VIDEO- Axelrod: When You Go Into The Details, People Support The Healthcare Bill

By GottaLaff

Earlier today, I made the following point:

When voters are polled about what is actually in the bill, they overwhelmingly approve. When they are polled after being bombarded by smears and lies, they raise their eyebrows a little.

They should be raising their eyebrows at the party who is misleading them, not the effort to improve their health and save their lives.

Now Crooks and Liars has a clip from David Axelrod that drives it home... to Jake Tapper, who can't seem to extricate himself from right wing talking points:

TAPPER: But according to polls, the American people do not agree with what you think--

AXELROD: The polls are split, Jake. I mean, one of the interesting things that has happened in the last four or five weeks is that if you look at -- if you average together the public polls, what you find is that the American people are split on the top line, do you support the plan? But again, when you go underneath, they support the elements of the plan. When you ask them, does the health care system need reform, three quarters of them say yes. When you ask them, do you want Congress to move forward and deal with this issue, three quarters of them say yes. So we're not going to walk away from this issue.

Ding! Right answer.

Why Geithner went "thud"

By GottaLaff

Did you know this? I didn't know this:

The Washington Post reports Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner abandoned his original bank rescue plan just days before it's unveiling after determining it was too expensive and too risky. A new plan was quickly adopted, but unfortunately his team "didn't have enough time to work out many details or consult with others before the plan was supposed to be unveiled."

"The sharp course change was one of the key reasons why Geithner's plan -- his first major policy initiative as Treasury secretary -- landed with such a thud last Tuesday. Lawmakers, investors and analysts expressed dismay over the lack of specifics. Markets tanked, and fresh doubts arose about the hand now steering the country's financial policy."

Would it have been any more embarrassing or politically damaging to have waited, then?

Details, details

By GottaLaff

Here are a few things you may want to know about the recovery bill:

"We trimmed the fat, fried the bacon and milked the sacred cows," Nelson said. He said the compromise includes $350 billion in tax cuts that would reach 95 percent of all Americans. [...]

Among the amendments that passed today was one sponsored by Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) that would restrict the hiring of foreign workers by banks receiving federal bailout money. The provision would require banks to seek American workers when hiring instead of giving those jobs to foreigners brought in under the H-1B visa program.

Sanders said the measure, which would be in effect for two years, would ensure that banks receiving federal money "are not allowed to import cheaper labor from overseas while they are laying off American workers."[...]

Two sticking points for Republicans were funding for school construction and Head Start, both viewed as worthy programs but not ones that would provide a sufficient boost to the economy. [...]

Some items on the cutting board included $99 million in technology upgrades for the State Department's National Cyber Security Initiative, $200 million for benefits for Filipino veterans, $55 million for the Historic Preservation Fund, and $122 million for the Coast Guard to purchase new or renovated polar icebreakers.

But senators also debated whether to keep in the bill numerous big-ticket items that their colleagues had fought for. About $14 billion in Pell grant funding appeared to have survived, but some senators were targeting at least $10 billion in other education programs. Billions of dollars in energy efficiency incentives and state aid also were under review by the centrist group.

There you go.