July 31, 2009
The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 31-28 to pass the health care reform bill late Friday, "ending a contentious marathon markup and sending the bill to the House floor for a vote after the August recess,"
Roll Call reports.
The Hill: "In an unusual move before the final vote, Waxman halted the markup to
have a closed-door meeting with Democrats on his panel - presumably to
make sure he had the votes to pass the bill."
Interestingly, the
New York Times notes the committee "was not able to fully complete its work on the bill. Or
rather, committee members, realizing that they would have to stay
through the night to deal with some 55 to 60 further amendments, agreed
to vote on the legislation and come back and deal with the amendments
in September. A do-over of sorts."
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) "has set a new deadline of Sept. 15 to complete bipartisan health care talks,"
Roll Call reports.
"Baucus has told his Senate colleagues that at that point he will move forward with a markup of a health care bill, whether he has a bipartisan agreement to work from."
This is
Plan B?
A
report filed with the IRS shows Newt Gingrich's political group "quietly pulled in an impressive $8.1 million in the first half of the year, a cash haul that enabled the former Speaker of the House to finance a robust political operation that includes at least 17 employees," reports
Politico.
"The operation, which includes a pollster and fundraisers, promotes Gingrich's books, sends out direct mail, airs ads touting his causes and funds his travel across the country via charter and first-class airfare."
Though she was
hailed as the most popular governor in America during the 2008 presidential campaign, Sarah Palin left her post this week with a plurality of Alaskans not happy with her.
According to a new
Hays Research poll, 47.5% of Alaska voters have an unfavorable view of Palin while 46.8% are favorable.
Public Policy Polling was skeptical of the results found by DailyKos/Research 2000 that
fewer than half of Republicans believed President Obama was a natural born American citizen.
However, in a Virginia poll currently in the field, PPP
finds that just 79 of the first 168 respondents -- both Democrats and Republicans -- think Obama is a citizen, while 56 say he is not and 33 are not sure.
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) told the
Hartford Courant he has been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer.
He is scheduled to undergo surgery during the Senate's August recess and said he expects to be back at work after a "brief recuperation" at home.
Out next week:
The Battle for America 2008 by Haynes Johnson and Dan Balz.
The book "tells the story of the 2008 campaign from the inside out, with exclusive interviews with the candidates and their top strategists that produce intimate portraits of Obama, Clinton, and McCain."
The
Washington Post has advance excerpts.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) "is leaning heavily against" challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) in next year's primary,
Politico reports.
However, sources "cautioned that the mercurial Maloney -- reportedly incensed by the efforts of the White House and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) to force her out of the race -- hasn't made a final decision."
Maloney was supposed to announce her intentions earlier this week but
backed off.
We've seen many politicians get themselves in trouble using government email accounts, but now we're seeing those who get in trouble using Twitter.
According to
CNN, Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) -- who also happens to be a Navy Reservist -- sent several messages using Twitter while on active duty.
"Two questions are raised about these tweets. The first is whether or not Kirk
revealed his location when he should not have ('Loose lips sink ships') and the second is whether or not his Twitter account goes against military regulations that state military members are not allowed to update or revise any 'Web sites created before entry on active duty.'"
"He's actually right. It is teachable. Here's the lesson: Shut up."
-- Rudy Giuliani, in an interview on
Fox News, on what President Obama should learn from getting involved in the Gates-Crowley dispute.
With health care reform sidetracked for another month,
ABC News reports Democratic leaders "are quietly preparing for Plan B."
"Under the scenario now being discussed, bi-partisan talks would be aborted and parliamentary maneuvers used to force the bill through with a party-line vote."
Interesting side note: The "Gang of Six" senators involved in bipartisan health care negotiations
represent six states with a total of less than three percent of the
U.S. population (Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Maine, New Mexico and
Iowa).
Though Republicans succeeded in delaying votes on health care reform until at least after the August recess, polling data shows Americans still trusts President Obama significantly more on the issue.
The recent
NYT/CBS News poll found that -- by a 55% to 26% margin -- Obama has better ideas on health care than Republicans.
Similarly, the new
GWU Battleground survey found Obama with a 21 point lead over Republicans on who would better handle health care reform.
This is a huge advantage that will likely be hard for Republicans to overcome.
"At the six-month mark amid polls showing slipping public support for his ideas, President Barack Obama is convening the Cabinet for a two-day huddle," the
Washington Examiner reports.
Said spokesman Robert Gibbs: "It's an opportunity for the president, the vice president, senior White House staff and Cabinet officials all to get together and talk about the agendas both past and forward, [and] how we can continue to work together to make progress."
"The group will gather at Blair House and the White House Conference Center, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. They will dine together today and meet again Saturday."
A forthcoming DailyKos/Research 2000 poll found 77% of Americans believe President Obama was born in the United States, 11% do not, and 12% are not sure.
