Union backs Groob for state Senate

Great news for the Kathy Groob campaign, courtesy of the Enquirer:

COVINGTON -- State Senate candidate Kathy Groob, a Covington Democrat, has been endorsed by a Covington firefighters union.

The Covington Firefighters Local 38 is backing Groob in her challenge of Sen. Jack Westwood, R-Crescent Springs.

..."Kathy is the clear choice because she understands the needs of firefighters and has a proven commitment to public safety," local president Mike Holtman said in a statement distributed by the Groob campaign. "We know we can count on Kathy to fight for firefighters in Frankfort."

Mitch's Dishonest Ad

You may have seen Mitch McConnell's deceptive new TV campaign ad, in which he tries to smear Democrat Bruce Lunsford. Luckily, Kentucky's newspapers aren't letting Mitch get away with his dishonest attacks. Here's what the Courier-Journal had to say:

Mitch McConnell's first ad in this year's Senate campaign in Kentucky is so silly and pointless that it seems like a spoof from a political satirist.

If only it were. Then maybe there would be hope that the minority leader of the United States Senate was going to talk about real issues, instead of probing the political depths to determine how many voters can be fooled one more time.

The Herald-Leader added:

McConnell has launched an attack ad that suggests ”automatic tax increases“ are to blame for $4 gas. Furthermore, McConnell accuses his opponent, Bruce Lunsford, of being responsible because he was part of the John Y. Brown administration 28 years ago when the legislature approved the gas tax formula.

McConnell's commercial is essentially dishonest.

Unfortunately, Mitch McConnell isn't alone in trying to blame his opponent for high gas prices -- even so-called "straight talker" John McCain is doing it.

McConnell Puts Insurance Companies Ahead Of Seniors

The DSCC recently issued this press release:

McConnell And Bush: Putting Insurance Companies Ahead Of Seniors To The Bitter End
As Senate rebuffs Bush veto, McConnell continues to stand by Medicare cuts

Today, as both the United States House and Senate voted by large bi-partisan margins to override George Bush’s veto of a bill preventing steep cuts to Medicare, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stood by the president and the insurance companies and voted to sustain the veto. The bill Bush vetoed and McConnell voted against will prevent steep cuts in Medicare and will improve mental health access for both veterans and seniors and strengthen Medicare programs for rural seniors. It is paid for by ending costly overpayments to private insurance companies and HMOs participating in Medicare. Without passage of the legislation, millions of seniors would have been unable to easily access care as many doctors were expected to stop seeing Medicare patients.

“If McConnell got his way and Bush’s veto stood, doctors, seniors, troops and their families all would have faced devastating effects,” DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller said. “Luckily other legislators stood up for Kentucky’s seniors and servicemembers today, but it’s a shame their own senator refused to fight on their behalf. Unfortunately for Mitch McConnell, the insurance companies may have filled his campaign coffers with cash, but they won’t be able to fill the voting booths for him this fall.”

On July 1, reimbursement rates to physicians under Medicare and the military health program, TRICARE, were cut by 10.6% under a statutory formula widely regarded as outdated. Congress has passed legislation reversing scheduled cuts each year since 2003. The bill garnered overwhelming bipartisan support in the House, passing 355-59, and passed the Senate last week 69-30. Both chambers of Congress voted to override Bush’s veto today, the House by 383-41 and the Senate by 70-26.

McConnell Voted For The Third Time In As Many Weeks To Put Insurance Companies And HMOs Over Doctors And Seniors. For the third time in two weeks, Sen. McConnell today voted against preventing a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare reimbursement rates to doctors. The bill is paid for by ending costly overpayments to private insurance companies and HMOs participating in Medicare, while improving both mental health access for veterans and Medicare programs for rural seniors. [Vote 160, 6/26/08; Vote 169, 7/9/08; Vote 177, 7/15/08]

