Happy Hour Roundup
* Sam Stein reports on an interesting new effort being spearheaded by blogger Jane Hamsher and liberal groups like MoveOn that will make breast cancer survivors the public faces of the push to get wavering Dem Senators to back the public health care option.
Here’s the first spot, targeting Senator Mary Landrieu:
More from Hamsher, a breast cancer survivor herself who has already made trouble for the White House by whipping votes against the war supplemental, right here.
* Speaking of a public plan, at an online town hall today, President Obama voiced strong, unequivocal support for the public option:
I also strongly believe that one of the options in the Exchange should be a public insurance option — an option funded by premiums, not the government. This public option is important because if the private insurance companies have to compete, it will keep them honest and help keep prices down.
* Here’s a good rundown of the health care questions thrown at Obama at the forum.
* A smart post from Eric Kleefeld, who reminds us that the Rupert Murdoch media empire, which is now going batty about Al Franken’s victory, was what originally sued Franken and put him on the political map. Life is funny that way!
* The release of that big 2004 CIA torture report that could undercut Dick Cheney has been delayed again, with officials hotly debating what to declassify.
* Jonathan Martin articulates the Sarah Palin conundrum:
Was Palin a fresh talent whose debut was mishandled by self-serving campaign insiders, or an eccentric “diva” who had no business on the national stage? Going forward, does she offer a conservative and charismatic face for a demoralized and star-less party? Or is she a loose cannon who should be consigned to the tabloids where she can reside in perpetuity with other flash-in-the-pan sensations?
Um…
* Behold the new Capitol Hill office of Senator Al Franken.
* And here’s today’s very amusing installment in the Michele Bachmann chronicles.
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Jane Hamsher’s post is very moving.
An addition to Happy Hour Roundup, Fox News declares Dems really don’t have a super majority.
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An addition to the Gibbs gets reamed again file:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/07/01/cbs_helen_thomas_challenge_gibbs_on_controlled_town_hall_meeting.html
Antelope Freeway, one-quarter mile.
@sbj, now if Obama or Gibbs refuses to call on her for years and moves her to the back row for asking questions like Bush did, then you might have a point. But Thomas has “reamed” 10 presidents and countless press secretaries. Some might call that consistency, others will call it “gotcha media.”
What conundrum? Once you learn a bit about how she works it’s painfully obvious she has no business being anything more than a local politician – if that.
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