TPMDC Sunday Roundup

Jarrett: Obama Making Phone Calls On Health Care
Appearing on Meet The Press, White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett said that President Obama is continuing to work on health care reform: "What he's doing and what happened over the course of the weekend is there've been a series of phone calls and conversations to try to see what, what the climate is, what's the art of the possible. But what the president is always going to do is try to push hard for the American people. He's not going to give up on that because of one election in Massachusetts. He's going to continue to work hard. We don't know what's going to happen. But what we do know is that we have a president committed to delivering for the American people."

Joe Biden: Beau 'Doesn't Want To' Run For Senate
In an interview with the Wilmington News Journal, Vice President Biden said that his son Beau Biden, the state Attorney General, does not want to run for Joe Biden's former Senate seat -- which would badly damage the Democrats' chances of keeping the seat. "If you run into Beau, talk him into running; he respects you," Biden told reporter Harry Themal. When Themal responded that he doesn't think Beau wants to run, Joe Biden said: "I don't think he does either. I know he doesn't want to."

Axelrod Doesn't Rule Out Raising Taxes
Appearing on State of the Union, White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod refused to rule out raising taxes in order to reduce the deficit: "If anybody has a plan to do this without raising any taxes on anybody, upper income or below, they should come forward with it because nobody wants to raise taxes."

Gibbs: We're Working To Figure Out The Best Path Forward
Appearing on Fox News Sunday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the White HOuse is still working with leaders on Capitol Hill, to determine how to move forward on health care. "We're working with leaders on Capitol Hill to try to figure out the best path forward," said Gibbs. "We don't know what that is quite yet ... The problems that existed in American health care that existed a year ago or a week ago continue today."

Menendez: It's Amazing How Quickly People Forget
Appearing on This Week, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) said: "First of all, let's look at what happened last year. People forget. It's amazing how quickly -- just as people forget what Barack Obama inherited and the enormous economic consequences and spending on the Republicans, two wars totally unpaid for, credit card mentality, putting it on our kids' future, a Medicare Part D program totally unpaid for, tax cuts for the wealthy, totally unpaid for. But, you know, the bottom line is, he passed a stimulus package to stop the nation from going into a deep depression. He succeeded at that."

DeMint: There's Not Going To Be Bipartisanship As Long As Dems Move Towards More Spending And Debt
Appearing on This Week, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) said: "Well, we're not going to have bipartisanship as long as the Democrats are moving towards just more spending and debt. Listen, when the president came into office, the Democrats had controlled Congress for two years. Presidents don't write policy and spend money. The Congress does. The Democrat Congress had taken us in the wrong direction. And the first year of the Obama's presidency, he created more debt than George Bush did in eight years. So we've got to get rid of this inheritance idea. The president and the Democrats need to take some responsibility." (Note: Mark Knoller points out that the debt claim is false.)

McConnell: Dems Have To Decide Whether They'll Listen To The American People On Health Care
Appearing on Meet The Press, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the burden is still on the Democrats to bring about bipartisanship on health care reform: "Well, the Democrats are in the majority. They have the White House, they have the House, they have the Senate. They have to decide whether they want to listen to the voices of the American people. All the surveys all across the country--and even in the most liberal state in America, arguably, Massachusetts--the people are telling us, 'Please don't pass this bill.' Now, if they get past this arrogant phase that they've been stuck in for about a year that, 'We know best. We don't want to listen to public opinion here, we want to 'make history,'' if they can work their way past that and concentrate on the real problem, which is the cost, we're willing to look at it. But I think we need to be concentrating on the economy."

McCain: Campaign Finance Reform Is Dead
Appearing on Face The Nation, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) agreed that campaign finance reform is dead after this past week's Supreme Court ruling. "It was clear that Justice Roberts, Alito and Scalia, by their very skeptical and even sarcastic comments, were very much opposed to it," said McCain, who also questioned the justices' experience: "I think that it was interesting that they have had no experience in the political arena I was reminded of the story of Lyndon Johnson, when he was vice president, was told about President Kennedy's appointments of all these brilliant people, and he said, 'You know, I wish one of them had run for county sheriff.'"