Even NIXON Wanted Health Care Reform

Forty years ago, RICHARD NIXON thought it important to reform our health care system, and parts of it look a helluva lot like what the Democrats are proposing now. Nixon is now too liberal for the Republican Party?

As many people have pointed out, Nixon’s proposal for health care reform looks a lot like Democratic proposals today. In fact, in some ways it was stronger. Right now, Republicans are balking at the idea of requiring that large employers offer health insurance to their workers; Nixon proposed requiring that all employers, not just large companies, offer insurance.

Nixon also embraced tighter regulation of insurers, calling on states to “approve specific plans, oversee rates, ensure adequate disclosure, require an annual audit and take other appropriate measures.” No illusions there about how the magic of the marketplace solves all problems.

Obama Beats Up a Fetus and an Old Man AT THE SAME TIME!

Just came across this little protest from some anti-health care reform individuals. No freaking clue what it means, though.

Am I supposed to feel pity for the unfit mother dragging a baby on the ground ten feet behind her? Perhaps Obama is just trying to get her attention. He's just like "Excuse me, ma'am. You got something stuck on your shoe."

I don't see any reason for Obama to be whipping old men in walkers. Last I heard, the "deathers" thought Obama wants to euthanize them, not go Indiana Jones on their asses.

Barack Obama Eulogizes Teddy

President Barack Obama spoke this morning at Ted Kennedy's funeral mass, and paid tribute to the Lion of the Senate.

Joe Biden at Ted Kennedy's Memorial

I know there are a lot of folks out there who really dislike Vice President Joe Biden for some reason, but I really like the guy, and I think he seems to me to be a man of integrity. The "rambling" that the Republicans seem to get so irritated with is generally heartfelt and honest. His remembrance of his friend Senator Edward Kennedy at the memorial yesterday evening is no exception.

The morning following Ted Kennedy's death, Biden held a press conference that really demonstrated how big of a loss that Biden is suffering through with the loss of his friend. "I don't think we shall ever see his like again."

Republicans Start Whitewashing Kennedy's Record

Before Ted Kennedy was even in the ground, the Republicans started whitewashing his record. Most ridiculous is there sadness that he died without being able to work on a health care bill. If Teddy was around, then all of this would be okay! It would have bipartisan support! Only Teddy could get us through this!

But he did offer a bill. And McCain, Gregg, and Hatch all voted no on it. Earlier this week, Rachel Maddow blasts all three of them for their phoniness:

In other words: "If only Ted Kennedy were still here." If only he had a health care bill those Republicans say they would have voted for that. You know, uh, Ted Kennedy DID have a health care bill. Senator Kennedy was chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which approved a health care reform package in July. It's called the Kennedy Bill. And Senator Kennedy helped write that bill. Senators Hatch, and McCain and Gregg all voted against it. But the revisionist history goes even deeper. They aren't just saying they would have voted for a Kennedy health care bill, even though they had the chance and they didn't.

They're saying they would have voted for a Kennedy health care bill because Ted Kennedy would have compromised with them, because Ted Kennedy was all about making concessions to Republicans.

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And Republicans are getting all up in arms over the politicization of his death, and they are warning Democrats not to make this another Paul Wellstone.

That's why conservatives are fools.

Remember back when Reagan died? The Bush campaign set up a page on their website dedicated to the greatness that was Ronald Reagan, complete with the little "Donate Here" button to help get Bush elected. Limbaugh, Kristol, and his ilk were encouraging Republicans to politicize his death and use it draw support for everything from the Iraq War to additional tax cuts.

They had no problems emphasizing how liberals hated many of Reagan's policies. But with Ted Kennedy? The man they used to personify and vilify the Democratic Party, they act like it was all hugs and kisses.

Kennedy was a proud liberal, and the Republicans hated him for it.

Glenn Beck is a Political Genius!

Beck, after having some troubles with advertisers the last few weeks for his assertion that Obama hates white folks, has continued his unfortunate journey off the rails.

This example from last night is particularly hilarious, and has Beck writing a bunch of words, seemingly at random, on a chalkboard: Obama, Left-Internationalist, Graft, ACORN Style Organizations, Revolutionaries, and Hidden Agendas. Take those bolded letters, and BAM! Beck is just ONE letter short of spelling oligarchy!! That's terrifying and stuff.

Except he's not. All he was able to spell was OLIGARH. You add a Y, and you don't have an oligarchy. Just another random collection of letters.

Way to think this through, Beck

Amazing Story of Ted Kennedy at Yitzhak Rabin's Funeral

Professor Leonard Fein offers this great story about Ted Kennedy:

"On the morning of the day before the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin, Senator Ted Kennedy called the White House to inquire if it was appropriate to bring to the burial some earth from Arlington National Cemetery. The answer was essentially a shrug: Who knows? Unadvised, the senator carried a shopping bag onto the plane, filled with earth he had himself dug the afternoon before from the graves of his two murdered brothers. And at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, after waiting for the crowd and the cameras to disperse, he dropped to his hands and knees, and gently placed that earth on the grave of the murdered prime minister.

No spin, no photo op; a man unreasonably familiar with bidding farewell to slain heroes, a man in mourning, quietly making tangible a miserable connection."

So Long, Teddy

CNN just announced the death of Ted Kennedy.