Among Republicans only, 42% think he's an American citizen, 28% do not, and 30% are not sure.
Read more...
The
Austin American Statesman examined a web site for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's (R-TX) gubernatorial campaign and found it "have been juiced with the intent of drawing visitors with the help of more than 2,200 hidden phrases -- including "rick perry gay."
Hutchison will challenge Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) in a Republican primary for governor next year.
A campaign spokesman "issued a statement that didn't indicate how the phrases landed on the site, but said they weren't condoned and would be removed."
White House political adviser David Axelrod is set to hold a "private messaging session" with House Democrats today on the Hill before lawmakers leave for the August recess,
Greg Sargent reports.
With a House health care bill closer to reality, "the battle will shift to a new phase: Selling it."
Said a top House staffer: "We have a month where 256 members will be in their districts with a bill to sell. Axelrod is going to talk to them about getting out there and selling it. House Dems are going on the offensive in August."
According to analysis of Nielsen data by the
New York Observer, as criticism of Lou Dobbs has continued to rise over his
questioning of President Obama's citizenship, his ratings at CNN have continued to go down.
In fact, Dobbs' audience has decreased 15% in total viewers and 27% in the all important age 25 to 54 demographic group since the start of the controversy.
July 30, 2009
"It is somewhat immoral what they are doing. Of course, they have been immoral all along how they have treated the people that they insure... They are the villains in this. They have been part of the problem in a
major way. They have been doing everything in their power to stop a
public option from happening. The public has to know that."
-- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), quoted by
NBC News off camera talking about health care insurers.
"Less than a month before he traveled to Argentina to see his mistress, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) predicted in a letter to his spiritual adviser that 'public humiliation' would follow revelations of his shattered marriage," the
AP reports.
The letter was obtained by the Associated Press through a public records request. The governor drafted the letter on his state computer on May 20.
Wrote Sanford: "I simply beg for the chance to figure it ought (sic) privately, please beg her for just the first month after the kids get out of school and if I cant get this done then there will be plenty of time for public humiliation and showing the world I am the guy in the wrong."
"Political adviser Karl Rove and other high-ranking figures in the Bush White House played a greater role than previously understood in the firing of federal prosecutors almost three years ago, according to e-mails obtained by the
Washington Post, in a scandal that led to mass Justice Department resignations and an ongoing criminal probe."
"Under Barack Obama, the process of political payoff through ambassadorial appointments has matched and appears poised to exceed the already extremely abusive system that Karl Rove put in place under the Bush Administration," reports
Harpers magazine.
"In his first six months, Obama has forwarded 58 ambassadorial nominees to the Senate for confirmation. Retired career diplomat Dennis Jett reports in the
Daily Beast that 32 of these nominees -- 55% of the total -- are political appointees."
"Political appointees are not per se objectionable... But the Obama political appointees are of a different caliber. What distinguishes them is not a career in public service or finance, much less foreign relations or foreign area expertise, but rather something far grubbier: raising substantial sums of money for the Obama campaign."
"The only way I could get elected governor is the way I got elected mayor -- things have to be so bad... I got elected mayor, I believe, on the theory of -- it can't get worse. So if it gets to that point, maybe I'll decide."
-- Rudy Giuliani (R), quoted by the
New York Daily News, on running for governor of New York in 2010.
The latest
C-SPAN tally of the coming Senate vote on Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court shows 35 senators in favor -- including 29 Democrats and 6 Republicans -- with 23 senators opposed.
There are still 42 senators who are uncommitted.
The latest
Pew Research poll confirms what most other polls are showing: President Obama's approval ratings have suffered major declines.
"The president's overall job approval number fell from 61% in mid-June to 54% currently. His approval ratings for handling the economy and the federal budget deficit have also fallen sharply, tumbling to 38% and 32%, respectively. Majorities now say they disapprove of the way the president is handling these two issues. The new poll also finds significant declines over the last few months in the percentage of Americans giving Obama high marks for dealing with health care, foreign policy and tax policy."
As NBC/WSJ co-pollster Bill McInturff (R) told
First Read: "The question I asked back in February was: When does political gravity take hold? The answer is in this survey. It is happening now."
Though Sarah Palin has
put out feelers to see if there is interest in her doing a national radio show,
Cable & Broadcasting "says the country's biggest radio conglomerate, Clear Channel, has already passed on her."
"The main objection to Palin as radio talk-show host is that she would have to hold forth for three hours a day. While some of her recent remarks may indicate a talent for improvisation, anyone who's listened to Rush Limbaugh or Thom Hartmann or Don Imus or Howard Stern or even Ryan Seacrest knows it's the rare personality who can blab extemporaneously for 15 hours a week. And relying on callers to get you through won't help, because as we've all experienced, callers-in are usually more embarrassing than compelling."
