Institutional Memory (VIDEO)

Rep. Dingell (D-MI) showing off the gavel he used to pass Medicare.



Speaker Pelosi and virtually the entire House Democratic Caucus walking to the Capitol.

Is it just me, or does this have the look and feel of Little Rock, 1957...with the usual suspects playing the usual parts?

Whose Waterloo again?

Wow, I am so not about quoting Republicans and/or Conservatives on this blog (Andrew Sullivan excluded), but the sentiments expressed on this post by David Frum (former Bushie) are something to behold. (For the record, the boldface is mine, not Mr. Frum's).

He's depressed, and for me...the Liberal, it's a sight to see:

Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s.

It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for today’s expected vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections. But:

(1) It’s a good bet that conservatives are over-optimistic about November – by then the economy will have improved and the immediate goodies in the healthcare bill will be reaching key voting blocs.

(2) So what? Legislative majorities come and go. This healthcare bill is forever. A win in November is very poor compensation for this debacle now.

So far, I think a lot of conservatives will agree with me. Now comes the hard lesson:

A huge part of the blame for today’s disaster attaches to conservatives and Republicans ourselves.

At the beginning of this process we made a strategic decision: unlike, say, Democrats in 2001 when President Bush proposed his first tax cut, we would make no deal with the administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing. We were going for all the marbles. This would be Obama’s Waterloo – just as healthcare was Clinton’s in 1994.

Only, the hardliners overlooked a few key facts: Obama was elected with 53% of the vote, not Clinton’s 42%. The liberal block within the Democratic congressional caucus is bigger and stronger than it was in 1993-94. And of course the Democrats also remember their history, and also remember the consequences of their 1994 failure.

This time, when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none.

Could a deal have been reached? Who knows? But we do know that the gap between this plan and traditional Republican ideas is not very big. The Obama plan has a broad family resemblance to Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts plan. It builds on ideas developed at the Heritage Foundation in the early 1990s that formed the basis for Republican counter-proposals to Clintoncare in 1993-1994.

Barack Obama badly wanted Republican votes for his plan. Could we have leveraged his desire to align the plan more closely with conservative views? To finance it without redistributive taxes on productive enterprise – without weighing so heavily on small business – without expanding Medicaid? Too late now. They are all the law.

No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?

We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.

There were leaders who knew better, who would have liked to deal. But they were trapped. Conservative talkers on Fox and talk radio had whipped the Republican voting base into such a frenzy that deal-making was rendered impossible. How do you negotiate with somebody who wants to murder your grandmother? Or – more exactly – with somebody whom your voters have been persuaded to believe wants to murder their grandmother?

I’ve been on a soapbox for months now about the harm that our overheated talk is doing to us. Yes it mobilizes supporters – but by mobilizing them with hysterical accusations and pseudo-information, overheated talk has made it impossible for representatives to represent and elected leaders to lead. The real leaders are on TV and radio, and they have very different imperatives from people in government. Talk radio thrives on confrontation and recrimination. When Rush Limbaugh said that he wanted President Obama to fail, he was intelligently explaining his own interests. What he omitted to say – but what is equally true – is that he also wants Republicans to fail. If Republicans succeed – if they govern successfully in office and negotiate attractive compromises out of office – Rush’s listeners get less angry. And if they are less angry, they listen to the radio less, and hear fewer ads for Sleepnumber beds.

So today’s defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For them, it’s mission accomplished. For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours.

Yeah, I think that shot about the defeat for the free-market is bullshit. An unregulated free-market is what led us into this Financial Crisis, its what's forced us to do this watered down version of Health Care Reform. So, if Mr. Frum is wrong about anything, it's that the failure was back then, not now.

Unimpressed...Part 2

Now this is more like the modern Republican Party I know. Two GOP Reps reacting to yesterday's slur-fest:

Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

"I just don't think it's anything. ... There are a lot of places in this country that I couldn't walk through. I wouldn't live to get to the other end of it."

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA)

"When you use totalitarian tactics, people begin to act crazy. And I think, y'know there's people that have every right to say what they want. If they want to smear someone they can do it. It's not appropriate. and I think I would stop short of characterizing the 20,000 people who were protesting that all of them were doing that."

