July 2009 - Posts
THE WEEK AHEAD: Health care, Sotomayor vote, Obama's birthday, Hillary goes to Africa, Summers on Meet the Press... and birther invades the manor.
For our mailbox, submit your questions for next week in the comments section below. We might pick yours.
From NBC's Pete Williams
Alberto Gonzales is making a comeback, nominated today to return to his old job.President Obama has nominated Daniel Bogden to be the top federal prosecutor in Nevada. Bodgen was the US attorney there in the George W. Bush administration for five years until he was fired in December 2006, one of nine who were forced out.
Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada had pushed for the nomination. His spokesman has said it would help correct a past wrong.
From NBC's Mark Murray MSNBC.com on the observations from it.
Video: Atlantic Media’s Ron Brownstein talks about the public’s support of health care reform and President Barack Obama according to the latest NBC News/WSJ poll. TOWSON, Md. - The past wave of public polling, including Wednesday’s NBC/Wall Street Journal survey, hasn’t been terrific news for the
Obama White House.
The president’s job-approval numbers have declined, although they remain above 50 percent. His standing on health care has dropped. And Republicans now find themselves, at least in the NBC/Journal survey, with an advantage over Democrats in which party would do a better job reducing the deficit — the first time the GOP has led on this question in 12 years.
But according to Peter D. Hart, the pollster who conducts the NBC/Journal survey with Republican Bill McInturff, poll numbers don't always tell the entire story.
That’s why Hart held a focus group Wednesday in the Baltimore area with 12 self-described independents to evaluate the first six months of Obama's presidency.
Seven of these independents voted for Obama in last November’s presidential contest, four voted for Republican John McCain and one voted for Ralph Nader. All the participants were white men and women, except for one African-American man.
While a few of them expressed negative opinions about Obama — saying they were “worried” or “afraid” — those who voted for him remained mostly supportive. And even half of the McCain voters said they were pulling for the president.
From NBC's Mark Murray Sarah Palin , according to a Hays Research Group poll conducted July 29-30. (Hat tip: Political Wire .)
In the poll, 48% see her negatively, versus 47% who view her positively.
In May 2008 -- before Palin was selected as
John McCain's running mate -- the same Hays Research poll had her positive rating
at 86% , and in May 2009 it dropped
to 54% . Now it's 47%.
The new Hays poll was taken of 400 Alaskans, and it has a margin of error of plus-minus 4.9 percentage points.
From NBC's Luke Russert
By a 316-109 vote, the House just passed an additional $2 billion for the "Cash for Clunkers" program.
From NBC's Mark Murray
The deal that was cut earlier this week between House Energy and Commerce Chairman
Henry Waxman and the Blue Dogs included four of the committee's seven Blue Dogs.
Here's a script of the MoveOn radio ad...
AD SCRIPT
Female VO
Today in [STATE], a patient lost insurance coverage for medical care she needs...
Male VO
Female VO
Male VO
Instead of helping [STATE] families get more affordable, quality health care choices, Congressman [XXXX] sided with the special interests and insurance companies
Female VO
Call XXX-XXX-XXXX and tell him [STATE] families can't afford to wait for real health care reform any longer.
From NBC's Mark Murray The Hill that quoted Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus (D) -- whose work on health care so far has frustrated some liberal Democrats -- saying he had "no idea" whether he'll vote for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor .
“I haven’t paid any attention and I haven’t announced," he told the Capitol Hill publication. "I’ve been so busy with health care. It’s under consideration. I’ll certainly know when I vote, but right now I can’t tell you.”
Well, he's now telling us -- he's voting for her.
"I have long said that to be a Supreme Court Justice a person must meet three main criteria: personal integrity, professional competence, and a view of important issues that is within the mainstream of contemporary judicial thought," Baucus said in a statement. "After personally meeting Judge Sotomayor, thoroughly analyzing her judicial record, and reviewing her nomination hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Judge Sotomayor unquestionably meets each of these criteria. Thus, I am proud to support her nomination and will vote to confirm her as a Justice to the United States Supreme Court.”
From NBC's Mark Murray Chris Dodd
(D), who is up for re-election next year, has been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer.
From NBC's Mike Viqueira, Kelly O'Donnell and Carl Sears It's a race against time today for the House. They're set to go off on their way for recess once the gavel comes down at close of business, but they want to send the "Cash for Clunkers" program another $2 billion before they go.
Procedurally, they will need to get Republicans to go along, however. Early indications are that it might be possible, but conservatives are already on the record as opposing more money.
Video: Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., discuses the House’s plans to pass $2 billion to keep the “Cash for Clunkers” program running. Just a week after taking effect, the program has already run through the $1 billion allocated to it. Today, White House Auto Czar
Brian Dees was up on the Hill for a closed-door meeting of the Michigan delegation, where he gave assurances that the program would not be suspended and indicated that he wants the dealers to continue to submit applications for the credit.
The plan is to "reprogram" the money from a a renewable energy loan guarantee program in the stimulus that has funds yet to be used. The money would eventually be replenished, according to a House leadership aide.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Carl Sears and Kelly O'Donnell Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow say the "Cash for Clunkers" program is an overwhelming success -- that the program is ongoing -- and they're hoping to find more money to extend the program.
"Go in, buy cars, hopefully American cars, that qualify until further notice," Levin urged at a Capitol Hill news conference. "This is the best example of a stimulus program that is clearly working."
Stabenow added, "The evidence is extremely strong that this works. People are buying autos, people are generating revenue for the economy and creating demand, so people can go back to work."
Video: The government’s billion-dollar “cash for clunkers” program seems to be low on money as car shoppers flock to take advantage of the rebates. CNBC’s Erin Burnett reports. There is a House bill being introduced today that would add $2 billion to the program ($1 billion has already been committed). If the House passes the bill, Levin said the Senate could vote a bill next week.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell and Scott Foster
Although key members of Congress were notified by the Secretary of Transportation Thursday that the auto purchase incentive program would run out of money at midnight, sources say "Administration and Congressional officials are working to keep it up and running."
Video: The Obama administration is reviewing its ‘cash for clunkers’ program. CNBC’s Phil LeBeau reports. The program has exhausted its authorized funding of nearly $1 billion in less than a week, but officials say "it is not suspended."
White House spokesman
Robert Gibbs today said the program is "up and continuing to run," adding that the plan is available for car buyers this weekend.
He said the administration is working to extend the program with more funding. "OMB and DOT and the economic team are working with bipartisan leaders to com up with more funding," Gibbs said. He repeatedly emphasized the White House believes the program is "working well."
From NBC's Mark Murray
Video: Rachel Maddow wraps up the Birther conspiracy. According to a Research 2000/DailyKos poll, eight in 10 Americans believe
President Obama was born in the United States. But among Republicans, 28% of them say he WASN'T born in the country and another 30% say they're not sure. (By comparison, 93% of Democrats and 83% of independents say Obama was born in the U.S.A.)
Also, 23% of Southerners don't believe he was born here, and an extra 30% aren't sure. (On the other hand, 93% of those living in the Northeast, 90% from the Midwest, and 87% from the West believe he was born in this country.)
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg Here come the ads! As the House begins its month-long August recess, here come the ads on health care. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has announced it’s launching an advertising and grassroots offensive on health care targeted at about two dozen House Republicans. Here’s a sample of one radio ad: “Health care bills -- every year, the cost goes higher,” an announcer says, “making it harder to make ends meet. But year after year, Congressman Charlie Dent (PA) opposed reforms to make health care more affordable. Congressman Dent’s gotten nearly $75,000 from the insurance industry while we’ve gotten stuck with runaway health-care costs. And what do the insurance companies get? Record profits. Call Congressman Dent. Tell him not to side with insurance companies … and start supporting real health care reform.” We already know the RNC is up in certain districts, and MoveOn is on the air. The question is, of course: When does the insurance industry jump in, and where?
Video: Sen. Orin Hatch, R-Utah, talks about what's really wrong with America's health care system and why a public option will cost too much and result in the rationing of health care. ***
Mob rule? With the House embarking on its recess,
Politico asks this question: Just how unruly will the congressional town halls be? “On the eve of the August recess, members are reporting meetings that have gone terribly awry, marked by angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior. In at least one case, a congressman [Dem. Tim Bishop] has stopped holding town hall events because the situation has spiraled so far out of control.” Bishop’s “decision came on the heels of a June 22 event he held in Setauket, N.Y., in which protesters dominated the meeting by shouting criticisms at the congressman for his positions on energy policy, health care and the bailout of the auto industry. Within an hour of the disruption, police were called in to escort the 59-year-old Democrat — who has held more than 100 town hall meetings since he was elected in 2002 — to his car safely.” The angry folks live in both ideological neighborhoods and get emboldened by folks on the internet, radio, and TV. Maybe lawmakers ought to go with the tele-town hall approach, where constituents get asked if they have a question an hour before. The planned stuff only serves as a target for groups to hijack these events.
*** CORRECTION *** A Bishop spokesman emails First Read that Politico's story is wrong; Bishop ISN'T ending his town halls. "Congressman Bishop held a public forum with hundreds of seniors earlier this month, a teletownhall with 3500 constituents yesterday, and has town halls, public events and community office hours scheduled for August."
*** Are things getting better? Breaking news from the AP: "The economy dips at a 1 percent pace in the spring, strong sign recession is winding down." But again, the technical end of the recession vs. the actual FEEL for the public is the challenge for the White House.
*** The haves and have-nots : While much attention (and deservedly so) was given to Obama’s declining numbers on health care, our NBC/WSJ poll found a clear split between those who have private health insurance and those who don’t. Americans who have private insurance disapprove of Obama’s job on health care by a 51%-38%. But those who lack insurance approve of his job, 52%-29%. Similarly, those who don’t have insurance are much more likely to think Obama’s health-care plan is a good idea, while those who have it are more likely to think it’s a bad idea. Of course, the folks without insurance are a very small minority of the country. And now the focus of the White House appears exclusively on the insurance industry. This might be better politics as it's something both individuals and businesses might agree on.
*** Still backing Bush?
Here’s another interesting number from our poll: 56% said they approved of the reported Bush administration plan to send CIA agents overseas to assassinate senior members of Al Qaeda. When you add that finding to last month’s NBC/WSJ result that 52% oppose the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison, Republican pollster Bill McInturff observed that still 50%-plus of the American public still back some of the Bush war-on-terror policies. Focus on this : As we mentioned yesterday, one of us attended a focus group of 12 self-described independents that Democratic pollster Peter Hart conducted on Wednesday night in Towson, MD, which is just outside of Baltimore. Seven of these independents voted for Obama last November, four voted for McCain, and one voted for Nader. While almost all of the participants were down on the current state of the nation and other American politicians, many of them -- including some who voted for McCain -- had positive things to say about Obama or were hopeful about his presidency. Asked about her opinion about Obama after his first six months in office, Marsha, 59, a McCain voter, responded, "Just hopeful… I just see what's on his plate." Hart observed afterward, "Don't get fooled by the [poll] numbers alone. There is something strong there" regarding attitudes about Obama.
Video: Former Clinton Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers and former Press Secretary to Newt Gingrich, Tony Blankley, discuss why President Obama is having such a difficult time selling his health care plan to Congress and the American people. ***
I feel the need … the need for speed (or not) : In the focus group, perhaps the biggest concern about Obama was the speed at which he is moving. "I'm very worried about the speed," said Jennifer, 48, another McCain voter. There also was concern about Obama's strength and backbone. When Hart asked the participants to fill in the blank to the phrase "Obama's spine is made of …," some of the McCain voters responded with "plastic" and "sand." Those who voted for Obama said "steel" and "metal." This also was interesting: Despite the C.W. that Obama is overexposing himself, many of participants said they liked his press conferences and his town halls. And another thing: Many of the participants referred to Obama as "Barack," which Hart found interesting, saying it suggested a comfort and ease with the president.
*** Word association time : Hart also played a word association game with the 12 independents in attendance. On Obama: "scary," "worried," "brilliant," "idealistic," "afraid," "busy," "straightforward." On Rush Limbaugh: "mouthy," "I don't like him," "too outspoken," "entertaining." On Hillary Clinton: "smart," "intelligent," "relentless," "great," "energetic." On John McCain: "over the hill," "disappointing," "fighter," "strong-willed," "still trying." On Joe Biden: "hopeful," "embarrassing," "nice-looking," "useless." On Nancy Pelosi: "pushy," "strong-willed," "disrespectful," "self-centered," "I like her," "disrespectful," "strong-willed," "sneaky." On Sarah Palin: "If I wanted a stripper for president… She is not real bright," "future," "I'm glad she resigned," "average," "idiot," "nutty," "go away," "she has a good speaking voice," "celebrity," "comical." On Michelle Obama: "beautiful," "educated," "great role model," "improved," "good role model," "role model." On the Democratic Party: "divided," "splitting." And on the GOP: "a long way to go," "lacking leaders," "cronyism," "too conservative," "not tackling the issues."
*** That’s not my name!
*** Another Palin scheduling snafu : Who else saw this coming? According to NBC’s Norah O’Donnell, ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is NOT going to attend that speaking event in California next month. "As repeatedly stated to several in the media over the last week, former Gov. Sarah Palin is not committed to attend the Simi Valley Republican Women's event at the Reagan Library and in fact is not attending the event,” Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton told O’Donnell. “Neither the governor's state staff nor SarahPAC has ever committed to attending this event or speaking at this event, and even requested that the governor's name be removed from the invitation several weeks ago. The governor has other work and commitments to take care of at that time. She looks forward to visiting her friends in California soon." This cancellation, of course, comes after a similar “she will attend, now she won’t” situation played out for last spring’s NRCC/NRSC dinner.
*** The war in Afghanistan : Are things falling apart in Afghanistan? Perhaps not, but there is HARDLY any good news coming from this war zone right now. July saw the highest number of U.S. casualties there. And here’s this AP story "U.S. agencies handling reconstruction work in Afghanistan lack direction and communication, problems that risk wasting U.S. tax dollars, says the special inspector general overseeing tens of billions of dollars worth of projects.” A word of warning to the administration: When we did our latest NBC/WSJ, we re-interviewed a number of respondents, and here was one quote from an Obama supporter that ended up on the TV cutting room floor but is appropriate. “I'm sorry that now we're in another war. We were in Iraq, you know, we were pulling back and now, we're in Afghanistan. Do we really need another war? I understand that yes, the president is trying to go after Al-Qaeda but do we need to be yet in another war where we're spending billions of dollars every day or every month?” And remember, this is an Obama SUPPORTER!?!?! There won’t be the same public patience on Afghanistan as there was on Iraq even though, logically, one would assume differently since there is near universal agreement that Afghanistan is home to more of our enemies. The Blair House Project : At 6:15 pm ET at the Blair House (near the White House), President Obama and Vice President Biden begin huddling with the administration’s cabinet secretaries to assess their first six months in office. CEOs hold these kinds of retreats all the time to identify what's working and what's not. So what's working and what's not? And who should/will be put on notice by the president at this retreat?
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 95 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails . Facebook and also on Twitter .
The Boston Globe on the Beer Summit: "They did not link arms, and there were no public apologies. But a subdued meeting over beers on the White House patio last evening appeared to achieve President Obama’s goal of encouraging a deeper dialogue on race between Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge police Sergeant James Crowley."
Video: President Obama and Vice President Biden sit down with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the officer who arrested him, Sgt. James Crowley, for a beer at the White House. NBC’s Chuck Todd reports. Prof. Gates (in a statement on
TheRoot.com ): "I would like to applaud President Obama for bringing Sergeant Crowley, me and our families together… Sergeant Crowley and I, through an accident of time and place, have been cast together, inextricably, as characters – as metaphors, really – in a thousand narratives about race over which he and I have absolutely no control… It is incumbent upon Sergeant Crowley and me to utilize the great opportunity that fate has given us to foster greater sympathy among the American public for the daily perils of policing on the one hand, and for the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand. .. At this point, I am hopeful that we can all move on...."
More : "Scholars said the meeting was apparently an unprecedented intervention in a local dispute by a sitting US president, part of the White House damage control" after the "stupidly" comment. New York Post's cover has the three men clinking mugs and a headline: "Brew-haha." New York Daily News uses the same photo and the headline, "Touch of Glass." (You can also clearly see Prof. Gates' cane.)
CONTINUED >>
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus says his panel will not introduce a health-care reform bill before the August recess, NBC’s Ken Strickland reports. This forces Majority Leader Harry Reid to push back another timetable for passing a bill. Reid had said publicly he wanted the committee bill passed before Aug. 7. "Nevertheless," Baucus said, "we're as committed, if not more committed, to finding a bipartisan agreement." The announcement comes a day after key Republicans involved in writing the bill complained the process was moving too fast.
"We have not been committed to deadlines," said Republican Chuck Grassley, one of the six bipartisan negotiators. "We've been committed to getting a job done. And that's where we are today. That's where we've been -- Max and I -- for five months. And that's where the six of us have been for the last month."
Video: Have the Blue Dog Democrats fallen for a Republican ruse with their August time out? Newsweek’s Howard Fineman discusses the GOP’s scary stall tactics. "House Democratic leaders have developed a coordinated strategy for attacking insurance companies to ward off attacks from opponents of their health care overhaul during the August break, according to a strategy memo obtained by
The Hill . 'Our message is simple. It is now being echoed by the White House,' said the memo sent to all Democratic members. 'And it counters the Republican ‘government takeover’ message.' The message in the memo, though, won't fit on a bumper sticker: 'Remove the insurance companies from between you and your doctor— capping what they can force you to pay in out of pocket expenses, co-pays and deductibles, and giving you the peace of mind you will be covered for the care you need, if get sick, or if you change or lose your job.'"
CONTINUED >>
So Max Baucus
says he has "no idea" how he'll vote on Sotomayor? This comes after liberals have been frustrated by his work on health care. “I have no idea,” Baucus said, per The Hill. “I haven’t paid any attention and I haven’t announced… I’ve been so busy with healthcare. It’s under consideration. I’ll certainly know when I vote, but right now I can’t tell you.”
By the way,
The Hill points out: "Baucus had an A rating from the NRA in 2008, as did two other Senate Democrats who ran last year: Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Mark Warner of Virginia." Johnson, Warner and Montana Democrat Jon Tester have said they both intend to support Sotomayor. And even Republican Lamar Alexander said yesterday he'd support her -- despite his A rating from the NRA. The National Rifle Association, which opposes Sotomayor, has vowed to make the vote part of its ratings system this year.
Debate on her confirmation may begin Tuesday,
Roll Call reports.
It's official. Sarah Palin is not attending that Simi Valley Republican women's group talk -- emceed by Palin supporter John Ziegler. Invitations had gone out with her name on them. And it was set to be her first appearance -- though closed to the press -- since she stepped down as governor of Alaska. Palin's people had never confirmed that she was attending.
The Republican Women Federated of Simi Valley released a statement: "We regret to inform you that Governor Sarah Palin is unable to attend our event on August 8, 2009. As stated, we invited her to attend and we were honored by her consideration. We sincerely appreciate the support of our members and guests. We will refund ticket purchases for anyone who chooses not to attend. Contact us by end of business Tuesday, August 4, 2009 … with your name, address, and telephone number for refunds. We apologize for any inconvenience."
Video: Bloomberg News’ Margaret Carlson discusses whether former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will keep herself in the political arena or pursue other interests. The group had put out a statement July 12 saying Palin was attending. Back then, the group's president said she "respected Palin's right to change her plans at any time," the San
Diego Union-Tribune wrote. "She said in an e-mail that correspondence with the governor's office has been 'positive but cautious,' but she added, 'we know she will come.'"
There is an
internal spat within the RNC that is playing out at the summer meeting in San Diego. Some RNC old guard would like to limit Michael Steele's ability to hand out consulting contracts.
The Hill looks at the perils of running as an incumbent governor in 2010.
NEW JERSEY : A spokesman for New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney office said that accusations that Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie intervened in a federal fraud suit, leading to a plea agreement that “prevented a developer from collecting whistleblower payments,” were “unsubstantiated and politically charged.” Developer Samuel Yarosh, who says he “tipped off federal agents” to his former business partner and Assembleyman Morton Salkind’s tax evasion, has filed a lawsuit claiming that Salkind’s lawyers, both political allies of Christie, got a “sweetheart deal” from federal prosecutors: Salkind plead guilty to only one count of tax evasion, and Yarosh didn’t receive any percentage of Salkind’s recovered money, a common reward for whistleblowers.
On Thursday, Democratic Governor Jon Corzine’s camp released an ad criticizing Christie’s “handling” of the case.
NORTH DAKOTA : Rut-ro for Dems. Could this be true? Republican Gov. Hoeven is being heavily recruited by the NRSC AGAIN to challenge Byron Dorgan. Normally, the GOP can't produce a poll that gets a popular Republican at any better than even, but now they have a poll showing Hoeven up double-digits .
VIRGINIA : As part of “efforts by the national parties to target politicians they believe to be vulnerable at home,” Virginia Representative Gerald Connolly and Virginia Democratic Party chairman Richard Cranwell are “slamming Rep. Eric Cantor and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell for not supporting President Obama’s recovery bill.” At a press conference yesterday, Connolly noted “irony” in that Cantor “successfully roped every Republican member of the House to oppose [the Economic Recovery Act]…while at home he’s writing letters urging that a major chunk of that money be invested in his district.” An RNC spokeswoman responded, saying that the bill “wastes Virginians tax dollars,” noting that the rising unemployment rate since President Obama’s inauguration makes it “hard to see how this massive spending experiment can be billed as a success.” Washington Post asks both Virginia candidates what kind of beer they would request if invited to the White House for one. Said Deeds’ spokesman: “Creigh would drink what he always drinks, Budweiser. He’s a consistent guy.” McDonnell, however, would choose a Coors Light. “Both campaigns declined to provide any memorable stories involving their candidates’ consumption of their beer of choice. ‘Any good stories are locked away until after Election Day,” McDonnell’s rep said.
From NBC's Luke Russert
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), a member of the Progressive Caucus claimed at a news conference today on Capitol Hill that she had a letter with 53 signatures, attesting to that. “We have gathered here today to demand that the final health-care legislation has a robust public option and to vow we will vote against it if it does not," she said.
Video: Rachel Maddow is joined by Rep. Anthony Weiner, to talk about the latest battles in Congress to pass the health care reform bill. Echoing House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi ’s words from earlier in the day, Woolsey took a swipe at health-insurance companies saying, “Insurance companies have had decades to provide the kind of coverage that Americans need. They have shown that they cannot or they will not do it.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Scott Foster Gates and Sgt. Crowley .
Obama said he's "fascinated with the fascination about tonight."
Video: President Obama speaks on his chat with a black professor and the white police officer who arrested him. He added that he's heard this has been called the beer summit.
"That's a clever term, but this is not a summit," he said. "It's three folks having a drink at the end of the day and hopefully giving an opportunity to listen to each other."
He continued: "This is not a university seminar; this is not a summit; it's a personal interaction. ... The issue has been so hyped and symbolic you lose sight that there are people involved inclduing myself all of whom are imperfect."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Luke Russert
Nancy Pelosi came out aggressively against health insurance companies and their opposition to a public insurance option. “I think it is pretty clear that we want a strong public option in the legislation. Insurance companies full force carpet-bombing and shock and awe against the public option -- so much so that the American people doubt the plan or are uncertain about it, until you tell them what is in it.”
Later, off camera, while walking with reporters to her office, Pelosi took it a step further and questioned the morality of health insurance companies that oppose a public option. “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.”
In a passionate tone, she continued, “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. They can describe their arguments any way they want, but the fact is they don’t want the competition. They don’t even want anti-trust laws. They have had a good thing going for a long time at the expense of the American people and the health of our country. Our members have to go out there ready to take on a big special interest that has not made our country healthier and have made our cost spiral upward and for whom that is coming to an end.”
Pelosi then said this about the health-care reform legislation: “This is the fight of our lives for the people that we represent, for their health.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Kelly O'Donnell Ted Kennedy and Jack Kemp , as well as Justice Sandra Day O'Connor .
"I am profoundly grateful to President Obama for this extraordinary honor," Kennedy
said in a statement. "My life has been committed to the ideal of public service which President Kennedy wanted the Medal of Freedom to represent. To receive it from another President who prizes that same ideal of service and inspires so many to serve is a great privilege that moves me deeply."
Others include: Physicist
Stephen Hawking , tennis great
Billie Jean King , gay rights activist
Harvey Milk (whose life was memorialized in a feature film this past year), actor
Sidney Poitier , actress
Chita Rivera ,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu ,
Nancy Goodman Brinker (founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure),
Dr. Pedro Jose Greer (a Miami physician that helps the homeless and disadvantaged children in Miami),
Rev. Joseph Lowery (civil rights leader),
Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow , (last living Plains Indian war chief),
Mary Robinson (first female President of Ireland),
Janet Davison Rowley (geneticist and cancer researcher),
Dr. Muhammad Yunus (“micro-loan” pioneers, providing credit to the poor)
From NBC's Scott Foster Robert Gibbs says today's meeting between the president, Sgt. Crowley and Prof. Gates is "not an after action report," and he reiterated there will be "no formal agenda."
"We are not here to mediate apologies," Gibbs added.
Gibbs says the president believes the meeting will help "foster a dialogue" on race, but Gibbs added, "It's not something that's just going to involve him or the actions of the presidency. ... It has to continue to happen at all levels."
Video: Rev. Jesse Jackson, MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan and a panel discuss the potential impact of the “beer summit.” Don't expect any comments from the photo spray, Gibbs said.
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg *** Back to Nov. 3, 2008: Perhaps the most striking observation from the new NBC/WSJ poll is how Barack Obama's standing has returned to where it was right before Election Night. His job-approval rating has dropped to 53%, which just happens to be the percentage of the popular vote he won in November. His approval among independents and Republicans is, respectively, 49% and 16%, which is fairly close to his exit-poll scores with these groups. And Obama's fav/unfav in our poll is 55%-34, which is almost identical to his fav/unfav in our mid-October 2008 NBC/WSJ poll. How did we return back to 2008? One obvious explanation is the health-care debate, which has turned into a Democrat-vs.-Republican fight. In fact, the 16% of Republicans approving of Obama’s job is a five-point decline from our June survey and a nine-point one since April. NBC/WSJ co-pollster Bill McInturff (R) says Obama had been flying above the partisan fray, but he’s now come back down to earth. “The question I asked back in February was: When does political gravity take hold? The answer is in this survey. It is happening now.”
Video: MSNBC’s Carlos Watson and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., discuss whether the Blue Dog Democrats and Republicans can work together to fight President Barack Obama’s health care plans. ***
Health care & stimulus numbers slipping: Speaking of health care, our poll also shows that the more Obama has campaigned on the issue, the worse his numbers have become. In it, 42% now say that the president’s plan is a bad idea, which is a 10-point increase since last month; only 36% say it’s a good idea. In addition, 39% -- a plurality -- believe that Obama’s plan would result in the quality of their health care getting worse, which is a 15-point jump since April. And just 41% approve of the president’s job on health care, which is nearly identical to Bill Clinton’s scores from 1994, when he failed to get Congress to pass health reform. (Just asking, but what happens to Obama's health numbers this fall, when there might be a shortage -- and rationing! -- of swine-flu shots?) A final note about health care: Support for a public insurance option decreases (to 46%-44%) when you take out the word “choice” from last month’s survey. What’s more, health care isn’t the only domestic priority for Obama that has become less popular. According to the poll, 43% now believe the stimulus was a bad idea, which is up 16 points since January. Indeed, the NBC/WSJ survey finds that the public’s top concern about Obama’s young presidency is that he has spent too much money.
*** The GOP’s new edge on the deficit/controlling spending: How concerned is the public with spending? Concerned enough that the GOP now has a six-point advantage over the Democrats on which party do you trust more on reducing the deficit -- which is the first time Republicans have led on this question since 1997 (!!!). Moreover, the GOP now has advantages over the Democrats on controlling government spending and taxes. And that could make Obama’s job to sell a health-care bill (and the tax increases that would pay for it) more difficult. Still, the Democratic Party maintains its edge over the GOP on health care, energy, getting the country out of recession, and the economy, although those advantages are smaller than they were a year ago. Overall, the Democratic Party’s fav/unfav rating is 42%-37%, while the GOP’s is 28%-41%.
*** 1994 or 1982? Looking ahead to 2010, one other thing that has declined for Democrats is their edge in the generic ballot. According to our new poll, Americans prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress over a GOP-controlled one, 46%-39%. But that seven-point advantage for Democrats is their smallest edge here since April 2006. Much of the increase comes from white men and white women. While a seven-point Dem advantage doesn’t suggest a change in power like we saw in 1994, NBC/WSJ co-pollster Peter Hart (D) says next year’s midterms could look a lot like 1982, when the Democratic Party picked up seats after Ronald Reagan’s first two years in office. “To me, 2010 is looking to be much like 1982,” he said. “It’s going to be a bad year for the incumbent party. It may not affect the president as much as it will affect the party and the makeup of the Congress.” Another thing to note from the poll: The GOP has increased its strength in the South, and the regional splits between the parties look like they did pre-Katrina.
Video: MSNBC political analyst Laura Flanders talks about the GOP’s continued criticism of the stimulus despite the Federal Reserve’s report that most of its 12 regions have either stabilized economically or have seen a leveling off in the pace of the economic decline. ***
Biden, Pelosi, Romney, Clinton, and Palin: Despite the decline in his numbers, Obama (with a 55%-34% fav/unfav) is still the most popular politician measured in our poll. Vice President Biden’s score is 38%-36% (reflecting the fact that when he gets into the news, it’s usually because he did or said something wrong); House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s is 25%-44%, Mitt Romney’s is 28%-20% (look what happens when you stay out of the news!); Hillary Clinton’s is 53%-31%; and Sarah Palin’s is 32%-43%. Looking at Palin and 2012, the poll shows that a whopping 67% of the public -- and 43% of Republicans -- say they would NOT like to see her as president someday. By comparison, 50% of Americans -- and 33% of Republicans -- say they don’t want to see Romney become president.
*** Focus group time: As Peter Hart notes, poll numbers alone don’t always tell you the entire story, however. And last night, he conducted a focus group with 12 independent voters in Towson, MD (outside of Baltimore) that one of your First Read authors attended. Seven of these indies voted for Obama last year, four voted for McCain, and one voted for Nader. We’ll have more on this focus group in tomorrow’s First Thoughts, but here are the quick highlights: Despite the drop in Obama’s poll numbers, these participants -- even those who voted for McCain -- expressed hope and some positive feelings for the president. Yet they also expressed concern about the speed at which the president was moving on issues, particularly health care. Also, Michelle Obama won rave reviews from the participants, while Biden didn’t.
Video: Many conservatives feel health care proposals are being rushed and were hoping Blue Dog Democrats would take their side. Rep. Mike Pence, D-Ind., discusses whether the Blue Dogs’ decision to negotiate with Democratic leaders may hurt the prospect of a bipartisan health care bill. ***
The Great American Health Care Fight: Blue Dogs struck a deal with House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman yesterday, but the agreement has angered liberals… NBC’s Ken Strickland reports that although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has called for the Senate Finance Committee to complete its bill before the August recess, two GOP negotiators (Grassley and Enzi) suggested that it probably won’t happen… And finally, a last word about the Blue Dogs: Our new NBC/WSJ poll measured that group (white Democrats who aren’t liberals), and found that while they overwhelmingly approve of Obama’s job, they agree with him less on the issues. Just 46% of them think he’s taking the country in the right direction, and only 41% think his stimulus package was a good idea. And you wonder why these Blue Dog congressmen are reluctant on health care…
Video: Why no Boston beers or microbrews for today's beer summit? NBC's Domenico Montanaro previews Obama's day. ***
Obama’s day: At 3:00 pm ET today, Obama meets with Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. And then three hours later comes his much-anticipated beer with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge police officer James Crowley. There will be a pool spray of the men gathering.
***
Pawlenty’s day: Finally today, retiring Minnesota Gov. (and potential 2012 candidate) Tim Pawlenty addresses the Republican National Committee’s meeting in San Diego today. Per a source close to Pawlenty, the governor will introduce himself and lay out the case why Obama’s policies are taking the country in the wrong direction. Talking about the budget, Pawlenty will emphasize the fact that he balanced the budget every year (which almost all governors have to do). On health care, he will criticize Obama’s plan, saying it will “replace independence with dependence and increase costs." And on foreign policy, he will mention that he has just returned from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 96 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails. Facebook and also on Twitter .
Here’s our write-up of the new NBC/WSJ poll: “Despite his public-relations blitz over the past two weeks to promote his plans to reform the nation's health-care system -- including holding two town halls on Wednesday -- President Barack Obama has lost ground on this issue with the American public... Pluralities now say that the president’s health care plan is a bad idea, and that it will result in the quality of their care getting worse. What’s more, just four in 10 approve of his handling on the issue.”
Video: President Obama spent another day on the road Wednesday pushing a health care overhaul as Democrats in the House appeared to have settled on a compromise plan that they'll take to the floor for a vote. NBC's Savannah Guthrie reports. Here’s the Wall Street Journal’s take: “Declining popularity of the health-care overhaul reflects rising anxiety over the federal budget deficit and congressional debate over the most contentious aspects of the legislation, including how to pay for it. The poll also shows concern over the role of government in determining personal medical decisions.”
The
CBS/New York Times poll , which shows Obama’s approval rating at 58%: “Mr. Obama continues to benefit from strong support for the basic goal of revamping the health care system, and he is seen as far more likely than Congressional Republicans to have the best ideas to accomplish that. But reflecting a problem that has hindered efforts to bring major changes to health care for decades, Americans expressed considerable unease about what the end result would mean for them individually.”
And here’s Time ’s poll, which has the president’s approval rating at 56%: “By significant margins, survey respondents said they believe the final health-reform legislation is likely to raise health-care costs in the long run (62%), make everything about health care more complicated (65%) and offer less freedom to choose doctors and coverage (56%).”
CONTINUED >>
NBC's Luke Russert reports from the House side on Capitol Hill about the progress toward a deal on health care yesterday. There will most likely be a committee vote by Friday. But it's important to note that yesterday's agreement was not between the Blue Dogs and the Leadership; it was between four of the seven Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee -- Hill, Space, Ross and Gordon -- and the chairman of that committee, Henry Waxman. At this point we don't know if all Blue Dogs will support health-care reform.
CONTINUED >>
Tim Pawlenty, who last week assumed the No. 2 job at the Republican Governors Association, is set to give a speech today before the Republican National Committee at its retreat in San Diego. Minnesota Public Radio says it "represents a key opportunity for the Minnesota governor to raise his national profile and make his pitch to the party faithful."
The
AP looks at Pawlenty's ambition: "The two-term fiscal and social conservative is taking necessary steps toward a possible presidential bid -- headlining GOP fundraisers, taking an influential job at the Republican Governors Association, mulling his own political action committee. But Pawlenty says he's focused on the party, not 2012." But it notes: "[H]is track record of GOP building in Minnesota is less than stellar. Republicans have lost ground in every election since he became governor in 2003. He is the sole statewide GOP officeholder and his party controls its fewest legislative seats since 1992. Pawlenty himself narrowly survived a three-way election contest to win his second term. But the governor said that's not his fault."
MASSACHUSETTS: "Republican Charles D. Baker Jr. officially entered the governor’s race yesterday, filing his paperwork with the state and then swiftly launching into an attack on Governor Deval Patrick’s handling of the budget and economy," The Boston Globe writes. "Baker immediately pledged not to raise taxes and said he would try to repeal the recent increase in the state sales tax, which will go from 5 percent to 6.25 percent Saturday, if he is elected. 'I’m a no-new-taxes candidate,' he said, adding later for the television cameras: 'Yeah, read my lips: No new taxes.'"
