Cook’s Special
by digby
Charlie Cook may be the most influential villager there is after Dean Broder. And here’s his latest edict:
The Cook Political Report says that Rep. Alan Grayson’s (D-FL) latest comments “reinforce our view that he will be highly vulnerable when the spotlight is on him, regardless of whom Republicans nominate.”
Cook moves his rating on the FL-8 seat from “leans Democrat” to “toss up.”
Keep in mind that Charlie Cook has some very specific ideas about how Democrats should govern:
MATTHEWS: What was his biggest mistake since inaugural, Charlie, from the numbers you look at? Is it going with that grab bag of stimulus stuff on the Hill?
COOK: I think that was it, but I think also on health care.
I think something like this has to be bipartisan. Big, big public policy changes have to be bipartisan.
MATTHEWS: I agree.
COOK: He should have brought in Republicans.
MATTHEWS: Can he save this by cutting a deal with the Senate Republicans? Can he save his bacon?
COOK: I think, when he did not—was not willing to go along with malpractice reform, he effectively ended any chance of getting any significant—any—any measurable Republican support.
Right. If only he’d gone for tort reform, the Republicans would have been on board.
Evidently, Cook actually believes the teabgagger Republicans would genuinely and sincerely love to work with President Obama and are more than willing to meet him halfway it’s just that the dirty hippies are causing trouble. And Alan Grayson is one big troublemaker.
None of this would matter much — Cook is just another villager, after all — except that the party committees who decide who gets money flutter around him like he’s the cutest Jonas Brother. And he’s now saying that Grayson’s “acting out” is going to cost him — even though the Republicans can’t even find anyone to run against him!
So, I wouldn’t expect that the Party is going to forgive him for telling the truth and standing up for himself. Charlie Cook finds that unseemly and we can’t have that.
Oh, and by the way, while Orrin Hatch is saying that the bill absolutely shouldn’t pass without at least 70(!) votes, Mitch McConnell is saying there is pretty much nothing the Democrats could do to get Republican votes. So it’s clear that Cook and the rest of the wealthy, well-insured elites who insist that there has to be a huge bipartisan majority to pass health care reform are really arguing for the status quo — you know, the one that says “don’t get sick and if you do, die quickly” — the health care system most of America lives under. No biggie for them —sucks for the rest of us.
Update: By the way, Michelle Bachman said last night on the House floor that the Democratic health care plan creates “sex clinics:”
The conservative congresswoman suggested that if health care reform passes, the nation’s schools might begin offering abortions to students. Bachman’s interpretation of the health care reform bill holds that the legislation is designed to bring Planned Parenthood into educational facilities. According to Bachmann,
The bill goes on to say what’s going to go on — comprehensive primary health services, physicals, treatment of minor acute medical conditions, referrals to follow-up for specialty care — is that abortion? Does that mean that someone’s 13 year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus that night? Mom and dad are never the wiser.
Adam Green was on Schuster and rightly called her “crazy.” Shuster’s co-host (sorry, didn’t catch her name) said she thought that Green’s comment was over the top. Seriously.
It’s getting really claustrophobic down here this in this rabbit hole.
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