At a press conference today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared the public option dead. Here’s what she said: I’m quite sad that a public option isn’t in there. But it isn’t a case of it’s not in there because the Senate is whipping against it. It’s not in there because they don’t have the votes [...]
The Associated Press is reporting that Democratic leaders have given up trying to work out a deal with Bart Stupak (and the Catholic bishops) regarding abortion restrictions in health reform legislation. That’s probably a good idea for a couple of reasons: 1) there’s no way to deal with abortion in reconciliation and GOP Senators now [...]
Okay, call it more of the same. But this story by David Hilzenrath (page A4 of the Washington Post) is an important reminder that it’s ugly out there, even for those of us lucky enough to have the very best coverage:
There has been a lot of intrigue on the Hill today about what’s happening in the health reform saga. For those of you dozing off, perk up. Next week is shaping up to be a big one. * Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid officially informed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, via letter, that Senate Democrats [...]
Then again, there’s this from one of today’s White House pool reports: Subject: WH print pool 4 Left hotel at 11:58 am. Unidentified woman in the crowd appeared to be trying to join the pool after the speech but was stopped by agents posted at the hotel. Arrived at WH at 12:07 pm after uneventful [...]
Taking a page from Nancy Pelosi’s own playbook, House Republican leaders today introduced a privileged resolution demanding that the Ethics Committee investigate what the Democratic leaders knew about former Rep. Eric Massa’s alleged groping of males interns and staff and when they found out. The resolution was almost identically worded to the one Pelosi introduced [...]
The latest from me.
This one leaves me speechless: COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — When Juanita Goggins became the first black woman elected to the South Carolina Legislature in 1974, she was hailed as a trailblazer and twice visited the president at the White House. Three decades later, she froze to death at age 75, a solitary figure living in [...]
I bet John Hughes could have made a great movie out of this. From the ACLU summary of the case: The ACLU wants Itawamba County School District officials in Fulton, Mississippi to reverse their decision to forbid a lesbian student from attending prom with her girlfriend and from wearing a tuxedo to the prom. Constance [...]
