also: From Red Maryland

Martin O’Malley: Scourge of the Straw Man

On Tuesday Governor Martin O’Malley officially kicked off his reelection bid. His signature unctuous rhetoric is sure to follow. Straw men beware.

O’Malley’s political career is littered with corpses of gimpy straw men and tartuffery.

In 2005, a sanctimonious O’Malley likened proposed budget cuts to community development programs by George W. Bush to the 9/11 attacks. O’Malley told a packed National Press Club, that the cuts were “sad,” “irresponsible,” and “dishonest.” O’Malley said, “Back on September 11, terrorists attacked our metropolitan cores, two of America’s great cities. They did that because they knew that was where they could do the most damage and weaken us the most. Years later, we are given a budget proposal by our commander in chief, the president of the United States. And with a budget ax, he is attacking America’s cities.”

At a 2004 Baltimore fundraiser for John Kerry O’Malley said that he feared the Bush administration more than Al Qaeda.

Talk about “irresponsible in a time of war,” Governor!

The George W. Bush scarecrow is one of O’Malley’s favorite straw men to ignite.

“Many of the tax policies of the Bush administration are the reasons our federal government has become enfeebled.” O’Malley told a gathering at the Center for American Progress in August 2008. “But I do give him credit… Ideologically he believed that our government should be small and weak and he’s delivered on his promises and goals.” (more…)

From Gateway Pundit

Sarah Palin, Fred and Jeri Thompson, Liz Cheney, and J.C. Watts in Kansas City This Saturday!
The Winning Back America Conference

What a terrific lineup…

Preserving American Liberty has announced Fred and Jeri Thompson, Liz Cheney and J.C. Watts will join Sarah Palin at the Independence Events Center, Saturday, May 1, 2010 for the Winning Back America Conference.

There are still tickets available at a reasonable price.
Follow this link to order your tickets.

American patriots will kickoff the National Arizona BUYcott at the conference this weekend.

Patriots Launch a National Campaign in Solidarity with Arizona Calling for a BUYcott of the Grand Canyon State

Buycott organizers will have an update Saturday, at the “Winning America Back” conference in Kansas City, MO – Featured speakers include Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson.

Dateline: Phoenix, AZ: While protestors have launched a sit in calling on the Governor to veto the bill launching the Country’s first major state enforcement efforts on illegal immigration, protesters like Al Sharpton are asking for a Boycott of the State.

In response, Patriot groups around the country want to support the rights of the people of Arizona and are calling for a BUYcott of the State.

The first BUYcott was in support of Whole Foods and was launched on September 1, 2009 by Tea Party leaders in St. Louis, Dallas, Austin, California, Philadelphia, New Jersey and more. The events drew serious national attention as one St. Louis store had BUYcott-attributable sales totaling over $50,000 in one night. Next, they BUYcotted Ford Motor Company, and Ford stocks have done well. Now conservatives around the country are standing up for Arizona.
(more…)

From the American Thinker

Obama’s Politicized Justice Department

Another new example surfaces today of how Obama’s Justice Department, under the leadership of Attorney General Eric Holder, is being used as a political tool. The Department has already been used to advance Democratic partisan plans (the egregious efforts to channel votes to Democrat candidates in Kinston, North Carolina), as a tool that allows voter intimidation by the New Black Panther Party to get a pass, as long as such intimidation furthers Democratic goals; as a tool that shields groups such as ACORN — a group notorious for , among other actions, encouraging voter fraud to benefit Democrats from federal racketeering charges.

Now the DOJ will be used to force health care providers to abide by the “guidelines” laid down by the Obama administration regarding their actions (pricing, providing of care, standards). Gangster government indeed. Or government by extortion: toe the line or the DOJ or Big Brother will start the legal harassment. This is more than a veiled threat to America’s health care providers: it is a sign that this administration will use all its tool to force companies and people to do its bidding.

The Boston Globe reports:

The US Department of Justice has opened a civil investigation into possible anticompetitive behavior by Partners HealthCare System Inc., the region’s most powerful hospital and physician network.
(more…)

Who the hell are you to tell me that I made enough money. He is a Marxist. Period!

also:

More Financial Reform, Less Financial Security

By Brenton Stransky

If you liked Obama’s takeover of health care, then you’ll love the even more convoluted and poorly-understood so-called financial “reform” bill being resisted by the GOP with daily filibuster votes.

