memeorandum: Gibbs: The Public Plan Doesn't Have The Votes (The Huffington Post)

11:05 PM ET, February 23, 2010

Top Items:

Robert Gibbs: Public Option Via Reconciliation Can't Pass Congress — Hmm. At the press briefing just now, Robert Gibbs made the White House's most expansive comments yet about the push for a reconciliation vote on the public option — and, to put it mildly, supporters won't find them encouraging.

Discussion: Firedoglake, FiveThirtyEight, The Reaction, Ezra Klein, Washington Monthly, TPM LiveWire, Liberal Values, Democratic Strategist, CentristNet, SpeakEasy, The Page, Riehl World View, Daily Kos and TPMDC

Ezra Klein:

Jay Rockefeller's inconvenient honesty on the public option — Sen. Jay Rockefeller did something very strange last night: He was honest. He said, publicly, that he does not support adding the public option to the reconciliation bill. And he's going to pay for it today.

Discussion: TPMDC, The New Republic, The Hill, A plain blog about politics, Crooks and Liars, Matthew Yglesias, Swampland, New Mexico Independent and Mother Jones

Erica Werner / Associated Press:

Hoyer: Comprehensive health bill may be no go — WASHINGTON - Democratic congressional leaders confronted the reality Tuesday that they may not be able to pass the comprehensive health care overhaul sought by President Barack Obama. Republican leaders prepared to do everything in their power to make sure they can't.

Discussion: NO QUARTER, Hot Air, About.com US Liberal Politics, Bloomberg, Commentary, Dennis the Peasant, Pundit & Pundette and The Hill

The Huffington Post:

Gibbs: The Public Plan Doesn't Have The Votes — WHAT'S YOUR REACTION? — The White House made it official on Tuesday: the president doesn't think the votes are there to get a public option passed through reconciliation and consequently won't make a push to include or pass the provision.

Discussion: Open Left, The Politico, TPMDC, Politics Daily, Firedoglake, Hullabaloo, Raw Story, AMERICAblog News, TalkLeft and Taylor Marsh

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blog:

Stupak: ‘Unacceptable’ — This statement from Bart Stupak is conciliatory in tone, but not in substance, and it isn't going to make things easy in the House: — I was pleased to see that President Obama's health care proposal did not include several of the sweetheart deals provided to select states in the Senate bill.

Discussion: Firedoglake, CNN, TalkLeft and Dennis the Peasant

Carrie Budoff Brown / The Politico:

Senate Dems warm to reconciliation — An idea that seemed toxic only weeks ago — using a parliamentary tactic to ram health reform through the Senate — is gaining acceptance among moderate Democrats who have resisted the strategy but now say GOP opposition may force their hands.

Discussion: CentristNet

Michael O'Brien / The Hill:

Reid: GOP should ‘stop crying’ about majority-vote move on healthcare — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told Republicans to “stop crying” about the potential use of a legislative tactic to finish healthcare legislation with a majority vote. — Reid lashed out at the minority Republicans …

Discussion: The Politico and American Conservative …

Ezra Klein:
A failure of White House leadership

Discussion: The New Republic, Wonk Room, MyDD and Eschaton

Dan Pfeiffer / White House.gov Blog Feed:
Will the Republicans Post Their Health Plan... and When?

David Brooks / New York Times:
Into the Mire — Barack Obama came to Washington with the …

Discussion: Ezra Klein, Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, The Daily Dish, Commentary, Firedoglake, Los Angeles Times, Ross Douthat, Washington Post and Newsweek Blogs

The Hill:
Gibbs: Public option won't pass

Discussion: The Politico and CNN

Molly Hooper / The Hill:
Boehner: GOP will ‘crash’ WH ‘infomercial’ on healthcare reform

Discussion: Think Progress, Rumproast, Hot Air, Newsweek Blogs and The Hill

Wall Street Journal:
ObamaCare at Ramming Speed

Discussion: Wonk Room, Stop The ACLU, Riehl World View and Wake up America

Charles Babington / Associated Press: Dems, GOP: Summit Will Not Break Logjam on Health

Scott Whitlock / NewsBusters.org:

MSNBC Regular Donny Deutsch Slams Marco Rubio With Racially Charged Attack: He's a ‘Coconut’ — MSNBC and CNBC contributor — and professed Charlie Crist admirer — Donny Deutsch used racially charged language on Monday night, smearing Republican senatorial candidate Marco Rubio as a “coconut.”

Discussion: race42008.com, Mediaite, JOSHUAPUNDIT, Say Anything, Left Coast Rebel and RedState

Michelle Malkin:

The old “coconut” smear: Another white liberal bigmouth with race issues — A few readers asked me why I hadn't commented on MSNBC's latest attack on the Tea Party as RAAAAACIST. Been there, done that. Over and over and over again. (The Dallas Tea Party posted an excellent rejoinder video here.)

Discussion: Breitbart.tv, Hot Air and Left Coast Rebel

Brian Montopoli / CBS News:

Harry Reid Says GOP Should “Stop Crying” About Reconciliation — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told reporters Tuesday that Republicans “should stop crying” about the possible use of the parliamentary procedure known as budget reconciliation to pass a health care reform bill.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, The Page, Hot Air, Say Anything and Truthdig

J. Taylor Rushing / The Hill:
Senate sitting on 290 bills already passed by House; tension mounts

Discussion: Firedoglake, CNN, Mother Jones, CBS News, Say Anything and Daily Kos

Fox News:
Pelosi Reasserts Claims On CIA Interrogation Techniques

Discussion: Say Anything and Gateway Pundit

Matt Pressman / Vanity Fair:

Hate Sells: Why Liberal Magazines Are Suffering Under Obama — The George W. Bush years were good for more than just oilfield-services companies and waterboard manufacturers. They were also a boon for liberal political magazines, whose circulation soared on the wings of the Bush hatred that swept much of the country.

