The President's Speech launching Project Rebuild (VIDEO)

And he met with a Las Vegas family who was able to buy a home with help from the Administration's housing policies.

You need to update your FAA/Democratic Cave in meme/story @TPM!

Just after the Debt Ceiling vote, we got this from Talking Points Memo:

With the debt-ceiling crisis now averted (for now), Congress still hasn't settled a lesser, but still quite important, problem: A partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration, which has furloughed thousands of employees and hit the pause button on construction projects.

But fear not, Democrats could be on the verge of resolving the situation in a similar manner as they did the debt ceiling: By accepting Republican conditions.

Well, according to the Washington Post...

A partisan stalemate that has partially shut down the Federal Aviation Administration will continue into September, stopping airport construction projects and depriving federal coffers of potentially more than $1 billion in uncollected ticket taxes, after congressional attempts to reach deal fell through on Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., initially told reporters that he would be willing to accept a House Republican bill to restore the FAA’s operating authority even though it contained cuts in subsidies for rural air service that some Democrats oppose. But he later reversed course after a possible deal with House Republicans had fallen through.

"The stupidest Deficit Reduction Package in history"... (VIDEO)

Like I said, Lawrence lays out the details, and doesn't seem happy about them. But since I put him up when he was praising the President, I'd best put him up when he's ripping him.

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Chris Matthews lights 'em up (VIDEO)

...and by "them", I mean the Republicans.

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Pay attention to about ten minutes in, where Howard Fineman talks about the Teabagger's slow motion secession from the country. There's a lot to it. He wouldn't put a racial tone to it, but...frankly I might.

Matt Ygelsias: Why 2.7T in cuts for a 2.7T hike in Debt Ceiling isn't good enough for the GOP

Okay, it's early morning for me on the West Coast, and I'm sure some of you are already in a twitter (get it, huh?  Twitter) about Harry Reid's total and craptastic capitulation to GOP Demands, giving them everything they want in the Debt Ceiling fight.  All spending cuts, zero tax increases.  How could you, I hear people cry.  Why have Democrats surrendered...again?

But I'm going to say what Lawrence is going to say tonight.  It's only a surrender if you expect the GOP to bite on the deal, and Harry Reid clearly doesn't expect them to bite on this deal.  This is for public consumption, a way of assigning (successfully might I add) blame to the GOP for being unreasonable in their Debt Ceiling demands, and brings us closer to what I feel to be the ultimate resolution, a clean bill, with mostly Democratic votes, but a loss of our credit rating thanks to an entirely self-manufactured crisis.

Matthew Ygelsias tells us about why the Republicans are really saying no (to their own demand, no less):

Republicans have sought to portray themselves as having two bottom lines. One is that any increase in the debt ceiling must be met dollar-for-dollar with spending cuts. The other is that no revenue increases can be part of the deal. What Harry Reid did yesterday was essentially call the GOP’s bluff by outlining a plan that raises the debt ceiling by $2.7 trillion and includes $2.7 trillion in spending cuts, a healthy share of which comes from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Republicans are rejecting this even though it nominally meets their demands. Why? Because it doesn’t achieve either of their two real objectives. In particular, the plan doesn’t cut Medicare, which means that Democratic party candidates for office in November 2012 and 2014 can accurately remind voters of the content of the Republican budget plan. In case you forgot, this plans repeals Medicare. Having repealed Medicare, it then gives seniors vouchers to purchase more expensive private health insurance. And having replaced Medicare with a voucher system, it then ensures that the vouchers will grow steadily stingier over time. It was only after voting for this plan that Republicans seem to have realized that repealing Medicare is unpopular. Since that time, they’ve been trying to entrap Democrats into reaching some kind of Medicare détente with them, which would immunize them from criticism. Reid’s plan doesn’t do that.

Second, while Reid’s plan doesn’t raise taxes, it also doesn’t take tax increases off the table. Currently, the Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire in 2012. If Reid’s all-cuts plan passes, that still leaves the door open to significant revenue increases.

That's not to saw that Matthew's piece wasn't a "brilliant move, Harry" piece, it wasn't. But I thought it was important to show you the politics at work here.

TPM: Dan Choi gets his West Point ring back from Harry Reid (VIDEO)

Still pumping my fist, and doing a victory lap.

Rachel Maddow notices that there hasn't been much of a price to pay for racist comments this year (VIDEO)

This is what Rachel does well, broad historical perspective with evidence.



Followed up by an interview with Melissa Harris-Lacewell.

