Fox And Friends Muse About ‘Special Screenings’ And ‘Special Debriefings’ For Muslims In The Military
Fox And Friends Muse About ‘Special Screenings’ And ‘Special Debriefings’ For Muslims In The Military
After news broke yesterday that the suspected gunman responsible for the “horrific outburst of violence” at Fort Hood, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, was Muslim, some commentators began assigning “collective responsibility for the actions of one man” to the Muslim community as a whole. On Fox and Friends this morning, Geraldo Rivera warned against casting “a gloomy cloud of suspicion over all the Muslim G.I.s who serve with great honor”:
RIVERA: I think that the great tragedy of this incident is that it will cast a gloomy cloud of suspicion over all the Muslim G.I.s who serve with great honor and who are an amazing assist to the United States in this conflict we’re having with radical Islam. This will, and also, I remember my dad, just very briefly. When we were growing up there would be a notorious crime and my dad used to gather the family. We used to say, like a little prayer, “please God” that it’s not a Puerto Rican. You know because we had, dealing with so many social pressures and prejudices, dealing with all the rest of it, we didn’t want one of these awful examples to cast aspersion and negativity on our group. And this is the same thing with American Muslims now, specifically American Muslim G.I.s.
But, as both Raw Story and Media Matters have noted, later in the segment the hosts of Fox and Friends suggested that “special debriefings” and “special screenings” of Muslim soldiers should be considered. “If I’m going to be sticking in an outpost, I got to know the guy next to me is not going to want to kill me,” said Brian Kilmeade. Gretchen Carlson pondered whether the military had been “exercising political correctness in not approaching” Hasan “as seriously as they would have had he not been a Muslim.” Watch it:
Muslim- and Arab-American organizations have loudly spoken against Hasan’s attack. “We condemn this cowardly attack in the strongest terms possible and ask that the perpetrators be punished to the full extent of the law,” said a Council on American-Islamic Relations statement. In a statement, the Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in Military urged “the media, government officials and all of our fellow Americans to recognize that the actions of Hasan are those of a deranged gunman, and are in no way representative of the wider Arab American or American Muslim community.”
- Comments
- 126
G. Gordon Liddy’s producer claims around ‘a million’ attended the GOP’s anti-health care reform rally.
G. Gordon Liddy’s producer claims around ‘a million’ attended the GOP’s anti-health care reform rally.
After the 9/12 march on Washington, conservatives falsely claimed that over a million people attended, when in reality the closest thing to an official count — numbers given by the Washington DC Fire Department to ABCNews.com — placed the crowd at “approximately 60,000 to 70,000 people.” Though today’s anti-health care reform rally has been much more sparsely attended, that hasn’t stopped conservatives from inflating the numbers again. On G. Gordon Liddy’s radio show today, producer Franklin Raff, who was on the ground at the rally, told guest host Joseph Farah that the crowd is “just as big or bigger than” the 9/12 rally, which Raff estimated “at about a million.” Listen here:
Capitol Hill police told NBC’s Luke Russert that the crowd was about 4,000. At around 2 PM eastern time, Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) posted an aerial picture of the crowd on her TwitPic page, clearly showing a crowd far, far smaller than “a million”:
Signs at Bachmann’s anti-health care reform rally call Obama a ‘Marxist’ and question his birth certificate.
Signs at Bachmann’s anti-health care reform rally call Obama a ‘Marxist’ and question his birth certificate.
Earlier today, ThinkProgress reported on a sign at the GOP’s anti-health care reform rally on Capitol Hill that used Holocaust imagery to attack health reform. But many right-wing activists carried signs that weren’t related to health care at all. Some of the signs carried “birther” and anti-immigration grievances:
(Top two pictures by ThinkProgress, bottom two by Twitter user rkref.)
Armey throws Hoffman under the bus: ‘He didn’t pay enough attention to the local concerns.’
Armey throws Hoffman under the bus: ‘He didn’t pay enough attention to the local concerns.’
In the run-up to Tuesday’s special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district, Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman met with the editorial board of the Watertown Daily Times, the largest paper in the district. After Hoffman “showed no grasp of the bread-and-butter issues pertinent to district residents,” his companion in the meeting, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, rose to his defense by dismissing regional concerns as “parochial” issues that would not determine the outcome of the election. Armey’s comment was a major factor in the paper offering a “flat-out blistering” critique of Hoffman when it endorsed Democrat Bill Owens. Now, Armey is throwing Hoffman under the bus, saying that “he didn’t pay enough attention to local concerns”:
Armey, the former House GOP majority leader, noted that Democrats had seized on Hoffman’s inability to address local concerns.
