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Saturday, September 19, 2009
Tim Pawlenty Gets Best of Class
Posted by on 9.19.09 @ 8:51PM
Mike Huckabee may have won the straw poll at the Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit, but Tim Pawlenty may have done himself the most good. I saw the major contenders give their speeches and thought, like Mark Hemingway of NRO, that Pawlenty showed he had the goods.
Pawlenty's presentation of his own record as a budget-balancer in MN was impressive and he sounded like the kind of conservative candidate who knows how to handle himself in a debate. The Minnesota governor came off as smart, tough, and ready for prime time. If he keeps making the rounds speaking the way he did Friday night, he is going to gain supporters in every part of the Republican coalition.
I'm tempted to include some excerpts from the remarks, but I don't think it will do him justice. What impressed me more than any particular phrase was the way he carried himself. His countenance exuded challenge to the left. There was, to employ an overused sporting phrase, a notable swagger in the way Pawlenty looked and talked. This is a guy who wouldn't make you afraid to tune in to debates or press conferences. Instead, you'd relish the chance to see him in action. Tim Pawlenty is ready for a fight.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Baucus's Tax on Medical Innovation
Posted by on 9.18.09 @ 5:12PM
In my article the other day on the Baucus health care bill, I noted the new taxes he has proposed in order to pay for it. Today, a Wall Street Journal editorial took a close look on one of those taxes -- a $4 billion per year levy on medical device makers. The editorial highlights how damaging it would prove to an important industry:
This new tax will eventually be passed through to patients, increasing health-care costs. It will also harm innovation, taking a big bite out of the research and development that leads to medical advancements. The core of the industry (excluding a few conglomerates like Johnson & Johnson) spent about $9.6 billion on product development in 2007, according to Ernst and Young. The Baucus tax is nearly half that, and also exceeds $3.7 billion, the total venture capital invested in device makers that same year.
John Kerry, representing a state with a large medical device industry, has expressed concern about the measure.
FRC's Values Voter Summit and Democratic Virtues
Posted by on 9.18.09 @ 3:29PM
As a panelist at this year's Family Research Council Values Voter Summit (going on right now at the Omni Shoreham hotel in D.C.), I can't help but reflect on the strange fears of the American left.
Garry Wills' charge in the New York Times about five years ago continues to strike a dicordant tone in my mind. He claimed the importance of Christian conservatives in American politics demonstrates the increasing similarity of the American electorate to the Taliban. At the same time, I think about a certain liberal professor blogger (whom I will not even deign to link) who used to regularly report on what he called The Texas Taliban.
For some reason, many on the American left fantasize that conservative religionists in America are going to take up arms and impose morality and small government upon them. But what is the evidence offered by the "reality based community"? As I sit listening to the presentations offered in Washington, D.C. what I hear are appeals to engage yet more faithfully in the democratic process. I hear policy arguments offered against big government healthcare, appeals to the text of the Constitution, and encouragement to do the things citizens in a democratic republic are supposed to do. Speak out, support candidates, mobilize on election day. What exactly about all that is dangerous?
If anything, I see a "religious right" deeply committed to democratic civic virtues. There is barely room in the same galaxy for these people and the Taliban.
Indeed, these are the people least likely to commit voter fraud (like some organizations about which we hear) because they consider actions of that sort to be sinful.
Irving Kristol, RIP
Posted by on 9.18.09 @ 2:59PM
The founding father of neoconservatism, Irving Kristol, has passed away at 89, the Weekly Standard reports.
Deval Patrick: Obama Involved in Mass. Senate Succession Wrangling
Posted by on 9.18.09 @ 2:40PM
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick lets the cat out of the bag: President Obama has been pressing behind the scenes for the state to change its Senate succession law back to the way it was in 2004 so the Democrats can regain their filibuster-proof Senate majority. Not surprising, especially given the higher profile taken by other national party leaders, but not exactly the image the White House was going for. But perhaps necessary given their health care ambitions.
Evaluating GOP Talent: Mike Pence at the Value Voters Summit
Posted by on 9.18.09 @ 2:01PM
Mike Pence led off the Family Research Council's Values Voters Summit this morning. While he, like most other conservatives, decried the nation's current direction ("energetic bureaucracy and weak, ineffective diplomacy"), he also sounded a note of optimism as he insisted that conservatism is at the "beginning of a comeback" and that we are collectively "on the brink of a great American awakening."
When he referred to an awakening, Pence seemed to include a spiritual element in his prediction of resurgence. Conservative agenda items like the free market, protecting nascent life, and the preservation of traditional marriage are clearly tied to his view of rights and duties invested in human beings by their creator.
In this regard, Pence struck me very much as a disciple of the late Jack Kemp. It is a kinship he claimed at various points in his speech. Certainly, he appeared, like Kemp to be a champion of what might be called the synthesis of Judeo-Christian and classical civilization over against the utilitarian social engineering of materialistic modernism.
Another point of interest in the speech was Pence's multiple references to Abraham Lincoln as the founder of the Republican party. I have often thought that Lincoln and his party's resistance to slavery could be genetically tied to the party's insistence upon equality of opportunity and the dignity of contracts entered into by legal peers. Pence seemed to instinctively draw that same connection. Finding ways to convincingly tie the party to its historically-honored sources is a sign of effective statesmanship and is a tactic that should be employed more frequently.
Kennedy Interim Appointee Delayed
Posted by on 9.18.09 @ 1:57PM
The five Republicans in the Massachusetts state senate have delayed legislation that would give the governor power to appoint an interim senator to replace the late Ted Kennedy. The power was originally stripped from the governor to keep Mitt Romney from appointing an interim replacement for John Kerry in the event that the Democrats won the 2004 presidential election. The minority power has limited delaying tacticis, however. One of the five GOP state senators, Scott Brown, is the likely Republican nominee in the special election to fill the seat for the remainder of Kennedy's term. Kennedy was re-elected in 2006.
A Creigh Deeds Democrat
Posted by on 9.18.09 @ 12:02PM
Lost in Virginia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds' "not-ready-for-primetime" performance in his debate against Republican Bob McDonnell was the bigger news: ladies and gentlemen, we have our first Democrat candidate running away from Barack Obama faster than you can say, "Poland and Prague, you're on your own."
At yesterday's debate between Deeds and McDonnell, Deeds was asked whether he was an "Obama Democrat" (and let's be clear -- Meet the Press host and debate moderator David Gregory meant it as a softball question). Deeds' answer? “I like Barack Obama personally. He’s a smart guy, he’s an innovative guy.” Pressed on the issue, and perhaps hoping Deeds would pull a Biden and call Obama "clean," as well, Deeds said, "I'm a Creigh Deeds Democrat."
Did I mention that the debate was held in Northern Virginia, the most liberal outpost in the state? We got a taste of what a "Deeds Democrat" looks like when he was surrounded by press after the debate, in which he also waffled on taxes. He flipped and flopped in a way only a Democrat feeling increasingly penned in could.
But the bigger news is that a major Democrat political candidate -- a man who has actively sought Obama's support for fundraising and political turnout in parts of Virginia, a state recently thought to be deep purple if not outright blue -- can't run away from the party's poster child fast enough. And Obama has only been in office for nine months. Watching Deeds try to handle himself yesterday, you got the feeling he'd have appreciated defending his own college thesis or agenda as governor… if he ever had either.
The Democratic Majority's Achillies Heel
Posted by on 9.18.09 @ 12:01PM
This Charlie Cook column is a good indicator of why the Democrats' fortunes have turned so quickly: While they benefited from running candidates who weren't too liberal for their districts in 2006 and 2008, it is creating problems for them now. Too high a percentage of their majority is based on "reach" districts rather than realigned districts, damaging their party unity now and creating Republican pickup opportunities next year.
When the Republicans took control of Congress in 1994, a lot of their House seats were gained in conservative -- particularly Southern -- congressional districts that had historically been represented by Democrats during the time period when the parties were less homogeneously liberal and conservative than they are today. The Democrats did some of this too, wiping out a majority of Northeastern Republicans and making New England a Republican-free zone except for the two ladies from Maine. But that has been more of a gradual process than the GOP's '94 juggernaut. What gave the Democrats really big wins was taking purple districts that in many cases continue to be Republican in their presidential voting habits.
As Cook notes, 48 House Democrats represent districts that voted for Bush in 2004 and McCain in 2008. Barring a huge political reversal, they are not all going down in 2010. But a decent number of them will, even if the economy is seen as rebounding and Obama's numbers are respectable nationwide. And others in this group will find it difficult to be reliable votes for their party on either health care or cap and trade, to say nothing of numerous other controversial issues.
The Republicans took heat for building a majority that was too Southern and too conservative, alienating other ideological flavors and regions of the country while forcing their moderates to cast too many tough votes. The Democrats may be discovering the pitfalls of the Rahm Emanuel strategy, which ma also force their moderates to cast too many tough votes. The one major advantage the Democrats have over the Republicans is that they have a bigger majority than the GOP ever did, giving them greater flexibilty to let their members vote against the party leadership to protect their own political hides.
Conservative Leaders Speak Out on Obama Missile Defense Decision
9.18.09 @ 11:21AM
MEMO FOR THE MOVEMENT
Missile Defense, National Security and the Obama Administration
RE: The announcement that the Obama Administration will abandon Missile Defense in Poland and the Czech Republic represents a massive surrender of American Strategic Influence and a betrayal of two of our closest friends in the region. The move also indicates appeasement towards Russia, and a misunderstanding of the seriousness of the potential nuclear capability of Iran.
Peter Schiff Announces for U.S. Senate
Posted by on 9.18.09 @ 10:26AM
Libertarian financial guru Peter Schiff announced yesterday on "Morning Joe" that he will run for U.S. Senate in Connecticut against longtime Democratic incumbent Chris Dodd. Schiff is already polling competitively with Dodd, but has a tough slog ahead of him in the GOP primary -- Schiff is running as a Republican -- particularly the moderate Republican ex-Congressman Rob Simmons.
Daily Must-Reads
Posted by on 9.18.09 @ 10:26AM
- Oops. Obama's tale of a man dying because an insurance company rescinded his cancer coverage after an unreported case of gallstone turns out not to be true (Wall Street Journal)
- Newsom to introduce legislation for a soda/sin tax. This regressive tax might work in San Francisco, but is this really a smart move for a candidate for governor in a state with 12% unemployment? (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Office of Congressional Ethics says Jackson Jr. used staff to publicly campaign for Blago's pay-to-play Senate Seat and that he likely violated House rules (Politics Daily)
- Chinese and Russian oil companies to invest $36 billion in Venezuela over the next three years (Zeenews)
Robinson: Carter Did Us a Favor
Posted by on 9.18.09 @ 9:50AM
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson argues that Jimmy Carter did us all a favor by injecting race into the national debate, though he's a bit more reserved in his perspective:
Jimmy Carter was right in essence, but wrong in degree. It seems clear to me that some -- but not "an overwhelming portion," as Carter claimed -- of the "intensely demonstrated animosity" toward Obama is indeed "based on the fact that he is a black man."
