Good news today for health care reform. William Kristol claims that Sen. Reid doesn’t have the 60 votes to get the health care reform bill through:
The much hyped (if utterly incoherent) deal that Harry Reid is touting doesn’t look as if it’s doing the trick — the trick [...]
I suppose that’s what you’d call fiddling with poll data to exaggerate the fraction of Americans who think scientists are fiddling with climate data.
Brought to you by FAUX News.
[...]It looks like a compromise of some type has been found.
It also sounds like the “public option” is sort-of gone. Instead of the federal government acting as an insurance company, there will be federal minimum coverage standards for the insurance pool. And the public option will be an [...]
Join us tonight for some heated debate over a hot beverage at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Festivities take place in the warm sanctuary of the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning about 8:00 pm. Or stop by earlier for dinner.
Wow. Via Rasmussen Reports:
In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36% of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 18%. Another 22% are undecided.
I’ve considered suggestions of Republican self destruction ultimately leading to [...]
Via HuffPo:
Did Sarah Palin leave Hawaii because there were too many Asians? In the New Yorker review of “Going Rogue,” Sam Tanenhaus writes that Palin’s father suggested as much to the reporters who wrote “Sarah From Alaska.” [...] According to him, the presence of so many Asians and Pacific [...]
Steve Benan has now compiled seven excuses from Holy Joe for opposing the public option in health care reform.
Sen. Lieberman has literally come up with an excuse each month since June, 2009. And each excuse has been debunked.
If nothing else, this suggest a series of epic failures [...]
Dr. Rachel Maddow with an academic treatise on the origins of “teabaggers”:
(There are some fifty more clips from the past week in politics at Hominid Views.)
[...]Young Turks: Epic! Billboard! Fail!.
Maddow: How the tea party movement became the teabaggers:
Jon interviews Thomas Friedman (via OneGoodMove).
ONN: Zombie Reagan raised from the grave.
Palin Around with Crazy:
Young Turks: Palin’s Birfer tendencies . Palin tries to distance herself from her own Birfer comments. Palin [...]
Today’s unemployment numbers, plotted with those from the preceding 24 months, suggests some apt labels:
I’d call that “The Bush Recession” and “The Obama Recovery.”
[...]The legislators did the right thing by dismissing most of the charges against the lovelorn Governor:
South Carolina state lawmakers voted to throw out 28 of the 37 civil charges filed by the state Ethics Commission, most of which involved Sanford’s purchase of business class tickets with taxpayer money [...]
Nope…definitely no stalling on the part of Republicans (my emphasis):
In a closed-door meeting of his caucus, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, told Democrats that Republicans were not interested in passing a bill. In effect, he prepared them for trench warfare, saying the Democrats must stick together [...]
In a concise 217 words (with plenty of linked references), Spencer Ackerman summarizes the Bush administration’s record of failure in the Afghanistan war.
It’s too short to post an excerpt, so just go read the whole thing.
[...]
Join us tonight at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally for an evening of politics under the influence. Festivities take place at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning about 8:00 pm.
The doors open at 5:00 p.m., so some of us will [...]
From Politico comes the Seven Deadly Sins Of Being Obama:
Obama is spending too much and doesn’t seem to care about it. Obama is too cool for school — too Spocklike — unable to make Clintonian emotional connections on key issues. Obama’s political team is insular and mean; Chicago-style brawlers. Obama doesn’t push [...]My family is packed with police officers. My father and his brother, now both retired, spent most of their adult years as Chicago police officers. My father’s second wife (my stepmother) did too. And one of their daughters (my half-sister) is still a Chicago cop. So I really, really hate [...]
I couldn’t easily follow Bill Clinton during his first year; I left the country to live in Bangladesh on Dec 31, 1992, and, without phone, internet, or TV for a year, I couldn’t really follow the nitty-gritty inside Washington stuff.
I was around for George Bush’s first year. He seemed [...]
Psychotalk: Rush, virgins, and those little blue pills.