After recently awarding Senator Edward Kennedy the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the White House released this statement about the Senator:

"Senator Kennedy has dedicated his career to fighting for equal opportunity, fairness and justice for all Americans. He has worked tirelessly to ensure that every American has access to quality and affordable health care, and has succeeded in doing so for countless children, seniors, and Americans with disabilities. He has called health care reform the "cause of his life."

What more fitting tribute to Senator Edward Kennedy than the one given to him at the 2008 Democratic National Convention (Courtesy CSPAN):

And of course, announcing his most recent pick for President of the United States, Barack Obama:



And delivering the eulogy of his brother Bobby Kennedy:

I Agree With Dick Cheney.

Dick Cheney started busting out some hilarious obfuscation today, much the same type that Republicans claimed that they hated President Bill Clinton for doing. It apparently worked, as CNN proudly displays a headline on their site proclaiming that "Cheney says documents show interrogations prevented attacks."

Unfortunately, that's not what Dick Cheney said. It's just what he wanted to suggest. The quote from CNN:

The documents released Monday clearly demonstrated that the individuals subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques provided the bulk of intelligence we gained about al Qaeda," Cheney said in a written statement. "This intelligence saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks."

I wholeheartedly agree with him.

The clever guy didn't say that the documents demonstrated that it was the enhanced interrogations that provided the intelligence, only that the folks that interrogation techniques were used on provided the bulk of the intelligence.

The documents released don't say that torture was effective like Cheney had previously claimed a few months ago when you couldn't turn on a cable news network without hearing him or his daughter defending torture, but the media doesn't seem to be nearly as excited about him being wrong as they were about his initial bold claims. It's not until the THIRTEENTH paragraph of this New York Times article that Cheney's assertion is even mentioned.

It's that liberal media acting up again.

*UPDATE* According to a segment I just saw on CNN, Cheney's aides are unwilling to clarify the former Vice President's statements.

** Later Update ** Looks like good old Ben Smith over at The Politico fell for the same word-smithery that CNN did:

Reaganism is the Zombie Doctrine

Paul Krugman over at the New York Times today is trying to figure out just why it is that Ronald Reagan is somehow dominating the conversation going on Washington over the public option:

Call me naïve, but I actually hoped that the failure of Reaganism in practice would kill it. It turns out, however, to be a zombie doctrine: even though it should be dead, it keeps on coming.

Let’s talk for a moment about why the age of Reagan should be over.

First of all, even before the current crisis Reaganomics had failed to deliver what it promised. Remember how lower taxes on high incomes and deregulation that unleashed the “magic of the marketplace” were supposed to lead to dramatically better outcomes for everyone? Well, it didn’t happen.

To be sure, the wealthy benefited enormously: the real incomes of the top .01 percent of Americans rose sevenfold between 1980 and 2007. But the real income of the median family rose only 22 percent, less than a third its growth over the previous 27 years.

Moreover, most of whatever gains ordinary Americans achieved came during the Clinton years. President George W. Bush, who had the distinction of being the first Reaganite president to also have a fully Republican Congress, also had the distinction of presiding over the first administration since Herbert Hoover in which the typical family failed to see any significant income gains.

And then there’s the small matter of the worst recession since the 1930s.

Krugman then goes on to describe that "politicians in the thrall of Reaganite ideology dismantled the New Deal regulations that had prevented banking crises for half a century, believing that financial markets could take care of themselves."

“We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals,” said Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1937. “We know now that it is bad economics.” And last year we learned that lesson all over again.

Or did we? The astonishing thing about the current political scene is the extent to which nothing has changed.

Baracky II!

Darcy Burner at Netroots Nation

I'm a sucker for Darcy Burner, and I was quite pleased when I saw that she was delivering the keynote at Netroots Nation last weekend in Pennsylvania! She ran for the House of Representatives in the 8th Congressional District of Washington State (Which has never elected a Democrat) in both 2006 and 2008, but narrowly lost both times to Dave "Remember the Green River Killer" Reichert.

Hopefully Darcy, who has recently been working with the Progressive Democratic Caucus, will find herself a prominent role in the Democratic Party!

Part 1:



Part 2:

You're Cool With Abu Ghraib, But Not Affordable Health Care?

I came across this post over at the Democratic Underground, and it's beautiful simplicity made me smile:

You didn't get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.

You didn't get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.

You didn't get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.

You didn't get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.

You didn't get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.

You didn't get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war.

You didn't get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.

You didn't get mad when you saw the Abu Grahib photos.

You didn't get mad when you found out we were torturing people.

You didn't get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.

You didn't get mad when we didn't catch Bin Laden.

You didn't get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.

You didn't get mad when we let a major US city drown.

You didn't get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.

You finally got mad when.. when... wait for it... when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all ok with you but helping other Americans... well fuck that. That about right? You know it is.

You people have all lost your fucking minds. You are selfish, greedy, obnoxious, narcissistic, and frankly... stupid. Your pathetic little misspelled protest signs are embarrassing. Maybe you ought to find the smart person in your midst and let them make up all the signs, cause man, you look like a bunch of idiots. Also you're ugly and your mother dresses you funny.

Exercising Your 2nd Amendment Rights

Jon Stewart points out the hilariousness of folks getting arrested for wearing Anti-Bush T-Shirts going to jail, and the folks showing up at the rallies with assault rifles being a-ok. God bless Republican logic.