Robinson goes on to mention people who question the legitimacy of Obama, the "birthers," those holding up signs with offensive caricatures at rallies, and perhaps Joe Wilson.
His insinuation about Wlson is a non sequitur (after all, Wilson shouted "You lie!" rather than some racial epithet). But beyond that, by narrowing the argument to "some," of course, it makes it easy to point to some people who are in fact racists. However, there's really no evidence that the criticism Obama is being subjected to is more severe than any other modern president. There were loons on the right during the Clinton years who believed Vince Foster was murdered and on the left during the Bush years who thought he orchestrated 9/11. So, you can always point to nut jobs. Since there are some racists in this country, it naturally follows that some people who oppose Obama also happen to be racists, but I don't think that's really news.
Americans elected Obama by a comfortable margin and he came into office with sky high approval ratings. The drop off in his approval ratings and increase in his disapproval ratings was not caused because people suddenly discovered that Obama was a black man. ("Oh, damn, I kind of liked this Obama guy during the election, but then somebody told me he was black, and now I can't stand him!") Nor was his slide caused by any major racial controversy. The problem for Obama is that the economy is still weak, unemployment is still climbing, and many people who wanted to give him a chance are losing faith in his policies and ability to turn this thing around. Will the Robinsons of the world always be able to find racists out there if they go looking for them? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean that every time some bigot holds up an offensive and juvenile sign at a rally, we need to have a national conversation about race.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
And to Think, the Left Laughed at Me on The Daily Show
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 6:13PM
Who's laughing now?
Jon Stewart this week:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | ||
| The Audacity of Hos | |||
| www.thedailyshow.com | |||
|
Daily
Show Full Episodes |
Political Humor | Healthcare Protests | |
Me last fall:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | ||
| Community Organizers | |||
| www.thedailyshow.com | |||
|
Daily
Show Full Episodes |
Political Humor | Healthcare Protests | |
ACORN turns out to be everything I said it was and more! Today it was defunded.
Hilarious!
Creigh Deeds Steps In It
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 5:33PM
Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, engaged in this laughable back in forth with reporters following today's debate, as he tried to argue that he won't raise taxes, but that he intends to "raise money" for transportation. You have to see it to believe it:
Shaky Political Foundations for a Revolution
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 4:33PM
President Barack Obama has a far-reaching agenda, but no political foundation. After battling hard on health care, he finds that slightly more people disapprove than approve of his performance as president.
The results of a Zogby Interactive survey taken from Sept. 15-17 found that 49% approve of Obama's job performance, and 50% disapprove. A similar poll conducted on Sept. 10-14 found the same results.
In both surveys, majorities of Independents registered disapproval. The most recent result for Independents was 57% disapprove and 43% approve, which was three points less in approval from Sept. 10-14. Among Democrats, 84% approved; and for Republicans, 14% approved.
Not a lot of political capital there to spend browbeating moderate Democrats in Congress!
Beyond ACORN
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 4:32PM
ABC News, like other traditional media organizations, has been slow to move on the ACORN undercover video stories (although reporter Jake Tapper has shown signs that he's interested). But on "Nightline" this week they ran an excellent undercover report about the types of child exploiters that the ACORN housing facilitators would have helped by letting them ply their trade without detection. The focus of the story is Cambodia, where a NGO called APLE ("Action Pour Les Enfants") combats sexual exploitation of children by going undercover to capture and record evidence from predators and victims, then helping law enforcement conduct sting operations. Sounds similar to what James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles did.
APLE gave incredible access to ABC reporter Dan Harris (VIDEO), who confronts a few American "sex travelers" about their crimes and the evidence against them. One, Harvey Johnson, was teaching English in Phnom Penh and therefore had easy access to children. There are several things spoken on the video report that just make you cringe, and others that are tremendously heartbreaking. In a couple instances mothers, unaware they are being recorded, offer up their early-teen daughters for sale to Harris, where he could name his price.
Having been with friends on Christian missions to Southeast Asia (including Cambodia) twice in the last two and a half years, this rings absolutely true. Children often approach Westerners eagerly to try out the English they are learning, because they believe it is a ticket for them out of poverty. We saw a mother on our last visit a year ago ask my friend to take her son from her -- during a church service! And seeing silver-haired Westerners walking, uh, "romantically", with clearly underage girls in Bangkok and Phnom Penh was not uncommon. The kids are easy to exploit.
Harris notes towards the end of his report (the video is broken into three pieces, so stick with it) that, because of the loss of so much of the Cambodian population (1.7 million out of nearly 8 million) during Pol Pot's reign, there is a morality vacuum in the country. The average age is somewhere around 21. I'm sure that's part of the reason, but other countries have similar demographics and it's not because of genocide. Corruption and failure to punish evil are facts of life in the Third World.
We need more brave ones like James, Hannah and APLE who go beyond traditional thinking, do their own work, and don't wait or whine for government or the "mainstream media" to "do something" about these problems. It is easier than ever now to gather information on your own, blast it into the public domain, and appeal to those of us on this earth with a conscience.
This is slavery, continued, with a sickening slant. It has not been eliminated. Churches, ministries, activists, journalists, and others need to get off the sidelines. It's tough to watch, but everyone needs to see the tears of parents and shame of children who have been victimized by this trade. If that doesn't motivate you, nothing will.
ABC has helpfully provided names and links of organizations and ministries in Cambodia fighting trafficking and helping victims. There are many others that work on the issue in other countries and globally. Google searches bring up many of them.
Inside Obama's Chicago Pentagon
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 3:17PM
Why spend $15 million when you can spend $15 billion on the same thing? That's a question raised in an item already posted on the main site for tomorrow, concerning efforts to reject an approved small-business military medical records program at the Pentagon and return its operations to major corporate old boys who prefer to deal in billions and not measly millions. You can read the Washington Prowler's report now.
Rachel Marsden: Missing the Forest for the ACORNs
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 1:56PM
And now Rachel Marsden has a problem with the ACORN investigations: the undercover journalists were too... something. I think that she wants to argue that their journalism is too amateur, but it's hard to tell because her writing (i.e., journalism) is too amateur.
At reader request, I'll examine this article, paragraph-by-paragraph.
Continue reading…Daily Must-Reads
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 1:36PM
- Literally spending millions on government waste, $8 million in federal stimulus money to be used to build artificial wetlands in Oregon for treated wastewater (Albany Democrat Herald)
- Children are the future, right? Pop quiz: Who was the first President of the United States? 75% of Oklahoma public high school students don't know, and only three percent would pass a U.S. citizenship test (News9 Oklahoma City)
- President Obama tries to attract attention for Chicago's Olympic bid by wielding a light saber in the south lawn (Chicago Tribune)
- Obama puts off Afghan troop level decision, still without a grand strategy (Los Angeles Times)
Exactly where is Obama's healthcare "plan"?
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 1:34PM
Wallace Forman at Americans for Tax Reform notes how President Obama keeps referring to his healthcare "plan":
- 28 times at the
joint session of Congress on Sept. 9
- 6 times at the
Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Sept. 10
- 15 times at his
Minnesota health care rally on Sept. 12
- 8 times speaking
with members of the AFL-CIO on Sept. 15
But exactly where is Obama's actual "plan"? Forman asks:
The House and Senate have introduced at least four Democrat health care proposals - at least two versions of H.R.3200, the Senate HELP Committee's bill, and the recently released Baucus proposal. All of these are real plans - hundreds of pages long - that may be enacted into law. Obama's "plan", so far as we can tell, is three pages of bullet points on the whitehouse.gov website.
When are these bullet points going to be translated into an actual piece of legislation? Obama swears that his proposal will not raise taxes on the middle class or drive Americans out of their current insurance arrangement. Yet every one of the Democrats' actual plans contain precisely those things Obama says he would never allow. He has not said he would veto those bills.
R.I.P., Fred Cusick
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 12:50PM
The Boston Bruins' longtime play-by-play man often converted to war correspondent in games with the Montreal Canadiens.
Original Pimp: ACORN Founder Wade Rathke
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 12:47PM
A timely graphic from Mike Cope:
It's Not Easy Being Paul Hodes
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 12:45PM
Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) is trailing Republican Kelly Ayotte by eight points in the race to succeed Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.). A big reason may be his refusal to attend health care town hall forums in New Hampshire and his bashing of Obamacare opponents as the "Flat Earth Society." A few people give Hodes a piece of their mind in the video below.
ACORN Apologetics -- UPDATE
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 12:33PM
GREENWALDIAN UPDATE BELOW
You would think that with the recent evidence people would be done covering for ACORN. I know if I were on the left I would think there were better uses of my time than defending a institution that relishes in the prospect of prostituting of underage immigrants for political campaigns.
And yet here is Glenn Greenwald, a professed civil libertarian, trying to turn the tables on investigators of ACORN. He argues that ACORN's misdeeds are so small in comparison to the banks' and military contractors' ripoffs that even reporting on ACORN is a trap set by the right wing:
ACORN has received a grand total of $53 million in federal funds over the last 15 years -- an average of $3.1 million per year. Meanwhile, not millions, not billions, but trillions of dollars of public funds have been, in the last year alone, transferred to or otherwise used for the benefit of Wall Street. Billions of dollars in American taxpayer money vanished into thin air, eaten by private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, led by Halliburton subsidiary KBR. All of those corporate interests employ armies of lobbyists and bottomless donor activities that ensure they dominate our legislative and regulatory processes...
And yet the very same article that he references for the $53 million number has the subheadline: "Now Eligible for up to $8 Billion More." The point: ACORN is now a joke, thanks to these undercover reports. But mere months ago ACORN was respectable enough in the public eye that realistically major funds could have been directed toward them.
For Greenwald to set ACORN's detractors opposite Wall Street bailouts is grossly misleading. In fact it is our own correspondent Matthew Vadum who is probably the most prominent investigator of ACORN and appears on Glenn Beck and other programs regularly to talk about ACORN. It is laughable to suggest that Vadum reports on ACORN to distract from the larger issues of predatory businesses, as Greenwald suggests. It is hard to imagine a more vocal opponent of bailouts for Wall Street than Vadum. And when Greenwald mentions in particular, "...Goldman Sachs itself has a virtual lock on the top Treasury positions no matter which party is in power" he must not have realized that Vadum wrote an article entitled "Goldman Sachs Government" detailing the bank's outsized influenced in Washington.