GOP Purity Test:
Reagan fails the Purity Test Young Turks: Reagan and Bush fail Republican purity test. Headzup: Reagan fails the Reagan Purity Test.The belated role of the news:
Headzup: Holy Joe runs from Rachael Maddow.
Amy Goodman’s odd Canadian [...]
Via Think Progress:
Canadian comedian Mary Walsh (playing the character of Marg Delahunty) attended a Sarah Palin book signing in the United States last week and asked the “thrilla from Wasilla, the Alaskan Aphrodite” if she had “any words of encouragement for the Canadian conservatives who have worked so hard [...]
It is a special pre-Thanksgiving edition of Drinking Liberally for the Seattle chapter tonight. Festivities take place at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning about 8:00 pm. A few of us will show up earlier than that for dinner.
As you might imagine…we’ll [...]
When did liberals become such prudes? Isn’t it odd that Seattle, unquestionably a liberal city, had an 18 year moratorium on strip clubs that was only recently lifted? And that lap dance proximity became a ballot measure just a few years ago?
Now it seems some of Seattle’s priggishness has [...]
Gosh…I don’t know. The State Ethics Commission’s charges against Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) seem pretty trivial to me. It sounds like he needs to reimburse the state for the difference between first-class and cattle-class for some flights. Perhaps he had state aircraft ferrying him around for questionable functions. None [...]
Yeah…this is an old theme. Bush and friends lied and launched the U.S. into an unnecessary and very expensive war. The price for the lies and deception were paid by John McCain, a bunch of congresspersons, the American taxpayer, 4,000+ dead U.S. soldiers, 30,000 wounded U.S. soldiers, and hundreds of [...]
The Senate health care reform achieved the first of several critical milestones on the road to passage tonight: The bill achieved the 60 votes needed to move forward to debate:
At its core, the legislation would create insurance exchanges beginning in 2014 where individuals, most of them lower income [...]
(There are more clips from the past week in politics posted at Hominid Views.)
[...]Pap Attack: Teabaggers and Boomers don’t matter.
Headzup: Glenn Beck and the Nutters:
Liz on a Dick Cheney run for 2012.
Jon does VP Joe Biden (via Leftinabotie).
Once again…Bill-O the Clown doubles up as Worst Person in the World!
Teabaggers get punk’d (via HorsesAss).
Papantonio and [...]
The term seems apt for the apparent majority of Republicans who believe that ACORN stole the 2008 election for Barack Obama.
Seriously. The original poll results are here:
Q5 Do you think that Barack Obama legitimately won the Presidential election last year, or do you think that ACORN stole [...]
These FAUX News “errors”, like a couple of recent episodes of the wrong video from an old Palin event suggesting a larger crowd at a recent event, happen with such frequency now, it is becoming increasingly difficult to believe they are all accidents.
Previously, FAUX News went through a [...]
There was something distantly resembling near-courage exhibited by Senate Democrats today when they “bullied” their way to a successful cloture vote on the nomination of US District Judge David Hamilton to the Seventh US Circuit Court of Appeals—Obama’s very first judicial nomination made way back in March of this [...]
Please join us tonight for some politics under the influence at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Festivities take place at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning about 8:00 pm. Or show up early for some fine dining.
The pressing question for the [...]
The Wingnutosphere is all atwitter over Obama bowing to Japanese Emperor Akihito.
Of course Obama bowed. What the right wing wackjobs have failed to realize is that, all along, Obama was never a secret Muslim. They’ve never uncovered the truth…until now.
Obama is a secret Buddhist.
And he [...]
Jon: Men who stare at votes (via OneGoodMove).
Headzup: Fred Phelps & Westboro Baptist Church protest Obama’s kids and military funerals:
Maddow: Recap of CBS Expose’ On Rep. Buyer.
Palin Around with Crazy:
Young Turks: Sarah Palin’s idiotic coin conspiracy. Even FAUX News is fact-checking Sarah Palin [...](And there are some forty more media clips from the past week in politics at HominidViews.)
