiar. Every time we get close to passing reform, the insurance companies produce these phony studies as a prescription and say, ‘Take one of these, and call us in a decade.’ Well, not this time.” . . . [read on]

More: http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/16/time-to-throw-some-elbows-on-healthcare-reform-mr-president/

Migrating the crazy

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/copycat.php
In a possible echo of the death of the census worker in Kentucky who had "Fed" scrawled across his chest with a felt tip marker, a California man was indicted today for an email threat to kill President Obama "then write 'fed shit' on his chest with a felt tip."

Well, we knew that the Cheneys' new think-tank, “Keep America Safe,” would keep its eye on the real threats to our nation today

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/new-ad-from-liz-cheneys-group-bashes-olbermann-matthews-as-afraid-to-debate-her/
New Ad From Liz Cheney’s Group Bashes Olbermann, Matthews As “Afraid” To Debate Her

It’s the headlines, stupid

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020483.php
[Steve Benen] The lead overnight story on Mark Halperin's "The Page" features a photo of President Obama alongside U.S. currency. The text reads, "Red Ink Nation: Obama presides over $1.4 trillion deficit."

The front page of the Washington Post tells readers, "Record-High Deficit May Dash Big Plans; $1.4 Trillion in Red Ink Means Less to Spend On Obama's Ambitious Jobs, Stimulus Policies." The New York Times' front page says, "$1.4 Trillion Deficit Complicates Stimulus Plans."

Let's set the record straight here. The Treasury Department officially announced that the federal budget deficit for fiscal year 2009 was $1.4 trillion. While that's hardly good news, it's worth remembering that the Office of Management and Budget had projected a deficit for FY09 of $1.8 trillion. As Dean Baker explained, "Given the new information about the deficit, a more reasonable headline would have been, 'Lower Than Expected Deficit Leaves Room for Stimulus,' since the government can now spend $200-$400 billion and still have a lower debt than what was projected just two months ago." . . . [read on]

Buh-bye

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/ensigns-fundraising-pool-dries-up.php

We love Rachel!

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/16/early-morning-swim-rachel-absolutely-destroys-americans-for-prosperitys-tim-phillips/

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/scarce/maddow-blasts-afps-tim-phillips-parasite-ba

Mao? MAO??!??

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/glenn-becks-mao-attack-makes-it-on-to-air-force-one/

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/16/john-mccain-loves-to-quote-mao-zedong/

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/10/endless-stream-of-fake-controversies.html
[Atrios] Mao Mao Mao Mao Mao Mao Mao Mao Mao

I guess my cat wants attention.

Well, we knew this, didn’t we?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/democracy-corps-republican-base-voters-living-in-another-world.php
Republican Base Voters Living In Another World

Our politics today

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/wwe-removes-necrophilia-videos-from-youtube-after-dems-use-them-against-mcmahon.php
WWE Removes Necrophilia Videos From YouTube After Dems Use Them Against McMahon

Michael Steele WANTS to be known as “the cow on the tracks"


http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=3663863

Fox News is spending more and more of its time defending . . . Fox News

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020478.php
[From a Fox News poll] The Obama administration is criticizing FOX News Channel for its coverage of the administration. If the disagreement between the Obama administration and FOX News Channel continues, who do you think will come out on top?

Administration 39%
Fox News 43%

Greg adds, "Fox finds more think Fox will defeat the White House! I wonder if this will persuade the White House communications team to drop its crusade." . . . [read on]

It’s because he cares about this country SO DARN MUCH

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/another-glenn-beck-weepfest-because
Another Glenn Beck weepfest, because Americans need to wake up to the evil Marxist radicals in the White House. Hooboy.

I haven’t mentioned Mika Brzezinski here before. She hardly seems worth the attention. But this must be noted

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020481.php
Politico asked a variety of television talk-show hosts who their favorite guests are. MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski apparently had no trouble quickly naming her choice. . . .

Pat Buchanan "because he says what we are all thinking."

[NB: “We?”]

Bonus item: Welcome back Ann. Gee, it’s been too long

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/coulter-goes-larouchie-nfl-players-w
Coulter goes LaRouchie: NFL players would rather play for Rush Limbaugh than George Soros, a 'Nazi collaborator'

More idiocy: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/16/limbaugh/index.html

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-10-16/rush-the-race-baiter/full/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:49 AM

 
FALCON-FREE ZONE

No, nothing today, or any day, on the boy and balloon story here . . .

Will Harry Reid come through on the public option after all?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/is-harry-reid-working-the-inside-game-for-a-public-option.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020458.php

Nancy Pelosi’s strong hand

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/15/793678/-Pelosi-Has-Votes-for-Robust-Public-Option,-Negotiating-for-Strong-Conference-Position

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/mandate-for-disaster-by-digby-nancy.html

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/63165-pelosi-seeks-centrist-support-for-liberal-public-option-plan

“Gulag health care”

Idiot: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/quote-day-2

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020453.php

Here we go again. GOP reps try to whip up a phony “Muslim spy” story on Capitol Hill

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/watch_gop_reps_accuse_muslim_interns_of_spying.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/rep_myrick_continues_wnd_book-based_anti-cair_camp.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/15/793788/-Four-House-Republicans-Have-In-Their-Hands-a-List-...

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020444.php
[Steve Benen] It's almost as if right-wing House members want to be made fun of . . .

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/15/investigation/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] This might actually be the most despicable domestic political event of the year . . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/carson_didnt_know_he_was_posing_with_spy_says_gop.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/sanchez_on_muslim_intern_spy_hunt_i_am_appalled.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/man_behind_intern_spy_wars_muslim_mafia_author_david_gaubatz.php
Meet The Man Behind The Intern Spy Wars: Muslim Mafia Author Dave Gaubatz

The end of the Bush Doctrine?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/15/793667/-Bush-Doctrine-Under-Review

Conservative legal scholars: Obama can’t accept the Nobel Prize

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-by-digby.html

One thing you’ve got to give credit to the Republicans for: they created a determined, organized strategy for taking over the courts, including the Supreme Court. They stuck to it, year after year, administration after administration, until they got their people in place. The Dems? Not so much

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/10/15/stare-indecisis-obamas-lack-of-will-on-judicial-nominations/

Franken wins!

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/halliburton-rape-case-in-iraq-pushes.html
[The Guardian] US defence firms are to be barred from lucrative government contracts if they refuse to allow employees access to the courts, after a woman working for a Halliburton subsidiary in Iraq was prevented from taking legal action over an alleged gang rape by fellow workers. . . .

The divided GOP

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/15/793279/-The-%28very-real%29-teabagger-threat-to-the-GOP-establishment

Louisiana Justice of the Peace refuses to issue an interracial marriage license

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/16/793784/-Race-Mixing-Oh!-Think-of-the-Children

[NB: By the way, here is CNN's headline: "Interracial couple denied marriage license." Notice the shift of focus to the human interest side of the story, the couple, rather than on the JOP's discriminatory act and abuse of office.]

Democrat or Republican, I’ve never liked CNN’s policy of having paid political consultants on their show as analysts and commentators (not as guests). Now this revolving door policy has gotten them in trouble

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020448.php

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/democratic-national-committee/dems-rip-insurance-industry-gop-over-castellanos/

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-national-committee/cnn-promises-to-be-vigilant-in-revealing-castellanos-ties-to-rnc-ahip/

Bonus item: “We are all Rush Limbaugh” Laugh. Enjoy.

http://www.redstate.com/tsquare/2009/10/14/tonight%E2%80%A6-we-are-all-rush-limbaugh/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:13 AM

 
“A COW ON THE TRACKS”

Ugh. Words you never want to hear

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/chuck-schumer-public-option-now-harry-reid
The Public Option is Now in Harry Reid's Hands

Here’s why: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/14/793218/-Harry-Reid-abdicates-his-leadership-role

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/reid-dismisses-schumers-insistence-that-public-option-is-in-his-hands.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/rockefeller-on-reid-and-the-public-option-it-comes-down-to-who-you-are.php

Should the left ease up in criticizing the Obama admin?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/14/criticism/index.html

The insurance companies roll out a full-scale assault against the health care compromise they helped negotiate

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/full-court-press-by-digby-so-insurance.html
[Digby] So the insurance companies are doubling down . . .

Make them pay: http://www.slate.com/id/2232443/
Democrats to health insurers: "Nice little antitrust exemption you've got there. Wouldn't want anything to happen to it."

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/why-are-health-insurance-companies.html

http://washingtonindependent.com/63859/dems-vs-the-insurance-industry-round-ii

Things looking good for a decent climate change bill (eventually)

http://washingtonindependent.com/63808/another-republican-breathes-life-into-climate-bill

The Senate outlook for 2010

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/14/131613/32

Rick Perry (R-TX) is in real trouble

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/evidence_builds_that_perrys_office_pressured_panel.php

Michael Steele is a moron

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/annals_of_failed_metaphors.php
In response to press reports saying that the health care reform train is leaving the station with President Obama at the wheel (or whatever you use to run a train), Michael Steele just told Fox to look out because he is "cow on the tracks."

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/what_up_must_come_down.php
The RNC has already changed the much-ridiculed title of Michael Steele's blog on the new GOP.com website from "What Up?" to "Change The Game."

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/rnc-web-site-pays-tribute-to-ronaldus-magnus.php
RNC Web Site Pays Tribute To Ronaldus Magnus

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/fun_times_at_gopcom.php
[Josh Marshall] After all, nothing says republican like a monarchical title in a foreign language.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/grand_unified_theory_of_gopcomfail.php
[Josh Marshall] In addition to the weird and now deleted reference to Ronald Reagan as "Ronaldus Magnus", you may have noticed that the site is filled with a lot of what might generously be called non-standard history -- like the idea that the Republican party is made up mainly of people from the 19th century, about half of whom are black. Well we did a little digging and it turns out Steele turned over a lot of the job to a fringe-ish amateur historian named Michael Zak. . . . [read on]

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/for_re-launch_steele_turns_to_crank_historian_to_b.php

Rush Limbaugh gets dropped from the group trying to buy the St. Louis Rams

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/sports/football/15limbaugh.html

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/14/late-night-racism-alert11-rush-limbaugh-not-allowed-to-own-football-team-because-he-belongs-to-oppressed-minority-class-i-e-rich-screechy-white-twits/

Here’s why: http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/looks-linbaugh-will-be-dropped-ownershi

The Hitler metaphor

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/blogtalk-what-is-up-with-this-hitler-talk/

Fox News: “the forefront of a political movement”

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200910130008

It’s not really news, but the Repubs loved to use the stock market as an indication of Obama’s failures when it was going down – but now that it’s going up . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/14/793221/-Down-is-bad,-up-is...-not-important

Bonus item: Logo wars

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/15/cheney/index.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:37 AM

 
LEGACIES

Senate Finance Committee passes the Baucus bill, with one Republican vote (Snowe). Now the heavy lifting starts

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/behind-the-14-9-vote-a-247-committee-staff/
Behind the 14-9 Vote . . .