NEW JERSEY: “Within hours” of New Jersey’s corruption round-up last week, “word was circulating that Jon Corzine wasn’t long for the governor’s race.” Rumor had it that Corzine would pull the old bait and switch, much like Democratic senatorial candidate Robert Torricelli did in 2002. “Overwhelmed by questions about his relationship with a shady contributor, his party gave him the hook in favor of the tried-and-true Frank Lautenberg.” The New York Observer , however, predicts Corzine won’t pull a Torricelli, as Democrats don’t have the same “leverage they enjoyed” with the wealthy Corzine, who “tends to believe he’s far more popular -- and far more skilled at communicating with the public -- than he actually is.”
Stu Rothenberg , writing in Roll Call, has this headline: "You Have 4 Months To Learn to Say ‘Gov. Chris Christie’" -- unless Corzine bows out, which it doesn't look like he will. Rep. Frank Pallone and Newark Mayor Cory Booker have expressed interest in replacing Corzine, but he isn't beholden to the state party system, since he has been self-financed.
TEXAS: Kay Bailey "Hutchison said for the first time Wednesday that she would resign “sometime” around October or November -- a decision that would pave the way for a much-anticipated May [2010] special election. She said she was resigning because her 'heart is in Texas,' but also emphasized that her primary opponent has forced her hand by running for an unprecedented third term. Asked why she wouldn’t stay in the Senate while she runs, Hutchison said it was all about Perry. 'I just can’t, as long as Gov. Perry’s in the race,' she told a Dallas-Fort Worth radio station. 'No one expected him to run again.'"
From NBC's Mark Murray
Sarah Palin
stepped down as Alaska governor on Sunday, and could be eyeing a presidential bid in 2012. But according to the poll, a whopping 67 percent of Americans -- and 43 percent of Republicans -- say they would not like to see her president someday.Mitt Romney
, another possible 2012 contender, become president. President Obama's handling of health care, which is nearly identical to Bill Clinton's scores from 1994, when he failed to get Congress to pass health-care reform.
Video: The latest NBC/WSJ poll suggests that confidence in President Barack Obama's approach to a massive overhaul of the health care system has taken a political toll. The president's job approval rating has dropped to 53 percent. NBC's Chuck Todd reports. We'll have plenty more numbers on Obama and health care when the full poll is released at 6:30 pm ET.
From NBC's Ken Strickland Max Baucus today announced the bipartisan working group has a draft health-care reform bill. And according to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill costs less than $900 billion and does not increase the deficit. "The bill would actually reduce the federal deficit in the 10th year by several billion dollars," he said.
Video: A bipartisan deal may have been reached on health care, and while it might win over some Republicans, it’s causing a major rift in the Democratic caucus. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., discusses. Baucus was quick the say the "good news" was preliminary. "Keep in mind the draft does not include resolution of several issues," he told reporters after a closed door meeting the group of six.
He also said the bill would cover 95% of all Americans by 2015 and would not cause people to drop out of their company-provided insurance programs -- a big concern of business groups. "Employer-sponsored coverage increases throughout the life of the program," he added.
The bill is expected to be shown the all Finance Committee Democrats later today.
From NBC's Mark Murray
Video: TODAY’s Matt Lauer talks to conservative columnist Michelle Malkin about the arrest of black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and President Obama’s comment about the arrest. But a greater number, 29%, believe that both were equally at fault. And 31% say they didn't know enough to have an opinion.
The full NBC/WSJ poll comes out at 6:30 pm ET on NBC Nightly News and on MSNBC.com.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg Losing the message war? Perhaps the biggest thing that stood out to us at President Obama’s AARP town hall yesterday was that the White House appears to be losing the message war on health care. How do we know? Just listen to the questions the AARP callers had. Several of them asked about "rumors,” and they also brought up GOP talking points on "rationing" or the government coming to your house to ask how you want to die (!!!). Also, Obama's closing statement at the town hall was particularly telling. "Sometimes I get a little frustrated because this is one of those situations where it's so obvious that the system we have isn't working well for too many people and that we could just be doing better,” he said. “We're not going to have a perfect health care system; it's a complicated system, there are always going to be some problems out there. But we could be doing a lot better than we're doing right now."
Video: President Obama says that the skyrocketing cost of health care is one of the reasons Americans need health reform urgently at town hall meeting sponsored by AARP. ***
Pushing back : Also at the AARP town hall, Obama tried to push back more directly at the criticisms aimed at his health-care push. "So this is not like Canada where suddenly we are dismantling the system and everybody's signed up under some government program." More: "You know, I guarantee you, first of all, we just don't have enough government workers to send to talk to everybody, to find out how they want to die… I just want to be clear: Nobody is going to be knocking on your door; nobody is going to be telling you you've got to fill one out. And certainly nobody is going to be forcing you to make a set of decisions on end-of-life care based on some bureaucratic law in Washington." And here he was channeling Jon Stewart: "And I got a letter the other day from a woman. She said, 'I don't want government-run health care, I don't want socialized medicine, and don't touch my Medicare.' (Laughter.) And I wanted to say, well, I mean, that's what Medicare is, is it's a government-run health care plan that people are very happy with.”
Video: Can GOP scare tactics prevent Congress from voting on the health care bill? Rachel Maddow is joined by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT. ***
More tweaks are coming : Bottom line: The president is showing his frustration, and he appears to be TRYING to tweak his messaging. And more tweaks are coming today when Obama holds town halls on health care in Raleigh, NC (at 11:55 am ET) and Bristol, VA (4:15 pm). In fact, the White House is now talking about health INSURANCE reform, not health CARE reform. As an administration spokesperson emails NBC News, “At events in North Carolina and Virginia today, the president will lay out for Americans why health insurance reform means more security and stability for them and their families. Building on the theme that he outlined at the start of last week’s press conference, the president will make it clear that when he signs a reform bill into law, the discrimination, dropping, and coverage gaps that riddle today’s health insurance system will be a thing of the past.”
*** NBC/WSJ poll day! Just how is the president’s health-care push playing with the American public? What about his new job-approval numbers? And how is the nation viewing Sarah Palin after her resignation on Sunday? Well, beginning at 6:30 pm ET, be sure to tune into NBC Nightly News or click on to MSNBC.com for the answers from our brand-new NBC/WSJ poll.
Video: The Huffington Post’s Sam Stein discusses why some Blue Dog Democrats in Congress are holding up health care reform legislation. ***
Slowly but surely? Turning to the health-care work on Capitol Hill, the Senate Finance Committee wrapped up its work yesterday with no agreements but more progress, NBC’s Ken Strickland reports. (Sound familiar?) The panel's Democrats met in the morning and the bipartisan working group of six met in the afternoon. The G6 talks (among three Dems and three Republicans) resume today at 10:00 am ET. After yesterday’s Democratic meeting, Strick adds, Sen. John Kerry suggested a deal could be close at hand. "There's probably a consensus, an agreement on almost 80% of this," he said. "And I think in the next hours and days, that gap is going to close very, very significantly." Committee Chairman Max Baucus said he thinks finding ways for the pay for the reform "are pretty well nailed down." On the other hand, while Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow noted the panel was "moving in the right direction," she also said there were still "lots of details to workout." One of her top concerns was trying to establish a stronger public/government insurance option than the co-op path the Finance Committee seems it will take.
*** Triangulate this : Speaking of public option vs. co-op, the Finance Committee plan is either going to be the most brilliant piece of triangulation ever, or it's going to open up a fight on the left that is U-G-L-Y. Clearly, the White House is VERY open to a co-op. It is trying hard NOT to bash the public option or show preference to a co-op. But Team Obama definitely has an open mind.
*** The sausage factory is never pretty to watch : By the way, regarding all of this breathless reporting about no House vote on health care this week: HELLOOO!!! It's been reported this way for the past four days. Now, however, House Democrats apparently keep telling a new reporter that they won't vote -- but they wring their hands about it creating yet another bad process story. This is what makes the president's challenge so difficult. He's not selling a plan, but the idea of creating a plan. The plan is being shaped by Congress, and that's where the focus is. And watching the sausage factory is never a pretty sight.
*** On the Glenn Becks and Howard Beales : The White House doesn't want to give Glenn Beck a bigger platform or extra oxygen -- especially regarding his remark yesterday that the president has "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture" -- so they won't comment, even off record. Beck, after all, is a radio DJ who somehow ended up getting a national platform to give his opinion on politics. What's most amazing about this episode is that what Beck said isn't a fireable or even a SUSPENDABLE offense by his bosses. There was a time when outrageous rants like this would actually cost the ranters their jobs. But not anymore; if anything, it's now encouraged. And all of this could turn ACTUAL journalists into the next Howard Beales. It's getting nuts that the folks who are creating the perception of an ideological/polarized media world are people who have never really spent their lives being journalists. Whether it's former political consultants-turned-TV execs or former radio DJs, or former California socialites, the folks helping to accelerate the public's perception of the media off a cliff made their livings trying to do other things. Of course, Beck's crazy language could have one unintended consequence: It could cost him bookings with any Republicans who want to be popular outside Beck's hard-core bizarro-land viewers.
Video: Fox News host Glenn Beck says President Obama has a 'deep-seated hatred for white people" and accuses him of being a racist. The NAACP's Hilary Shelton discusses with MSNBC's Contessa Brewer. ***
Fighting back on the stimulus : Democrats, meanwhile, are fighting back on the stimulus. The DNC is going up with a TV ad (on national and DC cable) and radio spots targeting GOPers Mike Pence, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, and Jon Kyl. The
TV ad goes , “They supported the Bush policies that sank our economy into recession. They broke it -- now they refuse to fix it. Tell Republicans leaders to stop playing politics with our economy."
Video: Democratic Mayor of San Antonio, Julian Castro talks about the renewed debate over the stimulus plan and its effectiveness on the economy. ***
Napolitano in the news : Finally today, at 9:00 am ET, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano
delivers a major address on homeland security. Per the
Wall Street Journal , she’s “expected to outline Wednesday the Obama administration's domestic approach to preventing terrorist attacks -- a strategy that will rely in large measure on refining and expanding initiatives launched under President George W. Bush.”
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 97 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 461 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails . Facebook and also on Twitter .
"With imminent House and Senate approval of health care reform legislation proving elusive, Obama again is taking his pitch right to the people . This time, the president is traveling to two politically important states that he won last fall after decades of Republican dominance, North Carolina and Virginia."
The
Washington Post : “President Obama on Wednesday will unveil a new message highlighting eight ways that health care consumers would be treated better by insurance companies if his reform efforts pass, a White House aide said.”
In an interview with
Time magazine , Obama talks about the public option vs. co-op. Obama on the public option: “I would say … actually we defined it fairly clearly in terms of what we thought would work best. What I said was, is that it shouldn't be something that's simply a taxpayer-subsidized system that wasn't accountable, but rather had to be self-sustaining through premiums and that had to compete with private insurers.”
On whether a co-op would fit that definition: “Well, I think in theory you can imagine a co-operative meeting that definition. Obviously sort of the legal structure of it is less important than practically how can it operate. There are concerns that in the past, attempts at setting up co-ops have not been successful because they just haven't been able to get off the ground; sort of the start-up energy involved may not exist if you're doing a state-by-state co-op effort as opposed to a broad national plan.”
CONTINUED >>
"President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, moved closer to taking her seat on Tuesday as the Senate Judiciary Committee overwhelmingly approved her nomination and sent it on to the full Senate," the New York Times writes. "The committee’s vote was 13 to 6, with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina the only Republican joining the panel’s 12 Democrats in voting for the nomination. The action cleared the way for a Senate floor vote next week for Judge Sotomayor, who would be the 111th justice to serve on the Supreme Court, the first Hispanic and the third woman."
The Boston Globe says Sotomayor passing Judiciary "over near-unanimous Republican opposition - a GOP strategy that analysts say could further alienate Hispanic voters."
Video: The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to approve Sonia Sotomayor with only one GOP vote. Rachel Maddow is joined by Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, D-CA to discuss the repercussions Republicans may expect from the Hispanic community. The Senate Finance Committee is getting closer to reaching a deal, the
Washington Post says. “An emerging consensus among a bipartisan group of senators is poised to shift the dynamic in the congressional debate over health-care reform and could lead to a final product that sheds many of the priorities that President Obama has emphasized and that have drawn GOP attacks. Three Democrats and three Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee are expected to wrap up their arduous multi-week talks in the coming days, and Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said he expects a panel vote before the Senate recess, which will begin Aug. 7.
The AP profiles Max Baucus and Harry Reid in their roles in trying to pass health care. "For better or worse, the burden to design a plan that provides health insurance to every American who seeks it without adding to the deficit -- and that can get 60 votes in the Senate -- is falling" to them.
CONTINUED >>
In a letter to his congressional delegation, Tim Pawlenty took a shot at Massachusetts' health-care program, "an implicit attack on the Bay State's former governor, Mitt Romney (R)," The Hill notes. He wants the focus on cost, not expansion. Pawlenty is slated to speak at the RNC meeting tomorrow.
Video: Countdown looks back at Sarah Palin’s brief stint at the center of U.S. politics. Meanwhile,
Maureen Dowd writes that Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin have reversed roles. “The Alaskan who shot to stardom a year ago as the tough embodiment of Diana the Huntress has now stepped down as governor and morphed into what the Republicans always caricatured Hillary as — preachy, screechy and angry. And Hillary, who is at long last in a job that she earned on her own merits, has lost that irritating question mark she used to carry around above her head like a thunder cloud: What is Hillary owed because of what she gave up, and went through, for Bill?”
Politico looks at how the overall landscape has changed in the past six months: "[T]he possibilities GOP officials now imagine are a dramatic shift from the bleak prospects that the 2010 midterm elections presented for the party at the beginning of the year."
Video: Vice President Joe Biden was in Philadelphia to announce an aid package for police departments in need of financial help. But not all departments will be getting the money they need. Msnbc.com's Keva Andersen reports. : Vice President Joe Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder were supposed to appear in New Jersey yesterday to tout “stimulus money going to law enforcement agencies across the country. They
moved the event, however, to Philadelphia at the last minute. “The vice president’s office said Philadelphia was chosen because ‘it was the most convenient and central location for all the principals.’” NJ Gov. Corzine appeared with a bevy of other elected officials, including PA Gov. Ed Rendell, DE Gov. Jack Markell, and Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter. At the event, Biden
asked voters to give stimulus programs “18 months to two years” before “making a final judgment.” and
From NBC's Ken Strickland Democratic Sen. Kent Conrad
today gave specific details on the co-op insurance proposal being drafted by a bipartisan group of the Senate Finance Committee. Conrad, who has shepherded the idea, stressed that no deals have been struck and the details were not final.
Video: Sen. Judd Gregg R-N.H., discusses how the Senate Finance Committee is handling the new health care proposal and whether the bill can accomplish the goals set out by President Obama. Health-care experts suggested to Conrad the co-op would require a front-end federal investment of $6 billion. "When you start up a health insurance company, state laws require you to have reserves," Conrad said, in order to make these entities viable.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Ken Strickland
"Look, my first choice is to have a public plan, to have a public option," Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) said. "But we all understand there's going to be some compromise in this effort. That's the only way you can put a complicated bill like this together."
The Finance Committee seems to have coalesced around a co-op style plan. But other Democrats suggested the fight is just beginning.
Video: Author of “Best Care Anywhere,” Philip Longman, talks about GOP scare tactics attacking government-controlled health care, a system that has already proven effective for politicians, the elderly and military veterans. "I think people have strongly held positions about the public plan," said Sen.
Debbie Stabenow , who strongly supports a public plan. She said because there would be more steps in the negotiations en route to a final bill, the Finance Committee bill "is a critical one, but not the only one."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Luke Russert
But today, Majority Leader
Steny Hoyer (D-MD) indicated in his off-camera briefing with reporters to being open to a co-op.
“We think a public option is very important,” he said, but, “We are going to have to see what the Senate does on co-op to see how it’s formulated -- and to see whether or not we preclude that it will have a similar effect. After all a co-op will be a competitor.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Libby Leist
Roberto Micheletti 's de facto government in Honduras.Manuel Zelaya to come to an agreement that would allow Zelaya to return to Honduras and then move to elections down the road.
Spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters that the U.S. recognizes Zelaya as the leader in Honduras and this move is in keeping with that.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Michelle Perry and Domenico Montanaro Tom Harkin (D-IA) stressed on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports that a government run/public option is necessary and that he would not be satisfied if the Finance Committee does not include one.
“I believe there has to be a public option,” Harkin said, per a rough transcription. He said there “has to be choice and competition” particularly for rural areas.
Video: Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, discusses why that research demonstrates the need to include prevention and wellness initiatives in the health care overhaul. Harkin sits on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, or HELP, which released their own version of health reform, which, as Harkin pointed out, included a public option.
Chuck Grassley
-- a Republican also of Iowa, who sits on the Finance Committee -- told Mitchell that Finance’s version will not include an employer mandate and will include a co-op as opposed to a government-run option. He said a public option would be unfair to private insurers and the co-op would spark the competition necessary.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray John Larson -- the No. 4 Democrat in the House leadership -- spoke to reporters, maintaining that Democrats are still confident about passing a health-care bill.
But he acknowledged the increasing likelihood that passage wouldn't come until Congress returns from its August recess.
Larson's comments came as House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman continues to negotiate with the committee's conservative Blue Dog Democrats. And they also came after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested yesterday that House passage was unlikely before the recess.
Video: Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., talks about the state of the health care reform bill and whether an agreement will be reached. "Everyone in our caucus -- and I don't care what part of the caucus they come from -- wants health-care reform," Larson said. "People are understanding the gravity of what we are undertaking."
Larson went on to say that, during the lunch, Pelosi was "as enthusiastic and ebullient as ever... That's why we remain so confident it [health care] will happen."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Luke Russert
House Republican Leaders today strived to portray Democrats as doing too much too soon with regard to health-care reform.
Minority Whip
Eric Cantor (R-VA) mocked familiar themes from the
Obama Campaign when he said at a news conference on Capitol Hill today, "We continue to wonder why it is the president and the speaker have taken the approach of now or never. This is not the type of change I think that people wanted and certainly the my way or the highway approach that is being followed is not offering the hope that people deserve."
Video: The Republicans are planning to mount a serious campaign to stop President Obama's proposed health care reform. Rachel Maddow is joined by former Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean. Rep.
Mike Pence (R-IN) alluded to the recent impasse Democrats have encountered in the House on health-care reform. "But now House Republicans and a handful of Democrats are on the verge of an historic victory for American taxpayers and for the American health care economy," he said. Pence then encouraged citizens to call their congressman and lend support against the Democratic legislation.
*** UPDATE *** Tim Pawlenty health-care cost report from Monday. The aide added that Govs. Mike Rounds and Jim Douglas also attended the GOP conference about a month ago and Mitch Daniels has done the Republican weekly address at Boehner’s invitation.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland and Domenico Montanaro As expected, the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning voted 13-6 in favor of Sonia Sotomayor 's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. It was a mostly party-line vote, except for Sen. Lindsey Graham , of South Carolina, who voted to confirm.
Video: By a vote of 13 to 6, including GOP Senator Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, the Senate Judiciary Committee votes in favor of Sonia Sotomayor's nomination for the Supreme Court. As we noted in
First Thoughts this morning, "By comparison, John Roberts' Judiciary vote was 13-5, and Samuel Alito's was 10-8."
Sotomayor is on track to be confirmed by the full Senate by Aug. 7. If the committee vote is any indication, Sotomayor's full Senate vote is likely to be somewhere between that of Alito and Roberts. With a slim Republican majority in 2006, Alito was confirmed 58-42. (Just four Democrats voted for him.) In 2005, Roberts was confirmed by a much wider margin, 78-22, with Democrats about split.
NBC's Luke Russert 's conducted a Q&A with Thaddeus McCotter 's spokesperson about the House Republican's resolution wanting President Obama to apologize to the Cambridge Police Department.
Here's McCotter's office's e-mailed responses:
Q: What do you hope to accomplish with this resolution?
Q: Sergeant Crowley isn't asking for an apology, how come you are seeking one?
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg Senate progress -- or problem? Per NBC’s Ken Strickland, the bipartisan group of Senate Finance Committee negotiators repeated a familiar refrain yesterday -- we're making progress on the health-care bill, but still don't have an agreement. While strongly reaffirming that no deals had been struck, Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe hinted at the direction the senators were going. "We don't mandate employer coverage at least in some of the initial proposals," she remarked after the meeting. "As I said, we haven't agreed to any of the specifics, but these are the ones that are on the table." It also appeared the group, Strick adds, has rejected the idea of a government-run insurance program and is instead focusing on the so-called "co-op" plan. Indeed, the AP confirms those hints. “[P]articipants were on track to exclude a requirement many congressional Democrats seek for businesses to offer coverage to their workers. Nor would there be a provision for a government insurance option, despite President Barack Obama's support for such a plan.” But does the lack of an employer mandate, as well as no public option, scare away liberals in the House? Will it look like massive or incremental reform? One could see how folks could make both arguments. However, the government expansion outlined by Snowe probably doesn't attract any more Republicans than are at the table right now.
Video: MSNBC’s Ed Schultz and a political panel discuss the Republicans’ alternative to a public option for President Barack Obama’s health care reform plan. ***
Still a stalemate in the House: Meanwhile, over on House side yesterday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested -- as we reported yesterday -- that the House won’t pass a health-care bill until after the August recess, notes NBC’s Luke Russert. "I have said that I wanted the bill to pass before we left for the August recess, to honor the request of the president to make that commitment,” Pelosi said at a news conference yesterday. "But I've also said that members need the time they need to not only get this bill written, but also to have plenty of time to review it. I've also said that we need to see the direction that the Senate is going, so that we can do as much work in advance of September so that when we come back we'll be able to go to conference and be a good way down the road." Well, the House Democrats now get their first look at where the Senate is headed (see above). And specifically on the issue of the co-op, we've heard very little from the House side about it. Interestingly, the White House has publicly not taken a position on the idea. Behind the scenes, we can tell you that they are intrigued by it.
Video: MSNBC’s Carlos Watson is joined by the Financial Times’ Chrystia Freeland and NBC’s Savannah Guthrie to discuss whether a bipartisan bill can be reached in the House. ***
AARP, yeah you know me: After a brief respite, President Obama returns to the subject of health care today, when he participates in an AARP-sponsored tele-town hall beginning at 1:30 pm ET. Here’s how the town hall works: Questions will come from AARP members via phone and email, as well as a live audience of 40 members and volunteers. Per AARP spokesman Drew Nannis, the phone-in portion of questioning will function "kind of like a radio talk show." The AARP will contact "hundreds of thousands" of members around the country with a robocall 10 minutes before the event. If the listeners have a question, they can push a number and get connected to operators who put them in a queue for questioning. Nannis adds that the AARP has conducted eight previous tele-town halls, each of which attracted 60,000 to 70,000 callers -- and that was without the president. Meanwhile, the Washington Post sums up the political challenge for Obama: "Although polls have consistently shown that just over half of Americans think the health-care system is in need of reform, a substantial majority say they are satisfied with their own insurance and care. Any hope of change will require their support, according to experts and advocates across the ideological spectrum." And without any new details to push (like public option vs. co-op or employer mandate or not), can the president advance the argument?
Video: Sen. Orin Hatch, R-Utah, discusses how close the Senate Finance Committee is to reaching a final draft on the health care reform bill. *** '
I love you, man': NBC learned yesterday that Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Cambridge police officer Crowley will have their beer at the White House with President Obama on Thursday at 6:00 pm ET. Will the White House allow for a full-fledged pool spray, or try to limit the meeting to still photos only? The debate is taking place behind the scenes.
Video: Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin talks about President Barack Obama’s invitation to Harvard Prof. Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley and discuss the controversial arrest of the professor. ***
Sotomayor’s first vote: There's expected to be little drama when the Senate Judiciary Committee formally votes on Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination at a hearing that begins today at 10:00 am ET. (The actual vote might not happen until 11:30 am or noon.) Democrats already have a 12-7 majority on the committee. And at least one Republican on the panel -- Lindsey Graham -- has
said he'll vote for her .
So all signs point to a 13-6 vote. (By comparison, John Roberts' Judiciary vote was 13-5, and Samuel Alito's was 10-8.) With Sotomayor on track to be confirmed by the full Senate by Aug. 7, it's worth remembering that she didn't immediately look like a slam dunk (at least compared to the other finalists), with that YouTube of her stating the court of appeals “is where policy is made” and with the Supreme Court about to weigh in on the New Haven firefighter case. Here's what we wrote the day her nomination was announced, on May 26: “The big question: Will she survive the confirmation process? Some Senate Democrats worry she'll be a heavier lift than others he could have nominated (like Diane Wood or Elena Kagan).” Of course, some behind the scenes will look at the 65-68 confirmation votes Sotomayor is likely to get and say, "Well, Wood would have gotten 75; Kagan too." But does that really matter in the end?
***
Middle East and Iran: There's some real action happening in the Middle East. Four key officials are in the region: Def Secretary Robert Gates, National Security Adviser Jim Jones, Special Envoy George Mitchell, and newly minted special Middle East White House adviser Dennis Ross. But Israel isn't publicly ready to set aside its right to deal with Iran's nuclear capabilities itself. Here’s the
AP : "Israel hardened its insistence Monday that it would do anything it felt necessary to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, just the ultimatum the United States hoped not to hear as it tried to nudge Iran to the bargaining table.” The
Wall Street Journal adds, "A simmering dispute between the U.S. and Israel over Iran's nuclear program burst into the open on Monday, as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, on a visit to Israel, called for continued diplomatic engagement with Tehran, while Israeli officials repeatedly warned of a possible military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities." Of course, some might argue that Israel had to sound tough publicly. As Gates said when in Jordan, Israel will give the U.S. space when it comes to Iran. But the question is: Does Israel have U.S. diplomacy efforts on a timetable?
Video: During his visit to the Middle East, Defense Secretary Robert Gates urged Israel to be patient while Iran reconsiders its security interests. NBC's Martin Fletcher reports. ***
I fought the law and the law won: Vice President Biden and Attorney General Eric Holder head to Philadelphia today to announce $1 billion in grants -- via the stimulus -- dedicated to finance the hiring and retention of law enforcement officials across the country. Biden and Holder will be joined by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (up for re-election in November), Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, and Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley. The announcement, of course, comes after the Gates-Crowley-Obama flap. But it also comes as the
AP notes that four large American cities -- Houston, New York, Pittsburgh, and Seattle -- are getting no cop funding from the program. By the way, speaking of the recovery effort, the
AP also gives Republicans a fresh new article to beat up the administration when it comes to how they calculate job creation numbers.
*** 2010 Watch : Republicans had the rare Senate situation where they had a couple of incumbents who, on paper, were weaker candidates than new recruits. First, they caught a mild break in Florida when Mel Martinez decided to retire -- and ended up with Charlie Crist. And yesterday, in Kentucky, Jim Bunning announced that he wouldn’t run for re-election -- although Secretary of State Trey Grayson (while probably stronger than Bunning) is no Charlie Crist. Democrats have their own retirements they are rooting for… They already got one in Roland Burris. The next one COULD be -- though no one in the party will say this publicly yet -- Chris Dodd. By the way, the hits keep on coming for Dodd: A Countrywide official DIRECTLY contradicts the claims by Dodd and Kent Conrad regarding their special mortgages. Oh, and Dodd has a major lobbying association (PhRMA) spending money on his behalf. Even supposed good news -- a special interest group SUPPORTING him -- is bad news for Dodd these days.
*** Dems courting Latinos: Finally today, DNC Chairman (and Virginia Gov.) Tim Kaine addresses the National Council of La Raza -- a Latino advocacy group that Tom Tancredo assailed when Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination was first announced. According to excerpts of his remarks, Kaine -- who fluently speaks Spanish -- will say: “Hay algo mas que hice luego de su nombramiento: Practique mucho mi espaniol durante las entrevistas que hice por television y por radio.” (Translation: “One more thing we did after [Sotomayor's] nomination -- I got to brush up on my Spanish for a few interviews on TV and radio.”) As Politico writes, “Republicans’ dilemma in connecting with the growing Hispanic electorate will be on vivid display Tuesday: GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote overwhelmingly against confirming Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latino nominee to the Supreme Court. And the Democratic Party chairman will address the nation’s largest Latino political group -- partly in Spanish. No national GOP official is speaking.
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 98 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails. Facebook and also on Twitter .
This hasn’t gotten a lot of attention -- and, perhaps more importantly, it’s from the CBO: "President Obama and his Democratic allies, scrambling to broker a health care deal Monday, finally got an upbeat assessment from Congress' official scorekeeper when it said the plan for government-run coverage would not force out private insurers. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer trumpeted the report from the Congressional Budget Office, Congress' nonpartisan budget analyst, that said private insurers could survive competition from a government health insurance option - contradicting a chief criticism from Republicans."
One advantage Obama has during August recess, Roll Call points out, is he will have the public square to frame the debate on health care all to himself. That's particularly true if he can sell specifics that could emerge from the House and Senate bills.
Video: NBC’s Savannah Guthrie talks to NBC’s Brian Williams about the status of the health care reform effort in Washington. Politico proposes this idea: to have more benchmarks included in the health care reform, and if they aren’t met, the debate gets reopened.
In non-health care news… Tapes were released in the Gates arrest, but "they leave unreconciled sharply divergent accounts of the incident offered by the two men," the
Boston Globe writes.
CONTINUED >>
The Senate Finance Committee seems to have struck a health-care deal, but is it too watered down? The AP's Espo reports, "After weeks of secretive talks, three Democrats and three Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee were edging closer to a compromise that excludes a requirement many congressional Democrats seek for large businesses to offer coverage to their workers. Nor would there be a provision for a government insurance option, despite Obama's support for such a plan, officials said. The Finance senators were considering a tax of as much as 35 percent on very high-cost insurance policies, part of an attempt to rein in rapid escalation of costs. Also likely to be included in any deal was creation of a commission charged with slowing the growth of Medicare."
Video: NBC’s Chuck Todd reports on lawmakers' effort to reach a bipartisan compromise on a health care reform bill. While the Senate
may have a deal , "Reps. Waxman (D-Calif.) and Mike Ross (D-Ark.) emerged from more than three hours of negotiations late Monday to say that the Blue Dogs were weighing an offer from Waxman. Blue Dogs have asked Waxman to get a cost estimate for the bill. 'The chairman has made an offer,' said Ross, who is the lead Blue Dog on healthcare reform. 'We have asked that he get a [Congressional Budget Office] score, that is, find out how much it would cost. We're going to review it and see if it's something we can accept.'"
But don't expect a vote by Friday. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says it's not going to happen because of procedural hurdles. But he left open the possibility of doing it Saturday, Monday or Tuesday.
CONNECTICUT: Ouch: A Countrywide official directly contradicts the claims by Chris Dodd
and Kent Conrad regarding their special mortgages. "The statements from Robert Feinberg, who worked as a loan officer at the mortgage lender, stand in direct contradiction to statements made by Dodd and Conrad, who maintain that they did not know they were part of the Countrywide program created by its chief executive at the time, Angelo Mozilo. ‘He always made a big deal about them being in the VIP program. Does he remember the exact words he spoke with Conrad
and Dodd? No, but he always made it clear,’ said Elana Goldstein, one of Feinberg's attorneys.”
“Feinberg testified for several hours before the ethics committee on June 23. Questioning him were Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), ranking Republican Johnny Isakson (Ga.) and Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho). Dodd and Conrad responded to questions from the committee last year. "
Dodd’s office released this statement: “Today, the Associated Press published a story on allegations made by a former Countrywide employee -- allegations that the former employee has been making for over a year. Senator Dodd and his wife, Jackie, have demonstrated that they received market rates and terms on their loans. As they have said all along, they did not seek or expect any special rates or terms on their loans and they never received any; they were never offered special or sweetheart deals and if anyone had made such an offer- they would have severed that relationship immediately. They acted properly in their mortgage refinancing negotiations.”
CONTINUED >>
Finally,
David Corn has a fascinating report in Mother Jones about the latest attempt to resurrect what was said by Nixon on the infamous 18 1/2 minute tape gap. Apparently, notes Haldeman took might have indentions on them that can be resurrected by a computer. Who says all that time watching CSI or Bones or whatever the latest crime-scene investigation TV show is wasted?
From NBC's Ali Weinberg President Obama will participate in a "tele-town hall" meeting on health care tomorrow afternoon at the AARP in Washington. Questions will come from AARP members via phone, e-mail and a live audience of 40 members and volunteers. The event is scheduled from 1:30 to 2:45 pm ET.
AARP CEO Barry Rand and President Jenny Chin Hansen will also participate in the town hall. Mike Cuthbert, host of AARP "Prime Time Radio" will moderate the event.
Video: President Obama continues his push to overhaul the country's health care system. NBC's Steve Handelsman reports. Per AARP spokesman Drew Nannis, the phone-in portion of questioning will function "kind of like a radio talk show." The AARP will contact "hundreds of thousands" of members around the country with a robocall 10 minutes before the event. If the listeners have a question, they can push a number and get connected to operators who put them in a queue for questioning.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Norah O'Donnell
Sarah Palin not only left her perch in the governor's office; she also left behind her husband Todd after yesterday's ceremony in Fairbanks.
Todd Palin followed just seconds behind, and was left struggling to avoid a phalanx of cameras. The problem: His family had already left.
Video: Rachel Maddow reports on Sarah Palin's farewell speech, in which she blasted the media and its compulsive obsession with the families of Alaska governors. After reviewing our camera tape, you can hear someone ask, "No car for Todd?" Then Todd, the former First Dude, laughs and says, "They left me."
From NBC's Mark Murray Jim Bunning
(R) won't run for re-election next year, giving Republicans a better chance at holding on to his seat. Roland Burris did a few weeks ago: a lack of financial resources.
With Bunning's exit, the front-runner for the GOP nomination is Secretary of State Trey Grayson . The top Democrats are state Attorney General Jack Conway and former 2004 Democratic Senate nominee Dan Mongiardo .
From NBC's Betsy Cline Ray LaHood told Americans "to get out there and buy cars" as he officially kicked off Cash for Clunkers this morning.
LaHood complimented what he called the "extraordinary" efforts of Congress: he said no rule had ever been written and passed in just 30 days. Rep. Betty Sutton , Rep. John Dingell (on crutches), Sen. Carl Levin , and Rep. Sandy Levin joined LaHood at the kick-off.
Video: U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood discuses the expected gains from the new car rebate program on CNBC. "This is really a three-fer -- good for the economy, good for consumers, and good for the environment," Levin said.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Shaq
. According to Shaq's Tweets, per Politico :
Today, President Obama meets with the WNBA champions as well as the head of soccer's world governing body (FIFA) about soccer in the U.S. Also, remember that Dwyane Wade , a former teammate of Shaq's when he was on the Miami Heat, was at the White House for a Father's Day event.
From NBC's Luke Russert and Domenico Montanaro Thaddeus McCotter , a Republican congressman of Michigan, will introduce a resolution in the House tonight asking President Obama to formally apologize to the Cambridge Police Department.
All this despite Obama's outreach to the police officer involved, Sgt. Jim Crowley , and the beer summit to take place this week with the president, Crowley and the arrested Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates .
Video: Cambridge, Mass. police release the 911 call which led to the arrest of noted scholar Henry Lewis Gates. NBC's Ron Allen reports. According to an aide, McCotter announced his intent to offer a resolution on the issue Friday, so that President Obama would have the weekend to apologize. To this point the president has not yet offered an adequate apology, so McCotter will introduce the resolution this evening at 6:30 unless an acceptable apology comes from the White House in the next four hours.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Paul Krugman asks this question: Where were the Blue Dogs' cries for fiscal responsibility in 2001, when Congress passed Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut (which wasn't paid for by other offsets)?
Well, it's worth noting that 19 current Blue Dogs served in the House back then. Six of them -- including Mike Ross
, the Arkansas congressman who has become the Blue Dog's point person on health care -- voted FOR the Bush tax cut's final passage. Bart Gordon , Jim Matheson , Dennis Moore , Collin Peterson , Mike Ross , Adam Schiff )Marion Berry , Leonard Boswell , Jane Harman , Baron Hill , Earl Pomeroy , Loretta Sanchez , John Tanner , Gene Taylor , Mike Thompson) Joe Baca , Sanford Bishop , Allen Boyd , Mike McIntyre )
From NBC's Danielle Weisberg Illinois State Treasurer
Alexi Giannoulias
yesterday officially entered the Senate race for President Obama's old seat. Giannoulias called Obama his “friend, mentor, and inspiration," according to the
Chicago Sun-Times , despite the White House's unsuccessful effort to recruit Illinois Attorney General
Lisa Madigan for the seat. When asked about an endorsement from the White House, Giannoulias replied, “You’d have to ask the president that.”
