TPMDC Morning Roundup
Bush Hits Obama On Gitmo
During a speech yesterday in Pennsylvania, former President George W. Bush deviated from his previous declarations that he would not criticize President Obama. "I told you I'm not going to criticize my successor," he said. "I'll just tell you that there are people at Gitmo that will kill American people at a drop of a hat and I don't believe that persuasion isn't going to work. Therapy isn't going to cause terrorists to change their mind."
Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama will meet with Vice President Biden at 1 p.m. ET. At 3:15 p.m. ET, the two of them will meet with George Mitchell, the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace. At 4 p.m. ET, Obama will meet with Treasury Sec. Tim Geithner. At 7 p.m. ET, Obama will speak at a DSCC/DCCC fundraising dinner.
Biden's Day Ahead
Vice President Biden will meet at 10:45 a.m. ET with Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard. At 12 p.m. ET, he will speak at the DSCC/DCCC fundraiser. In the afternoon he will meet with President Obama in the Oval Office, and afterwards he will administer the oath of office to the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Maybus. Then he will join President at 3:15 p.m. ET, meeting with Special Envoy George Mitchell.
Poll: Obama's Ratings Mostly Great -- Except On Auto Industry And Deficit
A new CBS/New York Times poll shows President Obama's approval rating remains high at 63%, to only 26% disapproval. Obama also has a 57%-35% rating on the economy, 59%-23% on foreign policy and 57%-24% on fighting terrorism. However, he is at 41%-46% on his handling of the auto industry, and only 30% think he has a plan for dealing with the deficit, to 60% who say he does not have a plan.
New Dems And Blue Dogs Team Up Against "Crazy Liberals" On Health Care
The Hill reports that New Democrats and Blue Dog caucuses, the two groups of centrist and relatively conservative Democrats in the House, have been working together to come up with their own set of principles on health care reform -- in order to counter the left. Said an anonymous senior Democratic aide: "You have a bunch of crazy liberal chairs and their crazy liberal staffers, and they want to lay down a marker."
Roll Call: Senate GOP Still Saying "No"
Roll Call reports that Senate Republicans are holding together on an important subject: Resisting and delaying Democratic action on just about everything. "Democrats need to know when they bring [bills] up, we're going to extend the debate as long as we can -- even if we can't win it," said Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), "so that their people back home know that they're voting for this junk."
Rove: GOP Can Stop "ObamaCare" -- With Its Own Proposals
In his latest Wall Street Journal column, Karl Rove calls on Republicans to counter Democrats on health care by offering their own incrementalist proposals. "As long as the choice was between reform and the status quo, the public was likely to go with the reformers," Rove writes. "But if the debate is whether to go with costly, unnecessary reforms or with common-sense changes, then Republicans have a chance to appeal to fiscally conservative independents and Democrats and win this one."
Hillary Clinton Breaks Elbow
Sec. of State Hillary Clinton fractured her elbow in a fall yesterday. Clinton had been on the way to the White House when she fell, and was treated at The George Washington University Hospital. An event that had been scheduled for today, marking World Refugee Day alongside Angelina Jolie, has been cancelled.


















How pathetic that Dubya trots out the "therapy" canard, as in "damn libruls want to send all the terrists to therapy." And "persuasion" as a euphemism for torture...Just shut up and go back into your bubble now, George, 'kay? We haven't missed you.
June 18, 2009 9:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
don't believe that persuasuion was meant to be a euphemism for torture. i think he misspoke (surprise!) and accidently double negatived. he meant to say persuasion and therapy aren't going to work.
June 18, 2009 10:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well, there may be some detainees at Guantanamo who may would kill an American at the drop of a hat--particularly now--but I don't see Boumedienne rushing around Paris looking for an American to kill, and I haven't seen any reports of Uighurs in Bermuda or Palau rushing up to American tourists, knocking their drinks away, and plunging knives into their chests in the name of Jihad.
And sorting out the possible hat-dropping-American-killer-wannabes from the non-enemy-combatant innocents was never really something you felt you needed to do, was it?
You asshole.
June 18, 2009 9:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
To be fair, I doubt American tourists in Bermuda are dropping their hats. It's hot there.
June 18, 2009 10:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
You mean people who we've baselessly incarcerated and tortured may hold a grudge? Now we have to keep them prisoners!
June 18, 2009 11:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bush returns to being the classless clown he has always been.
June 18, 2009 9:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
Was he ever anything but that?
June 18, 2009 10:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
No, he was also a class clown.
June 18, 2009 10:36 AM | Reply | Permalink
He did shut up for the first few months of Obama's term, and that was noted by Axelrod and others because it was a welcome contrast to Cheney.
