The most shocking bit came from visiting my magic URL, http://www.AllYourNewsAreOnCrack.com for a fortnight into the future, I see an odd article:
Unprecedented Move: President Obama Accepts Own Healthcare Bill In Signing Statement
by Sissypuss, the Bailout Kitty
In an historic move, President Obama today said “I won,” as he signed his own suggested bill into law. “Well, we could have gone to the mat with reconciliation,” mused Mr. Obama, “but I figured it would help the party out if I just sort of dove on the grenade. Those obstructionist Republicans are out to ruin everything. Once we just get all of this in place, I think that the people will come around to my way of thinking and re-elect Democrats in 2010, and me in 2012. And if it looks like the people are having trouble getting on board, well, we’ll be doing everything we can to make sure nothing unfortunate happens to their car, their health, their taxes, their internet, their housing , their food, you get the idea. Running this country is a tough, complex job, and it would really be much smoother if everyone was on the same team, if you know what I mean, and I think you do. Did I mention the vanilla pudding subsidy for favored bloggers?”
Let’s face it: Today’s health-care summit was an unmitigated disaster for Obama even before cameras captured this unfortunate moment with the Booger-Eater-in-Chief. Yuval Levin at National Review:
The Democrats may have thought that simply putting the spotlight on Republicans when the subject is health care would make the GOP look bad. But Republicans so far seem prepared enough and focused enough to avoid that, and to make the Democrats look rather aimless by comparison.
“The President’s proposal was a pro-abortion health care plan before today’s meeting and after six hours of political posturing, it’s still a pro-abortion health care plan.
Federal funding for abortion has become the deciding issue in this debate, and yet the issue was raised only briefly today.
Remarkably when Minority Leader Boehner highlighted the abortion funding in the bill, the President did not respond.
This has been his approach to the abortion issue throughout this debate: to evade the question or misrepresent the facts to the American people. Among other anti-life provisions, the President’s plan creates a first-ever ‘abortion tax’ to be paid by individuals participating in the health Exchange. The plan also includes $11 billion dollars of new funding for community health centers, some of which are abortion providers. And yet Speaker Nancy Pelosi today claimed falsely that ‘there is no public funding of abortions in this bill.’
Convening this summit, and broadcasting it on television, does not create truth in advertising. Six hours of contrived dialogue did not change the fact that this elaborate production of political theater was designed to hide the President’s true position on abortion in health care.
There is a very simple reason for this: Abortion is the bill killer.
72% of voters oppose federal funding of abortion. As they work to try to pass the greatest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade, President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid will discover that their alliance with the abortion lobby alienates them from the mainstream of American opinion on this issue.”
Some people don’t realize how badly this issue of public funding for abortion hurt Martha Coakley during the Massachusetts Senate campaign. I knew Coakley was doomed after I talked to an elected Democratic official — a Catholic — who told me he was voting for Brown (and his wife did, too).
In order to get liberal support for this plan, Democrats have killed the Stupak amendment (which the Senate never included in its version) and if you think this is merely a minor point, just ask Democrats in Massachusetts. Whatever the number of pro-life Catholic Democratic voters may be, they are a swing constiuency in many states up North, and this issue of public funding for abortion is enough to drive a stake through the heart of President Nose-Picker’s plan.
UPDATE: Here’s video where John Boehner says, “This bill that we have before us, and there was no reference to the issue in your outline, Mr. President, begins for the first time in 30 years allows the taxpayer funding of abortion”:
Nancy Pelosi claims Boehner is giving “the wrong impression” of the bill:
Press release from a New York GOP congressional candidate:
“It’s obvious, the dysfunction in Washington continues. In the end, the healthcare issue will only be solved by common sense, free market solutions, like Tort Reform and the dropping of state barriers on the purchase of Health Insurance. Speaker Pelosi, Senator Reid and President Obama need to understand that the current legislation is Dead On Arrival. Congressman Tim Bishop should call on Speaker Pelosi to scrap the current legislation, stop playing partisan politics and start listening to the American people. The voters of New York’s 1st Congressional District deserve no less.”
Randy Altschuler is the candidate in NY1 (eastern Long Island) whom I interviewed during CPAC. Altschuler is a successful entrepreneur running against Rep. Tim Bishop, a Pelosi clone in the NY1 district that was reliably Republican for years until, in 2002, Bishop won with barely 50% in what was basically a fluke (the GOP incumbent ran a negative ad that backfired). Anti-war and anti-Bush backlash started early in NY1, and Bishop won re-election against weak opponents in 2004, ’06 and ’08.
However, since Obama’s election the pendulum has swung back in the other direction and conservatives in the district are fired up. Check out this huge Tea Party protest when Bishop held a town-hall meeting in June:
NY1 is clearly a winnable seat, and Altschuler is the kind of guy — a self-made businessman, not a politician — who can win in a year when “outsider” candidates are challenging the system. Check him out.
It’s been big fun reading the hilarious comments regarding the “Gay Air” revamp cartoon and was reading them out loud to TLG (The Liberal Girlfriend.) . . .
