Below, I post about Third Wayers Ezra Klein and Steve Pearlstein of the Washington Post and their attempt to use Ted Kennedy to prop up their attempts to promote Democratic capitulation on health care reform. Brian Beutler write a nice post on what Ted Kennedy would have done:

Both of those ideas--that the Senate will not pass a public option, and that Ted Kennedy would support giving up on it--are pretty deeply seeded in the media at this point. But compare that to Lawrence O'Donnell--chief of staff of the Senate Finance Committee during the Clinton Care years--who says that's all wrong.

Senator Kennedy...is not an easy compromiser on health care reform. In 1994, I was in the room when he told the president that he believed the strategy should be a Democrats-only strategy and that we should not be trying to reach out and get Republican votes.

The attempts of the Third Wayers like Klein and Pearlstein to claim Ted Kennedy as one of their own is absurd and anti-historical. It is also offensive. Let's let Kennedy's own proposals speak for themselves - Medicare For All.

Speaking for me only

Ezra Klein and Steve Pearlstein continue pushing the Third Way health care deal. And like Kathleen Sebelius, they invoke Ted Kennedy to do it. Pearlstein writes:

The simple lesson from this story -- and certainly the one Kennedy himself drew -- is that when it comes to historic breakthroughs in social policy, make the best deal you can get, leaving it to subsequent generations to perfect. . . . Although you'd hardly know it from all the shouting of recent weeks, there is a deal to be had here if only Democrats would be willing to take it.

Of course the deal they are pushing is the one they want, not the one Democrats actually want. Nor is it the deal Ted Kennedy wanted (we know what Ted Kennedy proposed - Medicare for All.) Klein and Pearlstein want to jettison the public option. Fair enough. Most Democrats do not agree with them. [More...]

Via Steve Benen and Media Matters, The Economist reports Dick Armey favors a public option. Benen writes:

Armey accidentally tell The Economist that the public option may be a good idea.

"If you in fact freely choose to enroll in Medicare that's a wonderful gift, it's a charity, it's something I applaud. But when they force you in, that's tyranny."

The Economist added, "In arguing against the Democrats' plan, he says that Medicare is a form of tyranny, and that citizens should be able to choose to enroll in the program. This choice, between a public plan and private ones, is precisely what the Democrats propose in a public option."

Now Dick Armey is on board. Now to get Max Baucus . . .

Speaking for me only

Criminal charges will not be filed against New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson in the "pay to play" investigation that caused him to withdraw from consideration as President Obama's Commerce Secretary.

The Democratic governor and former high-ranking members of his administration won't be criminally charged in an investigation of how lucrative state bond work went to one of the governor's large political donors, according to two people familiar with the case. The decision not to seek indictments was made by Justice Department officials in Washington, they said, speaking on condition they not be identified because prosecutors had not disclosed results of the probe.

Richardson's spokesman Gilbert Gallegos has issued a statement: [More...]

Argentina's Supreme Court has ruled a law prohibiting adults from possessing small quantities of marijuana is unconstitutional.

The Court unanimously determined that pot possession is private behavior and does not "constitute a clear danger" to others. The ruling strikes down the government's longstanding anti-marijuana law, which allowed for minor pot offenders to be sentenced for up to two years in prison.

"Each individual adult is responsible for making decisions freely about their desired lifestyle without state interference," the Court determined. "Private conduct is allowed unless it constitutes a real danger or causes damage to property or the rights of others."

The rationale behind the decision: "the government should go after major traffickers and provide treatment instead of jail for consumers of marijuana." Last week, Mexico's law decriminalizing possession of very small quantities of drugs, from pot to heroin, went into effect.

While there is much to loathe about New Jersey Democratic officials (a lot of crooks -- you can look up how many of them are in jail now (google Hudson County executive + jail)), but one thing they do know how to do is rip the bark off of Republicans. Gov. Jon Corzine is now in a dead heat with Christie:

A new survey conducted for Stan Greenberg and James Carville’s organization Democracy Corps by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research shows Democratic Governor Jon Corzine narrowing the gap on Republican challenger Chris Christie in the race for Governor. Christie’s lead has shrunk from five points to two points since our last survey two weeks ago, and he now leads 43 to 41 percent, with independent Chris Daggett taking 7 percent of the vote.

Jersey Dems do not worry what David Broder thinks.

Speaking for me only

The U.S. has been importing snitches from the Mexican cartels into the U.S., providing them with homes and new lives. Of course, some will be discovered. What happens next? Murder on the front lawn.

But in order to fight the drug traffickers, federal anti-narcotics agents have brought Mexican cartel members north of the border, to use them to gather intelligence and build cases.

ICE is arranging visas for them. And not playing nice with other law enforcement agencies, contributing to the violence: [More...]

Bob Dylan is in negotiations with two car companies to be the voice of their in-car GPS navigation systems.

Sure, I could put up a Dylan pun like "No Direction Home" or "There must be some way out of here" but I thought of this one and it's a good version. Any other ideas?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Two good pieces on the Progressive Block. Ryan Grim at HuffPo:

A majority of the 81 Congressional Progressive Caucus members of the House have vowed to oppose any health care bill that does not include a "robust public option." That threat has kept it alive. With 256 seats in the House and 218 needed to pass a bill, Democrats simply can't move health care reform on their own without progressive caucus support.

Indeed. But if they cave on the public option, they may as well disband. Chris Bowers writes:

In the baseball steroid cases, the 9th Circuit has issued a lengthy opinion finding the Government violated the 4th Amendment when issuing grand jury subpoenas and search warrants for drug testing records of all tested baseball players.

Investigators looking into steroid use by professional baseball players obtained search warrants and subpoenas for the drug tests results on 10 major league players, but they took the results on 104 players.

The opinion is here. The court provides guidelines for future cases in which the Government is seeking records stored on computers. [More...]

What Kagro Said:

The temptation to name the health care reform bill after fallen health care champion Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) is as understandable as it is overwhelming. But with the bill currently still at the mercy of players who are, shall we say, not as clearly dedicated to a product that offers the kind of help Kennedy envisioned, I suggest that we not offer them the opportunity to attach his name to anything less than a bill he would have fought for.

So while it's undoubtedly in that spirit that the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and others have begun their drive to honor Kennedy's memory by demanding that the HELP Committee's bill be passed and named after him, I suggest that it serves us and the Senator's memory better if our essential element -- a strong public option -- carries his name instead.

To name the weak tea "reforms" endorsed by the Third Way (read Ezra Klein) as the Kennedy Health bill would be a travesty.

Speaking for me only

The Nation is rerunning the late Jack Newfield's 2002 seminal piece on Ted Kennedy. I have written about if before, but it is a must read. BTW, Jack Newfield was one of the great progressive journalists of our time and one of the nicest persons I have ever met. We miss him every day.

This is an Open Thread.