Few would argue the fact that Citizens United has been a major player in the Republican primary...and many if not most would concede that none of it has been healthy ...
As if you needed another reason to not vote Romney.
Celebrity business magnate Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney for president Thursday, telling reporters he will not mount an independent campaign if ...
In a perfect world, the Republican contest to find a nominee to face Barack Obama would go on forever...or at least until August. You cannot attach a number to the ...
I suspect there are a ton of conservatives secretly agreeing with Begala and while it's too early in the game for Dems to get cocky, it's difficult to not smile ...
Quotes don't get much better than this one by Bob Dole.
"Why do people take such an instant dislike to me?" asked a perplexed Gingrich, to whom Dole bluntly ...
After the beating Gingrich took last night, it's hard to imagine under what scenario he can make a comeback. Florida is going to Romney and for Gingrich to regain the ...
There's a lot out there on the President's SOTU, so I'll keep my thoughts short and sweet.
The speech did what it had to do which was target liberals and independents ...
The highlights from last night's debate.
- Newt Gingrich can't wait to become president so he can revisit the early 60s and overthrow Castro in Cuba. War, baby, war.
- Santorum, who ...
It appears that the South Carolina verdict is forcing Romney to start taking Gingrich seriously.
“We’re not choosing a talk show host, we’re choosing a leader,” Romney said, saying that their ...
Mike Huckabee offers advice to Mitt Romney concerning his unreleased tax returns.
Let him [Romney] make this challenge: "I'll release my tax returns when Barack Obama releases his college transcripts and ...
Via Political Humor...
"Mitt Romney is coming under fire because even though he is a multimillionaire, he only paid 15 percent in taxes. That's not a tax, that's barely a tip." ...
Good line.
My guess is that after Romney fails to beat Obama in the general, Huntsman will be back in 2016. The most electable guy in the field and he could ...
I found this pretty funny...and accurate. It comes from a reader over at Balloon Juice.
So, let’s review. The contenders for the GOP nomination are
A vulture capitalist who believes that any ...
Lively little debate going on at one of last week's posts with Libertarianism put under the microscope.
ocLiberal:
I know I am in sketchy territory here, (start the indignant shouting now) but ...
In the contest to determine the winner of the Far-Right Politics gold medal, rack up a few more points for Newt Gingrich.
“I think an intelligent conservative wants the right federal ...
Via Political Humor...
"Congratulations to Mitt Romney. He won the New Hampshire primary last night. See, this is proof that even the multimillionaire son of a multimillionaire can beat the odds ...
Story 1:
North Korea punishing those who 'didn't display enough sadness over Kim Jong Il's death'
North Korean authorities are reportedly punishing citizens who did not display enough sadness over the death ...
In case you missed the story, Pope Benedict made headlines this week by doing what it is popes do best - putting the irrational fear of God into his followers.
The ...
Romney was asked whether questions dealing with distribution of wealth and power were a matter of jealousy or fairness.
You know, I think it’s about envy. I think it’s about class ...
I’d be happier if the following was propaganda. It’s not. This is exactly as it’s unfolding. .
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Today, Media Matters for America released a new video demonstrating how the conservative echo chamber operates in the age of President Obama. Conservative activists – aided by Fox News, a political organization disguised as a news network – use distortions, lies, and smear tactics to shape public opinion and influence national policy.
“Unlike the Clinton and Bush years, the right-wing echo chamber is now aided by a network that has thrown any remaining shred of journalistic credibility out the window, ” said Eric Burns, President of Media Matters. “The modern conservative movement has gained an enormous megaphone in Fox News that they are using to impact legislation and shape public opinion.”
Burns added: “People need to decide how long they will allow the policies of their country to be dictated by a media outlet accountable not to voters or constituents but to ratings.”
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I love charts and their ability to translate concepts into simple graphical representation. This one is perfect. .
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Information reduces confusion to an optimal minimum where then additional information only adds to the confusion.