Other recent developments in the race include speculation, reported by
Sun-Times , that
Chris Kennedy , son of the late Robert Kennedy, is vacillating between running for the Senate seat or the governorship.
Meanwhile, Republican Rep.
Mark Kirk announced he would be running for the Senate seat
last week , making him the GOP front-runner.
From NBC's Mark Murray Jeff Sessions
, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says in a USA Today op-ed that he will vote against Sonia Sotomayor's nomination in tomorrow's committee vote.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg Back to health care : Sarah Palin’s in the news. So is Hillary Clinton after her “Meet” appearance. And Gates-gate hasn’t completely gone away. But we begin this Monday morning with health care. Here's what we know: The House will not vote on a full bill this week, according to leadership sources. They believe they've worked out a lot of the issues with the conservative Blue Dog Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee, but markup won't be finished until Thursday (at the earliest), and they don't think it's wise to force a vote by Friday without giving members more time to understand the combined bills out of three committees. As for the Senate, it's much harder to read. But we think we'll have an idea about the plan Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus will unveil by the end of the week. It will, as Sen. Kent Conrad said over the weekend, include a "co-op" instead of a public option, and it likely will include Sen. John Kerry's plan to tax so-called Cadillac-health care plans. Kerry's plan is an easy sell for Grassley and the remaining Republicans still talking. As for the co-op deal, some Democrats in the Senate (and in the House) believe they can do many of the things with a co-op that they can do with a public option -- yet have a few Republicans in the Senate on board.
Video: CNBC's Maria Bartiromo and Atlantic Media political director Ron Brownstein discuss the issue of whether 'effective' health care reform can be passed before the August deadline. ***
On bipartisanship : And don't forget this: Without a few Senate Republicans on board, Democrats can't keep all of their OWN senators on board. That's why they need it. They may not need (or get) a single Republican vote in the House, but it's the Senate where they need a stimulus-like bipartisanship to pull this off. That's what Nelson/Landrieu, et al need to have as cover. "Look, there are not the votes for Democrats to do this just on our side of the aisle," Kent Conrad told ABC yesterday.
*** No longer clearing the decks : As for President Obama, he touts health-care reform later this week -- a virtual town hall meeting on Tuesday, and events in Virginia and North Carolina on Wednesday -- but there’s no more of a "clear the decks" mentality. For instance, today he addresses what is a VERY significant new summit with China (the administration calls it a "dialogue"). This summit features Secretary of State Clinton and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner meeting with their Chinese counterparts, and it's a meeting that is supposed to happen at least twice a year. The next time there is a high-level U.S.-China meeting will be in November when Obama visits China. As for this dialogue, don't be surprised if you start hearing the expression the "G2," as opposed to simply being members of the G20. This is an acknowledgement that these two countries are the most influential in the world now, and it's a U.S. acknowledgement that China -- not Russia or any other country -- is now America's chief rival/adversary/counterpart (choose whatever word you want).
*** Row, row, row your boat : Geithner and Clinton, in fact, have a Wall Street Journal op-ed previewing today’s U.S.-China meetings. “[H]aving these strategic-level discussions with our Chinese counterparts will help build the trust and relationships to tackle the most vexing global challenges of today—and of the coming generation. The Chinese have a wise aphorism: ‘When you are in a common boat, you need to cross the river peacefully together.’ Today, we will join our Chinese counterparts in grabbing an oar and starting to row.” Translation: with the U.S. economy and major business interests so tied to China, the U.S. needs to have these dialogues in order to understand what's going on behind the Chinese curtain. Their finances aren't exactly transparent so these dialogues might help to give us more clues as to how they manage their money.
*** The Great American Health Care Fight: Here are today’s other developments in health care: Paul Krugman says the Blue Dogs’ opposition confuses him… Liberal MoveOn is running a new TV ad (on DC and national cable) calling out Republicans for playing political football with health care… And liberal Americans United for Change has its own new TV ad (airing on DC cable) criticizing Republicans for advocating a take-it-slow approach on health care.
*** Hillary meets the press : A couple of things stood out from Hillary Clinton’s “Meet the Press” interview yesterday. She did NOT back away from the Iran-defense umbrella comments, which some thought she would hedge more. But there was no hedging. “What we want to do is to send a message to whoever is making these decisions that if you're pursuing nuclear weapons for the purpose of intimidating, of projecting your power, we're not going to let that happen,” she told NBC’s David Gregory. What’s more, anyone who thinks she isn't keeping up with domestic issues, think again. Clinton seemed VERY up to speed on health care, even knowing a few key talking points like how many folks were being dumped from their insurance. All in all, Clinton seemed as adept at combining the politics and policy more so than most recent Secretaries of State who also have been seen as having their own national ambitions (see Powell, Colin and Rice, Condi).
Video: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discusses President Barack Obama’s diplomatic decisions with NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press.” ***
Classic Palin : And then there was Sarah Palin, whose farewell speech yesterday was … classic Palin. Per NBC’s Norah O’Donnell, the outgoing Alaska governor blasted the media ("Democracy depends on you and that is why our troops are willing to die for you. So how about in honor of the American soldier, you quit making things up!”). She took aim at Hollywood and specifically (we think) Ashley Judd (“You're going to see anti-hunting, anti-2nd Amendment circuses from Hollywood… Hollywood needs to know we eat, therefore we hunt"). She lashed out at unnamed political opponents (“We are facing tough challenges in America with some seeming to be just hell-bent on tearing down our nation, perpetuating some pessimism and suggesting American apologetics”). And she offered her share of contradictions, like how quitting the governorship allows her to be more involved (“Now with this decision I will be able to fight even harder for you for what is right and for what is true”). Of course, the irony of Palin lashing out at the media is that without the media’s fascination with her and her family, she wouldn't be who she is today.
Video: MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell and a Morning Joe panel talk about fmr. Gov. Sarah Palin's feisty final address as governor and her plans to campaign for Republican candidates. ***
Beer Fest : The Obama-Gates-Crowley beer may be coming soon,
Bloomberg writes. "Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates and police Sergeant James Crowley will probably join President Barack Obama for a beer within the next several days, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said."
Video: NBC's Chuck Todd and Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson discuss whether Harvard professor Henry Gates Jr. and Cambridge police officer James Crowley will be visiting the White House for beers this week. ***
McCain and Sotomayor : The Senate Judiciary Committee votes tomorrow on Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination. Perhaps the only remaining drama: How will John McCain vote when it comes before the full Senate? (He doesn’t sit on Judiciary.) Remember, McCain comes from a state with a large Hispanic population, but faces a conservative primary challenge next year (from a Minuteman founder), which could become serious. Lindsey Graham went yes, which probably means McCain's headed there, too. But it’s still fascinating to watch considering how the NRA decided to politicize the vote a bit more by announcing they'd use the vote for their grade; that may be why fewer Senate Republicans end up supporting her than would have normally.
*** 2009 watch : A final note: There are now less than 100 days until the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia. One thing about last week’s organ sting in New Jersey -- it's going to make Christie's "clean out government" message even easier to sell.
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 99 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails . Facebook and also on Twitter .
"Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag accused Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf of 'overstepping' in a Web post Saturday, escalating the battle between the Obama administration and Republicans over the White House’s conduct toward the CBO. The charge was leveled after Elmendorf posted a blog entry Saturday that suggested a new Obama proposal to create an independent board to reduce Medicare payments would save $2 billion over 10 years, a small sum compared to the overall cost overruns of the program." Orszag, a former CBO director, accused Elmendorf of playing into a stereotype that the CBO often overestimates cost and underestimates savings.
On Wednesday, Obama will participate in a town hall meeting on health care in Bristol, VA, a town familiar to him as he kicked off his general election campaign there in 2008. Writing in June of that year, Jonathan Martin of Politico wrote that a Bristol appearance was “a pragmatically strategic move,” as “Bristol is the sole media market in the vast southwest part of Virginia.” Ezra Klein points out one thing that Clinton’s effort got right: competition among health insurers. "A Washington Post-ABC News poll last month showed that 62 percent of Americans support the choice of a public insurance option. It's one of the most popular aspects of health-care reform. But if the public option would drive private insurers out of business and reduce consumer choice, the numbers flip, with 58 percent opposing it. What people support, in other words, is not public or private insurance, but choice in insurance. That, along with protection from escalating costs, is the inviolable principle of health-care reform."
Video: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton discusses President Barack Obama’s push for health care reform with NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press.” The
AP : "Senate postponement of work on health care until September gives interest groups on both sides an entire month to whip up supporters, and pushes off crucial votes on the overhaul effort until fall -- when people are likely to refocus on the issue."
CONTINUED >>
Roll Call : "House Democratic leaders hope to quickly defuse rising intraparty tensions and reach a health care deal this week, but they are acknowledging that they may be forced to join the Senate and punt on a floor vote until after the August recess."
Video: President Obama heads to North Carolina and Virginia as he continues to push for his health care reform plan. The Senate has said it will not vote on the measure before the August recess. NBC’s Chuck Todd reports. "Democratic and GOP officials acknowledged Sunday that Obama's ambitious plan would not pass without the aid of a doubtful GOP, whose members are almost united against the White House effort. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., budget committee chair: "Look, there are not the votes for Democrats to do this just on our side of the aisle. Blue Dog Rep. Jim Cooper "said he doubts the Democratic-controlled House could pass a proposal as it's drafted now," the
AP writes. 'We have a long way to go,' Cooper said." But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "insisted she has the votes to move forward with the plan despite concerns among fiscally conservative fellow Democrats. 'When I take this bill to the floor, it will win. We will move forward, it will happen.'"
Speaker Nancy Pelosi “rai
sed the stakes by planning to restart talks Monday among bickering Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee… Democratic leaders are newly confident that these differences can be resolved, possibly in time to bring a House bill to the floor before lawmakers depart Friday for the August recess, although Pelosi did not commit to a timetable.”
Video: Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., explains why the GOP’s version of health care reform reduces costs, increases access, and preserves the doctor to patient relationship. Stu Rothenberg, writing in
Roll Call : "Democratic Blue Dogs and deficit hawks are showing their muscle right now. Whether it’s out of principle or merely a political reflection of the president’s loss of support on health care among independent voters in a number of recent surveys, moderates in the president’s own party are now driving the bus."
“Gov. Sarah Palin resigned … Sunday with a blast at the media that reflected the frustrations that led her to leave office a year-and-a-half before her term expired,” Politico’s Martin writes. “But speaking in a style that her fans see as plain talk and her detractors consider disjointed, she offered almost nothing about what she was planning to do next. Plainly feeling liberated, Palin said that the freedom of the press was an important American right and one that members of the military died to protect.”
“‘So, how about, in honor of the American soldier, quit making things up,’ she said with an insistent voice, prompting loud applause and cheers from a mostly sympathetic audience gathered at a park here.”
She concluded her remarks by saying, “Let’s all enjoy the ride.”
Video: Sarah Palin slams the media and her opponents as she officially steps down as Alaska’s governor. Among her next moves: a speech in Iowa, the first-caucus-in-the-nation state. NBC’s Norah O’Donnell reports. The
Washington Post’s Dan Balz : “She exited office in classic Palin style, with folksy picnics at which she bade farewell to her constituents, and with a running series of Twitter reports as she traversed the vast state. In one posted Saturday en route to Fairbanks, she wrote, ‘We remember all of AK is big/wild/good life; feel freedom here.’”
CONTINUED >>
NEW JERSEY : Gov. Jon Corzine
picked self-described “feisty Jewish grandmother” Loretta Weinberg,
a state senator, as his candidate for lieutenant governor on Friday. The choice “was heavily influenced by the dozens of corruption busts that rocked the state’s political scene on Thursday,” including state legislators, mayors and rabbis. Weinberg is regarded as having strong anti-corruption credentials, having written several ethics bills and “taken on an allegedly corrupt boss in her native Bergen County.” The Weinberg pick reflects Corzine’s desire to “keep Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie,” campaigning as an “anti-corruption crusading U.S. Attorney—from complete domination on the ethics front.”
An interesting note about Weinberg: she is the first Bernie Madoff victim to run for public office, according to
PolitickerNJ , having “lost her life savings—an estimated $1.3 million that she had invested with Stanley Chais, a Los Angeles financial planner.” In December, Weinberg said in an interview, “This is another road in one’s life that one must traverse. I’m a lot better off than a lot of other people who were affected by this.”
VIRGINIA : State Sen. Creigh Deeds (D) and Republican Bob McDonnell faced off in their first of four gubernatorial debates on Saturday. On the topic of the state’s $100 billion “backlog of highway construction projects,” Deeds “sought to tie his opponent to former President George W. Bush,” saying, “This election presents a clear choice between who has a … plan to jump-start our economy and who will take us back to the failed economic policies of the past.” The
Washington Times says McDonnell “took his opponent to task” over his refusal to come out against cap-and-trade legislation and the union “card check” legislation, both of which McDonnell “characterized as bad for business in Virginia.”
THE WEEK AHEAD: Palin's last day as Alaska governor, a new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, Obama heads to VA and NC to push health reform, Hillary Clinton on Meet the Press... and we solve the health-care crisis!
For our mailbox, submit your questions for next week in the comments section below. We might pick yours.
NBC Chief White House Correspondent, Political Director and First Reader
Chuck Todd will be interacting with viewers and readers today and over the weekend over on
Newsvine . If you have a question, join the conversation.
President Obama 's own words from his book, The Audacity of Hope, to give context to his feelings on the Gates arrest:
From page 233:
"...I can recite the usual litany of petty slights that during my forty-five years have been directed my way: security guards tailing me as I shop in department stores, white couples who toss me their car keys as I stand outside a restaurant waiting for the valet, police cars pulling me over for no apparent reason. I know what it's like to have people tell me I can't do something because of my color, and I know the bitter swill of swallowed-back anger."
From NBC's Ali Weinberg 's approval rating dropped from 61% to 56% from April to July, according to a poll released this morning. The National Journal/Allstate Heartland Monitor poll found that critics expressed pessimism "more vociferously" than supporters did optimism, said Ed Reilly, CEO of Financial Dynamics, the firm that conducted the survey.
This suggests that the president and Democrats have "fallen back to earth" in terms of voter enthusiasm, said Ron Brownstein, political director of Atlantic Media, at an event on the poll's release.
The poll also found that although Americans' "faith is flagging" in government and business, an overwhelming majority -- 87% -- still believe America is the "land of opportunity," said , at the release of a new , focused on "the way people maximize opportunity for themselves and their family."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro made an impromptu appearance at the daily White House press briefing to say that he'd spoken with the Cambridge police officer Sgt. Jim Crowley . (Crowley is the officer, who arrested Henry Louis Gates , the Harvard professor, on a disorderly conduct charge at his home, following a breaking and entering call. The charge was later dropped.)
"In my choice of words," Obama said, "I unfortunately gave the impression that I was maligning" the police department. He added, "I could have calibrated my words differently." But, he maintained, "I continue to believe there was an overreaction." And he said, "Professor Gates probably overreacted as well."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland, Pete Williams and Domenico Montanaro Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and John Cornyn will vote against Sonia Sotomayor
to be the next United States Supreme Court justice. Ginsburg and Breyer . Second, Hatch's declaration, especially when he was considered a possible yes vote, will undoubtedly lead other wavering Republicans to vote against her.
Video: NBC's Pete Williams reports on Sen. Orrin Hatch's, R-Utah, announcement. "[Her] statements and record were too much at odds with the principles about the judiciary in which I deeply believe," Hatch said in a statement.
This greatly reduces the prospect that she will get as many votes as
John Roberts did (78, including 22 Democrats) and may put her down in the neighborhood of
Samuel Alito . He was confirmed with 58 votes, with support from just four Democrats -- the third-smallest confirmation margin in the past 50 years.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Chuck Todd Robert Gibbs says the president DOES regret commenting on the Gates issue ONLY in this respect: that had he known it would become such a media distraction, he would have refrained from commenting. But the president has said all he's going to say on the issue, according to Gibbs. He has not talked to Gates nor the Cambridge police officer.
These comments are part of an experiment Gibbs is trying today by having a morning "gaggle." It’s the potential reinstitution of an old White House standby, the off-camera morning gaggle.
Gibbs convened reporters in his office at about 9:50 for a quick 20 questions and answers, which focused basically on two topics: health care and Gates.
Video: TODAY’s Matt Lauer talks to David Gregory, moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” about President Obama’s remark that Cambridge police “acted stupidly” in arresting black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Some other notes: -- On why the president stopped by his house in Chicago last night, Gibbs said he just wanted to check it out, see how things were. Apparently Secret Service is in charge of the house now and regularly keeps tabs on it.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray and Chuck Todd Roanoke Times , President Obama will soon make his first foray into 2009's marquee political race: the VA Gov race between Creigh Deeds (D) and Bob McDonnell (R).
"Obama will appear at a public event and private fundraiser with Deeds on Aug. 6 in McLean, just outside of Washington, Deeds' campaign said Thursday."
Meanwhile, Politico reports that the White House is getting involved in the race in other ways. "The Obama administration dispatched a senior aide to Richmond Wednesday to urge former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder to get behind state Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee. Patrick Gaspard, the White House political director, met with Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor, for over two hours in Virginia's capital."
Still, Politico notes, Wilder has yet to endorse Deeds.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg Another tough week: It's been another relatively tough week for President Obama. His poll numbers, while still hanging in there, have declined. The Senate now won't meet his deadline to get a health-care bill passed by August. And Wednesday’s press conference on health care turned into a controversy over race -- hardly its goal for that evening. Remember when we wrote about how smart the White House has been about multi-tasking, forcing the GOP to aim its fire at several moving targets? Well, guess what: It isn’t doing that right now; it’s focusing on just one issue: health care. And that has allowed the political opposition and the media to zero in on that one issue. The White House’s "clear the decks" mentality is the opposite of what Team Obama bragged about when it came to focusing on more than one big issue at a time. And they are paying a steep political price for it.
Video: Rep John Price, R-Ga., and Rep. David Camp, R-Mich., talk about the proposed government take over on health care and alternative options for changing the 'status quo.' ***
Unity isn’t easy under a big tent: Given the news that the Senate won’t vote on a bill until after the August recess, today's big pundit debate question on health care is: Why did Obama impose a deadline? The president gave his answer in Ohio yesterday, “If there's not a deadline in Washington, nothing happens… I just want people to keep on working.” Still, missing the deadline only underscores the difficulty for this new, big-tent Democratic Party to achieve unity. That includes everyone from Bernie Sanders to Arlen Specter in the Senate, and from Pete Stark and Mike Ross in the House. In fact, it wasn't lost on some of us yesterday that Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel was on the Hill either begging Blue Dogs or cracking heads -- or both -- to climb aboard with the president. This is the same Emanuel who recruited some of these Blue Dogs to run in these tough districts back in 2005 and 2006, promising them he'd be looking out for their politics, while promoting the idea to reporters that he was finding candidates that "fit their districts."
*** Rahm on the GOP: Speaking of Rahm, don’t miss his comments on health care and politics to NPR this morning. “I'm OK with politics, as you well know. You know, today Senator Inhofe, I don't have the exact quote, but basically the thrust of the quote was the political importance of defeating this because of what it would do to President Obama. They're seeing it in political terms, and they've decided that if they can beat the president on health care reform, they've scored a big political victory. But what they've also guaranteed in policy terms is that you have the status quo. I actually appreciate what Senator DeMint said and Senator Inhofe. I'm different than everybody, I'm not going to criticize them. I compliment them. They’re honest.” The White House needs to have the GOP as its opponent right now, not each other, which is why you'll continue to hear the White House invoke DeMint and Inhofe. But can they convince conservative Democrats that a legislative defeat for the president will end up being a reflection on the whole party?
Video: Speaking at a town-hall style meeting in Shaker Heights, Ohio, President Obama says that he wants health care reform "done by the fall." ***
The bottom line on health care: It's still hard to imagine a scenario where Obama doesn't sign something he calls health-care reform by the end of the year. But this is coming -- at least right now -- at a painful political cost. It could mean future congressional fights become even harder. Or worse, it could become a political nightmare for the administration and they see members lose in 2010. Then again, as
Ron Brownstein writes, congressional Democrats could bet on Obama.
*** More green shoots? There has been one piece of good news for the White House and for its long-term fortunes: the economy. As the Washington Post front-pages, “Companies that a few months ago were too fearful even to project their future earnings are now seeing glimmers of hope in the year ahead. The rate of home sales has risen for three straight months. And the number of people drawing unemployment insurance benefits has fallen back to April levels, having receded for the third straight week.” All of that news led the Dow to its highest level since January. In his National Journal column, Charlie Cook wonders whether it’s wise for Obama to delay his health-care push until there’s even more good economic news -- which might make voters more comfortable with new spending. “Waiting is not a great option for the Democrats, but it may be better than losing one or both of Obama’s signature proposals or passing legislation that could trigger a disaster for their party in next year’s midterm elections.”
*** On Gates/Cambridge: There's an uncomfortable joke at the White House right now: "Thank God for the Henry Louis Gates Jr. story, because it steps on the really bad health care day the president had Thursday." Still, Obama does seem annoyed that this became such a big story, but that's where things are these days on the issue of race. The White House should be thankful for one thing: Sgt. Crowley has not really been a political antagonist. And Republicans, besides a couple of small attempts yesterday, have stayed pretty much out of it.
Video: President Barack Obama's comments on the Gates incident overshadowed his message on health care reform at a crucial moment. NBC's Chuck Todd reports. ***
On to education: Perhaps recognizing that it has been TOO focused on health care, Obama gives a speech on another topic -- education -- at 1:15 pm ET. But he will still meet behind closed doors at the White House with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus at 11:30 am.
*** Happy trails to you, until we meet again: Sunday is Sarah Palin’s last day as Alaska governor. Her exit comes as a brand-new Washington Post/ABC poll shows her fav/unfav to be 40%-53%, her lowest rating in that survey. What’s more, nearly six in 10 (57%) say she does not understand complex issues. According to NBC’s Norah O’Donnell and Adam Verdugo, Palin officially becomes a private citizen at 7:00 pm ET on Sunday, when Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell is sworn into office. Palin will deliver a farewell address, and newly minted Gov. Parnell will make remarks as well. The transfer-of-power event, O’Donnell and Verdugo add, takes place in Fairbanks, AK on the port bow of the S.S. Nenana. (Interesting fact: The S.S. Nenana, a riverboat, is nicknamed the "Last Lady of the River," and is the "largest stern-wheeler ever built west of the Mississippi and the second largest wooden vessel in existence," according to the state's website). The handover also occurs during Fairbanks' Golden Days festival, a celebration of the discovery of gold in Fairbanks back in 1902.
*** Jumping ship? Speaking of exits, the office of embattled Nevada Sen. John Ensign officially announced last night that the chief of staff and as his communications director were leaving -- which is never good news for a politician trying to hold on to his job.
*** Hillary Meets he Press: Finally, be sure to tune into “Meet the Press” on Sunday, when NBC’s David Gregory has an exclusive interview with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, conducted live, for the FULL hour.
Countdown to Palin Stepping Down: 2 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails. Facebook and also on Twitter .
"President Obama says Washington needs deadlines to do anything, but his Senate leader decided Thursday deadlines are made to be broken, including health care reform before August," the New York Daily News writes.
Obama at the town hall yesterday: "We just heard today that, well, we may not be able to get the bill out of the Senate by the end of August, or the beginning of August," Obama said. "That's OK. I just want people to keep on working. Just keep working."
Video: Steve Handelsman reports on President Obama's trip to Ohio to promote health care reform. Interesting co-op vs. public option reporting in the
Washington Post "Some Democrats are so opposed to the cooperative idea that they are urging Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to offer no new coverage option in his legislation. That would allow Democrats more time to build support for the government insurance plan included in the House bill, along with legislation approved on a party-line vote by the Senate health committee. But dropping the cooperative provision would risk losing the support of Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), the panel's ranking Republican and a co-op advocate, whose presence at the negotiating table represents Obama's best hope of getting the broad bipartisan support he has pledged to seek for reform."
CONTINUED >>
… and we’re just lucky to live in it.
Per The Hill , "House Democrats, still searching for a way to pass their healthcare bill before August, are considering bypassing the Energy and Commerce committee altogether, where the bill has stalled, and proceeding right to the floor." Blue Dogs are vehemently opposed to this.
Video: MSNBC’s Ed Schultz, House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn, and Politico’s Roger Simon discuss Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s announcement that a health care reform bill will not be passed before the August Roll Call : "Blue Dog Democrats, two White House officials and Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) left a multihour meeting Thursday afternoon in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office without a resolution to the deadlock holding up the party’s $1.6 trillion health care bill. But Pelosi, leaving her office with several Ways and Means Committee Democrats on the way to votes, said the intention is still to have a markup in the Energy and Commerce Committee. 'We’re still talking, and that’s a good thing,' said Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), chairman of the Blue Dog health care task force. Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.), another lead Blue Dog negotiator on the bill, said he believed talks were done for the night. 'We’re moving in the right direction,' he said."
Turning to the Senate… The key figure in health care, Sen. Max Baucus said the removal of the timeline may help bipartisan negotiations: “I think it’s helping a little because this is so complicated and Senators want to feel comfortable with what they’re doing,” Baucus said last night, per Roll Call .
NEW JERSEY: Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie refused to comment on yesterday’s sweep of arrests in New Jersey “in a political context.” He added, “this matter started while I was at the U.S. Attorney’s office, and as I found out this morning while it was culminating, I can only think of it in terms of what it means in a law enforcement perspective,” though he did call for the resignation of all public officials involved in the investigation. Campaigning in a barbershop in West New York, Christie said his rivals and pundits would turn the events, in which 44 people accused of corruption and money laundering were arrested, into a political issue. “For the political analysis you’ll have to go to other people who do that for a living,” he said. And Politicker notes: "Only in NJ is a public official named Cheatam indicted for corruption."
Video: A corruption sting in New Jersey resulted in the arrest of 44 people, including mayors and state legislators. Rachel Maddow has the latest with New Jersey bureau chief at Gannett's Trenton office, Bob Ingle. By the end of the day, members of Governor Jon Corzine’s administration had resigned after being implicated in the massive corruption scheme. Joe Doria Jr., the Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs, stepped down after his home and office were searched by the FBI. At a last-minute press conference, Corzine said, “Any corruption is unacceptable any time, anywhere by anybody.”
NEW YORK: A blow for Democrats … "New York state Sen. Darrel Aubertine (D) has decided not to run in the special election for Army Secretary-designate John McHugh’s (R-N.Y.) seat, leaving Democrats without their leading potential recruit in a big special election… National Republicans already spent money attacking Aubertine in ads and robocalls. Democrats will hail the investment as wasted money on a candidate who didn’t wind up running; Republicans will say it played into Aubertine’s decision not to run." Republicans certainly will consider this a scalp on the wall.
Per the
New York Times , “President Hamid Karzai
backed out of a live televised debate with two of his leading opponents on Thursday, saying that he had not been given enough time to prepare and questioning the neutrality of the television channel organizing it. Mr. Karzai’s opponents accused him of backing out because he could not defend his performance of the last seven years in office. But the president’s campaign office said he would take part in a debate nearer to the election, scheduled for Aug. 20, preferably on state-run television… The two-hour debate, based on Western-style political debates, was polite and rarely confrontational, with a moderator asking the candidates questions. Much of the discussion was about what was wrong with the country and, by reflection, with Mr. Karzai’s leadership.”
From NBC's Mark Murray President Obama made in his press conference last night: the cost of NOT reforming health care is too high.
"What's the cost of not reforming health care?" the narrator asks in the ad. "Premiums rising faster than your paycheck. Insurance companies dictating more and more medical decisions. Denying you coverage while their profits soar."
It also takes a shot at Republican/conservative critics (with images of Sen. Jim DeMint , RNC Chairman Michael Steele , and even Rush Limbaugh ), saying: "Tell Republicans the cost of doing nothing on health care is just too high."
The ad will run on national and DC cable. A DNC source says the buy size is in the "tens of thousands" -- i.e., a relatively small buy.
The ad's script:What's the cost of not reforming health care?
From NBC's Luke Russert and Chuck Todd
is now on Capitol Hill meeting with Blue Dog Democrats to try and encourage them to allow a health-reform bill to come before the full House before the August recess.
That goal hit an extra hurdle now that the Senate has punted until September.
From NBC's Chuck Todd and Mark Murray Time magazine story detailing former Vice President Cheney's
intense (and ultimately unsuccessful) campaign to get George W. Bush to pardon Scooter Libby , Cheney has issued this press release:
He was not the source of the leak of Valerie Plame's name. Former Deputy Secretary of State,
Rich Armitage , leaked the name and hid that fact from most of his colleagues, including the President. Mr. Libby is an honorable man and a faithful public servant who served the President, the Vice President and the nation with distinction for many years. He deserved a presidential pardon."
From NBC’s Luke Russert
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) expressed optimism that health-care reform would be passed on time.
Later on, when answering a reporter's question on the fate of the bill, Pelosi conveyed ironclad self-confidence.
"I am more confident than ever,” she boasted, adding, “When the bill is ready, we will go to the floor, and we will win."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray President Obama's remarks last night on the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. against Democrats.
The National Republican Congressional Committee is running press releases in congressional districts represented by Massachusetts Democrats -- as well as Indiana Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth , a former sheriff -- asking: "Does [enter Democratic congressman's name] Think Cambridge Cops 'Acted Stupidly?'
Video: MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle and Carlos Watson discuss the state of race relations in America after the controversial arrest of Harvard professor and African-American scholar Henry Gates by an officer responding to a report of a break-in at Gates’ home. The release is running in these districts:
Michael Capuano (MA-08),
William Delahunt (MA-10),
Brad Ellsworth (IN-08),
Barney Frank (MA-04),
Stephen Lynch (MA-09),
Jim McGovern (MA-03),
Ed Markey (MA-07),
Richard Neal (MA-02),
John Olver (MA-01),
John Tierney (MA-06), and
Niki Tsongas (MA-05).
Here's the release....
Does Michael Capuano Think Cambridge Cops 'Acted Stupidly?'
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland and Chuck Todd Harry Reid
said the Senate will NOT pass a health-care reform bill before the August recess. At a health-care event with his leadership team, Reid said, "The decision was made to give [the Senate Finance Committee] more time."
According to a senior administration official, however, Reid pledged to the White House that all committee work would be done before the recess -- i.e., markups, amendments, etc. through the Senate Finance Committee.
*** MORE *** work before the August recess. And during the recess, Reid will merge the Finance bill with the Senate health committee bill. That new bill will be brought to the floor for votes when the Senate returns in September, he said.
The current expectation is that the Finance bill will be fundamentally different from the Health committee bill in key areas -- specifically on a public option or government-run insurance plan. Republicans say they're concerned their provisions will be left out of the final bill.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Arkansas Democrat-Gazette , comes from Conrad Reynolds , who's running to challenge Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas.
"When I joined the military I took an oath to defend the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic," Reynolds said. "I never thought it would be domestic, but in today's world I do believe we have enemies here. It's time for people to stand up. It's time for us to speak out." ... "We need to change if we want to stop the way America is going toward socialism," Reynolds said. "We need someone to stand up to Barack Obama and his policies. We must protect our culture, our Christian identity."
Also:
Reynolds said Obama's "policies are leading us to socialism," but doesn't consider Obama to be a domestic enemy.
Reynolds' comments come after another GOP Senate candidate in Arkansas, state Sen. Kim Hendren , referred to New York Sen. Chuck Schumer (D) as "that Jew." Hendren later apologized.Video: Rachel Maddow is joined by Arkansas News Bureau’s Nick Stovall to discuss Senator Hendren's comment.
From NBC's Mark Murray Lamar Alexander (R-TN), as well as Reps. Dave Camp (R-MI), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Dave Reichert (R-WA), Mark Souder (R-OH), and Pat Tiberi (R-OH).
Here's the ad hitting Alexander.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg A snoozer conference : Last night’s primetime news conference, President Obama’s fourth since taking office, was as much a dry health-care symposium as it was a give-and-take with reporters. Honest question: Is there a point when the president knows too much about an issue? He got into the weeds a number of times on a number of different aspects of health care, which is what his diehard supporters love, but might not grab the attention of the average viewer. Still, in his opening statements and then in his answers, Obama made a direct appeal to those WITH health insurance. “This is not just about the 47 million Americans who have no health insurance,” he said. “Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage if they become too sick, or lose their job, or change their job. It's about every small business that has been forced to lay off employees or cut back on their coverage because it became too expensive.” Still, he's selling the unknown to folks with health insurance, and that's no easy task.
Video: White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton joins MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan to discuss President Obama’s primetime pitch for reform. ***
No game-changers : There were no game-changers on the politics of the debate -- or even the specifics -- although Obama seemed open the idea of the millionaire surtax (do notice the number he brought up; so that means he doesn't want the lower threshold, which was a subtle signal to Congress). Also, he used the word "mandate” and promised at least 97% of Americans covered, which would leave 9-10 million without insurance or 20% of the current 47 million uninsured (but a big chunk of those people are illegal immigrants). In addition, he signaled more flexibility on the August deadline, saying he won't sign a bill that isn't the right bill. And he bristled at the suggestion he was trying to blame Republicans for the current congressional roadblocks and instead claimed the Democratic disunity (so far) might be more regional than anything else. But let's not forget that he portrayed Republicans as roadblocks in his opening statement. One other thing: Obama hinted which stakeholder might be his chief opposition in August: the insurance industry. Obama had nice words for the pharmaceutical companies, but not insurers. And if it is the insurance industry that feels it's the most under siege when bills finally are passed in the House and Senate, they'll spend a LOT of money and this will be an even higher-stakes campaign.
*** Did Obama jump the gun? But beyond those things, Obama didn’t seem he had anything new to sell. There was no new ground about what’s acceptable and what isn’t when it comes the public/government insurance option. (What happens if he has to start explaining the idea of a co-op?) There also was no new ground on his promise to reduce Medicare costs. (The White House had already rolled out its MedPac plan, but he did sell it more passionately than ever.) All of this raises the question: Did this press conference come too soon? No doubt, the White House probably thought they'd have the Senate Finance Committee bill to tout and explain by last night. Then again, he might have wanted to have a final conversation with the American public before it tunes out for the rest of the summer. (Still, maybe this presser should have happened NEXT week?) As the New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn puts it, “All I know is that Obama wanted to speak to America like adults tonight--and make the case for the reforms he (quite rightly) believes are necessary. Time will tell whether that faith in the public's patience and judgment is well-placed.”
Video: President Barack Obama outlines the money he expects his health care plan to save and how he intends to cover the plan's further costs. ***
Skip-ping to something else : But because Obama didn’t have much new to sell and because of his answer to the final question of the night, that adult conversation about health care he wanted to have also got turned into a conversation about race. Indeed, the press conference’s most memorable moment and Obama’s most animated answer came when he was asked about the arrest of Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his own home in Cambridge, MA. In his response, the president did something he rarely does: weigh in on an issue that he himself admitted he didn't know every fact. And his blunt commentary about the Cambridge police will inevitably lead to some to seek out the police officers in question, potentially stirring an odd political stew. (Who bets he wishes he never used the word "stupidly"?) In his past news conferences, Obama has usually ended on a high note for the White House’s message team (remember that ocean-liner metaphor that made Rahm smile?). Right or wrong, Obama’s answer to the Gates question didn’t help him advance his health-care message.