The financial reform legislation spearheaded by Senate Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT) is as encompassing as the health care legislation, but we the people have been given too little time for gestation.

While the debate rages in the Senate, most pundits and politicians tell us that “everyone knows we need financial reform,” but a new Gallup poll shows that the issue is divisive. When respondents were asked on April 17 and 18 if they support giving “the federal government new powers to regulate large banks and major financial institutions,” 46% were in favor and 43% were opposed (72% of Democrats were in favor while only 22% of Republicans were in favor).

What does the financial reform entail? To glean out the bullet points from the proposed 1,136-page Financial Regulation bill, we might turn to a recent speech by the president. Given on April 22 at Cooper Union in NYC, President Obama outlined the four key elements in the financial regulation bill:
(more…)

From the American Thinker

Subsistence as Freedom

By Scott Strzelczyk

The Democrats’ political endgame requires citizens to accept subsistence as the new definition of freedom. Democrats created a political and socioeconomic system where citizens are divided into racial, social, and economic classes. Democrats concoct government programs, sold under the guise of compassion and equality, to an unwitting but fully complicit populace addicted to handouts, freebies, and benefits paid for by the sweat and equity of others. Welcome to the 21st-century definition of freedom according to the Democrats.

The United States was founded upon an ideal that each person is free to pursue his dreams to the best of his abilities without coercion from the government. What each person chooses to do with his or her time, physical or intellectual abilities, etc. was solely determined by the individual. Some people succeeded, while others floundered or failed. This was the 18th-century definition of freedom. Nobody expected the federal government to bail him out; provide welfare, retirement, or health care; or intrude upon his individual rights and liberties. I’m confident that Virginia statesman Patrick Henry never said “Give me liberty, or give me health care.”

The United States of America was known throughout the world as the land of freedom in which to prosper, where immigrants came to worship and speak freely, assemble and congregate with people of their own choosing, to choose their course in life and enjoy the fruits of their labor. The freedom to achieve prosperity is the reason why immigrants came to the United States. To overcome religious or political persecution and to overcome intrusive government regulations and laws, immigrants risked their lives and possessions to escape to the land of prosperity. Immigrants were not assured anything more than a chance to prosper. No guarantees. No government-provided benefits or welfare. Not only did immigrants accept the risk, but they were grateful for the opportunity.
(more…)

-Jay Cost

What the hell is Charlie Crist doing?

This is insane. Two huge problems.

One, Independents don’t win elections to the US Senate in three-way contests. Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman are in office because one party or the other implicitly backed them. By my count, the last candidate to win election to the Senate as an Independent (other than Sanders and Lieberman) was Harry Byrd of Virginia. He won in 1976 because the Republicans did not run a candidate. This is not coincidental; true third party candidacies almost never work:

-When it comes to Congress, there’s no such thing as an “Independent.” Senators and Representatives inevitably caucus with one side or the other because the party leaders dispense committee assignments. This means that Independents are only really independent when they’re campaigning, not legislating.

-Voters vote their partisanship, and most voters are partisan. The 2008 exit poll found that the Florida electorate was 37% Democrat, 34% Republican, and 29% Independent. I’d note that the exit polls don’t ask Independents how they lean. Gallup asks that question, and that’s why they currently find that only 12% of Americans are “pure” Independents.
(more…)

From Powerline

You’d think the Lamestream Media would give it up, but no: they are determined to push the absurd claim that Tea Partiers are “racists.” Never mind that the issues driving the Tea Parties–the constitutional role of the federal government, bailouts and government takeovers, spiraling deficits and out of control spending–self-evidently have nothing to do with race. The smear is the only kind of argument most liberals know, so they press on doggedly.

This time it’s Newsweek, carrying out its new mission as a limited-circulation journal of liberal opinion. (“Limited circulation” isn’t a strategy, of course, it’s an admission of failure.) Newsweek’s headline reads, “Are Tea Partiers Racist?” Note the impeccable logic with which the piece begins:

Ever since the Tea Party phenomenon gathered steam last spring, it has been plagued by charges of racism. Placards at rallies have depicted President Barack Obama as a witch doctor, denounced his supposed plans for “white slavery,” and likened Congress to a slave owner and the taxpayer to a “n—-r.” Opponents have seized on these examples as proof that Tea Partiers are angry white folks who can’t abide having a black president. Supporters, on the other hand, claim that the hateful signs are the work of a small fringe and that they unfairly malign a movement that simply seeks to rein in big government. In the absence of empirical evidence to support either characterization, the debate has essentially deadlocked.

