Mitch gets fact-checked

Back in June, Mitch McConnell was busy scaremongering over health reform on the Senate floor:

Take the case of Shona Holmes, a Canadian citizen who was told by the bureaucrats running the health care system in that country that she’d have to wait six months... six months to see a specialist to treat her brain tumor. Here’s how Shona described her plight: "if I'd relied on my government, I'd be dead."

Today the Associated Press exposed Mitch's dishonesty about Shona Holmes:

She never had cancer — a fact routinely omitted by the advocates who have seized on her case. Technically, she didn't have a tumor, either.

...The Mayo Clinic diagnosed Holmes with Rathke's cleft cyst, which the clinic describes as a rare fluid-filled sac that grows near the pituitary gland near the base of the brain and can cause hormone and vision problems over time. The condition is not known to be fatal and the clinic, in trumpeting her treatment, makes no claim that her life was in danger.

Republican Leader Repeats False Claim AGAIN

The DCCC issued this press release today:

Earlier today, House Republican Leader John Boehner again repeated a false talking point when he tried to claim Cap and Trade will cost the average family $1,700 a year. Boehner continues to stubbornly repeat this bogus claim even though the independent, non-partisan FactCheck.org called him out for using these incorrect numbers on Meet the Press. [Fact Check.org, 9/22/09]. Additionally, the non-partisan independent fact checker Politifact published a report calling this claim "false."

As Politifact made clear, the statement "that households will pay $1,761 in new taxes every year is based on a blogger's incorrect assumptions and overly simple math. The estimate does not account for revenue that will be returned to consumers in the form of rebates and other efficiency measures. Furthermore, the number is based on old numbers; the Treasury estimate was written on the premise that all permits would be sold, which, ultimately, is not the form that the Waxman-Markey legislation has taken. Finally, both Alexander and McCullagh portray money raised by selling these permits as a tax. We rate Alexander's claim False." [Politifact, 9/18/09]

BACKGROUND

• Republican Leader Boehner: "Democrats in Washington had egg on their faces when the Obama Administration's own estimates found that the national energy tax will cost families an extra $1,700 per year." [Republican Leader Boehner Statement, 9/30/09]



• Republican Leader Boehner: "Earlier today, the President addressed a United Nations ‘Climate Change Summit' in New York and touted a variation on the Democrats' national energy tax - legislation that, according to the Administration's own estimates, will cost families an average of $1,700 a year in higher costs." [Republican Leader Boehner Statement, 9/22/09]



• Republican Leader Boehner: "It's a cap and trade system, this big giant tax on the American people that this week, we just find out, the Treasury Department said will cost the average family $1,700 per year." [Meet the Press, 9/20/09]

McConnell's cry for freedom

Today's Herald-Leader includes this must-read editorial about Mitch McConnell:

McConnell was steamed [last week] because his hometown insurance giant, Humana, was ordered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to cease sending mailers to its Medicare customers warning of benefit cuts if Congress enacts proposed health care reforms.

...It's stirring, isn't it? Spine-tingling, really, to hear our senior senator defend the free speech rights of a corporation whose foundation and founder have pledged $1.5 million to his center at the University of Louisville. Humana's PAC and employees also constitute McConnell's seventh-largest contributor.

But then you'd expect nothing less from the man who patented the principle that "money is speech" and who has collected more than $3.2 million from health care interests over the last 20 years.

Republican Scare-Mongering

Cassandras of Climate

Today's column by Paul Krugman is great:

For three decades the dominant political ideology in America has extolled private enterprise and denigrated government, but climate change is a problem that can only be addressed through government action. And rather than concede the limits of their philosophy, many on the right have chosen to deny that the problem exists.

So here we are, with the greatest challenge facing mankind on the back burner, at best, as a policy issue. I’m not, by the way, saying that the Obama administration was wrong to push health care first. It was necessary to show voters a tangible achievement before next November. But climate change legislation had better be next.

And as I pointed out in my last column, we can afford to do this. Even as climate modelers have been reaching consensus on the view that the threat is worse than we realized, economic modelers have been reaching consensus on the view that the costs of emission control are lower than many feared.

Editorial comic roundup

(Click for larger image)

President Obama's weekly address

The President recaps the progress made during the intensive discussions with world leaders at the G-20 Summit.

Governor Beshear's weekly address

Click here for a version of this video with closed captioning for the hearing impaired.

Video: Bunning sleeping on the job

Yesterday it was reported that our own Jim Bunning was caught napping on the job. We now have video of it:

Bunning falls asleep during health care bill mark-up

Think Progress has the story:

Yesterday during the Senate Finance Committee’s mark-up of chairman Max Baucus’ (D-MT) health care bill, Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) chastised the whole operation. “I do not support a government takeover of the health-care system,” Bunning complained, saying the bill “confiscates more money from the taxpayers” and “tramples on American freedom and liberties.” Soon after, Bunning decided to take a little nap:

During opening remarks at the Senate Finance Committee session, the Kentucky Republican appeared fast asleep for several minutes, with his head cocked to the side and his eyes closed, before a staffer roused him. Bunning’s head was propped in his hand and his mouth was slightly open while he slept, several witnesses told HOH.