The Daily Show's Wyatt Cenac decides its a good idea to arbitrarily exercise his Fifteenth and Twenty-First Amendment Rights, too:

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Liberals Prefer a Glorious Defeat To An Incremental Victory

Paul Begala, second in my political heart to only Rachel Maddow, had an amazing piece in The Washington Post a week ago today that has the ability to provide some much needed historical perspective on the debate over health care reform in this country. Begala, who was a key advisor to President Bill Clinton the last time we tried to fix our health care system, has some first hand experience.

Progressive politics is, in my view, a movement, not a monument. We cannot achieve perfection in this life, and if that is our goal we will always be frustrated. The right has far more modest goals: At every turn, its members seek to advance their power and protect privilege. I've never seen the Republican right oppose a tax cut for the rich because it wasn't generous enough; I've never seen them oppose a set of loopholes for corporate lobbyists because one industry or another wasn't included. The left, on the other hand, too often prefers a glorious defeat to an incremental victory.

Our history teaches us otherwise. No self-respecting liberal today would support Franklin Roosevelt's original Social Security Act. It excluded agricultural workers -- a huge part of the economy in 1935, and one in which Latinos have traditionally worked. It excluded domestic workers, which included countless African Americans and immigrants. It did not cover the self-employed, or state and local government employees, or railroad employees, or federal employees or employees of nonprofits. It didn't even cover the clergy. FDR's Social Security Act did not have benefits for dependents or survivors. It did not have a cost-of-living increase. If you became disabled and couldn't work, you got nothing from Social Security.

If that version of Social Security were introduced today, progressives like me would call it cramped, parsimonious, mean-spirited and even racist. Perhaps it was all those things. But it was also a start. And for 74 years we have built on that start. We added more people to the winner's circle: farmworkers and domestic workers and government workers. We extended benefits to the children of working men and women who died. We granted benefits to the disabled. We mandated annual cost-of-living adjustments. And today Social Security is the bedrock of our progressive vision of the common good.

Republicans Want a Pizza...Just No Toppings

Rachel Maddow last night used an awkwardly performed skit as a metaphor to make a excellent point about the health care debate. This video is a must-see!

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Senator Chuck Grassley's comments about Obama pulling the plug on grandma have given him a lot of attention the last couple weeks! The lead Republican negotiator on health care in the Senate was involved in the Super Old Man Twitter War with Senator Arlen Specter, and has been hounded by the press for his comments about grandma.

But apparently, as a paragraph buried on the second page of a Washington Post article noted, Senator Grassley doesn't actually believe what he's been saying about the Obama plan:

Grassley drew strong rebukes from Democrats after he seemed to suggest at one
town hall that conservatives were justified in worrying that a provision in the
House version of the legislation that pays for end-of-life consultations would
lead to the federal government playing a role in deciding when to "pull the plug
on Grandma." Grassley says he opposes that counseling as written in the House
version of the bill, but a spokesman said the senator does not think the House
provision would in fact give the government such authority in deciding when and
how people die. The House bill allows patients to decide for themselves if they
would like such counseling.

This week also had Joe Scarborough, conservative talk host on MSNBC's Morning Joe, admitting that "the public option is not a government take over of health care." Now that the public option isn't actually looking like it's going to survive, some Republicans are trying to look reasonable on this issue, and hopefully we'll all just forget their silliness of that last few weeks.

Why Can't Obama Be More Like Bush?!

Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, in his "Heal or No Heal" segment is wishing that Obama could be a little bit more like George W. Bush...Particularly admirable? The way they always mentioned Saddam Hussein when they talked about al Qaeda.

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Rachel Maddow On the Death of the Public Option

"Why is the public option dying now? It's dying because of a lack of political ambition. The Democrats are too scared of their own shadow to use the majority the American people elected them to in November to actually pass something they said they favored."

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Really, Mr. President? No Public Option?

Even though our President was portrayed by Republicans as being an unhinged liberal who was going to destroy the fabric of our capitalist society, Barack Obama is nothing of the sort. Much like the equally much-maligned Bill Clinton, he's accused of being a crazy leftist, and yet most of his policies fit neatly into the center of the American political spectrum.

Now, coming up on eight months since his inauguration, the man who was elected in part because of his ability to work with both sides of the aisle is now doing so and shocking many progressives and not impressing any conservatives.

In the last couple days, the White House has apparently been signaling its apparent willingness to drop the public option out of any proposed health care reform bill.

No, thank you.

WITH the public option included in the package, this can barely be considered a reform bill. The public option is the only aspect of this bill that will have any potential positive impact on the millions of un- or under-insured Americans. Without it, the bill seems like little more than a bailout for insurance companies.

If Obama signs a bill that does not include a public option, he is going to be disappointing a vast majority of the people who actually voted him into office, and he will not be winning the support of any Republicans.

Listening to the GOP resulted in a watered-down and less effective stimulus package that none of them voted for, which the GOP then attacked for being less effective than the President said.

Why would listening to the Republicans now seem like a good idea? Giving them what they want will result in a less effective program, and none of them are going to vote for it anyway.

It's time to move on without the conservatives.

I urge you to contact President Obama and your representatives to tell them NOT to support ANY bill that does not have a public option. In spite of the Grand Old Obstructionists and their stubborn conservative pals, let's have some genuine reform here.

