OFFENDING

A particularly unenlightening slate of Sunday talk shows yesterday

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/the_sunday_shows_in_five_sentences_or_less_2.php
[Marc Ambinder] On This Week, Liz Cheney insisted that waterboarding wasn't torture. On Fox, Dick Cheney said he didn't know whether he'd speak to a prosecutor who asked for an interview with him. He said that even in cases where the EITs went beyond what the Justice Department had authorized, he was OK with it. Cheney also acknowledged that he pushed for military action against Iran during the latter years of the Bush administration. He also said that the CIA was directed not to report about the recently canceled Al Q targeting program until it was operational, but he didn't say whether he had given the order. . . [read on]

[NB] What Cheney’s comment on interrogators exceeding the DOJ rules reveals is that he and Addington never believed those rules were actually necessary at all: the President could order whatever actions he deemed necessary, period. All the efforts of Yoo, Bradbury, and Bybee were to provide (as they did) post-facto legal covering to make prosecutions for torture more difficult. But even where interrogators ignored the rules, Cheney still doesn’t think they’re liable.

Another thing: Cheney seems to believe that the Attorney General is just another hack installed to carry out the President’s wishes, not an independent advocate for the rule of law. Case in point: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/revealing.php]

Emptywheel’s analysis: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/30/cheneys-sophistry-on-torture-investigations/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/30/cheney-no-i-wont-cooperate-with-a-torture-prosecutor/

Lots more: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/30/dick-cheney-im-proud-i-tortured-to-protect-our-country-but-not-our-allies/
[Cheney] “I guess the other thing that offends the hell out of me, frankly. . .”

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/cheney-torture-investigation-offended-hell-o
[John Amato] Hey, Dick, torturing people offends the hell out of me but I'm not a sociopath. He must be worried that if a whistleblower surfaces, he could be facing a real legal problem. I'm also sick and tired of hearing that he kept us safe for eight years AFTER the attacks. . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/newest-village-gasbag-by-digby-i-feel.html
[Digby] I feel so much more informed having watched the Stephanopoulos round table with Liz Cheney, who was referred to as a "Republican Strategist." . . . [read on]

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/08/president-mccain-is-always-on-my-teevee.html
[Atrios] President McCain Is Always On My Teevee

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019697.php
[Steve Benen] For those keeping score at home, this is McCain's 12th Sunday morning appearance since President Obama's inauguration in January. That's 32 Sundays, for an average of a McCain appearance every 2.6 weeks. . . . [read on]

A deceptive and immoral “debate” over torture: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/george-will-wants-truth-commission-torture

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7667

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/orrin-hatch-defends-torture-while-john-ker

(A bit of) credit where it’s due

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/mccain-pushes-back-against-cheney-interrogat
"I think these interrogations, once publicized, helped al Qaeda recruit. I got that from an al Qaeda operative in a prison camp in Iraq... I think that the ability of us to work with our allies was harmed. And I believe that information, according go the FBI and others, could have been gained through other members," said McCain.

Distorting the health care issue (again)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019695.php

More: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/missing-actual-explanation-of-the-health-care-issue.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:29 AM

 
MORAL BANKRUPTCY

Dick Cheney today (on Fox News, of course) will say that it’s okay with him if interrogators exceeded the legal bounds for torture

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/29/cheney-torturers-can-do-no-wrong/

More: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/29/post/index.html

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/29/the-wapo-declares-itself-unable-to-find-the-truth/

The Wa Po wants a panel to study whether torture works

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7649
[Scarecrow] Yes, that's exactly what's been missing, a public forum for Dick Cheney . . .

It doesn’t matter if it “works” http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/if-torture-works-makes-it-okay-what-m

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/the_standard_for_proving_whether.php

Mike Enzi (R-WY) supposed member of the bipartisan health care group, makes it official – he isn’t going to support any bill at all

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/29/AR2009082902305.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/29/205859/290

We’ll start hearing it more and more now: the Dems should settle for health care reform lite, tweak the system and bit, and admit defeat

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/29/773711/-Scale-Back-Reform-Dumb-Policy,-Dumber-Politics

Simple questions

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/back-basics
[Kevin Drum] Let's recap: the United States spends about twice as much on healthcare as any other developed nation in the world and in return receives just about the worst care. Can someone remind me again why there's even a debate about whether we should put up with this?

http://www.slate.com/id/2226518/
[Jacob Weisberg] Why are Republicans trying to kill America's old people? . . . [read on]

The LA Times gets spun

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/_/2009/08/health_care_the_la_times_gets_spun_again.php

A headline we don’t see often enough

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/29/AR2009082902304.html
RNC Uses New Scare Tactic on Reform

This tricky poll question isn’t from Fox, but from Rasmussen, a supposedly “serious” polling company

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/27/773158/-Rasmussen-Caught-With-Their-Thumb-On-The-Scale
Suppose that Democrats agreed on a health care reform bill that is opposed by all Republicans in Congress. Should the Democrats pass that bill or should they change the bill to win support from a reasonable number of Republicans?

“The hate is everywhere”

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/hate-is-everywhere.html

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/summer-of-hate/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-of-them-by-digby-just-documenting.html

Christian mercy

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/cspanjunkie/why-i-hate-barack-obama-pastor-steven
PASTOR STEVEN ANDERSON, FAITHFUL WORD BAPTIST CHURCH: Tonight, I want to preach this sermon. And you have probably never heard a sermon like this before. Actually, you probably have if you have been coming to church here for a while. But you know what? Here is my sermon, why I hate Barack Obama. That's my sermon tonight, because Barack Obama is coming to town tomorrow morning. . . .

And I'm going to tell you something. I hate Barack Obama. You say, well, you just mean you don't like what he stands for. No, I hate the person. Oh, you mean you just don't like his policies. No, I hate him. . . .

You are going to tell me that I'm supposed to pray for the socialist devil, murderer, infanticide who wants to see young children and he wants to see babies killed through abortion and partial-birth . . .

No. I am not going to pray for his good. I am going to pray that he dies and goes to hell.

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/the-sunday-show-line-ups-18.php
• ABC, This Week: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA); Liz Cheney, E.J. Dionne, Sam Donaldson, Gwen Ifill, George Will.

• CBS, Face The Nation: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA).

• CNN, State Of The Union: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT); James Carville and Mary Matalin.

• NBC, Meet The Press: Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), Bob Shrum, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Bonus item: How “conservative girls” should act

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/29/late-night-conservative-girls-send-me-a-dozen/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:56 AM

 
IS THERE A DEAL OUT THERE?

Don’t tell me you’re surprised by this: Republicans in the “bipartisan” health care group now say they might not support any bill at all

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019673.php
[Steve Benen] If I didn't know better, I might think Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) -- ostensibly the leading GOP negotiators on health care reform -- doesn't really want a bill. . . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/28/773597/-The-Baucus-Caucus-Hijacked
[McJoan] It's not Max's deal anymore. Chuck Grassley took it over months ago by being implacably opposed to any kind of comprehensive, real reform, but by holding out the possibility that there was some magic bullet out there that would bring him over. Enough months of playing that game, and enough support from Obama to keep that process going, and Grassley took over.

That much is absolutely clear today as Grassley takes it upon himself to declare there won't be a deal in September. . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/ezra-grassley-getting-squeezed-gop-co
[Ezra Klein] The more plausible argument is that Grassley fears his fellow Republican senators. I'm hearing that Grassley is getting reamed out in meetings with his colleagues. The yelling is loud enough that staffers in adjacent offices have heard snippets. But the real threat isn't the yelling of his colleagues. It's their capacity to deny Grassley his next job. Ruth Marcus hints at this in her column on Chuck Grassley today, but it's worth explaining in a bit more detail. . . [read on]

The abject failure of our press – after months of this, most people don’t even know what the “public option” is

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/public_option_rolls_off_the_tongue.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019680.php

What part of public OPTION don’t they understand?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019672.php

What part of PUBLIC option don’t they understand?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/does-harry-reid-want-co-ops-over-the-public-option.php

Is a public option still possible?

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/robert_reich/2009/08/beware-authoritative-inside-wa.php

The Pearlstein Plan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/27/AR2009082703919.html
[Steven Pearlstein] The simple lesson from this story -- and certainly the one Kennedy himself drew -- is that when it comes to historic breakthroughs in social policy, make the best deal you can get, leaving it to subsequent generations to perfect. That's what happened with Medicare and Medicaid, and there is no reason to think it wouldn't happen again with universal coverage and reform of the health insurance market.

Although you'd hardly know it from all the shouting of recent weeks, there is a deal to be had here if only Democrats would be willing to take it. This is not a deal, mind you, designed to win the support of Republican leaders in Congress -- at this point they're determined to derail any health reform plan. Rather, it is the deal necessary to win broad support from an American public wary of federal deficits, anxious about losing the health care it already has and fearful of radical change.

So what would this deal look like? Something like this . . . [read on]

More: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/quote-day-7

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/chasing-phantom-deals.php

The new question in DC: What Would Teddy Do?

The GOP, with a strong assist from the beltway media (and a bit of help from the Obama admin too), is rapidly propagating the idea that if Ted Kennedy was running the health care show, he’d have given the Republicans everything they wanted to get a bill passed – because he was a COMPROMISER, a STATESMAN, a PRAGMATIST

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/28/773643/-What-Would-Teddy-Do

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/meaning-of-compromise-by-dday-i-think.html

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/08/28/sebelius-asks-what-would-teddy-do/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/rolling-redux-by-digby-i-think-its-time.html

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/28/the-new-ted-kennedy/
[Eli] Either the Republicans and the media have gone insane, or I have. . . .

Watch: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/rachel-maddow-show-revisionist-history

Here’s what Kennedy really wanted for health care reform -- and he would have fought like hell for it

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/what-would-kennedy-want-government-run-health-care-key-to-both-of-his-final-efforts/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/28/773678/-What-Would-Teddy-Do-Part-2

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/28/773741/-What-Would-Teddy-Do-Part-3

http://mediamatters.org/research/200908280019

More: http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/28/early-morning-swim-olbermann-and-odonnell-discuss-ted-kennedy-and-the-public-option/

The Party of Death

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/28/773659/-The-Party-Of-Death

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/28/773213/-Michael-Steele:-No-ones-trying-to-scare-people-with-soundbites
STEELE: Well, no. Look. No one’s trying to scare people with soundbites. I have not done that, and I don’t know any leaders in the House and the Senate that have done that. . . .

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/28/huckabee/index.html
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said on his radio show Thursday that politicizing the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy "defies good taste." Apparently, he meant that to apply only to Democrats who are pushing for passage of healthcare reform, because he then went on to say this, as reported by Huffington Post's Sam Stein:

"[I]t was President Obama himself who suggested that seniors who don't have as long to live might want to just consider taking a pain pill instead of getting an expensive operation to cure them," said Huckabee. "Yet when Sen. Kennedy was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at 77, did he give up on life and go home to take pain pills and die? Of course not. . .”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/taste-by-digby-mike-huckabee-has-always.html

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/mccain-throws-sarah-palin-agrees-vha-pamph
McCain Throws in With Sarah Palin: Agrees That VHA Pamphlet is "Kind of a Death Panel"

Concern trolls

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/28/773466/-Republicans-Are-Concerned-About-Reaction-To-Kennedys-Passing

The insurance companies behind the push-back on health care

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/think-progress-report-lets-connect-in

More on the push-poll from the RNC suggesting that Republican voters would be denied medical care by the Obama admin because of their political views

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/28/steele/index.html

Af/Pak: not looking good

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/afpak-dominos

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/why-is-the-taliban-so-awesome.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/us_will_get_less_help_from_pakistan_than_it_wants.php

Big headline, huh? My guess is you’ll never hear about this

http://www.slate.com/id/2226517
Is TARP Profitable?
The huge government bailout could have cost taxpayers $700 billion. Now it looks like it might break even.
The Troubled Asset Repurchase Program, the controversial $700 billion package passed in the heat of last fall's presidential election campaign, wasn't presented as a bailout of a failed system. Rather, then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and his allies touted it as an opportunity for the taxpayer to profit by making investments in name-brand companies. Indeed, during the Great Panic of 2008, American taxpayers reluctantly made a series of very expensive investments in blue-chip companies—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the insurer AIG, General Motors. Since these bailouts were designed to halt failure rather than stimulate growth, the return on most of these efforts has been largely intangible.

And yet. As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Panic of 2008, it's clear that the actual cost of the TARP will be a fraction of the original $700 billion estimate and that taxpayers are even turning a profit from the central component of the package. . . .

Ooops!

http://www.slate.com/id/2226713/
[Timothy Noah] Those two reports the CIA released this week, saying they were the documents Cheney requested last April? The ones Cheney said would show that "enhanced interrogation" (his euphemism for torture) saved American lives?

They were the wrong documents! Or, rather, one of them was. . . .

Amateur Hour

http://www.adn.com/news/politics/story/913839.html
Former Gov. Sarah Palin's political action committee gave excessive contributions to two well-known Republicans and also is facing demands from the federal government for more detailed financial information on a number of fronts. . . .

"I think you can say it was sloppiness on my part and my attorney's part," Crawford said, referring to the contributions. "We fouled up there. But it's been fixed."

Onward, Christian soldiers!

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/cnn_secret_service_paid_death-praying_pastor_a_vis.php
CNN has picked up our story from yesterday on Steven Anderson, the Arizona pastor who prayed for Barack Obama's death the day before one of his parishioners, who attended the sermon, brought an AR-15 rifle to an Obama event.

And they've advanced the story a bit: CNN analyst Mike Brooks reports that the Secret Service has interviewed Anderson, who told TPMmuckraker yesterday: "To be honest with you, I have prayed for Obama to die. I'm not the only one, I'm just the only one with the spine to say it." . . .

Bonus item: Glenn Beck thinks that armed white men at Obama events are merely expressing their First and Second amendment rights. But armed black men? Ooooooh . . . scary!

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/obamas-army-glenn-beck-sees-scary-bl

Glenn Beck is sick of being a “victim” http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019682.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:55 AM

 
FORTUNATE IN OUR ENEMIES

Michael Steele. Dumb

http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=3291556
Michael Steele says Medicare needs to be protected but favors some cuts to maximize its efficiencies [listen!]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019660.php
It started when Steele endorsed increased government regulation of the private insurance market.

INSKEEP: Wait, wait -- you would trust the government to look into that?

STEELE: No, I'm talking about the private -- I'm talking about citizens. I'm talking about -- (CROSSTALK)

INSKEEP: Who is it you -- you said it is something that should be looked into. Who is it that you think should look into that?

STEELE: Well, who regulates the insurance markets?

INSKEEP: That would be the government, I believe.

STEELE: Well, and so what. Now wait a minute. Hold up. You're doing a wonderful little dance here and you're trying to be cute. But the reality of this is very simple. I'm not saying the government doesn't have a role to play. I've never said that. The government does have a role to play; it has a very limited role to play.

INSKEEP: Mr. Chairman, I respect that you think I'm doing a dance here. I just want you to know that as a citizen, I'm a little confused by the positions you take . . . . [read on]

Karl Rove. Liar

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/aug/27/healthcare-rove-death-book
[Rove on “death books”] There's an interesting page in here. Page 99 lists a series of disease groups that people could reach out to as resources. But when it comes to advanced directives -- what to do at your end of your life to give guidance to your physician and your family -- it lists one group, Compassionate -- Compassionate Choices. And it gives their phone number and their log site. What they don't tell you, however, is that that really is the name of . . . the Hemlock Society that is referenced there. This is a group that believes in assisted suicide.

Media Matters documents the following. There is no page 99 in the present booklet. It does not mention either Compassionate Choices or the Hemlock Society. An older version of the booklet used to. That version dates to 2007.

In other words, to the Bush era. So the Bush administration was the one telling veterans to just hurry up and die. . . .

Glenn Beck. Psycho

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,543822,00.html
(BEGIN VIDEO MONTAGE)

ED SCHULTZ RADIO SHOW: Folks, these people are psycho. That's what they are. Sometimes I think they want Obama to get shot. I do. I really think that there are conservative broadcasters in this country who would love to see Obama taken out.

FRANK RICH, NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST: I'm just old enough, I was a kid, I remember I woke up in 1963 to the horrible events in Dallas. Even as a kid, I happened to be growing up in Washington, D.C., it was palatable to me all this hate talk about Kennedy and this sort of crazy fear.... But there were a lot of threats. There was a lot of stuff going on that in tone resembles this. . . .

CONTESSA BREWER, MSNBC: "A man at a pro-health care reform rally just outside, wore a semiautomatic assault rifle on his shoulder and a pistol on his hip.... The Associated Press reports about a dozen people in all at that event were visible carrying firearms.... There are questions about whether this has racial overtones. I mean, here you have a man of color in the presidency and white people showing up with guns strapped to their waists.

(END VIDEO MONTAGE)

[Beck] Is it reasonable to ask the question — based on these clips — do they think that a good portion of the American people are the enemy? . . . .

Yeah, what hate-monger would suggest that Beck’s proud, patriotic viewers might be capable of violence?

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/glenn-beck-pleads-his-audience-not-r
[August 4] Glenn Beck pleads with his audience not to resort to violence: 'Just one lunatic like Timothy McVeigh could ruin everything' . . .

Rush Limbaugh. Penis-obsessed

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/27/circumcision/
[Gabriel Winant] If you had to whip up a too-good-to-be-true story for the right-wing pundit class to freak out over, what elements would you include? There would have to be, of course, an element of command-and-control socialist-fascist invasion and regulation of the most private parts of our lives, in the name of some spurious "common good." But that alone is a little pedestrian nowadays, so you'd want to add a nice dollop of male sexual neurosis to really kick it up a notch. Then add just a hint of racial fear and beat to a froth. . . .

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/27/national/main1753947.shtml
[June 2006] Rush Limbaugh could see a deal with prosecutors in a long-running prescription fraud case collapse after authorities found a bottle of Viagra in his bag at Palm Beach International Airport. The prescription was not in his name. . . .

Beck and Limbaugh together. Goody

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/right-wing-fearfest-beck-says-free-s
Right-Wing Fearfest: Beck says 'free speech is under attack,' then Limbaugh tells him Obama brings 'totalitarianism'

Rush Limbaugh. Kennedy-hater

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908270017
Limbaugh: Kennedy's opposition to Bork, Thomas was "the beginning of the dawn of the age of the current hate"

More: http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/limbaugh-blasts-kennedy.html

Now they’re afraid of Kennedy’s funeral

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0809/Conservatives_on_Kennedy_A_Wellstone_memorial_on_steroids.html
Conservative blogger Instapundit suggests that Kennedy's death will provoke "a Wellstone memorial on steroids” . . .

More: http://mediamatters.org/research/200908270005

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-bohrer/the-gop-wants-to-define-t_b_270101.html

http://washingtonindependent.com/56915/whos-wellstoning-who

The latest paranoid GOP attack on sanity

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/27/rnc/index.html
The RNC sent out a fundraising mailer recently. Couched as a survey, it contained one question that reads, "It has been suggested that the government could use voter registration to determine a person's political affiliation, prompting fears that GOP voters might be discriminated against for medical treatment in a Democrat-imposed health care rationing system. Does this possibly concern you?" . . . [read on]

http://washingtonindependent.com/56882/rnc-our-survey-was-inartfully-worded
[RNC] Although the question was inartfully worded, Americans have reason to be concerned . . . [read on]

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/56844/obtained-the-rncs-health-care-survey

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-national-committee/whoops-rnc-admits-suggestion-that-health-care-reform-could-discriminate-against-gopers-was-inartful/

GOP insurrectionists

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/inhofe-were-reaching-a-revolution.php
[Rachel Slajda] At a town hall Wednesday night, Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) told constituents, "We're almost reaching a revolution in this country."

The reason? "People are not buying these concepts that are completely foreign to America."

Inhofe also said he doesn't need to know what's in a health care reform bill to vote against it.

"I don't have to read it, or know what's in it. I'm going to oppose it anyways," he said at the event in Chickasha, Okla.

The senator was in good company, with most of the audience agreeing with him and expressing their disdain for big government and Democrats. One man said, "No more compromise. We're losing our country."

Inhofe isn't the first to predict a revolution. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told a town hall on Tuesday, "We're seeing the beginning of a peaceful -- and I emphasize peaceful -- revolt in America."

In March, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) called for citizens to be "armed and dangerous" against an energy tax and that "having a revolution every now and then is a good thing."

And in May, former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney said Republicans need to "once again lead the American Revolution."

Yeah, just a JOKE

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/idaho-republican-candidate-jokes-abo
[Twin Falls, ID Time-News] Rex Rammell, a long-shot gubernatorial candidate seeking the Republican nomination, criticized Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter on Wednesday for not making good on a promise to buy the first wolf tag. Tags for hunting the gray wolf went on sale Monday.

Rammell's remarks on Otter came in an interview Wednesday after the Times-News asked about comments Rammell made Tuesday night at a local Republican party event.

After an audience member shouted a question about "Obama tags" during a discussion on wolves, Rammell responded, "The Obama tags? We'd buy some of those." . . .

Well, THAT trial balloon didn’t stay up long

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/romney-wont-run-for-senate.php
Romney Won't Run For Senate

Sarah Palin needs a personal organizer

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/27/palin_again_denies_she_agreed_to_event.html
"Organizers of an Anchorage event that has been billing Sarah Palin for weeks as a star speaker were left scrambling Wednesday after learning that the former governor won't be there for tonight's event and claims to have never been asked," the Anchorage Daily News reports.

"It would be at least the fourth time in recent months that an anticipated Palin speech has fallen through after Palin and her camp disputed they had ever confirmed it. That includes the brouhaha over whether she'd speak at the annual congressional Republican fundraising dinner in Washington, D.C., this summer."

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019664.php

This is exactly right – but a little late in the game

http://blogs.reuters.com/commentaries/2009/08/26/the-mirage-of-us-healthcare/
[Christopher Swann] Americans, as they contemplate change, have suffered a weakness of nerve. The main reason is that nearly two thirds of Americans are apparently happy with their healthcare coverage, for all its deficiencies. Repeated reassurances from President Obama that those who like the existing set-up will not be forced to change, have had little effect.

A change of tactics may be in order. The administration must do a better job of underlining the glaring defects of the existing system. . . .

Where do the Senate Dems stand on health care? A list

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/who-are-the-13-senate-democrats-holding-out-on-the-public-option.php

More CIA documents to come

http://washingtonindependent.com/56901/even-more-cia-documents-to-be-disclosed-monday
The deluge continues. . . .

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/56772/memos-suggest-legal-cherry-picking-in-justifying-torture
Memos Suggest Legal Cherry-Picking in Justifying Torture

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:29 AM

 
BEYOND THE PALE

Bush adviser calls out Cheney’s b.s.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/26/top_bush_adviser_contradicts_cheney.html
Former Bush homeland security adviser Frances Townsend contradicted claims by former Vice President Dick Cheney that a CIA report proved that torture of terrorism suspects worked . . .

More: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/top-bush-terrorism-adviser-admits-cia-docs-didnt-prove-torture-worked/

Oh, one little detail about AG Eric Holder’s torture investigation – he had to do it. Bush/Cheney apologists have trouble with the concept of rule of law

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/the_worst_political_decision_ever_maybe_its_not_about_politics.php
[Marc Ambinder] Actually, what happened was simple. The attorney general was presented with incontrovertible evidence that crimes had occurred. And importantly, because of a decision made by the Obama administration, all that evidence was public. Think of a police brutality case where an officer is captured, on camera, beating the tar out of a suspect for ten minutes. Holder had no choice. . . .

The NYT manages to find the crucial angle that reveals the truth about the entire CIA torture regime – how smooth-running and well-organized it was (WTF??)

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/26/nyt-false-banality-is-not-evil/

Smart move

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/26/byrd/index.html
Byrd wants healthcare bill to honor Kennedy

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/dingell-name-the-bill-after-kennedy-too.php
Dingell: Name The Health Care Bill After Kennedy, Too

Our guy

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090825_waxman_gears_up_for_health_care_showdown/
By the time Congress returns from its recess and takes another whack at the health insurance mess, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., will have started revealing the deceit that protects health business profiteers. . . .

I know the news from here has been pretty depressing in recent days. If that bothers you, don’t read this piece on health care reform prospects

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/26/772316/-No-More-Faith:-The-Senate-Topples-Into-Incompetence
[Hunter] It seems absolutely assured that there is no American problem or catastrophe that will not be dealt with by our government by lavish, staggering public giveaways to the very corporations most directly responsible for the problem. . . .

Perhaps you wondered what Mike Enzi (R-WY), hard right-winger, was doing in the midst of “bipartisan” discussions over health care. Here’s what he was doing

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/clarifying-partisanship-by-digby-heres.html
[Digby] Here's Mike Enzi basically telling the Democratic members of the Gang of Six that he's acting in bad faith . . .

"It's not where I get them to compromise, it's what I get them to leave out," Enzi said Monday, according to the Billings Gazette.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/enzi-if-i-hadnt-been-involved-in-this-process-you-would-already-have-national-health-care.php
Enzi: If I Hadn't Been Involved, You Would Already Have National Health Care

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019650.php

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/sen-mike-enzi-is-just-getting-baucus.html

They are not our legislative partners, get it? They - are - our - enemies

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/25/AR2009082503136.html
[Steven Pearlstein] Steele's op-ed was the latest salvo in his party's campaign to defeat President Obama's health-care reform effort at all costs and build public support for a Republican alternative that remains, to this day, a closely held secret. . . . [read on!]

Lies, lies, lies: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/ed-show-myth-information-aaron-carroll-hea

Yesterday, Mark Kleiman said the Dems should do a better job of publicizing the horrors of the current health insurance system for ordinary Americans. Huffington Post gets to work

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/down-not-out

The NYT redefines “mainstream”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/health/policy/25zeke.html
Few people hold a more uncomfortable place at the health care debate’s intersection between nuanced policy and cable-ready political rhetoric than President Obama’s special health care adviser, Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel.

Largely quoting his past writings out of context this summer, Betsy McCaughey, a former lieutenant governor of New York, labeled Dr. Emanuel a “deadly doctor” who believes health care should be “reserved for the nondisabled” — a false assertion that Representative Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota, repeated on the House floor.

Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska has asserted that Dr. Emanuel’s “Orwellian” approach to health care would “refuse to allocate medical resources to the elderly, the infirm and the disabled who have less economic potential,” accusations similarly made by the political provocateur Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. . . .

Glenn Beck goes berserk

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/glenn-beck-dives-conspiracist-deep-e

Palin (hearts) Beck

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/26/qotd/index.html

More: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/74415.html

The kind of people they are

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/gop-congresswoman-party-looking-for-great-white-hope.php
GOP Congresswoman: Party Looking For "Great White Hope"

Trashing Teddy

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/26/right-wingers-trash-ted-kennedy-while-his-body-is-still-warm/
Right-Wingers Trash Ted Kennedy While His Body is Still Warm

More: http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/wingnut-celebration-ted-kennedy

Hmmm . . .?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/26/romney_for_senate.html
Peter Roff looks at the possibility Mitt Romney could seek the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat in a special election. . . .

