The Commentariat -- Nov. 23, 2013

The President's Weekly Address:

Lena Sun & Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post: "... several states running their own online exchanges are reporting a rapid increase in the number of people signing up for coverage, a trend officials say is encouraging for President Obama's health-care law. By mid-November, the 14 state-based marketplaces reported data showing enrollment has nearly doubled from last month, jumping to about 150,000 from 79,000, according to state and federal statistics. The nonprofit Commonwealth Fund, which has been tracking the data, called the most recent numbers 'a November enrollment surge.'" ...

... Robert Pear & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "The Obama administration said Friday that it would give people eight more days, until Dec. 23, to sign up for health insurance coverage that takes effect on Jan. 1 under the new health care law." ...

... Noam Levey of the Los Angeles Times: "President Obama's healthcare law ... now depends more than ever on insurance companies, doctor groups and hospitals -- major forces in the industry that are committed to the law's success despite persistent tensions with the White House.... Since 2010, they have invested billions of dollars to overhaul their businesses, design new insurance plans and physician practices and develop better ways to monitor quality and control costs.... Healthcare industry officials generally view several GOP proposals, such as limiting coverage for the poor and scuttling new insurance marketplaces created by the law, as more damaging than helpful to the nation's healthcare system." (Emphasis added.) ...

... Dorothy Wickenden of the New Yorker speaks with John Cassidy, Rick Herzberg & Ryan Lizza discuss the state of ObamaCare:

... The Making of a Clusterfuck. Eric Lipton, et al., of the New York Times: "Interviews with current and former Obama administration officials and specialists involved in the project, as well as a review of hundreds of pages of government and contractor documents, offer new details into how tensions between the government and its contractors, questionable decisions and weak leadership within the Medicare agency turned the rollout of the president's signature program into a major humiliation. The online exchange was crippled, people involved with building it said in recent interviews, because of a huge gap between the administration's grand hopes and the practicalities of building a website that could function on opening day. Vital components were never secured, including sufficient access to a data center to prevent the website from crashing. A backup system that could go live if it did crash was not created, a weakness the administration has never disclosed. And the architecture of the system that interacts with the data center where information is stored is so poorly configured that it must be redesigned, a process that experts said typically takes months. An initial assessment identified more than 600 hardware and software defects -- 'the longest list anybody had ever seen,' one person involved with the project said." ...

... CruzCare, the Ted Cruz Healthcare Reform Plan:

... Viva Vermont! Salvatore Aversa of Occupy Democrats: "The ACA provided states with federal funds to institute a Medicaid expansion.... Vermont decided to take it a step further by setting up their very own single payer system.... The program will be fully operational by 2017, and will be funded through Medicare, Medicaid, federal money for the ACA given to Vermont, and a slight increase in taxes. In exchange, there will be no more premiums, deductibles, copay's, hospital bills or anything else aimed at making insurance companies a profit. Further, all hospitals and healthcare providers will now be nonprofit." Thanks to contributor Julie L. for the link. ...

... CW: Also, thanks to all the contributors who helped me understand the way hospitals and insurance carriers, including Medicare, "calculate" the costs of the medical care.

Bullies, Left and Right, Are Kicking Sand in the Face of the Turtle:

     ... Matthew Boyle of Breitbart: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on a conference call organized by Karl Rove's Crossroads organization for large donors and their advisers on Oct. 30 that the Tea Party movement, in his view, is a 'nothing but a bunch of bullies' that he plans to 'punch ... in the nose.'" ...

I think what we really need is an anti-bullying ordinance in the Senate. Now we've got a big bully. Harry Reid says he's just going to break the rules and make new rules. It's never been done this way before. -- Sen. Rand Paul (RTP-Ky.)

We thought he said if you like the Senate rules, you can keep them. But instead ... they just broke the Senate rules in order to exercise the power grab. -- Mitch McConnell

James Risen of the New York Times & Laura Poitras: "Officials at the National Security Agency ... pledged last year to push to expand its surveillance powers, according to a top secret strategy document. In a February 2012 paper laying out the four-year strategy for the N.S.A.'s signals intelligence operations, which include the agency's eavesdropping and communications data collection around the world, agency officials set an objective to 'aggressively pursue legal authorities and a policy framework mapped more fully to the information age.' Written as an agency mission statement with broad goals, the five-page document said that existing American laws were not adequate to meet the needs of the N.S.A. to conduct broad surveillance.... The strategy document [was] provided by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden...."

For the editors at the Wall Street Journal, the Founders wrote the Constitution to cater to Republicans. Hamilton Nolan of Gawker checks the record.

