Yesterday in 100 Seconds: Sing It, Clucky

Jon Alter asks why everybody's so gunned up about reform when, really, our health care system is pretty much fine how it is.

Health care bill passes in the House Energy & Commerce Committee, 31-28.

The Washington Post has now responded to Brian Beutler's initial inquiry regarding Dana Milbank's 'Hillary should drink "Mad Bitch" beer' line in 'Mouthpiece Theater':

Says Kris Coratti, Director of Communications at the Post: "The video was a satirical piece that lampooned people of all stripes. There was a section of the video that went too far, so we have removed the piece from our website."

Former Philippine President Corazon Aquino, who came to political prominence in her own right after the assassination of her husband, opposition leader Benigno Aquino, has died in Manila at the age of 76.

Full-size video at TPMtv.com.

Sen. Baucus (D-MT) says the new deadline for a health care bill is September 15th, with or without Republican participation.

Be careful who you get into bed with, they say. World Net Daily has been the major outlet on the right carrying the 'reporting' ball for the 'birther' movement. And I'd noticed how over the last few days they started saying how whether Barack Obama was born on US soil is beside the point. Which is sort of weird since I thought that's what this whole conspiracy theory was based on. But, no, apparently there are ten other bogus reasons why President Obama may not be a "natural born" citizen of the USA and thus not actually president.

But I didn't figure they'd be getting this far so quickly. Now WND has put out a piece reporting on the latest questions about whether Obama may actually be the anti-christ.

President Obama nominates fired US Attorney Daniel Bogden to serve as United States Attorney for the District of Nevada -- the job he had before President Bush fired him shortly after the 2006 election.

Rep. Cantor (R) finds the culprits behind the GOP birther craze: liberal bloggers and Chris Matthews.

Pretending to be a couple of cranky old guys, the Washington Post's Dana Milbank and Chris Cillizza riff that Hillary Clinton is a "Mad Bitch," showing that maybe there's not much pretending involved. Painful to watch on almost every level.

Lobbying firm gets busted for forging letter to congressman on other group's letterhead.

How about a program where we can turn in the old, washed-up pundits and talking heads on the cable nets for ones that spew less dangerous emissions?

Is the still bad but much better expected GDP number (1% contraction vs. 6.4% last quarter) due to the Stimulus Bill kicking into gear. That's what Josh Bivens argues.

Another detail from that Kos poll on birtherism. It turns out, less than surprisingly, than the cradle of the birther faith is in the South. Just shy of a majority of Southerners -- not just Republicans, but everyone -- believe Barack Obama was born in the United States. 47% of Southerners say Obama was born in the US; 30% aren't sure; and 23% say Obama was not born in the USA.

Share of Republicans who believe Obama was not born in the U.S.A.: 28%.

Henry Louis Gates, on his beer at the White House: "When he's not arresting you, Sergeant Crowley is a really likable guy." That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

Yesterday in 100 Seconds: 100 Seconds of Beer on The Wall

First major embarrassment of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's gubernatorial campaign: the Austin American-Statesman found 'keywords' on her new campaign website suggesting Gov. Rick Perry (R) might be gay.

Our special Obama - Gates - Crowley beer summit slideshow.

The low down on what happened on the beer summit -- including what kind of beer each guy drank.

We're watching on television where all networks are going with live footage of four men, sitting at a white table on the lawn at the White House, with a gazillion cameras maybe thirty or so yards away. Of course, it's Pres. Obama, Vice Pres. Biden, Officer Crowley and Prof. Gates.

Where's Marshall McLuhan?

Full-size video at TPMtv.com.

You may have seen the front page story today in the Times about the top US military advisor in Baghdad who wrote a limited distribution memo circulated through US command in Iraq advocating a sped up withdrawal of US military forces. Not that it necessarily tells us anything about the quality of his Iraq analysis. But it turns out that the memo originated on a blog the colonel kept at Townhall.com where he also wrote (his only other post) a totally unhinged screed about Obamacare.