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/62727-sens-snowe-risks-perch
Sens: Snowe's healthcare vote puts her top Commerce perch at risk

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/13/erickson_snowe/index.html
Conservatives protest Snowe healthcare vote

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/gop-leadership-snowes-yes-vote-no-big-deal-because-this-bill-will-never-become-law/
McConnell: Snowe’s Break With GOP No Big Deal Because This Bill Will Never Become Law

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/snowe-will-vote-yes-insurance-industry-panics-and-other-health-care-tidbits/
Olympia Snowe will vote for the Senate Finance bill, claiming that “history calls,” but she’s emphatically declaring that it doesn’t mean she’ll support the final bill. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/13/792881/-Dont-Celebrate-the-Snowe-Vote
Don't Celebrate the Snowe Vote

What’s next: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/finance-bill-passes-with-snowes-support--so-what-does-that-mean-for-reform.php
Finance Bill Passes With Snowe's Support--So What Does That Mean For Reform?

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/13/senate-finance-committee-passes-bill-14-9-what-now/
What Now?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/14/daily_pulse_merging_the_health_care_bills.html
Merging the Health Care Bills . . .

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/next-up-harry-reid-and-the-blenders/
Harry Reid and the Blenders

Did AHIP overplay their hand? Will they actually help a more progressive bill get passed?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/adventures_in_rent-a-research.php
[Josh Marshall] A day after their study of the Baucus Bill was released, PricewaterhouseCoopers admits that their study didn't show much cost savings from the bill because its analysis didn't include the cost savings part of the bill.

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/13/the-ahip-freak-out-pricewaterhousecoopers-distancing-themselves-from-their-own-report/
PricewaterhouseCoopers Distancing Themselves from Their Own Report

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/ahip-again-cites-widely-criticized-study-after-its-author-undercut-it/
AHIP Again Cites Widely-Criticized “Study” — After Its Author Undercut It

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/13/792870/-AHIP-Keeps-Up-Offensive-with-Million-Dollar-Ad-Campaign-to-Scare-Seniors
AHIP Keeps Up Offensive . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/secret-ahip-talking-points-mandates-good-public-option-bad.php
A health insurance agent and TPM reader sends along this set of health care reform talking points the agent says AHIP is distributing to local insurance offices across the country. . . .

Here they are: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/documents/2009/10/secret-ahip-talking-points-patients-choices-and-access-will-suffer-under-public-option.php

Backfiring? http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/boomerang.php
In a short post last night, George Stephanopoulos wrote that by going to war against the Baucus Bill, the health insurance lobby had actually increased the chances of some form of public option appearing in the final bill. . . .

http://robertreich.blogspot.com/2009/10/audacity-of-greed-how-private-health.html
The Audacity of Greed: How Private Health Insurers Just Blew Their Cover

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/taking-stock-of-ahip-report---last-36-hours-have-galvanized-both-sides.php

The Cheneys resurgent

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/13/america_safe/index.html
Liz Cheney -- daughter of the former vice president and a former State Department official herself -- has gathered a group of conservatives of a particular ilk into a group she’s calling “Keep America Safe.” . . . [read on]

More: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28212.html
“The policies being proposed by the Obama administration are so radical across the board,” Cheney said. “Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, you want the nation to be strong and so many steps this president is taking are making the nation weaker.” . . . . [read on]

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/13/cheney_starts_new_group.html
[DNC] "Last fall, the American people overwhelmingly rejected a radical foreign policy authored by Dick Cheney that alienated our allies, emboldened our enemies, depleted our resources, distracted our focus and made the nation less secure. The Cheneys lost that debate and their approach was deemed a failure. The Cheneys can continue to focus on securing their sullied legacy if they want to. But, the President will continue to focus on securing the country."

Rush Limbaugh: Glenn Beck, my son

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/limbaugh_on_beck_look_what_i_have_spawned.php

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/14/81542/089
Glenn Beck's enemies list

The Republican “Obama is Hitler” message continues to spread

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/hate-speech-by-digby-they-just-cant.html
Hitler hearts Pelosi?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020411.php
It's quite a classy bunch Republicans have hired to staff their House campaign committee . . . [read on]

A corollary: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/13/792926/-Beck-compares-Fox-News-to-Jews-during-Holocaust
Beck compares Fox News to Jews during Holocaust

More from the victims: http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/fox-wonders-why-white-house-sees-the
Fox wonders why White House sees them as reflexively anti-Obama. Then its pundits bitch about his Nobel Prize

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/fox-whines-white-house-attacks-confu
Fox whines . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/watb-week-bill-oreilly-claims-there
Bill O'Reilly claims, 'There was no cheerleading of President Bush on this network'

Bonus item: The RNC launches a web site – and it won’t surprise you to know that like all of Michael Steele’s initiatives, it’s a disaster

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/gopcomfail.php
The RNC's big relaunch of its website has not gone so well today. . . .

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/top_ten_reasons_why_the_gop_website_relaunch_is_fizzlin.php
Top Ten Reasons Why The GOP Website Relaunch Is Fizzlin'

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/13/gopcom_relaunch_fizzles.html
GOP.com Relaunch Fizzles . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/the-new-gopcom-crushed-under-weight-of-mockery-dem-says.php
Crushed Under [the] Weight Of Mockery

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/13/steele-this-website/
[Eli] There’s been a lot of levity today about the inept ridiculousness of the RNC’s new website . . .

Damage control: http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/steele-on-new-gopcom-its-not-even-really-a-web-site.php
Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele appeared on Fox this afternoon to talk about the RNC's newly relaunched web site, which has taken heat today and been down intermittently, presumably from a bump in traffic.

"It's not even really a web site," Steele said. "It's a new platform for us."

To those that have been mocking the site by saying just that, he said it's "a beta site." . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020416.php

I love this: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-national-committee/new-rnc-website-claims-jackie-robinson-as-gop-hero-but-he-was-an-indy-condemned-gops-racial-tactics/
New RNC Website Claims Jackie Robinson As “GOP Hero” . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:22 AM

 
SLAMMED

AHIP, insurance industry lobbying group, commissions a dishonest “study” of health care reform – and gets hammered for it

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/ahip-gave-white-house-no-notice-of-pending-report-despite-meeting-last-wed.php
[Christina Bellantoni] A senior administration official said they weren't yet sure if America's Health Insurance Plans was launching an offensive to try and defeat health care before tomorrow's Senate Finance Committee vote, but was skeptical of AHIP's motivations.

"Given how they behaved in the past, it's very likely they could be up to their old tricks," the official told TPMDC. . . . [read on]

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/seems_weird_that_the_insurance.php
[Marc Ambinder] It seems weird that the insurance industry, which had played so nicely with the White House for months -- their lobbying against the public option in August aside -- would suddenly embrace a facially flawed conclusion about the effects of health care reform. Electoral politics is probably the last thing the American Health Insurance Plan (AHIP) trade group wants to be accused of now -- and shifting gears on an increasingly popular health care reform bill at the last minute . . . [read on]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/wh-reaction-new-ahip-report-on-health-care-bill-costs-self-serving.php
White House Slams Industry's Audit . . .

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/holiday-open-thread-white-house-talking-points-rip-insurance-industry-study/
White House Talking Points Rip Insurance Industry Study

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/senate-finance-committee-slams-ahip-report.php
Senate Finance Committee Slams AHIP Report

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/12/insurance/index.html
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the firm that prepared the report, "admits that it has not taken many of the reform provisions into consideration in reaching its numbers," the Finance staff wrote. . . .

Jiggling the numbers: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/12/792426/-AHIPs-Hissy-Fit

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/ahippie-shake-by-digby-jonathan-cohn.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/windfall-profits-by-digby-following-up.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/broken-ahip-by-digby-i-guess-insurance.html

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/12/with-secret-deal-in-peril-insurance-industry-goes-to-war/

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/empire-strikes-back

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/insurance-industry-takes-out-hit-on-health-reform.php

I’m not sure this is actually true

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/healthcare-reform-comes-down-wire-lob
As Health-Care 'Reform' Comes Down To The Wire, The Lobbyists Are Winning

Does this surprise you? Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pressed Bob Dole NOT to come out in favor of health care reform, because it would "help the President"

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/bob-dole-was-told-stfu-health-care-mitc

Rick Perry, GOP governor of Texas, the bell tolls for thee

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/former_panel_chair_says_perrys_office_pressured_hi.php
It's starting to look more and more like Texas governor Rick Perry orchestrated an effort to thwart a state probe into an arson investigation that may have led to the execution of an innocent man. . . .

More: http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/12/is-rick-perry-trying-to-get-away-with-murder/

http://www.samefacts.com/2009/10/uncategorized/more-on-rick-perrys-bloody-hands/

Hmmm. . . looks like Fox News is feeling a bit DEFENSIVE about WH attacks that they are a sorry excuse for a news organization

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/fighting-words-fox-news-lashes-back-at-white-house.php
Fox News lashed back at the White House for calling the cable channel "a wing of the Republican Party," releasing a statement calling the remarks "self-serving."

"It's astounding the White House cannot distinguish between news and opinion programming. It seems self-serving on their part," said Michael Clemente, a senior vice president at Fox News. . . .

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1009/Fox_attacks_back_as_usual.html
[Ben Smith] One of the remarkable things about the Fox News Channel is that while the standard response from most news outlets -- right and left -- to government attacks is simply to stand by a story and stress objectivity, Fox's reflex is always a campaign-style attack, in today's case more or less vindicating the White House decision to cast them explicitly as a political foe . . .

Normal political discourse

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/redstates-erickson-compares-wh-health-care-spox-to-joseph-goebbels.php
Erick Erickson, editor-in-chief of conservative web site RedState.com, today compared Linda Douglass, the spokeswoman for the White House Health Reform Office, to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. . . .

Follow-up on a story from yesterday

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/white-house-disavows-claim-that-gay-critics-bloggers-are-part-of-internet-left-fringe/
The White House is strongly denying a report making the rounds that it views gay critics and bloggers as part of an “Internet left fringe,” with a senior adviser asserting to me that this sentiment “does not reflect White House thinking at all.” . . .

Great news: Rush Limbaugh wants to buy a football team – but black players refuse to play for him

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020389.php

The silly season: does the WH talk dirty?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/12/792413/-A-Shocking-F*$#G-Expose-From-Politico

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020391.php

Bonus item: The Michele Bachmann comic book, issue #2

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/the-bachmann-comic-issue-2-our-review.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:42 AM

 
KNOW YOUR ENEMIES

More proof that you can’t compromise with these people

http://www.samefacts.com/2009/10/uncategorized/the-double-cross/
[Mark Kleiman] The health insurance lobby, AHIP, having negotiated itself a fairly sweet deal over health care reform, has just launched a Pearl Harbor-style sneak attack featuring a bogus “study” by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which the last time I checked wasn’t a health-care think tank.

Not clear whether AHIP is just trying to squeeze out a slightly better deal or whether they’re going for the kill, but either way this sort of behavior has to have costs. If I were Max Baucus or Barack Obama, I’d figure out one thing in the bill that the health insurers wanted and take it out, and something else that was omitted to placate them and put it back in.

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/rent-a-research.php

Interesting: Dems pull ad featuring Bob Dole and other Repubs supporting Obama’s health care plan. Dole called it too partisan

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/democrats-heed-doles-objection-and-kill-tv-ad/

The next big issue, after health care passes, will be the “cap and trade” climate change bill

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020380.php

The GOP is starting to realize that having unleashed and empowered the Tea Baggers, they’re now going to have to deal with them

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28157.html
“We will be a headache for anyone who believes the Constitution of the United States … isn’t to be protected,” said Dick Armey, chairman of the anti-tax and limited government advocacy group FreedomWorks, which helped plan and promote the tea parties, town hall protests and the September ‘Taxpayer March’ in Washington. “If you can’t take it seriously, we will look for places of other employment for you.”

“We’re not a partisan organization, and I think many Republicans are disappointed we are not,” added Armey, a former GOP congressman.

In Florida, where the national party has signaled its preference for centrist Gov. Charlie Crist in the GOP Senate primary, tea party activists are lining up behind former state House Speaker Marco Rubio in reaction to Crist’s public backing for President Barack Obama’s stimulus package. . . [read on]

John McCain: usually wrong

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/opinion/11rich.html

More:n http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/rich-on-mccain.php

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/john-mccain-refuses-say-invading-iraq

More on Obama Derangement Syndrome

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/rachel-maddow-nobel-peace-prize-and-obama

More: http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/obama-backlash-what-does-it-have-do-m

Liz Cheney: Obama’s Nobel Prize shows that he hates America

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/liz-cheney-obama-given-nobel-prize-for-opposing-american-dominance.php
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Liz Cheney attacked President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize. "Well, I think what the committee believes is they'd like to live in a world in which America is not dominant. And I think if you look at the language of the citation, you can see that they talk about, you know, President Obama ruling in a way that makes sense to the majority of the people of the world," said Cheney. "You know, Americans don't elect a president to do that. We elect a president to defend our national interests. And so I think that, you know, they may believe that President Obama also doesn't agree with American dominance, and they may have been trying to affirm that belief with the prize. I think, unfortunately, they may be right, and I think it's a concern."

War is Peace

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/9047

More: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/liz-cheney-peace-prize-should-be-dedicated-u

Obama admin takes on Fox News

http://www.samefacts.com/2009/10/watching-conservatives/no-more-mr-nice-guy/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020381.php

More: http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/white-houses-anita-dunn-says-fox-news-w

Bonus item: treating your friends like enemies. The WH gets tough with left wing bloggers (again)

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/10/11/white-house-thinks-demonstrators-internet-left-fringe-who-need-to-take-off-the-pajamas/
[John Harwood] And for a sign of how seriously the White House does or doesn’t take this opposition, one adviser told me today those bloggers need to take off their pajamas, get dressed and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult. . . . [read on]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:46 AM

 
GOING ON OFFENSE

Obama promotes his BIPARTISAN health care bill

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091010/pl_afp/ushealthpoliticsobama_20091010220403
[AFP] US President Barack Obama on Saturday praised Republicans who expressed support for his health care reform, saying it was time for Congress to "rise above" political posturing and pass his proposals.

"That is the spirit of national purpose that we must summon right now," Obama said in his weekly radio address.

"Now is the time to rise above the politics of the moment," he continued. "Now is the time to come together as Americans."

The president noted that this past week Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg came out in support of reform.

Also speaking out in support of reform were former Republican Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Bill Frist as well as Tommy Thompson, a former secretary of health and human services under president George W. Bush, Obama said.

"These distinguished leaders understand that health insurance reform isn't a Democratic issue or a Republican issue, but an American issue that demands a solution," Obama declared.

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS5T-Nkti7o&feature=player_embedded

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/10/791890/-DNC-tries-its-hand-at-wedge-politics
[SusanG] The DNC seems to be upping its game this weekend, not only playing smart ball, but playing fast, thematic ball. In an ad released today, the organization highlights the support for health care reform voiced by Republican Party elders this week. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/10/791639/-Obama:-Lets-go-finish-the-job-of-health-care-reform

I have to say, it isn’t only the right that’s upset about Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/09/obama/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] [T]he Nobel Committee has made a mockery out of their own award.

But far more important than the lack of actual accomplishments are some of the policies over which Obama has presided that are the very opposite of peace. . . .

Beyond Afghanistan, Obama continues to preside over another war -- in Iraq: remember that? -- where no meaningful withdrawal has occurred. He uttered not a peep of opposition to the Israeli massacre of Gazan civilians at the beginning of this year (using American weapons), one which a U.N. investigator just found constituted war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity. The changed tone to Iran notwithstanding, his administration frequently emphasizes that it is preserving the option to bomb that country, too -- which could be a third war against a Muslim country fought simultaneously under his watch. He's worked tirelessly to protect his country not only from accountability -- but also transparency -- for the last eight years of war crimes, almost certainly violating America's treaty obligations in the process. And he is currently presiding over an expansion of the legal black hole at Bagram while aggressively demanding the right to abduct people from around the world, ship them there, and then imprison them indefinitely with no rights of any kind. . . . .

On Democracy Now, Naomi Klein calls Obama's award "disappointing, cheapening of the Nobel Prize," and adds: "I think it’s quite insulting. I don’t know what kind of political game they’re playing, but I don’t think that the committee has ever been as political as this or as delusional as this, frankly." On Daily Kos, Michael Moore writes ironically: "Congratulations President Obama on the Nobel Peace Prize -- Now Please Earn it!" Mairead Maguire, the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize Winner, says she's "very disappointed" with this award, noting: "President Obama has yet to prove that he will move seriously on the Middle East, that he will end the war in Afghanistan and many other issues." . . .

More: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/10/prize_reaction/index.html

Who owns the government?

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/10/government/index.html

No, nothing to worry about here

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/armed-citizenry-by-digby-some.html
Some Republican official in Florida says: "As long as we have the second amendment, that's what keeps the government dealing with us. That's what gives us the right to freedom of speech that's what gives us the right to freedom to assemble, because the government knows the bottom line is that we are an armed citizenry."

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/delusions-grandeur-militia-video-war
Militia video warns President Obama to leave the country by Oct. 15

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/10/791712/-GOPers-stage-mock-shooting-of-Debbie-Wasserman-Schultz
GOPers stage 'mock shooting' of Debbie Wasserman Schultz

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/disturbing-explosives-case-family-ra
Disturbing explosives case: Family ran a day care with bomb-making material and neo-Nazi lit in the back

The national press is trying very hard to keep Sarah Palin alive as a political figure – the problem is, her own party is fed up with her

http://instaputz.blogspot.com/2009/10/and-yet-politico-is-very-surprised.html

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2009/10/republican_bob_mcdonnell_repea.html

Barbara Boxer (D-CA) calls Rush a wimp

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/10/791902/-Boxer:-Limbaughs-Nobel-response-wimpy

Sunday talk show line-ups (perhaps to be renamed, Your Weekly Visit With John McCain)

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/the-sunday-show-line-ups-24.php
• ABC, This Week: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), Retired Gen. Jack Keane.

• CBS, Face The Nation: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI).

• CNN, State Of The Union: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).

• NBC, Meet The Press: Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, Retired Gen. Richard Myers.

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020377.php
[Steve Benen] For those keeping score, this will be McCain's 14th Sunday morning appearance since President Obama's inauguration in January. That's 38 Sundays, for an average of a McCain appearance every 2.7 weeks. . . [read on]

Bonus item: Double feature

Colbert takes on Beck

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/stephen-colbert-destroys-glenn-beck.html

Moore takes on Hannity

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/michael-moore-makes-mincemeat-out-ha

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:29 AM

 
NOBEL LIES

I think we see the pattern here. The U.S. fails to get the Olympics, and conservatives cheer – actually cheer. The President receives the Nobel Peace Prize, and conservatives break out in jeers and boos.

We are seeing the new version of “Clinton Derangement Syndrome” – Obama Derangement Syndrome.

Here’s their position in a nutshell: Obama should give it back!

Enjoy their apoplexy:

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/conservatives-critics-blast-obamas-nobel-peace-prize/

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/right-wingers-pitch-fits-over-nobel-peace-prize.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/limbaugh-on-obamas-nobel-prize-they-love-a-weakened-neutered-us.php

http://washingtonindependent.com/63465/a-treasury-of-conservative-nobel-bashing

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/09/president-obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-wingnuts-throw-collective-temper-tantrum

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/obamas-nobel-makes-wingnut-heads-exp

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/feature/2009/10/09/reaction/index.html

Here’s how bad it is: U.S. right wingers align themselves with the Taliban, and BRAG about it

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/democratic-national-committee/dnc-by-criticizing-obamas-nobel-steele-and-gop-have-thrown-in-their-lot-with-the-terrorists/
[DNC] The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists — the Taliban and Hamas this morning — in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize. . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/limbaugh-we-all-agree-with-taliban-and.html
[Rush Limbaugh] “I think that everybody is laughing. Our president is a worldwide joke. Folks, do you realize something has happened here that we all agree with the Taliban and Iran about and that is he doesn't deserve the award. Now that's hilarious, that I'm on the same side of something with the Taliban, and that we all are on the same side as the Taliban.”

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/09/media_matters/index.html

The RNC’s Michael Steele, cautious and thoughtful, as always

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/rnc-response-sets-the-tone-what-has-obama-accomplished.php
"The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?' . . .

