PERRspectives: July 2009 Archives

July 2009 Archives

	Birther Movement Just the Latest Southern Pathology In a jaw-dropping DaliyKos/Research 2000 poll released today, a stunning 58% of Republicans did not believe (28%) or were unsure (30%) that President Barack Obama was in fact born in the United States. To be sure, this is a Southern pathology, a region home to 69% of all birthers and the only part of the country to increase its Republican presidential vote in 2008. But this disturbing denial of the indisputable truth of Obama's U.S. citizenship is far from the... more Posted on July 31, 2009 \| Comments (6)

	GOP Turns to Scare Tactics, Double-Talk on Medicare In his latest fear-mongering on health care reform, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warned that Democrats are intent on "sticking it to seniors with cuts to Medicare." Of course, McConnell's statement isn't merely false, it is comically so. After all, even as the program marked its 44th anniversary this week, his Republican colleagues like Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Tom Price (R-GA) continued the GOP's decades-long war against "government's intrusion into medicine through Medicare." More laughable still, Mitch McConnell was among... more Posted on July 31, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	The Perpetual Republican War on Medicare Even as Republicans wage their new war against the latest efforts at health care reform, they are still fighting the last one. 44 years after the passage of Medicare, Republicans leaders like Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) are attacking Democratic proposals by blasting the popular health system for America's elderly. Sadly for the GOP, Medicare's proven success in reducing poverty among the elderly and its strong support from beneficiaries belies Price's claim that "nothing has had a greater negative effect on... more Posted on July 30, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Obama Fails Marketing 101 on Health Care Reform Seven years ago, President Bush's chief of staff Andy Card famously explained the administration's post-Labor Day campaign for war with Iraq, "'From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August." As cynical and deceitful as the ensuing six month marketing effort was, President Bush at least knew what he was selling. Sadly, when it comes to health care reform, Barack Obama hasn't even defined the product yet. Obama's failure to date in marketing 101 - know... more Posted on July 29, 2009 \| Comments (5)

	CBO Slams GOP Claim on Public Option and Employer Coverage To be sure, the preliminary analyses from Congressional Budget Office (CBO) have not always bolstered the Obama administration's case for health care reform. But on one vital issue - the impact of the so-called "public option" on employer-provided health care in the U.S.- the CBO numbers backed the administration's case and decimated another Republican talking point. Even as a bipartisan group of Senate Finance Committee members reportedly reached a deal that would remove the public option from its version of... more Posted on July 28, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	In Parting, Palin Decries Federal Largesse She Accepted for Alaska In her fiery parting shot in Fairbanks Sunday, now-ex Governor Sarah Palin resorted to all of her now trademark rhetorical tactics. Bashing the media while using the U.S. military as human shields, she told the television cameras, "How about, in honor of the American soldier, you quit makin' things up?" She warned listeners of "enslavement to big central government" and the need to "be wary of accepting government largesse." Of course, when it comes to largesse from American taxpayers, Sarah... more Posted on July 27, 2009 \| Comments (8)

	A Look Back at the Sarah Palin Hall of Shame As she prepared for her final day in the Alaska governor's office Sunday, Sarah Palin's last week on the job produced more of the same head-scratching that has defined her 10 months on the national stage. Despite her demonstrated ignorance of Alaska energy production during the 2008 campaign, Newt Gingrich Wednesday declared, "Her knowledge of the energy issue is very real." As for Palin herself, who in her mind-numbing resignation speech said "I am not wired" to have the "fun... more Posted on July 26, 2009 \| Comments (5)

	Family Health Insurance Premiums to Reach $22,000 by 2019 Whatever you think of the merits of President Obama's claim that the current American health care system is "unsustainable," the assertion is indisputable when it comes to the trajectory of insurance premiums. In a new analysis, the Center for American Progress forecasts the cost of the average family insurance policy to skyrocket from $13,000 today to over $22,000 by 2019. Pointing to the estimate from the actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services forecast that per capita medical... more Posted on July 25, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	The Republican 10 Point Plan for Health Care After Rep. Roy Blunt, leader of the supposed House GOP Health Care Solutions Group, suggested Thursday that Republicans won't offer a health care plan of their own, Minority Leader John Boehner insisted one was still in the works. Of course, the Republican plan as in 1993 is to stop health care reform at all costs to prevent an enduring Democratic majority. Bill Kristol, who told Republicans 16 years ago that there was "no crisis" justifying health care reform then, now... more Posted on July 24, 2009 \| Comments (6)

