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Good for Dr. Nancy for shooting down some of Blackburn's typical partisan hackery here.

From Think Progress:

On MSNBC this afternoon, Dr. Nancy Snyderman took Blackburn to task for getting the “public health message lost in the politics.” “Now, there’s nothing that came out of this panel recommending rationing,” said Snyderman. “Just a prudent use of screening tests.” When Blackburn tried to claim that the guidelines meant “bureaucrats deciding what they’re going to allow,” Snyderman pointed out that Blackburn was acting as a “bureaucrat” standing between patients and “the best possible evidence”. [...]

As the Washington Independent’s Mike Lillis notes, the concern of the congresswomen about rationed mammograms is especially ironic considering that they oppose legislation that “would require insurance companies that cover diagnostic mammograms also to cover routine, annual breast cancer screenings for all women 40 and older.”

Just when you think he can't get any more insane and stupid, Glenn Beck manages to pluck yet another feather from the plumage:

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Oy.

Besides the conundrum of how it is that someone this clearly insane is given multiple national platforms to rant and rave as lucidly as the crazy homeless guy downtown, I really can't believe that we're now getting to the point that we're likening health care reform (something the majority of the country wants, mind you) to forced rape of a minor.

We had visitors from Denmark staying with us just recently, and they were just dumbfounded by the asinine and completely fact-free crap that passes for news coverage here, especially when it comes to health reform. From a country where universal health care is a given, listening to the fear-mongering on Fox News and other news channels I'm forced to watch for C&L made them wonder about the collective IQ of American citizens. Sadly, I was hard-pressed to defend us in the face of such loonies like Beck.

I take solace in the thought that when my children are my age, we will likely have fought mightily and won universal single payer health care for all Americans (because it really is the only thing that makes sense) and they'll look back at old tape of Glenn Beck and say, "Sheesh, no wonder it was such a battle, look at this idiocy," and shake their heads ruefully at the frightened, non-thinking people that watched him.

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Rep. Jeb Hensarling fear mongering over European health care systems and claiming that his father who had a heart condition would have been possibly died had he been in one of their systems.

What happens after all the fear mongering that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons bunker turns out to be bunk?

U.N. inspectors found "nothing to be worried about" in a first look at a previously secret uranium enrichment site in Iran last month, the International Atomic Energy chief said in remarks published Thursday.

Mohamed ElBaradei also told the New York Times that he was examining possible compromises to unblock a draft nuclear cooperation deal between Iran and three major powers that has foundered over Iranian objections.

The nuclear site, which Iran revealed in September three years after diplomats said Western spies first detected it, added to Western fears of covert Iranian efforts to develop atom bombs. Iran says it is enriching uranium only for electricity.

ElBaradei was quoted in a New York Times interview as saying his inspectors' initial findings at the fortified site beneath a desert mountain near the Shi'ite holy city of Qom were "nothing to be worried about."

"The idea was to use it as a bunker under the mountain to protect things," ElBaradei, alluding to Tehran's references to the site as a fallback for its nuclear program in case its larger Natanz enrichment plant were bombed by a foe like Israel.

"It's a hole in a mountain," he said.

But, let's not let you get too comfortable about Iran...GuardianUK's Julian Borger comes up with a new scare:

The UN's nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian has learned.

The very existence of the technology, known as a "two-point implosion" device, is officially secret in both the US and Britain, but according to previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of the design. The development was today described by nuclear experts as "breathtaking" and has added urgency to the effort to find a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear crisis.

Ooooh...booga booga booga! Two things that glare out for me: one, Borger cites the IAEA unpublished report without one single quotation. Two, Borger claims the "two point implosion" is "officially secret" in the US and UK, but how secret can it be when it has its own Wikipedia page?

The media really does think you're dumb and can't figure out teh Google.

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Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz both responded to Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol's new group Keep America Safe's ad, which accused them of being afraid to debate her. Rachel was polite as always and said Ms. Cheney is welcome on her show any time. Ed Schultz had some of his guests weigh in as well and was not so kind to Cheney. He questioned why she was qualified to work at the State Department in the first place and I think Bill Press' response was the most appropriate.

