Visual source: Newseum
Jamelle Bouie:
In a world where the Supreme Court overturns health care reform for nakedly partisan reasons, what exactly will stop them from doing the same to single-payer health care, or any other scheme for universal insurance that liberals can devise? I have an answer!
Nothing, nothing at all.
NY Times editorial:
The court has no authority under the Constitution to judge the merits or effectiveness of the health care law. That is Congress’s job.
Yet, as Justice Stephen Breyer remarked about the points made by a lawyer for the opponents: “All that sounds like you’re debating the merits of the bill.” To counter the challengers’ claims of alarm over a novel policy, he offered several examples in American history where the court has strongly backed new solutions to major problems, like the creation of a national bank in the early 19th century.
If the Supreme Court hews to established law, the only question it must answer in this case is modest: Did Congress have a rational basis for concluding that the economic effects of a broken health care system warranted a national solution? The answer is incontrovertibly yes.
TPM/The Guardian:
It's too early to know where the justices will come down – the Supreme Court might yet strike down "Obamacare." But [Judge Laurence] Silberman's initial skepticism should serve as a cautionary tale: Conservatives' confidence – and liberals' gloom– may be premature.
NY Times:
Big business groups like the Chamber of Commerce spent millions of dollars in 2010 to elect Republican candidates running for the House. The return on investment has not always met expectations.
Maureen Gill:
Aren’t we getting tired of nothing coming out of the Republicans but a bunch of nonsensical and mendacious huff and puff? America is drowning in serious issues requiring intelligent discourse, political compromise and reasonable resolution, but what’s coming out of the right is pure Theater of the Absurd. It’s killing them and, frankly, it’s so preposterous it’s not able to hold the Democrats accountable for the things they need to explain or work harder to accomplish.
CNN:
Although Obama has been president for more than three years, 56% of Americans continue to blame former President George W. Bush and the Republicans for the country's current economic problems, with only 29% blaming Obama and the Democrats.
The Tennessean:
Country Music Hall of Famer Earl Scruggs, a singular talent of collective import, died Wednesday morning at a Nashville hospital. He was 88.
A quietly affable presence, Mr. Scruggs popularized a complex, three-fingered style of playing banjo that transformed the instrument, inspired nearly every banjo player who followed him and became a central element in what is now known as bluegrass music...
Rather than speak out about the connections between folk and country in the war-torn, politically contentious ‘60s, he simply showed up at folk festivals and played, at least when he and Flatt weren’t at the Grand Ole Opry. During the long-hair/ short-hair skirmishes of the ‘60s and ‘70s, he simply showed up and played, with Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and The Byrds. And when staunch fans of bluegrass - a genre that would not exist in a recognizable form without Mr. Scruggs’ banjo - railed against stylistic experimentation, Mr. Scruggs happily jammed away with sax player King Curtis, sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, piano man Elton John and anyone else whose music he fancied.
Best of the best, that fella.