VIDEO REPORT: Eric Cantor Hosts Another Job Fair That Promotes Jobs Fueled By The Stimulus
VIDEO REPORT: Eric Cantor Hosts Another Job Fair That Promotes Jobs Fueled By The Stimulus
On Monday, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) hosted a job fair in his district at Germanna Community College. Like his last job fair in August, Cantor used it as an opportunity to gain positive local press and launch attacks against President Obama.
At the fair, Cantor told reporters that the stimulus has been an “utter failure.” But as the Washington Post has noted, nearly half of the “30 organizations participating” in Cantor’s event “were recipients of the stimulus.”
ThinkProgress attended the event, which attracted more than 600 people. Victor Zapanta produced a video report on Cantor’s stimulus-fueled job fair. Watch it:
So far, the stimulus has injected over $5 billion into Virginia, creating or saving at least 5,900 jobs. The money has helped local governments avoid budget cuts and layoffs, while spurring private investment by funding infrastructure and other critical projects. Many of the employers at Cantor’s job fair were a clear demonstration of the success of the stimulus:
– The Culpeper County School system will have a total of $4.1 million in stimulus funding to work with for the fiscal year 2010. The school system is hiring 7 people and the stimulus is helping to retain the over 700 people employed by the system. In March the Culpeper School Board, which is not authorized to levy taxes, approved a $70.6 million budget. As the Culpeper Star-Exponent reported, “the school budget includes $2.2 million in recently approved stimulus money.”
– Higher education institutions at the fair were encouraging job-seekers to go back to school. Many of universities, like Grand Canyon University, touts federal TEACH and Pell grants as a way to attend. The stimulus provided $14 million in Pell Grants.
– The Orange County Public Schools received at least $340,000 from the stimulus and is hiring 7 people.
It’s worth noting that among the job fair participants, more than half were from the public sector, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the CIA, FBI, Army and the FAA –- even though Cantor previously has criticized the stimulus plan for placing too great an emphasis on “preserving jobs in the public sector.” In Virginia alone, the Department of Defense has 83 projects totaling $75.7 million in stimulus money. It’s no wonder Cantor would feature the Culpeper Army recruiting center at his fair, especially since the Army in Virginia has received $61 million in stimulus money.
As the Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen observed, “the job fair at which Cantor trashed the stimulus wouldn’t have been possible were it not for the stimulus.”
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REPORT: At Least 40 GOP Lawmakers Fail A Principle Of The ‘Purity Test’
REPORT: At Least 40 GOP Lawmakers Fail A Principle Of The ‘Purity Test’
Yesterday, Republican National Committee member Jim Bopp unveiled a resolution to deny funding of candidates who do not uphold right-wing conservative values. The resolution, termed a “purity test,” is being touted as a mechanism for actually avoiding the party schism that occurred in the NY-23 special election, when the Republican Party nominated a moderate who violated several of the resolution dictates.
As the Hotline has noted, the resolution, if adopted, would boot key Republican candidates running for the Senate next year. National Republicans recruited Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) to run for the Senate, even though they have bucked conservative orthodoxy in the past.
ThinkProgress has conducted an analysis that finds at least 40 current Republican members of Congress have violated at least one principle of the purity test:
Purity Pledge #1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill
– The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the stimulus) was passed with support from Republican Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME).
Purity Pledge #2) We support market-based health care reform and oppose Obama-style government run healthcare
– Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) voted for the health reform bill passed by the House.
Purity Pledge #3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation
– The Waxman Markey cap and trade clean energy bill was passed with support from GOP Reps. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Mike Castle (R-DE), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Dave Reichert (R-WA), and Chris Smith (R-NJ).
Purity Pledge #4) We support workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing card check
– In 2007, the House passed the Employee Free Choice Act with support from Republican Reps. Tim Murphy (R-PA), Don Young (R-AK), Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), Chris Smith (R-NJ), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), Peter King (R-NY), and Steve LaTourette (R-OH).
Purity Pledge #5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants
– The McCain-Kennedy 2006 immigration bill would have “legalized millions of undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. if they paid fines, paid back taxes and learned English.” Republican Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Dick Lugar (R-IN), George Voinovich (R-OH), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bob Bennett (R-UT), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Susan Collins (R-ME), Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) voted for the bill.
Purity Pledge #6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges
– In 2007, both Republican Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) cosponsored resolutions opposing a troop surge in Iraq. In the House, Reps. Bob Inglis (R-SC), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Dean Heller (R-NV), Walter Jones (R-NC), Tim Johnson (R-IL), Mike Castle (R-DE), Howard Coble (R-NC), Ron Paul (R-TX), Tom Petri (R-WI), Fred Upton (R-MI), and Steve LaTourette (R-OH) supported a resolution opposing the Iraq surge. In addition, Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Ron Paul (R-TX), Walter Jones (R-NC), Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD), John Duncan (R-TN), and Tim Johnson (R-IL) have signed onto a letter opposing a troop surge in Afghanistan.
Purity Pledge #7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat
– Senators Bob Corker (R-TN) and Dick Lugar (R-IN) both voted to remove North Korea from the state-sponsors of terror list. Sen. Lugar also voted against a 2007 resolution urging action against Iran. In the House, Reps. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Ron Paul (R-TX), and Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) voted against further sanctions against Iran in 2007.
Purity Pledge #10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership
– Earlier this year, Sen. John Thune’s (R-SD) “concealed carry” gun amendment failed to receive the 60 votes it needed to pass. Republican Senators Dick Lugar (R-IN) and George Voinovich (R-OH) opposed the measure.
