TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACK

The good news: the Senate health care bill passed a major hurdle, and the principle was perhaps established that conservaDems can vote to block a filibuster while still voting against the bill (though Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tried mightily to equate them). But it was also clear that a couple of key votes probably won’t be there for a strong public option down the road

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/11/where_does_this_leave_us.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/21/165332/45

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/21/lincoln_landrieu/index.html

Talk of negotiations to further weaken the public option has already begun. Looks like the “opt-out” will be out, and some kind of hideous triggered co-op could be coming back in

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/reid-i-welcome-schumer-landrieu-and-carper-as-they-work-on-public-option-compromise.php

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/11/21/it-sounds-like-reid-is-going-to-sell-out-the-public-option/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/21/806888/-The-Schumer-Landrieu-Carper-Compromise-Plot-Thickens

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/spokesman-schumer-open-to-public-option-negotiations-but-they-havent-started.php

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/21/with-conservative-resistance-to-public-option-what-was-the-point-of-the-opt-out/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/21/806763/-Reminder-to-Senate-Dems:-Carpers-Triggered-Co-Ops-Arent-a-Public-Option

How we got here

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/a_milestone_in_the_health_care_journey.php

Liar

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/lieberman-repeats-claim-that-public-option-not-part-of-2008-presidential-campaign.php
Lieberman Repeats Claim That Public Option Not Part Of 2008 Presidential Campaign

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/21/805913/-Joe-Lieberman,-liar

McConnell’s last gasp: throw everything and hope something sticks

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/21/quote_of_the_day.html
"The battle has just begun. We are going to do everything and anything we can to prevent this measure from becoming law."

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021105.php

Theocracy watch: God wants Obama to fail

http://crooksandliars.com/bluegal/cafepress-stops-selling-psalms
Psalm 109:8 reads, quote, “Let his days be few and let another take his office.” The psalm then continues, “Let his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. Let his children continually be vagabonds and beg. Let them seek their bread also from their desolate places. Let the creditor seize all that he has and let strangers plunder his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy to him nor let there be any favor to his fatherless children.”

Yes, free speech and all that – but is this the best they can do?

http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/crazier-by-day.html
[MSNBC] A billboard showing President Barack Obama wearing a turban has sparked a lot of attention at the suburban Denver used car dealership that put it up.

The sign, completed Friday by artist David Lee, shows a grinning, cartoonish Obama and bears the words "PRESIDENT or JIHAD?"

Underneath the president's image is a big yellow square with the phrase, "BIRTH CERTIFICATE, PROVE IT!"

Impeachment for Mark Sanford (R-SC)?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/us/politics/21sanford.html

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/the-sunday-show-line-ups-30.php
• ABC, This Week: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).

• CBS, Face The Nation: Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

• CNN, State Of The Union: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Senate candidate Carly Fiorina (R-CA).

• NBC, Meet The Press: Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT).

***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 @ 6:37 AM

 
OVER THE TOP

The PROCEDURAL vote later today on whether to BRING THE HEALTH CARE BILL TO THE FLOOR for amendment and debate is not a vote FOR the bill. Repeat as necessary.

What will the “centrists” do? The votes to watch

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/20/senators_to_watch.html

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/centrist-dem-senators-threatening-no-on-procedural-votes-gives-us-leverage/

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/tomorrows-health-care-vote-a-cheat-sheet.php

http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/20/late-night-lets-make-a-deal/

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/20/806217/-Senate-Readies-for-HCR-Debate

Looking ahead to the Senate/House conference -- how the bills differ

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/20/house_senate/index.html

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/11/20/why-the-house-bill-is-much-more-conservative-than-the-senate/

The state of our political discourse. According to the Republicans, we now have a President who hates America and is TRYING to kill us

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/fear-factor-the-four-ways-republicans-say-obama-will-kill-you-now.php

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/circus-circus-by-digby-republican.html
Republican strategist Cheri Jacobs said on MSNBC that the KSM trial will be a "referendum on torture." If only. Evidently, she was riffing on her piece this morning in The Hill in which she compared KSM to OJ Simpson and accused the Obama administration of having the trials in NYC in order to get a liberal jury to acquit Khalid Sheik Mohammed because they hate Bush and are trying to distract from their failed presidency . . .

Rape?!!???

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/test-7

Auditing the Fed – what a notion!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/19/fed-beaten-bill-to-audit_n_364546.html

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/11/20/transparency/index.html

How many words can you use to avoid using the word “perjury”?

http://washingtonindependent.com/68555/ethics-panel-gives-free-pass-to-burris
[To Roland Burris, D-IL] “The Committee found that you should have known that you were providing incorrect, inconsistent, misleading or incomplete information . . .”

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/senate_ethics_panel_reprimands_burris_over_blago_d.php

Typical: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-roland-burris-ethics-21-nov21,0,7740356.story
His office issued a statement welcoming the news that the panel "cleared the senator of any legal wrongdoing."

Please, Sarah, keep talking

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/palins-dog-ate-her-homework-she-boot

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/palin-palooza-2009-day-the-fifth.php

http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2009/11/19/sarah-palin-on-the-700-club.aspx

http://blogs.cbn.com/thebrodyfile/archive/2009/11/20/sarah-palin-part-2.aspx

Yeah, but they really LOVE her out there . . . right?

http://washingtonindependent.com/68520/sarah-palin-gets-booed

McCain in trouble in Arizona in 2010

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/poll-mccain-in-dead-heat-in-potential-2010-gop-primary-for-re-election.php

Can Palin save him? http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/campaigns/will-mccains-savior-in-gop-primary-prove-to-be-sarah-palin/

How many seats will shift in the Senate next year?

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/20/95941/628

Chris Matthews at his most annoying

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/thrill-up-leg-is-gone-by-digby.html
[Obama] is leading with his chin on just about every issue out there -- healthcare, terror trials, job losses, even the breast cancer report. He's exposed and vulnerable. His poll numbers are dropping.

Is he just too darned intellectual? Too much the egghead? Why did he bow to that Japanese emperor? Why did he pick Tim Geitner to be his economic front man? Why all this dithering over Afghanistan? And who thought it was a wonderful idea to bring the killers of 9/11 to New York City, the media capital of the world ... so they could tell their story?

Is Obama channeling Adlai Stevenson . . .?

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021103.php

Glenn Beck: crazy AND dangerous

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/19/806190/-Abeckalypse-Now
What's in this legislation? The end of America as you know it, I believe. . .

More: http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/countdown-fearmonger-chief-we-cannot

Bonus item: Self-parody

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/11/tea-party-the-documentary-film.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 @ 9:17 AM

 
HOLY WAR

More details on the Senate health care bill

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/cbpp-despite-insufficient-subsidies-health-care-bill-enormous-step-forward.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021055.php

http://www.slate.com/id/2236147/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/19/806032/-The-2010-HCR-Provisions-in-House-and-Senate

Not fully implemented until 2014? http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/no-public-option-or-mandates-until-2014-under-senate-bill-but-there-are-some-early-goodies.php

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/11/what_happens_before_2014.html

The Big Question

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/will-concessions-and-a-trim-cbo-score-appease-conservative-democrats-on-health-care.php
Will Concessions, And A Trim CBO Score, Appease Conservative Democrats On Health Care?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/19/senate_vote/index.html
Senate to hold healthcare vote Saturday

And he really means “holy”

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/19/quote_of_the_day.html
"It's going to be a holy war."

-- Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), quoted by the Los Angeles Times, on the coming health care debate in the U.S. Senate.

If the GOP had any integrity and intellectual honesty, they would admit that even by their own lights there is much to praise in the current reform bill. But their only consistent view now is that anything Obama proposes must be opposed, and not just opposed, but painted as the latest encroachment of creeping totalitarianism

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021079.php

Classy

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/11/here_it_comes_1.php
Straight from House Minority Leader John Boehner's office:

"Sen. Reid's Government-Run Health Plan Requires a Monthly Abortion Fee"

Here it comes: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/nebraska-republican-a-vote-to-proceed-is-a-vote-for-abortion.php
Nebraska Republican: A Vote To Proceed Is A Vote For Abortion

Climate change bill coming in the spring?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021067.php

Why Obama can’t get his judicial nominations approved

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/why_the_democrats_are_sluggish_on_judicial_nominations.php

http://thirdbranch.crooksandliars.com/josh-glasstetter/gop-filibuster-fails-badly-jeff-s

The limp-wristed ACLU lovers in the Obama admin are under the ridiculous impression that terror suspects deserve a trial in regular US courts. What naifs!

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/terrorism/bush-in-2006-terrorists-should-be-tried-in-courts-here-in-the-u-s/
Bush In 2006: Terrorists Should Be “Tried In Courts Here In The U.S.”

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021077.php

Yes, the conservative-populist rhetoric against government spending is incoherent – but that works for them

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/11/the-appeal-of-incoherence.php

Hmmm . . . does he know something that might be coming down the road?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/legal_defense_fund_for_torture_memo_author.php
One of the authors of the Bush Justice Department's notorious memos approving torture has set up a legal defense fund to help pay anticipated lawyers’ fees in connection with the episode.

A website for the Bybee Legal Defense Fund “explains how contributions may be made to help Judge Jay S. Bybee pay costs and expenses he is incurring or may incur . . .”

Ethics problems continue to bedevil leading Repubs

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/will_ensign_escape_criminal_probe.php
[Zachary Roth] Is the Justice Department leaning towards laying off Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)?

That's the direction in which Politico's reporting seems to point. According to the new site, DOJ officials "signal that the case is a low-priority matter for them." It adds that "no one close to Ensign or the Hamptons has been contacted by any federal investigators." And it notes that the Senate Ethics committee, which usually stands down when Justice is involved, has been forging ahead with its probe of the philandering Nevada senator. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/sc_ethics_panel_finds_probable_cause_to_investigat.php
SC Ethics Panel Finds Probable Cause To Charge Sanford With Violations

The kind of people they are

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/crazed-michele-bachmann-fan-threatens-f
A Kentucky woman has threatened a Michigan newspaper with a bloodbath similar to the massacre at Ft. Hood if they don't lay off criticism of [Michele Bachmann (R-MN)]. . . [read on]

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/11/republicans-dont-believe-obama-won-the-election.php
Republicans Don’t Believe Obama Won the Election

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/19/805882/-Van-Hollen:-GOP-party-of-right-wing-extremists
Van Hollen: GOP party of "right-wing extremists"

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021073.php
On the House floor today, Rep. Virginia Foxx, a right-wing Republican from North Carolina, boasted of her party's alleged progressive history on civil rights.

"Just as we were the people who passed the civil rights bills back in the '60s without very much help from our colleagues across the aisle," said Fox. "They love to engage in revisionist history."

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/19/806049/-Virginia-Foxx-Makes-An-Elephant-Of-Herself

I guess perceived power really is power: now GOP candidates have to explain and apologize for NOT having Sarah Palin campaign for them

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/19/christie-mcdonnell-explain-palins-absence-from-campaign-trail-2/

I understand that Palin is “good tv,” even when (or actually, especially when) she is in train-wreck mode. But we ought to expect a bit more perspective

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200911190018
Contrary to media hype, Sarah Palin is very unpopular

The challenged truth claims in Palin’s book just keep surfacing

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/photofeatures/2009/11/sarah-plain-and-lying.php

http://www.samefacts.com/2009/11/uncategorized/dumber-and-more-vindictive-than-george-w-bush/
“Dumber and more vindictive than George W. Bush”

Oopsie!

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/palin-crack-down-on-iraq-to-prevent-nuclear-iran.php
During her interview with Sean Hannity that aired last night, Sarah Palin made an interesting declaration: That we need to prevent a nuclear Iran by cracking down on "Iraq."

Hannity asked what can be done to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. In her response, Palin seemed to be confused between Iraq and Iran . . . [read on]

More oopsies: http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/sarah-palin-hannity-just-regular-tra

For Palin lovers, none of that matters. Don’t bother them with the facts!

