Palin gives a lackluster speech in Wisconsin, frequently uses ‘bogus’ or ‘awesome’ to discuss weighty topics.
Palin gives a lackluster speech in Wisconsin, frequently uses ‘bogus’ or ‘awesome’ to discuss weighty topics.
During the summer’s debate over health care reform, right-wing activists and lawmakers latched onto former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s false claim that President Obama and congressional Democrats were proposing government “death panels” that would “pull the plug on grandma.” While Republican leaders largely abandoned this myth, Palin revived it on Friday during a speech at a Wisconsin Right to Life fundraising banquet. In her remarks, Palin “repeatedly suggested that liberal social policies could lead to de facto euthanasia.” The speech was closed to the press and audience members were not allowed to bring cell phones, cameras, or any recording devices, but a few reporters still managed to sneak in. Politico reports that Friday’s speech was less than inspiring:
Palin had remarks prepared but frequently wandered off-script to make a point, offering audience members a casual “awesome” or “bogus” in discussing otherwise weighty topics.
As in: “It is so bogus that society is sending a message right now and has been for probably the last 40 years that a woman isn’t strong enough or smart enough to be able to pursue an education, a career and her rights and still let her baby live.”
Other Palin touchstones included: praise for the military, jeers for the “the liberal media” and a general manner of speaking that often veered into rhetorical culs-de-sac.
While she drew applause during her remarks, Palin’s extemporaneous and frequently discursive style was such that she never truly roused a true-believing crowd as passionate about the issue at hand as she. Not once during her address did they rise to their feet.
Palin warned on her Facebook page last night that the “death panel” provision is in the health care bill that just passed the House.
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Lieberman Pledges To Filibuster House Bill: The Public Option Is ‘Unnecessary’
Lieberman Pledges To Filibuster House Bill: The Public Option Is ‘Unnecessary’
This morning on Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) about the House’s historic passage of health care legislation last night. Lieberman said that as a “matter of conscience,” he will join a Republican filibuster if a public option — which has supposedly been put forward “by people who really want the government to take over all of health insurance” — is also included in the bill that goes before the Senate:
LIEBERMAN: A public option plan is unnecessary. It has been put forward, I’m convinced, by people who really want the government to take over all of health insurance. They’ve got a right to do that; I think that would be wrong.
But worse than that, we have a problem even greater than the health insurance problems, and that is a debt — $12 trillion today, projected to be $21 trillion in 10 years.
WALLACE: So at this point, I take it, you’re a “no” vote in the Senate?
LIEBERMAN: If the public option plan is in there, as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote because I believe debt can break America and send us into a recession that’s worse than the one we’re fighting our way out of today. I don’t want to do that to our children and grandchildren.
Watch it:
Late last month, Lieberman told reporters that he was planning to filibuster a public option. But a few days later, the Hill reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office was confident Lieberman would “vote with Democrats in the necessary procedural vote to end debate, perhaps with intentions to change the bill.” Today, Lieberman made it clear where he stands.
It isn’t really Lieberman’s “conscience” that is driving him to oppose the public option — more likely it’s his ego (since he told reporters that he likes feeling “relevant“). After all, Lieberman opposed the Senate Finance Committee bill even though it didn’t have a public option, and in 1994, his “conscience” told him that the filibuster was “unfair” and shouldn’t be used to block major legislation. He has also asserted that the public option would raise premiums and increase the debt, even though the Congressional Budget Office has disputed those claims. Furthermore, 60 percent of his constituents support a public option, but Lieberman has dismissed them as just being “confused.”
Transcript: More »
House Passes Historic, Bipartisan Health Reform Legislation
House Passes Historic, Bipartisan Health Reform Legislation
Moments ago, the House of Representatives passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act by a vote of 220-215, with one Republican — Rep. Joseph Cao (R-LA) — voting for the measure. Once the bill reached the needed threshold of 218 votes, the chamber erupted in applause. Members excitedly counted down the last few seconds of the vote. Watch it:
At the “House Call” tea party protest on Capitol Hill this week, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) pledged to the right-wing activists: “Be assured not one Republican will vote for this bill.” Cao’s vote must have surprised Cantor.