Rachel Maddow on "Take Two"

After her appearance on Meet the Press yesterday, she was asked to stick around for their Web Extra and discuss Obama's involvement in health care reform, and sharing a time slot with Sean Hannity. Lovely as ever!

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Majority of Republicans are "Birthers" AND "Deathers"

The Plum Line breaks down an interesting new poll today from Research 2000/Daily Kos about the "deather" movement that Sarah Palin drew so much attention to a couple weeks ago. The question asked by the survey:

Do you think the health care reform plan being considered by President Obama and Congress creates “death panels” which have the authority to subjectively determine whether or not a gravely ill or injured person should receive health care based on their “level of productivity in society”?

The question seemed custom-tailored to utilize the same language used by Sarah Palin earlier this month:

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care

The Republican results may look kind of familiar:

• 43% - No
• 26% - Yes
• 31% - Not Sure

The majority of Republicans believe that it's at the very least possible that Obama will be effectively euthanizing people. Compare those numbers to a survey conducted by the Research 2000 / Daily Kos at the end of July among self-identified Republicans:

Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States of America or not?

• 42% - Yes
• 28% - No
• 30% - Not Sure

So 58% of Republicans believe that Obama might be a Kenyan and is illegitimately serving as President of the United States.

A majority of modern-day Republicans believe these two things:

1. Obama might not be American.
2. Obama will decide if the plug is pulled on grandma.

This is not a legitimate opposition.

Guess Where White Southerners Get Their News?

Why, FOX News, of course! And all minorities seem to steer clear of the network at all costs, with just 5% of African-Americans seeing the network as reliable.

In Southern states, 46 percent of viewers say that Fox News is “extremely reliable” or “reliable.” Only 6 percent of them say that of MSNBC, compared to 26 percent who say it of CNN, a huge shift from the days when CNN was derided as the “Communist/Clinton News Network.” And non-white viewers really don’t like Fox. Only 5 percent of African-Americans, 11 percent of Hispanics, and 8 percent of other minorities consider the network reliable, while a majority of every one of those groups trusts CNN and sizable pluralities trust MSNBC.

Does the Republican persecution complex not apply to minorities?

Medicare is Tyranny

While I didn't think that I could love Rachel Maddow anymore than I already do, catching the 1am rerun of 'Meet the Press' may have just made that happen.

She went head to head with Dick Armey, former House Majority Leader, and the fireworks started right off the bat. Armey, who resigned this week from DLA Piper because of the controversy surrounding his "grassroots organization," disavowed any responsibility for the lack of civility at the town hall meetings that are being held across the country and compared it to MoveOn.org running an ad comparing Bush and Hitler. (Which is not true, by the way. The ads in question were submitted to MoveOn in a create-your-own ad contest they held, and were quickly pulled and never used or promoted by the organization.)

Maddow then points out that some of the organizations (like Americans for Prosperity) involved in promoting these protests are going around the country "not only comparing health care reform to Hitler, but comparing it to Pol Pot and Stalin, saying 'put the fear of God in your members of Congress.'"

The good stuff starts about 5 minutes and 50 seconds in:

After Dick Armey says that he accepts no responsibility for the lack of civility, Maddow then directs him to the Tea Party Patriots website where it seems to be featuring the outbursts on its front page as if celebrating them as the goal of this organizing. Dick don't like facts.

Then things start to get really fun with this little exchange:

Maddow: Do you really think that there’s a major uprising of seniors wanting to get out of Medicare? I know you’re suing the government for your right personally to get out of Medicare.

Armey: Right.

Maddow: But do you really think that’s the problem that Medicare? That seniors hate Medicare and they want out?

Armey: No, I didn’t say that. Most seniors...I was talking to my minister the other day. My minister says, “Dick, I’m so fortunate I’m in Medicare.” I said, “Bless you, my friend that you get to be in it if you choose to be so.” But if you give a government program and you let me choose to be in or choose to be out, that’s generosity. If you force me in, irrespective of my desires, that’s tyranny. Now, if Medicare’s $46 trillion in the red, with no idea how we’re going to pay for it, why do they not let people who don’t want to be in out?

Maddow: This is a really important point. The anti-healthcare reform lobby thinks that Medicare is tyranny, OK? This is an—I mean, you said in 1995 that “Medicare is a program I would have no part of in a free world.”

Armey: Right. Absolutely right.

Maddow: You said in 2002, “We’re going to have to bite the bullet on Social Security and phase it out over a period of time.”

Armey: And I’m going to enumerate exactly what I’m talking about. Medicare...

Maddow: Americans need to know this is your position and this is the position of the anti-healthcare reform lobby.

One of the leading voices and primary organizer of the opposition to health care reform believes that Medicare and social security shouldn't exist.

The Persecution Complex of Conservatives

Rick Perlstein over at The Washington Post today has a fascinating look at the health care debate currently going on, and I strongly suggest anyone with a few moments read the article here. An excellent analysis of what he calls "the persecution complex of conservatives who can't stand losing an argument."

