Bang on.
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Republicans Turn the page…(not really)
May 19, 2009 By
The Republican Party death spiral watch continues.
Republican strategist, John Weaver…
“If it’s 2012 and our party is defined by Palin and Limbaugh and Cheney, then we’re headed for a blowout. That’s just the truth.”
House minority leader John Boehner on Cheney…
“It doesn’t hurt us, it helps us. [Cheney] is a big member in our party.”
Hmmm…I imagine Boehner hasn’t seen the poll of GOP political strategists which indicates that 57% feel that Cheney’s presence is hurting the party.
RNC Chairman Michael Steele today…
“The era of apologizing for Republican mistakes of the past is now officially over. It is done… We have turned the page; we have turned the corner… From this point forward, we will focus all of our energies on winning the future.”
Turned the page? Focus on winning? As opposed to…what? Focus on losing?
Turning that page might not be so easy. Republican strategists remark…
“Anything that reminds the public of the Bush administration harms the party’s ability to turn the page. If [Cheney] had any concern for his public image when he was in office, he wouldn’t have to worry as much about defending his reputation now.”
“There is nothing Dick Cheney can say or do to help the Republican Party today. The best thing he can do is disappear for the next 10 years.”
The DNC’s response to all of this…
“While we welcome Chairman Steele’s words that the GOP wants to turn the page on its past, we are disheartened by the party’s actions that tell the opposite story. While the Chairman talks of moving forward, the very convention he’s addressing will not focus on coming up with new ideas to create jobs and setting right what the party got wrong over the last eight years, but instead will revolve around name calling and the petty politics of the past. While the Chairman speaks of no longer looking in the rearview mirror, just this weekend he and other party leaders stumbled over one another to endorse the leadership of one of the most divisive figures in recent American history, Dick Cheney. The test of the sincerity of the Chairman’s words will be if he and the other GOP leaders stand up to the fringe elements of their party and whether they tell the polarizing faces of the past – including Cheney, Gingrich and Limbaugh – to stand aside. Unfortunately, they have shown no willingness to do so, which is why fewer and fewer Americans have confidence in the Republican party to lead during these tough times.”
And in the meantime, Obama continues rolling along, setting policy and getting business done…with approval ratings still high. Life could be worse I guess.
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Republicans on Health Care – Keeping the Lie Alive
May 19, 2009 By
Republicans have been on message in their campaign to distort the Obama proposal for health care reform.
Moveon.org gives us the 5 things you need to know about Obama’s public health insurance option:
1. Choice, choice, choice. If the public option passes, Americans will be able to choose between their current insurance and a high-quality, government-run plan similar to Medicare. If you like your current care, you can keep it. If you don’t—or don’t have any—you can get the public insurance plan.
2. It will be high-quality coverage with a choice of doctors. Government-run plans have a track record of innovating to improve quality, because they’re not just focused on short-term profits. And if you choose the public plan, you’ll still get to choose your doctor and hospital.
3. We’ll all save a bunch of money. The public option won’t have to spend money on things like CEO bonuses, shareholder dividends, or excessive advertising, so it’ll cost a lot less. Plus, the private plans will have to lower their rates and provide better value to compete, so people who keep their current insurance will save, too.
4. It will always be there for you and your family. A for-profit insurer can close, move out of the area, or just kick you off their insurance rolls. The public option will always be available to provide you with the health security you need.
5. And it’s a key part of universal health care. No longer will sick people or folks in rural communities, or low-income Americans be forced to go without coverage. The public option will be available and accessible to everyone. And for those struggling to make ends meet, the premiums will be subsidized by the government.
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Fact: The U.S. spends more on health care per person than any other country in the world.
Fact: The U.S. infant mortality rate is higher than that of the European Union, Canada, U.K., Australia and a host of other countries which have universal health care.
Come to your own conclusions.
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Manipulating a Weak President
May 18, 2009 By
Reason #185 for never wanting a feeble minded president in the White House again…
One of the top planners of the US war in Iraq gave President George Bush secret intelligence briefs headlined with biblical quotations, in a bid to boost his standing with the deeply religious president but one that risked sparking a conflagration in the Muslim world if the papers leaked.
In the days surrounding the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld prepared top secret briefing papers for the president adorned with triumphant images of US military personnel and adoring Iraqis, along with the quotes, according to a new article in GQ magazine.
Rumsfeld, said to be personally disinclined toward ostentatious displays of piety, included the quotes because he believed the religious message would appeal to Bush, whom he knew frequently to quote the Bible, journalist Robert Draper wrote.
Amazing how none of this is surprising. The deeper we get into the Bush years, the more we realize what a conspiring administration he presided over and how Bush’s weak intellect made him so easy to manipulate.
View a slide show of the Rumsfeld memos here.
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Abortion…Some Thoughts
May 18, 2009 By
Let’s get something straight. Roe v. Wade will never be overturned. Never.
I finally got around to listening to the President’s commencement address at Notre Dame. Brilliant and balanced and just plain smart.
“…when we open up our hearts and our minds to others who may not think precisely like we do or believe precisely what we believe, that’s when we discover at least the possibility of common ground. That’s when we begin to say maybe we won’t agree on abortion but we can still agree this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually. It has both moral and spiritual dimensions, so let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortion. Let us reduce unintended pregnancy. Let’s make adoption more available. Let’s provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term. Let’s honor the conscience for those who oppose abortion. “
Obama went on to stress that the abortion debate should not be stifled and expressed his understanding that the issue at hand is complex. This comes on the tail end of new polls which say that Americans are shifting more toward a pro-life stance.
A Gallup survey released Friday found that 51 percent of those questioned call themselves “pro-life” on the issue of abortion and 42 percent “pro-choice.” This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as “pro-life” since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.
Just a year ago, Gallup found that 50 percent termed themselves “pro-choice” while 44 percent described their beliefs as “pro-life.”
A Pew Research Center survey found public opinion about abortion more closely divided than it has been in several years.
Ok. So why would I state that Roe v. Wade will never be reversed. Well, my belief is that once we remove the religious and/or moral perspective from the abortion debate, what we’re left with is the pure pragmatism of the issue. Women, who have battled for equal rights from day one, would never allow a law which lessened their freedoms. Any attempt to reverse the abortion laws would create an uproar unlike we’ve ever seen.
Also, I have to believe that legislators understand that an anti-abortion law would be unenforceable. How does one stop a woman who is intent on getting an abortion? You can’t. She will either get one in Canada or get it done in some back alley or do it herself. No one, I hope, would want to go back to those days.
When one looks at the abortion debate from a pure logical standpoint, we arrive at the words Obama spoke at Notre Dame. Focus should be not on making abortion unlawful but instead on finding ways to reducing the number of abortions. The debate should be on finding common ground and not one which speaks of taking us back to a time and place which has no basis in reality.
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