The Whole Delivery

In the latest Beltway book that will garner some attention, Think Progress' industrial Igor Volsky certainly got a major catch today from Tom Daschle talking about his new book about how health insurance reform happened. It's a revelation that sure won't endear the Obama Administration towards the base it has already upset too many times before : I asked Daschle if the White House had taken the option off the table in July 2009 and if all future efforts to resuscitate the provision (the public option) were destined to fail: DASCHLE: I don’t think it was taken off the table completely. It was taken off the table as a result of the understanding that people had with the hospital association, with the insurance (AHIP), and others. I mean I think that part of the whole effort was based on a premise. That premise was, you had to have the stakeholders in the room and at the table. Lessons learned in past efforts is that without the stakeholders’ active support rather than a...

Wendell Potter, the former CIGNA employee turned moral whistleblower on our insane health insurance companies, was back on Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night to discuss the latest deleterious trick of his former industry to retain their inhumane profits. As reports indicate , those heartless robots at the top of our dysfunctional embarrassment for health providing in this country are looking at a way to stop offering child only plans as immediate parts of " Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act " come into effect on Thursday. Potter has been a wonderful blessing in the emotion driven fight for a true health system for the people over the last year and a half. But his restraint in not labeling his former colleagues in the field "monsters" and just saying their continued actions to deny children coverage is just "part of the system" exonerates them from their crimes. Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the econo...

Can small business even make it to 2014 before health insurance reform comes in? Unless the states they are in are able to opt out of it like Ron Wyden would want , maybe not with those absurd rates. Arizona's nutcase governor must have gotten tongue tied with wanting to say "border control" to have this unbelievable disaster : Mike Pence is on of their top mascots. They have many top mascots though . Calculated Risk thinks the unemployment rate will increase to 9.6% . And he also highlights how the lack of quality reporting on non-Census public sector jobs is a major problem. Among Democracy Now's headlines, BP has paid $93 million in television ads . Hopefully they just won't cave : Democrats led by Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Raul Grijalva are drawing a line in the sand before the White House's fiscal commission: If your report recommends cuts or other changes to Social Security, they will say, you'll lose our support. In ...

Oh dear, the repeal campaign will start revving up again : A federal judge Monday refused to dismiss a Virginia lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the federal health-care law, handing the law's foes their first victory in a courtroom battle likely to last years. U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson rejected arguments from Obama administration lawyers that Virginia has no standing to sue over the law and no chance of ultimately prevailing in its constitutional claim. Hudson was appointed by Bush in 2002 and was, randomly enough, the judge to give Michael Vick his sentencing from the dogfighting era. But I guess it's a okay for a judge with Bush ties to create a ridiculous and insane process of lawsuits from now, not only in "Bob McDonnell Land" but maybe even a number of other states getting ruined by the nutcase party. This country really does loathe itself.

The nutcase party were throwing their arms in their usual fake outrage over President Obama recess appointing Don Berwick (and they still are doing just so , blocking more appointees as usual) . But when it comes to former Wellpoint Vice President, proud Max Baucus buddy buddy, and proud author of the health insurance reform bill Liz Fowler becoming the director of Consumer Information and Oversight at HHS , there is not even a single word from them. It already is bad enough that this figure from that company gets to implemented the bill, (although since she wrote it, I guess it is only fitting). But the nutcase party only gets loud and immature again over the guy in charge of Medicare and Medicaid being placed in his position while they were on their lovely enjoyable break. I wonder what happened to all that vehement defending of those two public health care systems that they had moments ago? And I wonder what also happened to all the condemnation for the executive office re...

It heads back to the House for some technical changes , but in terms of health reform, it's official over for this point. But it never should end until the right system is placed in. Update : Just to let everyone know, besides the usual two of Nelson & Lincoln, Mark Pryror didn't vote for the reconciliation bill either.

And also.....

219-212 was the final total for the Hose to pass the Senate bill. 34 Democrats joined all the Republicans. And just a few minutes ago, the reconciliation bill recommendations, "the deem bill", will now pass to the Senate. HR 3590, the Senate bill, will now be signed by President Obama before the Senate votes for the fix. Lots to report right now in the next thread, including who yelled out "Baby Killer" at Bart Stupak . Update 2 : The Reconciliation deem bill has been passed now, with it being 220-211 as the final total. Full roll is here .

And press time, and everyone having any right to know about how crazy and nutty his personal life and thinking is. That's all he and those teammate looney tunes joining him in the back got. Words and press time. It's the only thing that matters to them.