“The fact of the matter is, he didn’t pay enough attention to the local concerns, and they were able to tag him as being unaware of the local needs and concerns,” Armey said.
North County Public Radio’s Brian Mann writes that since national conservatives like Armey “deliberately helped to shape Doug Hoffman into a national symbol, one whose stand on abortion, same-sex marriage and President Obama largely defined him,” it is “a stretch” for them to “complain now that he didn’t focus enough on local stuff.” But it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Armey would use political rhetoric he apparently doesn’t believe in. In a New York Times Magazine profile posted online yesterday, Armey says it’s “O.K.” with him that opponents of health care reform fearmonger about “death panels,” even though “he does not believe” they exist.
Conservatives Mock 72-Hour Window That They Requested To Review Health Care Reform Legislation
Conservatives Mock 72-Hour Window That They Requested To Review Health Care Reform Legislation
In September, Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) organized a discharge petition in order to force a vote on a resolution that would “require that legislation and conference reports be available on the Internet for 72-hours before consideration by the House.” “It’s just common sense: Americans should be allowed to read the text of major bills before Congress votes on them,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH).
The House Democratic leadership eventually agreed to post health care legislation online for 72-hours before bringing it up for a vote. But once they got what they wanted, conservatives started to complain that 72-hours wasn’t enough. “They are only giving you 72-hours to read it,” said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on Glenn Beck’s radio show today. “So they obviously are embarrassed of their own bill.”
On WorldNetDaily’s radio show today, Rep. John Linder (R-GA) claimed that Democrats were only including the 72-hour waiting period because they needed more time to twist arms for votes:
LINDER: I would not be surprised if they sent us home Friday and bring us back a week or so later to see if they can get the votes because I do not believe they have the votes now.
HOST: What makes you think that?
LINDER: If they had the votes, they’d have voted on it already. They would not have worried about the 72-hours. That 72-hours is for them to beat up their own members, not for the public to read the bill. If they had those votes, they’d cram it down now and they clearly do not.
Listen here:
Despite their current complaints about the 72-hour time period, both Bachmann and Linder signed the discharge petition seeking the 72-hours.
Palin to promote her book with multiple Fox News interviews: ‘Variety is the spice of life.’
Palin to promote her book with multiple Fox News interviews: ‘Variety is the spice of life.’
On her Facebook page yesterday, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin announced that she was “very excited about the upcoming road trip” to promote her book, which will be released later this month. As CNN’s Alexander Mooney notes, Palin “hinted she’d likely sit down with a string of friendly faces during the tour that begins in two weeks.” Indeed, Palin is hoping to do interviews mainly with Fox News hosts and contributors:
We’re in the process of arranging interviews with local and national media. An interview with Oprah Winfrey is already scheduled, and I’m also hoping to have the opportunity to talk with Bill O’Reilly, Barbara Walters, Sean Hannity, Greta Van Susteren, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Dennis Miller, Tammy Bruce, and others, including local Alaska personalities Bob & Mark and Eddie Burke. (Variety is the spice of life!)
As Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) vice presidential running mate in the 2008 election, Palin gave Fox multiple interviews while avoiding other news efforts. Apparently, she plans to follow the same strategy as she promotes her book.
Louisiana justice who refused marriage license to interracial couple resigns.
Louisiana justice who refused marriage license to interracial couple resigns.
Last month, Louisiana justice of the peace Keith Bardwell stirred controversy when he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple because he believes that such marriages don’t usually last very long. “I don’t do interracial marriages because I don’t want to put children in a situation they didn’t bring on themselves,” Bardwell said. Now, the Louisiana secretary of state’s office says that Bardwell has resigned:
A Louisiana justice of the peace who drew criticism for refusing to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple has resigned, the secretary of state’s office said Tuesday.
Keith Bardwell, a justice of the peace for Tangipahoa Parish’s 8th Ward, was widely criticized after he refused to grant a marriage license to Beth McKay and Terence McKay, an interracial couple who ultimately got a marriage license from another justice of the peace in the same parish.
The McKays hired an attorney and protested the justice’s actions.
Despite a national uproar and a call by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for him to lose his license, Bardwell, 56, said in October that he had no regrets. “It’s kind of hard to apologize for something that you really and truly feel down in your heart you haven’t done wrong,” he told CNN affiliate WAFB.
Civil rights organizations had called for Bardwell to resign while Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) had called for him to be dismissed. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), on the other hand, would only go so far as to say that Bardwell “should follow the law as written.”