The pressure builds

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/26/bauer_sanford/index.html
Lieutenant governor calls for Sanford's resignation

Bonus item: Good news?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/25/barack-obama-middle-east-peace
Barack Obama on brink of deal for Middle East peace talks

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:31 AM

 
THEY THINK YOU’RE STUPID

Dick Cheney thinks you’re stupid

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7529
“The documents released Monday clearly demonstrate that the individuals subjected to Enhanced Interrogation Techniques provided the bulk of intelligence we gained about al Qaeda. This intelligence saved lives and prevented terrorist attacks. . .”

[NB: Anyone can see the logical gaps in this slippery claim, and that it does NOTHING to justify the necessity of torture . . . read on]

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/torture-docs
[Keith Drum] Likewise, the "enhanced interrogation techniques" were used on the prisoners who were the most valuable in the first place. They would have provided the bulk of the intelligence no matter what we'd done. . . . [read on]

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/a_close_reading_of_cheney.php
[Marc Ambinder] But there's no mention of how enhanced interrogations aided or hurt the collection of reliable information. . . .

http://washingtonindependent.com/56534/cheney-acts-as-if-lying-more-aggressively-is-exculpatory
[Spencer Ackerman] Last night former Vice President Dick Cheney elided the distinction between valuable intelligence that came from detainees and valuable intelligence that came from enhanced interrogation techniques. He did so for a simple reason: he said publicly, for months, that he was “a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program” because it was “legal, essential, justified, successful, and the right thing to do,” but the documents that he insisted would vindicate that position do no such thing. . . . [read on]

He also thinks the media are stupid – and he’s right. Look how they got suckered

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/cheney_spin_on_cia_memos_befuddles_politico.php
[Politico] Cheney maintains that records released this week show that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques "provided the bulk of intelligence we gained about Al Qaeda" after the Sept. 11 attacks.

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/cnn-gets-snookered-by-cheneys-masterful-obfuscation/
[CNN] Former Vice President Dick Cheney says documents released Monday support his view that harsh interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects prevented attacks and yielded crucial information about al Qaeda.

[NB: NO!!! That's not what he said. And in fact, the documents show the opposite.]

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/cheneys-claims-that-torture-worked-huge-news-torture-docs-dont-prove-this-not-so-important/
Cheney’s Claims That Torture Worked? Huge News. Torture Docs Don’t Prove This? Not So Important.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/big_surprise_torture_memos_belie_cheneys_claims.php
Big Surprise: Torture Memos Belie Cheney's Claims

More: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/cheney_says_hes_vindicated.php

http://www.slate.com/id/2226276

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019636.php

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/08/your-liberal-media.html
[Atrios] CNN has decided the right question is:

How far is too far to prevent an attack?

Cheney thinks that we should be GRATEFUL to these interrogators

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26418.html
"The people involved deserve our gratitude," Cheney said. "They do not deserve to be the targets of political investigations or prosecutions."

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/25/king/index.html
[Peter King, R-NY] "It’s bullshit. It’s disgraceful. You wonder which side they’re on. [It's' a] declaration of war against the CIA, and against common sense. . . .

Grateful, huh? What was redacted from the CIA report was apparently EVEN WORSE – detainee deaths, near-deaths, and mysterious disappearances

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#32559450

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8410340
The CIA and the Obama Administration continue to keep secret some of the most shocking allegations involving the spy agency's interrogation program: three deaths and several other detainees whose whereabouts could not be determined . . .

More: http://crooksandliars.com/dday/ko-and-jane-mayer-discuss-horrors-torture-and

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/filling-in-blanks-by-dday-abc-has-some.html

I like this headline

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26418.html
Dick Cheney: new doubts about President Obama
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said in a statement Tuesday that the Obama administration's decision to name a prosecutor to look into Bush-era interrogations of suspected terrorists should foster "doubts about this administration’s ability to be responsible for our nation’s security.” . . .

[NB: These are EXACTLY the same old doubts he’s been trying to raise against Obama since the election]

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/madeleine_albright_cheneys_statements_are_pathetic.php
Madeleine Albright: Cheney's Statements Are 'Pathetic'

We learn more about the DOJ documents that justified torture, thanks to the indefatigable Marcy Wheeler

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/25/where-is-the-legal-principles-document/
“This resulted in the production of an undated and unsigned document entitled, "Legal Principles Applicable to CIA Detention and Interrogation of Captured Al-Qa'ida Personnel.27 According to OGC, this analysis was fully coordinated with and drafted in substantial part by OLC. In addition to reaffirming the previous conclusions regarding the torture statute, the analysis concludes that the federal War Crimes statute, 18 U.S.C. 2441, does not apply to Al-Qa'ida "Because members of that-group are not entitled to prisoner of war status. The analysis adds that "the [Torture] Convention permits the use of [cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment] in exigent circumstances, such as a national emergency or war." It also states that the interrogation of Al-Qa'ida members does not violate the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments because those provisions do not apply extraterritorially, nor does it violate the Eighth Amendment because it only applies to persons upon whom criminal sanctions have been imposed. Finally, the analysis states that a wide range of EITs and other techniques would not constitute conduct of the type that would be prohibited by the Fifth, Eighth, or Fourteenth Amendments even were they to be applicable . . .”

[Marcy Wheeler] But what does it say that such a key document was not even signed, dated, or officially released by OLC? What does it say that we have to just take OGC's word that it was written with the cooperation of OLC?

And what does it say that we have yet to see this document?

http://washingtonindependent.com/56463/undated-unsigned-ciajustice-memo-appears-to-be-first-authorization-for-diapering
[Spencer Ackerman] Again, we don’t know when the memo was written — by design, as it’s undated and unsigned, a gigantic blinking red light. . . .

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/25/we-will-provide-at-a-later-date-an-opinion-that-explains-the-basis-for-this-conclusion/
“We Will Provide, at a Later Date, an Opinion That Explains the Basis for this Conclusion” . . . [read on]

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/25/those-undated-legal-principles/
[Marcy Wheeler] As I noted in an update to my post asking for the unsigned, undated document authorizing the expansion of the torture program from one applying just to Abu Zubaydah to one that could be exported around the world, I have found the document. Or rather the documents--they appear to have been revised over time. Here are three that were included in last night's document dump. . . .

The three are worth reading in sequence to see how the CIA's gross rationalizations of patently illegal behavior evolved over time. . . .

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/25/was-john-yoo-free-lancing-when-he-approved-the-legal-principles/
Was John Yoo Free-Lancing. . . ?

The GOP thinks you’re stupid

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/25/765427/-Late-afternoon-early-evening-open-thread
Debunking the Health Care lies . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/the-gops-long-history-of-medicare-skepticism.php
The GOP's 40-Year Effort to "Pull the Plug" on Medicare

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/independent-womens-forum-women-will-die-of-breast-cancer-if-you-surrender-to-obamas-plan.php
IWF: Women Will "Die of Breast Cancer" if You "Surrender" to Obama's Plan

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/25/772129/-GOP-trying-to-scare-seniors-to-death-about-reform
GOP trying to scare seniors to death about reform

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/bachmann-fight-against-health-care-bill-will-be-won-on-our-knees-in-prayer-and-fasting.php
Bachmann praised Sarah Palin for raising the alarm about "death panels" that would deny any health care to the elderly and mentally disabled. "Thank God that Sarah Palin said that," said Bachmann. "These are true." Bachmann also warned against the government forcing doctors to perform abortions, and urged callers to oppose it with all their energies -- and their prayers.

"That's really where this battle will be won -- on our knees in prayer and fasting," said Bachmann. "Remember: faith without works is dead. So we're asking you to do all of it: pray, fast, believe, trust the Lord, but also act."

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/mccain-attends-loony-far-right-health.html
McCain attends loony far-right health care forum

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/25/772178/-This-is-Your-GOP-on-Healthcare-Reform

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019630.php

Michael Steele thinks you’re VERY stupid

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/cognitive_dissonance.php
[David Kurtz] Michael Steele is on Fox now going on about how Medicare is a wreck, completely bankrupt, and an example of how the government has already proven it can't run a health care program.

Except didn't the "health care bill of rights" that the GOP unveiled yesterday declare preserving Medicare and protecting it against any cuts an inviolable right?

Shorter Steele: Medicare is a disaster! Long live Medicare!

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/steele-protect-medicare----and-medicare-doesnt-work.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/steele-republicans-didnt-bankrupt-medicare-in-a-vacuum.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/steele-va-is-encouraging-vets-to-commit-suicide.php
Steele: VA Is Encouraging Vets To Commit Suicide

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/a_question_for_steele.php
[SM] A question for Mr. Steele. Three months ago I had routine surgery for a hernia and was asked three times in the week leading up to it if I was interested in creating a living will. Was Columbia hospital corporation trying to talk me into committing suicide?!

Warning: this Keith O piece on United Health Group will make you furious

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#32559705

Mark Kleiman makes a smart point: if health care reform was a GOP initiative, we would be DELUGED with stories about the horrors of the current insurance system, heart-tugging human accounts of heartless bureaucracy, mistreatment, and fear. The current system would be made INTOLERABLE. Where are these stories from the Dems?

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/health_care_/2009/08/why_are_the_victims_of_the_current_health_insurance_system_being_ignored.php

A new GOP line is “oh, if Ted Kennedy were here we’d be working together a lot more cooperatively.” Uh-huh. Well, his bill, the “HELP” bill, is there on the table. Do something with it

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/thats-how-they-roll-by-digby-noam.html
[Noam Schrieber] If Kennedy were to pass away in the next few months, the Senate math on any health care vote would almost certainly get easier . . . [read on]

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/why-doesnt-media-ever-talk-about-ted-ke

BREAKING NEWS: Ted Kennedy passes away

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/25/the-wind-takes-the-lion-rip-senator-edward-m-kennedy/

Video: http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/08/hope-still-lives.html
The Hope Still Lives . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-year-ago-today-by-digby-it-was.html
At the Democratic convention . . .

The GOP’s inflammatory rhetoric – it’s working

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/reportage-youll-never-see-fox-msnbcs

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/25/grassley-constituent-gun/
Comparing Obama to ‘Hitler,’ Grassley constituent says he’d ‘take a gun to Washington’ if crowd supported him.

More on the Glenn Beck boycott

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/why_hasnt_the_glenn_beck_boycott_hurt_fox_news.php
Why Hasn't the Glenn Beck Boycott Hurt Fox News?

I guess Rush thinks he can say ANYTHING – and so far he’s been proven right

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908250038

These days it’s important to take pleasure where you can find it – now there’s serious talk about impeachment for Mark Sanford

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/25/sanford/index.html

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/25/two_republicans_urge_sanford_to_quit.html
Two Republicans Urge Sanford to Quit . . .

Bonus item: Obama’s pet peeves

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/25/obamas_pet_peeves.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:47 AM

 
ACCOUNTABILITY MOMENT

The CIA Inspector General’s heavily redacted report documents torture outrages that exceed even the friendly boundaries Yoo and Bybee offered interrogators

Text: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/cia_torture_report_released.php

Overview: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/us/politics/25detain.html

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/24/working-thread/

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/24/ig_report/index.html
CIA abuse report doesn't live up to the hype

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/torture_report_recommendations_redacted.php
The 2004 report, by CIA Inspector General John Helgerson, contains ten recommendations for action on the part of the agency. But all ten are redacted. So we still don't know what the CIA's internal watchdog urged be done about torture -- including whether it recommended prosecutions. . . .

Helgerson has issued a statement expressing disappointment that his recommendations were redacted.

Key revelations: http://washingtonindependent.com/56278/cia-withheld-medical-information-from-the-justice-department-to-obtain-torture-approvals
CIA Withheld Medical Information From the Justice Department to Obtain Torture Approvals

http://washingtonindependent.com/56225/a-21-hour-cia-videotape-gap
[Spencer Ackerman] The CIA has already copped to destroying videotapes in 2005 that detail brutal interrogations. All in all, as the American Civil Liberties Union forced the CIA to identify 92 destroyed tapes. . . . But the just-released CIA inspector general’s report on torture reveals more extensive prima facie destruction of evidence. . . .

http://washingtonindependent.com/56380/but-if-we-let-them-go-theyll-tell-people-how-they-were-tortured
But If We Let Them Go, They’ll Tell People How They Were Tortured

Attorney General Eric Holder’s investigation

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/24/152221/050
AG Holder Appoints CIA Abuse Investigator

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/attorney-generals-probe-of-cia-torture-will-be-narrow-only-focused-on-torturers/
Attorney General’s Probe Of CIA Torture Will Be “Narrow,” Only Focused On Torturers

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/a_first_step_not_a_prelude_to_trials.php
The results of the investigation are likely to prove unsatisfactory to just about every side in this contentious debate, as the attorney general himself said today. . . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/wapo_holder_to_name_torture_prosecutor.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/dems_urge_holder_to_allow_torture_probe_to_go_furt.php

We need to look higher up

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/24/holder/index.html
Eric Holder announces investigation based on Abu Ghraib model

http://washingtonindependent.com/56277/cia-inspector-general-report-implicates-doj-lawyers-again
CIA Inspector General Report Implicates DOJ Lawyers Again

http://washingtonindependent.com/56340/cia-reports-suggest-broad-probe-of-interrogation-policy-needed
CIA Report Suggests Broad Probe of Interrogation Policy Needed

Must-read: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/24/ig_report/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] I want to write separately about the release today of the 2004 CIA's Inspector General Report, both because it's extraordinary in its own right and because it underscores how unjust it would be to prosecute only low-level interrogators rather than the high-level officials who implemented the torture regime. Initially, it should be emphasized that yet again, it is not the Congress or the establishment media which is uncovering these abuses and forcing disclosure of government misconduct. Rather, it is the ACLU (with which I consult) that, along with other human rights organizations, has had to fill the void left by those failed institutions . . . [read on!]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/24/AR2009082402470.html
[Eugene Robinson] History's demands can seem inconvenient, unfair or unreasonable. But they can't be ignored. The Obama administration has a legal and moral duty to determine whether crimes were committed in the Bush-era detention and interrogation of "war on terror" prisoners -- and, if so, to prosecute those responsible. . . . [read on]

Joe Lieberman: accountability and acknowledging the truth are bad for American security

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/lieberman_probing_torture_puts_us_at_risk.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/cia_ig_agency_faces_major_legal_problems_in_future.php

Another release: the two documents that Dick Cheney commissioned, which he says show how successful torture was

Text: http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/ccr,-amnesty-and-nyu-receive-docs-cheney-wanted-declassified-justify-torture

Analysis: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/24/cheneys-cherry-pick/
Cheney’s Cherry-Pick

http://washingtonindependent.com/56344/cia-documents-provide-little-cover-for-cheney-claims
CIA Documents Provide Little Cover for Cheney Claims

What the CIA Inspector General says: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/torture/cia-will-release-torture-docs-cheney-requested-will-also-release-report-on-tortures-effectiveness/
The 2004 CIA I.G. report’s chapter on effectiveness, meanwhile, was reported to conclude that “it is difficult to determine conclusively whether interrogations provided information critical to interdicting specific imminent attacks.”

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/24/cheneys-cherry-pick/
“On the other hand, Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, an accomplished resistor, provided only a few intelligence reports prior to the use of the waterboard, and analysis of that information revealed that much of it was outdated, inaccurate, or incomplete.”

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/56376/gop-memo-misrepresents-cia-ig-report-on-effectiveness-of-torture

Despicable: the GOP is now saying not only that Obama and the Dems want to kill your granny and grandpa, and your little kids with Down Syndrome – they want to kill US vets too

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/new_product_roll-out.php

More: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/obama-admin-fires-back-at-right-wing-with-detailed-rebuttal-of-death-book-claim/

The GOP fought Medicare tooth and nail when it was first proposed, and they have often tried to cut the program. But now, guess what?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/24/771674/-Republicans-Lie-About-Health-Care-Reform-
[ABC] In the start of a weeklong push on Medicare, Republicans are going on the offensive and taking on the Democrats' health care plan with a new "seniors' bill of rights," which calls for the president to not cut Medicare benefits in his health care . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019616.php
[Steve Benen] A.L. wrote nine words this morning that literally made me laugh: "GOP now promising to protect seniors' Medicare from Dems."

As silly as that sounds, this is the point we've reached. In the 1960s, Republicans opposed the creation of Medicare. In the 1990s, Republicans shut down the federal government because a Democratic president wouldn't tolerate proposed GOP cuts to Medicare. In 2008, the Republican presidential ticket ran on a platform of cutting Medicare.

And in 2009, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has the chutzpah to write a Washington Post op-ed, accusing Democrats of trying to undermine Medicare. . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/steele-today-dont-cut-medicare-steele-in-2006-cut-medicare.php
Steele Today: "Don't Cut Medicare!" Steele in 2006: "Cut Medicare!"

More: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/healthcare-steele-style

The Dems (finally) realize that they’re going to have to pass health care reform with little or no GOP support

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/senate-dems-strategizing-healthcare-endgame-2009-08-23.html
Senate Democrats are considering several options to move healthcare without Republican support and will make a decision on that process shortly after they return to Washington, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Sunday. . . .

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aHA5ZVpOOILs
Democrats Looking at Alternatives to Bipartisan Bill

http://www.rollcall.com/news/37894-1.html
Hope for Bipartisan Deal Lingers, but Reconciliation Talk Increases

Wow – real journalism: who’s benefiting from the health care fight

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/bonanza-by-digby-well-bowl-me-over-with.html
[LAT] Lashed by liberals and threatened with more government regulation, the insurance industry nevertheless rallied its lobbying and grass-roots resources so successfully in the early stages of the healthcare overhaul deliberations that it is poised to reap a financial windfall. . . [read on]

More: http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7498

The state of political discourse today: it’s become okay to admit that you lied and distorted your opponent’s views because it’s basically their fault for letting you do it

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019614.php

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/08/john-mccain-on-death-panels.html

The kind of people they are

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/gop-rep-calls-man-who-identified-himself-as-right-wing-terrorist-a-great-american/
One speaker said he could trace his ancestors back to the Mayflower and said “they did not arrive holding their hands out for help.”

“I am a proud right wing terrorist,” he declared to cheers. . .

“Amen, God bless you,” Herger [R-CA] said with a broad smile. “There is a great American.”

How the military shapes friendly press coverage

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/24/771728/-Propaganda-Continues

Michael Steele again – not making many friends within the GOP

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/steele-roy-blunt-should-be-cleaned-out-of-the-crapper.php

Tim Russert was no prize, but look at how the venerable “Meet the Press” has declined under David Gregory

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/why-did-meet-press-use-ny-post-headline

33 companies now want nothing to do with Glenn Beck

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/24/number-of-advertisers-to-dump-glenn-beck-hits-33/

Wow – how do you make Glenn Beck look good by comparison?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/24/771801/-Limbaugh-On-Barack-Obama
RUSH LIMBAUGH: Obama "wants us to have the same health care and plan that he had in Kenya" and "wants to be the black FDR

Bonus item: Looks like God will be very busy next year deciding who he wants to run for President

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/25/oh-please-oh-pleasewell-not-really/
“Talk-show host Sean Hannity, a vocal opponent of Barack Obama's policies, said today he would not rule out a bid for the presidency in 2012.

Egged on by radio colleague Bill Cunningham, Hannity said he would consider entering the front lines of the political fray if God directs him.”

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:46 AM

 
SUNDAY TALK

The Sunday talk shows are a kind of Rorschach revealing the mind of the Village. Given the usual rightward-leaning lineups, this compilation of comments shouldn’t surprise

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/mccain-defends-palin-also-says-i-dont-think-they-were-quote-death-panels.php
McCain Defends Palin, Also Says: "I Don't Think They Were, Quote, 'Death Panels'"
Appearing on This Week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) defended his former running mate Sarah Palin on her claim that President Obama's health care plan would create "death panels," though he did admit her wording was off. "Look, I don't think they were, quote, 'death panels,' don't get me wrong," said McCain. "I don't think - but on the best treatment procedures part of the bill, it does open it up to decisions being made as far - that should be left - those choices left to the patient and the individual."

Grassley: End-of-Life Provision "Just Scares The Devil Out of People"
Appearing on Face The Nation, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) explained that he used the phrase "pull the plug on grandma" while trying to assuage fears that people have about the health care bill: "It won't do that, but I wanted to explain why my constituents are concerned about it, and I also want to say that there is an $8 billion cost with that issue, and if you're trying to save money and you put an $8 billion of doctors giving you some advice at the end of life, doctors are going to take advantage of earning that $8 billion and constituents see that as an opportunity to save some money. It just scares the devil out of people."

Schumer: We Can Get Public Option With 60 Democratic Votes
Appearing on Meet The Press, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that President Obama has not backed away from a public option: "And at the end of the day, we will have one. We will have one. Because I believe, even if every Republican says that they will not be for a public option, we can find a level playing field, modify--level playing field type public option where both insurance companies and this option compete, and we will get 60 Democratic votes for it."

Hatch: Ted Kennedy Would Have Worked With Me On Health Care
Also on Meet The Press, Sen. Orrin Hatch was asked what the impact of Sen. Ted Kennedy's (D-MA) absence has been on the health care negotiations. "Well, Senator Kennedy would--first thing he would have done would, would have been call me and say, 'Let's work this out,'" Hatch responded. "And we would have worked it out so that the best of both worlds would, would work."

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/24/missing_kennedy.html
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on This Week: "No person in that institution is indispensable, but Ted Kennedy comes as close to being indispensable as any individual I've ever known in the Senate, because he had a unique way of sitting down with the parties at a table and making the right concessions, which really are the essence of successful negotiations. So it's huge that he's absent, not only because of my personal affection for him, but because I think that health care reform might be in a very different place today."

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/mccain-obama-must-drop-public-option
Sen. John McCain believes that President Barack Obama must drop his support for a public insurance option before Republicans will consider supporting reform. "I believe that one of the fundamentals for any agreement would be that the president abandon the government option," McCain told ABC's George Stephanopoulos.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/23/grassley-grandma-obama/
Earlier this month, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) came under fire for telling Iowans that they were right to “fear” that the federal government would “pull the plug on grandma” . . .

Today on CBS’s Face the Nation, Grassley struggled to explain why he made that statement. Clearly uncomfortable with the question, Grassley stumbled over his words and even blamed President Obama for his word choice. He said that even though he knew the House bill “doesn’t intend to” kill senior citizens, he felt that he had a responsibility to nevertheless play to those fears

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/23/lieberman-uninsured-recession/
Last week, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY), the most conservative member of the so-called bipartisan “Gang of Six” working on the Senate Finance Committee’s health care bill, stated that he preferred that Congress deal with reform incrementally. “I think the only way it will happen is we need to break it down into smaller parts than we have now and put it through one at a time,” he said.

Today on CNN, Sen. Joe Lieberman (CT), an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, embraced Enzi’s idea. “Great changes in our country often have come in steps. The Civil Rights movement occurred, changes occurred in steps,” he argued. Lieberman added that Congress should address the nearly 50 million uninsured at some point down the road

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/liebermans-opposition-to-health-reform.php
[Matt Yglesias] Since Lieberman is a United States Senator with vast power over the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans it might have been nice for him to familiarize himself to some extent with the legislation he’s talking about. The bills I’ve seen all phase-in in the future precisely in order to meet the goals of deficit neutrality without involving a mid-recession tax increase. Meanwhile, it seems extremely likely that the economy has already returned to growth. But evidently Lieberman’s been too busy talking to TV bookers to learn about the pending legislation.

Marc Ambinder’s Sunday summary (note that it includes two Republicans and two Dem sellouts): http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/the_sunday_shows_in_seven_sentences_or_less_4.php

Here’s who ISN’T included in these summaries

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/paul-krugman-on-this-week-the-argument-against-the-public-option-is-sheer-nonsense/
Paul Krugman on “This Week”: “The Argument Against the Public Option is Sheer Nonsense”

Oh, really?

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7485
U.S. Senator Max Baucus has finally broken his silence regarding his personal position on including a public option in health care reform legislation. Last Monday night (8/17), in an unprecedented conference call to Montana Democratic central committee chairs, the powerful leader of the Senate Finance Committee told his strongest supporters that he supported a public option.

While discussing the obstacles to getting a public option through the Senate, he assured his forty listeners, "I want a public option too!" . . .

Fox, of course, gets a whole category of its own

http://mediamatters.org/research/200908220004
Fox News continues to falsely claim Dems considering "changing the rules" to pass health care reform

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019605.php
[Steve Benen] Yes, if senators follow Senate rules, they're now changing Senate rules. . . . [read on]

http://mediamatters.org/research/200908230014
On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace repeatedly cropped quotes from a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) document to falsely suggest that the Obama administration is pressuring veterans to end their lives prematurely . . .

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/fox-furthers-death-panel-hysteria-death-book
Fox furthers 'death panel' hysteria with 'death book' claim

More: http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/death-books
[Kevin Drum] BTW, I just did a Nexis search, and as near as I can tell the pamphlet in question wasn't mentioned a single time between 2006 and last month. In other words, until it became a political football this week, not one single person thought this issue was important to enough to mention even in passing in any news outlet whatsoever. The reason, of course, is that before now no one actually thought this was outrageous. Because it isn't.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/fox-furthers-death-panel-hysteria-death-book
But Towey could benefit financially if the Veteran's Administration drops the current material "Your life, Your choices" used for end-of-life consultations. Towey sells his own materials that compete with documentation currently in use.

Wallace pointed out Towey's financial stake. "You have written an end-of-life document yourself called "Five Wishes," which is widely used around the country. In the course of this controversy the last couple of days, V.A. officials are suggesting you want the government to buy and use your book," said Wallace.

"They can if they want. Millions of Americans do. But that's not what this is about," answered Towey.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019608.php
It prompted VetVoice's Richard Smith to write, "After reading this, it's apparent that Jim Towey is nothing more than a Sarah Palin wannabe. Except not as smart. Here is my suggestion to Mr. Towey: When Veterans want advice on their care from someone who has never served in the military, nor received care from the Veterans' Health Administration, we'll call you."

The beltway consensus: the left is to blame for the failure of health care reform

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/23/alter/index.html

A modest proposal

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7472
Why Sunday Talk Shows Should Be Banned . . .

“Playing with fire”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019610.php
"Nobody has been hurt so far. "We can all hope that nobody will be," Frum said. "But firearms and politics never mix well. They mix especially badly with a third ingredient: the increasingly angry tone of incitement being heard from right-of-center broadcasters . . .”

