Vol. 09 No. 32
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THE FOUNDATION
"Can you then consent to be the only sufferers by this revolution, and retiring from the field, grow old in poverty, wretchedness and contempt? Can you consent to wade through the vile mire of dependency, and owe the miserable remnant of that life to charity, which has hitherto been spent in honor? If you can -- GO -- and carry with you the jest of Tories and scorn of Whigs -- the ridicule, and what is worse, the pity of the world. Go, starve, and be forgotten!" --George Washington
GOVERNMENT & POLITICS
'I'm as Mad as Hell, and I'm Not Gonna Take This Anymore!'
That famous line from the 1976 movie "Network" sums up the sentiment of many Americans as the health care debate continued to roar across the fruited plain. More town hall meetings featured citizens angry over proposed government expansion, leaving many congressmen not knowing quite how to handle the reaction. It's clear that many Americans have simply had enough.
FAIL: ObamaCare supporters pretend to be opponents
That doesn't mean that Democrats were convinced to abandon their nefarious scheme. Instead, when their own constituents dared to question the infinite wisdom of the carriers of Potomac Fever, Democrat regulars put into practice the words of Obama administration lackey Jim Messina: "If [we] get hit, we will punch back twice as hard." In other words, don't worry about winning the debate; just try to discredit the opposition.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her left-hand man, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), started with an op-ed in USA Today declaring, "These [town hall meeting] disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views -- but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American. Drowning out the facts is how we failed at this task for decades." This type of "thinking" -- the transfer of one's own emotions or practices onto others -- is called projection. The Left has long since perfected the art of "drowning out" both opposing views and the facts, while blaming Republicans for doing the same thing.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) put out a call to action: "Opponents of reform are organizing counter-demonstrators to speak at ... several congressional town halls on the issue to defend the status quo. It is critical that our members with real, personal stories about the need for access to quality, affordable care come out in strong numbers to drown out their voices." The SEIU has since removed the words "drown out," but the message is clear -- silence the opposition.
Last week, the administration encouraged Americans who support "reform" to rat on those who are spreading "fishy misinformation," while Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) denounced the administration's opponents as shills of the insurance companies. This week, the Left is painting town hall protestors as racists. "I think 45 to 65 percent of the people who appear at these groups are people who will never be comfortable with the idea of a black president," said Cynthia Tucker, editorial page editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. MSNBC's Carlos Watson worried that "the word socialist ... is becoming the new N-word." And Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein called them "political terrorists" who are "poisoning the political well" and "willing to say or do anything to prevent" ObamaCare.
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) added, "[T]he last time I had to confront something like this was when I voted for the civil rights bill and my opponent voted against it. At that time, we had a lot of Ku Klux Klan folks and white supremacists and folks in white sheets and other things running around causing trouble." How convenient, then, that one of his supporters showed up at a meeting with an Obama-as-Hitler sign to "illustrate" the opposition's "hate."
Similar signs were made by LaRouche PAC, an organization run by long-time Socialist Workers Party member and seven-time Democrat presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche. Rep. David Scott (D-GA) had a swastika painted on his office sign after a heated exchange at a meeting. Talk about "fishy." What are the odds that the swastika wasn't painted by an opponent? Pretty good, given the Left's history of perpetrating similar hoaxes. Not that comparisons with the National Socialists of Germany aren't appropriate -- we made one last week -- and the Left certainly has done its best to invite the unflattering comparison. After all, it was Pelosi herself who first introduced the word "swastika" to the debate.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is so confident in the health care bill that he will conduct town hall meetings only by phone. And Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) had such esteem for her constituents that she talked to someone else on her cell phone while questions were being asked by meeting participants.
In the end, while Sen. Benedict Arlen Specter dismisses protestors as not "representative of America," here in our humble shop, we suspect that this horde of hysterical hypocrites is in fact not representative of America.
OBAMA LIED!!!
"I have not said that I was a 'single-payer' supporter." --President Barack Obama at a town hall meeting this week
"I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal health care program." --Obama in 2003
OBAMA LIED!!! Part II
"We have the AARP on board because they know this is a good deal for our seniors. ... AARP would not be endorsing a bill if it was undermining Medicare, okay?" --Barack Obama
Scratch that. AARP Chief Operating Officer Tom Nelson issued a statement saying, "While the President was correct that AARP will not endorse a health care reform bill that would reduce Medicare benefits, indications that we have endorsed any of the major health care reform bills currently under consideration in Congress are inaccurate."