[...]Steve Benen at Political Animal gets right to the heart of inanity and hypocrisy of Republicans over abortion and health insurance (my emphasis):
As we talked about this morning, all the RNC has done here is opt out of abortion coverage for RNC employees. [...]
But more important is the [...]
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Texas Gov. Rick Perry has gone completely ape-shit crazy?
Speaking at a luncheon for a Midland County Republican Women’s group, Perry said that “this is an administration hell-bent toward taking American towards a socialist country. And we all don’t [...]
Dear Senators,
There is an important lesson to be learned from the lower house of your august body:
Democrats who thought a vote against the sweeping health care package would inoculate them from political attack are facing serious blowback from angry constituents and interest groups on the left—fierce opposition that [...]
There’s some celebratin’ to do following last week’s election. So join us tonight for some political jubilation at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally.
Festivities take place at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning about 8:00 pm. Or show up early and [...]
Today’s Tomorrow about last year.
[...]Even though the good citizens of Washington state voted last week to approve a law granting equal civil rights to same-sex couples, I was disappointed by the rather anemic margin of 52.6% to 47.44 %. On Friday, my friend Steve and I were looking up the late afternoon election [...]
Cool. President Barack Obama achieved a major victory today when the House passed a health care reform bill by 220 to 215.
As an added bonus, it is a bipartisan bill—one Republican voted in favor.
I wonder if Republican have any creeping sense of foreboding that their obstructionism will come [...]
(And there are 40 other media clips from the past week in politics posted at Hominid Views.)
[...]Young Turks: Boehner’s big boner.
Pap: The showdown in Chicago.
The Week in Health Care and Scare:
Headzup: The Republican Health Care plan. Young Turks: Rep. Grayson reads number dead with no health insurance in GOP districts. Andy Cobb is The Spokes-jerk: Shuster: Rep. Tancredo storms off set after [...]Via Politico:
House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Thursday that the day’s tea party rally outside the Capitol is a sign that a “rebellion” is occurring in the United States.
Boehner, who spoke at the rally, made the comment during an online town hall being put on by the Republican [...]
It is worth breaking the summary down into “national” to me and “local” to me. Local means interesting stuff in Washington state.
On the national front, things didn’t quite go like I expected, but not too far off. In Virginia, it has been clear for some time that McDonald (R) [...]
It’s election night! So drop off those ballots and then join us for some electoral politics under the influence at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Festivities take place at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning about 8:00 pm. Or show up [...]
A new KING-5/Survey USA poll in the Seattle Mayoral Race was released today. This race has Mike McGinn facing off against Joe Mallahan. Just last week, a Washington Poll poll had Mallahan leading McGinn by 44% to 36% with 20% undecided. The results suggested that Mallahan had an [...]
A new KING-5/Survey USA poll in the Seattle Mayoral Race was released today. This race has Mike McGinn facing off against Joe Mallahan. Just last week, a Washington Poll poll had Mallahan leading McGinn by 44% to 36% with 20% undecided. The results suggested that Mallahan had an [...]
The non-partisan King County executive race has proud Democrat Dow Constantine squaring off against bashful Republican non-partisan Susan Hutchison. Last week’s Washington Poll gave Constantine a 47% to 34% lead over Hutchison.
A new King-5/Survey USA poll released today essentially confirms last week’s findings. The poll of 614 likely [...]
The non-partisan King County executive race has proud Democrat Dow Constantine squaring off against bashful Republican non-partisan Susan Hutchison. Last week’s Washington Poll gave Constantine a 47% to 34% lead over Hutchison.
A new King-5/Survey USA poll released today essentially confirms last week’s findings. The poll of 614 likely [...]
The USA Today article seems to be trying for outrage in stating:
Nearly half of the $55.6 billion that has gone to airports in the 28-year-old Airport Improvement Program has gone to airports used exclusively or mostly by private planes. That includes $1.5 billion since 2001 for specific projects, known [...]