Already, conservative leaders like RedState’s Erik Erickson are saying that Bopp’s purity resolution doesn’t even go far enough. On Monday night, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann noted that President Ronald Reagan violated 6 of the 10 purity tests. “Ronald Reagan was a Democrat?” asked Olbermann, tongue planted firmly in cheek.
Washington Times falsely claims Boehner was ‘not invited’ to White House state dinner.
Washington Times falsely claims Boehner was ‘not invited’ to White House state dinner.
Today in the Washington Times, reporters Joseph Curl and Matthew Mosk write a story titled “Top Republican lawmakers not invited to State Dinner.” The article attempts to paint President Obama’s invitation list for tonight’s dinner honoring Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an example of his partisanship because he did not invite enough Republicans. The article states that House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), like House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA), “didn’t get an invitation to the dinner”:
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner won’t be there; he’s on Thanksgiving break and home in Ohio. His deputy, Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, also didn’t get an invitation to the dinner.
However, this simply isn’t true. As Politico reported, Boehner was invited but turned the White House down. Already, Fox News is trying to gin up controversy by reprinting the Washington Times along with the same error.
1,500 Uninsured Arkansans Line Up For A Free Health Care Clinic
1,500 Uninsured Arkansans Line Up For A Free Health Care Clinic
One out of every five people in Arkansas lacks health insurance coverage. However, today over 1,500 uninsured Arkansans received health care at a free clinic hosted by Communities Are Responding Everyday (CARE) at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, which was made possible in part because of calls for donations by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann. A wide variety of medical services, including physicals and screenings for such conditions as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, were provided at the clinic.
The Arkansas Times spoke both to volunteers and people waiting to receive care. Several of the volunteers expressed their enthusiasm to help their fellow community members, while at the same time feeling “ashamed” to be in a country where health care is still a privilege:
MAN: Well I came to get health. I do have diabetes and I haven’t been able to get healthcare since I lost my last job. And I am a student so it’s been a little difficult to get a full time job where I can get benefits. [...] I haven’t seen a doctor probably in three or four years. [...] I thank all of the volunteers.
WOMAN: I got laid off in 2008 and since I haven’t had insurance [...]
MAN: I don’t make really enough money to pay bills and have healthcare also. This is a good opportunity for me. And I haven’t really had a check up or anything in more years than I’d like to admit. [...] I’m really thankful.
Watch it:
Earlier today, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) announced today that she would provide the 60th vote “in support of cloture on the motion to proceed” to the health care reform bill. But Lincoln also stressed that she is “opposed to a new government administered health care plan as a part of health care reform and will not vote on the health care proposal introduced by leader Reid as it is written.”
As it is currently written, the Senate health bill would reduce the number of uninsured by 31 million while also reducing the deficit by $130 billion in ten years. So while Lincoln considers voting against the bill, free clinics like the one today remain the only option for hundreds of thousands of people in her state. The next free clinic event is scheduled for December 9-10 in Kansas City, Mo.
Coal-Fueled Chamber Of Commerce Demands Lawmakers Defeat Health Reform In Order To ‘Stop’ Clean Energy Bill
Coal-Fueled Chamber Of Commerce Demands Lawmakers Defeat Health Reform In Order To ‘Stop’ Clean Energy Bill
Corporate front groups and large business trade associations are funneling their resources into defeating health reform. Even though health reform will lower costs for small businesses and boost worker productivity economy-wide, it appears that corporate entities influenced by major polluters are hoping that the defeat of health care legislation will slow President Obama’s agenda and derail their true enemy: clean energy reform.
The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, which is largely backed by the coal industry, candidly revealed this strategy in a letter released today to Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Robert Byrd (D-WV). The Chamber of Commerce demanded that the senators use “their clout and seniority” to obstruct the health reform debate until cap and trade legislation is taken off the table and the EPA is barred from regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant. As Ken Ward of the Charleston Gazette noted, Rockefeller has already rejected a similar proposal of blocking health reform unless the EPA stops reviewing mountaintop removal permits. The coal lobby has also pressured West Virginia state legislators to pass resolutions opposing clean energy reform.
The coal industry’s selfish push to block health reform displays how little it cares about West Virginia and the communities where coal is burned for energy. Not only do 19 percent of West Virginians lack health insurance, but coal is literally killing people:
– The American Lung Association reports that there are 24,000 premature deaths every year due to coal power plant pollution. In addition, the ALA research estimates that coal pollution causes over 550,000 asthma attacks, 38,000 heart attacks and 12,000 hospital admissions.
– A report by Physicians for Social Responsibility found that coal combustion releases mercury, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and dozens of other substances known to be hazardous to human health. These coal pollutants are associated with increased congestive heart failure, lung cancer, infant mortality, stunted lung development, and Ischemic stroke, among other diseases.
The national Chamber of Commerce is also fighting health reform tooth and nail. Like the West Virginia Chamber, the U.S. Chamber is dominated by coal and polluter interests and denies the science underpinning climate change. The U.S. Chamber’s extreme approached forced pro-clean energy companies Apple, Levi Strauss & Company, Mohawk Paper and the utilities Pacific Gas and Electric, Exelon and PNM Resources to resign from the Chamber. By killing both clean energy and health reform, U.S. Chamber President Tom Donohue may be hoping to protect his own wallet. Donohue sits on the board of a major coal industry player, Union Pacific.
