Howard Dean is Doing What Dems Need: Shaking Things Up

via Atrios via TPM: ..."The Republican Party took weeks to finally admit that it was responsible for some of the most outrageous campaign flyers in the last election. The Washington Note was the first to post these -- and Howard Dean, on his blog, was one of the few politicians (then withdrawn from the race) to roundly attack these flyers that said Democrats would BAN the Bible and turn that respective state (Arkansas, West Virginia, Ohio, and several others) into bastions of homosexuality. And now Dean is being clobbered by his own party for asserting that the Republican Party is mostly Christian, mostly white, and mostly male?! ..read on"

Only in politics can you tell the truth and get hammered. Do I think he needs to be a bit more precise. Yes. Also, the more they attack what Dean says the less effect it will have. 24/7 is devoting segment after segment on Howard Dean. After awhile the producers will grow tired of it as well the people they are trying to influence, and the only entertained members will be the rabid fundamentalists.

Can someone explain to me why Rep. Stupak and Sen. Nelson's attacks on a woman's legal reproductive rights are not being called into question over nothing more than their push to inject conservative ideology into the health-care bill? And why are the media not highlighting this at all?

It's a complete and utter media bias against women. Liberals are being portrayed by the media elites as being against the Senate health-care bill on the grounds of ideology because of the exclusion of the public option, but any serious person knows our beef is with the actual legislation of the bill and how it will help Americans. The public option is a tool that could create real competition against the health care insurance industry, and is its own cost-control mechanism. We also loved the Medicare buy-in at fifty five, but that fig leaf which was yanked out from under us -- a fact missing from the Sunday talk shows.

What function does the Stupak amendment or Nelson's anti-abortion compromise actually serve in the implementing of health-care reform for America, except to target the health-care concerns of women across America?

Barbara Boxer's compromise gives states the right to opt out of actually having health-care providers cover abortions and all medical issues that arise for women who deal with this issue. That's a huge step backwards for women in America.

Does allowing all those "pro-life" state legislatures like South Dakota's to completely opt-out of any requirement to offer coverage for abortion sound like an improvement to you? Do we all relish the inevitable, bloody state-by-state abortion battles?

On Meet The Press, David Gregory didn't even bother to have one female on the panel to discuss what is happening to their rights, as Taylor Marsh observed:

Well, as with the late Tim Russert, once again with David Gregory on “Meet the Press,” women are not seen or heard at a time when abortion politics has been at the center of the healthcare debate. (I’ve been covering this reality for years.) That women also pay more for health insurance evidently doesn’t meet the “Meet the Press” standards for being included in the debate. That says it all, not only about the continuing If It’s Sunday, It’s Misogyny...

Yeah, why would the opinion of a woman be needed when talking about abortion rights anyway?

Bad Intel, Bad Policy democracy arsenal

We should all pay more attention to the recent report of the bipartisan presidential commission chaired by Laurence Silberman and Chuck Robb regarding U.S. intelligence and WMD threats. It got a couple of days of buzz when it was released a few weeks ago -- especially for its no-nonsense conclusion that all the pre-war judgments about Iraq's WMD were "dead wrong" – but has pretty much dropped out of sight since. At over 600 pages, it’s not exactly bedtime reading.

But like the 9-11 commission, this group has produced a rare kind of government report: compelling, hard-hitting, clear, provocative, and actually pretty entertaining. But it is also really scary. The commissioners conclude that there is no greater threat than the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons (placing special emphasis on the threat from biological weapons, which they describe as the “greatest intelligence challenge”). Yet they show with great detail that our intelligence community is not sufficiently trained, motivated, equipped, or organized to deal with these threats. Even if we had an Administration intensely focused on the WMD threat, the limits of our intelligence capabilities would leave still leave us fighting with one hand tied behind our backs.

Right now, we have the worst of both worlds: an intelligence community that is not up to the challenge, and an Administration that talks a good game but is still not making counter-proliferation the priority it needs to be.  As Ash Carter points out, until we get the policy right, it really doesn’t matter if intelligence is imperfect.   Folks, I gotta tell you, we should be genuinely worried about getting hit with some sort of WMD device (for a very scary illustration of what this might be like, everyone should watch the recent HBO/BBC film “Dirty War”).  The American people understand the problem – according to the recent SPI/Marttila poll, 3 of the top 5 concerns most American have about the world have something to do with the spread of nuclear weapons.  So where's the outrage?  There’s a lot I really don’t understand about the Bush Administration, but not doing more to address the WMD threat – especially when we know what to do about it – is the most perplexing, and I think its greatest long-term failure. 

Dean leads the troops    Thoughts from Kansas 

Quark Soup

Check out this major blunder, written by Misty Edgecomb of the Bangor Daily News:

Instead, the Bush administration is promoting voluntary energy efficiency and pollution reduction programs - which EPA officials estimate will reduce emissions by 18 percent over a decade without harming the economy.

Of course, it's not emissions that will decrease 18 percent over the next decade but -- emissions as a percentage of GDP. Emissions will continue to increase.