In general, it is the same right wing that uncovered ACORN's crimes that opposed the same marriage of state and big business that Greenwald complains about.
So with this massive pillaging of America's economic security and its control of American government by its richest and most powerful factions growing by the day, to whom is America's intense economic anxiety being directed? To a non-profit group that devotes itself to providing minute benefits to people who live under America's poverty line, and which is so powerless in Washington that virtually the entire U.S. Senate just voted to cut off its funding at the first sign of real controversy -- could anyone imagine that happening to a key player in the banking or defense industry?
But the whole point of the investigations Gleenwald is impugning is that ACORN is manifestly not a group "devoted to provide minute benefits to people who live under America's poverty line." It's as if he didn't watch the videos or had no understanding of the argument whatsoever. ACORN does not help the poor. Think of the worst abuses of defenseless people within the limits of your imagination -- for instance the systematic forced prostitution of immigrant children to fund a political campaign -- and that is what ACORN is demonstrated to condone. How is this fact lost on Greenwald?
Most of all, what's so pernicious about all of this is that the same interests who are stealing, pillaging and wallowing in corruption are scapegoating the poorest and most vulnerable in order to ensure that the victims of their behavior are furious with everyone except for them.
Is Greenwald really unaware of the events of the past few weeks? That the folks who brought ACORN down were not FOX News or any other large corporation, but only two kids with a video camera acting more or less alone? The assertion that they are "the same interests who are stealing, pillaging, and wallowing in corruption" could not be further from the truth. When I met James O'Keefe just three years ago, he was a penniless student who could not afford a decent-fitting suit. Now he writes for an independent blog.
Glenn Greenwald's work is valuable and he does a great job tracking Washington's abuses of power, but his inability to distinguish between guerilla journalism and a vast corporate-government conspiracy in this case reeks of paranoia.
UPDATE
Thanks to Glenn Greenwald for the link. He says a lot of things to counter my argument, but as I read him the crux of his argument is:
The issue is one of proportion. If someone ostensibly opposes government waste and unfairness in tax policy yet spends most of their time focusing on a tiny group that helps the poor and receives a miniscule amount of government money -- all while ignoring or even revering the enormous, omnipotent industries which eat up trillions in taxpayer waste and dwarf the impact of ACORN by many, many magnitudes -- then any rational person would question what the real motives are (and the claim that ACORN is "Now Eligible for up to $8 billion" is pure Beckian deceit; they (like every other group in the U.S.) are theoretically "eligible" for any stimulus funds in the areas in which they work, but they haven't received a penny of it, and the chances they'd receive all or most of it are, and always have been, zero).
By "someone" in the second paragraph, Greenwald means the people behind the furor at ACORN: "Rush Limbaugh, the Murdoch-owned Fox News, Glenn Beck, the right-wing blogosphere and talk radio generally, business groups led by Dick Armey."
Where Greenwald ventures into the territory of paranoia is in conflating a few huge, rich media outlets with the very few and relatively powerless people who actually broke this story despite the willful ignorance of most of the mainstream media. Two points:
1) As far as I can tell, three people have done almost all of the legwork in exposing ACORN over the past year or so: James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, two kids posting on a blog, and Matthew Vadum, a lone researcher and freelancer working long hours. Yes, these folks are somewhat "obsessed" with ACORN, but they also happen to be proponents of limited government.
2) Yes, their work has been picked up and trumpeted by mainstream outlets such as Fox, Rush, etc., who may have partisan purposes in mind. But note well that the outlets that are not promoting their work (the majority of media outlets) are also doing so for partisan reasons. It's not as though MSNBC and CNN are ignoring the ACORN videos because they are too busy exposing Goldman Sachs and Halliburton, as Greenwald wishes Fox and Rush would.
Furthermore, the "stealing, pillaging and wallowing in corruption" interests will always be a problem. That does not mean that the media should focus solely on them until they are forever vanquished. If a remarkable story comes up -- such as the fact that a notable group of "that helps the poor" is in fact in favor of forcing the poorest into prostitution to fund Democratic politicians -- then the media should focus on them for a time.
(A few other notes on Greenwald's response.
He suggests that the tea partiers do not represent a cohesive opposition to "extreme corporate influences." I would be willing to bet that a poll would show that tea party attendees are overwhelmingly (more than 95 percent) opposed to any kind of corporate welfare, especially bailouts. I would bet that a sizable percentage of them are in fact Goldman conspiracists.
Greenwald also states that "the claim that ACORN is "Now Eligible for up to $8 billion" is pure Beckian deceit" yet as I said that is a line from the article he cited. So he has no problem relying on sources that engage in pure Beckian deceit?)
Missile Defenseless
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 12:14PM
So the Obama Administration has decided to scrap the missile defense systems planned for installation in Poland and the Czech Republic, just as the Russians had been agitating for. The Administration says that a sea-based missile defense will meet our security needs better. Even if that's true -- and it isn't at all clear that it is -- why not use the Eastern European missile defense program as a bargaining chip? It might be worth trading for Russian help with Iran.
But Robert Gibbs said in his briefing today that there was no quid pro quo with Moscow. That's exactly what makes this decision indefensible.
Further reading here. Comments from John Bolton here (he has unkind words for Secretary Gates).
Dodd Rebounding?
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 11:40AM
A new Quinnipiac poll shows Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) gaining ground against former Rep. Rob Simmons, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination for Senate next year. Dodd leads the other Republicans in head-to-head matchups. The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza has more. Although it could be seen as a sign that Dodd is down but not out, my sense is that these numbers are the sweet spot for the Connecticut GOP: Dodd is polling just well enough to deter a serious Democratic primary challenger but not well enough to beat Simmons. In fact, he barely beats and fails to break 42 percent of the vote against any of the lesser known Republican challengers. Linda McMahon was not included in the poll.
Co-Ops and the Non-Profit Hospital Boondoggle
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 10:46AM
In my article on the Max Baucus health care bill over on the main site, I note that far from being a free market alternative to a government plan, the non-profit co-ops he proposes creating would be elgible for $6 billion in government money to fund start up costs and would be exempted from federal taxes. But what would actually happen if the co-ops came into existence? So far, free market types have predicted co-ops would be a government plan by another name that could use unfair advantages to squeeze out private insurers, while liberals have argued that they would be a complete flop, with limited enrollment and not enough scale to seriously pressure private insurers into behaving humanely. An alternate way of looking at it is by examining another sector of the health care field in which there are non-profit and for-profit businesses: hospitals.
As it turns out, non-profit hospitals (which account for the majority of hospitals in the U.S.) are a a giant scam in which businesses benefit from their favorable tax status and rake in billions while in many cases they fail to deliver enough charity care to justify their tax subsidies. Last year, an analysis by the Wall Street Journal found that "combined net income of the 50 largest nonprofit hospitals jumped nearly eight-fold to $4.27 billion between 2001 and 2006..." The analysis also found that these so-called "nonprofits" were doing better than for-profit hospitals: "77 percent of the 2,033 U.S. nonprofit hospitals are in the black, while just 61 percent of for-profit hospitals are profitable..."
These nonprofits plough their earnings into construction projects and lush executive pay packages. They also buy political influence, which not only maintains their non-profit status, but protects them against competition. Over the years, for instance, they have used their power in Washington to block the growth of smaller specialty hospitals which are typically run by doctors and focused on one area (such as the heart), allowing them to give patients better one-on-one service than the massive and often dehumanizing factory hospitals.
Interestingly enough, elsewhere in his bill, Baucus seeks to address the problem by placing more demands on non-profit hospitals. But one could easily see how the non-profit co-ops would develop into something similar. In the beginning, perhaps, they'd be on their best behavior, but over time, we may just end up with a group of insurers that aren't operating with a social conscience, and yet are benefitting from unfair tax subsidies. It would be enough to infuriate both the left and right.
For a longer discussion on non-profit hospitals, see Regina Herzlinger's Who Killed Health Care?
James O'Keefe and Guerilla Reporting
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 10:45AM
So James O'Keefe is a rising star thanks to his videos with Hannah Giles exposing some of the (one hopes) ugliest practices of ACORN. But in fact his resume is longer than that. He also helped with a series of similarly undercover videos exposing Planned Parenthood engaging in flagrant racism and covering up statutory rape.
But even before that, as an undergraduate, he exposed a lot of reflexively left-wing professors and administrators at Rutgers. In 2006, I think, he came out with a video in which he convinced a Rutgers administrator to ban Lucky Charms from the cafeteria for being racist toward Irish people. I was writing for my school paper at the time, and I don't think I've ever been as envious of someone for an coming up with an idea as I was when I saw the video.
Massachusetts Voters Still Want A Kennedy
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 10:29AM
Even though one doesn't want to run. A poll shows Joe Kennedy remains the favorite for his uncle's Senate seat despite his decision to remain at Citizens Energy. Republican prospects look predictably bleak.
More ACORN Videos
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 10:04AM
More from James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, in San Diego, here.
And Then There Were Two
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 9:59AM
Mary Travers of the folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary has died. Their politics were cartoonishly liberal but some of their hit songs are American classics.
ACORN's Conditional Contrition
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 8:49AM
The news all around this morning is that ACORN is finally taking a different tack on the "pimp and the prostitute" scandal. They've stopped taking new clients until they get to the bottom of this. They took down their arrogant statement from over the weekend in which they blamed the messenger. They promise to clean up their act. The Washington Times reports:
Bertha Lewis, chief executive officer of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), announced that the group would immediately stop accepting new clients, begin in-service training for all front-line staff and hire an independent auditor to "review all of the systems and processes called into question by the videos."
It was a dramatic change in tone from Saturday when Ms. Lewis vowed, "We will not be intimidated," and derided the group's critics for trying "to destroy the largest community organization of black, Latino, poor and working-class people in the country."
The Washington Post also announced the change of heart:
The announcement was a reversal of ACORN's counteroffensive immediately after the videos first aired on a Fox News program last week. In the video, a man, James O'Keefe, 25, and a woman, Hannah Giles, 20, strolled into ACORN offices in Baltimore; Brooklyn; San Bernardino, Calif.; and the District, posing as a pimp with a cane and a scantily clad prostitute and saying they wanted to buy a home and run it as a brothel.