Indeed, one of the most powerful corporate front groups, Americans for Prosperity, is focusing its efforts on defeating health reform. Although AFP is backed by oil industry giant David Koch, his ultimate goal of stopping clean energy appears to begin with stopping health reform.
‘Read the stimulus’ advocate Dick Armey slammed for not bothering to read the stimulus.
‘Read the stimulus’ advocate Dick Armey slammed for not bothering to read the stimulus.
Yesterday, the House Oversight and Government Reform committee held a hearing on the implementation of the Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus. Republican members invited former GOP Majority Leader Dick Armey, who now leads the corporate front group FreedomWorks, to testify as their expert witness. After listening to Armey argue at length about the merits of even having any government intervention in the economy, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) asked him if he supported the unemployment compensation provisions of the bill. Armey said he might, but conceded that he had not read that portion of the bill. Van Hollen then extracted a confession that Armey had not even read the bill at all, even though he was appearing as an expert and repeatedly goes before the press to criticize the stimulus:
VAN HOLLEN: Let me ask you think. You keep saying ‘if there were,’ did you read the Economic Recovery bill?
ARMEY: No I didn’t. I had no reason to read it, I wasn’t voting on it.
VAN HOLLEN: You’re commenting on it an awful lot, both here and in the press, about the Economic Recovery bill. We ask members of Congress to read it when they vote on it and are considering it. You’ve said a lot about it, so I’m a little surprised that you have not read it. [...] It seems to me we owe it to people we are communicating with we have an understanding an read the information.
Watch it:
Ironically, as part of an effort to obstruct and derail the bill, Armey launched an online petition called “ReadTheStimulus.org.” In another bit of irony, although he postures as a fierce ideological opponent of the stimulus, Armey actually worked as a lobbyist to help businesses gain from the stimulus. According to disclosures, he was paid to lobby on behalf of Cape Wind Associates and the Medicines Company on the stimulus. His son, Scott Armey, who runs his own lobbying shop, has also worked with businesses to gain stimulus funds.
Rep. John Culberson Gushes Over Hate Radio Talker Michael Savage: ‘We Need You’
Rep. John Culberson Gushes Over Hate Radio Talker Michael Savage: ‘We Need You’
After years of bashing Hillary Clinton, hate radio host Michael Savage has been begging for her to intervene and use her powers as Secretary of State to negotiate an end to the travel ban imposed on him by the British government. On Savage’s radio show yesterday, Rep. John Culberson (R-TX) stepped up to help Savage contact Clinton, calling his assistance “constituent work” for an “honorary Texan.” (Savage lives in Marin County, CA.)
After repeating lines from Savage’s show, Culberson gushed that he is a “fan” who listens “regularly” to Savage’s “common sense” and promised to have his congressional colleagues join in on the effort. Savage seemed touched by the gesture:
SAVAGE: You’re the most honest member of Congress I’ve ever encountered. You’re the kind of guy that won World War 2. You’re the kind of guy that if you were my platoon leader and you said charge into a machine gun nest I would do what you told me to do. I’d be proud to fight alongside you any day of the week. But I’d like to do something for you. I don’t wanna be just be passive about accepting your kindness.
CULBERSON: You’re very gracious but you do it every day by being a warrior for freedom and standing up for our for our rights as Americans.
Culberson praised Savage for his stance on immigration, saying he “embodies” the values of “welcom[ing] any and everyone from all over the world to come and join us.” But Savage has attacked non-white immigrants for years, claiming that the new “code word” for South Asians should be “terrorists,” calling Arabs “non-humans,” and fear-mongering for days that Mexican immigrants were plaguing the country with viruses.
In addition, Culberson also said he has never heard Savage “encourage hatred or incite anyone to engage in violence.” However, Savage constantly uses his show to call for violence against his enemies. He has called for using a “bunker-buster bomb on the U.N.,” hanging “every lawyer who went down to Guantánamo,” and has said a “noose will end up around” the “neck” of Media Matters staffers.
Exclusive: Attacks On Health Reform Orchestrated By Yet Another Shadowy Corporate Front Group — ‘CMPI’
Exclusive: Attacks On Health Reform Orchestrated By Yet Another Shadowy Corporate Front Group — ‘CMPI’
The resistance to reforming our nation’s healthcare system has been fueled by entrenched corporate interests. Their deep pockets are funneling money into generating attack ads, funding lawmakers’ campaigns, and hiring lobbyists. These corporate interests are also funding various front groups to make up their own facts and scare the public.
Among the latest corporate front groups orchestrating a campaign of misinformation against health reform, ThinkProgress has learned, is an outfit called the “Center for Medicine in the Public Interest” (CMPI). CMPI was originally a project of the Pacific Research Institute, an older corporate front established in conjunction with Philip Morris to fabricate academic support for the tobacco industry. Some of CMPI’s recent attacks on health reform have included:
– CMPI produced a series of “US Policymaker” interviews about health reform featuring exclusively Republican lawmakers — such as Reps. Louie Gohmert (TX), Bob Inglis (SC), Jack Kingston (SC), Tom Price (GA), Joe Wilson (SC), Michele Bachmann (MN), Paul Ryan (WI); Sens. Jim DeMint (SC), Jim Bunning (KY), David Vitter (LA) — attacking health reform. CMPI also produced a series of videos mocking health reform and the public option.
– CMPI created various video games distorting health reform. They serve as gimmicks to recruit users to sign up for CMPI’s daily anti-reform talking points.