Rick Hertzberg seconds Tina Brown's suggestion that Obama sic Bill Clinton on the Blue Dogs and get them chained up in the kennel.

At our editorial meeting this morning, Eric Kleefeld flagged several recent polls that appear to show public opinion on health care is where I feel like it's been all the way back to 1994 and before. That is, there's broad public support for reform that creates universal or near-universal coverage but also enough concerns about costs, taxes and access to provide fertile ground for opponents to chip away and possibly destroy support for any real plan.

Wipe away all the spin and procedural mumbojumbo and it seems you'll have an outline of a bill in both houses and then the month of August off where each side will battle to drive the narrative of public debate (in a generally dead news period) and try to determine how things are going to look in September.

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How is New Orleans coping now? We take the pulse of the city, debunk some myths, and continue to write the history of what Harry Shearer calls the "greatest man-made engineering disaster in American history" as the TPMCafe Book Club features Cheryl Wagner's Plenty Enough Suck To Go Around: A Memoir Of Floods, Fires, Parades, and Plywood, an often hilarious account of her bizarre three-year haul rebuilding her home and her life in New Orleans.

In addition to Shearer, Wagner (full disclosure: an old friend and high school classmate of mine) will be joined by Paul Tough, John McQuaid, Al Kennedy, and Charles Figley to discuss what it's like in the city that America abandoned then forgot.

Jon Stewart is your guide on a tour of the recent right-wing craziness on the cable news nets.

Remember all the talk about Hillary's campaign debt? Her campaign committee is now in the black. That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

Yesterday in 100 Seconds: Knock Next Time

All the polls show a least a softening of Obama's national numbers. But you may have seen right wing sites pushing the new Rasmussen index showing Obama deep into negative territory, with a dozen or so deficit in terms of approval vs. disapproval.

Look a little deeper though and you'll see that Rasmussen is using a way of slicing the numbers he never used until quite recently, and one that no other pollster seems to use as his top-line measurement.

Eric Kleefeld phoned up Rasmussen and asked him what was up.

Full-size video at TPMtv.com.

SurveyUSA has Republican Bob McDonnell with a sizable lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds in the Virginia governor's race.

Rep. Roy Blunt (R), former member of the House leadership and probable Missouri Republican senate candidate calls birtherism a "legitimate question."

Here's our run-down of the deal the Dems just struck in the House (basically Waxman vs. Blue Dogs) on health care reform.

Obama courts senior Chinese government official with gift of basketball.

Sen. Vitter (R-LA) attacks Sen. Voinovich (R-OH) for straying from conservative values.

We're getting reports that there's been a breakthrough on the Health Care front in the House -- according to CNN, it involves concessions to the Blue Dogs on cost savings. We'll have more details shortly.

We're accustomed to the pattern of seeing outside political activists and gonzo pundits pushing elected officials to more outlandish or extreme positions. But on the birther front, we're noticing something different. While members of Congress are dipping into the birther swamp, some of what we'd normally consider some of the most whacked-out pundits and media hounds (Ann Coulter and O'Reilly over just the last 24 hours) are trying to shut the story down.

Colin Powell tells Larry King: "The problem I'm having with the [Republican] Party right now is that when [Rush Limbaugh] says something that I consider to be completely outrageous and I respond to it, I would like to see other members of the party do likewise, but they don't." That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

Yesterday in 100 Seconds: I'll Be-eer All Week

Become a fan of TPM on Facebook.

You'll feel like you've entered the 21st century. Or at least like you signed up to be a fan of TPM on Facebook.

State Senator Paul Stanley (R) of Tennessee, the pro-abstinence lawmaker who confessed to an affair with a 22 year old student after the student's boyfriend rather ineptly tried to blackmail him, has announced he's resigning from office.

From TPM Reader MA ...

I've worked in and around the media business since I graduated from college 25 years ago. During the span of my entire career it's been hard not to maintain a certain affection for Rupert Murdoch: not only does he have that charming accent, he's always done it his way, taken big gambles (bringing the NFL to Fox...exciting stuff), and has usually won. When you compare Rupert to, say, cranky Sumner Redstone over at Viacom, it's all Rupert.