Watch: http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/typical-genius-in-line-to-buy-sarah.html

More Palinites: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/19/34453/640

Doug Hoffman’s complaints about voter fraud in his decisive loss in NY-23 are so ridiculous that even Republican state officials don’t take them seriously

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/republican-election-official-gop-county-chairman-dismiss-hoffmans-accusations-of-acorn-conspiracy.php

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/illegitimacy-by-digby-republicans-have.html
[Digby] Republicans have been working on a theory of voter fraud for decades, which is designed to suppress the vote and call into question the legitimacy of any Democratic victories. We know this. It is documented. . . [read on]

Rudy’s plans for the future

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/19/151418/93
[NY Daily News] Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has decided not to run for governor next - but will run for U.S. Senate instead, sources told the Daily News. . . . If elected, the source said, he would use that as a stepping stone to run for President in 2012 . . .

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/report-rudy-will-run-for-senate-against-gillibrand----and-then-for-president-again.php

One thing we came to expect from the Bush gang was the careful timing of the release of news, especially bad news. It was irritating but predictable. Now Karl Rove complains, without a hint of shame, that the Obama admin is doing the same thing

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021058.php

Fox News apologizes for ANOTHER bit of fake video editing – and their explanation is almost as hilarious as the original mistake

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/19/805787/-Another-Literal-Manifestation-of-Fox-News-Metaphorical-Methodology-...-Palin-Edition-

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/11/more_fox_follies.php
And today the network apologized for mistakenly showing the cover of the Going Rouge, a collection of essays mocking the former governor, rather than the cover of her book, Going Rogue.

Heh

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/19/do_republicans_trail_in_using_technology.html
[Former Rep. John Kasich (R-OH)]"I think Republicans need to learn to communicate with the tools of the 21 st century. The women in Iran have been more effective using Twitter than House Republicans have been getting their message out to the country. . . . ."

Bonus item: Sarah Palin: The Quiz

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200911u/palin-quiz

***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 @ 7:10 AM

 
SETTLING SCORES

The CBO scoring comes in for the Senate health care bill, and it’s a good news/bad news thing

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/18/senate-bill-costs-849-billion/
[David Dayen] MSNBC is reporting that the CBO has scored the Senate’s merged bill as costing $849 billion dollars over 10 years. The bill would reduce the deficit by $127 billion by 2019 because of the revenue-raisers. There is absolutely no reason to listen to any Republican talking about the “strain on the deficit.” The House and Senate bills would reduce it.

It’s looking likely that Harry Reid will at least be able to get this bill on the floor, once he gets a full complement of 60 Democratic Senators (Max Baucus has a family emergency and went back to Montana for at least a couple days). Ben Nelson, fearing reconciliation, appears unlikely to block debate and vote against the motion to proceed, and I would imagine he speaks for his fellow ConservaDems on this point. . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/cbo-says-higher-premiums-under-senate-public-option.php
CBO Says Higher Premiums Under Senate Public Option, 'Opt-Out' Clause Would Impact One-Third Of Consumers

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/18/cbo/index.html

What’s in the bill

http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/reids-bill-includes-public-option-with.html
Reid's bill includes public option with opt-out and tax on "cadillac" plans

http://www.slate.com/id/2236027
What we know about the Senate's "blended" health care bill, and what we don't

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/18/805820/-Details-of-Senate-HCR-Bill-Emerge,-Reconciliation-on-the-Table

Let’s see if the Dems can get the press to distinguish a vote to bring the bill to the floor for debate from a vote FOR the bill. This will be crucial, it appears

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/senate-expected-vote-week-bringing-he
Senate Expected To Vote This Week On Bringing Health-Care Bill To Floor

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/nelson-hints-strongly-that-hell-vote-with-dems-to-bring-health-reform-to-floor.php
Nelson Hints Strongly That He'll Vote With Dems To Bring Health Reform To Floor

Reconciliation coming?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/reid-outlines-bill-for-caucus-warns-conservative-dems-that-reconciliation-is-still-an-option.php

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=04F6B204-18FE-70B2-A80386438D78E631

How bad is the Stupak amendment?

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/11/study-stupak-would-lead-to-abortion-coverage-phaseout.php
Study: Stupak Would Lead to Abortion Coverage Phaseout

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/study-stupak-amendment-will-eliminate-abortion-coverage-over-time-for-all-women.php

Make them pay

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/shhh-dont-make-trouble-by-digby-if.html
Moments ago, Senate Republicans blocked a Democratic proposal to freeze credit card rates on existing balances through the holiday season. The bill, sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), would prevent credit card companies from hiking rates and fees on existing balances until the industry reforms passed by Congress earlier this year take effect. Although a few provisions of that law took hold in August, most don’t launch until February or August of 2010. In the meantime, many card companies are hiking rates and fees to beat the law. . . . [read on]

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/68309/gop-blocks-dodd-bill-to-freeze-credit-card-rates

Good

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/holder_opr_torture_report_should_be_out_by_months.php
That long-awaited report on the Justice Department's role in the Bush administration's torture program could finally be ready to see the light of day.

During his testimony before Congress today, Attorney General Eric Holder said that the report, by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, is "in its last stages," and that he expects it will be released by the end of the month.

Rudy Giuliani, trying hard to be relevant again

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021047.php
[Steve Benen] I suppose it's not too surprising, but it is depressing to be reminded of how stunted our political discourse really is. . . . [read on]

Karl Rove’s new book title, I am not kidding

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/karl_roves_self-aggrandizing_title.php
“Courage and Consequence”

Sarah Palin seems to think that the more we know about her, and what is going on in that ditzy brain of hers, the more we will like and respect her. On the contrary, it’s scary in there

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/palin-digs-in-on-death-panels-also-calls-for-primary-against-lindsey-graham.php
In an interview with National Review, Sarah Palin explained how "death panels" are not meant to be taken literally -- and then gave a pretty much literal description -- and also called for a Republican primary challenge against Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). . . . [read on]

http://washingtonindependent.com/68261/palin-death-panels-arent-literally-panels-of-death
“The term I used to describe the panel making these decisions should not be taken literally,” says Palin. The phrase is “a lot like when President Reagan used to refer to the Soviet Union as the ‘evil empire.’ He got his point across. He got people thinking and researching what he was talking about. It was quite effective. Same thing with the ‘death panels.’ I would characterize them like that again, in a heartbeat.”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021052.php
[Steve Benen] This is among the stupidest things I've ever heard any politician say on any subject. . . . [read on]

http://washingtonindependent.com/68248/does-sarah-palin-think-the-apocalypse-is-nigh
Does Sarah Palin Think the Apocalypse Is Nigh?

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/palin-on-muslim-profiling-im-all-for-it.php
Palin On Muslim Profiling: 'I'm All For It'

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/18/16222/634

Palin finds one press pundit whose work she admires – the one who calls her “brilliant”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/18/805654/-Reading-the-teabaggers-leaves

John McCain has tried to stay above the spat between Palin and his former staffers, but eventually he has to step in to correct the lies Sarah’s dishing

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/18/mccain_palin/index.html

Doug Hoffman lost the NY-23 race and gave a widely praised and gracious concession speech. Then the party hacks got their mitts onto him, he withdrew his concession, and he is now hinting at vote fraud. Rule #7: No Republican ever loses an election. You either win and praise “the will of the people,” or you imply that the result was somehow illegitimate

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/19/02843/803
NY-23: Hoffman Suggests Election Fraud

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/18/hoffman_accuses_democrats_of_election_fraud.html
Hoffman also claims he was "forced to concede" on election night.

Smearing the ACLU

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/11/18/weekly_standard/index.html

Theocracy watch: truly creepy

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/frank-schaeffer-warns-against-latest-threa

I don’t know: is it possible for Ann Coulter to “jump the shark”? It seems to me that her whole point is to outdo each outrageous lie with a new one. It doesn’t diminish her appeal, such as it is – it reinforces it

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/11/jumping_the_shark.php

Glenn Beck, ditto

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/fearmonger-chief-beck-goes-militia-w

Fox "News" does it again!

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/fox-news-airs-old-footage-2008-palin-ra
Fox News airs old footage from 2008 Palin rallies to pump up Palin's 2009 book tour

Bonus item: Alice gets a promotion!

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/rewarding-bad-behavior-by-digby-what.html
Q: And one more. You mentioned that there are health benefits to climate change. Could you describe some of those?

MS. PERINO: Sure. In some cases, there are — look, this is an issue where I’m sure lots of people would love to ridicule me when I say this, but it is true that many people die from cold-related deaths every winter. And there are studies that say that climate change in certain areas of the world would help those individuals. There are also concerns that it would increase tropical diseases and that’s — again, I’m not an expert in that, I’m going to let Julie Gerberding testify in regards to that, but there are many studies about this that you can look into.

[and . . .]

"I was panicked a bit because I really don't know about . . . the Cuban Missile Crisis," said Perino, who at 35 was born about a decade after the 1962 U.S.-Soviet nuclear showdown. "It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I'm pretty sure."

So she consulted her best source. "I came home and I asked my husband," she recalled. "I said, 'Wasn't that like the Bay of Pigs thing?' And he said, 'Oh, Dana.'"

***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 @ 7:24 AM

 
SETTING THE BAR

The burden of responsibility

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021017.php
[Steve Benen] The to-do list itself is almost overwhelming. After eight years of Republican failure, incompetence, mismanagement, and corruption, Democratic leaders on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue were tasked by the electorate to rescue the economy, resolve two costly wars, improve the struggling job market, address a crushing debt, and fix health care, energy policy, immigration, a housing crisis, a collapsing U.S. auto industry, and the Gitmo mess.

And just to make things really interesting, those same Democratic leaders were told they had to meet a new procedural standard that no governing party in the United States has ever had to overcome: a 60-vote minimum in the Senate on everything. . . . [read on]

I hope Jay Rockefeller is right here. There’s a lot of posturing now about what people will and won’t vote for on health care. But after we get through the preliminaries and there is actually a final bill for passage coming through the House and Senate, who wants to be the Democrat who brings it down?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/progressives-to-moderates-do-you-really-want-to-kill-health-care-reform.php

Senate bill to arrive later today

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/17/reid_bill/index.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/reid-cautiously-optimistic-about.html
Reid "cautiously optimistic" . . .

The new GOP line: pass health care reform if you want, we’ll just repeal it when we take over the WH in 2012

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/11/could-health-reform-be-repealed-in-2012.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021031.php

On the to-do list

http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/house-dems-promise-new-jobs-bill-before.html
House Dems. promise new jobs bill before Christmas break

Obama finally gets a key judicial appointment through the Senate gauntlet

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/17/182457/36

The “C” Street house was tax exempt as a “church”

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/c_street_house_no_longer_tax_exempt.php

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#34004536

Pure evil

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/lacking_evidence_hoekstra_blames_obama_admin_for_f.php
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) is ramping up his campaign to use the Fort Hood shootings to paint the Obama administration as soft on terrorism. . . .

The Washington Times calls Obama “a child of the grungy 60’s”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021029.php

Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) hasn’t learned the Mitt Romney lesson from 2008 – you can’t suddenly start spewing right-wing crap that defies everything you’ve stood for in your career. The far right never believes that you mean it anyway, and your moderate supporters look away in shame

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021016.php

The Florida Republican Senate race is going to make NY-23 look like a love-fest

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/17/gop_bloodbath_in_florida.html

Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) teabagger rally misused House resources

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/crew_bachmann_rally_may_have_violated_house_rules.php

Does Sarah Palin have a political future?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/17/politics/onthemarc/main5681411.shtml

Palin with Barbara Walters – she’s having trouble keeping her stories straight

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/palin-interview-with-walters-there-was-a-lot-of-bullcrap.php

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#34003950

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#33978723

Hmmm. . . . Fox News trashes Palin. How do you read that?

http://lafiga.firedoglake.com/2009/11/17/late-night-finally-i-agreed-with-fox-napolitano-calls-palin-a-goofball/

The McCain campaign is sick of Palin’s lies – and they have some emails they want you to see

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/e-mails_portray_palin_campaign_trail_chaos.php
[Marc Ambinder] As the campaign came to a climax in October, Palin isolated herself from headquarters, refusing to communicate with them directly. Her staff, suspicious that McCain's retinue of lieutenants were trying to sabotage Palin simply because she was Palin, began to skirmish with McCain's staff, bollixing up carefully planned events. . . . Tension reached a boil on Wednesday, October 15 . . . [read on]

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/17/mccain_rejects_palins_claim.html
Even though Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) asked his aides to stay quiet about Sarah Palin's new book, the senator himself denied to The Hill his former running mate's "allegation that his campaign stuck her with a $50,000 legal bill to pay for the cost of vetting her as a potential vice presidential candidate." . . .