– CMPI launched a website called “Hands off my Health” showcasing the supposed horrors of universal healthcare programs in Canada and the UK. CMPI officials centered a media campaign around Shona Robertson-Holmes, claiming she had a brain tumor the Canadian system refused to treat. However, the Ottawa Citizen reported that CMPI has been exaggerating Holmes’ case, and that she in fact had a benign cyst.
– CMPI helped sponsor anti-Obama tea party protests.
– CMPI has subcontracted GOP consulting firm Political Media to develop a blizzard of online ads attacking health reform. In the weeks preceding the House vote on reform legislation, CMPI ran ads on sites like the Politico, DrudgeReport, WashingtonPost.com, WashingtonTimes.com with an animated sheep stating that the public option is a “baaaaaad idea.” CMPI plans to run many more ads as the Senate begins debate.
The head of CMPI, Peter Pitts — a former Bush administration FDA communications official and director of marketing at the Washington Times — has a long history of using his CMPI title to hawk the interests of corporate clients. The Bioethics Forum has noted that CMPI, which receives drug company money, aggressively defends almost any practice of the pharmaceutical industry. For instance, as Slate reported, Pitts appeared on an NPR special to downplay fears about the side effects of antidepressants like Prozac, but failed to disclose his position as a VP of the PR firm Manning Selvage & Lee, which at the time represented Eli Lilly Inc. (the maker of Prozac), GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer.
In March of this year, Pitts became the head of international corporate PR firm Porter Novelli’s healthcare division. Despite the fact that CMPI’s latest 990 tax form states that Pitts spends 40 hours a week at CMPI, a representative from Porter Novelli told ThinkProgress that Pitts actually works on a day to day basis in his office at Porter Novelli. Asked about how the firm engages in the health reform debate, ThinkProgress was told by Porter Novelli that Pitts is “pretty much our voice.” Porter Novelli specializes in using social networking and other stealth marketing techniques to help drug companies avoid FDA regulations on marketing pharmaceutical products. Since Pitts joined Porter Novelli, CMPI has continued to shill for drug companies.
Although CMPI refused to tell ThinkProgress about its funders, Pitt’s firm Porter Novelli has a financial stake in blocking reform. Porter Novelli is a subsidiary of the global lobbying and communications giant Omnicom Group. Other Omnicom Group subsidiaries include Frank Luntz’s firm Luntz, Maslansky Strategic Research — which counts insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Health Insurance Plans of New York as clients — and Clark and Weinstock, a major lobbying firm representing healthcare clients like the health insurance company HealthNet.
Porter Novelli has also created front groups for the insurance industry in the past. In 1998, Porter Novelli managed the insurance industry’s “Health Benefits Coalition” group to kill the Patients Bill of Rights. As former insider Wendell Potter explained, Porter Novelli helped the industry form alliances with right-wing groups like the Family Research Council, the Christian Coalition, as well as conservative talk radio. Similar to how CMPI is currently working closely with tea party groups to attack “big government healthcare,” Porter Novelli developed a message that the Patients Bill of Rights was part of a “big government agenda” the “Democrat” party failed to pass 1994.
CMPI is among a constellation of mysterious corporate front groups attacking reform. As the Associated Press reported over the weekend, a secretive group called Americans for Quality and Affordable Healthcare has operatives placing anti-health reform columns, booking anti-reform pundits on talk radio, and organizing anti-reform panel discussions. AQAH also refuses to disclose its backers, but it is apparently being managed in part by the North Carolina law firm Moore & Van Allen.
Pawlenty Completes Science-Denying Metamorphosis, Now Refutes That Human Activity Causes Climate Change
Pawlenty Completes Science-Denying Metamorphosis, Now Refutes That Human Activity Causes Climate Change
Speaking to the Economist recently, Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) told reporters that he questions the science underpinning climate change. Pawlenty explained that while the earth might be warming, it is unclear “to what extent that is the result of natural causes.” As ThinkProgress has noted, Pawlenty has veered sharply to the right to appease a right-wing, tea party base. Although the tea party movement demands strict adherence to far right positions, as a Democracy Corps study shows, much of the movement sees political issues through a prism that is simply divorced from reality.
In appeasing the tea party base, Pawlenty not only dismisses the stark reality that human-caused carbon emissions are the largest contributor to climate change, but he also sacrifices his own credibility. Over the course of the last three years, Pawlenty has gone from an outspoken proponent of clean energy to a Glenn Beck pandering climate change denier:
Dec. 2006: Pawlenty lays out an ambitious clean energy program for Minnesotans to reduce their use of fossil fuels 15 percent by 2015. Cutting greenhouse gases, Pawlenty said, would “be good for the environment, good for rural economies, good for national security and good for consumers.” He also calls for a regional cap and trade program.
May 2007: Pawlenty signs the Next Generation Energy Act of 2007, requiring the state to reduce its emissions 15 percent by 2015 and 80 percent in 2050. At the signing ceremony, Pawlenty said Minnesota was “kicking-starting the future” by “tackling greenhouse gas emissions.”
Oct. 2007: Pawlenty declares that the climate change issue is “one of the most important of our time.” He also brushes off “some flak” from right-wingers who doubt climate change science.
Sept. 2008: During the election, Pawlenty backs away from his own cap and trade program, says such a system would “wreck the economy.” He then tells hate radio personality Glenn Beck (a climate change denier) that human activity only contributes “half a percent” to climate change.
