It's almost a given at this point: Any time a Congressional Republican's commenting on the Democrats' healthcare reform bills, they'll likely bring up their length. Some will just mention the 2,074 pages in the Senate version, others will tally the amount of dollars spent per word, some will tell you it's longer than "War and Peace." It's a way to suggest that the bill is impenetrable, that Democrats are sneaking big changes into it -- and that it's bound to increase the size of the federal government, not to mention taxes.
Part of what they're saying is true -- the bill is quite long; the House's version is probably the longest produced in the past 10 years. But "War and Peace" is almost twice as wordy, and the Republicans have gotten pretty verbose recently, too.
The Associated Press noted Tuesday that the Senate bill comes in at 318,512 words, while the House's contains 319,145. "War and Peace," by contrast, ranges from 560,000 to 670,000. And when it was taken out of the legislative format and published in the Congressional Record, the Senate version took up only 209 pages.
OpenCongress.org also did some analysis of the measure, especially as compared to other legislation from the past 10 years. Turns out five of the ten longest bills in that period were written by Republicans.
In fact, while the House's healthcare reform proposal was the longest, a bill authored by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, was only 68 words behind. A 2005 appropriations bill sponsored by Rep. James Kolbe, R-Ariz., came in fourth at 296,111 words and one of the centerpieces of former President Bush's agenda, the No Child Left Behind Act, was sixth behind the strength of its 274,559 words. Minority Leader John Boehner, now spearheading the message that the Democrats' bills are too hefty, was the sponsor.
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann does deserve some credit for standing up against a sexist remark made by one of his rivals, Fox News' Glenn Beck. After Beck repeatedly referred to Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., as a prostitute, Olbermann called him out on his show Tuesday night, naming Beck "Worst Person in the World" and saying, "Where are the conservative feminists? A woman politician is called a prostitute and you're OK with that. It's OK if I call Sarah Palin that? The hell it is."
Olbermann's anger would have seemed a whole lot more sincere, though, if it weren't so transparently hypocritical.
Earlier in the same show, Olbermann had interviewed Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., who got some unwanted attention late last month for an appearance he'd made on a conspiracist radio show, during which he'd called a former lobbyist a "K Street whore." Of course, Grayson wasn't on "Countdown" to talk about that -- he was there for a friendly, even fawning interview about his proposal to change the number of senators needed to overcome a filibuster to 55. He never got the "Worst Person in the World" award for his comments, either.
This wasn't the first time in November that Grayson had been on "Countdown." His comment hit the news on Oct. 27; that night, Olbermann hosted his show, but didn't criticize the congressman. Then the host went on vacation for a few nights; his first night back, Nov. 2, he had Grayson on. Again, it wasn't to talk about his having called a political opponent a whore, but for another friendly interview.
To paraphrase Olbermann himself: A woman was called a prostitute, and -- apparently because the man doing the namecalling was on his side -- he's OK with that.
President Obama's first trip to Copenhagen, the one he made as part of an effort to lobby for Chicago to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, didn't go so well. But just two months after that, he's got another chance.
Obama will be heading to Copenhagen next month to take part in a summit meeting on global warming. The conference is unlikely to produce the treaty supporters were hoping for, but Obama's presence there will at least signal that the administration is more committed on the issue than its predecessor was.
Besides, Obama was scheduled to be in the neighborhood anyway: The day after he goes to Copenhagen, he's off to Oslo to pick up his Nobel Peace Prize.
If you're going to hold something you're billing as the "First National Tea Party Convention," there are a couple things you really have to do. The first is to invite former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin; the second is to invite Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.
That's what Tea Party Nation, which is organizing this convention, did. And according to CNN's Political Ticker blog, the group has announced that both women will be speaking, and that Palin will be giving the keynote.
Now, Palin's people haven't yet confirmed her appearance, which -- given her history with announced speaking appearances -- may be a sign that she won't end up going. But we can hope.
John McCain really can't go anywhere these days without the subject of his old running mate, Sarah Palin, coming up. That's especially true when he's giving an interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, who's been a favorite of Palin's for some time now.
So on Tuesday night, at the conclusion of his appearance on her show, Van Susteren asked McCain, "I've got to ask you a Governor Palin question .... We went on the road with her; she's drawing thousands for book signings. What do you make of this sort of Palin mania so to speak?"
McCain's response was interesting:
I think it's fantastic. I think, you know, I'm so proud of her and can I say I'm entertained and sometimes a little angry when I see this constant, vicious attacks by people on the left that, you know, tell them to calm down. I've never seen anything like it in all the years that I've been in politics, the viciousness and the personalization of the attacks on Sarah Palin.
But I'm very proud of her. I'm proud of the job she's doing. And I believe that she will play a major role in the politics in America. Americans like her, whether The New York Times and others happen to like that or not.
There's certainly plenty of criticism of Palin coming from the left, but the most potent fuel has often been provided by McCain's own staff, from his presidential campaign. And last week, he was defending some of the staff members who'd come in for the harshest treatment from Palin -- in some cases, though, those aides have given as good as they've gotten.
Come on, people: Did you really think Lou Dobbs was going to run for president immediately after quitting CNN? I mean, he'd have to have a super-inflated ego and be immensely self-righteous to do that, right? So don't worry: Dobbs might just run for the Senate -- then he'll run for president.
At least, that's the latest from the New York Times, which has been hearing talk that Dobbs is considering a challenge to Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J. A spokesman for the former anchor told the paper, referencing the possibility of a presidential run, "I think Lou is realistically saying, that’s a long way off, but if he did run for office there’d have to be an intermediary step, such as the Menendez seat."
For the record, the idea that Dobbs could mount a successful campaign for Senate is almost as far-fetched as the idea that he could become president. (Then again, stranger things have happened.) But the real problem with his making a run for the Senate, if he does indeed harbor White House dreams, is that Menendez isn't up for re-election until 2012. That means Dobbs couldn't run for president until 2016 at the earliest. By then he'd be 71.
War Room is written and edited by Alex Koppelman, with contributions from Salon reporters around the country.
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