Perlstein gives a great history of the conservative movement and its hysterical opposition to things they don't like, including:

• In the early 1950s, Republicans referred to the presidencies of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman as "20 years of treason" and accused the men who led the fight against fascism of deliberately surrendering the free world to communism.
• Mainline Protestants published a new translation of the Bible in the 1950s that properly rendered the Greek as connoting a more ambiguous theological status for the Virgin Mary; right-wingers attributed that to, yes, the hand of Soviet agents.
• Vice President Richard Nixon claimed that the new Republicans arriving in the White House "found in the files a blueprint for socializing America."
• When John F. Kennedy entered the White House, his proposals to anchor America's nuclear defense in intercontinental ballistic missiles...were taken as evidence that the young president was secretly disarming the United States.
• Before the "black helicopters" of the 1990s, there were right-wingers claiming access to secret documents from the 1920s proving that the entire concept of a "civil rights movement" had been hatched in the Soviet Union; when the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act was introduced, one frequently read in the South that it would "enslave" whites.

Perlstein ends the article powerfully:

Good thing our leaders weren't so cowardly in 1964, or we would never have passed a civil rights bill -- because of complaints over the provisions in it that would enslave whites.

Obama as a Nazi

Interesting article over at ZombieTime about the comparisons of Obama to Hitler, and how the left seems to be freaking out over it. I touched on the subject a little bit the other day in the post, Only Democrats Would Compare Obama to a Nazi, but only as an aside. Just as I described the guy being accused of being "a Democratic Party plant," the folks with these signs are nutjobs.

I think it's inappropriate and offensive to compare anyone who hasn't killed, or attempted to kill, millions of people to Hitler. But alas, we live in America, and we every minor political disagreement becomes the end of America as we know it in somebody's eyes.

During Bush's 8 years, he did a lot of scummy things that I disagreed with. Preemptively launching an unprovoked invasion of Iraq resulted in the deaths of at least tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians was foolish and criminal, but that does not make him a genocidal maniac hellbent on world domination.

The folks on the fringe are often so certain of their righteousness that they are quick to bust out the Bush/Nazi/Obama comparisons, and they're usually rightfully discounted out of hand. They're a sideshow distracting from what the real debate is about.

It's not really the Nazi stuff that's bothering me about the health care debate in this country right now. I find the biggest and most offensive problem we have in this debate the folks shouting opposition down at town halls. I disliked it when Code Pink would do it at committee hearings in Washington, and I dislike it now.

I understand that people are passionate about this topic, but so many of those standing up and screaming at their representatives seem to fail to understand the basic facts of what is being debated. Being certain of one's opinion is not a license to prevent others from forming their own. For something as significant as health care reform, debate and discussion is essential to creating a successful program. Unfortunately, the opposition to reform has settled on screaming about Obama trying to pull the plug on grandma. This is not legitimate discussion, and any changes to our health care plan are going to suffer in quality as a result of the partisanship being displayed by Republicans.

Actively trying to stifle dissent is evidence that these people don't have confidence that the facts of the situation support their point of view. Dissent IS American. Throwing tantrums and screaming at people who disagree with you is decidedly not.

Republicans Were For Death Panels Before They Were Against Them

**UPDATE** Amy Sullivan of TIME Magazine points out that 204 Republican Representatives and 42 Senate Republicans voted for funding the same end of life issues and care that they are all up in arms about now, including Senator Grassley. Genuine concern? My ass.

Maddow had a great segment The Rachel Maddow Show tonight about the fake controversy over the end of life counseling that was in the bill, and how it's most vocal opponents have until very recently all been for this exact same thing.

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What really grinds my gears are the phony folks who claim they don't actually believe that the bill creates "death panels,' but they do fear it is one possible outcome of that language.

Clearly, people who say that are idiots.

It authorizes the government to pay for consultation! To pay. Not to require. The government has been suggesting these living wills for decades. The language in question was introduced by a Republican. Based on language from another bill introduced in 2007. By two different Republicans.

Once Obama comes into the picture, then it becomes a death panel?!

Appendectomies would also be covered by this legislation. Why aren't people freaking out that the government is trying to steal the appendices of Americans?! Because it's ridiculous and doesn't make any sense.

Just because something is covered does not make it a requirement. My insurance covers abortions, and yet I've not yet been forced to have one.

The folks who are feigning concern over this are being intellectually dishonest at best, and are complete morons at worst. If you want to attack this proposed legislation, there are plenty of opportunities. But please choose a problem that actually exists, and then maybe we can work together to resolve it.

Read. THEN attack. It's better for us all.

How a Town Hall SHOULD Go.

I love the concept of the town hall meeting, where folks can gather and ask questions of their congressional representative. But what's been going on recently has been absolutely ridiculous, and has been nothing more than theatrics.

People standing up and pointing to the Bible and screaming "This is the one true law," demanding to see birth certificates, and yelling over the congressman when he's trying to explain his actual position is not conducive to a debate.

Health care reform is a huge task, and it needs to be debated. The proposed plans are not perfect, and with discussion over legitimate complaints, it could be exponentially better for the welfare of the nation. Unfortunately, that's not at all what is happening across the country. Instead of legitimate points, everyone is screaming about imaginary death panels and euthanasia for America's disabled.

Jay Inslee's telephone town hall on August 5th, however, was excellent. There were no mobs shouting down dissent. Constituents were able to ask questions of the Congressman, and he was able to respond to their concerns. It was a discussion addressing valid concerns, and should serve as an example for how the discussion should be conducted.