Nov. 2009: Pawlenty backs away from acknowledging that any human activity is the cause of climate change.
Although Pawlenty has already earned a “Full Flop” from PolitiFact because of his cap and trade policy reversals, he deserves another for his politically motivated denials of science.
Sarah Palin Rejects GOP Senate Candidate Mark Kirk’s Plea For An Endorsement
Sarah Palin Rejects GOP Senate Candidate Mark Kirk’s Plea For An Endorsement
Earlier this month, the Washington Post reported that Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), a candidate for Senate in 2010, wrote a memo to Sarah Palin requesting that she endorse him during her visit to Chicago for the Oprah Winfrey Show. The Post noted that “Palin’s endorsement [of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman] helped force state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (R) from the race” in the NY-23 special election, and that Kirk’s memo is “tangible evidence of the power of Palin’s endorsement in a Republican primary.”
The memo is also tangible evidence of Kirk’s willingness to dramatically switch positions in order to gain political power. Last year, Kirk panned Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) selection of Palin as his running mate, telling the Chicago Tribune, “I would have picked someone different.” Asked about Palin’s qualifications for office, Kirk said, “Quite frankly, I don’t know.”
However, it appears that Palin has rejected Kirk’s request for an endorsement. Recently, Kirk told ThinkProgress that he had been expecting her endorsement once she visited Chicago:
TP: How about Sarah Palin? How close are you to getting her endorsement?
KIRK: We sent a memo detailing the race, and she’ll be coming in to Chicago shortly.
Watch it:
However, Palin visited Chicago last week to tape an interview with Winfrey and made no mention of Kirk. Indeed, the Wall Street Journal noted that Kirk was “unsuccessful” in his bid for an endorsement, despite his detailed memo.
Facing a competitive challenge from businessman Patrick Hughes in the Republican primary, Kirk is attempting to veer to the right. After voting in favor of cap-and-trade clean energy legislation during the summer, Kirk quickly changed his mind and told tea party activists that he would vote against the same bill in the Senate. Speaking to another assembly of conservative supporters in April, Kirk suggested that people should shoot Gov. Pat Quinn (D-IL) for raising taxes.
Do Anti-Choice Conservatives Like Cantor And Gingrich Provide Elective Abortion Coverage To Their Employees?
Do Anti-Choice Conservatives Like Cantor And Gingrich Provide Elective Abortion Coverage To Their Employees?
Yesterday, the Politico reported that the Republican National Committee provides a health insurance policy to its employees which covers elective abortions. The RNC’s platform considers elective abortions “a fundamental assault on innocent human life.” Reacting to the news today, RNC Chairman Michael Steele said, “Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose,” and that “it will not exist under my administration.”
Conservatives are pressing forward with an effort to use health reform as a backdoor legislative effort to ban abortion coverage in the Exchange — and limit abortion services in existing employer-sponsored plans. However, an analysis of disclosure forms of right-wing organizations and lawmakers reveals that many anti-choice conservative leaders may provide insurance plans with elective abortions to their employees.
For instance, Newt Gingrich, like the RNC, has said he would like to outlaw abortions. According to IRS disclosure forms, Gingrich’s 527 attack organization American Solutions for Winning the Future provides health coverage to its employees through CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield. According to its website, standard Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield policies cover elective abortions unless the employer specifically opts out.
House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), another staunch opponent of reproductive rights, also provides Carefirst Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage to his campaign employees.
Both Gingrich and Cantor’s office have not responded to calls from ThinkProgress inquiring if either employer has canceled elective abortion coverage on their insurance coverage.
Under Pressure From Tea Party Activists, Charleston GOP Censures Lindsey Graham For Bipartisanship
Under Pressure From Tea Party Activists, Charleston GOP Censures Lindsey Graham For Bipartisanship
On Monday, the Charleston County Republican Party’s executive committee “took the unusual step” of officially censuring Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). The local GOP committee admonished Graham for stepping across party lines to work with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) on a bipartisan clean energy bill and other pieces of legislation. The censure stated that Graham’s “bipartisanship continues to weaken the Republican brand and tarnish the ideals of freedom.”
Part of the fury from the right against Graham is being spurred by the oil and coal industry. The oil company front group “American Energy Alliance” has blanketed South Carolina with ads smearing Graham for seeking to address climate change.
The pressure against Graham has also stemmed from his criticism of hate radio and Fox News host Glenn Beck. “Only in America can you make that much money crying,” said Graham, mocking Beck in early October. Beck has responded with a slime campaign against Graham that he typically reserves for liberals. The leader of the Charleston Republican Party, Lin Bennett, is also a member of Glenn Beck’s 9/12 organization in South Carolina. According to its website, the Charleston GOP claims to work closely with tea party groups and Beck’s 9/12 activists in selecting its favored candidates.
Will Graham be able to stand up to the angry backlash being cultivated by far right voices and entrenched corporations interests? At a Graham town hall in Greenville last month, activist Harry Kimball of “RINO HUNT” protested by constructing a display that portrayed Graham, as well as other GOP moderates, being flushed down a toilet:
KIMBALL: This is for every RINO who has failed to represent us. [...] [the toilet represents] flushing them, flushing them.
Watch it:
Graham’s spokesman defended his boss to reporters yesterday, claiming the senator has a “90 percent conservative voting record.” Unfortunately for Graham, that may not prevent him from being “Scozzafavaed.”
