And a great strategy.

Fired Up!

I know Chairman Biden has promised to hold oversight hearings exposing the weaknesses of the Bush/McCain foreign policy.  I hope other committee chairman follow suit.

Every member of Congress should be involved in getting a Democrat to the White House.  Events, as they did in 2004, shaped much of public opinion on the election.

When I read this, I thought, oh why didn't they do this in 2004. But as I soon recalled, the Democrats didn't control Congress then.

Just think of what we can do with a Democratic president and Congress!  

Great strategy.  Just shows how tough a situation McCain is in.  It's lose-lose.  If he caves and votes for the bill, then he's going to lose the faith of core republican voters who still are behind Bush.  There's no way he can win if he loses his base and they stay home.

On the other hand, if he sticks with the repubs and votes against the bill, he's just be feeding into Obama's "Bush-McCain" meme.  

You know, the general election may turn out to be a cakewalk, especially compared to the primary race.  Whatever anyone says about Hillary Clinton, Obama is not kidding when he calls her a formidable candidate.  Hillary Clinton runs rings around McCain.  

It reminds me of the 2004 baseball playoffs, when the Red Sox beat the Yankees in a really rough and bitter 7 game battle in which all the games were very hard fought.  Then, they swept the Cardinals in the WS in four easy games.  

It was more difficult during the primary because both Obama and Clinton are so similar on policy positions, they couldn't really distinguish themselves on that ground.  But, with McCain, the differences in policy and values couldn't be anymore different.  

If McCain votes for them, he loses his conservatives. If he votes against them, he loses his independents and Democrats. If he does not vote, he looks foolish. Sounds like a winner for us whatever McCain does.

It's an interesting strategy... but one wonders how this will work; while passage in the House may be possible for even the more controversial pieces, having the Senate even take up these bills will require some  GOP crossover, or at least a very tight coalition on the D side (and remember, Joe Lieberman is likely to oppose a lot of it). If the Senate can't even take up these bills... what will that say? Then, too, in the House, there's likely to be peeling away (that LGBT bill may be hard in some conservative districts to just explain away), and no reason for any GOP Rep to sign on to a strategy meant to embarrass McCain. I know we're all supposed to be bowled over by the genius of Palosi and Reid just at this moment... but I think they've been a mixed bag at leading their respective caucuses, at best, and also not necessarily skillful in being able to tweak either the GOP generally or Bush in particular. McCain didn't start legislating yesterday; and I suspect there's less of a bind for him here than some would like to think... and if the Ds make promises (like sending these bills to the President's desk) that they can't fulfill... does that help Obama, or does it make Congress (and Congressional Dems) look worse?

minimum tax!

McCain would pull a Bob Dole and resign from the Senate to avoid having to face these difficult votes.  Wouldn't it be awesome to have him resign to focus on the GE, only to lose to Obama.  We get a Democratic president and another Senate seat.

Kinda' turns the veto into a Republican booby-trap.  Brilliant and effective.

... it also gives McCain a chance to vote for all this legislation and differentiate himself from Bush, but thus far, he seems to go out of his way to be as Bushlike as possible.

Can someone please explain McCain to me? Does he still think he's in the Republican primary where everyone was trying to be as right-wing as possible?

That McCain would vote for torture and against the GI Bill ... that he'd fill his campaign with criminal lobbyists when he's supposed to be the anti-corruption reformist maverick. I just don't get it! It's like he has a death wish. Like early in the Republican primaries where he came out so flat-footedly for the war and made that stupid trip to the Baghdad market and he was down to single digits in the polls and completely counted out. But then Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Romney all imploded and before he knew what hit him, old Gramps was the nominee, scratching his head trying to figure out what to do about the public financing corner he'd stumbled into.

Frankly, I'm bewildered. And yet, at the moment, he's still dangerously competitive in the Electoral College.

Explícamelo por favor!!!

When you get Obey to take all 7 CMS recommended changes off the table we'll talk. Oh, and get Hoyer to stop the crap with telecom immunity. It's not effective when Democrats have already compromised bill language to get Yellow Dogs let alone Republicans on board. I do hope that an Obama administration will push for the right bills, as opposed to bills that are thought to have higher odds of passing due to catering to Republicans. That way, at least the compromise won't completely overlook the poor and working class people in this country. Getting the Iraq war supplemental passed without eviscerating it is something that the current Democratic leadership could push for right now. Without the suspension of all 7 of those CMS regs, however, you're justing coddling those who do not want to pay for health care for the poor, elderly, or those with chronic illnesses. I already get that docs need increased reimbursement rates for services, believe me. Without all 7 CMS regs off the table however, it's not clear that the patients they serve will be able to afford or access the services they need.

describing what we're talking about as a brilliant new strategy. I'm sure states wanting to make Medicaid related costs disappear think it's a really brilliant idea. People who depend on Medicaid for health care? Not so much.

It's all I have.