The on-again, off-again legislative odyssey of the public option has been filled with false alarms, red herrings, and dead-end breakthroughs. So the latest twist, Thursday’s news of a potential Chuck Schumer–engineered compromise that would create a national public option but allow states to opt out, could end up a forgotten blip a month Read More
The standard talking point from proponents of the public option is that, contrary to the Republican fear-mongering, it is absolutely not a stalking-horse for an eventual shift to a single-payer health care system.
To say anything else would be to play directly into the right’s time-honored reform-killing warnings about “government takeovers,” “socialized medicine,” Read More
The signs are unmistakable: The Senate’s Democratic leaders are laying the groundwork to compromise away the “public option” that, to much of their party’s base, is the litmus test of whether any health care reform plan is worth enacting.
“We might have to give up the public option or go to a co-op,” Read More
The signs are unmistakable: The Senate’s Democratic leaders are laying the groundwork to compromise away the “public option” that, to much of their party’s base, is the litmus test of whether any health care reform plan is worth enacting.
“We might have to give up the public option or go to a co-op,” Read More
The fate of Barack Obama’s health care agenda may hinge on a man who, when it was time to assemble a White House team, the president pointedly ignored.
That would be Howard Dean, whose desire to run the Health and Human Services Department—and, thus, to be the administration’s most visible face on health Read More
It's that time of the year, as July turns to August, when TV news land once again becomes well populated with substitute anchors.
This week, it's Keith Olbermann's turn to take a vacation. And today, MSNBC officials announced the names of those who will fill in on Countdown while Mr. Olbermann is away.
Lawrence O'Donnell will kick Read More
Al Sharpton had just stepped out of a meeting with Barack Obama.
It was January 2007, and he was down in the Obama Senate office during a trip to Washington to meet with a number of Democratic presidential contenders. Mr. Obama had been almost uncannily pitch-perfect, Mr. Sharpton thought, hitting every talking point and Read More
Watching the mass impulse toward democracy in Iran over the past week has been alternately inspiring and terrifying. The power and clumsiness of the state never fails to scare me and the courage and intensity of the public in the street continues to inspire. Something is different about political participation in these early years of Read More
After a rousing introduction and brief speeches by Dean and Skaller, the first question was, surprisingly, about Read More
Here’s a video of Howard Dean explaining how he came to basically endorse two candidates—Josh Skaller and Brad Lander—in the City Council race for Bill de Blasio's seat.
“Democracy for America is endorsing Josh and Josh only,” Dean told a group of supporters this morning.
“However, my situation is different.” Dean said Read More
In the wake of Tom Daschle's implosion, media speculation on Barack Obama's next nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services has focused mainly on four names. Three of them are (fairly) logical candidates for the job. One is not.
The name that doesn't belong is Howard Dean's. The former DNC chairman remains Read More
John Kerry and Hillary Clinton both wanted - and probably still want - to be president, a reality they joked about when their paths crossed on Tuesday.
As Jason Horowitz noted, Clinton, Barack Obama's soon-to-be confirmed secretary of state, accidentally addressed Kerry, the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as "Mr. Read More
So maybe Barack Obama doesn't think Jimmy Carter has cooties after all. The soon-to-be-president broke bread and shared the Oval Office stage with Carter on Wednesday. Granted, two other former presidents, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush were also present, but it nonetheless marked the first time in the nearly Read More
Pat Quinn’s moment is about to arrive – finally. Illinois’ lieutenant governor, who has toiled for decades in the less visible rungs of state politics, will ascend to the state’s top job whenever Rod Blagojevich steps down or is dragged from it. (Does anyone seriously believe that Blagojevich, arrested by federal agents before Christmas on Read More
