Health Care

Morning Must Reads: Show Time

By Adam Sorensen | @adamsorensen | March 11, 2010 | +

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

–Vice President Biden gave a speech at Tel Aviv University today, a tricky balancing act after Israel’s settlement snub. Laura Rozen highlights five takeaways.

–Former Bush aide Dan Senor is being encouraged to take a run at Gillibrand’s Senate seat in New York, and he’s “seriously considering” it. Of course, so were Mort Zuckerman, Harlord Ford and Peter King.

–Continuing our health care analogies and abstractions, Jonathan Chait imagines the vote as poker — Democrats may be so risk averse they can be bluffed off a strong hand.

–Greg Sargent gets a look at the NRCC “Code Red” ads reportedly going up in wavering Dems’ districts. From the script: “Is ________’s political career on life support?” Exclusive video of the Democratic response here.

–Meanwhile, the AP has an update on the state of negotiations on the Hill. Speaker Pelosi sounded optimistic after a closed-door session Wednesday night, and the anti-abortion bloc does not appear to be posing as much of a threat as some surmised. Stupak ally Rep. Kildee says he’s fine with the Senate language. The CBO score of the latest changes is expected soon; then it’s show time.

–Obama has scheduled another health care rally, this time in Ohio. More than just trying to move the needle of public opinion, I think these events serve to show Democrats in purple states such as Missouri, Pennsylvania, etc. that health care can still fire up a crowd and that an Obama appearance is worth a lot come midterm campaign time. In other words, reassure vulnerable House Dems a “yes” vote isn’t a political liability.

–Republican Scott Walker is up with his first ad in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial contest. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes he doesn’t actually say he’s running for anything.

–And  finally, the Obamas are hosting a screening of the HBO mini-series “The Pacific” tonight, with producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg in attendance. As you can see, the White House movie theater makes for interesting photographs.

What did I miss?

Related Topics: Congress, Democratic Party, Health Care

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  • kevin

    The Chait piece is great, but I’m not sure it fits the framing you give it here. He seems to think it’s unlikely that the Democrats will fall for such an obvious bluff, but as we all know, they do often seem intent on snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
    .
    I’d never seen Edsall’s original piece on this. Seems to go against the comparison we had about Obama and McCain during the campaign, with McCain’s penchant for craps showing he was a high risk-taker and Obama’s poker playing showing that he was someone who coolly calculated the odds.
    .
    I play a lot of poker, and trust me, bluffing is an important skill, but it’s a move you’ve got to use sparingly. The Republicans have been bluffing big on a lot of pots now, and they’ve been called enough times to show it’s all bluster and no game. That should make them easy money at the table.

  • kevin

    The most accurate description of poker, I think, is that it’s hours of boredom punctuating by moments of terror. Sounds like the endless HCR debate to me.

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    That picture looks like it belongs in the “thousand words” article.

    (Not wanting to answer more antagonizing questions about HCR, the white house and staff are disguising themselves as science fiction fans from the 1950s).

  • deconstructiva

    Too bad that photo wasn’t a 3D broadcast of Stormy Daniels’ announcement to run for Vitter’s seat.

  • afguy

    Not “science” fiction, patrick,
    .
    They’re watching the one Stephen Colbert described in one of his shows, the one about the intrepid, brave Washington reporter willing to dig for facts and take on the rich and powerful to get at the truth behind the story.

  • afguy

    Yeah, if they were watching THAT one, Michelle would be looking to her left to make sure the Prez wasn’t paying TOO close attention to Stormy’s obvious “talking points/newly-pre-existing medical conditions”.

  • grape_crush

    What did I miss?

    <a href='http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_03/022808.php' CBO scoring of the Senate healthcare bill is in.

  • sacredh

    They’re probably watching C-Span with 3-D glasses so that those two dimensional clowns look real. Watch him duck when the spittle flies.

  • grape_crush
  • Ivy_B

    Grape’s link got a little messup in translation, but this one works.

    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_03/022808.php

  • bobcn1

    ‘Exclusive video of the Democratic response here.’

    Perfect!

  • deconstructiva

    No doubt she will stay on top (of the issues) but maybe she can change positions when needed and be willing to meet in the middle.

  • afguy

    I just PRAY that she runs!
    .
    The campaign coverage has enough potential to keep every comedian (even the amateurs) going for years.
    .
    I’m reminded of the account I heard of a hooker who, after one of her “johns” “stiffed” her (sorry, had to get that one in), sued him to recover the balance in Small Claims Court.
    .
    The attempt by the lawyers for the plaintiff AND defendant to apply legal terms, precedent and principles to the proceedings had ALL concerned (including the judge, IIRC), in tears by the time it was over.

  • spob

    http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTY0N2M2MTlmNTBiN2VkYTZiM2ZjOGFjOTE5MWY0OGE=
    .
    Pelosi knew about Massa. Hmmmm. Seems that JNS’ earlier post needs to be revised.

  • square1

    Nice try, Spob. What The Corner alleges is that, last October, a Pelosi aide knew “that Massa was living with several aides, had hired too many staff members and used foul language around his staff.”
    .
    FYI, those are not allegations that would require an ethics investigation. There is no evidence that Pelosi, or the rest of the Dem leadership, knew about sexual harassment allegations (and, no, being in the presence of foul language is not the same as having your ass grabbed). In fact, the evidence is that, as soon as they became aware, they immediately kicked him under the bus and then asked the bus driver to back up and finish the job.
    .
    You are doing yeoman’s work trying to pretend that the Massa situation is comparable to the GOP’s multiple-year cover up of Mark Foley’s improper behavior with underage boys. Sadly for you, there is no fair comparison.

  • spob

    JNS’ post should be updated with this new info. And while Massa probably doesn’t rise to the level of Foley (but then again Foley didn’t rise to the level of Gerry Studds), the bottom line is that what Pelosi and her staff knew and when they knew it is an issue. Moreover, have you forgotten that Rahm knew about Foley.

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