White House Signaling Support For House To Pass Senate Health Care Bill

Plum Line is reporting that the White House wants the House to pass the Senate health care bill with a fix that can be worked out via reconciliation.

“In staff level discussions, the White House has made it clear that it supports making changes to the Senate bill through reconciliation because that is the only way to pass comprehensive health care reform,” one of the Dem Congressional aides familiar with ongoing talks tells me.

“They support this strategy,” a second Democratic aide familiar with the talks says, referring to the White House. “The alternatives are so bad they’re not worth …

On Wednesday’s Radio Show…

• Alan confronts the American Family Association’s Bryan Fischer, who says gays should be imprisoned and forced into “reparative therapy.”

• Human rights attorney Marjorie Cohn tells Alan why she believes the Obama administration is trying to “curry favor with Republicans” by refusing to discipline the Bush officials who wrote the “torture memos.”

• Why make promises you can’t keep? Alan marvels at the foresight of adulterous South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford.…

Jenny Sanford: Mark Wouldn’t Promise Fidelity In Wedding Vows

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s soon-to-be-ex-wife says her husband refused to promise to be faithful when taking their wedding vows, asking that the phrase be removed.

“It bothered me to some extent, but … we were very young, we were in love,” she said in an exclusive interview with Barbara Walters to air on “20/20″ Friday. “I questioned it, but I got past it … along with other doubts that I had.”…

Does James O’Keefe Have A Race Problem?

Max Blumenthal at Salon is reporting that James O’Keefe, accused of illegally entering federal property in the Landrieu matter, has an unsavory history when it comes to race. One People’s Project, which monitors hate groups, has a photo of O’Keefe at a 2006 conference on “Race and Conservatism” that featured white nationalists.  O’Keefe’s former backer, the Leadership Institute, withdrew support of the conference.

According to One People’s Project founder Daryle Jenkins, O’Keefe was manning the literature table at the gathering that brought together anti-Semites, professional racists and proponents of Aryanism. OPP covered the event at the time, sending …

Research 2000/Kos Poll Of Republicans: Obama A Socialist, Not Born Here, May Hate White People, Palin More Qualified

Research 2000, a non-partisan polling company did a poll for DailyKos among Republicans.

Ultimately, these results explain why it is impossible for elected Republicans to work with Democrats to improve our country. Their base are conspiracy mongers who don’t believe Obama was born in the United States, that he is the second coming of Lenin, and that he is racist against white people. They already want to impeach him despite the glaringly obvious lack of high crimes or misdemeanors. If any Republican strays and decides to do the right thing and try to work in a bipartisan fashion, they …

Limbaugh “I Thank God Every Day” For Obama’s Problems

Rush Limbaugh, on  “Fox and Friends,”  said he “thanks God every day that it is going down the tubes.” Does he mean the country? Well, if you believe the president fails it ‘s bad for the country, I suppose that statement could be construed to mean he wants the country to fail.  Limbaugh also accused Obama of misrepresenting, if not falsifying his academic career.

“This is the first time in his life there is not a professor who can turn his C into an A, or to write the law review article for him he can’t write. He is totally …

Mel Gibson Calls Interviewer “A-Hole”, Or So It Seems

Mel Gibson did an interview with Chicago’s WGN entertainment reporter Dean Richards, and clearly didn’t like some of the questions. At the end of the interview, Gibson spurts the “A” word, seemingly in response to being pressed on issues he wants behind him. Gibson’s camp is claiming that the insult was intended for his publicist, who was standing out of camera range making faces at him.

In a text message to KTLA’s Sam Rubin Wednesday, Gibson said his publicist was making faces at him off camera, and the actor didn’t realize he was still on air when he called him …

Young: Edwards Had “A Lot Of Previous Affairs”

On my radio show tonight, former John Edwards aide Andrew Young told me that Edwards had “a lot of previous affairs” before meeting Rielle Hunter, and that Elizabeth Edwards “knew of some of them.”

Here’s video of that portion of the interview:

…

Most States Are Still Blue

Contrary to what you might think, given recent Republican victories, a recent Gallup Poll shows most states remain blue.

The compiled results of Gallup’s year-long polling of more than 353,849 adults in all 50 states last year and the District of Columbia, found that far more states are safe havens for Democrats than for the GOP.

Democrats can count 24 states solidly in their column, according to Gallup, as they have more than a 10 percentage point party affiliation advantage there. Another 10 can be counted as “lean” Democratic, with a 5 percentage point advantage.

Republicans, meanwhile, can only …

On Tuesday’s Radio Show…

• Former John Edwards aide Andrew Young sits down with Alan to discuss the shocking revelations in his new book, The Politician: An Insider’s Account of John Edwards’s Pursuit of the Presidency and the Scandal That Brought Him Down.

• Lawrence Korb, who served as assistant secretary of defense under President Reagan, explains why he supports the new Pentagon plan to repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

• Public Citizen President Rob Weissman tells Alan why he wants wants the Constitution amended to say that the First Amendment is for people, not corporations.…

John McCain Changes Position On Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

John McCain said three years ago he’d support getting rid of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” when the top military brass determined it was time to do so.

“The day that the leadership of the military comes to me and says, ‘Senator, we ought to change the policy,’ then I think we ought to consider seriously changing it because those leaders in the military are the ones we give the responsibility to,” McCain told an audience of college students during the “Hardball” college tour on MSNBC.

But facing Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s declaration that it’s time to end that policy, and …