*** Meet me in Ohio! Obama today takes his health-care show on the road today to Cleveland, OH. He tours the famed Cleveland Clinic at 1:15 pm ET, and then holds a health-care town hall at Shaker Heights High School beginning at 2:10 pm. Here’s what Obama said about the Cleveland Clinic last night: “Part of the reason it works well is because they've set up a system where patient care is the No.1 concern, not bureaucracy, what forms have to be filled out, what do we get reimbursed for.” Later tonight, the president hits a pair of fundraisers in Chicago, one of which has Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith and new QB Jay Cutler in attendance.
*** A'Huntsman we will go... : You might have forgotten about him, especially in the partisan back-and-forth over health care, but one of those moderate Republicans who is joining the Obama administration -- Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. -- has his confirmation hearing today before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Also today, Vice President Biden is in Georgia, where he meets with that country's president and speaks before Parliament; Hillary Clinton attends the ASEAN conference in Thailand and meets with the foreign ministers of Australia, Japan, and Indonesia; and First Lady Michelle Obama speaks at an event honoring National Design Award recipients at 12:30 pm ET.
*** Not on her radar screen : Speaking of Clinton, Thai reporters pressed the Secretary of State hard about future political plans. Per the Washington Post , “The questioners pressed Clinton on her run for the presidency and whether she still entertained the notion of running again. ‘That's not anything I'm at all thinking about,’ she replied. She was asked if she had ever given up hope, and she said: ‘I don't know, but I doubt very much that anything like that will ever be part of my life.’ Is it wait and see? ‘No, no, no, no.’ Finally, one questioner pressed, ‘Never say never,’ and Clinton seemed to shut the door. ‘Well, I am saying no because I have a very committed attitude to the job I have and so that's not at all on my radar screen.’”
Video: Newsweek’s Howard Fineman and Politico’s Roger Simon join Hardball’s Chris Matthews to discuss Hillary Clinton’s political ambitions beyond serving as Secretary of State. ***
Cheney vs. Bush? But this
Time magazine story might be the big cable catnip of the day: TIME COVER—THE FINAL DAYS—DETERMINED TO GET A PARDON FOR HIS FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF, SCOOTER LIBBY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY “REALLY GOT IN THE PRESIDENT’S FACE," [ABOUT THE PARDON] A LONG TIME BUSH FAMILY SOURCE TOLD TIME. "HE JUST WOULDN’T GIVE IT UP."
Countdown to Palin Stepping Down: 3 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails . Facebook and also on Twitter .
"President Obama tried on Wednesday to rally public support for overhauling the nation’s health care system and said for the first time that he would be willing to help pay for the plan by raising income taxes on families earning more than $1 million a year," the New York Times writes. "'If I see a proposal that is primarily funded through taxing middle-class families, I’m going to be opposed to that,' Mr. Obama said in a prime-time news conference in the East Room of the White House. A surcharge on the highest-income Americans, under consideration in the House, 'meets my principle,' he said."
Video: President Barack Obama held his fourth primetime news conference Wednesday night. Watch the entire event. The
Boston Globe says, "Obama sought to calm middle-class fears about a major healthcare overhaul last night." More: "Despite the urgency of the moment, the president’s tone last night was characteristically low-key and his rhetorical style coolly logical. Obama’s job last night was to rally Americans to the cause of the overhaul by convincing them that they have a stake in its outcome at a time when negotiations have become bogged down in Congress and public support has wavered. The political problem Obama faces is that five out of six Americans already have health insurance. They have seen premiums double in the last 10 years, but the debate over healthcare in Washington is dominated by headlines about which taxes Democrats might raise to pay the $1 trillion bill for covering the uninsured."
“Stalled”? Ouch. The
Washington Post : “Six months after his inauguration, Obama finds his signature domestic issue stalled on Capitol Hill, where House Democratic leaders are working to quell dissension and the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate acknowledged that action probably will be delayed until September. Addressing what he called ‘entirely legitimate’ skepticism, the president vowed that health-care reform would drive down costs, eventually saving families thousands of dollars. But he struggled to explain how any of the measures under consideration would fulfill that promise.”
Politico's Smith on Obama's performance: "His dryness was all the more striking by contrast with the press conference’s conclusion, when he suddenly re-engaged with a question that he’s spent much of his life mulling, race, in the form of the arrest of a black Harvard professor. The appearance was striking by its absence of a move that’s long characterized Obama’s political career: When in trouble, go big. Faced with a crisis of confidence or with a political furor, he’s repeatedly shown an ability to rise above the storm, and to broaden the playing field, as when he turned a flap over his pastor into a meditation on race in America. Now, facing his hardest test as President, Obama chose to go small."
Video: In his prime time press conference on Wednesday night, President Barack Obama offered few specifics about who will pay for health care reform. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie reports. The
Wall Street Journal's headline out of the presser: "Obama backs health surtax."
CONTINUED >>
The Hill : "Pelosi: I have the votes." "Democratic opponents of the bill said Pelosi’s vote count was somewhere between wildly optimistic and dead wrong."
"Senate Democrats are increasingly frustrated by the secrecy and duration of Finance Chairman Max Baucus’ (D-Mont.) bipartisan talks on health care reform, with some saying it could undermine Democratic support for the bill,"
Roll Call writes. "Democrats both on and off the Finance Committee said the briefings they get about the six negotiators’ progress are too vague. Plus, they say, without a bill in hand, they cannot defend or sell the package to a wary media and public. 'At some point, [Baucus is] going to have to worry about getting Democratic votes,' said one Democratic Senator, speaking on the condition of anonymity. 'If they think that we’ll take whatever it is that comes out because we want to get something passed, they’re wrong.'"
Video: Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., talks about why Blue Dog Democrats are dragging their feet on health care reform and standing in the way of getting it passed before the August recess.
House Dems far apart on deal? Roll Call : "With time running out to reach consensus before a scheduled summer break, House Democrats appear further than ever from bridging internal rifts on a sweeping health care overhaul. House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) spent hours Wednesday in talks with moderate Blue Dog Democrats on his panel who have stalled the package over concerns about its price tag and scope. But the two sides emerged speaking different languages." are trying to send out to constituents the Rep. Kevin Brady-created complicated health-care flow chart using House mail. Democrats are blocking the effort, saying it would violate House rules because it is misleading. The Hill reports.
CONNECTICUT : It's still not good, but it's possible that Chris Dodd stopped the bleeding. He trails Rob Simmons by nine points in a new Quinnipiac poll . But his job rating has inched up a tad, and he's gained a bit among Dems. Remember, the state's so blue, Dodd can pull this off with just Dems and a few indies. Still, he has a LONG way to go.
FLORIDA : Marco Rubio says he's staying in the Senate race .
NEW JERSEY : Gov. Jon Corzine said he would announce his candidate for lieutenant governor on Saturday, but declined to discuss his short list.” On that list is former “Apprentice” winner Randall Pinkett, who held a press conference yesterday to “speak directly” about his interest in the job.
NEW YORK : Here's a name for you... Scozzafava . That's who "Republican leaders in New York have chosen ... as their nominee for the special election to replace Army Secretary-designate John McHugh (R-N.Y.)." Dede Scozzafava is a state Assemblywoman, and she was voted in by "County chairmen for the 23rd district" yesterday. "The chairmen choose their nominee in lieu of a primary process for special elections in the Empire State."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray President Obama will deliver at his primetime news conference at 8:00 pm ET.
Video: NBC Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd reports on President Obama's 10th health-care related event. According to the excerpts, he will make these arguments:
1) that health-care reform will benefit all Americans, especially those who already have insurance.
This is not just about the 47 million Americans who have no health insurance. Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage if they become too sick, or lose their job, or change their job. It’s about every small business that has been forced to lay off employees or cut back on their coverage because it became too expensive. And it’s about the fact that the biggest driving force behind our federal deficit is the skyrocketing cost of Medicare and Medicaid.
From NBC’s Luke Russert Blue Dog Democratic leader Baron Hill (D-IN) openly disagreed with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ’s assertion that Democrats have the votes to pass health-care reform in the House right now.
Hill was referring to a comment from Pelosi at her morning press briefing where she said, “I think that we are moving closer, that we are making progress, and I have no question that we have the votes on the floor of the House to pass this legislation.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Here's a look at how senators voted on the Thune Amendment.
Lots of Western and Southern Democrats voted for it, including Majority Leader Harry Reid (up for reelection in 2010).
Video: Despite support from some Democratic senators, the Senate struck down a bill Wednesday that would have allowed gun owners to carry concealed weapons across state lines. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports. Some others that stand out:
Russ Feingold (up for reelection in 2010) voted for it. Feingold said in a statement: “Last year, the Supreme Court finally recognized that the right to bear arms protected by the Second Amendment to the Constitution is an individual right. Americans’ right to possess a firearm to protect themselves or their families does not stop at a state border. Once citizens have obtained permission from a state to carry a concealed weapon, they should be able to rely on that permission in states that permit the concealed carrying of firearms, and that is why I will support the Thune amendment.”
Arlen Specter voted against. As the National Republican Senatorial Committee points out, this puts Specter to the left of the other Pennsylvania senator, Bob Casey , who voted for it.
Two Republicans voted against: Richard Lugar and George Voinovich (retiring). And that means the Republican from Indiana is to the left of the Democrat on guns. Evan Bayh , the junior senator from the Hoosier state, voted for it.
Most of the votes fall along predictable geographic lines.
Here's the full roll call:
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Betsy Cline and Whitney Bright In a speech about the economy, former New York City mayor and 2008 presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani
railed against President Obama 's push for health care.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Mike Viqueira
Nancy Pelosi appears to be leaving the door open to keeping the House in session past the scheduled July 31 target date for recess.
But the question is what, if anything, the House will be voting on if she does so. We're learning today that if Senate negotiators come up with a deal among themselves, the House could abruptly change course and drop it's tax plan in favor of a possible Senate compromise, according to well-placed House sources.
There remains a solid wall of Republican opposition to the House plan, and Dem groups like the Blue Dogs and vulnerable freshmen are in opposition to the surtax on the wealthy to pay for it. Meanwhile, the Senate has been working on a plan that may not include a surtax, but could raise revenue on a tax on insurers on their high-end, "Cadillac" plans, for example.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland Orrin Hatch
has taken himself out of bipartisan group of Finance Committee members drafting the health-care bill.Max Baucus (D-MT), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Mike Enzi (R-WY), and Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
From NBC's Ken Strickland Lindsey Graham
(R), who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is making his announcement now on the Senate floor. More to come.Susan Collins , Dick Lugar , Mel Martinez , and Olympia Snowe .
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Jim Cooper , a member of the Blue Dog Coalition and someone who also taught health-care policy at Vanderbilt, laid out his arguments for the revisions needed to current health-care reform legislation making its way through Congress.
Cooper told Dr. Nancy Snyderman on MSNBC's "Dr. Nancy," the bill has to be "deficit neutral" in less than 10 years and "bend the cost curve in the right direction."
Video: Details of the congressional health care overhaul are filtering out. What is President Obama doing to push through his plan? NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman talks with Reps. Peter Welch and Jim Cooper. At issue is the House bill making its way through the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Democrats have argued that the bill, over time, would reduce costs. But the head of the Congressional Budget Office testified that's not so -- that, in fact, costs would go up as a result. As a result, in part, markups on the bill have been delayed twice now -- yesterday and today -- to accomodate negotiations with the Blue Dogs.
Cooper, who is not a member of the committee, said the Blue Dogs want "real, scorable savings," an indication that the moderate group will give weight to the CBO.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Mike Viqueira and Domenico Montanaro Mike Ross , congressman from Arkansas, says the conservative Democratic group and House Commerce and Energy Committee Chairman Henry Waxman “are making progress; however, we have a long way to go.”
Here’s the full statement:
"The Blue Dogs share the President's goal of providing the American people with quality, affordable health care reform that's deficit neutral, and we have put forth a number of substantive policy proposals over the past several months aimed at achieving this goal. "We are making progress; however, we have a long way to go. The Blue Dogs will continue to work constructively with the administration, Chairman Waxman and members of the House and Senate to produce a bill that we can ultimately support."
Video: Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., joins MSNBC’s Carlos Watson to discuss whether President Barack Obama is rushing to pass the new health care reform bill. As CongressDaily wrote yesterday: There are “seven Blue Dog Coalition members on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which was forced to postpone the markup it had scheduled for today as Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman tries to assuage the group's concerns. If the group stays unified in its opposition to the bill, it can be held up in committee. Leaders could elect to end the markup without passing it out of committee, but if that happens, ‘you will see a howling cry come up from the floor,’ [Rep.
Charlie] Melancon said.”
Melancon is a member of the conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coaltion. It has been widely reported that he is likely to mount a 2010 senate challenge to Republican David Vitter .
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg Tonight’s presser: Will President Obama come armed with news tonight when, beginning at 8:00 pm ET, he holds his fourth primetime news conference? In his last full-fledged presser -- a daytime one dominated by the Iranian issue -- the president didn't have any news, and instead found himself more on the defensive than at any other time he's faced the press. You can easily see how tonight's news conference could produce a similar outcome if the White House doesn’t have some specific news to make on health care. Will Obama be able to articulate specific policy proposals on health care that he’s for, or will we hear more of the same chatter on his principles? Repetition is always important to pushing a message, but one of the things that may be slowing down the process in Congress is that the president hasn't come out publicly on the specifics. He won't even say if he's OK with the millionaires' surtax or not; whether a co-op is enough to fulfill his "public option" promise; or what amount of "virtually" universal coverage is satisfactory. Other issues will also come up tonight, including the stimulus and the economy in general, perhaps Iraq, Afghanistan, GITMO, and the Bush-era investigation issue. But health care should dominate.
*** The taxing debate: One of the bigger, but more under-reported, sea changes in American politics is how any kind of tax increase -- whether in war or peace, good economic times or bad ones -- has become absolutely unacceptable. After all, Ronald Reagan raised taxes. So did every modern American president involved in war, until George W. Bush. But not anymore. Indeed, as one of us pointed out on Nightly News last night, only 29% (or 157) of the 535 and House members and senators serving in Congress were around the last time -- 1993! -- the federal government raised taxes, and that was on gasoline. Think about that for a moment: Congress hasn't really had a TOUGH vote in 16 years, if one defines a "TOUGH" vote as the government asking for a financial sacrifice from the American people. This is the political climate that President Obama faces in trying to pay for health reform. Republicans and some Democrats are opposed to a tax on the wealthy, and unions and Obama's political strategists are against taxing health benefits.
Video: Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., an outspoken critic of President Obama’s health care reform plans, talks with TODAY’s Matt Lauer about Republicans’ concerns about the proposed reforms. ***
A new era of responsibility? But at some point, if you're fighting two wars, trying to pay for health care, promising to reduce the deficit, and trying NOT to "starve the beast," you've got to raise taxes, right? When they were in charge, Republicans punted because they could NEVER go back to their base and defend a tax increase of any kind (and look where that got them). But is Barack Obama, who called for a “new era of responsibility” in his inaugural address, willing to use his influence to truly change how Washington works? So far, he's supported borrowing -- for the stimulus and for part 2 of the bank bailout.
*** The Great American Health-Care Fight: Other moving parts in the health-care debate: Right before Obama’s press conference tonight, Eric Cantor and other GOP members participate in a health-care forum sponsored by the conservative Pajamas Media TV… The DNC is running a Web video using Sen. Jim DeMint’s “Waterloo” comment to hit Republicans on health care… Cantor’s office has its own Web video on the subject… And around 9:30 am ET, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks on health care, his 25th speech on the topic since June 1, according to his office.
*** Transparency we can believe in? And just askin’, but why is the White House declining a request to release a list of health-care industry stakeholders it has met with? The Los Angeles Times : "Invoking an argument used by President George W. Bush, the Obama administration has turned down a request from a watchdog group for a list of health industry executives who have visited the White House to discuss the massive healthcare overhaul. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington sent a letter to the Secret Service asking about visits from 18 executives representing health insurers, drug makers, doctors and other players in the debate. The group wants the material in order to gauge the influence of those executives in crafting a new healthcare policy." And this gets at another issue: The White House hasn't said what it has promised the various stakeholders they've gotten to publicly promise to make cuts. Apparently, doctors are getting a 10-year fix to soften the blow of lower Medicare reimbursement rates. Who else got what?
*** Iraq is back: Before his primetime news conference, Obama meets at the White House with Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki, and the two will hold a joint press availability at 3:00 pm ET.
According to NBC’s Libby Leist, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters in Washington this week that Maliki will have one key message for Obama today: your attention is still needed. Zebari pressed the point that while the Obama administration turns its focus to the war in Afghanistan, it cannot come at Iraq's expense. He stressed that "serious challenges" remain and Iraq is still in a very fragile situation, especially over the next six months in the run up to January 2010 elections. For his part, Obama will try and send message that the U.S. is pledging support beyond security, and cultural and business exchanges will be discussed. Simply put, Iraq is like an 18 year old -- it wants independence from the parent (in this case the U.S.), but if it runs into trouble, it wants to know that the parent will bail him/her out.
*** Ace of Base? Whether it’s “Birther” conspiracies, worries about ACORN and the Census, or the GOP's fealty to Rush Limbaugh, watching the conservative base in the Obama Era has become one of the fascinating spectacles in American politics. And perhaps the best place to monitor that base is in competitive Republican primaries. The latest example: Florida Gov. Charlie Crist -- who’s running for the Senate and competing in a GOP primary against the more conservative Marco Rubio -- says he opposes Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination. If Crist weren’t running in a competitive Republican primary, does anyone believe he’d be opposing Sotomayor, let alone commenting on this issue? Do note that the man Crist and Rubio are trying to replace, Mel Martinez, has said he’ll vote for her. As the Washington Post’s Cillizza writes, Crist “appears more concerned about angering the GOP primary electorate by supporting Sotomayor than risking the ire of Hispanics in a general election against Rep. Kendrick Meek.”
*** Birth(er) of a nation, part 2: Speaking of the conservative base, is anyone else stunned that a member of the United States Congress wouldn’t unequivocally say that Barack Obama was born in the United States? That’s exactly what happened when MSNBC’s Chris Matthews interviewed Rep. John Campbell (R-CA) on Hardball yesterday. Why are elected officials feeding this conspiracy theory? As the "Morning Joe" crew noted today, what do these conspiracy theorists think -- a single mother, 47 years ago, secretly had the president in Indonesia and then hours later decided to get a Hawaii birth announcement because she thought he'd be president?
Video: Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis discusses what problems the Republican Party will face if they continue to entertain conspiracy theories like those questioning President Barack Obama’s citizenship. ***
Palin back in the news: With four days until she officially leaves office, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is dealing with another ethics investigation. The
AP reports that an independent investigator “has found evidence that … Palin may have violated ethics laws by accepting private donations to pay her legal debts. The report obtained by The Associated Press says Palin is securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through the Alaska Fund Trust, set up by supporters.” Per NBC’s Norah O’Donnell, Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton issued this response: "I cannot verify the validity of this claim. There is no final report. The investigator is still confidentially reviewing this matter. It appears suspect that in the final days of the governor's term, someone would again violate the law and announce a supposed conclusion before it is reached."
Video: Is Palin going to have to face charges? Rachel Maddow is joined by KTUU reporter Jill Burke ***
Gingrich & Giuliani: Today in DC, two of the nation’s better-known Republicans -- Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani -- give competing speeches on the economy. At 10:00 am ET at the National Press Club, Gingrich will outline steps he thinks will lead to job creation. And at the same time at the American Enterprise Institute, Giuliani will talk about the free market and economic competitiveness.
Countdown to Palin Stepping Down: 4 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails. Facebook and also on Twitter .
The Boston Globe previews tonight's press conference. "After weeks of bad news about costs, the defection of moderate Democrats, and a negative drumbeat from Republicans, President Obama will use a televised news conference tonight in a bid to shore up public support for his sweeping plan to cover the uninsured and reform the healthcare system."
The New York Times : “On Wednesday night Mr. Obama addresses the nation in a prime-time news conference as the public, and lawmakers, are growing skittish over his next big plan, to remake the American health care system. How he handles the issue over the next several weeks could shape the rest of his presidency, shedding light on his political strength, his relationship with both parties in Congress and his appetite to fight for his own agenda.”
Video: On Tuesday, President Barack Obama said America was closer than ever to overhauling the health care system, but there is still no agreement on how to pay for it. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, discuss the president’s health care predicament. The
Washington Post reports as fact that a "mandate" -- a la auto insurance -- would be included in any health-care reform legislation. "Many of the nation's 47 million uninsured people, however, would be required to purchase a health policy or face financial penalties, though waivers or discounts would be provided for lower-income Americans. The concept is modeled after a requirement instituted in Massachusetts three years ago as part of that state's broad health-care overhaul. And like the Massachusetts law, the individual mandate proposed by congressional Democrats would be paired with a much more controversial new requirement that nearly every employer contribute to the total cost of care."
While the insurance industry isn't trying to scuttle the Obama administration’s efforts on health-care reform, it is trying to push back at attempts to create a government plan. "The industry's stance against a public health plan revives shades of 1994, when it was instrumental in blocking President Bill Clinton's health-care proposals. ‘A government-run plan would turn back the clock on efforts to improve the quality and safety of patient care,’ AHIP has argued. Such a plan ‘will ultimately limit choices and access,’ the big insurer WellPoint contends.
The Boston Globe's lead story : "President wins on defense spending." The Globe says, "Obama scored a major victory " on the F-22 vote.
Video: Rachel Maddow is joined by Rep. Barney Frank, D-MA, to talk about the Senate cutting funding for F-22 fighter jets The
New York Times : “Senate aides said that some Democrats who otherwise might have voted for more planes sided with the president out of concern that a loss could have hurt him in the fight for health care reform. ‘The president really needed to win this vote,’ Senator Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan who led the fight to cut financing for the plane, said after the vote.”
The
Washington Post curtain-raises the Maliki visit to DC this week, which begins today with a meeting with President Obama. "Iraq would like the United States to provide more economic support, help resolve problems with some of its neighbors and -- when asked -- assist in combating the myriad security problems it still faces. Otherwise, it would like the Americans to leave it alone. For its part, the Obama administration wants Baghdad to stop the sectarian disagreements that continue to impede economic and political progress, show a little more public respect for U.S. sacrifices on its behalf and start behaving like a normal, oil-rich democracy. Those issues, politely stated, will form the basis of talks during Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's first visit to the Obama White House on Wednesday, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials."
CONTINUED >>
The Washington Post does its best at what's become a version of "Kremlinology" -- trying to read the Senate Finance Committee tea leaves. Call it Baucus-ology. Bottom line: There could be a tax on INSURERS, not beneficiaries, for offering expensive plans. Also, the government health plan would be out in favor of a co-op (a la the rural electricity deals). Finally, they are promising that committee work will be DONE by the recess -- which is not meeting the president's deadline.
Video: In a prime-time news conference Wednesday, President Obama will press his plan to overhaul the country’s health care system. This comes as some Democrats voice concerns over the president’s timeline for the measure. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie reports. "Moderate House Democrats and a key committee chairman emerged from a three-hour meeting at the White House on Tuesday with a tentative agreement to give an outside panel -- rather than Congress -- the power to make cuts to government-financed health care programs,"
Politico writes.
Roll Call reports the same: "Blue Dogs said Waxman agreed to support an independent commission with the power to control Medicare spending, an idea proposed by Obama but rejected by House chairmen while writing the bill."
CONTINUED >>
California may get all the attention nationally, but every state is struggling to close gaps. In North Carolina, it's a tax hike for everyone. "The proposal calls for increases in sales taxes and sin taxes, as well as a two-year surcharge on corporate and individual income taxes for all taxpayers, to raise $990 million. It would put the total budget for this fiscal year at about $18.9 billion. Budget writers are facing an unprecedented drop in revenue, but the exact size of the deficit has been a hot debate. Revenue next year is expected to be more than $4 billion below what it would have taken to keep funding programs and services at recent levels, and Democrats have described the deficit as $4.5 billion or more. Unlike the federal government, the state must have a balanced budget."
Video: An unprecedented deal in California to close the state’s budget gap will cut billions from education spending and give early release to thousands of prison inmates. NBC’s Miguel Almaguer reports on what could be a sign of things to come in other states. The
Washington Post does the big picture on the state budget issue. “[T]he total shortfall facing all 50 states through fiscal 2011 is estimated at nearly 10 times that figure, or $230 billion, according to state budget officers."
Is DNC Chairman Tim Kaine moonlighting as Virginia governor, or is Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine moonlighting as DNC chair?
"Kaine traveled outside the state doing business for the Democratic National Committee half of the days in June, a departure from an initial pledge to limit his work as party chairman to evenings and weekends." More: "According to newly released documents, Kaine's out-of-state travel has accelerated substantially as he has taken on a more visible national role in selling President Obama's agenda, but it has also come as the economic crisis has worsened in Virginia, where the unemployment rate has been rising and state revenue has been falling.”
The New York Times does a C.W.-setting piece on governors' races, and notes the GOP has an opportunity to make inroads. Of course, is this a party issue? Or simply an issue of incumbent governors or incumbent party's in trouble, and Dems have an edge overall so they will take the bigger hit?
ILLINOIS: Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias (D) announced that he would officially kick off his Senate candidacy this coming Sunday.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro CAPITOL HILL -- Ya gotta love House floor speeches.
Today’s rhetorical flourishes came courtesy mostly of the House Republicans -- with some colorful Democratic exceptions.
Video: MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell analyzes the Republicans’ strategy of intervening in the health care battle despite their lack of political leverage to do so. Republicans took to the floor en masse to taunt Democrats on unemployment and health care, using a privilege called “one minutes” (which are a series of one-minute speeches). In what was an apparently coordinated message attack, every Republican who took to the podium asked, "Where are the jobs?"
But as is per usual in Washington there was a bevy of what we call, “Only in DC Moments.”
What exactly do Garth Brooks and Thelma and Louise have to do with the economy and health care? Don't worry, House Republicans will tell you.
There was Jeff Flake (R) (all loosely transcribed): There's a Garth Brooks song that says, "Wild Horses keep dragging me away ... Wild horses seem to be dragging the Congress away."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Luke Russert
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) expressed optimism for passing health-care reform possibly by the end of next week saying, “I believe we are going to get to a place where we can create consensus where there will be agreement.” Later he added, “We have every intention of passing health care and we want to pass it next week.”
Hoyer, speaking in his weekly off-camera briefing with Capitol Hill reporters, started off by vehemently going after Republicans who have suggested that Democrats are rushing health-care reform through Congress: “In the last 18 months, we’ve been discussing it extensively. This is not a rush to judgment.”
Hoyer then pushed what is now a popular Democratic talking point after Republican Sen.
Jim DeMint ’s comment that health-care reform would be
Obama ’s “Waterloo,” Hoyer said: “This is consistent with what Republicans are trying to do. Their interest is much more in making failure happen then progress for the American people.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Michelle Perry and Mark Murray Judd Gregg (R) told NBC's Andrea Mitchell that he had no regrets about turning down the opportunity to be President Obama's Commerce secretary.
Video: Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., discusses some of the factors which may prevent a health care bill from being passed before Congress breaks for their August recess. "I wouldn't have been any good on health-care defense, and wouldn't have been good on [the] budget. I made the right decision; I just should have made it sooner."
Mitchell interjected, "You weren't going to be great cheerleader?"
Gregg replied, "That's true."
Video:
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., discusses the major push Democratic leaders are launching to win over health care critics within their own party. Also, Mitchell interviewed Oregon Sen.
Ron Wyden (D), who said he'd be willing to work through the August recess to hammer out a health-care bill. Mitchell asked Wyden what his wife thought about that.
He said she wasn't exactly thrilled.
From NBC's Ken Strickland Max Baucus today announced that a bipartisan group of committee members have "locked down and agreed" on two "major issues" of their version of the health-care reform bill. But Baucus refused to give specific details on which provisions agreement was reached.
He did said the agreement was on a policy provisions -- not issues that address how to pay for the massive reform. "Major issues," Baucus said, "issues that have been in the public domain for a good time."
Video: As lawmakers hammer out health care reform, which state plans are working and which face serious recession cost issues? NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman takes a look at Oregon and Massachusetts. Democratic Sen.
Kent Conrad is a member of group. He also refused to divulge specifics on the agreements, but appeared personally pleased with the deal. Conrad has been the driving force behind developing insurance cooperatives (co-ops) that would complete against private insurance plans.
"I don't think it's my place to go into the details," he said. "It's been a very good day. I'm a very happy guy."
Beside Baucus and Conrad, the group consist of Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Mike Enzi (R-WY), and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). Baucus says the group will meet again today at 3:00 pm and 7:00 pm ET.
From NBC's Mark Murray Max Baucus (D-MT) to unveil his health-care bill, the liberal groups Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America are running a TV ad in Montana the presses the senator to back a public/government option.
The ad comes as the Washington Post reports that health-related companies and their employees "gave Baucus's political committees nearly $1.5 million in 2007 and 2008, when he began holding hearings and making preparations for this year's reform debate."
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Robert Byrd
, of West Virginia, cast his first vote today after a long absence due to illness.President Obama today on the F-22. Byrd voted to continue production of the F-22 fighter jet.
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell, Jim Miklaszewski, and Mark Murray Obama administration, as well as for Sen. John McCain
(R-AZ), the purchase of new F-22 fighter jets was stripped form the Defense authorization bill.Carl Levin
(D-MI) -- stripping the F-22 money. Bush and Obama administrations were in agreement on ending production of the jet. But many in Congress wanted to keep the production line going, often citing jobs as a reason.
The Pentagon already has 183 of the jets with plans for four more. The McCain-Levin amendment removed $1.75 billion to build seven additional F-22s.
Video: President Obama commends the Senate on its vote to reject funding for seven new F-22 jets, saying the money is better spent on other military priorities. The Pentagon released this statement: "Secretary
Gates appreciates the careful consideration Senators have given to this matter of national security and he applauds their bipartisan support to complete the F-22 program at 187 planes. He understands that for many members this was a very difficult vote, but he believes that the Pentagon cannot continue with business as usual when it comes to the F-22 or any other program in excess to our needs. Today's vote is an important step in that direction and the secretary looks forward to working closely with lawmakers as President Obama's budget is debated in the coming months."
In remarks he made at the White House, Obama said he was "grateful" for amendment's passage vote, saying that military experts have agreed that the U.S. doesn't need more F-22s. "This would have been an inexcusable waste of money," he said. "If more money goes to F-22s, it is our troops and citizens who lose."
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro President Obama 's approach.
"I commend the Blue Dog Democrats" who are "expressing concern on the cost of the bill," Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) told reporters following the Republicans' weekly meeting. He added, "I understand they're going to get the extended tour" of the White House. (Several so-called moderate Blue Dog Democrats, who have expressed some concerns over the details of the health-care plan, were asked to the White House today.)
"I tell people, 'The woodshed's not on the regular tour,'" Pence added, after reminiscing -- with a chuckle -- of times he was invited to the White House during the Bush administration.
Video: Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., joins MSNBC’s Carlos Watson to talk about President Barack Obama’s determination to pass his health care plan on time despite his admission that the bills themselves are not yet “where they need to be.” John Boehner , the House Republican Minority Leader, questioned how much political capital the White House and House Democratic leadership had left within their own party.
"Some Democrats got their arms broken" during the energy fight, Boehner said. "Now there are no more arms to break."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Pete Williams, Ken Strickland, and Mark Murray Sotomayor
nomination next Tuesday, July 28th, said the committee chairman, Patrick Leahy of Vermont.Susan Collins has become the fourth Republican senator to announce support for Sotomayor, joining Dick Lugar , Mel Martinez , and Olympia Snowe .
"I have decided to vote in favor of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to serve as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court," Collins said in a statement. "The decision of whether to confirm a nominee to the Supreme Court is a solemn responsibility of the Senate and one that I approach with the utmost care... I know that I will not agree with every decision Justice Sotomayor reaches on the Court, just as I disagree with some of her previous decisions. However, upon reading these decisions, talking personally with her, and hearing her responses to probing questions, I have concluded that Judge Sotomayor understands the proper rule of a judge and is committed to applying the law impartially without bias or favoritism."
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg Finding an enemy : You can mark yesterday as perhaps a key turning point in the fight over health-care reform. Why? Because President Obama and the White House found a political enemy in South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint (R), who earlier said that health care could be Obama’s “Waterloo” and could “break” him politically. Obama replied yesterday: “Think about that. This isn’t about me. This isn’t about politics. This is about a health-care system that is breaking America’s families.” As it turns out, Obama is much more comfortable when he has someone to run against. He hasn’t really had that … until now. Will Republicans regret turning this into a political fight? Polls, including yesterday’s Washington Post/ABC survey , show that the public trusts Obama more than Republicans on health care. And that means they’re more likely to side with the president in a political fight, even if they aren’t convinced his plan is the right one.
Video: The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson debates with a Morning Joe panel whether the Obama administration needs to take a more reasonable approach to achieving health care reform. ***
Risk vs. reward : Of course, Republicans would have drawn criticism had they not attempted to seize this political opportunity. So the GOP strategy of turning this into a political fight was something they had to attempt, because the reward is great (see DeMint's prediction). But it may have given the president a lifeline -- just as he was showing a growing frustration with members of HIS OWN party. But, suddenly, the president looks much more comfortable when back to campaign mode, running against Republicans.
*** Playing into Obama’s hands? Honest question: Is this “Will it pass or won’t it?” drama on health care actually playing right into Obama’s hands? Truth is, with the Democrats at 60 in the Senate and with a very strong majority in the House, they are -- more than likely -- going to be able to pass health care, especially when you have Senate Republicans like Chuck Grassley and Olympia Snowe who still apparently want to play ball. As a result, any victory Obama gets on health care is going to look more significant. Then again, he’s got to achieve that victory first, and that’s why he’s meeting today with House Democrats on Energy and Commerce Committee, to get them to pass the House bill.
Video: Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., talks about the large group of moderate senators who share President Obama's goal to fix health care this year, but disagree with his timetable. ***
Seizing the bully pulpit : Another day, another example of President Obama seizing the bully pulpit to press for health-care reform. At 1:05 pm ET (before meeting with those House Democrats), he once again delivers brief remarks on the subject from the White House -- the eighth day in the last nine in which he spoken on health care (in some form or fashion) since returning from his recent overseas trip. Yet another example was his interview with NBC’s Meredith Vieira on TODAY. On why he set an August deadline to get health-care bills passed through the House and Senate: “Well, because if you don't set a deadline in this town, nothing happens. You know, the default in Washington is inaction and inertia. And there's a reason why we haven't had health-care reform in 50 years.” But in a separate interview with PBS, Obama
did admit that the deadline could “spill over.” He said, “You've been around here long enough to know that you have to say, ‘Get this done.’ If somebody comes to me and says, ‘It's basically done; it's going to spill over by a few days or a week,’ you know, that's different.”
*** The Great American Health Care Fight : Other health-care developments: It looks like the surtax on high-income earners is more on life support than Republicans wish, because it was turning into an easy thing to attack Democrats over… The U.S. Chamber of Commerce holds a conference call with reporters at 2:00 pm ET today to announce a multi-million-dollar ad campaign to protect “employer-sponsored health care”… Obama held a conference call with liberal bloggers last night… Has Obama lost David Brooks ? The White House's favorite non-liberal columnist unloads on House Dem "old bulls" … And everyone is waiting to see if today’s the day that the Senate Finance Committee releases its health-care bill.
*** Birth(ers) of a Nation : Remember that McCain event last year during the presidential campaign, when a woman asked if Barack Obama was an Arab? Well, that’s nothing compared to YouTube clip of a Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) town hall, in which a woman carries on and on about Obama's citizenship and birth certificate. Let's get something straight: If Obama weren't a United States citizen, don't you think the Clinton campaign (first) or the McCain camp (second) would have said something during the two-year-long presidential campaign? (In fact, McCain, who was born in the Panama Canal Zone, was the one who had the bigger potential legal question mark about his eligibility for the presidency.) But the real story in all of this is that Republican Party has a HUGE problem with its base right now. That some Republicans believe a man who won last year’s presidential contest by seven percentage points is not the legitimate president is a base problem much bigger than Cindy Sheehan anti-war protestors or black helicopter conspiracy theorists who flock to some Ron Paul events. Check out how flummoxed Castle looked. How many other Republican elected officials are dealing with questioners like this woman? Meanwhile, did Lou Dobbs really GO THERE? Seriously? This is getting absurd.