McConnell Voted Against Medicare Funding At Least 16 Times. Since 1995, McConnell has voted to cut or against Medicare funding at least sixteen times. [Vote 173, 5/22/95; Vote 232, 5/25/95; Vote 296, 6/29/95; Vote 499, 10/26/95; Vote 524, 10/27/95; Vote 584, 11/17/95; Vote 159, 6/13/96; Vote 130, 6/25/97; Vote 7, 1/7/03; Vote 21, 1/23/03; Vote 89, 3/25/03; Vote 291, 11/3/05; Vote 303, 11/3/05; Vote 363, 12/21/05; Boston Globe, 12/22/05; Vote 62, 3/16/06; Vote 92, 3/22/07; AP, 3/23/07]

McConnell Has Received $817,757 From the Insurance Industry. Since his first run for Congress, McConnell has received at least $817,757 in campaign contributions from the insurance industry. [Center for Responsive Politics]

American Medical Association Blasted Republicans Who Blocked Bill. “The physicians of America are outraged that a group of Republican senators followed the direction of the Bush Administration and voted to protect health insurance companies at the expense of America’s seniors, disabled and military families…Thanks to some senators, we stand at the brink of a Medicare meltdown…The Senate must return from their recess and make seniors’ health care their top priority. For doctors, this is not a partisan issue - it's a patient access issue.” [Dr. Nancy Nielsen, President of American Medical Association, 6/27/08]

Without A Fix, 60% Of Doctors Would Stop Seeing New Medicare Patients. A survey shows that 60% of doctors will be forced to restrict the number of new Medicare patients they see if reimbursement rates fall 10.6%, while the nonpartisan expert Medicare Payment Advisory Commission reports that already 30% of Medicare patients looking for a new primary care physician have trouble finding one. [AMA, 6/9/08; MedPAC, March 2008]

McConnell Votes Against Seniors To Preserve Overpayments To HMOs. According to the nonpartisan, well-respected Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, private insurance companies in the Medicare Advantage program will be paid 113% of the average per-beneficiary cost – an extra $1,000 per patient – and their beneficiaries are healthier, and so less expensive to cover. [MedPAC, March 2008; MedPAC, June 2007]

McConnell Voted to Jeopardize Access to Doctors for Family Members of Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military health care system, TRICARE, is statutorily linked to Medicare, so cuts in Medicare also impact physicians serving active duty military service members and their families. There are currently 159,979 TRICARE patients in Kentucky. [National Guard Association of the United States, 3/28/08; American Medical Association]

Democrats focus on on oil, energy issues

The Associated Press covered yesterday's Democratic radio address:

Senator Patty Murray says Democrats have a plan to combat record-high gas prices, but Republicans are blocking it.

In the party's weekly radio message, she's calling for responsible oil drilling in the 68 million acres of federal land already under lease. Democrats say the move would nearly double U.S. production.

(You can read the entire address by clicking here.)

Speaking of energy issues, Mitch McConnell has been caught lying about the environmental risks of oil rigs:

...the Washington Post on Monday quoted Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as saying, "I think people are reassured that not a drop of oil was spilled during Katrina or Rita. Those rigs in the Gulf, there was not a single incident of spillage that anyone reported."

...In May 2006, the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) issued a report stating that as a result of both Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the number of pipelines damaged was 457, and the number of offshore platforms destroyed was 113, with a total of 146 oil spills recorded.

...As a result of both storms, a total volume of 17,652 barrels (or roughly three-quarters of a million gallons) of total petroleum products, of which 13,137 barrels were crude oil and condensate, was spilled from platforms, rigs and pipelines. 4,514 barrels were refined products from platforms and rigs.

Talking Sense on Iraq

Today's New York Times has a good editorial about Iraq. Here's an excerpt:

Mr. Obama’s Republican rival, Senator John McCain, is no longer able to ignore the situation on the Afghan-Pakistan border, where Al Qaeda and the Taliban — the true threats to American security — are resurgent. But he has not matched Mr. Obama’s seriousness on Iraq. Mr. McCain is still tied in knots, largely adopting Mr. Bush’s blind defense of an unending conflict.

Mr. Obama has a better grasp of the big picture, despite Mr. McCain’s claim to more foreign policy experience. For far too long, Mr. Bush’s preoccupation with his misadventure in Iraq — which fostered a presence for Al Qaeda where there was none — has dangerously diverted precious manpower, resources and high-level attention from Afghanistan and Pakistan. As Mr. Obama correctly asserted in an Op-Ed article in The Times on Monday and in a speech on Tuesday, those countries, not Iraq, are the real frontline of the war against terrorism.