And in case there's doubt, here's the video:

Unimpressed..

I said I'd post it if they did it, so...

Following reports yesterday that black and openly gay Democratic lawmakers were subjected to spitting and epithets from anti-health care reform protesters outside the Capitol, Republican leaders said Sunday that such incidents were "isolated" and "reprehensible."

On CNN's "State of the Union," Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) denounced the use of such slurs "in the strongest terms possible."

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the "isolated incidents" were "reprehensible."

Later on the same program, Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee's first black chairman, agreed that the incidents were "reprehensible," and added, "we do not support that."

"What you had out there yesterday were a handful of people who just got stupid and said some ignorant things," Steele said.

Took 'em long enough.

That being said, this will happen again.

Why? Because no one wants it to stop.

If the GOP were serious about stopping this, they would threaten to cut off the Tea Party if this continues. But they can't afford to do that, because right now the Tea-Party IS the Republican mainstream, so it's the "a few bad apples" strategy.

Meanwhile, the Democrats love the optics on this because it makes the Tea-Party look reactionary and racist, which, let's be honest, they are.

I want this to stop because the next level of anger past the slurs is going to be violence.

As an African-American I know all too well where this leads. First they demand you do something, because you always have to do what "they" say. When you refuse, they assert their superiority by calling you a name, to remind you (and them) how much better they really are. When that fails, they will force you do what they want, because they feel it is their right. And that's where the violence comes.

You can tell from their signs (scroll to the bottom of this article if you want to see what I mean).

I want the Tea-Party stopped before someone gets hurt, or worse.

"The objection to the health care bill has become a proxy for other sentiments..." Part II

I have decided that in the coming 2010 Campaign Season, I'm not going to give money to the DSCC or the DCCC, because there are (frankly) certain Democrats (Blanche Lincoln, Bart Stupak) that I don't want to give money to. Frankly, I could care less if they won their jobs back. I will concentrate my money on local races and to select Democrats.

That being said, I'm going to add Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) (Kent State, Akron) to my list of people worth giving money to.



What he said wasn't that revolutionary or special. He's not going to be competing with the President in a contest of oratorical skills anytime soon. He just took the podium, and said what needed to be said. And the fact that it was said by a straight white guy should not go unnoticed. I think it would have been easier to dismiss if it was another Gay member of Congress or another African-American.

The only thing that would have been more effective was to see a Republican make this speech. I would have gladly posted it, but so far, all I hear is crickets.

A fair summary of what to expect once it passes (VIDEO)

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"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true..." (VIDEO)

While the Washington Post is calling this a "Health Care Cliffhanger" (at least according to what was on the WaPo Homepage), I think it's really in the bag. Listen to the way the President talks. You don't run this kind of smack if they're any kind of a doubt about victory.

Oh, and according to Ezra Klein, the White House didn't release the text of this speech, because there was no prepared text. Obama spoke off the cuff start to finish.

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"The objection to the health care bill has become a proxy for other sentiments..."

Wherein the Teabaggers go there. The complete TPM Report.

Health Care: The Closing Argument (VIDEO)

From George Mason University:

President Obama’s Nowruz Message

In your choice of languages:

Persian:



Or Arabic:

The Fireside chat for March 20, 2010 (VIDEO)

As a key committee in the Senate takes up reforming the ways of Wall Street, the President lays down a marker: “I urge those in the Senate who support these reforms to remain strong, to resist the pressure from those who would preserve the status quo, to stand up for their constituents and our country. And I promise to use every tool at my disposal to see these reforms enacted: to ensure that the bill I sign into law reflects not the special interests of Wall Street, but the best interests of the American people.”

What this is really about...

TPM Reporter Brian Beutler witnessed a bunch of Tea-Party protesters calling Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) a "faggot".

And if that wasn't enough, I'm sure you can guess what they called Rep. John Lewis (D-GA)...not that he hasn't heard it before.

When logic and persuasion fails...

TPM is promising more on this as it comes.

