1. Senate privately pledges to House leadership to pass conference agreements as reconciliation amendments -- plus either a Medicare buy-in or the public option. 2. House passes the Senate bill...
Author - Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
Feist - "I Feel It All"
Winter Fundraiser Day Four
Good day, and welcome to day four! Our Winter Fundraiser continues to crank along. Your contributions are crucial for helping to keep this blog fueled with plenty of digital blogotubing technology...
One Party Under Fear
If you were to ask me right now whether healthcare reform will actually pass, I would probably say, "Don't ask." Because to even entertain the notion that it won't pass is too awful to fully...
Who's With the Corporations?
Of course the Republicans are. Because they're all about populism, right? Not only are the Republicans against taxing the banks to recover the TARP funds, but they're also against re-regulating Wall...
Killing the Bill
Speaker Pelosi doesn't have the votes for the Senate bill. "I don't see the votes for it at this time," Pelosi said. "The members have been very clear in our caucus about the fact that they didn't...
Supreme Court Overturns Campaign Finance Laws
The Court decided in favor of Citizens United in a 5-4 decision. This is awful, awful news. From what I've heard, there will still be donation limitations, but corporations will be able to spend...
Is There Life on Mars?
Reading through the comments under my latest Huffington Post column, there are obviously a lot of progressives who have been convinced that killing the healthcare reform bill is an excellent idea...
Morning Awesome
David Bowie - "Life on Mars"
Winter Fundraiser Day Three
Here we go again! We're resuming the big Winter Fundraiser after postponing it in lieu of donating to the Haitian earthquake rescue. As always, your donations help to keep this site pumped full of...
New Huffington Post Column
The Democrats Need to Find Some Spine and Pass This Bill Enjoy, Digg and Twitter often!
Flashback to 1998
Benen rewinds to the Republicans in 1998: * In 1998, voters were unimpressed, to put it mildly, with the Republican crusade against Bill Clinton. In the midterms, voters sent a message -- in a...
Quote of the Day
“Scott Brown Wins Mass. Race, Giving GOP 41-59 Majority in the Senate” —Village Voice headline
Find Your Spines, Democrats
Jon Cohn wrote a must-read open letter to freaked out Democrats this morning. Mainly, pass healthcare reform then kick some ass selling it to voters. You can do a lot with these ideas on the campaign...
Wingnuts Win. Flawless Victory.
Erroll Southers -- an abundantly qualified nominee to take over the TSA -- has withdrawn his nomination. Another ridiculous victory for Jim DeMint and the wingnuttery. See how this works? Block a...
The Only Solution for 59 Votes
I don't know if the House will pass the Senate bill as-is. The entirety of the bill can't be passed via reconciliation (and what does get passed will be temporary and shoddy). They can finalize the...
Morning Awesome
Wolf Parade - "Modern World"
Healthcare and Massachusetts
Doesn't anyone anywhere have any solid proof that Scott Brown's impending victory has anything whatsoever to do with the healthcare reform bill? Once again, like Virginia, this is all about an...
The Stock Market Healthcare Myth Revisited
Remember when kill-billers and concern trolls like Joe Scarborough were pointing to health insurance stocks reaching a 52-month high as soon as Ben Nelson pledged to vote for the Senate bill? This...
Worst Persons
The Morning Joe panel for this: Donny Deutsch got the ball rolling, suggesting that voters may be "going back to basics" after electing an African-American president and seeing "the female candidates...