Congrats to the Canadian women's hockey team and their standout goalie. And now for things closer to home:
Ezra Klein:
The big story out of the summit is not that Republicans and Democrats extended their hands in friendship, but that the White House has dug its heels into the dirt. The Democrats are not taking reconciliation off the table, they are not paring back the bill, and they are not extricating themselves from the issue. They think they're right on this one, and they're going to try and pass this legislation.
Today was a boost for that effort. The Democrats got hours to make their case, at an event they planned, with one of their own controlling the discussion. For that reason, I imagine that this will be the last bipartisan summit we see for awhile. The format is simply too kind to the president, and he takes advantage of it ruthlessly. When the camera panned, you could almost see Republicans wondering why they'd accepted the invitation.
That about sums it up. Except for:
Steven Pearlstein:
I'm not sure what else was accomplished at Thursday's Blair House summit, but surely one result is that we learned what Republican "leaders" really think about health care and health insurance.
The most important thing Republicans think is that if there are Americans who can't afford the insurance policies that private insurers are willing to offer, then that's their problem -- there's nothing the government or the rest of us should do about it.
That sums it up, too. Check out Pearlstein's Republican 'solution'. Oh, and this:
Paul Krugman:
If we’re lucky, Thursday’s summit will turn out to have been the last act in the great health reform debate, the prologue to passage of an imperfect but nonetheless history-making bill. If so, the debate will have ended as it began: with Democrats offering moderate plans that draw heavily on past Republican ideas, and Republicans responding with slander and misdirection.
Hello, reconciliation. Where ya been all this time?
Mark Schmitt:
The End of the Tea Party
Since Richard Hofstadter's 1964 essay, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics," this ever-recurring force has been thoroughly examined by historians and sociologists. But what really binds these episodes together is their transience. McCarthy had much of Washington intimidated, until one day he was just a sorry alcoholic with no sense of decency. Gingrich boasted that after his revolution, Medicare would "wither on the vine"; instead, it was his movement that withered. What brings these movements to an end deserves as much study as what gets them started.
Andrew Kohut:
With all the gloom and doom these days, the Democrats may be talking themselves into a crisis. While there is every reason to believe that the party is in trouble and will lose seats this year, there is no solid data that would justify a view shared by many here in Washington that the Democrats are destined to lose control of the House. This certainly could happen, but it is really too early to jump to that conclusion.
Politico:
Thirteen Republicans crossed party lines to vote for Harry Reid’s jobs bill Wednesday, but it’s hardly time to herald a new era of bipartisanship on the Hill.
Just ask Bob Corker.
The Tennessee Republican is close to cutting a deal with Democrats on financial regulatory reform, but he’s gotten pushback from GOP colleagues nervous that he’ll give the veneer of Republican support to one of President Barack Obama’s biggest legislative priorities.
Pushback? From the Party of No? I'm shocked that there's gambling going on in this casino! Is it time yet for R Senators to buck their leadership and vote their conscience? You betcha. Also. But will they? Not a chance.
Michael Gerson:
The problem with America, apparently, is not just the Great Society or even the New Deal; it is the Square Deal. Or maybe Beck is just being too timid. Real, hairy-chested libertarians pin the blame on Abraham Lincoln, who centralized federal power at the expense of the states to pursue an unnecessary war -- a view that Ron Paul, the winner of the CPAC presidential straw poll, has endorsed.
Man, even the slow pundits are catching on.
Added: Jonathan Rausch:
It's George Wallace's GOP Now
Like Wallace and his supporters 40 years ago, today's conservative populists are long on anger and short on coherence.