Even as a lifelong Democrat, it's been easy enough to write Fox News off as ridiculous, but I had to concede that it was a brilliant business undertaking (quite formulaic, but filling a niche) that beat the pants of CNN for good reason. Fox News drives me nuts, of course, but it's been hard not to "chalk another one up for Rupert".

For me, the story changed this morning when one of Rupert's employees, Glenn Beck, appeared on Fox & Friends and called Obama "a racist" and a man who "hates white people".

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Republican strategist says "Barack Hussein" was probably born in the US but we should still call him Barry.

From TPM Reader BS ...

Just to let TPM know, I just retroactively snuck in a couple of ads in several local French newspapers announcing the birth of my son in FRANCE. In 46 years, when he is president of France... who will have the last laugh? Me, that's who.

Full-size video at TPMtv.com.

I think I'm basically snarkless on this one. But I'm watching Chris Matthews do a lengthy interview with Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R) of Michigan about the resolution he's introducing in the House calling on President Obama to apologize for his comments about Officer James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department. I'm not even sure what to say about it other than that McCotter is really managing to talk at great length about how this is a critical fight against abuse of executive authority.

As Obama's numbers have softened in recent weeks, and particularly after the Gates brouhaha, racial attacks on the president have become increasingly common. From Rush on down.

Tea Party Activists bewail the loss of doctor who sent racist Obama witch doctor email.

As they say, only the good ones withdraw from active anti-health care reform advocacy young.

As we noted earlier, we're hiring three new reporters in Washington, DC. And to accommodate them we're opening a small satellite office in DC. And now we're looking for a good space.

We think the best fit would likely be to sublet space from a larger organization. We expect there will be 4-5 people working out of the office, though a lot of their time will be spent in the field. We need an office that is centrally located, not far from the White House and Capitol Hill, and hopefully not far from the Red Line.

Also, we like working in newsroom settings. So we're looking for something like one relatively open space rather than individual offices for four or five people.

We're looking in more conventional ways too. But if your organization has some space you're looking to sublet or you have other helpful tips, please drop us a line with the subject heading "DC Sublet."

Late Update: If you're thinking of writing in to tell us we should inquire about new space coming available at the C Street group home, I assure you, a number of readers beat you to it.

Bill O'Reilly: Of course Canada has longer life expectancy than the U.S. -- we have 10 times more people.

On Conan last night, William Shatner turned Sarah Palin's farewell speech into performance art. Classic.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on the Sotomayor nomination this morning. That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

Yesterday in 100 Seconds: Beer Run

All congressional birthers present voted in favor bill recognizing Hawaii as President Obama's birthplace, including Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), lead sponsor of the House birther bill.

Last week we introduced our TPM Twitter Rooms, with 'rooms' for members of Congress for each party, 'insiders' of each party and the political press (we'll be rolling out more rooms soon). The response was very positive. But many of you asked if there were a list where you could see who is in each room and who's not. There wasn't. But now we've updated the pages so you can see.

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According to the AP, Sen. Baucus' Senate Finance committee will not include a public option in its bill.

Full-size video at TPMtv.com.

House Dem introduces non-binding resolution recognizing Hawaii as President Obama's place of birth, daring birthers to come out of the wingnut closet.

Sen. Bunning (R-KY) not seeking reelection.

Robert Reich sizes up the (he says fast-dwindling) chances for health care reform.

Inside the CBO (Elmendorf) vs. OMB (Orszag) health care budgeting cage match that could determine the future (if it has one) of health care reform.

We keep hearing about indictments of associates and various smoke around Rep. Murtha. (D-PA). But really doesn't seem to be sweating it much. His earmark operation continues apace. And he hasn't even hired a lawyer.

You may have noticed the news last week that the Feds arrested a bunch of accused fraudsters, an alleged kidney merchant and a decent chunk of the New Jersey political class all in one fell swoop. TPMMuckraker's Zack Roth explains what it was all about.

Limbaugh warns of torture in wake of Obama's election.