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/opinion/23rich.html

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7464
The Paranoid Style in American Politics Revisited

Several reports might be released today, including the CIA torture report – here’s what we’ll be talking about tomorrow

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/is-doj-withholding-the-opr-report-tomorrow-to-frame-a-white-wash-investigation/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/24/reposted-the-cia-ig-reports-other-contents/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/24/reposted-the-cia-ig-report-on-the-inefficacy-of-torture/

Blackwater (now Xe) helps the CIA build killer drones – and screws it up (but they still have the contract)

http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/08/23/you-never-xe-the-drones-coming/

Bush gang spinmeister: Tom Ridge is a wuss

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/nicole-wallace-calls-tom-ridge-terror-alert

Keeping an eye on Afghanistan

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/23/771407/-We-Must-Stop-Not-Talking-About-Afghanistan

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/squaring-afghan-circle

The GOP purge of conservative-but-not-conservative-enough members continues

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/flank-stake-by-digby-i-havent-given.html

Yes, the popularity of the Dems has declined – but so has the popularity of Republicans

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/22/770955/-Are-The-Dour-Democratic-Projections-About-2010-Justified

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:13 AM

 
WORSE AND WORSE

Worse than we thought: an advance look at the CIA inspector general report, due to be released Monday

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/new-reports-of-harsh-cia-tactics/
A long awaited C.I.A. report provides new details about abuses that took place inside the agency’s secret prisons, including C.I.A. officers carrying out mock executions and threatening at least one prisoner with a gun and a power drill. . . .

People forget what was, before 9/11, the biggest terrorist attack ever on our soil . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/right-wings-are-always-eager-dismiss

Obama attacks right-wing distortions on health care, which is good – but he’s still basically playing defense

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/21/770677/-Obama-uses-weekly-address-to-debunk-liesyet-again

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019602.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/siding-with-their-ideals-by-digby.html
[Jeffrey Feldman] Obama's decision to fend off the cries for a robust public option, rather than join them, suggests that the White House is reluctant to embrace the political risk of treating healthcare reform as a popular movement, choosing instead to approach it as an exercise in legislative negotiation. . . . [read on]

Building the positive case for health care reform with a public option

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/20/the-public-option-its-abo_n_264397.html

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/08/froomkin.html
[Atrios] What is most extraordinary, and extraordinarily irksome, is that we seem to be on a path toward an individual mandate, with no cost controls and massive insurance company subsidies. The various "reform" measures are pretty close to toothless in the absence of competition. . . . .

What the Gang of Six is giving us

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/better-and-better-by-digby-great-before.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/white-house-reportedly-put-health-care.html

[NB: Now, maybe there’s some clever strategy here. You get a group with three Republicans on it to sign on to the general idea of health care reform, whatever the details – then come back to them later and insist that they support the (hopefully, better) bill that comes out of conference. Will that work?

Maybe not: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019604.php
[Steve Benen] This week, two of three GOP members of the group said they're prepared to vote against their own compromise.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) of Iowa acknowledged this on Monday, and Sen. Mike Enzi (R) of Wyoming told Roll Call the same thing. . . .]

Does Obama know what he’s doing?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/opinion/22herbert.html

Reconciliation: don’t tell me it’s an illegitimate move

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/the-history-of-the-reconciliation-process.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/21/770248/-No,-losers,-reconciliation-is-not-the-nuclear-option

The real Death Panels

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/22/770549/-The-Real-Death-Panels-In-America

The argument over whether to cover creationism in textbooks raises some interesting questions about local control of schools, etc. But you always suspect that what the issue is really about is purging any contrary views on any subject whatsoever. Now we know

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/22/770572/-Purge-Them-Thar-Libruls-Outta-Our-Textbooks
[Houston Chronicle] Texas high school students would learn about such significant individuals and milestones of conservative politics as Newt Gingrich and the rise of the Moral Majority — but nothing about liberals — under the first draft of new standards for public school history textbooks. . . .

Environmental worries

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/study-finds-mercury-fish-everywhere-b
Study Finds Mercury in Fish Widespread, Blames Mining, Coal Plants

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/us/23water.html
Debating How Much Weed Killer Is Safe in Your Water Glass

Confirms everything you think about our superficial, trivializing DC press corps. Obama meets with a conservative talk show host for a WH interview (How many times did Bush meet with anyone from the left?). What did they talk about? You’ll never find out from this story . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/22/770052/-The-Shallow-End-Of-The-Pool

Bill Kristol thinks (surprise, surprise) that the GOP has been totally fair and reasonable in attacking Obama’s health care initiative – that is, if you ignore all the fearmongering and lying

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019595.php

How Fox News does polling

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019598.php
"Do you think former President Bill Clinton's meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il and securing the release of the two American journalists will encourage kidnapping of more Americans or not?" [read on]

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/the-sunday-show-line-ups-17.php
• ABC, This Week: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

• CBS, Face The Nation: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA); Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND); Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean.

• CNN, State Of The Union: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen, and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry; Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-CT), and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD).

• NBC, Meet The Press: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT); Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen, and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:45 AM

 
CIVIL WAR

Outrage

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/us/22intel.html
Despite publicly breaking with an American private security company in Iraq, the State Department continues to award the company, formerly known as Blackwater, more than $400 million in contracts . . .

Look, I’m happy to give some credit to Tom Ridge for documenting, in part, the way the Bush gang politicized homeland security warnings to scare people just before the 2004 elections – and accept his claim that eventually this made him quit. Fine. But let’s remember that in fact they used this strategy countlessly, throughout 2004 and at other times, to control the news cycle and distract people’s attention from other stories they didn’t want getting coverage – and that more often than not Ridge played along. Keith O’s got the goods

Video: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#32515009

Timeline: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20646302/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olbermann

More: http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/tom-ridge-just-trying-plug-his-book-h

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/tom-ridge-decries-bush-terror-alerts

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/21/lets-see-who-else-owes-howard-dean-an-apology-today/

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/20/ambinder/index.html

Anybody who didn’t realize we would inevitably end up at this point hasn’t been paying attention

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019580.php
This week, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said "almost all Republicans" are likely to oppose health care reform, no matter how many concessions Democrats make, even if it's the result of a bipartisan compromise. . . . [read on]

Here’s how crazy the argument has become: GOPers are now suggesting that even if health care reform passes, states should simply refuse to enact it. This is what passes for serious political discussion today

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/demint-and-bachmann-call-on-states-to-collectively-fight-obamacare-if-passed.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019590.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/nullification_rx.php
[Josh Marshall] Nullification, the constitutional theory that states can block enforcement of federal laws they find objectionable, was crackpot from the start and hasn't been seriously entertained anywhere in the county since the Civil War . . . [read on]

How Max Baucus’s “we just need more time to reach a bipartisan agreement” stalling helps the GOP

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/baucus-continues-slow-walking-health-reform.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/21/770626/-The-Baucus-Debacle-Gets-Even-Worse

Robert Reich: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/reich_on_the_gang_of_six.php
Why are six senators in charge of health care for 300 million Americans?

Has Obama lost progressives?

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/krugman-on-obama-devastating.html
[Paul Krugman] [T]here’s a growing sense among progressives that they have, as my colleague Frank Rich suggests, been punked. . . [read on]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/20/AR2009082003038.html
[Eugene Robinson] Here's the least surprising news of the week: Americans are souring on the Democratic Party. The wonder is that it's taken so long for public opinion to curdle. There's nothing agreeable about watching a determined attempt to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. . . . [read on!]

More: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/21/obama/index.html

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/major-factor-in-obamas-wapo-poll-slide-drop-among-dems-liberals/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/not-far-enough-by-digby-dont-say-i.html

Has he lost control of the health care debate?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/cook-report-dems-have-lost-control-of-the-debate.php

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/the-fierce-cynicism-of-naivete.php

Politico calls the moral case for health care a “discredited argument”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/aug/21/healthcare-public-option-nondiscrimination
Jonathan Alter of Newsweek has been excellent lately, on the teevee and in print, about the moral argument for reform. The liberal-left hang-up about the public option, he writes, is misguided, because the public option is secondary to the main moral reason to reform American healthcare . . . [read on]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/thats_one_to_look_at_it.php
[Politico] And this week, [Obama] returned to an argument Democratic strategists said shouldn't be part of the pitch this year -- trying to convince Americans they have a "moral obligation" to help people without insurance, a discredited argument from the reform effort under President Bill Clinton.

Moral argument?

http://washingtonindependent.com/55952/demint-health-care-is-a-privilege-not-a-right
[Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)] “I think health care is a privilege,” he said. “I wouldn’t call it a right.”

What’s wrong with this press clip?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/21/770414/-Fairbalanced,-WaPo-style
[WP] The senators also shared tales from their home states, where some lawmakers have been besieged by protesters angry about a potential government takeover of the nation's health-care system. [read on]

Mark Sanford’s growing list of ethical problems

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/21/sanford_ethics/index.html

Fox News despises know-nothing celebrities who venture into political commentary . . . except when they don’t, of course

http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/jon-voight-president-obama-trying-sta

Hmmm. . . . was Glenn Beck forced to take a little vay-cay?

http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/tv-newser-fox-news-forced-glenn-beck

Jon Stewart hosts Betsy McCaughey, original source of the “death panel” lie

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/health_care_/2009/08/the_false_mccoy.php
[Mark Kleiman] Stewart did a much better job than most "real" reporters would have done in calling her on her b.s., but she responded like a true sociopath, unabashed when she was caught lying and always ready to tell one more lie. . . .

http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/08/mccaughey_on_the_daily_show.php
[Jim Fallows] I have been far too soft on Betsy McCaughey. Even when conferring on her the title of "most destructive effect on public discourse by a single person" for the 1990s. She is way less responsible and tethered to the world of "normal" facts and discourse than I had imagined. . . . [read on]

Watch: http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=3247119

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/21/tds/index.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019587.php

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/quote-day-4
[Kevin Drum] I was appalled that Stewart chose to have McCaughey on, and I agree with Fallows that he was unable to handle her. Partly this was because McCaughey affects a winsome, faux innocent style that makes it hard for Stewart to bully her. Partly it's because she's ruthlessly devoid of scruples. Partly it's because she knows she doesn't have to "win" the debate. She merely has to sew a tiny seed of doubt.

McCaughey is pure poison. She cares about nothing except making sure that no healthcare reform of any kind is ever adopted in the United States, and in that cause she's willing to say or do anything. It was a mistake giving her yet another forum to spread her lies.

Charles Krauthammer can always be counted on for apparently “serious, thoughtful” columns that are models of slippery intellectual dishonesty

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/yes

Yep, we just haven’t seen enough of John McCain expressing his deep disappointment with the man who trounced him in 2008

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019583.php
Chris Cillizza let readers know this morning about what to watch on Sunday morning.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) spends the hour (or most of it) with George Stephanopoulos on "This Week" on Sunday. . . .

[Steve Benen] Cillizza described McCain's appearance as "Must Watch TV." I have no idea why.

First, let's note that John McCain is not a key senator right now. He's not a member of the Republican leadership, and he's not on the Senate Finance Committee. McCain hasn't unveiled any relevant or important pieces of legislation, and he's not being targeted as a possible swing vote on any major bills. Indeed, CQ ran an interesting analysis this week, noting that McCain's "maverick" reputation has disappeared -- he's voting with the Republican Party more this year than at any point in his 23-year career.

McCain is, in other words, just another conservative Republican senator, with no real influence, and nothing new to say . . .

More: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/the-inescapable-john-mccain.php

Bonus item: Rush Limbaugh, funny guy

http://www.mediaite.com/online/rush-limbaugh-makes-uranus-joke-about-rep-barney-frank/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:51 AM

 
CRAZY

What we knew

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/20/tom-ridge-i-was-pressured_n_264127.html
In a new book, former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge reveals new details on politicization under President Bush, reports US News & World Report's Paul Bedard. Among other things, Ridge admits that he was pressured to raise the terror alert to help Bush win re-election in 2004. . . . [read on]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09221/989665-176.stm
The most dramatic example -- and one that Mr. Ridge said would help him confirm his previous plans to leave his post -- came on the eve of the 2004 election between Mr. Bush and Sen. John Kerry.

Osama bin Laden had released a videotape with one more ominous sounding but unspecific threat against the United States. Neither Mr. Ridge nor any of the department's security experts thought the message warranted any change in the nation's alert status.

" . . . at this point there was nothing to indicate a specific threat and no reason to cause undue public alarm," he writes.

But that view met resistance in a tense conference call with members of the intelligence community and several other Cabinet officers including Attorney General John Ashcroft and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"A vigorous, some might say dramatic, discussion ensured. Ashcroft strongly urged an increase in the threat level and was supported by Rumsfeld."

Noting the correlation found between increases in the threat level and the president's approval rating, Mr. Ridge writes, "I wondered, 'Is this about security or politics?' "

More: http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/tom-ridge-admits-terror-alerts-were-use

http://www.juancole.com/2009/08/bush-admin-worse-than-our-nightmares.html

How Blackwater made itself indispensable to US foreign policy

http://washingtonindependent.com/55768/so-lets-say-you-hired-blackwater-for-a-cia-assassination-program

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/20/scahill-on-the-blackwater-rent-an-assassin-service/

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090831/scahill1

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/20/cias-blackwater-circular-firing-squad/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/20/blackwaters-nay-sayer-in-hpsci-crazy-pete-hoekstra/

http://washingtonindependent.com/55864/feinstein-on-the-cia-hiring-blackwater-for-you-know-assassinating-dudes

Isn’t it ironic that the wacko right, which is screaming now about government surveillance, expansive power to imprison without due process, silencing dissent, and even government-sanctioned murder – was mostly silent during an administration THAT WAS ACTUALLY DOING IT

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/19/769723/-The-Bush-CIA-was-freakin-crazy

The new goalpost: Republicans now say that only a health care bill that garners 75-80 votes will count as “bipartisan”

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/20/superfilibuster_healthcare/index.html

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/republicans-calling-for-super-supermajority-for-health-care.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019575.php

http://washingtonindependent.com/55785/health-reform-should-have-broad-bipartisan-support-really
[Mike Lillis] Funny, then, that in 2003, when Republicans pushed through the Medicare Modernization Act — which represented the single largest overhaul to the Medicare program since its creation nearly 40 years earlier — the same rule wasn’t in effect. . . .

51 votes, still an option? http://www.samefacts.com/archives/constitutional_politics_/2009/08/reconciliation_the_filibuster_and_the_rules_of_the_senate.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/20/769740/-Theyll-never-do-it.-But-maybe-thats-the-problem.

Standing firm

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/nancy-pelosi-no-way-health-care-bill-passes-house-without-a-public-option.php
Nancy Pelosi: No Way Health Care Bill Passes House Without A Public Option

The irony that Ted Kennedy, the lion of liberal health care policy, may be the vote the Dems need – but he’s dying. What can be done about it?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/20/kennedy/index.html

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/hatch-and-kennedy.php

The GOP will never support a bill that the Dems can live with. Never

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/bipartisanship-by-digby-compassionate.html
[Digby] The Republicans are actually in favor of discriminating against sick people. They have come right out and said it. I don't know why anyone is even pretending to care what they think anymore.

Seriously, if they can't support those reforms, which are even supported by the insurance companies themselves, then regulation will never be enough to keep the system honest. . . . [read on]

Joe Klein finds a nut

http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1917525,00.html
How can you sustain a democracy if one of the two major political parties has been overrun by nihilists? And another question: How can you maintain the illusion of journalistic impartiality when one of the political parties has jumped the shark? . . .

To be sure, there are honorable conservatives, trying to do the right thing. There is a legitimate, if wildly improbable, fear that Obama's plan will start a process that will end with a health-care system entirely controlled by the government. There are conservatives — Senator Lamar Alexander, Representative Mike Pence, among many others — who make their arguments based on facts. But they have been overwhelmed by nihilists and hypocrites more interested in destroying the opposition and gaining power than in the public weal. The philosophically supple party that existed as recently as George H.W. Bush's presidency has been obliterated. The party's putative intellectuals — people like the Weekly Standard's William Kristol — are prosaic tacticians who make precious few substantive arguments but oppose health-care reform mostly because passage would help Barack Obama's political prospects. In 1993, when the Clintons tried health-care reform, the Republican John Chafee offered a creative (in fact, superior) alternative — which Kristol quashed with his famous "Don't Help Clinton" fax to the troops. There is no Republican health-care alternative in 2009. The same people who rail against a government takeover of health care tried to enforce a government takeover of Terri Schiavo's end-of-life decisions. And when Palin floated the "death panel" canard, the number of prominent Republicans who rose up to call her out could be counted on one hand.

A striking example of the prevailing cravenness was Senator Johnny Isakson of Georgia, who has authored end-of-life counseling provisions and told the Washington Post that comparing such counseling to euthanasia was nuts — but then quickly retreated when he realized that he had sided with the reality-based community against his Rush Limbaugh-led party. Mitt Romney, the Republican front-runner for President according to most polls, actually created a universal-health-care plan in Massachusetts that looks very much like the proposed Obamacare, but he spends much of his time trying to fudge the similarities and was AWOL on the "death panels." Why are these men so reluctant to be rational in public? . . .

Until recently, the Republican Party contained a strong moderate wing. It was a Republican, the lawyer Joseph Welch, who delivered the coup de grâce to Senator McCarthy when he said, "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?" Where is the Republican who would dare say that to Rush Limbaugh, who has compared the President of the United States to Adolf Hitler? . . .

This may tell us something about the actual state of play on health care: the nutters are a tiny minority; the Republicans are curling themselves into a tight, white, extremist bubble — but there may be enough of them raising dust to render creative public policy impossible. Some righteous anger seems called for, but that's not Obama's style. He will have to come up with something, though — and he will have to do it without the tiniest scintilla of help from the Republican Party.

More: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/crazy-politicians-through-history.php
[Matt Yglesias] This is all true, but I think it’s a rather rose-tinted way of looking at the past. . . . [read on]

Some day we will be so grateful to the Republicans and their mouthpieces like Rush Limbaugh for denying the reality of global warming and blocking nearly every effort to do something about it

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/ocean-temperatures-hitting-new-highs.html
Ocean temperatures hitting new highs

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/smart-as-whip-by-digby-if-you-wonder.html
[Rush] And this story, they're blaming the ocean for falling global temperatures. The sun warms the oceans, so any fluxuation comes from the sun! . . . [read on]

Bad times for Democrats?

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/at_the_beginning_of_the.php

Crazy makes for good tee-vee (and that’s why we see ‘way too much of these idiots)

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/20/bachmann_tv.html
If you thought you were seeing Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) a lot on cable news, it's because she has been on a lot . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/bachmann-no-government-control-over-my-body.php
Bachmann: No Government Control Over My Body!

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/matthews-gets-gun-owners-america-hea
Matthews gets Gun Owners of America head to say everyone should pack heat at presidential events

[NB: Yeah, just as we heard from these people during the Bush admin. Can you imagine them saying they would let people with guns in to see Bush? They wouldn’t even let in people with critical t-shirts! But then, it’s always different for the GOP.]

Always. Different.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/ensign-iokiyar
[Senator John Ensign] "I haven't done anything legally wrong," the Nevada Republican told the Associated Press in an interview. "President Clinton stood right before the American people and he lied to the American people," Ensign said. "You remember that famous day he lied to the American people, plus the fact I thought he committed perjury. That's why I voted for the articles of impeachment."

[Kevin Drum] There you have it. Ensign may have carried on with a friend's wife for months, leaving their family in shambles, and he may have then bribed them to stay quiet in small chunks deliberately designed to evade IRS rules, but by God he didn't lie to the American people. So that's OK.

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/20/11440/1574

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#32501252

Policy via Facebook: I think that’s all you need to say

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019556.php

[NB: I say, if you can't Tweet a solution to the health care crisis in 140 characters or less, the hell with it.]

You know, I couldn’t care less about the particulars of this story (Is she a skanky ho’ or not?) – but the underlying precedent is ominous news for bloggers (thanks to AG for the link)

http://government.zdnet.com/?p=5262

What?! Tom DeLay LYING to us again?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/did_delays_angry_quadriplegic_protesters_tale_add.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/reporters_who_know_delay_best_weve_never_heard_of.php

The kind of people they are

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908200032
Limbaugh tells caller who can't afford $6,000 to treat broken wrist: "Well, you shouldn't have broken your wrist"

Bonus item: Fox News, not troubled at all by people calling Obama “Hitler,” “Stalin,” “Pol Pot,” a socialist, a Nazi, a racist, a man who hates white people. But THIS, they say, is “quite rude”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/20/769604/-Fox-thinks-its-quite-rude-to-slam-anti-Obama-Nazi-attacks

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:33 AM

 
THIS MEANS WAR

[Breaking news: the other shoe drops. The CIA didn’t just have a secret assassination program – they used Blackwater to do it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/us/20intel.html]

Did you ever see an “anonymous WH official” slam the Blue Dogs for undermining the President’s health care initiative?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/anonymous-white-house-official-slams-liberals-over-public-option.php
Anonymous White House Official Slams Liberals Over Public Option

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/19/769379/-What-theyre-saying-%28anonymously%29-at-the-White-House

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/they-should-be-thrilled-by-dday.html

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/somebody-at-white-house-needs-to-be.html

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/08/19/ambinder-white-house-wont-buckle-to-liberal-demands-for-public-plan/
Ambinder: White House “Won’t Buckle” To Liberal Demands For Public Plan

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/19/769535/-Ambinder:-White-House-thinks-progressives-want-private-insurance-mandate
[Marc Ambinder] The president continues to operate under the belief that liberals will warm to the bill when presented with a goodybag that includes includes an individual mandate, community rating, guaranteed issue, and a minimum required package. There's no chance, really, that a bill WON'T feature these reforms. Quietly, to secure and keep Democrats on board, the White House is going to bargain, providing inducements, like more money for favored projects, etc., in order to secure individual votes. . . . [read on]

Bipartisanship is dead! No it’s not!

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/white-house-suggests-bipartisan-health-care-bill-dead-republicans-not-serious-about-reform.php
White House Suggests Bipartisan Health Care Bill Dead, Republicans Not Serious About Reform

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/as-if-they-had-choice-by-dday-nyt.html

Ah wish ah knew how to quit yew

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/19/15650/5236
Baucus Not Abandoning Grassley

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019550.php
"The Finance Committee is on track to reach a bipartisan agreement on comprehensive health care reform that can pass the Senate," Baucus said, adding how "confident" he is that the Gang of Six "will continue our steady progress." [read on]

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/grassley-after-i-trashed-health-care-reform-in-multiple-venues-its-time-to-work-together.php
Grassley: After I Trashed Health Care Reform In Multiple Venues, It's Time To Work Together

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/19/AR2009081904125.html
Senator [Grassley] Calls for Narrower Measure

http://mediamattersaction.org/blog/200908190007
Sen. Grassley Says "He's Losing Patience With Democrats"

The GOP loves to talk like they’re in charge, even when they’re not

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/grassley-i-told-obama-say-hed-sign-bi
Grassley: I Told Obama To Say He'd Sign A Bill Without the Public Option

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/grassley-obama-should-publicly-drop-public-option-now-to-prove-hes-really-bipartisan/
Grassley: If Obama Doesn’t Publicly Renounce Public Option Now, He’s Not Truly Interested In Bipartisanship

Who killed bipartisanship? We all know who’s winning that argument, all facts to the contrary

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/bipartisanship/gop-leaders-attack-white-house-you-killed-bipartisanship/

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/19/partisan/index.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/19/769453/-Conrad,-Co-ops,-and-Bipartisanship

OR . . . does the cagey WH team know exactly what they’re doing?

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/real-barack-obama
[Kevin Drum] Our story so far: Democrats offer up a bipartisan proposal to fund advance care counseling and Republicans turn it into a plan to create death panels. Democrats agree to fund home nurse care and Republicans tar it as a secular brainwashing program. Democrats take Republican concerns about cost containment seriously by setting up the Independent Medicare Advisory Council and Republicans start screaming about "rationing." Democrats give in on a public option and accept a co-op program in its place and Republicans dig in and finally announce that they're just going to oppose everything no matter what Democrats do. . . .

“The Republican leadership,” Mr. Emanuel said, “has made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama’s health care proposal is more important for their political goals than solving the health insurance problems that Americans face every day.”

OK then. Obviously Emanuel said this with presidential approval, so the question is: did Obama ever expect anything different? Was his calm, deliberative, bipartisan sales pitch genuine, or did he know it would fail all along?

We've been asking this question ever since the primaries — does he really believe he can sweet talk Republicans into cooperating with him? — and we still don't know the answer. Obama is a guy who plays his cards very close to his chest. But the next couple of months should give us a clue. If he really believed it, then he probably doesn't have much of a Plan B and the next stop for this train is Chaosville. But if it was mostly an act, then his next step is obvious: he'll make a barnstorming public case that he made a good faith effort to work with Republicans but they were just completely intransigent. He'll attack them mercilessly and do everything he can to whip public opinion into a lather against the obstinate, obstructionist, reactionary GOP.

If that was his plan all along, it wouldn't be a bad one. He correctly divined a long time ago that the American public was weary of endless partisan fighting and wanted a break, and he rode that insight to victory. Regardless of his own beliefs, then, it meant he had to start his presidency by demonstrating a genuine effort to work across the aisle, and he had to keep it up long enough to show he was serious. Only if it plainly failed would he be able to turn the screws and start fighting on pure partisan lines.

Will it work? Stay tuned.

More hopefulness: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/health_care_/2009/08/chill.php

The new beltway conventional wisdom – the Dems can’t use reconciliation to pass health care reform, it would mean “war.” Hey guys, there IS a war – but only one side is fighting it

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/tweety-warns-weiner-it-will-be-war-re

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/reid-well-get-a-health-care-bill-by-any-means-necessary.php

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125072573848144647.html
The White House and Senate Democratic leaders, seeing little chance of bipartisan support for their health-care overhaul, are considering a strategy shift that would break the legislation into two parts and pass the most expensive provisions solely with Democratic votes. . . .

Henry Waxman (D-CA) puts on the brass knuckles

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/19/769486/-Waxman-Opening-another-Front-in-Healthcare-Debate
[NYT] Democrats on a House committee are seeking detailed financial records from dozens of large insurance companies, officials disclosed Tuesday, part of an investigation into ''executive compensation and other business practices'' in an industry opposed to President Barack Obama's plan to overhaul health care. . . .

[NB: One thing they’re looking for – corporate entanglement with the Blue Dogs, who stand to be outed.]

The Big Lies about health care, and how the media let them take root

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/politics-of-policy-destruction-by-digby.html
Majorities in the poll believe the plans would give health insurance coverage to illegal immigrants; would lead to a government takeover of the health system; and would use taxpayer dollars to pay for women to have abortions — all claims that nonpartisan fact-checkers say are untrue . . .

Fox News viewers skew the percentages: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019549.php

More lies: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/lies_and_the_lying_liars_who_tell_them.php

What a surprise! http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7354
Chuck Todd: When you actually tell people what’s in the bill, they like it

How polling questions slant the results

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7370

Michele Bachmann (R-La-la Land), constitutional expert, says health care reform is unconstitutional

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/bachmann-democrats-health-care-plan-is-unconstitutional.php

http://washingtonindependent.com/55661/constitutional-scholar-michele-bachmann-congress-cant-reform-health-care

I guess you all saw that Bob Novak, the “Prince of Darkness,” died. Unless he left some scribbled notes behind, here are some questions we’ll never have answered about his role in the Plame affair

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/19/the-secrets-novak-brings-to-the-grave/

Hey – good news! The deficit is substantially less than projected. Think it will get big coverage?

