Posts by Aaron Wiener

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee — or half of it, more accurately — has begun its first day of markup of the landmark Kerry-Boxer climate legislation. And once again, it’s a pretty one-sided debate.
Last week, Ranking Member James Inhofe (R-Okla.) threatened to boycott the markup unless the committee received an Environmental Protection Agency [...]

Opposing the public option could mean tough primaries for Bayh and Lincoln.
According to gridiron theory, Lieberman just helped Reid toward a first down.
After Reid blasts Republicans for holding up her nomination, the new Surgeon General is confirmed.
Jeb Bush accuses Obama of “attack[ing] capitalism.”
A theory for Dem malaise: it’s harder to unite behind doing stuff than [...]

Beer diplomacy sticks: Crowley and Gates share more suds.
Why don’t Democrats like the Democrat-controlled Congress?
Gibbs gets emotional describing Obama’s Dover visit.
Here’s why MSNBC is not the liberal equivalent of Fox.
Americans are growing more pessimistic about race relations.
Pawlenty hits the campaign trail — in Mexico.
The Tea Party flash mob doesn’t materialize.
The South Carolina GOP just can’t [...]

While governor, Palin founded a company — called Pie Spy.
The public supports Obama’s Afghanistan “dithering.”
Romney tries to explain away Massachusetts’ health reform.
A new Toomey ad hits Specter hard for his extreme ideological shift.
Eternal pessimist Gore Vidal: Obama is “better than a country like this deserves,” might as well “give up” on health care.
Michael Steele stands [...]

Last week, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) threatened a Republican boycott of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee’s markup of the Kerry-Boxer climate bill. Well, we’re not quite at the markup stage yet, but it seems that Inhofe and his colleagues are already making good on their threat.

Following her statement late Friday indicating she’s open to a public option compromise, we’ve officially moved Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) from the “Likely Opponents” column to the “On the Fence” category in TWI’s Senate Public Option Scoreboard.
Landrieu had previously expressed strong opposition to a public option, telling the Monroe, La., News Star that there were [...]

Finding leverage when you’re in the minority always requires some creativity, but Republicans might have trouble convincing people they’re acting in good faith with this latest effort. The Washington Post reports on a strategy being promoted by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which amounts to, [...]

So how’s the public option doing? Depends who you ask.
The opt-out debate blurs historical divisions on states’ rights.
Meet the new face of the “No on 1″ campaign in Maine.
Headlines like this are why people are worried about nuclear security in Pakistan.
David Brooks and Jeb Bush heap praise on Obama’s education policy.
The First Family poses for [...]

This seems to have flown mostly under the radar, but on Tuesday, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), one of the sharpest Democratic critics of a public option, told The Huffington Post that she would probably not support a GOP filibuster of a health care bill that contained a public plan.
“I’m not right now inclined to support [...]

Rise up against the Obamautocracy in a new computer game, “2011 Obama’s Coup Fails”!
The anti-gay marriage arguments are making less and less sense.
Daggett surges, and Corzine stands to gain.
Daniel Inouye is now the third-longest-serving senator in U.S. history.
HHS brushes off Grassley’s charge of propaganda.
Tea Party criticism aside, Scozzafava’s actually pretty conservative for a New York [...]