Remember who we have to thank for making Palin a threat to her party

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/11/the-institute-for-the-study-of-sarah-palin.html
[Richard Coen] The Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin might conclude that she represents the exact moment important Republicans gave up on democracy. . . . [read on]

And now this: as if Palin didn’t set the bar low enough, you now have Repubs calling for Carrie Prejean to run for office (really, I am not kidding)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/17/805361/-What-passes-for-Republican-leadership-these-days

Bonus item: Palin’s book comes without an index. The New Republic gives it one

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/the-going-rogue-index

***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

 
TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

The GOP has decided that even though many terrorists have already been successfully tried in US courts and safely held in US prisons, the latest group being sent to New York for trial represent an intolerable risk

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29488.html
Republicans are irate over the move to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York, perhaps within walking distance of Ground Zero. . . .

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/cheney-worried-about-terrorists-having-pub
[Heather] This is rich coming from the likes of Liz Cheney. She's worried about the terrorists having "a public platform where they can spew venom". Well the "mainstream media" has given you and your daddy one, so what's the problem? Pat Leahy explained why this fear mongering is utter nonsense on Face the Nation today. What she's worried about are her father's pesky war crimes coming to light. . . .

CHENEY: The Bush administration worked very hard to put together military commissions. The first round of military commissions that they put together, which were based on the precedent of the FDR military commissions -- full constitutional precedent, approved by the Supreme Court in the 1940s -- were rejected by the Supreme Court.

The administration then put together a new set of military commissions approved by Congress, and they have held these guys at Guantanamo now where they are providing -- presenting no threat at all to the United States.

WALLACE: But three convictions in eight years is not much of a record. . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021002.php
[Steve Benen] Joe Scarborough argued this morning that it's "unprecedented" for the U.S. to try foreign terror suspects in our federal judicial system. That might be true, if it weren't for all the other foreign terror suspects that have been tried, convinced, and imprisoned through our federal judicial system. . . .

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/16/gop-moves-to-block-gitmo_n_359792.html
GOP Moves To Block Gitmo Detainees From Coming To Illinois Prison

Interesting! Conservative leaders slam the Repubs for their cynicism and cowardice

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/conservatives-say-gitmo-detainees-would-be-fine-in-il-prison-warn-gop-of-scaremongering.php
Three prominent conservatives warned in a joint statement against Republican "scaremongering" on Guantanamo Bay detainees, saying the prison in Thomson, Illinois would be fine to handle them. . . .

The Chamber of Commerce wants to commission a “research study” on health care reform – it’s a pretty cushy deal: the conclusion is already written for you

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/16/chamber-of-commerce-want-ad-need-economist-to-write-study-trashing-health-care-reform/

The kind of people they are

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/business/16drugprices.html
Drug Makers Raise Prices in Face of Health Care Reform

Bad news on the jobs front

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/11/bernanke-no-jobs-for-you.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/16/183743/35

The GOP civil war moves westward

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021005.php

http://washingtonindependent.com/67846/a-tea-party-candidate-promises-fiorina-a-fight

Of course no national Republican can ignore the far right. But usually they’re a bit more subtle about their litmus tests

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/55_56/politics/40591-1.html
Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist has a blunt message for anyone already angling for the GOP’s presidential nomination in 2012: Focus your energies on anything but next year’s midterm elections at your own risk.

Norquist, one of the most influential voices in the modern conservative movement, says he will be keeping a close eye on the activities of potential candidates over the next year and will be sure to tell Republican voters who’s a team player and who’s out for themselves.

“We’re going to put together a list of all the people thinking of running for president and ... give assignments to each of the would-be presidential candidates. . . .”

Sarah Palin is one of those candidates who needs to keep the possibility of running for President alive, while never actually doing it.

Right now she’s just trying to sell lots and lots of books. Meanwhile, her political approval numbers are going DOWN

http://washingtonindependent.com/67874/poll-53-percent-would-definitely-not-vote-for-sarah-palin
The new Washington Post-ABC News poll sneaks a little bit of reality into the maelstrom of Sarah Palin news. Fifty-three percent of Americans would “definitely not” vote for Palin in a hypothetical 2012 presidential race. . .

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/polling/sarah-palin-tanking-among-moderates-independents/
Meanwhile, the new CNN poll finds that only 29% of independents think she’s qualified. . . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/16/palin_hints_at_possible_white_house_bid.html
Meanwhile, a new CBS News poll finds that 48% of Republicans do not want Sarah Palin to run for president . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/16/211430/40
Just 23 percent of those surveyed in a new CBS News poll have a favorable view of the former Alaska governor. . . .

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/11/identity-politics-for-really-stupid.html
[WP] Among women, who, theoretically, should form the base of Palin's support, nearly four in ten (39 percent) have a strongly unfavorable impression of her while just 20 percent were strongly favorable. Overall 39 percent of women had a favorable impression of Palin while 57 percent had an unfavorable one. . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/16/palin_media/index.html
Why Palin's media strategy is likely to hurt her

More: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/oh_sarah_we_hardly_had_the_time_to_rethink_you_1.php

There's no downside to the fact that her book is full of score-settling lies about the McCain campaign. The media already has a “food fight” narrative, so every time McCain staffers try to correct her, the story isn’t “Palin is lying again,” it’s “the food fight continues.” And if the media tries to fact-check her, as the AP did, this is just more proof that they're out to get her. It's a win/win!

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/16/mccain_asks_staffers_to_stay_quiet.html
Said the former McCain campaign aide: "It is unrecognizable at every instance. There is not one truthful account as it relates to any conversation I ever had with her."

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/11/16/2128507.aspx
In addition, former McCain (and Bush White House aide) Nicolle Wallace tells Mitchell that the conversations Palin recounts in her book involving the Katie Couric interview, Palin's campaign wardrobe, or any of the other allegations involving Wallace never happened. "I never saw her take a note and she never contacted me for any fact-checking, nor did anyone on her behalf." Wallace says, "It's just fabricated." . . .

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29504_Page2.html
Former McCain strategist John Weaver slammed Palin for using the book for “petty and pathetic” score-settling. . . .

What? You didn’t Tivo the Palin/Oprah interview? (Neither did I.) Here’s what we missed . . .

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/palin_on_oprah_pick_your_scooplet.php

More: http://www.slate.com/id/2235775/

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/16/palin_oprah/index.html

Glenn Beck, public intellectual

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200911160049
Beck on health care: "We're the young girl saying 'no, no, help me,' and the government is Roman Polanski"

Bonus item: On Obama’s teleprompter dependency (thanks to AG for the laugh)

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/obamas_home_teleprompter

***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 @ 6:34 AM

 
POISONING THE WELL

Hmmm . . . we’re hearing a lot now that the 9/11 trials could expose national security secrets and founder on a defense built around the fact that key evidence was obtained under torture. Maybe. But turn it around and look at it this way: if these guys are unprosecutable because of the policies and mistreatment they received under the Bush gang – which is what people were saying at the time – whose fault is that?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/whats-got-them-really-scared-by.html
[Tristero] But the possibility is what's got the rufftuffcreampuffs on the right quaking in their booties, that American law will actually shine a light on the murderous, torturing, incompetent, insanely frightened, paranoid, corrupt, and completely out of control Bush/Cheney regime.

It is going to be quite an ugly fight, once these trials start. . . .

More: http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/11/14/whos-afraid-of-khalid-shaikh-mohammed/

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/11/criminals-and-warriors.php

Time for David Broder to hang ‘em up

http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/david-broder-would-be-happy-with-wrong.html
It is evident from the length of this deliberative process and from the flood of leaks that have emerged from Kabul and Washington that the perfect course of action does not exist. Given that reality, the urgent necessity is to make a decision -- whether or not it is right. . . .

Yep, the Bush admin sure loved the troops

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/11/bush-administration.html
Sullivan explained to McLendon and the other attendees that the rise in benefits claims the VA was noticing was caused partly by Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who were suffering from PTSD. “That’s too many,” McLendon said, then hit his hand on the table. “They are too young” to be filing claims, and they are doing it “too soon.” He hit the table again. The claims, he said, are “costing us too much money,” and if the veterans “believed in God and country . . . they would not come home with PTSD.” At that point, he slammed his palm against the table a final time, making a loud smack. Everyone in the room fell silent. . . .

So this is the way Sarah Palin wants to be remembered: aggrieved, put-upon, ungrateful, and bitter

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/15/palins_payback.html
In a review of Sarah Palin's Going Rogue, the New York Times notes "the most sustained and vehement barbs in this book are directed not at Democrats or liberals or the press, but at the McCain campaign. The very campaign that plucked her out of Alaska, anointed her the Republican vice-presidential nominee and made her one of the most talked about women on the planet -- someone who could command a reported $5 million for writing this book."

"All in all, Ms. Palin emerges from Going Rogue as an eager player in the blame game, thoroughly ungrateful toward the McCain campaign for putting her on the national stage."

Girl fight! Former McCain aide Nicolle Wallace calls Palin a liar

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/14/mccain-campaign-adviser-pushes-back-on-palin-book/
Wallace said Palin's account is completely false.

"It's not even like it's slightly wrong. . . .”

Wallace seemed mystified by Palin's accounts, conceding that there were enough strategy miscalculations during the campaign that Palin "didn't have to make stuff up." [read on]

More lies: http://mediamatters.org/research/200911150011

And now this

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/books/15book.html
Elsewhere in this volume she talks about creationism, saying she “didn’t believe in the theory that human beings — thinking, loving beings — originated from fish that sprouted legs and crawled out of the sea” or from “monkeys who eventually swung down from the trees.” In everything that happens to her, from meeting Todd to her selection by Mr. McCain for the Republican ticket, she sees the hand of God: “My life is in His hands. I encourage readers to do what I did many years ago, invite Him in to take over.”

Nevertheless, the mainstream GOP is scared to death of her. She’s soaking up all the oxygen right now and preventing better qualified and more electable candidates from getting any attention. They find her ridiculous and really can’t explain how anyone can take her seriously as a potential President – and yet, a big chunk of their own party is absolutely devoted to her

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/david-brooks-sarah-palin-joke
David Brooks: Sarah Palin is 'a joke'

I hope he does run. I hope he runs very hard. Too hard

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/liz-cheney-suggests-cheney-presidential-tick
Former Vice President Dick Cheney chose not to run for president in 2008 but his daughter suggested that he might be a good candidate in 2012. . . .

Another hard-right conservative who’s not conservative enough for today's GOP

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/15/204818/33

Politics have become simple. The GOP is a party devoted to only one thing now: stopping any initiative that would make Obama look effective

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/15/161123/95
Tea Baggers Set Their Sights on Climate Change

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/science/earth/16climate.html
Obama Hobbled in Fight Against Global Warming

Bonus item: Learn to speak “tea bag”

http://www.markfiore.com/

***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

 
DEFICIT THINKING

Obama and the deficit

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/13/more-leaks-that-obama-will-turn-deficit-hawk-in-2010/
[Politico] President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year’s State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved in the planning. . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/helpmates-by-digby-chris-hayes-has.html

Is an employment turnaround coming?

http://www.slate.com/id/2235477
“Sooner than you think” [read on]

What really happened on 9/11?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/11/14/faa-and-norad-changed-records-to-accord-with-cheney-lies/
[Emptywheel] A senior Counsel for the 9/11 Commission, John Farmer, has written a book exposing the degree to which our response to 9/11 was disorganized and outdated–geared to respond to an attack from Russia rather than from terrorists. Most significantly, Farmer reveals that FAA and NORAD altered their chronologies of the day only after a briefing at the White House. . . .