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/august_surprise_a_lower_deficit.php

The sudden appearance of armed men at Obama rallies isn’t just planned and coordinated; it’s linked with 1990’s militia groups

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/ernest_hancock_viper_militia_gun_obama_event.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/heavily_armed_militia_defended_by_activist_resisted_new_world_order.php

He’s a conservative writer, but I gotta say he has a point: why has the anti-war left suddenly disappeared now that Bush’s wars have become Obama’s wars? (thanks to Elaine N. for the link)

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/For-the-Left_-war-without-Bush-is-not-war-at-all-8119694-53506047.html

In Afghanistan

http://www.juancole.com/2009/08/6-us-troops-killed-in-afghanistan-war.html
6 US Troops Killed in Afghanistan; War Loses Majority Support

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/and-why-are-we-in-afghanistan-by-dday.html

How Fox News does “research”

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200908190013

Bonus item: We love Barney Frank!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYlZiWK2Iy8

But seriously: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/aug/19/healthcare-obama-barney-frank

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:15 AM

 
YES, REPEAT NO

The Obama admin keeps giving mixed messages about their stance on the public option, while claiming that they’ve been perfectly consistent. The Repubs, sensing weakness, confusion, and division among the Dems, have become even LESS willing to compromise toward any sort of bipartisan plan – in fact, now they see a chance to kill the whole thing altogether (which was their aim all along, of course)

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/18/sebelius/index.html
[Alex Koppelman] It was Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius who started the frenzy that's occurred the past couple days over the question of whether the Obama administration is ready to give up on the public option. And now it's Sebelius who's trying to put a stop to it.

On Sunday, Sebelius told CNN's John King that a public option "is not the essential element" in healthcare reform. During a speech she gave on Tuesday, though, she went after the media for focusing on her remarks. . . .

"All I can tell you is that Sunday must have been a very slow news day because here's the bottom line: Absolutely nothing has changed. We continue to support the public option. . .”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/18/768426/-A-boring-consistency
Q Just to be completely clear, has anything changed on the public option?

MR. GIBBS: No. I challenge you guys all to go back and see what we've said about this over the course of many, many, many, many months, and you'll find a boring consistency to our rhetoric. [NB: Uh, no. Read on]

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/white-house-strongly-denies-its-given-up-on-the-public-option.php

Where does it say that only conservative Dems can hold the health care reform bill hostage unless it contains what they want? Progressives play hardball

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#32469058

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/progressives-have-constituents-now-by.html

The media spin

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/whos-your-daddy-by-digby-so-chris.html
[Digby] So, Chris Matthews and Chuck Todd are saying that health care with a public option won't pass because the Blue Dogs don't want it and liberals won't accept this political reality and need to stop being such silly utopians. In other words, liberals need to eat shit because there is a conservative majority.

Except, of course, that isn't really true, is it? The Republicans have taken themselves out of the game and within the Democratic Party, liberals have the majority. The Progressive Caucus is twice as large as the Blue Dogs and we have at least 45 Senators on record for the public plan in the Senate. If they want to block legislation they can do it. If the White House needs somebody to eat shit, there's a far better political reason for it to be the Blue Dogs and the corporate lackeys in the Senate than the progressives.

All Obama has to do is tell the Blue Dogs that he won't work for them in 2010 if they don't support him. They're toast if there's no health care reform anyway, because Dems are going to suffer big losses with Obama's failure and they will be the ones who lose their seats. It's not like the Republicans are going to go easy on Blue Dogs in swing districts out of the goodness of their hearts. . . . [read on]

Can co-ops work?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/co-opd-by-dday-if-youre-going-to-create.html
Kent Conrad, the brainchild of this idea, admitted today that co-ops won't bring down the cost of premiums for individuals, unlike the public option. Which would be the point. . .

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7322
[NYT] [T]he co-op idea is so ill defined that no one knows exactly what it would look like or how effectively it would compete with commercial insurers . . .

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/08/what-hells-co-op.html
[Atrios] Kudos to the NYT for actually trying to address this question. Given all the talk about them, few seem to have bothered to try to figure out or explain what they are. Not even their biggest supporter seems to have any clue.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/18/92651/4702
Health insurance co-ops failed in Iowa . . .

http://washingtonindependent.com/55547/gop-ruling-out-health-care-co-op-compromise
GOP Ruling Out Health Care Co-Op Compromise

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7332
Co-ops don’t work - and they won’t get Republican support

Does an effective plan require the public option?

Yes: http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/08/17/reich/print.html

No: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/18/AR2009081803449.html

Some deaths just take a long time. . .

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/bipartisanship/rahm-emanuel-okay-bipartisanship-is-dead/
Rahm Emanuel: Bipartisanship Is Dead
“The Republican leadership,” Mr. Emanuel said, “has made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama’s health care proposal is more important for their political goals than solving the health insurance problems that Americans face every day.” . . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/18/769027/-Is-the-Baucus-Committee-Dead
Is the Baucus Committee Dead?
[McJoan] Here's the two key Republican "negotiators" that Baucus has been wasting so much time with all these long months. . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/18/negotiations/index.html
Why are Dems still negotiating on healthcare?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/19/health/policy/19repubs.html
Democrats Seem Set to Go It Alone on a Health Care Bill

What next?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019535.php
Ezra noted today, "It's a fairly safe bet that the House bill will include a public option and the Senate bill will have a weak public option or some version of a co-op plan. Then the two will meet. What happens then?"

A conference committee, where the president apparently intends to shape the bill the way he wants it.

What Obama’s up against

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019537.php

Guns at an Obama rally

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/2009/08/assault-rifle-interview-outside-obama-event-in-phoenix-was-planned.php
"Oh, it's more planned than you think," Hancock responded. . . . [read on]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/2009/08/watch-man-carries-an-assault-rifle-outside-obama-event.php
"We will forcefully resist people imposing their will on us through the strength of the majority with a vote."

http://washingtonindependent.com/55361/when-does-carrying-a-loaded-weapon-to-a-presidential-rally-become-a-threat
When Does Carrying a Loaded Weapon to a Presidential Rally Become a Threat?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/troubled_history.php
[Josh Marshall] But let's be honest about what this is about. The right -- the modern American right -- has a very troubled history with political violence. The ideological pattern is clear going back at least thirty years and arguably far longer. A simple review of the 1990s, particularly 1993, 1994, culminating in many respects in the tragic 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal building in April 1995 tells the tale. Mix in the militias, the thankfully inept attempt on President Clinton's life a few months before Oklahoma City (see Francisco Duran) and it's all really not a pretty picture. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/an_important_distinction.php

Chris Christie (R-NJ): in real trouble now?

http://www.thenewargument.com/index.php/2009/08/did-christie-and-rove-discuss-bid-in-2003/
Chris Christie is having a bad week. . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/christie-taking-heat-over-undisclosed-loan-to-former-employee-in-us-attorneys-office.php
Christie Taking Heat Over Undisclosed Loan To Former Employee In U.S. Attorney's Office

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/christie-didnt-report-loan-income-on-tax-return.php
Christie Didn't Report Loan Income On Tax Return

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/report-acting-us-attorney-facing-ethics-investigation-for-potentially-helping-christie.php
Report: Acting U.S. Attorney Facing Ethics Investigation For Potentially Helping Christie

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/17/more-on-christies-below-market-loan-gift-to-a-prosecutor-in-his-office/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/18/more-on-christies-ongoing-financial-relationship-with-michele-brown/

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/nowwwww_its_getting_interesting.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/18/768501/-NJ-Gov:-CREW-Calls-For-An-Investigation-of-Christie
CREW Calls For An Investigation of Christie

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/18/115743/801
Corzine: Christie is a Lawbreaker . . .

More forged “grassroots” letters

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/more_forged_letters_from_astroturf_firm_revealed.php

When is a blogger not a REAL blogger? I find these attempts to demarcate legitimate bloggers from the amateurs very un-bloggy

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/beyond-bloggers.php
[Tina Dupuy] We asked Rosen what he thought of the term “blogger” and how there is not a word to distinguish a journalist who blogs and a numbnut who blogs.

“Blogger will become such a broad term it will lose all meaning,” he told FBLA. . . .

[NB: Yeah, because when really serious journalists like Dana Milbank and Chris Cillizza from the Washington Post blog, they can’t be “numbnuts.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YArTpukehYY]

Bonus item: What if Democrats behaved more like Republicans?

http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2009/08/18/tomo/index.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:09 AM

 
NEGOTIATING WITH THEMSELVES

So, Obama starts by taking true universal coverage (“Medicare for all”) off the table, and adopts a market-centered approach, expanding access to health INSURANCE. He lays down a robust public option as a necessary condition for true competition that will hold down costs – then later says it is just a “sliver” of the issue and not essential at all.

Meanwhile, Senate Dems are negotiating with people who want to strip every key provision out of the bill – and then will vote against it anyway. This is today’s “bipartisanship” at work

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/grassley-i-wont-vote-for-my-own-bill-without-broad-republican-support.php
Grassley: I Won't Vote For My Own Bill

More: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/grassley-says-he-would-sabotage-a-health-care-bill-whose-provisions-he-favors-in-order-to-advance-partisan-agenda.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/rnc-think-the-gop-will-support-co-ops-think-again.php
RNC: Think The GOP Will Support Co-ops? Think Again!

Watch: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#32454071

Meanwhile

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/house-progressive-white-house-could-lose-100-votes-if-he-scraps-public-option.php
House Progressive: White House Could Lose 100 Votes If It Scraps Public Option

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/08/hcr.html
[Atrios] I don't know if the progressive House Dems will hold firm, but it's certainly a more plausible story than "Max Baucus creates compromise bill that Republicans will vote for." Yet it's the latter story which gets all the attention. Dem pundits should understand that there's pretty good chance that absent good public option, there will be no health care bill.

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019522.php

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/17/public_passage/index.html

Is the public option dead?

Yes: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/aug/17/obama-administration-healthcare-no-public-option
Public option goes pffft

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#32454458

No: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/17/public_option/index.html

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/latest-twists-on-the-public-option.php

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/dont-panic-howard-dean-says-bill-will

Maybe: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/the-public-option-as-a-signal/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/chip-they-should-not-bargain-by-dday.html

Who knows? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#32454058

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/making-sense-public-option

So long ago . . .

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/flashback-last-month-obama-said-reform-must-include-public-option/
Last Month, Obama Said Reform “Must Include” Public Option

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/17/767126/-Baucus-proposed-Medicare-style-public-option-last-November
Baucus proposed Medicare-style public option last November

http://www.slate.com/id/2225506/
Why the Public Option Isn't Dispensable

The Big Picture

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/17/AR2009081702178.html
[Eugene Robinson] It's true that politics is the art of the possible, but it's also true that great leaders expand the scope of possibility. Barack Obama took office pledging to be a transformational president. The fate of a government-run public health insurance option will be an early test of his ability to end the way Washington's big-money, special-interest politics suffocates true reform. . . . [read on]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/opinion/18herbert.html
[Bob Herbert] It’s never a contest when the interests of big business are pitted against the public interest. So if we manage to get health care “reform” this time around it will be the kind of reform that benefits the very people who have given us a failed system, and thus made reform so necessary.

Forget about a crackdown on price-gouging drug companies and predatory insurance firms. That’s not happening. With the public pretty well confused about what is going on, we’re headed — at best — toward changes that will result in a lot more people getting covered, but that will not control exploding health care costs and will leave industry leaders feeling like they’ve hit the jackpot. . . . [read on]

Could we still get a good health care reform bill out of this mess?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/the-news-of-its-death-is_b_261462.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/some-light-by-digby-i-had-chance-to.html

Would things have gone differently if Tom Daschle hadn’t screwed up his appointment as Sect’y of HHS?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/unseen_consequences.php

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/grassley-says-he-would-sabotage-a-health-care-bill-whose-provisions-he-favors-in-order-to-advance-partisan-agenda.php

It only takes one

http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=1200460
About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday - the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.

Gun-rights advocates say they're exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest . . .

http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/?id=3219644
Rep. Gingrey (R-GA) Encourages Guns at Town Halls

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/where_are_the_limits.php

Is the Obama admin finally turning against the Defense of Marriage Act?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019521.php

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/new-obama-legal-brief-changes-tune-on.html

The Republicans do this so well. Now they’re saying that the “death panel” characterizations of the health care bill that THEY promulgated, were in fact ginned up out of all proportion by the “far left.” And no one laughs in their face

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/17/768195/-Grassley-Joins-the-Far-Left

Dick Armey, liar

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019510.php

Is HE still around?

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/joe-plumber-those-kind-people-i-usually-to

Christmas in August: imagine a GOP primary with Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Sarah Palin

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/bachmann-ill-run-for-president----if-god-calls-me-to-do-it.php
[Michele Bachmann (R-MN)] If I felt that's what the Lord was calling me to do, I would do it," she answered. "When I have sensed that the Lord is calling me to do something, I've said yes to it. But I will not seek a higher office if God is not calling me to do it. That's really my standard.

"If I am called to serve in that realm I would serve," she concluded, "but if I am not called, I wouldn't do it." . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/santorum-thinks-we-think-hes-dangerous.html
[Rick Santorum] "I'm sure the folks on the left see me as dangerous. They've always seen me as dangerous, and I take a little pride in that. People cannot see you as dangerous unless you're effective." . . . [read on]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/17/AR2009081702177.html
[Richard Cohen] Palinism. What is it? It is an updated version of McCarthyism . . .

Eight more advertisers, including Wal-Mart, pull out of Glenn Beck’s show

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/if-theyve-lost-walmart-by-digby-good.html

Another “mistake” in a Fox News chyron

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/fox-chyron-refers-to-rep-joke-sestak.php

Bonus item: The Katy Abram interview, with annotation

http://crooksandliars.com/bluegal/open-thread-222

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:29 AM

 
MIXED SIGNALS

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/health/policy/17talkshows.html
‘Public Option’ in Health Plan May Be Dropped

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/16/AR2009081602248.html
Key Feature Of Obama Health Plan May Be Out

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/08/16/us/politics/AP-US-Health-Care-Overhaul.html
White House Appears Ready to Drop 'Public Option'

Comment

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/16/the-end-of-the-public-option/
[Blue Texan] So Obama campaigns for 2 years with the public option as the centerpiece of his health care reform. He's elected by the largest majority in 20 years, and the public gives him 60 Democratic seats in the Senate and 256 Democratic seats in the House. Obama then publicly lobbies for said public option after he takes office.

Then Kent Conrad, who represents like 7 people, and a handful of corrupt Blue Dogs say "No way." And Obama caves. . . .

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/the_maddow_protocol_on_health_care_politics.php
[Rachel Maddow] But ultimately, if the president decides that he's going to go with a reform effort that doesn't include a public option, what he will have done is spent a ton of political capital, riled up an incredibly angry right wing base who's been told that this is a plot to kill grandma, grandma, and he will have achieved something that doesn't change health care very much and that doesn't save us very much money and won't do very much for the American people. It's not a very good thing to spend a lot of political capital on.

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/white-house-willing-to-drop-public.html
[Joe Sudbay] Is anything make or break for Obama? I'm sure this is just the "bipartisan" breakthrough that will save the whole bill. Right.

I don't understand why Democrats are always so willing and desperate to compromise with themselves. The GOPers don't want any reform bill. Their base, comprised of the teabaggers, birthers and deathers, won't let them negotiate. So, Democrats compromise with themselves, again -- and sell out their principles, again. Just like they did on the stimulus package - they gave the GOP nearly 40% of the package in tax cuts, and how many votes did it get them in the entire Congress? Three.

See, to Rahm and his crew, a win is a win. They'll sacrifice good policy and principles for politics any day. But, they tell us that we're the bad guys for having the audacity to hope that Obama will some day live up to his campaign promises.

“We surrender” (or not)

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/16/142354/830
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius waved the white flag today . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/say-what-sebelius-touts-public-option
Sebelius Touts Public Option on 'This Week', Throws It Under the Bus on CNN. . .

Oh?

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/administration_official_sebelius_misspoke.php
An administration official said tonight that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius "misspoke" when she told CNN this morning that a government run health insurance option "is not an essential part" of reform. This official asked not to be identified in exchange for providing clarity about the intentions of the President. The official said that the White House did not intend to change its messaging and that Sebelius simply meant to echo the president, who has acknowledged that the public option is a tough sell in the Senate and is, at the same time, a must-pass for House Democrats, and is not, in the president's view, the most important element of the reform package.

A second official, Linda Douglass, director of health reform communications for the administration, said that President Obama believed that a public option was the best way to reduce costs and promote competition among insurance companies, that he had not backed away from that belief, and that he still wanted to see a public option in the final bill.

"Nothing has changed," she said . . .

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/the_sunday_shows_in_seven_sentences_or_less_3.php
[Robert Gibbs] "What I am saying is the bottom line for this for the president is, what we have to have is choice and competition in the insurance market. Again, if you are in a place in this country where you only get one choice, how in the world are you going to be able to convince anybody that you are driving down costs when you don't have to compete against anything." . . .

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/what_the_white_houses_public_plan_retreat_really_means.php
[Marc Ambinder] There's a good argument going on Twitter about what President Obama wanted vis-a-vis the public plan, and what his team actually meant to do today. All I know is that the White House is NOT pushing back against news stories claiming that the "public option" has been essentially taken off the table by the White House.

What this means, however, is up for debate.

Because the President never insisted that a health care bill contain a public plan, he intended to use it as a bargaining chip. It was on the table so it could be consumed, or taken off, whenever the White House felt it was useful.

No mistake: The President supports a public option. He's said that he won't sign a bill that doesn't include some competitive mechanism in the health care exchange that would cover most of the uninsured, and has said that a government-run program would be the best way to do that. That's all he's said, though.

That's why Senate Democrats felt free to explore the cooperative option in the first place.

To be honest, I'm not entirely convinced that HHS Sec. Sebelius and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs went on television today in order to say anything about the public plan. Yesterday, Obama himself admitted that the public plan ain't really what the bill is about.

The White House -- and Democrats -- messed this up. Maybe it was inevitable. Somehow, and maybe I'll write this article for a magazine, the idea of the public plan became the sine qua non of meaningful reform for a very vocal portion of the Democratic intellectual elite. House Democrats embraced the idea. If you equate health care reform with a public option, then, well, health care reform is dead to you. There are a lot of angry liberals tonight. They are within their rights to feel aggrieved.

The White House DID play up the potential cost-cutting that a public plan might, sometime down the road, produce. Afterall, given the political environment at the time they first started to argue about health care, they had no choice: the public, Democrats in Congress were mouths-agape about the deficit. In polling and focus groups, cost works well. And the public option -- combined with the handy-dandy IMAC price commission proposal -- are curve-benders.

Before the health care debate began in earnest, I can tell you that very senior White House officials believed that some form of public plan was absolutely necessary to ensure that the overall bill would be seen as a cost-cutter. That opinion changed roundabout three months ago when it became clear that even a public plan with a trigger mechanism -- Rahm Emanuel's preferred option -- just didn't have the votes.

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/the-trouble-with-appeasement.php
[John Harwood] I gotta tell you what a White House official told me today: ‘Our problem right now is, if we tell some of the Republican opponents in the Senate, ‘You can have everything you want in the bill,’ they still won’t vote for it.’

Too little, too late?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/combatting_the_liars.php
[AS] Obama isn't saying the right thing. He should be saying, "Stop lying." Or maybe he should send Biden out to say it. That's probably the best thing.

I'm not basing this on some misguided sense that being aggressive is what's required. Rather, I'm basing it on how the MSM works. They report what politicians say. And they don't fact check them. That's the system -- maybe you don't like it. I don't like it either. But it's not changing any time soon.

That's a key point, so I'm going to repeat it. All the broadcast MSM does is report what politicians say. They don't fact check them. Afterwards, they have blowhards sit around in panels and have disingenuous spin-meister discussions about whether or not what was said is playing well with the general public. . .

Blame Kent Conrad (D-ND)

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/health_care_/2009/08/kent_conrad_keeps_lying.php
Sen. Kent Conrad told Fox News' Chris Wallace that there are not enough votes in the Senate to pass a public option for health insurance. "The fact of the matter is there are not the votes in the United States Senate for a public option. There never have been," said Conrad.

[Jonathan Zasloff] The reason why "there are not enough votes in the Senate" for a public option is because Kent Conrad opposes it. . . .

The damage already done, Chuck Grassley (R-IA) quietly retracts his “death panel” lie

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/grassley-retracts-claim-that-government-could-pull-the-plug-on-grandma/

From the Sunday shows:

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/republican-senator-tom-coburn-ok-said.html
Republican Senator Tom Coburn (OK) said government has "earned' threats of violence

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/rachel-maddow-unmasks-dick-armeys-rad
Rachel Maddow Unmasks Dick Armey's Radical Opinion: 'Medicare is Tyranny'

Will the GOP regret unleashing the crazy wing of their party?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019504.php

Bonus item: Why can’t we talk like this about public policy?

http://blogs.ajc.com/cynthia-tucker/2009/08/14/why-cant-we-discuss-dying-with-dignity/
[Cynthia Tucker] First off, let’s be clear about the facts: There are no “death panels” in any legislation being considered to reform health care. Instead, there is a proposal — very similar to something proposed by Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson in 2007 — to have Medicare pay for voluntary counseling about end-of-life choices, living wills, etc.

Isn’t that a perfectly reasonable proposal? Human beings, across all ages and cultures, have this in common: we’re all going to die. When my father died of cancer in 1984, there was this small mercy in the general misery: He didn’t linger long and suffer. After he found out his cancer had metastasized and he was terminal, he told my mother he didn’t want any extreme measures taken to extend his life.

He taught me a lot about dying with dignity. To the extent possible, I’d like to make my own choices about my final days. So I have assigned to my brother, a physician, medical power of attorney. My mother has given him her living will.

Why are we so squeamish about discussing something that will happen to each of us eventually? Would you rather your family be left with the kind of ugly controversy that engulfed the family of Terri Schivo?

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:59 AM

 
TV SCHEDULE

Obama talks tough on health care

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/15/766989/-Obama:-Enough-with-the-scare-tactics-already

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/opinion/16obama.html

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019500.php

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0809/26149.html

Yep

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/paul-krugman-these-people-are-unappeasable
[Paul Krugman] These People are Unappeasable . . . [watch]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019501.php

Crazy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/14/AR2009081401495.html
[Rick Perlstein] So the birthers, the anti-tax tea-partiers, the town hall hecklers -- these are "either" the genuine grass roots or evil conspirators staging scenes for YouTube? The quiver on the lips of the man pushing the wheelchair, the crazed risk of carrying a pistol around a president -- too heartfelt to be an act. The lockstep strangeness of the mad lies on the protesters' signs -- too uniform to be spontaneous. They are both. If you don't understand that any moment of genuine political change always produces both, you can't understand America, where the crazy tree blooms in every moment of liberal ascendancy, and where elites exploit the crazy for their own narrow interests. . . . [read on!]

More: http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/right-wing-rage-preexisting-condition

Crazy makes crazy

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/beck-has-happy-fearmongering-session
Beck has a happy fearmongering session on 'death panels' with Rand Paul . . .

Plus, eugenics! http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,539000,00.html

Glenn Beck loses more advertisers

http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/08/more-advertisers-pull-support-for-glenn-beck/

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/countdown-fox-suffers-beck-backlash

Bad news if you shop Whole Foods

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/health_care_/2009/08/my_last_dollar_at_whole_foods.php

The role of academics in the Bush/Cheney torture regime

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/torture-for-money-by-digby-there-was.html

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/the-sunday-show-line-ups-16.php
• ABC, This Week: Sec. of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius; Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT).

• CBS, Face The Nation: White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs; Former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE); Former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-IN); Presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.

• CNN, State Of The Union: Sec. of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius; James Carville and Mary Matalin.

• NBC, Meet The Press: Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), now the head of FreedomWorks; Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK); Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD); MSNBC host Rachel Maddow; Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY); Chamber of Commerce executive vice president Bruce Josten; Gov. Bill Ritter (D-CO).

Bonus item: Just for fun – tv commercial jingles from the 50s and 60s

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/15/late-night-fdl-jingles/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:22 AM

 
GUYS AND GALS

Their guy

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/whats_wrong_with_this_picture.php
[Josh Marshall] Senate Democrats have given a seat at the bargaining table to a senator who first endorsed the "death panel" canard and is now going around hawking copies of Glenn Beck books.

Watch: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/14/grassley-glenn-beck/

Our guy

http://www.jamestownsun.com/event/article/id/91608/
Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D. presented his cooperative health care proposal here Thursday and told an audience of 100 that he would not vote for a government-run health care program. . . .

Conrad said he would not vote for any health care reform that funded abortions, care for illegal immigrants or a plan that mandates end-of-life counseling.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2009/8/13/17641/9834
[Howard Dean] "This talk about co-ops is a political compromise it is not a policy compromise . . . . And I think most people, on both sides of the aisle know that co-ops won't work."

Their guy

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/rep-paul-broun-obamacare-will-leave-mama-to-die-in-agony.php
[Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA)] My fellow American,

As a Congressman and as a concerned doctor, I am writing today to warn you:

Your health care is in serious danger.

Barack Obama managed to sneak a provision into his massive "stimulus" bill that is going to ration your health care and lead us down the path of socialized medicine. . . .

...or the next thing you know, your doctor may be banned from giving you or your loved ones the life-saving care they need! . . .

In other words: When mama falls and breaks her hip, she'll just lie in her bed in pain until she dies with pneumonia because her needed surgery is not cost efficient.

History 101

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/health_care_/2009/08/fantasy_speech_by_barack_obama.php
[Mark Kleiman] Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed Social Security. Republicans opposed what they called "socialist security."

Lyndon Johnson proposed Medicare. Republicans opposed what they called "socialized medicine."

Now we're trying to make sure every American can afford health insurance that can't be taken away if you get sick. And - sound familiar? Some right-wing extremists say it's socialism.

Their gal

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/14/palin/index.html
Palin declares victory on healthcare bill

The evolution of a lie

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019481.php
Earlier this year, Tom Daschle hosted some public discussions on health care, and would occasionally be confronted with questions about "forced euthanasia." In general, he was delighted. "Almost automatically you have most of the audience on your side," Daschle said. "Any rational normal person isn't going to believe that assertion." . . .

Couldn’t we have had this article weeks ago, before the lie took root?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/health/policy/14panel.html
False ‘Death Panel’ Rumor Has Some Familiar Roots . . . [read on]

Hmmm. . . think THIS story will get as much play as it deserves?

http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/08/13/oh-those-death-panels/
[Amy Sullivan] You would think that if Republicans wanted to totally mischaracterize a health care provision and demagogue it like nobody's business, they would at least pick something that the vast majority of them hadn't already voted for just a few years earlier. Because that's not just shameless, it's stupid.

