The Whole Delivery

In case you all didn't even bother viewing it yesterday (November 14, 2012), here's NBC privilege figure Luke Russert embarrassing himself with the ridiculous question to Nancy Pelosi. After that display of hypocrisy (because Russert would not ask Mitch McConnell or John Boehner that question) and ageism from Russert, it was almost equally topped by the man who replaced Luke's father as host of Meet The Press , David Gregory, for choosing to host sore grapes elitist Lindsey Graham Sunday . Gregory rushed to have Graham on the minute Obama slammed him and his best friend forever John McCain for their continued vapid petty attack at Susan Rice and their overblown view of what happened in Benghazi that evening. Three men. Two centrist journalists who have no fundamentals of being good journalists, and a power hungry bitter, elitist old Republican. Your culture in the nation's capital in a complete nutshell. Run and surrounded by arrogant and in...

Photo from Associated Press When we look back on August 10, 20010 in our hopefully happy year round ups in December, most in the media will probably remember this day for all the usual wrong reasons. You can already see the energy devoted to those "wrong reasons", and they have generated the top headlines and focus throughout the rational online community. And that is a total shame. Because for this day, the standout event wasn't another slap from directly the top to who the hell knows who, or how a once proud Congressman is creating a very sad and narcissistic ending to his career. Rather, in a sane world, most of the attention in the US political bubble we reside in would be on the current Speaker of the House. Unless it's the final numbers in an election, I have dwindled in my attention and importance for polls over the years. Maybe it is more the ones conducting the polls, such as Scott Ras publican , or the lazy analysis our vapid media draws from them ...

Nancy Pelosi's live speech: Online TV Shows by Ustream ( Update: And the interview session is over at 1:15 PM, 10:15 out there. Full analysis to come later. )

With the momentum of the Obama Administration finally deciding to use recess appointments for the likes of Craig Becker being felt , Nancy Pelosi indicates that should be the commencement and not the conclusion of the Democrats staying on the gas pedal. From The Hill reporter Ian Swanson, the Speaker of the House urges her colleagues in the House to stay active as Easter break approaches: Members returning to their districts should tout the new healthcare law’s benefits to their constituents, according to the “recess packet” issued by Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) office this week and obtained by The Hill. Members should “convey the immediate benefits of health reform to your constituents (such as better prescription drug benefits for seniors, tax credits for small businesses and prohibiting insurance companies from canceling your policy if you get sick),” the memo said. But emphasizing what the health insurance reform bill will do isn't the only homework House Dems should be doing, ...

And made even sweeter by the Daily Kos community : Not a bad week for her at all. To Montell, enjoy the rest, if there is any left, of your Friday Night:

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 .

Shame that the wonderful revival of the "Hot potato" game is because of a lack of courage .

In the read between the lines common sense culture that political journalism ensures, we are able to decode the simplest of cryptic messages. But with how no one yet on the Democratic side wants to be the upfront person and say "The public option is dead once and for all", then any phrase parsing that could indicate a Democratic figure saying that vaunted message is very silly in my mind. We have already heard Jay Rockegeller and Robert Gibbs outright say or indicate that "The Public option doesn't have the votes in the Senate" the last few weeks in the midst of the public option revival. Yet, the public option is still being talked about. Yet, most sites , and even great ones I respect like TPM , have rushed to proclaim what Nancy Pelosi said in the press conference as her saying "The Public Option is dead." That is not fair at all to the Speaker, and brings any claims of "Nancy Pelosi has killed the public option" are real possible f...

Realizing that passing the Senate bill as it stands would be potentially very damaging, the last coalition of figures in the way of a monstrosity bill going into law has told the Speaker of the House they cannot pass the Senate bill. The meeting, which took place not too long ago, re-emphasizes the drama of the situation aggrandizing by the millisecond “We cannot support the Senate bill — period,” is the message that liberals delivered to the Speaker, Dem Rep Raul Grijalva told me in an interview just now. Some had hoped Pelosi would push liberals to get in line behind this approach, in hopes of expediting reform, but that didn’t appear to happen in this meeting. Pelosi mostly listened, Grijalva said, adding: “We didn’t get any declarative statement from her.” The immense pressure that everyone is in could lead to a standoff between both chambers of Congress Tellingly, House liberals also urged Pelosi to consider passing individual pieces of reform through the House as indivi...

And it probably was well deserved : Pelosi could be obviously annoyed at how she and most in the House will get slammed by the likes of FDL and just other progressives who don't want the House to fold easily, but will in the end properly do so to the Senate. Especially those house progressives who said they wouldn't vote on a final bill without a public option, but may do so at bill's end in the conference. It was really a stinging one from Pelosi at the end, and it could lead to some brining up tensions between the Speaker of the House and the White House.

First, NYCEVE is at a free health clinic in Kansas City. It is a deep : Here is live coverage of that Health Care Clinic: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy Jew Lewison has written something that is probably the realest post today that can be made about the entire process as a whole: I tend to doubt there's any chance of this happening, but I'm thinking it would be smart for President Obama to concede that the Senate health care bill has serious flaws, even though on balance he believes it is a step forward on health care reform. The basic reason is simple: it's the truth, and that's something the public appreciates from its leaders Instead, the only thing you'll here though is "This bill isn't perfect, but it's a good start" or something along those lines. Nancy Pelosi softens her stand on the public option , and that will make fierce House progressives not happy. Apparently, Harry Reid sent more that one t...