Clones?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/politics/15health.html
In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident.

Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies. . . .

More: http://www.samefacts.com/2009/11/uncategorized/bio-similar-drugs-and-verbally-similar-statements/

Sarah and the President of France

http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/palin-on-her-phone-call-from-president.html

More: http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003248042
Sarah Palin’s new book reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven’t become any truer over time.

Ignoring substantial parts of her record if not the facts, she depicts herself as a frugal traveler on the taxpayer’s dime, a reformer without ties to powerful interests and a politician roguishly indifferent to high ambition.

Palin goes adrift, at times, on more contemporary issues, too. She criticizes President Barack Obama for pushing through a bailout package that actually was achieved by his Republican predecessor George W. Bush - a package she seemed to support at the time. . . . [read on!]

“Palinism” and the Republican party

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/14/why_palin_matters.html

Another conservative in the GOP leadership, Roy Blunt (R-MO), is also under pressure from the right

http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/missouri-edition-of-gop-civil-war-is.html

The Dems are learning some of the GOP’s tricks – like setting up votes that put Repubs in the terrible position of voting against them. Listen to them whine about it!

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/that-commie-bastard-al-franken-broke.html

Glenn Beck talks to black people

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/glenn-beck-gets-ask-dumb-white-guy-q
Beck: How many people here identify themselves as African Americans? (About a third raise their hands) OK -- Why?

Payne: It's interchangeable.

Beck: But wait, wait. Why not identify yourself as Americans?

Fritsch: Well, people can look at you and tell you're black. You can't escape that.

Beck: Yeah, but I don't identify myself as white, or a white American. [read on]

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/the-sunday-show-line-ups-29.php
• ABC, This Week: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

• CBS, Face The Nation: Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

• CNN, State Of The Union: White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod; Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH); Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT).

• NBC, Meet The Press: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), Rev. Al Sharpton.

Bonus item: Hypocrite’s Corner

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/maggie-may-i-by-digby-before-larry-king.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 @ 6:51 AM

 
PROFILES IN COURAGE

The Obama admin decides to put the 9/11 plotters on trial in New York. Repubs howl that this is endangering the nation, blah blah. And they say that this shows the lack of courage of the Obama admin in dealing with these people in the manner they deserve.

To which I ask, What did your hero, George Bush, do when he had them in his custody? and In what way is it braver to leave them rotting in an anonymous prison?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020956.php
[Steve Benen] It's always reassuring when the Obama administration, knowing that intense far-right blowback is inevitable, does the right thing anyway. . .

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/heres_what_the_attorney_general.php
A Political Decision This Ain't . . . [read on]

http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/13/late-night-elephants-on-parade-21/
[John McCain] Today’s decision sends a mixed message about America’s resolve in the fight against terrorism. We are at war, and we must bring terrorists to justice in a manner consistent with the horrific acts of war they have committed. . . [read on]

More: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/khalid_sheikh_mohammed_decision_republicans_blast_it_aclu_celebrates.php

http://www.samefacts.com/2009/11/watching-conservatives/erik-erickson-self-parodist/

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/11/14/terrorism/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] [T]he Right's reaction to yesterday's announcement -- we're too afraid to allow trials and due process in our country -- is the textbook definition of "surrendering to terrorists." It's the same fear they've been spewing for years. As always, the Right's tough-guy leaders wallow in a combination of pitiful fear and cynical manipulation of the fear of their followers. Indeed, it's hard to find any group of people on the globe who exude this sort of weakness and fear more than the American Right. . . . [read on]

Courage? http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/14504
[Jim White] Attorney General Eric Holder is to be commended for his plan, expected to be announced later this morning, that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other detainees at Guantanamo will face charges in federal criminal court in the Southern District of New York. The attacks of 9/11 were an abominable criminal act and should be treated as such.

The treatment of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed while in American custody presents problems for his criminal trial. As pointed out by Marcy Wheeler, he was waterboarded 183 times in a period of less than a month. The rules of evidence in federal courts prevent the inclusion of testimony delivered under duress, so any statement made by KSM as a result of waterboarding will be excluded as a matter of law. It seems to me that a good defense attorney will be able to argue that any statement by KSM made against his self-interest at any time after his waterboarding could be considered to be under duress since he remains in the custody of the country responsible for this torture.

Although the waterboarding has stopped, KSM’s torture continues in a very real sense. . .

“We’re going to kill your children" . . . [read on]

Sick

http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/co-republicans-tweet-compares-obama-9
State Sen. David Schultheis said he didn't intend for a Twitter post accusing President Barack Obama of "flying the U.S. plane right into the ground" and ending with "let's roll" as a threat or a reference to United Flight 93, which crashed during the 2001 terrorist attacks. . . .

The Fort Hood haters – here they come

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/foxs-mass-leap-label-ft-hood-shootin

The GOP’s war against itself continues. I guess when you start to build your political strategy solely on hate, suspicion, and litmus-test politics, you can’t just turn that fire against your opponents – you start turning against yourselves

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/13/804056/-Teabagger-DeMint-to-challenge-McConnell-for-Senate-GOP-leadership
Teabagger DeMint to challenge McConnell for Senate GOP leadership?

More: http://www.slate.com/id/2235465

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/13/inglis/index.html

How bad is the fight over the Stupak amendment for the Democrats?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/stupak-sticks-to-his-guns-blames-liberals-for-abortion-amendment.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/13/804145/-Stupak:-Its-All-the-Liberals-Fault

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/11/abortion-politics-0

After health care passes, watch for the inevitable Republican court appeal

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020957.php

Caught in an embarrassing bit of public hypocrisy, the GOP drops abortion coverage from its own insurance plan

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/11/dancing_on_the_head_of_a_pin.php

Now what about these guys? http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/10/28/does-focus-on-the-family-fund-abortions/
Focus on the Family

Will Doug Hoffman withdraw his election concession, and turn NY-23 into another typical Republican sour grapes fest?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/doug-hoffman-with-20-20-hindsight-i-wouldnt-have-conceded.php

Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) realizes she can’t beat Rick Perry

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/hutchison-switches-course-wont-resign-from-senate-while-running-in-primary-governor.php

Well, since we started with the story I have to give an update – but it’s looking pretty sad

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/investigators_probing_whether_sparkman_manipulated.php
Two law enforcement sources tell the AP that investigators are considering whether Sparkman committed suicide, but intentionally made it look like murder in order to allow his son to make a life insurance claim. . . .

Just one more of example of the mean ol’ media out to get poor little Sarah

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/13/804203/-Fact-Checking-Palins-Book
[BarbinMD] The Associated Press has a lengthly fact check of Sarah Palin's upcoming book, "Going Rogue." So lengthly in fact, that I'll just save you a little time and list the facts that are not in dispute.

• Her name is Sarah Palin.
• She is the former governor of Alaska.
• She was John McCain's running mate.
• They lost.
• She wrote a book.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091113/ap_on_el_pr/us_palin_book_fact_check

A sampler

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/block_her_if_she_tries_to_go_back.php
[Going Rogue] By the third week in September, a "Free Sarah" campaign was under way and the press at large was growing increasingly critical of the McCain camp's decision to keep me, my family and friends back home, and my governor's staff all bottled up. Meanwhile, the question of which news outlet would land the first interview was a big deal, as it always is with a major party candidate.

From the beginning, Nicolle [Wallace] pushed for Katie Couric and the CBS Evening News. The campaign's general strategy involved coming out with a network anchor, someone they felt had treated John well on the trail thus far. My suggestion was that we be consistent with that strategy and start talking to outlets like FOX and the Wall Street Journal. I really didn't have a say in which press I was going to talk to, but for some reason Nicolle seemed compelled to get me on the Katie bandwagon.

"Katie really likes you," she said to me one day. "she's a working mom and admires you as a working mom. She has teenage daughter like you. She just relates to you," Nicolle said. "believe me, I know her very well. I've worked with her." Nicolle had left her gig at CBS just a few months earlier to hook up with the McCain campaign. I had to trust her experience, as she had dealt with national politics more than I had. . . .

Nicolle went on to explain that Katie really needed a career boost. "She just has such low self-esteem," Nicolle said. She added that Katie was going through a tough time. "She just feels she can't trust anybody."

I was thinking, And this has to do with John McCain's campaign how?

Nicolle said. "She wants you to like her."

Hearing all that, I almost started to feel sorry for her. Katie had tried to make a bold move from lively morning gal to serious anchor, but the new assignment wasn't going very well.

"You know what? We'll schedule a segment with her," Nicolle said. "If it doesn't go well, if there's no chemistry, we won't do any others."

Meanwhile, the media blackout continued. It got so bad that a couple of times I had a friend in Anchorage track down phone numbers for me, and then I snuck in calls to folks like Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and someone I thought was Larry Kudlow but turned out to be Neil Cavuto's producer. I had a friend call Bill O'Reilly after I was inundated with supporters in Alaska asking why the campaign was "ignoring" his one-air requests for a McCain campaign interview. I had another friend scrambling to find Mark Levin's number. Aboard the campaign plane I was within twenty-five feet of reporters for hours on end. Headquarters' strategy was that I should not go to the back of the aircraft and talk to the press. At first this was subtle, but as the campaign wore on, Tracey or Tucker would call headquarters to request permission, and someone in DC would respond, "No! Absolutely not- block her if she tries to go back."

[NB: Yes, you read that right. Sarah was doing poor lil' Katie Couric a favor by granting her an interview. She felt SORRY for her. And that ungrateful bitch repaid her by "badgering" her with a bunch of totally unfair gotcha questions like, "What newspapers do you read?"

Who knew Presidential politics was so much like high school?]

Bonus item: Who's the diva now?

http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/dethroned-miss-california-loses-it-on.html
She arrived with an entourage of five, (for cable news Green Room context, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., never arrives with a group that large) and barked at a studio operator for touching her hair while setting up her microphone. . . . [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 @ 8:07 AM

 
PREDATORS

You know, we used to have a policy against assassinations (no, we didn’t honor it in the past either – ask Fidel). But is it different when you use unmanned drones?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/opinion/13iht-edcohen.html
[Roger Cohen] As Jane Mayer notes in a groundbreaking recent piece in The New Yorker, “The intelligence agency declines to provide any information to the public about where it operates, how it selects targets, who is in charge, or how many people have been killed.”

According to a just-completed study by the New America Foundation, quoted in Mayer’s piece, Obama has authorized as many drone strikes in Pakistan in nine and a half months as George W. Bush did in his last three years in office — at least 41 C.I.A. missile strikes, or about one a week, that may have killed more than 500 people.

The dead have included high-value targets like Osama bin Laden’s oldest son and Baitullah Mehsud, the Taliban leader in Pakistan — as well as bystanders. Circling drones have struck panic. But as Mayer notes, “The embrace of the Predator program has occurred with remarkably little public discussion, given that it represents a radically new and geographically unbounded use of state-sanctioned lethal force.”

These are targeted international killings, no less real, and indeed more insidious, for their video-game aspect. . . .

Didn’t it seem just recently as if abortion was fading as an issue in this country? We underestimated the cynical and hypocritical willingness of the Repubs to exploit the issue as a desperate last gasp effort to destroy health care reform and ruin Obama’s presidency – and, as usual, with a bit of Democratic enabling thrown in

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/12/22484/893
[Charles Lemos] The GOP is beyond gleeful that the culture wars have opened wounds within the Democratic party and given them an opening to derail passage of any comprehensive healthcare bill. That tells you all you need to know about the mindset that pervades today's GOP. . . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/12/803879/-On-Abortion,-Like-Everything-Else,-IOKIYAR*
[Politico] The Republican National Committee’s health insurance plan covers elective abortion – a procedure the party’s own platform calls "a fundamental assault on innocent human life." . . . [read on]

Ooops!

