Over at the Tampa Bay Buzz they are asking: Why is Charlie Crist bragging about Cover Florida?

“Cover Florida” is the Potemkin health care reform for the state of Florida. Charlie “strong-armed” health insurance companies into offering “less expensive” alternatives so all Floridians could afford to buy “health insurance”. You get a card and everything for next to nothing. Well, the card is worth next to nothing, but the “insurance” is worth even less. To say these policies have high deductibles, doesn’t begin to express the reality. Charlie wants to become a Senator so he can do this to for all Americans. Hey, everyone will get a card to carry in their wallet.

McClatchy says that Republicans bet on attacking Democrats. For almost everyone outside of the Oval Office, this is the equivalent of saying the sky is blue. Of course they are going to attack. Given the Dem numbers in Congress, the Republicans can’t be blamed for anything. They can honestly say that they didn’t have the numbers to block anything, and they are right [astounding, isn’t it]. The Republicans can’t stop a single bill because there are 60 members of the Dem caucus in the Senate, and the House has a firm majority. There is no negative for anything the Republicans do, because any failure is a Democratic failure. They can vote for Mom, apple pie, and the flag, and then oppose every other measure including health care.

Melissa was making a different point in this post, but shows that Hillary Clinton gets it: “… if President Obama, you know, walked on water, [John Bolton] would say he couldn’t swim.”

It isn’t just John Bolton, it is every Republican. They have absolutely no reason to help the President or the Congress accomplish anything. There is no benefit to them, and cooperation of any kind will be punished by the whackos who control their party.

From Haaretz: Lieberman summons envoy in U.S. over leaked rebuke of government

The Foreign Ministry on Saturday summoned for consultation a senior Israeli diplomat who in a confidential memo criticized the government for harming ties with the U.S. last week.

A ministry statement said that Israel’s consul-general in Boston, Nadav Tamir, would arrive in Jerusalem next week to give a clarification to the ministry’s director-general.

The memo, which was addressed to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem, stressed that the public spat with the U.S. over the issue of a settlements freeze has alienated a significant number of American Jewish supporters.

Tamir, a veteran well respected diplomat, wrote the memo under the heading “melancholy thoughts on Israel-U.S. relations.”

Tamir’s missive is considered unusual given the blunt, pointed nature of the criticism against the premier’s policies.

“The manner in which we are conducting relations with the American administration is causing strategic damage to Israel,” Tamir wrote. “The distance between us and the U.S. administration has clear consequences for Israeli deterrence.”

“There are American and Israeli political elements who oppose [U.S. President Barack] Obama on an ideological basis and who are ready to sacrifice the special relationship between the two countries for the sake of their own political agendas,” the consul general in Boston wrote.

This was private correspondence that Lieberman has managed to drag in the public arena by his ham-fisted handling as he awaits to the see if he will be indicted for corruption. The problem can be seen in two reports in the media:

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Today marks 35 years since Tricky Dick Nixon slithered out of the White House.

To bad no one learned anything from the event.

One of the complaints being made about whatever Congress is doing about health care is that the process is being rushed.

Since 1943 Congressman John D. Dingell of Michigan has introduced a bill for universal health care coverage of one form or another in every session.

John Dingell, Sr. died in 1955 and was replaced by his son, John Dingell, Jr., who is the current Dean of the House as the longest serving member.

I fail to see how 66 years is a rush to judgment.