The report made waves by advising against home screening for breast cancer and against annual mammograms:

The task force, a federal advisory board, said this week that women should not begin routine mammograms until age 50, contradicting the well-established advice that women 40 and older should be screened.

Groups such as the American Cancer Society and Susan G. Komen for the Cure have opposed the new guidance.

The backlash was swift and merciless, forcing Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to issue a statement saying that the recommendations of the task force are not guaranteeing a change in government policy:

In a written statement, Sebelius said the guidelines had "caused a great deal of confusion and worry among women and their families across this country" and stressed that they were issued by "an outside independent panel of doctors and scientists who . . . do not set federal policy and . . . don't determine what services are covered by the federal government." [...]

The task force on Monday recommended that women in their 40s stop having routine mammograms and instead individually discuss whether to get the exams with their doctors.

The panel also recommended that women in their 50s get mammograms routinely every two years, instead of annually. The panel argued that the benefits of more frequent exams were outweighed by the harms caused by false alarms, which can lead to anxiety and unneeded treatment.

While hailed by many patient advocates and breast cancer experts, the new guidelines have been harshly criticized by the American Cancer Society, the American College of Radiology and others, including some members of Congress.

Two of the women over at Time's Swampland blog are up in arms, noting that the recommendation seems more like a cost-saving measure rather than anything that will benefit women. Kate Pickert points out the numbers:

The panel also said a review of clinical data showed that yearly mammograms for women 40-49 reduced the risk of breast cancer death by 15%, but under a section titled "Balance of Harms and Benefits," said this:

• Harms of screening include psychological harms, additional medical visits, imaging, and biopsies in women without cancer, inconvenience due to false-positive screening results, harms of unnecessary treatment, and radiation exposure. Harms seem moderate for each age group.

  False-positive results are a greater concern for younger women; treatment of cancer that would not become clinically apparent during a woman's life (overdiagnosis) is an increasing problem as women age.

These new guidelines - which while influential, are not binding - have caused no small amount of consternation. Women are incensed that some faraway task force has decided a 15% risk reduction – i.e. actual lives saved – is not enough to warrant mass screenings. I asked a number of female colleagues here at TIME what they thought of the new guidelines and all said they found the new recommendations to be disturbing. One even said the news set off "a giant pink bell ringing in my head."

After pointing out how Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a breast cancer survivor, freaked out at the proposal, Pickert concludes:

For instance, a small number of women get diagnosed with breast cancer in their 20s and 30s. Does this mean mammograms should be routine during these years too? At what point do lives saved outweigh "psychological harms, additional medical visits, imaging, and biopsies in women without cancer, inconvenience due to false-positive screening results, harms of unnecessary treatment, and radiation exposure." Will private insurance companies, which pay close attention to guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Task Force and other groups, stop covering mammograms for women under 50? Wouldn't insurers rather catch cancers early when they are easy (and cheap) to treat? And what about the oft-touted U.S. breast cancer five-year survival rate, which is 83.9%, compared to England, where it's 69.7%?

Time's Karen Tumulty doesn't pull any punches - she thinks the task force is composed of "pinheads:"

[A]t age 19, when I discovered lumps in both my breasts that didn't go away after a couple of menstrual cycles.

That's when I had my first mammogram. Back in those days, the technology wasn't what it is today, and it was inconclusive. My doctor decided he wanted to do a biopsy. That wasn't what it is today, either. A simple breast biopsy in 1975 required me to check in for an overnight stay in a hospital, and to sign forms before the surgery authorizing a mastectomy on the spot if it turned out to be cancer. I remember vividly waking up from the general anesthesia terrified, feeling the heavy layers of bandages trying to figure out what they had done. It was benign—thank God—but it turned out to be the first of several times I would go through this drill, because I have lumpy breasts. The fancy name for that is fibrocystic disease.

At the time of my first breast biopsy, I had no family history of the disease. I subsequently developed one. Over the years, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer (and survived it); my aunt was too (and didn't). I've had a number of scares, but none, thus far, has turned out to be cancer.

So it would seem I'm the perfect example of a person who shouldn't have had mammograms, or even examined my own breasts. But am I sorry I've had the information I've had through mammograms and self-exams? Not for a second.

That's why I think these scientists are pinheads. Pink ribbons are lovely, but women who want information should have it. And I would remind Swampland readers of the important lesson we all learned from Carly Fiorina. Information is power, ladies, and don't let some scientific panel tell you it isn't.

But the NY Times' Gail Collins begs to differ:

Somewhere between the reports that Pap smears and tests for prostate cancer aren't all they were cracked up to be and the news that a high fiber diet doesn't do anything to prevent cancer, the health establishment began looking decidedly nonomniscient. Then this week, a federal task force reported that most women don't need annual mammograms.

Even more fascinating, they suggested that doctors stop telling their female patients to self-examine their breasts for lumps. [...]

The report triggered two immediate and inevitable responses. Doctors and patients began an animated discussion. And Republicans declared it was all a Democratic plot.

"I mean, let the rationing begin. This is what happens when bureaucrats make your health care decisions," said Representative David Camp, the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Representative Camp is definitely on to something. Whatever happens, we do not want the government conducting any studies on whether current health practices actually do any good. Let this continue and soon you will not be able to get your hands on a good leech when you need one.

There is no possible political advantage in coming out against medical testing, so the Obama administration scurried away from the report. The task force did not consider the matter of cost, but, of course, people like Representative Camp depicted it as the first step toward rationing. The current position of the Republican Party seems to be that it is not possible to spend too much money on medicine. Party on.