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/did_hoekstra_compromise_a_sensitive_intelligence_program.php
Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a vocal critic of the government's investigation into Ft. Hood shooting suspect Nidal Malik Hasan, may have compromised a sensitive National Security Agency collection program when he confirmed to the Washington Post that Hasan had been in e-mail contact with a Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical cleric who moved from Virginia to Yemen after the September 11th attacks . . . .

A senior intelligence official said this morning that "there are concerns" about Hoekstra's disclosure . . . [read on]

Rick Perry (R-TX), acting presidential

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/12/803793/-The-Secessionist-vs.-The-President

Another rising star of the far right

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/11/let_the_purge_continue.php

Here’s the first lie exposed in Sarah Palin’s book

http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/books/69895937.html
Palin comes across as particularly upset about being stuck with $50,000 in legal bills that she says were directly related to the legal vetting process for the VP slot. She says nobody ever informed her that she would have to personally take care of expenses related to the selection process, and jokes that if she'd known she was going to get stuck with the bill, she would have given shorter responses.

According to the book, Palin asked officials at the Republican National Committee and what was left of the McCain campaign if they would help her financially. She says she was told that if McCain had won, the bills would have been paid, but since he lost, the bills were her responsibility. . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/12/palin_book/index.html
A former advisor to McCain quickly came out to deny that there was any such bill. CNN's Peter Hamby quotes the unnamed "former senior campaign advisor" as saying, "That is one hundred percent untrue... All those bills are from her personal attorney Thomas Van Flein, mostly relating to the Troopergate investigation and other ethics investigations. It is not legal to pay for those investigations out of general election funds, even if the campaign was so inclined."

More: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/sarah_palin_and_the_case_of_the_500000_legal_bill.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 @ 6:50 AM

 
SNATCHING DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY?

Because the Dems seem determined to turn a winning issue into a losing one, they keep searching for some alternative, any alternative, to voting for the popular public option. The latest approach: take two bad ideas, triggers and co-ops – neither one of which will work – and combine them. Like chocolate and peanut butter!

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/11/11/carpers-no-good-super-terrible-completely-awful-new-new-new-%E2%80%9Calternative%E2%80%9D-to-the-public-option/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/11/803354/-Reid-and-Carpers-Plan-B:-Put-Two-Really-Bad-Ideas-Together

And they did it to themselves

http://washingtonindependent.com/67491/gop-sees-win-win-as-stupak-splits-dems
GOP Sees ‘Win-Win’ as Stupak Splits Dems

Gender bias in the health care bills

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/14265

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/immoderate-proposal-by-digby-i-have.html

“The 900 billion dollar mistake”

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/11/the_900_billion_mistake.html

Of course

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/11/pharma-deal-with-white-ho_n_353499.html
Pharma Deal With White House On Course To Net Industry Billions

Senate health care debate to (finally) get started

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/11/reid/index.html

A jobs bill (actually Stimulus 2.0, but don’t call it that) is on its way

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/67299-reid-tees-up-2010-jobs-bill

The end of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020932.php

Theocracy watch: Did you know that Christians are the victims of hate crimes in the US more than any other religious group? (aka, How to lie with numbers.)

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200911110038

Here’s what happens once the far right starts dictating to the rest of the GOP – they don’t just go after moderate Repubs like Dede Scozzafava; now even Lindsey Graham’s not conservative enough

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/bad-branding-by-digby-huckleberrys-in.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/12/01848/237

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/country_gop_censures_lindsey_graham_on_a_host_of_issues.php

A new generic poll tilts in the GOP’s favor

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/11/polling/index.html

“The enthusiasm gap” http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/poll-gop-holds-double-digit-enthusiasm-edge-over-dems/

How Liz Sidoti, Queen of the tire swing, covers Obama’s poll numbers – in the AP way

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/11/803289/-No-actual-poll-results-in-first-8-paragraphs-of-AP-poll-analysis
[Jed Lewison] The AP's Liz "Donuts" Sidoti really hates President Obama -- or at least that's the impression she gives, because in the first eight paragraphs of her 'article' on the most recent AP-GfK poll, she doesn't mention a single number from the poll.

Before conceding that President Obama's job approval rating stands at 54% (which is essentially unchanged since July), Sidoti paints a portrait of doom and gloom for a Democratic president in distress . . .

Lou Dobbs loses his soapbox on CNN. Will he end up at Fox?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/11/no-more-lou

Haw haw. Jon Stewart catches Sean Hannity running video that combines footage from an older tea bagger protest with the recent event to make it look like the attendance was much higher than it was.

And Hannity has to apologize for it (an unintentional mistake, I’m sure!)

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/11/hannity/index.html

http://gregmitchellwriter.blogspot.com/2009/11/hannity-to-jon-stewart-you-were-right.html

Bonus item: What Sarah Palin’s book will tell us

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/11/unsurprising-news-watch-sarah-palin-edition

***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

 
OUR PERICLES

A great speech

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/10/obamas_best_speech_ever.html
[Taegan Goddard] President Obama's speech at Fort Hood may go down as one of his best ever. . . .

[Marc Ambinder] I guarantee: they'll be teaching this one in rhetoric classes. It was that good. . . [watch and read]

CNN makes a discovery (that everyone else has known for months)

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/cnn-discovers-red-state-health-care-disaster
Anderson, here's what we found out today. There are more uninsured in red states than there are in blue states, which is interesting since all Republican senators are expected to vote against the public health care option. . . .

More: http://www.samefacts.com/2009/11/watching-conservatives/why-do-republicans-oppose-health-care-reform/
[Jonathan Zasloff] Of course, just because the majority of the uninsured are Black or Brown is completely irrelevant to the situation, so I’m really glad that CNN never mentioned it. . . .

Chris Dodd (D-CT) proposes a tough approach to financial re-regulation

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/10/dodd-releases-financial-reform-draft/

More: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/11/chris-dodd-vs-fed

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/10/AR2009111019995.html

The cost of doing business

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/world/middleeast/11blackwater.html
[NYT] Top executives at Blackwater Worldwide authorized secret payments of about $1 million to Iraqi officials that were intended to silence their criticism and buy their support after a September 2007 episode in which Blackwater security guards fatally shot 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad . . . [read on]

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/67350/blackwater-authorized-payments-to-iraqi-officials-following-nisour-square-massacre

http://washingtonindependent.com/67363/well-now-we-know-why-it-took-so-long-for-iraq-to-kick-blackwater-out

How’s that Great Republican Comeback coming along? They trail Dems in a generic ballot everywhere across the country, even in the South

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/10/123055/41

And yet . . . http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/11/i_think_the_word_is_tailwind.php
[David Kurtz] Today in fun word choice, from Politico: "Few political observers or elected officials doubt that an energized GOP has a headwind at its back."

Perhaps not using "tailwind" was intentional . . . [read on]

Early handicapping on the 2010 elections

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/a-look-at-the-2010-senate-races----and-a-whole-lot-of-seats-up-for-grabs.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/a_thumbnail_guide_to_other_top_republican_targets_in_2010.php

It’s so reassuring that this is the most powerful media mogul in the world

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/rupert-murdoch-says-glenn-beck-was-r
Rupert Murdoch says Glenn Beck 'was right' that Obama is a racist who hates white people

Even Fox News has to call Sarah Palin on her b.s.

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/even-fox-news-fact-checks-palins-claims-about-dollar-coin.php

And yet, her mythic potential persists

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/10/the_palin_fantasy.html
[David Frum] Palin supporters have constructed an alternative reality in which their heroine is wildly cheered by the American yeomanry, and despised only by a small coterie of sherry-drinking snobs. No contrary evidence, no matter how overwhelming and uncontradicted, can alter this view: not the collapse in Palin's support in just 5 weeks in 2008, not the statistical studies that show her as the only vice presidential nominee in ticket to have hurt her ticket, not her rampant unpopularity with American women, not her own flinching from a second encounter with the Alaskan electorate.

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020907.php

Trouble in the right-wing press

http://washingtonindependent.com/67261/the-new-york-post-scandal

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/newsroom-source-armed-guards-on-managements-floor-at-wash-times.php

Bonus item: Carrie Prejean – why is she so fascinating?

http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/dethroned-miss-ca-now-religious-right.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 @ 4:57 AM

 
STUPIFYING

How bad is the Stupak amendment?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/9/802519/-What-the-Stupak-Pitts-Coathanger-Amendment-Does

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/goldilocks-was-betrayed-by-digby-all.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/broken-rearview-mirror-by-digby-nancy.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/9/802649/-Whats-Really-Pissing-Me-Off

Worse and worse: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/controversial-stupak-amendment-sows-anger-confusion-on-capitol-hill.php

The “C Street” connection

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#33814086

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/11/08/dcs-newest-reality-show/

The return of the gender gap

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/role-models-by-digby-politico-has-big.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/9/802554/-They-must-have-a-political-deathwish

OK, we’re told that the vile Stupak amendment isn’t really important because the Senate bill won’t include it and it’ll get stripped out in conference. But that’s not what we’re hearing now

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/nelson-i-will-filibuster-a-health-care-bill-that-doesnt-include-stupak-like-abortion-restrictions.php
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) wants Senate health care legislation to contain strict restrictions on abortion funding, much like the House bills now does. And he says he'll filibuster if he doesn't get his way. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/9/802553/-Pro-Choice-McCaskill-Could-Support-Stupak-Coathanger-Amendment
"Pro-Choice" McCaskill Could Support Stupak Coathanger Amendment

Why it might not happen

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/09/senate-likely-to-need-60-votes-to-insert-stupak-amendment-into-health-care-bill/
Senate Likely To Need 60 Votes To Insert Stupak Amendment Into Health Care Bill

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/obtained-in-letter-to-pelosi-41-house-dems-pledge-to-vote-against-bill-with-abortion-amendment/
In Letter To Pelosi, 41 House Dems Pledge To Vote Against Bill With Anti-Abortion Amendment

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/wasserman-schultz-we-will-kill-stupak-amendment/
Wasserman-Schultz: We Will Kill Stupak Amendment

Obama: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/transcript-abc-news-exclusive-interview-president-barack-obama/story?id=9034309
You know, I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill. And we're not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions.

And I want to make sure that the provision that emerges meets that test -- that we are not in some way sneaking in funding for abortions, but, on the other hand, that we're not restricting women's insurance choices . . .

The six senators who could still screw up health care reform

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/the-health-care-swing-votes-reid-can-not-live-without.php

The next Republican victims of far-right putsches

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/who-will-be-the-next-hoffmania-victim-in-2010-or-the-next-hoffman.php

We are so lucky to have Michael Steele as the head of the GOP

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/09/steele/index.html
Steele says some white Republicans scared of him

Rush Limbaugh, always classy

http://washingtonindependent.com/67123/listen-to-rush-limbaugh-compare-the-president-of-the-united-states-to-ft-hood-murderer
Listen to Rush Limbaugh Compare the President of the United States to Ft. Hood Murderer

Bonus item: Sarah Palin has found her issue

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020882.php
Noting that there had been a lot of "change" of late, Palin recalled a recent conversation with a friend about how the phrase "In God We Trust" had been moved to the edge of the new coins.

"Who calls a shot like that?" she demanded. "Who makes a decision like that?"

She added: "It's a disturbing trend." . . .

[NB: Who, indeed? 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 @ 6:09 AM

 
WHICH SIDE ARE THEY ON?

The Dems who voted against health care reform

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2009/11/analyzing-the-partybuckers-on.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/8/113843/351

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/08/us/politics/1108-health-care-vote.html

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/8/231434/205
Which House Democrats Opposed Health Reform, Clean Energy, Tobacco Regulation, and the Stimulus All?

