The White House is saying this afternoon that unanimity among Senate Democrats is not the standard that should be applied to his jobs bill. This is in advance of a vote tonight in the Senate on the bill. Republicans plan to filibuster the bill. So it is a certainty that the bill will not pass because it cannot get 60 votes. The question is whether it could even get 50 votes, which of course comes down to whether the President and Harry Reid can get the support of every or almost every Senate Dem.
The news peg is that the White House is going to go along with breaking the bill into chunks and voting on them individually rather than doing it in one big bill. And that’s supposed to be the White Flag getting run up the flag pole. Read More
White House: Unanimous Dem support not the right standard for jobs bill.
Playing off of the “We are the 99%” slogan, right-wingers have started a contending “We are the 53%” — of people who pay income tax vs the loafers and slackers who don’t.
Steny Hoyer (D-MD) on this evening’s Senate vote on the jobs bill: “I think you’re correct that if we can’t get 51 Democrats to vote for it, it will clearly be argued by Republicans and construed by all of you as undermining the President’s message.”
As I said below, there’s value in Senate Democrats remaining united on the jobs bill today because it gives them a clear message. But as Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg points out, voting for the President’s plan is good politics for individual fence-sitting Dems, too. A good point.
Occupy DC protestors plan on shutting down the Hart Senate Office building at 11:30 AM this morning, which is to say, right about now.
Last night I asked you: what’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done. And I kicked it off by sharing with you one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done (almost blowing up a gas station when I was in High School.) And now here are some of your responses.
In this edition TPM Reader RB learned how not to take off your sweater while riding your bike on a busy street in San Francisco … Read More
Last night I asked you: what’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done. And I kicked it off by sharing with you one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done (almost blowing up a gas station when I was in High School.) And now here are some of your responses.
We’re starting with TPM Reader SM describing how she ended up licking the cord on her MacBook to make it work better. Read More
If you missed Ezra Klein’s piece over the weekend recounting the Obama Administration’s early responses to the financial crisis and resultant economic collapse, give it a read.
It’s an important marker as the history of that pivotal time in late 2008 and early 2009 begins to be written.