Editors’ Blog - 2009
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.
10.27.09 | 10:41 am
Taking Responsibility
Chris Christie Style

You may remember, about a month and a half ago, another incident emerged in Chris Christie’s troubled history driving cars. Back in 2002, on the way to an event, Christie turned the wrong way onto a one-way street and struck a motorcyclist head on, seriously injuring the guy on the motorcycle. There were all sorts of questions about just how that happened and whether Christie got off easier than your average Joe might have. There was also the small matter of Christie saying he’d never been sued over the incident, despite evidence emerging later that a suit had been filed and then dropped, apparently after an out of court settlement. But there never seemed to be any dispute that Christie … well, hit a guy on a motorcycle while driving the wrong way on a one way street.

But on Fox & Friends this morning, when asked about the incident, Christie denied it ever happened. “I was not driving the wrong way down a one way street and the Governor knows it,” Christie said. “I didn’t hit someone, they hit me.”

10.27.09 | 10:55 am
Is This Supposed To Reassure?

Referring to himself in the gangsta/Bob Dole third person, Harry Reid downplays Joe Lieberman’s filibuster threat: “Joe Lieberman is the least of Harry Reid’s problems.”

10.27.09 | 11:00 am
Gaming Out Joe’s Threat

From an observer on the Hill …

Note that [Lieberman] says he would vote to proceed to the bill — just not to move to final passage.

There will be several turning points:

Read More

10.27.09 | 11:35 am
WHite House Reacts to Lieberman

Aboard Air Force One on the way to an Obama campaign appearance for Creigh Deeds in Virginia, Robert Gibbs hadn’t seen Joe Lieberman’s filibuster threat, but had this to say in response: “I think Democrats and Republicans alike will be held accountable by their constituents who want to see health care reform enacted this year.”

10.27.09 | 11:59 am
Where Do We Go From Here?

That’s a question a lot of readers have been asking, so Christina Bellantoni sketches out the winding road ahead for health care reform legislation now that Harry Reid has decided on a bill to bring to the floor.

10.27.09 | 12:59 pm
Not Just A Passing Interest

The spokesman for the Pakistan embassy in Washington tells TPMmuckraker that the embassy is watching with interest the developing Israel India spy case that nabbed a former NASA scientist.

10.27.09 | 2:12 pm
LaRouche/La Roche
Tomay-to/Tomah-to

Yesterday we heard about a gonzo story out of Clifton, New Jersey. According to a local paper (which has now scrubbed its article), employees of the PAC of Hoffman-La Roche pharmaceuticals were passing out pamphlets calling President Obama a fascist and showing pictures of him with a Hitler mustache.

One health care reform supporter got so incensed that she came back with a bag of purple paint and splashed it on the women and their offending signs.

When I heard about this, I thought, ‘Wow, Hitler/Obama comparisons are sort of a dime a dozen these days. But that’s pretty out there for a major pharmaceutical company.’

Well, turns out the police had the details a bit wrong. They weren’t with La Roche, which has its headquarters in Clifton. It was LaRouche, as in the Lyndon LaRouche crazies who’ve been stalking health care events around the country and managing to outcrazy the GOP activists, which these days is saying somethin’.

A rep from La Roche (the real La Roche) was more than happy to explain the confusion to our Rachel Slajda.

10.27.09 | 2:37 pm
Where’d the Votes Go?

House Democrats have been loud and proud on how robust a public option they were going to pass, but in the last few days, starting with reports in The Hill and Politico last week, there have been rumblings that Nancy Pelosi doesn’t have the votes she thought she had, or at least projected herself as having. Read More

10.27.09 | 3:42 pm
Ellison Denounces Muslim Intern “Spy” Hunt

Video: Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the first and now one of two Muslims in Congress, broke his silence over Republican calls for an investigation of alleged Muslim intern “spies” by reading the statement issued by the Congressional Tri-Caucus on the House floor.

10.27.09 | 3:53 pm
So What Happened Today?

We’re getting into the thick of battle over health care reform, with a flurry of new developments and statements coming each day. So today, and perhaps other days going forward, I want to step back and try to take stock of what happened and where we are.

The big news today was that a series of moderate and conservative Democrats stepped forward with statements ranging from skepticism of Reid’s bill to more or less open threats to filibuster it. The furthest out there was Joe Lieberman, who seemed to suggest that he’d allow some debate on the bill but later join a Republican filibuster to prevent the bill from actually coming to a vote so long as it remained in its current form. He hinted that remaining in its current form meant preserving the public option. Sens. Lincoln (D-AR) and Bayh (D-IN) also hinted that they weren’t necessarily on board but were more noncommittal about just how they’d vote. Read More