How refreshing when folks realize the error of their ways and vow to change.
Except when they appear on MSNBC (sorry, was unable to embed video).
President Obama: Back to Square One on Health Care
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 4:52AM
Maybe it's time for another speech! It appears that the president has fallen back to where he started on health care. According to Rasmussen Reports:
One week after President Obama's speech to Congress, opposition to his health care reform plan has reached a new high of 55%. The latest Rasmussen Reports daily tracking poll shows that just 42% now support the plan, matching the low first reached in August.
A week ago, 44% supported the proposal and 53% were opposed. Following the speech last Wednesday night intended to relaunch the health care initiative, support for the president's effort bounced as high as 51% (see day-by-day numbers). But the new numbers suggest that support for health care reform is now about the same as it was in August.
It turns out that it is not enough to be able to give a good speech. You need good substance as well. And that the president lacks--unless you think turning medicine over to the Feds is a good idea, which most Americans obviously don't.
Congressional Prospects for 2010
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 4:44AM
Likely bad for the Dems, but just how bad? Charlie Cook writes:
As the political environment for Democrats has turned ugly, it is widely assumed the party will sustain losses in next year's midterm elections. The operative question is: How bad will those losses be?
With a little over 13 months to go, that's impossible to know. Democrats desperately hope the next year will provide them with opportunities to reverse the tide and minimize losses, possibly by picking up GOP-held House and Senate seats to offset losses elsewhere. But they also fear the 13 months might give matters a chance to snowball and get worse. If Democrats go 0-2 in this year's gubernatorial elections in New Jersey and Virginia, that will only dampen party morale more.
The post-World War II average for first-term presidents is a midterm loss of 16 House seats. In the Senate, interestingly, the norm is a wash.
But with Democrats having picked up 54 House seats from the GOP in the last two elections -- elections with near-perfect conditions for Democratic candidates in virtually every state -- and holding 84 seats in districts carried by either former President George W. Bush in 2004 or Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., last year -- including 48 won by both -- the number of seats at risk exceeds their 39-seat majority.
Cook emphasizes the election is 13 months off. But a lot of Democrats have to be looking over their shoulders as they consider the administration's and their leadership's expensive big government proposals.
9/11 Truther Van Jones Likens Himself to Wrong Churchill
Posted by on 9.17.09 @ 4:30AM
Arianna Huffington was kind enough to allow her good friend and former campaign manager Van Jones to post his preliminary reflections on being unceremoniously booted from the Obama administration on the Huffington Post.
It's the least she could do.
Jones is President Obama's former green jobs czar.
He believes the Bush administration caused the 9/11 terrorist attacks to happen.
He also denounced the United States on Sept. 12, 2001 blaming America for the atrocities the day before.
He also mourned the deaths of the people killed in the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center but only the ones who were working class.
In what will no doubt find its way into the memoirs he might be contemplating writing, Jones compares himself to Winston Churchill, which is odd for many reasons but especially because of the apparent contempt that President Obama holds for the late great British prime minister. With all the modesty one has come to expect from a community organizer, Jones writes
Of course, some supporters actually think I will be more effective on the "outside." Maybe so. But those ideas always remind me of that old canard about Winston Churchill. After he lost a hard-fought election, a friend told him: "Winston, this really is just a blessing in disguise." Churchill quipped: "Damned good disguise." I can certainly relate to that sentiment right now. :)
He likens himself to the wrong Churchill.
Van Jones is more like Ward Churchill.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
CBO: Baucus Bill Would Reduce Deficit By $49 Billion
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 6:00PM
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the Max Baucus health care proposal will reduce the deficit by $49 billion over 10 years. Peter Suderman notes that despite the CBO's many caveats (mainly involving the fact that all of the savings it calls for may never actually get implemented), it's still the best break proponents of health care legislation have gotten in months. I agree in the sense that Baucus has shown that it's possible to get a good score from the CBO on a health care bill, but the problem for Democrats is that Baucus achieved this score with a proposal that ditches the government plan, offers less generous subsidies than other Democratic bills, and imposes a tax on high-end health plans that unions passionately object to. It's a plan that may score well with the CBO, but that hasn't been able to pass muster with liberals.
The Community Reinvestment Act: Soon to be Worse than Ever?
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 4:58PM
Not content with wrecking the housing industry by forcing increased lending to those unable to pay back their mortgages, the Left wants to give it another try. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are still around, of course, begging for new bail-outs as they try to reinflate the housing bubble. And then there's the Community Reinvestment Act, which was used as a form of financial affirmative action, forcing banks to provide mortgages to people who did not meet normal lending standards. Alas, more than a few couldn't pay back their loans, leading to charges of ... predatory lending!
But the Left has learned nothing, and wants to expand the CRA to every lending institution not yet covered. The results would be predictable, alas. Another crisis to be blamed on "unfettered" capitalism!
A number of experts believe that aggressive enforcement of the 1970s-era Community Reinvestment Act contributed to the mortgage meltdown, and thus to the greater financial crisis, by requiring financial institutions to lend to unqualified borrowers. Now, the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives is responding to that situation by proposing to expand the scope and power of the Community Reinvestment Act.
This morning House Financial Services Committee chairman Rep. Barney Frank held a hearing on H.R. 1479, the "Community Reinvestment Modernization Act of 2009." The bill's purpose is "to close the wealth gap in the United States" by increasing "home ownership and small business ownership for low- and moderate-income borrowers and persons of color." It would extend CRA's strict lending requirements to non-bank institutions like credit unions, insurance companies, and mortgage lenders. It would also make CRA more explicitly race-based by requiring CRA standards to be applied to minorities, regardless of income, going beyond earlier requirements that applied solely to low- and moderate-income areas.
Of course, the one thing that could end up missing from the picture is ACORN, under fire for promoting prostitution and tax evasion by those seeking the organization's counsel. The CRA doesn't make much sense if ACORN isn't around to lead the resulting financial shake-down.
Re: ACORN 'Suspension' a Public Relations Ruse
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 4:51PM
This move may explain why the weekend statement from Bertha Lewis, in which she was caught in an arrogant lie, was taken down. Someone with half a brain on the board probably spoke up and said, "this isn't the way to do it."
Really, ACORN is so blinded by its own pride that its "blame the messenger" strategy was inevitable. As Matthew explains, it's hard to believe that they'd be cured of it in a matter of a few hours or days. Public Relations 101 teaches that when you've got an organizational or image problem, like with the Tylenol poisonings or last year's peanut butter problems, you don't dispute or argue the glaringly obvious facts. You put your best humble foot forward, apologetically, and start to repair the damage. ACORN does not appear to have such an appendage so they will have to grow one.
ACORN 'Suspension' A Public Relations Ruse: Keep the Pressure On!
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 4:07PM
As my esteemed colleague Paul Chesser blogged earlier, the Washington Times is reporting:
ACORN, calling the actions of some of its employees "indefensible," has suspended advising new clients as part of its service programs and is setting up an independent review to see what happened.
ACORN chief executive Bertha Lewis said in a written statement that she was "ordering a halt to any new intakes into ACORN's service programs until completion of an independent review."
The actions were taken, she said, "as a result of indefensible action of a handful of our employees."
Videos of ACORN workers giving tax advice to people posing as prostitutes and other revelations have led to growing criticism of the organization in recent days.
Lewis continued: "We have all been deeply disturbed by what weve seen in some of these videos. I must say, on behalf of ACORN's Board and our Advisory Council, that we will go to whatever lengths necessary to reestablish the public trust. For nearly forty years, ACORN has given voice to communities, and gotten results. Right now, our nearly 500,000 member are working their hearts out for quality, affordable healthcare for every American and to help stop the foreclosure crisis. We must get this process right, so the good work can go forward." [...]
Certainly, this is progress in a sense but this sounds like yet another public relations scheme by the criminal organization known as ACORN.
I've been studying ACORN for more than a year now and have written tens of thousands of words on the organization. Clearly, ACORN management is well aware of what goes on in its offices. Management will probably use this so-called investigation as a smokescreen and throw lower-level employees to the wolves.
That's what ACORN does.
It's what ACORN has always done.
Do not be suckered by ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis's statement, which is merely a concession to the political exigencies of the moment. (Lewis isn't really in control of ACORN anyway. She's a figurehead.)
ACORN will try to stall and ride this out. It cannot be trusted to investigate itself. All of its major offices should be raided by law enforcement immediately.
These people are not mere activists.
They are gangsters and deserve to be treated as such.
Mass. Thought to Be Moving Closer to Interim Senate Appointment
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 3:34PM
The Massachusetts legislature appears to be inching toward approving a bill that would give Gov. Deval Patrick the power to appoint an interim successor to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. That power was stripped from the governor in 2004 when Beacon Hill Democrats feared Mitt Romney would appoint a Republican to the U.S. Senate in the event that John Kerry was elected president. Local Democrats may be succumbing to national pressure to restore the power now that it leaves Senate Democrats short a critical vote on issues like health care.
Khmer Rouge Jailer Had Brother-In-Law Tortured
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 2:37PM
Another astounding confession came from Khmer Rouge jailer Kaing Guek Eav (nicknamed "Comrade Duch," pronounced "Doik") yesterday, during the first of an expected handful of trials of officials who served under Cambodian dictator Pol Pot in the late 1970s. Agence France-Press reports:
Duch said he had his brother-in-law locked up at the notorious Tuol Sleng detention centre to protect himself and his family, adding that the man was later killed by the hardline communist movement.
"I vouched for my younger sister and I vouched to educate her, but I could not do that for my brother-in-law," said Duch, who acknowledges overseeing the extermination of some 15,000 people at the jail.
"As a principle, when the husband was arrested the wife was arrested as well. But my younger sister was not arrested and she is still alive today," he added.
"Educate" meant to retrain the minds of all Cambodians to swear loyalty only to the government -- not family, not God, not anyone or anything else. The megalomaniacal Pol Pot eliminated all individuals who showed evidence of wealth or an education, even if they wore eyeglasses, for fear of an intellectual rebellion. Families were divided and driven far from their home provinces. What was left was an agrarian peasant society, as desired by the dictator's vision for a communist utopia.
He said that after his arrest (actually a second time), his brother-in-law tried to protect the rest of the family from the Khmer Rouge's spiralling paranoia, which involved witchhunts for suspected agents for the CIA, KGB and Vietnam and other groups.
"What he was afraid of was that when he was arrested and handcuffed, he wanted to know whether I would be arrested. Because if I was arrested, then the whole family would be gone," Duch said.
