magster points this out, via Brian Beutler:

If you weren't already convinced that the House and the Obama administration are on a collision course, you might be now. The latest statement out of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office is unequivocal: "A bill without a strong public option will not pass the House," Pelosi said.

(Emphasis supplied.) At this point, walk back is getting tougher and tougher for the House. Obama needs to deal with this new reality.

Speaking for me only

Greg Sargent reports on this letter from Progressive Block leaders Representatives Raul Grijalva and Lynn Woolsey:

Dear President Obama:

Thank you for continuing to work with Members of Congress to draft a health reform bill that will provide the real health care reform this country needs.

We look forward to meeting with you regarding retaining a robust public option in any final health reform bill and request that that meeting take place as soon as possible.

[MORE . . .]

If you could go to the U.S. Open tennis tournament in Flushing Meadow, NYC or go watch the Woodward Stakes, featuring super filly Rachel Alexandra, at Saratoga in upstate New York this weekend, which would you choose?

Here was Rachel Alexandra destroying Belmont and Travers winner Summer Bird in the Haskell:

This is an Open Thread.

The Washington Post, which opposes investigations into potential war crimes committed by the Bush Administration, is gung ho on getting Charlies Rangel tossed as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee.

Their calculus is easily understood - war crimes are just too divisive, but omissions on financial reports are trivial enough for one to actually care about. I mean, this is the same Washington Post that called for the removal of a President because of private consensual sex.

Let's face it, who really gives a damn what the Washington Post thinks about anything? I promise to ignore Fred Hiatt and his minions from now on.

Speaking for me only

You may have noticed I pick on Ezra Klein a lot. The reason is not because I dislike him. (Jeralyn says he is a terrific person.) I do not know him. I pick on him because of the brand he carries - "progressive" blogger espousing the "progressive" view. But that is an inaccurate characterization of the Ezra Klein who blogs at the Washington Post (And make no mistake, Ezra is on the fast track to being a major "progressive" voice in the Beltway Media Establishment.)

Part of that process is logrolling. Here is Ezra logrolling for Joe Klein:

I'd probably rather be almost anywhere than the dentist, but that's where I'm headed for the rest of the day. At least the drive to his office in Boulder will be pleasant.

How long have you had the same doctor or dentist? I've had the same doctor for 28 years and the same dentist for 25 years. (Which is not as long as I've had the same auto insurance policy -- 38 years.)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Via Brian Beutler, the Chairman of the Progressive Caucus Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) said:

I truly expect the President to live up to the promises he has made to America about real change and that he truly stands for uninsured Americans and working families that need and are demanding a choice of a competitive public option when he addresses Wednesday's joint session of Congress.

Without a public option, this bill is not real reform. Real reform would lower and contain health care costs, precisely what inclusion of a public option would achieve. Without a robust public option, reform will enrich pharmaceutical and insurance companies because it will lack any significant competition and incentives to drive down health care costs for consumers.

I wonder if Beltway Dems are paying attention. Grijalva is saying that President Snowe's health care reform is not worth capitulating for. No bill without a robust public option.

Speaking for me only

I thought I was done with the subject but it is getting discussion in the Beltway. Ed Kilgore, who I respect, writes:

[Ezra] Klein goes on to address the frustration of party progressives about the unfairness of this disequalibrium of power within the party . . . I'd put it in a slightly different way: if, say, the Progressive Caucus in the House wants a final, definitive test of strength against the Blue Dogs, it might make sense to choose one in which the failure to act is entirely acceptable according to their own principles and priorities. At the same time, Blue Dogs need to be frequently reminded that they will be the very first Democrats to suffer electoral disaster if the President's legislative agenda comes to grief.

(Emphasis supplied.) Ed actually gets it right but does not understand that THIS, the public option and health care reform, is that issue. This is the "final definitive test." And the downside is simply not there for the Progressive Block for holding the line. President Olympia Snowe's health care bill is not worth compromising for in this fight. The Progressive Block will gain political strength in this battle, whether they get concessions from President Snowe or not. No bill at all would be a political win for the Progressive Block IF they hold the line. A bill with a public option is a win for them as well, since it will have happened because they held the line. This is the right fight, the right line, at the right time, for the Progressive Block. At this point, capitulation by the Progressive Block would be the end of them. They really can not back down now. Time for Beltway Dems like Kilgore and people like President Snowe to get that.