	Obama Boosts Global U.S. Standing with Publics, Investors Just 48 hours after Liz Cheney blasted Barack Obama as "a president who is reluctant to defend the nation overseas," two new polls revealed his success in rapidly augmenting American "soft power" worldwide. A Pew survey of two dozen nations found that "positive opinions about the United States have returned to higher levels not seen since before President George W. Bush took office in 2001." Meanwhile, a new Bloomberg poll found that 87% of financial analysts in Europe and Asia... more Posted on July 23, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Jindal Parrots Rove's 100 Million Health Care Ploy After going to ground following his calamitous prime-time response to President Obama's address to Congress in February, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has stepped back onto the national stage to insert himself in the health care debate. But while his Wall Street Journal op-ed claims to show "how to make health care reform bipartisan," Jindal's simply took a page from Karl Rove's playbook. That includes regurgitating Rove's charge that a public option will lead 100 million Americans to change health plans,... more Posted on July 22, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	McConnell, Bush and Delay: No One Goes Without Health Care Despite 50 million uninsured, another 25 million underinsured, a steep drop-off in employer-provided coverage, costs forecast to rise by 9% in 2010, 1 in 5 Americans delaying needed treatment and medical bills involved in over 60% of personal bankruptcies, Mitch McConnell pretends to fear reform which "denies, delays, or rations health care." As it turns out, the Senate Minority Leader like fellow Republican George W. Bush and Tom Delay believes no one goes without health care in America; they just... more Posted on July 20, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Shorter Mark Sanford: God is On My Side Politicians of both parties routinely paraphrase Abraham Lincoln's mantra that "my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side." But in fighting his own civil war to hold onto office, disgraced South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has turned Lincoln's maxim on its head. Proclaiming in an opinion piece today that He will make him "a better and more effective leader," Sanford in essence declared God is on his side. Sanford's... more Posted on July 19, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	ACU Shows Conservatives Can Be Bought - and Rented As it turns out, free market conservatives can be bought - and rented. Four years after disgraced Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham pled guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractor MZM, the venerable American Conservative Union sought millions from FedEx before backing rival UPS in a pay-to-play scheme that came to light this week. Following the scandals over the Bush administration's paid-for pundits Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher, the ACU showed right-wingers can apparently also be purchased wholesale.... more Posted on July 18, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	ABC's Tapper Slams Obama on Health Care Choice Fresh off revelations he offered disgraced South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford kid glove treatment in exchange for an exclusive interview, ABC's Jake Tapper has once again committed journalistic malpractice. The President's pledge to Americans that under his health care proposals "you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan" isn't literally true, Tapper insists, because employers could still change or drop coverage altogether for their workers. Of course, Tapper ignores that employer-provided health care is already disappearing at an... more Posted on July 17, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Sotomayor v. the GOP's Post-9/11 Constitution As the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor predictably devolved into mindless Republican regurgitation about wise Latinas, empathy, judicial activism and New Haven firefighters, one revealing exchange about the impact of the September 11 attacks was largely overlooked. The 9/11 tragedy, Sotomayor insisted, "doesn't change" the Constitution. As it turns out, her claim that "the Constitution is a timeless document" is a far cry from the philosophy of Jeff Sessions, John Cornyn and other Republicans who brushed off... more Posted on July 16, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Energy Non-Savant Palin Blasts Obama Plan in Op-Ed In her latest extreme makeover, soon-to-be former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin took to the pages the Washington Post to blast President Obama's cap-and-trade proposal soon to come to the Senate floor. Just days after her adolescent tit-for-tat with once and not future son-in-law Levi Johnston, Palin parroted the GOP "cap-and-tax" talking point while updating her "drill, baby drill" mantra. Of course, Americans can be forgiven for viewing Palin's screed as less than authoritative. After all, as she showed repeatedly during... more Posted on July 14, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	CBS News Features Bin Laden Attack Fan Scheuer On Sunday, CBS Evening News featured a segment discussing the twin controversies surrounding the secret CIA program Dick Cheney ordered withheld from Congress and new rumors Attorney General Holder may yet seek a special counsel to investigate some aspects of the Bush administration regime of detainee torture. As its expert on the American intelligence community, CBS trotted former CIA operative Michael Scheuer. That would be the same Michael Scheuer who just two weeks ago proclaimed President Obama doesn't care "about... more Posted on July 13, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	John McCain Revises His Epitaph As he launched his first presidential run nine years ago, John McCain in December 1999 said of the Keating Five scandal that nearly ended his career, "The fact is, it was the wrong thing to do, and it will be on my tombstone and deservedly so." But as he made clear on Meet the Press this morning, the man who pompously claimed he put "country first" has apparently revised his epitaph. The two-word inscription memorializing his political career now reads,... more Posted on July 12, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	John Yoo, the Right Man for the Job Among the least surprising revelations in the shocking Inspectors General report on President Bush's domestic surveillance programs are those concerning John Yoo. As it turns out, in justifying the NSA's warrantless wiretapping of Americans beginning in 2001 the Bush administration relied solely on the same legal architect behnid the President's regime of detainee torture. And in Yoo, the White House found the one man willing to claim publicly that the FISA law governing such electronic surveillance was an unconstitutional infringement... more Posted on July 11, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Rick Santorum and the Sanctity of John Ensign's Marriage Rick Santorum may no longer a Senator, but he remains an endless source of amusement - and hypocrisy. In 2002, the devout Catholic blamed the shocking clergy sex abuse scandal consuming his church on Boston's supposed "political and cultural liberalism." Warning of the slippery slope to "man-on-dog" nuptials to be triggered by same-sex unions, Santorum dedicated (and titled) a chapter of his 2004 book to protecting "the Sanctity of Marriage." As it turns out, protecting fellow Republican John Ensign may... more Posted on July 10, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	USA Today Misleads on Politics of Stimulus Spending To Disraeli's famous line that "there are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics," you can add a fourth: USA Today. In an article suggestively titled, "Billions in aid go to areas that backed Obama in '08," the paper implied the White House steered stimulus funds to counties that voted for the President. But as USA Today acknowledges, the distribution of the $17 billion in local funding (a small fraction of the overall $787 billion recovery package) is... more Posted on July 9, 2009 \| Comments (3)