*** Mr. Unpopular : Here’s more evidence that simply BEING a governor is an unpopular job these days, per a new Quinnipiac poll : "Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's job approval rating has shrunk to its lowest level ever, 39 - 53 percent negative, and voters see him as most responsible for the state's budget mess.” What has Rendell done wrong other than be chief executive of a state running out of money. You can write this storyline about some 35 of the 50 governors. By the way, California struck a budget deal… FINALLY. It's ugly for all involved.
*** Sotomayor news : At 10:00 am ET, the Senate Judiciary Committee will gather to consider Sonia Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination, and some members will hold a stakeout afterward. It's expected that Republicans will move to delay a committee vote on her nomination until next week. That said, the full Senate vote is still on target before the chamber departs for its August recess. Meanwhile, has Sotomayor become a campaign wedge issue for some Republicans seeking re-election in 2010? If so, keep tabs on Richard Burr's vote. The normally down-the-line conservative from a swing state is undecided.
*** Elsewhere today : Vice President Biden
is in Ukraine and Georgia through Friday… Secretary of State Clinton is in Bangkok, where she meets with the Thai prime minister… Fed Chair Ben Bernanke testifies at 10:00 am ET before House Financial Services (Bernanke is getting more political grief from BOTH sides of Pennsylvania Ave, by the way) … TARP Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky testifies on his TARP report before House Oversight and Government Reform at 10:00 am… And Chu on this: Energy Secretary Steven Chu appears tonight on “The Daily Show,” and he also launches Facebook and YouTube to discuss energy and climate change.
*** Two steppin' with the Obamas : Finally, the White House will host a country music celebration tonight, with country acts like Brad Paisley, Alison Krauss, and Charley Pride.
Click here to sign up for First Read emails . Facebook and also on Twitter .
The New York Daily News : "President Obama opened fire at "political" opponents of health care reform Monday."
“As we proceed through this debate, it’s important for the public to know that Republican opposition is not substantive, it’s political,” a senior White House official said, per Roll Call . "There will be a 'big backlash against Republicans' if they are seen as willing to sink health reform 'to score political points,' the official said."
Video: President Obama has demanded Congress move quickly on passing his health care plan, while some Republicans seem to see the health care reform debate as an opportunity to score cheap political points. Rachel Maddow is joined by Gov. Ed Rendell, D-PA. The
Washington Post looks at the Republicans: "Lacking unity on an alternative agenda to Obama's health-care plans, Republicans have instead focused on a strategy of rallying public opposition and wooing the conservative Democrats in Congress, whose votes will ultimately determine the fate of any health-care bill. That plan depends in large part on Congress going on break before it votes on a bill. On Monday, though, Republicans made clear that they see an opportunity to derail the legislation now."
In his interview with PBS yesterday, Obama said he'd veto a bill that taxed health-care benefits. He mentioned John McCain's proposed health-care plan and his own attacks on it during the campaign. And there continued to be a "fierce urgency" in the president's voice: “I want this done now,” Obama said. “Now, if there are no deadlines, nothing gets done in this town.”
Video: TODAY’s Meredith Vieira talks to President Obama about his push for health care reform. Roll Call : "Obama will speak again about health care reform Tuesday afternoon, offering brief remarks at the White House. After his comments, he will meet with Democratic members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which began marking up reform legislation Monday."
Administration officials say reports from task forces ordered by President Obama on detainee and interrogation policy will be delayed, NBC’s Pete Williams reports. Both were due this week, under the terms of executive orders he signed on his first full day in office. Delays were authorized at that time if the task forces he appointed needed more time.
Officials say they will, indeed, need more time to make their recommendations to the president on long-term policies for detention and interrogation. But officials say the goal of closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay by next January remains on track.
Video: Rachel Maddow reports on the Guantanamo closure delay. The
AP adds, "The Obama administration on Monday pushed back its own deadline for devising new anti-terrorism policies. The decision had been expected, as presidentially appointed task forces have failed to meet a six-month schedule for making policy recommendations on how terror suspects should be interrogated, held in custody or handed over to other countries."
“Trust in President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies to identify the right solutions to problems facing the country has dropped off significantly since March, according to a new Public Strategies Inc./POLITICO poll . Just as Obama intensifies his efforts to fulfill a campaign promise and reach an agreement with Congress on health care reform, the number of Americans who say they trust the president has fallen from 66 percent to 54 percent. At the same time, the percentage of those who say they do not trust the president has jumped from 31 to 42.”
More: “But whatever the problems faced by Obama and his party, they still earn higher approval ratings than other Washington leaders or the Republican Party, according to the Public Trust Monitor poll. And the loss in trust in Democrats did not correspond with a gain for the GOP: Trust in Republicans fell from 40 percent in March to 36 percent in the recent survey.”
CONTINUED >>
Roll Call also says, according to its analysis, that the House plan actually costs $1.6 trillion, not $1 trillion. "[D]espite more than $800 billion in tax and fee hikes, it actually adds $239 billion to the deficit, according to the CBO. The $1 trillion figure Democrats want reporters to use leaves out major pieces of the bill — notably a $245 billion provision intended to prevent a scheduled cut to doctors’ pay under Medicare. Democrats have conveniently decided to exempt that provision from their pay-as-you-go budget rule."
Video: As President Barack Obama stepped up the rhetoric Monday urging the imminent passage of a health care bill, he and his critics squared off over the politics and price-tag of reform. NBC's Chuck Todd reports. The
AP : "Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee - the only one of three House panels weighing health overhaul legislation that has yet to pass it - were to meet with the president Tuesday afternoon, the White House announced. That follows a committee drafting session that lasted past midnight Monday as panel members slogged through numerous amendments, with majority Democrats turning back Republican attempts to change the bill. But Committee Chairman Henry Waxman's bigger difficulties were with his own party, particularly a bloc of fiscally conservative Democrats who oppose the legislation in its current form over costs and other issues."
But the likely place where a health bill could get done is in the Senate Finance Committee. Roll Call : "A closed-door meeting of bipartisan Senate Finance Committee negotiators broke up Monday night with lawmakers appearing increasingly optimistic that a deal was within reach, although no timetable was given for when a bill might be ready for markup. Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said after the meeting that the group of six Senators — three Democrats and three Republicans — have “tentatively” reached an agreement on four or five of the about 12 issues that need to be negotiated, although he declined to elaborate."
So North Carolina Republican Sen. Richard Burr is a "maybe" on confirming Sotomayor -- and he's up for re-election in 2010 in a swing state. Hmmmm
Video: According to Intrade.com, the odds of Judge Sonia Sotomayor being confirmed with a strong majority are 77.5 percent. From his spokesperson: "He will be able to make a more thorough assessment of her qualifications after meeting with her next week and asking specific, substantive questions to ensure that she is committed to upholding the Constitution and the rights and freedoms it protects," Ward said in a statement.
Politics Daily’s Jill Lawrence looks at some of the Republicans’ advantages -- as well as the Democrats’ disadvantages -- heading into the 2010 midterms.
CONNECTICUT : Chris Dodd
as Ted Kennedy
has been helpful to the Connecticut senator’s fundraising -- more so than if he were still just Banking Committee Chairman Dodd. "Dodd, the acting chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, has branched out his fundraising operation by tapping healthcare-related companies for more than $112,000 in the second quarter of 2009. The sum represents a good chunk of the more than $450,000 Dodd accumulated from PACs in the second quarter."
The Washington Post notes how Dodd is trying to distance himself from the same set of financial firms who have supported him for decades.
ILLINOIS : Roll Call says that without Mark Kirk in IL-10, it could be an uphill fight for Republicans to hold on to the seat. But both sides likely face primaries, and the Democrats are waiting to see what Dan Seals does. Seals lost in both 2006 and 2008 to Kirk. He would bring name ID, but Dems are worried about giving him a third shot.
MICHIGAN : "Businessman Rick Snyder is expected on Tuesday to jump into the race to become Michigan's next governor and join a crowded field of Republicans looking to take the state's top elected post next year," the AP reports. Snyder, an Ann Arbor venture capitalist and former president of computer maker Gateway Inc., has media events scheduled for Dearborn, Flint, Lansing and Grand Rapids. A relative newcomer to Michigan's political scene, the 50-year-old Snyder may have to mount an expensive campaign to promote his name and political platform. But being considered an outsider -- and stressing his successful business background -- could help him in a state that has had the nation's highest annual average unemployment rate since 2006."
NEW JERSEY : Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie made his pick for lieutenant governor -- Kim Guadagno, a county sheriff and former federal prosecutor. Christie made the announcement on YouTube, as well as Facebook and Twitter. Columnist Alan Steinberg called the Guadagno pick a “political masterstroke,” noting her conservative bona fides and political acumen, despite her pro-choice stance.
A Hill focus group found that Corzine's (as well as Chris Dodd's) TV ads fared poorly, as compared to competitors'.
NEW YORK : President Bill Clinton
hosted a fundraiser last night for New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who is challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for the senate seat vacated by now-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The even brought in about $300,000, per the
New York Post . But the event was overshadowed by a controversy involving Maloney having used the n-word. She apparently said it while relaying a story to a monthly newspaper. Maloney admitted to using the word and apologized yesterday. "I apologize for having repeated a word I find disgusting," Maloney said. She was quoted in the publication saying: "I got a call from someone from Puerto Rico, [who] said [Gillibrand] went to Puerto Rico and came out for English-only [education]. And he said, 'It was like saying n- - - -r to a Puerto Rican.'" Maloney's further explained: "It's no excuse, but I was so caught up in relaying the story exactly as it was told to me that, in doing so, I repeated a word that should never be repeated."
The New York Daily News puts the controversy on its cover. Over a photo of Maloney, the headline : "It's a sorry start."
From NBC’s Michelle Perry Kent Conrad (D-ND) says it's not up to the Congressional Budget Office to support the health-care reform proposals put forth by his fellow Democrats in Congress. Conrad defended the CBO's less-than-favorable assessment of the current proposals, telling Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC today, "We can all question CBO scoring. There are things I don't agree with....but at the end of the day we have got to have an objective scorekeeper."
Video: With only three weeks until the Senate breaks for August recess, will Congress be able to merge the five health care plans currently circling on the Hill into a bill the president will sign? Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., discusses. It was Conrad's question to CBO chief
Doug Elmendorf that started the latest round of opposition to Obama's health-care reform, when he appeared before the Budget Committee last week.
The exchange was as follows:
CONRAD: Everyone has said that bending cost curve over time is critically important and one of key goals of effort...from what you've seen...do you see a successful effort being mounted to bend long term cost curve?
ELMENDORF: No, Mr. chairman
CONRAD: So the cost curve in your judgment is being bent, but it is being bent the wrong way. Is that correct?
ELMENDORF: The way I would put it is that the curve is being raised, so there is a justifiable focus on growth rates because, of course, it is the compounding of growth rates faster than the economy that leads to these unsustainable paths.
When asked about the White House argument that Elmendorf wasn't taking into account preventative health measures such as wellness and technology, Conrad said, "It may be that the CBO isn't giving us the kind of scores we would like to see but at the end of the day, they're the ones we have to rely on to keep us on track."
And of the president's August deadline for putting out a proposal, Conrad, a member of the Finance Committee charged with getting it done said, "All the stars would have to be in alignment to get it done in the next three weeks, but what's critically important here is that we do bend the cost curve right and virtually every economist that has come before us has said reducing the tax subsidy for healthcare which is 2.4 trillion over the next ten years should be part of it."
From NBC’s Pete Williams
Sen. John Thune , the South Dakota Republican who proposed the measure, says the laws are effective.
"Since criminals are unable to tell who is and who is not carrying a firearm just by looking at a potential victim,” he said, “they are less likely to commit crimes when they fear that they may come in direct contact with an individual who is armed.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro In the New Jersey gubernatorial race, The Corzine (D)
campaign has taken to taunting Chris Christie (R) with a Web site it calls "
Christie Facts ."
Corzine supporters -- and inquiring reporters -- got a text message this afternoon touting the site with this message:
Just launched: http//ChristieFacts.com today. Please pass this on to friends. Keep Chris Christie honest about his right wing record as this race heats up.
*** UPDATE *** The Republican Governors Association responds: “A better use of his money would be to spend it apologizing to New Jerseyans for increasing their taxes by billions and letting unemployment skyrocket,” spokesman Mike Schrimpf said.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Betsy Cline Newt Gingrich
says the United States is "living on the edge of catastrophe" as it relates to national security. In a tone that appeared to belie the urgency of his message, Gingrich named a laundry list of threats to worry about: electromagnetic pulse attacks, biological weapons, cyber attacks (what he calls weapons of mass disruption), unprotected assets in outer space, and dangers unknown.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro and Michelle Perry President Obama continued to use the bully pulpit today to try and push health-care reform.
He urged that the time is now to pass health-care reform and said he knows that there is "a tendency toward inertia" in Washington.
As we've noted previously, the White House is butting up against the August rececss for both chambers to pass its own bills. It would be advantageous for the White House to get bills out before that recess, because there is a risk that moderate Democrats and Republicans -- who might have voted for reform -- go home, hear complaints from (their loudest) constituents and then rescind support.
VIDEO: Pushing for health care: July 20: With time running out before Congress takes recess, can President Barack Obama hold on to his self-imposed August deadline despite strong criticism from inside his own party? Nancy Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, discusses. (R-IA) told
NBC's Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports that there has been "steady" but "slow" progress in the Finance Committee on its bill. "There is progress being made," Grassley said.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Alex Beinstein Michael Steele and the RNC aren't the only ones hitting President Obama on health care today.
Video: The chairman of the Republican Party says Republicans will do "everything humanly possible to remind voters about the risky experimentation going on in Washington." In an
op-ed in Politico , Louisiana Gov.
Bobby Jindal writes, “I know a little something about health care policy, and I can tell you exactly the game that is currently afoot. If the House Democrats’ plan were to become law, the president’s statement that 'if you like your health care now, you can keep it' will not be true. This is not an opinion, this is a fact."
Jindal continues, "Businesses will, in effect, be forced to send employees into the Democrats’ government-run health care. It’s really not something to argue about, it is a fact. A private health insurance system, otherwise known as what we have today, will not be able to compete with a taxpayer-subsidized government plan, and businesses faced with growing health care costs will opt to either lay off more workers or send employees into the government plan. One independent study already suggested that up to 119 million Americans will end up leaving their private plans for the public plan. To think otherwise requires one to suspend disbelief.”
Minority Leader John Boehner also joins in on the criticism with an op-ed in Yahoo News . “Not only will the Democrats’ government-run health care plan raise your costs, but it also will raise costs for our nation’s employers – particularly small businesses. At the heart of their proposal is a small business tax that, for tens of millions, means diminished job security. The National Federation of Independent Businesses warns that the small business tax and mandates in the Democrats’ plan will destroy 1.6 million jobs – one million of them in small businesses alone."
From NBC's Matthew Samuels On Friday night, legendary CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite died after a long illness at the age of 92. In a world without the Internet and a 24-hour news cycle, Americans trusted Cronkite to provide the news every evening. A 1972 poll showed that Mr. Cronkite was more trusted than the president, the vice president, members of Congress, and other prominent journalists.
Video: According to President Barack Obama, “in an industry of icons,” former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite “set the standard by which all others have been be judged.” NBC’s Ron Allen reports. Over his long tenure as anchorman, Cronkite had a dramatic impact on politics due to his great popularity and description as "The most trusted name in America."
President Lyndon B. Johnson reportedly said, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost America," In the most challenging moments of Cronkite’s career he announced to the country on live television that
President Kennedy had been shot and killed in Dallas on November 22, 1963.
Since his passing, a number of high-ranking politicians, including
President Obama , released statements praising Cronkite and his incredible career. A sample of them, per the
AP :
Obama: "His rich baritone reached millions of living rooms every night, and in an industry of icons, Walter set the standard by which all others have been judged. But Walter was always more than just an anchor. He was family. He invited us to believe in him, and he never let us down."
Secretary of State Clinton : "It's a great time to look back and think about someone who played such a major role in explaining what was going on and did it in a calm, fact-based way without embellishments that too often get in the way of really understanding what's going on."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray President Obama has discussed health care nearly every day since last Monday, when he announced his pick for surgeon general. Today, he'll talk about health care at 1:05 pm ET. He'll do so again during his primetime news conference on Wednesday. And ditto during his trip to Cleveland, OH on Thursday.
But Republicans also are ramping up their activity on health care. Earlier this morning, RNC Chairman Michael Steele gave a speech in which he assailed the president's efforts to reform the health system. "He’s conducting a dangerous experiment with our health care," Steele said. "The president is rushing this experiment through Congress so fast, so soon, that we haven’t had a moment to think if it would work -- or worse, to think about the consequences to our nation, our economy and our families’ economic future if it doesn’t.
Steele added, "The Barack Obama experiment with America is a risk our country cannot afford. It’s too much, too fast, too soon."
The RNC is making that same argument in a scary-looking TV ad, which will run in Arkansas (home to moderate Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor ), North Dakota (moderate Sen. Kent Conrad), and Nevada (liberal Sen. Harry Reid , who's up for re-election next year).
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg Six months in : Six months ago today, Barack Obama was sworn in as the nation’s 44th president. But it seems much longer ago than that, doesn’t it? Since that cold day in January, so much has happened: the legislative fight over the stimulus, the rescue from those Somali pirates, the budget battle, the president’s first European trip, the Obama vs. Cheney duel over national security, the Sotomayor nomination, the Cairo speech, the aftermath of the Iranian election, the Russia-Italy-Ghana trip, and the current fight over health care. In his article in the Sunday New York Times Magazine , Matt Bai likened Obama to an iPod shuffle. "Obama is the nation’s first shuffle president. He’s telling lots of stories at once, and in no particular order. His agenda is fully downloadable. If what you care most about is health care, then you can jump right to that. If global warming gets you going, then click over there.” But there's a danger to this, Bai adds. "Random play may popularize your music in the aggregate, but it doesn’t foster the same kind of investment in the songs themselves. U2 may have more fans than ever, but that doesn’t mean these listeners can name half the tracks on the band’s latest release."
Video: The New York Times Magazine's Matt Bai talks about the Obama administration's wide range of objectives and whether the president is trying to do too much too soon ***
Still personally popular, but less so on the issues : Six months in and one piece of conventional wisdom appears to be holding: Obama is personally more popular than his proposals. According to a new
Washington Post/ABC poll , the president’s overall approval rating stands at a still-strong 59%. But his ratings on the issues have declined: 49% approve of handling of health care (down eight points since April), 43% approve of his handling of the deficit, and 52% approve of his handling of the economy.
Video: Morning Meeting’s Dylan Ratigan and a panel, which includes NBC’s Chuck Todd, debate whether the country is increasingly becoming unhappy with the president. ***
All Obama, all the time : On the first day of his seventh month in office, the
Washington Post also front-pages that Obama is launching an all-out media blitz on health care. “With skepticism about the president's health-care reform effort mounting on Capitol Hill -- even within his own party -- the White House has launched a new phase of its strategy designed to dramatically increase public pressure on Congress: all Obama, all the time." More: “‘Our strategy has been to allow this process to advance to the point where it made sense for the president to take the baton. Now's that time,’ said senior adviser David Axelrod. ‘I don't know whether he will Twitter or tweet. But he's going to be very, very visible.’” Indeed. Today, from the Children’s National Medical Center in DC, Obama will once again deliver remarks on health care. On Wednesday, he’s holding a primetime news conference. And the following day, he heads to Cleveland, OH.
*** One small step for reform, one giant leap for conventional wisdom : Obama's hopes for getting a health-care bill through the Senate lie in the hands of one man: Montana Sen. Max Baucus (D). At some point this week (maybe today), his Senate Finance Committee is going to be releasing more details of his proposal. Can he become the Obama administration’s savior? Will it be one small step for health-care reform legislation getting passed by the August recess? Whatever he announces, it will be one giant leap for health care conventional wisdom. (If you didn’t get our reference to Neil Armstrong’s famous words, today is the 40th anniversary of man’s landing on the moon, and Obama today meets with Apollo 11 crew and NASA Administrator Bolden at 2:00 pm ET.)
*** The Great American Health Care Fight : The other moving parts on health care: In their interviews on the Sunday shows, administration officials (HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and OMB Director Peter Orszag) were no longer demanding that Congress pass their bills before the August recess… Per the Wall Street Journal , Democratic congressional members representing some of the nation’s more affluent areas are expressing concerns about the House health-care bill that would tax high-income earners… Governors are concerned about the bills moving through Congress… Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R), per the Washington Post , is stepping back into the national spotlight by writing op-ed and appearing on cable TV to talk about health care (Jindal once served as Louisiana’s top health official)… And RNC Chairman Michael Steele will criticize Obama’s health-care proposals in a speech at the National Press Club at 9:00 am ET.
Video: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius responds to critics of the proposed health care bills with NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press.” ***
Where’s the cover? Speaking of Sebelius, she wasn't full of answers in her appearance on “Meet the Press.” The fact that she can't definitively talk about which bill the president likes and doesn't makes it that much harder -- right now -- for congressional Democratic leaders to twist arms to get this done. These folks need some public guidance (and cover) if they are going to support, say, a surtax on millionaires. No wonder the White House is signaling that the president is going to try and wrestle even more control of the debate. But he was fully engaged last week and that didn't help. This week, he's doing more TV interviews and the prime time press conference. Will it be enough?
*** Burying bad news : The news, per the AP , that the administration is delaying its budget mid-year review is a signal it’s scared about what the new numbers will show -- making support for new initiatives from Blue Dog Democrats in the House and conservative Dems in the Senate that much more difficult. This is the BIGGEST piece of news no one is paying attention to. Clearly, the White House is trying to bury this news as best they can, in August, post-recess. Speaking of August, the White House set it as the deadline to get those health bills through Congress. It's artificial, but it's a big test politically. Perhaps Obama can withstand letting the August goal slide, but not getting a bill at all this year would be a huge defeat. Then again, it does seem as if, whether they meant to or not, that the expectations game is now in Obama's favor. The debate is about the process more than it is about the separate proposals.
*** I’m sorry, so sorry, please accept my apology :
Yesterday, embattled South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R) penned an extraordinary op-ed in the Columbia State newspaper apologizing for his affair and its aftermath. “It is true that I did wrong and failed at the largest of levels, but equally true is the fact that God can make good of our respective wrongs in life,” he wrote. “In this vein, while none of us has the chance to attend our own funeral, in many ways I feel like I was at my own in the past weeks, and surprisingly I am thankful for the perspective it has afforded.” More: “It’s in the spirit of making good from bad that I am committing to you and the larger family of South Carolinians to use this experience both to trust God in his larger work of changing me and, from my end, to work to becoming a better and more effective leader.”
http://www.thestate.com/editorial-columns/story/869645.html
Countdown to Palin Stepping Down: 6 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails . Facebook and also on Twitter .
The new Washington Post/ABC poll has Obama’s overall approval rating at 59%, but it also shows that views on his handling of key issues has dropped. “Since April, approval of Obama's handling of health care has dropped from 57 percent to 49 percent, with disapproval rising from 29 percent to 44 percent. Obama still maintains a large advantage over congressional Republicans in terms of public trust on the issue, even as the GOP has closed the gap… Obama's approval rating on his handling of the deficit is down to 43 percent, as independents now tilt toward disapproval (42 percent approve; 48 percent disapprove)… Approval of Obama's handling of the overall economy stands at 52 percent, with 46 percent disapproving, and, for the first time in his presidency, more Americans strongly disapprove of his performance on the economy than strongly approve.”
Video: Paul Gigot, John Harwood, Michele Norris and Richard Wolffe discuss the impact of health care overhaul with NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press.” The
New York Daily News' DeFrank on Obama's first six months: “For Barack Obama, the honeymoon endures. Nirvana is over. Six months later into his historic presidency, Obama retains the benefit of the doubt with most Americans. They like his personal style and assign him Reaganesque leadership ratings… For the first time, however, doubts are growing that Obama's trillion-dollar stimulus is too glacial and may not be robust enough to cure the sick economy. Some jittery Democrats, moreover, whisper that his legislative agenda - particularly an energy bill and the health care reform package - may be too ambitious for the end-of-the-year deadline Obama has imposed."
The Hill's Youngman reflects on Biden's remark that Obama would be tested on foreign policy early on: "Sure enough, the challenges Obama has faced have run the gamut. And unlike Kennedy -- whose presidency stumbled four months after he was sworn-in with the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion -- Obama has enjoyed more foreign policy successes than failures during his early days in office."
A new health-care concern for the administration -- the governors. As the New York Times writes, "The nation’s governors, Democrats as well as Republicans, voiced deep concern Sunday about the shape of the health care plan emerging from Congress, fearing that Washington was about to hand them expensive new Medicaid obligations without money to pay for them... 'I think the governors would all agree that what we don’t want from the federal government is unfunded mandates,” said Gov. Jim Douglas of Vermont, a Republican, the group’s incoming chairman. 'We can’t have the Congress impose requirements that we are forced to absorb beyond our capacity to do so.'"
CONTINUED >>
"If President Obama’s analogy holds true that reforming healthcare is a long race, this week might just be Heartbreak Hill," The Hill notes. "Beginning on Monday, Obama will find out if Congressional Democrats have the wherewithal to push ahead with their -- and his -- ambitious goal of crossing the healthcare finish line before August, or whether they have to stop and stretch before limping across at a later date. It’ll be close."
Video: NBC's Savannah Guthrie speaks with Morning Joe's Mika Brzeznski about the urgency of passing health care reform and whether the Obama administration can meet its deadline without rushing its plan. The need for 60: "The rules governing reconciliation are so complex and restrictive that the Senate Democratic leaders’ backup reconciliation plan could become mired in the same 60-vote problem they currently face as liberals, centrists and a handful of Republicans battle it out over the direction of a final Senate bill,"
Roll Call notes.
And on timing, is the White House
softening its August timeline after last week's CBO report that costs would bend upward?
The Wall Street Journal writes that Democratic congressional members representing some of the nation’s more affluent areas are expressing concerns about the House health-care bill that would tax high-income earners.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Pat Leahy
accused Republicans opposed to Sotomayor of playing racial politics. “You had one leader of the Republican Party call her the equivalent of the head of the Ku Klux Klan. Another leader of the Republican Party called her a bigot. To Sen. McConnell’s credit, he has not used those things, but the leadership of the Republican Party came out against her long before we ever had the hearing, long before they had a chance to look at her record,” Leahy said. “I think that’s unfair... We’ve got to stop the racial politics."
Video: Former Assistant Counsel to President Clinton, Cliff Sloan, and former Senator John Danforth discuss whether Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination is proof that affirmative action works or that it unfairly discriminates against white men. "Sen. Bob Bennett (Utah) announced Friday that he
would vote against Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, becoming the first Republican to oppose her ascension to the high court who supported her nomination to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals just over a decade ago," Roll Call says.
Gov. Mark Sanford apologizes again -- this time in an op-ed in The State . "It is true that I did wrong and failed at the largest of levels, but equally true is the fact that God can make good of our respective wrongs in life. In this vein, while none of us has the chance to attend our own funeral, in many ways I feel like I was at my own in the past weeks, and surprisingly I am thankful for the perspective it has afforded."
Video: A Morning Meeting panel talks about South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford’s decision to apologize again for his extramarital affair in an op-ed piece featured in The State newspaper. The
AP previews Michael Steele's speech today at the National Press Club. Steele "is accusing President Barack Obama of conducting 'risky experimentation' with his health care proposals, saying they will hurt the economy and force millions to drop their current coverage." In "remarks prepared for delivery at the National Press Club, also said the president, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and key congressional committee chairmen are part of a 'cabal' that wants to implement government-run health care."
Palin's Tour of Alaska, per the
AP :
"She was greeted like a rock star in Unalakleet, a fishing village on the Bering Sea. She danced with Eskimos in Kotzebue. And she watched grizzlies at a wildlife sanctuary on the Kenai Peninsula. In all, Sarah Palin has been on eight trips outside her Anchorage base since announcing her resignation two weeks ago. Is this a farewell tour, the start of a possible presidential campaign for 2012? Palin insists it isn't, although she still won't say what plans she has after she steps down as Alaska governor on July 26, with 18 months left to her first term."
Video: A Capitol Hill townhouse serving as a dormitory and meeting place for conservative Christian lawmakers has been linked to a third extramarital affair. The Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson discusses. Roll Call takes a look at the now-infamous C Street Fellowship/Family house: "Supporters of the house assert that despite the unfavorable publicity, C Street remains a refuge for lawmakers of both parties and numerous Christian denominations. House rules include no smoking or drinking, and male-only residents fraternize in common areas bedecked with crosses and a stained-glass window. They share communal bathrooms in a setting similar to a college dormitory and are expected to live a 'Christian life.'"
Stu Rothenberg, writing in Roll Call , looks at whether or not Democrats can again benefit by running against Bush in 2010.
"Democrats ran against Herbert Hoover for decades. Republicans ran against Jimmy Carter for years. Can Democrats make 2010 another referendum on George W. Bush, or at least use the unpopular former president to demonize Republicans in competitive races? ... While Democratic consultants are likely digging up photographs of Republican candidates with Bush in an effort to energize Democrats and boost fundraising, the often-used technique — a form of transference — isn’t likely to be nearly as effective in demonizing GOP candidates as it was when Bush occupied the White House. Voters won’t have forgotten Bush in another 15 months, but he won’t be on their minds, either."
NEVADA : Not surprisingly, John Ensign's political standing has gotten even worse . NEW JERSEY : The president of one of New Jersey’s largest Latino organization has “stunned many of his allies with public declarations of praise for Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie.” Martin Perez, the president of the Latin Leadership Alliance of New Jersey (LLANJ), a traditional political ally of New Jersey Democrats, “has sent clear signals that he personally favors Christie, largely because” he supports school vouchers. his support for the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday.
CONTINUED >>
The Week Ahead: NBC's Pete Williams takes your questions, talks Sotomayor; the end of Obama's sixth month; another health-care plan; Sotomayor's confirmation gets closer; and a country music performance... by us!
For our mailbox, submit your questions for next week in the comments section below. We might pick yours.
From NBC's Athena Jones
Obama administration on Twitter, here's the message you would have gotten from the White House tweeter, dubbed quite simply "Tweetie", last hour:
whitehouse: You heard it here first: Primetime presidential news conference at the White House, Wed. 7/22 @ 9PM EDT
It's just the latest sign of an administration primed and ready to take advantage of every opportunity to connect with the public -- and to circumvent traditional media.
Obama was a different kind of candidate -- not just because he was young and not just because he was a biracial Hawaiian, who spent part of his youth in Indonesia, admitted to using drugs in his youth and could toss a Jay-Z reference ("brush ya shoulders off") into a campaign speech with ease.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Athena Jones
The president ended the week much as he began it, this time pairing a not-so-gentle nudge to Congress to get a health care overhaul bill to the floor quickly with praise for what he termed the "unprecedented progress" lawmakers had already made.Obama said that the last several weeks had seen "a level of consensus on health-care reform that we have never seen in this country," listing the agreements reached with hospitals, health care providers and pharmaceutical companies to cut costs over the next decade and highlighting the fact that the American Nurses' Association and the American Medical Association support the health care revamp.
Video: President Barack Obama made a hastily scheduled appearance Friday to offset the message coming from the Congressional Budget Office that the Democratic health care reform plan would actually cost money instead of saving it. NBC's Kelly O'Donnell reports. Still, he acknowledged that reaching a consensus on how to pay for a massive restructuring of a system that represents 17% of the economy was going to be difficult, while repeating his commitment that it be paid for in a way that would be deficit neutral.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland Joe Lieberman , Ben Nelson , Ron Wyden , Susan Collins , Mary Landrieu , and Olympia Snowe .
"We support the efforts of Finance Committee members to produce a bipartisan bill, despite calls on both sides of the aisle to rush forward or delay indefinitely," they wrote to Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell .
"While we are committed to providing relief for American families as quickly as possible, we believe that taking additional time to achieve a bipartisan result is critical for legislation that affects 17% of our economy and every individual in the U.S."
Video: Newsmaker: Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., explains why the Senate Finance Committee is key to moving President Barack Obama’s health care plans along. One of the letter's authors -- Snowe -- took her request directly to
President Obama in a White House meeting yesterday. She met resistance.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation: Florida Sen. Mel Martinez .
Martinez, who isn't running for re-election in 2010 and who is the sole minority GOPer in the Senate, becomes the second Republican to say he'll vote for her, joining Indiana Sen.
Dick Lugar .
Here's Martinez's statement:
"Given her judicial record, and her testimony this week, it is my determination that Judge Sotomayor is well-qualified to serve as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
"Judge Sotomayor is knowledgeable of the law, would be a fair and impartial judge, and seems to have a good understanding of the limited role the judiciary plays in our democracy.
"Judge Sotomayor's rise to the Supreme Court is testimony to the fact that the American dream continues to be attainable. As an Hispanic American, I take great pride in Judge Sotomayor's historic achievement. Given her qualifications and testimony this week, I intend to vote in favor of her confirmation."
*** UPDATE *** Olympia Snowe . "I was impressed with Judge Sotomayor's comportment and obvious mastery of the law during this week's nomination hearings. Her presentation reinforced what I learned about her during our meeting in June at which we discussed her judicial philosophy and view of constitutional interpretation - how she methodically approaches each case, the factors she considers in applying law to fact, and how she addresses challenges to legal precedent," she said. "Barring any unforeseen developments, I expect to join the majority of my Senate colleagues in confirming Judge Sotomayor to a seat on the highest Court in the land before the August recess."
From NBC's Mark Murray Sarah Palin's upcoming resignation as Alaska governor to Kelly Ayotte giving up her position as New Hampshire attorney general to explore a Senate bid.
It also ties Palin's resignation to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist's decision to run for the Senate.
But there's one BIG difference between Ayotte/Crist and Palin: Ayotte and Crist are officially (or close to it) running for a different office. We don't know yet if Palin will run for president.
The Web ad, however, is clearly another sign that Democrats are going to try to link Palin to other Republican politicians.
*** UPDATE *** Barack Obama once pledged to serve his full six-year term in the Senate. The Chicago Sun-Times: "Ridiculing it as 'a silly question,' Democrat Barack Obama pledged Wednesday he would resist any overtures to run for president or vice president before the end of his six-year term as a U.S. senator. 'I was elected yesterday,' Obama said. 'I have never set foot in the U.S. Senate. I've never worked in Washington. And the notion that somehow I'm immediately going to start running for higher office just doesn't make sense. "So look, I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years, and my entire focus is making sure that I'm the best possible senator on behalf of the people of Illinois.'"
From NBC's Mark Murray and James Rankin Dick Lugar appears to have become the first Republican to officially say he'll be voting for Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Lugar doesn't sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, so his vote won't come until the nomination reaches the full Senate.
There are other Republicans who may end up voting for Sotomayor -- including Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe ; Florida Sen. Mel Martinez ; and perhaps South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham . But they haven't officially said so yet.
Video: Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Democratic Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, expresses his confidence that the majority of senators will vote for Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation and that she will be sitting with the Supreme Court when they reconvene in September. "I have listened to the testimony of Judge Sonia Sotomayor before the Senate Judiciary Committee, carefully reviewed her public service record, and reviewed recommendations from Indiana constituents and colleagues here in the Senate," Lugar said in a statement.
"Judge Sotomayor is clearly qualified to serve on the Supreme Court and she has demonstrated a judicial temperament during her week-long nomination hearing. Judge Sotomayor has had a distinguished career of public service. She is well regarded in the legal community and by her peers. I will vote to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to serve as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States."
From NBC's Mark Murray Larry Summers'
speech on the economy today. According to the excepts, he will say that the economy has made progress since the days when it looked like it was on the "brink of catastrophe."