Jon Stewart's (second) Finest Hour (VIDEO)

Has to be seen to be believed. To me, it was that good...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Intro - Progressivism Is Cancer
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

And...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Conservative Libertarian
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

All this has happened before...all this will happen again...

Yes, for those of you already in the know, that was a Battlestar Galactica/Caprica reference, but it also applies to our health care debate, as the graphic from 1955 below demonstrates:

The depths (VIDEO)

Teabaggers? This is why we hate you guys...

Nothing like breathless commentary on an otherwise meaningless story... (VIDEO)

Let's face facts. The image of Barack Obama picking his Presidential Bracket is meant as a fun, cute little story. The President is a B-Ball fan, he knows the Sport, so his expertise isn't coming from a staff member. Filling out a bracket is something he seems to genuinely enjoy. It's not without some political benefit, as "Mr. Arugala" is shown doing something that millions of Americans are doing themselves. More power to him.

Needless to say, that hasn't stopped folks in the press (this year and last year) from overanalyzing this sucker.

This is a story that belongs on the front page of ESPN...and that's about it.

Don't get me wrong, if an analyst wants to crush the President by saying something along the lines of "Picking Georgetown over Ohio State, he's lost his mind" is fine by me. That's the coverage I expect. But "Picking Georgetown over Ohio State, he's going to alienate Ohio votes" is the very reason why I hate reporters sometimes.

Update (March 18, 2010: 5:29pm) : Extended Cut:

Rachel Maddow's Interview with Timothy Geithner (VIDEO)

While I'm never the biggest Rachel fan, I am (believe it or not) a Geithner fan (blame Dad and all those Econ books I've been reading). This interview was particularly enlightening.

Part 1:

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Part 2:

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The Fireside chat for March 13, 2010 (VIDEO)

The President discusses his blueprint for an updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act to overhaul No Child Left Behind, the latest step from his Administration to encourage change and success in America’s schools at the local level.

"Back on planet normal..."

Matt Yglesias (originally caught by Andrew Sullivan):

[N]obody lasts in office forever, no congressional majority lasts forever, and no party controls the White House forever. But the measure of a political coalition isn’t how long it lasted, but what it achieved. From the tone of a lot of present-day political commentary you’d think that the big mistake Lyndon Johnson made during his tenure in the White House was that by passing the Civil Rights Act he wound up damaging the Democratic Party politically by opening the South up to the GOP.

Back on planet normal, that’s the crowning achievement of his presidency.

Reconcile This! (I know a trend when I see one)

Ezra and Krugman have both used this, so I figured, better late than never? (Krugman's favorite bit in bold).

Though we have tried to engage in a serious discussion, our efforts have been met by repeatedly debunked myths and outright lies. At the same time, Republicans have resorted to extraordinary legislative maneuvers in an effort not to improve the bill, but to delay and kill it. After watching these tactics for nearly a year, there is only one conclusion an objective observer could make: these Republican maneuvers are rooted less in substantive policy concerns and more in a partisan desire to discredit Democrats, bolster Republicans, and protect the status quo on behalf of the insurance industry.[...]

60 Senators voted to pass historic reform that will make health insurance more affordable, make health insurance companies more accountable and reduce our deficit by roughly a trillion dollars. The House passed a similar bill. However, many Republicans now are demanding that we simply ignore the progress we’ve made, the extensive debate and negotiations we’ve held, the amendments we’ve added (including more than 100 from Republicans) and the votes of a supermajority in favor of a bill whose contents the American people unambiguously support. We will not. We will finish the job. We will do so by revising individual elements of the bills both Houses of Congress passed last year, and we plan to use the regular budget reconciliation process that the Republican caucus has used many times.

I know that many Republicans have expressed concerns with our use of the existing Senate rules, but their argument is unjustified. There is nothing unusual or extraordinary about the use of reconciliation. As one of the most senior Senators in your caucus, Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, said in explaining the use of this very same option, “Is there something wrong with majority rules? I don’t think so.” Similarly, as non-partisan congressional scholars Thomas Mann and Norm Ornstein said in this Sunday’s New York Times, our proposal is “compatible with the law, Senate rules and the framers’ intent.”

