Archive for November, 2009
We Are Ruled By Total Morons
“A Senate Democratic Chief of Staff” writes in to TPM: So, what we might end up with is a Senate Democratic Caucus that holds 98% of its members but still fails to pass healthcare reform,1 AND a mob of angry progressives who are screaming for the heads of “the Democrats.”2 This isn’t fair,3 but more [...]
Significant Omission?
Chris Buttars, Republican, is an elected member of the Utah State Senate. This is how he defended to the press his opposition to allowing same-sex couples to adopt children: I meet with the gays here and there. They were in my house two weeks ago. I don’t mind gays. But I don’t want ‘em stuffing [...]
Flip-Flops That Defy Explanation
Back in 2008, when John McCain was running for President, he managed to set the all-time record for flip-flopping on previously held positions. He flip-flopped on absolutely everything under the sun. Steve Benen’s Official McCain Flip-Flops list had him at 76 significant flip-flops by October 2008. It was the most abject and craven performance ever [...]
Official No Homo
Give in on same-sex benefits, judge orders feds – San Francisco Chronicle (11/19/09): The chief federal appeals court judge in San Francisco bluntly ordered the Obama administration Thursday to stop resisting his finding that the wife of a lesbian court employee was entitled to government insurance coverage. The federal agency that oversees benefits for government [...]
Depends On The Definition Of Coup
Roll Call reports that our Harry has scored a major political victory: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday afternoon set the procedural wheels in motion for a crucial vote on a major health care reform bill Saturday night at 8 p.m. and scored a coup by apparently persuading Republicans to abandon their plans [...]
Obstructionism Incarnate
Here’s how the party of no effing way plans to implement its healthcare reform obstruction strategy of “delay, define and derail” right at the very start of the Senate debate on the bill: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) says he will make sure the entire healthcare bill is read out loud on the Senate floor before [...]
The Jump-Down Turn-Around Un-concession Blues
Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate in the special congressional election in New York’s 23rd district, obviously decided a few days ago that he hadn’t yet made a complete fool of himself. So he seems to have started taking the necessary steps to do so. Make a complete fool of himself, that is. On election [...]
Drug Deal Gone Bad?
Remember the drug industry’s secret deal with the Obama administration to support healthcare reform “by shaving $8 billion a year off the nation’s drug costs after the legislation takes effect”? It’s funny how that seems to be working out. First, a bit of background. When George Bush introduced Medicare Part D in 2006, drug companies [...]
Payback is a Bitch
Paterson Doesn’t Want 9/11 Suspects Tried In NYC – TPM Live Wire (11/16/09): New York Gov. David Paterson said today he doesn’t agree with the Obama administration’s decision to try five 9/11 suspects, including self-proclaimed mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, in New York City, partially because New Yorkers are “having trouble getting over” the attacks. “This [...]
Holder Will Still Hold Two Dozen Guantanamo Detainees Indefinitely Without Charge
Attorney General Eric Holder‘s announcement last Friday that Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four co-defendants will be tried in civilian courts in New York City produced the predictable barrage of fulminations from Republicans (about how the sky will absolutely fall on our heads). But what has attracted next to no comment is just how few of [...]