(Has anybody noticed that the people who darkly warn about government bureaucrats forcing insurance companies to cut back our coverage appear to be the same ones who just voted to force insurance companies to stop covering abortions? Where's the sanctity of the marketplace when we really need it?)

Collins, also a breast cancer survivor, is remarkably glib about the whole business, explaining:

I had mammograms every year like clockwork, and I had just gotten a clean bill of health from my latest one when I found a lump on my left breast while watching a rerun of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," multitasker that I am.

It turned out to be cancer, of a fairly low-grade variety. My oncologist felt strongly that it never would have developed if I hadn't taken estrogen replacement therapy - another one of the medical marvels that has now been consigned to the Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time category.

So, in summary, the cutting-edge of medical thinking of the 1990s may have induced my cancer, and then the universally recommended testing protocol failed to detect it.

So who's correct? Only time will tell, but in terms of personal health, most of us would prefer to side with the old adage "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Who decides about mammograms? Inside the task force [CNN]
Sebelius distances herself from new mammogram guidelines [LA Times]
Are Mammograms the New Political Football? [Time]
A Word About My Breasts [Time]
The Breast Brouhaha [NY Times]

Earlier: New Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines Spark Confusion, Criticism

Is Congress being haunted by the ghosts of bullshit policy plays?

If there was any story to seize as part of the cause, it would be Sutton's. She even provided an interview in 2008 which states:

She went two months without possible life-saving medications because her insurance wouldn't cover it, another example of abusing the working poor, she said.

"How in the world can it take so long to find out (whether they would cover the medicine or not) when it could be a matter of life or death," she said. "It is almost like, in a way, committing murder."

But are we discussing the fact that the health insurance companies run their own death panels? Oh no. Instead, we're covering abortion, which really means the President is making it clear that no federal money is going to pay for abortions. Which is only a problem if you ignore the existence of the Hyde Amendment, which banned the use of federal funds for abortions. This amendment was passed back in 1976 - clearly, this should be common knowledge.

And yet, they have Kathleen Sebelius on television, driving this point home like it's new:

And in case you missed that point:

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says the president supports language in health overhaul legislation that explicitly prohibits money for abortions.

Sebelius says President Barack Obama has made it clear that his health care goals do not include using public money to pay for abortions.

The health secretary says Obama will include wording in overhaul legislation that explicitly prohibits the practice.

Okay, we get it. Federally funded money isn't going to be used to fund abortions. And yet, the subject continues on. The anti-choice set is intent on using health care reform as a way to further their agenda, in the same way the GOP is trying to leverage the current health care animosity to score points against Obama.

And all the while, we still haven't discussed the major differences in each of the plans floating around, and it appears that people are still confused about what constitutes a public option. Nate Silver, while picking apart a vaguely worded Washington Post survey, noted:

From my vantage point, what the poll "proves", if anything, is that specificity will be helpful to the Democrats. They should either insist on the public option or remove it — but keeping their options open may be doing little more than confusing the public. And the pollsters.

Real ‘Norma Rae' dead of cancer after battle with health insurer [ Raw Story]'
Real 'Norma Rae' has new battle involving cancer [Times News]
Hyde Amendment [Wikipedia]
Dems: No taxpayer funds for abortions [Politico]
HHS Head: No Abortion Money in Health Plan [Time]
Exploiting the healthcare debate to restrict abortion [Salon]
Reform Opposition Is High but Easing [Washington Post]
When You Assume, You Make a Mess Out of Your Poll [FiveThirtyEight]

In guest post on US News & World Report's God & Country blog, titled "Obama Not Working to Make Abortion Rare," Daly says he likes the idea of compromise, he really does. He writes,

On one hand, how could anyone with a love for life turn down an opportunity to discuss ways to save innocent babies from being killed in the womb? When it comes to the idea of sitting down with people with whom I disagree, but who could make a difference in a subject I care deeply about, I'm reminded of what John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, once said. "If I was drowning, I would rather be seen by a burglar who can swim than a bishop who can't."

In the case of abortion, though, he doesn't think the burglars can swim. Burglar #1, Barack Obama, said in his speech at Notre Dame, "let's work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions," but he also reversed the global gag rule (Daly prefers "Mexico City policy"), and chose "radical abortion advocate" Kathleen Sebelius as his Secretary of Health and Human Services. He also says Obama "shouldn't be forcing Americans to subsidize it as part of his healthcare reform package," even though Sebelius herself is now backing away from the very public plan anti-choicers were worried about.

What kind of abortion reduction would suit Daly? The kind that makes parental consent "the law of the land." And the kind requires all women be shown a fetal ultrasound before having an abortion, because "our research indicates that of those women still at risk for abortion after counseling, 65 percent expressed their intent to carry their baby to term after viewing the ultrasound image." Daly calls this policy "informed consent," implying that the "risk of abortion" is something women just don't know enough about, or they would never have one.

For a nuanced view on the abortion debate, Daly quotes Pastor Rick Warren:

It is kind of a charade in that people say, 'We believe abortions should be safe and rare.' Don't tell me it should be rare. That's like saying on the Holocaust, 'Well, maybe we could save 20 percent of the Jewish people in Poland and Germany and get them out, and we should be satisfied with that. I'm not satisfied with that. I want the Holocaust ended.