Reconciliation is designed to deal with budget-related matters, and some have expressed doubt that it could be used for comprehensive health care reform that includes many policies with no budget implications. But the reconciliation bill now under consideration would not be the vehicle for comprehensive reform – that bill already passed outside of reconciliation with 60 votes. Instead, reconciliation would be used to make a modest number of changes to the original legislation, all of which would be budget-related. There is nothing inappropriate about this. Reconciliation has been used many times for a variety of health-related matters, including the establishment of the Children’s Health Insurance Program and COBRA benefits, and many changes to Medicare and Medicaid.

As you know, the vast majority of bills developed through reconciliation were passed by Republican Congresses and signed into law by Republican Presidents – including President Bush’s massive, budget-busting tax breaks for multi-millionaires. Given this history, one might conclude that Republicans believe a majority vote is sufficient to increase the deficit and benefit the super-rich, but not to reduce the deficit and benefit the middle class. Alternatively, perhaps Republicans believe a majority vote is appropriate only when Republicans are in the majority. Either way, we disagree. Keep in mind that reconciliation will not exclude Republicans from the legislative process. You will continue to have an opportunity to offer amendments and change the shape of the legislation. In addition, at the end of the process, the bill can pass only if it wins a democratic, up-or-down majority vote. If Republicans want to vote against a bill that reduces health care costs, fills the prescription drug “donut hole” for seniors and reduces the deficit, you will have every right to do so.

First of the "Stupak Dozen" breaks with Stupak...

Yay.

Rep. Dale Kildee (D-Mich.), a key supporter of Rep. Bart Stupak’s (D-Mich.) anti-abortion language intended for the health care bill, said Tuesday night that he’s satisfied the Senate abortion language prohibits federal funding of abortions and will likely vote for the bill.

The President's Speech in Glenside, PA on Health Care Reform (VIDEO)

The Fireside chat for March 6, 2010 (VIDEO)

Not cool...

Fort McHenry is a nakedly pro-Obama as they come. But even I'm not cool with this.

Okay, so maybe Mitt Romney won't be the GOP Nominee in 2012...

Interesting notion from Jonathan Chait of the New Republic, Timothy Noah of Slate and James Pethokoukis of Reuters: it may well be impossible for former Governor Mitt Romney to win the Republican Nomination in 2012 because he's too liberal.

Romney is a useful marker in the frightening right-wing turn of his party. The GOP has been moving rightward for the last thirty years, but that shift has dramatically accelerated just since the fall of 2008. After Obama won the presidency, Republican officeholders and conservative pundits decided almost-unanimously was that the party's failure had stemmed from being too moderate.

The sudden ideological isolation of Romney is a case in point. During the 2008 GOP primary battle, he took a lot of heat for his former socially liberal positions. But his health care plan in Massachusetts attracted very little controversy. It was a classic moderate Republican plan, and one could very easily imagine Romney implementing something like it -- which is to say, something resembling the Obama plan -- had he won the presidency. Now it's seen as socialism, if not the end of American freedom. Likewise, the Bush administration and most Republicans favored TARP, but it, too, is now widely seen among Republicans as some dystopian attack on free enterprise ripped straight out of an Ayn Rand novel.

I'm not saying Romney won't try to make a run, but his odds of success with this version of the GOP are diminishing by the day. (And mind you, we haven't even touched the Mormon issue, which is going to cost him dearly among hardcore Christian Evangelicals.)

President Obama's Speech on the Health Reform Endgame March 3, 2010 (VIDEO)

Figured it'd be best to couple this video with a little Ezra Klein:

Obama gave no quarter today. Gone was the pretense that Democrats and Republicans basically agree on health-care reform. "Many Republicans in Congress just have a fundamental disagreement over whether we should have more or less oversight of insurance companies," Obama said. "And if they truly believe that less regulation would lead to higher quality, more affordable health insurance, then they should vote against the proposal I’ve put forward."

Gone was vague language and gesturing coyness Democrats have favored on the path forward. "The United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform," Obama said. "We have debated this issue thoroughly, not just for a year, but for decades. Reform has already passed the House with a majority. It has already passed the Senate with a supermajority of sixty votes. And now it deserves the same kind of up-or-down vote that was cast on welfare reform, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, COBRA health coverage for the unemployed, and both Bush tax cuts."