Anti-reform doctors seeking to rescind AMA endorsement are led by front group with insurer, GOP ties.
Anti-reform doctors seeking to rescind AMA endorsement are led by front group with insurer, GOP ties.
The House passed historic comprehensive health insurance reform on Saturday with the help of endorsements from hundreds of community organizations, including the American Medical Association. However, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that former AMA president Donald Palmisano is leading an effort to force the AMA to rescind its endorsement of the bill. As ThinkProgress first reported back in July, Palmisano’s organization Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights is being managed by the infamous lobbying firm known as DCI Group, which specializes in creating “credible coalition partners” to advance the interests of corporations. ThinkProgress’ Victor Zapanta caught up with Palmisano, who told us he supports the “patient-doctor relationship” where uninsured patients and patients who cannot afford care should simply beg for charity:
PALMISANO: If you have a problem, you would just say ‘look I have a financial problem, can you help me’ and doctors will help you. If somebody couldn’t pay, we just send them a note, ‘you haven’t paid, is there a reason you can’t pay?’ All they have to do is give us any reason and we just wrote off the bill, forgot the bill. That’s what doctors do.
Watch it:
DCI Group, in addition to its record of setting up “Smokers’ Rights” fronts for tobacco companies, has worked closely the private health insurance industry in the past to thwart legislation to improve the health care system. Additionally, Palmisano has been working closely with Republican lawmakers, like Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), who are most interested in torpedoing health reform to score political points.
Rep. Wasserman Schultz: Republicans Are Giving Women A ‘Back-Of-The-Hand Treatment’
Rep. Wasserman Schultz: Republicans Are Giving Women A ‘Back-Of-The-Hand Treatment’
This morning, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) participated on a conference call with the Center for American Progress Action Fund’s Judy Feder to discuss Republican efforts to shut out women’s issues in the health reform debate. Feder noted that in 2006, nine Senate Republicans voted to explicitly kill a proposal that would have ensured that insurance companies cannot use domestic violence as a pretext for denying coverage to women. The two went on to discuss how, as the House vote drew near, Republican lawmakers’ disregard for the interests of women became more apparent.
In the House Rules Committee the Friday before the vote, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), who is also the chief recruiter for Republican House campaigns in 2010, justified the practice of insurance companies discriminating against women by comparing gender differences to smokers and non-smokers. The next day — on Saturday morning — Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) and several of his GOP colleagues shouted down congresswomen making 1-minute speeches on the importance of health reform for women. Wasserman Schultz denounced the interruption tactics and Sessions’ comparison of women to smokers as the “Republicans’ back of the hand treatment to women”:
WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: I’m pleased to have an opportunity to express and underscore my concerns of essentially what amounts to the Republicans’ back of the hand treatment to women, issues that are important to women, particularly women’s health. We already have had a clear sense that Republicans were opposed to our efforts to advance women’s health interests. Now we know we know they’re opposed to letting women voice opinions on health care as well. [...] My colleague Pete Sessions actually compared women to smokers and suggested women, like smokers, have to pay more for insurance just by the accident of our ability to get pregnant.
Listen here:
Indeed, asked by a witness why should a woman pay more for a man for health insurance premiums, the supposedly pro-life Sessions scoffed:
SESSION: We’re all different. Why should a smoker pay more than a non-smoker.
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Insurance companies employ a variety of discriminatory practices towards women. In many states, insurance companies consider rape, previous pregnancies, a c-section, and domestic violence as preexisting conditions. President Obama’s health reform proposals, including the bill passed by the House on Saturday, will end all denials of care based on preexisting conditions and ban gender discrimination for premiums.
Rep. Mark Kirk begs for Sarah Palin endorsement, but scoffs at Glenn Beck: ‘He’s a very interesting guy.’
Rep. Mark Kirk begs for Sarah Palin endorsement, but scoffs at Glenn Beck: ‘He’s a very interesting guy.’
Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), who is seeking the Senate in 2010, has been running to the far right to appease his base and win the Republican primary. Kirk has been actively seeking Sarah Palin’s endorsement, hoping she will burnish his right-wing credentials. However, when ThinkProgress interviewed Kirk yesterday, he seemed tepid about accepting an endorsement from popular hate radio talker Glenn Beck:
TP: How about Sarah Palin? How close are you to getting her endorsement?
KIRK: We sent a memo detailing the race, and she’ll be coming in to Chicago shortly.
TP: How about Glenn Beck, if he offered you his endorsement, would you accept that?
KIRK: Uhh, he’s a very interesting guy. I don’t think he’s endorsing any candidate though.
TP: He endorsed Hoffman, you don’t want him to endorse you?
KIRK: So, it’s been nice seeing you.
Watch it:
Earlier this year, Kirk suggested shooting Gov. Pat Quinn (D-IL) because of higher taxes. After voting in support for clean energy legislation, Kirk was hounded by angry tea party protesters. Kirk then bowed to pressure, withdrawing his support for cap and trade. Despite Kirk’s lurch to the right, apparently vitriolic talkers like Beck are a bridge too far.
Astroturf In Action: Right-Wing Billionaire David Koch Pays For 40 Buses To Haul In Protesters
Astroturf In Action: Right-Wing Billionaire David Koch Pays For 40 Buses To Haul In Protesters
Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the corporate front group founded in the 1980s by Koch Industries billionaire David Koch, worked closely with Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to orchestrate the anti-health reform rally today. As ThinkProgress reported yesterday, AFP has been encouraging right-wing activists to board their buses — free of charge — to attend the rally. While AFP does not disclose all of its corporate donors, foundations controlled by David and Charles Koch provide millions in yearly funding, and David continues to chair the AFP foundation and preside over AFP’s annual convention.
