Fucking up the very first thing -- stimulus -- from the word "bipartisan" on ... well, nothing would surprise me any more.

I worried that Obama believed his own press. Every day, it looks more and more true.

The way things are going, I wouldn't be surprised to see Obama nominate Sam Brownback for HHS.

Somebody on Olbermann last night mentioned Bill Clinton.

I like the Bill Clinton suggestion a *whole lot* better than Romney or Gingrich.

So as long as we're gonna talk crazy talk, let's talk Clinton!

Insiders know the true momentum is behind Leo Spaceman, MD:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=59809579200

Progressive choices for HHS are being suggested. From the Nation John Nicols suggests congressional players:

Washington's Jim McDermott, a physician and a senior member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee; Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin, a popular member of the House with close ties to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and experience on the healthcare subcommittee of the Commerce Committee--who have long records of advocating on behalf of a single-payer system. Both McDermott and Baldwin are able political players, with smart, flexible approaches; they understand the value of incremental reform. But they also know that the ultimate goal should be a single-payer system, not a regulatory mess of government spending and corporate profiteering along the lines proposed in the mid-1990s by then-First Lady Hillary Clinton and supported at the time by Dean. (While the Clinton's were advancing their doomed plan, McDermott was the lead sponsor of a single-payer bill that attracted more support than did the White House scheme.).

PNHP is suggesting Dr. Marcia Angell: a senior lecturer in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. A graduate of Boston University School of Medicine, she trained in both internal medicine and anatomic pathology and is a board-certified pathologist. She joined the editorial staff of the New England Journal of Medicine in 1979, became Executive Director in 1988, and Editor-in-Chief in 1999. She stepped down from her position on June 20, 2000. Dr. Angell is the author of The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to do About It (Random House, 2004), as well as frequent articles in professional journals and the popular media on topics such as medical ethics, health policy, the nature of medical evidence, the interface of medicine and the law, and care at the end of life. She is author of the editorials "Patients' Rights Bills and Other Futile Gestures," (/NEJM/, June 1, 2000) and "How Much Will Health Care Reform Cost?" (/NEJM/, June 17, 1993) endorsing single-payer health reform. She also wrote the critically acclaimed book, Science on Trail: The Clash of Medical Evidence and the Law in the Breast Implant Case (W.W. Norton & Company, 1996). In 1997, Time magazine named Dr. Angell one of the 25 most influential Americans.

Villagers can't give up their Gooper BFF's, and keep pushing them forward for jobs long after they ought to have slunk out of town in shame.

I don't subscribe to Time or Newsweek, and we dropped our cable a while back. I imagine it's adding years to my life not being exposed to these idiots.

Thanks for your concern and suggestion, Karen. Now go boil your head.

Romney? Gingrich?

These crack heads are proof that the War Against Drugs has been a massive failure.

Mitt Romney sounds like a perfect appointee. He's probably the most able shape-shifter still active in American politics. Maybe he can shift himself into an effective Commerce Secretary.
He's already been just about everything else.

I worry that Obama is too determined to show he has no ties to anyone, to prove he can't be boxed in or figured out. And in this fervor to prove his (impossible, mythical) so called: 'independence from being too predictable', we all may pay a huge price.

It's good he's reaching out, very good. It's important to nurture relationships long neglected.
It's important to listen to the other side and humanize the process by so doing.

But I just hope he knows when to stop showing off
his 'nice guy' skills.

But then I worry a lot.

This fucking country is doomed. The Democrats are garbage and the Republicans and the media are toxic. Save your ass if you can.

These crack heads are proof that the War Against Drugs has been a massive failure.

LOL!! I hear the reanimated corpse of St Ronnie Raygun is throwing his hat into the ring.

As long as we are thinking outside the box, I suggest me. I need a job, having lost one of the two I have, my medical insurance premium just went up 22%, after a similier last year. I have loads of experience with Medicare and Medicaid, having spent days on hold helping a friend get a problem squared away.

Seriously, Howard Dean, M.D. is the man for the job.

