Democrats Health Care Dirty Tricks

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'Cash for Clunkers' Much Greater Success Than Originally Reported

The "Cash for Clunkers" program seems to be a favorite whipping boy for those who cite that government doesn't know how to run any type of program. Well, looks like the anti-government crowd is going to have to find something else to beat up now:

Search online for "Cash for Clunkers," and here's one thing you'll find: stories about its negligible overall impact on the economy.

Wrong, says Maritz Automotive Research Group. The Toledo, Ohio, independent automotive research company recently surveyed participants in last summer’s federal program designed to stimulate new-car sales and get gas-guzzlers off the road. On Tuesday, the company shared its results.

One key finding: 90 percent of those participating in Cash for Clunkers said they would not otherwise have bought a new car. Link

According to federal government data, 677,000 purchases were made through Cash for Clunkers from late July through August. Maritz’s research showed that 542,000 were incremental new car or truck sales, meaning those purchases would not have occurred without the incentives. Previous estimates by industry analysts put the incremental sales figure between 125,000 and 346,00.

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“If he was a Republican, we would hear a never-ending drumbeat of news stories about markets voting in favor of the president”

Let's repeat this quote again in its full context so that it can sink in:

“We’ve had a phenomenal run in asset classes across the board,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist for Miller Tabak & Co. in New York. “If he was a Republican, we would hear a never-ending drumbeat of news stories about markets voting in favor of the president.” Link

This quote comes from an article from Bloomberg.com, which is titled "Obama Defies Pessimists as Rising Economy Converges With Stocks." The article goes on to cite some pretty impressive economic accomplishments that have occurred since President Obama took office:

One year after U.S stocks hit their post-financial-crisis low on March 9, 2009, the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has risen more than 68 percent, and it’s up more than 41 percent since Obama took office. Credit spreads have narrowed. Commodity prices have surged. Housing prices have stabilized.

The economy has also strengthened beyond expectations at the time Obama took office. The gross domestic product grew at a 5.9 percent annual pace in the fourth quarter, compared with a median forecast of 2.0 percent in a Bloomberg survey of economists a week before Obama’s Jan. 20, 2009, inauguration. The median forecast for GDP growth this year is 3.0 percent, according to Bloomberg’s February survey of economists, versus 2.1 percent for 2010 in the survey taken 13 months earlier.

What makes this article even more remarkable is that it flies in the face of two myths that continue to be perpetuated — President Obama has not done a good job handling the economy and the media has a liberal bias. If Obama was doing a poor job handling the economy, I'd be curious what a good job would look like. And if the media had a liberal bias, why doesn't anyone know about these accomplishments?

Status Quo of Health Care is Fine, Right?

I don't think many believe this, but considering the number of people in Congress who are willing to vote against health care (all Republicans and even a few Democrats), they must obviously think so. Because we have reached the point where there are only two choices — pass the health care bills that currently exist, or stay with the status quo. Here is what the status quo looks like compared to other industrialized countries:

(Reuters) "The United States spends more on healthcare than any other country in the world but has higher rates of infant mortality, diabetes and other ills than many other developed countries."

Ohio Republicans Crack Birther Jokes When Introducing Senate Candidate Rob Portman

Once again proving Republicans are children, ignorant and simply unfit to govern our country, two Ohio Republicans this past weekend made birther jokes questioning President Obama's citizenship status at a local fundraising dinner starring Senate candidate and former Bush administration official Rob Portman.

Here is the first joke from former state Rep. Jim Buchy:

"Lincoln was a skinny lawyer. Obama is a skinny lawyer. Lincoln was a Republican. Obama is a skinny lawyer. Lincoln was highly respected. Obama is a skinny lawyer. Lincoln was born in the United States. Obama is a skinny lawyer."

Joke number two from State Rep. James Zehringer:

"Rob Portman is an American lawyer. That's the first sentence [on his Wikipedia page]. That's something our president can't say,"

The point here is that this is all Republicans have to offer. Un-American, grade-school jokes that aren't funny. The jokes themselves aren't even that offensive. What is offensive is that nearly half of Americans want to put these people back in power.

