Everyone’s having a lot of fun with this snippet of video in which Sen. Franken refuses to allow Sen. Lieberman to speak past his alloted ten minutes. But as TPM Reader LF points out, the real gold in this clip is watching Sen. McCain continue his rich and longstanding personal tradition of talking out of parts of his body other than his mouth … and for once getting called on it.
“I don’t know what’s happening here in this body, but I think it’s wrong.”
This was what McCain said after Franken objected to an extension of time for Lieberman, but it’s classic McCain–come in to a situation he knows nothing about and cause a problem–and then, as Carl Levin demonstrates, gets proven wrong when he points out that this had happened earlier in the afternoon. It was like when Republicans were pissed at McCain for parachuting into the Immigration Reform debate a couple of years ago, and when he “suspended” his campaign to parachute into the Wall Street bailout.
Al Franken’s office has been reaching out to a lot of folks this evening making the point that Sen. Franken refused to let Sen. Lieberman go over his alloted 10 minutes because he was under strict instructions from the leadership to keep everyone to the clock so that they don’t run out of time to get this thing done before Christmas. When I was reading Joan Walsh’s post about the brouhaha, I noticed that the leader she got from Franken’s office came from Communications Director Casey Aden-Wansbury. That struck me as kind of funny since Aden-Wansbury used to have the same job for another senator by the name of Joe Lieberman.
President Obama landed in Copenhagen overnight and got to work attempting to build broad support for a climate pact.
After a private huddle with 18 world leaders, Obama offered a speech with some of his most frequently used political rhetoric, telling the delegation the time for talk is over.
Read a transcript of his remarks and our story here.
After his speech, Obama met for nearly an hour privately with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. U.S. officials told reporters the talks were “constructive” and said Obama still hopes to reach an agreement today.
Republican-turned-Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter’s reelection is shaping up to be a battle, with a new Quinnipiac poll in Pennsylvania showing a tight race in the general election for Senate, regardless of whether Specter or primary challenger Rep. Joe Sestak earn the nomination.
Specter is tied with GOP challenger Pat Toomey if they face a rematch, and if Sestak wins the nod Toomey holds a 40%-35% lead.
Eric Kleefeld has the details, including the Specter v. Sestak numbers, here.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) claims he can convince his fellow GOPers to support a climate change bill — so long as it includes oil and gas drilling and nuclear power. That and the day’s other news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.
Practically speaking, to get the health care reform bill through the Senate before Christmas is going to require some very early morning voting and everything going exactly according to plan. There’s still a chance Senate Democrats can pull it off, but the odds are getting longer with each passing hour.
Don’t forget: tomorrow is the deadline for submitting nominations for the 3rd annual Golden Duke Awards, which honor excellence in public corruption, betrayals of the public trust and generally shameless behavior. 
Readers submit nominations. The TPM staff picks the best nominations in each of six categories. And then our bank of esteemed Golden Dukes judges chooses the winner in each category. And the TPM Readers whose nominations win the award win a prized Golden Duke Awards T-Shirt featuring the official Golden Duke Awards statuette (of Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the namesake of the awards).
Needless to say, many evil-doers are nominated multiple times (don’t think you’re the first person who thought of nomination Gov. Mark Sanford in the Best Scandal — Sex and Generalized Carnality category). But the nomination that gets sent to the judges is the one that best makes the case for the given crooked and scandaliferous pol. So you’ve got to be sure to make it good.
So here’s the deal. A lot of tempers are frayed by the on-going health care reform drama. And we want to be sure the best nominations go to the judges. So for both reasons, please take a moment and send in your nomination right now. Here are the instructions. Very simple, I assure you. And stake your claim to everlasting glory and the coveted 2009 Golden Dukes/TPM T-shirt.
In our latest installment, Paul Starr explains the reasoning behind the mandate and a possible alternative.
Jon Cohn says there’s a lot that sucks in the bill. But it’s still worth being excited about and passing.
Roger Hickey says grab this reform and then work to get more.
Just to be clear, we’re also going to be including voices from the other side of the question. We heard from Gov. Dean’s rep. And he won’t be able to join us today but may join us next week.
The former CNBC and now MSNBC anchor Dylan Ratigan went off on an ego-fueled tirade in a stunningly unprofessional segment with Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz this morning. The Florida Democrat is such a tough and capable cookie that I never expected to find myself feeling sorry for her, but Ratigan loses all composure and essentially rants at her for close to three minutes on live TV (even though, ironically, his underlying point has real merit to it). What’s his problem? Watch.
From TPM Reader PT …
In a remarkable bit of good timing, I’ve been re-reading Shelby Foote’s history of the Civil War, in particular his first volume (covering 1861-1862). It provides some much-needed perspective on the current situation with health care reform.