A bit of good news to report today amid the preparations for New Year’s celebrations. Jobless claims fell more than expected last week. From WSJ: Initial claims for unemployment benefits fell by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 432,000 in the week ended Dec. 26, the lowest level since July 19, 2008. The four-week average of [...]

As the saying goes, “May you live in interesting times.” On Decemeber 31, 1999, who would have thought that… …George W. Bush would be elected president…by the Supreme Court? …he would then go on to win two terms? …the Twin Towers would no longer exist? …we would declare war on Afghanistan and Iraq? …Governor Arnold [...]

Celebrating the end of the aughts.

The conspiracy-minded blogs have been abuzz about President Obama’s Executive Order granting Interpol certain privileges and immunities. Fears of the loss of national sovereignty lead the pack with some going as far as saying this opens the door to Americans being kidnapped to appear before the World Court. The calmer voices have been saying it [...]

With the historic passage of a partisan health care insurance reform measure, the US Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid kept his most recent promise to pass the bill by Christmas. Differences with the House version means that the bill will almost certainly require reconciliation and another 60-vote “filibuster override” in the Senate in 2010. [...]

I don’t want money. I don’t want clothes. I’ll even give up that iPhone I had my eye on. All if this ridiculous crowing from the far left is ignored. And it’s not just me. The latest broadside to the “kill the bill/single payer/public option” noise parade comes from Jonathan Chait. Basically, his article reads [...]

While Krugman is brimming with good tidings and bubbling over with holiday cheer, from the other side of the political spectrum Peter Schiff is offering a dour double dose of “Bah Humbug.”

Time and time again during this grand debate, I’ve said that compromise was not only appropriate, but also absolutely necessary if we wanted anything passed. Yes, this legislation is flawed. But all important legislation is. Eventually, we’ll build on this and create something that works for every single American, but for now we’ve got a [...]

The title says it all. If you tweet or have been thinking of a good excuse to get on Twitter, follow us @thedonklephant. We tweet all of our posts and some other fun facts too. Now, if you’re new to whole “twitter” thing, this article provides some good pointers: What Should I Tweet About? Also, [...]

Should Ezra Klein’s notion of limiting the use of the filibuster actually find support on the Senate floor, it raises the specter of a simple majority of Republicans in 2015 undoing the Health Care plan that required a 60 vote Democratic plurality in 2009. Definitely in the “be careful what you wish for” category.

Ezra Klein did some digging and finds that the health care plans Obama proposed during the campaign season (pdf) closely mirrors what is currently on the table. First, what he said then… The Obama-Biden plan provides new affordable health insurance options by: (1) guaranteeing eligibility for all health insurance plans; (2) creating a National Health [...]

Open Primaries, Independent Parties, and the Authorities Must read on Redding News Review — Lenora Fulani explains why she did not support Bill Thompson in November’s mayoral race in NYC…. *******   With more than 40% of the country being independent, opening up the primaries is an important democratic (small “d”) electoral reform that would [...]

I noted some months back that it was smart politics for Republicans to compromise on health care. Yes, they’re the minority party, but if they had worked with Dems the size and scope would have been more to their liking. And they could have easily peeled off 2 or 3 moderate Dems so Reid and [...]

Christmas is coming early this year for the Dems. With the news that Ben Nelson is falling in line so Dems can avoid a filibuster, the passage of this health care bill has become much more likely (almost a certainty?). Basically, Republicans can cry foul about socialism and fiscal irresponsibility all they want, but they [...]

They got Ben Nelson. From Wash Post: Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.), the final Democratic holdout on health care, announced to his colleagues Saturday morning that he would support the Senate reform bill, clearing the way for final passage by Christmas of President Obama’s top domestic policy priority. Asked if he had secured the 60 votes [...]

Hey all, I’ve been dormant these past couple weeks given work and other obligations, so I wanted to write and tell everybody what’s been going on. First and foremost, I’ve been focusing on my job over at AMC. We just launched a new website in late October and you can imagine how much work that [...]

Major Parties, Minor Parties and Anti-Parties Momentum continues to build for open primaries in California, and most but not all partisans (including minor partisans like Libertarians and Greens) don’t support primaries that would allow everyone including nonpartisans to participate in the first round of voting… NYC Independence Party (aka the “anti-party Party because of its [...]

CMS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of Health and Human Services, has provided some analysis of the new senate plan forwarded by a group of Democratic senators and majority leader Reid. The “estimated financial effects” include some that may cause some moderate Democrats to withdraw support. An estimated 5 million Americans are [...]