Is the author of the Newsweek piece a child molester? In the absence of empirical evidence either way, apparently it’s 50-50. But don’t worry: the epistemological puzzle has been solved:

Until now, that is. A new survey by the University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race & Sexuality offers fresh insight into the racial attitudes of Tea Party sympathizers. “The data suggests that people who are Tea Party supporters have a higher probability”–25 percent, to be exact–”of being racially resentful than those who are not Tea Party supporters,” says Christopher Parker, who directed the study. “The Tea Party is not just about politics and size of government. The data suggests it may also be about race.”
(more…)

From Gateway Pundit

Here we go, get ready for the looting…
“Shared Sacrifices Will Solve the Debt Crisis”
Having a frank conversation about the realities of the budget is harder than promising not to raise taxes.

What he means is that American producers will have to share and sacrifice.

Somebody has to pay the Obama-Pelosi debt off.

Hoyer slanders Bush for the Obama-Pelosi debt.

From The Wall Street Journal this morning:

Americans are rightly outraged over our nation’s fiscal situation. The course we’re on will lead to public debt that will exceed the size of our entire economy, and a government that will eventually exist to do only two things: fund entitlement programs and make interest payments. Americans may be wondering whether the Greek financial crisis could happen here.

It will—unless we change course. There’s a myth that our budget deficit mess sprang into existence at the presidential inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009. But in truth, more than 90% of the projected deficit we will face over the next decade is the result of President Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the rescue of the financial sector he began in the last few months of his presidency, and lower revenues from the recession.

That is a horrible lie.

During the Bush years, despite the 2000 Recession, the attacks on 9-11, the stock market scandals, Hurricane Katrina, and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush Administration was able to reduce the budget deficit from 412 billion dollars in 2004 to 162 billion dollars in 2007, a sixty percent drop. In 2004 the federal budget deficit was 412 billion dollars. In 2005 it dropped to 318 billion dollars. In 2006 the deficit dipped to 248 billion dollars. And, in 2007 it fell below 200 billion to 162 billion dollars. During the Bush years the average unemployment rate was 5.2 percent, the economy saw the strongest productivity growth in four decades and there was robust GDP growth.
Obama, on the other hand, has destroyed the economy.

But, democrats want desperately for you to believe that it was George Bush who passed the failed stimulus and record 2009 spending bills. (more…)

From Powerline

Yesterday I wrote about the Waxman/Stupak political theater of the absurd involving the charges against earnings taken by Caterpillar and other big companies because of Obamacare. On a related note, House Energy and Commerce Committee ranking minority member Joe Barton released a staff memo indicating that four big companies under investigation by committee Democrats see incentives in dropping employer health care coverage thanks to Obamacare. Rep. Barton’s press release is here. The press release explains:

“Turns out ObamaCare means if you like your health plan you can lose it. The president didn’t have to actually strong-arm companies into dumping their employee health insurance because his bill carried financial incentives to virtually guarantee that result,” Barton said. “But something’s very wrong when, like AT&T found out, paying $600 million in penalties will allow you to stop paying $2.4 billion for insurance, leaving both workers and taxpayers stuck. I suppose we can’t know for some years how many thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of workers will lose their company insurance because of health care reform, but I know that it will be a breach of faith for most of them and a tragedy for some.”

The preliminary investigation by the Republican staff indicates:

1. “Each of the large employers under investigation warned that health care legislation would trigger reporting requirements (of pending losses) months before passage of the health care law.

2. “Internal company documents from each large employer under investigation reflect concerns over the health care legislation’s new taxes and effect on costs.

3. “Internal company documents indicate that there will be an incentive to drop employer health care coverage because the cost of providing coverage will be much larger than the penalty imposed by the health care legislation.”

For example, a presentation provided to investigators by AT&T shows that the company could save $1.8 billion annually by dropping coverage for current employees and paying the penalty imposed in the law.

A copy of the Republican staff memo can be found here.

