From the "Me too" file.

Matt Yglesias...

Not only am I old enough to remember when picking Nancy Pelosi to stay on as Minority Leader doomed Democrats to never regain the majority, I’m old to even remember way back in 2005 when choosing her made it impossible for them to take it in the first place.

Me too.

And then some.

Chart of the day.

Via Matt Yglesias...

From the "Me neither" file.

Matt Yglesias...

Actually preventing terrorist attacks is a valuable thing to do, but it seems to me that very intensity security at airports doesn’t so much eliminate attacks as encourage people to set off bombs on crowded city streets instead. That doesn’t strike me as a particularly high-value undertaking.

Me neither.

Makes you wonder….

…why this hasn't been the policy all along. Via Matt Yglesias...

The FDIC, which collects fees from all banks to repay depositors in failed banks, is considering a plan to impose higher fees on banks with compensation practices that the agency regards as encouraging reckless pursuit of short-term profits without sufficient regard for the risk of long-term losses.

Habitually reckless drivers pay higher rates for auto insurance. Similarly, risky hobbies or reckless habits can increase your life insurance costs. Why in the word wouldn't reckless bank practices make coverage by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation more expensive?

Do it.

Quotable...

Harry Reid...

It is about people. It’s about life and death in America. It’s a question of morality, of right and wrong. It’s about human suffering. And given the chance to relieve this suffering, we must take it.

Matt Yglesias...

It’s fine not to be satisfied with this legislation, but it’s perverse not to be happy about it.

jnfr...

I am a leftist too...And I am very happy that the Senate has passed a health care bill.

Goldy...

You want Obama to fail? Reject health care reform. You want the Democrats to lose a ton of seats in 2010? Reject health care reform. You want to stop insurance companies from denying you coverage due to pre-existing conditions, or dropping your coverage once you get sick? Well, even the sucky Senate bill does that.

Jonathan Chait...

What has emerged from that machinery is not merely “better than nothing” or “a good start.” It is the most significant American legislative triumph in at least four decades. Why can so few people see that?

Chart of the day.

Via, once again, Mr. Yglesias (becoming known around Upper Left World Headquarters as The Chart Czar)...


Not too bad for a guy who, I hear, has taken on too much, in the wrong order, and alienated key blocs of his base while becoming over-exposed in the media. Bound to fail, I'm told.

Or maybe he knows something a bunch of us don't...

From the "Me too" file.

Matt Yglesias...

Personally, I’m more interested in a good bill than a bipartisan one.

He's talking about health care, but again I see more universal application.

Whatever it's about, me too.