Hoffman-mania continues as GOPers scramble to be next in line to buy stock in endorse the Conservative party candidate over the Republican nominee in the NY-23 special election.
The latest is Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), who says “the New York 23 election reflects the same battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party going on nationally.”
What’s at stake: Rep. Dingell’s (D-MI) speech to the House Dem caucus at today’s closed door — and reportedly, fairly tense — meeting.
We’re getting more and more readers asking us when or if we’re going to offering TPM on Kindle or creating a TPM iPhone app or rolling out other versions of the site on similar ‘mobile’ platforms. The short answer is: Yes, we’ve had these plans on the drawing board for some time. And we’re working on implementing them. But I wanted to start a conversation with you to get a better sense of which mobile devices you’re using, how you’d like to be kept up to date on our latest and best stories and more.
Join me after the jump. Read More
Last night I asked for your input about how interested you are in reading TPM on various mobile devices. So I wanted to check back in with you with what we’ve heard from readers so far. Read More
As you know, I’m a big fan of the Kindle, despite being frequently disappointed by Amazon’s Orwellian practices. But it’s probably more accurate to say I’ve become a big fan of the e-book, something I never would have thought I’d say. And it just happens that the Kindle is the one I got.
Like me, you may have heard over the last few days that Barnes & Noble is introducing their own Gizmo called Nook. And taking my first look at the tech specs and comparison with Kindle, it looks pretty cool. Read More
Surprisingly enough, it seems like Fox may again be playing fast and loose with the truth. At least that’s what the White House is suggesting. Did Gibbs apologize? Absolutely not, says the White House; and the only source for the claim appears to be Fox VP Michael Clemente. Christina Bellantoni reports.
Schumer: We’re “very close” to 60 votes on a compromise public option.
Okay, I’ve now officially read all 500 or so of your emails on mobile devices following up on Friday evenings request for your thoughts and comments. The results still track pretty closely with the summary I posted last night. But I really cannot tell you how helpful these emails are. I’m always surprised — perhaps more overwhelmed than surprised, but it’s a powerful feeling — when I dig in with readers to get leads and responses to a question like this. So, many thanks.
Before I go any further, if you haven’t sent us your thoughts already, we really, really want to hear from you about this. Here’s the post describing what we want to know. If you haven’t already please give it a look. Read More
Michael Smerconish, the Philly-based radio talk show host, has a column in the Inquirer today arguing that the GOP needs to seriously restructure its primary system in order to have any hope of nominating a potentially winning candidate in 2012 as opposed to one that will appeal to the party’s base and ideological purists. His suggestions include regional primaries, moving up the dates of some high-population swing states, giving more of a stay to New England or key Western states, even giving more power to party bosses who have an institutional/professional interest in winning in addition to ideological aspirations.
On its face, it all makes a decent amount of sense if your angle is getting more electable Republicans. What struck me more though is how the arguments could have been lifted almost verbatim from the same conversation going on among Democrats through the 1970s and 1980s. Almost word for word, with the exception of the West and Northeast possibly playing the role of the South for the Dems in decades past. That strikes me as the most revealing thing about it.
Our report last week that the White House was trying to put the brakes on Sen. Reid’s efforts to put together 60 votes behind an “opt-out” Public Option generated an intense response from readers. And now at The New Republic, Jon Cohn has a late update, out just a few minutes ago, on what’s happening and what’s happened since our original report.
The White House has reacted strenuously, though not very specifically, to our report. They’ve even put up a post pushing back again Sunday evening on their blog. And Cohn digs into the backstory about what’s going on.
The White House still appears wedded to the belief that the Snowe/trigger path is the surest one to getting a bill to the president’s desk (though perhaps there’ve been some small signs of loosening over the last 48 hours). And they’re worried and/or skeptical that Reid’s plan, while perhaps better legislation in the abstract, will crash and burn before final passage. Whether that analysis makes sense or not, it’s the clearest explanation of all the facts. And a “senior administration official” told Cohn on Sunday that they’ll be with Reid “100 percent behind whichever direction [he] decides to go.”
Cohn’s piece is very good. Give it a read.