Gubernatorial Race

What I don't understand is how Gov. [Rick] Scott [RTP-Fla.] said for about 30 seconds that he was for more health care for the poor, for about the 1 million people that aren't getting it right now. And then, the Medicaid expansion, he didn't lift a finger to get it done. And as a result of that, those million Floridians that can't afford coverage, they're getting sicker or they're going to die. It is unconscionable to me how you can turn your back on people like that. -- Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist ...

... George Bennett of the Palm Beach (Florida) Post:Charlie "Crist, the former Republican governor who's now seeking his old job as a Democrat, will attend a Palm Beach fundraiser hosted by actor George Hamilton [Friday] night. He met with reporters [Friday] afternoon at the train station near downtown [West Palm Beach], using the venue to criticize Republican Gov. Rick Scott for refusing federal money for high-speed rail in 2011. Crist, who called Scott 'a tea party governor,' also slammed the incumbent for failing to push for an expansion of Medicaid in the state this year after declaring his support for it."

The Assassination of President Kennedy

The Dallas Morning News covers the city's events memorializing the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy.

The New York Times reprises its coverage of the assassination.

John Cassidy of the New Yorker can't quite let go of conspiracy theories. CW: Like any good journalist, Cassidy is not content with the who, what, when & where. He also wants to know the why. And we don't know know why Lee Oswald killed President Kennedy or why Jack Ruby killed Oswald.

Local News

The Texas Board of Bible Studies. Motoko Rich of the New York Times: "The Texas Board of Education on Friday delayed final approval of a widely used biology textbook because of concerns raised by one reviewer that it presents evolution as fact rather than theory. The monthslong textbook review process in Texas has been controversial because a number of people selected this year to evaluate publishers' submissions do not accept evolution or climate change as scientific truth. On Friday, the state board, which includes several members who hold creationist views, voted to recommend 14 textbooks in biology and environmental science. But its approval of 'Biology,' a highly regarded textbook by Kenneth R. Miller, a biologist at Brown University, and Joseph S. Levine, a science journalist, and published by Pearson Education, was contingent upon an expert panel determining whether any corrections are warranted. Until the panel rules on the alleged errors, Pearson will not be able to market its book as approved by the board to school districts in Texas."

News Lede

New York Times: "As Secretary of State John Kerry and top diplomats from five other world powers swept into Geneva this weekend for the second time in two weeks, they struggled to complete a groundbreaking agreement with Iran that would temporarily freeze Tehran's nuclear program and lay the foundation for a more comprehensive accord."

The Commentariat -- Nov. 22, 2013

Nuked!

Paul Kane & William Branigin of the Washington Post: "The partisan battles that have paralyzed Washington in recent years took a historic turn Thursday, as Senate Democrats eliminated filibusters for most presidential nominations, severely curtailing the political leverage of the Republican minority in the Senate and assuring an escalation of partisan warfare. Saying that 'enough is enough,' President Obama welcomed the end of what he called the abuse of the Senate's advise and consent function, which he said had turned into 'a reckless and relentless tool' to grind the gears of government to a halt.... The vote to change the rule passed 52 to 48. Three Democrats -- Sens. Carl Levin (Mich.), Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Mark Pryor (Ark.) -- joined 45 Republicans in opposing the measure." ...

     ... The New York Times story, by Jeremy Peters, is here. ...

... Following the Senate vote, President Obama spoke to the press:

... Zachary Goldfarb of the Washington Post: "The Senate vote Thursday to lower the barriers for presidential nominations should make it easier for President Obama to accomplish key second-term priorities, including tougher measures on climate change and financial regulation, that have faced intense opposition from Republicans in Congress. The move to allow a simple majority vote on most executive and judicial nominees also sets the stage for Obama to appoint new top officials to the Federal Reserve and other key agencies -- likely leading to more aggressive action to stimulate the economy and housing market. And it frees Obama to make changes to his Cabinet without the threat of long delays in the Senate before the confirmation of nominees." ...

... Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post: "The decision by Senate Democrats on Thursday to change the rules for confirming judicial nominees could dramatically reshape an obscure federal appeals court that renders some of the most influential legal decisions in the country. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ... was at the center of the Senate fight after Republicans had blocked three of President Obama's nominees to the panel. Those three are now likely to be approved by a simple majority in the Senate."

... Sarah Binder in the Washington Post on what this particular "nuclear option" does & how it may play out. ...

... Ezra Klein on why the Democrats' filibuster change "is a huge deal." ...

