Which means what, exactly? Other than Harry Reid is talking about himself in the third person, always a bad sign.

Shorter Harry: Joe will cave when I tell him to cave. Not surprising. Joe's one and only lifeline to relevancy in DC is his chairmanship. Stripped of seniority in the caucus, he's a complete non entity. And the one thing that Joe loves more than anything else is reading his name in the paper. No one's going to pay attention to the utterly powerless junior senator without a party from Connecticut.

Brian, don't you mean "a bridge TOO far"?

So Reid's response is.... nothing.

Yah - I don't trust Reid. Presumably Obama is keeping a Plan B in his pocket for getting a public option to his desk.

Here's the thing to remember. A lot of these Senators have to publicly act the part they're supposed to act. Lieberman has to keep up appearances with the insurance companies in his state. It's the same with various other Senators. You'll never hear a categorical statement that they intend to vote against this measure - they always leave the door open. When the chips are down, none of them are going to be willing to be the one to kill health care reform.

Take anything they say publicly with a large grain of salt.

Lieberman simply has to lose his chairmanship over this. He has to. This is not excusable.

Good question. I don't know. I just thought TPM might want to follow up on the article with a call to Senator Leiberman's office. My guess is that the aids just haven't been updated yet on the Senator's position. It would be nice if Leiberman has already backed off his earlier comments though.

Lieberman:

DC Phone: (202) 224-4041
CT Phone: (860) 549-8463
Fax: (202) 224-9750
Email:
http://lieberman.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm?regarding=issue

Senator Kent Conrad knows that The Bank of North Dakota is the only state-owned bank in America and has $4 billion under management.

Is Senator Conrad of North Dakota aware of this fact? If Senator Conrad is aware of this fact then he is one of the biggest hypocrites ever. Senator Conrad of North Dakota is against government run health care insurance option and he is not against the Bank of North Dakota? Senator Conrad this bank is a great example of socialism. Maybe Senator Conrad does not know the meaning of socialism. The Bank of North Dakota has $4 billion under management.

It should also be noted that Bank of North Dakota earned a record profit last year even as the so called big banks lost billions and had to get assistance from the government. Could state-owned banks across America get us out of the financial mess? Maybe we need to take a good look at the Bank of North Dakota. Maybe we need to ask Senator Conrad about the Bank of North Dakota. I think we should call his office and ask him about the Bank of North Dakota.

By 1919, popular consensus wanted state ownership and control of marketing and credit agencies.The state legislature established Bank of North Dakota and the North Dakota Mill and Elevator Association.

Bank of North Dakota was charged with the mission of "encouraging and promoting agriculture, commerce and industry" in North Dakota. It was never intended for Bank of North Dakota to compete with or replace existing banks. Instead, Bank of North Dakota was created to partner with other banks and assist them in meeting the needs of the citizens of North Dakota. Just like the proposed PUBLIC OPTION.

The state Industrial Commission oversees Bank of North Dakota, as mandated by the 1919 state legislature. Members of the Industrial Commission are the Governor, who acts as chairman, the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of North Dakota.

The Bank also has a seven-member Advisory Board appointed by the Governor. The members are knowledgeable in banking and finance. The Advisory Board reviews the Bank's operations and makes recommendations to the Industrial Commission relating to the Bank's management, services, policies and procedures.

The deposit base of Bank of North Dakota is unique. Its primary deposit base is the State of North Dakota. All state funds and funds of state institutions are deposited with Bank of North Dakota, as required by law. Other deposits are accepted from any source, private citizens to the US government.

We need to call Senator Conrad and ask him to explain the Bank of North Dakota. We need to ask him if the Bank of North Dakota is a socialist Bank. We need to ask him if the Bank of North Dakota should be closed since it is run by the State of North Dakota.

I do not believe these so called Senators. They are for Medicare, assistance to farmers and other kinds of subsidy from the government.

Somebody should do a cover of Jay-Zs "99 Problems", only it would be called "41 Problems". :)

Reid used Lieberman to avoid the nuclear option? That was another big sell out. In return for the Republicans not using the nuclear option Reid let almost all of the problematic judges through.

I wanted the GOP to use the nuclear option. If they had, we could use it now too, and wouldn't need 60 votes to pass health care.

Reid is a serious problem and if he's going to fail this time he should be primaried out of office.