Here Warren handily equates pro-choicers with anti-Semites, and implies that ending all abortion is as obvious as a moral good as ending the Holocaust. It isn't. And it's pretty impossible to imagine establishing common ground with someone who thinks you're like a Nazi. Clearly, though, Daly doesn't really want common ground. He wants Obama to push through a series of policies that deny women both information (in the case of the global gag rule) and autonomy, and that insult their intelligence. Of course, I'm not particularly happy with the term "common ground" either, especially when it means explicitly excluding abortion from any government-subsidized healthcare, when no other medical procedure is explicitly excluded. So maybe abortion is one area where compromise just leaves everyone unsatisfied.

Focus on the Family: Obama Not Working To Make Abortion Rare [US News & World Report]

• This week's New York Times Magazine cover story on Obama's first hundred days doesn't look exceptionally celebratory. It looks more like, "This is what 100 days as President will do to you." [NY Times]

• Washington continues to buzz about Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter's party-switch, which even the White House didn't learn about until yesterday morning despite Joe Biden's efforts to get him to do it. [Washington Post]
• But in 2001, Specter blasted then-Senator Jim Jeffords for his party-switching; he even tried to make it illegal. [LA Times]
• Michael Steele's pissed off about the Specter switch because he was going to back Specter in the primary...which is probably partly what Specter was worried about. [Politico]
• Rush Limbuagh wants John and Meghan McCain to switch parties now, too. [Huffington Post]
• Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine thinks assholes like Limbaugh are part of why the party is losing voters in droves and Senators in dribs and drabs. [NY Times]
• Specter's desertion means that Norm Coleman shall never surrender his fight to have the courts declare him the winner of the Minnesota Senate Race. [Politico]
• Speaking of Minnesota, Republican Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann thinks that the outbreak of swine flu is either a Democratic conspiracy, the result of God hating Democratic Presidents or poor management by Democrats. [ThinkProgress]
• Less insanity regarding American health: The Senate finally approved the nomination of Kathleen Sebelius to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, despite Republican opposition to the fact that a pro-choice President picked a pro-choice nominee for the gig. [Reuters]
• Keith Olbermann, like much of America, would really, really like to see Sean Hannity waterboarded. [USA Today]
• However, no one wants to see former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich take Moonlight Bunny Ranch owner Dennis Hof's offer of an apprenticeship. [PR Newswire]
• And, apparently, Pat Buchanan likened a Nazi war criminal to Jesus; in Pat's world, killing 29,000 of his fellow Jews is What Jesus Would Do. [Huffington Post]

• Barack Obama shot some hoops with the women of the NCAA champion Huskies and won. (Pic at left is from early April.) The jersey they gave him, though, was a bit too small. [The Swamp]

• He then had Rahm Emanuel rip a new asshole for the guy that approved the Air Force One photo op over New York City yesterday that scared the bejesus out of everyone. [ABC News, Politico]
• About two-thirds of Americans continue to think Obama's doing a good job, and another third are Republicans and tea-baggers. [Real Clear Politics]
• White people still think black people have it pretty good in America, and a lot of black people know that, just because we have an African-American President, it doesn't mean that racism doesn't exist. [NY Times]
• In other poll news, most Americans don't want some big series of hearings on torture because they would rather our government focus on fixing the fucking economy. [CBS News]
• Republicans want to prove that the Democrats didn't care about it in 2002 any more than a lot of Americans do now. [Politico]
• Newt Gingrich wasn't a fan of torture before Republicans took the White House. Apparently, Newt's moral compass points in the direction of whatever gets him elected when it's not pointing in the direction of a new piece of ass. [Huffington Post]
• More people will continue to crap their pants because of pigs. [Time]
• Obama is there, though, to hold the nation's hair out of the toilet. [NY Times]
• Mostly because Republicans are still pissed that a Democratic nominee for the Secretary of Health and Human Services doesn't plan to try to reverse Roe v. Wade and thus they don't want her confirmed. [Plum Line]
• Please take a minute to note that abortion politics weren't remotely part of the debate when a man was the nominee. Just sayin'.
• According to official talking points of wing-nuttery, Obama imported the piggie disease just to ram through the Sebelius nomination. [Washington Independent]
• Five members of Congress were arrested at the Sudanese embassy in a protest over Darfur because no one's paying attention to it anymore. [Politico]
• GM released its restructuring plan and it calls for the elimination of 21,000 jobs, 2,600 dealers, Pontiac, Hummer, Saturn and Saab. [LA Times]
• The universe of gun-owners — including Ducks Unlimited — is pissed at Rush Limbaugh for doing commercials for the Humane Society. Normally, I'd say not to piss off dudes with guns, but I'm sort of fine with Limbaugh pissing off dudes with guns. [Washington Times]

• Renowned male supremacist Larry Summers just couldn't keep his eyes open during a meeting with credit card company executives and Barack Obama yesterday afternoon. Shit's boring! [ThinkProgress]

• The purpose of the meeting, by the way, was to warn credit card companies to stop jacking up rates and adding unexpected fees to bills. But Larry Summers is rich, bitch, so what the fuck does he care? [LA Times]
• Obama still has a 56% approval rating, despite the public fuck-ups of many of the people working for him. [Real Clear Politics]
• He has, however, publicly rebuffed the idea of truth commissions for the Bushies, so that number might go down. [Washington Post]
• Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is providing him political cover by rejecting the idea, too. [Politico]
• Liz Cheney has decided that the definition of torture doesn't include anything we would do to our own people. [ThinkProgress]
• By the way, even Bush's FBI Director said that all that torture didn't stop a single terror plot. [Plum Line]
• When even Meghan McCain thinks Cheney should shut up and go away, he should probably take it under consideration. [Time]
• Sarah Palin's got a brand new legal defense fund to pay all her legal bills for the unethical shit she plans on continuing to do. [Wall Street Journal]
• Randi Rhodes, the "left-wing" talk show host that called Hillary Clinton a "big fucking whore" last year, is getting another shot at a radio show. [Huffington Post]
• Michael Steele is caving to right-wing pressure regarding Kathleen Sebelius' nomination and the fact that she's pro-choice. [Breitbart]
• Michelle Obama did a kiddie press conference yesterday, and said Bo the dog likes to nibble toes. I didn't know Dick Morris was dead, let alone that he'd been reincarnated! [ABC News]