... Jonathan Chait: "The main reason for this odd, partial clawback of the filibuster is that President Obama has no real legislative agenda that can pass Congress.... That ... means ... President Obama's second-term agenda runs not through Congress but through his own administrative agencies..... [The Republicans'] next line of defense is the D.C. Circuit, the federal court that handles regulatory cases." ...

By filibustering 10 qualified judicial nominees in only 16 months, our ... colleagues [on the other side of the aisle] have broken this unwritten rule. This is not the first time a minority of senators has upset a Senate tradition or practice and the current Senate majority intends to do what the majority in the Senate has often done: use it's constitutional authority under Article 1, section 5 to reform Senate procedure by a simple majority vote. -- Sen. Mitch McConnell (R.-Ky.), 2005

... Gene Robinson: "This isn't about partisan politics. It's about making what has been called 'the world's greatest deliberative body' function the way the Framers of the Constitution intended.... The Senate was designed by the Founders to move slowly, not to be paralyzed. Republican obstruction of presidential appointments makes the government less able to do the people's work -- and less reflective of the people's will. Elections are supposed to have consequences." ...

... Greg Sargent: "This is great news for many reasons, but a big one has to do with financial regulation. With Democrats on the D.C. Circuit Court, the rules in the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill (both existing and ones yet to be finalized) will have a much greater chance of surviving frivolous court challenges." ...

... Steve M. with a reminder to Munch Prize hopefuls: "The template for the modern GOP is what happened in Wisconsin after the 2010 elections: a blitzkrieg of punitive, revanchist legislation using every parliamentary tool at the new GOP majority's disposal. In the U.S. Senate, that would have included the gutting of the filibuster. It's always been likely if they get total control. [The Senate Democrats move Thursday] doesn't make it any more likely." ...

... Ruthless People. Paul Waldman of the American Prospect: "Let's say that it's 2017 or 2021, and they've won the presidency and the Senate. Can anyone believe that if on this day in 2013 the Democrats decided to keep the filibuster for judicial nominations, Republicans would then do the same out of a sense of fair play? This is the party that over the last five years has filibustered literally every bill of greater consequence than renaming a post office. This is the party that got conservatives on the Supreme Court to upend the Voting Rights Act, then literally within days began passing one law after another to make it as hard as possible for minorities, students, and anyone else likely to vote Democratic to cast their ballots. This is the party that shut down the government in its endless quest to repeal the Affordable Care Act. This is the party that sincerely believes that its opponents are attempting to destroy America, and therefore any tactics are justified in order to stop them." ...

For whatever reason, the Republicans decided to go nuclear first, with this utterly unnecessary violation of their own agreement and open decision to block the president from filling vacancies for his entire term, no matter how well qualified the nominees. It was a set of actions begging for a return nuclear response.... McConnell's threat, it seems to me, makes clear the strategy: let Dems take the first step, and we will then bear no blame when we entirely blow up the Senate's rules after we take all the reins of power. That other Republicans like Corker, McCain, Alexander, Murkowski and so on, went along, shows how much the radicals and anti-institutionalists now dominate the Republican Party. Which is sad indeed. -- Norm Ornstein of the conservative American Enterprise Institute

... James Downie of the Washington Post: "Reid never would have used the 'nuclear option' without the lemming-like behavior of Senate Republicans. Less ideological GOP members could have voted more frequently to break cloture and force an up-or-down vote, as members of both parties have done, even as filibuster use has increased. They could have stopped the unprecedented number of filibusters of presidential nominations, given that the president has a clearly defined constitutional responsibility to appoint people. They could have stopped blocking duly passed laws. But they didn't. So Republicans decrying filibuster reform as 'dictatorial' or 'a day to be sad' or other hyperbolic claims should look in the mirror. No one forced them to turn filibusters from a rarity to an oft-used tool for nullification and unprecedented obstruction. They have only themselves to blame." ...

... John Dickerson of Slate: "The old Senate was already dead. Passing filibuster reform just made it official.... In the old Senate, the rules and customs created a culture of comity and bipartisanship. Little can be done in the Senate without unanimous consent of its members. That is one of its bedrock principles, which means each senator has tremendous power, but also has a certain amount of responsibility to keep the place humming. In return for such power, senators are supposed to follow the established norms of regular order, give extra weight to the views of veteran members, and shave off their partisan edges." ...

... Let the Confirmations Begin! OR Why Republicans Have Blocked Obama's Judicial Nominees, in one chart. Via Bill Scher of Campaign for America's Future. Thanks to James S. for the link:

... Wherein Charles Pierce predicts, "They may need the Jaws of Life to pry Ruth Marcus off the fainting couch." ...