Contrary to Reagan's claim, facts are not "silly things" and should be foremost in any discussion on health care, and not an irrational fear that the President Obama wants to kill your mom.

Only Democrats Would Compare Obama to a Nazi!

For some ungodly reason, this post from "The BlogProf" has been getting a lot of traction among Republicans...Even making it's way to the top of Boss Limbaugh's site. The post, like most other blogs from the GOP, relies entirely on a a fictional and unbelievably complicated conspiracy in order to blame the Democrats for the crazy folks at these town halls.

The whole point of his post is to somehow suggest that all the crazy folks at town halls are plants from Nancy Pelosi and are designed to make Republicans look like wackos. The evidence? This guy:

From The Blogprof's point of view, the Democratic Party is so well organized and so manipulative that they are willing and able to plant protesters across the nation comparing their party leader to Adolph Hitler all in an effort to make Republicans look stupid.

I have many problems with this assertion, but perhaps the most obvious one? If this is some organized campaign from the Democrats to make Republicans look bad, I believe that the Democrats would at least remove the advertisement for LaRouchePAC.com from the bottom of the poster. Not doing so makes the LaRouche folks look crazy (which they are), not the Republicans.

The simplest solution? This guy is a LaRouche fan, and he is a wacko. LaRouche hates Obama, and LaRouche hates government health care. Doesn't seem controversial that a LaRouche supporter would be there. Nor was he portrayed as a Republican in the media coverage, but only as a protester.

But blaming Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats gives Republicans the feeling that they are somehow exempt from this craziness. In order to do that, they need to ignore the fact that people cheered this guy's poster when he came into the town hall room. And just because THIS guy isn't a Republican, doesn't mean that Republicans wouldn't make any Nazi comparisons. In fact, Boss Limbaugh did just that on that same day. Is Rush in Pelosi's pocket, too?

By painting that Obama-as-Hitler poster guy as a plant from the Pelosi's office, it allows Republicans to not take this stuff seriously. You can witness the immediate effect on The Blogprof's page when he updates that same post with the news of this vandalism:

His response to the vandalism? "Hmm. Another plant? This kind of thing has happened before (noose, Columbia). I doubt very much it was a protester."

No matter what happens, it's all gonna come down to the Democrats and their plants.

Stop the Violence, or I'll Shoot You

This is the audio of a call made to the SEIU after they formally announced that they would begin attending town halls across the country. Boils down to "Knock it off, or you should be shot. Stop the violence."

Myths of Health Care Reform - Addressed by the AARP

The AARP came out with a friendly little video covering several of the myths that many Republicans are trying to pass off as fact...Before people freak out about any possible health care reform, I think it would be a good idea to at least have a cursory understanding of what's being proposed.

You can also look at their fact sheet here, which includes:

• Myth: Health care reform is socialized medicine.
• Myth: Health care reform means rationed care.
• Myth: Health care reform will hurt Medicare.
• Myth: Health care reform is too expensive - we can't afford it.
• Myth: Health care reform means the government can make life-and-death decisions for you.

Americans Are Stupid.

A while back, Bill Maher was giving an interview to Wolf Blitzer on The Situation Room, where he was asked about Sarah Palin's chances as a 2012 Republican presidential contender. He replied that he doesn't know about her chances as a candidate, but that he "would never put anything passed this stupid country."

Now his phrasing may be a bit inarticulate, but from the context it's clear that he's not talking about the Constitution, Bill of Rights, or any of the other documents this country was founded on. He was talking about the American voter.

Now Bill O'Reilly got wind of this comment and it cheesed him off so much that he busted out his "pinhead" insult. When Bill-O brings out the "pinhead," you know he's all business. Unfortunately, very little of that business was responding to what Bill Maher actually said. Much of the clip is him defending Sarah Palin's intelligence, and somehow equating that with the "fact" that everything hunky-dory in Alaska. Conversely, a so-called "smart-guy" is running Massachusetts, and that place is just hell. Therefore, intelligence sucks. Flawless argument!



To his credit, Bill-O actually did cite that more Americans graduated from high school than our counterparts in England and France. If you were to falsely assume that our schools are equivalent, perhaps that would me something.

On Friday, Bill Maher expertly responded to the controversy on his show Real Time:

Some highlights from the clip:

• It was amazing - in the minute or so between my calling America stupid and the end of the Cialis commercial, CNN was flooded with furious emails and the twits hit the fan. And you could tell that these people were really mad because they wrote entirely in CAPITAL LETTERS!!!
• And before I go about demonstrating how, sadly, easy it is to prove the dumbness dragging down our country, let me just say that ignorance has life and death consequences. On the eve of the Iraq War, 69% of Americans thought Saddam Hussein was personally involved in 9/11. Four years later, 34% still did. Or take the health care debate we're presently having: members of Congress have recessed now so they can go home and "listen to their constituents." An urge they should resist because their constituents don't know anything. At a recent town-hall meeting in South Carolina, a man stood up and told his Congressman to "keep your government hands off my Medicare," which is kind of like driving cross country to protest highways.
• I'm the bad guy for saying it's a stupid country, yet polls show that a majority of Americans cannot name a single branch of government, or explain what the Bill of Rights is. 24% could not name the country America fought in the Revolutionary War. More than two-thirds of Americans don't know what's in Roe v. Wade. Two-thirds don't know what the Food and Drug Administration does. Some of this stuff you should be able to pick up simply by being alive. You know, like the way the Slumdog kid knew about cricket.
• Sarah Palin says she would never apologize for America. Even though a Gallup poll says 18% of Americans think the sun revolves around the earth. No, they're not stupid. They're interplanetary mavericks. A third of Republicans believe Obama is not a citizen, and a third of Democrats believe that George Bush had prior knowledge of the 9/11 attacks, which is an absurd sentence because it contains the words "Bush" and "knowledge."
• And these are the idiots we want to weigh in on the minutia of health care policy? Please, this country is like a college chick after two Long Island Iced Teas: we can be talked into anything, like wars, and we can be talked out of anything, like health care. We should forget town halls, and replace them with study halls. There's a lot of populist anger directed towards Washington, but you know who concerned citizens should be most angry at? Their fellow citizens. "Inside the beltway" thinking may be wrong, but at least it's thinking, which is more than you can say for what's going on outside the beltway.