Yes, that's right. Remember the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, the one that passed with the votes of 204 GOP House members and 42 GOP Senators? Anyone want to guess what it provided funding for? Did you say counseling for end-of-life issues and care? Ding ding ding!! . . . [read on]

Their guy

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/armey_leaves_lobby_firm_citing_negative_attention.php
[Zachary Roth] Dick Armey, the former House Majority Leader, is leaving his job with top Washington lobbying firm DLA Piper, citing negative attention that the firm is receiving thanks to the role of Armey's corporate-backed outfit, FreedomWorks, in turning out protesters to shut down town hall meetings on health care. . . .

More: http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/14/you-and-what-armey-dick-quits-dfa-piper/

Phony astroturfing works so well in blocking health care, they’re gonna try it with Obama’s climate bill too

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/sensitive_oil_industry_memo_lays_out_plan_for_astr.php
A leaked memo sent by an oil industry group reveals a plan to create astroturf rallies at which industry employees posing as "citizens" will urge Congress to oppose climate change legislation. . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/coal_industry_group_responds_to_congress_on_forged.php
The coal industry lobbying group on whose behalf those forged letters were written has responded in part to a congressional inquiry about the matter -- but won't offer any details. . . .

Our guy (?)

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/big-dog-talks-netroots-nation-about
The Big Dog talks to Netroots Nation about how to keep the progressive momentum [watch]

Their gal

http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/ann-coulter-puts-rahm-emanuals-son-de
Ann Coulter Puts Rahm Emanuel's Brother On Death Wish List

Damn, damn, damn

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8324481
Experts who track hate groups across the U.S. are growing increasingly concerned over violent rhetoric targeted at President Obama, especially as the debate over health care intensifies and a pattern of threats emerges. . . .

This is a switch: no more troops for Afghanistan?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/13/AR2009081303763.html

Chris Christie (R-NJ), on the wrong side of the Hatch Act?

http://www.philly.com/philly/wires/ap/news/state/new_jersey/20090812_ap_christiecampaigndefendschatwithroveyearsago.html

Bonus item: I know that most Christians of the Pauline variety have a pretty pessmistic view of human nature, but this is HILARIOUS

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/christian_news_show_poses_the_real_question_on_c_s.php
The right-wing Christian Broadcasting Network does damage control for C Street, explaining that the real question isn't, how many affairs were covered up, but rather, "how many affairs were thwarted." . . . [read on!]

Extra bonus item: Wonks, Hacks, and Zealots

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/field-guide-to-political-creatures-by.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:01 AM

 
PLAYING DUMB

Karl Rove’s suddenly lousy memory

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/in_testimony_rove_hedged_on_role_in_siegelman_pros.php

The kind of people they are

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/on_the_case_1.php
Man carrying "death to Obama" sign at Maryland town hall detained by Secret Service.

The full sign actually read: "Death To Obama, Death To Michelle And Her Two Stupid Kids"

Are you surprised?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/12/765419/-Militia-Groups-on-the-Rise
A new report finds that after a ten year lull, armed militia groups are growing rapidly, and officials worry that full blown domestic terrorism could soon follow . . .

Even conservative speechwriter David Frum is worried

http://www.theweek.com/bullpen/column/99474/The_reckless_Right_courts_violence
Hysterical talk from TV and radio hosts may be a cynical marketing exercise. But it's getting too dangerous to ignore. . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/where-are-they-by-digby-david-broder.html
[Digby] The Villagers have spent the last 30 years chasing phantom hippies and black panthers. . . They have not cared about or even noticed the radicalism on the right, which doesn't fit their picture of scary political terrorists because right wingers look like what they think of as Real Americans. How in the world can these nice, white middle aged and elderly people possibly be so crazy?

Every editor in the country should assign all of his reporters and spokesmodels to listen to Limbaugh, beck savage, an d the rest for a solid week. Then they might not be so surprised to find out that the people who listen to them are paranoid, racist, hysterical, narcissistic and stupid. And there are a lot of them. And they aren't wearing headbands or tie-dyed t-shirts. They look just like David Broder and Cokie Roberts.

The dark reality of CIA “black sites" -- and the man who made them happen

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/world/13foggo.html

How did Chris Christie (R-NJ) save his US Attorney position from the Rove/Miers loyalty purge?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/chris_christie_the_us_atty_scandal.php
[Josh Marshall] Chris Christie has always been at or near the top of the list of US Attorneys who were logical suspects in that regard. Christie didn't get canned. But his name did appear on two lists of US Attorneys under consideration for firing over the course of 2006. And he did push what was even at the time (before any of the firing scandal was known) seen as a transparently political series of leaks about what ended up being a baseless probe of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) . . .

How the deck is stacked against serious health care reform

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019478.php

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/08/13/health_care_the_view_from_both.html

A perfectly reasonable policy on end-of-life counseling is shamelessly misrepresented by the GOP as a way of tarnishing the entire health care reform effort. So what is the responsible, bipartisan thing to do, Chuck Grassley?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/grassley-were-dropping-end-of-life-counseling-because-ive-helped-mislead-people-into-thinking-thats.php
We're Dropping End Of Life Counseling Because I've Helped Mislead People Into Thinking That's A Death Panel

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/senate-republicans/bipartisanship-death-throes-grassley-kills-end-of-life-provision-attacks-house-dem-proposal-for-keeping-it/
[Greg Sargent] If there were ever a day where Dems had an opening to argue that Republicans are the ones responsible for putting hopes for a bipartisan health care compromise on life support, today would appear to be it. . . .

Not only that, but he also directly attacked the House Dem proposal by floating the idea that it leaves end of life issues “open to interpretation.” . . .

Is it time for bipartisanship itself to start its own “end of life consultations”? Probably not, but Dem anger is palpable on the Hill over Grassley’s decision to throw in his lot with the “death panel” brigade at a time when he’s supposed to be the GOP’s point man for good-faith bipartisan efforts to find common ground on health care reform.

Swift-boating health care reform

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_treatment/archive/2009/08/12/the-swiftboating-of-health-reform.aspx

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/13/pre-existing_conditions/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019477.php

Fair and balanced?

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/13/report-fox-health-coverage/
6-to-1

What can be done?

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7146
[Sara Robinson] Writing about fascism for an American audience is always a fraught business. . . [read on]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/what-to-do-by-tristero-commenters-to-my.html

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/08/12/countering-the-lies-about-health-care-reform/

The know-nothings are controlling the health care debate

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/13/town-hall-protests-full-of-sound-and-fury-signifying-nothing-about-health-care/

http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/hardball-town-hall-protester-exposed

“Dumb works”

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/13/palin_grassley/index.html

The pot calling the kettle smart

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/limbaugh-praises-palins-intellectual-heft-on-the-death-panels.php
Limbaugh Praises Palin's "Intellectual Heft" . . .

Oh, uh, Sarah . . .

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/13/palin-deathpanel-flipflop/
[Lee Fang] In recent weeks, right-wing groups have been pushing the myth that health care reform will somehow kill seniors. One of the most high profile voices pushing this lie has been Sarah Palin, who claimed President Obama will institute bureaucratic “death panels.” . . .

However, on April 16th 2008, then Gov. Sarah Palin endorsed some of the same end of life counseling she now decries as a form of euthanasia. In a proclamation announcing “Healthcare Decisions Day,” Palin urged public facilities to provide better information about advance directives, and made it clear that it is critical for seniors to be informed of such options . . .

Palinized

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/bachmann-dont-let-them-palinize-me.php
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has a message for her supporters in a new fundraising letter: Don't let the media do to her what they did to Sarah Palin -- "Don't let them Palinize me!" . . .

Support grows for impeaching Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC)

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/13/support_for_sanford_impeachment_grows.html

Bonus item: Remember the pricey GOP wardrobe that Palin promised to give back or donate to charity?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2009/08/rs-palin12.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:37 AM

 
MIGRATION PATTERNS

So, here’s how it goes: the GOP machine gets the wacko right to throw out every paranoid, hateful, racist attack their fevered imaginations can come up with. Unlike, say, Reverend Wright, the media does not get the vapors and insist that every mainstream Republican repudiate them. Instead, the media echoes these accusations, giving them currency. Now Democrats have to respond to them (“No, we do not plan to execute elderly people”).

Eventually the “debate” becomes legitimate enough that even mainstream GOP politicos get comfortable with repeating them. And suddenly, we’re arguing about things that have nothing to do with reality whatsoever – and are inherently the kinds of accusations that can never be disproved by the facts, because they aren’t about facts.

And don’t dismiss the possibility that when Dem lawmakers are receiving DEATH THREATS, this might influence their final votes . . .

Having softened up the terrain with this advance bombing, THEN Republicans re-engage the policy debate, with the Dems on the defensive and manufactured public anxieties solidly on their side. This is how “bipartisanship” works

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/gop-ad-in-minnesota-dems-will-deny-health-care-to-old-people.php
It's official: The GOP is officially taking the Dems-will-kill-seniors message to paid television advertising. . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/tpmdc_morning_roundup_135.php
[David Kurtz] It's come to this. The gist of a Senate Democrats talking point on health care reform: We won't kill old people. . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/gop-rep-broun-obama-part-of-a-socialistic-elite-that-plans-to-take-over.php
GOP Rep. Broun: Obama Part Of A Socialistic Elite That Plans To "Take Over" . . .

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/gop-rep-i-havent-seen-enough-evidence-that-obama-is-citizen/
GOP Rep: I Haven’t Seen Enough Evidence That Obama Is Citizen . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019460.php
[Steve Benen] Far-right critics of health care reform have come up with all kinds of strange problems with Democratic proposals, and nearly all of them are the result of coordinated lies and/or overactive imaginations.

That said, the right-wing responses to these fantasies are all too real.

Another Democratic Congressman now says he has received threats over the health care bill: Dennis Moore of Kansas.

Moore told the Fox affiliate in Kansas City that he has received two separate threats in the last ten days. Moore also said that because of the threats, and because of the examples he's seen from other members' town halls, he won't be hold any town halls himself.

Moore is the third Democratic member of Congress to publicly acknowledge receiving these threats, not including the swastika found at a Georgia Democrat's office this week, or the Maryland Democrat who was hanged from a noose in effigy in front of his district office. . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/taking_a_toll.php
A new USAToday/Gallup poll appears to show that the tea bag protests are driving voters to be more hostile to reform rather than less. This seems to be particularly so among Independents. . . .

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/08/puke-funnel.html
[Atrios] I know this point has been made a million times, but it really is amazing how the lunatic right completely controls our political discourse.

They don't even need Matt Drudge, America's Assignment Editor, anymore. Some whacko with a sign and bullhorn is all it takes.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2009/aug/13/obama-administration-healthcare
[Michael Tomasky] So my country seems to have gone insane while I was on vacation. . . . [read on]

The case of Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/working_its_way_up.php
First Palin, then Steele, now an actual U.S. senator is passing on the "pull the plug on grandma" canard. Charles Grassley, no less than the ranking member on a key health care reform committee, did it at a town hall meeting in Iowa today. . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/grassley-is-deather-yes-senator.html
Grassley is a deather. Yes, Senator Grassley. The guy working with Max Baucus on a bipartisan health care bill . . . [read on]

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/12/162746/308
Look how Grassley repays Obama's compliments . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019463.php
STOP PRETENDING GRASSLEY IS SERIOUS ABOUT REFORM . . . [read on]

New lies

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/teabagging-next-chapter-by-digby-they.html
Savage says "internment camps being planned." . . .

http://washingtonindependent.com/54772/gop-congressman-democrats-might-declare-martial-law
GOP Congressman: Democrats Might Declare Martial Law

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/agents_of_fortune.php
Not just death panels! Rep. John Mica (R-FL) says there will be, gasp!, a whole "cottage industry" of "death counselors."

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/beware_an_epidemic_of_palliative_care.php
[David Kurtz] A new wrinkle on the whacked argument that health care reform is a cover for killing old people, via former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen, appearing today on Fox: "You push elderly people into hospice instead of life extending treatments."

This line of attack crystalizes for me one of the hallmarks of the anti-reform campaign. It implicitly acknowledges the worst deficiencies of the current system by arguing that reforms will make those existing problems far worse. Never mind that those deficiencies have proved to be intractable problems for the current system to address. . . .

Teabagger protests make for great tv!

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/made_to_order.php
[Josh Marshall] We've gotten a hold of some Tea Party planning meeting emails. Here's one that caught our eye. "We have a media request for an event this week that will have lots of energy and lots of anger. This is for CNBC."

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/email_tea_baggers_hoping_for_riot_at_rep_scotts_to.php

Enough to make you weep

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/13/all-you-need-to-know/
Robert Gibbs stated yesterday what we dirty effing hippies of the the internets have been saying for years, "the media bore some of the blame [regarding health care reform falsehoods] for doing too many “X said this, Y said this” stories, without rooting out, and pointing out, unambiguous falsehoods."

This response to his criticism was telling:

Jessica Yellin, CNN’s national political correspondent, commenting on Senator Cardin’s town meeting in Hagerstown, Md., pointed out what news people already know: when journalists cite outright misstatements by public officials, the American people “don’t seem to trust us.”

ANOTHER guy with a loaded gun at an Obama event

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/man-with-gun-arrested-at-obama-event-yesterday.php
[Eric Kleefeld] Maybe this whole Tea Party thing done got out of hand? . . .

http://washingtonindependent.com/54885/death-to-obama-sign-pops-up-at-cardin-town-hall
‘Death to Obama’ Sign Pops Up at Cardin Town Hall

Stephen Hawking: I’m still alive!

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/guess_that_settles_it.php
Stephen Hawking responds to the bizarro report that if he were English (which he is) that his life would be considered worthless by the National Health Service: "I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS. I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived."

Fight back!

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/too_much.php
[Chris Bowers] The health care reform debate narrative should be about average Americans struggling against a powerful, for-profit health care financing industry. Instead, it has become a narrative about grassroots conservatives (no matter who funds them) against Democratic politicians. . . .

Really?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/obama-to-durbin-pass-a-bill--any-bill--ill-work-it-out-in-conference.php
Obama To Durbin: Pass A Bill--Any Bill--I'll Work It Out In Conference . . .

Tracking the anti-Obama lies, and how they migrated into the mainstream

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/on-road-with-orly-by-digby-esquire-has.html

More: http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/12/late-night-welcome-to-the-age-of-ignoramus/

A tale of two Senators: Johnny Isakson (R-GA) dares to utter a rebuke of Palin’s “death panel” lies, and after the Rush treatment, backtracks desperately. Meanwhile Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) – who clearly HATES Palin – refuses to back off

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019455.php
[Steve Benen] At the town-hall discussion in New Hampshire yesterday, President Obama addressed the ridiculous "death panel" argument the right has been carelessly throwing round. He noted, "The irony is that actually one of the chief sponsors of this bill originally was a Republican -- then House member, now senator, named Johnny Isakson from Georgia -- who very sensibly thought this is something that would expand people's options. And somehow it's gotten spun into this idea of 'death panels.'"

The president's remark came soon after Isakson told Ezra Klein that Sarah Palin's attacks on this are "nuts." Isakson added, "You're putting the authority in the individual rather than the government. I don't know how that got so mixed up. It empowers you to be able to make decisions at a difficult time rather than having the government making them for you.... And it's a voluntary deal."

The problem, from Isakson's perspective, is that he's now inadvertently defended reality, when his party is committed to doing the opposite. Republican senators aren't supposed to debunk nonsensical talking points; they're supposed to repeat nonsensical talking points.

So, Isakson is left with an awkward task: walking back honest support for his own proposal. . . .

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/08/11/johnny-isakson-death-panel-plea-2008-video/
Johnny Isakson “Death Panel” Plea, 2008 . . . [watch]

More: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/12/isakson_snaps/index.html

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/12/murkowski_blasts_palin_on_death_panels.html
Murkowski Blasts Palin on "Death Panels" . . .

Is AG Eric Holder going to move forward with (some) torture prosecutions? Will the testimony reveal the role of higher-ups?

http://washingtonindependent.com/54751/give-holder-some-time-on-torture-prosecutions

More: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/countdown-prosecuting-cia-torture

Dick and George, no longer BFFs

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/george-bush-appeaser
Barton Gellman reports that Dick Cheney is getting ready to say what he really thinks about George Bush. Namely that Bush went soft on him . . .

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/12/AR2009081203306.html

Digging deeper into the US Attorney firings

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/12/random-thoughts-on-the-purgegate-document-dump/
[Emptywheel] Eric Lichtblau and Eric Lipton have an article on the Purgegate document release in today's New York Times. There were a few paragraphs by the two Erics that stood out to me . . . [read on]

More: http://christyhardinsmith.firedoglake.com/2009/08/13/connecting-the-eyeliner-dots-on-the-rove-role-in-doj-firings/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019450.php

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/us-attorneys-flashback.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/rove_aide_longed_to_replace_iglesias_with_gop_lawy.php
Rove Aide Longed to Replace Iglesias With GOP Lawyer Who Helped Get Him Fired . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/the_miers-harriet_personality_test.php
[David Kurtz] If you were White House counsel and someone from the White House political shop approached you, just before the midterm elections, about intervening with the Justice Department to help out a congressman from your party under criminal investigation, you would:

(a) Fire his ass on the spot.
(b) Drop kick him from the West Wing to a closet-sized office in the EEOB, never to be heard from again.
(c) Send a memo to everyone in the political office warning against any contacts with DOJ officials regarding any ongoing investigations.
(d) Get the deputy attorney general on the phone and see whether you could get him to publicly exonerate the congressman, then dutifully email back the political operative to report on how the call went.

If you answered (d), you're qualified to be nominated to the Supreme Court.

I doubt we’ll see any punishments to Rove or Miers – but the disclosures could change the outcome of the NJ Senate race, which was looking like a GOP pick-up

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/did_christie_bring_political_prosecution_us_attorn.php
[Zachary Roth] Those newly released documents from the U.S. attorney firings raise a few questions about the Republican who may be his party's highest profile electoral contender this year. . . .

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/corzine-camp-accuses-christie-of-abusing-office-in-us-attorney-scandal.php

Ah, the ironies. . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/bachmanns-son-joins-government-re-education-camp.php
[Eric Kleefeld] Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) may now have additional reason to fear the Obama Administration, the Star Tribune reports: Her son Harrison Bachmann has now joined Teach For America -- part of the dreaded AmeriCorps!

You might recall that Bachmann said four months ago of Americorps funding that it constituted "re-education camps" run by the Democrats . . .

Mr. Appalachian Trail, still in trouble

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/12/sanford-defends-expensive-travel-denies-divorce-2/
Sanford defends expensive travel, denies divorce . . .

Rick Santorum, making a comeback?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/12/rick_4prez/index.html

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/santorum_tests_the_waters_five_reasons_to_laugh_and_five_reasons_to_take_him_seriously.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 9:14 AM

 
DEATH TO TYRANTS

Man shows up at an Obama town hall with a loaded gun on his hip and a sign calling for death to tyrants – just exercising those good old First and Second amendments

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/armed_and_dangerous.php
MSNBC just aired footage of the crowd gathering at the Obama town hall meeting on health care that's supposed to start later today in New Hampshire and pointed out one man in a group holding protest signs with a gun in a holster on his hip. . . .

Also important to note, the gun-toting protestor was holding a sign referencing the Jefferson quote: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants."

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/2009/08/gun-toter-at-obama-town-hall-whod-be-silly-enough-to-carry-an-unloaded-firearm.php
"Who'd be silly enough to carry an unloaded firearm?" said the protester, William Kostric.

Matthews then asked him why he brought the gun to a presidential event.

"That's not even a relevant question. The question is, why don't people bear arms these days?" Kostric said. . . .

Hmmm . . . . someone paints a swastika on the office sign of a black Democratic congressman sponsoring a health care forum. Explain the semiotics, please. (These days it could mean so many things.)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/swastikas.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/weekly-standard-blogger-says-swastika-vandalism-at-dems-office-could-be-fake-hate-crime.php

I hope it has become clear by now: you can’t deal with these people. You can’t reason with these people. You can’t compromise with these people. You can’t be “bipartisan” with these people

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/toomey-town-halls-show-political-extremism----of-the-democrats-health-plan.php
[Former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-PA), who is running for Senate in 2010] Town Halls Show "Political Extremism" -- Of The Democrats' Health Plan

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/death_panels_are_so_yesterday.php
[Josh Marshall] It's getting to the point where we rely on these townhall meetings for advance warning on the latest anti-heath care conspiracy theory being ginned up out of the conservative freak-o-sphere. And this morning, during that crazy Arlen Specter town hall meeting, there were a number of questioners angry at Specter because the health care reform bill would allow the government to access at will, surveil and withdraw money from everyone's bank account. . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/teabaggers-goal-is-not-compromise-and.html
Teabaggers: “The goal is not compromise, and ANY bill coming out this year would be a failure for us.”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019443.php
[Steve Benen] I hope you're sitting down. It appears that conservative organizers and Tea Party activists aren't really interested in some kind of bipartisan reform of the health care system, or watered down Democratic proposals. Their goal is to protect the status quo at all costs. . . .

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/11/all-together-now-the-town-hall-temper-tantrums-arent-about-health-care-reform/
The Town Hall Temper Tantrums Aren’t about “Health Care Reform”
It’s about Obama . . . [read on]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/frustrated.php
[DM] It really is amazing to watch a fringe right-wing movement completely dominate the narrative surrounding the health care debate. The Democratic Party has the strongest governing coalition we have seen in years, and yet, they are being run over by misinformation campaign that includes lies so bold and outrageous that one actually grows to gain begrudging respect for the Machiavellian mindset that allows otherwise seemingly rational people to perpetuate this stuff on a public whose gullibility should never again be underestimated. . . . [read on]

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/11/eliminationists-r-us/
[Eli] Hey, remember when the right took that DHS report about violent right-wing extremists a little too personally? That shoe fits better every day, as the teabaggers and their media enablers veer farther and farther into outright eliminationism. . . . [read on]

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/tea-party-nexus-mainstream-conservat
The 'Tea Party' nexus: Mainstream conservatives empowering far-right extremists who want a new civil war

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/strange-days-indeed-by-digby-when-you.html
[Digby] These people are coming unhinged over expanding access to health care. It's not about taking away guns or mandating abortion or outlawing churches or some other issue about which you could understand these people having such strong feelings. They have worked themselves up into a complete frenzy over helping sick people. The right wing noise machine is awesome. . . . [read on]

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/08/deep-thought_11.html
[Atrios] Deep Thought
Nobody could've predicted that electing a black man president would drive this country completely fucking insane.

Does the WH understand?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/surprise-by-digby-mark-karlin-writes-in.html
[Huffington Post] In a sit down with online reporters on Monday, the three Obama aides, who spoke only on condition that they not be identified by name, stressed that they were still committed to crafting health care with Republican input and would continue to work with conservative media outlets despite the harsh reception they have received. . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019447.php
[Obama] "[L]et's face it, now is the hard part -- because the history is clear -- every time we come close to passing health insurance reform, the special interests fight back with everything they've got. They use their influence. They use their political allies to scare and mislead the American people. They start running ads. This is what they always do."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-wells/what-obama-needs-to-learn_b_254714.html
[Robin Wells] Watching the drama unfold over health care reform, one can't help but have one's heart go out to Obama -- a fundamentally decent man, with good intentions, faced with an implacable foe. It appears that Obama is slowly overcoming the blind faith in bipartisanship that sabotaged his stimulus package, and today's attack on Republicans' "outlandish rumors" is a hopeful sign.

But it's nowhere near enough. That's made clear by Obama's statement that his opponents are "exploit[ing] differences or concerns for political gain. That's to be expected. That's Washington." No, this is not politics as usual. There's no "as usual" with a foe bent on utter destruction. In contrast, Palin understands the nature of the battle, when she states that adopting Obama's health care reform amounts to "a point of no return" for America. Underestimating this challenge means losing the battle.

So what does Obama need to learn from Palin? First, he needs to really hear her. This is no longer a question of getting the facts straight. Granted, getting the facts straight about health care reform is necessary, and those who provided those facts performed an absolutely vital service. But we've moved beyond that point now. As Palin has said, the place we're at now is about good and evil.

And for an intensely cerebral Obama, it's clear to me that this is not a place he wants to go to. Going there for him, I think, means giving in to the angry rhetoric, the unreasonableness, the muck. But sometimes we must dive down in order to come up and break through. We must meet people in their place of fear instead of insisting that they meet us in our comfort zone -- the place of reason. What Obama needs to learn from Palin is that the fight over health care reform is indeed a moral battle. No longer an issue of statistics and parliamentary maneuvers, it's moved to a higher level.

So how does Obama prevail in such a battle? First, he must see things as they really are, not as how he wishes them to be. He must understand that he will face an implacable and destructive Republican opposition for the rest of his presidency. . . .

And we still haven’t gotten to the other huge story of the day, the release of thousands of pages of emails that show (wait for it) . . . that Karl Rove is a despicable liar with a brutal sense of political retribution

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/those_were_the_days.php
[Tony Snow, March 15, 2007] No, I think -- again, what the President has -- the Department of Justice has made recommendations, they've been approved. And it's pretty clear that these things are based on performance and not on sort of attempts to do political retaliation . . .

Uh, NO

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/rove_aide_i_would_really_like_to_move_forward_with.php
Rove Aide: "I Would Really Like To Move Forward With Getting Rid Of" Iglesias
[Zachary Roth] Iglesias criticized by Rove aide for not "doing his job on" Democratic Congressional Candidate Patricia Madrid - An October 2006 email chain begun by Representative Heather Wilson criticized David Iglesias for not bringing politically useful public corruption prosecutions in the run up to the 2006 elections. Scott Jennings forwarded Wilson's email to Karl Rove and complained that Iglesias had been "shy about doing his job on Madrid," Wilson's opponent in the 2006 Congressional race. Just weeks after this email, Iglesias' name was placed on the final firing list.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/us-attorney-finale
[Kevin Drum] Just to give you a taste, here's one of the emails in question. The chairman of the New Mexico GOP, after attending an RNC meeting, emails the White House to say that Iglesias has been unhelpful in ginning up voter fraud cases against Democrats. "To be perfectly candid, he was 'missing in action' during the last election," he says. Rove's response? "Talk to the counsel's office." After all, if a U.S. Attorney can't be counted on to help out during the election cycle, what good is he?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/docs_show_rove_pushed_for_iglesias_firing.php
Docs Show Rove Pushed For Iglesias Firing

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/miers_rove_phone_call_iglesias_firing.php
'Very Agitated' Rove Called Miers From New Mexico To Complain About Iglesias

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/on_election_ever_miers_tried_to_intervene_renzi_case.php
On Election Eve, Miers Tried To Intervene With DOJ About Sensitive Renzi Case

More: http://www.newsweek.com/id/211507

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/08/11/the-rove-interview-materials-working-thread/

Smooth move: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/11/AR2009081102104.html
In their testimony in June and July, both Miers and Rove said they could not recall key incidents, according to the transcripts. In the course of her 10-hour deposition, Miers said she could not recall events almost 150 times. Rove said he received hundreds of e-mails a day, so "asking me to remember replies is like asking me to remember a raindrop in a thunderstorm." . . . [read on]

Welcome back, Alice! http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/dana_perino_on_attorney_firings_scheme_i_cant_brea.php
[Justin Elliott] This is fun. In the trove of Bush White House documents released by the House Judiciary Committee is an email chain from November 2006 in which Deputy Press Secretary Dana Perino first learns of the plan to purge U.S. Attorneys.

