DCCC Launches HealthCareFactCheck.com

Here's a new press release from the DCCC:

The DCCC announced today the launch of HealthCareFactCheck.com, a new website dedicated to exposing the truth-twisting attack by Republicans and their fringe right-wing groups on health insurance reform. The site empowers grassroots activists to fight back against the false and misleading attacks being used by Republicans to protect the status quo for big health insurance companies.

"Republicans are trying to poison the debate on health insurance reform with lies, misleading ads, and scare tactics so we're launching healthcarefactcheck.com to set the record straight and empower our supporters to fight back with the truth," said Jon Vogel, Executive Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "This website is just another way that we are holding Republicans and their fringe groups accountable for trying anything and everything to protect the profitable status quo for big health insurance companies at the expense of affordable health care for families."

HealthCareFactCheck.com is part of Health Care ER, Health Care Emergency Response, the DCCC's major advertising and grassroots offensive throughout the month of August. Activities include paid advertising, automated and live volunteer phone calls, millions of grassroots e-mails, letters to the editor, fact checks, and tele-town halls in targeted Republican districts.

What Are the Birthers Really After?

Today's column by Joe Conason is great. Here's an excerpt:

Consider the flight from reality of the so-called birthers, who claim that Mr. Obama was actually born in Kenya. To believe that canard, they must also believe that Mr. Obama's mother and grandparents conspired to publish notices of his birth in not one but two Honolulu newspapers in August 1961; that the current Republican governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle, a dedicated partisan and strong supporter of her party's nominee, John McCain, conspired last year and is conspiring now to conceal the truth about Mr. Obama's birth certificate, along with a host of Hawaii state officials; and that one of several obviously forged "Kenyan" documents is the true Obama birth certificate.

Even [veteran pundit Patrick] Buchanan, who has spent a lifetime agitating white fear, admits that's nutty. But the mealy-mouthed spokesmen for the Republican Party, on Capitol Hill and in states across the country, dare not say so. They cower before the talk jocks and kooks who have seized the leadership of the right. Much of this madness is just cynical posturing, designed to increase ratings and hits, to sell silly books and fleece the rubes of their money. To understand the phoniness behind the hysteria, recall that anti-Obama propagandists Christopher Ruddy and Richard Mellon Scaife, the owners of Newsmax, used to traffic in all of the Clinton conspiracy nonsense — until they sought a reconciliation with the Clintons over the past few years and admitted that their old accusations were utterly wrong. Why would anyone trust their accusations against the president now?

Most Americans never will. But the clear purpose of birther propaganda is not to win a majority by democratic means, but to drive a minority of a minority into turmoil and even violence — as indicated by their behavior at this month's Congressional town hall meetings. Should we experience another tragedy like the Oklahoma City bombing, the blood and the ruin will be on their conscience.

Republicans' Health Care Plan: The Status Quo

Enough of the Mob

Editorial comic roundup

(Click for larger image)

GOP Rx for Health Insurance Reform

Supporting Our Troops: The Post 9/11 GI Bill

The White House issued this press release today:

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Obama celebrated the beginning of implementation of the Post 9/11 GI Bill. This bill, through its Yellow Ribbon Programs and partnerships with colleges and universities throughout the nation, will provide our service members with the most generous educational benefits package since the original GI Bill of 1944.

Over 3,400 agreements were received from the 1,100 schools participating in the Yellow Ribbon Program. The Yellow Ribbon Program, a provision of the new Post-9/11 GI Bill, funds tuition expenses that exceed the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition rate.

"Sixty-five years ago, a grateful nation offered a generation of World War II heroes the chance to go to college," President Obama said. "The original GI Bill paved the way to a better life for millions of veterans and their families while building the foundation of the American middle class. Today, the Post-9/11 GI Bill is affording a new generation of heroes a 21st century version of that same opportunity."

"The President and I know that the nation’s courageous service members and their families have shouldered the heaviest burden for our country’s security and safety over the past eight years," VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said. "This new GI Bill is a way for a grateful nation to tangibly demonstrate our heartfelt appreciation and abiding respect for their service."

"More than two and half years ago, we began with the simple concept that those who have been serving since 9/11 should have the same opportunity for a first class educational future as those who served during World War II," Senator Jim H. Webb said. "This bill provides a modern and fair educational benefit to address the needs of those who answered the call of duty to our country--those who moved toward the sound of the guns--often at great sacrifice."

With the implementation of the Post 9/11 GI Bill, our nation has an opportunity to honor America’s veterans in a very tangible way. The maximum benefit under the Post-9/11 GI Bill allows veterans, service members, Reservists and Guard members the ability to receive an in-state, undergraduate education at a public institution at no cost.

Further, to honor their many sacrifices, the Post 9/11 GI Bill allows for the transferability of unused benefits to eligible career service members’ families. More information on the transferability of unused benefits can be found HERE.

President Obama has directed Secretary Shinseki to create a results-driven, 21st Century VA. Since the signing of this monumental legislation, VA has made meeting the August 1 implementation deadline a top priority. As of July 30th VA has processed over 112,000 claims.

They broke it; now they refuse to fix it

Barack Obama -- born in the U.S.A.

In his column today, Leonard Pitts takes on the "birthers":

Last month, GOP Rep. Mike Castle was booed and shouted down at a town hall meeting because he dared vouch that the president is a citizen. If I were of that endangered species, the thoughtful conservative, I would find that deeply troubling.

...For a generation, the GOP has tolerated and encouraged this estrangement from reality because it played well at the ballot box. Rep. Castle's experience suggests the cost may now outstrip the benefits. Because the cost is the specter of a party rendered ridiculous -- and irrelevant.

You have to ask yourself: How far from reality can you wander before you can't find your way home again? If conservatives aren't careful, they may soon find out.

President Obama's weekly address

The President discusses the state of the economy amidst positive signs from the GDP. Making clear that this is little comfort to those struggling, he notes that we appear to have averted an even worse disaster and offers hope for the time ahead.