video Bad news for Republicans should they be counting on using the Supreme Court as a last resort to block the Senate health care reform bill. Jeffrey Toobin visited Rick Sanchez today to talk about the chances of success Republicans will have if they try to legally oppose a "deem and pass" vote that would indirectly put the bill on the President's desk, and he didn't waste any time in telling the GOP that, quite simply, it's not going to happen. (more...)

video At yesterday's White House briefing, the hot topic du jour was the House Democrats' procedural "Deem and Pass" maneuver, also known as "Demon Pass," the "Slaughter Rule," and if I'm not mistaken, the "Cider House Rule?"  I'm not sure about that last one. All this after Fox News' Brett Baier spent a good chunk of his POTUS exclusive grilling President Obama on whether he supports the maneuver. Just to be thorough, I took a shot at the question with First Dog Bo Obama. Not surprisingly, he agreed with the President. (more...)

The Congressional Budget Office released its preliminary estimate of the Senate health care bill yesterday and found that the bill would reduce the deficit by $130 Billion in the first 10 years and $1.2 trillion in the second 10 years. Upon the report’s release, conservative bloggers and pundits began trying to discredit the CBO, saying that the office allows Democrats to cook the numbers and its estimates are often not a good indicator of reality. If the CBO is so unreliable, then these bloggers wouldn’t cite it uncritically when it favors their positions, right? (more...)

video Cue collective head explosion. Glenn Beck was doing one of his live audience shows last night -- among other things, advocating against violent protests -- and who should appear but Fox News analyst Sarah Palin! Palin was apparently on Beck's mind when he heard about some armed protests in Alaska so he asked her to come on. I happen to find that the two together weirdly cancel each other out; the result being far more low key than you might suspect. (Or surreal, depending how accustomed you are to Beck.) But nevertheless! (more...)

Peggy Noonan's WSJ column this week is utterly brilliant in so far as, had President Obama at the last minute decided to stick with his plan to visit to Australia and Indonesia she would have only had to change a few words and voila! She could still make her point. Which is: the President is a failure and he is embarrassing her. A lose-lose for Obama is merely a win-win for columnists! Also, he's being mean to Australia. (more...)

video Will Washington survive this weekend's health care vote? (And if it didn't would that be the worst thing ever?) NPR's Morning Edition has been packed with stories this morning about the pressure the Dems are under to pull together enough Yes votes for this Sunday's epic Health Care vote. Double that for Bart Stupak who is holding on to his No vote come hell or highwater. No Air Force One rides will sway him! Or will they? (more...)

video Last night, the right-of-center side of the blogosphere jumped all over President Obama's reference to what they thought was a non-existent Hawaiian Earthquake in 2006. Writers for the site Hot Air and Gateway Pundit, among others, predictably used the comment as an example of Obama's "one size fits all" government-funded solution to any problem. But even worse, it was seen as an even more indicting example of his presidential cluelessness, because of course, "Hawaii hasn't had an earthquake since 1972!" Actually, on this one, Obama was right. (more...)

video The first part of the much-anticipated Fox News exclusive interview between Bret Baier and Pres. Barack Obama took place at the top of Special Report, and although it couldn't be viewed as contentious, there was so much interrupting it caused Baier to acknowledge the tactic at the end of the interview. Here's a breakdown, and video: (more...)

Yesterday we picked up on a story from Michael Calderone about how Rush Limbaugh had taken the unusual step of encouraging his listeners to call their congressmen and complain about the health care bill. Then he gave out the Congressional Switchboard number. (more...)

I kid! Glenn Beck is not actually running President Obama's anything schedule, nevertheless, he apparently wields a great deal of influence on the decision making of the Obama administration. At least when it comes to making decisions about the media. This from this morning's Playbook: (more...)

video Remember the other week when the political phrase du jour was "reconciliation" and Rachel Maddow spent not a little amount of time illustrating how the Republicans who were in an uproar over the "nuclear option" were actually total hypocrites who had had no problem implementing the procedure when it suited there aims? Well, looks like the shoe is currently on the other foot (color us shocked). (more...)

your moment of glenn Last night we pointed out that Glenn Beck appeared to have a rather loose grip on the role of Congress when it came to the nation's unalienable rights. Here's what he said yesterday that had us scratching our heads in puzzlement. (more...)

Rush Limbaugh is putting his mouthpiece where his mouth is, so to speak. In an almost unheard of move (it's apparently only happened once before) Rush Limbaugh announced the Capitol switchboard number on air and encouraged his listeners to call their local representatives and push back against health care. Rush Limbaugh, many of you probably already know, has the largest radio audience in the country. Needless to say the lines were apparently jammed. (more...)

