Debt ceiling Monday

On Chris Matthews's show, just watched the House vote for the goddamned bill. Gabrielle Giffords was back to vote. She must be doing very well. But for the super-short haircut, she looks (and acts) perfectly normal, shmoozing and all.

Charlie Rangel said, "They mugged the president and let him keep his wedding ring."

Howard Fineman gives the President a "C -" for his performance throughout this ordeal. "Mitch McConnell essentially took him to the cleaner's."

Chris sums up (I paraphrase): Isn't there a better way to lead the country than to listen to the demands of the other side and try to meet them?

Now I'll watch Lawrence O'Donnell (and then Anthony Bourdain and Intervention). Let's see what he and his guests have to say.

"The most ill-conceived and unfair deficit-reduction package in history." "The stupidest deficit-reduction package in history."

Barney Frank says the Republican freshmen (1) are "ignorant" (as to the consequences of a default) and (2) "don't believe in government." (Two good reasons to vote them out next time and take back the House.)

Two prominent economists say things could get really bad by 2013. Sounds like a turd of a bill. Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver tweeted: "This deal is a sugar-coated satan sandwich. If you lift the bun, you will not like what you see."

The Senate votes tomorrow at noon.

*   *   *

In sum, see Nate Silver here and David Frum here. (Frum, if you didn't know, is a Republican and was a special assistant to President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2002.) And Paul Krugman is really over it here ("The President Surrenders").

Frum:

The place to cut is health care, not assistance to the unemployed and poor.

The United States provides less assistance to the unemployed and the poor than almost any other democracy. It spends 60% more per person on health care than almost any other democracy -- and gets worse results. The problem is not that Americans use too much medicine. People in other countries use more. The problem is that Americans pay too much for the medicine they use. Go where the money is, cut where the waste is grossest.