     ... AND but hours later, our heroine swoons. CW: Who will bring the Jaws of Life? Will it be billionaire Daddy Pete Peterson? Tune in next week to see if Marcus returns to urging a balanced approach to deficit reduction & praising dotty Susan Collins. Or might Ruth's hero be newly-single swain David Brooks, the two "reasonable moderates" riding off atop Rocinante, chattering amiably & incoherently about their scatterbrained economic prescriptions? ...

     ... Update. Oh, my stahs. I believe that fellow on the fainting couch with Ruth is none other than Dana Milbank: "If Congress wasn't broken before, it certainly is now. What Reid (Nev.) and his fellow Democrats effectively did was take the chamber of Congress that still functioned at a modest level and turn it into a clone of the other chamber, which functions not at all. They turned the Senate into the House."

** CW: If you want to know why ObamaCare isn't working very well, I heartily recommend you read this piece by Richard Kim in the Nation. Largely, it's the fault of Republican sabotage. Kim addresses, among many other things, why "navigators" in some states are either impotent or nonexistent, an issue raised in yesterday's Comments. ...

... Look Away, Dixie Land. Tim Egan: "By refusing to expand health care for the working poor through Medicaid, which is paid for by the federal government under Obamacare, most of the old Confederacy is committed to keeping millions of its own fellow citizens in poverty and poor health. They are dooming themselves, further, as the Left-Behind States. And they are doing it out of spite.... What we could see, 10 years from now, is a Mason-Dixon line of health care." P.S. Abraham Lincoln told a really, really big lie.

... Sarah Kliff of the Washington Post: "About 15 million people currently purchase health insurance on their own, using the individual market. And about 70 percent of them -- about 10.8 million people -- will qualify for the financial help buying coverage under the health-care law, according to a new study out Thursday from Families USA." ...

... Alex Wayne & Alex Nussbaum of Bloomberg News: "The Obama administration plans to push back by a month the second-year start of enrollment in its health program to give insurers more time to adjust to growing pains in the U.S. law, a move that may stave off higher premiums before the 2014 congressional elections. The enrollment period, previously scheduled to begin Oct. 15, 2014, will now start Nov. 15...." ...

... Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: "At the annual meeting here of the nation's Republican governors, the ones who are eyeing presidential runs in 2016 say they oppose the health care law. But there is sharp disagreement among those who have helped carry out the law and those who remain entrenched in their opposition." CW: When Rick Perry looks at himself in the mirror each morning, he sees the face of the next POTUS. That vision/delusion is costing poor Texans their health & their lives. ...

... Zeke Miller of Time: "Contemplating a run for higher office, Ohio Gov. John Kasich rebranded President Obama's signature health care reform law as 'HillaryCare' on Wednesday at the Republican Governors Association in Scottsdale in an attempt to link the former Secretary of State to the poor roll-out of the Affordable Care Act. But the key components of the law are not dissimilar from Kasich's own 1994 healthcare proposal. The pro-Hillary Clinton super PAC American Bridge is circulating a research document listing the ways Kasich's own healthcare reform proposal is like the Affordable Care Act, branding it 'KasichCare.'" ...

... Christopher Weaver & Melinda Beck of the Wall Street Journal: "Insurers are slashing payments to medical practices in many of the plans they sell through the new health-law marketplaces -- sparking worries that Americans signing up for coverage will have fewer doctors to choose from if low fees spark an exodus from the plans." CW: If the link doesn't work, copy part of the text & paste it into the Google search box. ...

... "Doctors Fire Up the Obamacare Waambulance." Matt Yglesias of Slate: "... American doctors get paid more than doctors in any other country. Given how much of health care is financed either directly (Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Affairs, public-sector workers) or indirectly (tax subsidy for employer-provided insurance) by the federal government, it's natural to make restraining doctors' income part of any program for making health care more affordable. So when you read stories about doctors whining that Affordable Care Act exchange plans don't pay them enough, please throw up a little in your mouth and proceed to ignore the doctors' complaints." ...

... Without specifically mentioning doctors, Paul Krugman puts his finger on what the waambulance drivers are complaining about: "Real Entitlement Reform" -- in the form of ACA-mandated cost controls. ...

