Reconciliation bill posted, and it scores!
Politico has a decent summary of the newly posted reconciliation bill (plus the full text) with the key changes it makes to the Senate legislation. The CBO score looks good, and the vote is expected on Sunday, with the president delaying his Asia trip to wait for the moment. As we get closer, right wingers are getting nuttier and nuttier, with Glenn Beck and his wacked out real-life counterpart Steve King saying the Sunday vote is “an affront to God,” and Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma issuing the most convoluted threat in modern American political history. Democrats shouldn’t be scared of these guys, they should be laughing at them. It’s getting to the point where you have to use words like “pathetic,” “desperate” and “bizarre.”
Upgrade: ‘This Week’ goes to Amanpour
Finally, someone who can pronounce “Iran” and “Iraq” correctly. Way to turn the page, ABC! (You gave us a scare last week…) Christiane Amanpour will be the first woman to host a Sunday show, and I’m sure she’ll be great (and give the show more of an international view.) Meanwhile, CNN just went down another notch, having lost Ms. Amanpour and gained Erick Erickson. I see doom on the horizon in Atlanta …
Marco Rubio’s bad mojo
A couple of weeks ago, I asked a prominent attorney involved in the case of an elected official who was charged with corruption for using his city-issued credit car for personal expenses, including dinners at Red Lobster with his girlfriend, what the material difference was between that alleged crime (the pol is pleading not guilty) and Marco Rubio using his party-issued card as his personal funds, in contravention to the rules governing the card (it’s supposed to be used for electioneering.) The answer was “none.” It’s all about whether the state attorney (or the IRS) chooses to pursue it in one case versus another. Whether you’re talking public money, or private money, misuse of a corporate, government or party-issued credit card is potentially hazardous to your freedom. Interesting. And so is this, from columnist Fred Grimm, writing in today’s Miami Herald:
A decade ago, Broward County Commissioner Scott Cowan tried to explain away political contributions going to hire relatives for mysterious jobs or to pay for repairs to the family car. His ledger sheet included a number of inexplicable purchases. As if he was using his campaign fund as his personal bank account.
“When looking back on how I handled expenditures . . . it certainly wasn’t the best judgment,” Cowan said, as revelations about his inappropriate spending habits became public. “Everything was legal. But it was poor judgment.”
… Everything was not legal. Cowan’s poor judgment translated into criminal charges. He pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors and served 125 days in jail. His wrecked political career should have sobered other ambitious politicians with a penchant for inscrutable expenditures or hiring relatives to perform amorphous duties.
Well guess who Marco Rubio is blaming for his free spending with a donor-funded party credit card, and for payments to his teenaged relatives (and his wife) for “courier” and other services out of campaign committee money? Read more
Healthcare CBO score released with good news for Dems
From the New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn:
Democrats in the administration and Congress have agreed on a set of amendments to the Senate health care bill. And, according to House leadership, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is certifying that the amendments will reduce the deficit. That should fulfill the parliamentary requirements of the reconciliation process, satisfy the demands of many nervous Democrats, and clear the way for the House to vote on health care reform. Read more
Herald article today: my answer to Uncle Luke
It’s District 5 day for me today. My Herald column focuses on the very little the district has seen go right over the last few decades, and answers this column by Luther Campbell in the Miami New Times: Read more
Morning clicks: orange is the new bank, Stupak vs the nuns, Charlie advises Kendrick
If it’s Thursday, it must be time for an orange alert! John “moneybags” Boehner had some sage advice for his banker friends when he spoke before an enthusiastic crowd at an American Bankers Association “government relations” (that’s lobbying to you) summit: “don’t let those little punk staffers take advantage of you and stand up for yourselves.” Yeah, bankers, fight the power! Boehner plans to try and stall Wall Street reform in the House for at least a year.
Well that went well … President Obama finally appeared on one of Fox’s “news” programs … and a hockey game broke out.
Meanwhile, back in the sunshine state, Charlie Crist has some advice for Kendrick Meek that he’s offering purely for effect since he knows Meek won’t take it, and really what’s the point? He’s urging the Miami Democrat to vote against the healthcare bill (as if). He even wrote Kendrick a letter about it! Well, at least it makes Charlie sound more “Republican,” meaning devoid of policy solutions but loyal to the “party of no” strategy, which should please, well … no one who hates Charlie Crist. Good work!
