Dontcha love it when the tide begins to turn? (Cue “Ebb Tide.)

Ebb Tide, wOOt!

Where are the calls for the “up or down” votes that the President’s nominations deserve?

And where one GOP Senator jumps off the sinking ship, will more follow? Olympia Snowe? Judd Gregg? Susan Collins? Orrin Hatch? Who’ll be next?

Of course more will follow, because if one defection is good for Republicans, two or three would be excellent!

And clearly part of their master plan to become a national party again.

I was wondering yesterday how strong Haggis’ Scrapple’s opposition to Johnsen might be, and if he might do what it looks like bad Nelson is contemplating: vote for cloture but against confirmation. That seems like his best route to doing something to please both sides. The bonus is that gives us Johnsen at OLC.

Once every two or three years, Lugar will actually do something right. ‘Course, backing a fellow Hoosier isn’t exactly an ultimate act of bravery.

Still, he has broken out of his near-perpetual cipher mode, so I suppose that he’s entitled to some minimal credit.

P.S. and OT – I’m getting real damned sick of “the media” screaming at all of us to please begin wetting our collective pants immediately – and to forget about all of those pesky, past, and irrelevant torture issues.

Morning all. Internet was out for a bit this morning — just now getting back on. Hate it when that happens…

Thanks, Christy.

Toll free senate and congressional switchboard: 1-800-828-0498, 1-866-338-1015, 1-866-220-0044, 1-877-851-6437.

Anybody seen Norquist?

How’s that “bathtub, drowning” thing working out for him?

Maybe he meant the Republican Party, not government, would be swirling down the drain.

Concerning arlin.
It’s easy to talk the talk
I judge him when I see him walk the walk

Hey, hey. That’s an insult to scrapple.

And folks, please do make calls today. I’ve been hearing from staffers that the fact that Senators are getting calls on this is getting noticed. In some offices quite a bit.

Thanks heaps for all the effort so far. I really appreciate it!

thanks Christy will call again.

Specter does not support the Dawn Johnson nomination. Specter against the Employee free choice act.

Specter hasn’t yet said one way or the other what his cloture vote will be. I’m wondering about that, too…

Was surprised yesterday when Sam Brownback (R Kansas) voted for Sebelious but she was from his home state. Could the Lugar endorsement be the same thing?

MC Steele’s little boo hoo rant about Cornhole sticking his neck out for Haggis yesterday makes me think this kabuki dinner show is OVER.

Do you suppose that came up in his tete-a-tete with Obama this morning? *g*

Most likely that has a lot to do with it. But the GOP has been pushing for unanimity on this one — to have Lugar publicly break ranks now undercuts that push quite a bit. (she types hopefully)

There’s probably a hefty dose of that. Pat Roberts also voted for Sebelius. I’m sure they’ll vote no on both cloture and confirmation for Johnsen because of their anti-abortion rabidness. Note that Specter did vote for confirmation of Sebelius. If he were still facing Toomey in a primary, would he have been able to do that?

Specter against the Employee free choice act.

That’s ok – it’s not like PA Democrats need any support from PA labor, or anything.

They’re gonna love him.

/s

and isn’t there a personal connection between Johnsen and Lee Hamilton ??

Do you know the confirmation vote total? If you have to look it up, I can look it up!

65 to 31.

65 to 31

I’m pretty sure it was 65-31. When I looked at the individual votes (senate.gov and click on “votes”), I saw that no D’s voted “no”. The interesting (to me) R “yes” votes were Collins, Snowe, and Voinovich. They’ve all been with us on a number of important votes so far, along with Scrapple.

jinx!

Dawn Johnson is married to Judge Hamilton’s brother – they are the nephews of Lee Hamilton.

Good Morn Christy and Pups.

Don’tcha just love it when the pubbles dig in their heels and cover their eyes, stomp their feet and dog knows what else, then dare blame Obama for not having accomplished anything achieved that precious 60-vote mark.

I shall not contact Voinovichy any more. He’d only use it as an excuse to march doubletime heading away from progress. A soft-spoken thug who routinely jams the gears of progress and humane policiy is no less a thug. The only thing one can say for Vichy, he’s consistent. If it costs money, it must be bad. His mattress must be a sight to behold, with all those little scraps of bills sticking out of the seams. idgit.

I shall not contact Sherrod Brown either, except to thank him for his tireless, savvy, good-hearted service. He’s a self-starter, definitely a keeper. ;->

Last I heard from Brown’s office, they hadn’t made any decision on support. So a call to him would be useful if you have the time.

Thanks. Being a plugger, I plodded through the NYTimes, forgetting about the senate.gov access.

Hi Redd. Dang the toobz! Full speed ahead!

I’m curious. Did the toobz act up yesterday also? We were having an awful time getting FDL, or much of anything, to load for quite awhile (pc mozilla).

I had no problems yesterday. The problem this morning for me was with my local cable service, not FDL — I couldn’t get online at all from here for a while.

Kyl & McCain are the kids I am stuck with.

Arlen’s between a rock and a hard place.