June 19, 2009 12:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
Now, now Lars and Molly; let's try to see the glass as half full. I'm glad that Bush spoke up yesterday, because it helped me to remember how happy I am to have a president who is literate, thoughtful in a non-hyperbolic sort of way, and who has a strong grasp of our mother tongue ;). In these difficult times, I'm grateful to GWB for some comic relief (she said, tongue firmly planted in her cheek).
June 18, 2009 9:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
I definitely have to agree here. Having that complete idiot speak (and make an ass out of himself by reminding us that he can't speak in his own native tongue) is great for Obama and America in general. It serves as a reminder of what has been done to our country, how far we have to go until we've fully recovered, and how lucky we are to have an intelligent, thoughtful, interested President.
June 18, 2009 9:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
While I can appreciate your sentiment, I can't agree that the absence of pain is remarkable. My memory isn't so bad that I need to have my face forced into some straphanger's armpit to remind me of the virtues of deoderant. Likewise, I don't need to hear from the Cretin Bush ever again to remind me that there are intelligent people who could run the country better than he ever dreamed he could.
June 18, 2009 10:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is the media going to challenge Bush’s outrageous statements? If they do it will be a first
June 18, 2009 10:06 AM | Reply | Permalink
No, they will pump up the anti-Obama angle as they always do. As if 30-percent-approval-rating Shrub has some weight in the American populace. I all but guarantee Bush apologist and McCain lackey David Gregory will say something about it on MTP Sunday. And it come across as being against Obama.
June 18, 2009 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
No, they'll create another debate that now would be between Bush And Obama.
June 18, 2009 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
I didn't realize that W. was at GITMO, seeing as he has killed more Americans at the "drop of hat" than any at GITMO.
June 18, 2009 10:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
Does he realize (I ask rhetorically) that "their people back home" actually want them to vote for the things they're voting for? And more, in most cases?
I mean, coming out for inertia is all well and good, it being part of Newton's Laws and all, but it's time these bodies stopped remaining at rest.
June 18, 2009 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
"As long as the choice was between reform and the status quo, the public was likely to go with the reformers," Rove writes. "But if the debate is whether to go with costly, unnecessary reforms or with common-sense changes, then Republicans have a chance to appeal to fiscally conservative independents and Democrats and win this one."
is called rovianism. if the people want reform, dress up the status quo and call it reform. why bother giving the people what they want when you can just trick 'em? always focus on the framing of the debate rather than fixing the underlying problem the debate is over. rove to the people: politics is my business and policy is none of yours.
June 18, 2009 10:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
To put it in words even a Texan should understand:
Nobody imagines that a man who spent 8 year unable to pour piss out of a boot knows anything about the dropping of hats.
June 18, 2009 10:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
You can always count on a Reep to trot out a stupid strawman in order to support their case.
Go back to your phony ranch in Crawford and keep your trap shut, dumbass. Oh that's right, you don't even bother keeping up that stupid charade any more.
June 18, 2009 11:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and Tom Daschle caved on the public option as well. What a shame he had to withdraw his nomination, I'm sure he would have been such a strong leader on reform.
And I'm not voting for Obama or any other Democrats again if they don't pass a real reform bill with a real public option that keeps these POS insurance companies in line. They're squandering the greatest opportunity we've ever had and I'm not rewarding them for it. I will applaud their defeat in 2010 and 2012, it will be well deserved. What's the difference between Dems who are beholdend to these corporations or Repubs? I'm not seeing much difference at this point, and neither Obama nor any of the congressional Dems(of course) are speaking out forcefully enough on this.
It's all about "oh noes, the Repubs don't like this, we simply must have the support of the minority party that's been rejected by the voters!"
This is looking to be a giant disappointment. We'll have about as much "reform" as we did in 1993 or 94, then watch as costs continue to skyrocket, people continue to go broke and bankrupt, and our elected officials continue to fellate the insurance industry.
Obama needs to use the political capital and popularity he has to get it done right. He needs to use all of his skills to take back the momentum because it is clearly swinging away from a real public option.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/06/daschle-folds-on-federal-public-health-care-plan.html
June 18, 2009 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
The "crazy liberals" line is truly obnoxious (notice how the "crazy liberal" 75% of the country that supports a public option never enters into their thinking, only congresspersons and staffers), but the bit of the article that's worse from a practical point of view is this:
They claim to be fervently devoted to the principle that competition will solve all our problems, but they want to guarantee that the public option will not have a competitive advantage over private insurers. The underpants gnomes would be proud.
June 18, 2009 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
In a civilized nation, those who tortured other human beings would be put away. In our new improved UNITED WE TORTURE STATES of AMERICA... we continue to give them pulpits to spew their venom.... so they can still influence others.
June 18, 2009 7:29 PM | Reply | Permalink