Press: You know what I think Ed? This was another balloon hoax. This whole thing is a total hoax, this Keep America Safe thing. It is. It's a total media creation. You're right about Liz Cheney. What about Bill Kristol? This is the guy that brought the country Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin—Bill Kristol—the one that wanted Bill Clinton to invade Iraq in 1997—what credentials—and I'm sorry Earnest, but the credentials of the people who represent the organization do say a lot about the organization. You’ve got Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol—neither of them know squat about security. And we’re supposed to believe them?

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More of Rep. Alan Grayson speaking some truth to power. From The Ed Schultz Show Oct. 9, 2009. When asked what he thinks of the Republicans being so negative about the President winning the Nobel Peace Prize, he responds:

Grayson: I think I understand their disappointment. They're not going to be winning the Nobel Peace Prize themselves anytime soon. They probably wish there a Nobel Prize for fear, a Nobel Prize for hatred, a Nobel prize for racism. You know, then they'd be in the running, but I don't think they're going to be winning a Nobel Peace Prize soon.

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Chris Matthews thinks that the "nuts on the Internet" and the "bloggers huddling in their basements pushing revolution" are being read by Michelle Bachmann's staffers and feeding her conspiracy theories. I don't think Michelle Bachmann needs any help from the right wing blogs to be bat-shit crazy but possibly Matthews is reading Steve Benen over at Washington Monthly because he came pretty close to repeating this post verbatim.

ABORTION FIELD TRIPS....:

In a speech on the House floor last night, Bachmann warned about the dangers of school-based health clinics, patient privacy, and student records.

"What does that mean? It means that parents will never know what kind of counsel and treatment that their children are receiving. And as a matter of fact, the bill goes on to say what's going to go on -- comprehensive primary health services, physicals, treatment of minor acute medical conditions, referrals to follow-up for specialty care -- is that abortion? Does that mean that someone's 13 year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus that night? Mom and dad are never the wiser."

I'm not sure why Bachmann thinks school-based health clinics deserve to be characterized as "sex clinics," though it does suggest the right-wing lawmaker has something of a dirty mind.

Media Matters Action Network noted, "Bachmann seems to be getting her information from fringe blogs like Free Republic and WorldNetDaily, both of which have recently promoted similar claims."

PolitiFact.com fact-checked the claim in August: "We see no language in the three main versions of the bill that would allow school-based clinics, which have a long history of providing basic health services to underprivileged students, to provide abortions. Nor would the clinics even be new -- they have been around for three decades. So we rate the claim Pants on Fire!"

Jon Stewart takes the GOP hypocrites to task for wanting ACORN investigated while defending the likes of Karl Rove and refusing to investigate torture, and for freaking out over a video of school children praising President Obama.

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Ruh-roh. John Boehner had better watch it or the Tea Baggers are going to be angry with him. He must think that no one has him either transcribed or recorded for the last year. Think Progress cites one example.

Boehner is lying. He has said that what Obama and Democratic leaders are doing is socialism. From his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference a few months ago:

Well, the stimulus, the omnibus, the budget — it’s all one big down payment on a new American socialist experiment. … All of these bills seek to replace our economic freedom with the whims and mandates of politicians and bureaucrats.

GREGORY:This question about the role of the government, and, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying this week what she worries about in terms of the tone of debate is that it could lead to violence, as it did in the ‘70s; you know, there was anti-government violence in the ‘90s in Oklahoma City, as well. How much of a concern is that? Do you share it, or do you think that that was an overstatement on her part?

GRAHAM: Well, quite frankly, I mean, the whole idea of the role of government needs to be debated. The public option; she says there will be no bill coming out of the House without a public option. America is saying, listen, the government programs we’ve got like Medicare is $34 trillion underfunded. The Baucus bill will let—adds 11 million to a Medicaid system that can’t—the states can’t afford. So a lot of us are concerned that Nancy Pelosi and others are pushing government to control prices when it will not work in health care. Competition and choice. If you’ve got only one plan in Alabama, let the people in Alabama shop around the country for plans. But I’m not so worried about—you know, her criticism about the opponents of the plan don’t bother me. The fact that we’re broke...

GREGORY: She’s talking about violence, though.

GRAHAM: Yeah. I don’t...

GREGORY: I mean, we’ll get to the health care. You don’t buy that.

GRAHAM: I don’t think any responsible person is asking for a violent response.

GREGORY: Do you—is that hyperbole?

BOEHNER: David, I’m, I’m not concerned about violence.

GRAHAM: No.

