I couldn’t even get past the lede on this post without chucking: “Rod Blagojevich was the guest of honor at a Northwestern University panel on ethics in politics last night …”
But it actually gets better from there, with Blago comparing Harry Reid and Dick Durbin to Southern segregationist governors and telling a heckler, “I’ve got nothing but love in my heart for you.”
One of the truly galling Republican political maneuvers over the last 10 years is to go from squandering a huge budget surplus, racking up trillions in debt, ballooning the deficit, and leaving the next Democratic administration with an economy in shambles — then as soon as the Democrats are in charge refashioning themselves as budget hawks. You might even think they’re setting the Democrats up to fail. I know, hard to believe.
Why Republicans aren’t simply laughed off the stage at this point when they try to argue against budget deficits says a lot about Democratic ineptness, media collusion, and short political memories. But I still find it amazing.
Here’s an example of the maneuvering and how — as should be abundantly clear by now — it’s a concerted, well-planned, Republican effort to hamstring Democratic policy objectives: A former Bush administration flack launches what seems to be a very well-funded not-for-profit dedicated to warning of the perils of excessive government spending, and refuses to divulge who is funding the outfit.
How one GOP political consultant wannabe became a de facto national spokesperson for the Tea Party movement.
Some real star power at the White House ceremony awarding the National Humanities and National Arts medals, like Elie Wiesel:
In addition to the arm-twisting and pleading that will be necessary to get the Senate health care bill through the House, there’s another thing that will have to be endured: the painfully lame explanations we’ll hear from people in marginal seats as to why they won’t vote for it. Some always opposed and for pretty straightforward reasons. But some have themselves in a considerably tighter bind: they voted ‘yes’ last year for the considerably more liberal House bill and now need to explain their reason for flipping and voting ‘no’ for the more conservative Senate bill.
This morning TPM Reader NB sent me this article about Rep. Michael Arcuri (D) from Utica. He voted yes the first time but now says that without “dramatic changes” he’ll vote no. Why? Read More
This will get a ton less attention than Jim Bunning’s freak-out did, but the unemployment benefits bill (which included some other important provisions) did actually pass last night. That and the day’s other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.
Charlie Rangel just announced he’s asked Speaker Pelosi for a “leave of absence” as Way and Means chairman.
Who’s in play? Who are the House Dems whose decision is going to determine whether Health Care Reform lives or dies in the House? We give you the names here.
You’ll remember that Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC) has pursued what can only be called a fairly anti-Muslim line during recent years in the United States Congress, culminating in her recent call to investigate Muslim “intern spies” operating on Capitol Hill. So you had to know it was going to be a raucous evening when she held a townhall meeting with the Muslim community in Charlotte last Thursday. Audio included.