As always, Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post cartoonist Tom Toles nails it brilliantly:
Republican Party
Obama Asks for “Up or Down Vote”
Today’s speech by President Obama was not the first in which he’s urged passage of comprehensive health care reform, but he’s hoping it will be his last. We’ll see.
Flanked by health care workers and wearing a bipartisan purple tie – a rarity for him – President Obama delivered remarks that carried a theme of finality. …
CPAC’s Youngsters
CPAC this year is younger than ever and, as Katy Steinmetz and I discovered, young = party!
A Small Victory For the DSCC
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has not gotten a lot of good press recently. The stinging loss of Ted Kennedy’s seat to Scott Brown, the failure to recruit promising prospects such as Beau Biden and the spate of high-profile retirements from the upper chamber have all taken a toll on the group’s image. The legacy of Chuck …
Re: Could the Public Option Get a Third Lease on Life?
The plot thickens. Greg Sargent catches that Chuck Schumer just signed on to the push for Senate Democrats to pass a public option via reconciliation. (See my earlier very skeptical post on this topic in which I agreed with Sargent that Schumer’s support for the idea is meaningful.)
And the AP is reporting that the White House will …
Could the Public Option Get a Third Lease on Life?
I’m not a fan of making health reform-related predictions – especially after the Scott Brown election – so I won’t say No. But I am comfortable saying that it’s EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY unlikely.
But hey, you can’t blame public option devotees for trying. Sixteen Democratic senators and 119 House Democrats have now signed freshman …
Political Theater or Substantive Debate or Both?
As Karen just noted, in an interview with Katie Couric that aired just before the Superbowl, President Obama called for another bipartisan meeting on health care. After being pummeled by accusations of back-room deals and sharp partisanship, Obama said he would convene a half-day meeting where Republicans and Democrats would be able to …
Could Dems Lose the Senate?
Sure, it’s improbable, but — as Charlie Cook points out in my new time.com story out this morning — it’s now mathematically possible. After all, virtually no one predicted the Dems could win back the Senate in February 2006. On the bright side, I bet Russ Feingold breathed a sigh of relief yesterday when Tommy Thompson joined a hedge …
So is Health Care Reform Dead or Just in a Democratically Induced Coma?
Despite Scott Brown’s victory, there’s still a lot of debate over the fate of health care reform around Washington and in living rooms across America. (There’s even some debate here at Swampland.) Every day we try to read the signs and report back how things are looking. Should supporters feel hopeful? Are Democrats just plotting their …
In the ArenaUncategorized
More Historicity
After last night’s venture into Walter Russell Mead’s four American foreign policy traditions (Jefferson, Jackson, Wilson and Hamilton), we have Chuck Lane plumbing another foursome today: the four American political traditions that the brilliant historian David Hackett Fischer–I mean, you really have to read this guy; it’s both deeply …
Bob McDonnell – Guinea Pig?
Voting has begun in Virginia and Democrat Creigh Deeds enters today a severe underdog – trailing by 13.4 percentage points, according to the latest realclearpolitics average of Virginia polls.
While much has been made of the GOP divisions in the NY23rd race, Virginia is shaping up to be their best hope for a recipe for success. …
In the ArenaUncategorized
He’s Cratering! Oh wait…Never mind.
Pete Wehner, like many over at the Commentary blog, suffer from Obama Failure Tourette’s Syndrome…every few hours, like clockwork, they jump up and shout, “He’s Failing! It’s falling apart! He’s cratering!”
Grassley: The One Who Got Away
If there had ever been any hope for real GOP support for President Obama’s health care plan, it came in the form of Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who has been negotiating behind the scenes for months with his good friend Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus. But was getting Grassley on board ever a realistic proposition? And what does …