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/egg_on_his_face.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020367.php

Mark Kleiman answers: http://www.samefacts.com/2009/10/uncategorized/how-barack-obama-earned-the-nobel-peace-prize/

Glenn Greenwald answers: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/09/obama/index.html

Digby answers: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/hmmmm-by-digby-i-guess-this-nobel-peace.html

Spencer Ackerman answers: http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/10/09/nobel-its-not-the-achievements-themselves-its-the-destination/

Steve Benen answers: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020360.php

Douglas Brinkley answers: http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/what-does-a-nobel-do-for-us-leaders


Give John McCain some credit

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/mccain-as-americans-were-proud-of-our-president/
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN: Oh, I’m sure that the president is very honored to receive this award. And Nobel Committee, I can’t divine all their intentions, but I think part of their decision-making was expectations. And I’m sure the president understands that he now has even more to live up to. But as Americans, we’re proud when our president receives an award of that prestigious category.

The phony “twelve days” argument

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/meme_buster.php

Alan Grayson (D-FL) nails it, again

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ery7RZ4tZ2Y
"America understands that there is one party in this country that is in favor of health care reform and one party that is against it, and they know why."

"They understand that if Barack Obama were somehow able to cure hunger in the world the Republicans would blame him for overpopulation"

"They understand that if Barack Obama could somehow bring about world peace they would blame him for destroying the defense industry."

"In fact, they understand that if Barack Obama has a BLT sandwich tomorrow for lunch, they will try to ban bacon."

Who cares about the Nobel Peace Prize?

http://www.slate.com/id/2232026/

The big question with the “opt-out” compromise is how many states really would opt out of a low-cost health insurance option for their citizens

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/10/09/problem-with-the-public-option-opt-out-by-the-numbers/

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/10/09/liberals-help-rahm-and-blue-dogs-off-the-hook-with-opt-out/

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/will-red-states-opt-out-blue-state-generosity

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/10/8054/1920

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/9/791557/-Why-We-Should-be-Listening-to-Howard-Dean

Of course, Republicans don’t like this latest “compromise” either – they don’t WANT a compromise

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020363.php

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/09/bipartisanship_never_had_a_chance.html

Bonus item: Heh

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/snarking_it_up_at_foggy_bottom.php
[State Department, on Obama's Nobel prize] Certainly from our standpoint, this gives us a sense of momentum -- when the United States has accolades tossed its way, rather than shoes.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:58 AM

 
IT’S OFFICIAL

Let’s see the Republicans try to turn this into a negative

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/world/10nobel.html
In a stunning surprise, the Nobel Committee announced Friday that it had awarded its annual peace prize to President Obama “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” less than nine months after he took office. . . .

Well, that didn’t take long: http://www.samefacts.com/2009/10/uncategorized/why-do-the-wingnuts-so-hate-america/

Is the opt-out public option a good compromise?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/08/opt_out/index.html
Finally, a public option compromise everyone likes?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/10/a_public_option_compromise_tha.html
A Public Option Compromise That Might Actually Work?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/conservative-and-liberal-democrats-warm-to-public-option-compromise.php
Conservative And Liberal Democrats Warm To Public Option Compromise

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/a_game_changer.php
[A TPM reader] It's a game changer. The proposal is consonant with Obama's own approach to reform - what Cass Sunstein labeled 'visionary minimalism' - in its incremental, consensual approach that nevertheless possesses transformative potential. Instead of coercing adoption by imposing a mandate on the states, it invites their participation and preserves their choice. . . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/8/791079/-The-Opt-Out-Public-Option
[McJoan] From a political standpoint, this is a better "compromise" to be negotiating from than Snowe's triggers and Conrad's co-ops. . . . [read on]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/scenes_from_the_opt-out_craze.php
[Josh Marshall] Having taken the read of some of the shrewder health care policy nerds, it seems that the Carper/Schumer Public Option 'opt-out' compromise may really be a winner in policy terms. . . . [read on]

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/opting-for-60-by-digby-everybodys-been.html
[Digby] Everybody's been talking about an "opt-out" public option trial balloon being floated in the senate. As I understand it, it would automatically provide a public option but would allow the leadership of any state to tell their constituents that they can't have one. Sucks for the people in their states who need it, but perhaps these leaders will react as the Republicans did during the stimulus and squeal and squawk about how they won't cooperate --- and then cooperate. Who knows? . . . [read on]

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/latest_on_the_public_option.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/a-new-public-option-compromise-shows-promise--but-lets-not-get-ahead-of-ourselves.php

Maybe not

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/10/08/public-option-opt-out-denies-help-to-those-who-need-it-most/
Public Option Opt Out Denies Help to Those Who Need It Most

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/10/08/rikyrah-opt-out-states-are-where-the-majority-of-the-black-population-in-this-country-lives/
Rikyrah: Opt-Out States Are “Where the Majority of the Black Population in This Country Lives”

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/10/08/silver-bullett-in-the-head-for-the-public-option/
“Silver Bullet” In The Head For the Public Option

Something has changed: now that it’s increasingly clear that some kind of health care reform will pass, suddenly Republicans are making noises that they want some of the credit too

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/cantor-and-hoyer-meeting-on-health-care-reform-today.php

Nancy Pelosi responds to the “put her in her place” comment

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/after-pelosi-hits-back-nrcc-holds-to-in-her-place-comment.php
In a press conference today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded to a statement from Republicans that Gen. Stanley McChrystal should "put her in her place," saying "that language is something I haven't even heard in decades."

"I'm in my place. I'm the Speaker of the House, the first woman Speaker of the House. And I'm in my place because the House of Representatives voted me there," Pelosi said. . . .

An important bill on student loans works it way slowly through the system

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/this-is-smooth-sailing-bill-by-dday.html

Who ARE the Independents?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/independents-by-digby-i-was-listening.html

Republicans at war with the national party

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/resurgent-rubio-sees-sings-of-laziness-in-dc-gop.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/nrsc-responds-to-rubio-were-rubber-and-youre-glue.php

Yes, poll numbers for Congressional Dems have dropped sharply – but the numbers for Republicans are even worse

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/8/153454/382

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/8/121312/465

What Republicans really think. They should just title this study “The Kind of People They Are”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/tell-us-what-you-really-think-by-digby.html

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/domestic_enemies.php
"When I was sworn into the Marine Corps, I was sworn to uphold the Constitution against every enemy, foreign and domestic. We've got a lot of domestic enemies of the Constitution and one of those sits in the speaker's chair of the United States Congress, Nancy Pelosi." -- Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) at a townhall last week.

Why did it take them so long? Here come the wingnut calls for impeachment

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200910080002

Terrible news from Oklahoma

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/08/late-night-but-will-this-solve-those-high-school-lesbian-bathroom-attacks/
On Nov. 1, a law in Oklahoma will go into effect that will collect personal details about every single abortion performed in the state and post them on a public website. . . . [read on]

This is sick: talk about guilt by association, look how far the Politico has to stretch the six degrees of separation to build a Roman Polanski/Barack Obama link

http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0910/polanski_backers_gave_34k_to_obama_dnc.html
Movie industry types calling for the release of director Roman Polanski last year gave $34,000 to Obama's presidential campaign and the Democratic Party, FEC records show. . . .

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/democratic-national-committee/dnc-rips-politico-story-tying-polanski-to-obama-silly-amateur-hour/
“This story is just lowbrow, and it’s amateur hour,” DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse told me. “It’s one of the silliest stories that I’ve ever seen.”

Bonus item: Michele Bachmann: they’re stalking me

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/michele-bachmann-its-almost-i-have-persona

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:53 AM

 
LUMBERING FORWARD

I hate the Baucus bill, but it is certainly useful politically to have the CBO say health care reform will SAVE money in the long run

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/07/baucus/index.html
[Alex Koppelman] Liberals are still not happy about the bill put together by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., who chairs the Senate Finance Committee. But as of Wednesday afternoon, it has a few points in its favor: 81 billion of them, in fact. . . .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/oct/07/healthcare-senate-congressional-budget-office

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/cbo-score-of-finance-health-care-bill.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/the_baucus_bill_cuts_the_deficit.php

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/healthcare-reform-inches-forward

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020322.php

Bye-bye co-ops: http://washingtonindependent.com/62885/cbo-co-ops-unlikely-to-be-effective

Reactions: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/07/cbo_react/index.html

Public option lite?

http://www.slate.com/id/2231804
[Tim Noah] It remains possible that what Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., calls "some kind of public option" will be incorporated into the bill. But odds are this won't match even the watered-down versions approved by the four congressional committees that have advanced health reform thus far. It will be Public Option Lite. Two versions of POL have been kicking around for months; two newer and better versions of POL surfaced during the past week. . . . [read on]

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/in-private-meeting-pelosi-floats-watered-down-public-option-frustrating-liberals/
In Private Meeting, Pelosi Floats Watered-Down Public Option, Frustrating Liberals . . .

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/senators-discussing-public-option-opt-out-as-potential-compromise.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020303.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/7/790636/-State-Based-Public-Options-Gaining-Steam

The new GOP target: mandates

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/shameless-by-digby-i-dont-know-how.html

Another former GOP Senate leader comes out in favor of reform: Bob Dole

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/7/790739/-Bipartisanship

Keith O on the lost opportunity for real health care reform

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/7/790778/-Keith-Olbermanns-Special-Comment

Why Obama doesn’t want to increase troops in Afghanistan

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/httpjeffreygoldbergtheatlanticcomarchives200910why_are_we_worried_about_afghaphp_sorry_for_saying_th.php

More: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/afghanistan/eric-cantor-we-will-support-obama-on-afghanistan-if-he-does-what-generals-want/

Let’s see: Republican senators have to choose between protecting Halliburton and protecting the rights of a gang rape victim. Guess which side they choose?

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/7/175148/193

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/7/790633/-GOP-backs-corporate-rape

http://www.samefacts.com/2009/10/uncategorized/objectively-pro-rape/

How much longer can this man keep his job?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/7/790353/-Steele-praises-ACORN-and-its-CEO
[Jed Lewison] Here's something straight out of left field: a video of Michael Steele from September 21, in which Steele says that while "he's not a big fan of ACORN" he believes ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis has done "a phenomenal job getting out in front" of the recent scandal, saying that he "take[s] her at her word that she wants to see the bad apples thrown out" so that ACORN can return to it's historical mission of "working in the community and helping the poor." . . . [watch]

Here’s the Cretan’s paradox of our time: if Michele Bachmann calls somebody else “crazy,” does it count?