Despite Rhetoric About Preexisting Conditions, Boehner’s Health Care Plan Doesn’t Bar Denials
Despite Rhetoric About Preexisting Conditions, Boehner’s Health Care Plan Doesn’t Bar Denials
While leading GOP opposition to health care reform over the past few months, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) has simultaneously insisted that Republicans believe in helping Americans with preexisting conditions get health care. Currently, “in 44 states, it’s legal for health insurers to deny coverage to people who have previously been sick, or charge them more for treatment.”
“And so there are a number of things that Republicans believe are essential,” Boehner told NPR in September. “We believe that making sure that people who have preexisting conditions have access to affordable health insurance.” On Fox News last week, Boehner said that Republicans wanted to focus on helping “those with preexisting conditions“:
BOEHNER: Most of the 36 million that they say they’re going to cover already have access to some type of government program, or even their employer program, or have chosen just not to have health insurance. When you really boil this down, there are about seven or eight million people in America, those with preexisting conditions, those who are what I would describe as the working poor, and some early retirees who have a difficult time getting health insurance. We can help those people get health insurance and still bring down the cost of health insurance for the 85 percent of Americans who have it and think they pay too much for it.
Watch it:
But when Boehner previewed the House Republicans’ alternative health care plan for reporters yesterday, he admitted that the GOP’s proposal “will not prevent insurance providers from barring clients based on preexisting conditions.” “We do encourage more states to have high-risk pools,” said Boehner, which he called “a place where people with preexisting conditions will have an opportunity to get affordable health insurance.”
Roll Call points out, however, that “most states have such pools, but they often are much more expensive than regular insurance and have had only limited success in reducing the ranks of the uninsured.” President Obama and the Senate Finance Committee have also embraced increased funding for high risk pools, but only as a stop gap until 2013, when insurers would be prohibited from denying people coverage based on preexisting conditions under their legislation.
Conservatives Rally Behind Bachmann’s Call For Anti-Health Care Reform Protest In DC
Conservatives Rally Behind Bachmann’s Call For Anti-Health Care Reform Protest In DC
On Saturday, ThinkProgress reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) was calling on conservatives to take time off from their jobs this week and to gather on the National Mall this Thursday for “a big party” in opposition to health care reform. In an interview with the Washington News Observer, Bachmann said that her protests would be inspired by hate radio host Mark Levin, who recently wrote a book called Liberty and Tyranny.
Now, it turns out that Levin will be at Bachmann’s rally. Promoting the right-wing gathering on WorldNetDaily’s radio show today, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) announced that Levin, along with conservative stars like Jon Voight and Betsy McCaughey, would be speaking at the event:
KING: On that day, we will have with us Jon Voight, the actor is coming in. And he’s more than an actor if you’ve seen him in the media. Mark Levin will also be here, Dr. Betsy McCaughey who has written much about this national health care in the Wall Street Journal. Tony Perkins, there will be others, but those I can announce will be here. Michele Bachmann will be here, I will be here, Tom Price, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee will be here, and we’re calling upon the American people, come defend you’re freedom. Do so politely, within the law, respectfully. But do it as emphatically as you can within those limits. That’s the only thing that is going to turn this thing around.
Listen here:
The conservative infrastructure has been rallying around Bachmann’s idea. Last Friday, Bachmann promoted her rally on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show. Glenn Beck hosted her on his radio show today and endorsed her efforts. The offices of both House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) also issued their support.
For those who are unwilling to take time off from work to travel to DC, Bachmann and King are both recommending that they visit the website of the corporate front group Americans for Prosperity to find info on congressional district offices.
Lieberman Would Prefer ‘Nothing’ To Health Care Reform With A Public Option
Lieberman Would Prefer ‘Nothing’ To Health Care Reform With A Public Option
For months now, media critics like Media Matters’ Jamison Foser have pointed out that the press have often demonstrated a double standard when questioning opponents and proponents of the public option, only asking advocates about whether they think it is “better to have nothing than to have a plan that does not include the public option.” On CBS’ Face The Nation today, however, host Bob Schieffer put the question to Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who claims that he is “all for health care reform, but is threatening to join a Republican filibuster to stop any reform bill that has a public option.
“But wouldn’t that mean that you might wind up with nothing instead of something?” asked Schieffer. Lieberman responded by saying that supporters of the public option are “stopping us from getting something done” because they’re making the option “the litmus test.” Pressed again by Schieffer, Lieberman admitted that he would prefer “nothing”:
SCHIEFFER: But is what you’re also saying is that nothing is better than a government health insurance, or a health insurance reform that includes a public option? Nothing is better than that?
