Dana Milbank reveals what really doomed Mouthpiece Theater.

Dana Milbank says it was clear that “Mouthpiece Theater” wasn’t working even before the “Bitch Beer” brouhaha. “We were trying to squeeze it into our daily routines, writing and filming it while still keeping up our other responsibilities, in my case writing four columns a week and in [Chris] Cillizza’s case writing umpteen blog items a day.

When I was a young girl, watching Julia Child on our local PBS station was the height of entertainment for me.

There was something fascinating about watching this hilariously extremely-serious-about-cooking woman baste and chop her way through an entire show, reveling in her mistakes and laughing. And then turning out these fabulous dishes which she clearly took great pride in cooking.

Featuring new videos from St. Vincent and the Lovvers.

How did we get here?

No, I am not asking about how we got to the place where we have orchestrated outrage that has metastasized into dangerous, violent, out-and-out rage—not exactly.

The media annoy me. And the “Village” of lazy, self-satisfied insider reporters and pundits who present conservative talking points as facts or analysis annoy me most of all. Right now they’re annoying me by describing the right-wing mobs disrupting Democratic town halls as if they’re some kind of spontaneous outpouring of “growing public doubts” about Obama’s healthcare plan, and not shills and dupes who have been mobilized by well-funded conservative groups and right-wing media stars.

The co-op plan was designed by the insurance industry not to provide competition that would eat into their profits.

Progressives in safe Democratic districts have no excuse for selling out their constituents, who probably favor a true public option by 90% or more (if the country is at 76%). They re the ones who have nothing to fear form Republican teabaggers. They are going to have to be pressured into holding the line by their constituents or the battle is lost.

If Obama has made a deal with PhRMA, then why aren’t there pharma reps at every single town hall in the country pitching the value of reform?

The 2009 convention of the American Psychological Association (APA) opens in Toronto on Friday, August 7. Behind all the busy poster events, interest group parties, speeches and academic get-togethers, the fine wheels of bureaucratic resistance are grinding slowly and inexorably.

Anyone who has ever seen their dream killed by administrative indifference and authoritarian obstructionism will sympathize with the betrayal felt by the leaders of a referendum drive inside the APA to condemn

Rahm unleashed a tirade on them all, telling them that they were going to fuck up the Democrats if we “failed” to pass any old health care bill (which appears now to be the health insurance industry approved co-ops). But I doubt you’ll hear any of them confirming that the White House hasn’t pressured them to stop their attacks on Democrats any time soon, because it came in the form of a flying shit fit at top volume with four-letter verbiage liberally applied.

Let’s do the math. The Democrats have 257 seats in the House. A majority is 218. The Blue Dogs have 55 seats. You need 15 of them to pass anything. Help me out here. How does this happen?