Immigration just might be the issue that breaks through the White House “veal pen” strategy and forces them to deal with an issue — or risk the defection of an important part of the Democratic base in the 2010 elections. When the White House punted on immigration reform lat year after the Sotomayor confirmation, I [...]

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c The Word – Straight to Video www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Fox News COLBERT: I don’t believe this allegation. If Lindsey Graham found men sexually attractive, why would he hang out with Joe Lieberman? Plus, for the last three years, Human Rights Campaign, the [...]

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) has a new article on Huffington Post ripping the private insurance companies and again calling for her new Health Insurance Rate Authority. While I appreciate the sentiment, the Senator’s promises ring hollow to anyone that has followed the health care debate. I can’t disagree with what Feinstein is saying at the [...]

Cenk Uyger has a very good point about the lack of…er, anything coming out of the tea parties in the wake of Wall Street’s excesses: If you remember, the Tea Parties were originally formed to protest the bailouts. They were so mad at the Wall Street bankers who destroyed the economy and then took our [...]

I have written about this issue before, but I think it is important for people, Democratic Congressional members, consultants, and political pundits to realize just how completely and totally Democrats failed with their health care messaging, especially when it comes to the issue of the deficit. Democrats easily wasted more than two months waiting around [...]

Reuters reports that WellPoint is under federal investigation for singling out breast cancer patients and dropping their coverage “based on either erroneous or flimsy information.”  They also report that language in the House bill would have protected these women, but it was removed in the Senate version of the bill because “lobbyists for WellPoint and [...]

Federal investigators have told Reuters that WellPoint, the country’s largest insurance company, is using an algorithm to target women with breast cancer for the express purpose of dropping their coverage. Murray Waas writes that WellPoint “specifically targeted women with breast cancer for aggressive investigation with the intent to cancel their policies”: None of the women [...]

Tim Carney says Goldman is using the GOP and the Democrats for a one-two punch to game regulation reform, just like the drug companies and AHIP did on the health care bill: At least three times in Goldman’s conference call Tuesday, spokesmen trumpeted the firm’s support for more federal control. Vague public calls for “reasonable [...]

Well, that was very quick turn around. In 24 hours, Democrats went from not asking for budget reconciliation instructions to planning to include them. This is potentially very good news for progressives. Reconciliation at least gives Democrats the option of possibly achieving some progressive legislative victories this year. From The Hill: The budget resolution being [...]

FDL Contributor Bill Black scorched everyone with his testimony on the failure of Lehman Brothers before the House Financial Services Committee today.  His prepared remarks can be found here (PDF). CHAIRMAN KANJORSKI: And now we’ll hear from Mr. William K. Black, Associate Professor of Economics and Law, the University of Missouri, Kansas City School of [...]