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News from the Halloween/All Saint’s Day doubleheader:
• Barack Obama spent some more time in New Jersey for a final push for Gov. Jon Corzine in his re-election battle. The polls are still almost an exact deadlock, and turnout could tell the tale on Tuesday. I think Josh Marshall gets the dynamic right here: it must make Corzine supporters a bit uneasy to still see a dead heat despite so many bad news cycles and scandals coming out about Chris Christie, including the latest, that he may have been the leaker of a subpoena against Sen. Bob Menendez weeks before his election in 2006. Still, New Jersey Democrats traditionally beat the polls by a decent margin.
• The proposed federal journalist shield law looks like it covers bloggers now, contrary to initial reports about the legislation.
• Olympia Snowe won’t offer her “trigger” proposal as an amendment to the Senate health care bill, although the hot rumor is that she’d accept an “opt-in” for the public option, which Sheldon Whitehouse predicted as the new compromise position. Meanwhile, a new CBO analysis that the public option would only sign up 2% of Americans neglects the fact that 6 million would make it one of the largest health insurance companies in the nation, and that getting the architecture of a mechanism to compete with private insurance companies is seen as the goal, not the vital statistics of the moment.
• More trial balloons that the President will go lower than the 40,000 troop escalation sought by commanders in Afghanistan, but still send more troops.
• David Herszenhorn takes a look at Alan Grayson, and it’s depressing in the amount of Democratic pols and strategists who distance himself from the unapologetic Democrat, though energizing in the fact that at least James Carville recognizes his utility.
• Harry Reid finally looks serious about challenging the GOP on obstructionism. This is about time.
• Sadly, the Obama Administration appears to be walking away from their insistence that Israel freeze settlement construction as a precondition to peace talks with the Palestinians. Spencer Ackerman says what needs to be said.
• I like that the House, in a final indignity to the tea party movement, kept the end-of-life consultation benefit, falsely derided by the Sarah Palin crowd as “death panels,” in their health care bill. It was never controversial, and what’s more it’s worth not backing down from these smears and distortions.
• The nation of Kosovo put up a statue in honor of Bill Clinton.
• And here’s the latest in my continuing Silvio Berlusconi obsession: he says that he will not resign even if convicted for bribery or tax fraud.
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CIT group filed for Chapter 11 today. Guess who stands to make $1B off this (hint: the initials are G.S.). And we lose $3.2B. LINK.
It’s critical that progressives continue their fight against the Opt-out public option compromise. Not only is this idea morally unjust, but as Digby and others have noted, it’s difficult to explain to the public why Opt-out is better than Opt-In. And if Opt-In becomes the compromise it’s easy to design it so that it’s for all practical purposes a trigger. This is why the main proponents of the trigger–the White House and Olympia Snowe–are interested. We need to nip this in the bud.
“Meanwhile, a new CBO analysis that the public option would only sign up 2% of Americans neglects the fact that 6 million would make it one of the largest health insurance companies in the nation, and that getting the architecture of a mechanism to compete with private insurance companies is seen as the goal, not the vital statistics of the moment.”
Say what? How?
I’ve been seeing the house and senate bills as complete losers for the progressive ideals?
Whatta got?
progressives in the house have promised to vote down any bill that did not include a robust public option, as the current house bill does not. no matter what we think of the bill (and i’m still on the fence but leaning towards opposing it), it is imperative that we 1) back up representatives who live up to their pledge and 2) hold accountable those who do not.
jane helped raise over $400,000 for these representatives. imo we should back her up on this one.
http://www.actblue.com/page/theytookthepledge
Seems to me Obama is deathly afraid of leading with real force and having it lead to failure. Also seems to me his people are telling him to be afraid. What a shame, he just doesn’t know how to use his power. He had a great deal of power and he is squandering it by not using it. This looks like a common theme within the Democratic party. I guess it is the reason everyone is mad about their lack of a spine.
Wouldn’t it be nice to see Obama jump up in front of the people and give a firey speach about how the Republicans are standing in the way of a great Health Care plan and that everyone should march on Washington and make them vote the right way. But alas, he and his advisors are too afraid to be that bold, that straight forward. It would probably work!!!