03.23.10 -- 11:42AM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)

Finish Line

It's a real party going on in the East Room of the White House as President Obama prepares to sign the health care reform bill into law. You can watch the festivities here.

--David Kurtz

03.23.10 -- 11:24AM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)

Keep An Eye On This

Attorney General Eric Holder has appointed U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to lead a probe into whether laws were broken after photos of undercover CIA agents were found in the cell of an alleged 9/11 conspirator at Guantanamo.

The ACLU, which is involved in the defense of this particular detainee and others, hired private investigators to track down the CIA officers as part of its case, but denies breaking the law or providing the identities of the officers to detainees.

--David Kurtz

03.23.10 -- 11:04AM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (16)

Question Of The Day

"How many former Bush speechwriters does one newspaper need?"

--Former Postie Tom Ricks, on the Washington Post's hiring of Marc Thiessen for its op-ed page.

--David Kurtz

03.23.10 -- 10:43AM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (14)

Straight From The Gut

Former GE CEO Jack Welch said this morning that Republicans expecting big gains in the midterm elections will "get a large shock." Watch.

--David Kurtz

03.23.10 -- 10:32AM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (3)

Sound and Fury

The politics of abortion has a lot more to do with the heated reactions to the health care reform bill coming from both sides of the issue than does the language of the bill itself.

--David Kurtz

03.23.10 -- 9:12AM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (5)

TPMDC Morning Roundup

President Obama signs the landmark health care reform bill in a White House ceremony this morning at 11:15 a.m. ET. That and the day's other political news in the TPMDC Morning Roundup.

--David Kurtz

03.23.10 -- 9:09AM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (4)

What I Meant Was ...

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), of "baby killer" fame, tells a local TV station: "I did believe, and still believe, that that Senate bill is a baby-killing bill." Watch.

Late Update: Neugebauer and his wife also recorded a video that they posted on his campaign's YouTube account.

--David Kurtz

03.23.10 -- 12:25AM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (26)

Netanyahu Defiant

Bibi Netanyahu gave his speech this evening at the annual AIPAC conference. And it amounted to one big 'shove it' to the president and the administration.

--Josh Marshall

03.23.10 -- 12:09AM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (36)

Big Setback for the GOP

None of the Republicans' angles on torpedoing the reconciliation package in the Senate seem that likely to succeed. But they staked their greatest hopes on the claim that the reconciliation bill impacts Social Security, which could make it out of bounds in the reconciliation process. But tonight Senate Parliamentarian Alan Frumin shot that one down.

--Josh Marshall

03.22.10 -- 6:07PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (43)

Off the Bus

The Chamber of Commerce, a key anti-Reform player and spender, is telling the GOP they can count them out on any campaign for repeal.

--Josh Marshall

03.22.10 -- 6:04PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (81)

Would They?

There's a lot of nonsense out there about constitutional challenges to the Health Care Reform law on various 'state sovereignty' grounds. That's nonsense. The Nullification Crisis and Civil War settled those issues. But the more serious challenges are based on extremely forward-leaning conservative arguments about the 'commerce clause'. It seems very out there. Comical almost. And with your average Court, I would think it a trivial concern. But this Court, particularly the four most conservative members, have shown themselves to be not only so ideological but so activist and even so partisan that I'm not sure you can really put it past them. We're going to do some poking around to find out more, particularly views on this question among the sort of legal academics and would-be judges who cluster around the Federalist Society.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying I consider this at all likely. But I've seen a number of things happen lately that I didn't think at all likely. So I'm watching.

--Josh Marshall

03.22.10 -- 5:31PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (30)

Maxing Out The Rhetoric

RNC chairman Michael Steele: Yes, health care reform is Armageddon. Watch.

--David Kurtz

03.22.10 -- 5:31PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (23)

Crickets

Any Republican criticism of Rep. Neugebauer's (R-TX) outburst last night? Any of the Tea Party hate speech over the weekend? Did I miss it?

These gentlemen seem to be wondering too.

Late Update: More from Jim Clyburn here.

--Josh Marshall

03.22.10 -- 5:17PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (21)

SLIDESHOW: Quite a Turnout!

Did you see the huge march this weekend in DC? Tens of thousands turned out. Maybe even 100,000. Tea Partiers? No, the big pro-immigration march that got virtually no press attention at all.

In today's slideshow, here's some of what you missed.

--Josh Marshall

03.22.10 -- 3:22PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (57)

Hmmmm

One party always wants to "fire" the other party's leaders. That's our system. But something seems little weird to me about the RNC's new Fire Pelosi website (which the official GOP.com website now goes to). Why is she engulfed in flames? Is she being roasted alive? Or suffering eternal damnation and hellfire? How big a demotion is she supposed to get?

Even for condemning the country to socialism and tyranny, isn't this excessive?

--Josh Marshall

03.22.10 -- 2:58PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (22)

Code Pink Punks AIPAC, Media

The left-wing activist group Code Pink confirms to TPMmuckraker that it was behind the fake AIPAC press release calling for a settlement freeze that suckered in some major news outlets.

--David Kurtz

03.22.10 -- 2:41PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (343)

Romney + HCR = Toast

Mitt Romney

You may have noticed that Mitt Romney is saying some pretty over-the-top stuff right now about the Health Care Reform law. But cut him a little slack. Unless Health Care Reform is a non-issue by 2012 (which I believe is a distinct possibility), he's got to know that the passage of this bill pretty much ends his chances to be nominated for the presidency.

Read more »

--Josh Marshall

03.22.10 -- 2:08PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (9)

Take a Look

As you know, 34 Democrats voted against the Health Care Reform in the House last night. But different Dems faced very different choices. They range from Rep. Artur Davis who's in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans by 18 points to Chet Edwards who's in a Texas district where Republicans have a 20 point margin. At the suggestion of a reader, Eric Kleefeld created a table organizing each of the Nos from the folks from the bluest districts to the reddest. It's a very revealing table. And it shows a few members who probably have very serious primary challenges ahead of them. Click the table to see the whole thing.

--Josh Marshall

03.22.10 -- 1:58PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (25)

And We Have A Winner (Loser)

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)

We now know which Republican member of Congress screamed "Baby Killer" at Rep. Stupak during the final moments of the House debate last night: Rep. Neugebauer (R-TX).

He is rather laughably claiming he wasn't calling Rep. Stupak a "baby killer" but rather the law.

--Josh Marshall