Read and discuss

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/not-enough-women-by-digby-yesterday-one.html
[Digby] Yesterday, one of my female friends said to me, "isn't there some way of making it so that men don't get to vote on a women's right to choose?" . . . [read on]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/lesson-by-digby-by-digby-ive-received.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/fungo-stick-by-digby-aravosis-makes.html

Which of these is the lie?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/08/lieberman_says_again_hell_join_filibuster.html
In an interview with Fox News, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) pledged again to join a Republican filibuster against any health care plan that has a public option.

Said Lieberman: "If the public option plan is in there, as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote."

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020869.php
There was a report this week that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), despite threats of joining Republican efforts to kill health care reform, has quietly told the Senate Democratic leadership that, when push comes to shove, he won't support a filibuster. . . . [read on]

More: http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/13779

Lieberman calls Ft. Hood a “terrorist attack”

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/lieberman-wants-probe-terrorist-attack-ft-ho

http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/lieberman-declares-ft-hood-shooting.html
[John Aravosis] We don't know yet what happened. It's incredibly irresponsible of Lieberman to feed this story, knowing full well that it fuels hatred against Muslims, and Arabs. Then again, perhaps that's his intent.

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/8/194242/948

You think?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/us/politics/09casey.html
General George Casey Jr., the Army chief of staff, said on Sunday that he was concerned that speculation about the religious beliefs of Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, accused of killing 12 fellow soldiers and one civilian and wounding dozens of others in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, could “cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers.”

More: http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/general-warns-diversity-may-be-casual

Oh, christ

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/11/16/091116fa_fact_hersh
[Seymour Hersh] In an unstable Pakistan, can nuclear warheads be kept safe?

http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/08/even-joe-scarborough-knows-it%E2%80%99s-wrong/
Jane Mayer has an important article in The New Yorker, The Predator War, in which she reports on the increase in deadly unmanned drone strikes in Pakistan . . .

Damn cowardly FBI – why do they hate America?

http://washingtonindependent.com/67050/fbi-interrogators-argued-in-2002-that-enhanced-interrogation-techniques-were-illegal-and-ineffective
FBI Interrogators Argued in 2002 That ‘Enhanced’ Interrogation Techniques Were Illegal and Ineffective

You have to give it to the Repubs. A minority party whose only power is to slow down and obstruct Democratic initiatives, they still act as if they have the power to dictate terms to the majority

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/7/801897/-What-is-that-orange-guy-talking-about

The euphoria over winning a couple of governor’s races last week has deflected attention away from the serious underlying problems that beset the Republican party

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/07/AR2009110703468.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/opinion/08rich.html

Good catch

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/11/vanishing-gop
[Kevin Drum] Today, Fred Hiatt writes an entire column about the obstacles lying in the way of (a) reining in healthcare costs and (b) raising revenue to close the long-term deficit, without once mentioning the word "Republican." Truly, it is an amazing performance.

Ahn Cao (R-LA) ignored Eric Cantor’s promise that no Republican would support the House health care bill. He had his own reasons of self-survival for doing so. But you know what happens next

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/cao-to-steele-come-and-get-me----just-remember-you-need-my-district.php
Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA), the lone GOP vote for the House health reform bill that passed late last night, has responded to RNC Chairman Michael Steele's warnings about stepping outside of party lines. (WATCH Steele: "We'll come after you.")

Cao told CNN that Steele retains "the right to come after those members who do not conform to party lines, but I would hope that he would work with us . . .”

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/11/right-wing-unleashes-racism-on-rep-cao.php
RT @RightBloggerPat: @AnhJosephCao You Bastard piece of shit f-ck! GO BACK TO Saigon, South Vietnam where you f-cking BELONG GOOK!

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020866.php

A big fat special edition of “The kind of people they are”

http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/teabaggers-attack-holocaust-survivor.html
Teabaggers attack Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel

http://crooksandliars.com/mike-stark/three-unreal-videos-0
Three unreal videos

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/rep-steve-king-all-americans-have-health-c
Rep. Steve King: All Americans Have Health Care

Yes, the far right is filled with hate, paranoia, and racism. But we can’t blame them, explains Frank Luntz, GOP pollster because, you see, it’s only because they’re so AFRAID

http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/08/frank-luntz-defends-increasingly-incendiary-right-wing-rhetoric-theyre-so-afraid/

Swallow your coffee before reading this one, or it will end up all over your computer screen

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/fns-wallace-tells-new-va-gov-mcdonnel
FNS: Wallace Tells New VA Gov McDonnell He's On The "Short List" For Veep

[NB: I can see it now: Palin/McDonnell, 2012!]

Bonus item: SNL does Fox

http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/snl-does-fox-news.html

Extra bonus item: Welcome, Wanda Sykes!

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/cspanjunkie/meet-president-obamas-new-where-go-and

***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 @ 5:33 AM

 
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

Good news: House health care bill passes

http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/07/h-r-3962-health-care-bill-passes/
220-215

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/house-passes-health-care-bill-220-215.php

A defeat for know-nothingism: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020862.php
[Steve Benen] It's sad, for lack of a better word, that in the midst of the biggest, most significant, most consequential domestic policy debate in recent memory, an entire political party has committed itself to repeating talking points with no basis in reality. Claims have been routinely presented, debunked, and shamelessly repeated anyway. Arguments ranging from "fascism" to "death panels" to "socialized medicine" have become eerily common, despite having no connection to reality.

We're watching one of the rare instances in which a bill's actual flaws are ignored, while confused politicians debate the merit of ideas that aren't being proposed . . .

One Republican vote for

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/who-is-joseph-cao.php

Bad news: the stupid Stupak amendment passes, with 64 Dem votes for

http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/07/stupak-amendment-passes-64-dems-ask-for-primary-opponents/
[Rayne] It’s a fundamental part of our belief system in the Democratic Party, that women have a right to privacy in their reproductive health care decisions. We’ve fought long and hard to protect this right.

And now we’ve seen decades of work to protect this fundamental human right dashed by our own Democratic representatives. . . [read on]

http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/11/07/bart-stupak-is-at-play-in-the-fields-of-your-fertility/
[TBogg] Bart Stupak, who is apparently a congressman from some horrible depressing dying part of Michigan, does not seem to understand that abortion is a legal medical procedure in the rest of America that isn’t horrible, depressing and dying. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/7/801804/-HCR-House-Debate:-How-Bad-Is-the-Stupak-Amendment
How Bad Is the Stupak Amendment?

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/11/07/stupak-amendment-could-likely-be-used-to-by-insurance-companies-to-discriminate-against-low-income-americans/
Stupak Amendment Could Likely Be Used by Insurance Companies to Discriminate Against Low Income Americans

More: http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/11/07/anatomy-of-a-health-reform-deal/

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/stupak-amendment-passes
Word is it will be stripped out in committee. We'll see. . . .

This would be unbelievable, if it weren’t so easy to believe. . .

http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/gop-house-members-try-to-block-women.html
Male GOP House members try to block women from speaking . . .

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/11/gop-members-shout-down-women-members-of-congress.php
[Matt Yglesias] It’s bizarre behavior. I’m not one to put a ton of stock in the idea that civility is the be-all and end-all of politics, but this kind of thing is really nuts and I think only serves to underscore how hollow complains of insufficient bipartisanship are.

More: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/07/gop-gone-wild/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020859.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/7/111911/426

More hate

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/right-wingers-have-been-looking-fres
Right-wingers have been looking for a fresh excuse to scapegoat Muslims, and Fort Hood gave them one

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/fallout-by-digby-reader-sleon-wrote-to.html

More docs released on torture policies

http://washingtonindependent.com/67016/declassified-docs-reveal-pentagon-ignored-dojs-warnings-on-abusive-interrogations
Declassified Docs Reveal Pentagon Ignored FBI’s Warnings on Abusive Interrogations

I like this: the “moderate bias”

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/07/on_moderate_bias.html
Time notes that most discussions whether the news media is biased overlook the most significant bias out there.

"As anyone following health reform knows, centrism is a political position too. And you see moderate bias -- i.e., a preference for centrism -- whenever a news outlet assumes that the truth must be somewhere in the middle..."

"Often, moderate bias is just the result of caution, but the effect is to bolster centrist political positions -- not least by implying that they are not political positions at all but occupy a happy medium between the nutjobs. Meanwhile, conservatives see moderate bias as liberal, and liberals see it as conservative -- letting journalists conclude that it's not bias at all."

The GOP roots of The Politico

http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/07/come-saturday-morning-tell-us-what-we-dont-know-mr-steele/

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/05/04/politico_funding/index.html

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/the-sunday-show-line-ups-28.php
• ABC, This Week: RNC chairman Michael Steele, DNC chairman Tim Kaine

• CBS, Face The Nation: Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), Republican political consultant Ed Rollins, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ).

• CNN, State Of The Union: Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell (R-VA).

• NBC, Meet The Press: Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS), Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA).

***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 @ 12:11 AM

 
ON TILT

The far right is feeling their power to dictate terms to the rest of the GOP, and they aren’t being shy about it

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/6/801358/-DeMint:-Recruiting-moderates-who-can-win-doesnt-make-any-sense
DeMint: Recruiting moderates who can win "doesn't make any sense"

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/gop-could-face-more-challenges-from-right-after-ny-23.php

We knew the haters and the paranoiacs would have a field day with the Fort Hood shootings – and sure enough, they live down to our expectations

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/infiltration-by-digby-some-readers-are.html
“Fort Hood is proof the enemy is infiltrating our military”

http://washingtonindependent.com/66931/birther-site-is-already-lying-about-ft-hood-shooter-and-obama
Conspiracy-theorist Website WorldNetDaily posts the inevitable “connection” between Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan and President Obama . . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/conservatives_say_nidal_malik_hasan_is_muslim_brot.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/muslim_mafia_booster_rep_myrick_im_on_the_hasan_ca.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020845.php

http://washingtonindependent.com/67002/gary-bauer-ft-hood-suspect-was-sleeper-agent

A question of priorities (aka, what would the GOP say if the Dems did this?)

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/patriot_games_gop_reps_pick_tea_party_rally_over_n.php
When it's a choice between strengthening the Patriot Act, or showing up for the Tea Party Patriots, what's a GOP lawmaker to do? We'll give you one guess . . .

Typical GOP exaggerations on the size of the Teabagger demonstration in DC

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/bachmann-other-conservatives-claim-tens-of-thousands-at-tea-party-yesterday----or-even-a-million.php

If the Republicans want to quote from the Founding Documents, they’d be smart to read them first

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/scarce/boehner-pulls-boner

Dick Cheney, still fighting to keep an investigation of torture from moving forward

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/11/06/cheney-now-remembers-cia-related-information/

Bonus item: Do not miss this spoof of Glenn Beck, from Jon Stewart

http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=3847878

***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 @ 1:50 AM

 
RUNNING SCARED

So, here is the political state of the GOP. Having identified Obama’s policies as the work of Maoists. . . err. . .Nazis . . .err. . . Stalinists, well you know BAD GUYS, the new Foxified GOP has whipped up wild irrational fear of the Democrats' agenda. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and Michele Bachmann are defining the issues of the moment.

For serious Republican politicians, if there are any left, this means that it has become impossible to negotiate or compromise over these initiatives – and it has become unthinkable to ever vote for them. The GOP still tries weakly to complain when the Dems won’t be “bipartisan,” but since they have no intention of supporting the bills anyway this complaint lacks leverage.