The right-wing hack showed up before the bill was even signed. If I recall correctly, he tried to kill the funding with a line-item veto. Idiot Republicans think you can pay for stuff with free market fairy dust.

These names are not 'out of the box thinking'. They are out of your mind thinking.

The rethugs & their corporate echo chamber will only be satisfied when Obama accepts that the rethugs really won the last election & let them rule as they see fit!

WTF is going on that Romney and Gingrich are even mentioned for being allowed to continue consuming part of the air supply on this planet, let alone have a position in the Obama administration that is critical to health care reform.

Real health care reform means a single payer system. It is time for the U.S. to join the rest of the industrialized world & get a system that provides overall better health care for the entire population - at a lower cost per citizen than our current system.

Anyone who argues that the government should not decide what health care anyone receives - needs to explain to me why they think that would be not be better than letting health care decisions be based upon the profits of the health care industry!

The one & only 'obvious' choice is Howard Dean!!!

Hell, why not Sarah Palin.

The problem here is that the best progressives on this issue tend to favor single payer(as do many non-progressives in the business community). Obama's plan wasn't single payer, neither was Daschle's. That's the real problem.

I'd nominate Alan Alda. He's as good or better than Howard Dean, because he played a doctor and played a Senate majority leader, on top of which the senator was a Republican.

If Howard Dean figured out how to file tax returns correctly I'd say he deserves a nod.

Obama needs somehow to jujitsu "bipartisanship" until it's on his side. Right now, the Republicans own the term. After all, didn't they have a "bipartisan" vote in the House while the evil Democratic, excuse me, Democrat majority rammed a bad bill through.

Obama needs enemies. He did a good job picking a fight with Wall St. CEOs. Now he could start a fight in favor of bipartisan "up and down" votes. This is something out-of-work Obama volunteers could really get going on, explaining exactly what the hell filibusters and cloture rules mean. Most voters don't understand procedure, but they do understand getting jerked around by politicians. What could me more reasonable than passing bills with a majority of the votes?

The stimulus bill is only the first that the GOP will try to sink with its 41-member brigade, but individual Republican members will jump ship if they get enough heat from the states to vote to suspend cloture rules "of the duration of the fiscal emergency." After all, they can still cast a face-saving vote against whatever measures they don't like.

And it would allow the Nelsons and Landrieus, who have legitimate concerns about getting reelected, to vote against the majority once in a while.

Well, it's only a dream now. But Obama for president was once a dream as well. Screw 3/5th; what's wrong with 50% plus 1? (Don't tell anybody: it's Biden).

John Kitzhaber is the best name floated out there. If they want someone who can make the country sit up and take notice, why not Bill Gates?

Romney's "universal health care" is nothing but a huge giveaway to the insurance companies. All it accomplished was to make it ILLEGAL to refuse to pay exorbitant fees for shitty coverage. And yes, I'm from Massachusetts.

Newt Gingrich! Why not just say ****it entirely and nominate Michael Szymanczyk, CEO of tobacco giant Altria Group?

Romney would be a terrible choice. Romney is still drinking the GOP's right wing, no surrender take no prisoners Kool Aid. He's still got presidential ambitions, remember. He remains far too much a partisan to buy into Obama's brand of bi-partisanship, which can only mean disaster down the road as he creates a scandal of one kind or another out of loyalty to the other side.

Maybe Obama is being told in private that his administration is too Left and he needs to tack Right. I don't believe that. He's already got some key center-Right people and he should seriously consider moving Left if he can find the qualified people.

Of course, Clinton or Dean wouldn't exactly be moving very far left.

[ The others talked about I don't know so well. ]

I say screw Rahm the Space Knight, give Dean the nod.

Also: The Massachusetts plan of forcing everyone to buy insurance isn't that great. It is fine for Mitt to say that there is 99% coverage, but paying out of pocket for a plan with huge deductibles that doesn't cover anything doesn't really serve an individual's health needs. It is basically just a huge sop to statewide insurers - similar to 401Ks and the stock market, or trying to privatize social security. It just makes sure that every citizen is paying into the system, but the supposed returns of lower premiums are illusory because once they have the money, the insurers don't give an inch.

