tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58086752009-11-22T06:41:15.619-06:00PBD - Progressive Blog DigestThis daily blog is composed of clips and links from other progressive blog and news sites, accompanied by my own observations. It documents the failure and decline of the Republican party, the ongoing legacy of the Bush years, and the efforts of the Obama administration to build a new, lasting Democratic coalition.Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comBlogger1966125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-78626866103426934372009-11-22T06:37:00.002-06:002009-11-22T06:41:15.632-06:002009-11-22T06:41:15.632-06:00TWO STEPS FORWARD, ONE STEP BACKThe good news: the Senate health care bill passed a major hurdle, and the principle was perhaps established that conservaDems can vote to block a filibuster while still voting against the bill (though Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tried mightily to equate them). But it was also clear that a couple of key votes probably won’t be there for a strong public option Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-6879803573508982352009-11-21T09:17:00.003-06:002009-11-21T09:25:57.353-06:002009-11-21T09:25:57.353-06:00OVER THE TOPThe PROCEDURAL vote later today on whether to BRING THE HEALTH CARE BILL TO THE FLOOR for amendment and debate is not a vote FOR the bill. Repeat as necessary.What will the “centrists” do? The votes to watchhttp://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/20/senators_to_watch.htmlhttp://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-45017948778514511362009-11-20T07:10:00.003-06:002009-11-20T07:21:20.600-06:002009-11-20T07:21:20.600-06:00HOLY WARMore details on the Senate health care billhttp://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/cbpp-despite-insufficient-subsidies-health-care-bill-enormous-step-forward.phphttp://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021055.phphttp://www.slate.com/id/2236147/http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/19/806032/-The-2010-HCR-Provisions-in-House-and-SenateNot fully implemented until Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-10194879177964870992009-11-19T07:24:00.002-06:002009-11-19T07:31:13.218-06:002009-11-19T07:31:13.218-06:00SETTLING SCORESThe CBO scoring comes in for the Senate health care bill, and it’s a good news/bad news thinghttp://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/18/senate-bill-costs-849-billion/[David Dayen] MSNBC is reporting that the CBO has scored the Senate’s merged bill as costing $849 billion dollars over 10 years. The bill would reduce the deficit by $127 billion by 2019 because of the revenue-raisers. Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-29685524527754454982009-11-18T06:53:00.003-06:002009-11-18T07:22:27.971-06:002009-11-18T07:22:27.971-06:00SETTING THE BARThe burden of responsibilityhttp://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021017.php[Steve Benen] The to-do list itself is almost overwhelming. After eight years of Republican failure, incompetence, mismanagement, and corruption, Democratic leaders on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue were tasked by the electorate to rescue the economy, resolve two costly wars, Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-38521585386489331022009-11-17T06:34:00.004-06:002009-11-17T07:14:57.820-06:002009-11-17T07:14:57.820-06:00TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONSThe GOP has decided that even though many terrorists have already been successfully tried in US courts and safely held in US prisons, the latest group being sent to New York for trial represent an intolerable riskhttp://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29488.htmlRepublicans are irate over the move to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York, perhaps within walking distance Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-59904397121419239262009-11-16T06:44:00.004-06:002009-11-16T06:55:04.797-06:002009-11-16T06:55:04.797-06:00POISONING THE WELLHmmm . . . we’re hearing a lot now that the 9/11 trials could expose national security secrets and founder on a defense built around the fact that key evidence was obtained under torture. Maybe. But turn it around and look at it this way: if these guys are unprosecutable because of the policies and mistreatment they received under the Bush gang – which is what people were sayingNick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-61519266474164862272009-11-15T06:51:00.002-06:002009-11-15T06:54:37.877-06:002009-11-15T06:54:37.877-06:00DEFICIT THINKINGObama and the deficithttp://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/13/more-leaks-that-obama-will-turn-deficit-hawk-in-2010/[Politico] President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year’s State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs, according to top aides