The vote in question will probably happen Sunday, after the 72 hour waiting period Speaker Pelosi has called for following release of the bill’s CBO score. Read more
Shameless: Republicans’ self-executing hypocrisy rule
Norm Ornstein says it all:
… I can’t recall a level of feigned indignation nearly as great as what we are seeing now from congressional Republicans and their acolytes at the Wall Street Journal, and on blogs, talk radio, and cable news. It reached a ridiculous level of misinformation and disinformation over the use of reconciliation, and now threatens to top that level over the projected use of a self-executing rule by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Read more
Alex Sink’s got a business plan for Florida … Bill McCollum: not so much
In the Florida race: ideology vs. substance
In his never-ending quest to become the worst political candidate in Florida history, Bill McCollum continues to ignore a pivotal issue in the up-coming governor’s race: Florida. I mean he literally has nothing to say about Florida, the state he presumably wants to govern. You get the feeling he’d rather be back in Washington, co-sponsoring legislation that let’s Wall Street destroy the country and voting himself taxpayer-funded pay raises so that he doesn’t have to “sacrifice the lifestyle to which he has become accustomed,” rather than rambling around the governor’s mansion, doing boring stuff like figuring out how to dig Florida out of the ditch his party has driven the state into. It’s almost as if McCollum isn’t really running for the job he truly wants …
Meanwhile, on the other side of the ledger … Alex Sink has released her business plan for the state. Personally, I’m a big fan of the b-plan idea for governing. It has worked wonderfully for my favorite mayor, Shirley Gibson of Miami Gardens, and helped that city get on track fast (it still has issues, but is doing a damn site better than much older cities and areas with similar issues and demographics.) And releasing a business plan emphasizes what voters will probably like most about Sink: that she is a smart, pragmatic businesswoman who can finally turn around Florida’s faltering economy and 11.9 percent unemployment (while not emphasizing what they will probably like least: that the business she used to be in was banking.) Overall, gotta give Team Sink an A on this one. Shows she and they are on the ball, and focused on the topics that are most on everyone’s mind: jobs and the economy. As for Bill Keep bleating on about that healthcare bill you no longer have anything to do with because you’re not a friggin member of Congress anymore. Knock yourself out. It’s very becoming, in an irrelevant sort of way. Read more
Is Kendrick Meek running to be … Joe Lieberman?
Kendrick Meek is definitely running to the right, perhaps protecting himself from a general election attempt to paint him as a pinko lefty. And Florida has a large Jewish population, particularly in crucial South Florida, that needs catering to. Maybe that’s why the Meek camp issued this pretty striking statement today that echoes other Democrats who have been (in generally milder terms) taking on the White House for rebuking Israel over settlements, but seems to take it up a notch, AIPAC-style:
“What started off as an internal, domestic disagreement within the Israeli government has turned into an unnecessary international dispute complicated by some undiplomatic language from U.S. administration officials. Opponents of peace, nations and terrorist organizations that wish to do harm to Israel will always seize an opportunity to create a wedge between our nation and Israel. They seek comfort watching these recent events unfold. To give our enemies the false impression that the United States and Israel disagree on fundamental issues within the region sets the peace process back. I urge restraint and a resumption of talks that result in a lasting peace that ensures Israel’s security,” said Meek.
Meek’s statement is strange for a number of reasons. First off, seems to take a harder line than almost any other Democrat who has spoken out on the issue, and most of them are Jewish. Besides Meek, no Democrat has called the dispute “unnecessary,” all have at least acknowledged that Israel deserved criticism for announcing new settlements on the day of the vice president’s visit, (something even Israelis have blasted their government over) and most of the critics have sniped at the administration mostly for its tone, and not the substance. Meanwhile, the two most notable people who are talking up terrorists and enemies seeking “comfort” from the stated position of the President of the United Sates, his Vice President, his Secretary of State, and the senior Democratic leadership in both the House and Senate, not to mention the United Nations, are Sarah Palin and Joe Lieberman. Read more
Getting to ‘yes’: Dennis Kucinich will vote for healthcare reform
One by one, the “kill the bill” Democrats (myself included) have walked back from the precipice, deciding that dumping the president this early in his term would take the party down in a giant, ugly cataclysm of electoral failure, leaving Republicans free to take over Washington, repeal Medicare, privatize Social Security, impeach Barack Obama (they’ll come up with the crime later), reinstate torture, and maybe even invade Iran. Well, ok maybe it’s not that dire (yet) but anti-mandate liberals are definitely walking back, including Howard Dean, Keith Olbermann, Markos Moulitsas and now, Dennis Kucinich, who announced this morning that indeed he will vote for the reconciliation bill, even without the public option. Watch:
…to which the ever-mannerly Obama says, “thank you.” This is an important move for Kucinich, who takes a potential primary issue off the table (clearly, he didn’t have the stomach to become the Ralph Nader of helathcare.) And it gets Mother Nancy one step closer to 216, and maybe more, since Kucinich’s switch will provide cover for other liberal House members who might have held out for the public option. FDL’s whip count has it razor close, but a go if no other Dems switch to “no.”
UPDATE: Jane Hamsher of FDL is not amused, and reports that Kucinich will return money raised for Democrats including him who pledged to vote against any bill without a public option.
UPDATE 2: Kucinich’s flip-flop may have also gotten him off MoveOn’s target list.
Connect
Book deals
Links
Finalist: Best Liberal Blog
Poll
Loading ...