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/larry-king-live-michele-bachmann-dodges-question

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/bachmann-you-only-hear-about-birtherism-on-the-left.php

I love it when you see glimpses of the Republican id, naked and ugly in all its glory

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/debating-hate-crimes-gohmert-rambles-on-about-bestiality-sex-with-corpses-voting-for-a-black-man.php

Fox News does polling

http://washingtonindependent.com/62795/a-fox-news-poll-on-our-america-hating-president

Fun with numbers (thanks to Michael W): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125487188014969039.html

How Fox News views the “facts”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/7/790589/-Fox-News:-What-We-Believe-To-Be-The-Facts

Bonus item: Bill Ayers has some fun with the wingnuts – and they fall for it big time

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/07/ayers/index.html
A conservative blogger by the name of Anne Leary ran into Ayers buying coffee in an airport. Recognizing him, she started talking to him in what seems to have been a rather unfriendly manner. Leary identified herself as a conservative blogger and took Ayers’ photo, presumably to prove the encounter happened, and shortly after, he dropped this bombshell:

Then, unprompted he said--I wrote Dreams From My Father. I said, oh, so you admit it. He said--Michelle asked me to. I looked at him. He seemed eager. He's about my height, short. He went on to say--and if you can prove it, we can split the royalties. So I said, stop pulling my leg. Horrible thought. But he came again--I really wrote it, the wording was similar. I said I believe you probably heavily edited it. He said--I wrote it. I said--why would I believe you, you're a liar. . . [read on]

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/62842/which-bloggers-feel-for-the-bill-ayers-prank

http://washingtonindependent.com/62809/jonah-goldberg-flirts-with-the-ayers-wrote-obamas-memoir-theory

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:02 AM

 
KNOWING THEIR PLACE

Obama has a closed-door conversation with Congressional leaders on Afghanistan, and President John McCain tries to take over the debate

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/fly-on-the-wall-details-emerge-on-obamas-exchanges-in-wh-afghanistan-meeting.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/shorter_mccain.php

I guess unless you’re Dick Cheney’s daughter, you little ladies shouldn’t trouble your little heads about military and foreign policy

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/6/790321/-GOP-on-Pelosi:-Hopes-McChrystal-is-able-to-put-her-in-her-place

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/06/nrcc-pelosi/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020298.php

Obama will shape the final health care bill

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/senate-dems-to-obama-please-tell-us-what-to-do-on-public-option/

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/6/790273/-The-Public-Option-Hot-Potato

Smart: Obama admin highlights prominent Republicans (just not those in Congress) who endorse health care reform

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100601602.html

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020287.php

Betsy McCaughey, designated liar of the health care paranoia lobby, gets pwned

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200910060012
McCAUGHEY: You're not a very fair moderator.
RATIGAN: Well, you're not a very fair answerer, so there you go.

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/weiner-and-mccaughey-go-head-to-head-in-health-care-debate.php
Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) repeatedly called out former Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey for lying about health care reform. He said debating her was like "debating a pyromaniac in a straw man factory” . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/06/mccaughey/index.html
The downfall of Betsy McCaughey

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/original-sin-by-dday-staff-of-new.html

Obama’s “narcissism,” the new code word of the right

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020280.php

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/10/since-steve-is-too-polite-to-say-it.html
[Atrios] It's all just code for "uppity"...

Yes, the GOP really does want Obama to fail

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=21E06064-18FE-70B2-A8E29A450B794728

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/mr-president-theyre-never-going-to-play.html

But the American people don’t: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/06/obama_approval_on_the_rise.html
Obama Approval on the Rise

Major companies quit the Chamber of Commerce over its head-in-the sand lobbying stance on climate change

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/out_of_the_chamber.php

What does it say about Senate ethics rules if something can be illegal but not in violation of their ethics?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/mensign_i_followed_ethics_laws_when_i_helped_clien.php

Glenn Beck, always careful to show both sides and allow his viewers to make up their own minds, devotes a half hour to “why you shouldn’t take the flu vaccine”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/6/790226/-Becks-newest-gimmick:-Stoke-fears-about-flu-vaccine

Another example: should we let illegal immigrants die for lack of health care? The pros and cons

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-debate-by-digby-i-just-saw-one-of.html
[Digby] I just saw one of the most disgusting stories on CNN that I have ever seen . . .

Michael Moore embarrasses Sean Hannity on church attendance

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35tlneVOlLs&feature=player_embedded
Moore: “I’m a Christian.”

Theocracy watch: Conservative loonies wants a new, less “liberal,” translation of the Bible

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/6/790246/-Rewriting-the-liberal-Bible

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/and-jesus-said-love-thy-neighbor-unl

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/feature/2009/10/06/conservative_bible/index.html

Bonus item: Awwww. Tom DeLay quits “Dancing with the Stars,” and the world has one less reason to laugh

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/tom-delay-drops-out-of-dancing-with-the-stars.php

Your last chance: http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=3587830

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:04 AM

 
LOOKING AHEAD

The public option: now things get interesting

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/5/789968/-Public-Option-Battle-Won,-Now-We-Have-to-Win-the-War
Public Option Battle Won, Now We Have to Win the War [read on]

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-dems/reids-office-hes-working-for-the-public-option-and-he-believes-itll-survive/
This is cause for cautious optimism among public option supporters . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020261.php
The NYT noted over the weekend that senior Senate Democrats are "increasingly confident" that health care reform really will pass this fall. . . .

http://washingtonindependent.com/62379/health-care-refirn-debate-just-heating-up
Health Care Debate Just Heating Up

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1927787,00.html
With the passage of health-care-reform legislation out of the Senate Finance Committee expected this week, the debate moves into a new and delicate stage. It is one that will test the legislative and political skills of Senate majority leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on a scale that no congressional leadership team has had to face in at least four decades. . . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/05/moderate_democrats_fall_in_line.html
Moderate Democrats Fall in Line

More: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/pro-reform-forces-divided-over-whether-to-pressure-dems-on-health-care/
Pro Reform Forces Divided Over Whether To Pressure Dems On Health Care

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/schumer-how-do-you-scrap-public-option-if-overwhelming-majority-of-dems-support-it.php
Schumer: How Do You Scrap Public Option If Overwhelming Majority Of Dems Support It?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/oct/05/usa-healthcare-reform-congress

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020277.php

Troubles ahead

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/taking-their-time-finance-committee-may-delay-vote-as-it-awaits-cbo-analysis.php
Taking Their Time: Finance Committee May Delay Vote As It Awaits CBO Analysis

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/5/789978/-Senate-Finance-Vote-Coming-%28Sometime%29,-Outcome-Unclear
Senate Finance Vote Coming (Sometime), Outcome Unclear

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/8730
There’s Only One Reason the Baucus Bill Gets Out of Committee — It Sucks

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/10/05/countdown-to-lieberman/
[The Hill] "President Obama clearly articulated his blueprint in his speech, and everyone knows Finance has the bulk of the bill that reflects that blueprint," the source said. "Everyone, including the White House, knows the Finance bill is the only bill that’s paid for and can pass. In short, the White House wants a win, and using the bulk of the Baucus bill is the playbook to get the 'W.' " [read on]

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/5/205845/614
[WSJ] Republicans in the Senate are strategizing over how to stop any version of a public option from getting enacted on the Senate floor. "We have the votes to defeat the public option on the floor," South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham tells me. He's worried that the Senate will pass any old health bill in the Senate, then Harry Reid and Mr. Baucus will reinsert the public option during the House-Senate Conference.

Mr. Graham and other Senate Republicans are now suggesting a "pre-conference agreement" that would instruct conferees not to impose a public option as part of any House-Senate conference agreement. The idea here would be to take the public option off the table completely before any bill leaves the Senate.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/5/789337/-Affordability-vs.-Cost
Affordability vs. Cost

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/olympia-snowe-strikes-again.php
Olympia Snowe Strikes Again

Health care as a civil rights issue

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/5/789872/-Civil-Rights-Groups-Ad-Hits-Recalcitrant-Senators

Well, you knew it was too much to expect a Republican to take a principled stand on this issue, and stick to it

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/05/frist/index.html
Last week, former Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist was saying that if he were still in his old seat, "I would end up voting for" at least one version of the Democrats' healthcare reform proposals. This week, he's singing a different tune. . . .

Bobby Jindal, GOP wannabee from Louisiana, declares the health care fight over

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/bobby_jindal_declares_health_care_debate_over.php
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) pronounces the death of Democratic health reform in an op-ed published this morning in The Washington Post: "Washington is the only place in the country that doesn't realize that this debate is over," he writes, after calling Dems' plans "passe" and proclaiming that "[t]he people don't want it. Believe the polls, the town halls, the voters." . . . [read on]

More: http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/05/bobby-jindal-democrats-lack-public-support-for-health-care-reform-should-listen-to-republicans/

GOP head Michael Steele says the AMA doesn’t know what they’re talking about on health care

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/05/steele_says_ama_lacks_credibility_on_health_care.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020275.php

Republicans tell Steele to shut up

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/27898.html
GOP leaders, in a private meeting last month, delivered a blunt and at times heated message to RNC Chairman Michael Steele: quit meddling in policy. . . [read on]

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/05/steele/index.html
The catalyst for the debate was apparently Steele's decision to develop and push a Republican "Seniors' Health Care Bill of Rights." . . .

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/gop-leaders-to-steele-back-off-on-policy.php

http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/republican-party-michael-steele-stfu

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/gop-hill-leaders-in-smack-down-with-rnc.html

The kind of people they are, part one

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/prominent-mcdonnell-donor-mocks-deedss-speech.php
At a rally for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell recently, one of the Republican's most prominent backers apparently mocked the slight stutter of his opponent, Creigh Deeds.

"We need someone who can really communicate and Bob McDonnell can communicate," said Sheila Johnson, the co-founder of BET. "The other people that I talk to and especially his o-o-o-o-opponent ... he could not articulate what needed to be done. . . .

Watch: http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/at-gop-rally-in-virginia-top-supporter.html

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/stuttering-awareness-groups-condemn-mcdonnell-campaign-for-mocking-a-disability.php
Stuttering Awareness Groups Condemn McDonnell Campaign For Mocking A Disability

The kind of people they are, part two

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/instant_rehabilitation.php
How long should you be sidelined for circulating an anti-reform email featuring Obama as a witch doctor? The Florida doctor who stepped aside from public activism this summer is back in the game -- and being hailed as a "rock solid patriot."

