Biden Defines Depression, Stewart on the New ‘Gate,’ and More

Landmark Health Care Ruling Expected Thursday:

We’re less than 24 hours away from the Supreme Court’s eagerly anticipated ruling on “Obamacare.” With the decision so close, the blogosphere is all abuzz with information and opinion on whether the Supreme Court will uphold President Obama’s health care reform law or strike it down. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama have previewed their own reactions to the ruling. (Read more)

Biden’s Measurement of Hard Times: Even with the health care decision looming, the Obama campaign knows the general election will most likely boil down to one thing: the economy (as James Carville famously said, it’s the economy, stupid). Vice President Joe Biden, in keeping with that theme, addressed the bad economy and high unemployment during a campaign stop in Iowa. “The unemployed are really in trouble,” Biden said, acknowledging how bad the situation is for millions of Americans. “My grandpop used to say—from Scranton [Pa.]—he said, Joey, the guy in Dunmore, the next town over, when the guy in Dunmore is out of work it’s an economic slowdown. When your brother-in-law is out of work it’s a recession. When you’re out of work it’s a depression. It’s a depression for millions and millions of Americans.” (Read more)

Rand Paul Demands Senate Vote to Define When Life Begins: What do flood insurance and personhood have to do with one another? Nothing, except in the United States Senate, where such questions do not matter. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has intertwined the two by demanding a vote on legislation that would define life as beginning at conception, and threatening to block a measure extending FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program if the Senate does not take up the proposed fetal personhood law. Partisan politics at its very best. (Read more)

Romney Sought Washington Post Retraction: The Washington Post refused to retract an article on Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital record that led to the Obama campaign labeling the presumed Republican presidential nominee as the “outsourcer-in-chief.” The WaPo report detailed how the venture capital firm, under Romney’s leadership, sent jobs abroad. The outsourcer-in-chief’s Mitt Romney’s campaign staff met with editors at the paper to discuss the matter Wednesday. (Read more)

A “Little Gray Men” Strategy for the Dems?: If aliens from outer space attack the U.S., a majority of Americans—nearly 65 percent—believe President Obama would do a better job of handling the situation than Mitt Romney, according to a National Geographic Channel survey. So if America is invaded by extraterrestrials before the November election, bet on Obama. (Read more)

Video of the Day: “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart attempts to make sense of the media’s coverage of the Fast and Furious scandal as only he can—by criticizing Fox News’ hyped-up, over-the-top outrage about the botched operation. “They throw around the term ‘Watergate’ so much at Fox, you’d think the guy running Fox had been a Nixon operative … oh my God!,” he joked. “It’s Watergate-gate-gate-gate-gate.” (Best part in the video is where Bob Schieffer asks Texas Gov. Rick Perry what he’s accusing the president of having done. Perry’s response is pure gold.)

— Posted by Tracy Bloom