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- With an 8 AM Senate vote scheduled Thursday for health-care reform, the next obstacle is the conference committee, where the House and Senate bills will be merged. But to speed things along and avoid blowing up the various deals that were made to secure 60 cloture votes, there's word on the Hill that the House might concede that they're painted in a corner and simply vote for the Senate bill.
- You'd think that a politician who constantly rails against government "socialism" and the like while personally benefiting from generous federal subsidies might have a difficult time explaining the hypocrisy to their constituents. But fortunately for Michele Bachmann, her constituents love her, which is unfortunate for them since they deserve a representative in Congress, not someone using her position to pursue a dual career as a fixture on right-wing media circuit.
- Speaking of personal gain through conservative politics, it's pretty sleazy that Michael Steele would use his position as chairman of the Republican National Committee to profit with a side career on the lecture circuit. I don't have much sympathy for the GOP's refusal to moderate itself, but the party members who elected Steele did so on the assumption that he would actually, you know, be dedicated to his job as the party tries to dig itself out of a hole. Perhaps even more head-spinning is the fact that people are apparently willing to pay up to $20,000 to hear Steele speak.
- Remainders: The battle for Tora Bora; according to Reason, the lesson is, never try; Watergate's long shadow for health-care reform; and it might not be a fair trade, but if sacrificing the public option speeds up implementation of health-care reform, I'd take the deal.
--Mori Dinauer
