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25 Jan 2010 09:49

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Politics: A watered-down health care bill might actually be a good thing

  • To those who argue that piecemeal health care reform is worse than no health care reform, I have five words: the 1957 Civil Rights Act.
  • Slate columnist Fred Kaplan • Regarding another piece of legislation that was watered down to nothingness. It’s forgotten about now, but the legislation was the small push that led to much larger gains for the Civil Rights movement, and later much tougher legislation. It was testy at the time, too – Strom Thurmond filibustered the bill for an entire day, by himself – but the legislation led to big gains in the end. “The 1957 Civil Rights Act was a preposterously small hinge that helped swing open a very wide gate,” Kaplan notes. “It’s not out of the question that a pared-down health care bill might do the same.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

25 Jan 2010 09:11

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Politics: Everything that needs to be said about Obama right now

  • “I’m gonna try nothin’ to see if I get somethin’.” After a frustrating year, you just have to imagine President Obama is at his wit’s end – and this clip imagines how he would handle it if he let his veneer crack just one iota. It’s spot-on.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2010 22:56

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Politics: Max Headroom: The Democrats look like a deflated balloon. Why?

  • Nice hair, Robbie Robert Gibbs took to “Fox News Sunday” to deflect the Scott Brown thingy for Obama, but really, all we could focus on was the mini-pompadour in his hair. Is he gunning to be Conan’s replacement or something?

  • “Like a thunderbolt”Among other topics that CBS’ “Face The Nation” tackled was the campaign finance ruling in the Supreme Court on Thursday. Their take? The Scott Brown victory (and this decision) came just in time for the GOP to capitalize.

  • Where’s the backbone? Rachel Maddow makes a pretty good slam on what she sees as Democratic wimpiness – taking Erroll Southers out of the TSA nomination, going limp after Scott Brown’s win – with a good point: The Dems are still in power.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jan 2010 11:09

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Politics: Tea Party conflict: How debate over candidates can help the left

  • The fact of the matter is that Robert Hurt is the establishment candidate, and it appears that the GOP is doing everything it can to make sure he is the nominee. That’s causing a whole lot of bad blood right now between some of the Tea Party people.
  • Charlottesville, Va.-based Jefferson Area Tea Party leader Bill Hay • Regarding a House race in his Virginia district which is something of a bellwether to larger problems facing the Republican party. Despite the unpopularity of Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello in his district, tea partiers are pushing for a more conservative candidate than the Republican Party, and it’s leading to difficulty in staying on message. Yo, tea partiers: Your push for conservative candidates is noble, but unrealistic. You’re going to hurt yourselves in November if you push away moderates. For every Scott Brown, there will be a Bill Owens. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jan 2010 10:39

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Politics: Careful who you call a tea partier: You might anger the natives

  • They thought the platform was going to tie into what we were after, that we would be one big happy family.
  • Northern Colorado Tea Party leader Lesley Hollywood • Regarding frustration her group – and other Colorado tea party groups – has felt after Colorado Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis was labeled as “the tea-party candidate” on Fox News last month. It led to a firestorm of controversy mainly because the groups had felt slighted by McInnis when dealing with him before. It required him to do a lot of apologizing and laying some groundwork to patch things up. It’s kind of the Catch-22 the Republicans are stuck dealing with – there’s a wave of conservatism, but it’s a very cliquey wave. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Jan 2010 10:04

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Politics: Obama sounds pissed off about that Supreme Court decision

  • The last thing we need to do is hand more influence to the lobbyists in Washington, or more power to the special interests to tip the outcome of elections.
  • President Barack Obama • In his weekly radio address, where he assailed the recent Supreme Court decision on campaign financing. Obama himself made a stronger pledge for transparency and pointed out that his administration has made strides to run a clean ship. He also pledges that “it will be a priority for us until we repair the damage that has been done.” In other words, the Supreme Court totally failed. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Jan 2010 16:46

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Politics: Will Ben Bernanke get reconfirmed in the Senate? Neither party knows

  • There is bipartisan support and there’s bipartisan opposition. But you need 60.
  • Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s spokesman, Don Stewart • Regarding whether or not Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will have the 60 votes needed in the Senate to get himself a second term. Finding trouble reaching that mark in his own party, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reached out to McConnell’s people to see if they could find 60 votes between the two of them. Considering how vitriolic things have been between the two parties of late, it’s interesting that they’re working together on anything. Neither McConnell nor Reid will commit to supporting Bernanke themselves. Bad sign. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

22 Jan 2010 11:28

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Politics: Air America Radio: It flopped, but it did so with silver lining

  • In the end, Rush is still standing. Almost six years after the launch of Air America, the critical mass of political talk radio listeners still resides on the right.
  • New York Daily News columnist David Hinckley • Regarding the failure of Air America’s left-leaning radio network, which filed for bankruptcy and is about to close. His main arguments in the matter? He notes that the company never had the right personalities for radio, its network was weak compared to other talk-radio outlets, and the model was designed around the ideology rather than the players. But it’s not without silver lining: Al Franken successfully transitioned from comedian to senator, and Rachel Maddow is a huge hit for MSNBC. But in the end, it just couldn’t compete with Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Jan 2010 09:01

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Politics: Duh: John Edwards the father of Rielle Hunter’s freaking daughter

  • Scumbag. In a completion to one of the most spectacular falls in American history, John Edwards admitted that he’s the daddy of Frances Quinn Hunter, the baby girl born to another mother in the midst of his 2008 presidential campaign. The girl was born during an affair Edwards had with Rielle Hunter, while his wife Elizabeth was in the midst of a relapse from breast cancer. In case you need to catch up to this unbelievably saucy story, here’s a great place to start. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Jan 2010 21:19

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Politics: So, post-Scott Brown, what does Obama do next, anyway?

  • I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements in the package that people agree on.
  • President Barack Obama • Regarding his signature health care bill, which got screwed up by Scott Brown winning the Senate race yesterday. It’s perhaps the largest failure of his presidency so far, but one with a silver lining. Now Obama has an opportunity to push for that bipartisan congress that never really happened. Or maybe the Republicans can just stonewall some more. It’s worth noting a couple of things: The fact that Obama plans to wait until Brown takes office to tackle health care is smart. And, as Andrew Sullivan notes (amazingly), he could totally use this as an opportunity to turn the tables during his State of the Union address next week. We want to see him do that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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