A few days ago, I reported on two new polls in Washington state that both suggested voters would vote down Initiative 1033, a measure that would shrink state, county and local revenues over time down to a size where you could “drown it in a bathtub” (sensu Grover [...]
My first reaction upon hearing the news that Republican Assemblywoman Dierdre Scozzafava dropped out of the race for NY-23’s special election was one of annoyance—Democrat Bill Owens would now almost certainly lose. But I thought about it while raking leaves this afternoon and changed my mind. I now think [...]
This should satisfy a frightening need for an open thread….
(And there are plenty more media clips from the past week in politics posted at Hominid Views.)
[...]Maddow: The F-22 debacle.
Young Turks: Pat Robertson want to kill with extreme prejudice.
Obama comments on Matthew Shepard/James Bryd Jr. Hate Crimes Act.
The Week in Health Care:
Billions for Wealthcare: Public Option Annie. Maddow: On the Public Option. Jon: It’s alive (via The Political Carnival). Olbermann goes after [...]Townhall wingnut media critic Greg Hengler comes off as a little indignant with the headline “MSNBC Airs Uncensored Breast Self-Exam”. It was on a mid-day medical show called, Dr. Nancy.
Oh! The humanity!
Indignation didn’t, however, prevent Mr. Hengler from embedding the offending video.
An awful lot of Townhall [...]
I have no idea what the Reverend Pat Robertson is getting at when he says:
The noose has tightened around the necks of Christians to keep them from speaking out on certain moral issues. And it all was embodied in something called the Hate crimes bill that President Obama [...]
Via The Washington Independent:
Central District of California Judge David O. Carter has dismissed Barnett et al v. Obama et al, Orly Taitz’s most successful lawsuit — that is, the one that got the furthest through the legal system — demanding proof of the president’s citizenship. The entire decision [...]
Washington state Initiative 1033 is anti-tax initiative huckster Tim Eyman’s latest attempt to starve state, county and local governments of the revenue needed to be effective. If approved by voters next week, the initiative would enact laws that would re-index government revenue caps to the worst economic years and prevent [...]
President Barack Obama has honored the war dead in a way that George W. Bush could never bring himself to do: He attend the arrival of military and governmental personal killed in Afghanistan:
The trip was a symbolic one for Mr. Obama – intended [...]
Please join us tonight for some politics under the influence at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Festivities take place at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning about 8:00 pm. Or show up earlier for some dining liberally.
And feel free to bring [...]
There were some polls released today that should be of interest for Washington state folks.
The Washington Poll released some key results for the upcoming ongoing election. Initiative 1033 and Referendum 71 were polled statewide on a sample of 724 individuals. They also polled the King County Executive race [...]
Susan Hutchison is running against Dow Constantine for King County Executive here in Washington state. One of the odd things about this race is that it is called a “non-partisan” race. That’s simply nonsense.
The Democratic candidate, Dow Constantine, is a self-avowed progressive.
Susan Hutchison? She is a closet Republican. [...]
The latest anti-government initiative, I-1033, from professional initiative huckster Tim Eyman would, if passed, cause severe damage to the state of Washington and our way of life:
Vote “NO” on I-1033. Seriously…this is very important.
[...]How odd is that. Something over a month ago, Iran announced that they were 1.5 years away from completing a uranium enrichment plant near Qom that they claimed was for producing reactor-grade nuclear fuel. Now, seemingly instantaneously, IAEA has been granted access to the facility.
But notice the inaccurate [...]
The difference between FAUX and the News explained:
(This and forty more media clips from the past week in politics can be found at Hominid Views.)
[...]Olbermann: Going Rogue versus Going Rouge.
Maddow: Federal hate crimes bill passes! (Via Crooks and Liars.)
Countdown: Richard Lewis (via Crooks and Liars).
Newsy: Feds will limit prosecution for medical pot.
Olbermann goes after Dick Cheney.
Headzup: Glenn Beck on net neutrality.
Wingding Frank Gaffney gets demolished [...]
