It's like the old joke that you don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun the other guy. Obama doesn't have to be bipartisan. He just has to look more bipartisan than the Republicans. . . . The White House can't stop the Republicans from using procedural tactics to obstruct legislation, but they can keep them from improving their electoral position while they do it. . . .

(Emphasis supplied.) But in fact the President can stop the Republicans from obstructing health care reform - he can follow Senator Charles Schumer's lead and use reconciliation for health care reform. If in fact that is President Obama's endgame, then good for him. Time will tell. In the meantime, the Progressive Block has to hold strong - no robust public option, no "health care reform" bill. (A bill increasing Medicaid funding and funding for health care for the working poor is always welcome, but let's not call that health care reform.)

Speaking for me only

Matt Yglesias complains about Max Baucus and Kent Conrad catering to the "concerns" of Republican Rep. Joe Wilson on non-US citizens being covered by health care reform. I can only remind Yglesias of what he wrote about progressives who fight for the public option:

[P]rogressives can’t adopt an attitude of sociopathic indifference merely in order to strengthen our bargaining position, because refusing to adopt such an attitude is part of what it means to be progressive.

Why is Matt adopting an "attitude of sociopathic indifference" and letting this issue stand in the way of "health care reform?" Why is he criticizing Baucus and Conrad for acting PRECISELY as he has advised Democrats to act? See also Chris Bowers' response to Yglesias' ridiculous post.

Speaking for me only

In discussing the stupid heckling incident by Republican representative Joe Wilson of President Obama, Glenn Greenwald discusses what is really crazy - the Media's insistence that questioning the President, ANY President, is crazy:

Eugene Robinson today absurdly calls the GOP's disrespectful behavior at Obama's speech "un-American." Right-wing contempt for Obama is often petty, deeply emotional and ugly -- just like right-wing leaders themselves. But the demand that the President be venerated and treated as royalty is far more "un-American" than disruptive transgressions of etiquette. Wilson's heckling was juvenile and dumb, but that's all it was. If only a fraction of the media dismay devoted to his two-second breach of "decorum" had been directed to, say, rampant presidential lawbreaking, or the implementation of a torture regime, or the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people in our various wars, we would be much better off.

Glenn goes on to discuss how Politico still thinks it is crazy to question the Bush Administration's statements in the runup to the Iraq Debacle. The reality is, as I have written for years now, the Media is absolutely incompetent on every level. It is not just partisan and biased, it simply fails at its basic mission of holding the government accountable. By now, this is a dog bites man story.

Speaking for me only

The Inspector General has released a report (available here, pdf) on its investigation into sexual misconduct of inmates by guards and prison staff at federal prisons over the past 8 years.

The report finds that inmate accusations have more than doubled. Allegations were made at 92 of the nation's 93 federal prison sites. More details:

Of the 90 staff members prosecuted for sexual abuse of inmates, nearly 40 percent were also convicted of other crimes, authorities said.

Investigators underscored the damaging effect such episodes can have on the overall security within a prison. One operations officer abandoned his post several times to have sex with a female inmate. Another manager scrubbed the prison database to remove unflattering information about a prisoner and entered a phony request that allowed the inmate to transfer from a high-security facility to a less secure one.

[More...]

Some late afternoon news and then Big Brother:

• Cass Sunstein confirmed as head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs,

• Harry Reid says co-ops could be as effective as a public option.

• Sen. Orrin Hatch says most Republican senators won't vote for Baucus health care plan.

[More...]

Update: The DC Circuit has ordered the government to respond to the petition and emergency motion for stay of proceedings by this Tuesday, Sept 15, at noon.

Accused 9/11 terror participant Ramzi Bin al Shibh (aka Ramzi Binalshibh), one of the detainees facing a trial by military tribunal at Guantanamo, has filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the proceeding. He is represented by two JAG Corps attorneys in the Military Commissions' Office of the Chief Defense Counsel, CDR Suzanne Lachelier, USNR, and LCDR Richard Federico, USN. The John Adams Project, a collaborative effort of the ACLU and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) has been assisting. According to NACDL,:

The petition for extraordinary relief filed today asks the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to enjoin the prosecution of five high value detainees, consistent with President Barack Obama’s Executive Order of January 22, 2009. Defense attorneys are asking the court to assert jurisdiction over the commissions and compel a stop to all proceedings on the grounds that the commissions are unconstitutional and continue to operate without regard for the rule of law. The attorneys hope to shed light on the lawlessness of the military tribunal and force the Obama administration to formally charge the defendants in federal court.

[More...]

Tomorrow is the 8th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Tonight, on ABC World News with Charles Gibson and Nightline, Elie Assaad, a former FBI informant, says he became suspicious of Mohammed Atta in early 2001, when the FBI sent him to infiltrate a small mosque outside Miami. Atta was there with Adnan Shukrujuman, an al Qaeda fugitive who now has a $5 million U.S. reward on his head.