Cao has previously been touted by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) once as “the future” of the GOP. The White House had reportedly “been in constant contact” with him prior to the vote. “Rahm is going all in to get him,” one aide told Roll Call, referring to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.
The House also approved, by a vote of 240-194, an amendment introduced by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), which imposed tighter restrictions on abortion coverage. A GOP substitute failed in a vote of 178-258, with a single Republican, Rep. Tim Johnson (R-IL) voting against the legislation.
GOP Gone Wild: Unruly Republicans Silence Women Lawmakers With Screams, Shouts, And Delay Tactics
GOP Gone Wild: Unruly Republicans Silence Women Lawmakers With Screams, Shouts, And Delay Tactics
This morning, the House began consideration of the rule for debate of the House health care bill. As the Democratic Women’s Caucus took to the microphone on the House floor to offer their arguments for how the bill would benefit women, House Republicans — led by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) — repeatedly talked over, screamed, and shouted objections. “I object, I object, I object, I object, I object,” Price interjected as Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) tried to hold the floor.
In an effort to delay and derail the proceedings, the Republicans continually talked over the Democratic women for half an hour. They sought to prevent the debate by calling for unnecessary “parliamentary inquiries” and requests for “expanding the debate” by an hour.
After being repeatedly interrupted by Republican shouts, Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH) observed:
Do I not have the right to be able to continue my sentence without objections that are trying to censor my remarks here on the floor that I have a right to make as a member of this House?
Watch a compilation:
The presiding chair of the House, Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), tried to assuage the Republican ruckus, without much success. The debate must be conducted with “a measure of comity and grace and decency,” Dingell urged. “There’s no advantage to be achieved by making all this fuss,” he told the Republicans.
Tom Tancredo storms off the set of MSNBC during debate with DailyKos’ Markos Moulitsas.
Tom Tancredo storms off the set of MSNBC during debate with DailyKos’ Markos Moulitsas.
Today on the Ed Show, former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo tried to argue that all veterans are unhappy with their health care under the Veterans Administration — as proof of why government-run care doesn’t work:
Every veterans group I ever went and talked to complained about the Veterans Administration and the way it was a bureaucratically-run program that didn’t serve their needs. They would much rather have vouchers that would let them go out and buy their insurance in a private marketplace.
When the other guest on the program, DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas, started laughing, Tancredo replied, “You’re laughing, but talk to the veterans. They talk to me, and that’s why they said.” Markos then informed Tancredo that he actually is a veteran, adding, “I did not get a deferment because I was too depressed to fight in a war that I supported in Vietnam. I’m a veteran, Tom.” Tancredo became incensed at Markos, calling his comment “stupid” and demanding that he apologize. When he didn’t, Tancredo stormed off the set. Watch it:
As Markos noted, Tancredo was eligible to serve in Vietnam and was a supporter of the war, but received a deferment after “he went for his physical, telling doctors he’d been treated for depression.” After Tancredo left, Markos went on to say that Republicans are “terrified of government programs that work” because it threatens the myths they have built up.
Rep. Foxx: ‘All of us want all Americans to have health insurance and access to good health care.’
Rep. Foxx: ‘All of us want all Americans to have health insurance and access to good health care.’
During this afternoon’s Rules Committee hearing to determine which amendments would be introduced during floor debate of the House health care bill, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) announced that everyone can agree that Republicans want “all Americans to have affordable health insurance and good quality health care”:
FOXX: I think we should start with the premise that I have felt all along, despite being questioned on this by my colleagues, that all of us want all Americans to have health insurance and access to good health care. Again, despite accusations made against me, I think we would be all better off if we accepted that assumption. We want to go about it in different ways. But I think accusing each other of things that aren’t true isn’t a good way to start out this meeting. And so I want to say I believe everybody wants all Americans to have affordable health insurance and good quality health care. I just take that assumption.
Watch it:
But Americans shouldn’t “just take that assumption.” In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, under the Republican alternative, the number of uninsured Americans would increase to 52 million by 2019. The plan would provide coverage to only 3 million more uninsured Americans. Earlier in the hearing, Foxx suggested that it’s better to be uninsured than enrolled in the government’s Medicaid program. “I want to ask you if you know that Medicaid patients visit the emergency room at twice the rate of uninsured patients in this country,” she said. “More government paid insurance is going to increase the number of people going to the emergency rooms.”