Dick Cheney closed his big “foreign policy” speech before an audience of Wingnuts yesterday saying:
We cannot protect this country by putting politics over security, and turning the guns on our own guys.
He’s right. But he obviously learned both lessons the hard way!
Leaving aside my juvenile attack on Cheney [...]
What I reject is when some people sit on the sidelines and root for failure on health care, or they root for failure on reforming our energy system, or they root for failure on getting the Olympics. I mean, who’s against the Olympics? What’s up with that? You [...]
Jack Cafferty asks “At what point should President Obama stop blaming the Bush administration?”:
When it comes to Afghanistan, the Obama White House keeps pointing fingers at President Bush. Although the war is in its ninth year – they make it sound like things are back to square one.
What an [...]
Please join us tonight for some politics under the influence at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. Festivities take place at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning at 8:00 pm. Some of us show up early for dinner.
My first thought upon reading the headline John Ensign: I’ll stump for Harry Reid’s opponent was, “Ensign really ought to keep his stump to himself.”
I have a hunch the sentiment is bipartisan….
[...]The headline from the new WaPo–ABC poll is that the public option is gaining support. There are a few other interesting findings—here are the highlights:
A large fraction of Americans still approve of Pres. Barack Obama. He is at 57% approval and 40% disapproval this month, up from 54% [...]Notice the primary findings of an ethnographic study of “conservative Republicans” conducted by Democracy Corps:
First and foremost, these conservative Republican voters believe Obama is deliberately and ruthlessly advancing a ‘secret agenda’ to bankrupt our country and dramatically expand government control over all aspects of our daily lives.
The two fears [...]
Young Turks: Crazy woman Orly Taitz sanctioned for $20,000.
Nobel Peace Prize:
Newsy: A Nobel for Obama Current TV: Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize. Young Turks: Hannity’s odd definition of peace. Headzup: Obama wins! Sunday loon watch: Obama’s prize shame (via DailyKos). Mark Fiore: Preemptive prizes. Pap Attack: [...]Let me say a few words about my friend and valued colleague Michael Grimes.
Mike and I met as postdoctoral fellows at Penn State in the late 1990s. Shortly thereafter, we found ourselves in a friendly debate about the underlying mechanisms of postpartum amenorrhea. Yet, we found a common interest [...]
It’s good that Rush Limbaugh is out of the partnership offer, if for no other reason that, if successful, he’d hold the designation “minority owner.”
[...]
Please join us tonight for some politics under the influence at the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally. The festivities take place at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. beginning at 8:00 pm.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Not [...]
The Senate version of health care reform is on its way to the Senate floor.
Olympia Snow did good today. The rest of the Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee reaffirmed their membership in the Party of Death.
Update: Let’s call it, “One small step for health care, one giant [...]
Via Salon:
When the patron saint of the Tea Parties lets his freak flag fly, seemingly normal right-wing functionaries have been known to line up and salute. Republicans parrot Beck’s crackpot notions and pet issues routinely — sometimes running with his manias the morning after he first airs them.
The [...]
An airport called Souther Field has been renamed to Jimmy Carter Regional Airport:
An airport about 20 miles from Jimmy Carter’s hometown of Plains has been named after the 39th president despite some people opposing the change.
Souther Field Airport in Americus was renamed Jimmy Carter Regional Airport on Sunday.
The [...]
My airplane has been in the shop for a couple of weeks getting a minor overhaul of one cylinder (among other things). It was ready to fly today. After a “top end” overhaul, the engine manufacturer specifies a break-in program that involves several hours of continuous flying while sequencing through [...]
Young Turks: Sen. Franken’s first amendment.
Gibbs shows photo of Obama blocking Reggie Love’s shot (via TalkingPointsMemo).
Newsy: Another “Czar” targeted by Wingdings.
Daily Show: The recession, everywhere (via OneGoodMove).
Secretary Clinton intervenes in the feud between Conan and Mayor Booker (via TalkingPointsMemo).
