Four late-night news blurbs on Huffington Post tonight were all good news. How long has it been since we heard that? True, one robin does not spring make. But four . . . ? Here are the four headlines.
1. "America's Justice System Takes Down Another Terrorist." Last year our homeland defense system detected and averted a serious suicide bomber who had planned an attack on the New York City subway. He has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to commit murder. This should shut the Republicans up in their scare-mongering about Obama's weakening us and about trying terrorists in civilian courts rather than military tribunals.
2. "GOP Filibuster of Jobs Bill Fails." Newly elected Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) broke with his party and voted to end the filibuster against the jobs bill. He was joined by Maine's Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, as well as George Voinovich (R-OH) and Kit Bond (R-MO). Democrat Ben Nelson (D-NE) voted with the rest of the Republicans.
3. "New White House Health Care Proposal May Destroy PhRMA Deal." Obama apparently no longer feels obligated to stick with the deal he made with BigPharma. His proposal released today contains some things they had successfully lobbied against in the now-defunct secret deal.
4. "Dick Cheney Hospitalized, Resting Comfortably." Now, now. Don't paint me cynical. There is good news in that headline: he is resting comfortably. Let's just hope that he recovers and that his doctors insist that his health requires him not to speak, or even write, or think about public affairs for the next 10 years. The XVP deserves a good, long, very quiet rest, attended by his daughter Liz. Of course she might have to give up her job shilling for him on FoxNews. But that's ok. We can get spare her too.
Ralph
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Here's an irony. It may actually be the election of a Republican which spurred movement on a jobs bill. The fact that Brown stepped up early to vote against the filibuster may have made it impossible for his Republican colleagues from Maine to support the filibuster. Once a Republican broke ranks then the focus was on the issue they were voting on, not party warfare. If Snow, etc. voted to filibuster we would've seen Brown's face on every morning show talking about why, as a Republican, he supported the jobs bill and all the lockstep dittoheads would have been left sputtering.
ReplyDeleteAnd while I'm glad the Pharma deal may - key word, may - fall by the wayside, I'm still gravely disappointed that Obama is not offering a public option, esp. since support for that is clearly growing. His mild 'I'll support it if the Senate offers one' is yet another example of his failure to lead on this important issue.
Given his behavior this past year, I still think it's important for Progressives to continue to speak out and try to hold him accountable. Just because he's offering us a few roses now, that doesn't mean we weren't slapped in the face repeatedly last year.
richard
I agree he slapped us and that he still moves forward as if there really is a middle. I'm not sure there even is a middle, but it's possible that he might create one if he keeps at it. That would be a quite an accomplishment.
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