Sen.-Elect Scott Brown appears to have endorsed and then tried to wriggle out of endorsing a ‘birther’ congressional candidate who got in trouble for a Obama as bin Laden sign on his front yard.

A TPM alum thinks things look brighter for reform than I’m letting on … Read More

I’ve been very hard on the House in this Health Care train wreck. But what we’re learning now is that the White House does not seem to be lifting a finger to move things. From what we can tell, nothing. Robert Gibbs’ statement at the briefing today seems to embody the White House’s stance at a much deeper level than I’d imagined. They just don’t seem to even want to hear about it.

Grijalva says absolutely no way to the Senate bill.

I’ve been poking around some sources in Washington, DC (and combining this with what I’ve heard from our TPMDC team) and my sense is that Health Care Reform is both dead and not dead. Let’s say it’s among the Undead. There does seem to be some continuing effort to see how a Senate bill plus amending bill deal might work — both for what would be needed in political terms and what would be workable under reconciliation rules. But there’s also a lot of happy talk about generally marginal and meaningless reforms that might be pushed through as consolation prizes. And what seems unmistakably clear is that the White House is taking an extremely hands off approach to the whole situation.

My strongest sense however is not so much that decisions have been made to drop reform as that it’s something like a matter of survivors walking around — half dazed — after some sort of natural disaster. There is no plan. It actually seems highly, highly fluid and possibly susceptible to dramatic change if any of the key players assert themselves. But I’m not sure there’s anyone really ready to do that, unless rank-and-file Democrats and Reform supporters assert themselves.

Brian Beutler reports on what the Senate’s up to.

White House wants to take a hands-off approach to health care reform until Congress sorts out a new way forward — but insists it’s still engaged on the issue.

One thing that is always important to remember is that you cannot holder a Member of Congress responsible for something a staffer says on the phone. Actually, you can’t even necessarily hold the staffer responsible. Because it’s not an easy situation to be in in a vexed and contentious moment like this. But this must have been a fun moment …

TL here in Stevens Point, WI. I called David Obey’s office to ask about the Senate bill. I couldn’t get a straight answer. The best the staffer could say was the other representatives have said ‘no’ so it’s not on Obey anyway.

Former GOP staffer TPM Reader JB thinks Wednesday’s the day …

Not to make predictions about what President Obama will do about health care — I really don’t know what his thinking is right now — but hypothetically speaking, the best forum for him to respond to recent developments would be the State of the Union address next Tuesday [Wednesday].

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Martha Coakley and her campaign have been roundly, mercilessly and rightly ridiculed for getting caught off guard by Scott Brown’s rapid ascent in the Massachusetts senate race. What’s the excuse of the White House and congressional leadership for having no plan in place for what to do if Coakley lost — a live possibility going back almost three weeks?