Summers, per the excerpts, will also discuss what the administration hopes the economy will look like once it recovers. "The rebuilt American economy must be more export-oriented and less consumption-oriented, more environmentally oriented and less fossil-energy-oriented, more bio- and software-engineering-oriented and less financial-engineering-oriented, more middle-class-oriented and less oriented to income growth that disproportionately favors a very small share of the population."
From Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg Changing nothing: In the Sotomayor hearings, there were four days of statements and questioning, several witnesses, wall-to-wall coverage, and it changed … absolutely nothing. Truth is, there hasn't been a real Supreme Court fight since Clarence Thomas (in '91) and Robert Bork (in '87). Folks, that's 18 to 22 years ago, and since Thomas we've seen four justices confirmed quite easily -- Ginsburg, Breyer, Roberts, Alito -- and Sotomayor is about to make it five. Per the Washington Post , Republicans don’t intend to filibuster Sotomayor. The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to consider her nomination on Tuesday, but the committee vote will likely take place the following week, clearing the way for a full Senate vote by Aug. 7. After Bork and Thomas, there's been an easy formula to acing your hearings: smile, be courteous and, most important, make no news. Indeed, it's unlikely we'll see a true SCOTUS fight again, unless the nominee breaks those rules or represents truly changing the ideological composition of the court (e.g., President Obama getting to appoint Anthony Kennedy’s replacement).
Video: Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings wrapped up Thursday with more questions about her past speeches, but Republicans acknowledged they won't filibuster the confirmation vote. NBC's Pete Williams reports. ***
Slow ride, take it easy: Yesterday, here was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on health care: “We need to slow down and let the American people see what they’d be getting into with these so-called reforms. We all want reform. But we want the right reform.” And Olympia Snowe said this to Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC: “This is a mighty endeavor… So I think it’s more important to get it right, and a thoughtful process will engender greater support.” Coincidence? Well, GOP message guru Alex Castellanos sent a memo to Republicans last week that contained this message advice: “Slow down, Mr. President. We can’t afford to get health care wrong. President Obama is experimenting with America too much, too soon, and too fast.” But it’s not only Republicans who want to slow things down. After meeting yesterday with Obama, Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson released a statement saying he suggested to the president that “we not impose an arbitrary deadline to get something done.”
*** Dem vs. Dem? Nelson, of course, is one of a handful of Democratic senators who is seeing the DNC run TV ads on health care in his backyard. Yesterday, responding to those ads, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters, "It's a waste of money to have Democrats running ads against Democrats." But his office later clarified his remarks. "Sen. Reid was led to believe by the question posed to him that the DNC was attacking members of his caucus. In fact, the DNC is running non-specific call to action ads in states with both Democratic and Republican senators, an effort he has no problem with." Even though he doesn’t have a problem with the ads, they’re pretty remarkable. We don’t remember the RNC running TV ads in states represented by GOP senators during the Social Security and immigration fights. Then again, those initiatives didn’t make it through Congress…
Video: NBC's David Gregory joins Morning Joe to talk about the trillion dollar 'massive overhaul' that is Obama's health care plan, and whether it will save America money in the long run. ***
The Great American Health Care Fight: Here are other developments from yesterday: The Congressional Budget Office cast doubts whether the House Democratic and Senate HELP bills would end up lowering health-care costs… The American Medical Association says it backs the House Democratic bill… The House Ways and Means Committee
passed that bill by a 23-18 vote late last night… And the Senate Finance Committee seems set to produce its bill next week.
*** Biography is destiny: Since becoming president, Obama has sometimes talked about his biography with powerful effect. He referred to it in Turkey when stressing the need for minority rights there (“I say this as the president of a country that not too long ago made it hard for someone who looks like me to vote”). He mentioned it in Ghana (“I have the blood of Africa within me, and my family's own story encompasses both the tragedies and triumphs of the larger African story”). And he talked about it last night in his speech to the NAACP -- his first as president to a mostly African-American audience. “I know what can happen to a child who doesn't have that chance. But I also know what can happen to a child who does,” he said. “I was raised by a single mother. I don't come from a lot of wealth. I got into my share of trouble as a kid. My life could easily have taken a turn for the worse. But that mother of mine gave me love; she pushed me, and cared about my education; she took no lip and taught me right from wrong. Because of her, I had a chance to make the most of my abilities. I had the chance to make the most of my opportunities. I had the chance to make the most of life.”
*** Potential backlash at Wall Street? First there was Goldman Sachs' huge quarterly profit. Now this, per the New York Times : “Bank of America, one of the nation’s largest and most troubled banks, announced on Friday a $3.2 billion second-quarter profit, a figure that exceeded analyst expectations.” Argues Paul Krugman about Goldman Sach’s profits: “The bottom line is that Goldman’s blowout quarter is good news for Goldman and the people who work there. It’s good news for financial superstars in general, whose paychecks are rapidly climbing back to precrisis levels. But it’s bad news for almost everyone else."
*** Summers day: Obama today has no public events. The administration official in the spotlight today is chief White House economic adviser Larry Summers, who speaks about the economy at 11:00 am ET in DC.
*** End of card check? The New York Times front-pages that Democrats have shelved organized labor’s key wish -- a law recognizing unions if a majority of workers sign cards saying they want one -- and instead are pushing for shorter unionization campaigns and other labor law reforms. “While disappointed with the failure of card check, union leaders argued this would still be an important victory because it would give companies less time to press workers to vote against unionizing. Some business leaders hailed the dropping of card check, while others called the move a partial triumph because the bill still contained provisions they oppose.”
Countdown to Palin Stepping Down: 9 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails. Facebook and also on Twitter .
We won't see a health-care bill from the Senate Finance Committee this week, but Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, chair of the committee and a key to the process, says: “We’re ready when we’re ready but we’re not going to be ready today,” Baucus told reporters. “We’re very close to reaching agreement. By close, I mean it’s a matter of couple, three or four days, maybe.”
More Baucus, per Roll Call : “I have the deepest respect for the president. I also want to make sure the product we come up with is good, is solid, is thought through,” he told reporters. “In addition, I fully believe it must be bipartisan. It must be bipartisan to get 60 votes.”
Video: President Obama is ramping up his campaign to get a health care reform bill done, making a fiery speech at a fundraiser in New Jersey. TODAY’s Natalie Morales talks to NBC’s Savannah Guthrie about the president’s agenda. The
New York Times writes that the Congressional Budget Office’s Douglas Elmendorf “told Congress that the health legislation proposed so far would not curb the federal government’s runaway spending on medical care and that lawmakers would need to take more forceful action to meet Mr. Obama’s goal of controlling costs. The testimony by Mr. Elmendorf before the Senate Budget Committee drew criticism from Democratic leaders, highlighting their rising frustration over the difficulty of paying for an overhaul. Asked about the testimony by Mr. Elmendorf, a highly regarded economist, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, snapped derisively, ‘Maybe what he should do is run for Congress.’”
And you know it's not a good sign for Jack Murtha (and congressional Dems who could be linked) when Roll Call creates a section called "The Money Trail" and its graphic is a drawing of Murtha.
"The two sides of Sonia Sotomayor -- a privately warm, smiling everywoman who likes baseball and eating out, and the serious, well-studied and steely jurist -- both held up under three days of questions from 19 senators," the AP writes. "President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee displayed both traits in charming some senators, disarming others and, most of all, not committing a single gaffe in a sure-footed performance this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Even critics conceded her confirmation in the next three weeks is assured."
Video: MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell recaps the confirmation hearings for Judge Sotomayor. The
Washington Post says “Sotomayor won virtual assurance of rapid confirmation yesterday when Senate Republicans announced that they do not intend to block a vote that would make her the first Hispanic on the nation's highest court, concluding three days of intense questioning.” More: The [Judiciary] committee has scheduled a Tuesday meeting to begin considering the nomination, with a formal vote likely the following week because Republicans expect to ask for extra time to review answers to written follow-up questions they will submit to her today. The committee's vote serves as a recommendation for the rest of the Senate, which is likely to hold its final roll call on Sotomayor by Aug. 7.”
In National Journal, Kirk Victor gets opinions on what would constitute a “win” after the hearings. Says GOP strategist Scott Reed: “If she gets confirmed with 65 votes, that’s a loss for Obama. If he couldn’t pick off half the Republicans, he loses. He came in to change the way Washington works and to be bipartisan.” Yet analyst Larry Sabato says Republicans can’t win here. “That’s why they are very lucky this is happening in the summer and that it is going to be over quickly.”
CONTINUED >>
Politico's Mike Allen reports that the American Conservative Union tried to sell its support to FedEx for $2 million. But after FedEx refused to pay, the group flipped its support to UPS. Allen says "The conservative group’s remarkable demand" is "black-and-white proof of the longtime Washington practice known as 'pay for play.’”
More: “For the $2 million+, ACU offered a range of services that included: ‘Producing op-eds and articles written by ACU’s Chairman David Keene and / or other members of the ACU’s board of directors. (Note that Mr. Keene writes a weekly column that appears in The Hill.)’”
The New York Post: "Obama took center stage last night at the NAACP convention in Midtown and urged parents to encourage dreams in their children beyond being a basketball player or rap star. 'Our kids can't all aspire to be LeBron or Lil Wayne. I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be the president of the United States of America.’” (After addressing the NAACP, the president met with New York firefighters. Here's a photo .)
The Washington Post : “In his return to the association that helped pave the way for him to become the first African American president, Obama spoke directly to the concerns that have plagued the NAACP as it grapples with relevancy in an age that has been described as post-racial. ‘We know that even as our economic crisis batters Americans of all races, African Americans are out of work more than just about anyone else," the president said. "We know that even as spiraling health-care costs crush families of all races, African Americans are more likely to suffer from a host of diseases but less likely to own health insurance than just about anyone else.’”
Video: In a speech at the NAACP convention, President Barack Obama spoke about the need for education, and that discrimination is still a problem in America. Politics Daily’s Jill Lawrence looks at Organizing for America’s increased activity in the health-care fight. “[F]or a while, the fabled grassroots troops that powered Obama to the White House appeared to be AWOL. It seemed that the "movement" and its massive 13 million name e-mail list had been lost in transition. Well, they're back, and the next three crucial weeks should give us some indication of whether Team Obama has successfully transformed an election campaign operation into an issue advocacy shop.”
CONTINUED >>
CongressDaily’s McPike notes all the Republicans running for rematches in 2010.
"The shape of the 2010 battleground remains largely in flux 17 months away from Election Day, but House Democrats continued to reap the benefits of their majority status by posting strong second-quarter fundraising numbers this week," Roll Call writes. "In 40 targeted districts featuring incumbents, newly-filed fundraising reports showed that 10 of 30 Democrats had raised $300,000 or more, and three more incumbents falling just short of that mark."
Video: For the first time since taking office, President Obama hit the campaign trail for Gov. John Corzine in New Jersey, while Vice President Biden did the same in Virginia for their Democratic nominee, Creigh Deeds. Are Obama and Biden fighting for their party or really just campaigning for themselves on the economy and health care? Politico’s Jonathan Martin and NBC’s Chuck Todd debate. DELAWARE: Rep. Mike Castle, who voted for the Democrats' energy bill, says he wasn't whipped by GOP House leadership; Republicans dispute that.
The Hill sees it as the "latest indication that Castle, who is mulling a Senate bid, is unlikely to run for a 10th term in the lower chamber."
NEW JERSEY: President Obama made his
first appearance on the campaign trail since he won the presidency. Stumping with Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine yesterday, Obama said, “I want you to know I’m proud to stand with a man who wakes up every day thinking of your future and the future of Jersey.” Corzine, trying to link his own beleaguered campaign to Obama’s presidency, noted, “Now, with a partner in the White House, there is no limit to what we can accomplish.” But Monmouth University polling director Patrick Murray said Obama’s appearance “would have no effect on [Jerseyans’] vote.” Some, in fact, came only to hear Obama. Chris Monroe of Roselle said, “This is a good gimmick to get us to listen to Corzine.” Some voters, like Sarah Tofighbakash, see Corzine as the lesser of two evils. “I’m iffy on Corzine, but I find Christie pretty repulsive,” she said.
A new video from Republican candidate Chris Christie’s campaign, “I voted for Obama,” “highlights New Jerseyans from around the state who supported President Obama in 2008 and who will be voting for Chris Christie for Governor in 2009.”
VIRGINIA: Vice President Joe Biden made a stop at a private home in support of gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds last night. “The visit to Virginia signals a commitment by both the White House and Deeds campaign to weave their fortunes together, with Deeds banking on the mellowing but still strong popularity of Barack Obama.”
From NBC's Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro Max Baucus
called the White House today and apologized for saying that the president's opposition to taxing health-care benefits "is not helping us" get a bipartisan health reform bill, according to senior Obama aides.by NBC's Ken Strickland . "He does not want the exclusion. That's making it difficult." President Obama spent millions on campaign ads attacking John McCain for proposing just that. But Baucus apologized for his tone.
From NBC's James Rankin and Alex Beinstein Later today, Vice President Biden will be promoting the economic stimulus in House Minority Whip Eric Cantor's congressional district in Richmond, VA.Washington Post , he's expected to take direct aim at the stimulus' critics. "I ask those critics... Would they not help the states prevent lay off thousands of teachers, firefighters, cops? Would they not give a tax cut to 95% of the American people? Would they sit back and do nothing as our economy collapsed?"
Video: Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter discusses President Barack Obama’s response to Republicans who continually criticize his stimulus plan. But in a conference call with reporters earlier this afternoon, Cantor sounded off on Biden’s visit to his congressional district, painting a very different picture of the stimulus package.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray
Maves concludes, "The AMA looks forward to further constructive dialogue during the committee mark-up process. We pledge to work with the House committees and leadership to build support for passage of health reform legislation to expand access to high quality, affordable health care for all Americans."
Below is the full letter....
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Athena Jones
Olympia Snowe , a member of the Senate Finance Committee, says Congress should not be held to an "artificially compressed timeline" on a bill to revamp the health-care system, which she called a "Herculean challenge" because it makes up 17% of the economy.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Libby Leist
Hillary Clinton responding to reports that she has been been sidelined by the White House, she said that she still has a voice. *** MORE ***
Clinton said she is "very honored and confident" about her working relationship with the White House and with President Obama .
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland Max Baucus said President Obama is making his job harder to find money to pay for a massive health-care reform bill with the president's opposition to taxing employer-provided health-care benefits -- also called the employer "exclusion."
"The president is not helping us. He does not want the exclusion. That's making it difficult," Baucus said after a closed bipartisan meeting on health care. Last month, the Congressional Budget Office told the committee implementation the exclusion would generate more than $300 billion over 10 years.
Video: Some Senate Democrats want to move ahead with health care with or without Republican support, but President Barack Obama is trying to convince Congress bipartisanship is needed. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, discusses. The benefit tax fell out of favor after some Senate Democrats, included Majority Leader
Harry Reid , objected to it as a potential tax on the middle tax. Obama also was a staunch opponent of it during his campaign, and
criticized John McCain for wanting to tax health benefits "for the first time ever."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Luke Russert
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said the Democratic health-reform bill would be on the House floor "not next week but the week after.”President Obama 's deadline to pass the bill.
"I am confident the president will be able to sign legislation in the fall," she said.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland and Mark Murray Harry Reid
strongly criticized the Democratic National Committee for running health-care TV ads in states with Democratic senators. Blanche Lincoln , Mark Pryor ), Florida (Bill Nelson ), Indiana (Evan Bayh ), Nebraska (Ben Nelson ), Louisiana (Mary Landrieu ), and North Dakota (Kent Conrad ) -- with this message: "It's time for health-care reform." That's it.
*** UPDATE ***
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Orrin Hatch
got in a bit of a dig at Sonia Sotomayor. his Twitter page . "Thanks for the good questions. If only we could get some good answers."
R-IN Mike Pence : IBD editorial: "#PublicOption will outlaw private #healthcare insurance coverage. It's not an option, but a mandate" http://ow.ly/hq4d #tcot
R-IN Mike Pence: Chapman in @ChicagoTribune: "the #publicoption #healthcare scam, it won't=more competition like @BarackObama says" - http://tr.im/sC3r #tcot 9:29 am ET
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Mike Viqueira
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded minutes later by asserting that the legislation will change during the course of the legislative process, now underway in earnest today on the House side as committees take up and mark up the bill.
*** UPDATE *** Mitch McConnell said in a statement:
The Director of the Congressional Budget Office confirmed today what we have been saying for weeks: the health care spending plan that some are trying to rush through Congress would actually make things worse. Americans want reform that makes health care more affordable and accessible, not a so-called reform that leads to rising costs and a government takeover of the whole health care system. Americans saw what happened when some in Congress rushed through the trillion-dollar stimulus bill earlier this year. They don’t want us to make the same mistakes on something as important and personal as health care. Today's CBO testimony should be a wake-up call. Instead of rushing through one expensive proposal after another, we should take the time we need to get things right--especially at a time when hundreds of thousands of Americans are losing jobs every month.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray and Matthew Samuels Gallup poll shows Mitt Romney
narrowly leading the potential Republican field. He gets the backing of 26% Republicans and GOP-leaning independents, followed by Sarah Palin at 21%, Mike Huckabee at 19%, Newt Gingrich at 14%, Tim Pawlenty at 3%, and Haley Barbour at 2%.
Video: Morning Meeting’s Dylan Ratigan and MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer discuss Palin’s political ambitions with a panel that includes former N.Y. Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
By comparison, Palin's political action committee, SarahPAC, raked in $733,000 during that same time period and handed out just two contributions -- $5,000 each to Alaska Sen.
Lisa Murkowski and
John McCain .
Strikingly, as
FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver notes, 60% of the donations to SarahPAC came in the form of contributions less than $200. "That is a very high percentage -- higher than for any of the '08 presidential candidates but for
Ron Paul ," Silver writes. "You don't wind up with a number like that unless two things are happening: you are raising a lot of money from small donors and you specifically are not raising a lot of money from large, establishment donors. That, in a nutshell, is Palin's story as she starts to compete against the GOP primary field."
From MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell and Adam Verdugo Sonia Sotomayor .
Each Senator gets 10 minutes. Most of the questions will likely be from Republicans.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro President Obama 's trip to New Jersey, Republican Chris Christie welcomes him to the Garden State with this Web video:
Christie, a former U.S. Attorney who leads Corzine by 12 points in the latest statewide polling, gives some tourism advice to Obama. Christie, who is from NORTH JERSEY, urges him to do some pretty stereotypical JERSEY SHORE things -- visit the Point Pleasant Boardwalk and listen to Bruce Springsteen.
From MSNBC's Adam Verdugo Al Franken may get a new nickname: “Old Iron Pants,” a name given to famed TV newsman Walter Cronkite because he never seemed to need a bathroom break.
The junior senator from Minnesota had to wait until yesterday, Day Three, to make his high-profile debut during the confirmation hearings for Judge
Sonia Sotomayor , and he seemingly never departed his perch stage left of Judiciary committee dais.
The former Saturday Night Live star, who once parodied the role of a senator during
Clarence Thomas' confirmation hearing for the popular sketch show, looked more like a student rather than a comedian. During the hearing yesterday, the senator was seen listening intently and taking copious notes. Unlike most senators who come and go during the hearing for various reasons as they please, Franken -- the committee’s most junior member -- appeared to stay in his seat for the duration. At one point, he was the only other Democratic senator present other than the chairman, Sen.
Patrick Leahy .
The Franken “marathon session,” however, ended on Day Three when Franken flashed a handwritten note to aides that were seated directly behind him. The aides flashed a smile back to their boss, and moments later he was seen departing the hearing room for what seemed to be the first time.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg November here we come : Like it or not, the campaign season is already upon us -- again. President Obama this afternoon heads to New Jersey, where he hits a fundraiser (at 3:35 pm ET) and then an outdoor rally (4:25 pm) for vulnerable Gov. Jon Corzine (D), who's up for re-election in November. It’s Obama’s first rally for a candidate since becoming president. Also today, Vice President Biden will be in Virginia, where he attends a fundraiser in Richmond for Democratic gubernatorial nominee Creigh Deeds and also promotes health-care reform and the stimulus. Those gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia are the two marquee races this off-year. And their outcomes will definitely tell us something about Obama and the state of the Republican Party. If Republicans win both, that could signal another chink in the Obama armor and a possible GOP resurgence. On the other hand, if Dems win both, it could mean that the Republican brand remains in the dumps.
*** Corzine’s Garden State challenge : Of the two races right now, New Jersey appears to be the tougher challenge for Democrats -- and it really doesn't have anything to do with Obama. Corzine has consistently trailed Republican Chris Christie (12 points per the latest Quinnipiac poll), which is never a good sign for an incumbent running for re-election. In short, the race is a referendum on Corzine, and his best opportunity to win in this deep-blue state (which Obama carried 57%-42% last year) is to turn it into a referendum on Christie. As political analyst Stuart Rothenberg reminds First Read, it’s precisely what McCain tried to do to Obama last year. And, as we know, that didn’t work. Yet the question we're hearing bit about regarding Obama's stumping with Corzine is: Why now? Well, the president has to give an incumbent Dem governor some respect, so he's going NOW, in July. The real question is whether he comes back in September or October. Our guess: He'll only return if Corzine shows signs of political life.
*** The Great American Health-Care Fight : Here’s a look at all the moving parts on health care: Obama meets at the White House with conservative Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson (at 11:30 am) and moderate GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe (11:45 am ) to discuss the issue… Families USA and PhRMA say they have hired the actors who played Harry and Louise in that iconic ‘90s TV ad against health-care reform to appear in a multimillion ad campaign SUPPORTING reform this time… In his remarks from the Rose Garden yesterday, Obama said that the White House would be focusing on health care until Congress’ August recess. "We're going to be continually talking about this for the next two or three weeks, until we've got a bill [out of] the Senate.”… And with the Senate HELP bill passing the committee yesterday by a party-line vote, Republicans are complaining that the Democratic push for health-care reform isn’t bipartisan.
Video: As the Obama administration pushes for a finished health care bill by August, Democrats in the House and Senate on Wednesday put forward their plans, which included tax increases and requirements that employers help pay for insurance. NBC's Capitol Hill Correspondent Kelly O'Donnell reports. ***
Where’s Baucus? By the way, the guy who has been too quiet this week in this renewed White House push on health care: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus.
Baucus is hesitant to move publicly until he gets at least passive approval from his GOP committee partner, Chuck Grassley. Clearly, the White House is trying to move Baucus along, as they agreed to Grassley's suggestion to meet with some moderate/pragmatic conservative Republicans at the White House yesterday (and today). Still, there is a level of frustration growing among many Democrats that Baucus hasn't made many public statements this week on timing, nor has made much public progress on a plan. Everyone is trying to defer to him, but he seems to be taking so much time that the White House might start wondering about alternative ways to move health care along -- a signal that the Senate HELP committee bill might have more life in it than some observers believe.
*** Stimulus pushback : A fairly significant political development we haven’t mentioned yet was the Obama administration’s pushback earlier this week to Arizona GOP Sen. Jon Kyl, who suggested to “cancel” the stimulus funding. So what did the administration do? They had cabinet secretaries write Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) asking if she wanted to hand back her state’s stimulus money. As Politico’s Martin writes, “Brewer knew she’d been thrown a high, hard one.” The administration continues its stimulus hardball with Vice President Biden promoting the stimulus in the Richmond, VA area -- which just happens to be Eric Cantor’s congressional district.
*** Just askin’ : In the stories reporting on some minor tensions between the White House and Clinton’s State Department, how much of this is Clinton wanting turf? Or her staff pushing for Clinton to want turf? Or something the press is blowing out of proportion? The White House has certainly exerted some role over State, including ambassadors and a recent decision to nix the hiring of Sidney Blumenthal (which shouldn’t surprise anyone who followed the primary campaign). Then again, as Henry Kissinger has told Clinton -- confirmed by the New York Times -- there appears to be less friction between the Obama White House and the Clinton State Department than any previous White House and State Department…
Video: NBC's Andrea Mitchell and President of the Council of Foreign Relations Richard Haass discuss Sec. of State Hillary Clinton's speech on foreign affairs. ***
Sotomayor, Day 4 : Today on Capitol Hill, senators will continue their second round of questions, and then we’ll hear from outside witnesses. Those who will testify in favor of Sotomayor include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New York D.A. Robert Morgenthau, former Major League Baseball pitcher David Cone, and New York Democratic Reps. Nydia Velazquez and Jose Serrano. Those will testify against her include New Haven firefighter Frank Ricci, Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life, and former National Rifle Association President Sandy Froman.
Video: As firefighters in a controversial race-bias case determined by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor speak out, Capitol Hill hearings on her confirmation continue. NBC's Pete Williams reports. ***
Naming names : Remember that commission to investigate the causes of the financial crisis? Well yesterday, Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi announced their six picks to sit on the 10-member Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission. The six: former California state Treasurer Phil Angelides (who will serve as chairman), Brooksley Born, (chair of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission during the Clinton years), John W. Thompson (chairman of Symantec), former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, Heather Murren (a retired Merrill Lynch director, and Byron Georgiou (a Las Vegas businessman and attorney). Republican leaders appointed Keith Hennessey (former National Economic Council director), Douglas Holtz-Eakin (former CBO director and McCain economic adviser), and Peter Wallison (of the conservative American Enterprise Institute).
*** Obama and the NAACP : Finally, in addition to his health-care meetings and his campaigning in New Jersey, President Obama will speak at the NAACP’s convention in New York City tonight. White House aides tell First Read that the speech will be similar to the one he gave to the group last year. It will have a LOT on education policy, some personal responsibility talk, and a plea to young blacks not to denigrate education. Also expect a reference or two to athletes and musicians.
Countdown to Palin Stepping Down: 10 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails . Facebook and also on Twitter .
The New York Times : “A party-line Senate committee vote on legislation to remake the nation’s health care system underscored the absence of political consensus on what would be the biggest changes in social policy in more than 40 years. The bill, which aims to make health insurance available to all Americans, was approved, 13 to 10, by the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The panel was the first Congressional committee to approve the health legislation.”
Video: Countdown’s Keith Olbermann MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell discuss why bipartisanship is not an option when it comes to health care reform. "As Baucus and Obama kicked up their lobbying campaigns, however, some Senate Democrats were starting to read the tea leaves, fearing GOP Senators would be an impossible get,"
Roll Call reports. "They suggested that Baucus -- despite his months-long effort to craft a consensus bill -- may not prevail and predicted Democrats ultimately would have to forgo bipartisanship."
The AP : "Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
says he was justified last year in suggesting that Bank of America Corp.'s chief executive could lose his job if the bank backed out on plans to buy troubled Merrill Lynch. His admission, included in written testimony for a House hearing Thursday, comes as Congress debates the government's role in managing financial firms that accept billions of dollars in aid… Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Paulson's testimony makes clear that the government became too involved and misused its power."
"Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), who is the subject of multiple investigations by the House ethics committee, has emptied his re-election coffers of nearly $723,000 to pay legal expenses in 2009, according to Federal Election Commission reports,"
Roll Call reports. "Those payments bring the senior Democrat’s legal bills to more than $900,000 since he first mounted his defense to July 2008 news reports that he had inappropriately used his Congressional stationery to fundraise for a local college."
What do you do when the current Supreme Court hearings are lulling the political world to sleep? You write about them in context of the NEXT battle. The New York Times : “After three days of testimony, Judge Sotomayor appeared to have made no major mistakes that would jeopardize her confirmation in a Senate dominated by Democrats. So both sides are trying to use the Judiciary Committee hearings to define the parameters of an acceptable nomination in case another seat opens up during Mr. Obama’s presidency.”
The Hill called it an easy third day for Sotomayor.
Video: NBC's Chuck Todd talks with the Morning Joe crew about where Sonia Sotomayor stands after the first three days of Supreme Court nomination hearings. The
AP compares Sotomayor's language to Roberts’ and Alito’s during testimony, and finds some similarities.
The
AP also tries to make sense of some of the legalese that's coming from the hearings.
During what the
New York Daily News called a "bizarre day" at the Sotomayor hearing (with a lot of punchy senators), Al Franken, "now the most junior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- switched seats with the chairman of the panel because Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy's microphone died. 'I think mine works. I'll change places with you,' Franken offered, drawing laughter. Leahy took him up on the offer. As Franken eased into Leahy's chair, the panel's top Republican, Sen. Jeff Sessions, joked it was 'the quickest rise' in Senate history."
Earlier in the day, Obama meets in the Oval Office with Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson and Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, something the AP calls "arm-twisting on health care." Roll Call sees them as "two key potential swing votes."
Yesterday, Obama met "with Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine) and Bob Corker (Tenn.) to discuss the health care reform effort. The meeting appeared to go longer than planned, and Collins emerged to say it was a 'candid' discussion that involved both Obama and the GOP Senators offering ideas on health care reform."
Video: As a key Senate committee approves a $600 billion health care reform bill with no Republican support, NBC chief medical editor Dr. Nancy Snyderman talks with President Obama about his plan. Among the tougher things the Obama administration is asking Congress to do is to vote to take away THEIR OWN power
to set Medicare reimbursement limits . "Obama administration officials say they are determined to stem soaring Medicare spending, arguing that it is a root cause of the broader health-care crisis that they are trying to address with Congress. Behind the scenes, Obama is pushing for a mechanism that would take Medicare payment authority out of the hands of politicians and invest it in a separate entity, possibly under the executive branch."
The AP : “President Barack Obama tonight helps the NAACP celebrate its 100th anniversary, and the civil rights group celebrates the first African-American president of the United States." On the contents of the speech: "The White House says Obama's address will only touch on the debate over the NAACP's future. It notes his work on the economy, health care and education and says they are issues are of great concern to all Americans." Washington Post says Hillary Clinton's “half-hour speech, billed by the State Department as a "major foreign policy address," was intended to provide the intellectual framework for the administration's nascent foreign policy. President Obama has sketched out key themes in a series of high-profile speeches overseas, and Clinton has tackled individual issues such as policy toward China or India, but this was her first substantive attempt to define her approach to the world since her confirmation hearings.”
CONTINUED >>
Roll Call notes: "After being outshone by Democrats in the first quarter of the 2010 cycle, Senate Republican candidates rebounded with a respectable showing in the second quarter — including a few bright stars who stood out above the rest." There were particularly good second quarters for Charlie Crist-FL ($4.3 million raised), Rob Portman-OH ($1.7 million), Pat Toomey-PA ($1.6 million), Roy Blunt-MO ($1.4 million). Stars on the Democratic side included: Harry Reid-NV ($3.2 million), Arlen Specter-PA ($1.7 million), Joe Sestak ($1 million). Do note that three on this list are from Pennsylvania. Is there going to be a bloodier battle in politics in 2010? (Here's a useful Roll Call chart on who raised the most -- and least so far.)
NEW JERSEY : President Obama
will appear at a campaign rally and fundraiser for Democratic Governor Jon Corzine today. The event, held at the PNC Bank Arts Center at 3:15 pm, comes as a new
Monmouth/Gannett New Jersey poll “finds GOP challenger Chris Christie leading Corzine by six percentage points. At a private reception before the event, “200 contributors are expected to raise more than $1 million for Corzine and state Democratic coffers.” Pollster Patrick Murray of Monmouth University
“says Obama’s visit may not give Corzine the bounce he needs, as three-quarters of those surveyed say their vote for governor will be based solely on state and local issues.”
NEW YORK : Kirsten Gillibrand appears to be in a solid fundraising position, as she outraised potential Democratic senate challenger Carolyn Maloney $1.5 million (after a $2.3 million first quarter) to $577,000, "a step up from her usual activity but not quite on the level of a serious big-state Senate contender," The Hill notes.
VIRGINIA : Déjà vu all over again? The name of a new PAC in support of Virginia candidate Bob McDonnell “sounds awfully familiar,” Hotline reports. The committee, registered by the Republican Governors Association, is called VA Common Sense. “And it reminds, not by accident, of Common Sense VA, the group the DGA used during the party’s primary contest to spend some $3M on ads framing McDonnell as out of touch with Virginians.”
Vice President Joe Biden
will “attend a fundraiser on behalf of Democratic nominee Creigh Deeds,” held at the home of a private contributor. “Virginia Republican Party chairman Pat Mullins suggested that the vice president's support for Deeds is an indication of where the candidate stands on labor issues, among other topics. It is the continuation of an effort by the GOP to brand Deeds as a candidate beholden to national Democratic interests to Virginia's detriment.
From NBC's Madeline Rullo In a hearing today before the Senate Government Affairs Committee, Homeland Security Secretary
Janet Napolitano
pressed senators to replace the
Bush -era Real ID national drivers license act with the Pass ID Act -- intended to make drivers licenses more secure and less costly for states.
Napolitano pointed out the urgency and importance of the revised plan, saying: "A drivers license can be a key to the kingdom for terrorists." Members of the committee agreed that, according to terrorists, "travel documents are just as important as weapons."
Supporters for the new program believe it would eliminate information-sharing requirements that might lead to rising privacy concerns, and they also say it would be less expensive for states.
However, per the
AP : "Opponents of the new program say the Pass ID would relax rules enacted after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."
From NBC's Alex Beinstein President Obama . Next week, it will be pro football.
On July 23, Obama will attend a DNC fundraiser in Chicago featuring Bears head coach Lovie Smith and the team’s new quarterback, Jay Cutler. DJ Cassidy will also be there to provide music for the evening.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro our post yesterday on Palin running with McCain -- who explicitly supported cap and trade -- we went through the transcript of the Palin-Biden vice presidential debate and found the following:
IFILL: We do need to keep within our two minutes. But I just wanted to ask you, do you support capping carbon emissions?
PALIN: I do. I do.
From NBC’s Athena Jones
President Obama stepped up public pressure on Congress to vote on a bill to overhaul health care before the August recess.
"We're going to be continually talking about this for the next two or three weeks, until we've got a bill [out of] the Senate,” he said, “we've got a bill out of the House, then we'll deserve a few weeks' rest before we come back and finally get a bill done, so we can sign it right here in the Rose Garden.”
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Mark Sanford had gone missing, Democratic Sen. John Kerry said this : "Too bad if a governor had to go missing, it couldn't have been the governor of Alaska. You know, Sarah Palin ."
To which Palin later replied : "John Kerry, why the long face?"
Video: The Nation’s Chris Hayes discusses the errors in Gov. Sarah Palin’s op-ed in The Washington Post. Yesterday, in response to Palin's
op-ed in the Washington Post slamming
President Obama on energy and cap-and-trade, Kerry wrote this response in the
Huffington Post : "Unfortunately, her promise to roll up her sleeves and tackle serious issues is followed by a column that focuses on everything but the single grave challenge that forms the basis of all of our actions: the crisis of global climate change. Yes, she manages to write about the climate change action in Congress without ever mentioning the reason we are doing this in the first place. It's like complaining about the cost of repairing a roof without factoring in the leaks destroying your home."
And today, he adds on
Daily Kos : "We need a real debate – and a vigorous one. That means that no one can play loose with the facts and ignore the real climate crisis." In an update to the post, he also says: "[W]hen something’s flat out wrong and it’s part of the news cycle, you use the truth to crush it before it takes on a life of its own, and climate change legislation is way too important to topple under the weight of distortions from anywhere or anyone."
From NBC’s Blayne Alexander
A little background: Democratic leaders are on a self-imposed deadline to get the health-care reform bill passed on the Senate floor before the August recess.
Sen. John Kerry > (D-MA) said as he left the meeting that he is "personally expecting" their version of the bill to be released sometime next week. But
Sen. Kent Conrad
(D-ND) stressed that more important than meeting a deadline is making sure the bill is done correctly.
"When you're talking about legislation that will affect the life of every single American, getting this right is critically important," Conrad said. "And it takes time."
The Senate Health Committee passed their version of the bill today. The two versions must be joined together before going to the Senate floor for a vote.
From NBC's Doug Adams John McCain , held a press conference today to lambaste the Senate Democrats' health-care bill, which passed out of committee today on a party-line vote.
All were pretty critical of the plan. Lamar Alexander said the bill would bankrupt states because it would "dump 15-20 million Americans into a failed Medicaid system, and then after five years, shift the cost to the states."
