TPMDC’s video coverage of yesterday’s Capitol Hill Tea Party.
Rep. Steve King (R-IA) got so charged up about yesterday’s Capitol Tea Party that he’s calling for another one tomorrow.
It’s a pretty unhappy commentary that it has to be reported as news that people are taking issue with the use of pictures of the Dachau death camp as an illustration of the horrors of health care reform. But, alas, such is the world we’re living in. Today Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) criticized Rep. Bachmann for the Holocaust imagery — and really, what the hell is going on here? People carrying banners with Dachau and the crowd chanting “Nazi, Nazi” when the President and key Dems are mentioned. And GOP leaders just stand their whooping it up like it’s all good stuff?
Anyway, pardon the outburst. So Israel says that. And now Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) is calling the Dachau posters “inappropriate” and even crossing the red line of criticizing Rush Limbaugh’s habit of equating Obama and Hitler.
Can’t wait for the ritual apology. How long you figure it’ll take?
Daniel Levy looks at this week’s bumps on the never-ending road to peace in the Middle East.
How did Michele Bachmann’s Tea Party extravaganza end up being embraced by the whole House GOP House conference? Find out here.
Is it appropriate for Tea Partiers to use images of concentration camp victims to illustrate the horrors of health care reform? “You bet,” says former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO).
Late Update: I went back watched the video in question several times. And though Tancredo said “you bet” to the “appropriate” question, it seems to me that he got confused in the cross-talk between him and the interviewer David Shuster. In context, I think Tancredo meant to say it was inappropriate, in other words, the opposite. The perils of live smash-mouth television. Don’t worry. Tancredo said lots of other crazy stuff. But I don’t think he meant to say this was okay.
On the one hand it seems funny that a bunch of GOP Reps. would blow off a vote to strengthen the Patriot Act so they could hang out and speak at Michele Bachmann’s Capitol Hill tea party event. On the other hand, since you have Republicans saying health care reform is a bigger threat than terrorism, maybe the whole thing makes sense?
After a late-night deal setting framework for debate, the House will vote today on its version of the health care plan. Before the vote, Democrats are getting a little last minute pep talk from President Obama.
Read our primer here, and if you want to see government in action today, click on C-Span.
Pelosi emerges from caucus meeting confident that House bill will pass tonight.