Inhofe clarifies 'birther' comments, blames White House.

Reading through all the 'birther' emails we're getting, I'm sort of reminded why you just don't want to get into a conversation with LaRouchies, various others cultists or even just the random unkempt middle-aged guy in Central Park screaming about socialism. They've pre-plumbed every rabbit hole.

Louisiana Dems respond to Vitter's "luvfest" comments: Our "trip was legal, public and no money changed hands."

I thought the beer invites had put an end to this. But apparently not. The Cambridge PD has a press conference scheduled for 12 noon.

Late Update: And now the lawyer for the woman who made the 911 call is on TV defending her client ... against what? Who knows. Everyone wants their 15 minutes.

Rep. Bachmann: Obamacare is like Castro's takeover of Cuba.

Others have said this. But the best way to understand the 'birther' craze is as a proxy for people who don't want to accept a black man with a Arabic-derived first name as President of the United States. Really as simple as that.

Little wonder that it pulls the Inhofes of Capitol Hill out of the caves.

As you can imagine, we're getting lots of emails on the 'birther' question this morning. But I thought I would add one point to the issue of what 'natural born' means. Most of the people discussing this are lawyers. And overwhelmingly they seem to come down against the predominantly racist 'birther' contingent. But lawyers aren't the only ones who have some professional claim to the question. As a trained historian whose expertise is in this period of our history (yes, I was trained for something beside being a blogger), the debate strikes me as nonsense. I have seen no evidence that John Jay's phrasing 'natural born' is anything but his way of distinguishing citizens by birth from citizens by naturalization, which fits the logic of the constitutional provision. So the analytical question of the 'meaning' of the phrase is a bunch of over-determined nonsense. It doesn't 'mean' anything but that. If anyone has evidence to the contrary, please let me know.

Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) tells the media to honor our troops -- by not saying bad things about her. That and other political news in today's TPMDC Morning Roundup.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi says that when she brings a health care reform bill to the floor of the House, "it will win." But Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) says "it is not possible, and perhaps not desirable" to pass health care reform with Democratic votes alone. If nothing else was clear from the Sunday shows, one thing that was is that there is still a long way to go to reach health care reform ...

Full-size video at TPMtv.com.

From the Politico on the birthers ...

But as if to illustrate the touchiness of the subject, Hoekstra quickly added: "Not that this isn't important."

Sen. Jim Inhofe has also tried to find the elusive middle ground.

"They have a point," he said of the birthers. "I don't discourage it. ... But I'm going to pursue defeating [Obama] on things that I think are very destructive to America."

You know things are getting good when Inhofe's at the 'elusive middle ground'.

Says he misspoke when he said the F-22 was necessary to fight America's coming war with India.

For all the obvious reasons, I hesitate to even enter this discussion. But (famous last words) I can't help myself.

As you know, high on the list of current right-wing conspiracy theorizing (and sort of a stalking horse for underlying beliefs that President Obama's race and name make him rather less than fully American) is the claim that President Obama wasn't really born in Hawaii but was rather born abroad. And because of this, we're led to believe, he's ineligible to serve as president and therefore actually is not, as we speak, president.

Now, I don't want to get into all the claptrap about the birth certificate. Because the whole story is just unadulterated, raw nonsense. What I do want to figure out, however, is a question that's been rattling around my head for something like a year now. I have never seen any serious argument that the child of an American citizen, even if born abroad, isn't him or herself a natural born American citizen. Yes, it's now and again been raised as a topic with a wrinkle of ambiguity in the law; but the issue has never been that people actually believe such children aren't 'natural born', only that it's a phrase that was never expressly defined and there's never been an opportunity to have a court review it since there's never been a case with the relevant set of facts.

But consider:

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As of today, Sarah Palin is now the former Governor of Alaska. We take a look back at scenes from her illustrious career.

Sarah Palin exits, stage far-right. That and other political news in today's TPMDC Sunday Roundup.

As the stock market rallies, says Robert Reich, watch your wallets.

French president taken to hospital for tests after falling ill during exercise.