ThinkProgress found at least a dozen AFP staffers standing at their designated bus drop off point near the Capitol, handing out signs, directions, talking points, petitions, and donuts to protesters. Many of the people who work at AFP are longtime Republican operatives, like Ben Marchi, the AFP Virginia director who previously worked for the National Republican Congressional Committee and for Rep. Tom Delay (R-TX). Victor Zapanta produced this video report of AFP staffers talking about their exploits at the rally today:
AFP STAFFERS: We have 25 buses just from Pennsylvania, New Jersey we probably have 5 or 6 from Maryland.
AFP STAFFERS: We have about 40 buses coming.
Watch it:
David Koch’s AFP has a long history of marshaling “grassroots” support for GOP objectives. In the early 1990s, AFP, then known as Citizens for a Sound Economy, worked secretly with then-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-GA) to organize angry crowds following the Clintons as they touted their health reform bill. Industry money from health insurance, telecommunications, oil, and other companies has flowed freely to AFP over the years to help AFP promote an agenda of boosting the rich, stripping consumer safeguards, and maintaining corporate monopolies. Phillip Morris rented out AFP from the Koch family, contributing millions to the organization in exchange for AFP to build opposition to tobacco regulations.
AFP’s daily activities are managed by Tim Phillips, an infamous astroturf lobbyist who built a career using Christian front groups to wage stealth campaigns. For example, his work includes fighting under the radar to promote energy deregulation for Enron and helping Jack Abramoff clients continue forced abortion sweatshops in the Northern Mariana Islands.
Will the media report on the true driver of today’s rally? Or will they leave David Koch out of the equation, despite his hand-in-glove involvement.
LATTA: Some stakes took over 20 buses [...] You know, they're not rabble-rousers. KINGSTON: Who paid for them? LATTA: They all paid for themselves. You know, these people came down on their own.Watch it:
Michael Steele Takes On Palin, Limbaugh: ‘Your Opinion Really Doesn’t Matter Much’
Michael Steele Takes On Palin, Limbaugh: ‘Your Opinion Really Doesn’t Matter Much’
RNC Chairman Michael Steele endorsed moderate Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (R-NY) in the NY-23 special election before national conservative leaders — like Dick Armey, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin — forced Scozzafava out in favor of right-wing candidate Doug Hoffman. Following Hoffman’s defeat, Steele struck back at firebrands within his party, telling reporters earlier today that the opinion of conservative outsiders “really doesn’t matter much”:
STEELE: If you don’t live in the district, don’t vote there, your opinion really doesn’t matter much.
Later this afternoon, CNN host Wolf Blitzer asked Steele specifically about outsiders like Palin and Limbaugh, who loudly pushed the nominated Republican Scozzafava out of the race. Steele affirmed that he “hopes” those right-wing voices do not continue to meddle in Republican primaries:
BLITZER: Are you worried Mr. Chairman that Sarah Palin for example, or Rush Limbaugh or others in the conservative movement are going to go into some of these contests and go after the more moderate Republicans who might actually have a better chance at winning in the general election.
STEELE: Well, I hope not. [...] So I’m hoping not, and that’s not in their nature.
Watch it:
Of course, right-wing leaders are actually emboldened by their successful purging of Scozzafava, even despite the results of the election yesterday. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) is actively backing Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, a friend of the anti-Obama tea party movement, against more moderate Carly Fiorina in the California Senate race. DeMint explained that DeVore will “stand against his own party leaders” and that conservatives need to continue to “shake up the Republican Party.”
Rep. Steve King Praises Lobbyists As ‘Paul Revere’ For Busing In Protesters For Anti-Health Reform Rally
Rep. Steve King Praises Lobbyists As ‘Paul Revere’ For Busing In Protesters For Anti-Health Reform Rally
On Thursday, the lobbyist-run groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks — which were instrumental in orchestrating dozens of anti-Obama tea parties and town hall disruptions — are planning an anti-health reform rally at the steps of the Capitol. Republican leadership, like Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), have endorsed the rally. But two of the most rabidly right-wing members of Congress, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) are amongst the most aggressive promoters of the rally, with the help of talk radio and Fox News.
FreedomWorks has launched a website called “DontKillGrandma.com” listing recommended tactics for activists to engage in while protesting health reform. For the Thursday rally, FreedomWorks says activists should engage in a “simultaneous chant of ‘Kill the Bill.’” FreedomWorks is funded by corporate money and is led by Dick Armey, the former Republican Majority Leader and until recently lobbyist from DLA Piper.
Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is busing people to the rally. AFP is led by astroturf lobbyist Tim Phillips and is bankrolled by gas and oil baron David Koch, America’s 9th richest person and the financier of dozens of conservative think-tanks, publications, and politicians. Like they did for the April tea parties, AFP has commissioned at least 10 buses from Maryland, New Jersey, and North Carolina to bring protesters — free of charge — to DC for the rally.
During a speech last night, King thanked the lobbyists for bringing in buses from “state after state after state.” He likened them to revolutionary war hero Paul Revere for answering the “call of your country”:
KING: If the Founding Fathers could stand in here tonight, the tears would be running down their cheeks thinking of what is staged to happen in this Congress. This is why we need the American people to come to this city and be here by noon on Thursday. Gather together, come to this Capitol, surround this place, bring your passion, your love for this country, bring your patriotism, and bring your signs while you’re at it. Mr. Speaker, the American people need to come here. [...]