Is Harry Reid on his way to Victory?

Could be, according to the Las Vegas Sun (courtesy Daily Kos):

Everything that has happened this year in the Reid campaign has been on an uncomplicated checklist that has arrived at the final task. It reads something like this:

A. Raise a fortune.

B. Batter Sue Lowden during the spring so she comes out of the June 8 primary wounded, ready for the killing blow; if by some chance we get lucky and get Sharron Angle, all the better.

C. On June 9, begin campaign to equalize negatives — no-holds-barred, relentlessly on-message destruction of opponent.

D. On Oct. 16, turn the key on The Greatest Turnout Machine Ever, designed to drag Democrats out of houses if necessary to save the senator and blunt the enthusiasm gap.

Having crossed off the first three, with some of the most beautifully ugly execution in campaign annals, the Reid campaign is now working on the fourth.

To follow through on what the Daily Kos said, how are things looking now?

I have three days worth of data to peruse, just under a fourth of the 14-day total. Despite reports elsewhere, the Republicans have yet to show any unusual surge in voting, and The Reid Machine is holding its own.

There's more at the Sun and Daily Kos.

Did you know that Sharron Angle is not the "official" Tea Party candidate??

Neither did I. Huffington Post?

Jon Scott Ashjian, Nevada's little known actual "Tea Party" Senate candidate, said this week that not only was he going to stay in the race, he was going to overtake Sharron Angle on his path to victory.

Speaking with the Las Vegas Sun's Jon Ralston, the conservative agitator said that, despite recent negotiations to remove him from the race, the momentum was with him.

Ruh-roh!

Has this guy even been factoring into the polling in Nevada? If this is true, she's screwed. Finished. Kaput. Nada.

Sharron Angle doesn't believe anyone should have a Federal guarantee of Healthcare...except Sharron Angle and her husband.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Sharron:

Angle's campaign acknowledged to Nevada journalist Jon Ralston Monday that both the candidate and her husband receive health care from the federal government.

Spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said in a statement: "Mr. Ted Angle receives his pension through the (federal) Civil Service Retirement System. While it is not supplemented by the federal government, current civil servants pay into the program to pay the schedule of those already retired - much like how the Social Security Program works today. Mr. Angle does not qualify - nor does he receive Social Security benefits. His health insurance plan (the Federal Employee Health Program), which also covers Sharron, is a continuation of what he was receiving while he worked for the federal government."

More good news for the Democrats (in a season of slim pickins) from Nevada

By the way, I find it ironic that I ripped people for not voting Democratic after saying I could care less if a Democrat was re-elected.  Wow.  How very hypocritical of me.

While I am disappointed in myselves, I would go with this morning's admonition as opposed to my late Landrieu bashing.  Even that corporate Oil

Anyway, we got a little more sunshine coming out of the desert as a GOP backed firm shows Harry Reid beating Sharron "Austism doesn't exist" Angle by 5 points, 45-40.

Don't go counting your...ahem...chickens...

Josh has a warning for those who think that the Dems are about to get trouched in the upcoming midterms:

It's easy to overstate the power of money in a political race. So long as both candidates have a threshold amount of money adequate to get a message out, it's hard for a money advantage to save a candidate who has the odds really stacked against them. But Christina Bellantoni points out that a number of the most endangered Senate Dems -- Reid, Lincoln, Specter, Boxer, et al. -- all have lots more money in the bank than their GOP rivals, even as they're struggling to do degrees in the polls. In the case of Harry Reid, for instance, something like 30 times as much as his likely rival.

Money can only do so much. And there's no way national Republicans won't at the very least adequately fund these challengers. But the disparities are great enough that it's made me rethink at least a little what I think is going to happen in these races.

I think everyone knows how this is going to end...

Laurence O'Donnell has been speculating that despite the filibuster-proof Reconciliation Process that Democrats apparently will use to go ahead and finish up Health Care Reform (including possibly, passing a Public Option), there are a number of procedural hurdles that still will require 60 votes, and thus can be filibustered. I think a ruling from the Senate Parliamentarian will handle this.

(The WingNut Emperor, Sen. Jim DeMented (R-S.C.) is also under the impression that they can offer an infinite number of amendments to bog the process down, but there's a fix for that, too.)

(And yes, I did just link to a (shiver) Politico Story where Laurence O'Donnell pronounced Reform "dead"...back on Feb. 1st. I could smack on Laurence, but nothing's been signed yet. That being said, his prediction is looking a little bad at this point.)