Perino's reaction after getting the heads-up email and the attached "USA replacement plan.doc"?

"Someone get me an oxygen can!!"

Lest you think Perino was mocking the plan as no big deal, here's how she responded when another communications staffer noted that one of the to-be-purged attorneys prosecuted Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham (R-CA), and another was probing Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ): "Give me a double shot -- I can't breathe." . . .

And just for memory's sake, here's 90 seconds of Perino spinning a development in the David Iglesias case back in April 2007 . . . [watch!]

The pliant press

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/12/the-wankery-of-solomon/
[Attaturk] It was pretty well established that John Solomon was a right-wing tool before the Washington Post hired him in December 2006. . . .

And the latest release of emails -- more than two years after the fact -- about the firing of Federal Prosecutors reveals him at his most Right-Wing Enabling . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/john_solomons_sycophantic_email_to_justice_on_atto.php
[Zachary Roth] Here's a rule of thumb for reporters: if Bush press aides think you're doing a good job, you might want to rethink your approach. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/email_rich_lowry_offered_to_help_white_house_spin.php
It looks like Rick Lowry of National Review offered the White House his services in doing some positive P.R. on behalf of Rove protege Tim Griffin, who the administration had sought to sought to muscle into the U.S. attorney job in Arkansas as a replacement for the fired Bud Cummins. . . .

Glenn Beck loses another major advertiser

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019448.php
GEICO

Bonus item: What passes for “mainstream” political discourse these days

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/08/and-did-i-mention-he-was-black.html
[Financial Times] President Barack Obama reminds me of Felix the Cat. One of the best-loved cartoon characters of the 1920s, Felix was not only black. He was also very, very lucky.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:43 AM

 
SAY ANYTHING

I suppose this is obvious, but the main targets of the GOP strategy against heath care are the elderly – people who HAVE health coverage (thanks to the government) and have the luxury of opposing others who might receive what they have. Everyone notes that they are heavily represented at the health care protests. The euthanasia lie is aimed at them. The “you will lose your doctor” lie is aimed at them. The “Medicare isn’t a government program” lie is aimed at them. And it’s working

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/ad_obama_wants_to_kill_off_the_greatest_generation.php
[David Kurtz] A brutal new anti-reform ad that just ran on CNN a few minutes ago claims, falsely, that under public option, "The government -- not doctors -- will decide if older patients are worth the cost.” . . .

The ad is from the 60 Plus Association, whose previous efforts included working to abolish the estate tax.

Watch: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/new-ad-health-care-bill-will-deprive-seniors-of-care-if-theyre-not-worth-the-cost.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/tea-party-sign-keep-the-guvmint-out-of-my-medicare.php
Tea Party Sign: "Keep The Guvmint Out Of My Medicare"

Losing the message war?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/10/764473/-Healthcare-Reform:-What-a-Week
[McJoan] These are times that try a progressive healthcare blogger's soul. It shouldn't be a surprise that a political establishment that looks at the fact that the Bush administration, led by Dick Cheney in every venal step, decided to start torturing people picked up in Afghanistan to amass false confessions about connections between bin Laden and Saddam so that they would have their "justification" for their war on choice, with nothing more than a yawn can report as straight across "news" that Sarah Palin thinks Obama is coming to kill her baby. But it still astounds that this is the new "normal." Just unfathomable. And that's what last week was.

The image that will be indelibly linked in my mind I saw in one of the reports on the Rachel Maddow show with video from a townhall meeting held by Rep. John Dingell, and referenced in gdunn's diary. There's a young, disabled woman (pictured in the diary), speaking to the group propped up by her crutches, trying to explain what she's been through since her insurance company dropped her last year and her inability to get coverage now because of her "preexisting condition." She's trying to tell her story, and an older woman stands a few rows back from her and screams, her face distorted and ugly in it's anger and ignorance and selfish extremism, "I shoudn't have to pay for your health care." . . . [read on]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/from_tpm_reader_cs.php
[CS] I just saw the clips of Mike Sola and have to say that the Democratic Party has completely lost the message war. Social Security Disability Insurance and Medicaid were created by the Democratic Party for the sole purpose of allowing people with disabilities and retired people to live their lives with independence and dignity--against fierce opposition from the Republican Party. The Democrats have allowed the right [to claim] that the left now wants to kill those people they fought so hard to protect. Can some Democrat please--please call the right out on this . . . [read on]

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/white-house-attempts-to-counter-health-care-misconceptions.php
White House Attempts to Counter Health Care Misconceptions

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/health/policy/11health.html
White House Adapts to New Playbook in Health Care Debate

Of course, its hard to win the message war when your opponents can utter ridiculous lies without fear of contradiction

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/2009/08/protester-on-fox-pelosi-thugs-came-in-middle-of-the-night-health-care-plan-sentences-our-families-to.php
Protester on Fox: Pelosi 'Thugs' Came In 'Middle Of The Night,' Health Care Plan 'Sentences Our Families To Death'

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/dont_need_to_be_a_rocket_scientist.php
[Investors Business Daily] “People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.”

[Josh Marshall] Needless to say, Hawking, who is recognized as one of the great theoretical physicists of the 20th and 21st century, was born in the UK and has lived his entire life there.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/gop-democrats-are-questioning-peoples-patriotism.php
GOP: Democrats Are Questioning People's Patriotism

The craven press

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/he_said_she_said.php
[WP] Conservative talk-radio shows have raised the prospect of euthanasia based on a provision to reimburse doctors through Medicare for counseling sessions about end-of-life directives.

And comments posted on former Alaska Republican governor Sarah Palin's Facebook page Friday said that people would 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."

There are no such "death panels" mentioned in any of the House bills. . . .

[NB: Is that the best they can do?]

http://jamesfallows.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/08/lets_mark_this_moment_in_the_h.php
[James Fallows] Nearly fifteen years ago, after the collapse of the Clinton health-reform effort, I spent a lot of time working on an Atlantic article (and subsequent book chapter) about how, exactly, the discussion of the bill had become so unmoored from reality and finally determined by slogans, stereotypes, and flat-out lies.

It's better to do that after the fact than not to do it at all. And, if I do say so, I think the article remains useful background reading for what's going on now . . . [read on]

First, we had the “birthers,” now the “deathers”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/10/764590/-Rush-Limbaugh-is-a-deather

Sarah Palin, after accusing Obama of creating “death panels,” now calls for “civility”

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/after-death-panel-remarks-palin-now-calls-for-civil-discourse.php
[Eric Kleefeld] It would be incorrect to say that Palin is backing off. Rather, she is calling for civility in the manner of the debate, so as to focus effectively on how evil and disturbing her opponents are.

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/health_care_/2009/08/reality_check.php
[Mark Kleiman] Note to Sarah Palin:

No, Down Syndrome children and their families are not threatened by "Obama's Death Panels" . . .

Down Syndrome children and their families are, however, routinely denied health insurance because Down Syndrome is a "pre-existing condition."

Hey, Sarah: we have “death panels” NOW

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/rationale-by-digby-southern-beale-has.html
[Digby] There are death panels being held everyday in hospital corridors and living rooms across America. It's how we currently ration health care: by who can pay. . . . [read on!]

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/flashback-sarah-palin-has-her-own-death-panel-problem/
Flashback: Sarah Palin Has Her Own “Death Panel” Problem

Kenneth The Victim wants to prosecute the scuffle at a health care event as a “hate crime”

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/seiu-victim-kenneth-gladney-wants-hi
[David Neiwert] Gladney claims that he was called the N-word -- but the man using that word was another black man. . . . [read on]

Oh, and there’s this: http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/anti-health-care-reform-teabagger-who.html
Anti- Health Care Reform teabagger, who claims he was beaten while protesting a pro- health care rally, now complains that he doesn't have insurance

Howard Dean, trying to interject some reason

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/test-5

Lou Dobbs, auditioning for Fox News? http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908100049
"[H]e's a bloodsucking leftist -- I mean, you gotta put a stake through his heart to stop this guy"

Keeping an eye on Afghanistan

http://washingtonindependent.com/54510/is-the-afghanistan-debate-changing
Is the Afghanistan Debate Changing?

http://washingtonindependent.com/54550/the-wise-men-start-rethinking-afghanistan
The Wise Men Start Rethinking Afghanistan

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/state-building-in-afghanistan-to-what-end.php
State-Building in Afghanistan to What End?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124986154654218153.html
Taliban Now Winning

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/enough
Enough

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/poll-media-doesnt-talk-about-much
The poll the media aren't talking about much: War in Afghanistan loses support

The Republicans are feeling their oats lately – but people still don’t like them

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/11/gop_rebranding_effort_fizzles.html
GOP Rebranding Effort Fizzles

Bonus item: Roland Burris now says he is reconsidering whether to run to keep the Senate seat Blago gave him. Why?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/burris-now-wont-rule-out-running-for-senate-in-2010.php
"What I'm still hearing," Burris said, is "people from all over the country and they are saying, 'Don't give up that seat.'"

[NB: Uh . . . . no they’re not.]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:28 AM

 
SUMMER BEACHSIDE READING

Funny piece 1: “I surrender”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/9/764064/-Alright-Republicans,-We-Give-Up
[Stroszek] Over the past week, we have seen your passionate protests and heard your concerns about Democratic proposals for health care reform. We have considered your insightful and well reasoned arguments, and on behalf of progressives everywhere, I am here to say: OK! We give up! . . . [read on!]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019421.php

Funny piece 2: How does a conservative make it through the day?

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/i-am-american-conservative-shithead.html
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. . . . [read on!]

Obama’s war

http://www.juancole.com/2009/08/mcchrystal-taliban-have-upper-hand.html

Why we can’t have an honest public discussion about end-of-life issues

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/here-doggy-by-digby-never-let-it-be.html

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/documenting-atrocities

Heh

http://action.afa.net/Blogs/BlogPost.aspx?id=2147486019
Palin to Media: Stop Making Things Up

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/09/dean-on-palin%E2%80%99s-health-care-claims-%E2%80%98she-made-that-up%E2%80%99/
Dean on Palin’s health care claims: ‘She made that up’

David Brooks calls Palin attacks “crazy” http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019420.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019417.php

Meanwhile, Newt defends her: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/gingrich-defends-palin-claim-reform-will-cau

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019417.php

The next neo-con media star: from Joe the Plumber to Kenneth the Victim

http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2009/08/08/from-joe-the-plumber-to-kenneth-the-drama-queen/

The kind of people they are

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/10/frist_rejoins_all-white_country_club.html
According to the Nashville City Paper, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) "has applied to rejoin the Belle Meade Country Club... Frist joined the club in the 1980s but resigned his membership in 1993 when he first ran for the U.S. Senate. At the time the club was all-white, all-male, with no Jews and no African-Americans as members . . .”

[NB: Well, no need to continue the pretense any longer, now that he’s out of office, eh?]

In case you missed the Sunday shows . . .

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/the_sunday_shows_in_seven_sentences_or_less_2.php

Bonus item: A nice story

http://warner.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/louises-second-act
[Judith Warner] Louise Caire Clark is making a karmic comeback.

Fifteen years after she starred in the infamous Harry and Louise ads — the televised spots that are generally credited with having turned the tide of public opinion against Clinton-era health reform — she and Harry are back, angling for a shot at redemption, with a new ad campaign, “Get the Job Done,” in support of the Obama plan.

“I hope I get to be part of helping it happen this time,” she told me in an interview last week. . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:28 AM

 
THE ENABLERS

The way the press tells the story

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/he-saidshe-saidshut-up-by-digby-joan.html
[NYT] The tenor of some of the debates has become extreme. Ms. Pelosi has accused people at recent protests of carrying signs associating the Democratic plan with Nazi swastikas and SS symbols, and some photographs showing such signs have been posted on the Web. . . . [read on]

[NB: It isn’t a matter of “accusing” – or citing photos in the passive voice. Any REPORTER would tell us the fact that this is indeed happening, everywhere. As amply cited here, the GOP and its allies have moved into a new rhetorical space, a space of euthanasia, killing Downs babies, Hitler comparisons, Stalin comparisons, Pol Pot comparisons, lies without limit, to frame their argument against health care reform. Caricatures of Obama as Hitler, as the psychopathic Joker, are rampant.

It has nothing to do with policy differences or alternative proposals for solving a problem that everyone acknowledges is real – it is about whipping up irrational fears and incitement to outrage, or worse, all with the simple purpose of blocking whatever it might be that Obama and the Dems are proposing. And they are helped by the fact that, as usual, the media by and large won’t call these strategies what they are.

NO, this isn't "politics as usual." NO, it isn't something "both sides do." And it's getting worse.]

More of the same: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/8/763586/-Idiot-Nation,-Idiot-Press

More death threats

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/tpm_saturday_roundup.php
Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA) received a fax containing the Obama-as-Joker picture and this message: "Death to All Marxists! Foreign and Domestic!" The Secret Service may now be investigating it. . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/these-protests-reveal-new-level-of.html
These protests "reveal a new level of viciousness in America's political dialogue." [read on]

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/08/08/teabaggers-bring-guns-to-cohen-health-care-event/
Teabaggers Bring Guns To Cohen Health Care Event . . .

There, is that so hard?

http://www.brendan-nyhan.com/blog/2009/08/health-care-and-birth-certificate-misinformation.html
Health care/birther misinformation playbook

This is not enough: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/8/763563/-Obama-dispels-outlandish-rumors-about-health-care-reform
[Obama] [L]et me start by dispelling the outlandish rumors that reform will promote euthanasia, cut Medicaid, or bring about a government takeover of health care. That’s simply not true. . . .

Let’s hope the GOP keeps paying this price for a long time

http://ndn.org/blog/2009/08/sotomayor-hispanics-and-martinez-resignation
Sotomayor, Hispanics and the Martinez Resignation

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/9/51931/50695
Republican Party approval rating among Latinos
Favorable: 3%
Unfavorable 86%

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/the-sunday-show-line-ups-15.php
• ABC, This Week: Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean; Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.

• CBS, Face The Nation: National Security Adviser James Jones; Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI); Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

• CNN, State Of The Union: Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL); Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).

• NBC, Meet The Press: National Security Adviser James Jones; New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg; Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

Bonus item: Bill Maher, calling stupid “stupid”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/new-rule-smart-president_b_253996.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:26 AM

 
GIANT WEEKEND EDITION OF “THE KIND OF PEOPLE THEY ARE”

Just watch this

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/32336218#32336218



More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/widening_gyre.php
[Josh Marshall] We had a number of emails last night discussing how much of what we're hearing from the right now should be considered incitement. There are numerous instances of anti-reform advocates explicitly comparing President Obama's health care plan to the Holocaust, for instance -- jumping from the hideous and outrageous claim that reform means euthanasia and going from there. We get desensitized to this stuff. But it's worth taking a moment to give that a long think -- comparing the president's reform plan to the Holocaust.

Most significant here is not the right-wing liars and demagogues making this stuff up but the fact that they've convinced a significant number of their followers that this stuff is true. That's a very dangerous situation.

We should also keep in mind that the birther-mania, as comical as it is on one level, is all part of the same fabric with the Hitler and Holocaust comparisons, an aggressive process of denigration and dehumanization, dressed up around claims about paperwork and places of birth, but all escalating and churning the belief of a minority of Americans that President Obama is not a legitimate president but rather a usurper. . . .

"He's Not My President"

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/08/hes-not-my-president.html
[Atrios] That's what Republicans said to me when Clinton was elected. And the 90s were really a golden age of crazy conspiracy theories, something our sainted media has never really quite owned up to. Dehumanizing and delegitimizing Democratic presidents is what the Right does. The only minor mystery is what took them so long . . .

Sarah Palin

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/palin_bumps_up_the_crazy.php
Palin: Obama Might Euthanize My Baby

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/palin-obamas-death-panel-could-kill-my-down-syndrome-baby.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/8/11010/52780

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/7/763467/-I-Can-See-The-F***ing-Stupid-From-My-House
[Hunter] Seriously, though... do you think Sarah F'ing Palin honestly, truly believes that part of the healthcare proposal is that Obama will be forming a government panel to decide whether or not to murder her mentally handicapped child?

Or is she just using her child's condition as prop for her continued political ambitions, knowing full well that she's lying through her teeth about the whole thing?

As bonus question, which would be worse?

Nazis

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/watching_conservatives_/2009/08/whos_calling_whom_a_nazi.php
Who's calling whom a Nazi?

Thugs

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/labor/seiu-gets-threatening-phone-call-youre-gonna-come-up-against-the-second-amendment/
SEIU Gets Threatening Phone Call: “You’re Gonna Come Up Against The Second Amendment”

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/conservative_organizers_people_are_just_angry.php
[Mark Ambinder] A town-hall discussion about health care is a dangerous place to be these days. The tone at these events has turned ugly and, at times, vicious; Thursday night, two boiled over into actual fighting--at one event in Florida, and at another in Missouri. . . .

So what do the organizers of the health care opposition say about this whole situation, this wave of aggression and, in its ugliest instances, raw insanity? . . .

Just another citizen protester

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/grassroots-protester-actually-gop-official.php
[Brian Beutler] Here's a fun example of astroturfing in its purest form: A woman attending a town hall event for Rep. Steve Kagen (D-WI), and--while loudly raising objections to the Democrats' health care reform proposal--insisting she's just a regular concerned citizen. Except, she's actually a GOP official. . . .

Glenn Beck!

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/glenn-beck-jokes-about-putting-poiso
Glenn Beck jokes about putting poison in Nancy Pelosi's wine

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/foxs-glenn-beck-warns-viewers-against.html
FOX's Glenn Beck warns viewers against "turning violent" days before he talks about "put[ting] poison" in Pelosi's wine

http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/glenn-becks-racist-rants-cost-him-adv
Glenn Beck's Racist Rants Drive Advertisers To Other Fox News Shows

A bit of credit where it’s due

http://washingtonindependent.com/54327/gop-congressman-glenn-beck-is-trading-on-fear
The confrontation between Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) and some conservative constituents has been getting a lot of play today — Inglis told people to stop watching Glenn Beck, and he got loudly booed. . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/gop-rep-glenn-becks-views-not-america-i-know.php
GOP Rep: Glenn Beck's Views 'Not America I Know'

Worried yet?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#32337676
“Nazism is not a metaphor”



What???!!!!?????????

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/i-know-you-are-but-what-am-i-part-2778.html
[Lou Dobbs] "President Obama will take full responsibility for what happens here. You heard his voice in Virginia. This is a -- I mean, he's fanning the flames of a mob. He's not a president trying to bring some sort of sensibility and order to a public debate."

[Digby] I know. This kind of full-on psychotic projection is disorienting and weird. I've never been very good a dealing with this particular wingnut tactic and I don't think anyone is. . . .

Theocracy . . . with a gun

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#32337440

Time for another trip down the “Appalachian Trail”?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/07/jenny_sanford/index.html
Jenny Sanford and her four sons are leaving South Carolina's governor's mansion. They've been packing up and taking boxes out of it on Friday in preparation for a move to Charleston, S.C. -- and away from Gov. Mark Sanford . . .

Another Republican Senator calls it quits – one of the few remaining national GOP of color

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2009/08/martinezs-resignation-letter.html

Are we seeing the start of an economic turnaround? Will anyone say it’s because of Obama’s economic policies?

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/07/obama_economy/index.html
Obama on economy: "The worst may be behind us"

Not this guy: http://washingtonindependent.com/53938/michael-steele-the-stock-market-is-rebounding-because-obama-is-failing

Will the White House cave on “co-ops”?

http://washingtonindependent.com/54270/white-house-open-to-co-ops-in-lieu-of-public-option

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/after-meeting-with-gang-of-six-white-house-says-it-would-be-open-to-co-ops.php

http://crooksandliars.com/node/30267

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/7/763238/-Obama-Open-to-Co-ops-in-Place-of-Public-Option

http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/08/07/obama-would-sign-off-on-co-ops/

More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/health_care_/2009/08/conrads_health_care_regionalism_wimpout_or_jeffersonian.php

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/httpwwwcbsnewscomstories20090806politicsonthemarcmain5220066shtmltagcbsnewsleadstoriesareamaincbsnew.php

Well, Max Baucus proves that if you hit your head long enough against a brick wall, even a Democrat can learn to stop

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/baucus-dems-may-have-to-go-it-alone-on-health-care-reform.php
Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus might have gotten an earful from President Obama yesterday at a White House health care meeting. Why? Because now he's publicly acknowledging that bipartisan negotiations could collapse forcing Democrats to advance a bill on a party-line basis.

"If Republicans aren't there, it could get to the point where sometime after the recess... Democrats may have to go in a different direction," Baucus said. "I hope not, but we have to face facts." . . .

Bonus item: Frank Luntz, GOP master of focus-group-driven language manipulation, says it’s a terrible thing . . . when the Democrats do it

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/tsk-tsk-frank-luntz-says-using-poll-d

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:51 AM

 
DARK TIMES

Blackwater: murder, rampant lawbreaking, child prostitution – and at the head of it all, a Christian zealot who sees no contradiction with his religious values

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/the_blackwater_charges_whats_being_alleged.php
[Zachary Roth] A series of shocking and lurid charges have been made against Erik Prince and Blackwater, the defense contracting behemoth he founded, in sworn statements filed in federal court Monday. Prince and or his company are variously accused of being motivated by an apocalyptic Christian worldview which glorified killing Muslims; of "encourag[ing] and reward[ing] the destruction of Iraqi life;" of illegally smuggling weapons into Iraq; of destroying incriminating evidence; of using child prostitutes; and even of murdering government informants. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/scahill

Watch! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#32323496

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#32307206

What a surprise. Teabagger activism at health reform town halls turns violent

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/report-violence-breaks-out-at-florida-town-hall.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/video_from_the_scene.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/had_to_happen.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/fist_fights_at_a_second_town_hall.php

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/big_story.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/mission-accomplished-by-digby-now-were.html
[Digby] I hate to beat a dead horse, but this is the real purpose of these protests. They want Democrats to be scared and cancel their events. They did it in 1994. They did it in 2000. It works. [read on]

LYNCHING. Teabaggers and their defenders talk about lynching – but when THEY get criticized, it’s waaah waaah wah, all the way home

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/06/republican-congressman-jokes-about-democrats-getting-lynched-at-town-halls-gop-audience-laughs/
Republican Congressman Jokes about Democrats Getting “Lynched” at Town Halls, GOP Audience Laughs [read on]

Meanwhile: http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/democratic-national-committee/rnc-raising-money-off-dem-criticism-of-town-hall-rowdies/
RNC Raising Money Off Dem Criticism Of Town Hall Rowdies

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/frank-luntz-becks-show-white-houses
Frank Luntz on Beck's show: The White House's language on astroturfers is 'pure hate'

The instigators

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/06/AR2009080603854.html
[Steve Pearlstein] 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. . . . [read on]

Nazis? NAZIS?

Then: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/06/republicans/index.html
[Fox News, January 6, 2004] What MoveOn.org wanted was for people to submit 30-second ads that were critical of President Bush, but what the liberal-leaning organization got was a controversy over one entry that compared Bush to Adolf Hitler. . . .

Republican groups and Jewish organizations expressed outrage over the ad, which has been removed from the MoveOn.org Web site. The Republican National Committee called on all nine Democratic candidates to condemn the ads.

RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie called the ad, "the worst and most vile form of political hate speech." . . . [read on]

Now: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908060009
Beck links health care reform to Nazis, suggests reform would kill elderly and newborns . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019387.php
[Steve Benen] These days, everyone from Republican senators to talk-radio hosts to conservative writers make the comparison with such frequency, it hardly registers as interesting anymore. . . .

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/08/speaking-of-nutty.html
[Atrios] I'm so old I can remember when some random person on the internets made a Nazi comparison in an open video contest and there was a full congressional/media hissy fit.

I guess rules have changed. . . .

Or, actually, the rules are the same. IOKIYAR . . .

Rush gets a whole section of his own

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/06/republicans/index.html
Rush Limbaugh today, speaking to his audience of 15 million, compares Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler and Nancy Pelosi to Nazi leaders . . .

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/dccc-goes-after-limbaugh-for-comparing-dems-to-nazis.php

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_080309/content/01125107.guest.html
These are not people who have to be told what to say. These are people who are not just speaking in slogans. "No, we won't!" These are people showing up with specific questions, with specific knowledge of what's in the bill. They are more informed than the members of Congress or the Senate that they're talking to or whatever government official. . . They are showing up and they're genuine. I know you are. The tea party people are genuine. There's a whole segment of this population that state-controlled media does not know exist. Well, they know it exists because they can see it in the polling data. But their objective is to ignore you and do what they can to persuade and change your mind and overwhelm you. You're not part of the story. You represent an obstacle to them in their efforts to help Obama get what he wants.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_080409/content/01125107.guest.html
I'm going to tell you what, folks, the libs, the Democrats in this country are now dripping with contempt for the public. The public, who is becoming increasingly active about their own futures, the public who are attending these town hall meetings, and they do so at their own political peril, by the way, these Democrats if they show this contempt too much, they're going to pay big time. These libs and their media cronies have no clue what the public is feeling. They can smear them, they can degrade them, but they still have, these people still have the power to throw these political hacks out of office, and many of them are going to lose their power as a result. I'll tell you these town hall meetings erupting all over the place . . .

I find it fascinating that all these Democrats, exactly what we said last week, they're starting to refer to these town hall meetings as unruly mobs, we can't promise security. No, no, no. These are orderly people. These are genuine voting American citizens.

What these Democrats are accusing you of doing who go to these town hall meetings is exactly what Obama taught people to do. He is the community agitator, he's the community organizer. Obama is the guy who taught people how to show up at events like this over and over again and rip 'em apart and tear 'em down, disrupt 'em and make sure they don't happen. And now the table's been turned, it's happening to him only this time it's not ginned up, it is genuine. It's real. People do not want this. And Chuck Schumer, Chuck-U Schumer, (paraphrasing) "I don't care, we're going to get it done by the end of the year. It's going to happen one way or the other. If the Republicans don't want to help us, fine. We're going to get it done. Screw you." The Democrat Party has now got a new slogan to the American people. It's, "Screw you!" Actually, that has been their modus operandi for as long as I've been alive. But now they're out there actually saying it in so many words. "Screw you! To hell with you."

They're just dripping with contempt for the American people, for the public. When the left organizes, whether it be the public sector unions, the AFL-CIO, ACORN, the rest, they're all encouraged, they're admired, they're even funded by the taxpayers. When hardworking people, for the first time in many cases, become involved and active, they are denounced. Let me tell you something. Democracy doesn't belong only to the leftist agitators. It also belongs to the people who pay the bills and make this country work. There is something boiling over out there now.

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_080509/content/01125110.guest.html
This is the kind of emotion that's out all over the country. The president of the United States and his party are attacking the people who make this country work. . . .