"A two-term state insurance commissioner and two-term Democratic governor in a reliably Republican state," the Times notes, "Ms. Sebelius has a reputation of reaching across the aisle." Sebelius is the second nominee for the position; Senator Tom Daschle, Obama's original pick, withdrew his nomination due to questions regarding his failure to pay taxes. [NYTimes]

On the controversy surrounding the nomination of CNN Chief Medical Correspondent (and general hottie) Sanjay Gupta to be Obama's Surgeon General, she says:

"This country needs a surgeon general," she told [U.S. News & World Report's] Suzi Parker. "It needs someone to be able to stand up and be an advocate for the people of this country. You aren't the Congress's surgeon general. You aren't the president's surgeon general. You're the people's surgeon general."

In response to specific criticism's about Gupta's experience, she adds:

"He has enough well-trained, well-qualified public health people to teach him the things he needs to do the job."

Elders, too, came to public health from medicine, having practiced as a doctor before picking up teaching — after which she went to run Arkansas' Department of Health before being appointed as Surgeon General. Presumably, her experience as a doctor and professor influences her opinion of who should helm the Department of Health and Human Services — which, in her opinion, is not Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius, the supposed leading candidate.

I feel there are many roles to fill in government, and I feel this is a health role. They need to hear about health and human services from a health provider's perspective. I love lawyers. They do a wonderful job. I love politicians. They probably do a wonderful job. But I think a health professional should be the head of health and human services," she says.

So, Sanjay for HHS?

Elders is, by the way, a big fan of universal health care. While health care reform is on Obama's agenda, he's not yet promoting universal health care, though Elders likes the direction he's going in.

"Universal access to healthcare for all of our people should be a right, not a privilege. Businesses and everyone should be for it. We'd have better workers, healthier workers. They'd be more likely to stay on the job and do a better job. Whatever you do in life, you can do it better if you're healthier. We don't have a healthcare system; we have a very good sick-care system."

In fact, Obama said something similar during the second Presidential debate:

BROKAW: Quick discussion. Is health care in America a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?
...
OBAMA: Well, I think it should be a right for every American. In a country as wealthy as ours, for us to have people who are going bankrupt because they can't pay their medical bills — for my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they're saying that this may be a pre-existing condition and they don't have to pay her treatment, there's something fundamentally wrong about that.

With Obama seeking to fill both a White House health policy coordination position and the empty chair at HHS, maybe Dr. Elders should keep talking loud enough to be heard at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

For Obama's Surgeon General, Elders Looks Past Masturbation To National Healthcare [U.S. News & World Report]

Related: Transcript Of The Second Presidential Debate [Wall Street Journal]
DeParle, Lew Under Consideration For Top Health Jobs [Washington Post]

Hillary Clinton just finished making rounds in Indonesia, being serenaded by school children, waxing eloquent about how she wants to change the world and possibly signaling a shift on U.S. policy toward Burma which resembles our policy on Cuba in effectiveness but is broader and deeper in scope. Oh, and she appeared on television and says that she likes the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
Meanwhile, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius' name keeps cropping up in discussions about who will replace Tom Daschle as the nominee to helm the Department of Health and Human Services and, reportedly, shepherd Obama's health care reforms through Congress. Of course, her named cropped up half a dozen times after the election as a potential nominee and she never actually became one, so I'm not holding my breath.

The boys, on the other hand, aren't having as good a day of it. Illinois Senator and crazyperson Roland Burris gave a press conference yesterday asking for his constituents' forbearance and bizarrely claiming that former governor Rod Blagojevich had never considered nominating him for the Senate seat to which Blago appointed Burris. Basically, dude's going nowhere, but he also doesn't exactly remember how he got there. Oh, and all the Dems who once supported him won't touch him with a ten foot pole in the hopes that the taint he swore he didn't have won't appear on them, either. Americans for a taintless Washington!

In other news, Norm Coleman has a snowball's chance in hell of retaining his Senate seat in Minnesota, though he'll keep arguing that he ought to despite what the legal votes say. Rich people (probably mostly dudes) are about to be exposed as tax cheats by Swiss bank UBS since they've been, you know, cheating on their taxes like half of Washington. And all those Republicans who pissed and moaned about the stimulus and how bad it is now want their piece of the pork-y delicious pie, and are being called hypocrites since, after all, they are.

Obama's got some mortgage bailout plan thing going that they'll probably eventually oppose, too, since it will cost $75 billion or something or because it doesn't help people with mortgages over $400,000 since they're obviously middle class families who need a break.