LIEBERMAN: Well, the truth is that nothing is better than that because I think we ought to follow, if I may, the doctor’s oath in Congress as we deal with health care reform, do no harm.
To support his claim that the public option would do harm, Lieberman said that the Congressional Budget Office found that under the House’s health care plan, premiums for the public option would be higher than the average premium in private plans in the exchange. But as TPMDC’s Brian Beutler reported, this is actually an argument for a more robust public option. Watch it:
In his discussion with Schieffer, Lieberman acted as though the public option was the only thing stopping him from supporting health care reform. But this ignores the fact that Lieberman opposed the Baucus bill last month, which did not contain a public option. Apparently, Lieberman truly just wants “nothing” when it comes to health care reform.
Limbaugh lumps Fox News into ‘conservative media,’ Chris Wallace doesn’t object.
Limbaugh lumps Fox News into ‘conservative media,’ Chris Wallace doesn’t object.
For weeks now, Fox News has been vigorously objecting to the Obama administration’s contention that the network often acts as “the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party.” But on Fox News Sunday today, host Chris Wallace did not object when Rush Limbaugh included Fox News as an example of the “conservative media” that has been spawned in the wake of his success on the radio:
LIMBAUGH: Look at 1988, there was nobody doing what I’m doing. Nobody. You had CNN was the only cable network and you had the three networks and the newspapers. And now, look, now look what’s out — all this conservative media. Conservative talk radio, television, Fox News, the conservative blogosphere. I mean, in one way, I could, if I wanted to have my ego be as big as Obama’s is, I could say, look what I created.
Instead of pushing back on Limbaugh’s description of Fox as ideologically conservative, Wallace moved on to the next question, saying, “let’s talk about you.” Watch it:
Lieberman on his willingness to derail health care reform: ‘I feel relevant.’
Lieberman on his willingness to derail health care reform: ‘I feel relevant.’
After he announced his willingness to filibuster health care reform that includes a public option, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) defended his position by arguing that if the public option paid lower reimbursement rates than private insurers, medical providers would shift costs to Americans with private coverage. He also called the proposed plan “a new entitlement program.” As ThinkProgress and others have pointed out, Lieberman either doesn’t understand the details of the public option proposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) or he is misrepresenting them. But in a conference call with Connecticut reporters yesterday, Lieberman claimed that it is the more than 60 percent of state residents that back a government-run insurance option that are confused:
What about the more than 60 percent of state residents that back a government-run insurance option, according to a Quinnipiac University poll last month?
Some of those respondents are confused about what such a plan entails, Lieberman said. And he added, “you can’t make a decision like this based on polling,” he said. Ultimately, he he said he has to do “what I think is right and hope in the end the people of Connecticut will respect me for that.”
Describing how his openness to derailing reform affected his role in the health care debate, Lieberman told the reporters, “I feel relevant.”
Kristol Says He Helped Congressional GOP Formulate ‘The Best Arguments Against’ Health Care Reform
Kristol Says He Helped Congressional GOP Formulate ‘The Best Arguments Against’ Health Care Reform
In Dec. 1993, Bill Kristol, a current Fox News contributor and the editor of the Weekly Standard, issued a now-infamous memo to Republican leaders, arguing that they should “defeat” President Clinton’s health care reform plan “outright” instead of negotiating a compromise. In later memos, Kristol counseled that Republicans should oppose reform “sight unseen” because “there is no health care crisis.” Kristol’s advice “animated” Republicans, who concluded “that all-out opposition to the Clinton plan” was “in their best political interest.”
Throughout this year’s debate over health care reform, Kristol has played a similar role, arguing in the media that Republicans should “kill” reform instead of trying to be “constructive.” In an interview on the Washington Times’ America’s Morning News radio show yesterday, Kristol revealed that he had met with some congressional Republicans on Wednesday night to devise strategy for defeating reform:
KRISTOL: Next week will really be a first crescendo in the big health care debate. And this dinner I was at last night was some Republican members, Senate and House, some staffers, some outside people, trying to think about how to, the best arguments against it and where the politics of this lies. She is really going for it. And I think the issue is Medicare. I mean this will be the largest package of Medicare cuts I think the Congress will ever have passed.