... Crocodile Outrage. David Firestone of the New York Times: "Nearly one in 10 people on Medicare -- 4 million people -- are dissatisfied with that program..., but you don't hear their complaints broadcast at hearings or at Republican news conferences. In 2010, long before the health reform law took effect, 20 percent of people on employer-based insurance expressed dissatisfaction with their plans, as did a third of people on the individual market. They complained about high deductibles and constrained networks of doctors and hospitals, just as many of them will under the new system. And they complained about cancelled policies. Republicans never cared about those concerns before the Affordable Care Act came around, and they don't really care now, even though they're doing a great job of feigning outrage." ...

... After encountering glitches on the Washington, D.C. exchange Website, Speaker John Boehner signs up for ObamaCare. Boehner's post is here. ...

... Of course he got help. John Tozzi of Bloomberg News: "Among the perks: face-to-face help enrolling in the District of Columbia's health exchange and customer service lines from insurers dedicated to congressional staff." ...

... Jonathan Allen & Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico: "Veteran House Democratic aides are sick over the insurance prices they'll pay under Obamacare, and they're scrambling to find a cure.... Under the Affordable Care Act, and federal regulations, many congressional staffers -- designated as 'official' aides -- were forced to move out of the old heavily subsidized Federal Employees Health Benefits program and into the District of Columbia's health insurance marketplace exchange.... Age is one of the few factors insurers can use to adjust prices under Obamacare -- and older people will often pay much more than younger people." ...

     ... CW: Although it would be reasonable to assume that some of these older staffers are among the highest-paid aides, staffers' salaries are pretty low, and some staffers may have to maintain residences in both D.C. (where housing prices are high) & their home states.

From the "House Republican Playbook." Genuine facsimile. See also yesterday's Commentariat.... Humor Break for Football Fans. Jonathan Chait: "The diagram [above], meant to instill confidence in the House GOP's tactical acumen, actually implies that it is run by idiots.... A number of serious problems present themselves." Chait elaborates. Eric Cantor spokesman concedes.

Expand Social Security. Paul Krugman: "... we're looking at a looming retirement crisis, with tens of millions of Americans facing a sharp decline in living standards at the end of their working lives. For many, the only thing protecting them from abject penury will be Social Security.... So there's a strong case for expanding, not contracting, Social Security. Yes, this would ... require additional taxes -- a suggestion that will horrify the fiscal scolds, who have been insisting that if we raise taxes at all, the proceeds must go to deficit reduction, not to making our lives better. But the fiscal scolds have been wrong about everything, and it's time to start thinking outside their box."

Dylan Byers of Politico: "President Obama held an off-the-record meeting with MSNBC hosts and liberal pundits on Thursday.... The participants agreed to an off-the-record classification for the meeting, though sources familiar with President Obama's remarks said that [Juan] Williams later appeared on Fox News and cited some of the president's remarks, which he attributed to administration officials." CW News Flash: Juan Williams is not a liberal, even if he has written some pro-ACA opinion pieces recently. ...

... CW: Ron Fournier of the National Journal is a dick, but I think some of the points he makes about the White House's control of the President's image are well-taken. I don't have any problem with the White House limiting access to other members of the First Family, although when Mrs. Obama is out policking, she should be fair game. (Snaps of her walking the dog on the White House lawn, before breakfast, are paparazzi-tacky.)

Robert Dallek in the New York Times: "Compared with other recent presidents whose stumbles and failures have assaulted the national self-esteem, memories of Kennedy continue to give the country faith that its better days are ahead. That's been reason enough to discount his limitations and remain enamored of his presidential performance."

GOP Criminals* in the News

Robert Gehrke of the Salt Lake Tribune: "Proclaiming his innocence and taking shots at a House investigation, Utah Attorney General John Swallow [R] announced Thursday that he would resign as the state's top cop effective Dec. 3 at 12:01 a.m. Swallow said he made the decision to step down with his wife, Suzanne, this past weekend, believing they could not weather the financial and personal toll of multiple investigations, including one from the Utah House.... Swallow's departure allows him to avoid any effort by the lieutenant governor's special counsel to seek his removal for multiple violations of election laws. It also could bring to a close a months-long fact-finding investigation by the Utah House that could be laying the groundwork for his potential impeachment. The lieutenant governor is expected to issue a report -- originally expected for release Thursday, but now likely to be postponed -- that will find that Swallow failed to report numerous business interests and income on his candidate-financial-disclosure forms.... Criminal penalties remain a possibility. Two county prosecutors -- with help from the FBI -- are continuing to investigate Swallow, his Republican predecessor, Mark Shurtleff, and others." ...

... Eric Lach of TPM has more on the allegations against Swallow.