You would think that the House, with how fierce its Speaker has been as well as having a clear dominate majority in the Democratic side would produce the strongest health care reform bill for REAL reform in this country. And especially after last week, last Thursday, where the Speaker said that she had the votes for a robust public option , you would have all assured yourself that at least the House will give the nation its best shot at ultimate reform happening. Then all of a sudden, last Friday happened . And ever since then, the robust public option became what it is now today. Not robust. Under pressure from moderate-to-conservative members of the House Democratic caucus, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has decided to propose a government-run insurance plan that would negotiate rates with doctors and hospitals, rather than using prices set by the government, aides said Wednesday. Ms. Pelosi said the public plan, which she prefers to call a “consumer option,” would compete with private insure...

Just like the right-wing movement in this nation, it is crazy how low Politico will go each and every day. Here's Hackio again, it's main ring leader Mike Allen, causing trouble with a bogus report that the House all of a sudden DIDN'T have the votes for a public option in their Health care bill. With that "story" flouting around, Pelosi and the White House had to slap that down as soon as possible . Nancy Pelosi called an "emergency meeting" of House Democrats this morning in an attempt to beat back rumors that she and other congressional leaders have abandoned the so-called robust public option. The House Speaker insisted that, despite reports to the contrary, the public option is very much alive as Democrats draft the health reform bill they hope to send to the House floor next month. Allen thought he was real slick, hearing what conservative or Blue dog Democrats in the House were saying to him about the House number not reaching the ultimate 218 nu...

AP Photo/Evan Vucci Full credit to the House and House Speaker in this is the end result for them House Democratic leaders "sounded bullish" after launching "an all-hands-on-deck effort to win support for a 'robust' public insurance option in their health care bill," Roll Call reports. Said Caucus Chairman John Larson (D-CT): "We think we have the votes now. We have the votes to pass a robust public option." Remember when the public option was dead? Yeah, I remember that too.

Photo from Getty Images America's number one bank to hate (unless CitiBank with its Ballout Field is more loathsome in your mind) has its CEO that a lot of people can't stand resigning : Following what has been a tumultuous year since the Merrill Lynch acquisition, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) President and Chief Executive Ken Lewis announced Wednesday he will step down from his role as the company’s head and retire. Lewis notified the bank’s board of directors that his retirement will be effective December 31, 2009. The company plans to start a search for his successor and said someone would be lined up before Lewis’ departure. The move is not a big surprise as analysts felt Mr. Lewis was a target following the mishandling of the Merrill Lynch deal and the need to receive government aid. Bank of America is facing several lawsuits, both from private investors and government agencies, over the handling of that Merrill Lynch acquisition and has received about $45 billion in gover...

Wonderful Today in her weekly press conference, however, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that there’s no reason for Grayson to apologize: Apparently Republicans hold Democrats to a higher standard than they hold members of their own party. … There’s no reason for Mr. Grayson to apologize. If anyone should apologize, everyone should apologize . Yesterday, Grayson did say he was sorry — to all the people who have lost their lives because they didn’t have health insurance (almost 45,000 Americans each year). Great. I love when hypocrisy is exposed, and exposed well.

Man, oh man. In another possible sign that a real showdown is looming over the public option, Nancy Pelosi offered some surprisingly harsh condemnation today of the idea of a public option with a “trigger,” denouncing it as “an excuse for not doing anything.” A Pelosi aide sends over a transcript from her presser today: Continuing PELOSI: We’re thinking and deciding about it. And the evidence seems to point, at this caucus that I just went to, that a trigger is an excuse for not doing anything. But everybody is open to listening to what people have to say. The point was made over and over again that for one reason or another the trigger was not effective in the Medicare Part D bill. Sargent makes a very salient point here: It’s hard to see how she could support it later if she believes it’s tantamount to doing nothing. No question about this, and again, it highlights the external roller coaster ride but internal consistency that the House Speaker has shown on this issue. One day stand...

I knew giving her praise yesterday would be temporary. You just had to feel it : Pelosi's spokesman, Nadeam Elshami, pushed back against recent news reports that Speaker Pelosi was going to drop the deal that she had made with the Blue Dog Democrats not to have the public option be pegged to Medicare plus rates in order to be competitive. Here's what he said below: Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami emailed us late last night to assert that no final decisions have been made on the shape of the public option: “It is inaccurate for anyone to assert that the Speaker or the Leadership has determined the form of the public option. How we move forward on the public option will continue to be discussed by the Leadership and the Caucus, which will meet on Thursday." Yeah, what a surprise. And notice the phrase "form of the public option." Will she cave or not is just the answer that will suffice. A civil war will probably happen if she does .

Hopefully the same will come when the conference call comes and the Senate doesn't have it in it.

The lobbyist meetings of late haven't been cool , but this is a plus mark for her : Though she said "she wanted the private sector to thrive", the support is still for the public option though. And if she caves likes she did on not investigating on the Cheney Administration, first blame Baucus, Conrad, "Trigger Man" Emmanuel, and Obama before you blame her.