I wish everyone could come up to the Hill for one day and see what it’s like right now. The place is crawling with lobbyists, and the entire process is devoted to responding to their immediate pressure. Hundreds of them sitting in the markup meetings, on their cell phones, taking notes, following the Reps out in the hallway, chatting with staffers, with a microfocus on every action of every committee member at every moment. You really don’t get any idea what it’s like from watching the hearings on CSPAN.

We NEED to keep our attention on the live webcasts of the committee mark-ups since they’re not posting amendments online for us to review. We have to be ready to respond if they offer an amendment that’s a poison pill amendment that would gut health care reform as we know it. Yesterday, we called all Democratic Members of these three House Committees. Can you please keep on calling these Democratic Members today? This is a fight that the lobbyists are ready for–and they just might beat us if we don’t keep on fighting today.

Here is my biggest current fear in a legal nutshell. It’s laid out succinctly by Jonathan Adler of Case Western Reserve Law School…

If a Senate with sixty Democrats would be wary of confirming an overt and unapologetic liberal — as this Senate has thus far been regarding the confirmation of Dawn Johnsen to the Justice Department’s Office of Legal

• Exposing GOP hypocrisy on the stimulus.
• With Democrats like these…
• Change.
• Because fiscal responsibility is for the little people.
• Selling themselves for wingnut welfare.
• Very smooth, Chris.
• No, she’s not.
• Stay classy, RNC!

Kept perpetually in Eichmann’s glass booth near the studio.

>The Tommy Castro Band – Nasty Habits.

What’s on your mind?

I mean, damn.

Another feather falls out of Michael Steele’s cap.

John Yoo says high tech communication is THE BEST WAY to find al Qaeda operatives.

CBO Chief Doug Elmendorf just told Congress the health reform bills will increase federal budget outlays for health. No kidding. But what about the economy?