Steven Pearlstein has an outraged column about
the lies, distortions and political scare tactics that Steele and other Republicans have used to poison the national debate over health reform.
And he concludes,
Have you no shame, sir? Have you no shame?
It’s all true. But I’m having a hard time writing columns like that. Why? Because while the raw dishonesty of the modern GOP appears to be a revelation to Pearlstein, Joe Klein, and others, I thought it was obvious at least as far back as the 2000 election campaign. (If I’d really been paying attention, it would have been obvious much earlier.)
Don’t get me wrong: I welcome Pearlstein and Klein to the reality-based community — better 9 years late than never. And in a way they have an advantage: having fought this thing for so long, I just can’t muster the same sense of shock. But I think it is important to realize that the current behavior over health care is nothing new — in fact, it’s been this way for a very long time.
As Rick Perlstein, our premier historian of the rise of modern movement conservatism, puts it, crazy is a pre-existing condition.- from the comments:
Benen: THE RIGHT REACTS...Is still Randall Terry:
The Moran town hall was the last stop on a 10-city tour for Randall Terry, the anti-abortion activist known for his extreme tactics.Terry’s colleagues put on a skit with a man in an Obama mask pretending to whip a bloodied woman, who kept saying, “Massa, don’t hit me no more. I got the money to kill the babies.”
Terry himself dressed in a doctor’s lab coat and pretended to stab a woman in a gray wig.
“There’s no way to pay for this thing without killing granny,” Terry explained.
I wonder if afterwards, someone bought him some wings and a Guiness.
It's hard to know what to expect in the way of conservative reactions to Sen. Edward Kennedy's death. The Senate's Lion was something of a boogeyman, but it's safe to assume higher-profile voices on the right would show restraint, at least this morning.Michelle Malkin, for example, wrote, "There is a time and place for political analysis and criticism. Not now." That seems fair and respectful. She warned, however, about "crass calls to pass the health care takeover to memorialize his death."
Now, I'd argue there's nothing "crass" about honoring the cause of Kennedy's life by passing the bill he helped create, but opinions may vary.
I was more intrigued, however, by this item on National Review's "The Corner," from John J. Pitney Jr. (thanks to reader M.J. for the heads-up)
Ted Kennedy did not go gentle into that good night. He fought for his beliefs as long as he could, and he struggled to stay alive when others might have given up. He and the other Kennedys loved one another and looked out for one another. There was no cost-benefit analysis in their family life, no sense that age, illness, injury, or disability would diminish their value. [emphasis added]
At 7:53 a.m., Kennedy's death elicited a vague reference to death-panel talking points? Seriously?
DougJ: This was inevitable
From Sarah Palin’s facebook page:
FOX News’ Glenn Beck is doing an extraordinary job this week walking America behind the scenes of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and outlining who is actually running the White House.
Monday night he asked us to invite one friend to watch; tonight I invite all my friends to watch.
I’m beginning to think that she has a chance to be the Republican nominee in 2012. I’m also beginning to think that the 2012 Republican primary might be the most disturbing political event to happen in the western world since World War II. As an observer, I can hardly wait.
(h/t rumproast)
Update. This is a pretty good summary of the Republican 2012 primary:
I do think the most likely scenario, though, as said before, is that Romney will win because the Whackadoodle vote will be split. Romney will be the new McCain. And of course, nobody actually likes Romney and his vast hollow wasteland he calls a soul, just like people don’t like McCain, but he’ll win a plurality on the basis of being somehow less batshit insane than the other guys. Which is not to say that Republican primary voters are not batshit insane, it’s just that their votes are split on the precise form the insanity takes. If you could consolidate the batshit insane candidates and pool their votes, that monstrosity would win instead.
Devilstower (DK): GOP Wants Decibel Level Democracy
Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R, as if there was any doubt) kicks off the season of elevating screaming to the most important contribution an American can make to public discourse.
While Americans should honor the legacy of the Sen. Edward Kennedy, Republicans won't allow healthcare reform to proceed in the late senator's honor, Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said Wednesday.
"Certainly people honor Sen. Ted Kennedy for all of his work," Hensarling, a top House Republican, said during an appearance on CNBC. "But at the end of the day, this is a democracy, and I think the voice of the people have been heard quite loudly in the month of August."
Hensarling has an odd idea of what "democracy" means. Here's a hint, congressman. Democracy is not measured in decibels. The people did speak -- loudly -- not by using shrieks to cut off debate, but by using their votes to elect the man who promised that Ted Kennedy's fight for health care would be his fight. Democracy was exercised in November.
The question before us now is whether the civilized voice of democracy will be drowned by the raucous cry of the (well-funded) mob. Anyone who stands on the side of democracy should raise their voice, by shouting "aye" when it comes time to pass the Kennedy Health Care Bill.
Rosin (Daily Dish): Ronald Reagan and Health Care Reform
digby: Clarifying PartisanshipMatt Yglesias once pointed out that we already have socialized, single-payer style healthcare. It's called Medicare, and it's one of our most popular social programs. This morning I heard a clip of Ronald Reagan, then candidate for governor, speaking about the prospect of Medicare, and sounding very much like today's town hall critics.
If this program passes, one of these years we will tell our children and our children's children what it was like in American when men were free.And:One of the traditional methods of imposing statism, or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It's very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project. Most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can't afford it.Just so you get it, that was almost fifty years ago.
Here's Mike Enzi basically telling the Democratic members of the Gang of Six that he's acting in bad faith:Mike Enzi, one of three Republicans ostensibly negotiating health care reform as part of the Senate's "Gang of Six," told a Wyoming town hall crowd that he had no plans to compromise with Democrats and was merely trying to extract concessions.As I wrote yesterday, these guys are basically forcing Conrad, Baucus and Bingaman into a corner. If the GOP won't give them any bipartisan cover, they are out there all alone. It's quite the game of chicken at this point.
"It's not where I get them to compromise, it's what I get them to leave out," Enzi said Monday, according to the Billings Gazette.
This health care debate is looking like it's finally going to tell us what our president really believes in. (We know where he is on national security, but then nearly all presidents of both parties are hawks so it doesn't really tell you anything. Domestic policy is where the rubber meets the road.) The Republicans have completely taken themselves out of the debate and the only arguments are among Democrats. And that means President Obama's going to have to decide which side he's going to put his weight behind. It's hard to believe he'll come down on the side of the liberals after all the effort he's put into placating the medical industry, but it's always possible.
One thing's becoming completely clear --- he won't be able to do anything with bipartisan cover and that means it's all coming down to his partisan leadership. Which way will he go?