Fort Myers, Florida, News-Press: "WINK News (Fort Myers) is reporting that [Rep.] Trey Radel [RTP-Fla.] has arrived at Hazelden in Naples, an alcohol and drug addiction treatment center." Radel pleaded guilty in Washington, D.C., Wednesday to misdemeanor charges of cocaine possession. CW: Ah, but there's good news for Radel. He has government-sponsored health insurance, so he can afford excellent mental-health treatment! ...

* Alleged & admitted.

Local News

Exorcizo te, omnis spiritus immunde, in nomine Dei Patris omnipotentis, et in noimine Jesu Christi Filii ejus, Domini et Judicis nostri, et in virtute Spiritus Sancti, ut descedas ab hoc plasmate Dei, quod Dominus noster ad templum sanctum suum vocare dignatus est, ut fiat templum Dei vivi, et Spiritus Sanctus habitet in eo. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum, qui venturus est judicare vivos et mortuos, et saeculum per ignem. -- Bishop Thomas Paprocki, "exorcising" whomever for "the sin of same-sex marriage" ...

... Lauren Leone-Cross of the Springfield, Illinois State Journal-Register: "The head of Springfield's Catholic Diocese presided in front of several hundred people Wednesday night at the city's largest Catholic church to perform what he described as an 'exorcism in reparation for the sin of same-sex marriage.' Bishop Thomas Paprocki's ritual at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception began about half an hour after Gov. Pat Quinn in Chicago signed the Religious Freedom and Marriage Fairness Act into law, making Illinois the 16th state to legalize same-sex marriage." Paprocki said god made him do it. Via Driftglass.

News Lede

New York Times: "Secretary of State John Kerry planned to fly to Geneva on Friday to join the talks on imposing a temporary freeze on Iran's nuclear program, a sign that the negotiations are edging close to an agreement."

The Commentariat -- Nov. 21, 2013

CW: I will be away most of the day, & will update when I can.

Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "Janet L. Yellen took a giant step on Thursday toward becoming the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve Board when the Senate Banking Committee sent her nomination to the full Senate with a 14-8 vote.... Three Republican senators -- Bob Corker of Tennessee, Mark Kirk of Illinois and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma -- voting in favor of her nomination. One Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, voted against her. "

White House: "President Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 16 individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors":

Jonathan Capehart: "The GOP is out to destroy the country." CW: Capehart admits his headline is over the top, but I'd say it is also on the mark.

Jeremy Peters of the New York Times: "Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader, is poised to move forward on Thursday with a vote on what is known on Capitol Hill as the 'nuclear option,' several Democrats said. Mr. Reid and the senators who have been the most vocal on stopping the Republican blockade of White House nominees are now confident they have the votes to make the change." ...

     ... ** UPDATE: "Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, set in motion on Thursday a series of procedural steps that, if followed through, would eliminate the use of the filibuster against nominees to cabinet posts and the federal judiciary, a change that would mark the most fundamental shift in the way the Senate functions in more than a generation.... Senate Democrats moved toward a vote late Thursday morning." The Washington Post story, by Paul Kane, is here. ...

... Jamelle Bouie in the Daily Beast on the Senate filibuster: "Yes, there's value in being able to block right-wing nominees and legislation. At the same time, a GOP president also has the right to staff government as he sees fit, to say nothing of the fact that the filibuster has been a historic burden for liberals, not an advantage. And honestly, if Republicans win the Senate, I have a hard time believing they won't end the filibuster as a matter of course, regardless of what Democrats do. Better for Reid to do this now, while there's still something to gain, than to wait for the other side." ...

... Gail Collins on the Senate filibuster: "Change the rules."

Kelly Kennedy of USA Today: "Buoyed by a report showing that health care spending has risen by the lowest rate ever recorded, White House officials said Wednesday a continuation of the trend could lead to more jobs and lower-than-expected costs. Reduced health care costs for employers could lead to 200,000 to 400,000 new jobs per year by the second half of the decade, said Jason Furman, the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.... The Affordable Care Act is, in part, responsible for the lower costs, Furman and other health experts agree, while Republicans say the declining rate of increases comes purely because of the slowed economy An economy hobbled by the recession and the economic crisis in 2008 played a role in some of the reduced spending growth, Furman said, but the report cited 'structural change' caused, in part, by the law." ...

     ... Steve Benen: "It looks like the law's many detractors will have to cross another complaint off their list.... It's the sort of thing Republicans should be pretty happy about -- which generally means they'll ignore the news and/or issue a press release declaring the opposite, assuming no one will know the difference." ...