The staffer nudged his shoulder to wake him once it became clear that members of the audience had noticed the snoozing Senator (it was apparently the giggling from the crowd that tipped the staffer off).

Protect Insurance Companies PSA

Here's a great new public service announcement from Funny or Die:

Obama on 'Letterman'

President Obama appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman last night. Here's a clip:

GOP busted for misleading mailer

The Huffington Post has the story:

Senate Republicans are mailing out a "survey" insinuating that the president's health care reform agenda includes the creation of a lottery system to determine who gets medical treatment and a quota system that based on race and age.

...All of these descriptions are either intentionally misleading or deeply contested interpretations of the health care provisions put forth by Democrats. And while the name and NRSC title -- "Chairman" -- of Senator John Cornyn, (R-Texas) is listed in the header, there is no mention of the fact that he's a Republican. Only in the sixth paragraph is it revealed that "Republican leadership of the United States Senate" commissioned the survey.

...Mailers such as these are standard fare in legislative and political battles, certainly those as hotly contested as the current health care debate. But recently they seem to be the preferred practice of Republican campaign committees. Several weeks ago, the Republican National Committee was roundly criticized for sending out a mailer which erroneously suggested that President Obama's health care proposal would discriminate against Republicans.

Obama interviews

In case you missed President Obama on this morning's talk shows, here's a roundup. Just click the links below to view each interview.

ABC's This Week

NBC's Meet the Press

CBS's Face the Nation

CNN's State of the Union

President Obama's weekly address

With the next G20 Summit approaching in Pittsburgh, the President goes over the progress in stemming a global economic crisis.

'Fired Up, Ready to Go'

Obama hits the Sunday morning talk shows

This Sunday morning, President Obama will be making several appearances on various networks. He's scheduled to appear on ABC's This Week, NBC's Meet the Press, CBS's Face the Nation and CNN's State of the Union. Local viewing times are listed below. Please tune in!

This Week - Channel 9, 9:00-10:00 am
Meet the Press - Channel 5, 10:00-11:00 am
Face the Nation - Channel 12, 10:30-11:00 am
State of the Union - CNN, 9:00-10:00 am

In case Sunday mornings aren't good for you, Obama will also be appearing on CBS's The Late Show with David Letterman on Monday, September 21. It can be seen locally on Channel 12 at 11:35 pm.

A Long Way Down

Today's New York Times included this excellent editorial:

As is now painfully evident, the economic growth of the Bush era was largely an illusion. Poverty worsened during most of the boom years and middle-class pay stagnated, as most gains flowed to the top. In a recent update of their groundbreaking series on income trends, the economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez found that from 2002 to 2007, the top 1 percent of households — those making more than $400,000 a year — received two-thirds of the nation’s total income gains, their largest share of the spoils since the 1920s.

Because many if not most Americans gained little to nothing from the Bush “growth” years, they have found themselves especially vulnerable to the recession.

Federal stimulus spending has helped cushion the blow. The question going forward is whether an economic recovery, when it comes, will help the poor and middle class or whether the top-heavy favoritism of the previous expansion will reassert itself.

The Daily Show exposes right-wing hypocrisy

Jon Stewart is back after several weeks of vacation. Last night's brilliant episode indicates he hasn't lost his touch:

'How to Get Rich'

Here's a great new ad from Health Care for America Now:

Obama on '60 Minutes'

President Obama was interviewed on CBS's 60 Minutes last night. Here's the video:

Editorial comic roundup

(Click for larger image)

President Obama's weekly address

The President discusses a staggering new report from the Treasury Department indicating that under the status quo, around half of all Americans under 65 will lose their health coverage at some point over the next ten years.

Governor Beshear's weekly address

Click here for a version of this video with closed captioning for the hearing impaired.

Editorial comic roundup

(Click for larger image)

Republicans: Just Saying No

President Obama's Address to Congress

Did you miss President Obama's speech last night? Here's the video:

'Go slow' reform hurts Ky. citizens

There's a very good editorial in today's Herald-Leader:

On their "delay and dawdle" tour last week, Sens. Mitch McConnell and John McCain downplayed the seriousness of having 47 million people in this country with no health insurance. Many of them could afford coverage but choose to go without, they said.

While that may be true in some places, it's far from true in Kentucky, the state that McConnell is supposed to represent.

...McConnell and the other Kentuckians in Congress should take a look at the statistics before suggesting that anyone's moving too fast to fix these problems.

When it comes to a state as unhealthy as Kentucky, Congress can't move fast enough.