Although Michael Steele — like Dubya before him — would like you to believe that the recession was kicked off by Bill Clinton before he left office 8 years ago, the truth is that the last recession started after Bush took office in 2001 and finished up not long thereafter. In fact, it appears that it might have been helped by Dubya's massive stimulus package, which was bigger than the Obama one that all the Republicans are whining about. Lest you think that said smaller stimulus might help, there are a bunch of economists who say that there's no way it will be big enough to help since the banks are refusing to lend money this time around to mitigate the crisis — and that's not even to talk about the massive unemployment that's dwarfing unemployment figures from earlier recessions. Speaking of the banks that took your tax dollars to jump-start the economy through increased lending and then didn't lend, on Tuesday, they'll find out what's to become of them and their TARP funds under the new Obama regime, other than that their execs might all have to start taking the subway and forgo armed drivers and $9 hot chocolates. Please feel free to pity them; I mean, we wouldn't want the rich to have to sacrifice anything in this economy!

Other people that don't wish to sacrifice? Michael Steele's sister, who reportedly got paid by his 2006 Senate campaign for work she never did, an allegation that Steele is denying. Also, Ann Coulter, who reportedly found that changing her voter registration to New York just too taxing and is now being investigated for — of all ironic things — voter fraud for voting where she doesn't really live.

Anyway, so, the Iraqi shoe-thrower is going to get a trial; German chancellor Angela Merkel wants — but probably won't get — an answer as to why the Pope un-excommunicated that British Holocaust-denying priest; and Joe Biden was hoping for more foreign policy success on his first foreign visit but didn't really get it ("and that's why you don't send a man to do a woman's job," said someone over in Foggy Bottom under her breath). But, the word is out that Howard Dean's possible competition for that empty Cabinet slot over at Health and Human Services might be Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius. That's probably another contest that Dean should prepare to lose. The skiing is lovely in Vermont this time of year, though!

• Clinton told her supporters to stop talking smack about Caroline Kennedy unless they're going to endorse someone else. She doesn't want people to believe it's coming from her. [Politico]

• Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has weighed in with New York Governor David Paterson on Kennedy's behalf. [CNN]
• President Bush is backing his brother Jeb's nascent run for the soon-to-be-empty Florida Senate seat currently held by the retiring Mel Martinez. [The Hill]
• Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wants the RNC to shut the fuck up already and pull its ads that misleadingly link Barack Obama to corrupt Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. In case you're worried that he's siding with Obama, don't be worried: he's doing at part of the internecine warfare in the GOP. [Huffington Post]
• Hoping to take advantage of that warfare, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius's withdrawal from Cabinet consideration leads some people to believe she might try to run for the Senate when Republican Senator Sam "Snowflake Baby" Brownback runs for her seat. [Politico]
• The 2008 Minnesota Senate race might even be done by then. [The Hill]
• A grand jury is investigating possible corruption in New Mexico that might ensnare Commerce Secretary nominee (and current governor) Bill Richardson. How grabby were those hands? [Huffington Post]
• Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. says he's been snitching to the feds about Blagojevich since last summer, when Blagojevich held up Jackson's wife's appointment to a state board for political donations. [Huffington Post]
• Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer thinks that being a columnist for Slate "sucks" because he used to be a governor. Hey, asshole, with all these media layoffs, I'll bet they could find someone who would happily write a column for them! (My e-mail is on the masthead, by the way). [Politico]

• Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius has removed her name from Cabinet consideration. [The Hill]
• New York Governor David Paterson wants to be your next President because "Once you go black, you don't go back." [Politico]
• Fred Thompson is so cheap that he's renting his apartment out for the inauguration. [Huffington Post]
• The Supreme Court rejected the crazypants challenge to Obama's citizenship. [Politico]

• Your tax dollars at work: the State Department is now on Twitter. [Washington Independent]
• Karl Rove's gonna write a book about everyone who was mean to George Bush. Florists in D.C. are already planning on mass deliveries when the index is out. [CNN]
• President Bush's new neighbors are concerned that their community might become a target after he moves in. Now they know how all the residents of D.C. feel. [Raw Story]
• All the women out there who were concerned about Chris Matthews' run for the Senate in Pennsylvania might be able to breathe a sigh of relief. His brother doesn't think he'll leave television. [The New Republic, Politico]
• Christie Hefner's apparently leaving Playboy Enterprises... to angle for a job with the Obama Administration? [Portfolio]
• Israeli Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit is trying to grant Sandra Samuel, the Indian nanny who rescued Moeshe Holtzberg during the Mumbai terror attacks, the status of "Righteous among the Nations" to allow her to stay in Israel as long as she wishes. The honor is given to non-Jews who save the lives of Jews. [Associated Press]
• Pakistan actually arrested one of the suspected Mumbai plotters, by the way. [Huffington Post]
• In your official holiday-themed uplifting end to the roundup, homeless men at Detroit's Mariners Inn shelter and treatment center are raising $500 for each of 4 poor families they are adopting for the holidays. [Breitbart]

MEGAN: Are you sufficiently caffeinated? I am having a Diet Coke jones, but there is nary a bottle in the proximity.

ANA MARIE: Oh, there's Jim Webb the big pumpkin head!

MEGAN: I wonder what he fills it with...

ANA MARIE: Which is to say, not really. But I do like Mr. Pumpkin head. Filled with pumpkin.

MEGAN: I could do with some pumpkin bread.

ANA MARIE: Mike Barnicle is telling Jim Webb that "you know more than anyone about class warfare... you've written about it." And, it's true, Webb knows a lot about class warfare: HE IS FOR IT. He's pretty much for any kind of warfare.

