A Flury of Health Care Activity

First, the House Committees working up the health care bill finished and a vote is planned sometime soon. Also, the Seante Health Committee finished their bill

Second, Baucus, chairman of the Finance Committee, said they would have a bill done by the end of the day today. Which is huge because Baucus was trying too hard to get repub votes and Harry told him to stop. Rare backbone for Harry.

Third, Harry Reid said the senate would vote on the health care bill by the end of the month.

Lastly, Obama is steering closer and closer to going it alone w/o repub votes for the health care bill. Which is very important b/c he was emphasizing bipartisanship for sometime now. Which, I wrote about earlier, depends on the definition of "bipartisan".

Right Wing Media Was Trying To Help Sanford Staff

Great find from TPM. It turns out that at the beginning of the media storm about S.C. gov Mark Sanford's disappearance, the right wing media was trying to help out the Sanford staff.

Choice quotes:

"If you all want to speak on this publicly, you're welcome to Washington Times Radio. You know that you will be on friendly ground here!"

From Fox:
"Having known the Governor for years and even worked with him when he would host radio shows for me -- I find this story and the media frenzy surrounding it to be absolutely ridiculous! Please give him my best."

Astonishing how in-your-face republican these networks are. Check out the whole story over at TPM.

Dick Told CIA To Conceal Program. Could Lead To Special Prosecutor

The movement to investigate the Bush/Cheney administration just got a shot in the arm over the weekend with a couple of stories.

First, as reported here, Director of the CIA Leon Panetta told congress that they had misled/lied to congress about programs.

Second, it was revealed in that same briefing by Leon that Cheney told the CIA not to inform congress about special programs. Which is illegal.

Last, with the new information about all this illegal stuff, Eric Holder is seriously considering a special prosecutor to investigate.

I feel the drip drips of the Bush/Cheny Whitehouse have now turned into a slow pour. As I have said before, this is too huge and drips will suck all news/headlines. There needs to be an investigation to save Obama's agenda.

Sonia Sotomayor Hearings

Check out the C-Span feed.

Today there won't be much. All senators will give a speech. There are 19 senators on the committee so do the math.

Tomorrow will start the questioning. Things to watch for:

1. GOP senators will not go blood. They can't afford appearing too aggressive because the latino vote is huge.

2. Look for tough questions but just poking and prodding on the part of the GOP. They are going to look for weaknesses and try to exploit them but don't expect too much.

3. Expect non answers. Really long non answers.