Baucus closes door on single-payer in national health care debate

ZOMG the phrase "single payer" was spoken on Fox News!

DeLauro, Dodd get earful from public on health care

Letter to the Rutland Herald: Why we need single-payer

Letter to the Las Vegas Sun: Single-payer system is most trustworthy

So over at Talkleft, Big Tent Democrat finds issue with an insinuation at (where else) Kos that Chris Dodd carried AIG's water on the bonus issue due to his being the largest* recipient of their campaign contributions. It was true he was carrying water, but it was Obama and Geithner's.

"Lessig promulgates a false implication - that Senator Chris Dodd acted as he did because of AIG contributions. It is clear now that in fact Dodd acted as he did at the behest of the Obama administration. In fact, in last week's issue of The Economist (p. 29) (before the AIG bonus scandal broke), the following was written:

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Glenn speaks for me:

There is some (understandable) confusion around about what is going to happen tomorrow with the FISA vote and Dodd's promised filibuster... I shared this confusion until earlier today when these matters were clarified.

Contrary to the emphatic promise Dodd repeatedly made during his presidential campaign to lead a filibuster on the floor of the Senate to stop any bill that has telecom immunity in it (a promise which, incidentally, led to hundreds of thousands of dollars being donated to his campaign), there isn't going to be any actual filibuster tomorrow. Under the Unanimous Consent framework agreed to by all Senators (including Dodd), there will be a 60-vote requirement to invoke cloture on the FISA bill and for ultimate passage, followed by an allotted 4 hours of post-cloture "debate," but there will not be any real filibuster to prevent cloture. When Leahy says that he will "join" Dodd's filibuster, what he means is that he will merely cast a vote against cloture.

Dodd's efforts against this bill have been quite commendable, and the UC Agreement isn't completely worthless. It means that Democrats do not need 60 votes, or even 50 votes, to stop this bill. Rather, they only need 41 Senators willing to oppose cloture (which everyone knows they're not going to get).

Still, Dodd is not, after all, going to lead an actual filibuster on the floor of the Senate to stop the bill. Worse, the Republicans are going to be permitted to impose 60-vote requirements on key Democratic amendments without actually having to filibuster at all -- exactly the situation which Harry Reid vowed just two weeks ago he would not permit.

The Man:

As Glenn Greenwald keeps saying over and over again, the Washington conventional wisdom is that spying on Americans without warrants and locking them up indefinitely without charges are the Very Serious Positions. This is a deeply sick political culture in a deeply corrupt and deeply sick city, composed of people who have turned their backs on everything most of us grew imagining this country stood for, and it's important to support and be inspired by those who "dare" to stand up for what we all thought were American values.

Bingo.

This one is for Lambert, who is a busy guy and has been making eyes at Dodd lately. Too bad you weren't there, hoss.

First he made the right sounds about civil liberties, and now he's actually suggesting working women have a right to be paid while adjusting to a new baby. And he's got the father of the Tubes on board too! For a white guy with bad hair, he's making all the right noises as he attempts to position himself at the 08 darkhorse alternative to the Hilbama:

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) announced he will introduce legislation that would amend the FMLA to provide for at least six weeks of paid leave for employees. The bill would also expand the number of individuals eligible for FMLA leave. "Besides our nation's families, our nation's economy, its production and its competitiveness are threatened when families are forced to choose between the job they need and the family they love," Dodd said. "FMLA was a milestone in our nation's dialogue, acknowledging that families, workforce production and competitiveness are not mutually exclusive."

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