Yesterday also brought the first outside testimony, by Cambodian-American minister Christopher LaPel, about Duch's conversion to Christianity in the 1990s. This was while Duch was still in hiding and had not yet been discovered as a Khmer Rouge criminal. From the Phnom Penh Post:
The pastor said he only learned Duch’s real name when an Associated Press reporter contacted him in April 1999 for a story on the former prison chief.
“That was a surprise for me,” LaPel said, though he added that it was evidence of God’s ability to change someone “from the killer to the believer”.
LaPel, a character witness appearing for the defence, said he had no trouble forgiving Duch despite the fact that he lost family members to the Khmer Rouge as well as close friends who were sent to Tuol Sleng.
“When I met Duch in June 2008, I told him that I love him and I forgive him for what he had done to my parents, my brothers, my sister and my close friends at S-21,” he said. “I speak for myself – as a Christian, as a believer in Jesus Christ.”
Of course this is still deemed not newsworthy by most of the American media (TIME had a story recently, mostly about Cambodian television coverage of the trial).
Finally, to update my last post about the corruption of the court trying these cases, Belgian academic Raoul Marc Jennar called Duch a "scapegoat" for the government and said his crimes were surpassed elsewhere during the regime's reign. From The Straits Times:
There were nine centres where there were more victims than (Tuol Sleng). And from those centres, no one is before the court,' Mr Jennar, an expert on Khmer studies who has advised the current Cambodian government, told the court.
'My concept of justice is not to have scapegoats. It's to treat everyone the same way... There are a number of directors from those centres that are still alive - I want to emphasise that,' he added, refusing to name the suspects.
He cited researchers from the Documentation Centre of Cambodia to support the claim....
Jennar, who interviewed Duch in custody, said there was no hierarchy among the 196 Khmer Rouge detention centres around Cambodia, refuting prosecution claims that Tuol Sleng served as the regime's main jail.
Just like there was no "main" mass grave -- they still pockmark the entire country.
The Ballad of Hannah and James
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 2:33PM
"Pimp and Prostitute" James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles prove Sarah Palin wrong: it seems community organizers are nothing like small-town mayors.
The Ballad of Hannah and James
By Asher Embry
These two young heroes on their own
Got proof of what we’ve always known.
That “organizers” far and wide
Quite often have a seamy side.
They thought of ACORN first, quite natch’;
From that their plan began to hatch.
And then the duo slyly took
A page from Saul Alinsky’s book.
With silly duds; a yarn to match;
They went to see what crooks they’d catch.
ACORN “helps” the destitute;
But hugged this “pimp and prostitute.”
Advised them to defraud and cheat;
(The “system’s” but a game to beat.)
Not troubled even when they’re told
Of teenage sex slaves bought and sold!
They did goliath work, these two.
They did what Democrats won’t do.
But Charlie Gibson said it best
For ABC and all the rest
Who evidently didn’t hear
Or if they did, they couldn’t care.
Now -- though many still defend
And ACORN fights until the end --
It’s hard for Congress to ignore
Appropriations for a whore.
So James and Hannah made us wise
‘Bout what it means to organize.
Perps and media better hide --
This clever pair is on our side!
(You can read more of Asher Embry's Political Verse at www.politicalverse.com.)
WWE Head Linda McMahon to Run for Senate
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 1:47PM
Professional wrestling executive Linda McMahon is going to run for the Republican nomination to take on Sen. Chris Dodd -- or, as this AP story puts it, "now she's plotting a smackdown" of the veteran Democratic lawmaker. The wife of Vince McMahon, she will join a field that includes former Congressman Rob Simmons, former Ambassador Tom Foley, state Sen. Sam Caligiuri, and possibly libertarian financial guru Peter Schiff. Dodd has trailed the frontrunning Republicans in several statewide polls, with the lesser known GOP candidates polling competitively against him. McMahon would likely self-finance.
Question of the Day
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 12:54PM
So if conservative opposition to Barack Obama is really based on racism, did conservative opposition to Bill Clinton only begin after Toni Morrison described him as the first black president?
Daily Must-Reads
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 12:43PM
- No taxes for those making under $250k, right? Treasury department report projects that if Cap and Trade passes in current form, it could cost American families up to $1800 per year (CBS News)
- Being the "populist" hero that he is, ousted Honduran President Zelaya calls Hondurans to resist any democratic election until he is fully restored to power (Latin American Herald Tribune)
- Not just Alan Keyes, Pew Research poll says Obama is starting to alienate black voters (Urbancure)
- Hiding behind the Mogadishu line, Somali rebels are aligning with Al-Qaeda (Reuters)
George W. Bush to Conservative Movement: Drop Dead
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 11:41AM
At least that's how the 43rd president is quoted in a new book by one of his speechwriters, as reported by Byron York.
Bush was preparing to give a speech to the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. The conference is the event of the year for conservative activists; Republican politicians are required to appear and offer their praise of the conservative movement.
[Speechless: Tales of a White House Survivor author Matt] Latimer got the assignment to write Bush's speech. Draft in hand, he and a few other writers met with the president in the Oval Office. Bush was decidedly unenthusiastic.
"What is this movement you keep talking about in the speech?" the president asked Latimer.
Latimer explained that he meant the conservative movement -- the movement that gave rise to groups like CPAC.
Bush seemed perplexed. Latimer elaborated a bit more. Then Bush leaned forward, with a point to make.
"Let me tell you something," the president said. "I whupped Gary Bauer's ass in 2000. So take out all this movement stuff. There is no movement."
Obviously, all of this should be taken with a pillar of salt. We don't know for a fact that Bush said this. Latimer wants to sell books and it is easy to criticize an unpopular ex-president. But given the conservative movement's unhealthy relationship with the Republican Party, it is not hard to believe. If anything like this was actually said, it is just another argument for conservatives to take a different approach to Republican presidents who create new entitlements, double the national debt, propose massive bailouts, increase discretionary spending faster than Bill Clinton, and otherwise offend conservative principles. A while back, I sketched what such an approach might look like.
Disappointed Enzi
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 11:31AM
Mike Enzi, one of the Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee who has been a part of bipartisan negotiations with Max Baucus, just released the following statement:
"Unfortunately, there are fundamental issues that we were not able to resolve by the deadline that was set for us. I am deeply disappointed that we could not take the time to find ways to resolve these issues. The proposal released today still spends too much, and it does too little to cut health care costs for those with health insurance. At a time when our nation faces a $9 trillion deficit, we should target assistance to those in the greatest need without creating unsustainable new entitlement programs.
"President Obama said that health reform must improve competition in the insurance marketplace and lower health care costs for those who currently have insurance. I agree, but this bill does not go far enough toward achieving those goals. I also believe that health care reform should not be built on expanding the unsustainable Medicaid program, which 40 percent of doctors will not accept. Coverage is worthless if you can't see a doctor. If you have Medicare Advantage this bill could reduce your coverage.
"I have other concerns. This is the most complicated bill any of us have ever worked on. It affects about 16 percent of the economy and 100 percent of the people. Those of us who have spent months working on the hundreds of different areas can appreciate the multiple moving parts and the effect getting it wrong would have. Although there is a sense of urgency, getting it done fast is not as important as getting it done correctly.
"While I cannot support the current proposal, I remain committed to working on health care reform proposals that will have broad bipartisan support. The best way to reform our health care system is to do it step by step. That is how you gain the trust of the American people. Let's start by focusing on the issues where we already have broad, bipartisan agreement."
Pence: Republicans Oppose Government-Run Health Care
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 10:33AM
Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana said this morning at an American Spectator and Americans for Tax Reform press breakfast that House Republicans will "overwhelmingly" oppose any kind of Democrat-proposed health care reform that would lead to government-run health insurance. He mentioned that although he hadn't yet seen the Baucus plan, announced this morning, the lack of a public option doesn't assuage his fears. Regarding co-ops in place of a public option, he claimed, "at the end of the day you're talking about government-run health insurance."
"The minute Uncle Sam opens the door to government insurance," Pence explained, "millions of people from small business are going to run to it." He predicted that in plan with a public option or with state- or locally-run health co-ops, millions of workers would lose their private insurance because their businesses would cancel their insurance.
During the breakfast, Pence also defended Joe Wilson, the South Carolina congressman officially censured by the House of Representatives yesterday for his "you lie" comment during President Obama's health care speech. Pence acknowledged Wilson's mistake and commended him for apologizing, but he also noted that Wilson was reacting to a "harshly partisan speech" from Obama. Pence cited Proverbs 15:1 -- "a harsh word stirs up anger" -- in explaining Wilson's outburst. He stated that Wilson's comment in fact did "serve the national interest" by calling attention to the fact that "what the president said from the podium was not true."
"People really were glad that he brought the subject up, no matter how...indelicately," Pence concluded.
And Then There Were None
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 10:22AM
Today, Max Baucus has finally unveiled his much-anticipated health care compromise proposal, but now without Olympia Snowe, the bill has no support among Republicans and is opposed by at least one Democrat on the Finance Committee (Jay Rockefeller). More on the bill itself to come.
What Happened to New York?
Posted by on 9.16.09 @ 8:15AM
Good morning, and welcome to the New York Times. The Grey Old Hag finally got one of its own reporters on the week-old week-long ACORN pimp/prostitute stories that's exposed the radicals using their own rules, but not surprisingly the Times has their unique way of doing things. The spin? The well-worn "conservatives get a scalp" approach, almost as tired as the weekly Sunday talk show "he said, she said" stories. In other words, it was about the political baseball game rather than the scummy behavior. This is how reporter Scott Shane saw it:
Conservative advocates and broadcasters were gleeful about the success of the tactics in exposing Acorn workers, who appeared to blithely encourage prostitution and tax evasion. It was, in effect, the latest scalp claimed by those on the right who have made no secret of their hope to weaken the Obama administration by attacking allies and appointees they view as leftist.
The Acorn controversy came a week after the resignation of Van Jones, a White House environmental official attacked by conservatives, led by Glenn Beck of Fox News Channel, for once signing a petition suggesting that Bush administration officials might have deliberately permitted the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Even before Mr. Jones stepped down, Mr. Beck had sent a message to supporters on Twitter urging them to “find everything you can” on three other Obama appointees.
Appointees "they view" as leftist? Only a leftist himself would phrase it that way, because the effort is to expose actual leftists. The leftists are blind to who they actually are, believing instead that they are mainstream. And as for Beck's appeal for help, the Olde Media is still playing catch-up on the new way of doing things: We Twitter, we Facebook, we communicate because we already know the hearts and minds of those three appointees (Cass Sunstein, Mark Lloyd, and Carol Browner).