What's so bad about this is that it's precisely this type of confusion which the Administration was hoping people would make when they shifted their emphasis from emissions to emissions intensity. Reporter Misty Edgecomb fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

Don't miss these stories  Kicking Ass

Don't miss some important stories coming out of the DNC today:

• Governor Dean announced a huge investment in state parties, beginning with a half million dollars to four states as a pilot program that will go national.
• Dean called on Dennis Hastert to stop protecting the scandal-ridden Tom DeLay and to restore the power of the Ethics Committee to conduct meaningful investigations.
• Americans are growing more and more wary of Republicans, according to three different new polls. President Bush's approval ratings are dropping, and Americans strongly disapprove of the recent behavior of GOP leaders.

emissions intensity -- emissions as a percentage of GDP. Emissions will continue to increase.

What's so bad about this is that it's precisely this type of confusion which the Administration was hoping people would make when they shifted their emphasis from emissions to emissions intensity. Reporter Misty Edgecomb fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

Kicking Ass

Don't miss some important stories coming out of the DNC today:

• Governor Dean announced a huge investment in state parties, beginning with a half million dollars to four states as a pilot program that will go national.
• Dean called on Dennis Hastert to stop protecting the scandal-ridden Tom DeLay and to restore the power of the Ethics Committee to conduct meaningful investigations.
• Americans are growing more and more wary of Republicans, according to three different new polls. President Bush's approval ratings are dropping, and Americans strongly disapprove of the recent behavior of GOP leaders.

"I misspoke"

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Crook and Liars
perseverance pays off. We called CNN and demanded an on-the-air apology by Novak himself because of the lie he spread about Howard Dean. Earlier in the week Judy Woodruff issued an apology for Novak's lie, but we felt that wasn't enough. We called and spoke to a PR person who said they would talk to the producers of Inside Politics and get back to us. We promised that we would not go away.

Since Novak claimed on February 26 edition of CNN's The Capital Gang: "Howard Dean gave a speech at Cornell on Thursday of this week in which he said that 80 percent -- over the years, 80 percent of the Social Security benefits will be lost." Then he repeated the lie on Inside Politics the following Monday. Off course Dean actually said: "if Social Security were left alone for 30 years, benefits would be reduced to 80 percent of what it is now." The GOP repeated his lie with video on their website (scrubbed now) and subsequently Rush Limbaugh used the same quote on 3/3. Novak came on the air today and apologized saying: "On Monday I said, I misspoke myself...what I meant to say..."

We know that he knew the actual quote being a seasoned "journalist," but chose to try and tarnish Dean with a lie. Also he claimed to have said it on Monday only, which of course is not true. The fact that he got on the air at all shows what can be done if we put our minds to it. Media Matters was on top of the story as well and proved invaluable in getting Novak to denounce himself. Thanks to all that called and emailed their concerns to CNN.

(Update-many feel it wasn't a good enough apology. We do agree. He still tried to say that Dean didn't "toe" the party line, which of course is incorrect. However, we still feel that it was important to get him to acknowledge his lie on the air, "something that had to kill him to do," even in the under handed way that he did it. We never expected him to admit much more. We tried our best.)

Sting - If I Ever Lose My Faith In You

Some would say I was a lost man in a lost world

You could say I lost my faith in the people on TV

You could say I'd lost my belief in our politicians

They all seemed like game show hosts to me

If I ever lose my faith in you

There'd be nothing left for me to do

This has been a really dispiriting time for many of us...and the likening of politicians and the bobbleheads to game show hosts is an apt one. Trying to sell us on merchandise by wildly over-inflating its value, even though in reality, it's not something we really wanted in the first place. But they keep telling us how great it is and how lucky we are for having won it. And boy, the White House really is going to play the game show host thing this morning, with adviser David Axelrod on three different shows. He'll be on with Howard Dean on Meet the Press (they've also has made the inspired booking of DailyKos' Markos Moulitsas and Joe Scarborough for the round table), which should make for some interesting fireworks. State of the Union will host some divergent views: NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, McCain Musketeer Lindsay Graham and Andy Stern of the SEIU. And once again, if it's Sunday, it's time for John McCain. Palin's favorite candidate will be on Fox News Sunday, no doubt to clutch pearls over the lack of comity due to that upstart Al Franken, ignoring his own similar unkindness. Consistency and integrity, thy name is never Republican.

ABC's "This Week" - White House senior adviser David Axelrod; Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, Mary Landrieu, D-La., Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Axelrod; Howard Dean, former national Democratic Party chairman.

NBC's "The Chris Matthews Show" - Katty Kay, Howard Fineman, John Heilemann, Norah O'Donnell. Topics: Annual Holiday Highlights Show! Greatest Hits and Worst Moves of 2009! The Chutzpah Prize, Cad of the Year, and Who Surprised Us On the Upside?

CNN's "State of the Union" - Axelrod; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif.; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" - The former scientific brain of Microsoft, Nathan Myhrvold, offers a new approach to solving global warming. Plus, Vali Nasr, advisor to the Obama administration, discusses a new way to fight Islamic terrorism - with capitalism.