There are buses that are coming in from state after state after state, converging on this city. People are dropping what’s important. It’s as if Paul Revere had ridden across America and said, ‘here’s the call, here’s the call of your country.’
Watch it:
Republicans may be growing concerned that very few people will actually show up to their protest. As Mother Jones notes, “As of Tuesday afternoon, the official tea party website indicated that only 25 patriots were on hand for ‘Operation House Call.’” Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) appeared to try to lower expectations for the event by repeatedly downplaying “Thursday’s event as nothing more than a large-scale ‘press conference‘ on the Capitol steps.”
Armey Meets With Author Of Town Hall Harassment Strategy Memo To Plan Purge Of Moderates From GOP
Armey Meets With Author Of Town Hall Harassment Strategy Memo To Plan Purge Of Moderates From GOP
In late July, ThinkProgress first reported on a memo detailing how conservative activists can successfully disrupt Democratic health care town halls. The memo, authored by a Tea Party Patriots volunteer named Bob MacGuffie, was distributed on a listserv controlled by FreedomWorks — the corporate front group run by Dick Armey that is dedicated to organizing tea parties and other anti-Obama efforts around the country. A member of the listserv, Jenny Beth Martin, blasted out the memo on June 13th, declaring, “We here in CT have developed a strategy for holding our elected officials accountable. We show up en mass at the ‘town hall’ meetings they have!” The tactics included:
– 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.”
In town hall after town hall during August, the strategy was used to target members of Congress who are considering support of health care reform. Although Armey disputes his relation to the memo, both Rolling Stone and Talking Points Memo have verified that FreedomWorks staffers, like FreedomWorks Florida coordinator Tom Gaitens, control the Tea Party Patriots listserv which distributed the memo. Armey has gone so far as denying even knowing Gaitens, who has worked for FreedomWorks for years and can be seen in the last ten seconds of this ABC News segment handing a microphone to Armey.
Now, the Courant is reporting that Armey plans to go to Fairfield, CT on November 11th for a “strategy session” with conservative activists and MacGuffie, the original author of the town hall harassment strategy.
An announcement sent out by MacGuffie proclaimed that he, like Armey, has actively supported Doug Hoffman’s bid to rid the NY-23 special election of moderate Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (R-NY). Now, both Armey and MacGuffie are planning to purge the Republican Party of more moderate politicians.
MacGuffie has declared that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) are RINOs (Republicans in name only) who “have routinely abandoned or betrayed us.” Similarly, the next step of Armey’s agenda appears to be an intensified crusade to challenge moderate Republicans in primaries. The Politico reports that Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC), Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL), former Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT) and other Republicans who have strayed from rigid party-line positions face primaries from candidates inspired by the tea parties and town hall disruption type tactics.
Pawlenty Refuses To Say That He’s ‘Glad’ Olympia Snowe Is In The Republican Party
Pawlenty Refuses To Say That He’s ‘Glad’ Olympia Snowe Is In The Republican Party
Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) appeared today on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss the ideological direction of his party. Pawlenty, a late backer of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, has increasingly staked out a far right position within the GOP. He recently reversed his position on clean energy legislation, slamming the concept of cap-and-trade in June after calling for a regional cap-and-trade program in 2007. In September, he also flirted with the idea of embracing the fringe “tenther” movement to attempt to nullify health reform in his state.
The right-wing faction of the GOP, emboldened by its success in forcing out moderate Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (R-NY) in the NY-23 special election, has called for more purging of politicians who do not follow an orthodox conservative voting line. After talking about the developments in NY-23, the Morning Joe hosts asked Pawlenty repeatedly if he wants Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) — also a moderate — in the Republican Party. Pawlenty refused to answer the question, and again refused to say that he is even “glad” Snowe is Republican:
SCARBOROUGH: Are you glad that Olympia Snowe is a Republican?
PAWLENTY: Well, the people of Maine–
SCARBOROUGH: I’m asking you because we’re talking about this litmus test […] Are you glad Olympia Snowe is in your party?
PAWLENTY: Well, I think Olympia Snowe is somebody who is more liberal than most Republicans would like [...]
BRZEZINSKI: Was that a ‘yes,’ Governor?
PAWLENTY: Well, you know look it the people of Maine have an open process, they selected her.
Pawlenty’s adoption of a dogmatic conservative approach to being Republican was compounded by his explanation of the “minimum standards” for being Republican in his eyes:
TODD: Governor, what is the minimum standard for being a Republican? Define minimum standard for being a moderate Republican.
PAWLENTY: Well, you can’t be for card check, you can’t get endorsed by ACORN, you can’t support the stimulus bill, you can’t be for bank bailouts, that would be a starting point, Chuck. But if you’re for all those things, you’re probably not a Republican.
Watch it:
Of course, like Pawlenty’s sudden flip flop on climate change, his own right-wing standards for being Republican might force him to purge himself. Although he says “you can’t be for bank bailouts,” Pawlenty supported the $700 billion Bush administration bank bailouts of 2008. While he has now joined the ACORN-bashing bandwagon, in 2007, Pawlenty signed an anti-predatory mortgage law crafted in part by representatives from ACORN. And while Pawlenty is eager to bash the stimulus, his top economic adviser has toured his state, touting its success and the “tangible results from this funding.”
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