... Sandhya Somashekhar & Ariana Cha of the Washington Post: "As Americans have begun shopping for health plans on the insurance exchanges, they are discovering that insurers are restricting their choice of doctors and hospitals in order to keep costs low, and that many of the plans exclude top-rated hospitals.... A number of the nation's top hospitals -- including the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles and children's hospitals in Seattle, Houston and St. Louis -- are cut out of most plans sold on the exchange.... A number of the nation's top hospitals -- including the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles and children's hospitals in Seattle, Houston and St. Louis -- are cut out of most plans sold on the exchange." ...

... Sarah Bosely of the Guardian: "Secret conversations are taking place in Florida between healthcare stakeholders and the legislature that will most likely lead to the Republican-controlled state accepting Medicaid expansion money, according to senior figures in the health industry."

... Jonathan Kaminsky of Reuters: "Oregon, a state that fully embraced the Affordable Care Act, is enduring one of the rockiest rollouts of President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law, with an inoperative online exchange that has yet to enroll a single subscriber, requiring thousands to apply on paper instead.... Nearly 25,000 individuals and families have so far submitted hard-copy applications..., with nearly two-thirds of those applicants eligible for Medicaid.... But none of those applicants has actually been enrolled, with manual processing of the paperwork slowing the process dramatically." CW: That makes Healthcare.gov look pretty slick! ...

... But Not Slick Enough. Amy Goodnough of the New York Times: "Despite weeks of work by a small army of software experts to salvage HealthCare.gov, navigators in states that depend on the federal insurance exchange say they still cannot get most of their clients through the online enrollment process. Those navigators said they had seen improvements in the system since its disastrous rollout on Oct. 1, particularly in the initial steps of the application process. But the closer people come to signing up for a plan, the more the system seems to freeze or fail, many navigators said." CW: See Victoria D.'s remarks in today's Comments. ...

... Paul Krugman: "... at this point there's enough information coming in to make semi-educated guesses — and it looks to me as if this thing is probably going to stumble through to the finish line. State-run enrollments are mostly going pretty well; Medicaid expansion is going very well (and it's expanding even in states that have rejected the expansion, because more people are learning they're eligible.) And healthcare.gov, while still pretty bad, is starting to look as if it will be good enough in a few weeks for large numbers of people to sign up, either through the exchanges or directly with insurers.... Obama personally may never recover his reputation; Democratic hopes of a wave election in 2014 are probably gone, although you never know." ...

... Today's Munch Prize goes to Tom Edsall of the New York Times, who is nearly beside himself with doom and gloom. Here's but one of many bad tidings of discomfort & misery: "The increasingly complex and technical character of the health care system ... is what has turned the disastrous rollout of the HealthCare.gov portal into an ever escalating political crisis. This crisis has in turn generated a pervasive fear that the services provided under the Affordable Care Act, once they are finally in place, will themselves be subject to fatal technical glitches." One of Edsall's major points is that the ACA redistributes benefits from middle-class white people to poorer "those" people, which neither Medicare nor Social Security does.

"Cruz Care." Greg Sargent: "... the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee is set to launch a new campaign designed to refocus the debate on the Republican position on health care, which Dems will widely label as 'Cruz Care.' With Ted Cruz set to roll out his own health plan -- one that will probably look like the usual grab bag of GOP reform ideas, which just aren't a reform alternative to Obamacare -- Dems plan to tar GOP Senate candidates across the country with it...." ...

... Jonathan Weisman & Sheryl Gay Stolberg of the New York Times: lacking any policy agenda of their own, the GOP strategy has been to develop & hammer a series of attacks on the ACA: "The effort has its roots in a strategy developed last spring, when House Republican leaders -- plagued by party divisions that were thwarting legislative accomplishments -- refocused the House's committees on oversight rather than on the development of new policies." ...

... Woe Is Mitch. Jon Terbush of the Week: Kentucky's "exchange marketplace has been one of ObamaCare's early bright spots. And continued success, coupled with a turnaround for the law at the federal level, could make ObamaCare relatively popular there over the coming months. That would put [Senate Minority Leader Mitch] McConnell [R-Ky.], facing challengers on both his right and left, in a tricky bind." Via Greg Sargent.

** David Dayen of Salon: The big $13 billion JPMorgan settlement is a scam!

Christopher Drew & Danielle Ivory of the New York Times: "Emails obtained by criminal investigators show that from 2009 to early 2011, several ship crews and contracting officials filed complaints about [Leonard Glenn Francis's] 'gold-plated' fees for fuel, port security and other services. In 2010, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service opened investigations into questionable charges in Thailand and Japan by his company, documents show. Despite those red flags, in June 2011, the Navy awarded Mr. Francis $200 million in contracts, giving him control over providing supplies and dockside services for its fleet across the Pacific."

