The New Republic

Alan Simpson, the co-chair of the deficit commission, turns out to have written a nasty letter to a critic. Various liberals are predictably seizing on this as a reason to discredit the entire commission. Jane Hamsher at FireDogLake: READ MORE >>

I have a general conceptual disagreement with Jane Hamsher's post bemoaning liberal support for the Obama administration, but let me focus on this specific area of confusion: READ MORE >>

Howard Fineman reports that Dennis Kucinich will vote for health care reform. Kucinich may be crazy but he's not... well, he is kind of stupid. Okay, he may be crazy and stupid, but he's not completely indifferent to the plight of the disadvantaged. So he's got that going for him. National Review's Daniel Foster has been pre-spinning: READ MORE >>

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Trenchant political analysis, from Senator Evan Bayh: READ MORE >>

Harold Pollack is the Helen Ross Professor of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago and a Special Correspondent for The Treatment. READ MORE >>

This morning at FireDogLake, Jane Hamsher points out that stock prices for insurance companies have risen since Joe Lieberman announced he'd filibuster reform over the public option. She ends her item with this statement: If this thing passes, and the corruption behind this bill becomes effectively demagogued by the GOP, I hope those fighting to pass this on behalf of the “poor” are going to enjoy wearing it. READ MORE >>

In a new column posted this morning, Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher renews her call to defeat the Senate health bill--a position, I know, many of our mutual friends on the left share. I respect her right to that opinion. I respect the fact that she's making substantive arguments about what the Senate bill would mean for real people. And I really respect the effort she's made, over the last few months, to promote the cause of health reform. READ MORE >>

Only six months into the Obama presidency, the new administration has already experienced an unusually robust assortment of criticism from fellow Democrats, at least at the elite opinion-leading and activist level. The extended progressive "honeymoon" that John Judis warned against in these pages back in February has largely faded.   READ MORE >>

Thanks for your post, Dayo. I haven't been to many of these internet-and-politics confabs (like YearlyKos) for comparison, but my impression is that there's a certain wistfulness or disappointment here. READ MORE >>