More from Shane:
In a statement over the weekend, Bertha Lewis, the chief organizer for Acorn, said the bogus prostitute and pimp had spent months visiting numerous Acorn offices, including those in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia, before getting the responses they were looking for.
Nice of Shane to cover Bertha's butt by leaving one city out of her original statement (which appears to have been removed from ACORN's Web site) from the weekend:
This recent scam, which was attempted in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia to name a few places, had failed for months before the results we’ve all recently seen.
Videographers James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles (the "pimp" and the "prostitute") unveiled on Monday the helpful ACORN employees in Brooklyn, belying Lewis's claim that their efforts failed there. Just a coincidence that ACORN took down her statement at the same time the Times scrubbed its hometown's name from her remarks?
Repeat after me, Scott Shane: "I am Van Jones, I am Van Jones, I am Van Jones..."
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Jimmy Carter is an Un-American Disgrace
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 11:33PM
America's worst living ex-president, Jimmy Carter, says that Rep. Joe Wilson's (R-S.C.) overhyped-to-the-endth degree "you lie" outburst during the Dear Leader's recent address to Congress, was "based on racism."
"I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man," said the contemptible leftist who embarrasses and marginalizes himself whenever he opens his mouth.
How dare he repeat the Stalin-style smear --now being echoed by left-wingers across America-- that whoever opposes the Obama agenda must be racist.
Carter is a disgrace.
Steve Forbes Is Back
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 9:51PM
Just back from a reception in Old Town Alexandria for VA GOP Attorney General candidate Ken Cuccinelli with special guest Steve Forbes. An all-star conservative crowd was in the house (multiple RET and Regnery spottings reported) and Cuccinelli, as expected, did not disappoint. What a wonderful AG this man will make (and knock wood it looks like he might well make it).
But the big news is the manner in which Forbes brought the house down. Funny, witty, and armed to the teeth with solutions. Huge hit. So much that I commented to him that this could well be his time.
Think about it before you laugh. There is a lot more room in the GOP for a Steve Forbes today than there ever has been.
In Huelskamp's Camp
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 6:34PM
Kudos to the Club for Growth for endorsing conservative leader Tim Huelskamp for Congress in KS-1. As the Club's press release yesterday said:
"Tim Huelskamp stands out as a champion of limited government and economic freedom," said Club President Chris Chocola. "Unlike some of the other Republicans in this race, Tim has compiled an impressive record and demonstrated the leadership skills necessary to fight for free-market policies in Congress."
The Club for Growth is the most effective organization on the right when it comes to winning GOP primaries. Hence the Club for Growth endorsement is arguably the most important one a conservative candidate can receive. If there was any doubt before, Tim Huelskamp is now the clear front runner in this important race.
Look for Tim Huelskamp to be part of the Republican class of 2010. Yeah, I like him.
Obama's $900 Billion Problem
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 6:03PM
In his speech to the AFL-CIO today, President Obama said, as he did last week, that his health care proposals would cost about $900 billion over 10 years. The problem is that by making that vow, Obama has effectively created an upper boundry to the cost of the legislation, and that will make negotiating a final package more difficult.
While the bill being unveiled by Max Baucus would reportedly cost a projected $900 billion or less, bills introduced by the House Democrats and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee have both been projected by the CBO to cost over $1 trillion.
As I noted earlier, Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller has already indicated that he would vote against the Baucus bill in its current form, and if he doesn't speak for other members of the Senate, it's at least fair to stay that liberals in both the Senate and House have major issues with the scaled-back bill. If liberals are going to accept a bill without a government plan, they'll likely make other demands, such as more generous subsidies to purchase health coverage. The problem is, such demands will undoubtedly drive up the cost of the bill, likely above Obama's $900 billion threshold.
So this is once again an area where Obama finds himself between a rock and a hard place -- either he draws a firm line at around $900 billion, at the risk of eroding liberal support; or he allows the cost to swell above $900 billion, and he gives Republicans a sure fire line of attack. All they'd have to do is release a video of all the times Obama said the plan would cost $900 billion, and contrast that with the higher projection. It would damage Obama's credibility at a crucial time in the debate.
A true conservative heroine, more
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 5:49PM
I spoke to my friend Beth Rickey late last Friday afternoon Eastern time. She was a true American heroine. Don't ever let it be said that conservatives won't stand up and eject haters from their midst. In the fight against David Duke, Beth Rickey did just that. Blessings to her. R.I.P.
UPDATE: I hope I am now abusing my prerogatives here, but this ran at 5 a.m. and might not have been seen by as many as I would have liked, so I am promoting it to this space and also adding this new link to the story from her hometown paper in Lafayette, LA. It quotes several of my other old friends from LA political days, and broadens the perspective to explain that Beth did far more for conservatives than merely her fight against Duke. It adds to the story in a very useful way.
Mute Pro-Choicers
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 4:52PM
A growing sidebar of the James Pouillon murder (he was gunned down while peacefully protesting outside an abortion clinic across the street from a high school in Owosso, Michigan) is the silence of national pro-choice organizations.
I ran a quick search, and none of the biggies - NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, or the National Organization for Women - have issued statements condemning the murder. (President Obama was late to the party, but he did end up issuing a statement on the killing.)
On its home page, the National Abortion Federation gives top billing to mourning the loss of Ted Kennedy and to remembering George Tiller, whom NAF calls "an American hero." Tiller was a late-term abortionists who was murdered May 31 at his church.
In contrast, a number of pro-life groups issued statements the day of Tiller's death condemning acts of violence in the heated abortion debate (National Right to Life and Americans United for Life, to name two). Naturally, pro-choice groups put out their own releases. But the non-existent response from abortion advocates over the cold-blooded murder of Pouillon - a man standing up for life and exercising his constitutional rights - should give us pause.
Could be that one side in this debate does, in fact, value human life more than the other.
Obama Supports Extending Patriot Act Provisions
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 4:26PM
The Obama administration favors extending three key provisions of the Patriot Act that were set to expire. The Libertarians for Obama argument looks stronger by the day.
Next ACORN Expose': San Bernardino
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 3:41PM
Word around the blogosphere (do your own searches) is that Glenn Beck revealed on his radio show this morning that the next ACORN sting by James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles ("the Pimp and the Prostitute") targets the San Bernardino office. Full video on Beck's Fox News show at 5:00 p.m. Eastern and a teaser at the Big Government Web site at 4:00 p.m. Revelations include a helpful ACORN person who was once a prostitute herself, knows a lot of politicians, and admitted killing her ex-husband. And I'm sure all the tax evasion, child trafficking and other criminal stuff too. Should be Beck's biggest ratings e-var -- will probably top O'Reilly tonight.
Rockefeller Says He Won't Vote for Baucus Bill In Current Form
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 3:37PM
Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a member of the Finance Committee, said on a conference call Tuesday afternoon that he would not support the health care compromise proposal of committee chairman Democrat Max Baucus.
"There is no way in its present form I will vote for it," Rockefeller said in a call co-organized with the liberal Campaign for America's Future. Though he said he's worked closely with Baucus in the past, he said, "I cannot agree with him on this bill."
Rockefeller cited the lack of a government-run plan as the main reason for he couldn't support it, but also said the proposed tax on high-end health plans would affect every coal miner in West Virginia.
If more liberal senators join Rockefeller in insisting on the government plan, it would put Democrats in a tight spot, becuase Baucus, Kent Conrad and other more moderate Democrats have said that a bill couldn't pass the Senate with a government plan.
UPDATE: Later in the call, Rockefeller referred to the proposed alternative to the government plan in the form of a non-profit co-op as a "ridiculous idea." He said a government plan was needed, and argued that simply passing new regulations on private insurers wouldn't accomplish anything because the industry has enjoyed a "lifetime of lavish living getting around rules."
Levin Book Breaks Million Record Today
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 12:52PM
It's official.
Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto by radio talk star Mark Levin is, as of today, officially that most sought after of publishing achievements: a million books sold.
There are always two goals that exist in the fantasy world of a publishers head: First is a book that sells a million copies, second is a book that is certain to sell more than a million and requires a printing larger than a million. Levin's book has scored here as well, with 1.2 million now in print.
The announcement came from Louise Burke, Threshold Editions' Executive Vice President and Publisher. Burke called Levin's achievement "a rare publishing milestone."
Burke is correct about the milestone, since the book was published barely six months ago and started out its debut already in the number one slot of the New York Times bestseller list. It spent 12 weeks there and is still in the top ten.
Continue reading…"Jackass"
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 12:37PM
Yes, President Obama calling Kanye West a "jackass" for his antics at the VMA is to his credit. We should be glad that we have a president who's not afraid to calls'em like he sees'em when it comes to pop culture.
But then again he gets points deducted for apparently not realizing what was immediately obvious to me: the incident in question, when Kanye West grabbed the microphone from Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech, was staged.
You'd think that if you spent all your time surrounded by the theatrics of DC politicians, you would know not to trust MTV.
Polls Show Obama's Health Care Speech Was a Bust
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 12:22PM
A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds Americans evenly divided on health care legislation following President Obama's address to a joint session of Congress, with 50 percent supporting it and 47 percent opposing it. At the same time, just 38 percent say it will accomplish its goals, and just 43 percent approve of Obama's handling of the health care issue.
"The president's speech apparently failed to galvanize public opinion in the way the White House had hoped," USA Today article concludes. "While it drew a national television audience estimated by Nielsen at more than 32 million people, there's little evidence in the survey that it changed minds."
Meanwhile, Rasmussen, which had been showing a steady rise in support for health care legislation following Obama's speech, today revealed new numbers showing that, "the bounce appears to be over. The latest daily tracking shows that support has fallen all the way back to pre-speech levels."
Yesterday, I noted an ABC/Washington Post poll that found a negligible impact on public opinion -- 46 percent supported legislation and 48 opposed after the speech, compared with 45 percent support and 50 percent opposition in the previous poll, taken mid August.
Gallup: Most People Don't Feel Strongly About Joe Wilson
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 11:02AM
A Gallup poll has found that by a 68 percent to 21 percent margin, Americans oppose Joe Wilson's shout of "You lie!" during President Obama's health care speech to a joint session of Congress. But a closer look shows that just 23 percent were actually "outraged" by what Wilson did, and only 6 percent were "thrilled." Combined, that means that while Americans overwhelmingly opposed Wilson's heckle, just 29 percent of people actually had strong feelings about it one way or another, despite the continued media harping on the incident.
In other Wilson news, a story on the front page of the Washington Post today asks, "behind the incident some see a broader question: Is racism a factor in the way the president is being judged?"
