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Blackwell: GOP Must Defeat Job-Creating Stimulus Because It Will Ruin GOP’s Election Chances

By Ali Frick on Jan 16, 2009 at 7:05 pm

blackwell-normal.jpgIn an article published on Townhall today, RNC Chairman candidate and former Ohio governor Secretary of State Ken Blackwell urges congressional conservatives to oppose the reinvestment and recovery stimulus plan promoted by President-elect Obama. Though he offers standard conservative arguments against the plan — including a screed against the growth of “big government” — Blackwell seemed most concerned about the political benefit Democrats might see from successfully boosting the economy.

He warned that the bill, which calls for 80 percent job creation in the private sector, could create 600,000 new federal jobs — a problem because it would make it that much harder for for Republicans to win back Virginia:

While only a few details are known, one overlooked issue is that it could create a major electoral advantage for Democrats at taxpayer expense. That would be unacceptable for what is being touted as a nonpartisan measure, and gives Republicans yet another reason to oppose it if not restructured. [...]

But most federal employees, that are not political appointees, vote Democrat. Since Washington, DC is the seat of government, whenever new federal bureaucrats are created many live in Maryland and Virginia. In 2008, Virginia went Democrat for the first time since 1964, and Mr. Obama won it by 130,000 votes. Creating 600,000 new jobs might help cement Virginia in the Democrat column, making it harder for Republicans to retake the White House.

Blackwell cites House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) as his source for the 600,000 “bureaucrats” figure. In fact, Obama’s council of economic advisers predicts that the plan would create about 240,000 government jobs, compared to, for example, 700,000 in mining and construction. And of course, there’s no reason to assume the bulk of government jobs would be created in the D.C. area, though the District — which has the 6th highest unemployment rate in the nation — could use the new jobs.

The bottom line is that, in an economy that lost 1.2 million jobs last year, Blackwell’s biggest concern is to block the creation of new jobs because those newly-employed Americans might vote Democratic.

Yglesias

The Bush Record

By Matthew Yglesias on Jan 16, 2009 at 6:12 pm

Thinking back to George W. Bush’s farewell address it’s striking that the best thing the man can say about his record in office is that only once during his term in office were 3,000 people killed by foreign terrorists. And it’s really striking that other people in the conservative movement seem to take this “accomplishment” very seriously. Here’s Christian Brose and here’s Dov Zakheim being very referent about the whole thing.

I thought I might draw their attention to the following CAPAF analysis of mass-casualty terrorist attacks on U.S. soil throughout the twentieth century:

terrorchart.png

Notice anything? I mean, it’s true that Bush’s record in keeping the United States safe from terrorism is good if you ignore the failure. On the economy, they make the same claim. Sure, Bush has overseen the worst performance ever but if you ignore the recessions, times were pretty good!

Of course my chart is arguably unfairly kind to Bill Clinton so maybe we should expand it to include major attacks abroad as well. Then Clinton goes from zero to one (Kenya), while Bush goes from one to three in the West (9/11, Madrid, and London) plus Bali plus dozens and dozens of attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan. There’s just no way to get around the basic facts here. The effort to argue otherwise is basically just trading on the fact that most people, myself included, were very very frightened in September and October of 2001 and our worst fears haven’t come to pass.

Politics

Dana Perino’s final lie.

By Satyam Khanna on Jan 16, 2009 at 6:00 pm

Today, President Bush continued his move out of the White House. Last week, when asked whether Bush would be utilizing moving vans, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino laughed and said this was unlikely, specifically ruling out the Ryder truck company:

Q: So is there a point where moving vans pull in?

PERINO: I don’t anticipate that you’ll see a big Ryder truck coming up to the White House — probably the wrong brand to use. (Laughter.)

Looks like Perino spoke too soon. It appears Bush actually did have a Ryder moving van pull up to the White House today:

3202356152_2327647116_m.jpg

(Photo credit: Lauren Miller)

Yglesias

The Ghosts of the Past

By Matthew Yglesias on Jan 16, 2009 at 5:09 pm

Modern-day Poland encompasses territory that was part of the pre-WWI German, Russian, and Austrian empires. And it seems that Poland’s recent election results partially track the separation between the formerly-German and the formerly-non-German parts of the country:

poland_2007_election_results_1.jpg

History’s impact can often be surprisingly long-lasting. It’s been a long time since taking midwestern agricultural products via train to Chicago and then by boat across the Great Lakes, across the Eerie Canal, down the Hudson, and to the port at New York was a major element in the American economy. But we still have two giant cities in Chicago and New York specifically because it used to be very important. I wouldn’t be surprised if the German-run bit of Poland was richer in 1918 than the rest of it, and that the differential has persisted since then. By the same token, we can expect the East Germany part of Germany to remain poorer than the West Germany part for a long time.

Yglesias

The Clean Energy Stimulus

By Matthew Yglesias on Jan 16, 2009 at 5:08 pm

CAP’s Daniel J. Weiss and Alexandra Kougentakis take a look at the energy provisions in the stimulus plan that’s been released this week. They like what they see.

Politics

Bush’s Booty: Presidential Gifts Unveiled At National Archives

By ThinkProgress on Jan 16, 2009 at 5:06 pm

This morning, Think Progress visited the National Archives, where a small selection of President Bush’s presidential gifts were unveiled before the press. The collection included Head of State and domestic gifts that will eventually be stored in the Bush library at Southern Methodist University. An archive will be available online starting January 21.