McCain
argued, "This legislation has not ONE SINGLE provision that is aimed at reducing the cost of health care." He even alluded to his failed presidential bid, saying: "Elections have consequences. This is a glaring example of that. We have now again committed another act of generational theft. Of laying an unsustainable fiscal burden on future generations." Mike Enzi said the bill, as fashioned, would "drive doctors out of the system." He criticized the public option part of the bill, saying it will ultimately lead to more than 100 million people being forced out of the private insurance they have now and into a government plan.
And Orrin Hatch said he thought the House plan for a tax to pay for health care is "a dead issue" in the Senate. He summed up Republican frustration by saying, "I don't care who you are -- you've gotta realize that they're spending too much. They're taxing too much to get us there... And they're writing legislation that is totally partisan ... that isn't gong to work!!"
From NBC’s Luke Russert and Domenico Montanaro Prominent House Republicans unveiled a multi-colored, complicated-to-follow flow chart meant to symbolize the House Democratic health-care reform plan.John Boehner (R-OH) looked at the chart at a press conference today on Capitol Hill and said, "If anybody thinks that all of this bureaucracy will fix our health-care system I politely disagree."
He then went on: "What this is going to do is ration care, limit the choices that patients and doctors have and really decrease the quality of our healthcare system."Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) whose office, he said, read the entire 1,100-page Democratic bill last night and created the chart said, "This chart identifies the 31 new federal programs, agencies and commissions by mandate that will be in between patients and their health-care providers."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mark Murray Breaking News
Video: The Senate health committee passes a bill aimed at revamping health care. It's the first congressional committee to act on President Obama's goal of overhauling the system this year. Senate Republicans are currently holding a press conference saying it was "regrettable" they weren't at the table to help draft the legislation.
*** UPDATE *** NBC's Ken Strickland has more: "This bill must now be merged with the Senate Finance Committee bill before it goes to the floor. But the Finance Committee hasn't even introduced its bill yet. Of the five committees in Congress writing health-care bills, only the Senate HELP committee has moved its version of the bill out of committee."
"Yesterday, the three House committees writing health-care reform introduced their bills together as one big bill. The next step in the House is for each committee to separately pass their own versions out of committee, merge them into one bill, and then have a vote on the floor. Democratic leaders in the House and the Senate believe -- or at least hope -- to have each chamber pass their bills before the August recess. However, some Democrats involved privately admit it will be a challenge to reach that goal."
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Libby Leist Clinton's foreign policy speech later today.
On the foreign-policy challenges and President Obama :
-- "...the international agenda today is unforgiving: two wars, conflict in the Middle East, ongoing threats of violent extremism and nuclear proliferation, global recession, climate change, hunger and disease, and a widening gap between rich and poor. All of these challenges affect America's security and prosperity. And all threaten global stability and progress."
-- "For President Obama and me, the question is not whether our nation can lead, but how it will lead in this new global context."
-- "...we have the right strategy, the right priorities, the right policies. We have the right President. And we have the American people, diverse, committed, involved and open to the future."
On the foreign-policy priorities :
CONTINUED >>
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg And we’re off: The unveiling of the House Democrats’ $1 trillion-plus health-care bill, paid for in part by a tax surcharge on the wealthiest Americas, truly begins the Great American Health-Care Fight, which could last well into October. At 1:05 pm ET, from the White House Rose Garden, President Obama will deliver remarks on the House bill, and he’ll also conduct a round of TV interviews with health reporters, including NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman. All of this is just more evidence of “clear the decks” time for the White House on health care. Also, at 2:15 pm, Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer, Robert Menendez, and Debbie Stabenow will hold a news conference demanding that private health insurers submit to tighter regulations and increased competition. On the GOP side, Republican Rep. Kevin Brady will give a presentation to party leaders about how the House Democratic bill is a “bureaucratic nightmare,” and then GOP leaders -- including John Boehner and Eric Cantor -- will hold their own press conference afterward.
*** The tax war: The House Dem bill, of course, is providing the GOP with plenty of fodder. After all, there’s a lot of taxing going on there, and the past 30 years have wired American politics and Washington to treat any hike as anathema. And some Senate Democrats, as well as the Washington Post editorial page , aren’t big fans of the tax increase. On the other hand, our June NBC/WSJ poll showed that a very solid majority -- 62% -- support taxing those who make more than $250,000 to pay for health-care reform (perhaps that’s why GOP talking points are focusing on taxing “small businesses”). And, even as the Post editorial page notes, the wealthy in this country are paying a historically smaller share in taxes (perhaps sparking critics to wonder: Where has that gotten the economy?) But there is a breaking point on taxing the wealthy, and class-warfare politics hasn’t been successful in quite some time. Over to you, Senate Democrats and the White House…
*** The Senate battleground: A new DNC/Organizing for America TV ad -- which begins running today on national cable, DC cable, and in some key states -- gives us a pretty good idea where the DNC (and the White House, by extension), believes the battle for health-care reform is going to be fought in the Senate. Here are the states where it will run: FL (Democrat Bill Nelson), NE (Democrat Ben Nelson), IN (Democrat Evan Bayh, Republican Dick Lugar), ME (Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe), LA (Democrat Mary Landrieu), ND (Democrat Kent Conrad), and AR (Democrats Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor). Meanwhile, the liberal-leaning group Health Care for America Now is running TV ads thanking Democratic Sens. Harry Reid and Chris Dodd (both up for re-election next year) for their work on health care.
*** Taking the Obama show on the road: Yesterday was another reminder why President Obama needs to get out of the Beltway bubble more. He seemed to have some fire in his stump in Michigan with his bring-it-on moment. Yes, he owns the economy; he knows it. By the way, is it a coincidence that his poll numbers have been settling since he hasn't been doing domestic road shows as much? Just sayin... Also, be sure not to miss this blog post one of us wrote while traveling with Obama -- and Willie Mays -- on Air Force One.
*** Sotomayor, day 3: At 9:30 am ET, the question-and-answer session for Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearings continues. Lots of attention, naturally, has been given to Sotomayor backing away yesterday from her “wise Latina” comment, saying: “It was bad.” But liberals and some women are focusing on the questions by GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham, who on Monday said he might consider voting for the Supreme Court nominee. Citing some poor anonymous reviews she received from the Almanac of the Federal Judiciary, Graham asked, “Do you think you have a temperament problem?” He continued “that these statements about you are striking… [Y]ou know, obviously, you've accomplished a lot in your life, but maybe these hearings are a time for self-reflection.” Wow. As Maureen Dowd writes, “Maybe Graham thinks Nino Scalia has those traits covered.”
Video: U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor enters her third day of confirmation hearings. On the second day, she faced tough questions about her use of the term “wise Latina.” NBC’s Pete Williams reports. ***
Hillary in the spotlight: Since becoming President Obama's Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton hasn't been in the headlines as much as she was when running for president or serving in the U.S. Senate. But that changes today when Clinton gives a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in DC at 1:00 pm ET. Per NBC’s Libby Leist, the State Department said yesterday that the speech will outline "her vision" of U.S. foreign policy, as well as how the department plans to carry out the overall Obama foreign policy agenda. A senior State Department official also told Leist that the speech has been in the works for about six weeks, and that Clinton aides have long wanted to do a speech to mark the first six months of her term as Secretary of State. And the official scoffed at the suggestion that Clinton feels sidelined in the Obama administration and that she feels the need to reassert herself. "That's just ridiculous,” the official said. By the way, the
Washington Post’s Greg Sargent notes the foreign policy poo-bahs Clinton consulted while putting together the speech, including Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft.
Video: NBC's Andrea Mitchell and The Daily Beast's Tina Brown discuss Sec. of State Hillary Clinton's first major speech and why she has remained out of the spotlight since taking office. ***
Harry’s millions: As
Roll Call writes, "Sen. Harry Reid (D) raised $3.25 million between April 1 and June 30 and ended the second quarter with $7.33 million in cash on hand 16 months from the 2010 election.” Folks, that is a lot of money for a Senate race at this point in the cycle -- especially for someone without an opponent right now. (As Reid’s people note, the haul and cash on hand is MUCH bigger than Daschle and McConnell had at a similar point in the cycle.) But as National Republican Senatorial Committee spokesman Brian Walsh emails First Read, “I’d argue that Reid’s … numbers could prove to be a double edge sword -- he’s out there talking about all this cash he’s raised while representing a state with the highest unemployment and foreclosure rates in the country.”
*** Chu vs. Chu : Finally, Democrat Judy Chu won yesterday’s special election for Hilda Solis’ Los Angeles congressional seat. The second-place finisher, Republican Betty Tom Chu, is Judy Chu’s cousin by marriage.
Countdown to Palin Stepping Down: 11 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails. Facebook and also on Twitter .
With the introduction of a $1 trillion health-care reform bill from the House, Congress and the president get this headline: "Healthcare reform advances ."
The New York Times on the tax component in the bill: “Starting in 2011, a family making $500,000 would have to pay $1,500 in additional income tax to help subsidize coverage for the uninsured. A family making $1 million would have to pay $9,000. Employers who do not provide health insurance to workers would generally have to pay a fee or penalty to the government. The fee would be equal to 8 percent of wages for an employer with an annual payroll of more than $400,000.”
Video: Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., joins Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski to offer his proposal on how to bridge the partisan divide on health care. The
Washington Times : The bill's release was met with enthusiasm by health care advocates but slammed by the industry and other business groups. A ‘pay or play’ mandate on businesses drew condemnation as a job killer from a group of more than 30 trade associations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable and the National Retail Federation."
Key Senate Dems were skeptical of this House Dem funding measure, the Washington Post adds. "But the plan has drawn sharp attacks from Republicans and is already creating friction with Democrats in the Senate. ‘Tax is a four-letter word’ with voters, said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.). Even families not ranking in the top 1 percent of earners ‘hope they're going to be there someday,’ he said. ‘So they don't necessarily think it's fair.’”
CONTINUED >>
"Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor sought yesterday to reframe critics' portrayal of her as a judge swayed by her gender and ethnicity,” the Washington Post writes. “On the second day of her confirmation hearings, she stressed the primacy of legal precedents and distanced herself from her most controversial public remark, saying her line that a ‘wise Latina’ judge might reach better decisions than a white man was ‘a rhetorical flourish that fell flat.’”
Republicans "say they plan to keep up their questioning of Sotomayor’s true feelings on the role of ethnicity and gender in the law at Wednesday’s hearing -- and edged right up to the line of saying that Sotomayor was being dishonest in her answers. 'Part of it goes to her honesty,' said Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who led some of the toughest questioning of what Sotomayor meant in her 'wise Latina' speech. 'What she said here would mislead the ordinary person who hadn’t read the speech. ... I think there’s a lot more that she needs to address with respect to some of these questions. I just find it hard to chalk it all up to just a bad choice of words.'"
Video: Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., gives his take on Sonia Sotomayor's first two days of Supreme Court nomination hearings and Sen. Lindsay Graham's questioning of her temperament. Roll Call says that Lindsey "Graham’s emergence Tuesday as the leading attack dog on Sotomayor stands in stark contrast to his performance during Monday’s opening remarks, when he frustrated many of his GOP colleagues by saying that short of a major misstep, her confirmation was a done deal. In a series of rapid-fire exchanges on abortion, race, the death penalty and her own temperament, Graham repeatedly accomplished what his colleagues could not during a nearly full day of questioning -- throwing Sotomayor even slightly off her script."
Video: Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asks tough questions to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor during her confirmation hearing. The
AP fact-checks some of Graham and Sotomayor's comments, particularly on Graham saying, "Well, in their briefs, they argued, and I will submit the quotes to you, that if you deny a low-income woman Medicaid funding, taxpayer funds, to have an abortion, if you deny her that, that's a form of slavery. And I can get the quotes. Do you agree with that?" "The Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund board, along with three other organizations, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court, arguing that banning taxpayer-funded abortions discriminated against poor minority women. At the time, Sotomayor served on the group's board of directors. There is no connection to slavery in that brief. After the Supreme Court upheld the Illinois law, however, the PRLDEF joined 285 other civil rights organizations, unions and advocacy groups in asking the court to reconsider. That document does draw a link between abortion rights and slavery, but not quite as explicitly as Graham said."
The Hill writes, "President Obama on Tuesday took full ownership of the struggling U.S. economy even as he warned that unemployment numbers will likely continue 'to tick up for several months.'"
The AP's lead : "With four simple words -- 'Give it to me!' -- President Barack Obama took possession of the economy. For months, the White House and Obama's economic team have laid the economic crisis at the feet of President George W. Bush. But there comes a point in a presidency when inheritance becomes ownership. Obama made that pivot Tuesday in Michigan, the state suffering the worst unemployment in the nation."
Video: NBC's Chuck Todd discusses President Obama's Tuesday speech in Michigan, where he directly addressed criticism of Obama's economy. More: "It was a defiant moment,
reminiscent of Bush's own "Bring 'em on!" taunt in 2003 to militants in Iraq. Like Bush's brash challenge, Obama's could haunt him, too. It's a calculated risk that confronts his critics head-on and casts him as an activist, on-the-job president. ‘My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and harp and gripe,’ he said Tuesday, his sleeves rolled up, barely disguising his targets as congressional Republicans.”
CONTINUED >>
Politico's Martin tries to find some Blue Dogs who'd welcome Palin
campaigning with them. There were no takers. "Some of the members lunged for elevators, others moved to get into meetings (or at least behind closed doors), and a few just chuckled nervously and replied in a clipped fashion that reflected an immense desire to not discuss the topic at any length."
"Michael Steele, the first black Republican Party national chairman, had nowhere to go but up selling the GOP message to the NAACP Tuesday," The
New York Daily News reports. "At least he got chuckles and polite applause, such as when he promised to 'depart from 'The Complete Republican's Guide to Speaking to African-Americans.'" More: "He has promised the party would change its approach to black and Latino voters, if not its philosophy, including a public relations blitz into 'urban-suburban hip-hop settings.'" He got mixed reviews.
The
Washington Post : “The NAACP visit was personal and professional for the first black man to lead the GOP, as were the stops he has made in Detroit and South Side Chicago, where his staff joked that his appearance was probably the first time a Republican chairman had ever been to that part of town.”
With the good news for Senate Republicans comes the bad news for their colleagues in the House. Per the Washington Post’s Cillizza , “Twin decisions this week by Reps. Mark Kirk (Ill.) and Jim Gerlach(Pa.) to run for statewide office in 2010 have handed House Republicans a setback as they seek to build momentum heading into next November's election… Couple that trio of seats with Louisiana's 2nd district -- a strongly Democratic seat won in a stunning upset by Rep. Joseph Cao (R) in a 2008 runoff -- and it's not unreasonable to think that Democrats are in very strong position to pick up at least four Republican-held districts, a nice position for a party with a 40-seat majority to be in so early in the cycle.”
NEW JERSEY: CQ Politics calls Gov. Jon Corzine’s
possible choice of reality TV star Randall Pinkett as candidate for lieutenant governor a “Hail Mary” pass. “Will it work, or will it end his campaign?” CQ says, going on to cite the new Quinnipiac University poll, which find that “among African-American likely voters, Corzine’s lead is just 66-29 percent… No Republican statewide candidate in New Jersey has come close to taking a third of the African-American vote since Gov. Tom Kean’s 1985 re-election campaign.” But “oddly enough, while Pinkett would be the first African-American to run statewide as the nominee of a major party in New Jersey, he would not be the first reality TV star to run for office in New Jersey. That distinction is already held by (another Apprentice alum) Tara Dowdell, who once worked for disgraced former Gov. Jim McGreevey.”
President Barack Obama will visit New Jersey tomorrow in a campaign appearance for Gov. Corzine, intended to boost Corzine’s struggling ratings. Some New Jersey voters, however, “
expressed mixed opinions about Obama’s visit.” Vince Cardarelli, a Central Jersey resident, said, “I don’t really know if there could be anybody who could help out New Jersey.” Richard Barber, another Central Jerseyan, said, “Knowing the situation in New Jersey as far as alleged corruption…I’m not sure I would want to expend any precious political capital at this point.”
VIRGINIA: Republican Bob McDonnell announced yesterday that his camp “
raised $1.8 million in the latest fundraising period and holds more than $5 million in cash on hand.” This represents “a nearly 2-to-1 cash-on-hand advantage over state Sen. Creigh Deeds,” his opponent. Taking a cue from the Obama playbook, Campaign Manager Phil Cox “touted the number of contributions totaling less than $100 -- more small-dollar donations than Deeds; campaign has attracted.” Like his rival, “McDonnell’s overall fundraising is boosted by Virginia’s lax campaign finance laws, which do not cap individual contributions and allow corporations to donate directly to campaigns.”
From NBC's Mark Murray
After all, it's why one side says "estate tax" and the other "death tax"; it's why, regarding Social Security, one party calls it "privatization" and the other says "personal accounts"; and it's why, in the current health-care debate, Democrats refer to the "public option" and Republicans use the term "government-run."
Now in their criticism of the new House Democratic health-care bill, which would impose a surtax on individuals making $280,000-plus and families making $350,000-plus, Republicans are using this verbal twist: It's a tax on small businesses.
Here's House Minority Leader John Boehner
asking today: "We want to tax small businesses?" Michael Steele
: “The Democrats’ priorities for health care reform are now clear: a government-run system financed on the backs of Americans and small businesses with higher taxes."Mike Pence: "The American people are looking for real solutions to create jobs and get our economy back on track, not another excuse to raise taxes on small businesses and working families."
And here's even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “The intention of this plan is to tax high income households, but the real victims would be America’s small business owners."
A Republican aide justifies calling a surtax on the highest income earners "a tax on small businesses," because most small businesses file as individuals. And if you raise taxes on the wealthy, many of them have small business income.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Mike Viqueira, Domenico Montanaro and Luke Russert
The measure would leave 17 million uninsured in 2020, according to CBO. Half of that number would be illegal immigrants, and much of the remainder would be people who opt to forgo coverage and pay a fine. Without the plan, the CBO says 54 million would be without insurance in 2020.
The bill would leave 97% of Americans with insurance -- 30 million would be choosing the "public option."
Democrats are quick to point out that with the offsets, they expect the measure to be revenue neutral after 10 years. Offsets include a surtax on the wealthiest Americans and reforms in Medicare.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC’s Luke Russert
Video: Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., discusses the tentative health care bill released by the House on Tuesday. Democrats praised the bill as long overdue. Rep.
Henry Waxman (D-CA) invoked history saying, "We are about to undertake what has alluded so many presidents and congresses for far too long and that is the objective of attaining good quality affordable health-care insurance to every American."
Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) emphasized the far reach of the health-care bill.
"If you change jobs, lose your job or start a new business,” she said, “you still have health care."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's James Rankin Here’s a quick quiz: Who said the following?
"A cap-and-trade policy will send a signal that will be heard and welcomed all across the American economy, and the highest rewards will go to those who make the smartest, safest, most responsible choices."
President Obama ? Henry Waxman ? Nancy Pelosi ?
Actually, that was candidate John McCain
, way back in May of 2008. Which is all the more interesting given former running mate Sarah Palin ’s anti-cap-and-trade op-ed in today’s Washington Post. In her opinion piece, Palin berated Obama for creating a job-kiling “cap-and-tax dead end,” despite having run on a ticket that mostly supported similar policy goals.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Athena Jones
President Obama had a message for Republican critics who want to pin the country’s current economic woes on him: “That’s fine. Give it to me.”
In a speech to a cheering crowd of more than 1,500 people, who waited for several hours in the hot sun at Macomb Community College to hear him speak, Obama said it was his administration’s job to get the economy back on its feet.
“It’s a job I gladly accept,” he said to applause. “I love these folks who helped get us in this mess. And then suddenly say, ‘Oh, this is Obama’s economy.’ That’s fine. Give it to me. My job is to solve problems -- not to stand on the sidelines and carp and gripe. So I welcome the job. I want the responsibility.”
Video: Speaking at the White House, President Obama says he has seen some economic stabilization, but remains concerned over the high levels of unemployment. The event had the distinct feel of a campaign rally; in fact, Obama spoke at this site during the long slog to November’s presidential election. Today, he seemed to draw energy from the enthusiastic crowd, adding long, ad-libbed riffs throughout a short speech introducing his plan to help strengthen community colleges with $12 billion in federal aid over the next decade.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Blayne Alexander President Obama today -- attacking his proposed health-care plan and his stimulus bill, and arguing that nearly five months in, the stimulus package simply "isn't working."John Boehner , along with No. 2 Republican Eric Cantor , Conference Chairman Mike Pence , and Vice-Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers held a media avail today, in which they called the Obama administration "out of touch" with the American people, and denounced Obama's health-care plan as one that will eliminate jobs and impose taxes on small business owners.
Video: Rep. Eric Cantor, R-VA., argues that the Obama administration's economic stimulus plan is failing to help a depleted U.S. economy and has American's questioning whether the policies are working. The leaders spoke extensively about the unemployment rate, with Pence beginning his remarks by saying "the American people are hurting" and calling it "remarkable" that the administration says the stimulus bill is working.
Rep. Cantor echoed his sentiments. "We have a full-blown economic crisis on our hands," he said, adding that "every job loss is an economic free fall" for the family that it affected.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Libby Leist
Hillary Clinton has remained largely out of public view over the past month as she nurses her broken elbow, but tomorrow she will re-emerge with a highly anticipated foreign policy speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in DC. Obama foreign policy agenda.
Kelly described the speech as having a "global perspective" that will "mostly be forward looking." She is expected to hit on all the world's hot spots -- "the whole gamut," he said.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Chuck Todd and Domenico Montanaro
Here's a question: Does this remove plan B for Chris Dodd ? (Not to mention Republican former Rep. Chris Shays , who'd said he was interested in the job, after he lost his re-election fight.)
From NBC’s Luke Russert Steny Hoyer (D-MD) passionately described health-care reform as the "hallmark issue of this Congress."
"The president made it very clear that this was his No. 1 priority,” Hoyer said, speaking a day after a closed-door meeting with President Obama and other top Democrats. “He was very encouraging to try and get this done through the House and through the Senate prior to the August break."
When asked by a reporter if health-care reform was moving too fast, a constant criticism of Republicans, Hoyer pointed out that the major nominees for the presidency -- Obama, John McCain and Hillary Clinton -- had been speaking about the issue for two years. Hoyer shot back later in the session saying, "There have been over 600 town meetings across the country over the last four months" on the health-care issue and that the timing was consistent with previous administrations.
In closing, Hoyer reiterated that there is wide Democratic support for health-care reform and that it is "my expectation is that we are going to be successful."
At 2:45pm today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will hold a press conference to unveil the Democratic health-care plan.
NBC's Chuck Todd reports that candidate Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe is on Air Force One...
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro President Obama speaks in Warren, Mich., today, he will say, according to prepared remarks, "[T]he hard truth is that some of the jobs that have been lost in the auto industry and elsewhere won’t be coming back."
That sounds a similar tone to what his Republican presidential opponent John McCain said in Michigan in January of 2008 in the run-up to the primary there. And which Obama himself agreed with -- with a caveat -- during the heated Democratic primary campaign.
McCain was criticized for the declaration, and he wound up losing the state to Mitt Romney (though Romney had family ties to the state -- his father was governor -- which was likely the bigger reason he won there).
In May 2008 -- in fact on the same day he picked up the coveted endorsement of John Edwards and at the same community college where he will be speaking today -- candidate Obama said McCain "was right about that " that some jobs wouldn't be coming back. "But where he's wrong is in suggesting that there's nothing we can do to replace those jobs or create new ones."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Ken Strickland Orrin Hatch is probably the busiest Republican in the Congress. Besides being a senior member of the Judiciary Committee questioning Sonia Sotomayor , he's also a key player in the health-care reform legislation moving through the Senate.
Hatch is both a member of the Senate Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions (HELP) Committee. Both panels are tasked with writing the health-care bill. Additionally, he's also on the so-called "gang of seven" which is a group drilling down on a bipartisan solution for health-care reform.
(Hatch also serves on the Intelligence Committee, which has plenty on it's plate as well.)
On the Democratic side, Chuck Schumer is the busiest. He's not only on the Judiciary panel, but yesterday, after he made his opening statement, he took the role of Sotomayor's home-state senator, introducing her to the committee.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Jon Corzine has been running negative ads against opponent Chris Christie for about a week or so. Now the moneyed Republican Governors Association is hitting back again. The RGA is up with an ad hitting Corzine for what it sees as the incumbent's fatal flaw -- his record. (The RGA has been running ads for weeks on this very subject.)
"Jon Corzine said he'd cut taxes; he raised them by billions," an announcer says. "Corzine said he'd bring jobs to New Jersey; unemployment is up 73%. Now he's spending millions falsely attacking Chris Christie. Corzine -- watch what he does, not what he says."
(By the way, according to our calculations, unemployment is actually up 83% -- not 73% -- since Corzine took office in January 2006. In January 2006, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics , unemployment in the state was 4.8%. The latest New Jersey number -- from May 2009 -- is 8.8%.)
The ad is going up statewide on cable, and it's already up on network TV in the very expensive New York and Philadelphia media markets. The RGA is also up on radio in both markets.
*** UPDATE *** Factcheck.org writes though of similar RGA claims that they are "misleading." On unemployment going up 73%, FactCheck gives this context: that "the state's unemployment rate has actually risen by a smaller percentage than the nation's over the same recession-plagued time period." To the claim that Corzine " 'told us that he wouldn't raise taxes,' then went and did so," FactCheck points out that "Corzine refused to take a no-tax pledge and left himself an out, saying, 'We're not raising taxes unless we're absolutely pushed up against the wall.'"
*** UPDATE 2 ***
From NBC's Pete Williams Sotomayor's answer, that Roe v Wade is settled law, is a fairly standard answer for a Democratic Supreme Court nominee. Stephen Breyer said as much. But it was somewhat more definitive than the answers given by Republican nominees John Roberts and Samuel Alito .
Roberts, at his Supreme Court hearing, said: "It's settled as a precedent of the court, entitled to respect under principles of stare decisis." At his hearing for a judgment on the D.C. Circuit, he simply called it settled, without further elaboration.
At his Supreme Court hearing, Alito said: "It is a precedent. If settled means it can't be reexamined, that's one thing. If settled means it is a precedent that is entitled to respect of stare decisis, then all the factors that I've mentioned come into play, including the reaffirmation and all of that, then it is a precedent that is protected and entitled to respect in that way."
Breyer, when asked about Roe at his confirmation hearing, said it was settled law. Ruth Bader Ginsburg , of all recent nominees, was the most forward leaning in embracing Roe's protections.
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell and Mark Murray Herb Kohl , Sonia Sotomayor said "there is a right to privacy," and called Roe v. Wade "settled law." (Then again, conservative Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts also said Roe v. Wade is settled law during his confirmation hearing in 2005.)
In addition, under questioning by Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions , Sotomayor backed away from her infamous "wise Latina" line, Politico writes. "After hearing two months of pointed attacks over her so-called “wise Latina” comments, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor publicly backed off the remarks Tuesday, describing them as 'a rhetorical flourish that fell flat.' 'It left an impression that life experience commanded a result in a case but that’s clearly not what I do as a judge,' Sotomayor said under questioning by Sen. Jeff Sessions..."
More: "'I was trying to play on her words. My play fell flat. It was bad,' Sotomayor said."
From NBC's Pete Williams Janet Napolitano today will call for a review of the color-coded threat level system, which was created in the months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The system was intended to standardize warnings of increased terror threat. Though it got a fairly good workout at first, its use has tapered off in the past few years. One reason is that the overall level of awareness -- both among the public, government, and law enforcement -- is greater now than it was before the attacks.
The review is intended to address whether the system is still needed. And, if so, whether further refinements are in order.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg Sotomayor, Day 2 : Yesterday was all about the opening statements in Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Today, beginning at 9:30 am ET, come the more important questions and answers. Each senator will be allowed 30 minutes in this first round of questioning (and if past experience is a guide, some will not consume their full time allotments). Watching the Senate Republicans’ opening statements yesterday (save for Lindsey Graham’s), it seemed clear that -- at least politically -- they realize there's a bigger penalty being FOR Sotomayor than being AGAINST her. This is a non-election year, and any Republican seen defending her at this point might find themselves under siege from conservatives on talk radio or on TV. Of course, Democrats wonder if the Senate Republicans will go too far in their questioning (see Sessions vs. Sotomayor today), and whether that could cause pain at the ballot box next year. One Democrat even thinks the phrase, "and even voted against Justice Sotomayor" could be an effective TV or radio ad tagline. We'll see. Bottom line: We're watching Senate Republicans having to play base politics over Sotomayor in the same way Democrats felt pressure to do the same with Roberts and Alito.
*** Talkin’ about my education : President Obama heads today to Michigan -- a battleground state he won last year, 57%-41%, but which now has an unemployment rate of 14.1% -- to give a speech on the economy and education at 3:45 pm ET. In particular, per NBC’s Athena Jones, Obama will use the address to announce his plan to spend $12 billion over 10 years to boost the success of America’s community colleges. As he wrote in a Sunday Washington Post op-ed , “We believe it's time to reform our community colleges so that they provide Americans of all ages a chance to learn the skills and knowledge necessary to compete for the jobs of the future. Our community colleges can serve as 21st-century job training centers, working with local businesses to help workers learn the skills they need to fill the jobs of the future.”
*** Time to bring in the lefty : After making his pitch on the economy and education, Obama heads to St. Louis to make a pitch … at tonight’s Major League Baseball All-Star game. It won’t be his first ceremonial opening pitch; the White House tells First Read that Obama previously threw out a pitch at a minor league game in 2004 and at a White Sox playoff game in 2005. According to CBS Sports, Obama will be the fourth U.S. president to throw out the first pitch at a Major League All-Star Game, following Kennedy (in Washington in ’62), Nixon (in Cincinnati in ’70), and Ford (Philadelphia in ’76). By the way, baseball legend Willie Mays will travel with the president on Air Force One on his Michigan-to-St. Louis leg.
*** Sooner rather than later? After meeting with President Obama to discuss health care yesterday afternoon -- and also after Obama said not to bet against achieving reform this year -- House and Senate Democrats emerged with a renewed sense of urgency to pass a bill in each chamber before the summer recess, NBC’s Ken Strickland reports. "The urgency barometer is going up," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said. "Sooner rather than later." But with less than a month to go before recess, neither the House nor the Senate has a bill ready for votes in their respective committees, much less votes on the floor. Yet that changes today, when the House is expected to introduce its bill. "It won't be the finished product,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, per NBC’s Luke Russert. “It is a mark, to be marked up by committee to go to the next step."
*** Whatever it takes : There is a worry among some House Democrats that they will lose some moderate support if the Senate decides to go home for August without a vote. So they want to hear a public pledge, and key Senate sources tell us that public pledge is coming -- possibly as early as today. Also, Obama publicly reiterated his pledge that he will NOT raise taxes on households making $250,000 or less; that was something the White House believed congressional Democrats needed to hear. Moreover, sources tell First Read that Senate and House Democrats were reminded that the president is not a fan of taxing health-care benefits, and that they should be doing everything they can to avoid passing a plan that includes it. Bottom line: The White House has "cleared the decks" and is focusing almost exclusively on health care for the next three weeks -- or however long it takes -- to get separate bills through the House and Senate before the August recess.
*** Boehner’s rebuttal : Meanwhile, with Obama heading to the Detroit area today, GOP Reps. John Boehner and Dave Camp pen an op-ed in the Detroit News criticizing Obama on health care. “[O]ur plan gives middle-class families and small businesses better access to affordable health care without job-killing tax hikes and mandates that will deepen our economic crisis, leave more Americans out of work, and keep quality care out of reach for far too many. If the president is serious about true health care reform, he'll urge congressional Democrats to scrap their costly government takeover and work with Republicans on better, bipartisan solutions.”
*** Sarah Palin as Charles Krauthammer? So we now know why Sarah Palin is resigning her job as Alaska governor later this month: to write more op-eds criticizing the Obama administration. All kidding aside, her op-ed today in the Washington Post -- on her favorite topic of energy -- is perhaps the clearest sign yet that she’s trying to position herself as a national opponent to the president and his policies. (Focusing on energy is something fans of hers have been advising her to do for months, only now she appears to be taking the advice.) “I am deeply concerned about President Obama's cap-and-trade energy plan, and I believe it is an enormous threat to our economy,” she writes. “It would undermine our recovery over the short term and would inflict permanent damage.” The conclusion to the piece: “Can America produce more of its own energy through strategic investments that protect the environment, revive our economy and secure our nation? Yes, we can. Just not with Barack Obama's energy cap-and-tax plan.”
*** Hillary in the news : We haven’t talked about this in a while, but Secretary of State Clinton raised something we mentioned plenty earlier this year: vetting issues. "The clearance and vetting process is a nightmare, and it takes far longer than any of us would want to see. It is frustrating beyond words," Mrs. Clinton said. "I mean, it is ridiculous. Some very good people just didn't want to be vetted." In fact, there are a lot of little Clinton-related nuggets out there today. Politico is playing up a speech she's giving this week, saying it's a sign she wants to "reassert" herself. (But don't get too heated up over it as some sort of Clinton-vs.-Obama sign; it's no different than speeches Tim Geithner and Larry Summers have given to key groups that care about financial issues.) And is Lanny Davis hurting his credibility with his friends in the Clinton State Department by lobbying on behalf of the current Honduran government , which ousted the president in what some in the Obama administration and the Clinton State Department worry looked too much like a coup?
*** Morning Joe recap : Earlier this morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Liz Cheney continued to speak out against Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democrats in the wake of reports about a secret CIA program to capture and kill Al Qaeda leaders. Cheney decried the “political” nature of Pelosi’s comments that former Vice President Cheney ordered the CIA to hide information from Congress. She asserted that “this is not a partisan issue.” Cheney continued to defend her father against Democratic criticism stating, “For the Democrats to politicize this … strikes me as incredibly irresponsible.” After defending her father’s intelligence practices, Cheney responded to claims that she is currently weighing a political bid. When asked if a political run is in her future she replied hesitantly, “It is something I might do down the road.”
*** Christie up 10 In NJ : Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie “has a ten point lead” over Governor Jon Corzine (D), according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. Christie leads Corzine, 50% to 40%, among likely voters. Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the university’s Polling Institute, said Corzine must focus on the “19 percent of Democrats who are voting for Chris Christie, Christie’s 24-point edge among independents, and the 44 percent who say the Governor is not honest and trustworthy.” *** CORRECTION latest Q poll has Christie up 12 points, 53%-41%.
*** All about Chu : Finally, if it's Tuesday, it's Election Day somewhere in America. And that somewhere this week is in Los Angeles for a special congressional election to replace Hilda Solis, who vacated the job to become Obama's Labor secretary. The favorite is Democrat Judy Chu.
Countdown to Palin Stepping Down: 12 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails . Facebook and also on Twitter .
”Judge Sonia Sotomayor told lawmakers Monday that her overriding philosophy is ‘fidelity to the law,’ countering Republicans who questioned her impartiality on the first day of her Supreme Court confirmation hearings,” the Wall Street Journal writes.
The Washington Post : “The first day of hearings was a pageant of prepared statements and carefully choreographed strategy, but the contours of the week's proceedings became clear: Democrats portrayed Sotomayor as a role model ‘for all Americans,’ a seasoned jurist with a modest and restrained approach who, if anything, might balance a court that has swung too far to the right. Republicans sought to cast doubt on Sotomayor's impartiality, saying her statements and rulings have forecast the activist approach she would take when freed of having to follow precedent.”
The Boston Globe sets yesterday’s scene: "There was a feeling of good will when Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor entered a filled-to-capacity Senate hearing room yesterday: the loud buzz of conversation fell to a hush, and she grinned at relatives sitting in the crowd as she took her seat at the witness table. As nearly three dozen news cameras clicked rapidly, a parade of senators on the Judiciary Committee approached Sotomayor, offering good wishes and good luck. They seemed mindful that history would unfold with the questioning of the first Hispanic ever nominated for the nation’s highest court - and President Obama’s first chance to shape perhaps the country’s most powerful institution. But less than a half-hour after Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing began, the reverential atmosphere was transformed into an ideological slam dance." Washington Post’s Dan Balz says that Republicans have the greater burden during today’s Q&A. “They must tread carefully, balancing their desire to use the hearings to frame a debate over legal philosophies that their constituents want to see with their concern that they do nothing to show insensitivity or disrespect toward the fastest-growing minority group in the country.”