Single payer is the way to go. Obama should nominate someone that will make that happen.

PS Mahnkenstein is correct in the comment above.

Davis X. Machina wrote: "I'd nominate Alan Alda. He's as good or better than Howard Dean, because he played a doctor and played a Senate majority leader, on top of which the senator was a Republican."

If we can nominate fictional TV doctors then I nominate Gregory House, MD. He has the right attitude.

Dr. Cuddy: "How do you keep the courage of your convictions when everyone around you is telling you that you're wrong?"

Dr. House: "Well, it helps to know that they're all idiots."

If we can go beyond $25M, or guarantee at least 2 years, we might be able to get Manny Ramirez.

Or if you want someone who knows more about the pharmaceutical business, Barry Bonds is available.

Either one would be better than Mittens or Gingrich.

But Obama is probably looking for someone to beef up his White House basketball team, in which case Stephon Marbury might be a better fit.

The problem here is that the best progressives on this issue tend to favor single payer(as do many non-progressives in the business community). Obama's plan wasn't single payer, neither was Daschle's. That's the real problem.

Go talk to anybody who runs a business in MA. The Universal Healthcare that Mitt passed in MA was a disaster.

All of my libertarian friends in MA have become huge fans of single payer after that fiasco.

Why NOT Joe Wurzelbacher?

Romney's whole corporate career consisted of buying up struggling companies and firing people. Considering Obama's track record on appointees so far, I'm surprised he didn't consider him for Commerce Secretary.

Right state...wrong gov....Deval Patrick is ready for Washington

Mein Gott, K-Lo and baby Hughey must have sported simultaneous woodies reading this idea. (I apologize for the image, but points must be made!)

Mittens, of course, would be all over it, loving the spotlight as he does, and would say nothing but nice things about the O-ministration, right until the day he left. He'd then immediately disavow anything and everything about them, just as he did with Mass on the campaign trail (Can you believe I led those commies as governor? Gorsh!)

It would be a ruinous, ruinous appointment, and the above-recommended head boiling is highly in order.

Who next, Kang or Kodos?

WASHINGTON - Secretary of HHS Newt Gingrich today criticized inner-city residents who "still have not taken personal responsibility" for staying healthy.

Is it still the case that once you are elected and serve in either the Senate or Congress you get to keep the health insurance benefit for yourself and your family for life?

Dr. Steve B:

"PNHP is suggesting Dr. Marcia Angell: a senior lecturer in the Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. A graduate of Boston University School of Medicine, she trained in both internal medicine and anatomic pathology and is a board-certified pathologist. She joined the editorial staff of the New England Journal of Medicine in 1979, became Executive Director in 1988, and Editor-in-Chief in 1999. She stepped down from her position on June 20, 2000. Dr. Angell is the author of The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to do About It (Random House, 2004), as well as frequent articles in professional journals and the popular media on topics such as medical ethics, health policy, the nature of medical evidence, the interface of medicine and the law, and care at the end of life. She is author of the editorials "Patients' Rights Bills and Other Futile Gestures," (/NEJM/, June 1, 2000) and "How Much Will Health Care Reform Cost?" (/NEJM/, June 17, 1993) endorsing single-payer health reform. She also wrote the critically acclaimed book, Science on Trail: The Clash of Medical Evidence and the Law in the Breast Implant Case (W.W. Norton & Company, 1996). In 1997, Time magazine named Dr. Angell one of the 25 most influential Americans."

A very impressive resume. I must quibble, however, about her "stepping down" as Editor-in-Chief" of NEJM. She was essentially forced out.

Cast your minds back, folks. She allowed an article to be printed which caused extreme outrage and angst among the conservative cognoscenti, if the term can fairly be applied to them. The article had been scheduled to be published for months and wasn't truly an attempt to get into the face of the cons, but it was coincidentally published at a very sensitive time.

The authors of the article surveyed college students about how they defined sex. A sizeable percentage said that oral sex wasn't SEX per se.

The article was published when Clinton was testifying before the grand jury, when he famously said, "I did not have sex with that woman". It offered a possible out for him, in that he could claim that he agreed with these college students that oral sex wasn't SEX. I remember the hoorah at the time. All the conservatives baying for Clinton's blood were furious. AMA decided to force Angell out.