Among the gifts that President Bush received:

– A baseball bat signed by every living member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame (top left image)
– A pair of handcrafted boots emblazoned with the name and likeness of Bush’s beloved dog, Barney (bottom images)
– An intricately carved rifle from Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (not pictured)

Among the gifts that Laura Bush received:

– A purse from Queen Sirikit of Thailand (top center image)
– An original collage from Eric Carle’s highly popular children’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar (top right image)
– A first-edition copy of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (not pictured)

bushgifts34.jpg

Other gifts previously received by the Bushes include a diamond and sapphire jewelry set, valued at $95,500, from Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz and “an $11,000 Cartier Santos Dumont watch with an 18K white gold case” from Thailand’s Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Strict ethics laws dictate that a President must purchase gifts worth more than $335, which is why any particularly valuable items aren’t likely to end up on display at Bush’s new home in Dallas.

(ThinkProgress has been keeping a close eye on developments with the Bush library, and we will continue to do so. Read our related posts here.)

- Emily Aden, Matt Finkelstein, and Michael Wilson

Yglesias

Ricks Calls for Truth and Reconciliation Commission

By Matthew Yglesias on Jan 16, 2009 at 4:45 pm

Tom Ricks says we need a truth and reconciliation commission to look into Bush-era misdeeds. I’m not 100 percent sold on the idea that that’s the right model, since the situations are pretty different. But the larger point holds—we need a real mechanism to find out (a) what happened, and (b) to put some accountability in place, even if that’s only symbolic accountability. We’ve been acting like a rogue superpower for the past eight years, and sweeping that all under the rug just because it fits Barack Obama’s political style doesn’t undue that image.

Health

Congress Takes-On Physician-Owned Hosptials In SCHIP Bill

By Igor Volsky on Jan 16, 2009 at 4:30 pm

physicianhospital.jpgA little-noticed provision in the House’s version of the SCHIP expansion bill prohibits the construction of physician-owned specialty hospitals, or “focused factories” that specialize in lucrative cardiac, orthopedic, or surgical services.

The restrictions would prohibit new physician-owned hospitals from opening and limit the expansion of existing hospitals. “In order to expand, the facilities would be required to receive approval from the HHS secretary,” Kaiser reports.

Without missing a beat, Physician Hospitals of America, the trade group for physician-owned specialty hospitals, is already lobbying the Senate to pass a clean SCHIP bill:

It is completely counterintuitive that at a time when our country is experiencing an economic downturn, high rates of unemployment and inadequate access to health care, Congress would consider killing an industry that provides over 55,000 jobs nationally and that provides patients access to the best quality health care available in America.

Proponents argue that the small-scale operations — the average orthopedic specialty hospital has 16 beds and the average surgical specialty hospital has 14 — allow doctors to focus on patient-centered care that not only improves clinical outcomes “but also satisfaction among their patients and physicians.” And while a recent study found no difference in the quality of care delivered in a cardiac physician-owned specialty hospital, physician owned hospitals do offer patients a truly luxurious experience. Some hospitals are equipped with dim mood lighting, gourmet menus, wireless capabilities, and other resort-like vacation perks.

So why ban these islands of opulence? Well, critics maintain that physician-owned operations have an unfair competitive advantage with regular community hospitals. That is, by providing a narrow array of profitable services without having to maintain an emergency department or offer services to anyone who walks through the doors, specialty hospitals skim off the most profitable patients and undermine “community hospitals’ ability to subsidize the less profitable services they furnish to their communities.”

But if physician-owned hospitals seem to have a competitive advantage over general hospitals, their effect on community hospitals (and the community) is still unclear. A 2005 MedPac report concluded that overall, physician-owned hospitals had “little impact on community-hospital profitability through 2002.” Yet the report also expressed “concerns that physician-owned specialty hospitals could have incentives to disregard their role in effectively serving Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in their communities or to compromise clinical judgment in the pursuit of hospital financial goals.”

Similarly, a 2008 report released by the Office of Inspector General for HHS concluded that “most physician-owned specialty hospitals are poorly equipped to handle medical emergencies.”

“It’s unbelievable that a facility that calls itself a hospital would, at times, not even have a doctor on call or a nurse on duty. It is unacceptable that these facilities are not designed or equipped to handle emergencies,” Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), a critic of physician-owned hospitals, said.

Politics

Fox reporter: Bush ‘inherited the 9/11 attacks.’

By Ben Armbruster on Jan 16, 2009 at 4:22 pm

Today, President Bush left for Camp David for what is expected to be his last departure from the White House via Marine One. During Fox News’s coverage of the event, hosts Martha MacCallum and Wendell Goler tried to rewrite history for Bush:

GOLER: This president inherited a budget surplus, but he also inherited what he called “the trifecta of bad times.” There’s the president headed out to Marine One right now. [...] He inherited the 9/11 attacks. He inherited the recession and he inherited some tough times on Wall Street.

Goler did not provide any explanation as to exactly how President Bush inherited those attacks. Watch it:

Yglesias

The Moustache of Justice?

By Matthew Yglesias on Jan 16, 2009 at 4:12 pm

holder1.jpg

Chris Hayes has an observation:

– (1) Yesterday, AG designee Eric Holder said, without hesitation that water-boarding is torture.

– (2) Dick Cheney has admitted authorizing water-boarding.

– (3) Torture is a felony under US law punishable by up to 20 years of prison.

Again, this raises the question of how, exactly, the Obama administration can possibly move forward with a “let bygones by bygones” approach to Bush-era violations of the laws of war. Prosecutors have a lot of discretion, so I believe AG Holder would be within his rights to simply decline to investigate the former Vice President of the United States public admission that he’s committed what Holder claims to believe are serious crimes. But surely Holder should be asked about this and expected to give some kind of reasons for turning a blind eye.

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