Later in the interview, Kristol distilled the conclusions from the strategy session with congressional Republicans, saying that citizens “need to go see their congressman and say ‘do not vote for this until either we have a chance to read it more carefully, but really more importantly just don’t vote for it because it’s going to cut my Medicare and raise my taxes.’” He echoes the same attack line in his Weekly Standard column today: “There will be no Republican votes for the Pelosi Plan of tax hikes and Medicare cuts. Will there be enough Democratic resistors so the bill is either withdrawn or defeated?.” Listen here:
For the past month, Fox has been claiming that it is not actually a “communications arm” for the Republicans. What do they think about one of their regular contributors advising Republicans on strategy behind closed doors? Will they disclose Kristol’s advisory role when he appears on the air?
Colbert signs petition to ‘Close Gitmo Now.’
Colbert signs petition to ‘Close Gitmo Now.’
Last week, a group of international musicians that includes Trent Reznor, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Jackson Browne, and others joined the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo and filed Freedom of Information Act requests seeking to declassify all secret government records pertaining to how music was used in detainee interrogations in Guantanamo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Last night, Roseanne Cash promoted the cause on The Colbert Report, where she successfully got the host to sign a petition calling for the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Watch it:
Fox and Friends laugh about heckler telling Nancy Pelosi to ‘burn in hell.’
Fox and Friends laugh about heckler telling Nancy Pelosi to ‘burn in hell.’
Earlier this week, extreme anti-choice activist Randall Terry launched a contest to encourage people to make videos burning House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in effigy. “Who Can make the best ‘Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid BURN IN HELL!‘ video?” said Terry’s press release. At the Democratic rally yesterday announcing the House’s health care reform bill, a heckler called out, “Nancy Pelosi, you’ll burn in hell for this.” Apparently, this violent rhetoric and claims of damnation was funny to the folks at Fox and Friends, who laughingly re-enacted the heckling on their show this morning. Watch it:
Previously on Fox News, Glenn Beck joked about putting poison in Pelosi’s wine.
McConnell: The Public Option ‘May Cost You Your Life’
McConnell: The Public Option ‘May Cost You Your Life’
For months now, conservatives have been scare-mongering about health care reform with outrageous claims that it would lead to “death panels” that could “pull the plug on grandma.” In Congress, some Republican backbenchers have claimed that Americans will die if health care reform passes Congress. “We’ve been battling this socialist health care, the nationalization of health care, that is going to absolutely kill senior citizens,” said Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ radio show. “They’ll put them on lists and force them to die early.”
Now, the scaremongering has been embraced by the congressional GOP’s leadership. In an interview on Dennis Miller’s radio show yesterday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that the public option “may cost you your life”:
MCCONNELL: Well, it doesn’t make any difference frankly whether you opt-in or you opt-out, it’s still a government plan. You know, Medicaid, the program for the poor now, states can opt-out of that, but none of them have. I think if you have any kind of government insurance program, you’re going to be stuck with it and it will lead us in the direction of the European style, you know, sort of British-style, single payer, government run system. And those systems are known for delays, denial of care and, you know, if your particular malady doesn’t fit the government regulation, you don’t get the medication.
MILLER: Right.
MCCONNELL: And it may cost you your life. I mean, we don’t want to go down that path.
Listen here:
In his efforts to derail health care reform, McConnell has regularly fear-mongered about the British and Canadian health care systems, claiming that a public option would look just like them. Unsurprisingly, McConnell has gotten his facts wrong when he’s described other health care systems.
Lieberman Says He’ll Filibuster Health Care Reform If Public Option Remains
Lieberman Says He’ll Filibuster Health Care Reform If Public Option Remains
Earlier this month, when blogger-activist Mike Stark asked Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) if his opposition to the public option meant that he would filibuster a health care reform bill that included one, Lieberman was non-committal, saying “we’ll see” while also warning that there’s a “danger in doing too much.”
In remarks to reporters today, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) moved closer to siding with Republicans and actively blocking reform. Lieberman gave a wishy-washy response, stating that while he was “inclined” to vote to allow health care reform legislation to be debated on the Senate floor, he would “vote against cloture” if “the bill stays as it is now.” TPMDC has Lieberman’s comments:
“I told Senator Reid that I’m strongly inclined — I haven’t totally decided, but I’m strongly inclined — to vote to proceed to the health care debate, even though I don’t support the bill that he’s bringing together because it’s important that we start the debate on health care reform because I want to vote for health care reform this year. But I also told him that if the bill remains what it is now, I will not be able to support a cloture motion before final passage. Therefore I will try to stop the passage of the bill.”