How Can You Talk About Health Care When There's a Black Guy in Office?!

Remember when Republicans would get all up in arms when people would disagree with President Bush? When they would get all pissy when folks didn't think invading Iraq was a good idea, or that torture is illegal, and that civil liberties actually have value?

These same folks go to Town Halls and erupt in jeers when a sitting United States Senator has the audacity to claim that the President of the United States is American.

The mainstream of the Republican Party now seems to be as nuts as their fringe.

One side of the health care debate in this country is trying to talk about the need to make sure all citizens have access to affordable medical care, while the other side is arguing manufactured "death panels" and yelling that the black guy's presidency is illegitimate.

Why Conservatives Are Scumbags

This clever e-mail seems to have been making the rounds, so I figured I ought to share it, as well.

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

I then took a shower in the clean water provided by a municipal water utility.

After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I get into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal Departments of Transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank.

On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and Fire Marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.

And then I log on to the internet -- which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration -- and post on Freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.

Pelosi Sends Her Goons to Silence Dissent!

More naughty behavior from Democratic "thugs," apparently...This time, the thugs came straight from Democratic leadership itself! Super Commie/Nazi/Anarchist Nancy Pelosi was so infuriated with this "concerned dad" rant at a town hall, that she immediately dispatched her goons to this gentleman's house in the middle of the night to threaten his family. Pelosi is so frightened that this guy is going to bring down her empire that she couldn't do anything other than try to intimidate him into silence.

The only network unafraid of being beaten down by Pelosi and her miscreants? FOX News, of course. They're the only network with the courage to challenge these tyrannical Dems!

Or maybe the guy is just a paranoid freak. And perhaps other networks wouldn't give air time to a guy who is convinced that Obama is trying to "sentence our families to death."

Union Thugs Beat Up Innocent Tea Bagger

Michelle Malkin and her ilk are just disgusted, disgusted I tell you, about an incident that occurred at one of the town halls last week. An African-American gentleman was reportedly shoved to the ground by union "thugs" while he was minding his own business outside of a town hall selling buttons. After he was forced to the ground, he was apparently badly beaten and required hospitalization. Numerous right wing wacko sites are just sick to their stomach over this, and cannot believe that this is what America has come to.

They are apparently so convinced of the sheer horror of this scene, that they are unashamed to post video of the incident.

The scene starts with someone from the union laying on the ground with a guy standing over him. At :06, the victim who is causing all this stir hits the ground, and he's back on his feet at :09. The extensive injuries to his "knee, back, elbow, shoulder and face" are entirely unnoticeable as he walks closely to the camera a few moments later (Around 1:00).

Regardless, the lack of visible injuries didn't prevent him from seeking hospitalization. And below is a picture of how he showed up at a rally the following day:

FireDogLake found the following subtitle of this picture at a conservative site:

Although he was too weak to speak after his beating on Thursday, black conservative Kenneth Gladney attended the event. Kenneth was beaten, kicked and called racist names by Russ Carnahan's SEIU supporters after a town hall meeting on Thursday

Okay, now here's the kicker. According to the St. Louis Dispatch, he doesn't have health care after recently losing his job, and is now soliciting donations to cover the expenses from his medical bills.

Seriously.

**UPDATE**

Apparently, the "victim" *IS* insured, after all. He is simply unemployed, but has insurance through his wife. Why would his lawyer be soliciting donations in order to pay for his medical bills if he has insurance, you ask? It's because his private is so awesome that he needs to beg.

Also, it appears that his lawyer was actually a witness to the event, and may be the one shouting "They attacked him!" in the video. This is just like a soap opera.

Sarah Palin's Death Panels Are Already Here

Southern Beale blasts Sarah Palin for ignoring the "death panels" that are already here.

Don’t talk to me about death panels, Sarah Palin.

You, who so carelessly bolstered a lie about healthcare reform to score a cheap political point; you, the most craven of political opportunists, who fearmongers about some dystopian socialist/fascist fantasyland; you, who earlier this year were
only too happy to accept free medical, dental and veterinary care from the U.S. military for Alaska’s remote villages; you, dear lady, are an idiot.

In your free market wonderland everyone somehow manages to get healthcare, even those who are poor or live in isolated areas, though the poor and isolated in your own state required assistance from the federal government.

