I believe we have now advanced to the Lord of the Flies phase of the shutdown the government over Obamacare primal scream.
Last night I noted that San Diego Mayor Bob Filner – prepping for a two week quickie fix up in rehab – rather boldly demanded that the City of San Diego cover the legal fees he’ll rack up defending him against sexual harassment lawsuits. Now the City of San Diego is suing Filner for demanding that the City cover his legal fees.
As I noted last night, the law in question is meant to protect public employees from legal liability for actions taken or not taken in the scope of their public duties. To justify its refusal to pay Filner’s legal bills the City notes its “zero tolerance policy as to sexual harassment and [therefore] sexual harassment is not within the course and scope of employment.”
TPM Reader JB just read the post below about Republicans getting the blame for the demise of Immigration Reform. But he questions whether the damage is really already done and just how much benefit Republicans will derive from passage. His comment and my reply after the jump … Read More
The fear among establishment and mainstream Republicans is palpable. If the GOP kills immigration reform it will get pretty much all the blame and that could haunt the party for decades. Some numbers from last week’s NBC/WSJ journal poll illustrate this pretty nicely. Read More
South Carolina GOP non-regret ‘regrets’ email comparing IRS to the Gestapo.
A Democratic leadership aide in the Senate tells TPM: “Given the level of opposition to Larry Summers within our caucus, confirming him would be a huge challenge and probably a pretty ugly process.”
No sooner did the White House leak details of its new(ish) corporate tax reform plan than John Boehner and Mitch McConnell very publicly trashed it, which led to a familiar and predictable dust up wherein Democrats condemned Republicans for reflexively opposing things President Obama supports and Republicans complained (apparently falsely) that the White House didn’t contact them about the plan before promoting it in the press.
These are all key ingredients for substance-free paint by numbers news stories about Washington dysfunction, or picayune laments that the proposal has nothing to do with the deficit. Tastes vary.
But so long as we’re approaching this story from a political rather than substantive vantage point, I’d just say all of the point-scoring going on between the White House and GOP leaders is a big distraction. Read More
In the latest twist of Virginia Gov. McDonnell’s sugar daddy scandal, the Governor is now blaming the latest revelation on his wife.