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- The Senate Finance Committee voted 15-8 to strike down Jay Rockefeller's public option amendment, and 13-10 to nix Chuck Schumer's weaker bill. Ezra Klein explains why a majority on the committee feels it's more important to protect private profits than to save money and provide better, wider care.
- We all know that Sen. Ben Nelson ("D"-NE) loves arbitrary numbers. But his decree that nothing less than 65 votes in the Senate will be required for health care reform to be "legitimate" is rather shocking. Does Sen. Nelson understand what legitimacy means, and has he considered the consequences of dubbing the current reform proposals as illegitimate? I suspect not, and Nelson's obvious contempt for for small-d democracy should finally resolve the question of whether he is in favor of reform or not.
- I'm glad Sens. Leahy, Dodd, Feingold, and Merkley have introduced a bill to repeal the FISA Amendments Act that granted immunity to telecommunications companies who participated in illegal wiretapping with the blessings of the Bush administration. However, the act passed with 69 votes last year -- including that of then-Sen. Barack Obama -- so I don't expect this one to get very far.
- More deep thoughts from the How Take Back America Conference: Barack Obama is an "enemy of (unborn) humanity"; grave warnings about the coming dictatorship; Obama is the "first Muslim American President"; "the feminist movement is the most dangerous, destructive force in our society today"; defunding SEIU is the next step to thwarting the communist menace; and stock up on guns and ammo for the looming battle against Marxism.
- Remainders: Despite setbacks, the Obama administration has already cleared 78 Gitmo detainees for release; town hall astroturfing is about to go big time; Lou Dobbs doesn't know what a "conspiracy" is but he's going to warn you about it anyway; tea baggers were active during the Ford administration; and when it comes to liberalizing finance we never, ever, learn from history.
--Mori Dinauer