Speaking for me only

I think what you�ll see is that while the movement on behalf of the public option certainly wants a public option and believes the public option is important, the larger goal is to �to try and make the federal government more responsive to progressives in the long-term� by engaging in a form of inside-outside organizing and legislative brinksmanship that�s aimed at enhancing the level of clout small-p progressives in general and the big-p Progressive Caucus in particular enjoy on Capitol Hill.

That requires, arguably, some tactical extremism. If you become known as the guys who are always willing to be reasonable and fold while the Blue Dogs are the guys who are happy to let the world burn unless someone kisses your ring, then in the short-term your reasonableness will let some things get done but over the long-term you�ll get squeezed out. And it also requires you to pick winnable fights, which may mean blowing the specific stakes in the fight a bit out of proportion in the service of the larger goal.

(Emphasis supplied.) I am quite unconvinced that Beltway Progressives like Yglesias and Ezra Klein have it right on the policy of health care reform. The health care reform likely to emerge from President Olympia Snowe will mean next to nothing imo. But at least Yglesias is finally absorbing the lesson on political bargaining.

Speaking for me only

Jean Edward Smith, who wrote one of the best biographies of FDR, writes:

PRESIDENT OBAMA�S apparent readiness to backtrack on the public insurance option in his health care package is not just a concession to his political opponents � this fixation on securing bipartisan support for health care reform suggests that the Democratic Party has forgotten how to govern and the White House has forgotten how to lead.

This was not true of Franklin Roosevelt and the Democratic Congresses that enacted the New Deal. With the exception of the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 (which gave the president authority to close the nation�s banks and which passed the House of Representatives unanimously), the principal legislative innovations of the 1930s were enacted over the vigorous opposition of a deeply entrenched minority. Majority rule, as Roosevelt saw it, did not require his opponents� permission.

[MORE . . .]

California's parole board yesterday denied parole for Susan Atkins. Atkins has served more than 40 years in prison for her role in the Sharon Tate/LaBianca murders. She has served more time than any other female inmate in California history.

She is dying of cancer, paralyzed and several years ago had a leg amputated. She's no threat to society. Susan Atkins was sentenced to life with parole -- not life without parole. They are not the same thing. [More...]

The Obama Adminstration says enough to disclosure of CIA-detainee documents in the ACLU's FOIA lawsuit. The ACLU is not pleased.

Susan Atkins, paralyzed and dying, is up for parole again. She wanted to appear in person:

Atkins, 61, is riddled with cancer, paralyzed over most of her body and has had her left leg amputated. "She is kind of poor condition -- poor, but stable condition." Atkins is able to speak, but is not capable of entering the hearing room on her own....

Enough already. It's been 40 years. Let her out. Update: She was denied parole today.

The SEC's Inspector General has a report saying the SEC bungled the Bernie Madoff probe for years. [More...]

Levi Johnston rips Sarah Palin in a new article he's written for Vanity Fair.

For “Me and Mrs. Palin,” Johnston tells Vanity Fair his story about life with the Palin family—with whom he lived for two months after the election—over the course of his two-and-a-half-year relationship with Bristol. He turns a number of commonly held beliefs about the former governor—the purportedly loving mother, devoted wife, and prolific hunter—upside down.

Levi starts out mild, but then heats up, particularly as to her post-election loss conduct: [More...]

The store is in the process of being given away by a particularly inept White House. We can hope I suppose for a miracle, but the handwriting is on the wall. Ezra Klein will tell you whatever comes out will be great, no really, it is. But you know better. My series on the Madman Theory of Political Bargaining has been presented with a classic counterexample - a President we were thinking could be an FDR is quickly becoming a Jimmy Carter. Steve Benen's retelling of the Van Jones kerfuffle explains it all:

In the exchange, Jones was asked why a Republican president working with a Republican Congress can pass more of its agenda than a Democratic president working with a Democratic [Congress]. "Well, the answer to that is, they're a**holes," Jones said. He added, "Barack Obama is not an a**hole. Now, I will say this: I can be an a**hole, and some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama, are going to have to start getting a little bit uppity."

(Emphasis supplied.) That tells the tale. Our last hope is that the Progressive Block gets uppity. Obama won't do the political bargaining for us.

Speaking for me only

The Obama Administration's Don Draper, David Axelrod, is working on the pitch for the Obama Administration's capitulation on the public option. Here's his first pass:

White House adviser David Axelrod tells ABC News that what remains of Obama's desire for a public option is largely theoretical. "The spirit that led him to support a public option is still very much at play here and so you know he wants competition. He wants choice."

(Emphasis supplied.) Hmm. Not bad. But needs a little work, Ax. You'll be working on this over Labor Day Weekend I take it? Let's see some artwork on that as well.

Speaking for me only