Loons. They are all Loons

Digby: Strength And Leadership

According to TPM, Charlie Cook is predicting a potential loss of the majority in the mid-terms. That seems a bit of a stretch to me, although losses do seem likely. But this part of his analysis is most interesting:

Before long, his strategy of letting Congress take the lead in formulating legislative proposals and thus prodding lawmakers to take ownership in their outcome caused his poll numbers on "strength" and "leadership" to plummet.

I expect that's at the bottom of their impulse to scrap the public option. Democrats Believe that the best way to show strength and leadership is to punch hippies. They've believed this for decades now, and the result has been to discredit liberalism and validate Republicans. (But hey, that seems to be the ultimate goal of the ruling class, so you can't say it isn't one of the things that "works.")

The villagers agree, of course. They believe America is the mythical conservative small town of the movies of the mid-20th century and they are all Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney. (Liberals are Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper in Easy Rider ruining everything with their loud music and their pot and their hair.)

But here in America 2009, the country is a little bit more complicated. It would be interesting to see what would happen if Democrats tried a different tack and punched somebody else instead. Like greedy CEOs. Or Freepers. Or ... Republicans. I wonder if maybe they might just get the strength and leadership numbers up if they unapologetically passed the agenda on which they ran and then went to the people in the next elections and stood behind it.

It's experimental, I know. And risky. Punching hippies will always at least get you some big love from the village and the wealthy donor class even if it doesn't help you win elections. But if they ever do want to behave like winners and demonstrate real strength and leadership, it might be worth trying one of these days.

• mcjoan adds:
  

  I agree with Josh on the possibility that expanded government intervention might not be disastrous for Dems, particularly as it relates to healthcare reform. What I think analysts are missing in warning against an expanded role for government is that for an awful lot of Americans, economic insecurity is intrinsically connected to health insecurity. Even in those polls where people say they are satisfied with their insurance, large numbers still worry about the continued affordability of coverage, and what happens if they leave a job.

  

  It's part of why the public option remains so popular. In a time of such economic insecurity, the idea of an government option, not dependent upon employment, and that will provide competition that will help keep the costs of private insurance premiums down is very compelling. It's pretty basic politics, actually, in a time of great economic upheaval--people look to government to provide some security. And real, comprehensive healthcare reform can provide that.

Atrios: So Awesome

Apparently Baucus has decided the problem is that people get too much medical care.

Atrios: Baucus Plan

Digby has the right take, it's not nothing but it is a crap sandwich which people won't like, Republicans won't support it, voters will hate it, and even insurance companies will squeal even though it preserves their role as skimmers of trillions of dollars for no discernible benefit.

Atrios: Unpopular

As Josh says, this is, at the moment, headed in a bad direction. The seem to have lost track of the fact - a fact Republicans understand and have been quite open about for decades - that passing a popular health care bill will make voters love Democrats and passing an unpopular one, or perhaps none at all, will make voters hate them. The Republicans were always going to oppose whatever the Democrats came up with, I just didn't know the Dems would let them do that while also letting them work to make sure anything they came up with is really unpopular.

Jane Hamsher: Baucus Bill: Forcing Americans To Buy Junk Insurance They Can’t Afford to Use

November 2008: Max Baucus circulates a white paper -- the "generic Democratic health care plan" -- which includes a public plan, and an emphasis on affordability and availability.

September 2009: Max Baucus circulates a health care bill forcing low- to middle-income to buy "junk" insurance they can't afford to use to earn Republican support, which amounts to a giant transfer of wealth to the insurance industry.

We'll be watching closely to see if any members of the veal pen are dragged out to validate this middle class travesty.

JedL: Midday open thread

Hey, who let this guy on Keith Olbermann's show?

Have to say, it's kinda' hard to disagree with kos on this one. America does want the public option. It's popular. Obama was elected on it. The Democrats should deliver. It's really a no-brainer.

JedL: Actually, it'd save money and reduce the deficit

Tom Brokaw -- after lecturing us on how ignorant Americans are when it comes to health care reform -- wrongly claims that the public option would cost $1 trillion.

