The Whole Delivery

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 ...

Every Republican strategist probably wants to scream at her at every second of their days : "We needed to have the press be our friend." "We want them to ask the questions we want to answer." Harry Reid is currently the luckiest man in America. For it helps what seemed to be a non-win election shaping out to be another November celebration, thanks to a resident All Star of.....

He continues to bury himself in a level of demented that even Jim DeMint can't even reach . I don' even understand how TPM was able to not laugh in his face: Last night, in an interview with TPMDC, Lord defended himself and extended his critique of Sherrod, and the entire Democratic party, which he claims is the true repository of racism in the United States. "I have felt for a long time that my friends on the American left, in the Democratic party have just had this atrocious history with racial issue," Lord said. "I mean it just can't possibly be any worse. I've gone back and read all the platforms for the Democratic party starting in 1840 which was the first one." What's changed in the last generation, according to Lord, is simply the nature of the Democratic party's racism. "What struck me about [the Sherrod speech] was that sort of little, casual aside, where she says something about health care, and 'I've never seen...

I can't believe I'm seeing this : As Liliana said : It shouldn't surprise anyone that has been able to pay attention though: It shouldn't at all.

She's a populist crusader now ! A far-reaching proposal to regulate derivative trading will not be scaled back in Wall Street reform legislation, at least for now, multiple Senate aides confirm. The development comes as welcome news to an unusual mix of progressives, financial officials, and at least one conservative Democrat: Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR). Lincoln is the author of the derivatives title in the Senate's financial regulation bill, and for weeks has faced opposition from Wall Street, the White House, and members of her own party over a provision to force financial firms to spin off their derivatives trading desks into stand-alone entities. The proposal to weaken the derivatives title was ultimately drafted by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd--the Democrats' chief financial reform negotiator--and introduced yesterday at the eleventh hour of the debate over Wall Street reform. In it, Dodd proposed kicking the spin-off provision down the road for t...

Because it simply was : Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said in an interview that Tuesday's elections look like a "pretty big sweep" for progressives. "They are having a big night," he said. "My belief is that progressive Dems are a lot more appealing to mainstream voters than tea party advocates," Dean told me in an interview just after Rep. Joe Sestak was declared the winner over Sen. Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Democratic Senate primary. "This is a big night for people who really want Washington to be a change agent," Dean said, adding the results show a "backlash" against both parties in official Washington. Dean, also former governor of Vermont and a 2004 presidential candidate, said he views Jack Conway as the progressive choice in Kentucky and said Lt. Gov. Bill Halter's forcing of a runoff in Arkansas proves that candidates on the left can prevail. Yet so far, the focus is alway...

Thanks to TPM's silliness: I had to make sure that Conan and his crew was just playing around Nowadays, you just can't be so sure. More to come ladies and gentlemen, stay tuned.

I guess you can't say he is your normal 2nd Amendment advocate now. Or his friends. Ernest Hancock, the online radio host who staged an interview with an assault rifle-wielding cohort at the Obama event in Arizona yesterday -- and was himself armed with a 9 millimeter pistol -- was a vocal supporter and friend of right-wing anti-government militia members who were convicted of conspiracy and weapons charges in the 90s. And in an interview today with TPMmuckraker, Hancock said he still believes the Viper Militia case was "manufactured" by the same government that manufactured Waco and lied to its people about 9/11. The federal government initially accused the Arizona Viper Militia of plotting to blow up federal buildings, which the twelve-member group cased on videotape. Marshall In other words, the Viper Militia folks were sort of Tim McVeigh also-rans from back in the glory days. Hancock, though not indicted himself, was their main public advocate. He was clearly close...

Comical. But Fox is just as, if not, more comical than the networks of Stewart and Colbert.