MEGAN: Yeah, I was sort of starting to think to myself, "Jim Webb is an economist?" but then Barnicle kept being all shout-y and I got distracted. He is really pissed at Senators who voted for the AIG bailouts to save those guys' salaries who are now shitting on union pay/benefit packages.

ANA MARIE: We could just turn Crappy Hour into Meta Morning Joe. I know that's my fault but I'm not sure if I'm really sorry.

MEGAN: It's okay; who doesn't love Morning Joe except for Mika's hair? Free Mika's hair!

ANA MARIE: Her hair does compete with her attempts to be somewhat serious.

MEGAN: Although, thankfully, she has apparently given up the Palin-do today. Small favors.

ANA MARIE: Oh god, Mika is "driving the ship" Mon-Wed. I might have to convene some kind of A Very Special Crappy Hour.

MEGAN: Wait, so, Jane Krakowski is coming on next? Was that a pattern on the top of her shirt, or was that cut outs? Do I need to be on nip slip alert?

ANA MARIE: You, my dear, are ALWAYS on nip slip alert. And thank god someone is.

MEGAN: Okay, during the commercial, we have to discuss Obama tapping Janet Napolitano at DHS. Do we think they'll have to convene an exorcism to expel The Wraith in January?

ANA MARIE: It's a chance for Bobby Jindal to come onto the national stage with some pizazz!

MEGAN: That would be awesome, actually. But on Napolitano: kind of crazy that right now 2 of the 3 hard core security gigs will seemingly go to women.

ANA MARIE: What if they all start getting their periods at the same time!!??!?! NUCLEAR WAR!

MEGAN: Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran!

ANA MARIE: I think at this point we are contractually obligated to mention the CHENEY HAS BEEN INDICTED. Have you read about this? Has it been Drudged?

MEGAN: Yes, apparently, this headline-seeking prosecutor in Texas decided that holding stock in a company whose employees do bad things makes us all liable for the actions of said employees.

ANA MARIE: Here's the weird thing: "Cheney, Gonzales and the others will not be arrested, and do not need to appear in person at the arraignment, Presiding Judge Manuel Banales said."

MEGAN: Because the judge needs an arraignment to throw out the case?

ANA MARIE: I guess that's not actually weird but good, given that it sounds fucking insane. God that must be a fun jury.

MEGAN: Yeah, I mean, I wonder what they were smoking and whether it's only available in Texas.

ANA MARIE: I think the prosecutor is not JUST headline-seeking btw. There is deep crazy at work here:

After Guerra's office was raided as part of the investigation early last year, he camped outside the courthouse in a borrowed camper with a horse, three goats and a rooster. He threatened to dismiss hundreds of cases because he believed local law enforcement had aided the investigation against him.

But, hey, the netroots must be happy! Someone LISTENED!

MEGAN: Well, I believe that local law enforcement had aided the investigation against him, since that's the job of law enforcement. I'm just concerned about the 3 goats and a rooster.

ANA MARIE: The horse? That's fine. It is Texas.

MEGAN: Yeah, I'm not worried about the horse. But this guy sounds like a goat-sacrificer. Plus who has only a rooster?

ANA MARIE: Someone who is frightened of both alarm clocks and eggs.

MEGAN: But eggs are delicious! Wow, I'm getting the significant impression that I probably should have had more than a salad for dinner last night.

ANA MARIE: I should have had dinner! And lunch. And probably breakfast. Been trying to lose my "campaign fifteen" but sort of lazy about it — instead of eating smart, been not eating. Off topic: I LOVE Pat Buchanan on TV. He's always, like, PEERING at the camera. As if suspicious of the technology. Like he knows it wasn't MADE IN AMERICA.

MEGAN: Well, there's no rest for no wicked, and no breakfast for us until we finish this, but after that there will be bacon in my future, mostly because I only have one egg in the fridge. So, Penny Pritzker at Commerce? It's even wilder that of all the Cabinet slots that have leaked, you've got Clinton, Napolitano, Pritzker and Holder. Are the only grey-haired white guys going to actually be in the White House? No offense, Rahm.

ANA MARIE: Well, there's Valerie Jarrett. And Susan Rice will turn up somewhere, no? I would love it if Samantha "She's a monster" Power also showed up. But if they're serious about Clinton I'm guessing not.

MEGAN: Susan Rice appears to be on-track for a sub-cabinet slot. Jarrett's going to the White House. And Sam Powers is apparently still at Harvard, though I would have picked her for an undersecretary gig at State but you're right, if Clinton goes to State, she's not gonna.

ANA MARIE: MSNBC says Sebelius being vetted for Energy Secretary or Labor! CHICKS EVERYWHERE.

MEGAN: Kathleen, run from Labor! Labor's a dead-end gig!

ANA MARIE: Yeah, put Richardson in Energy.

MEGAN: And Chuck Todd is saying that there are few Hispanic names, but he apparently didn't read the WaPo story on HUD Secretaries in which Antonio Villaraigosa and Miami mayor Manuel Diaz came up.

ANA MARIE: Or, you know, Richardson for Interior, since apparently that is the Land of Grabbyhands.

MEGAN: That's how they determine contracts there sometimes! And Richardson at Interior would be interesting, since it has seemingly gone to Western types for quite a while.

ANA MARIE: This is the most interest anyone has shown in posts like HUD in a long time. It's just because they haven't gotten a puppy yet. Once the puppies come in, we'll be able to truly ignore the news.

MEGAN: Well, probably the only reason anyone's interested in HUD right now is that whole mortgage crisis thing, but my money's on Villaraigosa, Telemundo mistress be damned.