The documents from AT&T can be found here.

The documents from Caterpillar can be found here and here.

The documents from John Deere & Company can be found here.

The documents from Verizon can be found here.

Robert Pear’s New York Times story on the corporate chargeoffs did a good job of covering one aspect of this press release. Pear touched on the remaining items by quoting Barton: “From a financial standpoint, from a purely economic standpoint, many companies would be better off discontinuing health care as a fringe benefit, paying the penalty and pocketing the savings.” Pear also took note of the documents flagged in the press release toward the end of his article:

In a general analysis of the new law, Verizon said, “To avoid additional costs and regulations, employers may consider exiting the employer health market and send employees” to state-run insurance exchanges, where people can buy insurance.

A Caterpillar executive made a similar point in an e-mail message to colleagues, saying the tax changes could “drive many employers to just drop coverage for retirees altogether, and let the government foot the whole bill.”

Yesterday’s press release points to evidence supporting this point. The press release thus opens a window onto an aspect of Obamacare that deserves additional analysis if not wider attention.

By Jonathan Spyer*

Four years after the Hamas victory in elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council, and three years since the movement’s successful coup in Gaza, the split in the Palestinian national movement has an increasing look of permanence about it. This has major implications for the currently frozen diplomatic process.

This week, Dr. Salah al-Bardawil, a leading Hamas official, said that efforts toward Palestinian reconciliation are “frozen.” In an interview with Quds press, Bardawil stated that communication between Hamas authorities in Gaza and the government of Egypt on the issue of reconciliation had ceased. Talks were now restricted to “matters such as permission for patients to leave Gaza for treatment or the return of deceased Palestinians across the Rafah crossing.”

Bardawil’s message was confirmed on Monday by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in a speech in Damascus. Mashaal said Hamas had been urged by Arab officials to accept Quartet conditions, including recognition of Israel, in return for changes to an Egyptian-brokered reconciliation agreement. He said that Hamas had reiterated its refusal. Addressing “the Americans, the Zionists, and everyone,” he asserted that Hamas would not “succumb to your terms. We won’t pay a political price no matter how long the blockade lasts. God is with us and he will grant us victory.”

These statements indicate that there is now no process under way toward ending the Palestinian political divide. On the ground, meanwhile, the rival Ramallah and Gaza Palestinian authorities are entrenching themselves.
(more…)

From Gateway Pundit

This is why we love her…

The former Alaska Governor told Sean Hannity tonight,

“I’m sick and tired of Obama and the White House coming out with yet another new crisis that has to be fixed by government sticking it to the people.”
Right on.

Sarah Palin nails it:

“I’m sick and tired of Obama and the White House coming out with yet another new crisis that has to be fixed by government sticking it to the people and taking more of what we earn and produce. Instead of allowing our small businesses especially to keep what we earn… But see, to many in the White House including our own president, I don’t know when they’ve run a business. I don’t know when they’ve been a CEO where they had to look out for the bottom line and they had to make payroll and live within their own means with a budget. They’re from government. They’re community organizers. They’ve been spending other people’s money for so long that the free enterprise principles that all of us believe in, it’s all foreign to them.”

also:

Leading Economist Peter Schiff: US in Worse Shape Than in 2008; We Are In As Bad or Worse Shape Than Greece

Doug Ross posted this earlier today–

Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital, announced today that the US economy is in worse shape than it was in 2008. Schiff said, “You can’t have an economy based on spending borrowed money. You can’t consume your way to wealth.”
Tell that to Barack Obama and Pelosi:

Schiff says the worst is yet to come.
Yahoo Finance reported

Fear of a sovereign debt crisis in Europe resurfaced Tuesday, sending stocks tumbling around the globe. In the U.S. the Dow shed 213 points and the S&P lost 28 points. Meanwhile, gold rose to its highest level in 2 weeks, hitting $1165 per ounce at its intraday peak

.

In other words, today was a great day for Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital.

“A lot of people were confused – they thought the market going up was somehow ratifying what the government had done – that the stimulus and bailouts were good and the economy was improving – it’s not,” Schiff says. “The economy is in worse shape than in 2008.”

Rather than resolved the crisis, all we’ve done is papered over problems in the banking system with “phony accounting” and “dug ourselves deeper into debt,” says Schiff, a longtime deficit hawk.

The crisis of 2008 was merely the “overture” to the “real crisis” Schiff (still) sees coming: (more…)

From Red Maryland

This really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who doesn’t live in Annapolis but technology giant Northrop Grumman has decided to locate its global headquarters in Virginia. This is a logical outcome of the fiscal mismanagement of the O’Malley administration, which has spent the last four years blaming Governor Ehrlich for its own spending, and the better business environment available in Virginia. The Tax Foundation rates Maryland 45 out of 51 jurisdictions in terms of business tax policy. Virginia rates 15.

Maybe one day Maryland Democrats will start realizing that businesses create jobs, jobs that employ people who pay taxes. And that a hostility towards business is nothing more or less than a hostility towards job creation and prosperity. Despite slivers of hope, the Democrats would have to abandon their entire political philosophy to reach that point.

from Flopping Aces

You recall Waxman’s outrage over large companies, such as AT&T, informing its shareholders that they will be taking large hits due to ObamaCare:

After the passage of the health care reform bill, some public corporations announced the bill would have adverse affects on how they do business. Deere & Co. announced that it would cost them an additional $150M in expenses, Caterpillar stated in an SEC filing they would earn $100M less in 2010, Verizon sent emails to employees informing them of their expected costs to increase in the short term, and AT&T filed with the SEC that they expect a $1B hit because of the new law.

Now, the the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations is calling on the “senior company officials” of each of those companies, and others, to come to D.C. and explain / prove their claims. The stated purpose of this meeting is, “to ensure that the [health care] law is implemented effectively and does not have unintended consequences.”

(more…)

From Powerline

Caterpillar and other companies took billions of dollars in charges against earnings when Obamacare was enacted. One section of the Obamacare bill eliminated a tax break available to companies that provide drug benefits to retirees as part of their insurance coverage. The government’s own accounting for the tax change anticipated that it would generate $4.5 billion of revenue over the next 10 years.

Yet when Caterpillar and the other companies took the charges against earnings, the White House suggested that companies were exaggerating the effects of the tax change. Obama administration Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke dutifully peddled the administration line, asserting that the companies were being “premature and irresponsible” in taking the chargeoffs.

Reps. Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak opened an investigation and demanded that four companies — AT&T, Caterpillar, Deere and Verizon — supply documents analyzing the “impact of health care reform,” together with an explanation of their accounting methods. The Democrats apparently thought that they could eliminate a corporate tax deduction for the purpose of raising government revenue without affecting corporate earnings. That’s why deep thinkers like Waxman and Stupak are paid the big bucks by taxpayers. .

Waxman and Stupak even planned to produce a bit of political theater, scheduling a hearing on the chargeoffs at which the companies’ executives were to testify. The production was canceled when Waxman was apprised of the obvious consequences of the bill he and his Democratic buddies had just voted for.

I wonder which poor staffer drew the short straw requiring him to advise Waxman that the elimination of a big corporate tax deduction results in a big corporate tax expense that has to be recognized under applicable accounting standards. It can’t have been pleasant duty.

Robert Pear reports the results of the congressional investigation in today’s New York Times. After investigating, “House Democrats have concluded that the companies were right to tell investors and the government about the expected adverse effects of the law on their financial results” Pear explains:

In a memorandum summarizing its investigation, the Democratic staff of the committee said, “The companies acted properly and in accordance with accounting standards in submitting filings to the S.E.C. in March and April.”

Moreover, it said, “these one-time charges were required by applicable accounting rules.” The committee staff said this view was confirmed by independent experts at the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the American Academy of Actuaries.

For readers with a short memory, Pear even recalls: “Mr. Waxman, the chairman of the committee, and Mr. Stupak canceled a hearing at which they had planned to question executives on the effects of the law.”

These folks are without shame and beneath contempt.

also:

Don’t leave it to Cleaver, part 10

On March 20 the McClatchy news organization faithfully served up the story peddled by Reps. Emanuel Cleaver, Andre Carson, John Lewis and Andre Carson: “Tea party protesters scream ‘nigger’ at black congressmen.” There is just one problem with the congressmen’s story and McClatchy’s account of it: it didn’t happen.

(more…)

By Barry Rubin*

Iran may be able to build a missile capable of striking the United States by 2015, according to a new U.S. Department of Defense report.

I was wondering how to follow up that sentence in this article but by accident, in cutting and pasting the text of the Reuters story, the “Related News” items accidentally came with it. These are other recent Reuters stories on this issue. So what is more telling than just to list them:

U.S. open to Iran nuclear fuel deal despite doubts
Mon, Apr 19 2010
Turkish minister in Iran to discuss nuclear row
Mon, Apr 19 2010
U.S. considers options to curb Iran’s nuclear program
Sun, Apr 18 2010
Pentagon’s Mullen: diplomacy first in options on Iran
Sun, Apr 18 2010

In other words, the four most recent articles are all about how the Obama Administration policy is still trying to engage Iran and make a deal or how America’s former ally, Turkey’s government, has gone over to the other side.

How about this one:

“The United States said on Monday it was still willing to discuss a nuclear fuel swap deal with Iran, but only if Tehran takes clear steps to address international concerns about its nuclear program….[Turkey's Foreign Minister] Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters he had discerned a change in the Iranian stance over the past several months during which he said he visited Tehran about a half-dozen times.”

Oh, right! Let’s spend a few months going back to the nuclear fuel swap deal which Iran raised last September in order to sabotage the sanctions’ train so successfully.

Or this story: (more…)

From Gateway Pundit

Obama Plays the Race Card in Latest Online Video Rallying the Troops for 2010–
Via Drudge:

What a complete shock…
Forget the white men and their greed, Obama reaches out to Latinos and Blacks for their support in 2010.
Notice what he lists as his accomplishments (all disasters):

The Politico reported:

The DNC released this clip of the president rallying the troops, if rather coolly, for 2010, with the express goal of “reconnecting” with the voters who voted for the first time in 2008, but who may not plan to vote in the lower-profile Congressional elections this year.

Obama speaks with unusual demographic frankness about his coalition in his appeal to “young people, African-Americans, Latinos, and women who powered our victory in 2008 [to] stand together once again.”

Of course, this will be ignored by most of the state-run media.
Democrats are allowed to make racist statements.

also:Sarah Palin Was Right… Obama Budget Director Orszag Admits Government Panels Will Decide Who Gets Health Care

Sarah Palin was right.

Barack Obama’s nationalized health care bill includes powerful health care rationing “death panels.”

Obama Budget Director Peter Orszag admitted earlier this month that:
A Powerful Rationing Panel (Not Doctors) Will Control Health Care Levels

Maybe this is what Michelle Obama meant when she said Americans will have to sacrifice with Obamacare.

Related… Democrats ready insurance price controls to offset the huge insurance premium hikes Obamacare will trigger that they swore up and down Obamacare would not trigger.

Finally:

Breaking: Dems Hid Damning Health Care Report From Public Until a Month After Vote!

DEMOCRATS HID DAMNING HEALTH CARE REPORT FROM PUBLIC UNTIL A MONTH AFTER VOTE

More hope and change–

A damning health care report generated by actuaries at the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department was given to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius more than a week before the health care vote. She hid the report from the public until a month after democrats rammed their nationalized health care bill through Congress.

The results from the report were troubling. The report released by Medicare and Medicaid actuaries shows that medical costs will skyrocket rising $389 billion 10 years. 14 million will lose their employer-based coverage. Millions of Americans will be left without insurance. And, millions more may be dumped into the already overwhelmed Medicaid system. 4 million American families will be hit with tax penalties under this new law.

Of course, these were ALL things that President Obama and Democratic leaders assured us would not happen.
(more…)

from Flopping Aces

Well, whadda ya know….the Republicans held firm against a cloture vote on the Democrat’s financial reform bill.

For the moment, Republicans have successfully beaten back the Democrat financial regulation overhaul, defeating a cloture motion to begin debate on the partisan bill with 42 votes.

Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), who has been most active in working with Democrats on the bill, voted no on cloture. So did other Republican question marks, including the Maine Ladies Collins and Snowe, Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa), who voted for Democratic derivatives language in committee, and Scott Brown (R., Mass.).

In somewhat of a surprise move, Sen. Ben Nelson (D., Neb.) joined the Republican filibuster, which means the Democrats will now need two defectors to move ahead.

Nelson joined the Republicans because of language sought by Warren Buffet: (more…)