The Whole Delivery

One of America's best journalists who still doesn't get the recognition that he deserves basically held back no punches in highlighting how the Obama Administration has somehow left the Department of Justice in a state of politicization. In an article written today at the Huffington Post, the industrious Dan Froomkin reminded us of the departure of the man tipped to make the closing of Guantanamo Bay be a smooth process. And further reminded us about how his replacement is not the steadfast voice required to steer the Administration to the right direction it advocated for during the campaign. Greg Craig, as Obama's top lawyer, was the point man on a number of hot-button issues, the fieriest being how to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Craig argued for holding fast to the principles that Obama outlined before he became president, regardless of the immediate political consequences -- an idealistic approach that, in a White House filled with increasingly pusillanimous p...

Is the guy who tried to temper back this whole entire thing, the Joint Chief Of Staff: From the terrific Christina Bellantoni of TPM is this picture : To Tevin, Goodnight:

It's come time that the Villagers placed their love away for the current chief of Staff and do something interesting by running a popularity poll on him. Because it seems with every continuing day, the chances of it being high aren't........high. Today's latest bit of negative attention on him comes from Congress over his awful handling of healthcare. Now in this article, you have the same anonymous Democratic centrist idiots as "the Hill" is always happily willing to idiots saying that Emanuel should have started from the middle. Well, the Senate bill is directly in the middle right now as it stands, making those centrist Democratic senators who were too pusillanimous to say their names publicly liars or horribly misguided. Nevertheless, the bad press continues for the former House figure. The obsession for Emanuel (and Obama) wanting to "win" by signing anything is apparent. And that has been a total mistake in my mind.

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...

Maybe to insure that the status quo stays and stays long and well. The Senate has been fairly clear that they cannot pass a healthcare bill including a public option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel asserted Wednesday evening. Emanuel professed pessimism that healthcare reform would include a strict public (or "government-run") option, though he signaled an expectation that House liberals may still push for the prized reform. "I think Senate's been clear about the prospect there is," Emanuel told PBS's Charlie Rose when asked if healthcare can pass with the public option. "That doesn't mean in the House they're not going to come to the table and demand it." Yeah, real sweet for the "Triggerman". He is such a cape crusader of defending the status quo and the corporate lobbyist destroying a good bit of the Democratic Party after it has basically ended a rational chance at getting anyone from the Republican Party to act wit...

Is being fully played now between House Progressives and the White House sadly beholden to corporate interest thanks to Rahm Emmanuel, with President Obama allowing it I guess the White House has figured that support for a public plan will only get more entrenched if they let it pass the House on the first go-round. Per Brian Beutler , they're now telling "reform groups" (aka the veal pen) that the public option is a goner: Low-level White House officials have reached out to certain reform groups that have staked their ground on the need for a public option, I'm told, and warned them not to spend any more money advocating for the policy--that it's just not worth it. The New York Times says that "It's so important to get a deal [that Obama] will do almost anything it takes to get one." To say that this is an inadequate response to this deeply moral issue, and perhaps the defining moment of his Presidency, is the most charitable response I can thi...

At first glance, this post from Greg Sargent would make you shake your head at Obama and Emmanuel ( it did mine ) Did Rahm Emanuel privately signal to Democratic Senators that the White House is prepared to drop the public insurance option from health care reform in order to get a bill passed? Two Dem Senators now say Emanuel is signaling exactly that : White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel met last night at the U.S. Capitol with Senate Democrats and told them Obama is “open to alternatives” to a new government insurance program in order to get legislation overhauling the health-care system to his desk, said Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota. And Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana said Emanuel urged the senators to seek Republican support and didn’t discourage them from pursuing the use of non-profit cooperatives, an idea Conrad has proposed. That last line is key: The White House may be signaling that getting a public option is less important than winning bip...

Great stuff. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.