They know exactly who you are and that's what scares them. They know you are not one of their own mobs. They know you are genuine. They know you are real. They know your roots grow grass. Their roots grow Astroturf. They know everything, and everybody in your group is real. That's why they are out tarring and feathering and trying to impugn you because you are real. They are not real. They know exactly who you are. You ought to be outraged that the president of the United States is trying to discredit a majority of American citizens and have the rest of the country think that you are something that you are not . . .

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_080609/content/01125107.guest.html
Let me tell you what's been manufactured. It is not your energy, it is not your passion, it is not your presence at all of these town halls. That's genuine; that is real. What has been manufactured is the story that it has been manufactured. In fact, the only person who has put out a memo organizing his troops and rallying his troops is none other than the Dear Leader Barack Obama himself. Late afternoon he put out an e-mail to his minions. He went out there and he told them to hit the streets and knock on doors. That's the real rent-a-mob! Barack Obama! The real manufactured anger is that which Obama is manufacturing and trying to create. The other mob anger is genuine . . .

And they are all a bunch of socialists themselves, feeding off the public trough and they want a bigger bite each and every day -- and Obama is there to give it to them. I tell you, this is a circumstance, ladies and gentlemen, that I am ecstatic to see. This is genuine. You know community organizers can't bitch when communities organize. Of all the things, of all the things to happen created out of the energy of the citizen involvement in his country -- of all the ways Obama can get picked at -- is by a bunch of people organizing in communities opposing his ramrod, reckless, dangerous, socialist health care plan down people's throats who do not want it.

Is Michael Steele getting nervous?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019378.php
RNC Chairman Michael Steele seems to realize the angry far-right mobs showing up at Democratic town-hall events may be problematic for Republicans, and insisted yesterday that his party is not involved with those who use intimidation tactics to stifle public discussion. . . .

The enabling media

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/6/762543/-Politico-Goes-The-Fair-And-Balanced-Route

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/feeding-beast

The new “center”: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/6/762840/-Media-Defining-the-Center-as-Anti-Public-Option

THANK you

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/friday-morning-open-thread.html
[Joe Sudbay] What an insane week. These protests at Town Hall meetings are just bizarre. The anger and vitriol are so over the top. And, in every video I've seen, many of the people are older, meaning they're probably in Medicare -- a government run program. . . .

The strategic mistakes Obama and the Dems have made

http://www.slate.com/id/2224415/

Organizing the left: too little too late?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/6/762676/-OFA,-PFAW,-Unions-Organizing-Against-Tea-Party-Mobs

We love Rachel!

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2009/08/evisceration.html

Another example of good, tough interviewing -- from the surprising Rick Sanchez

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/2009/08/cnn-anchor-rips-into-health-care-ceo-whos-funding-anti-reform-effort.php

John Cornyn’s (R-TX) calculated paranoia

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/major-spying-scandal-by-digby-no-not.html

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2009/08/new-thesaurus-please

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019384.php

Sonia Sotomayor confirmed handily, 68-31

http://thirdbranch.crooksandliars.com/john-amato/judge-sonia-sotomayor-confirmed-supreme

How they voted: http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/06/a_closer_look_at_the_sotomayor_vote.html

The usual: http://washingtonindependent.com/54150/committee-for-justice-sotomayor-vote-was-conservative-victory
Committee for Justice: Sotomayor Vote Was ‘Conservative Victory’

Bill O’Reilly says, only the lefties think Sarah Palin is stupid. Well, no, not exactly . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/bill-oreilly-thinking-sarah-palin-du

Bonus item: Was the fake Obama birth certificate from Kenya an anti-birther prank?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/the-birthers-got-punkd-with-fake-certificate.php

Intra-birther warfare breaks out: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/birther-vs-birther-andy-martin-calls-orly-taitz-incompetent-and-obvious-crackpot.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:59 AM

 
FIGHTING BACK

Progressive groups start organizing their health care townhall participation too

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/5/762307/-Fight-the-Screamers:-Show-Up
Fight the Screamers: Show Up

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/health_care_/2009/08/taking_on_the_wingnut_mobs.php
[Mark Kleiman] Don Briggs of the Democratic Alliance of Northwest Indiana explains how it's done. Get your folks there early; have people sign in; start the meeting by pointing out that there are organized efforts at disruption; and have the cops present. By saying "There are people here to disrupt the meeting" you put the disrupters in a tough spot; every time they act out, they confirm your accusation.

Oh, yes: and have a Congressman smart enough to say "Medicare" the first time someone says "government-run health insurance."

If the Teabaggers get enough progressives riled up to come out to the town halls, they will have done us a favor.

http://washingtonindependent.com/53862/dnc-goes-after-sham-town-hall-protests
DNC Goes After ‘Sham’ Town Hall Protests
“They lost the election. They lost on the Recovery Act, the budget and children's health care. They've lost the confidence of the American people after eight years of failed policies that ruined our economy and cost millions of jobs.

Now, desperate Republicans and their well-funded allies are organizing angry mobs - just like they did during the election. Their goal? Destroy President Obama and stop the change Americans voted for overwhelmingly in November.

This mob activity is straight from the play book of high level Republican political operatives. They have no plan for moving our country forward, so they've called out the mob.

Call the Republican party. Tell them you've had enough of the mob”

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/despite-likelihood-of-disruptions-obama-asks-supporters-to-attend-town-halls-public-forum.php
Obama Asks Supporters To Attend Town Halls, Public Forum

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/ofa-using-possibility-of-tea-bag-shout-downs-to-draw-out-health-care-reform-allies.php
OFA Using Specter Of Tea Bag Shout Downs To Draw Out Health Care Reform Allies

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/democratic-national-committee/obamas-political-operation-directly-confronting-tea-party-mobs/
Obama’s Political Operation Directly Confronting Tea Party “Mobs”

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/hcan-prepares-pro-health-care-reform-activists-for-responding-to-town-hall-disruptions-plans-to-disr.php
HCAN Prepares Pro-Health Care Reform Activists For Responding To Town Hall Disruptions, Plans To Disrupt The Disrupters

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/house-dems-coordinate-on-town-hall-meetings-protesters.php
House Dems Coordinate On Town Hall Meetings, Protesters

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/dccc-launches-new-phase-in-health-care-reform-fight-targeting-republicans.php
DCCC Launches New Phase In Health Care Reform Fight Targeting Republicans

The Republican National Committee shows what they think of dissent

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2009/08/dems_bash_back_on_town_hall_ta.html
[Scott Hensley] But the basic message [of the DNC ad], as you might expect, is: GOP, call off the dogs. To that end, the spot concludes with the telephone number for the Republican National Committee.

We gave it a try just to see what the RNC had to say and got an automated phone directory. Conveniently enough, the recorded voice prompted us to press 1, if we were calling about the recent DNC ad. Okee dokee. We did, and a few seconds later found ourselves talking with a receptionist at the DNC, who said she's been getting a lot of calls like ours today. . . .

The DNC's Brad Woodhouse said in an email that the call-forwarding option is "a neat trick." But it also shows, he wrote, that "Republicans don't want to have a discussion about the future of health care reform." . . .

More: http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/rnc-is-dumping-anyone-who-calls-about.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/i-know-you-are-but-what-am-i-by-digby.html
[David Weigel] On today’s call with reporters, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele took credit for the RNC’s response to a new Democratic National Committee ad asking voters to call Republicans and tell them to stop ginning up town hall heckling. . . . [read on!]

Don’t try to confuse us with facts!

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/tea-party-crowd-boos-the-fact-that-reagan-increased-deficit.php
Tea Party Crowd Boos The Fact That Reagan Increased Deficit

The kind of people they are

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/dem-congressmans-office-his-life-has-been-threatened-over-health-care-bill.php
Dem Congressman's Office: His Life Has Been Threatened Over Health Care Bill

Is it backfiring?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019373.php
[Steve Benen] [T]he upsides to right-wing activists bullying their way through town-hall meetings are clear: they get to intimidate supporters of health care reform, shut down discussions that might help spread the truth, and suggest to the media that opposition to reform is broader than it really is.

But there are downsides, and one of the angles to keep an eye on is whether the right is turning off potential allies. . . .

A mobilized minority versus a demobilized majority - maybe that's going to change now. If so, the Teabaggers may have done us a favor

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019365.php

Who’s pulling the strings?

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/rachel-maddow-big-money-pulling-strings-pr

Corporate activism

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/ceo_urges_employees_to_send_emails_against_health-care_reform.php
[Zachary Roth] It's happened in earlier Washington battles where powerful business interests have been threatened: corporate executives pressuring their employees into taking action on behalf of the firm's perceived political interests. . . .

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/insurance-industry-group-nope-we-wont-stop-efforts-to-get-people-to-town-hall-rallies/
Insurance Industry Group: Nope, We Won’t Stop Efforts To Get People To Town Hall Rallies

Thanks, CNN

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/cnn-refusing-to-run-ad-critical-of-insurance-industry/
[Greg Sargent] The network — already taking criticism for declining to run an ad criticizing Lou Dobbs — is now refusing to run an ad nationally criticizing the insurance industry . . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/getting-each-others-backs-by-digby-cnn.html

http://www.openleft.com/diary/14496/cnn-dives-head-first-into-television-payola

Fox News does its part to promote the protests

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/fox-nation-whipping-support-tea-parti

CNN too: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/dobbs-and-crowley-try-paint-town-hall-prot

A question I still haven’t heard from the press

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/health_care_/2009/08/rhetorical_jiujitsu.php
[Mark Kleiman] Everyone who denounces "government-run health care" ought to be asked "Does that include Medicare? Do you want to abolish Medicare?" Ideally, journalists would do that job. But in the real world . . . [read on]

More: http://www.slate.com/id/2224350
The Medicare-Isn't-Government Meme

Sounds like Obama’s patience with “bipartisanship” is running out

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/obama-yeah-theres-a-september-deadline-for-fiinance-committee.php

Pat Buchanan’s agitprop

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019362.php
[Steve Benen] The competition has been fierce, but I think we can safely hand out the award for The Most Spectacularly Ridiculous Column Written About Health Care Reform . . .

Theocracy warning: imagine a secret Christian fundamentalist network dedicated to recruiting politicians to work in concert to advance Christianity, capitalism, and their own vision of American power. A Dan Brown book plot?

No: the C Street “Family”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#32305409



Conservative pundits still try to find a downside to Clinton’s successful rescue trip to North Korea

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019372.php
[Steve Benen] Charles Krauthammer is convinced the release of Euna Lee and Laura Ling from North Korea came with a high price. He doesn't have any proof, evidence, or anything substantive to bolster his claims, but Krauthammer nevertheless feels comfortable drawing conclusions about the negotiations. . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/dick-morris-thinks-two-freed-hostage
Everyone but Fox analysts pretty much celebrated yesterday's release of the two American women held hostage in North Korea, thanks to Bill Clinton's diplomatic efforts. . . .

The worst of the bunch, though, had to be that sewer-dwelling toe-sucking gnome, Dick Morris, on Fox and Friends this morning with Gretchen Carlson, during which he called Clinton's successful negotations "ridiculous" . . . [read on]

More: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/05/clinton-nk-journalists/

Another nonfalsifiable hypothesis from the GOP. When the stock market was doing poorly, that was Obama’s fault; now that it’s doing better . . .

http://washingtonindependent.com/53938/michael-steele-the-stock-market-is-rebounding-because-obama-is-failing

Yesterday we saw Glenn Beck plead with his viewers not to engage in violence (a very revealing don’t-blame-me-in-advance ploy). Today he’s back in the business of saying Obama is a threat to the nation who must be stopped at all costs

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/beck-tells-oreilly-he-thinks-preside

Sarah Palin’s dogwhistle politics

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/#32305519



Can‘t say it better than this

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/03/AR2009080302219.html
[Eugene Robinson] If there's been a more clinically insane political phenomenon in my lifetime than the "birthers," I've missed it. Is this what our national discourse has come to? . . . [read on]

Ho ho ho. Fox News anchor gets into a debate with Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) over the “Cash for Clunkers” program. Sensing that the argument isn’t going the way he wanted, he suddenly cuts it off for “breaking news” – and the reason is . . . .

http://www.dailykostv.com/w/002014/

Never underestimate the awesome power and influence of PBD. Yesterday we made fun of the stupid and unfunny Dana Milbank/Chris Cillizza “Mouthpiece Theater” videos – today the Washington Post cancels their gig

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/curtain_falls_on_milbankcillizza.php
[Executive editor Marcus Brauchli] "I don't think the series worked as they intended. It was meant to be funny and insightful. . ."

[NB: Ooooh, ouch!]

Waahh! http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/dana-milbanks-curtain-call-its-brutal.html
"It's a brutal world out there in the blogosphere," Milbank said. "I'm often surprised by the ferocity . . .”

Bonus item: My Kenyan birth certificate

http://kenyanbirthcertificategenerator.com/cbdf98cd65c04af26e0c6b4600f70af5

Make your own! http://kenyanbirthcertificategenerator.com/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:16 AM

 
THE FOURTH ESTATE

As repeated here, there’s nothing wrong with anti-health care reform groups protesting and pressing their views. There is something wrong with a strategy of thuggery, intimidation, and shutting down debate. But my real issue today is the press’s lack of interest in exploring the groups who are funding and organizing these “grassroots” actions

The groups behind the protests: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/anti-health-care-reform-group-yeah-were-packing-and-disrupting-the-health-care-town-halls.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/nrcc-celebrates-recess-roasting.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/k-street-lynch-mobs-by-dday-jane-has.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019357.php

The press yawns: http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/08/04/how-come-cbs-journalists-cant-recognize-paid-lobbyists-when-they-see-them/

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/cnns-crowley-dismisses-fact-that-right.html
[Candy Crowley, CNN] “Democrats seem to be getting the worst of it and they accuse Republican operatives of sending protesters to their Town Hall meetings, but even if there is any truth to that charge.....the reality is that poll after poll shows that americans are divided about obama style health care reform."

[NB: “Even if” – but don’t ask me, I’m not interested.]

Is this so hard?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/maddow-on-tea-baggers-there-is-a-script-for-this-stuff.php
[Rachel Maddow] “There is a Script for This Stuff. . .”

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/when-liberals-protest-its-facism-when-c
When Liberals protest it's "fascism," when Conservatives astroturf-protest it's "democracy"

The Dems and White House (finally) start to push back

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/dnc-town-hall-protesters-are-rabid-right-wing-extremists-funded-by-k-street.php

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/white-house-jumps-into-the-battle-over-town-hall-eruptions/

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/democratic-national-committee/white-house-enlists-supporters-help-fighting-back-against-online-viral-health-care-smears/

The kind of people they are

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/ct-republicans-in-action-and-its-ugly.html

A tale of two protests – and the press coverage they received

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8568101

Your government wants to kill you!

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/club-for-growth-ad-under-socialized-medicine-your-life-is-worth-22750.php

Arthur Laffer, who gave us the “Laffer curve,” now brings his genius to completely confusing the health care debate

http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200908040014
“If you like the Post Office and the Department of Motor Vehicles and you think they’re run well, just wait till you see Medicare, Medicaid and health care done by the government.”

[NB: Yeah, we really have to keep government out of Medicare and Medicaid. That would be a disaster.]

When the 60 Minutes letter on Bush’s National Guard service was shown to be a forgery, the underlying issue about whether the accusations against Bush were true (they were!) completely disappeared, and the story became about, who produced the forgery and where did it come from? Now that the “Kenyan birth certificate” for Obama has been shown decisively to be a fake, will the press treat this story the same way? (I think we know the answer to that)

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/04/australia_certificate/index.html

A major Middle East peace push in the next couple of weeks?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/barak_to_obama_well_be_in.php

Bill Clinton intervenes with North Korea, securing the release of two journalists. Bush macho-man John Bolton thinks this is a terrible thing

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/bill-clinton-gets-two-us-journalists-pa

More: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/days_entertainment.php

http://www.juancole.com/2009/08/neocon-bolton-condemns-release-of-laura.html

So, it is finally dawning on the Beltway folks that McCain is no bipartisan

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/4/2097/58091

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/02/mccain-faults-how-dems-have-approached-health-care-reform/

Kathleen Parker, every now and then, delivers a surprising observation

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/04/AR2009080402424.html
Not all Southern Republicans are wing nuts. Nor does the GOP have a monopoly on ignorance or racism. And, the South, for all its sins, is also lush with beauty, grace and mystery. Nevertheless, it is true that the GOP is fast becoming regionalized below the Mason-Dixon line and increasingly associated with some of the South's worst ideas. . . . [read on]

VERY revealing moment: Glenn Beck pleads with his viewers not to kill anybody. So you have to ask, what happened to bring this on?

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/glenn-beck-pleads-his-audience-not-r

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/05/preemptive-dodging/

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/04/but-if-you-must-shoot-somebody-please-ditch-your-i-heart-glenn-beck-button-first/
[Eli] Not, mind you, because killing people is bad and wrong. No, you must restrain your homicidal urges because that shooting spree you were fantasizing about would hurt The Cause. . . .

CNN quietly pressured cable stations not to run anti-Lou Dobbs ad

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/4/761935/-CNN-quietly-squashed-anti-birther-ad-on-Dobbs

Bonus item: Dana Milbank and Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post have been producing a series of extremely unfunny web videos as a way of showing how Cool and With It the Post is. ("We're viral!") Of course they don’t get it, and the results have ranged from embarrassing to offensive (Hillary Clinton drinks “Mad Bitch beer” Haw haw haw!). A super-funny parody video shows them how real satire is done

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/04/comedians-take-on-dana-mi_n_250908.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:19 AM

 
TRENCH WARFARE

The Republicans signaled early on that they wanted to make health care reform Obama’s “Waterloo.” They made clear their intention to block it at all costs, because as with Clinton they think that failure on this score will weaken Obama’s presidency for the remainder of his term. They showed their willingness to lie about its costs, about its link with “euthanasia,” about a mandate for abortion and every other hot-button issue they could use to distort the proposal and whip up fear about it.

Now, having stalled a decision (with a big assist from conservative Dems) until the August recess, they’ve implemented Phase II: a choreographed series of disruptions at local town halls that make it impossible for local politicians to explain the issue or their positions on it. Their hope is that the media will represent this as a spontaneous expression of grass-roots anger and an exercise in protest and free speech, rather than what it is – thuggery meant to silence and intimidate honest discussion of the issues. And sure enough, the media is playing its part . . .

We all remember how Bush always excluded anyone from his public events who might possibly raise a difficult question or protest. Liberals believe in open debate, so they have to let in everyone – and the right knows that this always gives them an advantage.

Michelle Malkin rehearsed the talking points on Sunday

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/michelle-malkin-claims-tea-party-movement
Michelle Malkin Claims the Tea Party Movement is Grass Roots Counter-Insurgency

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/boehners-office-cheers-on-disruption-of-house-dems-town-hall-events.php
In the latest development of Democratic House members' town hall meetings being disrupted by the Tea Party crowd, House Minority Leader John Boehner's (R-OH) office is now applauding this turn of events.

"Back home for the August recess, rank-and-file Democratic Members of the House are facing a backlash from their constituents, who are already fed up with Washington's job-killing agenda and don't support Democrats' government takeover of health care” . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/more-on-astroteabaggers-by-digby-media.html

Here it comes

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/teabaggers-try-to-shout-down-health-care-reform-at-town-halls.php
[Rachel Slajda] Angry teabaggers and other opponents of health care reform are heckling members of Congress at their town hall meetings back home in an effort to sway the debate and drown out reform supporters.

This weekend, a group of teabaggers showed up at a town hall in Philadelphia with Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. They shouted and booed to drown out remarks from both officials and questions from the audience. . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/our_first_contestant.php
[NYT] Day One of the Democrats' offensive on overhauling health care apparently did not go well for Representative Lloyd Doggett of Texas, who was shouted down by angry constituents during a town-hall style meeting in Austin on Saturday.

A crowd of what looked like several hundred people chanted "Just Say No!" and "Just Vote No!" and apparently chased Mr. Doggett to his car.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/another_entry.php
[Bucks County (Pa.) Courier Times] Minutes into the first of two scheduled "Congressman on Your Corner" sessions Saturday afternoon at the jam-packed Concerto Fusion restaurant in Morrisville, shouts from an impatient, frustrated crowd forced Murphy and his staff to reconsider the format of the event . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/03/meeting_shouting/index.html
[Gabriel Winant] In addition to the disrupting these three meetings, protesters have surrounded Rep. Tim Bishop, D-N.Y., forcing him to rely on a police escort to escape to his car. They've also hung Rep. Frank Kratovil, D-Md., in effigy. A leaked memo from a volunteer with conservative group FreedomWorks entitled "Rocking the Town Halls -- Best Practices" advises exactly this sort of behavior. (The man listed as author, Frank MacGuffie, denies having written the memo on behalf of FreedomWorks.) The memo tells protesters to spread out to appear more numerous than they are and maximize disruption, reminding them, "Try To 'Rattle Him,' Not Have An Intelligent Debate." . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/inside-the-tea-partiers-anti-health-care-organizing-campaign.php
[Brian Beutler] On Friday, July 24, a representative of Conservatives for Patients Rights--the anti-health care reform group run by Swift Boat message man Rick Scott--sent an email to a list serve (called the Tea Party Patriots Health Care Reform Committee) containing a spreadsheet that lists over one hundred congressional town halls from late July into September.

The email from CPR to tea baggers suggests that, though conservatives portray the tea bagger disruptions as symptoms of a populist rebellion roiling unprompted through key districts around the country, they have to a great extent been orchestrated by anti-health care reform groups financed by industry. (CPR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

That email predates by about a week a recent flurry of events at which Democratic members of Congress have been accosted and harassed by anti-health care reform tea party protesters. But beyond putting those spectacles, now receiving wide play on cable news, into a fresh light, it also provides a window into the tea party protesters' organizing infrastructure . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/in_green_bay_tonight.php
Looks like another ambush in Wisconsin's 8th district . . .

Watch: http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/82936/

Remember 2000?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/shut_it_down_1.php
[From my Republican pal] The precedent on the anti-health care protests isn't Bush's Social Security town hall meetings. The real precedent is the "Brooks Brothers riot" during the 2000 recount. The point is to create disorder, but get the media to cast blame on the underlying issue and NOT the protesters.

That's what happened during Florida: The "blame" was on the "chaos" created by the "unfair" counting methods brought on by Al Gore's call for "selective" counting. No blame was focused on the young GOP activists upsetting the process.

THAT seems to me to be the comparison that Obama supporters should be on the lookout for this summer. . . .

More: http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/04/how-it-works-in-modern-journalism/

The media plays dumb (of course)

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/our_first_contestant.php
[Josh Marshall] I think we may have our first example of a reporter who seems to miss the distinction -- noted below -- of activists turning out to make themselves heard at townhall meeting and mobs sent to shut down town hall meetings. . . .

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/get_what_you_pay_for.php
[NM] Just wanted to let you know I watched the Couric newscast this evening and they had a segment on the organic 'anger' that exists against the Obama and the health program. Guess who they has on? A guy from freedomWorks, a republican strategist and Ambinder spouting the line that this is 'real america' anger. So as you said today they are reporting it as spontaneous not as an organized astro turf fight. . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/village-idiots-fall-in-line-by-digby.html
[Hardball] Matthews: What do you make of this firestorm that's going on across the country. We've got pictures from Texas and Long Island and Philly. Every time a congressman calls a town meeting now, the people show up and it's like -- I don't know --- it's like Iran! It's like the streets of Tehran! . . .

What to do

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/health_care_/2009/08/teabaggers_and_town_halls.php
[Mark Kleiman] I didn't approve of Weimar politics when it was being practiced by the anti-war left, and I still don't approve of it when it's practiced from the right. Asking a rude question at an open meeting is fine; disrupting a meeting for the purpose of preventing people from talking to one another is not.

If reporters were less gullible or more interested in informing than in entertaining, they would report the story as "lunatics interfere with democratic process" rather than "citizens oppose health care reform." And they might want to ask some questions about whether the same astroturf lobbying firms that are writing forged letters to Congressmen are also involved in organizing the disruptions.

If I were a Member of Congress threatened by this nonsense, I wouldn't stop holding town meetings; I'd start out each meeting by welcoming my constituents and warning them that there's an organized group in the hall planning to disrupt the proceedings. Never pass up an opportunity to portray your opponents as extremists, especially when they are.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/authoritarian_mindset.php
[Josh Marshall] From a superficial perspective one might say, well, isn't the point that the town halls aren't supposed to be scripted to a T? You want to get some hustle and bustle, some engagement of opposing views? But as I noted earlier, what the tea bagger mobs are doing is qualitatively different. They're sending in these groups to shut down the meeting entirely.

Both cases are distressingly telling examples of the authoritarian mentality so often found in right-wing politics -- force and mob action to shut down actual discussion. It two sides of the same coin -- the right in power versus the right out of power.

Par for the course. . . .

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/are_democrats_in_for_an_august_slaughter.php
Are Democrats In For An August Slaughter?

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/health-care/is-obamas-vaunted-political-operation-getting-outworked-by-tea-baggers/
Is Obama’s Vaunted Political Operation Getting Outworked By Tea-Baggers?

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/08/and_for_the_blue_team.php
We spent most of Monday reporting on these tea-bagging crowds going to Democratic health care town hall meetings to shout down the hosts and shut the events down. It's classic agitprop, very akin to the 'Brooks Brothers riot' down in Florida during the recount.

But where's the other team? . . .

The fight ahead: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/august-recess-an-breakdown-of-the-health-care-fight-ahead.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/3/761171/-Healthcare-RoundupWhats-Ahead

Remember the CBO health care reform cost estimate that got so much coverage?

http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/nyt-editorial-cbo-probably-underestim
NYT Editorial: CBO Probably Underestimated Savings from Healthcare Reform

Stall, stall, stall

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/enzi-theres-no-september-15-health-care-deadline.php
[Brian Beutler] Last week, after admitting that his failing health care negotiations won't produce reform legislation in the Senate Finance Committee before August recess, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) erected a new deadline--September 15--and now, he says, he'll produce a bill with or without Republicans.

That bill may have to be written "without Republicans."

"I have not and will not agree to an artificial deadline because I am committed to getting healthcare reform right, not finishing a bill by some arbitrary date," said Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) in a statement today.

Enzi's one of six key Finance Committee negotiators hashing out a consensus bill. He's also a deeply conservative Republican, under pressure from leaders in his party to slow down or kill discussions--and he appears to be doing a bang-up job. . . .

Keith Olbermann blasts the corrupt Blue Dog Dems and others blocking health care. On a scale of 1-10, he’s at 11

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/special-comment-health-care-reform

Well, THAT could have gone better. . . check out Orly Taitz, spokeswoman for the birtherists, and source of the widely discredited “Kenyan Obama birth certificate,” on MSNBC. Don’t miss it!

