Washington DC

The headline in the HuffingtonPost reads:

"House Health Care Bill Arrives: Would Cover 97 Percent Of Americans, Cost $1 Trillion"

I found this discussion between Senators Grassley (R-IA) and Schumer (D-NY) on CBS's Face the Nation truly bizarre.

Most of the segment was spent discussing health care in the usual superficial, made-for-tv way with a handful of talking points and the obligatory promise of "bipartisanship". I felt dumber after watching the thing than before.

I love it how on NPR, Mara Liasson keeps calling the Blue Dogs who are against the Public Option, 'Moderates'.

She did it again this morning. Someone should tell her that 'moderate' is halfway or in the middle of where the American people stand -- not where conservative Dems leave off and even more conservative GOPers begin.

All day long, WBBM Radio played Sen. Orin Hatch's comment that 'empathy', which is one of Obama's criteria for selecting a Supreme Court justice, was just "a code word for an activist judge." All day long, they played this.

Mark your calendars: October 15th will be a Day of Health Care Liberation for millions of our fellow Americans who currently have no access to health care:

The dark ages are over...

Transcript:

THE PRESIDENT: Dan from CNN.

DAN LOTHIAN (CNN): During the campaign you were criticized by some within your own party for perhaps not being able to be tough on foreign policy matters. Now you’ve had this friendly interaction with Mr. Chavez. Are you concerned at all about how this might be perceived back in the U.S. as perhaps being soft? Already one senator is calling this friendly interaction irresponsible. And as a quick follow-up, if I may, when you got the book from Mr. Chavez, what did you really think? (Laughter.)

THE PRESIDENT: I think it was a nice gesture to give me a book; I’m a reader. And you’re right, we had this debate throughout the campaign, and the whole notion was, is that somehow if we showed courtesy or opened up dialogue with governments that had previously been hostile to us, that that somehow would be a sign of weakness. The American people didn’t buy it. And there’s a good reason the American people didn’t buy it — because it doesn’t make sense.

[Courtesy of the Orange Satan]

Sounds like it's retirement-time for Mark Shields. Here's his latest whopper:

I don't think bipartisanship is dead. I think you'll see it on health care. I think the possibility of an overwhelming majority in the Senate passing and backing health care. I think you'll see it elsewhere, as well.

If you can't get Republicans to vote on a Stimulus Package, who in their right mind would expect an "overwhelming majority" with their help on health care?

Did this guy see the same press conference I saw?

There were no smiles on Tuesday night, no memorable moments, no attempt by the president to capture the sense of drama or anticipation that has surrounded prime-time news conferences by prior White House occupants.

Forbes puts out a report saying billionaires are worse off this year than last and every media outlet in the country reports this as news.

First, the Award for Most Depressing Story of the Week has to go to NPR's David Greene for a piece called "Mailman Finds Delivery Route Altered By Recession".