National Journal touches on the symbolic hearing, but real issue of the economy and jobs:
It stands to reason that lawmakers who often decry the high jobless rate would want to be seen publicly trying to tackle the problem, right? Well, apparently not.
When a hearing to explore how to get the long-term unemployed back to work kicked off on Wednesday morning, only one lawmaker was in attendance. That was Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who was holding the hearing in her role as the vice chair of the Joint Economic Committee. The Joint Economic Commitee is one of a handful of committees whose members come from both parties and both houses of Congress. Klobuchar was eventually joined by three colleagues (in order of their appearance): Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, Maryland Rep. John Delaney and Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings. All four are Democrats.
More commentary from
Jim P and the community, same topic, in a recommended diary.
Josh Kraushaar notes why it matters politically:
Democrats Need Working-Class Heroes to Keep Control of Senate
For Republicans, the Senate won't be won in the deep South. They'll need to pick off blue-collar Democratic states like Iowa, Minnesota or Michigan.
Ian Reifowitz touches on a sensitive topic: who gets to tell the stories of nonwhite Americans?
I can respect and sympathize with the criticisms that my friends made. There is understandable sensitivity about who tells the stories of historically disadvantaged groups, given the barriers they have faced in telling their own stories in Hollywood and elsewhere. For American Indians, these concerns are all the more poignant: well into the twentieth century, the U.S. government sought to wipe out their tribal cultures (a campaign darkly remembered in the phrase, “Kill the Indian in him, and save the man“).
But fundamentally, this line of criticism — that artists or writers can’t tell a particular story because they are of a different ethnic background from the subjects of the film or history — is a form of prejudice, too. It may not have the life-and-death stakes of the kind of prejudice that motivated George Zimmerman, but it is prejudice nonetheless.
As is often the case, Prof. Reifowitz will be around for comments.
More politics and policy below the fold.
Roll Call covers yet another House Republican fail:
House Republicans pulled a controversial health care bill from the floor Wednesday, after a strenuous attempt by leaders to secure enough votes for its passage failed. It’s the latest instance of Speaker John A. Boehner’s difficulties in controlling his unruly conference.
The legislation would have diverted funding from one part of “Obamacare” to another part that was facing implementation difficulties. Conservative outside groups which opposed it said the legislation would reduce the urgency to repeal the entire health care law.
Dana Milbank, same topic (HouseFail):
House conservatives met Wednesday for the latest installment of their “Conversations with Conservatives” luncheon series, but they took their places on the dais without sampling the Chick-fil-A sandwiches and nuggets on offer.
These days, House conservatives prefer to eat their own.
The Week:
That doesn't mean Bush is popular with Democrats or some of the demographics the GOP is trying to win over: 73 percent of Democrats still disapprove of Bush, including 33 percent of conservative/moderate Democrats; 84 percent of black voters and 54 percent of Hispanics disapprove, too. And all of Bush's numbers are worse on his defining issues: 53 percent of all voters disapprove of his economic stewardship, and 57 disapprove of the Iraq war.
That disapproval includes many conservatives. The Republican Party is still grappling with how to deal with the Bush presidency, and the library-related assessments aren't necessarily good news, even with the former president's rising approval ratings.
Ruy Teixeira:
My previous post on the GOP’s problem with projecting a love of diversity when they don’t live it focused on the Republican House caucus and the heavily white districts they tend to represent. Another way to illustrate this point is to look at where GOP support tends to come from by population density. The denser an area, the more cosmopolitan and diverse it is likely to be. And that’s precisely where Republicans tend not to be.