NEW. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The Obama administration has ordered a government-wide reassessment of how almost 5 million Americans have been granted classified information security clearances and whether each person currently approved to see sensitive national security secrets truly has a need for such access." ...

... NEW. James Glanz of the New York Times: "The National Security Agency is authorized to spy on the citizens of America's closest allies, including Britain, even though those English-speaking countries have long had an official non-spying pact, according to a newly disclosed memorandum.... The memo, provided by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, is labeled secret and 'NOFORN,' indicating that it may not be shared with any foreign country."

Ari Shavit of Haaretz, in the New York Times: "The Bush administration's decision to go after Iraq rather than Iran was a fatal one, and the long-term consequences are only now becoming clear, namely a devastating American failure in the battle to prevent a nuclear Iran, reflected in Washington’s willingness to sign a deeply flawed agreement."

Marisa Kendall of the Fort Myers, Florida, News-Press: "U.S. Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fort Myers, will take a leave of absence after pleading guilty to a possession of cocaine charge, he said during a packed news conference Wednesday night." With video of Radel's Wednesday night news conference. CW: But really, folks, it's all about me, Trey Radel. ...

He would talk about his life, of being a traveler. He would talk about hiking, taking his backpack and hiking in Colombia. And, you know, it always led to, because of who Colombia is, it always led to drugs. We'd go to break and I'd say 'Man, I bet the coke was crazy' and he’d say, 'Oh my God, you have no idea.' -- Mike Adams, radio producer, on Rep. Trey Radel (RTP-Fla.)

... David Fahrenthold, et al., of the Washington Post: "Rep. Trey Radel (R-Fla.) pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine in D.C. Superior Court on Wednesday morning, admitting he had purchased the drug from an undercover officer in Dupont Circle last month.... If Radel completes probation, he won’t have a conviction on his record, according to the U.S. attorney's office.... Charging documents say he purchased cocaine in the nation's capital on several occasions." ...

... Ed O'Keefe of the Washington Post: Although he was caught by DEA agents last month, "Radel first informed House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) of the situation Tuesday afternoon, according to a senior GOP aide familiar with the conversation. Radel had requested the meeting earlier in the day before reports of his arrest first surfaced, and the meeting occurred in Boehner's office at the U.S. Capitol shortly after the news broke, the aide said." ...

... After pleading guilty Wednesday to concaine charges in Washington, D.C., Rep. Trey Radel (RTP-Fla.) will hold a news conference in his Cape Coral office at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. Indications are that he will not resign his Congressional seat. The Fort Myers News-Press is liveblogging developments. ...

... Fort Myers, Florida, News-Press Editors: "U.S. Congressman Trey Radel, who ran on family values, must resign immediately." ...

... Dana Milbank: Radel "acted Wednesday as though the most important thing was his job, not his recovery. He plans to 'continue serving this country.' Rather than checking himself into inpatient rehab, as then-Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) did after crashing into a Capitol Police barricade in 2006, Radel opted for outpatient treatment, and his attorney made only a vague reference to his plans to undergo inpatient treatment later."

Local News

Monique Garcia of the Chicago Tribune: Illinois "Gov. Pat Quinn today signed a historic measure into law making Illinois the 16th state in the nation to allow gay marriage. The Democratic governor put pens to paper at a desk brought up from Springfield that his administration says President Abraham Lincoln used to write his first inaugural address. That speech, delivered on March 4, 1861 as the Civil War was unfolding, called on Americans to heed 'the better angels of our nature.'" CW: Maybe Quinn should have hunted down the desk of Lincoln's predecessor James Buchanan, who was gay and might have married his long-time lover had they had the benefit of today's state laws.

News Ledes

$$$. New York Times: "After spending more than a decade behind bars for the murder of a teenage girl in Greenwich, Conn., Michael C. Skakel, a cousin of the Kennedys, was ordered free from prison on Thursday to await a possible retrial."

Los Angeles Times: "The Dow Jones industrial average closed above 16,000 for the first time, a testament to investors' hope that the plodding economy can gain momentum in the coming year."

Business as Usual on the Afghan Front. Washington Post: "President Hamid Karzai told a national assembly Thursday that he supports a newly forged agreement to allow U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014, but then he raised new uncertainties by saying he won't sign the deal until next spring. Karzai spoke a day after U.S. officials said the accord's language had been finalized, and as an assembly of 2,500 Afghan officials began considering it."