Oh boy, the network of Burnett & Baritiromo looks to have suffered another embarrassment by encouraging a group of teabaggers to help in their search of a rowdy town hall: Martin tells TPMmuckraker that she did not forward the Scott townhall -- or, in fact, any event -- on to CNBC as a candidate for coverage. She stressed that her group "does not endorse anything that incites violence of any kind," adding that the email list is un-moderated. "I can't moderate every single comment," she said. Asked whether CNBC had specifically told her they were looking for an event with "lots of energy and lots of anger," Martin replied: "That was the impression that I received from them." She declined to elaborate. CNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Will be interesting if Olbermann or Maddow went there on this. Would be so.

TPM's current headline It's explains the whole thing of craziness that transpired at that Lebanon, Pennsylvania just this morning. And so does this thread at the Kos.

The Rational Online News Network thread is back. And it could have come at a better time. Especially this ridiculous story about Stephen Hawking not benefitting from health care in Britain. Absolutely hilarious that it is way funnier than I have described it. Heck, I'll just give you the key excerpt Now, it might be tempting to respond to the IBD piece by noting that the health care reform proposal backed by Democrats is in no way similar to the British health care system, so these mind-numbing comparisons don't make any sense. That, of course, would be a fair response. But let's not overlook the punch-line here. As Bookman noted, "Of course, that same Stephen Hawking who wouldn't have a chance in the United Kingdom was in fact born in the United Kingdom, has lived his entire life in the United Kingdom and lives there still today, at the ripe old age of 67. (He was in fact hospitalized earlier this month.) Hawking is, you might say, living, breathing proof that th...

Haven't done a 100 seconds post for TPM in a while, so, here you go from Mr.marshall and the fabulous crew over there. Enjoy.

Once again, another great addition of TPM's 100 seconds, including the fake outrage from the media in regards to the bailout money not getting revealed. Where the hell were you guys, um, a month ago? Fake or clueless outrage from our shameful media again.

First, TPM's 100 Seconds, including this hilarious moment at 1:03 from CNN Second, another Republican idiot makes himself look like a, well, idiot after assuming that Barack Obama went out of the country. The President-elect, however, is in Hawaii. Last time I checked, Hawaii is part of the country: The silliness of saying Rahm Emmanuel is having 21 conversations with Blagojevich and his staff, when he only had one: And finally, via the Aptly titled "Vote For America" on the Daily Kos World, Al Franken is up 48 votes over Norm Coleman in the bitter, still ongoing Minnesota Senate race. Peace.

The trial of Joe Lieberman has been discussed vehemently, all over the liberal online network. From the Daily Kos: Mr.Moulitsas on Evan Bayh saying Lieberman needs to say on the committee , after he has a "sincere apology" of some sort. M-squared believes Lieberman has too much ego to shown penitence. Of course, we all know Lieberman never will issue such an apology. He doesn't think he did anything wrong. His megalomania is such that it prevents him from every showing any humility or regret. So will Bayh still whip his fellow Democratic senators in favor of Lieberman if Lieberman refuses to offer that heartfelt public apology? He'd look foolish if he did so. Then again, Lieberman has never given a damn about making his allies look foolish. Bayh may end up being just the latest in a long line of people burned by Lieberman's insufferable sanctimony. Also from the Kos is Jed Lewison perspective on this, and it isn't at all warm to what Bayh said, even if it ma...

As always, enjoyable from Mr. Marshall and his crew!

Always a classic to watch, especially Joe Biden's comment.

(Photo from the Associated Press, via the Wall Street Journal) Tremendous news indeed. Despite a little semi-weird title from the nevertheless great TPM.... Disproportionate Number Of African-Americans Casting Early Ballots ....African-Americans are turning out not only in big numbers, but they (and I can use "we" since I'm black, and you can use "we" since you are American if you aren't black) are voting early!!!! Americans are voting early in large numbers this year -- and African-Americans in several states are turning out in disproportionate numbers. Some fear that polling places in predominantly black neighborhoods will be overwhelmed by a record turnout on Election Day. Others are voting early to be certain the chance to elect the first black U.S. president doesn't slip away. There are a lot of great quotes in this wonderful story reported by the Wall Street Journal of all Murodochian papers. For example, this one: During the lunch rush at the poll...