A very good essay by Peter Beinart:
Independents are the most fickle, the most cynical, and the least ideological people in the American electorate. When they’re unhappy with the state of the country, they tend to stampede the party in power—less because they disagree on the issues than because they decide that the folks running government must be malevolent and corrupt. In Washington, congressmen violate ethics rules all the time. But when independents get in one of their sour moods, these infractions become matches on dry tinder. In 1994, the scandals concerning Rostenkowski and the House bank helped sweep the Gingrichites into power. In 2006, according to exit polls, the scandals surrounding mega-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Rep. Mark Foley did more to lose the GOP control of Congress than did the Iraq war. Pelosi became speaker, in fact, by running against the GOP’s “culture of corruption” and promising the “most ethical Congress in history.”
Now Republicans are hurling those phrases in her face. Democrats, who in April 2006 held a 17-point advantage as the party less “influenced by lobbyists and special interests,” have seen that margin dwindle to eight points, according to the Pew Research Center. The National
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February 28, 2010 – 11:12 pm
And I am Marie of Roumania:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave no indication that her support was wavering for embattled Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, in the wake of his admonishment by the House ethics panel last week.
“It said he did not knowingly violate House rules. So that gives him some comfort,” the speaker told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. Rangel was publicly admonishment by the panel for violating House rules by failing to properly disclose financial details of trips he took to the Caribbean in 2007 and 2008.
The ethics panel didn’t find sufficient evidence to conclude that Rangel knew that misleading information was provided to the ethics committee before the trips were approved. His office said in a statement last week that the ethics committee “found that the chairman himself had no actual knowledge that the trip in fact violated House rules.”
February 28, 2010 – 7:01 pm
. . . A bill can be bipartisan without bipartisan votes.
–Nancy Pelosi, who believes that because “Republicans have left their imprint” on the health care bills, the bills are bipartisan. Never mind that back when Republicans controlled Congress, this wasn’t Pelosi’s standard for bipartisanship.
February 26, 2010 – 4:01 pm
Now that the House Ethics Committee has rendered its judgment, and has found that Congressman Charlie Rangel broke Congressional gift rules by taking trips to the Caribbean financed by corporate interests, is it too much to ask that he pay the consequences?
Beyond the trips, Rangel faces more troublesome allegations regarding his failure to pay taxes on a villa he owns in the Dominican Republic, the use of his congressional office to raise money for the wing of a New York college named in his honor, revised financial disclosure forms that show more than $500,000 in previously unreported wealth, and his use of a rent-controlled apartment for his political committees.
Rangel said Thursday that he met with ethics investigators about a month ago to discuss those issues but he offered no details of those discussions.
Since Rangel asked the ethics panel in the summer of 2008 to scrutinize his activities, which had become a source of controversy, Democrats have defeated a series of GOP resolutions calling for his resignation as Ways and Means chairman.
February 25, 2010 – 11:10 pm
After the President’s sparring session with House Republicans during their retreat, I stated that the rhetorical confrontation I really wanted to see was a debate between Barack Obama, and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
Here is why:
February 25, 2010 – 1:51 pm
The President of the United States makes like a Senator and filibusters, claiming that he can act like a Senator because he is the President . . . or something. At last count, Democrats have twice the amount of speaking time than do Republicans. To the extent that Republicans do talk, they are automatically told that they are not being serious, and that they are just using “props.” Never mind that the entire summit is a prop, because Democrats just want to go ahead with their own plan after the summit comes to an end, making the entire event a Potemkin exercise.
Yeah, this was a great idea. Wonder why people didn’t agree to do it earlier.
February 25, 2010 – 1:24 am
Explained and detailed by Comrade Domenech. For all those who discuss the supposed fact that the White House finally put out a health care “bill” . . . well . . . betcha didn’t know this:
February 24, 2010 – 4:58 pm
A lot of people seem to think that prospects have improved for the White House’s vision of health care reform. Those people must not be reading the same things I am reading.
For one thing, Talking Points Memo–not exactly a right-wing rag–is telling us that according to Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, health care reform will not happen unless the House passes the Senate’s health care bill first. That led to the following exchange between Brian Beutler, the author of the Talking Points Memo piece, and Conrad:
I pointed out that House leadership, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has repeatedly insisted they won’t take a flier on a reconciliation package–that they will only pass the Senate bill after the smaller side-car reconciliation bill has been all wrapped up.
“Fine, then it’s dead,” Conrad said.
Conrad added that he wouldn’t personally make any promises or symbolic gestures to House members to assure them that the Senate can or will take any action in a reconciliation bill to address House concerns.
“I don’t sign any blank check,” Conrad said.
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
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Posted in Chequer-Board
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Also tagged Barack Obama, health care, Health Care Policy, Health Care Reform, Jay Cost, New York, Obama Administration, Politics, Reconciliation, Republicans, taxes
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February 24, 2010 – 4:26 pm
Congress is now very unpopular:
Voter unhappiness with Congress has reached the highest level ever recorded by Rasmussen Reports as 71% now say the legislature is doing a poor job.
That’s up ten points from the previous high of 61% reached a month ago.
Only 10% of voters say Congress is doing a good or excellent job.
Nearly half of Democratic voters (48%) now give Congress a poor rating, up 17 points since January. The vast majority of Republicans and voters not affiliated with either party also give Congress poor ratings.
Seventy percent (70%) of voters say Congress has not passed any legislation that would significantly improve life for Americans, up 10 points over the past month and the highest level of dissatisfaction measured in regular tracking in over three years. Only 15% say Congress has passed such legislation.
Forty percent (40%) of voters nationwide now say it is at least somewhat likely Congress will seriously address the most important issues facing the nation. That’s down from 59% last March. Only 9% say it is Very Likely Congress will address these issues.
February 24, 2010 – 4:18 pm
But now, many of the Senators–and former Senators–featured in this video, think that “majoritarian absolute power” would be nothing short of wonderful:
You just have to love Joe Biden’s quote: “I pray God when the Democrats take back control we don’t make the kind of naked power grab you are doing.” Enjoy the irony.
February 21, 2010 – 12:36 pm
Summing up the upcoming “summit” between Republicans and the Obama Administration on health care:
. . . “There’s hope for a breakthrough here, but the odds of that are not very good,” said a top Democratic aide who has worked for years on health care. “This is a media event.”
Quelle surprise. Of course, we do happen to learn something interesting about the nascent Democratic plan to use reconciliation to pass health care reform:
Many Democrats in Congress said they doubted that it was feasible to pass a major health care bill with a parliamentary tool called reconciliation, which is used to speed adoption of budget and tax legislation. Reconciliation requires only 51 votes for passage in the Senate, but entails procedural and political risks.
“If we took a vote now, we would not have 51 votes for that approach,” said a Senate Democratic aide. “The president would have to do a major sales job. He is the only person who has the political capital to do it. But his focusing on health care means that our efforts to focus on jobs are likely to be drowned out.”
I think that it is now safe to say that…