Todd & Sarah Palin's Snowmobile Sponsored by Socialist Dictator

This is kind of funny. The snowmobile that Todd Palin competes with, and the one that Sarah Palin features in a commercial about the Iditarod, is sponsored by Mystik Lubricants, which is owned by Citgo, the company of the socialist dictator from Venezuela Hugo Chavez.

Palin & Family Used Canadian "Socialized" Medicine

Granted, Sarah Palin was just a child when her family would, in her words, "zoom over the border, get health care from Canada." But considering her blistering attacks of the health care bills in Congress as a government takeover (which it isn't close to being), this is pretty funny. And the thing is, she doesn't distance herself from her family doing this. She jokes about it:

"My first five years of life we spent in Skagway, Alaska, right there by Whitehorse. Believe it or not -- this was in the '60s -- we used to hustle on over the border for health care that we would receive in Whitehorse. I remember my brother, he burned his ankle in some little kid accident thing and my parents had to put him on a train and rush him over to Whitehorse and I think, isn't that kind of ironic now. Zooming over the border, getting health care from Canada." Link

Poll: Obama Better Than Bush — On National Security And Terrorism

This should be obvious to anyone who has closely followed what President Obama has done since taking office, compared to what Bush/Cheney didn't do for eight years. But the combination of Republicans claiming they are tough on terrorism, the media echoing this assumption, and many Democrats being too afraid to say otherwise are all preventing the good work of the Obama administration and the military over the last year. Fortunately, more people than not are recognizing the positive changes:

When it comes to national security, do you think President Obama is doing better, worse, or about the same as President George W. Bush?

Total better: 39
Total worse: 31

And:

When it comes to combating terrorism and handling terrorism suspects, do you think President Obama is doing better, worse, or about the same as President George W. Bush?

Total better: 38
Total worse: 31

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GOP Rep Runs Taxpayer-Funded Campaign-Style Ads On 'Out Of Control Spending'

While this Republican member of the House is from Illinois, the story is simply to good to pass up. It summarizes the breathtaking hypocrisy that is the modern Republican party.

Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) is running campaign-style Web ads for a "tele-town hall" on "out of control spending" that are financed by taxpayer dollars -- and the ads were OKed as permissible under House rules.

In short, he's using tax funds to complain about over-spending of tax funds.

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Republicans Help Define New Political "Lexicon"

Considering Republicans have now reversed their position on almost every matter of governing since it became the minority party, it is important that everyone, including the so-called liberal media, understand the new political "lexicon" that we must operate under. Steve Benen of the Washington Monthly has a nice summary of these changes:

Josh Marshall had a very short item the other day that I've been meaning to mention. He was helping readers understand the new political "lexicon."

"Jamming it through": to vote on a bill.

It got me thinking about how we should all update our understandings of political terms that had fairly straightforward definitions up until fairly recently.

"Obstructionism," for example, only refers to Democratic minorities opposing Republican proposals.

"Tyranny" is found when an elected Democratic majority passes legislation that Republicans don't like.

"Reconciliation" describes a Senate process that Republicans are allowed to use to overcome Democratic "obstructionism."

"Terrorism" refers to acts of political violence committed by people who aren't white guys.

"Bipartisanship" is found when Democrats agree to pass Republican legislation.

"Big government" describes a dangerous phenomenon to be avoided, except in cases relating to reproductive rights or gays.

"Treason" refers to Democrats criticizing a Republican administration during a war.

"Patriotism" refers to Republicans criticizing a Democratic administration during a war.

"Fiscal responsibility" is a national priority related to keeping our deficit in check, which only applies when Republicans are in the minority.

"Parliamentarian" is a seemingly independent official on the Hill who Senate Republicans are allowed to fire when the GOP disapproves of his/her rulings.

Profile of Democratic House Members That Voted Against Health Care Bill

The New York Times put together a very handy chart showing the 39 Democrats in the House who voted against the health care bill in November. It shows the margin they won their last election, which presidential candidate won their district and by how much, and the percentage of non-elderly uninsured in their district. Here is a screen shot of part of that chart, which includes our congressman John Boccieri (OH16):

Wayne County Young Republicans' "Childish" Event

Since they are the Wayne County Young Republicans, we'll cut them a little bit of slack, but an event they are hosting on March 16, 2010, is childish even for a "young" political group. They are hosting a "Green but not enviro-weenie green" Social.

