Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–Rand Paul was on ABC’s “Good Morning America” this morning to run a bit of damage control. It was kind of brutal. He standoffishly dodged the civil rights questions before shifting to a defense of BP and a critique of the minimum wage. Again, the merits of his small government philosophy …
Jonathan Cohn may be the smartest, most well-sourced health care writer in the country. When I was first assigned to the health care beat in early 2009, his book Sick was among my required reading.
Today, he unveils the first in a series of five pieces that explain how the White House and congressional Democrats passed health care …
Britain has a new Prime Minister, Conservative David Cameron, and it may be years until the Labour Party gains back power, but that doesn’t make the struggle to replace Gordon Brown at its helm any less interesting, especially when that struggle is between two brothers: David and Ed Miliband. TIME’s London Bureau Chief Catherine Mayer …
Official White House Photo by Pete Souza
–So health care is done for now. Congress is running off on recess and President Obama is headed to Camp David for the weekend. Everyone could probably use a rest.
–Majority Leader Reid, caught up in the moment, accidentally voted “no” on health care (again) yesterday before …
From our White House Photo Blog:
Official White House photo by Pete Souza
–The day Democrats’ health care legislation is due to be signed into law, Republicans are continuing to push the idea of repeal. At least 10 GOP state attorneys general are lining up legal challenges.
—Marc Ambinder writes, “the point of the lawsuits isn’t legal — it’s political. It …
–Robert Gibbs insists today’s health care summit won’t be “kabuki theater.” Biden goes off message and says it might.
–Mike Allen has an excerpt of Pelosi’s opening remarks.
–Mark Blumenthal reminds us that not too many people actually watch these things.
–It looks like Michael Bennet’s public option letter may have panned …
Kristen Gillibrand may not have been their first choice to fill Hillary Clinton’s New York Senate seat (ahem, Caroline Kennedy) but the White House is sticking by her after former five-term Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford told the New York Post exclusively (note the interesting choice of Gotham publications for a Democrat):
It’s true: I am
…
Last week I wrote about the impulse of federal department heads to cover their, um, backsides when something goes wrong. I also noted that this impulse often has poor results. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano tried to see the silver lining in the botched Christmas Day attack–saying that “the system worked”–only to put …
Former President Bill Clinton was the guest at the Senate Democrats’ weekly policy lunch. The subject: health care. Taking responsibility for the collapse of his attempt to pass health care reform in 1994, Clinton urged the caucus not to waste this opportunity. “I do think it’s good politics to pass this and pass it as soon as you …
Jay Newton-Small is preparing a fuller account, but you can hear the audio of his Q and A with reporters here:
(Our audio wizard Caitlin Thompson thinks we should award bonus points to the first Swampland commenter who can identify Hillary’s ringtone on his cell phone.)
UPDATE: Here’s a clip that zeroes in on that mystery ringtone:
I found this one on the White House Flickr page:
