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As I pick up the pace of work again, coming into the midterms, I have to get some stories cleared off the desk in order to make room for some others, and that's what we're about today.
We'll be talking about saving more than 300,000 of this country's most important jobs, and paying for it in a way that is not only good policy, but is a real problem for Republicans who are yelling "no new taxes!" once again while pretending they care about actually paying for actual spending and actually want to cut actual unemployment.
We have a bit of work to do today, but we want to keep it somewhat short...so let's get going.
After speaking with a human, I was connected to a very long prerecorded inflammatory diatribe from Wayne LaPierre, the gist of which was "they're trying to get our guns away from us, even if they say they aren't", followed by a one-question "poll" (actual human) asking whether I thought President Obama and Speaker Pelosi were protecting my second amendment rights.
Opponents of health care reform have been using the derisive term ObamaCare to describe the reform debate in an effort to sink our president. The president, to his credit, with his back to the wall (and with us behind him!)stood and went toe-to-toe for the past month, fighting for something that he believed in. In hindsight, his instincts and political acumen appear to be brilliant.
But I want to talk about, quite possibly, the most progressive and strongest Speaker of the House we've ever had. Madame Speaker held the House of Cards together after the Brown debacle, faced down Rahmbo, whipped members running for the hills, and nudged an already shifting young president toward this historic measure.
A month or two ago, CSP took some heat for joking that women run this world...she was right, and it's about time someone said it. Pelosi showed leadership on this issue that would have made most leaders crumble from the pressure. I can't think of a single person who might have had the personal courage and political chops to pull this off.
She's not the run of the mill grandmother - she won't get a lot of credit for this in the history books, but this bill is hers as much as it is anyone else.
Reid's letter to McConnell is a thing of rare and exquisite beauty, or as my father-in-law is fond of telling me, Go f&^k yourself. (I don't know why, but people tell me it's my shining and agreeable personality that pisses him off.) It is often said that civility is the art of telling someone to go f%^k themselves and have that someone think it's probably a good idea. That's my brand of civility, and as I've said before, we should start worrying about building bridges when the other side stops shelling us.
My favorite passage from Reid, in his conclusion: "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."
Relatedly, good news from the NY Times, via Mark Kleiman, on student loans. Eliminating the middle men, raising Pell Grant amounts, and softening payback. Awesome. It's starting to look like Dems are flexing legislative muscle...can we hope?
I know this may sound mean and ungenerous, but I think it merits being said. Given the fact that the current federal GOP is a rural, southern-led right wing party, should anyone be surprised that they are fighting hammer and tongs against the agenda of the first African-American president? Doesn't the evidence of the last 40 years point exactly in that direction?
And should we surprised that a party that holds some pretty anti-woman policies - against pay equity, against reproductive health generally in the name of reducing abortions, defunding the 3 decades old Women's Equity Education act- as part and parcel of their domestic policy 'family values' agenda should demonize the first female Speaker of the House and the highest-ranking woman ever to serve in the federal government?
Aren't these the things they run on? Aren't they what their constituents want?
A real catch by Alaskan blogger Andrew Halcro. This blog nails Palin on the whole "Bridge to Nowhere" flip-flop. But there is a gem nestled in the linked Charlie Rose interview. (which I linked separately)
The real politics of the Bridge to Nowhere....
With all the debate surrounding the Bridge to Nowhere earmark, I offer you a campaign photo from 2006 when the Bridge to Nowhere was considered the Bridge to Somewhere by one candidate seeking votes from the people of Ketchikan.
"Palin said Alaska's congressional delegation worked hard to obtain funding for the bridge as part of a package deal and that she 'would not stand in the way of the progress toward that bridge." Ketchikan Daily News 9/2006
A year later she abruptly cancelled the funding.
-snip