ANA MARIE: Oh, you and your logic and pragmatism.

MEGAN: Fine. Yes, I think once there are pictures of the girls romping on the lawn with the puppy, there will be no other news. The Washington Post will eliminate all other print coverage and just print pictures so there is an epidemic of hearts exploding from cuteness. And then we'll get another baby panda if the economy gets worse, just because.

ANA MARIE: Look, that's the only way newspapers can survive, right? The puppy equivalent of all those Memorial Obama Editions. And, fuck, if you give me another panda baby, you can have my house! I will just need an internet connection and the panda cam. And booze. And coffee. I should probably keep the house. In a just world I like to think we get panda babies and homes. Isn't that basically what Obama promised?

MEGAN: Well, and rainbows and unicorns, right? But baby pandas are cuter.

• Though Barack obama told Americans nothing about forthcoming nominations, that doesn't mean there's nothing to speculate about! John Kerry, Chris Dodd and Bill Richardson are lead speculative Secretary of State candidates, Robert Gates might stay at the Defense Department, Janet Napolitano could be headed to Justice and former eBay executive Steve Westly, the Governator or Kathleen Sebelius could end up at DOE. Discuss at your leisure — Obama certainly is. [CNN, Politico]
• The President-Elect has included sexual orientation and gender identity in his non-discrimination pledge on hiring, which is awesome. [ACLU]
• Harry Reid is a little pissed about Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman's Obama-bashing during his balls-out support of John McCain this election season — to say nothing of his current flirtation with Mitch McConnell and the GOP caucus. He is thinking of allowing the Democratic caucus to strip Lieberman of his committee chair, which Lieberman calls "unacceptable" and everyone else calls "no less than he deserves." [CNN, Huffington Post]
• Unlike the obstreperous Lieberman, Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd is stepping aside as chairman because he's confident of the new Democratic majority and, likely, because of his continuing ill health. Sadly, this means no more "barbaric" speeches. [The Hill, YouTube]

• In what may be the most disturbing charitable donation of all time, some of the clothing items the Palins need to return to the RNC include Todd's silk boxers. And you thought her plane left skid marks when it left Phoenix! [Washington Post]
• To counter that image, Sarah Palin's going to do an interview with Greta Van Susteren. Nope, don't think that image is getting out of my head regardless, sorry. [LA Times]
• Right-wing South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint is pissed that McConnell isn't going to expel Senate Ted "McBribe-y" Stevens from the Senate during the lame duck session. Yes, Virginia, some Republicans do have principles. [Politico]
• The best quote that ever has been said or ever will be said about Rahm Emanuel: "Emanuel, on the other hand, is a drama queen; seething, foaming Mamet production; a big mouth; and a calculating mensch who loves nothing more than to stoke the feed bag for press-corps noshers." Oh, this is going to be an epic White House. [Politico]
• Obama's aunt — who the right-wingers discovered far too late has overstayed her deportation order — has decided to fight in court for the right to remain in the U.S. She's not in great health, reportedly, which would seem like humanitarian grounds to let her stay but our immigration system isn't exactly known for being humanitarian in nature. [MSNBC]
• Neither are Americans, two of whom in New Jersey set a cross ablaze on the lawn of an Obama supporter. Racism: officially no longer confined to The South. Please make a note of it. [Editor & Publisher]
• In slightly better news, there is talk about automatically registering every eligible citizen to vote and expanding early voting so that this ACORN-caging-voter challenges nonsense can finally just end. God, how awesome would that be? [NY Times]

MEGAN: Hey, what's up? Is it weird that I'm not hungover but I feel enough out of it that I might as well be?

SPENCER: Can you believe that the District of Columbia revoked my driver's license just because I decided not to pay a ticket that I got in New Jersey a couple months ago?

MEGAN: Quite honestly, kind of. I know other people who have gotten their licenses revoked for that kind of thing. I always winced a little when you mentioned that, but everyone knows I'm a goodie two-shoes except when it comes to D.C. parking tickets. And then I'm a soulless, conscienceless scofflaw.

SPENCER: You, I know, have a system in place for [redacted] when you accumulate tickets. Ingenious

MEGAN: Shhhh. Anyway, so, doesn't it feel to you like this VP picking process has gone on forever? Like they're just playing chicken with one another?

SPENCER: According to Adam "Ad Nags" Nagourney, it all ends as early as tomorrow:

Mr. Obama had not notified his choice — or any of those not selected — of his decision as of late Monday, advisers said. Going into the final days, Mr. Obama was said to be focused mainly on three candidates: Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware.

I say no to Bayh, maybe to Biden, and yes to Kaine. Tell me what you think

MEGAN: Well, I'm on record as feeling like Bayh is just a Washington climber who never, ever wants to have to go back to Indiana, and I'm betting he ends up with a cabinet job, but then I saw this rumor that an Obama staffer said it was him to CNN plus screencap of the now-pulled story and I got a little worried. I have no idea why he'd pick Biden, honestly, I want to believe he's just a red herring. I couldn't believe Kaine would saddle the state with a Republican governor by leaving (who would then get to run for a term of his own, bypassing Virginia's term limit law), but then I remembered he's a politician.

SPENCER: I heard about that. If he picks Bayh, the left will go fucking firecrackers. My friend Max even set up a facebook group against Bayh, and these guys already feel seriously dissed by Obama after FISA.

MEGAN: I miss Sebelius speculation.