The House Democrats' procedural "Deem and Pass" strategy (also known as the "Slaughter Rule" and "Demon Pass") was a hot topic at today's White House briefing, with the AP's Ben Feller leading off with a series of questions that Press Secretary Robert Gibbs all but ignored. That didn't prevent CNN's Ed Henry from pressing Gibbs later in the briefing, in a textbook example of what White House reporters should do. Although he didn't exactly get a straight answer, sometimes the non-answers can tell you something, too. (more...)

developing While Speaker Nancy Pelosi talks "Deem and Pass," President Barack Obama is going a different route - he's talking to Fox News. In an "extended, exclusive" interview tomorrow he will sit down with Special Report anchor Bret Baier to make his health care reform pitch to the FNC audience. What a long, strange trip it's been. (more...)

coming attractions Can it be possible that when it comes to bitter partisan divide we haven't seen anything yet? Last summer's Tea Party/Town Halls appeared to take much of Washington, and the media, by surprise (and by storm), but with this November's midterms already looming large on the political horizon (they are more than seven months away in real world time) it's entirely possible those were just a warm up. To what exactly, one shudders to think. (more...)

Some have called it the "slaughterhouse rule." Others say "self-executing rule." One Democratic Congressmen on FNC called it a "self-implementing rule." But here's what you need to know about the new possible strategy by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to pass health care reform, known as "deem and pass." (more...)

Maybe if Bart Stupak holds out he will also get a free ride on Air Force One and a shout-out in a nationally televised health care rally. That's what Dennis Kucinich got for voting no in the first round of health care votes, and then threatening to do so again. Kucinich accompanied Obama on the flight to Ohio today, and during his speech Obama lauded the congressman and former Presidential candidate saying he was "tireless on behalf of working people" and then encouraged an attendee who hollered "vote yes" to repeat himself. Video below.

video Hey have you heard? Lawmakers are discussing different ways to reform the current health care system. Turns out, the mainstream media has been spending a little time covering it, particularly now that the debate appears to be in its final stages. Check out the following video produced by the smart folks at Newsweek.com, that edits many news clips and tells you everything you'll ever need to know about where we are in the health care debate. (more...)

video I think it's safe to say that over the eight months or so the health care debate has brought out the angels of the country's...angrier, sometimes crazier, not always politically correct angels. Also, everyone has their own plan. Rush Limbaugh has said he will flee to Costa Rica if the plan passes (insert punchline of choice here). Meanwhile Glenn Beck is taking a sink (almost literally) or swim attitude when it comes to health care coverage. (more...)

video Well, regardless of one's position on the current state health care reform, there should be some joy in that its finally coming to an end, evidenced by the pitched rhetoric on both sides of the debate. Earlier today we saw WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs confident claim of having the votes to pass a bill in the house. And now we see Senator Lindsey Graham present the yin to that yang during an interview with host Jake Tapper on This Week. (more...)

video Well this is an interesting soundbite. Appearing on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs made a rather bold claim. When asked if the president now believes if he has the votes to pass health care, Gibbs avowed, "Chris, we'll have the votes when the House votes within the next week." He further proclaimed that next week we will be talking about health care reform not as a proposal, but something that "will soon be the law of the land." (more...)

video Taking a break from the "presumably dramatic" caucus on health reform yesterday, Nancy Pelosi sat down to talk with Rachel Maddow. The interview provided a number of interesting exchanges about both Eric Massa (whom Pelosi didn't seem too eager to chat about) and Maddow favorite Bart Stupak. "Every bill is a heavy lift," says Pelosi. "Let's talk about someone who is trying to make it heavier," says Maddow. (more...)

As time passes, the arguments on both sides of the health care debate are becoming increasingly cloudy and dramatic. And here's yet another sign that America is getting a little too groggy to think coherently on this: a Newsweek story suggesting that the American health care system should more closely resemble the veterinary business. (Headline: "Treat People Like Dogs.") (more...)

video When Rachel Maddow is done with him Bart Stupak may not have either leg to stand on. Last night Maddow calmly continued her fisking of (crusade against?) the Michigan congressman who is trying to hijack the health care bill with his calls for stronger language on abortion funding, and his threats that he and his "group of twelve" will not vote for a bill that doesn't comply. Except, notes Maddow, who are these twelve congressmen? Do they even exist? According to Maddow they don't. That's not all. (more...)

video Last night Rachel Maddow devoted her entire show to the seemingly never-ending health care debate in an attempt to put the "importance of this end game in perspective by documenting the lengths and the depths which the opponents of health reform have gone to stop it this year." Something about devoting an entire hour to the fisking of one subject felt sort of familiar...switch out 'opponents' for 'progressives' and 'stop' for 'force' and voila! I think perhaps Maddow is taking a page from the Glenn Beck book of how to get people's attention. (more...)

It seems that when Sarah Palin criticized the current socialized Canadian health care system last fall, she knew what she was talking about (sort of). Palin, who during her attack on the similar system proposed in the United States coined the term “death panels,” admitted to a crowd of supporters in Calgary, Alberta that in her youth she and her family would sneak into Canada from their remote Alaskan town for health care. She told the audience: (more...)