Climate bill needed for US security, ex-officials insist

McClatchy has the story:

WASHINGTON — America's national security is at risk unless Congress and the Obama administration end partisan wrangling and agree on legislation to reduce U.S. contributions to climate change, a bipartisan group of former presidential advisers, cabinet members, senators and military leaders said Tuesday.

The energy and climate debate is divisive, but it's possible for the government to devise a "clear, comprehensive, realistic and broadly bipartisan plan to address our role in the climate change crisis," declared the Partnership for a Secure America, a group that seeks a centrist, bipartisan approach to security and foreign policy.

It broadly sketched a plan for emissions reductions, less dependence on foreign oil, more renewable energy and aid to poor countries that will be hard hit by inevitable climate changes. "Doing so now will help avoid humanitarian disasters and political instability in the future that could ultimately threaten the security of the U.S. and our allies," the statement said. Failure to lead, it added, would give the U.S. little leverage in pending international negotiations for a global emissions reduction agreement.

President Obama in the Tri-State

As you may have heard, President Obama was in the Tri-State today, speaking at the AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic in Cincinnati. Here's video of his speech:

Republicans want to end Medicare

Respect Your Children

Today's New York Times hits this one out of the park:

...it was startling to read in Friday’s Times about the overheated and bizarre response to Mr. Obama’s plan to give a speech in a Virginia school next week that schools around the country also can show.

The White House says Mr. Obama will talk about the importance of education — hardly, we hope, a controversial topic. But the article said that in a growing number of school districts, especially in Texas, parents, talk-show hosts and some Republican officials are demanding that schools either refuse to show it or allow parents to keep their children home. The common refrain is that Mr. Obama will offer a socialist message — although nobody said what they meant by that.

There is, of course, nothing socialist in any of Mr. Obama’s policies, as anyone with a passing knowledge of socialism and its evil history knows. But in this country, unlike actual socialist countries, nobody can be compelled to listen to the president. What is most disturbing about all this is what it says about the parents — and the fact that they have such little regard for their children’s intelligence and ability to think.

President Obama's weekly address

With Labor Day approaching, the President commits to rebuilding the economy so that a lifetime of hard work leads to a comfortable retirement.

Message from the president

Today's Herald-Leader has an excellent editorial about President Obama's upcoming address to schoolchildren:

The right-wing backlash speaks volumes about Obama's detractors. The ranters are wound up after a season of red-faced anger, lies about health care and guns displayed at public events.

They go beyond the pale, though, by saying the nation's children need protection from our president's words.

...It's especially repugnant that Kentucky Republican Party chairman Steve Robertson uses imagery associated with pedophilia — "circumvent parents... gain direct access to our children... creepy" — to demonize Obama. Robertson plays on the fear of black men, an old and ugly racial stereotype, and he should be ashamed.

Governor Beshear's weekly address

Click here for a version of this video with closed captioning for the hearing impaired.

'Slow down' just a tactic to stall

Today's Herald-Leader included this great editorial:

Nowhere else in the developed world could a family be personally bankrupted by a medical emergency, yet [Mitch] McConnell insists that this country has the world's best health care.

Of course, as a member of Congress and lifelong government employee, McConnell does have the world's best health care.

He's also been showered in health care riches as a politician. He is the seventh-largest recipient of health-care sector contributions in Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The health care sector has given McConnell $3.1 million since 1989.

No wonder he wants only "incremental changes" that won't rock the gravy train.

Top Ten Ways to Irritate Dick Cheney

Fight Fear With Facts

Here's a new ad from HealthCareFactCheck.com:

Republicans lying about 'death book'

McClatchy has the story:

WASHINGTON — While Republicans are calling a Department of Veterans Affairs health planning booklet a "death book" that encourages veterans to kill themselves or forgo care, ethicists and legal and medical experts say it's a reasonable attempt to help America's veterans plan for the end of their lives.

Jim Towey, the former director of President George W. Bush's White House office of faith-based initiatives, wrote in The Wall Street Journal last month that the VA's "Your Life, Your Choices" booklet encourages veterans to "hurry up and die." Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele added in a television interview that the VA effort aimed at veterans was "encouraging them to commit suicide."

"There is nothing in this pamphlet or in any of the VA effort in this area that is aimed at asking that veterans be allowed to die to save money," said the University of Pennsylvania's Arthur Caplan, one of the nation's leading bioethicists. "To say otherwise is just an exercise in ludicrous, inflammatory rhetoric."

Dick Cheney: Wrong Then, Wrong Now

Top 5 Lies About Obama's Health Care Reform

Newsweek does a great job debunking these common right-wing myths:

You'll have no choice in what health benefits you receive.

No chemo for older Medicare patients.

Illegal immigrants will get free health insurance.

Death panels will decide who lives.

The government will set doctors' wages.