SPENCER: Let's talk Kaine in a second. Why would he pick Biden? Biden, writes Jon Cohn in TNR — an honest man at a dishonest magazine — has that foreign policy expertise and that pugilism:

If Biden is the choice, I think it would speak well of Obama's judgment. Biden has a deep and impressive resume: Not only is he the guy who orchestrated the defeat of Robert Bork back in the 1980s, but he can also claim among his legislative accomplishments the Violence Against Women's Act, which is no small feat. He's smart, articulate, and is a bona fide expert on foreign policy: In other words, he's certainly capable of assuming the presidency in an emergency, which is really the most important criteria of all.

Joe Biden also has a good critique of TNR, for that matter. Four years ago I went to interview him for a piece about Kerry's counterterrorism strategy for TNR and he was trying to figure out whether I wanted him to say that Kerry would take a more targeted, al-Qaeda-centric approach or would just kill all the Arabs "Your magazine," he said (this is from memory), "has to figure out whether it's liberal or neoconservative, already."

MEGAN: Ha, this douchebag and his syncophants (one of whom emailed me last night to castigate me, by the way) are suing to get the VAWA thrown out as unconstitutional. Also, I love that he said that to you.

SPENCER: Oh shit i have to read that post! PS, don't fucking Twitter while we're doing Crappy Hour. You forget I'm on your feed!

MEGAN: I was waiting for you to type! I don't dislike Joe Biden, I honestly could see him as Secretary of State, but I really don't think this election is going to be won on foreign policy issues with the economy in the crapper.

SPENCER: Biden: I like the pugilism a lot. Don't expect it to be won on foreign policy. Picking Biden would be to tamp down McCain's only (if you believe the polls) advantage, leaving him with nothing while Obama kicks his ass on the economy

MEGAN: And he's a great speaker. But Delaware? And your friend Jon's right about that bankruptcy bill, that was a huge giveaway to the credit card companies... and sponsored by Arlington Congressman/wife-beater Jim Moran. He'd like me to come to his women's issues forum with Donna Brazile. Maybe if I bring a small, African American child he can smack him for the crowd.

SPENCER: That's a dream, man! I'm really equivocal on Biden. He voted for the war, though he calls it a mistake. In reality, he didn't want to vote for the war, he was terrified of getting smeared as unpatriotic like he did after he voted against the first Gulf War and this was a year after 9/11.

MEGAN: I see your point, but I think Kaine's a trade-up. Plus, bonus Catholic points, since Obama isn't going to win a ton of evangelical votes.

SPENCER: Now: Tim Kaine. I know nothing about him and like him!

MEGAN: That's pretty much Tim Kaine's advantage right there.

SPENCER: He's white and dimply and Virginian and I guess kind of liberal and didn't vote for the Iraq war, so that works for me. You, my friend, are the Virginia resident among us, so make the case. How liberal is he?

MEGAN: The eyebrows are killer, though. With all the smack Sebelius took for her response to the State of the Union, I can't believe no one brought up his.

SPENCER: A bunch of activists on a listserv I'm on seem to think he's unacceptably less-than-deep-blue.

MEGAN: He's a serious Catholic, I'm guessing that freaks some liberals out. But he's a serious Catholic seriously personally opposed to capital punishment who nonetheless denies clemency requests to prove that the Pope ain't the boss of him, or something, so I don't love that about him. That part makes me miss Mario Cuomo.

SPENCER: How is he as a governor?

MEGAN: I mean, I think he's been a pretty decent politician, the legislature here is pretty right-wing and he's successfully pushed stuff through and kept crap from going through. He's been pretty good on transportation issues, which are huge up here in NoVa, but were he not on the short list, I would guess that he'd be remembered as a serviceable but not spectacular governor unless he does something crazy at the end of his term.

SPENCER: Yeah, northern VA is all wine-swilling assholes like you. Jesus CHRIST if I make my Windy deadline this morning it'll be a miracle...

MEGAN: Actually, if Obama takes Virginia and Colorado, he can lose Florida or Ohio. And, I'm sorry, McCain's best feint on getting a Virginian on the ticket was Eric Cantor, so...

SPENCER: HAHAHAHAHA if McCain has to get a Virginian it will speak desperation. Not like the bravery of choosing Joe Lieberman!

[McCain's] top contenders are said to include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Less traditional choices mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent.

MEGAN: I'm actually amazed that there's not a single Southerner on McCain's short list.

SPENCER: Joe, Joe, Joe! Make the GOP ticket the most jowly of all time! If McCain goes with Lieberman, I reverse my choice and hope Obama picks Biden, just because Biden will tear the living shit out of Lieberman in any debate.

MEGAN: Oh, fuck yeah, that would be popcorn and beer time watching that! At what point in the race do you think Lieberman would start undermining McCain the way he did Al Gore?

SPENCER: Not even SLIGHTLY and here's why. Lieberman is animated by the classic neoconservative grievance of rejection by his first love, the Democratic Party. Jacob Heilbrunn's book goes into this pathology in detail. And honestly, I have to admit I understand it, given my inability to let go of this whole TNR shit. That's why Lieberman has been such an eager attack dog for the right ever since he lost his primary in 2006 — he wants, and wants badly, to redress what the left did to him. He's not actually rightwing. He's anti-anti-left, and ferociously so.

MEGAN: Well, you know, if you want to be a hawk, don't expect a bunch of doves to come flocking to you.

SPENCER: He's obsessed with his own transcendent righteousness. Whatever, if Obama is going to tell me who the pick is by texting me, then McCain will announce his pick by telegraph-machine. A cavalcade of whimsy!