CNN's "Amanpour" - Sir Harold Evans and Tina Brown

"Fox News Sunday" - Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

So, what's catching your eye this morning?

I had a dream.

I've been reading and listening to all the arguments made who are for and against the supposed new Senate health-care compromise bill that Harry Reid has sent to the CBO to be scored before they present it to us. Even as we see the Senate shut down because politicians don't want big PharMa to take a hit, thanks to an amendment being pushed by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) to allow for the reimportation of pharmaceutical drugs from Canada.

I've talked to a few sources myself and Greg Sargent's account comports with what I've heard as well. It's confusing because it's been kept secret, and so staffers didn't know what had transpired at the end of the day. I have heard from sources today who said it's not as bad as was first thought, but the bottom line is that we'll know soon enough. Harry Reid knows it will be impossible to spin it when it does surface so why the chicanery? Anyway, the process is still a long way from being over and Congress should not take a single day off until they have a great bill finished before the New Year. They can at least act like working Americans for once instead of crying about working weekends. This new bill is not the final bill that will eventually be voted on to reform our health care system. The House is very much in play although the Senate seems to think that they alone are the Guardians of the Gate and they have to weigh in and not let it get watered down into a bag full of beans.

The committees have to be appointed by Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid as they head to conference and now it will fall on them to finalize the health care bill that will be voted on.

Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a champion of the public option has said he will not vote for the Senate bill as it now stands while Americans still favor the public option by a wide margin in the newest polls. Howard Dean has found some comfort in the idea of expanding medicare to cover people fifty five years old.

It appears that committee heads George Miller, Henry Waxman and Charlie Rangel of the House probably will be part of the conference coming out of the House, and I say let them do their part to strengthen the bill against the pressure from the Senate side so that when it comes out of conference the ConservaDems like Baucus, Landrieu, Conrad and Lieberman will be faced with two choices. Either act like our elected politicians that are representing Americans or be exposed as health insurance shills and if the bill is to go down then put it on the shoulders.

Let President Snowe use her fantasized veto pen to sign away our health care. Let Lieberman have to cast the vote that will kill a historic day in American politics.

Let Ben Nelson get in front of the cameras and explain to people like the thousands who were being treated at the Kansas City free clinic, with the incredible help of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann who had nowhere to go for care and tell them that he had to kill health care for them because he valued the profits of the health care industry over the well being of their families.

Let the ConservaDems go down in flames and burn to ashes with the bill if they choose to abandon the campaign promise that President Obama ran on and the mandate they rode in on with his victory in November.

We will keep fighting to make this bill a better because it won't be us that abandon the American people.

It will be the members of the House of Lords who value their positions of power over the less of us, the same as us and the more of us that inhabit this great country. It it by their pettiness that America regresses. It is with their utter contempt for the people that elected them that health care reform will fail. And all of America will know you because we shall speak. And all of America will despise you because they will know. Even those that oppose you will begin to suffer as the months go by and they too will realize that your cowardice has hurt their families even in their blindness to reality.

A Scarlet Letter will forever be burned into your foreheads for all to see.

Howard Dean writes at DK why he's so encouraged by the Senate healthcare reform bill. And remember, unlike us, he's actually worked on providing universal care:

Medicare is a government-run, single-payer system. What the Senate is working out could move the ball forward, if people under 65 will -- for the first time -- have the option of signing up for such a program under certain circumstances. The specifics of those circumstances matter a lot. The under-65 pool should not be limited to high-risk people only, and subsidies will ultimately be needed for those who cannot afford the premiums.

The other groundbreaking piece of the current Senate proposal is that a significant number of Americans over 55 who do not have access to health insurance today, would be able to get it within six months of the final bill being signed. Of course, more reform and access to choices are needed. However, this proposal moves us in a very good direction. The realities are Congress rarely passes reform that is not incremental and it is important that the increments they pass are headed in a direction we ultimately want to go. Expanding Medicare would do that.

The proposal to expand the Federal Employee Healthcare system could also be a step in the right direction. While I am not a fan of the private health insurance market, with the proper regulations, this could work. The OPM has done a reasonably good job of running the current plan, but Senator Rockefeller’s proposal to require insurance companies to spend 90 percent of their revenues on healthcare is absolutely essential.

This is the Medical Loss Ratio amendment that Jay Rockefeller and Al Franken are working on. It's the most important piece in this compromise. Without it, it won't work.

We must continue to work towards a system that gives Americans real choices. The truth is America already has a socialist system (the Veterans Administration with 25 million people). We already have a single-payer system (Medicare with 50 million people). And we already have a private insurance system (with almost 50 million Americans uninsured). The American people can reform healthcare by making real choices, but Congress must let us have those choices.

Both the current Senate proposal and the House bill will give us choices that Americans did not have before. The central problem will be that not enough Americans will have those choices. So while we may be able to take big steps in the right direction – the fight for healthcare reform does not end here. We must continue to pressure Congress to pass real reform.