In short, we are watching the demise of the GOP as a governing party. The know-nothings are in charge, and it’s all about spectacle:

http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/05/michele-bachmann-leads-health-care-protest-on-capitol-teabaggers-arrested/
Michele Bachmann Leads Health Care Protest on Capitol; Teabaggers Arrested . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020830.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/tea-partiers-came-with-2010-warnings.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/11/tpmdcs_evan_mcmorris-santoro_spent_the.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/cantor-promises-tea-partiers-not-one-gop-vote-for-health-care.php
Cantor Promises Tea Partiers: 'Not One' GOP Vote For Health Care

The kind of people they are

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/11/scenes-from-a-tea-party.php

The chairman of their party

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1109/Steele_to_moderates_Well_come_after_you.html?showall
RNC Chairman Michael Steele, channeling his party's energized conservative wing, said the party will "come after" moderates who support President Obama's domestic policies.

"[C]andidates who live in moderate to slightly liberal districts have got to walk a little bit carefully here, because you do not want to put yourself in a position where you’re crossing that line on conservative principles, fiscal principles, because we’ll come after you,” . . .

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/66750/hitching-wagon-to-tea-partiers-steele-threatens-to-come-after-gop-moderates

A sign of the times: Rush Limbaugh lashes out at Newt Gingrich for endorsing a Republican candidate (and Gingrich cowers)

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/rush-limbaugh-blames-newt-gingrich-hoff

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/newt-gingrich-latest-conservative-bow-d

Charlie Crist (R-FL) desperately tries to deny his previous support for Obama’s stimulus package

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/crists_dilemma.php

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/05/crist_claims_he_never_backed_economic_stimulus.html

The GOP health care bill covers FEWER people

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/5/801020/-Republican-HCR-Plan:-Worse-than-You-Thought

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/republican-health-insurance-reform-bill-insures-almost-nobody.php

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/11/congressional_budget_office_th.html

Lies, lies, lies: http://washingtonindependent.com/66702/a-gop-whopper-about-health-care-coverage

Oh, yeah, back in the real world, AARP and the AMA endorsed the Dems' health care bill. Didn’t hear much about that, did you?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/05/obama_endorsements/index.html

More: http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/right-wing-war-on-aarp
The Right Wing War on the AARP

The new climate bill moves forward despite GOP obstruction -- so this is how it's going to be. . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/5/800876/-Republican-Boycott-IgnoredClimate-Bill-Headed-To-Full-Senate

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/05/boxer-democrats-pass-climate-bill-without-amendments-through-committee/

http://washingtonindependent.com/66697/inhofe-epw-maneuver-signals-the-death-knell-for-the-kerry-boxer-bill

http://washingtonindependent.com/66676/with-republicans-still-boycotting-senate-committee-passes-climate-bill

This horrible story out of Texas can’t lead to anything good. The haters are going to have a field day with this one – watch for some of them to argue that it shows Muslims shouldn’t even be allowed IN the military

http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/05/breaking-fort-hood-alleged-shooter-now-confirmed-alive/
Lt. General Bob Cone is giving a press conference at Fort Hood, TX, and has confirmed that the alleged shooter, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan is alive. He was shot at the scene, but was rushed to surgery. He is now out of surgery, and Gen. Cone, though refusing to comment on his condition, has said that he is stable and “death is not imminent.”

A “female first responder” was herself shot at the scene–she was originally reported killed, but Gen. Cone has confirmed she has come out of surgery alive and stable. This female was the one that is reported to have shot Maj. Hasan.

The Virginia born, 39-year-old Hasan is a mental health professional with expertise in disaster psychiatry and combat stress. He was transfered to Ft. Hood in July; previously, Hasan was stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Also in this presser: most of those killed and injured today were military personnel, but two of the casualties are civilians.

Though others were questioned today, the General seemed to believe that Maj. Hasan was the only shooter.

Death toll still at 12. . .

Who is he? http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/us/06suspect.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/05/AR2009110505216.html

More: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/05/reactions.fort.hood.shootings/index.html

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/wingnuts-rush-conclusions-about-fort
[David Neiwert] He was regularly abused by his colleagues in the military for being Muslim -- called a "raghead" and other such terms -- and had been seeking to get out of the military because the environment had become so hostile. . . .

There are also reports that he had recently been the victim of a hate crime: His car was vandalized, with the word "Allah" scratched into the paint, and he was reportedly extremely upset by it.

It's obviously a complicated story. We'd all be well advised to reserve the speculation to actual hard facts about the case as they emerge. But it certainly appears this is much a matter of Columbine-like backlash to bullying as it is anything ideological. . . .

Update on the death of that census worker in Kentucky: it looks like suicide after all

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/ap_authorities_look_at_possibility_of_suicide_in_d.php

NOW they tell us

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/05/the_gops_special_election_losing_streak.html
Politico notes that "lost amid the Republican euphoria surrounding Tuesday's elections is this inconvenient fact: The GOP just got its clock cleaned, again, in another high-stakes House special election."

"It shouldn't have come as a surprise, since Republicans have lost 20 of the past 29 House special elections, dating back to January 2003. And in perhaps the most worrisome aspect of the trend, the GOP lost its fifth consecutive competitive special election in Republican-friendly territory."

Bonus item: This guy has "issues"

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200911040029

***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 @ 12:52 AM

 
EVEN WHEN THEY LOSE, THEY WIN

Doug Hoffman’s destruction of sure winner Republican Dede Scozzafava, and then his eventual loss to Democrat Bill Owens in a NY congressional seat that had been held by the GOP since the nineteenth century was a “huge win for conservatives.”

Run that by me again?

http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=29305

http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/04/after-suffering-humiliating-defeat-in-ny-23-sarah-palin-and-teabaggers-declare-victory/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/4/800616/-Their-approach-to-party-building-versus-ours
Their approach to party building versus ours . . .

The New York Times story on the closely watched race featured loser Doug Hoffman far over winner Bill Owens

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/history-is-written-for-losers-when.html

The Dems GAINED two seats in the House – but don’t tell the media that. Everybody knows the GOP had a great night

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/warning-signs-by-digby-despite-fact.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/4/800559/-Why-Is-Fox-News-Excited-About-Democratic-Congressional-Gains

House version of health care reform to pass this week

http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/04/house-health-care-vote-scheduled-for-saturday/

What’s in it? http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/the-public-option-fight-continues--but-whats-in-the-actual-bill.php

Looks like no Repubs will vote for it in the House

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020809.php

AARP to endorse Dem bill

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/04/aarp/index.html

Will final passage and signing of a bill wait until next year?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020802.php

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/11/04/no-health-care-bill-til-next-year-fine-by-me/

The Republican alternative – even their leaders don’t know what’s in it

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/4/800519/-Boehner-Cooks-Up-Excuses-for-a-Really-Bad-Bill

What IS in it: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/4/235553/890

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/white-house-talking-points-gop-health-care-plan-puts-families-at-risk.php

National GOP running scared in the face of far-right insurgents

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/nrsc-wont-spend-money-in-contested-primaries.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020807.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/sorry-charlie-by-digby-it-would-appear.html

Civil war

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/11/ddd
The Coming GOP Civil War

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/senate-conservatives-fund-picks-sides-in-ca-as-demint-backs-devore.php

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/campaigns/demint-im-backing-conservative-candidate-because-hell-stand-against-gop-leaders/

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/4/17811/3083

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/conservatives-emboldened-demint-says-army-of-americans-will-fight-for-freedom-in-10.php

Illinois “moderate” is begging for Sarah Palin’s endorsement

http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/2009/11/04/mark-kirk-asks-for-sarah-palins-endorsement

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/kirk-seeking-palins-endorsement-for-senate-run----after-badmouthing-her-in-2008.php
After Badmouthing Her In 2008 . . .

Michele Bachmann (R-MN) thinks she’s Paul Revere

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/bachmann-calls-for-freedom-fighters-to-come-to-capitol-to-stop-dem-health-care-bill.php
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) appeared on the Glenn Beck radio show today to promote her big protest event tomorrow -- in which she will bring "freedom fighters" directly into the halls of Congress to pressure members to vote against the Democrats' health care bill. . . .

Now, with even more paranoia and delusions of grandeur: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/11/getting_whackier.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/michelle-bachmann-tea-partiers-prepare-for-last-stand-on-health-care.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/steve-king-promotes-anti-health-care-reform-march-compares-organizers-to-paul-revere.php

Yet another example of how wingnut nonsense migrates into mainstream “serious” journalism

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/03/sawyer-beck-gore/

More idiocy from Glenn Beck: http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/beck-black-obama-fans-were-taught-be

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/04/beck_hoffman/index.html

Bonus item: Fox News takes on Sesame Street

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/call-waahhmbulance-wingnuts-upset-ove

***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 @ 5:00 AM

 
THE BIG NIGHT

The headlines were written before the polls even closed: Republican’s sweep! Bad night for Obama! And that was the narrative throughout the night, even though, well, things didn’t quite work out that way

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/nyregion/04elect.html
Republicans swept contests for governor in New Jersey and Virginia on Tuesday as voters went to the polls filled with economic uncertainty, dealing President Obama a setback and building momentum for a Republican comeback . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/03/AR2009110304333.html
Contests serve as warning to Democrats . . .

http://www.slate.com/id/2234468
How last night's election results were bad for Obama

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/03/not_about_obama.html
CBS News reports that exit polls in Virginia and New Jersey found that majorities of voters in both states -- 55% in Virginia and 60% in New Jersey -- said President Obama was not a factor in their vote . . .

NY-23 was an obsessive interest to everybody when it looked like an insurgent conservative might win. That fit the narrative. But when it turned out that in fact what happened was that Doug Hoffman split the GOP vote, drove an easily winnable moderate Republican out of the race, then lost to a Democrat in a district that had been Republican for 140 years – suddenly the story seemed much less important

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/ny-23-owens-wins.php
NY-23: Owens wins

CNN: Big night for the GOP, despite NY loss

Another Democratic congressional win – in a race you never even heard about

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/12639
CA-10

So, how about THIS for an alternative narrative?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/03/the_results_so_far.html
[Taegan Goddard] Republicans won two governorships, in Virginia and New Jersey. The latter is an especially big win for the GOP.

Democrats won two House seats, in CA-10 and NY-23. Assuming Democrats are still on top in NY-23 after absentee ballots are counted, it's also a very big victory.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg won re-election, but by a much smaller margin than expected. That might be one of the big surprises of the night. . . .

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/11/throwing-bums-out
[Kevin Drum] The electorate was pretty tough on incumbents tonight. Democrats got kicked out in Virginia and New Jersey, Republicans got kicked out in NY-23, and Michael Bloomberg, who was expected to win reelection in a rout, only barely squeaked by. . . .

Those wonderful Republicans. When they win they crow that this shows that the voters are behind them. When the voters reject them, they cry “foul”

http://washingtonindependent.com/66380/ny-23-hoffman-accuses-democrats-of-stealing-the-election
Hoffman Accuses Democrats of ‘Stealing the Election’

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/keeping-acorns-in-their-place-by-digby.html
[Digby] John Fund and Rush Limbaugh have been darkly predicting an outbreak of voter fraud by the ACORN conspiracy that is threatening to take over the world. . . . [read on]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/11/ashley_todd_in_a_bottle.php
A short while ago, Conservative Doug Hoffman, the special election candidate in NY-23, breathlessly announced that frustrated Dems had slashed the tires of one of his campaign workers. Right-wing yakkers rose to heights of auto-blogotic self-asphyxiation.

Alas, closer inspection suggests, and local police confirm, said poll worker ran over a bottle.

Let’s see if the NY-23 model works as well for the GOP in Florida

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/is-charlie-crist-the-next-dede-scozzafava.php
Is Charlie Crist The Next Moderate GOPer On Right-Wing Hit List?

More: http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/03/teabagger-world-domination-plan-set-charlie-crist-look-out/

Or in Maine

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/3/800075/-Pawlenty-purges-Snowe-from-GOP
Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) warned Olympia Snowe today that she's risking her position in the GOP by considering a vote for healthcare reform. . . .

