02.08.10 -- 8:25PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (56)

Uncle! ... Sorta

Sen. Shelby (R-AL) released his blanket holds on Obama nominees this morning -- but he's maintaining his holds on a few unnamed nominees he says are directly related to "the Air Force tanker acquisition until the new Request for Proposal is issued."

Shelby statement after the jump ...

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--Josh Marshall

02.08.10 -- 8:17PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (8)

Here's Another

A lot of House Republicans are walking away from the Ryan GOP shadow budget. But not Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). She supports privatizing Social Security and abolishing Medicare in favor of a system of insurance vouchers for the elderly, as advocated in the Ryan budget proposal.

We're looking to see what others are saying. Let us know what you hear.

--Josh Marshall

02.08.10 -- 5:50PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (18)

SLIDESHOW: Mais, I Can't Believe!

This one's for Danny Abramowicz, Tom Dempsey, Archie Manning (though he may not feel it yet), George Rogers, the Dome Patrol, Eric Martin, Dalton Hilliard, Bobby Hebert, and all those other Saints:

--David Kurtz

02.08.10 -- 2:43PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (34)

Sad News

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) has died. He was 77 years old. A look back on his career:

--Josh Marshall

02.08.10 -- 12:57PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (29)

Cutting Edge Bamboozlement

Usually when we hear about something looking to drop a ton of money to create a astroturf campaign against something like the Endangered Species Act it's some oil company or big manufacturer. This time it's the State of Alaska. And Rudy Giuliani wants the contract.

--Josh Marshall

02.08.10 -- 11:57AM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (64)

Sarah's Party

Surprisingly, the National Tea Party convention turns out to be a frothy brew of birtherism, anti-immigrant hysteria, homophobia and Christian fundamentalism. Didn't see that coming.

--Josh Marshall

02.08.10 -- 11:51AM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (18)

GOP Shadow Budget

Rep. Paul Ryan, Chief House Republican budget writer, is digging in on his proposed plan to abolish Medicare and make deep cuts to Social Security.

--Josh Marshall

02.08.10 -- 9:14AM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (22)

WHO DAT!

Harry Shearer: "With Mitch Landrieu winning Mayor and Saints winning Super Bowl, symbolism plain: NO has now ended the post-Katrina era."

--David Kurtz

02.07.10 -- 9:45PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (50)

The Advisors?

Chicago crew sinking the Obama presidency? Steve Clemons makes the argument.

--Josh Marshall

02.07.10 -- 8:30PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (17)

All Done

Scott Lee Cohen has dropped out of the race for Lt. Governor of Illinois.

Relive some great moments from Scott Lee Cohen's week as nominee.

--Josh Marshall

02.07.10 -- 7:36PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (112)

A Real State?

If Gov. Paterson has to resign maybe we just put Spitzer back in and pretend the whole thing never happened?

--Josh Marshall

02.07.10 -- 1:34PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (31)

Industrial Explosion in CT

Details are sketchy. But there was apparently a very large explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown, Connecticut around 11:30 AM this morning. Local news says at least 250 people were injured, with two now confirmed dead.

--Josh Marshall

02.06.10 -- 1:20PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (101)

See No Evil, Budget No Evil ...

This is pretty classic. A week ago GOP Rep. Jeb Hensarling (TX) was telling Chris Matthews about the glories of the House Republicans' draft 2010 budget, filled with plans to cut and privatize Social Security and abolish Medicare. But as news began to spread this week about the draft plan prepared by chief House Republican budgeteer Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the Republican leadership, especially Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) started acting like they barely knew anything about it.

That brings us up to today, when Republicans sent Rep. Hensarling to give the response to the president's Saturday radio address. So what he say about the draft Ryan plan?

Not much. Hensarling for some reason used the whole time to talk about House Republicans' 2009 budget. In other words, an outline plan from last year about the year that already happened and was actually panned at the time for not including any details and even including a lot of fake charts.

So what's the deal? The House GOP is getting behind a budget which calls for partial abolition of Social Security and full abolition of Medicare. And they're on the air talking about last year's budget? Maybe Obama should talk about the Clinton surpluses? What's the big need to hide what they're actually proposing for next year?

--Josh Marshall

02.06.10 -- 1:07PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (84)

Story To Tell

Back on Tuesday, Reuters' reporter Terri Cullen published a story entitled "Backdoor taxes to hit middle class," which alleged a series of stealth middle classes tax increases proposed by the Obama White House.

The White House complained that the story contained numerous false claims. Reuters pulled the story after conceding it contained "significant errors of fact" and said a new corrected story would be forthcoming. Then they apparently concluded that the errors were so thoroughgoing that no corrected story would be published.

Now comes word from former Editor & Publisher editor Greg Mitchell that Cullen is now no longer working at Reuters, though the circumstances of her departure remain unclear.

--Josh Marshall

02.05.10 -- 7:02PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (33)

Back in the Life

Landrieu phone-tampering defendant Joseph Basel spotted at national Tea Party Convention in Nashville.

--Josh Marshall

02.05.10 -- 6:34PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (279)

A Very Revealing Chart

The red bars are the accelerating rate of job loss during President Bush's last year in office; the blue bars are the decelerating rate of job loss during President Obama's first year of office.

The chart was put together by the House Democratic leadership. Click the graph to see the full image.

--Josh Marshall

02.05.10 -- 5:55PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (45)

Hmmm

I'm curious whether House Dems are really going to hold this vote getting each member on record on whether they support keeping Social Security or slashing benefits and partially phasing it out and replacing it with private accounts. And when?

Also wondering how Minority Leader Boehner votes.

Also, on the Jobs Bill front, wondering if I'll see Harry Reid on a street corner in DC with a handmade cardboard sign which says: "Republicans: Can You Help?"

--Josh Marshall

02.05.10 -- 2:53PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (17)

Presidents & Pigskins

From Ike as kicker at West Point, to Gerald Ford as a lineman at U of M, to Bush as a cheerleader at prep school, we've got all your presidential football moments in today's TPM Slideshow ...

--Josh Marshall

02.05.10 -- 1:00PM // RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (174)

The (Missed) Second Chance

The key thing about the Shelby/hold story is that it provides the Democrats a second chance to revisit the vote blocking issue with the public. What recent polls have shown is that very few people actually have any idea how the senate rules work. So while political junkies on both sides of the aisle know that President Obama has been hung up on numerous pieces of legislation this year because Republicans are forcing a de facto 60 vote rule, very little of that has gotten through to the broader public. It's just: Dems tried; Dems failed; nothing happened. Back when we went through this drama in 2005 with the shoe on the other foot, the Republican message machine was very clear and persistent on "allowing an up or down vote." Simple, clear, a strong small-d democratic argument, and one that makes the out party work for the 60 vote standard as opposed to taking it as a given.

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--Josh Marshall