Theda Skocpol explains how congressional Republicans are intentionally holding up economic recovery until they can get back into office.

Sen. Byrd’s office has just sent out word that the senator was hospitalized late last week with what were thought to be exhaustion and dehydration. But further tests now show that he is “seriously ill” according to a just released press release. Bear in mind that Byrd is 92 years old and has been hospitalized on a number of occasions in recent years. Press release after the jump. Read More

Republicans float idea of a Kagan filibuster (believe it when you see it) and other news from the Sunday shows.

Andrew Bacevich has a good piece in the Post about ‘long wars’ and their corrosive force on the military in a democracy, with the McChrystal episode as a warning.

As you can see, Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) died early this morning at around 3 AM. He’d been in failing health and had been hospitalized on several occasions in recent years. As we noted yesterday, Byrd was hospitalized in Inova Fairfax hospital for the final time late last week with what doctors first believed was another case of exhaustion and dehydration. But at some point over the weekend, tests revealed his condition was far more grave.

Byrd was the longest serving Senator in US history as well as the longest serving member of Congress in US history. He was first elected to the House in 1952 and then elected to the Senate in 1958, serving continuously for 51 years.

We’ll have a lot of coverage of Sen. Byrd’s life and death today. We’ll get things started by remembering the speech he gave on the Senate on the literal eve of the beginning of the Iraq War.

See it after the jump … Read More

Robert C. Byrd served in the Senate for more than 50 years. But in his final decade in the Senate he was likely best known for his opposition to the Iraq War. See his speech opposing the war on the senate floor from the day before the war began.

Remember that Supreme Court nomination?

Before General McChrystal became as closely linked with Rolling Stone as Mick Jagger? Before the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform show dominated C-SPAN 3? And even before oil flooded the Gulf?

Well, Elena Kagan is back.

At 12:30 today, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy will gavel the confirmation hearings to order, starting a week that as of now looks to be as uneventful as last year’s Sotomayor hearings. Read More

The Kagan confirmation hearings begin at 12:30 PM. Here’s our preview of what to expect here.

Our special Supreme Court nominations blogger Andrew Pincus gets us started with his intro post for today’s hearings.

In new TV ad for Tea Partyish Republican Rick Barber, Abraham Lincoln condemns the ‘slavery’ of taxes and welfare.