When I hear all the “social justice” queers talking about how hard it is to live in Texas or other places and the US is sooo oppressive I like to snort to them, “Try Iran!” . . .
TLG has been dubious at times with my involvement in Hot Air (I’m a regular chatizen during the Ed Morrissey show) once accusing me of basically lying to my friends during the show. She told me they wouldn’t be nearly so accepting if everybody there knew I was gay.
In their opening statements, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid focused largely on the why of health care reform instead of the how. They told the stories of people struggling with their health insurance and didn’t do much to tie it back to how their proposals would make life better for those folks.
Which is a fair synopsis of the basic problem here: Democrats want to scream that the “system is broken,” and regale us with sob stories — “A killer whale with a pre-existing condition ate that poor girl’s deductible!” — in order to push through a plan that, (a) won’t necessarily fix these issues, (b) could harm the overall system, (c) is overwhelmingly opposed by voters, and (d) would cost umpteen kazillion dollars.
Allow me to suggest an innovative health-care solution that won’t require endless blathering on national TV:
Of all the candidates making the rounds at CPAC last week, arguably the most important was Edward Lynch, the Republican candidate in Florida’s 19th District. Why? Because (a) Lynch has already won the GOP nomination, (b) most Democrats don’t yet realize how vulnerable this seat could be, and (c) it’s a special election scheduled for April 13 — making it the first U.S. House election of 2010.
As Lynch told me during a brief interview at CPAC, this April special election offers Republicans a chance to continue the momentum they’ve built with last year’s wins in Virginia and New Jersey and last month’s Scott Brown win in Massachusetts. Lynch was a big hit with conservatives Continue reading Special Election FL19: Edward Lynch in the First House Campaign of 2010 →
Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (Md.) has announced her campaign staff for her re-election bid, which is expected to be a slam-dunk for the four-term Democrat.
Campaign manager Simone Ward, media consultant Mandy Grunwald and pollster Fred Yang have joined Mikulski’s effort, according to a release from her campaign.
Ward comes from EMILY’s List, where she served in the political department and helped elect Rep. Donna Edwards (Md.) and others. Grunwald, who will serve as the campaign’s chief communications strategist, is best known for working on Hillary Rodham Clinton ’s campaign for the White House. Grunwald has advised several Democratic senators in recent cycles, including Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire.
Yang and his firm, Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group, have polled for 12 senators and two Maryland Democrats recently elected to higher office, Gov. Martin O’Malley and Rep. Frank M. Kratovil Jr.
This is a year when all the political factors favor Republicans. So why is Mikulski — an ugly left-winger from Baltimore — considered a “slam dunk”? Two reasons:
The GOP in Maryland is run by a bunch of clueless country club types; and
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is controlled by the incomparably clueless John Cornyn.
If anybody knows the name of a Republican challenger to Mikulski, please let me know in the comments. God knows the Maryland GOP and the NRSC aren’t going to do anything useful here.
TAXES
John McCain — Opposed the Bush tax cuts. Voted against repealing the Death Tax. The Club for Growth says McCain’s overall record on taxes “is profoundly disturbing and anti-growth.” J.D. Hayworth — Helped to author the Bush tax cuts and supports repealing the Death Tax. JD has a higher lifetime rating from Citizens Against Government Waste than John McCain does.
BAILOUTS
John McCain — Voted FOR the big bank bailouts and proposed an additional $300 Billion bailout of all bad debts, making the taxpayers responsible for the bad decisions of others. J.D. Hayworth — Opposed the big bank bailouts, opposed the Obama plan, and opposed the McCain plan to leave taxpayers holding the bag for the nation’s bad loans.
AMNESTY
John McCain — Wrote the bill granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. McCain’s bill was estimated to cost the taxpayers more than $2.6 Trillion. J.D. Hayworth — Helped lead the fight against the McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill. JD is a national leader in the fight to secure our borders and protect our nation.
MARRIAGE
John McCain — Opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment that would have protected and preserved marriage as between one man and one woman. J.D. Hayworth — Marriage Supported the Federal Amendment and believes it is critical that marriage be protected from those who would redefine it.
CAP AND TRADE
John McCain — Co-authored the McCain-Lieberman Cap and Trade bill. J.D. Hayworth — Cap and Trade Opposes all Cap and Trade legislation and rejects phony climate change data.
FREE SPEECH
John McCain — Authored the McCain-Feingold legislation that violated the First Amendment rights of every American and silenced conservative groups like Right to Life and the NRA. J.D. Hayworth — Opposed McCain-Feingold and believes that a free and vigorous debate is always in the best interests of our state and our nation.
TERRORISM
John McCain — Opposes enhanced interrogation techniques, supports closing Guantanamo Bay, and supports treating terrorists like criminal defendants instead of enemy combatants. J.D. Hayworth — Supports our military and its use of enhanced interrogation techniques. Believes that Guantanamo Bay should remain open and that terrorists should be treated as such.
ERIC HOLDER
John McCain — Voted to confirm this far-left activist. J.D. Hayworth — Opposed the confirmation of Eric Holder as Attorney General of the United States.