He needs the Dems far more than they need him.

60 seats was only a matter of time, anyway.

What’s he gonna do if he’s unhappy, go back to the Republicans?

No, they’ll let him prattle on about being an ‘independent thinker’ but he’ll have to play ball most of the time.

Besides, as many others here have pointed out, it’s no lock that he will make it out of the Dem primary either.

Sorry about that — Kyl’s been a bit of a jerk about this. But it might be worth a reminder to both of them what they have said previously about filibustering presidential appointments. I have found some satisfactory sputtering can occur when you quote back their own words and ask why the hypocrisy now. *g*

Thanks for the heads-up. Will do. Brown will listen and, if he’s wavering or looking for a nudge, it’ll help. I’ll get right on it.

Quite seriously, for the past several years, although I have kept the language properly respectful et al, I’ve ratcheted up the pressure so much on Vichy, he’d probably take any kind of nudge from my direction as a worthy excuse to run the other way out of spite.

An army marches on its stomach. Have a delicious muffin and an extra cuppa on me. ;->

You’ve gotta love it; they lose Specter yesterday, and who is on MSNBC this morning?

The Dick Armey.

What, Newtie and Darth weren’t available?

Talk about being politically tone deaf.

“…kabuki dinner theater”

Now, that’s funny!

We had this problem with Norm and also with Rep. (but not really) John Kline. I sometimes wonder where the fine line lies.

I got so pissed last week. Wolf Blitzer had Armey on to talk about the economy and didn’t bother to ask him any follow-up at all whatsoever after Armey pratteled on and on about the “Tea Party” crap. Jeebus, is it too much to ask that people have to point out personal conflicts of interest up front or that journalists point them out if they don’t because people need to know that there is a monetary interest between Armey’s bottom line and playing up this crap?

Some days, I despair of people ever buying a fricking clue.

well, CNN had Fred Thompson on this AM to grade Obama’s 100 day performance. “prosecuting past administration will make us like a 3rd world nation.”

Thank you, but I had some multi-grain porridge with ground flaxseed, sliced banana and a sprinkling of dark chocolate chips this morning already. Trying to eat healthier and pop in some extra antioxidants where I can.

And it was seriously nummy.

(((spewing coffee))) Peter Principle Poster Person.

Was Grandpa Fred wearing that lovely green hard hat ensemble again? That was serious prune-level stylin’…

Did he yell at the clouds too?

Sen Michael Bennet’s office was taking comments but said he has not yet taken a position but she would pass my comments along

Ahhhhhhh…the iPod just popped on Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi.” Some songs just make you smile every time.

On matters such as this where there is no overwhelming principle at stake, there is no excuse for a Democratic Senator not to vote for cloture. They can protect their miserable asses by voting no on the nomination.

Thank you — I was particularly pleased with that one myself. hehehehehe

Doesn’t he always?

Sadly, no green hat.

I got so pissed last week. Wolf Blitzer had Armey on to talk about the economy and didn’t bother to ask him any follow-up at all whatsoever after Armey pratteled on and on about the “Tea Party” crap.

I wonder, is the ability to let your eyes glaze over as people you interview say patently ridiculous shit an acquired skill, or something you’re born with?

Thanks much — appreciate the update and the call. :)

“not prosecuting past administration will make us like a 3rd world nation.”

Fixed it for Fred.

My experience w/ calling Bayh’s office is always like that. There have been times when a vote was literally minutes away, and according to staff, “Senator Bayh has not taken any position on this matter as yet.”

I get disappointed watching so called interviews without any follow up questions, too. But, since there’s only a few folks in media who actually have a conversation with a guest – Bill Moyer, Rachel Maddow – that’s just how they work. They just plan for a few sound bites and move on to the next story. It’s about agendas not actual information.
Am lurking this am. Got kinda scared and weirded out reading Morning Swim.
But, people here on your post are doing well. Thank you all.

Also, if everyone could take a little time to push Harry Reid’s office today, I’d really appreciate it.

Bayh may be the poster child for “tepid.”

and I forgot my self-imposed rule for Bayh references:

Evan Bayh (D-?-IN)

there.

Ugh. Arlen Spector. To hear Joe Lieberman “welcoming” him to the democratic party as if Joe didn’t get kicked out of the party by local Ct dems!?! Speaking of which, I wonder if Pennsylvania democrats would be willing to accept Arlen Spector as their democratic nominee in a no contest primary, because Joe and Obama said it’s a good thing. I know I wouldn’t.

Anyway whatever happened to the time when Joe Lieberman said everyone should just shut up and let the president choose his own people? Oh! I guess Lieberman was referring to Bush.

Hasn’t fast Eddie (D) ,our Gov promised no primary challenge as one of the conditions for jumping ship?.

Hey! They’re running outta red meat for the table. Heh. Tough old geezers wheezers, once removed, not so much. Well, la tee dah! *g*

I’m looking forward to the Republicans becoming ”The Party of Convictions.” ;-)

Bernie sanders was on Ed Schultz (?) saying Sebelius was not for single payer healthcare and it would have to be a grass roots movement. Sanders didn’t sound really overjoyed over the Arlen switch.

#58 & #59 Christy and Jayt! heh. u wanna add Voinovichy to that lil’ pile there? Be my guest.

I e-mailed Sherrod Brown. His site was a bit clunky. Mebbe I had company. Goody! Now let’s hope he behaves himself. His wife’s very active also, so mebbe she’ll nudge him effectively also. war is heqq.

POTUS finally met with Progressive Caucus yesterday. prior to the meeting they had stated single payer/public option as their ‘line in the sand’. haven’t seen reporting on this – probably due to the all Specter, all the time deluge

I’m going to guess that “moderate” democrats feel they need Arlen.

line in sand?

as in convicted? conflicted? conflagration-hated? conbusted?

Pennsylvania Firedogs –

has Casey’s Office taken a stand ?

May I suggest that people thank Sen. Lugar for doing the right thing on the Johnsen nomination?

The Congressional Progressive Democratic Caucus are prepared not to back down on this essential part of health care reform, and they’re planning to let President Obama know that health care reform without the public option will NOT get their backing.

link!

That’s a hoot!?! Liarman welcoming Arlen to, um, nowheresville? whut th’ heh.

Dear Liarmush: Out means OUT, OUTSIDE, d-i-v-o-r-c-e! cah-peach?

New Jane post up…

Merci! I was worried for a minute, because I get confused by idioms. And sometimes make mincemeat out of them.

from pnhp:

The progressives in the House of Representatives have stated that they “will only support comprehensive health care reform legislation which includes a public plan option on a level playing field with private health insurance plans.” (http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?ContentID=351&ParentID=0&SectionID=66&SectionTree=66&lnk=b&ItemID=349)

The Republicans will not support a government-run plan that competes “unfairly” with the private health plans. Specifically, they will not support a Medicare-like option.

But look at the wording of the statement from the Progressive Caucus. The public plan option must be “on a level playing field with the private plans.” The model that meets that definition is a PPO that is sponsored by the government but administered by private insurers, with a firewall separating the PPO from the government. Thus the government option will be simply another PPO, with all of its perverseness, competing in a market of private plans. The line in the sand drawn by the Progressive Caucus was washed away by their carefully worded release.

the hcan guy was here awhile ago flogging for an insurance centered plan (he may be a very nice guy but he has no clue what he’s talking about) and he pointed me to a paper on very general ideas on how this might work. the regulation required was more opaque/complicated than anything i’ve heard from geithner (and therefore ripe for being gamed by the insurance lobby). there’s lots more i could say, but the thread isn’t on health care.

agreed. Most important. Don’t let them only hear angry yelling. the kudos are golden. Think how you’d feel, folks.

Bernie Sanders/Schultz talked about the senate and Arlen not being big on single payer healthcare.

But look at the wording of the statement from the Progressive Caucus. The public plan option must be “on a level playing field with the private plans.” The model that meets that definition is a PPO that is sponsored by the government but administered by private insurers, with a firewall separating the PPO from the government. Thus the government option will be simply another PPO, with all of its perverseness, competing in a market of private plans. The line in the sand drawn by the Progressive Caucus was washed away by their carefully worded release.

Doesn’t sound very progressive.

Party of convicts

it’s not. but the insurance lobby is a big deal to the dems. i don’t know why else would so many “progressive” organizations and people would all of a sudden stop talking about single payer unless it came from the top down?

from david sirota in 2006:

News Flash – America Wants a Single-Payer Health Care System

Kevin Drum at the Washington Monthly takes the DLC to task for – shocker – not supporting the concept of a single-payer, government-sponsored health care system in America. Drum argues that Democrats have lacked the courage to stand up for such a proposal. He’s probably right – they fear the wrath of the health insurance companies. But make no mistake about it – the public would be with Democrats if they had the guts to push single-payer. As an ABC News/Washington Post poll showed in 2003, the majority of Americans support a single-payer, government-sponsored health care system, even when they hear the right-wing’s alarmist arguments.

the people may want it but the pols don’t.

kudos to schultz and sanders. i’m going to look for a podcast of that show. thanks for the heads up.

Called Casey’s office — he has no official position on the Dawn Johnsen nomination. The person I talked to made a point of saying that he didn’t approve all of Obama’s nominees. When I expressed my support for Johnsen, he made sure to tell me that he *did* support 75% of them….

Definitely worth a call to Casey. Probably getting lots of calls from the anti-choice nuts.

Hasn’t fast Eddie (D) ,our Gov promised no primary challenge as one of the conditions for jumping ship?.

He sure has but, other than allocating resources, can he really enforce that?

NO. PA Dems will not support Senator Arlen Narcissist.

Locally a lot of PA Dems are hoping for Senator Sestak.

Can a Governor do that?

What pdaly said:

From Leahy’s letter to Bybee: You [Bybee] were nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as head of OLC on September 4, 2001. You were confirmed on October 23,2001.

pdaly wonders: By comparison, how long has Dawn Johnsen been waiting to hear since Obama nominated her January 05, 2009?