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No There There by James Kwak, baselinescenario.com | September 11, 2012
On the one hand, over in Romney headquarters, they can take heart from the fact that the economy continues to sputter, as evidenced by the latest jobs report. On the other hand, as the election draws near, people will only ask more questions about what President Romney would actually do. For months now, the campaign has whispered one thing to the base (e.g., “severely conservative”) while being purposefully vague to everyone else, hoping that independents will assume he is still the moderate who introduced universal health care to Massachusetts. Now that strategy is breaking down. Exhibit A is Sunday’s comical back-and-forth-and-forth-and-back on the Affordable Care Act. But the more important Exhibit B is the Romney “tax plan.” read more »Progressive Breakfast by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | September 11, 2012
On the menu this morning: MORNING MESSAGE: Deficit Rorschach Test: The Presidents, the Editors, and the Truth More Romney Tax Problems Dithering on Obamacare Chicago Teachers Strike GOP Polling Panic Breakfast Sides read more »Bill Clinton: Wonk-In-Chief by Ezra Klein, The Washington Post | September 6, 2012
“People ask me all the time how we delivered four surplus budgets,” former President Bill Clinton said on Wednesday night. “What new ideas did we bring? I always give a one-word answer: arithmetic.” That’s also the one-word answer to what Clinton brought to his convention speech. To a degree unusual in political rhetoric, this was a 48-minute speech about arithmetic. About math. About budgets. In that way, Clinton’s speech fit neatly into the emergent Democratic strategy to be, in this election, the party of policy. To be sure, they don’t have much of a choice. The difference between the Democratic and Republican tickets right now is the Democrats are stuck with thousands of pages of policy while the Republicans have made a strategic decision to avoid having much policy at all. read more »The Illusory Promise Of Free-Market Health Care Miracles by Wendell Potter, publicintegrity.org | September 5, 2012
The proponents of a pure free-market health care system hope that Americans have amnesia and can be persuaded to blame President Obama for the problems that grew almost immeasurably worse between the demise of the Clinton plan and the passage of the Affordable Care Act. They want us to believe, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, that health insurers and the largely unfettered, loosely regulated marketplace can somehow turn things around. And that we should reward insurers for their failure by turning the Medicare program over to them. In many respects, the free market approach to health care has indeed been just what the doctor ordered, although not for patients. There is fresh evidence almost every week that our uniquely American free market health care system continues to fail us. read more »The Medicare Killers by Paul Krugman, The New York Times | August 31, 2012
Paul Ryan’s speech Wednesday night may have accomplished one good thing: It finally may have dispelled the myth that he is a Serious, Honest Conservative. Indeed, Mr. Ryan’s brazen dishonesty left even his critics breathless. Some of his fibs were trivial but telling, like his suggestion that President Obama is responsible for a closed auto plant in his hometown, even though the plant closed before Mr. Obama took office. Others were infuriating, like his sanctimonious declaration that “the truest measure of any society is how it treats those who cannot defend or care for themselves.” This from a man proposing savage cuts in Medicaid, which would cause tens of millions of vulnerable Americans to lose health coverage. But Mr. Ryan’s big lie — and, yes, it deserves that designation — was his claim that “a Romney-Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare.” Actually, it would kill the program. read more »How Romney Keeps Lying Through His Big White Teeth by Robert B. Reich, robertreich.org | August 29, 2012
“We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers,” says Neil Newhouse, a Romney pollster. A half dozen fact-checking organizations and websites have refuted Romney’s claims that Obama removed the work requirement from the welfare law and will cut Medicare benefits by $216 billion. Last Sunday’s New York Times even reported on its front page that Romney has been “falsely charging” President Obama with removing the work requirement. Those are strong words from the venerable Times. Yet Romney is still making the false charge. Ads containing it continue to be aired. Presumably the Romney campaign continues its false claims because they’re effective. But this raises a more basic question: How can they remain effective when they’ve been so overwhelmingly discredited by the media? The answer is the Republican Party has developed three means of bypassing the mainstream media and its fact-checkers. read more »Why "Playing The Race Card" Works for Conservatives by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | August 29, 2012
Come the revolution, rich, white, male conservatives will be the only people left who can "play the race card" and get away with it. Actually, that revolution is already here. And, with apologies to Gil Scott-Heron, it is being televised — in the form of Mitt Romney's attack ads, focused on Obama's imaginary "gutting" of welfare reform. There's a dark, bitter irony in this latest chapter in the ongoing saga of race in America. Our first African-American president can't talk about race. As Ta-Nehisi Coates explains in his excellent article in The Atlantic, "Fear of a Black President," Barack Obama has become "the most successful black politician in American history," by steering clear of "the radioactive racial issues of yesteryear." Yet the success of the GOP's Romney/Ryan ticket, dubbed "white and whiter" by Salon columnist Joan Walsh, actually depends on exploiting the "radioactive racial issues of yesteryear." At this stage in the game, there's only one reason a campaign doubles down on a particular strategy — especially one with so much potential to backfire: it's working. The question is: Why does it work? There are at least a few reasons why it works. See Dave Johnson's post and Digby's post for more about why we on the left are part of the reason it works, and how we can begin to do something about it. For my purposes, I'm going to focus on to big reasons why playing the race card works so well for conservatives: the media, and the base. read more »Republicans Steal Medicare From The Democrats by Eugene Robinson, The Washington Post | August 28, 2012