What do these off-off-year elections really mean nationally? Very little – remember how the press trumpeted the win of Bobby Jindal in 2007 as the sign of (yet another) GOP comeback in 2008? How’d that work for them?

http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/04/liz-sidoti-donut-let-us-down/

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/most-important-election-in-history-of.html

So now we’re supposed to think that these vote results threaten health care reform?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/whats-story-by-digby-so-i-went-out-for.html
[Digby] So, I went out for dinner and I came back to the fatuous gasbags all very solemnly declaring that the health care bill may very well fail and that this is a very serious rebuke to the Obama. . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020770.php

The GOP unveils its very lame health care alternative

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/03/gop_bill/index.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/3/800047/-The-Republicans-Have-A-Healthcare-Reform-Bill!-Sort-of.

***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 @ 5:01 AM

 
ON A RAMPAGE

Now that they can’t stop health care reform, the GOP drops any pretense of civility

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/rep-foxx-health-care-reform-more-dangerous-than-any-terrorist.php
On the House floor today, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) warned that health care reform poses a greater threat to American freedoms than "any terrorist right now in any country." . . .

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_110209/content/01125106.guest.html
[Rush Limbaugh] This is not about insuring the uninsured. This is not about health care. This is about stealing one-sixth of the US private sector and putting it under the control of federal government. And when they get this health care bill, if they do, that's the easiest, fastest way for them to be able to regulate every aspect of human behavior, because it will all have some related cost to health care -- what you drive, what you eat, where you live, what you do -- and there will be penalties for violating regulations. It's going to be the biggest snatch of freedom and liberty that has yet occurred in this country.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/2/165514/762
[The Hill] The healthcare reform proposals before Congress threaten the existence of the two-party system, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) alleged Monday morning.

Hatch asserted that the health bills, which he believes represent a "step-by-step approach to socialized medicine," will lead to Americans' dependence on Democrats for their health and other issues.

"And if they get there, of course, you're going to have a very rough time having a two-party system in this country, because almost everybody's going to say, 'All we ever were, all we ever are, all we ever hope to be depends on the Democratic Party,' " Hatch said during an interview with the conservative CNSNews.com.
"That's their goal," Hatch added. "That's what keeps Democrats in power."

That claim led Hatch to suggest that some Democrats are "diabolical" in their pursuit of health reform.

"Do I believe they're that diabolical? I don't believe most of them are, but I think some of them are," Hatch said. "Maybe diabolical's too harsh of a word, but the fact is, they really, really believe in socialized medicine."

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/2/799765/-Apparently-The-Revolution-Will-Be-Televised
[Mitch McConnell, R-KY] I hope this is not the way the majority leader is planning on handling the health care debate because the American people will storm the Capitol if they think the majority is going to dictate to the minority what amendments will be offered on a bill as significant as restructuring one-sixth of the economy. . . .

[Michele Bachmann (R-MN)] Just like that brand new Michael Jackson movie came out, ‘This Is It.’ This is it for freedom. If you believe in liberty, and if you’re rejecting tyranny, this is it. Dr. Mark Levin wrote a seminal book that really swept this country called Liberty and Tyranny. And that’s what this debate is about next week. Liberty and tyranny.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/joe-wilson-says-obama-has-put-the-lives-of-americans-at-risk-due-to-h1n1-vaccine-shortage.php
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) says President Obama has endangered American lives by not doing more to alleviate the nation's short supply of H1N1 vaccine. In a new interview with the conservative-leaning CNSNews.com, Wilson says Obama's administration is "solely responsible" for the vaccine shortage . . .

The DCCC pointed to a June vote on a supplementary appropriations bill as evidence. Wilson joined 95% of Republicans and voted against the bill, which contained special funding to combat H1N1 . . .

Stalling for time

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/2/799732/-Republican-Strategy-for-Killing-Healthcare-Reform-Stays-Constant:-Delay,-Delay,-Delay
[Roll Call] Acknowledging they can’t stop the Senate from bringing up a health care reform bill, Republicans have mapped out a strategy to draw out the debate, attack the measure’s core components and force difficult votes on vulnerable Democrats.

Republicans have no illusions of substantively altering the Senate bill. But they plan to use targeted amendments to attack the legislation issue by issue, offering detailed GOP alternatives in a concerted bid to turn the public against the measure and to try to set the table for electoral gains in 2010 . . .

Interesting: the WSJ pulled this article, previewing the Republican “alternative” on health care. I can see why the GOP wasn’t happy with it, since mostly all it tells us is what their proposal WON’T do

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/hc-reform-for-dummies-by-digby-finally.html
A House Republican health-care bill wouldn't seek to prevent health-insurance companies from denying sick people insurance . . .

Theocracy watch, health care edition

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/11/paying-prayer
[LAT] Backed by some of the most powerful members of the Senate, a little-noticed provision in the healthcare overhaul bill would require insurers to consider covering Christian Science prayer treatments as medical expenses. . . .

Rush goes postal

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/owens-limbaughs-attack-on-scozzafava-offends-me-personally-and-exemplifies-whats-wrong-with-hoffman.php
Limbaugh declared today that Scozzafava was "guilty of widespread bestiality. She has screwed every RINO in the country." . . .

More Rush: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200911020022

The GOP’s big day

http://washingtonindependent.com/66023/conservatives-ready-to-claim-election-day-victory

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/the_white_house_let_conservatives_win_for_now.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/11/it_doesnt_mean_squat.php

Because it’s all about her

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/02/palin-robocalls-urge-virginians-to-vote-for-sarahs-values/
Palin robocalls urge Virginians to 'vote for Sarah's values'

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/sarah-palin-robocalls-gopers-in-va-gov.php

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/happy-hour-roundup-106/
Sarah Palin, who personally recorded a robocall for the Virginia gubernatorial election, condemned the RNC’s use of robocalls during Campaign 2008, saying she wished she could “wave a magic wand” and do away with them.

Bonus item: The faces and voices of Gitmo detainees

http://washingtonindependent.com/66162/former-guantanamo-detainees-speak-about-their-experiences

***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 @ 6:06 AM

 
DEEPLY DIVIDED

I’m starting to think the Obama folks knew this was coming, which is why they’ve been putting such emphasis on getting Olympia Snowe

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/lieberman-pledges-to-filibuster-public-option-blames-its-supporters-for-holding-up-reform.php
Lieberman Pledges To Filibuster Public Option, Blames Its Supporters For Holding Up Reform

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/lieberman-prefers-nothing-reform-public-opti
Lieberman prefers 'nothing' to reform with public option

More: http://www.americablog.com/2009/11/joe-lieberman-admits-he-prefers-we-dont.html

Wow. More wild developments in NY-23: the Republican forced out by hard-right Teabaggers now tells her supporters to vote for Democrat Bill Owens instead of the third-party conservative

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/in-ny-23-bombshell-republican-scozzafava-endorses-democrat-owens.php

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/11/01/ny23/index.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/1/799412/-NY-23:-Did-Doug-Hoffman-Throw-The-Democrats-A-Lifeline

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/democratic-national-committee/gingrich-condemns-conservative-leaders-for-driving-liberal-goper-out-of-ny-race/

And who is Doug Hoffman, the right’s new heart-throb?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/opinion/01rich.html
[Frank Rich] Who exactly is the third-party maverick arousing such ardor? Hoffman doesn’t even live in the district. When he appeared before the editorial board of The Watertown Daily Times 10 days ago, he “showed no grasp” of local issues, as the subsequent editorial put it. Hoffman complained that he should have received the questions in advance — blissfully unaware that they had been asked by the paper in an editorial on the morning of his visit. . . .

The right’s embrace of Hoffman is a double-barreled suicide for the G.O.P. . . . [read on]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/11/now_that_dede_scozzafava_has.php
[Josh Marshall] This is the electoral equivalent of those brief moments earlier this year when prominent Republicans issued tepid criticisms of Rush Limbaugh only to be forced into craven apologies hours or days later. The hard-right of the GOP just got a much stronger lock on the institutional Republican party than it had before. And, let's face it: the lock was pretty strong to start with. . . .

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091102/ap_on_el_ho/us_ny_special_election
Future of GOP and moderate Republicans uncertain

What to watch for Tuesday night

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/1/799203/-Election-Night-2009:-A-Viewers-Guide

Sigh. Sound familiar?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/01/AR2009110102593.html
The climate-change bill that has been moving slowly through the Senate will face a stark political reality when it emerges for committee debate on Tuesday: With Democrats deeply divided on the issue, unless some Republican lawmakers risk the backlash for signing on to the legislation, there is almost no hope for passage. . . .

Yeah, why HASN’T Obama made the Republican party more reasonable and cooperative?

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/george-stephanopoulos-asks-valerie-ja
STEPHANOPOULOS: One year later, the president's economic plan has passed, but with no Republican votes in the House, only three in the Senate. It sure looks like right now no Republican support, the health care bills, as they are going forward in the Congress.

And our polling shows that this partisan divide persists on issue after issue after issue. Why has that core promise of the president's campaign, healing the divide, gone unfulfilled? . . . [read on]

More on Dick Cheney’s betrayal of Scooter Libby

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/11/01/cheneys-betrayal-made-an-iipa-charge-for-libby-possible/

***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 @ 5:58 AM

 
WEAK LINKS

The Tea Baggers earn a scalp, forcing the moderate Republican out of the NY-23 race

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/ny-23-goper-scozzafava-suspends-campaign.php

Analysis: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/31/799118/-NY-23:-Dominoes-Fall,-And-A-Reflection-On-Moderates-and-Women

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/drop-out-by-digby-so-it-looks-like.html

http://washingtonindependent.com/65990/ny-23-what-happens-who-wins-who-loses

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/10/31/gop-run-teabaggers-run/

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

Here’s the lesson political genius Glenn Beck draws: Sarah Palin should run, and win, as a third-party candidate

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/becks-prediction-sarah-palin-positio

The people want a public option and the conservatives propose co-ops. The people want a public option and the conservatives propose a trigger. The people want a public option and the conservatives propose an “opt-out.” The people want a public option and now they’re proposing an “opt-in” . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/ben-nelsons-hair-love-states-opt-plan-p

Dick Cheney was furious that George Bush wouldn’t pardon Scooter Libby. But guess who really screwed Libby?

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/10/31/hung-out-to-dry-one-former-vp-chief-of-staff/

Lawrence O’Donnell does a number on the Cheneys

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/lawrence-odonnell-rips-liz-cheney-dover-af

Afghanistan is not Iraq

http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/10/30/greg-jaffe-the-abu-muqawama-interview/
[Spencer Ackerman] [A]ssuming what “worked” in Iraq will “work” in Afghanistan is to delude yourself, and to do so deliberately. Everyone says that he or she is not simply applying role lessons from one war to a different one, but I see more evidence, on balance, that that’s exactly what’s happening. . . . [read on]

Not exactly stand-up guys

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/pause-distresses
[Kevin Drum] I happen to think that the evils of sugary soft drinks have probably been a wee bit overblown, but even at that it's a little hard to believe that the American Academy of Family Physicians would create a "corporate partnership" with Coca-Cola that's designed to "develop consumer education content related to beverages and sweeteners" in return for a six-figure fee. And yet they did. . . .

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/the-sunday-show-line-ups-27.php
• ABC, This Week: Senior White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett.

• CBS, Face The Nation: Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT).

• CNN, State Of The Union: House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), Gov Haley Barbour (R-MS).

• NBC, Meet The Press: Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner, Obama 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe.

News versus commentary?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/murdoch-ization.php
Wall Street Journal adopts "death taxes" usage in news pages.

Quote of the day

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/10/media-trend-watch
[Jim DeMint R-SC] "We don't need The Washington Post to cover things anymore. Something can get on a conservative blog, then on Fox News, then it's everywhere."

Bonus item: The Obama WH does something the Bush WH never did, releasing the list of visitors to the WH. The right-wingosphere goes crazy because RIGHT THERE is proof that Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright were on the list! One little problem . . .

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/10/30/right-wing-fact-check-fail/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/31/798994/-The-Weekly-No-Standards

***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 @ 6:55 AM