Uh, actually a preliminary CBO estimate said the public option would save $150 billion. Yes, save. The fact is, health care reform without a public option would be more expensive than health care reform with a public option. (And as a nice little bonus, a smaller proportion of the money would go to the private health insurance companies that created the health care mess int he first place.)

JedL (Daily Kos): Sunday Loon Watch: Republicans just wanna’ say no

As Rudy Giuliani explains at the end of this week's Sunday Loon Watch, Republicans aren't just saying no to health care reform because they want to defeat the public option. (Along with Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Lamar Alexander, and Bob Dole, Giuliani makes it clear he's against that obviously Communist idea.)

You see, Republicans are also against any government role at all in health care. They might be going after the public option now, but they won't be satisfied until they've privatized every public health program in America, including the Veterans Administration and Medicare. That's just the way they roll.

• ::

C&L: In Seattle, thousands rally in favor of health-care reform. But not even the local media cover it

By David Neiwert Monday Sep 07, 2009 12:00pm

I've been in California this week, but my friend Goldy back in Seattle managed to make it out to last week's massive rally in support of health-care reform.

There were several thousand people there, with only a tiny smattering of teabaggers opposed to reform. Goldy has photos and reportage on just how large the support for a public option was.

And yet, guess what? The media completely ignored the rally. Even the local paper -- the ostensibly neutral but in fact Republican-run Seattle Times -- ran not one single word about it.

Of course, forget about the national media bothering to report this, too.

They've been too busy telling us that the public option is dead because of the supposedly massive opposition to it created by teabaggers.

As Goldy says:

None of this happened yesterday in downtown Seattle because no ex-marine angrily yelled down a congressman and nobody got the tip of their finger bitten off and nothing apparently is going to get the media to move from the well-entrenched meme that support for reform is steadily slipping as the public turns against Obama and the Democratic Congress… not even a show of force by the public itself.

How long before this is the next rallying cry . . .?
Think Progress: Tennessee mayor defends sending out false anti-Muslim email.

Johnny Piper, the mayor of Clarksville, TN, recently forwarded an anti-Muslim email urging all “patriotic Americans” to protest a U.S. Postal Service stamp that commemorates an Islamic holiday. Piper’s email falsely claims that the creation of the Eid stamp was ordered by President Obama. In fact, the stamp was first issued in 2001, during the Bush administration. It was reissued in 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Nevertheless, Piper is defending his email:

“I don’t see any reason why it would be inappropriate,” Piper said.

He said he forwarded the e-mail to provide “information” that others could make up their own minds about.

“I was surprised at a stamp being developed, and would have thought others would be, too,” he said. He added that he did not know what the stamp was commemorating.

“I laughed when I read it,” said Ahmed Joudah, head of the Islamic Center of Clarksville. “But at the same time, I felt sorry that we still have people around us that think that way.”

Josh Marshall: Troubling Sign

We should be deeply concerned that our public discourse has become so degraded and the American right so consumed by paranoia and conspiracy theories that Newt Gingrich has released remarks (via Twitter) on the president's school day speech that appear remarkably sane.

Newt Gingrich! Just Sayin ...

John Cole: The Brown Menace Revealed

President Obama’s speech to the kids is now available, and it just makes the right-wingers look absolutely absurd. In a sane world, this would be the tipping point for our members of the media, and they would simply stop taking these folks seriously.

My personal favorite wingnut excuse for the crazy was offered up by the increasingly amusing Malkin:

It’s not the speech, it’s the subtext.

It’s the radical activism of the White House Teaching Fellows who designed the education guides tied to Obama’s speech.

Yeah. It’s the subtext, alright. You can’t make this shit up. Lupica had it right when he called these guys mouth-breathers.

*** Update ***

BTW- Who do you all think will be the first wingnut to find a hidden coded message in the text of the speech? The odds on favorite for that kind of lunacy would be Glenn Beck, but then again the one lunatic who pushed the “Republican car dealers is being punished!” nonsense would be a good bet, too, as would that clown who freaked out over dijon mustard. There is just so much quality amateur wingnuttery going on these days that there really is no safe bet anymore.