Pence: ‘We Actually Do Deal With Pre-Existing Conditions’ In The GOP Health Bill
Pence: ‘We Actually Do Deal With Pre-Existing Conditions’ In The GOP Health Bill
This week, House Republicans officially released their alternative health care legislation, which the Congressional Budget Offices estimates would still leave 52 million Americans uninsured by 2019. The plan has been met with widespread criticism, focusing around the fact that the plan doesn’t bar insurers from rejecting coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Today on Fox News, however, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) tried to whitewash this point and simply insisted, “We actually do deal with pre-existing conditions in our bill”:
PENCE: You know, the Speaker has said it was scandalous — some interpretation of the Republican plan, which I am happy to talk about. We actually do deal with pre-existing conditions in our bill. But what’s scandalous is the Democrats launching a massive $1.2 trillion government takeover of health care paid for with more than $700 billion in tax increases on individuals and small businesses at a time when unemployment may well today come close to 10 percent.
Watch it:
Yesterday on MSNBC, Rep. Peter King (R-NY) similarly said that they “address the pre-existing conditions.” Both statements are misleading, and Republicans clearly recognize that they’re in an uncomfortable position because their bill doesn’t address one of the public’s top priorities in health care reform. A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found that the public overwhelmingly wants final legislation to require “that health insurance companies cover people with pre-existing medical conditions.” Sixty-three percent of the respondents said that it “must” be included, and another 26 percent said they would “prefer” that it were there.
As Roll Call reported, Republicans “deal” with Americans with pre-existing conditions by forcing them into expensive high-risk pools:
And states would be eligible for a total of $15 billion [in federal funds] over the next 10 years in aid for creating high-risk pools for people whom private insurance companies refuse to cover because of pre-existing health conditions.
People with pre-existing conditions would pay up to 50 percent more than average for insurance coverage under the plan. States would have to cover the rest of the tab with a “stable funding source,” although the modest federal subsidy would cover a portion of the cost.
Most states already have such plans, which typically are much more expensive than regular insurance and have not made much of a dent in the ranks of the uninsured.
Even worse, high-risk pools would be able to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions that made people eligible in the first place. So people would be forced into the pools because of their pre-existing conditions, but the pools wouldn’t pay for treatment of that condition. President Obama and the Senate Finance Committee have also supported 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 pre-existing conditions.
The disappointing refusal to bar insurers from rejecting Americans with pre-existing conditions comes after numerous Republican officials promised to address this problem.
Former Blue Cross Blue Shield ‘Spokesjerk’ Cuts Ad In Favor Of Health Reform
Former Blue Cross Blue Shield ‘Spokesjerk’ Cuts Ad In Favor Of Health Reform
The House is nearing a vote on health care legislation that is expected to be very close. At this critical juncture, a former Blue Cross Blue Shield spokesperson is doing what he can to help pass reform.
Actor and comedian Andy Cobb, who used to be the spokesman for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, has teamed up with Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films project “Sick for Profit” to produce a new ad in favor of health care reform. In the ad, Cobb calls himself a former “spokesjerk” for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, and says that his job was to “sell you the worst product in American history: private health insurance.” Cobb calls attention to Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) for his significant contributions from the health care industry, and asks him to vote in favor of health care legislation with a public option. Watch it:
This morning, Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman interviewed Cobb. He told her, echoing remarks from Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), “This is the time when we have to say, ‘Which side are you on? The insurance companies or the American people?’ And for too long I’ve been on the wrong side of that.”
GOP Health Plan Would Allow For ‘Sweatshop Insurance’
GOP Health Plan Would Allow For ‘Sweatshop Insurance’
Under the Republican health care alternative filed in the House, young and healthy individuals can purchase policies from insurers that don’t abide by local benefit or rate standards. The Republican bill allows the health insurer to choose a “primary state” “whose covered laws shall govern the health insurance issuer” and sell policies to people in other states without adhering “to all of the consumer protection laws or restrictions on rate changes of the state.”
