Daily Kos

The news: House Dems are moving to eliminate earmarks that appropriate funds for the direct benefit of for-profit companies. The method: The adoption of a rule banning such earmarks by the House Appropriations Committee. The reason: The PMA lobbying scandal, recently investigated by the House Ethics Committee. The committee's report concluded that...
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With now more than 40 Senators saying they would support the public option in a reconciliation vote, Dick Durbin is trying to put the brakes on the process, saying that liberals may be asked to oppose the amendment now that they've said they would support it. Roll Call reports: Majority...
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At yesterday's Progressive Media Summit with members of the Senate Democratic caucus, Chuck Schumer, Debbie Stabenow, Sherrod Brown, and Bernie Sanders fielded some tough questions and mutual frustration from said progressive media members over the reform process. First, in answer to a somewhat convoluted question from Ed Schultz about why the House wasn't...
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Well, depending on which pollster you are buying stock in (and it is a genuine debate, since neither of them are Rasmussen), Democrats should either be deeply concerned about flagging voter intensity, or heartened by surprisingly high voter intensity among African Americans. So say a pair of new surveys released this week on...
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For the past six months, both positive and negative reports have dotted the economic news, much of it downright contradictory. Most recently, for instance, there was evidence that consumer demand went up, even as consumer confidence went down. Retail sales rose but small business confidence fell. Wholesale inventories declined (a good thing) but freight...
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At Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, co-editor of Dissent Michael Walzer writes Missing the Movement: This is an incrementalist time, and the crucial thing is to get the increments right. The economic crisis and the two wars that Obama inherited make this difficult for our embattled president–and the fierceness of...
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Rasmussen, presumably on accident, releases a poll that shows exceptionally good news for Democrats, but then returns to form in the Granite State. The DCCC unveils a target list of sorts in the form of their first round of "Red to Blue" nominees. The electoral picture in Western PA gets a lot clearer today,...
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Last night on Countdown, Markos joined Lawrence O'Donnell to discuss the current state of play on health care reform, including Rush Limbaugh's hilarious claim that if reform passes, he'll move to Costa Rica. As Markos pointed out, if Rush really wants a libertarian health care system, he oughta give that libertarian paradise of...
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Get ready for the next big pile of stupid from the teabagger Right: Instead, we should answer Question 9 by checking the last option — “Some other race” — and writing in “American.” It’s a truthful answer but at the same time is a way for ordinary citizens to express their rejection...
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Shielding Americans from banksters and likeminded rip-off artists is only one small piece of needed financial reform. Out-of-control executive compensation, overly large financial institutions, insane derivatives trading, a Federal Reserve System apparently incapable of basic regulatory enforcement, and levying of a securities transaction tax all require attention. Political obstacles make all these difficult changes...
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