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

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

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.***

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.***

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).

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.***

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.***

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.

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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.***