Bonus 2: minute-by-minute coverage of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's speech to Iowa Republicans last night from O. Kay Henderson. Key lines: "Hope and change have brought Americans fear.
"I want to ask you: 'Are you fired up and ready to fight back? The only
thing growing faster than the national debt is Chris Matthews' man-crush on
Barack Obama." "We don't have a big enough party to be throwing people overboard,"
On the health care bill in the Senate:
Sen. Jack Reed:
"I
believe we're going to pass health care reform... Senator Reid, Harry Reid,
has introduced a public option. There's strong support there. But we are far
from the end of the debate in the Senate. It will take time. It will be
careful, thorough and deliberate. I hope that a public option is part of the
final bill."
Governor-elect
Bob McDonnell said he wouldn't be inclined to "opt in" to the health
care bill but said that it would depend on how it was structured:
"Well,
either way, my preference would be not to have Virginia participate, from what I know this
plan contains. However they structure it, if it gives flexibility to
states, I think that's a good thing. We've outlined a number of things I
think we can do at our state level, John, that will help our people have more
access at a lower cost, but I'm very concerned about turning this significant
section of the American economy over to the federal government. "
McDonnell stayed mum on 2012 speculation.
On Ft. Hood:
On
Fox News Sunday, Sen. Joe Lieberman implies that there's a terrorism
connection to the shootings and calls for an investigation.
Sen. Lindsey Graham: "
"At
the end of the day, maybe this is just about him. It's certainly not about his
religion, Islam. It's not about the Army; it's not about the war. At the end of
the day, I think it's going to be about him. And if we missed some signals,
some clear signals, we've got to fix that. And I trust the Army to want to fix
it... his actions do not reflect on the Islamic -- Muslim faith... This
man's actions reflect on him. And if we missed some signals about him that we
should have known, great. But let's don't take this to a level that we should
not. Let's don't accuse people of basically giving him a pass because he's a
Muslim. Because I don't think there's any evidence of that.""
On the elections:
Michael Steele's Freudian slip. Rachell Maddow on Creigh Deeds and the lessons of 2012: Democrats are always going to be accused of overspending. Dems shouldn't get shy about a second stimulus. Haley Barbour said
that Sarah Palin had, uh, "something" to contribute to the Republican
Party, but wouldn't say whether she could be president.