BOEHNER: I mean, I’m sure Speaker Pelosi was sincere in her concern. But let’s remember something. The debate that we’re in here is not just about health care, it’s about the, the trillion-dollar stimulus that was suppose to be about jobs and turned into nothing more spending—than spending and more spending. It was about a budget with a, with a nearly $2 trillion deficit this year and trillion-dollar deficits for as far as the eye can see. It’s a cap and trade system, this big giant tax on the American people that this week, we just find out, the Treasury Department said will cost the average family $1700 per year. You add to that this whole question of health care and the government option, the government involvement, and Americans today are getting more news about what’s happening in their government than they have ever gotten before, and Americans are genuinely scared to death. Scared to death...

GREGORY: But, Leader, don’t they get even more scared when you got the head of the Republican Party sending out an e-mail that, you know, to challenge the president and Democratic leaders for a socialist power grab? I mean, is that appropriate conversation? Is this, did you really think the president’s a socialist?

BOEHNER: Listen, when you begin to look at how much they want to grow government, you can call it whatever you want, but the fact is, is that...

GREGORY: Well, what do you call it, though? This is important.

BOEHNER: This is unsustainable. We’re, we’re broke.

GREGORY: That’s fine. Do you think the president’s a socialist? Because that’s what...

BOEHNER: No.

GREGORY: OK. But the head of the Republican Party is, is calling him that.

BOEHNER: Well, listen, I didn’t call him that and I’m not going to call him that. What’s going on here is unsustainable. Our nation is broke. And, and at a time when we’ve got this serious economic problem, a near 10 percent unemployment, we ought to be looking to create jobs in America, not kill jobs in America. Their cap and trade proposal, all this spending, all of this debt and now their healthcare plan will make it more difficult for employers to hire people, more difficult and more expensive to have employees, which means we’re going to have less jobs in America. But Americans are scared. That’s why they’re speaking up and that’s why they’re engaging in their government.

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God we need about a hundred more Howard Deans out there to put a stop to the Republican fear mongering. When Newt Gingrich tries to say that getting the waste out of Medicare Advanatage that is a giveaway to the private insurance companies is taking something away from seniors, Dean straightens him out and tells him no, it's taking away from the insurance companies that are ripping us off.

Dean and Durbin both did a good job on Meet the Press today against Gingrich and Cornyn.

MR. GREGORY: Let's talk about the deficit. And the president made a very important pledge during this speech on Wednesday.

(Videotape, Wednesday)

PRES. OBAMA: I will not sign it if it adds one dime to the deficit now or in the future. Period.

(End videotape)

MR. GREGORY: Senator Durbin, a hard pledge to meet when you've got House legislation that already does that, it already breaks the deficit. It can't be paid for over 10 years, according to the CBO. Here's a Washington Post editorial this morning having to do with where are the details, does the math work: "When politicians start talking about paying for programs by cutting `waste and abuse,' you should get nervous. When they don't provide specifics--and when the amounts under discussion are in the hundreds of billions of dollars--you should get even more nervous." How does this get paid for without adding to the deficit?

SEN. DURBIN: Members of Congress should take the president at his word, he will not sign a bill that adds to the deficit. He walked into the White House and inherited a $1 trillion-plus deficit from the Republican administration because they had fought a war in Iraq they didn't pay for, the gave tax breaks to the wealthy they didn't pay for and they had a prescription drug program under Medicare they didn't pay for. This president said that's over, and members of Congress should take that seriously. Now, I disagree with The Washington Post. The fact is, under Medicare now we are providing multibillion-dollar subsidies to health insurance companies for something called Medicare Advantage. The health insurance companies said to us, let us run Medicare. We can show you how the government's not doing it efficiently, we can do it at a lower cost. Guess what, it's not at a lower cost. We are subsidizing private health insurance companies to provide the Medicare benefits that we can provide at a lower cost. That has to change. That subsidy has to end. That is the kind of savings that can come back into the system to help small businesses provide health insurance and help those with lower incomes pay their premiums in America.

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CNN just can't stop themselves from giving this guy some more air time, can they? Apparently hypocrite Jim Greer thinks that with no proof what so ever that the White House rewrote the speech the President was going to give to school children this week after they "got their hand in the cookie jar caught".