At the same time, Senate Minority Leader (and aiming to stay that way) Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sure isn't acting like he can act on O'Donnell's notion.

"There'll be a lot of Democrats who will vote against it," McConnell said during an appearance on "Fox News Sunday" about the controversial budget reconciliation process. "Whether there will be 11 Democrats who will vote against it is not clear."

Putting it simply, if McConnell thought Laurence's 60 vote notion would work, I think he'd be threatening to use it on the Sunday Talk Shows, countering Harry's promise to use reconciliation. He's not. So I think Mitch knows this is going to end...

Then again, Laurence O'Donnell speculated that Mitch actually wants Health Care Reform to pass so he can hang it around the Democrats neck. So maybe Mitch isn't going to fight this too hard.

Either way, remember what I said about Politicians generally telling you the truth, even if its hyper-parsed and specific.

Harry Reid today say they'll have this wrapped up in 60 days.

Translation: they'll have this wrapped up in 60 days.

The enemy isn't the Opposition, it's not the Senate...it's Max freakin' Baucus.

Max Baucus (almost) does it again. Reaching out to his best-buddy Chuck Grassley almost derailed Health Care Reform, and it almost diluted the Jobs Bill to near worthlessness. But this time, his screw up looks to have been caught by Harry Reid, and should be fixed this time.

Honestly. We need jobs! I know, Max Baucus says, let's cut the Estate Tax and the Gift Tax.

But we need Republican votes, don't we?

No, Max. That's not necessarily the plan.

Baucus is making a good argument for another change that needs to happen in the Senate: the elimination of the Seniority rules.

Harry? Harry Reid?? The one in the Senate? (VIDEO)

Harry Reid...that Harry Reid...asking for the people to push the Senate.

Okay. Push!!

The Hill: Warning Shot...

Harry Reid (yeah, that Harry Reid) lays down the law:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) gave Republicans his most direct warning to date that he is prepared to use a procedural maneuver to pass healthcare reform with a simple majority.

Reid told Republicans that he would prefer to pass healthcare reform under regular order but warned that he would not hesitate to use budget reconciliation if the legislation stalled in committee. The Senate Finance Committee began marking up a sprawling healthcare reform bill on Tuesday morning.

“If we can’t work this out to do something within the committee structure, then we’ll be forced to do reconciliation,” said Reid, who said the tactic would be used as a “last resort.”

As blockbuster as this is being treated by both The Hill and Huffington Post, it's nothing he hasn't said before. Besides, this is more of an admonition to keep things moving, rather than threatening over a particular part of the bill (i.e. everyone's favorite whuppin' boy, the Public Option).

"It is liberating, however, to finally shed the dead weight of Grassley's know-nothingism and cowardice." (VIDEO)

From Joe Klein:

Looks like the charade of including Chuck Grassley and Mike Enzi in the health care negotiations is over. It is not impossible that other Republicans who are not Senators from Maine can be located to support health care reform. But it's also entirely possible that the Republicans will continue their kamikaze ways and oppose a reform that is likely to prove very popular with the American public when it's enacted (which is why, in truth, the GOP nihilists oppose it).

There are still some real problems the legislation is facing, especially if the rougher edges of the House bill--insufficient attention to cost controls, the public option--aren't sanded down. More than a few Democratic Senators and Representatives are going to have to summon a bit of courage to vote for any form of health reform, especially those from moderate to conservative states (like Arkansas where 55% prefer Rush Limbaugh's vision of America to Barack Obama's, according to a recent poll). But it should be possible to find a more plausible funding source now, like the President's wise proposal that tax deductions for the wealthy be limited to the same rate as paid by the middle class. My guess is that the final bill will enable the Democratic caucus to be fairly united on this, and that a few Republicans will join in--and that we will have health care reform this year. It is liberating, however, to finally shed the dead weight of Grassley's know-nothingism and cowardice.

From the White House, today:



Erza Klein of the Washington Post:

The question of whether Grassley wants to compromise on health care is increasingly being overtaken by the reality that Grassley is not leaving himself political room to compromise on health care. He is creating a campaign premised on his role in stopping Obama's health-care reform effort. It is not clear how he could pivot to save it, even if he wanted to do so. And given the unique role Grassley occupies as the senior partner in Max Baucus's bipartisan process, the bare-knuckled partisanship of Grassley's letter does not suggest that his political team is readying itself to sell a compromise.

Obama's Speech on the Stimulus in Nevada (VIDEO)

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