This is why I watch C-SPAN

This exchange just occurred between David Obey and John Culberson over the emergency supplemental to the Iraq spending bill on the House floor:

John Culberson (R-TX): …it contains provisions that have nothing to do with our troop’s survival and safety in the field. To burden our troops with pork, with tax increases, with special provisions that have nothing to do with the war, adds to, I think, the obvious misuse of the process and I urge members to vote against the pork and support our troops.

Obey: I yield myself 30 seconds…I’d like the gentleman from Texas to point out a single piece of member pork in this bill.

Culberson: Does the gentleman yield?

Obey: Yes.

Culberson: Mr., Mr. Chairman, there’s a number of un-un-unnecessary provisions in this…

Obey: Name one.

Culberson: Well, why are we separating out, sir, why aren’t we just passing…

Obey: (nearly yelling) Name one.

Culberson: Why are we…

Obey: (yelling, finger pointing) Can you name one or can’t you? The fact is there is not a single piece of member pork in this bill. You ought to…

(pounding gavel, “time expired”)

Culberson: (inaudible)…why are we passing provisions in this bill with tax increases?

(pounding gavel)

“The gentlemen will cease their conversation. The time of 30 seconds has expired. All members are asked to address their remarks through the chair.”

Obey: I yield myself one additional minute….and through the chair, I would invite the member to name a specific piece of congressional pork in this bill. He cannot because there is none. He’s at least had enough time to read the bill to know that.

EDIT: Now with video goodness!

Wherein Joe Biden Loses His Mind

Sen. Joe Biden, piling on to Democratic complaints about President Bush’s speech in Israel today:

“This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset … and make this kind of ridiculous statement.”

Obama as Manchurian Candidate? Not so fast.

Last Friday, Ann Coulter posed the timeless question:

“Is Obama a Manchurian candidate to normal Americans who love their country? … Or is he being the Manchurian candidate to the traitor wing of the Democratic Party?”

Indeed. I have a question for Coulter: has she seen or read The Manchurian Candidate? The book and movie about a presidential candidate, wartime hero, and POW who was tortured and brainwashed in Southeast Asia? Is this really a place she wants to go?

Bitter never tasted so good!

See this Zogby poll, where Hillary has now fallen into a statistical tie with Obama. In addition, this jewel of a statistic:

By a margin of 31 points (60 percent to 29 percent), voters were more likely to agree with Obama’s suggestion that economic troubles have led to bitterness than with Clinton’s suggestion that he is out of touch.

Drop Out, Already

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Senator Clinton, when Bill Richardson called you to say he was endorsing Barack Obama, you told him that Senator Obama can’t win. I’m not going to ask you about that conversation. I know you don’t want to talk about it. But a simple yes-or-no question: Do you think Senator Obama can beat John McCain or not?

SENATOR CLINTON: Well, I think we have to beat John McCain, and I have every reason to believe we’re going to have a Democratic president and it’s going to be either Barack or me. And we’re going to make that happen.

And what is important is that we understand exactly the challenges facing us in order to defeat Senator McCain.

But I also know, having now gone through 16 years of being on the receiving end of what the Republican Party dishes out, how important it is that we try to go after every single vote everywhere we possibly can to get to those electoral votes that we’re going to need to have the next president elected.

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: But the question is, do you think Senator Obama can do that? Can he win?

SENATOR CLINTON: Yes. Yes. Yes.

Hillary Clinton, Grifter

Of the outstanding debts owed by Clinton’s campaign to bill collectors, one glorious gem stands out:

Aetna Healthcare: 228,841.30

That’s right. Mrs. Clinton owes Aetna a quarter of a million dollars in HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS FOR HER STAFFERS.