John Yoo ventures onto The Daily Show. ‘Nuff said.

This gets a little into what-if territory, but it’s such a fascinating scenario that it’s worth at least a quick review:

If Democrats were to lose the special election next week to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts, it would set up an excruciating predicament for House Democrats. The loss would deprive Senate Democrats of the 60th vote they need to get a compromise health care reform bill through that chamber. But it wouldn’t necessarily spell the death of health care reform. Remember: the Senate already passed its version of the bill so there’s no technical impediment to the House simply passing the existing Senate version and Obama signing it into law. Voila! We have health care reform.

But would the House be able to hold its nose and pass the Senate bill as it stands presently? It’s a much less reform-minded bill than what originally passed the House and members are currently furiously negotiating to make the Senate version more to their liking. But politics can change on a dime, and if Martha Coakley loses in Massachusetts, House Democrats may very well have to chose between the distasteful Senate bill or no health care reform at all.

RedState’s Eric Erickson isn’t sold on this “National Tea Party Convention” either:

Let me be blunt: charging people $500.00 plus the costs of travel and lodging to go to a “National Tea Party Convention” run by a for profit group no one has ever heard of sounds as credible as an email from Nigeria promising me a million bucks if I fork over my bank account number.

In case you missed it, Zack Roth had our report on the grumblings about this event among tea partiers and talked about it last night on Maddow’s show.

The Obamas and Bidens are attending the funeral this morning of Joe Biden’s mother, in Delaware.That and the day’s other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

Seems like Michigan Tea Partiers aren’t so into letting the auto industry collapse after all — unlike the national Tea Partiers.

Also TPM’s lead Tea Party reporter Zack Roth goes on Rachel Maddow’s show to talk about the other fissures within the Tea Party movement. See the video after the jump … Read More

The candidates in the Massachusetts senate race met tonight in the final debate. Eric Kleefeld watched and just filed the report.

In all the nonsense today about Trent Lott’s forced resignation over the Strom Thurmond comments, one thing is getting missed. Whatever you think of Lott’s comments, he didn’t resign because of anything Democrats said. He resigned because President Bush and Karl Rove wanted him out and forced him out. He was never their preferred guy. And they used the opportunity of the brouhaha to force his exit.

NBC’s Washington Bureau Chief Mark Whitaker had what I can only call a refreshingly sane and straightforward take today on the difference between the Reid and Lott stories. Video after the jump. Read More

Harry Reid today addressed the uproar surrounding his reported remarks in Halperin’s and Heilemann’s new book in his first public appearance since excerpts from the book were reported over the weekend. Watch.

In honor of her officially signing on with Fox, we present Sarah Palin’s greatest Fox News moments. Watch.