Boy, those Republicans sure do like to compare their opponents to Nazis. Do they know who the Nazis WERE?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/senate-candidate-peter-schiff-compares-campaign-to-going-off-to-fight-nazis-in-world-war-ii.php

Another item still on Obama’s to-do list

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/white-house-no-comment-on-national-security-advisers-claim-that-dadt-repeal-will-come-at-right-time/
The White House is refusing to offer comment or clarification on the suggestion yesterday by Obama national security adviser James Jones that Obama may not be able to repeal the ban on gays and the military in the short term because he “has a lot on his desk” and will deal with repeal “at the right time.” . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/5/789822/-Dont-Ask,-Dont-Tell-Has-Become,-Dont-Ask

Uh-oh

http://washingtonindependent.com/62406/u-s-concealed-interrogation-tapes-of-911-suspect-until-now
The Center for Constitutional Rights says it just learned today that the government has videotapes of the interrogation of its client, Mohammed al Qahtani, a Saudi Arabian man who was subjected to the “First Special Interrogation Plan” overseen by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. . . .

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/10/05/surprise-more-suppressed-torture-tapes/

What’s in your hamburger?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/e-coli-conservatism
[Kevin Drum] Over the weekend the New York Times ran a long story about E. coli poisoning in the hamburger industry. I could swear I've read nearly this exact same story three or four times before and it never seems to prompt any actual changes in the meatgrinding industry . . . [read on]

More: http://www.samefacts.com/2009/10/barack-obama/the-jungle-updated/

The Senate outlook for 2010

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/05/senate_seats_most_likely_to_flip_are_democratic.html

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/hurtling_toward_2010_105.php

“The politics of spite”

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/krugman-on-gops-politics-of-spite.html
[Paul Krugman] So what did we learn from this moment? For one thing, we learned that the modern conservative movement, which dominates the modern Republican Party, has the emotional maturity of a bratty 13-year-old. . . . [read on]

More: http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/conservatism-brain-dead-if-jonah-bes

Bonus item: This is hilarious

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/in-ca-gov-race-republicans-struggle-to-explain-their-past-donations-to-dems.php
[Eric Kleefeld] I just spoke to Jarrod Agen, the communications director for California state Insurance Commissioner and current Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner, and he sharply criticized rival Meg Whitman for having donated to liberal Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer in 2003. . . .

However, Poizner may have his own problem that Whitman could attack, if this fight keeps up: In 2000, he wrote checks to Al Gore. . . .

Bye-bye: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/gop-candidate-meg-whitman-donated-to-liberal-dem-barbara-boxer.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/meg-whitman-fundraiser-for-bob-mcdonnell-is-cancelled.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:23 AM

 
AGAINST THE WIND

The Republicans continue to meddle in foreign affairs

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/the-gops-new-foreign-policy-undermine-american-diplomacy.php

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/graham-dont-leave-attack-iran-israel

How many times can one man be wrong?

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/05/doing-more-than-just-cheering-against-america/

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/return-iran-contrarians

NSA advisor Jim Jones takes on the McChrystal report on Afghanistan

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/04/jones-to-mcchrystal-stfu/
“The president should be presented with options, not just one fait accompli,” he said. [read on]

And McCain: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/james-jones-hits-back-at-mccain-i-dont-play-politics-with-national-security.php
Appearing on State of the Union, National Security Adviser James Jones fired back at Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), who said on the Senate floor that Jones doesn't "want to alienate the left base of the Democrat [sic] Party." Jones responded: "I've known him for many, many years. And he knows that I don't play politics with national - I don't play politics. . .”

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020255.php

Good news: Obama wants a “public option” of some type in the health care bill. Bad news: that doesn’t seem to mean an ACTUAL “public option”

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/10/04/obama-passes-the-public-option-hot-potato/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020251.php

I’m starting to think that Valerie Jarrett and Rahm Emanuel aren’t helping Obama much

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/04/obama_was_told_trip_could_clinch_olympics.html

Defending ACORN

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/thank-them-when-they-do-it-right-by.html

Oh, christ – are the 2010 elections going to be fought over the “death tax”?

http://washingtonindependent.com/62318/tea-party-patrons-point-new-recruits-toward-2010
“If we run out the clock,” said Phil Kerpen, AFP’s policy director, “the estate tax is gone in 2010, and it would be tricky for Democrats to try and bring it back.” [read on]

Another GOP “poll”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/where-do-they-get-those-wack-ideas-by.html
1. Do you agree with Barack Obama's budget plan that will lead to a $23.1 trillion deficit over the next ten years? [read on]

“Is Conservatism Brain Dead?”

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/economy/is-conservatism-brain-dead/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020253.php

Proof: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/the-goldberg-standard.php

In case you missed the Sunday talk shows

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/_no_new_stimulus_for.php

Our “liberal” press

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/about-media-notion-balance

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/04/gregory/index.html

Bonus item: The “Obama hasn’t done nuthin’” message starts to take root

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/snl-spoofs-obama

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/4/235916/653
Obama Still Has His Job, Do You?

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:52 AM

 
WHY DO THEY HATE AMERICA?

Conservatives still crowing about the U.S. losing the Olympics

http://www.samefacts.com/2009/10/watching-conservatives/why-do-conservatives-so-hate-america/
[Mark Kleiman] As usual, though, Obama is fortunate in his opponents. Instead of letting his failure in this tiny venture just sit there in mute criticism of his performance, the wingnuts insisted on celebrating this defeat – a small defeat, granted, but still a defeat – for their country. All they care about is that Obama should be seen as losing. Obama-hatred is now at the level of what Orwell called a “negative nationalism” . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020250.php
Dave Weigel reports from the Americans for Prosperity "Defending the American Dream Conference," where, apparently, part of the American dream is reveling in American disappointment. . . . [read on]

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/conservatives-make-fools-themselves-the
Conservatives make fools of themselves . . .

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/1009/Bad_day_for_USA_Good_day_for_GOP.html
Remember when Republicans accused Democrats of rooting against America?

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/62291/ingraham-pence-mock-americas-olympic-loss

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/3/789003/-Weekly-Standard-Celebrates-United-States-Not-Getting-The-Olympics

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020246.php

Watch! http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/3/789190/-Outdumbing-the-stupid



The Republicans try to implement their own foreign policy

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/3/789222/-IOKIYAR,-Treason-Edition

More: http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/8648

When the GOP cut the stimulus bill, this is what they took out

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020249.php
[Steve Benen] In February, when the debate over the economic stimulus package was at its height, a handful of "centrist" Senate Republicans said they'd block a vote on recovery efforts unless the majority agreed to slash over $100 billion from the bill.

The group, which didn't have any specific policy goals in mind and simply liked the idea of a small bill, specifically targeted $40 billion in proposed aid to states . . . [read on]

More: http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/10/thanks-for-compromising.html

http://www.samefacts.com/2009/10/macroeconomic-policy/the-stimulus-package-was-too-small/

Kos has a good point, mentioned here yesterday: the mark of “bipartisanship” isn’t whether you can get scorched-earth Republicans in Congress to vote for something – when they’ve made clear that they are lined up almost unanimously to deny Obama a “victory” on this issue, regardless of the content of the bill. It’s whether you have a bill that Republicans and Independent voters and non-Congressional politicos support. And we have that already

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/03/quote_of_the_day.html
"I would end up voting for it. As leader, I would take heat for it... That's what leadership is all about."

-- Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), quoted by Time, on President Obama's health care reform plan.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Cohn notes that two other former Republican Senate leaders, Bob Dole and Howard Baker, would also support Obama's plan.

John Boehner, moron: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/3/789184/-John-Boehner-May-Not-Have-Met-Any-Public-Option-Supporters-
I'm still trying to find the first American to talk to who's in favor of the public option, other than a member of Congress or the administration. I've not talked to one and I get to a lot of places. I've not had anyone come up to me -- I know I'm inviting them -- and lobby for the public option. . . . [read on]

A little inside baseball: getting to 60 votes on health care reform

http://www.congressmatters.com/story/2009/10/2/1676/-Is-there-a-%28scary-looking%29-deal-that-can-help-the-public-option-survive-the-Senate

Two senior Republicans in trouble over Ensign scandal?

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/gop-senator-john-ensign-is-in-big.html

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/3/789168/-Mitch-McConnell-Reacts-To-Latest-Chapter-In-The-Ensign-Scandal

The plan for 2010?

http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-plank/political-murder-suicide
[Ed Kilgore] [T]he recent abrasive behavior of the Republican Party may have helped damage Democrats, but isn't helping Republicans much, either. Since Republicans have a much tougher climb to make to reach anything like majority status, they are in danger of committing a political murder-suicide.

The current popularity of the GOP, moreover, is low by historical standards, particularly for a party with visions of a big landslide electoral victory just ahead. Both Ezra Klein and Brendan Nyhan have taken a look this week at the favorability ratings of the two parties in 1994, and there's absolutely no comparison to today's low ratings for the GOP. . . .

It's possible, and perhaps even probable, that the GOP strategy for 2010 is to create a political environment so toxic and voter-alienating that Republicans can win a very low turnout election by whipping their base into a genuine frenzy. That's obviously not a very good scenario for the country, and it remains to be seen if it's even good for the GOP. . . [read on]

More: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/03/not_like_1994.html

It happened to Mitt Romney and it happened to John McCain – watch it happening to Tim Pawlenty (R-MN). When “moderates” run in the GOP, they have to become even more ruthless

http://crooksandliars.com/node/31739
'Moderate' Tim Pawlenty Hires A 'Boatload' of GOP Dirty Tricksters to Run His PAC

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/the-sunday-show-line-ups-23.php
• ABC, This Week: Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

• CBS, Face The Nation: National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Gen. Anthony Zinni, Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO).

• CNN, State Of The Union: National Security Adviser Gen. James Jones, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ).

• NBC, Meet The Press: Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:00 AM

 
USA! USA! USA!

Well, they say they want Obama to fail, and we can see from the right’s reaction that they are ECSTATIC that the U.S. won’t get the 2016 Olympics – why? Only because it might have made Obama look good if we had

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/weekly-standard-newsroom-erupts-into-cheers-at-news-of-olympics.php
"Cheers erupt at Weekly Standard world headquarters," wrote editor John McCormack in a post titled "Chicago Loses! Chicago Loses!" . . . [read on]

http://mediamatters.org/press/releases/200910020024
Glenn Beck, who rejoiced at the "sweet" news that Chicago lost its Olympic bid

Rush Limbaugh, who joined Beck in rejoicing: "The world has rejected Obama"

Michelle Malkin, who jokingly asked, "Hey, can we close the White House Olympic Czar's office now?"