This is sort of strange. Time's national political correspondent Karen Tumulty reports that when she attended President Obama's health care rally in Pennsylvania earlier today she was not allowed to talk to the public. (more...)

audio Where to start. The latest chapter in the Rep. Eric Massa (D-NY) surprise departure (retirement) from Congress unfolded yesterday when Massa announced during a radio show appearance (audio below) that ethics inquiry into a complaint that a male staffer in his office was made "uncomfortable" by Massa is actually the result of the Democratic Party wanting to get him out of the Health Care vote. Also? Rahm Emanuel once pushed him around naked in a shower. (more...)

video Now that Congressman Bart Stupak is back in the national conversation thanks to his announcement yesterday that he would hold up the health care bill unless stricter language regarding government funding of abortion was added, he is also back in the sights of Rachel Maddow! (more...)

your moment of glenn The men in the white coats have come to get Glenn Beck! Kidding. Turns out Beck merely decided last night to take a page from President Obama's notebook and surround himself with doctors last night. Or at least people dressed as doctors. Because people in white lab coats add an air of "credibility" to any proceeding. Or an air of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, depending. (more...)

video You remember Congressman Bart Stupak, he took a starring role in the health care debate back in November when he strong-armed his Stupak amendment into the House version of the Health Care bill. The amendment imposed "tight restrictions on abortions that could be offered through a new government-run insurance plan and through private insurance that is bought using government subsidies." At the time Rachel Maddow described it as the "biggest restriction on abortion rights in a generation." The Senate basically did away with the amendment in their version, but it may not matter. Stupak is back. Big time. (more...)

video Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson wonders if Dick Cheney collaborates with Satan and throws around the word "Holocaust" when discussing the other side's health care plans. Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann has Super Bowls of Freedom and holds Prayercasts to stop the health care bill. So when they faced off on Larry King Live last night, why was it so...calm? (more...)

video Our long national nightmare -- currently known as the Health Care debate -- will likely soon be over! Or so we are told. President Obama today called for a final vote in a 15 minute address (video below) saying that he believes "the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform.” (more...)

Michael Moore's disenchantment with the Democratic Party and the Obama administration he had appeared to become comfortable with has hit an all-time high. While Moore's troubles with the party are nothing new (he has tweeted his sorrows in the past and, during the 2008 election, highlighted the ways the party could lose his support), his latest statements in an interview with Raw Story indicate that Moore is ready to make a definitive break from the Democrats and, perhaps, move to support a third party in the future. (more...)

video It's very likely that we may have a health care bill in the next two to four weeks. Hard to believe our long national partisan nightmare could be over so quickly! The word you will probably hear most frequently today other than 'nuclear' (as in the Dems are opting for the 'nuclear' option) is 'reconciliation.' 'Reconciliation rules', as they are known, "would allow Democrats to pass the legislation with just 51 votes, as opposed to the 60 votes needed to stop a filibuster and proceed to a vote." It is what Republicans are referring to when they accuse the President of "going nuclear." Point is, the President no longer cares (though he did offer last night to use some GOP health proposals in a final nod to bipartisanship). (more...)

video Perhaps it was too early in the morning, or something about being reunited with old pal George Stephanopoulos made him feel open to being emotional, but James Carville looked uncommonly vulnerable today discussing the 2010 midterm elections and health care reform on ABC’s Good Morning America. Joining Stephanopoulos and former Bush strategist Matthew Dowd, Carville revived the Sen. Jim DeMint's term “Obama’s Waterloo” and admitted to feeling “frightened” and believing some of the hype that “Democrats can’t govern.” (more...)

Last week's health care summit was largely the result of outrage over the lack of promised transparency in health care reform. While that criticism focused on conference negotiations over the health care bill, the true failure of transparency occurred in the spring and summer of 2009, as the White House met with leaders from the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries. I asked Robert Gibbs about it Friday. Listen carefully to what I asked, and to his response: (more...)

Rush Limbaugh, bastion of compassion, weighed in yesterday with his views on the health care reform summit and the woes of people who are not covered. In particular, Rep. Louise Slaughter, who during yesterday's Summit hightlighted the plight of one of her constituents who was forced to use her dead sister's dentures. Rush, suffice to say, was not moved. (more...)

video Probably you caught at least some of yesterday's health care reform summit as all the cablers ran with it for most of the day -- even Fox which preempted ratings powerhouse Glenn Beck. After day long complaints, highlighted by Jon Stewart (below) of the summit merely being a piece of political theater (Shakespeare, Kabuki, or otherwise!) the proceeding were actually mostly tame. Mostly. Also it's questionable whether anything was accomplished. Says Stewart:

So there we have our opening bids: One side wants to find common ground, the other side wants to start over. Let's start negotiating!

Actually, in the end, Stewart appeared more encouraged than not about yesterday's summit. He even threw around the word "substantive." Now if only he could have moderated the day-long proceedings and provided even more little descriptive nuggets like this: "That is Senator Tom 'killing abortion doctors might not be such a bad idea' Coburn'" and "That's Senator Chuck 'if I was any more Liberal and Jewish I would be Barbara Streisand-Shumer." Who Stewart points out, were actually having a conversation about health care! Video below.