So that's it, then: The health-care reform bill that Congress will vote on will be a close relative of the health-care reform bills that Congress has already passed. No Plan Bs, no starting over, no accommodation with continued obstructionism. "I have therefore asked leaders in both houses of Congress to finish their work and schedule a vote in the next few weeks," Obama said. "From now until then, I will do everything in my power to make the case for reform."

What's important about this speech is that it didn't leave any paths open. It attacked the Republican bills, the arguments for piecemeal reform, and the idea that procedural impediments are sufficient to excuse the further delay of a verdict. This is the end of the line. There's not a magic alternative behind the curtain or a hard reset that will lead to a harmonious bipartisan process. It all just is what it is. And now it's time for a vote. It's time for health-care reform to either pass or fail.

""What you're saying is, I should take on this mess that you all created?" (VIDEO)

Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell

The Politi-cave (VIDEO)

The reason I can't stand Politico, is that I'm not sure this isn't reality over there...

"Very, very out of line..." (VIDEO)

F--- it, I've got nothing...

I've had my say (needless to say, I took offense). Ta-Neishi Coates has more:

I think the most charitable interpretation holds that Franks isn't endorsing slavery, as much as he's....Fuck it, I've got nothing. This is just stupid on all conceivable levels.

I think there will be some amount of indignity, and offense-taking over this comment, and that's understandable. But when I read this, as when I read many conservative politicians, speak on African-Americans, I just feel sorry for them. Before you explain to someone that a "policy" built on selling children, government-sanctioned torture, and forced labor is worse than any policy in place to day, you should come to terms with the fact that your breaths are limited, and your days numbered. You have to budget your outrage.

That is the statement of an intellectual child, of someone whose never ventured beyond their hometown. It's what happens when you decide that you're fine as the party of white people, and your corner of the world is enough. This is what happens when your knowledge is capped, and your ignorance is boundless.

Punditry...

I love these sorts of columns. By which I mean, I'd rather go skinny dipping in a bath of scalding hot razor blades than read these columns. In the end, they all boil down to the same the thing. The President is failing! And if he wants to stop failing, he'll do exactly what I want!

First off, I'd tell Nick Cohen, the article's author, to bite me. Maybe we'll back the U.K. in this new Falkland's mess (which I am keeping an eye on), and maybe we won't. I hate to sound all Republican here, but the U.S. will do what's in the U.S.'s interests. Last time I checked, y'all didn't need our help the last time this island of sheep herders cropped up as a foreign policy dilemma...

The Fireside chat for February 27, 2010 (VIDEO)

The President takes a moment to congratulate our Olympic athletes. Discussing the unity and pride Americans feel in cheering them on, the President relates that sentiment to his own desire for bipartisanship in Washington. He praises the recent bipartisan meeting and talks about moving forward on health reform.

Is Krugman's wife making him angrier???

And I mean that in the most absolute, literal, literary way...

Now, I likes me some Krugman. He tends to piss me off now and again, as I wrote back in January:

I've said it before. Krugman is a typical professor (y'know, aside from the New York Times column, New York Times blog, regular appearances on MSNBC, and...you know, the whole...Nobel Laureate thing) in that he's got a universe of knowledge in his head, and sometimes doesn't react well when people don't understand what the hell he's talking about. (Bondad clearly does). This frustration tends to show up in his writing. He also has a tendency, when really, really mad, to ignore political realities and go into "just get it DONE" mode (which Dr. Krugman is kinda in now).

Wow, have I quoted me before? I don't remember.

It looks like I was wrong. Maybe, at least according to the recent New Yorker profile on him. It looks like it was really his wife making him, well, angrier...

If he is writing his column, he will start it on the morning of the day it’s due, and, if the spirit is with him, he will be done soon after lunch. When he has a draft, he gives it to Wells to edit. Early on, she edited a lot—she had, they felt, a better sense than he did of how to communicate economics to the layperson. (She is also an economist—they met when she was a postdoc at M.I.T. and he was teaching there.) But he’s much better at that now, and these days she focusses on making him less dry, less abstract, angrier.