What this social is about is unclear, but the title of the event is obviously intended to be a sarcastic jab at those who care about the environment. Or in other words, those that actually care about something outside themselves.

Putting aside for a moment that global warming is a scientific fact and that a new study says there is a 95% chance that man is responsible for the warming, is this all that Republicans have? Mocking an idea that everyone should embrace? Even if you are for some reason not convinced there is a global environmental crisis on our hands, you are presented with two options:

1) Take a chance that what humans do has no impact on the earth, and if you turn out to be wrong, the only habitable place that we know of in the universe is forever damaged.

2) Take logical steps that are proven to at least mitigate the problem. If the problem proves to be natural, then all the better. But if we are the problem, we would have taken steps to stop a catastrophe that does not allow second chances.

The second option makes a heck of a lot more sense than option one. It's like your doctor telling you to change your diet to prevent a heart attack, but you ignore it, since you believe your heart condition is purely a result of natural causes and will not result in any problems. Or you can change your eating habits to lessen the chances of a heart attack. Maybe changing the diet won't do anything. But you sure are going to try, aren't you?

To get a sense of which organizations believe in the danger of human-caused climate change and which don't, review this list.

Bachmann Learns To Support The Census

Last year, a darling of the Tea Party movement, Michelle Bachmann, railed against the census. Not only would she not completely fill out the census, but she had this to say about it:

"Take this into consideration. If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the Census Bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations at the request of President Roosevelt, and that's how the Japanese were rounded up and put into the internment camps," said Bachmann. "I'm not saying that that's what the Administration is planning to do, but I am saying that private personal information that was given to the Census Bureau in the 1940s was used against Americans to round them up, in a violation of their constitutional rights, and put the Japanese in internment camps." Link

Move ahead to this year, and now Bachmann voted Yes on a resolution today to encourage Americans to participate in the Census, and promote March 2010 as "Census Awareness Month."

Her communication director had this to say: "We are where we are right now in 2010, and she hopes the population is counted accurately as the resolution calls for." Link

Ohio Leads the Nation in New and Expanded Business Facility Investment

Governor Ted Strickland, Lt. Governor Lee Fisher, and Ohio Department of Development Director Lisa Patt-McDaniel today joined members of Ohio's business and economic development communities to announce that the State of Ohio has been awarded Site Selection magazine's fourth consecutive Governor's Cup Award for leading the nation in new and expanded facilities in 2009.

The March edition of the magazine highlights the award, Ohio's economic accomplishments, and the numerous Ohio cities around the state as the best in the country in their respective categories.

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Another Example of the Myth of the Liberal Media

I'll let this post from the Booman Tribune say it all about the myth that is the so-called liberal media bias:

You can tell that the media is liberal by looking at the Sunday morning political talk show lineups. On Face the Nation, Lindsey Graham is balanced by Evan Bayh. On Meet the Press, Orrin Hatch is balanced by Harold Ford. On This Week, Mitch McConnell is balanced by no one. On Fox News Sunday, Mitt Romney is balanced by no one. On State of the Union, Tom DeLay is balanced out by Chris Van Hollen and Brian Baird. Obviously, that means there are no progressives and, aside from Van Hollen, no mainstream Democrats. It's extreme right-wingers matched up against the most 'centrist' Democrats in the business. The only person on any of these shows other than Van Hollen who will wholeheartedly defend the president's health care plan is Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. That's how they game the system against us.

The Republicans think that the media is liberal because the reporters believe in things like global warming and the value of the United Nations and the theories of evolution and plate tectonics. But, just because the media is educated and cares about world opinion doesn't mean that they are helpful to liberal causes like avoiding senseless wars or extending health care accessibility to 30 million Americans. They're not helpful. If they were, they'd have invited Raul Grijalva and Sheldon Whitehouse on their shows instead of Harold Ford and Evan Bayh. Link