From The Plum Line -- Halperin Takes A Stand:
It isn’t every day that a consumate inside-game reporter/pundit type like Mark Halperin aggressively calls out one party for lying, but that’s exactly what Halperin did early this morning on MSNBC, talking about the GOP claim that the Dem financial reg reform bill will lead to a permanent bailout. Per the transcript:
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Just this once, defend the Republican position.
MARK HALPERIN: I cannot defend what they’re doing.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Oh, please.
SCARBOROUGH: Look at you! Look at you!
[CROSSTALK]
HALPERIN: They are willfully misreading the bill or they are engaged in a cynical attempt to keep the president from achieving something.
Mitch McConnell, when your lies are so bad you've lost Mark Halperin, you're in trouble buddy.
As Steve Benen noted, it looks like McConnell is toning down the rhetoric already:
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had taken the lead in trying to kill Wall Street reform. Today, on the Senate floor, he struck a less antagonistic tone, and there were signs of possible progress.
...McConnell said the progress is the result of his threats and the letter with 41 Republican signatures vowing to unanimously oppose the legislation. Democrats are suggesting the progress is the result of a) McConnell struggling to keep his caucus united; b) bad press after McConnell was caught blatantly lying; c) bad press after the secretive trip to Wall Street by GOP leaders; or d) some combination of all of them.
As Steve noted though, that doesn't mean the Republicans won't just decide to obstruct later.
