Doubling down on an awful bet by simply passing the Senate bill in the House as is would be a terrible idea. That bill already cost Democrats a Senate seat in Massachusetts. Chris Van Hollen, the head of the DCCC, knows voting for the bill as is would be toxic for House members in 2010.

[Note: FDL has complete team coverage of Perry v. Schwarzenegger--including more legal analysis, court documents, videos, and liveblogging direct from the federal court in San Francisco. You can find it all on our dedicated Prop 8 page.]

It’s not every day that the head of the DCCC takes on the President, the Senate and the entire Democratic leadership of the House to defy passage of their hand-crafted legislation on their signature issue. But Chris Van Hollen has said that the House will not pass the Senate bill without changes, as the Senate and the White House are demanding.

Why would the man charged with getting House Democrats elected in 2010 do such a thing?

Two FDL activist call reports indicate Rep. Jackie Speier (CA-12) will not for the Senate bill without changes.

• They should’ve done this 6 months ago.
• And they should’ve listened to Krugman.
• Speaking of the Shrill One…
• What’s the over/under on total GOP votes?
• Is it really a “convention” when it’s 100% astroturf?
• Well, you know how irresponsible those people are.
• Attack, attack, attack.

Modern politics, something bad happens, you shrug your shoulders and say “Oh, well”

Featuring new videos from The Middle East and Camera Obscura.

So, in that spirit of laughter and mockery, as we begin the last week of the testimony portion of the Proposition 8 trial, I wanted all of you to share in the laughter with our friends from WakeUpWorld. It’s a good one, and we thank them for it.

Dishes with Oysters, Fruit and Wine is a painting by Osias Beert the Elder at the National Gallery. How can a still life have an element of time?

Looking over the news this week, from Haiti to Iraq and Afghanistan to Guantanamo, there’s news of debts national and personal that show the costs of our misdirected relationship with the world.