Tim Carney Destroys David Schuster
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 10:58AM
A real top notch performance here by the author of The Big Ripoff.
Daily Must-Reads
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 10:20AM
- Fresh out of jail, Traficant considering running for re-election in Congress (ABC)
- Chavez pursuing nuclear program with the help of the Russians. Where is Obama? Or James Monroe for that matter? (Associated Press)
- Obama: Kanye West is a jackass. ABC mistakenly tweets part of an interview that was meant to be off-the-record. Maybe the president could have regained some popularity if he said it on the air (Politico)
- Top 10 "You Lies" in health care debate -- unlikely to be David Letterman's "Top 10" (Townhall)
- Seizing the airwaves, Obama plans an unprecedented five TV chat appearances this Sunday (Hotair)
Charlie Rangel and Congressional Entitlement
Posted by on 9.15.09 @ 7:23AM
Richard Cohen of the Washington Post argues that Rep. Charles Rangel has morphed into the man he defeated in 1970: the flamboyantly corrupt Adam Clayton Powell.
Rangel is now the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and a man of immense importance in Washington. Nonetheless, he has been busy of late revising and amending the record, backing and filling, using buckets of Wite-Out as he discovers or remembers properties he has owned in New York, New Jersey, Florida, the Dominican Republic and God only knows where else -- and has forgotten or neglected to fully report on the required forms, not to mention the income from them. Oops!
Rangel recently even discovered bank accounts that no one in the world, apparently including him, knew he had. One was with the Congressional Federal Credit Union; another was with Merrill Lynch -- each valued between $250,000 and $500,000. He somehow neglected to mention these accounts on his congressional disclosure forms, which means, if you can believe it, that when he signed the forms, he did not notice that maybe $1 million was missing. Someone ought to check the lighting in his office.
The dim bulb could also have accounted for why Rangel did not notice that he was soliciting contributions for the curiously named Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service on the congressional letterhead of the very same Charles B. Rangel. It may also account for why he failed to report dividend income from various investments in addition to what he made by selling a townhouse in Harlem. The place went for $410,000 in 2004, and had been rented -- or not -- to various people, who paid rent or didn't -- since Rangel reported no income for years at a time. This is what he did, too, with the rent he earned on his Dominican Republic villa. Again, nada.
There is something wrong with Charlie Rangel. Either he did not notice that he was worth about twice as much as he said he was -- which is downright worrisome in a congressional leader -- or he thinks that he's above the law, which is downright worrisome in a congressional leader.
So much for change and openness on Capitol Hill in the new era.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Why Are Embezzlement Coverup Conspirators Still at ACORN?
Posted by on 9.14.09 @ 9:38PM
ACORN did the right thing in firing employees who advised a couple on the finer legal points of establishing a child prostitution ring but ACORN officials who covered up a nearly $1 million embezzlement for eight years still have their jobs, the ACORN 8 declared in a statement today.
Members of ACORN 8, a reform group founded by former ACORN national board members Marcel Reid and Karen Inman, released a statement today regarding the three videos that have surfaced so far that show ACORN employees telling two undercover journalists posing as a pimp and prostitute how to launder money, evade taxes, defraud banks, and conceal the fictitious scenario the duo cooked up.
Although the ACORN workers caught behaving badly "were immediately terminated for behaving unprofessionally...senior staff members who assisted and concealed a million dollar Rathke embezzlement remain employed," ACORN 8 said in the release.
Reid and Inman were expelled from the ACORN board after they asked uncomfortable questions about ACORN's finances in the wake of an embezzlement scandal involving ACORN founder Wade Rathke.
Rathke covered up his brother Dale's circa 2000 theft of $948,000 in ACORN funds but the long-hidden misappropriation was revealed last year and this led to the founder's expulsion from the group. Reid and Inman were appointed by the board to probe the group's finances.
When they tried to actually do so, the same people who helped Rathke engineer and sustain a coverup showed them the door.
More ACORN Revelations Tomorrow
Posted by on 9.14.09 @ 9:10PM
Big Government blog proprietor Andrew Breitbart, just now on Fox News' "Hannity," said yet another ACORN revelation (presumably from the O'Keefe/Giles video duo) is coming tomorrow, and he characterized it as "devastating."
Shocker! Senate Overwhelmingly APPROVES De-Funding ACORN
Posted by on 9.14.09 @ 6:59PM
I'm in shock -- but in a good way.
Maybe the message that ACORN is a corrupt criminal organization is finally getting through to lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
I write that because Michelle Malkin is reporting that on a vote of 83 to 7 the U.S. Senate passed an amendment banning federal housing funds in the pending transportation and housing appropriations legislation from going to ACORN.
The amendment was offered by Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Nebraska).
It is unclear what kind of reception the legislation will receive in the House.
Finally: An Official Estimate of the 9/12 March on D.C. Crowd
Posted by on 9.14.09 @ 6:24PM
The controversy over crowd-size estimates for Washington political rallies dates back to Louis Farrakhan's "Million Man March" in 1995. The attendance at the Farrakhan event was clearly less than advertised. However, when the National Park Service accurately reported that it was in fact a Several Hundred Thousand Man March, this led to accusations of racism which effectively put an end to official NPS estimates. The subsequent 1997 Promise Keepers rally -- which was indisputably larger than the Farrakhan event -- thus was not officially estimated because, as a CNN writer delicately put it, the NPS had been "stung by past disputes."
Given that I was one of the first to provide a definite crowd-size number for Saturday's 9/12 March On D.C. -- a "people meter" count of 450,000 for the morning march along Pennsylvania Avenue -- I have been both amused and annoyed by subsequent rangling over estimates of the total crowd for the event organized by FreedomWorks and co-sponsored by several other free-market groups.
Even David Weigel of the Washington Independent (no fan of Republicans) writes that Saturday's rally "was the largest march on Washington by conservatives in anyone's memory" -- although I don't think even the sponsors would claim it was as large as the Promise Keepers event.
At any rate, many liberal bloggers have attacked Michelle Malkin and others for giving credence to high-end estimates of Saturday's crowd as high as 2 million. It is difficult to judge such things from TV coverage or photographs, and if the 2 million number was high -- well, whose fault is it that the NPS no longer provides official estimates any more?
If the count of marchers on Pennsylvania Avenue (450,000) is accepted as the rock-bottom estimate, and late arrrivals significantly swelled the crowd above that, then a total attendance above 1 million is certainly possible. Two million is almost certainly too high.
Having covered the rally in person, and having seen the view of the crowd from backstage at the top of Capitol Hill, I can now state that The Official Stacy McCain Estimate of the crowd is: "Freaking huge."
That's official. No arguing allowed.
The Inarticulate Administration
Posted by on 9.14.09 @ 5:33PM
Yesterday Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stated, vaguely, that the president would demand an explicit ban on abortion funding before signing a health care reform bill.
Sebelius was responding to prodding from George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week." Stephanopoulos had asked, "Secretary Sebelius, what's wrong with that, making it explicit in the bill that no public funding should go toward abortions?"
Sebelius answered, "Well, I think that's what the president intends to do. There's no intent to change the language that's in the current Medicaid statute, which has been there for years and provides insurance to millions of Americans."
Now, if, as President Obama asserted during his health care speech, it was a "bogus claim" that the bills under consideration in Congress provided for public funding of abortion, there was no need for this statement from Sebelius. She simply could have repeated him, saying that an explicit ban would be unnecessary for a bill which so clearly directs no taxpayer money toward coverage for abortions that anyone who claims it does is "bearing false witness."
I think that this fits into a pattern of the administration's behavior. On health care reform the Obama administration has either propagated statements that do not meet a minimum standard of sincerity or else is hopelessly inarticulate and unclear.
The Joe Wilson "You lie" incident is another clear example. Obama unequivocally stated as fact that illegal immigrants would not receive public health insurance. Joe Wilson wasn't obviously correct that this was a lie, but it is at least a statement that requires further distinction. The fact that Obama failed to make the necessary distinctions to prevent someone like Joe Wilson from accusing him of lying points to two possibilities: 1) He, along with his speechwriters and policymakers, is too inarticulate for the job. 2) He is "lying" at least in the sense that his office requires a higher level of disclosure and definition of terms in public statements.
There is one very favorable reading of Obama's various dubious statements on immigration, abortion, and other health care issues. That is that he is promising to veto any bill that contains public funding for insurance for abortion or illegal immigrants -- as the bills in consideration right now do . In fact Sebelius's statement does sort of sound like a step in that direction.
But without coming right out and saying it and conforming his actions to his words, Obama and his administration are either dishonest or inarticulate.
Conservative Memo on Obama Spending
9.14.09 @ 5:32PM
MEMO FOR THE MOVEMENT
RE: Excessive Federal Government Spending from the Congress and the Obama Administration jeopardizes America's economic future.
Continue reading…Two Headlines
Posted by on 9.14.09 @ 4:54PM
I saw back-to-back on a news site:
Obama warns Wall Street not to block tighter regs
Review finds anti-bullying laws are not being enforced
Hip Hop's Intellectual Strikes Again
Posted by on 9.14.09 @ 3:42PM
The latest controversy in the entertainment world comes from Sunday night's MTV Music Awards show. Country singer Taylor Swift had just won the trophy for Best Female Video for her song "You Belong with Me," edging out (among others) Beyoncé, and was giving her acceptance speech when rapper Kanye West jumped onto the stage, snatched the microphone from her hand and said "Yo, Taylor, I'm really happy for you. I'm-a-let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time!" He then handed the mic back to Swift, but she was too shaken to continue and left the stage in tears.
To her credit, Beyoncé seemed genuinely mortified by West's outburst and later invited Swift to share the stage after she won an award herself.
West, you might recall, is the buffoon who declared, during the 2005 benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina, that "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
It's worth noting that West's father was a Black Panther and a photojournalist, and that his mother was an English professor; indeed, West is renowned in rap circles for his social conscience and is often considered one of the medium's true intellectuals.
Which should remind the rest of us that there's stupid. There's stoopid. And then there's hip hop stoopid.
Wash Post/ABC News Poll Finds Tepid Reaction to Obama Speech
Posted by on 9.14.09 @ 3:40PM
A Washington Post/ABC News poll found that public support for health care legislation rose only slightly in response to President Obama's much-hyped health care speech last week. The poll found that 46 percent supported legislation and 48 opposed, compared with 45 percent support and 50 percent opposition in the last poll, taken mid August. Interestingly, the poll also found that 41 percent said the more they hear about the health care proposal, the more they like it, compared to 54 percent who say that the more they hear about it, the less they like it.