Who knew? In the hall-of-mirrors parallel universe where the Republican National Convention is taking place, the GOP stands tall and proud as the party of Medicare. I’m still a little confused about the historical timeline in this alternate reality. Was it President Goldwater who signed into law the nation’s health-care guarantee for seniors? Was it President Dole who made sure the program remained solvent? Did John McCain win in 2008? It must be that in RNC World, the past simply doesn’t exist. There is no other explanation for all the Great Society rhetoric coming from Republicans who once claimed to favor small government, limited entitlements and a balanced budget. read more »George W. Bush as Hurricane Isaac by Robert B. Reich, robertreich.org | August 28, 2012
There is nothing Republicans would rather the American people forget more than George W. Bush, who doesn’t even have a bit-part at the GOP convention opening in Tampa. But W’s ghost may be there, anyway. The National Weather Service says tropical storm Isaac is now heading for New Orleans, and Isaac is projected to become a Category 1 hurricane by the time it makes landfall late Monday or early Tuesday. The GOP was intent on not even bringing up Bush’s name at the GOP convention, because the former president might also remind Americans how little the Republicans care about average Americans, like those caught in Hurricane Katrina, and how much they care about top corporate and Wall Street executives, like those being entertained in Tampa. But Hurricane Isaac seems likely to remind Americans anyway. read more »Romney’s First 100 Days by David Leonhardt, The New York Times | August 27, 2012
It is the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 7, and after a long night of celebrating and a short night of sleep, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan wake up to confront the question awaiting every new administration: Of the campaign’s many promises, which few will become the real priorities? If they win the White House, Republicans are also more likely than not to hold on to the House of Representatives and win a narrow majority in the Senate. The party could then embark on the kind of aggressive legislative push that President Obama and the Democrats did in 2009. Only four years after Democrats seemed on the verge of historic policy gains, Republicans could reverse many of those gains and then some. They could cut the top tax rate to its lowest level in 80 years (as Mr. Romney proposes) and make major changes to federal programs. read more »
The Latest
Drug Industry to Run Ads Favoring White House Plan, The New York Times | August 10, 2009
The drug industry has authorized its lobbyists to spend as much as $150 million on television commercials supporting President Obama’s health care overhaul, beginning over the August Congressional recess, people briefed on the plans said Saturday. read more »
House Health Care Bill Criticized as Panel Votes for Public Plan, The New York Times | July 31, 2009
The House Energy and Commerce Committee resumed work Thursday on major health care legislation, voting to establish a government-run health insurance plan, as top Republicans stepped up their criticism of the ambitious legislation. By a vote of 35 to 24, Democrats defeated a Republican effort to eliminate a section of the bill that would create the public health insurance option. read more »
Survey: Canadians Like Their Health Care, mcclatchydc.com | July 22, 2009
New Ipsos-McClatchy online polls find that patients in Canada, despite some grumbles about waiting times, are much more likely to say that they have access to all the health care services they need at costs they can afford, by a margin of 65 to 49 percent. read more »
Health Insurance Mandate Wins Support, The Washington Post | July 22, 2009
President Obama's dream of dramatically remaking the nation's health-care system is still a long way from reality. But if lawmakers can reach an accord, one thing is virtually certain: For the first time ever, every American would be required to carry health insurance. read more »
Battle Looms Over MRI Cuts, USA Today | July 17, 2009
As Congress debates a sweeping overhaul of the nation's health care system, a battle is brewing over one provision that could affect the availability of MRIs and other tests, particularly in rural areas. read more »
Massachusetts Takes a Step Back From Health Care for All, The New York Times | July 15, 2009
The new state budget in Massachusetts eliminates health care coverage for some 30,000 legal immigrants to help close a growing deficit, reversing progress toward universal coverage just as Congress looks to the state as a model for overhauling the nation’s health care system. read more »
Insured Bankrupted By Health Crises, The New York Times | July 1, 2009
Health insurance is supposed to offer protection — both medically and financially. But as it turns out, an estimated three-quarters of people who are pushed into personal bankruptcy by medical problems actually had insurance when they got sick or were injured. read more »
Health-Care Market Characterized By Consolidation, Not Competition , tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com | June 30, 2009
Senators Closer To $1 Trillion Health Care Bill, Reuters | June 25, 2009
U.S. senators moved closer to agreement on a $1 trillion U.S. health care overhaul that would provide medical coverage to nearly everyone and could be paid for without adding to huge budget deficits. read more »
FBI 'Cracks $50 Million Health Care Scam', BBC News | June 25, 2009
The FBI says it has uncovered a $50 million scam involving the U.S. health care system, making arrests in Florida, Michigan and Colorado. Fifty-three people have been charged with defrauding Medicare, the government insurance scheme providing care to the elderly and disabled. Doctors allegedly gave cash to patients to sign paperwork claiming to have had treatments which they were never given. read more »