Erick Erickson of RedState, who summed up his feelings by writing, "Hahahahaha."

Matt Drudge, whose webpage's top story soon blared, "THE EGO HAS LANDED, WORLD REJECTS OBAMA: CHICAGO OUT IN FIRST ROUND."

More: http://mediamatters.org/research/200910020025

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/rip-chicago-olympics

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/02/olympics/index.html

http://washingtonindependent.com/62056/chicago-loses-conservative-celebrate

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020242.php
SCARBOROUGH CALLS GOP REACTION 'JUST PLAIN STUPID'

AP: It was Obama’s fault

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091002/ap_on_an/oly_obama_olympics_analysis

Oh, they love them banana republics, don’t they?

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2009/10/jim_demints_cou/
[Steve Clemons] Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has announced that he is heading down to Honduras to encourage those who helped fund and supported the coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to resist American pressure to return Zelaya to office.

The US Department of State has begun to revoke the visas of wealthy supporters of the military coup.

In other words, Jim DeMint is acting on behalf of, in cahoots with, and against the foreign policy of the United States of America in encouraging post-coup Honduran government officials defy the United States. He is encouraging a political leadership which has no legitimacy and which not recognized by other democracies in the region . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/obama-kerry-put-kibosh-on-demint-trip-to-honduras.php
Obama, Kerry Put Kibosh on DeMint Trip to Honduras

[NB: He’s going anyway: “Last night, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell apparently intervened on DeMint's behalf, and the South Carolina conservative will be traveling to Honduras today.”]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020241.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/how-did-kerry-try-to-thwart-demints-honduras-trip--and-how-did-demint-foil-him.php

http://www.samefacts.com/2009/10/uncategorized/banana-republicanism/
[Mark Kleiman] When Sen. Jim DeMint and his Republican colleagues visited Honduras this week, they did so in support of a regime that shuts down opposition news media and arrests dissidents for “sedition.” They also, of course, did so in defiance of the foreign policy of the United States. But I suppose that if the anti-torture law doesn’t apply to Republican Presidents, then we can’t expect the Logan Act to apply to Republican Senators and Representatives.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/the-gops-new-foreign-policy-undermine-american-diplomacy.php
The GOP's New Foreign Policy: Undermine American Diplomacy

Texas Gov. Rick Perry tries to stifle an investigation that might show that his state wrongly put an innocent man to death

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/2/16290/7519
[Texas Nate] A little less than a month ago the New Yorker published a major piece making a strong case that the state of Texas executed an indisputably innocent man in 2004.

Cameron Todd Willingham was killed by the state for killing his children in a fire. Yet the best scientific analysis conclusively establishes that the fire was accidental and not caused by arson.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, going into a heated primary campaign against Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, has now suddenly and summarily replaced three board members of the state agency investigating the controversial 2004 execution, indefinitely postponing a hearing into the case. . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/texas_governor_stymieing_panel_probing_flawed_deat.php
[Zachary Roth] Even by the standards of Texas's enthusiasm for state-sanctioned killing, this is pretty shocking . . . [read on]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/homicide-and-cover-up-by-dday-im-sure.html

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/02/texas-governor-rick-perrys-crime/
[Glenn Smith] Perry may have also committed a crime against the U.S., and I’m not talking about his secession threats. He may have violated federal law, U.S.C. 18.1001. . . [read on]

US General Ray Odierno: There may never be “victory” in Iraq (too bad no one told Bush/Cheney that)

http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/02/gen-ray-ordierno-we-may-never-win-in-iraq/

Hmmm . . .

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/02/iran/index.html
Iran: More accomplished in one day of negotiations than in 8 years of threats

Reader David R. coins the term POINO: Public Option In Name Only. Looks like that’s what we’re gonna get

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/2/788987/-Baucus-Debacle-Moves-On
Baucus Debacle Moves On

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/bipartisanship/poll-majority-supports-bill-with-public-option-even-if-it-has-no-gop-support/
Majority Prefers Dem-Only Bill With Public Option To Bipartisan Bill Without One

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/10/2/1865/26355
What Bipartisanship on Healthcare Means

Thank you, Helen Thomas: http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/02/late-night-vertebrates-on-parade/
[WP] On Thursday afternoon, Thomas gave a clinic in fortitude to President Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, during the briefing. "Has the president given up on the public option?" she inquired from her front-row-middle seat. . . .

The press secretary laughed at this repetition of a common Thomas inquiry, but this questioner, who has covered every president since Kennedy, wasn't about to be silenced. "I ask it day after day because it has great meaning in this country, and you never answer it," she said.

"Well, I -- I -- I apparently don't answer it to your satisfaction," Gibbs stammered.
"That's right," Thomas snarled.

"I -- I'll -- I'll give you the same answer that I gave you unsatisfactorily for many of those other days," Gibbs offered. "It's what the president believes in --"

"Is he going to fight for it or not?" Thomas snapped.

"We're going to work to get choice and competition into health-care reform" was Gibbs's vague response.

Thomas took that as a no. "You're not going to get it," she advised.

"Then why do you keep asking me?" Gibbs inquired.

"Because I want your conscience to bother you," Thomas replied.

Grab your popcorn: Sarah Palin’s new bio, which will apparently lay all the blame for her 2008 embarrassments at the feet of John McCain’s mean ol’ advisors, like Steve Schmidt, who wouldn’t “let Sarah be Sarah,” has triggered a civil war

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020230.php
"I think she has talents," Mr. Schmidt said. "My honest view is that she would not be a winning candidate for the Republican Party and in fact were she to be the nominee, we could have a catastrophic result."

He said that Ms. Palin clearly has strong support among base voters -- witness the advance sales for her forthcoming political memoir, "Going Rogue" -- but that she had done nothing to expand her base since last November.

"I don't think it's inconceivable that she could be the Republican nominee for president of the United States," Mr. Schmidt said. "I think it's almost inconceivable that she could be elected president of the United States." . . [read on]

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/former-mccain-campaign-manger-nominating-palin-in-2012-would-be-catastrophic.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/hed_been_trying_to_write.php

The fight over the heart and soul of the GOP

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/david-brooks-attacks-hannity-beck.html
David Brooks attacks Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh and O'Reilly

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/a_logical_quirk_in_david_brookss_column.php
A Logical Quirk In David Brooks's Column

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/27832.html
John McCain's mission: A GOP makeover

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020239.php

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/02/mccain_gop/index.html

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/gop-war-over-palin-limbaugh-blasts-mccain-advisers-as-losers-for-slamming-sarah/
[Rush Limbaugh] I think it’s time for the McCain crowd to acknowledge they are losers and pack it in. They’ve done enough damage to the Republican Party. Move aside and let a brighter, more principled, and more competent generation of people clean up the mess they helped create. . . . [read on]

Bonus item: The GOP “brand”

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/the-gop-brand-and-the-2010-elections.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:26 AM

 
BAIT AND SWITCH

Harry Reid (D-NV): the final health care bill will have a public option (of some kind)

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/01/reid/index.html

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/reid-health-care-bill-will-have-a-public-optionof-one-kind-or-another.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/1/788619/-The-Relativity-of-the-Public-Option
"Remember, a public option is a relative term," Reid said. "There's a public option, there's a public option, and there's a public option. And we're going to look at each of them."

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/whats-in-name-by-dday-harry-reid-is-now.html
[Dday] Here's the good news about this. Reid is acknowledging that he absolutely cannot get away with having a final bill without something he can call a "public option." And progressives have done a good job of very specifically separating out triggers and co-ops as something that would not fit that definition. This is almost entirely due to grassroots activism. The public option would have been thrown out months ago if nobody was advocating for it from the bottom up. It was certainly not the intention of anyone in Washington to go into October with this issue still up for grabs. They were perfectly content to jettison it to protect insurance industry profits.

That said - there is no definition here for what public option means. And if you asked Sen. Reid point-blank, I'm sure he wouldn't give you a definition. He wants something that he can call a public option so the grassroots can be satisfied. What will that be? Probably not co-ops or triggers because they've been too well-defined by the grassroots. There are other alternatives coming in their place. . . . [read on]

New “public option” proposals?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/10/01/carper/index.html
Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del. . . .has been working on a proposal for a modified public option, one that would give states the choice of creating their own government-run insurance provider instead of having the federal government operate one large entity. . . [read on]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/carper-amendment-allow-for-state-based-and-regional-public-plans.php

http://washingtonindependent.com/61962/finance-panel-moves-to-create-state-based-public-plans
The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday approved legislation empowering states to create public insurance plans that would negotiate rates on behalf of some of their poorest residents.

The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), would allow states to create “basic health plans” catering to those earning between 133 percent and 200 percent of poverty. . . .

It’s not really a public option: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/carper-floats-public-option-alternative-viewed-skeptically-by-conservatives-and-liberals.php
Carper Floats Public Option Alternative Viewed Skeptically By Conservatives and Liberals

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/10/01/carper-trigger-idea-goes-from-bad-to-worse/
Carper’s Trigger: An Idea Goes from Bad to Worse

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/10/01/worse-than-nothing-carpers-alternative/
Worse Than Nothing

“The Beginning Of The End For The Public Option”

http://www.americablog.com/2009/10/huff-post-beginning-of-end-for-public.html

“Americans Support a Public Option”

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/chart-day

More: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/10/on-lameness-and-the-public-option.php


Jon Stewart skewers the Dems’ loser mentality

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-september-30-2009/democratic-super-majority

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Democratic Super Majority
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

More: http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=3545379

MYTH: 51 votes isn’t enough to pass health care. The Dems need 60. Ben Nelson says that’s not enough, the Dems need 65. Now Orrin Hatch says they need 70

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/hardball-orrin-hatch-thinks-health-care-bill-should

REALITY: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020203.php
[Steve Benen] In August, MSNBC's John Harwood mentioned something to Paul Krugman that stood out for me: "I gotta tell you what a White House official told me today: 'Our problem right now is, if we tell some of the Republican opponents in the Senate, 'You can have everything you want in the bill,' they still won't vote for it.'"

Yesterday, the Republicans' Senate leader conceded that this is largely true: no matter the circumstances or concessions, Republicans will oppose health care reform. . . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/1/788648/-GOP-finally-out-of-the-health-care-reform-picture
[Washington Times] President Obama has cut off communication with Republican leaders. . . .