Over at MYDD, Bruce Webb calls the provision, “Sweatshop Insurance.” This bill goes far beyond merely “stripping states of power over insurance rates and conditions,” he notes. It “explicitly expands the definition of ‘State’ to include not just D.C. and Puerto Rico, which makes some sense in context, but adds BY NAME the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and Jack Abramoff’s favorite client-the Northern Marianas home of the ‘Made in the USA’ Chinese-owned close to slave labor sweatshops.” From pages 121-122 of the bill:
In 2001, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands famously hired corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff to enlist his support in stopping “legislation aimed at cracking down on sweatshops and sex shops in the American territory.”
“Given the record of corruption in the N. Marianas,” Webb writes, “and the willingness of various Caribbean and Atlantic Island nations to let themselves be used as off-shore banking and tax shelter entities, you can bet Aetna and WellPoint are slavering at the prospect of ‘basing’ their plans out of a PO Box on some tropical nation.”
Bachmann Claims Anti-Health Reform Rally Was ‘Organic,’ ‘Nothing That We Planned’
Bachmann Claims Anti-Health Reform Rally Was ‘Organic,’ ‘Nothing That We Planned’
Last Friday on Fox News, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) announced that she was organizing an anti-health reform rally on Capitol Hill, calling on Americans “literally by the busload to come to Washington D.C.” to protest reform. The next day, Bachmann summoned everyone to “get off the couch, get in your car, get a van together, get a bus together, but get here!” “We’re going to have a big party,” she said.
Around 4,000 right-wing activists showed up on Capitol Hill yesterday to protest reform. Last night on Fox News, Bachmann inflated the attendance numbers drastically. She also tried to paint the event as entirely grassroots, despite admitting that she had organized it:
BACHMANN: Today people told me they heard that call out on your show on Friday night, and they immediately started contacting other people. And this was totally word of mouth. This was nothing that we organized, nothing that we planned. We didn’t order one bus, one carload. Nothing. Complete word of mouth. And estimates are anywhere between 20 and 45,000 people had assembled. [...]
And also this absolutely outstanding grouping of people that we had today at the Capitol. This is organic. It was a meet up. It was spontaneous.
Watch it:
Bachmann’s claim is laughable. Aside from her leadership in organizing the protest, the corporate front group Americans For Prosperity helped coordinate. AFP mobilized about 40 buses to bring activists to DC, with AFP staffers standing at their designated bus drop off point near the Capitol, handing out signs, directions, talking points, petitions, and donuts to protesters. Moreover, notorious astroturf group FreedomWorks got involved in the action as well:
The protesters were fueled — literally and figuratively — by lobbying organizations like Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, the groups behind the August town hall protests and “tea party” events. Freedomworks promoted this week’s event on their Web site DontKillGrandma.com with recommendations for protest tactics.
Moreover, AFP hosted Bachmann on a conference call the day before the rally to discuss their “House Call.”
“So you’re organizing and asking people to come meet you on the steps of the capital,” Fox host Sean Hannity asked Bachmann last Friday after her announcement. “Thursday at noon,” she said, “You can go to MicheleBachmann.com for more information.”
Government health care rescues protesters at anti-government health care rally.
Government health care rescues protesters at anti-government health care rally.
Thousands of protesters came to Capitol Hill yesterday for Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) protest against health care reform, capping months of fear-mongering about the dangers of so-called “socialized” medicine. However, the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank notes that at one point, one of the protesters had a heart attack. Luckily, federally-employed medical personnel were able to quickly attend to him — even though they were part of government-run health care, which is supposedly quite dangerous:
More ominously, a man standing just beyond the TV cameras apparently suffered a heart attack 20 minutes after event began. Medical personnel from the Capitol physician’s office — an entity that could, quite accurately, be labeled government-run health care — rushed over, attaching electrodes to his chest and giving him oxygen and an IV drip.
This turned into an unwanted visual for the speakers, as a D.C. ambulance and firetruck, lights flashing, pulled in just behind the lawmakers. A path was made through the media section, and the patient, attended to by about 10 government medical personnel, was being wheeled away on a stretcher just as House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) stepped to the microphone. “Join us in defeating Pelosi care!” he exhorted. A few members stole a glance at the stretcher.
By the end of the day, “medics had administered government-run health care to at least five people in the crowd who were stricken as they denounced government-run health care.”