Because the tea party people love all people of color . Rep. Andre Carson (D-Ind.) claimed Saturday that healthcare protesters at the Capitol directed racial epithets at Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) as he walked outside. Carson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus along with Lewis, told The Hill that protesters called Lewis the N-word. Tea Party protesters held a rally outside the Capitol on Saturday, which included speeches by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and actor Jon Voight, and then proceeded into the halls to lobby members at the 11th hour. Lewis was one of the leaders of the civil rights movement alongside Martin Luther King. Jr. Doesn't matter, because to them, he is just another nigger (or if you want to be hip, nigga). Or a fag or anything else disparaging . Updated : First hand account "It was absolutely shocking to me," Clyburn told the Huffington Post. "Last Monday, this past Monday, I stayed home to meet on the campus of Claflin Univer...

Somehow, Norah O'Donnell had to ask this question to Senator Tester this morning: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy Yup, she asked him if the Senate bill has federal funding for abortion. Now most casual followers of the media already know we are going to get stupidity, poor journalism, or dishonest storytelling to continue a narrative instead of getting the truth from the likes of say, Greta van Susteren : But there are a lot of well known reporters and anchors on MSNBC who are really just as bad in their portrail of journalism in America. Once again, if O'Donnell acted like a good journalist instead of a poor one, she would have just researched this or watched the highest rated show on her network to get the answer she seeked from Tester this morning: Once again, so O'Donnell (or Savannah Guthrie or Chuck Todd ) won't have to speculate like the mediocre at best journalist that she is on political issues (unless the...

The CBO score for the soon to be amended Senate bill is out, and it cuts the deficit. Something that everyone should have known would be the end result, though a public option would have been easier to score. Pure comedy : You got to love how nutty these people are. K-Lo still stands out : House GOP sources are not too surprised. Some raise this question though: Why is the whole report not being released? As I understand it, we're only seeing selected points from the scoring, not the whole report. So there appears to be some confusion about what exactly is being counted. The only confusion that this nut is having is how reality once again just doesn't go along with her crazy agenda.

The line "You just can't make this up about these ignoramuses" just cannot be uttered enough. Minutes after Kucinich's speech, David Shuster interviewed Baby Prop user and intelligence challenged Republican John Shadegg. Instead of regurgitating the usual government takeover and "kill the bill" line of his party that we have gone accustom to, Shadegg provided an even more entertaining and gregarious moment for the day. Shadegg supports Single Payer! Though the whole interview is comedy platinum (because gold is an understatement), the standout moment came at the 3:14 mark when Shadegg somehow tries to say that his party is against the for-profit health insurance companies. Watch the fun unfold: The laughter just can't be contained for how foolish Shadegg looks. I just wish Shuster would have been able to then ask him if would sign to be a co-sponsor for Alan Grayson's Medicare Expansion Act ? That would have furthered certified how epic t...

If you have been paying attention of late, nothing at all came as a surprise from what President Obama said at the White House for health insurance reform, because that's the actually technical term for it now (and look at Robert Gibbs Twitter page to see just that). Reconciliation, through he didn't just simply say the word, is what will happen no matter what. Of course that is spurred on by how hilarious the nutcase party is for voting against their own ideas in the bill. Of course, the continuing focus on how mentally disabled the right wing isle was the main strategy in this speech. But addressing anything about the public option was completely taboo in this speech. So basically, you didn't miss anything at all of you have been paying attention.

It has really been highly peculiar and damaging to our process the attack that House Democrats have received this week, especially from highly credible and usually rational sources. And as the week has progressed, the anger directed at them for not giving the 218 votes for the Senate's bull of a bill on health insurance reform has been staggering. But instead of the likes of Paul Krugman and Matthew Yglesias among others placing the blame on House Democrats (specifically progressives) for just being realistic and fighting for the American people, they need to again direct culpability on the damn Senate. If this Hackio report is true (because Lord knows how Hackio is), then I suggest Krugman, Yglesias, and others demanding that the House Democrats wise up and get the 218 to WISE UP themselves: Part of the negotiations center on whether Reid can provide an ironclad guarantee that the Senate will not leave the House in the lurch, aides said. If the House agrees to pass the ...

I will talk more about how Jonathon Gruber not seeing the full story of "unaffordable" health care for some unknown reason a little later (though the one and only Ms. Wheeler has the full perspective on that already). But regardless on if you even agree with Gruber's premise on the Excise Tax being "good policy" in the final Health Insurance Reform bill, the Kos' astute policy reporter Joan McCarter says it exactly right here (bolded words from me): Gruber received his first contract back in March, and didn't disclose these contracts publicly until last month, and that's a problem. Gruber's analysis has been used for public relations by the White House in support the plan. Using the excuse that "if anyone asked, I told them" is not the same as actual transparency, and opens Gruber and the White House up, unnecessarily , to criticism on the transparency front. This isn't to question Gruber's qualifications as an economist or t...