This Week's 'Braying Jackass' Award
"UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? It's the Post Office that's always having problems." --Barack Obama, in a rare moment of truth-telling, arguing that a public option won't force private insurance out of business
So let's see: Government-run health care = the Post Office. And this is supposed to make us feel good about the idea?
The 'Death Panel'
Section 1233 of H.R. 3200, the health care bill, would give financial incentives to doctors to give Medicare patients end-of-life counseling every five years. Yet federal law prohibits Medicare from reimbursing for services "the purpose of which is to cause, or assist in causing," suicide, euthanasia or mercy killing. So why the ruckus over the section? Washington Post columnist Charles Lane explains, "Section 1233 ... addresses compassionate goals in disconcerting proximity to fiscal ones. Supporters protest that they're just trying to facilitate choice -- even if patients opt for expensive life-prolonging care. I think they protest too much: If it's all about obviating suffering, emotional or physical, what's it doing in a measure to 'bend the curve' on health-care costs?"
The consultations are not mandatory, but the financial incentive for doctors makes them not entirely voluntary, either. To some extent, Section 1233 also prescribes the content of the consultation. The doctor "shall" discuss such things as "advanced care planning, including key questions and considerations, important steps, and suggested people to talk to," "living wills and durable powers of attorney," and "a list of national and State-specific resources to assist consumers and their families." Asks Lane, "Who belongs on 'a list' of helpful 'resources'? The Roman Catholic Church? Jack Kevorkian?"
Commander and Chief: Dr. Medicine Crow -- Obama's new medicine man?
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin warned of a "death panel" and she may be on to something. As Barack Obama himself enlightened, toward the end of life, tough decisions have to be made, and the government can help: "At least we can let doctors know and [the patient] know that, you know what, maybe this isn't going to help. Maybe you're better off, uhhh, not having the surgery but taking, uh, the painkiller." Somehow, that's not comforting. When Obama says "we," he almost always means "the government." The government telling the doctor and patient that the painkiller is better than the surgery sure sounds like a death panel to us.
Rush Limbaugh relayed the story of an Oregon woman who was denied a lifesaving medication for her cancer by OregonCare. The state did, however, in the same communication, assure her that it would pay to facilitate her death.
Furthermore, Obama health care adviser Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, wrote, "When the worse-off can benefit only slightly while better-off people could benefit greatly, allocating to the better-off is often justifiable." Perhaps decided by a panel?
Due to the negative publicity, the Senate Finance Committee announced Thursday that the end-of-life consultation provision will be removed from its version of the bill, but if there is any doubt as to liberals' intention to introduce socialized medicine to America with all of its ugly consequences, Ronald Reagan put those doubts to rest in one particular radio broadcast.
This Week's 'Alpha Jackass' Award
"The rumor that's been circulating a lot lately is this idea that somehow the House of Representatives voted for 'death panels' that will basically pull the plug on grandma because we've decided that we don't -- it's too expensive to let her live anymore. (Laughter.)" --New York Times transcript, including the crowd's reaction, of Barack Obama yukking it up about the "death panels"
On Cross-Examination
"President Obama is attempting to transmogrify America's entire medical system. It is literally a matter of life and death. If Obama and his supporters find mirth in the thought of 'pulling the plug on grandma,' do you trust them anywhere near your health care?" --Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto
News From the Swamp: Deficit Continues to Climb
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced that the federal budget deficit reached $1.3 trillion in July after having grown $181 billion last month alone. That puts the deficit on track to hit the projected $1.8 trillion for fiscal year 2009 that ends Sept. 30. Individual and corporate tax receipts are partially to blame, having fallen 17 percent since this point last year, thanks in large part to the recession. Increased government spending has been the heavy hitter, though. The billions of dollars of taxpayer money thrown at banks, the automobile industry, unemployment and the ever-growing Medicare and Medicaid entitlements have added $530 billion to this year's budget, a 21 percent increase over last year. Congress and the White House appear undisturbed by this news, however. Instead of cutting spending, the Democrats want to add a $1 trillion health care plan to our liabilities.