	Honduras Crisis Recalls Bush Support for Chavez Coup On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton turned to Costa Rican President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Arias to mediate the crisis in Honduras. But even as President Obama from Moscow announced, "America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies," Republicans in Washington readied a resolution supporting the coup. If that line from the supposedly pro-democracy GOP sounds familiar, it should. Back in 2002, the Bush administration backed... more Posted on July 8, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Sarah Palin's Greatest Hits Attempting the political equivalent of relaunching the Hindenburg, soon-to-be former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin hosted ABC, Fox News, CNN, Time, the AP and other media outlets while fishing Tuesday. But even as she proclaimed of her abrupt resignation, "politically speaking, if I die, I die," Palin reminded Americans once again why she so deserves that fate. By claiming the nonexistent "Department of Law" in Washington would protect her from the kind of ethics woes she encountered in Alaska, Palin demonstrated... more Posted on July 7, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	President McCain in Russia In case there was any lingering doubt, President Obama's trip to Russia should remind Americans how fortunate they are not to have placed John McCain in the White House. In Moscow on the eve of the G-8 summit, Obama has helped ratchet down tensions with Russia while securing preliminary agreements on mutual cuts to nuclear warheads and delivery systems, as well as getting the green light to use Russian territory to resupply U.S. forces in Afghanistan. For his part, just... more Posted on July 6, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	After Calling Hillary Clinton a Whiner, Palin Blasts Media's "Different Standard" One day after her rambling resignation speech in Wasilla, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was a no-show for July 4th events in her state. But that didn't stop her from issuing yet another statement on Facebook, attacking the media for the "different standard [it] applies for the decisions I make." As it turns out, it is Sarah Palin who is holding herself to a different standard; in March 2008, she slammed Hillary Clinton for whining about her own treatment at the... more Posted on July 5, 2009 \| Comments (2)

	Palin's Lawyer Threatens to Sue Bloggers, Media During her now 10 month-long media victimization campaign, Sarah Palin has time and again displayed her fundamental misunderstanding of the First Amendment and Americans' free speech rights. Now as she prepares to exit the Alaska Governor's mansion, her confusion - and thin skin - is again on display. On the Fourth of July of all days, Palin's lawyer Thomas Van Flein issued a warning that his client would bring defamation claims against bloggers and media alike speculating on rumors of... more Posted on July 5, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Palin, Sanford and Dereliction of Duty Like the proverbial broken clock, even Charles Krauthammer gets it right occasionally, if not twice a day. On Thursday, Krauthammer dismissed Governor Sarah Palin 24 hours before her surprise resignation as "not a serious candidate for the presidency." That conclusion followed his recent broadside against South Carolina's Mark Sanford for "dereliction of duty" in going AWOL over his Argentinean mistress. As her jaw-dropping rationalizing about her lame duck status revealed, that same charge applies to Palin as well. In her... more Posted on July 4, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	DOJ Confirms Cheney's Key Role in CIA Leak Case The Obama administration again this week moved to protect former Vice President Dick Cheney's 2004 interview with the FBI over the outing of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame. But in so doing, the Justice Department's court filing only served to confirm Cheney's central role in guiding the Bush White House response to - and retaliation against - Plame's husband, Ambassador Joseph Wilson. As the Washington Post reported, a list of what Cheney discussed with prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is documented in... more Posted on July 3, 2009 \| Comments (0)

	Moral Paragons Bennett, Giuliani Weigh In on Sanford God may work in mysterious ways, but He has nothing on today's Republican Party. As the dueling scandals of John Ensign and Mark Sanford wash away the last vestiges of the GOP's long-discredited claim to uphold "moral values," gambling addict William Bennett and the thrice-married Rudy Giuliani weighed in on the imbroglio. Bennett, the former Education Secretary turned conservative columnist and radio host, used his perch at CNN to announce that Governor Sanford is "embarrassing himself": "I know Mark Sanford.... more Posted on July 2, 2009 \| Comments (1)

	Cheney: Iraq Insurgency Not in Last Throes After All President Obama on Tuesday marked the historic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq's cities by noting, "The Iraqi people are rightly treating this day as a cause for celebration." Alas, for former Vice President Dick Cheney, not so much. Cheney, who four years ago declared the insurgency in its "last throes," on Monday warned of new attacks. Of course, back in December, he praised President Bush for signing the very status of forces agreement that mandated the American pullback this... more Posted on July 1, 2009 \| Comments (1)