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”:
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:
Republicans wouldn’t find coverage under their own health plan.
Republicans wouldn’t find coverage under their own health plan.
The Congressional Budget Office has concluded that the overwhelming majority of Americans would remain uninsured and continue paying higher premiums under the Republicans’ health care alternative. In fact, it’s unlikely that any of the members of the Republican House Leadership would be able to find affordable insurance under their own proposal, should they chose to give up their government-sponsored plans. The six men and one woman in the Republican House leadership have an average age of 52 and, as a group, are more susceptible to cardiovascular disease, different cancers, high blood pressure, and a host of other chronic diseases. The Republican health alternative would allow insurers to discriminate against these conditions and price the Republican leaders out of the market. Igor Volsky explains why Republicans wouldn’t find coverage under their own health plan.
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.)
Right-wing protesters at GOP rally display prominent sign tying health care to the Holocaust.
Right-wing protesters at GOP rally display prominent sign tying health care to the Holocaust.
ThinkProgress’ Lee Fang snapped this photograph of a prominent sign being displayed at today’s GOP anti-health care rally. It’s unclear whether this sign is one of the many being handed out by Americans for Prosperity, the corporate front group sponsoring today’s rally. The sign reads “National Socialist Health Care: Dachau, Germany – 1945”:
Matt Yglesias observes, “There are all kinds of nutty people in the world, but these kinds of things are the wages of a conservative leadership and media that’s consistently tried to drum-up opposition to health care reform not by opposing things that are actually in the bill, but with demagogic opposition to completely fabricated provisions.”
CBO Says GOP Health Care ‘Alternative’ Leaves 52 Million Uninsured By 2019
CBO Says GOP Health Care ‘Alternative’ Leaves 52 Million Uninsured By 2019
Last night, the Congressional Budget Office released its analysis of the House Republican alternative health care bill. While the CBO determined the GOP bill’s 10 year price tag to be $61 billion — far less that the Democrats’ proposal — the score also found that the their bill would have little effect on nearly 46 million uninsured Americans:
By 2019, CBO and JCT estimate, the number of nonelderly people without health insurance would be reduced by about 3 million relative to current law, leaving about 52 million nonelderly residents uninsured. The share of legal nonelderly residents with insurance coverage in 2019 would be about 83 percent, roughly in line with the current share. CBO and JCT estimate that enacting the amendment’s insurance coverage provisions would increase deficits by $8 billion over the 2010–2019 period.
The CBO found that the Democrats’ bill, however, would cover 36 million more Americans and “reduce the number of nonelderly Americans without coverage to around 18 million over the next decade.” Yet, just before the CBO scored the GOP bill, a spokesperson for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) falsely claimed their alternative “will cover millions more Americans” than the Democrats’ bill.
Last night on Fox News Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) dodged a question about how many uninsured the GOP plan would cover and instead railed at the Democrats for “trying to get at this business of universal coverage”:
PENCE: We believe you get at the coverage issue by lowering the cost of health insurance. … So Republicans by focusing on the cost of health insurance believe that we are going to take our country in a direction where we also deal with the tens of millions of people and employers that struggle with providing insurance.
Watch it:
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.
Michael Steele and Rep. Mike Pence to host a 12-hour online health care town hall called ‘Pelosi Plan Exposed.’
Michael Steele and Rep. Mike Pence to host a 12-hour online health care town hall called ‘Pelosi Plan Exposed.’
Today, the Republican National Committee (RNC) sent out a press release announcing that Chairman Michael Steele and Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) will be hosting a 12-hour online town hall called “Pelosi Plan Exposed” tomorrow from 1:00 p.m. to Friday 1:00 a.m. ET. The intent of the forum is to “expose the 12 truths of Nancy Pelosi’s health care bill” and promote the “Republican alternative.” Topics include “your money,” “the culture of life,” “taxes,” and “families and women.”
In his video announcement, Pence said that he and his House colleagues “will present an interactive broadcast marathon on the Democrats’ plans to launch a government takeover of health care. We’ll take your calls, answer your tweets, and talk to people on the street.” Watch it:
Maybe they’ll explain why they’re in favor of allowing insurers to deny people coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
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.”
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