++So John McCain is going to hold up Janet Yellin's nomination to the Fed Chair until he gets more information on Benghazi. He joins Lindsey Graham who will put a hold on every Obama nominee until he gets to meet the survivors of Benghazi.
++The Senate GOP are trying to put a hold on all of President Obama's justices because they believe Obama is stacking the courts because he's filling vacancies. Beauregard Sessions has attacked Supreme Court Justice Roberts as not being a true conservative because he supports having the Senate confirm judges to end the huge backload of cases.
++Senator Thune is relieved that Obamacare has taken attention away from the government shutdown.
++27 Republican Senators passed a resolution condemning their own personal vote to raise the debt ceiling.
++GOP pollster Fred Sleeper has warned the Republicans from playing the race card by referring to Hispanics in derogatory terms and urges the GOP to get behind immigration reform. Fat chance.
++As I wrote during the shutdown, the GOP has given up on national elections and will concentrate on Congressional and state elections because they now want the executive branch to be weaken. Yesterday, Ted Cruz came out openly in favor of curtailing the powers of the executive branch.
++E.J. Dionne has an excellent column in today's Washington Post saying America is sick of the extreme right. It's a good read and I agree with it.
++Romney supporter Dana Millbank went after the brainless GOP for their charade with Kathleen Sebelius. He noted that this was their chance to crucify Sebelius and they looked like a bunch of clowns. Oh and no,Congressman, Kathleen Sebelius can not join an exchange because she has employer-provided health insurance. It would be illegal for her to do so.
++Rachel Maddow had an excellent interview with Harry Reid last night where Senator Reid talks about the GOP imploding during the shutdown. Among topics were ENDA, which he is proud of and will bring to a vote,and he says the GOP will not shutdown the government again. He says if he wanted the GOP to disappear he would like to see Ted Cruz nominated as their presidential candidate.
++Make sure you keep reading Charles Pierce at the Esquire political blog because he is writing some of the best and vicious commentary these days.
++For anyone interested in Obamacare, if you are over 50,click into the AARP website. It's fast and will walk you through all the healthcare options. You can enroll but save the information for when you can.
++President Obama hit it out of the ballpark on healthcare during his speech at Feneuil Hall. He also lit out against the GOP for their support of "junk" insurance. He argued again about the various components of the law. So if you are annoyed that he said If you like your plan, you can keep it, then you are less than 5% of those actually affected. And if you are affected, you can get a better policy.
++Tomorrow food stamps will end for millions of Americans. The next chance they can be restored is in mid-November when Congress goes back to negotiating the FARM bill. Old-time Republicans are furious at Heritage Action,Club for Growth,and Americans for Prosperity because they are going to score Congressman on whether they support such a bill. This was an old mainstay for GOP congressional types in the Farm Belt and would seriously damage the agricultural industry.
++ADP reports only 130,000 jobs were created this month. The FED job report will be confusing because government employees during the shutdown will be counted twice--as unemployed and employed. But contractors will be unemployed. We'll see whether we have entered a new recession.
++The FED isn't taking any chances and have signalled that they are not letting up on their stimulus until next Spring.
++What is amazing is this recovery is the fifth longest in American history but the weakest because of the loss of government jobs. The size of our federal government is now at the same level as 1967. Meanwhile the national debt is lower again this year, declining the fastest rate in 60 years.
++Harry Reid deserves the last option. The Simpson-Bowles Commission recommended $4.2 trillion in cuts to our deficit. Congress has already cut the budget by 2.5 trillion and if you pass Immigration Reform this would be another $1 trillion. So,the whole problem comes down to $700 billion, and subtract the gains in Obamacare, you are down to about one-half a trillion dollars. So problem almost solved in a rational time.
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