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:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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.