The Hill editors are now dictating who can and can't be HHS under Obama.

[madfloridian]

I have never seen anything like it. I really never have. Here we have the Chief of Staff who was chosen because everyone says he is an a**hole and can get stuff done....and we have these editors of The Hill saying one person can't be HHS secretary because he would not make the Republicans happy. Yes, they actually say that.

So it's okay for Democrats to brag about how much the GOP fears Rahm Emanuel, yet is it not okay to even think about considering Howard Dean for HHS because he is too partisan.

This is from last week. Some of the media have decided Howard Dean is not yet dead enough so they want to make sure he is done when they poke the fork in.

Not Howard Dean

This was actually written by The Staff of The Hill. It is an editorial. Someone on the inside is sending out talking points to let the netroots/nutroots know that their candidate of choice is out of the running.

Dean clashed with then-Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) in 2006 over how to allocate DNC resources, as well as over the former Vermont governor’s “50-state strategy.”

Dean’s record as DNC chairman is impressive. Some may note that he was helped by the immensely popular Barack Obama and the GOP’s implosion, but in politics, it comes down to wins and losses. Dean won, and won big. That does not mean, however, he should be rewarded with the job of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary.

A Dean appointment is not likely. Based on their history of working against one another, Emanuel, now White House chief of staff, must be recommending other candidates to President Obama. Moreover, Dean does not have a lot of close friends among Democratic leaders in Congress. But some on Capitol Hill, including Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), are publicly calling on Obama to tap Dean. Stranger things have happened in politics, and it appears Dean, a physician, would take the job if it were offered.

..."The HHS job requires working with both political parties, especially with healthcare reform expected to move in the 111th Congress. Dean has been firing salvos at the GOP for the last six years. Because of that, very few Republicans in Congress would want him at the negotiating table on a massive revamping of the healthcare system. The stimulus package shows that despite Obama’s commitment to bipartisanship, GOP votes are tough to come by in the Senate. Healthcare reform will be no exception.

Where have I heard that tone of being conciliatory to the Republicans in the past? Hmmm..mmm.

Then they state that Sebellius, Bredesen, and DeLauro are the ones being considered. That would be Rosa DeLauro, the close friend and wife of Stan Greenberg who provided living quarters for Rahm. That would this Phil Bredesen.

This is reminiscent of the anonymous hit pieces that started right after Dean stepped down as chairman. The media was used by anonymous cowards to damage the man who was instrumental in amazing wins in two cycles.

I guess I just find that amazing. That the media is so used for insiders to speak. I have said that I never thought Dean would be considered for the administration....I just never thought I would see 3 anonymous hit pieces in major media the day after he stepped down as chair. I never thought a major newspaper in DC would actually write an editorial lecturing that he not be picked.

It is totally amazing..