TPM: A Chief of Staff says it flat out...

All About the 60
Josh Marshall | November 20, 2009, 7:18PM

A Senate Democratic Chief of Staff chimes in ...

There is a lot of misplaced anger coming from many of our fellow progressives about Senate Democrats (which often is just shortened to "The Democrats") inability to pass a robust healthcare reform bill, climate change, etc.

However, I believe it's worth reminding folks that--as long as the Republican Senators hold together--we have to hold EVERY single Democratic Senator, including folks like Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson, which is usually impossible unless the legislation in question gets substantially watered down.

So, what we might end up with is a Senate Democratic Caucus that holds 98% of its members but still fails to pass healthcare reform, AND a mob of angry progressives who are screaming for the heads of "the Democrats." This isn't fair, but more importantly, it's self-defeating. If progressives REALLY want to transform America, they'll make an issue of the anti-democratic rules of the Senate which make real change virtually impossible. Blasting their elected Democratic officials, the vast majority of whom will vote for the Senate bill (and would also support a more robust public option if we didn't need 60 votes to achieve cloture), may make folks feel good, but is both short-sighted and stupid.

Couldn't resist (VIDEO)

You're going to be seeing these spots during the three Thanksgiving Day Football games. They star the President, Drew Brees, Troy Polamalu, and DeMarcus Ware.

Uh, Secret Service...you may not be aware of this, but there's a Cowboy on the White House grounds.

BREAKING: Racist Congresswoman passed Civil Rights Legislation in 60s...ALL BY HERSELF (VIDEO)

This from the woman who thinks "Tarbaby" is a proper noun, and not an racial epithet.

Lou Dobbs...the male Sarah Palin (VIDEO)

Lou Dobbs, late of CNN, was on the Daily Show last night. Jon greeted him, in fine style, with a Mariachi Band.

Ultimately, these long form interviews are always more informative than what they show on the TV. (Hey, TV is all about the clock, and the clock's word is law). Usually, you get to the heart of the matter in these extended interviews, and Jon's (actually considerable) interviewing skills usually bob to the surface.

That being said, Lou Dobbs is even more of a doucebag than I previously thought.

All the man does for the fifteen or so minutes he's on the air, is gripe and bitch. "Everyone" is getting it wrong. "Both sides" are to blame. "People" are frustrated.

And of course, he out and out lied about Health Care Polling.

All I saw, out of this toad of a human being is someone willing to exploit the fears, sorrows and anger of the moment, to drive a wedge between people, to say whatever he has to say, depending of course on stage he's on. All that matters to him is being in the spotlight. All that matters to him is being an alternative...but he doesn't say to what.

Part 1:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Lou Dobbs Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Part 2:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Lou Dobbs Extended Interview Pt. 2
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Part 3:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Lou Dobbs Extended Interview Pt. 3
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

"It's Baltimore, gentlemen. The Gods will not save you..." (VIDEO)

Ta-Nehisi had reservations. I don't. Love it. Miss it to this day.

"It means something more threatening..." (VIDEO)

From Rachel's show last night:

I think that the situation that I find genuinely frightening right now is that you have a ramping up of Biblical language, language from the anti-abortion movement for instance, death panels and this sort of thing, and what it's coalescing into is branding Obama as Hitler, as they have already called him. And something foreign to our shores, we're reminded of that, he's born in Kenya. As brown, as black, above all, as not us. He is Sarah Palin's "not a real American." But now, it turns out, he joins the ranks of the unjust kings of ancient Israel, unjust rulers to which all these Biblical allusions are directed who should be slaughtered, if not by God, then by just men. So there's a parallel here with Timothy McVeigh's t-shirt on the day of the Oklahoma City bombing. He said the tree of liberty had to be watered by the blood of tyrants. That quote, we saw at a meeting where Obama was present carried on a placard by someone with a loaded weapon.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

To correct one thing Mr. Schaffer said, the Secret Service recently stated that after the initial spike of threats, things seem to be cooling off.

They better be right.

President Obama's Town Hall with Chinese University Students (VIDEO)