I’ve got to keep this one in mind. The glazed-out look I’m getting from some of the people I’ve been speaking to lately has me thinking I’m taking them passed that optimal point way too often. Got to learn to shut up at the appropriate time.
Not easy.
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“I’ve concluded –with the support of the White House, Senators Dodd and Baucus — that the best way to move forward is to include a public option with the opt-out provision for states,” said Reid, referring to the Senate health and finance committee representatives, respectively, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.). “The public option, with an opt-out, is the one that’s fair.”
Naturally, health insurers are sounding their phony alarm bells.
“A new government-run plan would underpay doctors and hospitals rather than driving real reforms that bring down costs and improve quality. The American people want health care reform that will reduce costs and this plan doesn’t do that. The divisive debate about a government-run plan is a roadblock to reform. It’s time we focus instead on broad-based reforms that will ensure the affordability and sustainability of our health care system.”
The fact is that almost 60% of Americans want a public option. As for “broad based reforms”, health insurers keep on pushing the same refuted arguments. It is clear enough that they are against any reform which would cut into their profits.
“The President congratulates Senator Reid and Chairmen Baucus and Dodd for their hard work on health insurance reform. Thanks to their efforts, we’re closer than we’ve ever been to solving this decades-old problem. And while much work remains, the President is pleased that at the progress that Congress has made. He’s also pleased that the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage, in this case with an allowance for states to opt out. As he said to Congress and the nation in September, he supports the public option because it has the potential to play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable through choice and competition.”
It’s getting there.
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A reminder that health care reform is about a lot more than just getting everyone insured.
As the mother of a toddler who survives only because of the breathing tubes up his nose, the feeding tube in his gut, and the expertise of doctors in three cities, Courtney Elliott is keenly aware of the high costs of medical care — in every sense of the word.
Until her son, Linden, 2, was born with mitochondrial disease, a rare genetic disorder, the 28-year-old Tennessee woman had no idea that a bright, energetic child could hover constantly on the edge of death.
And she certainly didn’t know that a family with good income and excellent health insurance could be devastated by out-of-pocket medical fees that top $25,000 a year.
The point here is that having good health insurance is no guarantee that you won’t go broke. Why is this not blatantly clear to everyone? How is it that people can be so callously selfish and/or ignorant as to not understand that the woman here could be their daughter, sister or niece? Damn, it could be you! .
The resurrection of the public option is the latest and one of the most surprising turns in the long battle over legislation to overhaul the nation’s health-care system. Under assault for months, and declared on life support repeatedly in recent weeks, the provision for a public insurance option is unexpectedly alive as House and Senate leaders prepare to send their bills to the floor.
[...]
What brought the public option back to life?
With virtually unanimous Republican opposition likely, Democrats reevaluated the politics of the public option. Two recent events contributed to their renewed push to include it. One was the insurance industry’s decision to attack the legislation and issue a report warning of higher premiums. The report triggered a backlash among liberal Democrats, who decided to push even harder for a public option.
Then last week, new polls, one from The Washington Post and ABC News and the other from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, found clear majority support (57 percent) for a public option. The Post-ABC News poll showed support had risen five percentage points since August. The new numbers emboldened public-option supporters to press harder, even though the same polls continued to show the public divided over the overall shape of health-care legislation.
…we can look back and identify, with precision, a more specific “tipping point” in this latest phase of the healthcare debate. A tipping point that speaks volumes about the current political situation, and about larger cycles of popular passion.
That tipping point, in my reckoning, was Rep. Alan Grayson’s September 29 speech from the floor of the House, in which the Florida Democrat declared that the Republican healthcare plan could be summed up as “Don’t get sick, and if you do get sick…die quickly.”
So, Grayson says, Republicans want to kill innocent people. Now that was a message that punched through. “It’s so urgent that we move ahead,” Grayson told Politico. “The cost of delay is death.”
The battle for a strong public option is far from over but it certainly is in a better place than it was a scant few weeks ago.
That’s what a little passionate noise can do.
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