Discussion: Silicon Alley Insider and Politics Daily

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

Where Scott Brown Is Coming From — In just 48 hours, Scott Brown would be sworn in as the newest member of the United States Senate, stepping into the shoes (and office suite) of Edward M. Kennedy and the world of woe on Capitol Hill. But as he zipped down a Massachusetts highway …

Discussion: Marbury, The Swamp, HillBuzz, The Page, American Power, The Washington Independent and Commentary

CBS News:
Scott Brown's Jobs Vote Spurs Angry Online Backlash

Discussion: Washington Post, Mediaite, The Atlantic Business Channel and The TrogloPundit

RushLimbaugh.com:

Thoughts on Mitt Romney, Scott Brown and the State of the GOP — BEGIN TRANSCRIPT — RUSH: To the phones. We go to Chicago. This is Ed. Nice to have you with us, sir, hello. — CALLER: Hi how you doing, Rush? — RUSH: Very well thank you. — CALLER: I just called to make a quick comment about Glenn Beck.

Discussion: Ben Smith's Blog and Hot Air

Tara Brautigam / Canadian Press:

‘My heart, my choice,’ Williams says, defending decision for U.S. heart surgery — An unapologetic Danny Williams says he was aware his trip to the United States for heart surgery earlier this month would spark outcry, but he concluded his personal health trumped any public fallout over the controversial decision.

Discussion: Say Anything and Top of the Ticket

Mark Steyn / The Corner on National Review Online:
Politician Makes Controversial Statement — By: Mark Steyn

Discussion: EconLog and Globe and Mail

Douglas Elmendorf / Director's Blog:

Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output — Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), also known as the economic stimulus package, certain recipients of funds appropriated in ARRA (most grant and loan recipients …

Discussion: The Hill, Matthew Yglesias, DISSENTING JUSTICE and The Page

Steven Erlanger / New York Times:

French Ad Shocks, but Will It Stop Young Smokers? — PARIS — A new French anti-smoking ad aimed at the young that plays off a pornographic stereotype has gotten more attention than even its creators intended, with critics suggesting that it offends common decency and creates a false analogy between oral sex and smoking.

Matea Gold / Company Town:

ABC News prepares major restructuring; between 300 and 400 staffers could be cut [updated] — ABC News is poised to make a major round of cuts that will reduce the size of the news division by as much as 20% and radically reorder the network's traditional approach to news gathering.

Discussion: Media Decoder, Mediaite, Vanity Fair, The Impolitic, New York Magazine and Silicon Alley Insider

Binyamin Appelbaum / Washington Post:

Bank lending plummets in 2009 — Lending by the banking industry fell by $587 billion, or 7.5 percent, in 2009, the largest annual decline since the 1940s, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported Tuesday. — FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said that some small banks have dialed back on lending …

Discussion: Calculated Risk, The Atlantic Business Channel, The Baseline Scenario and Politics Daily

Thomas E. Ricks / Foreign Policy:

Nir Rosen: Stop the Iraq madness! — This blog knows all too well that no one is right all the time, and that it is important to listen to people who know their stuff and disagree with you. So when I saw Nir Rosen, a fellow at the NYU Center on Law and Security, make some comments …

Discussion: The Daily Dish, Newshoggers.com and ATTACKERMAN

Josh / Right Wing Watch:

Video of Bob Marshall Proves He Said What He Meant, Meant What He Said — Watch Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall claim at an anti-Planned Parenthood press conference that disabled children are God's punishment for abortion: — After his remarks set off a national controversy …

Discussion: Delegate Bob Marshall, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES and Pharyngula

Micheline Maynard / New York Times:

Toyota Insists Electronics Are Not to Blame in Safety Issue — WASHINGTON — A top Toyota executive will tell a House committee on Tuesday that the automaker took “too long to come to grips with a rare but serious set of safety issues.” — The executive, James E. Lentz III …

Discussion: Politics Daily, The Democratic Daily, Clusterstock, New York Magazine and The Lede

Marin Cogan / The Politico:

Sanders: Skeptics like Nazi deniers — Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is comparing climate change skeptics to those who disregarded the Nazi threat in America in the 1930s, adding a strident rhetorical shot to the already volatile debate over climate change.

Discussion: Pajamas Media, Hot Air, Right Pundits, Sister Toldjah and Say Anything

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Jimmy Carter Objects To Article Comparing His Foreign Policy To Obama's — In last month's issue of Foreign Policy magazine, leading analyst and Iraq War supporter Walter Russell Mead opined that President Obama's foreign policy agenda was turning into a duplicate of Jimmy Carter's.

Discussion: Foreign Policy, democracyarsenal.org, TigerHawk, The Jawa Report and Say Anything

Michael Barbaro / City Room:

Ford Polls New Yorkers on Himself and Gillibrand — Former Representative Harold E. Ford Jr. of Tennessee has dug into his own pocket to pay for a detailed poll, conducted over the last few days, intended to test the viability of a Senate run in New York, according to people briefed on the matter.

Discussion: The Page, The Daily Politics and The Corner on National …

Benjamin Todd Jealous / CNN:

NAACP president: Van Jones a misunderstood treasure — Editor's note: Benjamin Todd Jealous is president and CEO of the NAACP. The NAACP Image Awards celebrates the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts and literature, as well as individuals or groups …

Discussion: Gateway Pundit, Townhall.com and Mediaite