From TPM- Florida GOP Chair: White House Rewrote School Speech After Conservatives Caught Them Indoctrinating Children!:

"Clearly last week there was a plan with the Department of Education," said Greer. "When you ask students to write a letter to the President on, how we can help you with your new ideas, Mr. President, that is leading the students in an effort to push the President's agenda. Now that the White House got their hand in the cookie jar caught, they changed everything, they redid the lesson plans, they released the text, and tomorrow he's gonna give a speech that every president should have an opportunity to give."

Suzanne Malveaux asked Greer if he had any inside information that the White House changed the speech.

"No, I don't," said Greer. "But I would anticipate, based on this President being so vocal and so aggressive about his vision of America, where government is in every aspect of our lives, I believe that the speech that he was gonna give, based on the lesson plans, is different."

As Steve Benen noted, apparently Greer is only worried about children being "indoctrinated" when the partisan message is coming from a Democrat.

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Unlike Chris Matthews who did an absolutely horrible job interviewing this guy, CNN's John Roberts and Roland Martin actually did a pretty well in taking on Jim Greer over his fear mongering on Obama's upcoming speech to students.

A little back ground on this. The invaluable Media Matters took everyone's favorite Drudge gossip-rag, The Politico to task for their initial fact free "reporting" on Jim Greer's statements.

Politico forwards falsehoods on Obama speech to students:

Reporting on the conservative reaction to President Obama's planned speech to students, the Politico uncritically quoted Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer's claim that Obama will speak about "his plans for government-run health care, banks, and automobile companies." PolitiFact.com, however, found Greer's claim to be "factually incorrect" and noted that the Florida Republican Party was unable to provide any support for his statement.

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PolitiFact gave Greer a "Pants on Fire" rating for his fear mongering and Roberts and Martin actually do their job and confront Greer with their reporting. Of course Greer just tries to dismiss them as some "liberal" outfit that shouldn't be taken seriously. What a surprise, huh?

Steve Benen has a great write up on this at the Washington Monthly:

IT'S COME TO THIS.... In 1988, then-President Reagan spoke to students nationwide via C-SPAN telecast. Among other things, he talked about his positions on political issues of the day. Three years later, then-President Bush addressed school kids in a speech broadcast live to school classrooms nationwide. Among other things, he promoted his own administration's education policies.

President Obama wants to deliver a message to students next week emphasizing hard work, encouraging young people to do their best in school. The temper tantrum the right is throwing in response only helps reinforce how far gone 21st-century conservatives really are.

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Transcript below the fold.

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When even Joe Scarborough is calling you out for fear mongering, you've got a problem.

From Think Progress:

Earlier today, ThinkProgress noted that conservatives are freaking out over President Obama’s upcoming speech to schoolchildren about “persisting and succeeding in school,” claiming that it is actually aimed at political indoctrination. On MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, host Joe Scarborough ripped into the hyperventilating conservatives. “Seriously, why don’t we want the president of the United States, any president of the United States, delivering the message to kids: work hard, stay in school, succeed,” said Scarborough, adding, “get your ratings if you want, you’re just screwing your political party.”

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Jebus. Marsha Blackburn won't pull back from the fear mongering on "death panels" and it's even too much for Joe Scarborough to take. Blackburn actually says " but to have that heavy, long arm of the Federal government reach into something that is a very, very personal, personal decision is distasteful to me, and I think it is distasteful to our nation's seniors".

I've got two words for you Marsha. Terri Schiavo.

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Here's the person that President Obama has been holding out as an example of a Republican he can work with. Chuck Grassley's latest excuse for his the government is going to "pull the plug on grandma" nonsense. Obama made me do it.

From Think Progress:

Today on CBS’s Face the Nation, Grassley struggled to explain why he made that statement. Clearly uncomfortable with the question, Grassley stumbled over his words and even blamed President Obama for his word choice. He said that even though he knew the House bill “doesn’t intend to” kill senior citizens, he felt that he had a responsibility to nevertheless play to those fears.

[....]

Obama did use the phrase “pull the plug on grandma.” But he used it as an example of the lies his opponents were pushing around to scare the American public. Despite Grassley’s claim, he did not respond in “exactly the same way.” Obama said the right-wing myth was completely baseless; Grassley said that it was definitely something to be feared.

Grassley can't even stop the fear mongering while acknowledging there's no basis for it. Stay classy there Chuck.

Transcript below the fold.

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