Despite all parties going into this week's health care summit with the best of intentions, in the end, little progress was made, as Republicans spent much of their time refighting old wars and playing to the cameras.
Faced with this unrelenting obstruction, Democrats now say they may be forced to take the unprecedented step of using reconciliation to pass health care reform.
If only they'd thought of this sooner.
Morning limeup:
Meet the Press: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ); White House Health Reform Director Nancy DeParle; Roundtable: House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL), National Urban League President Marc Morial, Katty Kay (BBC) and Ron Brownstein (Atlantic Media).
Face the Nation: Rep. Marsha Blacburn; House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD); Sen. Tom Covurn (R-OK); Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND); Jim VandenHei (Politico).
This Week: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN); Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), Cokie Roberts (ABC News), Sam Donaldson and Paul Krugman (New York Times).
Fox News Sunday: Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-AZ); Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ); Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI); Professional Race Car Driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr.; Roundtable: Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard), Mara Liasson (NPR/FNC), Propagandist Liz Cheney and Juan Williams (NPR/FNC).
State of the Union: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Ceci Connolly (Washington Post); Amy Walter (The Hotline); Reliable Sources: Dana Milbank (Washington Post); Republican Strategist David Frum; Katrina vanden Heuvel (The Nation); Brian Ross (ABC News); Fred Francis (Ex-NBC News).
The Chris Matthews Show: David Ignatius (Washington Post); Kelly O'Donnell (NBC News); Kathleen Parker (Washington Post); Michael Duffy (TIME).
Fareed Zakaria GPS: Soros Foundation Chair George Soros; Columbia University Professor Simon Schama; Lionel Barber (Financial Times).
Afternoon delight:
Amanpour: Israeli Deputy Prime Minister/Defense Minister Ehud Barak.
Olympics coverage:
NBC will be broadcasting the Gold medal Men's Hockey game between the USA and Canada live in all time zones beginning at 3pm EDT. The closing ceremonies begin at 7pm EDT.
Primetime viewing:
60 Minutes will feature: a report on an exclusively-obtained FBI videotape showing a Defense Department employee selling secrets to a Chinese spy (preview); a report on the 1915 forced deportation and massacre of more than a million ethnic Armenians by the Turks (preview); and, a profile of Academy Award nominated director Kathryn Bigelow (preview).
On Comedy Central...
Jon Stewart had a surprisingly positive take on the health care summit.
The Daily Show
Monday: Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Tuesday: Sparkly Vampire Robert Pattinson
Wednesday: Author Scott Patterson ("The Quants")
Thursday: TBA
And the awesome Stephen Colbert ended his Vancouverage with some playful taunting of Canada's Olympic performance.
The Colbert Report
Monday: Actor Don Cheadle ("Brooklyn's Finest")
Tuesday: Columnist David Brooks (New York Times)
Wednesday:Author Gary Wills ("Bomb Power")
Thursday: Psychologist Barry Schwartz
Elsewhere...
Jeb Bush offered up his thoughts on Sarah Palin's presidential prospects.
BUSH: My personal belief is that, for Governor Palin to be a successful candidate for higher office, she needs to take this charisma she has and add to it some depth of understanding of the complexity of life we’re living in today. [...]
I mean, I don’t know what her deal is, but my belief is in 2010 and 2012, public leaders need to have intellectual curiosity.
Giving credibility to Bush's appraisal was this Tweet from Palin:
Drag away from Obamacare mtg today2cheer Red,White&Blue:USA Women's Hockey w/AK's own#23 Weiland play Canada for Gold.Huge contest.Go U-S-A!
Palin wasn't alone in her preference for cheerleading over governing. She was joined by Hall of Fame douchebag Jim Bunning.
"I want to assure the people that have, heh, watched this thing until quarter of twelve — and I have missed the Kentucky-South Carolina game that started at 9 o’clock, and it’s the only redeeming chance we had to beat South Carolina, since they’re the only team that has beat Kentucky this year — all of these things that we have talked about and all the provisions that have been discussed, the unemployment benefits, all these things. If we’d have taken the longer version of the job bill... we wouldn’t have spent three hours plus telling everybody in the United States of America that Senator Bunning doesn’t give a damn about the people that are on unemployment."
But wait... there's more!
Senate Democrats spent Thursday night hammering away at Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) for single-handedly holding up action in the upper chamber – but he blurted out a message to one of them on the Senate floor: "Tough shit."
Tough shit, indeed.
- Trix
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