"The man whose name became a verb -- for how to trash and defeat a Supreme Court nominee -- has some simple advice for Sonia Sotomayor. 'Don't lose your temper,' Robert Bork says in an interview airing tonight on CNN. 'If she just maintains an even emotional temper, she'll be confirmed easily,' he adds."
"The federal deficit has topped $1 trillion for the first time ever and could grow to nearly $2 trillion by this fall, intensifying fears about higher interest rates, inflation and the strength of the dollar," the AP writes. "The deficit has been widened by the huge sum the government has spent to ease the recession, combined with a sharp decline in tax revenues. The cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also is a major factor."
In an interview with CNBC, the Council of Economic Advisers chairwoman, Christina Romer, said it is difficult to determine how many jobs have been created as a result of the stimulus . "You don't know what the economy would have done without it," she said. AP .
The RNC yesterday released a memo from GOP strategist Alex Castellanos on Republican messaging for health care. One of the key points, per the memo: “Slow down, Mr. President. We can’t afford to get health care wrong. President Obama is experimenting with American, too much, too soon, and too fast.”
Today in Warren, MI, Obama will propose "a multibillion-dollar investment in the nation's community colleges, a $12 billion effort to help the two-year institutions reach, teach and train more people for 'the jobs of the future.'"
CONTINUED >>
The Hill : "House Democrats will introduce their full healthcare reform bill Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday while acknowledging she has much work left to do to win over members of her own caucus.,, But even a Tuesday introduction, to be followed by possible committee action beginning before week's end, represents a slight setback to the House Democratic leadership's ambitious goal of passing a healthcare reform bill before the lower chamber departs for its summer recess on July 31. House Democrats were supposed to introduce a complete draft of the bill on Friday but postponed their plans amid a furor raised by centrist Democrats."
Roll Call notes that the CIA story has turned in Democrats' favor. "Democrats who spent weeks defending Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) after she accused the CIA of lying to lawmakers about its interrogation of suspected terrorists are going on offense as new details emerge about agency activities that were kept secret from Congress."
"The Senate voted 76-15 Monday to confirm Robert Groves to lead the Census Bureau, successfully breaking a GOP hold that has tied up Groves’ confirmation for almost two months." Louisiana Sen. David Vitter wrote yesterday on his Twitter page yesterday: "I placed a hold on Groves’ confirmation because we need to keep ACORN from being involved in the census."
NEW JERSEY : GOP Chairman Michael Steele appeared with Chris Christie in South Jersey yesterday, saying a Christie victory would “prove once and for all that all the hype about, ‘The party’s over for the GOP. They’re done. Stick a fork in them,’” is unwarranted. Speaking to a “cheering crowd in the backroom” of Larry’s II restaurant, Steele “took shots” at Governor Jon Corzine, “highlighting this week’s visit of Obama” on Thursday. “When the president comes here this week, I’m sure a lot of folks should ask the president: Do you support the tax increases? Do you support the bloated government? … Otherwise, why are you here and why are you coming in July and not October?” VIRGINIA : State Senator Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate for governor, “raised roughly $3 million in three weeks following his June 9 upset primary win.” In the most recent reporting period, May 28 to June 30, Deeds received over $500,000 from national and local unions, and also “major contributions from the Democratic Governors Association.” The national party’s “attempts to unite behind Deeds and Virginia’s lax campaign finance laws played key roles in boosting the Democrat’s fundraising.
From NBC's Chuck Todd
Pres. Obama just had a meeting with some key Congressional Democrats regarding his push for health care. The participants included: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Maj. Leader Harry Reid, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus, House Ways and Means Chair Charlie Rangel and House Maj. Leader Steny Hoyer. According to sources familiar with the conversation, there were two key topics brought up. 1) getting a bill passed in BOTH houses of Congress before the August recess; 2) how to pay for it.
Mr. Obama and the House Democrats in the room made it clear to the two Democratic senators that needed to the Senate to go public with their promise to not break for the August recess until a bill passes the Senate. There is a worry among some House Democrats that they will lose some moderate support if the Senate decides to go home for August without a vote. So they want to hear a public pledge. Key Senate sources tell us that public pledge is coming, possibly as early as tomorrow.
As for the conversation on funding, the president publicly reiterated his pledge that he will NOT raise taxes on households making $250,000 or less; that was something the White House believed Congressional Democrats needed to hear. Also, sources tell us the both Senate and House Democrats were reminded that the president is not a fan of taxing health care benefits and he they should be doing everything they can to avoid passing a plan that includes it.
Bottom line: the White House has "cleared the decks" and focusing almost exclusively on health care for the next three weeks or however long it takes to get separate bills through the House and Senate before the August recess.
From NBC's Chuck Todd
*** UPDATE ***
From NBC's Luke Russert Sotomayor hearings, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House Democratic health-care bill would be out Tuesday. "We have plans to introduce legislation tomorrow," she said. "It won't be the finished product. It is a mark, to be marked up by committee to go to the next step."
House Democratic leaders, including Pelosi, held a press conference today to highlight the stresses on everyday Americans of not having health care on everyday Americans. The speaker started off the briefing by emphatically saying that government cannot afford to do nothing -- claiming that would increase the cost of coverage for an average family by "$1,800 a year."
Pelosi also shot back at GOP critics who paint the Democratic approach as an unwelcome government intervention into the private relationship between a doctor and a patient. "We hear some of our opponents of reforming health care say that this is putting government between you and your doctor. That is what they say but they are just wrong. What we are doing is removing the health insurance companies from in-between patients and their doctors."
Also at the press conference, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer argued that health-care reform is a moral issue. "Reforming health care is an economic imperative, a budget imperative and a moral imperative."
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Al Franken , the most junior member of the United States Senate and, in turn, the Senate Judiciary Committee, eventually got to speak today during the hearing for Supreme Court Justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor . (By the way, don't miss that he spoke right after Arlen Specter , who would have been sitting next to Chairman Pat Leahy had he remained a Republican.)
As expected, Franken was, again, boring -- and humble. But he did give a hint at how he might fight for a liberal agenda. He quoted Justice Souter in a way that seems to make the case for an empathetic justice. And he said that he, too, is "wary of judicial activism" -- from the other side of the aisle.
He cited the Supreme Court's move on voting rights and Justice Thomas , in particular, of where it has veered toward conservative activism.
He got a couple of chuckles from the masses when he mentioned that he'd only been on the job five days. But, he said, because of that, the oath is fresh in his mind, and he takes it very seriously.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Newt Gingrich 's Twitter feed this afternoon...
As we, at First Read, have also argued, Gingrich said he thinks Sarah Palin still has a legitimate shot at the 2012 nomination.
He was asked on audio on his Web site , "If you decided to run for president in 2012, would you be open to having Sarah Palin as your running mate?"
Gingrich replied: "Well, I think it's important to remember that Gov. Palin may well be the nominee. There are lots and lots of Republicans who like her. And she's now going to be able to campaign full time for the next-- almost three and a quarter years. And so, who knows what's going to happen. I think it's a long way off, but I think she has a very major role to play in the party. And I wouldn't rule her out for either the first or second slot."
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Sonia Sotomayor from the GOP side of the Tweet.
Most looking for a fight kept the focus on debt and the stimulus. (By the way, "the U.S. budget deficit broke past $1 trillion in June," the Wall Street Journal reports.)
Republican Sen.
Orrin Hatch didn't Twitter off a comment from today's proceedings. He, instead, is fielding your questions for tomorrow's questioning:
R-UT Orrin Hatch: Email me your question for Judge Sotomayor at
askjudgesotomayor@hatchforsenate.com .
about 2 hours agoReply Retweet
R-UT Orrin Hatch: New blog: Ask Judge Sotomayor
http://is.gd/1xn09 On
his blog , he has three comments with questions on it.
So, tomorrow, will we hear some version of: "Judge Sotomayor, this question comes from Twitter?"
*** UPDATE *** Arlen Specter , who once upon a more politically secure time, was the ranking Republican member on this judiciary committee, Tweeted the following: "I think it was wrong for America to wait until 1967 to have an African American justice, Thurgood Marshall, on the court and to wait until 1981 to have the first woman, Sandra Day O’Connor. As as a diverse nation, diversity is very, very important."
And check out Arlen Specter's Twitter profile screen background . It is absolutely wallpapered with tiled pictures of a road sign that reads, "Putting America to work. Project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."
Who's a Democrat? Priceless.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Sonia Sotomayor 's statement was mostly biographical and relatively short. But she said her judicial philosophy is "fidelity to law. The task of a judge is not to make the law -- it is to apply the law."
It's an interesting turn of phrase, considering that Republicans have seized Sotomayor's 2005 comments at Duke law, in which she said that circuit courts are where policy is made.
Video: NBC's Tracie Potts reports on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's Senate confirmation hearings. Expect them to dig in on that point tomorrow in questioning to start 9:30 am ET. Judiciary Ranking member
Jeff Sessions (R-AL) already previewed that he would take his shots.
Here are the key graphs:
In the past month, many Senators have asked me about my judicial philosophy. It is simple: fidelity to the law. The task of a judge is not to make the law -- it is to apply the law. And it is clear, I believe, that my record in two courts reflects my rigorous commitment to interpreting the Constitution according to its terms; interpreting statutes according to their terms and Congress’s intent; and hewing faithfully to precedents established by the Supreme Court and my Circuit Court. In each case I have heard, I have applied the law to the facts at hand.
*** UPDATE *** Mitch McConnell 's office just blasted out those 2005 Sotomayor comments with this headline: "CONFIRMATION CONVERSION: 'FIDELITY TO THE LAW'" Subheadline: "Previously Said 'Court Of Appeals Is Where Policy Is Made'"
From NBC's Mark Murray President Obama announced Regina Benjamin to be his pick for surgeon general.
But the president also used the announcement as a kind pep talk on health-care reform, as congressional watchers and the press have begun to doubt whether Congress can meet his goal to pass reform bills before it goes on its August recess.
"We are going to get this done," Obama said. "Inaction is not a option."
He added, "Don't bet against us. We are going to make this happen."
And mentioning a sports/exercise metaphor he's used before, Obama said that Washington's muscles for enacting change have atrophied. So: "We are whipping folks back into shape."
Earlier today, we noted that the day's two main storylines -- Sotomayor and CIA/Cheney -- would make it difficult for Obama to get his message out on the economy and health care. Well, he used a surgeon general announcement to try to break through.*** UPDATE ***
From NBC's Mark Murray Sotomayor confirmation hearing have been pretty uneventful.
Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have touted her record, accomplishments and judicial restraint, while the Republicans on the panel have raised concerns about Sotomayor's "wise Latina" comment and President Obama's "empathy" standard.
Video: Sen. Lindsey Graham has told Sotomayor that she would be confirmed "unless you have a complete meltdown." But in some of the most striking comments so far, South Carolina Sen.
Lindsey Graham (R) said that presidential elections have consequences, and he might be open to voting for her. He also said,
as mentioned below , that Sotomayor's confirmation is a likely slam dunk.
Graham lamented the politics involved in judicial nominations, and cited (as other Republicans have) the unsuccessful judicial nomination of conservative Miguel Estrada.
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
raised some objection to
Sonia Sotomayor 's record. He said there have been, however, some exceedingly harsh things said about her and that he doesn't believe she's a racist. But her "wise Latina" comment bothered him, he said.
He added, unless she has a meltdown, she's going to be confirmed.
There was a laugh from the crowd.
He did not indicate how he would vote.
From NBC's Chuck Todd NBC News has learned that former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee
is sponsoring robo-calls in Iowa gauging interest on whether it's worth putting together a paid campaign to fight the nomination of Judge Sonya Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. According to a person who took the recorded survey over the phone, it is from Huckabee, asks if the person on the phone is pro-life or pro-choice, whether they condemn abortion rights and whether they would contribute money to support ads against Sotomayor.
Keep in mind that Iowa's Republican caucus electorate is much more conservative than even a wider Republican electorate of Iowa or the country. The issue of judges is one that matters to the very active conservative base of the Iowa Republican Party and so this may simply be a prelude to what may be coming from Huckabee in the next few days or weeks.
From NBC's Maddie Rullo and Domenico Montanaro
As he was being taken out of the room by police, he also screamed, "What about the Latinos?"
Video: MSNBC's Chris Matthews and NBC's Norah O'Donnell report on a protester interrupting the confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor The protestor began his outburst during
Sen. Dianne Feinstein 's remarks. Judiciary Chairman
Pat Leahy (D-VT) ordered the police remove the protestor. He chided the audience, repeatedly warning that outbursts "for or against" the nominee would be removed. The committee's Republican ranking member,
Jeff Sessions (R-AL), voiced support for Leahy's statement.
From NBC's Chuck Todd and Mark Murray President Obama is going to nominate Dr. Regina Benjamin as the new surgeon general.
Obama will name her from the Rose Garden at 11:40 am ET.
Some quick bio nuggets on Benjamin: Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights
Some biographical links:Reader's Digest on what she did post-KatrinaUS News profile Bayou Clinic bioKaiser Family Foundation Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured bioNational Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health bio News of her receipt of the Genius Award
From NBC's Andrea Mitchell
was briefed to Congress, but that Congress was kept in the dark about the implementation of the order. Bush administration official said "they didn't ask" -- but other officials say that CIA Director Leon Panetta was told the agency was following instructions from former Vice President Cheney not to disclose the program.
Video: Agency director Leon Panetta ended the project, but that’s done little to stem the outrage of lawmakers kept in the dark at the urging of then Vice President Dick Cheney. NBC’s Mike Viqueira reports. Democrats and some Senate Republicans on the intelligence committee say that even if the program was "on-again, off again" and not fully operational, Congress should have been briefed. That is also the view of the CIA officials who briefed Panetta on June 23rd. Panetta followed their recommendation and immediately notified Congress.
From NBC's Mark Murray Pat Leahy and Ranking Member Jeff Sessions just escorted Sonia Sotomayor into the Senate Judiciary Committee briefing room, before the start of the hearing.
Video: Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., speaks with a Morning Joe panel about where Judge Sonia Sotomayor stands on the idea of impartial justice. Sotomayor's guests will include, according to a White House adviser:
-- Celina Sotomayor (mother)
-- Juan Sotomayor (brother)
-- Omar Lopez (step father)
-- Tracey Sotomayor (sister-in-law)
-- Kiley Sotomayor (niece)
-- Connor and Corey Sotomayor (nephews)
-- New York Congresswoman
Nydia Velazquez -- New York Congressman
Jose Serrano -- Louis Freeh (who was her mentor when she served on the federal district court in New York)
-- Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs and Judge Robert Katzmann (2nd Circuit Court of Appeals)
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg A fight that fizzled? When President Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court back in May, who thought her nomination would largely take a backseat to the political fights over the stimulus, health care, and energy? But as her Senate confirmation hearing begins today, that’s precisely what has happened. Even the morning’s Republican National Committee research document is about Obama’s meeting today with organized labor, not Sotomayor. And here’s what today’s headline from the Washington Times was: “Sotomayor Faces Easy Route to Confirmation.” (By the way, DO note that the Washington Times has since changed the headline to the less tough "Debate continues ahead of Sotomayor hearing.") These things tell you all you need to know about how this political fight has fizzled. Of course, Republicans will ask her questions about her views on abortions and guns, the New Haven firefighter case, and that “wise Latina” comment. But as NBC’s Pete Williams said on TODAY, unless Sotomayor says something explosive during the hearings, it’s a virtual certainty that she’ll be confirmed.
Video: TODAY’s Matt Lauer talks to David Gregory, moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” about the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor ***
Hearing tick-tock: Today’s Sotomayor hearing begins at 10:00 am ET in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building. The morning will consist of opening statements by the 12 Democrats and seven Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Then, at about 1:00 pm, Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand (who’s trying to boost her name ID for 2010) will introduce Sotomayor. About 30 minutes later, Sotomayor will make her opening remarks. Per NBC’s Williams, the actual questioning takes place Tuesday morning. Each senator will be allowed 30 minutes in this first round of questioning (and if past experience is a guide, some will not consume their full time allotments). On Wednesday, Williams says, questioning will pick up where Tuesday left off. Once every senator has concluded a first-round question period of 30 minutes, the second round begins for those who wish to ask more. Second-round questioning is limited to 15 minutes per senator. On Thursday, outside witnesses will testify.
*** Introducing Sen. Franken: The sideshow highlight of the hearings this week: Al Franken's debut on the national stage as a Senate questioner. Of course, he once PLAYED a U.S. senator questioning a Supreme Court nominee on "SNL." He was the late Paul Simon questioning Clarence Thomas.
*** Latest cable catnip: Sotomayor’s confirmation might not be contentious, but the news -- via the Sunday New York Times -- that the CIA withheld information from Congress about a secret counterintelligence program on orders from former Vice President Cheney certainly is. Today’s Wall Street Journal says the program “was an attempt to carry out a 2001 presidential authorization to capture or kill al Qaeda operatives, according to former intelligence officials familiar with the matter.” The story is cable catnip because it involves spies and Cheney, two important ingredients to fire up the left and the right on the air and in the blogosphere. By the way, there are other lingering questions about the future of the CIA that this story could spark. Will the National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair use this moment to seize more control over the intel community (as a whole) and the CIA (in particular)? Speaking of Cheney, his daughter Liz pens a Wall Street Journal op-ed criticizing (who else?) Barack Obama.
*** When Obama isn’t the news: Given that the two big stories for TV today appear to be Sotomayor and CIA-Cheney, it means an entire week when the president is NOT front and center talking about the economy or health care. On the one hand, it's helpful for the president to handle things behind the scenes, and it certainly makes it harder for Republicans to find their own news hole to hit on the economy or health care. On the other hand, Obama needs more attention to be given to his attempts at re-defining the stimulus and making a push on health care. Granted, these two issues will likely bubble back up next week -- and beyond -- when the CIA-Cheney and Sotomayor stories wear themselves out on cable. But it's not the "hit the ground running” Monday the White House needs after an overseas trip that wasn't the same overwhelming success as the first three trips.
Video: The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee is suggesting that the Bush administration concealed a CIA counterterrorism program from Congress. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports. ***
Holder’em: For further proof that the Bush years aren’t going away anytime soon, NBC’s Williams confirms the story, first reported by
Newsweek , that Attorney General Eric Holder is considering the appointment of a special prosecutor to look at whether post-9/11 detainees were illegally tortured. But Williams adds that such an investigation would be very narrowly focused and would look only at cases in which CIA officers or contractors went far beyond what was authorized under the "enhanced interrogation" program. "Anyone who followed the legal guidance issued back then would not be investigated," said one official -- nor would those who may have strayed beyond the technical limits but acted in good faith. Instead, the investigation would be limited to a small number of what are described as "egregious" cases that appeared to have crossed far over the line.
Video: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., discusses Attorney General Eric Holder’s possible investigation into torture with NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press.” ***
Pallin’ around with Palin: The Palin story isn’t going away, either. With an Anchorage dateline, the
Washington Times interviewed the soon-to-be-departing Alaska governor, who revealed that she might stump for conservative Democrats. "I will go around the country on behalf of candidates who believe in the right things, regardless of their party label or affiliation," she told the paper. "People are so tired of the partisan stuff.” (Wow!) Today’s
New York Times also has an Anchorage dateline. "Ms. Palin had returned to her home state from the presidential campaign as one of the hopeful prospects in her struggling party… Standing before the Legislature in January, she vowed to retake her office with 'optimism and collaboration and hard work to get the job done.' But interviews in Alaska and in Washington show that a seemingly relentless string of professional and personal troubles quickly put that goal out of reach." Meanwhile, on Meet the Press yesterday, John McCain unequivocally defended Palin, despite the multiple reports about disloyalty during the presidential campaign. McCain clearly decided he wanted no part of the Palin drama. One way to guarantee that: hug her publicly and don't push her away.
Video: Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis talks about Levi Johnston’s claims that Sarah Palin resigned from office to pursue other monetary opportunities such as a reality television show and a book. ***
Labor day: At 1:15 pm ET today, Obama meets with labor leaders. This meeting comes, according to NBC’s Athena Jones, as the Council of Economic Advisers releases a report entitled "Preparing the Workers of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow" that offers an overview of how the U.S. labor market is expected to grow and develop over the next few years. At 4:00 pm, Obama delivers remarks at an urban and metropolitan policy roundtable. Pegged to Obama’s meeting today, the Workforce Fairness Institute is up with a
Web site blasting “union bosses.”
*** Jill Biden’s surgery: Finally today, Dr. Jill Biden is in Philadelphia undergoing outpatient orthopedic surgery to relieve shoulder pain. Vice President is accompanying her there.
Countdown to Palin Stepping Down: 13 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails. Facebook and also on Twitter .
Per White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Obama called Sotomayor yesterday from the Oval Office to wish her luck. The President expressed his confidence that Judge Sotomayor would be confirmed to serve as a Justice on the Supreme Court for many years to come,” Gibbs said.
The Washington Times : “The Supreme Court confirmation prospects of Judge Sonia Sotomayor appeared good Sunday as [Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer] said he expects her to receive more votes than the hefty majority for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Republicans indicated they don't expect a filibuster.”
Video: Senate confirmation hearings begin for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. If confirmed, she’ll become the top court’s first Hispanic justice. NBC’s Pete Williams reports. Roll Call calls Sotomayor's "installment all but certain," and because of that "Republicans are unlikely to put the nominee on trial. Rather, GOP Senators will use the high-profile forum to make a case for the direction of the judiciary and to set out their definition of an ideal jurist."
CONTINUED >>
"Despite President Barack Obama’s claim Friday that the White House has jumped 'with both feet' into the ongoing health care negotiations, Capitol Hill critics are charging the president with treading too lightly and warned that a heavier hand is needed to keep the process on track," Roll Call reports.
The Washington Times notes how the word "rationing" is becoming a potentially effective tool for the GOP to beat up on Obama's health care plans. "For Republicans, ‘rationing’ could be that poison-tipped arrow for the Democratic-led health care bill, much as ‘amnesty’ was the club with which conservatives beat President Bush's attempt at immigration reform into a bloody pulp in 2007.”
The Washington Post’s Balz makes this point: "No one expects Obama to declare in dictatorial terms what shape the legislation must take, but lawmakers are now looking for much clearer guidance from the White House on the tough issues remaining. As one nervous administration ally said, "The president's involvement and engagement almost exclusively on health care the next two weeks is essential."
CONTINUED >>
On the Sunday shows, "Senate Democratic leaders signaled reservations Sunday to a House proposal to tax the rich to raise $540 billion for healthcare reform."
Video: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., discusses the U.S. health care industry with NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press.” Health care now looks like it
won't get done before the August recess.
Meanwhile, "House Democratic leaders pushing a massive health care overhaul are facing a major drag from moderate Democrats soured by the political backlash to the climate change vote,"
Roll Call writes. "Call it the hangover effect. Democrats who helped the sweeping climate change bill squeak through before jetting home for the July Fourth break got a surprisingly ugly homecoming, encountering a barrage of protests, attack ads and negative press. Police turned up at a local protest aimed at Rep. Allen Boyd (Fla.), a leader of the moderate Blue Dog Coalition. Freshman Rep. John Adler (N.J.) told a local paper he got shoved."
Sarah Palin’s problems are more with establishment Republicans than they are with the media. The Los Angeles Times : “Since announcing her resignation, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been pummeled by critics who have called her incoherent, a quitter, a joke and a ‘political train wreck.’ And those were fellow Republicans talking.”
The Alaska datelines continue. The New York Times reporting from Anchorage: “In late March, a senior official from the Republican Governors Association headed for Alaska on a secret mission. Sarah Palin was beset by such political and personal turmoil that some powerful supporters determined an intervention was needed to pull her governorship, and her national future, back from the brink. The official, the association’s executive director, Nick Ayers, arrived with a memorandum containing firm counsel, according to several people who know its details: Make a long-term schedule and stick to it, have staff members set aside ample and inviolable family time to replenish your spirits, and build a coherent home-state agenda that creates jobs and ensures re-election.”
Video: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., discusses the political future of his former running mate with NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press.” “Like so much of the advice sent Ms. Palin’s way by influential supporters, it appeared to be happily received and then largely discarded, barely slowing what was, in retrospect, an inexorable march toward the resignation she announced 10 days ago.”
CONTINUED >>
NEW JERSEY: New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine
(D) is
seriously considering reality star
Randal Pinkett as the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor. Pinkett, a “38-year-old Rhodes Scholar who runs a Newark-based” consulting firm, “went to work for Donald Trump after winning Season 4 of the Apprentice.” Corzine “has been actively searching for an African American running mate.”
VIRGINIA: On the same day Obama campaigns for Jon Corzine in New Jersey (Thursday), Vice President Biden
will be in Richmond to campaign for Creigh Deeds.
Deeds (D) and Bob McDonnell (R) both appeared at the American Legion 2009 convention in Richmond on Saturday. Deeds announced that morning “that Senator Jim Webb has agreed to chair the group “Veterans for Deeds,” while McDonnell, who served in the army as does his daughter, said “he’s ready to make Virginia the most veteran-friendly state in the United States.” more aggressively this summer, “trumpeting endorsements, riding in parades and speaking at festivals.” Unlike the race in New Jersey, where “both candidates are airing TV ads” and President Obama will be speaking this week, “Deeds has held only a handful of events since his June primary victory, and McDonnell is going on vacation.”
VIDEO: THE WEEK AHEAD: Sotomayor's confirmation hearing, Obama's pitches -- baseball and economy, Obama stumps for Corzine, Clinton's big speech.
For our mailbox, submit your questions for next week in the comments section below. We might pick yours.
From NBC's Mark Murray
After we and others reported that Republican Rep. Mark Kirk
would be running for Barack Obama's old Senate seat -- giving Republicans their best chance of winning major statewide office in Illinois in more than 10 years -- the moderate GOP congressman changed his mind, according to a Republican source with knowledge of the decision. Washington Post , is a blow to the GOP. The remaining Republican in the field is state party chairman Andy McKenna , who more than likely would have campaigned in a GOP primary against Kirk's recent vote in favor of the energy bill.
Stay tuned, folks.
*** UPDATE *** Roll Call has more on Mark Kirk playing Hamlet: "Kirk told Roll Call over the phone Friday that he was still discussing the race with McKenna going into the weekend... Kirk told Roll Call that he and McKenna would continue to discuss the race over the weekend."
From NBC's Mark Murray Roland Burris
announced today that he would not run for election next year.
What Burris did not mention: that he would have a very hard time winning a Democratic primary or general election -- no matter how much money he has.
From NBC's Mark Murray Atlantic's Marc Ambinder got an advance copy of Haynes Johnson's and Dan Balz's upcoming book "The Battle for America 2008: The Story of an Extraordinary Election." And the book, per Ambinder, reveals that Sarah Palin's
Bill Ayers attack on Barack Obama was orchestrated by the McCain campaign.
Balz and Johnson answer this question pretty definitively. They've obtained an e-mail from campaign adviser Nicolle Wallace sent to Palin … with an attached New York Times article about Obama's relationship with Ayers.
Turns out that the McCain campaign was a week away from running an ad linking Obama to Ayers. The e-mail from Wallace, according to Balz and Johnson, reads as follows: "Governor and Team: rick [Davis], Steve [Schmidt] and I suggest the following attack from the new york times. If you are comfortable, please deliver the attack as written. Please do not make any changes to the below without approval from steve or myself because precision is crucial in our ability to introduce this."
McCain HQ had suggested the following line: "This is not a man who sees American as you and I do -- as the greatest force for good in the world. This is someone who sees America as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country."
At the event, Palin said this: "Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country. This is not a man who sees America as you see America and as I see America."
From NBC's Libby Leist
Clinton reiterated her strong support for diplomacy and development as the backbones of U.S. foreign policy. And now she's throwing her support behind a new initiative: showers at the State Department.
The woman continued, asking Clinton, "[Would] you would support an initiate to get us access to showers? First of all, it would save the government a lot of money, because we wouldn't have to get our transit subsidies. I'd much rather bike to work than take the Metro. It would be green and it would promote morale."
Clinton was enthusiastic. "I love that idea," she said.
CONTINUED >>
From NBC's Scott Foster and Mark Murray President Obama (in English), "Mr. President, welcome."
Obama replied, "Thank you so much. It is a great honor for me... Thank you so much."
Then, sitting in the library, Obama said, "You must be used to getting your picture taken.
The Pope smiled and nodded.
"I'm still getting used to it," Obama said.
"You must be getting tired," the Pope replied.
Video: NBC's Savannah Guthrie reports on President Obama's meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. Also, these were the gifts the two men exchanged: Obama gave a Liturgical Stole that, from 1988-2007, was on the body of St John Neumann in Philadelphia, while the Pope handed over a mosaic of St. Peters Square & Basilica and autographed copy of the Social Encyclical, a major papal document.
From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Ali Weinberg Obama and the Pope : Remember the criticism President Obama received for that Notre Dame commencement address? Remember all the attention it got? Remember those handful of hecklers during the speech? Well, all of it seems like a distant memory -- and, in some ways, an over-politicized story -- as Obama and his family meet with Pope Benedict XVI at 10:15 am ET. As liberal columnist E.J. Dionne and the New York Times note, Obama is expected to receive a much warmer welcome from the Pope than he did from some pro-life Catholics back in May. Why? “No one pretends that the Vatican is at peace with Obama's views on the life issues,” Dionne wrote yesterday. “But the pope and many of his advisers also see Obama as a potential ally on such questions as development in the Third World, their shared approach to a quest for peace in the Middle East and the opening of a dialogue with Islam.” The pictures we’ll see from today’s meeting will carry plenty of symbolic significance, especially considering America’s sizable Catholic population. and
*** Obama and Africa : The president later heads to Ghana today, and that trip also will carry plenty of symbolic significance -- and could demonstrate why Obama has the opportunity to do something in Africa that just isn’t about throwing money at the challenges that continent faces. In fact, at his press conference this morning, Obama told a personal story about his family struggles in Kenya. He mentioned that he still has relatives living in poverty there. And he stressed that Africa’s problems didn’t have to do with history or colonialism -- but were instead a result of the governmental problems there. “The telling point is when my father traveled to the United States from Kenya to study ... the per capita income of Kenya was higher than South Korea's," he said, per the AP. He also said people in Kenya can’t find a job without paying a bribe; that’s not the fault of the G8. “If you talk to people on the ground in Africa, certainly in Kenya... they will say that part of the issue is that the institutions are not working for ordinary people,” he said. So when Obama says these governments needs to stop blaming the West or stop blaming history, Africa really might listen to Obama.
Video: There is much excitement on the streets in Ghana as the African nation prepares for a visit from President Obama and his family. NBC’s Mara Schiavocampo reports. ***
Obama On health care : Also at the press conference, Obama said the United States is closer to health-care reform than at any time in recent history. He said that people to get the good stuff without having to pay for it. “What cannot be denied is that the only way to get a handle on our medium and long-term budget deficits if we deal with health care.”
***
A hypothetical question : As we've chronicled this week, the White House has certainly taken its lumps over the economy and the stimulus. Obama’s poll numbers have declined. Republicans have piled on. And some Democrats, predictably, are starting to get nervous and are talking about a second stimulus. But let’s turn the question around: What happens if the economy begins to improve come summer of 2010? Will Obama's poll numbers bounce back up? Will Republicans find themselves on the defensive? And will Democrats feel better about their prospects in 2010? This is a hypothetical question, of course. As GOP strategist Kevin Madden tells First Read, "If grandma had a beard, she'd be grandpa." But the hypothetical is instructive in this respect: What truly matters here is how things look in 2010-2012, not right now. Still, Republicans see this as an important time, because a more doubtful public could turn to them and their ideas. "Here is the opportunity for Republicans: The public is listening for a debate," says Republican pollster David Winston.
*** Emphasizing that it would get worse before it got better… : Given that it was unrealistic to expect the stimulus to turn around the economy after four months of being in effect, one smart Democratic strategist tells us that it was a mistake for Obama to stop stressing that things would get worse before they got better. After all, the president made that point plenty during his first two weeks in office. In his inaugural address, he said that “the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met." And at that town hall in Elkhart, IN, Obama said “the road ahead won't be easy. This crisis has been a long time in the making. We're not going to turn it around overnight. Recovery will likely be measured in years, not weeks or months.”
*** … and then not: Yet weeks later, Obama was no longer emphasizing that things would get worse before they got better. A possible reason: The Dow Jones was sinking, and he was getting criticism for being too pessimistic about the economy. "With your help, we passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan -- the most sweeping economic recovery package in our history,” he told the AFL-CIO on March 3 (when the Dow was at 6,700). “It will create or save three and a half million jobs over the next two years, and it will do so by putting Americans to work doing the work that America needs done." And here he was on March 12 (when the Dow was at 7,100) addressing the Business Roundtable: “That's why we've already passed a recovery plan that will save and create 3.5 million jobs over the next two years, more than 90 percent of which will be located in the private sector -- a plan that will also give 95 percent of working families a tax cut that begins by April 1st."
*** Biden fights back : But yesterday in Ohio, at a campaign-style event, Vice President Biden asked the public for patience. "Remember, we're only 140 days into this deal. It's supposed to take 18 months," he said, per the Washington Post . And then he delivered this rebuke to GOP critics: "Would they do nothing?" A case can be made that Biden’s "misread" remark sparked this week’s headaches for the White House over the stimulus, so it's perhaps fitting that he was dispatched to Ohio to fight back.
Video: Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., talks about Vice President Joe Biden’s comments that without the Stimulus Act saving and creating jobs, the unemployment rate would be severely worse than the 6.88 million record-high it has now reached. ***
Just askin’ : By the way, how has it gotten lost in the public debate that about 40% of the stimulus consisted of tax cuts?
***
AIG is back in the news : Another headache for the Obama White House? The
Washington Post : "American International Group is preparing to pay millions of dollars more in bonuses to several dozen top corporate executives after an earlier round of payments four months ago set off a national furor... AIG doesn't actually need the permission of Kenneth R. Feinberg, who President Obama appointed last month to oversee the compensation of top executives at seven firms that have received large federal bailouts. But officials at AIG, whose federal rescue package stands at $180 billion, have been reluctant to move forward without political cover from the government."
*** The em-Burris-ment is over? NBC News has confirmed that, at 3:00 pm ET today in Chicago, Illinois Sen. Roland Burris (D) is expected to announce that he won’t run for re-election in 2010. The news is hardly a surprise given his weak political standing as a result of the Blago scandal and also his inability to raise money. The Blago scandal -- as well as state Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s (D) decision not to run, and Rep. Mark Kirk’s (R) entry into the race -- has given Republicans an excellent opportunity to pick up Obama’s Senate seat next year. Of course, you have to ask: Would Democrats even find themselves in this position had Burris said no to Blago, giving incoming Gov. Pat Quinn (D) the ability to appoint a Madigan or an Alexi Giannoulias to the position?
Video: Hardball guest host Lawrence O'Donnell is joined by The Washington Post's Eugene Robinson and Newsweek's Michael Isikoff to assess the implications of the news that Roland Burris will not be seeking reelection. ***
Daddy’s money : Finally, all we have to say about the news of Ensign’s father giving the Hamptons $96,000 is -- wow. Why isn’t this story receiving more attention?
Countdown to Palin Stepping Down: 16 days
Countdown to Election Day 2009: 116 days
Countdown to Election Day 2010: 480 days
Click here to sign up for First Read emails . Facebook and also on Twitter .
The AP : “The White House says it expects ‘frank’ but constructive talks in President Barack Obama's meeting Friday with Pope Benedict XVI - two men who share similar views on helping the poor and pushing for Middle East peace but disagree on abortion and stem cell research. With some Catholic activists and American bishops outspoken in their criticism of Obama, even as polls have shown he received a majority of Catholic votes, the audience is much awaited.”
