Lyndon's Whipping

Horse-Trading Farmhand.   Speaking Dan Henninger, WSJ, on Friday 12, re the difference between Senate Majority Leader and VPOTUS and then the accidental POTUS LBJ and POTUS Obama. LBJ built the foundation for the Great Society by starting in the Senate with the extremely cautious and conservative (and Jim Crow) Democratic bloc in the South as early as 1957 -- passing the 1957 Civil Rights Act one vote at a time. LBJ argued that it was critical that the bill pass while maintaining good and meaningful relations between the opponents and proponents. LBJ also argued for incrementalism, in that the 1957 bill was only four pages long and did not achieve anything close to the comprehensive protection of rights in…
By John Batchelor | March 12, 2010 12:34 AM (2)

Speaker Rumors

Speaker Hope.     Fresh report from Steve Dennis, Roll Call, that some of the Bart Stupak Dirty Dozen are slipping away from the coalition to resist the Senate bill and that all is not gloom and despair in the Speaker's office.  The White House's Rahm Emanuel attended a think tank…
By John Batchelor | March 11, 2010 12:07 AM (2)

Stupak

Stupak is the story.   Whip count again with John McCormack, Weekly Standard, along with Margaret Hoover FNC, and John Avlon, Daily Beast, to find that the number remains under 200 for the 216 needed by Mrs. Pelosi.   McCormack spoke to Bart Stupak of Michigan, leader of the well-established…
By John Batchelor | March 10, 2010 12:33 AM (3)

Ivan's Court

Rahm and Eric and the Bear Raiders of Lost Minds.      Nicholas Sarkozy arrives at the Court of Obama to campaign for the French presidency in the same town as his rival, IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and the opening remark for the day's PR is that Sarko will defend the…
By John Batchelor | March 9, 2010 11:02 AM (9)

"Desperate"

Whip Hand.   "...I think it's realistic because the American people are desperate..."  HHS Sec Kathleen Sebelius was the early warning system on healthcare last year, when she commented on Sunday talk that the "public option" would not survive the process.  Sebelius is honest and trustworthy, and she knows much more…
By John Batchelor | March 8, 2010 12:56 AM (10)

Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers."
February 19, 2010 8:35 PM (4)