involved Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-17046909751795543792009-11-14T08:07:00.004-06:002009-11-14T08:57:54.482-06:002009-11-14T08:57:54.482-06:00PROFILES IN COURAGEThe Obama admin decides to put the 9/11 plotters on trial in New York. Repubs howl that this is endangering the nation, blah blah. And they say that this shows the lack of courage of the Obama admin in dealing with these people in the manner they deserve.To which I ask, What did your hero, George Bush, do when he had them in his custody? and In what way is it braver to leave Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-6498389143021027232009-11-13T06:50:00.002-06:002009-11-13T06:52:36.308-06:002009-11-13T06:52:36.308-06:00PREDATORSYou know, we used to have a policy against assassinations (no, we didn’t honor it in the past either – ask Fidel). But is it different when you use unmanned drones?http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/opinion/13iht-edcohen.html[Roger Cohen] As Jane Mayer notes in a groundbreaking recent piece in The New Yorker, “The intelligence agency declines to provide any information to the public aboutNick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-41768218066101588382009-11-12T07:49:00.002-06:002009-11-12T07:54:04.774-06:002009-11-12T07:54:04.774-06:00SNATCHING DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY?Because the Dems seem determined to turn a winning issue into a losing one, they keep searching for some alternative, any alternative, to voting for the popular public option. The latest approach: take two bad ideas, triggers and co-ops – neither one of which will work – and combine them. Like chocolate and peanut butter!http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-20942173161229839272009-11-11T04:57:00.002-06:002009-11-11T05:01:45.520-06:002009-11-11T05:01:45.520-06:00OUR PERICLESA great speechhttp://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/11/10/obamas_best_speech_ever.html[Taegan Goddard] President Obama's speech at Fort Hood may go down as one of his best ever. . . .[Marc Ambinder] I guarantee: they'll be teaching this one in rhetoric classes. It was that good. . . [watch and read]CNN makes a discovery (that everyone else has known for months)http://Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-28757897036396987532009-11-10T06:09:00.002-06:002009-11-10T06:14:34.056-06:002009-11-10T06:14:34.056-06:00STUPIFYINGHow bad is the Stupak amendment?http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/9/802519/-What-the-Stupak-Pitts-Coathanger-Amendment-Doeshttp://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/goldilocks-was-betrayed-by-digby-all.htmlhttp://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/broken-rearview-mirror-by-digby-nancy.htmlhttp://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/9/802649/-Whats-Really-Pissing-Me-OffWorse and worse: Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-19364367738325010452009-11-09T05:33:00.003-06:002009-11-09T05:45:57.581-06:002009-11-09T05:45:57.581-06:00WHICH SIDE ARE THEY ON?The Dems who voted against health care reformhttp://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2009/11/analyzing-the-partybuckers-on.htmlhttp://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/8/113843/351http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/08/us/politics/1108-health-care-vote.htmlMore: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/11/8/231434/205Which House Democrats Opposed Health Reform, Clean Energy, Tobacco Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-70247839259350934932009-11-08T00:11:00.001-06:002009-11-08T00:13:08.886-06:002009-11-08T00:13:08.886-06:00GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWSGood news: House health care bill passeshttp://firedoglake.com/2009/11/07/h-r-3962-health-care-bill-passes/220-215More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/house-passes-health-care-bill-220-215.phpA defeat for know-nothingism: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/020862.php[Steve Benen] It's sad, for lack of a better word, that in the midst of theNick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-47251394438774600832009-11-07T01:50:00.002-06:002009-11-07T01:57:51.480-06:002009-11-07T01:57:51.480-06:00ON TILTThe far right is feeling their power to dictate terms to the rest of the GOP, and they aren’t being shy about ithttp://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/11/6/801358/-DeMint:-Recruiting-moderates-who-can-win-doesnt-make-any-senseDeMint: Recruiting moderates who can win "doesn't make any sense"More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/gop-could-face-more-challenges-from-right-after-ny-Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-31371371202848509512009-11-06T00:52:00.005-06:002009-11-06T01:05:57.533-06:002009-11-06T01:05:57.533-06:00RUNNING SCAREDSo, here is the political state of the GOP. Having identified Obama’s policies as the work of Maoists. . . err. . .Nazis . . .err. . . Stalinists, well you know BAD GUYS, the new Foxified GOP has whipped up wild irrational fear of the Democrats' agenda. Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and Michele Bachmann are defining the issues of the moment.For serious Republican politicians, if Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-19019050853075194802009-11-05T05:00:00.002-06:002009-11-05T05:09:16.786-06:002009-11-05T05:09:16.786-06:00EVEN WHEN THEY LOSE, THEY WINDoug Hoffman’s destruction of sure winner Republican Dede Scozzafava, and then his eventual loss to Democrat Bill Owens in a NY congressional seat that had been held by the GOP since the nineteenth century was a “huge win for conservatives.” Run that by me again?http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=29305http://firedoglake.com/2009/11/04/Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-11460242819740233062009-11-04T05:01:00.004-06:002009-11-04T05:24:19.622-06:002009-11-04T05:24:19.622-06:00THE BIG NIGHTThe headlines were written before the polls even closed: Republican’s sweep! Bad night for Obama! And that was the narrative throughout the night, even though, well, things didn’t quite work out that wayhttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/nyregion/04elect.htmlRepublicans swept contests for governor in New Jersey and Virginia on Tuesday as voters went to the polls filled with economic Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-68256420613900522712009-11-03T06:06:00.004-06:002009-11-03T06:46:41.803-06:002009-11-03T06:46:41.803-06:00ON A RAMPAGENow that they can’t stop health care reform, the GOP drops any pretense of civilityhttp://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/rep-foxx-health-care-reform-more-dangerous-than-any-terrorist.phpOn the House floor today, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) warned that health care reform poses a greater threat to American freedoms than "any terrorist right now in any country." . . .http://Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-51121106878407568372009-11-02T05:58:00.003-06:002009-11-02T06:02:16.346-06:002009-11-02T06:02:16.346-06:00DEEPLY DIVIDEDI’m starting to think the Obama folks knew this was coming, which is why they’ve been putting such emphasis on getting Olympia Snowehttp://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/lieberman-pledges-to-filibuster-public-option-blames-its-supporters-for-holding-up-reform.phpLieberman Pledges To Filibuster Public Option, Blames Its Supporters For Holding Up Reformhttp://Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-61465785312423289722009-11-01T06:55:00.002-06:002009-11-01T06:58:49.169-06:002009-11-01T06:58:49.169-06:00WEAK LINKSThe Tea Baggers earn a scalp, forcing the moderate Republican out of the NY-23 racehttp://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/ny-23-goper-scozzafava-suspends-campaign.phpAnalysis: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/31/799118/-NY-23:-Dominoes-Fall,-And-A-Reflection-On-Moderates-and-Womenhttp://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/drop-out-by-digby-so-it-looks-like.htmlhttp://Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-60989847479663716392009-10-31T06:56:00.004-05:002009-10-31T07:51:40.078-05:002009-10-31T07:51:40.078-05:00DOG BITES MANDid Dick Cheney lie to the FBI?http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/us/politics/31cheney.htmlFormer Vice President Dick Cheney denied in an interview with a special prosecutor investigating the C.I.A. leak case that he had played any role in the disclosure of the identity of Valerie Wilson as an intelligence officer . . .http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/10/22-Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-42627933747664156772009-10-30T06:12:00.003-05:002009-10-30T06:22:00.449-05:002009-10-30T06:22:00.449-05:00DECISIONS, DECISIONSThe House presents its health care bill, with a public option. Like it or hate it?Like it: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/10/house_bill_wins_over_progressives.php[Chris Good] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's newly unveiled health care package isn't as ambitious as what most progressives have called for, but they're praising it as a big step toward passing a reform package Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5808675.post-29896441140342798002009-10-29T07:25:00.002-05:002009-10-29T07:29:51.949-05:002009-10-29T07:29:51.949-05:00WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESEJoe Lieberman, filibuster hypocritehttp://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/10/joes_other_switcheroo.php[Josh Marshall] Reformers are all up in arms over Joe Lieberman's new effort to scuttle health care reform, for good reason. What got far less attention was that between yesterday and today Joe completely changed his rationale for why he thinks the public option is Nick Burbuleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11052188822471256837noreply@blogger.com