...The more the United States insists it will not even consider withdrawal, the less incentive Iraqis have to settle their political differences. Iraq’s leaders have asked for a withdrawal timetable. The next president needs to take them at their word. The candidates need to keep talking about how they will meet that goal and then address the real threats in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Obama Leads by 8 Points In Poll

This is good news:

[Sen. Barack Obama] has a lead of 50 percent to 42 percent over Republican Sen. John McCain among registered voters nationwide, lifted by a big edge among women, and he has also regained an edge among political independents. But it is Obama's 19-point lead on the economy that has become a particularly steep challenge for McCain.

Economic concerns continue to eclipse other issues, with half the country saying the economy will be "extremely important" to their vote. Gasoline and energy prices, which voters rarely mentioned at the start of the year, come in just behind. The Iraq war, which was again the subject of direct engagement between Obama and McCain yesterday, ranks third. A cluster of domestic issues, including education, health care and Social Security, ranked behind the war, as did the issue of terrorism.

Obama continues to hold an edge over McCain on many domestic policy areas.

Click here for more details.

McCain’s Fuzzy Math

Today's Washington Post points out that John McCain's budget plan doesn't add up:

SEN. JOHN McCain says that President McCain would balance the federal budget by 2013. The plan is not credible.

The Congressional Budget Office projects a deficit of $443 billion in 2013 if President Bush's tax cuts are extended, as Mr. McCain wants, and the alternative minimum tax is merely patched to make certain it does not hit growing numbers of taxpayers. But Mr. McCain is proposing far more tax cuts. The only way he avoids having them add hundreds of billions more to the deficit in 2013 is by phasing them in and adding other caveats. Mr. McCain says on the campaign trail that he would repeal, rather than merely adjust, the alternative minimum tax, slash the corporate tax rate, now 35 percent, to 25 percent, and double the exemption for dependents. It turns out that none of that would be fully implemented by the end of the first McCain term. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates the extra cost of the scaled-back plan at $47 billion in 2013, bringing the deficit to a daunting $490 billion. Sen. Barack Obama's campaign claims it would be far higher, somewhere between $650 billion and $750 billion.

...Mr. McCain sells American voters short -- and he does himself a disservice -- with his implausible claim.

More McConnell hypocrisy

David Hawpe of the Courier-Journal calls out Mitch McConnell over his rank hypocrisy:

...Mitch McConnell's office just announced that the new Transportation and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill includes $16.45 million in taxpayer money for various local projects in Kentucky. When this measure passes the full Senate, he'll have another opportunity to announce this largesse, and when the bill clears Congress, and when the President signs it -- you get the idea.

I love it when conservatives hand out taxpayers' money. On the one hand, they insist that the federal government should keep its hands out of the people's pockets -- that taxpayers know how to spend their own money without Big Brother's help and guidance, that Washington ought to stay out of local decision making, that government is best when closest to home.

But here is one of the U.S. Senate's most self-consciously conservative members, bragging about a fortune in federal funds he just grabbed for clearly local projects -- everything from buses to bike paths.

Click here to read the entire column.

This week's Democratic radio address

Congressman Nick Rahall, chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, delivers this week's Democratic Radio Address. Chairman Rahall discusses Democratic efforts to provide relief for Americans at the pump, and those of George Bush and John McCain to rally behind the oil industry's agenda.

Click here to read the transcript of Chairman Rahall's address.

Republican ’values’ harming America

You might recall John McCain's shameless flip-flopping on the issue of torture last February. (In a nutshell: John McCain was for banning torture before he was against it.) Luckily, there are still folks in Washington willing to say what should be obvious to everyone:

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The use by the United States of harsh interrogation methods against suspected terrorists has stained the country's image and is putting US soldiers' lives at risk, experts said here Wednesday.

"If we use torture when we question prisoners, we forfeit the right to demand that anyone treat our soldiers decently if they are taken prisoner," former army intelligence officer Stuart Herrington told AFP at a forum on the use of torture in interrogations.

"If we engage in that kind of activity, we put our soldiers at increased risk," he said.

Click here to read the full article.