Recently, he gave her a draft of an article he’d done for Rolling Stone. He had written, “As Obama tries to deal with the crisis, he will get no help from Republican leaders,” and after this she inserted the sentence “Worse yet, he’ll get obstruction and lies.” Where he had written that the stimulus bill would at best “mitigate the slump, not cure it,” she crossed out that phrase and substituted “somewhat soften the economic hardship that we face for the next few years.” Here and there, she suggested things for him to add. “This would be a good place to flesh out the vehement objections from the G.O.P. and bankers to nationalization,” she wrote on page 9. “Show us all their huffing and puffing before you dismiss it as nonsense in the following graf.”

Slavery wasn't so bad...

Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), today:

In an interview with blogger Mike Stark, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) appeared to say that African-Americans are worse off today because of legalized abortion, than they were compared to slavery.

"It seems like humanity is very gifted at hiding from something that's obviously true. I mean in this country we had slavery for God knows how long. And now we look back on it and we say, 'Well how blind were they, what was the matter with them, you know, I can't believe, I mean four million, this is incredible,'" said Franks. "And we're right. We're right, we should look back on that with criticism. It is a crushing mark on America's soul. And yet today, half of all black children are aborted. Half of all black children are aborted. Far more black children, far more of the African-American community is being devastated by the policies of today, than were being devastated by the policies of slavery."

He liveth again (George Wallace edition)...

Jonathan Rauch, a Libertarian/Conservative makes the argument that Sarah Palin isn't the political reincarnation of Barry Goldwater (as numbnuts George Will suggested), but actually the political reincarnation of George Wallace...

...and when you read their quotes side by side, it makes sense.

Episode V: The Eisenhower Wing Strikes Back!

I can't claim prescience on this, since I've been reading in other news outlets and other blogs (Kos) that this might happen. But when Crist decided to start doubling down on the Stimulus, the tea leaves were there to be read.

And now, two quote-unquote independent sources claim it's about to happen.

Now, what does this mean? Simply put, I don't know. Crist is popular in Florida. He should win the General. He just can't win the Primary.

Another question is what do Democrats do? If Democrats hang together neither Marco Rubio (who has his own problems) nor Crist is going to Foggy Bottom, because they'll split the Republican vote. In fact, Crist's only sure way to victory is to run as a Democrat, but would the Democrats have him?

This seems to be like the New York 23rd, this is more about not getting "Scozzafava-ed", as opposed to making Crist the junior Senator from Florida.

More as it comes...

"Ooh, you really don't want to go here, Mr. Lungren..." (VIDEO)

Today, on the House Floor...

Charlie Crist (VIDEO)

I'm not sayin'... (which means I have no proof of this whatsoever), but between his staffers starting to abandon him, and yesterday's pronouncement that he doesn't regret supporting the Stimulus in the least, one has to wonder what's going on.



Either he's about to abandon his campaign...or he's switching parties.

Figured.

Lefty bloggers, such as myself, have long distrusted Associated Press, particularly in their D.C. Political coverage. The fact that Ron Fournier is the Washington Bureau Chief is No. 1 on our list of complaints.

So when AP ran this headline, I wasn't the least bit surprised:

Hoyer: Comprehensive health bill may be no go

Right.

This after Pelosi saying, that we can do this, after the House Whip says, we'll get more votes for this than the original, suddenly Steny is the one acting squeamish??

Apparently, not so:

Hoyer [Spokesperson] Stephanie Lundberg (SPOX for future reference) insists his remarks were taken out of context, and that he spent more time expressing hope for comprehensive reform:

"Majority Leader Hoyer spoke at great length about why a comprehensive approach is the best way to affect the health insurance reforms the American people want versus incremental steps. He made clear that remains the goal."

It’s still a matter of when...

There’s been a lot of Public Option stuff out there today. Basically, it boils down to this: while Democrats (including the White House) remain overall supportive of the Public Option (Glenn Greenwald's caterwauling aside), they’re not going to fight for it now. (Key word being: now).