The Treasury Department's answer to handling the debt is not to reduce spending but to raise the national debt ceiling above its current $12.1 trillion. Sure, why not? Secretary Timothy Geithner suggested that Congress should raise the limit "so that citizens and investors here and around the world can remain [get this] confident that the United States will always meet its obligations." Geithner, who knows a thing or two about avoiding tax obligations, did not explain just how ignoring government debt limits in order to push more frivolous spending is supposed to instill confidence in the American economy.
Congress Bows to Pressure on Jet Purchase
House leaders thought better of their plan to purchase eight jets for the Air Force at a total of $550 million after encountering opposition from the Pentagon, House Republicans and a bipartisan group of senators. Apparently, they were reminded of their indignation at auto executives' use of much cheaper private jets. The Department of Defense originally requested four planes at a cost of $220 million, but the House Appropriations Committee doubled the order. The provision was buried in the $636 billion Defense appropriations bill that passed the House 400-30. Upon hearing the news of the oversized jet order, the Pentagon publicly stated that it did not need or want that many jets.
Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), John McCain (R-AZ), Jack Reed (D-RI), Richard Burr (R-NC), Christopher Bond (R-MO) and John Thune (R-SD) all voiced opposition to the proposal and planned to oppose funding. House Democrats eventually caved and the order was reduced to the original request. It looks like Washington can make a good decision when it tries; it just tries far too seldom.
From the Left: Charges Dismissed in Countrywide Probe
After a year-long investigation into Countrywide Financial mortgage company, the Senate Ethics Committee -- surprise! -- cleared two Democrats of using their positions to obtain special deals. Senators Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Kent Conrad of North Dakota allegedly received sweetheart deals and preferential treatment in refinancing their homes through the lender Countrywide. While the complaints were dismissed, the pair were chastised and told that they should have "exercised more vigilance in [their] dealings with Countrywide." Democrats, of course, are never guilty; sometimes they're just "careless" about the appearance of impropriety.
But punishment comes in other ways too. The Senate investigation found that the main benefits to having a "Friend of Angelo" (Mozilo, former Countrywide CEO) loan were "quicker, more efficient loan processing and some discounts" but also noted that these loans were "not the best deals ... available at Countrywide or the market at large."
It appears then that Dodd and Conrad were only exercising typical government oversight on their own personal financial matters. We can thank the "Friends of Harry" program in the Senate for declaring them "innocent."
New! Left v. Right Poster
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Martinez Is Out, So Who's In?
In other Senate news, GOP ranks thinned slightly when Florida Sen. Mel Martinez delivered a surprise resignation last week, bringing an end to his tenure more than a year early. Martinez plans on returning to Florida once his successor is named.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is already running for Martinez's seat in 2010 and leads former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio in fundraising by a large margin. As governor, Crist could appoint himself to the Senate, but it's widely expected that he will bypass the easy route as he would have to leave the governor's chair prior to the expiration of his term, and self-appointment is risky in and of itself. Instead, Crist is expected to appoint a placeholder who would have no interest in staying once the remaining 16 months of Martinez's term expire.
The Florida Senate race is noteworthy as another conservative vs. moderate battle. While Rubio is considered an underdog, Crist upset many conservatives by endorsing John McCain days before the state's January 2008 primary and allowing McCain's foundering campaign to gather steam. So Florida Republicans will be watching this replacement process closely and the placeholder could affect a race in which he or she doesn't even participate.
Listening Tour Going Nowhere
It's hard to believe that just three months ago a group of Republican leaders formed a group called the National Council for a New America. In this effort to "rebrand" the GOP, the shiny new group held their first event among the people at a pizza parlor -- just outside the nation's capital in Arlington, Virginia.
Of course, the people of Arlington deserve a chance for input on national affairs, but the envisioned "listening tour" NCNA spoke about putting on hasn't yet proceeded outside the Beltway. Instead, the group formed by Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) has run into a number of snags and questions about whether ethics rules prohibiting Congress members from using their offices for explicitly political purposes apply to the NCNA. The Democrats would never transgress ethics in such a manner.
In the meantime, Americans are speaking loud and clear to their representatives without the assistance of Cantor's group -- or any other political entity for that matter. Seems to us that the NCNA could have saved itself the trouble of having a media event to kick off a "listening tour" and just opened its ears to those places where the people are already saying what they want. Perhaps listening to conservative America is not the glamorous duty the Beltway insiders are accustomed to, but it certainly would do far better for the GOP's hopes of regaining power this century.
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