The damaged GOP “brand”

http://www.pollster.com/blogs/assessing_the_gop_brand.php

Government by hissy fit (Digby at her best)

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/on-fits-and-starts-by-digby-politico.html

Will the RNC, which claims to sponsor the Newsmax site, take responsibility for what gets published there?

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/republican-national-committee-sponsors-newsmax.php
Newsmax -- which published (and later unpublished) a column saying it's not "unrealistic" that there may be a "military intervention" against President Obama -- names the RNC as "our sponsor" in the email, which is signed by RNC chair Michael Steele. . . . [read on]

Obama admin talks with Iran, and guess what? The world doesn’t come to an end, and it actually does some good

http://www.juancole.com/2009/10/obama-pwns-bush-cheney-on-iran-first.html

John Ensign (R-NV), going down

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/02/us/politics/02ensign.html
Early last year, Senator John Ensign contacted a small circle of political and corporate supporters back home in Nevada — a casino designer, an airline executive, the head of a utility and several political consultants — seeking work for a close friend and top Washington aide, Douglas Hampton. . . .

The job pitch left out one salient fact: the senator was having an affair with Mr. Hampton’s wife, Cynthia, a member of his campaign staff. The tumult that the liaison was causing both families prompted Mr. Ensign, a two-term Republican, to try to contain the damage and find a landing spot for Mr. Hampton. . . . [what a story – read on!]

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/flouting_lobbying_ban_ensign_helped_hampton_client.php

Mark Sanford (R-SC), on the ropes

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/01/sanford_tries_to_block_ethics_report.html
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) has asked the state Supreme Court "to block a state ethics panel investigating the governor from releasing its initial findings to lawmakers who could decide to remove him from office," reports The State.

"Sanford, who vowed to fight 'tooth and nail' any effort to remove him from office, argues that releasing the report to lawmakers could be used for political purposes and could compromise his defense."

[NB: Yes, I'm sure it would!]

Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) is the new hope of the GOP to take on Obama in 2012. He’s supposedly from the moderate wing, but he’s bringing on some of the worst of the Bush gang

http://washingtonindependent.com/61881/pawlenty-i-support-sara-taylor-style-focus-on-voter-registration-fraud
[David Weigel] On a morning conference call, I got a chance to ask Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) about voter registration, voter fraud, and his new PAC’s political adviser Sara Taylor. In the Bush administration, as a White House political director, Taylor got tangled in the scandal over the firing of U.S. attorneys who, the attorneys claim, were fired because they would not file lawsuits alleging voter registration fraud on the eve of the midterm elections. . . . [read on]

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/pawlenty-hires-sara-taylor-ex-rove-aide-and-featured-player-in-us-attorney-scandal.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020217.php
[Steve Benen] One likes to think there are certain political norms. If a political official is caught up in a huge scandal, for example, and resigns in disgrace, there's an expectation that the official will go away. If said official simply pretended nothing happened, he/she would be something of a laughing stock. In theory.

I mention this because Sara Taylor, a former top aide to Karl Rove, should be a political pariah after her role in the U.S. Attorney purge scandal. Instead, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) just hired her to help lead his political action committee, a precursor to his presidential campaign. . . . [read on]

Michele Bachmann (R-MN) warns us that the health care bill will create secret abortion clinics in schools (watch the video – this dame’s creepy)

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/61099-bachmann-warns-of-abortions-at-school

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020212.php

More! http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/bachmann-grills-bernanke-about-acorn-no-joke.php

Glenn Beck, spiraling down further and further into his own private universe of paranoia and imagined conspiracy, now calls Obama a “cancer” (which must be removed?) and throws in a bizarre reference to “snuff” – nudge, nudge, wink, wink

http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/31340/

Ouch! http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/lindey_graham_on_glenn_beck_only_in_america_can_you_make_so_much_money_crying.php
The outspoken Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of John McCain's closest allies during the 2008 campaign, offered his thoughts on Glenn Beck . . .

"Only in America can you make that much money crying," Graham said . . . "Glenn Beck is not aligned with any party as far as I can tell. He's aligned with cynicism, and there's always been a market for cynicism."

Wow. You know it’s bad when BERNARD GOLDBERG is criticizing Fox News’s excuse for journalism

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/bernard-goldberg-blasts-fox-news-cheerl
There are some programs on FOX that are not only NOT fair and balanced, they're commentary shows. They don't have to be, but they brag about how fair and balanced they are. They don't cover rallies and tea parties, they cheerlead rallies and tea parties, and as a journalist I am totally against that. . . .

Don't pretend that you're being objective. Don't go on the air ... I don't mean you, I mean others on this network. Don't go on the air and say these tea parties are a cross section of America, they are not a cross section of America. Don't pretend to be a journalist if you're not a journalist. . . .

Bonus item: Joe the Plumber needs to find another line of work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyeDFYIqZ28

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:05 AM

 
SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FOOT

Mistakes made

http://www.americablog.com/2009/09/significant-setback-that-should-have.html
[Joe Sudbay] It was a setback the Obama team brought upon itself. The Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House, Jim Messina, used to work for Baucus as his chief of staff. They're very close. Messina and his boss, Rahm Emanuel, had a Senate strategy built around Baucus and his bill. If the White House wanted a public option in the legislation, it would have been there. Then, the Republicans would have had to remove it, instead of having Democrats add it. . . .

More: http://firedoglake.com/2009/09/30/late-late-night-fdl-fifty-ways-to-pull-a-trigger/

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/snowe-may-withhold-trigger-amendment-until-full-senate-debates-health-care.php

Yes, progressive groups are going after Dems who won’t support the public option. And they should

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/moveon-unleashes-ads-hitting-dem-senators-who-voted-against-public-option/

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/progressive-groups-turn-up-heat-on-baucus-snowe-in-wake-of-public-option-votes.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/09/a_way_to_pressure_baucus_conrad_and_lincoln.php

Hmmm . . . think about this. The question isn’t whether the Dems can hold together 60 votes for the public option. It’s whether they can hold together 60 votes to prevent a GOP filibuster and force a simple up-or-down vote on the bill (or amendments)

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/09/60-votes-for-what.php

An outrage! The GOP gets the vapors because Cong. Alan Grayson (D-FL) has the temerity to suggest that they want old people to die. This is beyond the pale – ugly, hateful political discourse! He must apologize and retract! Only problem is . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/09/gimme_a_break_1.php
[Josh Marshall] Rep. Alan Grayson delivered a speech last night in which he made some really over the top comments -- namely that the Republican plan for health care is a) don't get sick and b) if you do get sick, die quickly. I'm not going to defend that. But is this really a controversy when half the Republican elected offiicials in the country have been saying for the last couple months, as a statement of purported fact, that the Democrats want to institute 'death panels' that will euthanize or deny care to people who can't justify their lives on utilitarian grounds?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_09/020189.php
[Steve Benen] Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-Fla.) said Dem plans would tell seniors to "drop dead." Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) said Democratic plans for a public option would "kill people." Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said Dems' proposals might "put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government." Plenty of other House Republicans have made similar remarks, and not one of them has every apologized. House Democrats haven't even asked. . . .

Grayson won’t back down: http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/alan-grayson-stands-his-words-i-apologi

http://www.americablog.com/2009/09/graysons-blockbuster-appearance-on-cnn.html
"Democrats have to have guts"

Climate change bill, coming up

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/09/senate-climate-bill-arrives

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/09/30/captrade/index.html

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/09/on_climate_change_resignation_already.php

Newmax takes down its article hinting at a military coup to unseat Obama, disavowing its author. Only problem is. . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/09/30/newsmax_statement/index.html
“Mr. Perry . . . has no official relationship with Newsmax other than as an unpaid blogger. . . .”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_09/020197.php
[TPM] That's not quite the wording on his Newsmax biography. There, Perry is described as an "award-winning newspaper editor and writer" who "contributes a regular column to Newsmax.com."

He's also a former senior editor for the site, working in that role from late 1999 until October 2001.

Perry has written for the site regularly -- nearly every single week -- since November 1999. Newsmax was founded in 1998.

Laughable

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/meg-whitman-i-didnt-vote-because-i-was-focused-on-my-family.php
Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of California in 2010, has an interesting explanation for the fact that she's hardly ever voted, and didn't even register until seven years ago, when she was 46: She was too dedicated to her family to vote. . . .

If this is typical of what’s coming in Sarah Palin’s biography, it looks like a massive laugh-fest

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/09/30/is_palin_rewriting_history.html
John Fund interviewed Lynn Vincent, co-author of Sarah Palin's forthcoming book, who said it "will describe Ms. Palin's frustration over her treatment by the staffers she inherited from the McCain campaign after her surprise pick as the GOP vice presidential nominee last year. Ms. Palin was booked on grueling interviews with hostile reporters while talk-show hosts such as Glenn Beck couldn't even get through to her aides."

[NB: Grueling, hostile interviewers like Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson. Brutal, unfair questions like, “What newspapers do you read?” Poor baby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrzXLYA_e6E]



Other titles suggested for Palin’s bio

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/you_renamed_sarah_palins_book.php

Fascinating. Obama wants Chicago to get the Olympics (go Chi-town!) – but if Obama is for it, Fox News and Drudge must be against it. So now we’re witnessing the bizarre phenomenon of major “news” outlets actively lobbying against a U.S. city getting the Olympics

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_09/020200.php

Anything. They will exploit anything

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/rnc-raising-money-off-of-schoolchildren-singing-about-obama-comparing-it-to-stalin-and-kim-jong-il.php
RNC Raising Money Off Of Schoolchildren Singing About Obama, Comparing It To Stalin And Kim Jong Il

Bonus item: Supporting entrepreneurship wherever you find it

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/09/cant_quit_da_ladies.php
[Josh Marshall] You probably remember how earlier this month Newt Gingrich somehow managed to have his 527 Group award its "Entrepreneur of the Year" award to porn exec Allison Vivas and invite her to an "intimate event" with Newt himself. Vivas was game. But Gingrich's group soon rescinded the award.

Today we learned there's been another misunderstanding. Gingrich's outfit, American Solutions for Winning the Future, gave a new "Entrepreneur of the Year" award to Dawn Rizos, owner of The Lodge, which the Dallas Morning News calls "one of the best-known gentlemen's clubs in Dallas."

Alas, again, the offer has been rescinded. . .

More: http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/newt-gingrich-awards----then-strips----entrepreneur-of-the-year-honor-to-topless-club-owner.php
Gingrich "fits the perfect profile of one of our customers." . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:26 AM