If anything, I think these numbers overstate support for Obama's health care initiative. The reason is that right now people are responding in a broad sense to what they think health care legislation is. For instance, some respondents may support legislation only because they don't think it will include a government plan, while others may be supportive because they think the final bill will include a government-run plan. Ultimately, Congress and the White House will have to start making actual decisions about what parts of legislation to keep and dump, and how to finance it. As that process drags on, I would bet that we'll start to see support drop.
Mo' Cap and Trade, Mo' Problems
Posted by on 9.14.09 @ 1:36PM
As the health care vote looms, cap and trade continues to be an even bigger headache for the Democrats. The New York Times features a story on Sen. Jay Rockeller's efforts to negotiate a bill, even though the coal state Democrat is clearly down on the idea of cap and trade.
Even though he won't face the voters again until 2014, West Virginia Republicans are already going after Rockefeller on this issue. Why? Just ask Congressman Harry Teague (D-N.M.):
One Democrat most affected is New Mexico Democrat Harry Teague. His district, which McCain carried last year, is one of the largest oil and gas producing areas in the country, and Teague has faced angry crowds back home ever since voting yes.
Teague will face Republican Steve Pearce, who held the seat for three terms before giving it up to run unsuccessfully for the Senate last year.
Voting for a broad-based, arguably regressive tax increase going into an election year is bad enough. Trying to defend cap and trade in an energy-producing region of the country may rpove a bridge too far for some of the Democrats swept in by the anti-Bush tides of 2006 and 2008.
Re: Pimpin' Ain't Easy
Posted by on 9.14.09 @ 11:53AM
The formerly mainstream media has consigned itself to the dung heap with their ignorance of the "pimp and the prostitute" undercover videos from New York this morning. Big Government posted the reports at 12:35 a.m., proving ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis a liar. That still is not worthy of news stories -- anywhere -- on the homepages of the New York Times, USA Today (have they done any stories yet?), Washington Post, CBS News, NBC News (and its cable offerings), ABC News, or CNN Sucks.
No excuses. They've had nearly half-a-day to at least link to some kind of report -- even a couple of sentences -- about the development. They all do with other types of breaking news. They watch Drudge constantly, like the rest of us news junkies, who has the story up. Yet still nothing. Also, the Census Bureau dumped ACORN on Friday and still no original reports from anyone other than ABC's Jake Tapper -- in a blog post.
So why this organization -- that serially enables prostitution, tax evasion, child sex trafficking and voter fraud after they enhanced the ability of our current president to get elected -- get a pass from the traditional journalists? Because just like ACORN, they know their credibility is shot and to give the story the attention it deserves underscores their own sorry behavior.
Daily Must-Reads
Posted by on 9.14.09 @ 10:25AM
- The newly-forgotten war, or Joe Biden's war: Iraq (Washington Post)
- Eight years after 911, ignorance should not be bliss about Islam (Townhall)
- China likely to retaliate after Obama announces United Steelworkers Union-supported 35% tariff on Chinese-made tires. It's not a good idea to bring a knife to a gun fight (Los Angeles Times)
- Fundraiser of ex-Governor Blagojevich dies in apparent suicide-overdose. Always gracious and humble, Blagojevich's reaction was:
"...A friend of mine took his life because he refused to submit to the pressure by the government to lie about me." (CNN)
Pimpin' Ain't Easy, But It Sure Is Fun
Posted by on 9.14.09 @ 10:00AM
Something tells me the unemployment rate within the ACORN network is about to continue rising.
ACORN is caught with its pants down yet again by reporter Hannah Giles and filmmaker James O'Keefe in a new video at Big Government.
The new undercover sting video shows ACORN employees at ACORN chief organizer and CEO Bertha Lewis's home office in Brooklyn, New York, trying to help the pair set up a prostitute business. This is the same office from which ACORN is selling out the poor it claims to represent by backing the Atlantic Yards redevelopment project.
As I've said for the last year (and in a new article today), ACORN is a criminal organization devoted to undermining the American system of government.
(See previous articles: Lien on Me, ACORN's Food Stamp Mortgages, ACORN's Tangled Money Tree, ACORN Endorses Obama, SOS in Minnesota, ACORN's Stimulus, No Justice, No Peace, Conyers Kills ACORN Probe, Barney Frank Lies About ACORN, PolitiFact's Fixers, Financial Affirmative Action Returns, The Powers That Be, ACORN Sells Out the Poor, Wrathful Wade Rathke, Community-Organized Crime, ACORN's Labor Pains, Money for Nothing, ACORN in Retreat, ACORN: Who Funds the Weather Underground's Little Brother?, In a Rotten Nutshell: Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know about ACORN)
And The Award For Hypocrite Of The Month Goes To...
Posted by on 9.14.09 @ 9:57AM
...Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter!
Take it away, Carol, you maniac, you. You've really, really earned it.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Amazing Political Double Standard for Religion
Posted by on 9.13.09 @ 10:24PM
The point has been made by outstanding thinkers like Stephen Carter and Richard John Neuhaus that the New York-Washington, D.C. establishment eats up left wing religion and declares it delicious. Give a radical a cross and we have activists bravely "speaking truth to power" and "speaking prophetically." Put the cross in the hands of a conservative and suddenly secularism is the better course and church and state must be rigorously separated lest theocracy loom every closer.
I tried to draw attention to this double standard in my new book The End of Secularism by talking about both history and current events which prove the point. Mollie Ziegler Hemingway provided an excellent example in her Houses of Worship column for the Wall Street Journal last Friday as she reminded readers about the way faith-based initiatives have been viewed in this administration and its predecessor.
Bush filled the faith-based initiatives office with a prominent Ivy League sociologist and then with a former lawyer for Mother Theresa. Obama has chosen a Pentecostal preacher in his twenties to head up the office. Barry Lynn of the Americans for the Separation of Church and State was an avid critic of the Bush office. His position today? He serves on the advisory council's task force for the office. Strangely, his concerns about the interaction of religion and politics seem to have dissolved now that the presidency has changed hands.
As I read Ms. Hemingway's cutting piece, I couldn't help but think about the Swedish socialists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries who were determined to destroy the tie between the nation's church and state. Once they gained power, however, they had a change of heart. The church could prove useful under their enlightened leadership. I wonder if Barry Lynn feels the same way.
Football Night in America
Posted by on 9.13.09 @ 8:13PM
Has Tiki Barber been exiled from the studio? I suppose the room was getting crowded.
Tony Dungy makes a nice addition. Rodney Harrison, on the other hand, seems almost needlessly provocative, which is an accomplishment considering Olbermann's presence.
GM Taking Page Out of Iacocca's Handbook
Posted by on 9.13.09 @ 5:10PM
Advertising in the NFL telecasts, General Motors features its new chairman Ed Whitacre promising buyers that the GM cars are superior to the competition. Or, in Iacocca speak, "If you can find a better car, buy it."
So what? Right? It's just a naked assertion that GM is better.
No, the new chairman makes a guarantee. If you don't like your GM car, you can return it over a period of 60 days.
Sounds like pretty big stuff to me. Love to hear from the TAS auto guru, Eric Peters, on this one.
Up But Still Down
Posted by on 9.13.09 @ 2:34PM
President Barack Obama is doing better in the approval rating game, but he's still behind. According to Rasmussen Reports:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 34% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -4. That's the President's best Approval Index rating in over a month (see trends).
It doesn't bode well for him if his well-delivered speech didn't move him into positive territory. He's almost certainly irretrievably lost the fiscal issue, and budget arguments will reassert themselves after the glow fades from his talk. On both health care and cap and trade, he loses as soon as the discussion goes from general (reform) to specific (tax and regulate).
Civil Rights Commission vs. DoJ
Posted by on 9.13.09 @ 9:48AM
Jennifer Rubin has great reporting here about how the U.S. Civil Rights Commission will keep the heat on the Department of Justice about the Black Panthers case. Good for the commission. This commission is superb. Of course, the coming clash should not be necessary in the first place. It is necessary only because Eric Holder, the Attorney Generally Corrupt, is in charge of trampling on the law for Obamite political purposes. Poetic justice would have a pre-dawn raid catch him in a closet while a big gun is being waved in his face supposedly for his own safety (a la Elian Gonzalez), but methinks that is unlikely. Still, the man is a menace. Anything the Civil Rights Commission can do to undermine his Reign or (deliberate) Error, in favor a return to lawfulness, would be most welcome.
Now, this is VERY strange: I just went to try to provide links to the Washington Times' groundbreaking coverage of the Panther case. EVERY other story at the Times site works fine, but when I try to call up ANY of the news stories or editorials on the Panther case -- and there are about ten of them -- I get an error message every time. An error message, that is, ONLY for the Panther stories, but for no other stories on the entire WashTimes site. I am no computer wiz, but this seems mighty suspicious to me. Somebody from outside the Wash Times is monkeying, or panthering, with its site, I would wager. ....
ACORN Founder Wade Rathke Wanted Terrorist Attack on Republican Convention to Succeed
Posted by on 9.13.09 @ 2:22AM
ACORN founder Wade Rathke didn't have a problem with domestic terrorists trying to kill delegates at the Republican Party's national convention in 2008, former radical community organizer Brandon Darby suggests at Andrew Breitbart's new website Big Government.
Darby, who got to see how the ACORN crime syndicate operates up close in New Orleans, writes that after he acknowledged that he helped the FBI foil a plot to attack the RNC convention in Minnesota Rathke denounced him on his blog. Darby writes
What does any of this have to do with ACORN? I wondered the same thing on January 31st of 2009 when I was reading an ACORN blog that is run by Wade Rathke (the man who claims credit for founding ACORN). He devoted an entire page to my work with the FBI. How did he describe the FBI's effort and success in preventing innocent Americans, local police and federal agents from being burned, maimed and/or possibly killed by firebombs? He wrote that it's "one thing to disagree, but it's a whole different thing to rat on folks." That is what ACORN's founder had to say about my role in stopping a bomb plot.
Indeed Rathke did write that. He described Darby as "an FBI-informer who had fingered some folks for mayhem designed for the Republican National Convention in 2008 in the Twin Cities." Added Rathke, "It seemed so, how should I say it, sixties?"
There it is in black and white. ACORN founder Wade Rathke resented Darby working with the authorities to disrupt a left-wing terrorist plot.
Here's another way to look at it: if you oppose ACORN's agenda, you deserve to be murdered.
- Tex Mess
- Two Weddings and a Demerol
- Michael Ledeen on Iran and Democracy