Of course, IMHO, this makes her even more qualified as a possible HHS Secretary, on one hand, as someone courageous and principled and willing to risk controversy. But on the other hand, maybe she doesn't play politics quite well enough or she would have survived the hoorah and remained Editor-in-Chief?

I'm with all of you: God (or power of your choice) forbid that the Newtster or Mittens or another similar Republican be picked. But unlike some of you, I don't believe that Obama is THAT much into "bipartisanship".

This does set up an interesting experiment. Now that someone-- doesn't matter who just someone-- threw Mitt's and Newt's (how lucky to have two colorful names), hats into the ring, let's see what they say next. My prediction is Newt will speak buzzword gibberish like he always does and Mitt will bark approvingly of the Obama administration.

Nice sideshow.

Dr. Dean is the right choice.

if mittens romney gets HHS, i am moving to canada.

yes, i live in massachusetts, and lived here when that asswipe was governor.

If we are shooting ourselves in the foot, why not appoint Frist? After all, his majority ownership in HCA makes him an expert on what the insurance industry needs to quit extorting us...Bwahahahahaha!

WASHINGTON - Secretary of HHS Newt Gingrich today criticized inner-city residents who "still have not taken personal responsibility" for staying healthy. Posted by: Chris S. on February 4, 2009 at 3:46 PM

Nice one. May I?

WASHINGTON - Health & Human Services Secretary Newt Gingrich urged Congress to stop funding healthcare for women, arguing that when a woman gets sick she should be dumped and replaced with a younger, healthier model.

In considering nominees for the post of Secretary of Health and Human Services, I can understand and appreciate Gov. Howard Dean's limitations with regards to his rather pugnacious personality, and am fully cognizant of the fact that his relationship with current White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is considered prickly at best. As knowledgeable as Gov. Dean is on the issue of health care, it serves no useful purpose to the prospect of health vcare reform if he and Emanuel would find themselves at perpetual loggerheads.

In that regard, I would urge those persons who won't accept Gov. Dean to look to Jack Lewin, M.D., a physician who is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the American College of Cardiology in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Lewin served for 11 years as President and C.E.O. of the California Medical Asociation (1995-2006), and prior to that he was the Director of the Hawaii State Department of Health (1986-1994). He has been at the forefront of the health care reform movement for three-plus decades, and a deputy health director in Hawaii (1978-86) was instrumental in the state's adoption of universal health care coverage in the late '70s and early '80s, which has since served as the model for all other reform efforts undertaken by various states.

Additionally, Dr. Lewin was also the founder and first Director of the Navajo Nation Department of Health, serving the health care needs of America's largest Indian tribe, whose territory streches across eastern Arizona, western New Mexico and southern Utah.

I've known Dr. Lewin personally for many years. He's honest, forthright and most certainly knows his way around the political world at all levels of government, municipal, state and federal. He clearly has extensive and successful management experience in both the public and private sectors, and as someone who practiced medicine in economically challenged areas across the rural southwestern U.S. and Hawaii, he's firmly committed to effective reform of health care delivery in the United States, and knows what it will take to get the job done.

I really urge everyone to take a serious look at Jack Lewin, because if we are truly serious about health care reform, he could well be that proverbial meeting of the man and his moment on this particular issue. I believe that he'd be a great Secretary of Health and Human Services, if ever given the opportunity.

Aloha.

As a Mass. resident who specifically did not vote for Gov. Perfect Hair I only wish to add that Romney is so transparently phony he makes plastic look like fresh, organic produce.

YUCK!

If someone wants to reach for a conservative to fill at least the WH in-house health czar, why not Dr. C. Rocky White?

Dr. Rocky White, single-payer healthcare activist. He describes himself as a “rock-ribbed conservative evangelical Christian.� He has revised and updated Dr. Robert LeBow’s classic book advocating single-payer healthcare. It’s called Health Care Meltdown: Confronting the Myths and Fixing Our Failing System.

--Democracy Now!