If you want a better barometer of where the Public Option stands, ask after Thursday. If the GOP comes to the Summit (as expected), and the effort at Bipartisanship attracts approximately zero GOP votes for Health Care Reform (as expected), then what is going to keep Democrats from passing something with a Public Option in it?

Probably procedure. Even now, no one is sure that a Public Option can pass via Reconciliation since its still subject to the Byrd Rule. (I just finished reading True Compass, and there was a moment where Senator Kennedy asked Senator Byrd to waive his rule for Health Care Reform, and he refused. The point being: Byrd can just waive his rule and that’s it??)

Thus, Governor-Doctor Dean’s point from last night, that a Public Option might take the shape of a Medicare Buy-In, which he likes better anyway:

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Brian Beutler (calling it like I saw it a couple days ago):

The public option has been alive, then dead, then alive, then dead so many times now it's enough to make your head spin. Right now it's somewhere in between--an undead public option, still beloved by a large majority of Democrats, but, for now, lacking the political leadership needed to usher it through the legislative process.

Ezra Klein:

It would be fair, at this point, to ask why Democrats would have a problem if they attempted to pass the public option. The public option is popular policy, it's good policy, and it energizes the base. The problem is that it's not popular policy with the handful of conservative House and Senate votes that you need to push this bill over the finish line.

Caucus politics present another dilemma: The public option died due to the opposition of Nelson, Landrieu, Lincoln, Lieberman and a handful of other conservative -- and vulnerable -- Democrats. Reid cut a deal with them, and they signed onto the final product. For many, that was a big political risk. The price was letting them say they killed the public option. Bringing it back to the bill will mean they voted for a bill that ended up including something they'd promised their constituents they'd killed. Cross them on this and you've lost their trust -- and thus their votes -- in the future.

This is assuming that any of these guys are back after November. (Not sure I'd miss any of them).

Ezra also takes a moment to rip the White House for its messaging. Again . Yawn.

Jonathan Chait (after ripping the hell out of Glenn Greenwald, and deservedly so):

Health care reform is still hanging on for dear life in the House. The dynamic is that the Democrats are going to lose some votes from pro-life members who insist on Bart Stupak's language. They need to make up the votes by persuading Blue Dog and other centrist Democrats who voted no for the original bill to vote yes this time. Many of those centrists said at the time of their original vote that they preferred the Senate bill and opposed the public option. Restoring the public option, aside form sucking up a lot of time by introducing another big fight, would greatly complicate this already-complicated task.

That's why Jay Rockefeller opposes adding the public option to the bill at this point. Rockefeller is the author of the public option. So it seems like the fear that reopening this debate will sink the whole bill really is the reason for the administration's reluctance. Or maybe Rockefeller's in on the pretense, too.

I still think it'll pass the house.

Brian Beutler, again:

A few things are perfectly clear: The White House isn't helping in this effort at all. And some Democrats, both among the rank and file, and in leadership, are nervous about the push. But the popularity of the provision, both among Democratic members and the voting public have thus far provided enough of a counterweight to keep the public option an open question.

I still think it’s a matter of timing, Brian.

For those of you worried about the House...

...and count me among them, there's this from the Hill.

The House will pass a new healthcare reform bill with a larger majority than it did on its first bill, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Monday.

The Whip, as in the guy who counts heads for the Democratic Caucus.

Brothaman's talkin' like he's got the votes...

It's widely known that a number of House Democrats were allowed to vote against the bill, for political cover in November, even though they told Nancy Pelosi they were willing to vote for the bill. Nancy gave them a pass as a favor.

Now, it's time to collect.

The President's Town Hall in Henderson, Nevada of Feb. 20, 2010 (VIDEO)

President Obama announces $1.5 billion in funding to help homeowners in states hardest hit by the housing crisis in a town hall meeting at Green Valley High School in Henderson, NV.

Leave it to the tone deaf white guys II (Racist Toy Edition)

Yet another endearing image from the CPAC Convention:


I wish I could say I was surprised by this. But when people like this tell you who they are, listen to them.