Assaad, who worked in at least 10 states and overseas since becoming an FBI operative in 199, tells ABC News the FBI was so focused on undercover stings they missed a chance to stop Mohammed Atta and prevent the al Qaeda plot.

Assaad, who posed as "Mohammed" – a personal representative of Osama bin Laden, says he's a "million percent positive" the 9/11 attacks could have been stopped if the FBI had gone after Atta and Shukrujumah. But because Atta and his men were suspicious of the FBI undercover operative, and secretive, Assaad says his FBI agent handlers sent him after the easier target – two wannabe terrorists whose cases were easy to crack and who were both eventually convicted and sent to prison.

[More...]

So the Republican congressman who yelled at the President apologized last night and called the White House to apologize and all that, but remorse seems a fleeting concept for Republicans:

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) just appeared with local talk-radio host Keven Cohen on WVOC radio in Columbia, South Carolina, where he explained how it was that he came to yell "You lie!" during President Obama's speech to Congress -- and he also said that he's received support from his colleagues in Congress, and even from Democrats. Wilson said that overall, he's gotten a positive reception. "It's been truly incredible, the phones have run off the hook at home in all offices, and the e-mails, the vast majority have been very favorable."

. . . I'm very, very appreciative of the outpouring of support."

Allrighty then. So I guess that regret Wilson expressed was well, a lie. Got it.

Speaking for me only

Bill Simmons has a very funny column on the upcoming NFL season. If you like the NFL and Bill Simmons, you should read it.

The Florida Gators face their first "test" of the season on Saturday after being 73 point favorites in the first game (they did not cover, only winning by 59), facing Troy. They are only 36 point favorites this week. If this trend continues, Florida will only be favored by 18 over Tennessee in week 3. I think that's low - Florida probably will be a 25 point favorite over Tennessee. More on college football Saturday morning, where I'll start making picks this year (my goal is to become the new Greg Easterbrook, a guy who once wrote BS about politics and now writes BS about football.)

This is an Open Thread.

While "progressive" blogger Ezra Klein (Ezra wrote this very good post so I give him a pass on this one) and Matt Yglesias may think this demonstrates "sociopathic indifference" to the issue of health care reform, I was happy to see Jane Harman state unequivocally to Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC that she was a a "Blue Dog" who supports a "robust public option."

Does that make her "Left of the Left" now?

Speaking for me only

I'm obsessing on this, but it bothers me so much, I can't stop writing about it. Matt Yglesias writes:

[Chris] Bowers likes to make the point that the administration does more to lean on progressives than it does to lean on moderates. This, however, ignores the basic reality that the administration has more leverage over progressives than it does over moderates. It also ignores the basic reality that progressives are actually the good guys. If you decide to adopt an attitude of sociopathic indifference toward the gargantuan looming catastrophe of climate change, this gives you a lot of bargaining power in a legislative negotiation But progressives can’t adopt an attitude of sociopathic indifference merely in order to strengthen our bargaining position, because refusing to adopt such an attitude is part of what it means to be progressive.

(Emphasis supplied.) According to Yglesias, being a progressive means sucking at political bargaining. More than that, trying be be a good political bargainer means you have "sociopathic indifference" to issues. Of course it should mean the exact opposite on both points. A good progressive is the one who can bargain most effectively for important progressive issues. The milquetoast "progressive" Yglesias in fact represents is really the worst type of progressive in that he does not think there are any issues worth some hard bargaining. This impulse is truly one of the most dangerous in the Democratic constellation. It is a new version of The Third Way really. One last point - Yglesias is right in criticizing Bowers about this being an issue of "trust." Only a fool trusts a pol.

Speaking for me only

I written for weeks now about the irrationality of certain "progressive bloggers" regarding political bargaining. Matt Yglesias' latest gives a clue why:

It’s worth noting, after all, that even the versions of health reform in congress that do include a public option would be better for the insurance industry than no bill at all. It seems to me you ought to be able to look an insurer executive or lobbyist in the eye and tell him, “I’m casting a vote that will help you get even richer” even while voting “yes” on the House version. To hold out for Baucuscare or nothing requires a sort of disturbed mindset that I’ve puzzled over before. And it’s striking that the people holding this position not only haven’t given any sort of actual reason for their view, but they’ve barely been asked to give a reason.

The reason why no one asks them is because people like Ezra Klein and Matt Yglesias (and Jon alter and Joe Klein) provide Obama and the Media cover to tell progressives to give up on the public option (indeed, the insurance industry now cites to Klein.) Forget about the merits of Klein and Yglesias' views on the substance (and I find their views quite weak), their complete obtuseness on the subject of political bargaining has been a wonder to behold. They truly appear to be clueless about it. The Steny Hoyers of the "progressive" blogs. "Serious" people. More . . .