And despite all of this, you appear blithely unaware that the free market healthcare system we have now does, indeed, have “death panels.” I’ve been part of a death panel conversation. I know about death panels.

You have no idea what it’s like to be called into a sterile conference room with a hospital administrator you’ve never met before and be told that your mother’s insurance policy will only pay for 30 days in ICU. You can't imagine what it's like to be advised that you need to “make some decisions,” like whether your mother should be released “HTD” which is hospital parlance for “home to die,” or if you want to pay out of pocket to keep her in the ICU another week. And when you ask how much that would cost you are given a number so impossibly large that you realize there really are no decisions to make. The decision has been made for you. "Living will" or no, it doesn't matter. The bank account and the insurance policy have trumped any legal document.

If this isn’t a “death panel” I don’t know what is.

Journalist Calls Out GOP Lies on Health Care Reform

Steven Pearlstein, business columnist for The Washington Post, had an amazing article last Friday, where he called out the Republicans for poisoning the debate in this country on health care reform.

The recent attacks by Republican leaders and their ideological fellow-travelers on the effort to reform the health-care system have been so misleading, so disingenuous, that they could only spring from a cynical effort to gain partisan political advantage. By poisoning the political well, they've given up any pretense of being the loyal opposition. They've become political terrorists, willing to say or do anything to prevent the country from reaching a consensus on one of its most serious domestic problems.

Instead of bringing up any legitimate concerns about the proposed plans, Republicans have instead chosen to dive straight into the over-the-top fear mongering. Whether it is Newt Gingrich siding with Palin and her imaginary "death panels," or John Boehner suggesting that a public option "may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia."

Pearlstein continues:

Can there be anyone more two-faced than the Republican leaders who in one breath rail against the evils of government-run health care and in another propose a government-subsidized high-risk pool for people with chronic illness, government-subsidized community health centers for the uninsured, and opening up Medicare to people at age 55?

Only in the mind of a Republican could this argument make any sense. Unfortunately for the Republicans, the satirist Andy Borowitz may have provided the most coherent argument so far against the Democratic health care plan. His argument is expertly summed up when he fake-quotes RNC chair Michael Steel:

"The Obama health care plan will cost billions upon billions to lie about," said GOP chairman Michael Steele. "The question is, shouldn't we be spending this money to lie about something else, like his judicial appointees?"

Obama and His Death Panel

Last week, Sarah Palin interjected herself into the national health care debate through a post on her Facebook page. As is fitting for such a venue, it was filled with ridiculousness. It even came complete with a link to a speech the looniest lady in Congress, Michele "The Census Will Lead to Internment" Bachmann. Crazier than her link to Bachmann is this passage:

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Admittedly, such a system would be "downright evil." She set up that straw man and knocked him down good. Nobody is proposing anything near what she is talking about. Most likely, she's referring to the end of life consultations that are discussed in the House version of the Bill. And that passage? It was put in there by a Republican.

Representative Earl Blumenauer (the funny little guy with the bicycle pin) is taking issue with how his own party has attacked this passage and set up a page addressing the most common myths about this passage. The following are all clearly false, and explained in the document he released:

• Myth: Patients will be forced to have this consultation once every five years.
• Myth: Patients will be forced to sign an advance care directive (or living will)
• Myth: Patients will have to see a health care professional chosen by the government.

Each argument that the GOP presents against health care reform seems to more often than not be an outright lie. Rather than reporting these lies as facts, I'd like to see the media investigate the claims a bit.

Lying Republicans at Town Hall Meetings

Rachel Maddow was on fire this week! Below she highlights the story of one of the vocal opponents of health care reform at one of the town halls that are being held nationwide during the summer recess. The concerned citizen who claims she is "just a mom" and "not with any political party" forgot to mention that she was the Internet Marketing Strategist for the Republican candidate who was defeated by the congressman holding the town hall.

Journalism lives!!

GOP Riling Up the Crazies

Great segment on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC last week with Frank Schaeffer about the tone of the Republican side of the health care debate, and how the right wing seems to be agitating their crazies just like they did during the 2008 presidential campaign...

FreedomWorks Fails on Hardball

I'm not sure what's going on today, but it seems like the media is actually pushing back on some of these false claims from anti-health care reform folks...First Rick Sanchez of CNN, and now Chris Mathews on MSNBC.

Greg Papas from FreedomWorks goes on Hardball and tries to be a "compassionate conservative," and Mathews points out that Republicans have run from health care reform every chance they've ever had.

Rick Sanchez Blasts Health Care Reform Opponent

CNN's Rick Sanchez tears into one of the leading voices against any health care reform, Rick Scott. This "concerned citizen" who "just wants people to read the bill" has been accused of buying up local hospitals and closing all but one. He denies that accusation in the report, but then defends the action as something that happens every day.

Most interestingly, Rick Scott's company was fined $1.2 billion dollars for taking advantage of Medicare and Medicaid. Sanchez said that "Some would argue, and it would be hard to say they're wrong, that you would be the poster child for everything that's wrong with the greed that has hurt our current health care system."

In order to defend himself, Scott pointed out that other companies also received fines. Sanchez's response?

"How much more wrong can you be than what you just said? Not only is your company screwd up, and you just admitted to it, but you said look at all the other companies, they did the same thing. It doesn't look like a sterling system we have here, does it?"

Exciting!