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/3/194234/5997



http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/03/msnbc_taitz/index.html
[Alex Koppelman] The segment was, from the very beginning, a train wreck. It started with Taitz asking how much time she'd be given to respond -- not exactly the kind of question anchors like to get, as it means you're eating in to the time scheduled for your segment -- and spiraled swiftly downward from there, with Taitz calling host David Shuster a "Brownshirt" and Shuster asking Taitz if it was true that NBC had offered her a car to bring her to the studio, but "you refused because it was a Muslim sounding name with the driver." (Taitz said it was not true.) . . . [read on]

The fake birth certificate came from . . . AUSTRALIA

http://washingtonindependent.com/53658/is-this-the-source-of-the-forged-kenyan-birth-certificate
[David Weigel] One of my friends in the small community of Obama “birther”-debunkers passes on quite the discovery: a 1964 “certified copy of registration of birth” from Australia, easily available on Bomford.net, a genealogy site. There are striking similarities between this document and the one Orly Taitz is passing off as a “Kenyan birth certificate” for Barack Obama.

- The design is identical, down to the seal at the top and the classifications (”Christian name,” etc) used for identifying the baby.

- The “registrar” on the Bomford document is G.F. Lavender. On the Taitz document, it’s E.F. Lavender.

- The “district registrar” on the Bomford document is J.H. Miller. On the Taitz document, it’s M.H. Miller.

- The number of the book is identical on both documents: Book 44B, Page 5733.

What’s more likely — that two Kenyan bureaucrats shared last names with two Australian bureaucrats, and that the numbers on both certificates were identical? Or that someone used this document, available online for anyone who wanted to look, to forge the Obama “certificate?”

More: http://washingtonindependent.com/53654/forged-kenyan-document-splinters-birther-movement

World Net Daily explains its journalistic standards in republishing as legitimate a document widely discredited as a forgery

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/3/761354/-Words-You-Never-Thought-Youd-See-In-The-Same-Sentence
Our goal, as always, is to seek the truth. This is not our document. It is evidence that has (sic) presented in a high-profile court case. And, thus, I believe we had a journalistic responsibility to publish it — just as I think every other news organization does.

Hatred, fear, and divisiveness. It’s what they do

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/ghost-lee-atwater-back-conservative-mov
[John Amato] I believed that it wouldn't end with Obama's election and those who thought so were a bit naive. Well, now it's come back with a vengeance and it's sick and it's ugly, but it's real. Everything that has come out of the mouths of the conservative movement and transmitted by their conduits to the public has been targeted at racial elements in our society. . . [read on]

Of course they knew

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/08/03/emails_show_gop_staffers_knew_of_ensign_affair.html
Jon Ralston reports that emails between staffers at the National Republican Senatorial Committee indicate they knew about the extramarital affair of their chairman, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), more than a year ago.

The previous implication had been they did not know of Ensign's missteps until his June 16 news conference. . . . [read on]

McCain still trying to refight the 2008 campaign he lost

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/selective-amnesia-john-mccain

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/3/8051/20778

Liz Cheney, perfecting her snide side

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/08/03/cheney/index.html
Liz Cheney: U.S. needs commander, not community organizer . . .

Networks complain that Obama is having too darn many press conferences

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/network-chiefs-slam-white-house-for-making-obama-available-to-their-reporters/

Anchor Steam: Lou Dobbs vs. CNN

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090803/ap_en_tv/us_tv_lou_dobbs
[AP] He's become a publicity nightmare for CNN, embarrassed his boss and hosted a show that seemed to contradict the network's "no bias" brand. And on top of all that, his ratings are slipping.

How does Lou Dobbs keep his job? . . .

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/media-matters-tv-ad-attacks-dobbs-and-cnn-for-racially-charged-paranoia.php
Media Matters TV Ad Attacks Dobbs And CNN For "Racially-Charged Paranoia" . . .

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/anti-lou_dobbs_ad_to_run_on_lou_dobbss_show_today.php
Anti-Lou Dobbs Ad May Run Tomorrow During Dobb's Show . . .

Anchor Steam: Olbermann vs. GE

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/asymmetrical-warfare-by-digby-im-sure.html
[Digby] I'm sure you've all been following this astonishing story about Roger Ailes striking a bargain with the corporate heads of GE to get Keith Olbermann to lay off O'Reilly. Glenzilla has been all over it and covers all the important angles. He takes particular aim at GE for their interference in the news business, and on a global scale their journalistic crimes are manifest. But I think the real corporate thug in all this is Fox.

Here's what gets me: the essence of the agreement is that Olbermann would stop attacking Bill O'Reilly and Bill O'Reilly would stop attacking the multinational corporation GE. Does everyone see the asymmetry of that? . . . [read on]

More: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/01/ge/index.html

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/03/general_electric/index.html

http://www.juancole.com/2009/08/olbermann-refutes-nyt-allegations-on-ge.html

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/03/olbermann-responds-re-ge-fox-and-bill-oreilly/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

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- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:35 AM

 
INSURANCE POLICIES

What happens when people’s unemployment insurance runs out?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/us/02unemploy.html
Tens of thousands of workers have already used up their benefits, and the numbers are expected to soar in the months to come, reaching half a million by the end of September and 1.5 million by the end of the year . . . [read on]

More: http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/6880

Why health care reform is health INSURANCE reform

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019328.php
[Paul Krugman] The essence is really quite simple: regulation of insurers, so that they can't cherry-pick only the healthy, and subsidies, so that all Americans can afford insurance.

Everything else is about making that core work. Individual mandates are a way to prevent gaming of the system by people who don't sign up until they're sick; employer mandates a way to hold down the on-budget costs by preventing a rush by employers to drop insurance; the public option a way to create effective competition and hold costs down further.

But what it means for the individual will be that insurers can't reject you, and if your income is relatively low, the government will help pay your premiums.

That's it. Any commentator who whines that he just doesn't understand it is basically saying that he doesn't want to understand it. . . . [read on]

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/wonk-speech-by-digby-we-spend-lot-of.html
[Digby] That's about it. If we could fight this fight on that basis, on both the left and the right, as to whether the various details emerging from the plans will accomplish the goal of affordable, universal coverage, we would be far ahead of the game.

As it is, we're losing the war of the words. . . . [read on]

How the right will disrupt regional town hall meetings to prevent an open public debate over health care reform

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/8/2/223824/8051
[Think Progress] This growing phenomenon is often marked by violence and absurdity. Recently, right-wing demonstrators hung Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) in effigy outside of his office. Missing from the reporting of these stories is the fact that much of these protests are coordinated by public relations firms and lobbyists who have a stake in opposing President Obama’s reforms. The lobbyist-run groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, which orchestrated the anti-Obama tea parties earlier this year, are now pursuing an aggressive strategy to create an image of mass public opposition to health care and clean energy reform. A leaked memo from Bob MacGuffie, a volunteer with the FreedomWorks website Tea Party Patriots, details how members should be infiltrating town halls and harassing Democratic members of Congress:

– Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”

– Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early.”

– Try To “Rattle Him,” Not Have An Intelligent Debate: “The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.” [read on]

Can you say “bad faith”? Two of the Republicans negotiating with Max Baucus to water down the health care bill have no intention of voting for the result, anyway

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/orrin-hatch-spills-beans-grassley-and.html

Tell me again why the Dems have to take the reconciliation (50-vote) option off the table?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019330.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/democrats_in_congress_/2009/08/joke_of_the_day_budget_reconciliation_and_health_reform.php

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/budget-reconciliation-and-health-care.php

What really motivates the Blue Dogs

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/vulnerable-pups-by-digby-i-just-watched.html

The GOP is still working quietly behind the scenes to try to derail the Sotomayor confirmation, or at least hold down her margin of victory

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/winger-strategery-by-digby-ive-been.html

Why we still can’t talk honestly about race

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/opinion/02rich.html
[Frank Rich] If there was a teachable moment in this incident, it could be found in how some powerful white people well beyond Cambridge responded to it. That reaction is merely the latest example of how the inexorable transformation of America into a white-minority country in some 30 years — by 2042 in the latest Census Bureau estimate — is causing serious jitters, if not panic, in some white establishments.

Ground zero for this hysteria is Fox News, where Brit Hume last Sunday lamented how insulting it is “to be labeled a racist” in “contemporary” America. “That fact has placed into the hands of certain people a weapon,” he said, as he condemned Gates for hurling that weapon at a police officer. . . . What about those far more famous leaders in Hume’s own camp who insistently cry “racist” — and in public forums — without any credible justification whatsoever? These are the “certain people” Hume conspicuously didn’t mention. They include Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich, both of whom labeled Sonia Sotomayor a racist. Their ranks were joined last week by Glenn Beck, who on Fox News inexplicably labeled Obama a racist with “a deep-seated hatred for white people,” presumably including his own mother.

What provokes their angry and nonsensical cries of racism is sheer desperation: an entire country is changing faster than these white guys bargained for. We’ve been reminded repeatedly during Gatesgate that Cambridge’s mayor is a black lesbian. But a more representative window into the country’s transition might be that Dallas County, Tex., elected a Latina lesbian sheriff in 2004 (and re-elected her last year) and that the three serious candidates for mayor of Houston this fall include a black man and a white lesbian.

Even Texas may be tinting blue, and as goes Texas, so will all but the dwindling rural minority of the Electoral College. Last month the Census Bureau released a new analysis of the 2008 presidential election results finding that increases among minority voters accounted for virtually all the five million additional votes cast in comparison to 2004. . . .

This bizarre “birther” movement, out to prove that Obama is not a naturally born citizen, first gained notice in the summer of 2008 when it was being advanced by the author Jerome Corsi, a leader of the Swift boat assault on Kerry. That it revved up again as Gatesgate boiled over and Sotomayor sped toward Senate confirmation is not a coincidence.

Obama’s election, far from alleviating paranoia in the white fringe, has only compounded it. There is no purer expression of this animus than to claim that Obama is literally not an American — or, as Sarah Palin would have it, not a “real American.” The birth-certificate canard is just the latest version of those campaign-year attempts to strip Obama of his American identity with faux controversies over flag pins, the Pledge of Allegiance and his middle name. Last summer, Cokie Roberts of ABC News even faulted him for taking a vacation in his home state of Hawaii, which she described as a “foreign, exotic place,” in contrast to her proposed choice of Myrtle Beach, S.C., in the real America of Dixie. . . .

One of the loudest birther enablers is not at Fox but CNN: Lou Dobbs, who was heretofore best known for trying to link immigrants, especially Hispanics, to civic havoc. Dobbs is one-stop shopping for the excesses of this seismic period of racial transition. And he is following a traditional, if toxic, American playbook. The escalating white fear of newly empowered ethnic groups and blacks is a naked replay of more than a century ago, when large waves of immigration and the northern migration of emancipated blacks, coupled with a tumultuous modernization of the American work force, unleashed a similar storm of racial and nativist panic.

As Eugene Robinson of The Washington Post and Helene Cooper of The Times have pointed out, a lot of today’s variation on the theme is class-oriented. Some whites habituated to a monopoly on the upper reaches of American power just can’t adjust to the reality that Obama, Sotomayor, Oprah Winfrey and countless others are now at the very pinnacle, and that they might sometimes side with each other just as their white counterparts do. Threatened white elites try to mask their own anxieties by patronizingly adopting working-class whites as their pet political surrogates — Joe the Plumber, New Haven firemen, a Cambridge police officer. Call it Village People populism.

Sometimes the most revealing expressions of this resentment emerge in juvenile asides — Bill Kristol (on The Weekly Standard’s blog) ridiculing Gates for writing a flowery travel magazine article about his privileged vacation home of Martha’s Vineyard, or Heather MacDonald (in National Review) mocking Gates as a “limousine liberal” for his supposedly hypocritical admission that he has a “regular car service” and a “regular driver” to fetch him at the airport. Who does Henry Louis Gates Jr. think he is, William F. Buckley Jr.?

The one lesson that everyone took away from the latest “national conversation about race” is the same one we’ve taken away from every other “national conversation” in the past couple of years. America has not transcended race. America is not postracial. So we can all say that again. But it must also be said that we’re just at the start of what may be a 30-year struggle. Beer won’t cool the fury of those who can’t accept the reality that America’s racial profile will no longer reflect their own.

Mike Pence (R-IN), a one-man installment of “the kind of people they are”

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/honesty-and-tv-booking.php
[Matt Yglesias] House Democrats have the congress considering a bill that involves around $540 billion in new taxes, along with several hundred billion in offsetting spending cuts, in order to pay for a substantial expansion of health insurance coverage in the United States. $540 billion is a lot of money. But it’s a lot less money than $800 billion or $1 trillion. And yet Steve Benen observes that Rep Mike Pence (R-IN), a member of the GOP leadership, keeps going on TV to repeat the fake larger number . . .

It seems like this should be a no-brainer. Politicians engage in a volume of misrepresentation that is, at first, quite shocking. Then you realize it’s not shocking. Politicians wouldn’t lie of lying was likely to generate newspaper headlines like “Pence Lies About Health Insurance” or got bookers to say things like “sorry, Senator, you can’t come on our network anymore since you were so dishonest or ill-informed in your two previous segments.” But nobody does business that way so why not lie?

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019320.php

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/pence-slams-stimulus-wants-more-his-state
Pence slams stimulus but wants more for his state

Well, despite my better judgment, I did watch Michelle Malkin on ABC’s Sunday roundtable. Her opening parlay was to pooh-pooh the judgments of professional beltway economists who say the economy is starting to recover (“They’ve been wrong about everything before, so why believe them now?”) – and then not five minutes later favorably quote a professional beltway economist about the costs of the Democratic health care plan. Oh, but it got worse. . . . much worse

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/02/michelle-malkin-helpfully-explains-why-the-arrest-of-henry-gates-was-justified/
Michelle Malkin Helpfully Explains Why the Arrest of Henry Gates was Justified . . .

http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/michelle-malkin-uses-bogus-claim-gets-s
Michelle Malkin gets slapped down for bogus claim that people would rather receive unemployment than work . . .

John McCain is perfecting an unctuous, grandfatherly style. He is just so DISAPPOINTED in Barack Obama. (Has a losing Presidential candidate ever been given so much air time to second-guess the man who defeated him?) And he is just SO DARN proud of Sarah Palin, bless her heart

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/mccain-i-respect-palin-am-saddened-by-attacks-on-her.php
McCain: I Respect Palin, Am Saddened By Attacks On Her
Appearing on State of the Union, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) said he respects Sarah Palin and her decision to resign as Governor of Alaska. "I think she will continue to play a major role in the future of the Republican Party. And I have to respect the decision she made," said McCain, who also added that he is "saddened by the fact that there are still such vicious attacks on her and her family."

McCain: Stimulus Has Had Effect, But Still "Generational Theft"
Also during his State of the Union appearance, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) conceded that the stimulus program has had some positive effect, though he still does not think it is worth the high price-tag in national debt. "I think it's very clear that the stimulus has had some effect," said McCain. "But, what I worry more than anything about is the long-term effects, because we are committing generational theft."

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/mccain-blue-dogs-will-roll-over-and-play-dea
McCain: Obama has failed bipartisanship test . . .

More from the Sunday shows: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/the_sunday_shows_in_seven_sentences_or_less_1.php

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/mccain-i-respect-palin-am-saddened-by-attacks-on-her.php

The latest chapter in the birther conspiracy is a “Kenyan” birth certificate for Obama making the rounds. Of course it’s a fake

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/2/761144/-Debunking-the-unbearably-stupid

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/2/761071/-Birthers-crack-the-case!

http://nativeborncitizen.wordpress.com/2009/08/02/third-obama-birth-certificate-appears-in-court/

Bonus item: Oh, christ

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/people-who-brought-you-birthers-obam
[WND] An American Christian has produced a brief film for YouTube that connects one statement by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke to President Barack Obama.

His 4-minute video focuses on the direct quote: "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." (Luke 10:18)

"When I started doing a little research, I found the Greek word for 'lightning' is 'astrape', and the Hebrew equivalent is 'Baraq,'" said YouTube contributor "ppsimmons," a self-described Christian with a theological education and many years in the ministry, who spoke to WND under condition of anonymity out of concern for members of his local church. "I thought that was fascinating."

As he continued looking into the rest of the words in the phrase, he focused on "heaven," and found that it can refer not just to God's dwelling place, but also "the heights" or "high places."

He then recalled Isaiah 14:14, where Lucifer, another name for Satan, is quoted as saying, "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High."

"I wondered what the word 'heights' is," said ppsimmons, "and I looked it up in the dictionary, and it's 'Bamah.'"

Thus, on the video, the announcer notes, "If spoken by a Jewish rabbi today, influenced by the poetry of Isaiah, He (Jesus) would say these words in Hebrew ... 'I saw Satan as Baraq Ubamah.'"

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:40 AM

 
QUITTERS NEVER WIN

Dumbing down the health-care debate

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/opinion/31krugman.html
[Paul Krugman] At a recent town hall meeting, a man stood up and told Representative Bob Inglis to “keep your government hands off my Medicare.” The congressman, a Republican from South Carolina, tried to explain that Medicare is already a government program — but the voter, Mr. Inglis said, “wasn’t having any of it.”

It’s a funny story — but it illustrates the extent to which health reform must climb a wall of misinformation. . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/pushing-from-left-by-digby-i-dont-know.html
[From a commenter] While I was watching the health-care markup on Thursday night (because I’m a policy nerd and I think that sort of thing is fun), Anthony Wiener offered an amendment to repeal Medicare. It was, by his own admission, intended as a political trap to force the Republican members to vote for single-payer health care. It was a hilarious debate to watch.

Wiener observed that a lot of Republicans had been warning direly about the dangers of socialized medicine and government interference in the health-care market, and so offered “the amendment they’ve been waiting for” to give them the opportunity to vote to end the scourge of single-payer health care in America. . . .

The Ranking Republican, Joe Barton of Texas, made some nonsensical and indecipherable distinction about “government-mandated” health care versus “government-run” health care . . .

Single-payer gets a floor vote, and that’s important even though it won’t pass

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/single-payer-gets-its-day-on-the-floor.php

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/pushing-from-left-by-digby-i-dont-know.html

Ben Nelson (D?-NE) is vewy, vewy upset that he is getting pressure from progressive groups over health care – and he has an interesting and revealing response: that he might tip over the entire apple cart if they don't stop

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_08/019318.php
[Huffington Post] Senator Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) lashed out Friday at the ads being run against his position on health care reform in his home state, saying they would backfire -- and might even derail the entire reform process.

In a statement issued late in the afternoon by Nelson's office, spokesman Jake Thompson warned that if the new series of ads calling out the Senator's "stalling" on reform were "an indication of the politics going into August, then health care reform may be dead by the end of August." . . . [read on]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/poor-lil-benji-by-digby-as-you-know.html

Here it is again: you take a completely manufactured and deceptive controversy, like the GOP claims that the Dem health care plan calls for euthanasia, and even though it is a COMPLETE LIE, you can get mainstream outlets to repeat the claims and give them credence, because they have to report that the issue is “out there.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/31/AR2009073103148.html

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/teach-controversy-by-dday-ceci-connolly.html

More dog whistle racist politics from the right

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/30/759892/-Tancredo:-Sonia-Mayer-May-Be-Proof-Obama-Is-A-Racist
[Tom Tancredo, former R-CO] I do not know if he has a hatred for white people. I can say that his [Obama] statements and his appointment of someone I do believe to be a racist, "Sonia Mayer," for her racial views by the way — that is an indication, that could be used as an indication by some, that he is indeed a racist. Because it’s depending on what you use as a definition.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/ann-coulter-claims-theres-epidemic-racial
Ann Coulter Claims There's an Epidemic Of Racial Profiling Hoaxes

Let’s call this birther b.s. what it is

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/real-time-new-rules-july-31-2009

Perfect: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/watching_conservatives_/2009/08/not_just_birtherism.php
[From a reader] If you look at that Kos poll about Obama's birth, there was another question that was also asked:

QUESTION: Do you believe that America and Africa were once part of the same continent?

REPUBLICANS Yes: 24 No: 47 Not sure: 29

Yes, conservative groups have a right to organize and protest too – but this is not okay

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/teabaggers-want-voice-health-care-fo
We noticed the other day that tea partiers are being organized into a campaign of disruption and intimidation at health-care forums. As Politico reports, the disruptions at town halls are becoming quite common.

It turns out that, as Lee Fang at Think Progress reports, the disruptions are being carefully planned by teabaggers . . . [read on]

More: http://www.truthout.org/080109G

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/8/1/760343/-Creating-Outrage

Oh, man. Is this the BEST they can come up with?

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/08/01/gop-leader-bashes-obamas-happy-hour/
Republican National Committee Co-Chairman Jan Larimer criticized President Obama Friday for his White House meeting with a professor and a police officer, saying the president needs to focus on more important issues.

"We are at war and Barack Obama is talking about beer in the White House," Larimer said . . .

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://firedoglake.com/2009/08/02/sunday-talking-heads-august-2-2009/
ABC's This Week: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Alan Greenspan. Roundtable. Michelle Malkin, Cynthia Tucker, Al Hunt and Jerry Seib.

CBS' Face The Nation: Larry Summers, Director, National Economic Council. Bob Woodward, David Brooks, and Kathleen Parker.

CNN's State of the Union: Christina Romer, Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers discusses the economy, jobs and corporate bonuses. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) weighs in on President Obama's promise to improve bipartisanship in Washington.

NBC's Meet The Press: Larry Summers, Director, National Economic Council. Roundtable: Dan Balz, Haynes Johnson, Harold Ford, Jr., and J.C. Watts.

Bonus item: When the going gets tough . . .? Palin’s staff is denying it, but there are reports that she and Todd are getting divorced

http://lafiga.firedoglake.com/2009/08/01/sarah-palin-is-quitting-again-now-its-her-marriage/

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/dull-week-end-palin-rumor-mongering-by.html

But we do know this: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/politics/Palin-a-No-Show-Yet-Again-52209387.html
[Sara Smith] Once again the famous Alaskan quitter Sarah Palin will be a no-show at some major event where the organizers thought she was going to be a very special guest.

Just a few weeks ago, the Republican Women Federated of Simi Valley, a group in suburban Los Angeles, revealed that Palin would attend their 50th anniversary gala on August 8.

But even as they made the announcement, the women's group should have known they were just being set up for more disappointment. "The Alaska governor's office did not respond to e-mail or phone messages," reported the Associated Press.

That is not generally a sign of great enthusiasm. It was, however, fairly typical behavior from the Palin camp, which likes to make both tentative and serious commitments to events before pulling out at the last minute, to the horror and embarrassment of their organizers. The Republican Women of Simi Valley are just the latest victims of this novel PR approach.

Since last September, Palin has bagged on numerous important events: an Eagle Forum get-together in St. Paul; an Republican fundraiser in Orange County; and the Conservative Political Action Conference, where sad conservatives had to content themselves with the repellent wingnut radio troll Rush Limbaugh instead of the nice lady from Alaska.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:05 AM

 
THE BIG LIE

Here’s something to keep in mind: the emails that showed Karl Rove was lying about the extent of his involvement in the US attorney scandal were leaked by HIS OWN LAWYER. Trying to get out ahead of the story? Framing even worse emails that are yet to come?

Well, Marcy Wheeler’s not fooled – read on:

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/07/31/karl-rove-thats-why-they-call-it-a-limited-hang-out/

You know about “astroturf” – fake grassroots letters and petitions that are actually orchestrated by national political orgs and lobbyists (like “Letters to the Editor” published under local people’s names in local newspapers all across the country, that just happen to be word-for-word identical). Republicans, as you might guess, have perfected this fraud – but this one really breaks new ground

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/lobby_firm_sent_forged_climate_change_letter_to_c.php
Freshman Democratic congressman Tom Perriello -- whose Virginia district leans Republican -- faced a tough decision last month over whether to support the climate change bill. As he was weighing the issue, he got a letter from a non-profit group in his district that focuses on issues of importance to Hispanics. The letter urged Perriello to oppose the bill because it could raise low-income members' utility bills. "Many of our members are on tight budgets and the sizes of their monthly utility bills are important expense items," it read in part.

But, reports the Charlottesville Daily Progress, the letter was a fake . . . [read on]

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/bonner_responds_forged_letters_were_sent_by_temporar.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/former_employee_bonner_just_got_caught_this_time.php

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/31/bonner-forgery/

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/congress_to_probe_forged_climate_change_letters.php

Hey, don’t look now, but the Obama stimulus plan might just be working. Will all the Republicans who blamed him when the economy was in the doldrums praise him now if his policies pull us out of it?

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_07/019313.php

http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/gdppicture20090731/

Progress on health care reform?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/house-health-care-legislation-passes-energy-and-commerce-committee.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_07/019302.php

More: http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/jay-rockefeller-explains-fallacy-kent-c

Here’s why the GOP doesn’t want to propose an alternative approach to health care reform. Once you have a model, any model, out there, there’ll be something to question and criticize. So they’re a lot more interested in attacking the Dem plans (and they’re lucky to have several to choose from, so there’s always plenty of material) rather than defending their own

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/31/760092/-New-GOP-health-plan-creates-opening-for-WH,-Dems

Jon Stewart documents how crazy the Republican discourse on Obama’s health case reform has become – and it’s working

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-july-30-2009/healthraiser

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Healthraiser
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

They really will say ANYTHING: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/pensive-jackass-by-digby-has-there-ever.html

Here’s how the Big Lie works: a majority of Republicans, and a majority of Southerners (is that redundant?) have doubts now about whether Obama is a natural born American

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/31/760087/-Birthers-are-mostly-Republican-and-Southern

http://www.americablog.com/2009/08/markos-there-is-sizeable-component-of.html

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/president-obama/weekend-open-thread-5/
Dave Weigel further breaks down that birther poll along racial lines, and makes a striking discovery: The number of southern whites who doubt Barack Obama’s U.S. citizenship might top 70 percent.

More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/race_related_isms_/2009/07/birtherism_in_the_white_south.php

Remember the study that showed that Fox News viewers were LESS informed about important political matters? Here’s another example of why

http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/planet-oreilly-sarah-palin-proof-lib
[Bill O’Reilly] “Gov. Palin is obviously a fuse on this. The left despises her. But the truth is the governor did a pretty good job in Alaska. Her approval rating when she left office was 54 percent, despite spending a lot of time outside the state. . . .” [read on]

http://washingtonindependent.com/53479/americas-hottest-governor-no-more
The final Hays Research Poll on former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) finds her popularity with Alaskans tumbling just into negative territory; 48 percent of voters view her favorably, 47 percent view her unfavorably. . . . [read on]

So ABC News has decided that Michelle Malkin, crazy lady with a Rush-like talent for race-baiting and hate, is a serious commentator worthy of a spot on their Sunday Roundtable. What next, Ann Coulter?

http://washingtonindependent.com/53474/michelle-malkin-appearing-on-this-week

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/rachel-maddow-gops-overt-racism
BECK: This president, I think, has exposed himself as a guy, over and over and over again, who has a deep-seed hatred for white people or the white culture.

LIMBAUGH: Here you have a black president trying to destroy a white policeman. I think he is genuinely revved up about race. You know me. I think he is genuinely angry in his heart and has been his whole life.

MALKIN: I think he is a racial opportunist.

Bonus item: William Shatner does another round of Palin-inspired poetry, this time from her “tweets”

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/07/30/shatner_palin/index.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:50 AM