Lieberman claims that he wants to “vote for health care reform this year” and that the public option is a sticking point for him. But he also opposed the Baucus bill, which did not contain a public option. Last week, he told NPR, “If I decide in the end the bill that is about to leave the Senate is gonna do more harm than good, then I won’t vote for cloture at that point.”
ThinkProgress previously produced a report titled “Joe Lieberman: The Progressive Who Lost His Way.” View it here.
House Republicans Pander To Tea Party Movement With Frivolous Resolution Inflating 9/12 Protest Numbers
House Republicans Pander To Tea Party Movement With Frivolous Resolution Inflating 9/12 Protest Numbers
Earlier today, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) released a “leader alert,” proclaiming, “Great Work, Congress: Speaker Pelosi’s House to Honor Confucius’ Birthday as Unemployment Nears 10 Percent.” “With millions of Americans looking for jobs and the nation’s unemployment rate nearing 10 percent, the U.S. House of Representatives today will take up a grand total of four non-controversial ’suspension’ bills,” said Boehner.
But Boehner’s “playing hooky” attack on Pelosi comes at an awkward moment, considering that just today, 76 House Republicans introduced a frivolous resolution aimed at playing to the conservatives’ tea party base by officially commemorating the Glenn Beck-inspired 9/12 taxpayer march on Washington. The resolution, introduced by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), claims that “the fundamental American principles of limited government and personal liberty are under direct assault.” It also seeks to have Congress officially enshrine the inflated crowd numbers pushed by conservatives:
Whereas, on September 12, 2009, hundreds of thousands of American patriots, who refuse to sit idly by as the Federal Government advances skyrocketing deficits, taxpayer-funded bailouts, pork-barrel projects, burdensome taxes, unaccountable policy czars, command-and-control energy policy, and a government takeover of health care, came to Washington, DC, to show their disapproval;
[…]
Whereas estimates of the number of people who peacefully marched from Freedom Plaza to the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on September 12, 2009, range as high as 1,700,000 marchers;
[…]
Resolved, That the House of Representatives expresses its gratitude and appreciation to the hundreds of thousands of people who marched on Washington, DC, on September 12, 2009, to show their love of liberty and their grievance with recent government actions.
The closest thing to an official count, numbers given by the Washington DC Fire Department to ABCNews.com, placed the crowd at “approximately 60,000 to 70,000 people.”
House Republicans ‘growing frustrated’ with lack of GOP alternative health care bill.
House Republicans ‘growing frustrated’ with lack of GOP alternative health care bill.
In June, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) promised that an alternative health care reform bill would be introduced that Republicans could rally behind. “We’re putting the final touches on our bill,” Boehner said in July. Then, the chairman of the House GOP Health Care Solutions Group, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), admitted that the House GOP leadership was unlikely to introduce a bill. Now, The Hill reports that “some House Republicans are growing frustrated that their leaders have not yet introduced a healthcare reform alternative”:
Rep. Tom Price (Ga.), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), revealed the schism within his party late last week.
“There’s a difference of opinion over what ought to be the strategy from a political standpoint on this issue. I happen to believe we ought to have a bill. There are others who believe, as strongly, that the principles that would be outlined and would be adhered to in the Republican bill are what need to be discussed because everybody can embrace those principles,” Price said last week. [...]
One House Republican who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, “The fact is, [GOP leaders] are very concerned with doing anything that the base would interpret as ‘Democrat-lite’ or ‘socialized-lite’ … which is forcing a little of paralysis.”
Beck lashes back at Jane Hall: ‘Don’t let the door hit you on the ass when you leave.’
Beck lashes back at Jane Hall: ‘Don’t let the door hit you on the ass when you leave.’
On CNN’s Reliable Sources yesterday, former Fox News contributor Jane Hall said that Glenn Beck’s presence at the network was a “factor” in her decision to leave Fox. “I’m also, frankly, uncomfortable with Beck, who I think should be called out as somebody whose language is way over the top,” said Hall. On his radio show today, Beck responded to Hall, calling her an “idiot” who wouldn’t be missed at Fox:
BECK: Well, don’t let the door hit you on the ass when you leave. I’m going to miss you, I am, whatever your name is. My language is scary! Since when did language become scary? Boy, I put a lot of that language in books. Maybe we should gather all those books together and burn them as well. Because there is language in there. I wouldn’t want to scare anyone. Read our Founding Fathers. You want scary language, read the Founding Fathers. We haven’t even gotten to the scary language yet.
Listen here:
A Fox News spokesperson claimed to Mediaite that “Hall’s contract was not renewed.”
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll