Embarrassing for the Republicans: RNC Chair Michael Steele on NPR. Embarrassing for the Democrats: Rep. Pete Stark calling moderate Dems “brain dead.” Some of you might challenge the inclusion of one or both of these moments on this list. Some of you might argue that one is more embarrassing than the other, and they thus don’t belong on the same list. I won’t weigh in on the latter and on the former, we’ll just have to agree to disagree.

Hanna Rosin posted yesterday on this NPR interview with James Morone, one of the authors of The Heart of Power: Health and Politics in the Oval Office. In that interview, NPR cites Ronald Reagan, opposing the creation of Medicare, thus: One of the traditional methods of imposing statism, or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It’s very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care...

And if they’re not “must reads,” then they’re at least “worthy reads.” Both from today’s NYT. Up first: David Leonhardt, who riffs on “real choice” (i.e., the lack thereof) among health insurance options. From his conclusion: … the defenders of the employer system have some legitimate arguments. An insurance exchange may end up having some of the same pitfalls as 401(k) plans, in which some workers make poor choices. Having employers...

Ben Smith characterizes it as a “classic” statement. But “classy” was the “c” adjective it prompted for me. I’d also add “genuine” and “heartfelt” to the list. Judge for yourself.

Per The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room, the former First Lady issued the following statement on the passing of the Lion of the Senate: I was terribly saddened to hear of the death of Ted Kennedy tonight. Given our political differences, people are sometimes surprised by how close Ronnie and I have been to the Kennedy family. But Ronnie and Ted could always find common ground, and they had great respect for one another. In recent years, Ted and I found our common ground in stem cell research, and...

It’s almost funny. In a post yesterday, I suggested we seek to be the type of citizens described by Mark Slouka in Harper’s; citizens who are … capable of humility in the face of complexity … formed through questioning and therefore unlikely to cede that right … resistant to coercion, to manipulation and demagoguery in all their forms. Almost immediately, a reader responded thus in the comments section: When I try to imagine an informed electorate, I remember all the...

The quotation is widely attributed to our third president: The best defense of democracy is an informed electorate. Over the past month, I recall a number of writers invoking Jefferson and bemoaning the apparent lack of his “best defense” in the current debate over health care reform. But Mark Slouka* suggests being “informed” or “educated” is not enough to defend democracy. He argues that the type of education matters and that the best, democracy-boosting...

I recently took note of a young conservative who spoke at an event hosted by Sen. McCaskill’s staff. I wrote that, while I didn’t entirely agree with this young man’s arguments, his clarity of thought and stage presence were impressive for someone his age, perhaps signaling a future for him in Republican politics. In addition to his public-speaking acumen, I also give this young man props for compelling me to revisit the enumerated powers of Congress in Article I, Section 8, of our...

I really enjoy reading Froma Harrop. I don’t agree with everything she writes, but she strikes me as consistently reasonable and fair. If accurate, this excerpt from her latest is a kick in the head to Republican grandstanding on health care reform: [Democrats] must have been rolling in the aisles this week when Sen. Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, announced, “There is no way Republicans are going to support a trillion-dollar-plus bill.” Republicans already have. In 2006, their...

Yesterday, I suggested … Obama and his HHS Secretary send strong signals that co-ops are firmly on the table, just long enough for GOP leaders to say “hell, no,” prove their craven obstinance, and give the Dem majority all the cover they need to pass the law they wanted to pass all along. Today, validation … A senior Democratic congressional leadership aide said weekend statements were calculated to test Republican responses. As tea-leaf-reading goes, this one was not difficult...

I suggested this morning that (1) the “co-op compromise,” as an alternative to the “public option,” was DOA, given the intransigence of Republican leadership; and (2) the public option — perhaps with tweaks, but largely as proposed in House Commerce and Senate HELP — would likely become law. Others — here, here, and here — suggest a non-public-option compromise remains viable and/or advisable. ———– UPDATE: The so-called “Gang...

For alternative takes on the general subject discussed below, check here. ———- Mr. Emanuel, as quoted in an article on the front page of today’s NYT, New York edition: “The Republican leadership … has made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama’s health care proposal is more important for their political goals than solving the health insurance problems that Americans face every day.” I fear he’s right. Elrod posted a response, concluding: There...

Regarding the current, highly charged and confusing health care debate (e.g., is a public option off the table or not?), Peter Suderman — serving as one of several interim bloggers at The Daily Dish while Andrew is on sabbatical — writes: Democratic politics is a messy business. It’s disorganized and frantic and unpredictable and frustrating. Politics is a matter of shouting, and dissent, and deal-making, and strategy, and slippery rhetoric, and compromise. It is not a matter of...

For all the angst, name calling, and expletive hurling that has accompanied the debate over health care reform, it’s nice to know that Americans of diverse political stripes can still be united by something, in this case: Their unbridled derision of the “Birthers.” PoliSnark offers the latest.

Justin Gardner seeks some common ground, as do four physicians in an op-ed in today’s NYT. The latter write that, in the debate over reform so far … We have really discussed only two options: raising taxes or rationing care. The public is understandably alarmed. There is a far more desirable alternative: to change how care is delivered so that it is both less expensive and more effective. But there is widespread skepticism about whether that is possible. They go on to suggest it is...

A fascinating slice of history, courtesy of NPR’s Ken Rudin: The Senate, on an 85-0 vote, passes a bill that would outlaw the Communist Party. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Hubert Humphrey (D-MN), but opposed by President Eisenhower, Attorney General Herbert Brownell and FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Up front, let me remind readers that, in the current health care debate, I have multiple, strong reservations about the so-called “public option.” I’d much rather see Congressional energy focused on enacting these fundamental consumer protections sans a “public option.” Some will argue you don’t get the latter without the former, but I’m just not convinced that’s true. Regardless — though I’m not sold on the President’s plan and...

At the very least, these are the most high-profile, bipartisan votes of the year in the Senate: 1. Justice Sotomayor’s confirmation, for which nine GOP Senators voted yes 2. Expanded funding of “cash for clunkers,” for which seven GOP Senators voted yes (Accenting the bipartisanship of the latter vote, Missouri’s two Senators split, but not as you might expect: Republican Bond voted “yes,” and Democrat McCaskill voted “no.” You gotta love Missouri;...

Good for you, Mr. President: “The President discussed how the current tone and culture in Washington made it more difficult than it has been in the past to work in a bipartisan fashion. In particular, he singled out Republican Senators who are trying to work in a bipartisan fashion even in the context of a vocal minority in their party who doubt that the President was born in the US. In this context about the less productive tone of the debate in Washington, he said he didn’t like to see...

With her pleas for a more moderate, more mainstream GOP, Christine Todd Whitman has long been one of my favorite Republican voices — and she’s at it again, according to a report from Chris Cillizza late yesterday. Case in point: Whitman criticizes her party for their recent debate over Obama’s “cap and trade” energy policy, noting that the Republican attacks centered on dismissing the proposal as “cap and tax” rather than offering solutions of their own....

Writing for The Daily Beast, John Avlon argues that the Blue Dogs and their counterparts in the Senate are “Obama’s best friends.” Attacked as villains by liberals and accused of slowing down the legislation’s passage, they are the unsung heroes of health-care reform. They are not trying to kill Obama’s initiative; they are trying to save it. H/t The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room.

As Members of Congress prepare for what might be their favorite time of year — the extended August recess, scheduled to start tomorrow for the House; and August 8 for the Senate — they do so with a flurry of progress on health care reform but not the hoped-for, full-chamber, final votes on definitive bills. Accordingly, during this recess, I hope one or more of our elected officials — or their staff, or the countless “interests” vying to get their attention on health...

Joe noted this finding at the end of his earlier post, but I thought it deserved its own, dedicated shout out. From today’s NYT … Over all, the poll portrays a nation torn by conflicting impulses and confusion. In one finding, 75 percent of respondents said they were concerned that the cost of their own health care would eventually go up if the government did not create a system of providing health care for all Americans. But in another finding, 77 percent said they were concerned that...

From the transcript of Lois Romano’s interview with the Congressman for the WaPo, these remarks can be found a little more than halfway down the Web page: … our forefathers never envisioned that a handful of staff write a bill and you rush it through a committee without reading it and you rush it to the floor without reading it, and you pass it just because you’re a Democrat and Democrats told you to do that. I mean, that was not what our founding fathers envisioned, and that’s...

From an event Monday night in the St. Louis area, hosted by Sen. McCaskill’s staff, h/t Jake Wagman … Agree or disagree with him (and I’m much more in the latter camp than the former), you have to admire this young man’s focus, stage presence, and ability to electrify a crowd. (Move over, Sarah Palin. Oh wait … she already did.) Picking up on one of this young man’s points: Can anyone provide links to the sources wherein Jefferson, Madison, and/or Franklin...