Hell has officially frozen over. After more than a decade of hyper-partisanship and knee-jerk, reactionary opposition to the other, the entire political spectrum of Meet the Press's roundtable panel--Markos Moulitsas, Joe Scarborough, Ed Gillespie and Tavis Smiley--all agree on one thing: the health-care reform bill sucks. There's the vaunted bipartisanship Obama sought.

Laughing off Whiter House adviser David Axelrod's spin of the historic (and not-as-bad-as-it-seems) nature of the bill, Markos points out that all this bill does is expand an already broken system, a proven failed program in Massachusetts. Scarborough adds that for all the White House talk that the insurance companies hate the bill, there is no regulation that Congress didn't capitulate on after pushback from the insurance lobbies and if they hate it so much, why has the value of their stock gone up so much recently? Former RNC Chair Ed Gillespie can barely contain his glee at the thought of the seats the GOP will pick up, because of this bill, and Smiley notes that Candidate Obama's rhetoric doesn't measure up to President Obama's actions and bemoans the incrementalism mentality:

I do believe that you have to stand on your principle. With all due respect to the White House and the President, who deserves who deserves great credit for taking this issue on and pushing further down the field than any other seven Presidents have done, you still have to ask, where is the principle that we started out with, and how firm have we stood on that principle? I thnk the danger for this White House is this: that the President and his team appear to be incrementalists. I warned the last time I was on this program, quoting Dr. King, about taking “the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”

I love that line, and it resonates as much today as it did when Dr. King tried dissuade those who wanted to take an incremental approach to civil rights and segregation.

The sad thing is how clear this is to us here outside the Beltway, and how badly calculated this was to those inside the White House. And I don't think this was some malevolent intent on their part, but just a triangulating, DLC/Centrist move that completely didn't take into account that we now inhabit the post-Clinton/Bush era. I don't think there's any question that the White House must accept responsibility for the lameness of the bill--although they'll never do it publicly and risk giving more fodder to the GOP media--Feingold and Webb are already pointing fingers.

And at this point, I don't know what can be done to make this better. Tempting as it might be to thrown in the towel, the ramifications of that politically (you throw a bone like that to the GOP and nothing will get through Congress next session) will be a nightmare, and besides which, there's no guarantee they'd be able to achieve anything, much less anything better on a second go-round. So all in all, I have to agree with Joe Scarborough, as much as it deeply pains me to do so: we've been screwed.

The Real News Network: When John McCain took the podium Monday on the first day of the national conference for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, his rhetoric was all-too familiar. Like George W. Bush, he ignored facts and opted for the kind of spurious charges that were made against Iraq in the run-up to that invasion. He's not called McSame for nothin'. On the other hand, Obama will apparently just continue the tradition of telling this most powerful of lobbies whatever they want to hear.

Bitch Ph.D.: Phony feminist

The Brad Blog: The most vigilant watchdog of our broken, illegal, corrupt voting system checks in with more on what has been an endless series of outrages against the electorate and democracy itself.

Fishbowl DC: How the world sees Obama's win

Balloon Juice: Rethug Dana Rohrabacher says Gitmo torture is more like "fraternity pranks."

Jon Swift: He's back!

Fascinating post by Jesse Wendel at Group News Blog regarding the kind of language the Democratic frontrunners are using to describe themselves and their campaigns:

Workers are all about competence. Why? ...Because workers sell their ability to make and keep promises. [The Worker Candidate] talks of her competence and experience, promises she will do what she's always done, and has the policy plans and papers to prove it...Clinton uses the language of a worker, the language of deep experience and competence...She tells us you can trust her judgment, knowledge and understanding, her years and years of being on the job, wisdom and training. She is no doubt genuinely baffled that anyone would choose someone who doesn't have the competency and vetting she has.

Managers aren't about declarations. Managers are about requests...[The manager candidate] requests you elect him to fix problems, lobbies for a change so he can fix the system. Edwards is an old-style Union man so even when his words are canonically declarative, if you listen carefully, what he's really doing is making a request for you to elect him because he can't deliver on his vision unless he's President.

Executives make the fundamental declarations of the enterprise: ...What business are we in? Who are we competing with? Who is our long term strategic ally? [The leader candidate] speaks in declarations, inspires, leads. ...When Obama speaks, he creates a future of an America in which all of us together will take on the troubles we know in our heart are coming and repair the damages which have occurred. Every time Obama opens his mouth, that future is more and more real. It happens AS he speaks. Obama's speaking makes it so. By declaration.

Obama is breaking out now because he speaks the language of a leader.

Read more...

  Roll Call reported this week that Republican lobbyists aren't sure how to get anything done in a Democratic Congress.

Several Democratic and Republican lobbyists agreed GOP consultants often get it wrong with Democrats because their corporate pitch is such an easy sell in Republican offices, which already are ideologically sympathetic to businesses’ concerns.

Meeting with Democrats, some Republicans neglect to factor in a much wider array of constituencies that hold sway with the new majority, including labor, environmental and consumer groups.

“Republican lobbyists are used to walking into an office and just saying, ‘I’d like you to do this,’” said one Republican operative who regularly lobbies across the aisle. “With Democrats, you really have to hone your arguments, and you really have to sell them on policy.” (emphasis added)

In Tom DeLay’s Congress, corporate lobbyists had it easy. Their clients had a wish list, and the GOP majority was anxious to deliver. Now these lobbyists are finding that when they ask the Democratic majority to do something, those darned liberals want reasons. They ask pesky questions, such as, “Why?”

No matter how frustrated we may get with congressional Dems, it’s worth remembering that when it comes to running Congress, there is a difference between a Democratic majority and a Republican one.

When Will AARP Respond?

via Seetheforest

The new anti-AARP smear from the Republicans: (some might try to deflect responsibility and say this is from the drug industry-front USANext, but it is the Republicans, it is a typical Republican tactic, the Republicans are benefiting from it and the Republicans certainly are not denouncing it.):

"
From bogus surveys designed to promote a hidden liberal agenda to actively promoting liberal causes like gay marriage, the AARP has become one of America's most active liberal lobbies -- at the expense of seniors and their families. As a result, more and more Americans are standing up to the AARP and saying 'enough is enough!' Join the growing grassroots movement and voice your opinion on the AARP!"

By not responding with a fight the management of AARP is allowing their organization to be dragged through the mud by fascist thugs. But it's more than that. Managing an organization as large and important and public as AARP puts them in a position with a certain amount of responsibility for the national discourse. By not responding they are allowing this kind of thug tactic to continue and grow in effect and harm all of us. The Kerry campaign did not respond to the Swift Boat smear, and look where that got them. This is another chance to fight back, and maybe put a dent in the Republican smear machine. AARP has a responsibility to all of us to try to shut this stuff down!

Bloggers, we need a drumbeat on this! Let's see if we can get AARP to respond!