For the record, I pulled this from Wonkette. Wonkette was one of the targets of Jonathan Chait's misplaced ire last week.

Well, Wonkette took a shot at him today:

Here, Jonathan Chait, add this to your files.

Jonathan Chait chimes in as well...

Wow. Like Ezra, Jonathan Chait also rips into Dana Milbank, throwing Charlie Cook (rightly) under the bus as well.

Keep in mind that to argue that Obama should not have attempted health care reform at all is different than arguing that Democrats should abandon it now, having already paid nearly all the cost. The latter is like arguing that a homeowner who's hired a contractor to remodel his kitchen, paid out 90% of the sum, and had his old kitchen taken out but the new one not yet installed, should fire the contractor mid-job and just eat the cost and go on without a working kitchen. The former is more like saying that if they had to do it all over again they would have kept the old kitchen. The latter view is simple insane. The former view has at least some plausible logic.

Still, I find it unpersuasive. For one thing, Cook and Milbank simply assume that health care reform is dead. I don't. Democrats may be freaked out and at daggers drawn, but they still have the votes and the incentive to pass a comprehensive bill. I've been holding the odds of passage at just over 50-50 for about a month now and I'm not budging yet. The near-universal assumption in the media that reform is dead is based much more on optics and the general tendency of pundits to project that the most recent trends will continue unabated than any deeper consideration of the fundamentals.

Second, you have to compare pursuing health care with an alternate strategy. What else could Obama have done? Cook says they should have focused more on jobs. But he offers no suggestion of what meaningful legislation could have passed after the stimulus, which exhausted Congress's willingness to spend any money on job creation. The current fiasco of a jobs bill, with the two parties bickering over symbolic legislation, suggests how little substantive progress was there for the taking.

Milbank, meanwhile, suggests a health care bill expanding coverage for kids and young adults. That's something. But it's a mistake to consider that a half-measure on the road to eventual comprehensive reform. The problems of the health insurance system -- spiraling costs and a dysfunctional individual market -- are enormous and interconnected. Children's health insurance is related to that issue in that it pertains to health care, but it represents zero progress toward alleviating the pathologies of the system. It's like saying that, instead of trying to kick the heroin habit that's destroying your life, you'll instead switch from brand-name Tylenol to the generic stuff. They're both a kind of fix to a "drug problem," but that's the extent of the connection.

Third, you have to consider the political cost of inaction. Obama won his election by a wide margin running on a plan to reform the health care system. Simply abandoning that promise at the outset surely would have cost him some support from his allies, both in Congress and among the voters.

Ultimately, I don't think you can answer the question of whether it made sense to undertake health care reform until we know whether or not it passes. If it does pass, it was a good idea. (Obama didn't have any other major realistic uses for his political capital, which was bound to diminish in the face of rising unemployment.) If it fails, it was a bad idea. Still, what strikes me most about the retrospective advice being proffered to Obama is its sheer amorality. Politicians do need to look after their popular standing, but that's not all they need to do. The broken health care system represents a massive economic and moral crisis. It's hard to imagine a Democratic president winning a clear-cut election victory and bringing in the largest Congressional majorities since Lyndon Johnson and not trying to fix the problem. The purpose of winning elections is to solve problems like health care. There's something strange about advice that presumes it's appropriate to value the preservation of popularity above all else.

Erza rips Dana Milbank...

Ezra and I are on waaay better terms this week:

Like Dana, I'm an Emanuel apologist. The chief of staff's job is to run a tight White House, and Emanuel's job also seems to be to oversee legislative tactics, and the fact of the matter is that this White House has gotten health-care reform nearer to passage than any White House in history. Meanwhile, Barack Obama's approval rating remains at 51 percent. This is no catastrophe. And it's been very, very close to a historic success -- both for the administration and the American people.

Obama attempted a big health-care reform bill because, well, we have a big health-care problem in this country. What Dana is saying here is that the president made a mistake by trying to solve the problem -- or at least a lot of the problem -- rather than taking an easier route that would not have solved the problem. That seems like an odd definition of the word "mistake." Particularly given how close the bill came to passage, and how close the bill remains to passage.

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.