Throughout their all-out campaign to stop health care reform, Republican leaders have relied on questionable forecasts from the Lewin Group, a subsidiary of insurer UnitedHealth Group. Now, another study funded by UnitedHealth has some unwelcome news for the GOP braintrust: the red states they represent are the unhealthiest in the nation. Following on the heels of the Commonwealth Fund's 2009 Scorecard of state health care system performance, the United Health Foundation's report is just the latest confirmation that health care is worst where Republicans poll best.

As Forbes noted:

The annual ranking looks at 22 indicators of health, including everything from how many children receive recommended vaccinations, to obesity and smoking rates, to cancer deaths.

The diagnosis isn't pretty for Republicans committed to denying the health care their constituents need most of all. The 2009 rankings (above) reveal that nine of the top 10 healthiest states voted for Barack Obama in 2008. Conversely, 9 of the 10 cellar dwellers backed John McCain in 2008; four years earlier, the 15 unhealthiest states voted for George W. Bush for President.

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From my pal Lisa Derrick: Family Values? Red States Lead in Divorce, Teen Pregnancy and Online Porn

What is astounding is the New York Times chart which takes politicians out of the mix and breaks it down into the values that the Right espouses: Anti-divorce, anti-porn and anti-teen sex. Well gosh, even with my admittedly and embarrassingly bad math skills, it's clear that eight out of the ten states with highest rates in the categories of divorce, teen pregnancy and online porn usage were states where McCain came out ahead in the 2008 election.

Ahhhh, help...we need more teabaggers to save us...

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Chris Matthews asks Rep. John Culberson to respond to Tom DeLay's whining about Texas being a donor state and points out that the states which are the biggest donor states are mainly blue states and the ones which receive the most are primarily red states. Of course Culberson has to try to change the subject and talk about not wanting our children taxed instead of answering the question. You sure didn't see any Republicans coming on the television worried about our children's future while Bush was breaking the bank. Matthews gives it another shot and then... what else could he possibly retreat to? Culberson pulls out the France/socialism boogeyman card.

Matthews: Do you think Texas has a special complaint against the union because you believe that you're a donor state. That's what Tom DeLay said last night. A special complaint. It turns out that a lot of the liberal states which you guys would call Democrat states up in the Northeast, states like New Jersey, are the ones that spend the most money in taxes. Now maybe they should be complainers like Texas but, they're not complaining. Why are you guys complaining? Why are the pitchforks so out in the rural states?

Culberson: Because Texas is, because we see Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama and this Congress trying to turn America into France. And Texas is not going to become France. We don't want to be a socialist, European nation. We treasure our freedom. We treasure local government. We treasure the right to let Texans run Texas.

Yeah, heaven forbid the US could become anything like that scary, scary France. The horror of possibly having nationalized health care, shorter work weeks and stronger unions. I don't know how we'd survive it. Matthews makes Culberson look as foolish as he is with his Texas loves America more than anyone nonsense that follows. They love it so much they want to leave it.

Culberson: ..the core point here is Texans have a special feeling in our hearts about what it means to be an American. And to be an American means the government should leave me alone and get off my back and get out of my way and get out of my wallet...(crosstalk)

Matthews: Who has that special feeling?

Culberson: More than anyone else I think Texans have a special feeling in their heart about what it means to be an American and the core values that made Americans...(crosstalk)

Matthews: You know how absurd that is Congressman. You say that you guys are more emotional about your Americanism and yet you've got a Governor talking about splitting from America. You know how absurd that sounds.

Culberson: He's not serious about it. Governor Perry...

Matthews: Why'd he..he did it all week this week. (crosstalk) You say you love the country but you're threatening to leave it.

Yes completely absurd and hypocritical but I'm sure they won't let that stop them from continuing with the absurdity. Never does. I want to hear that same tough talk out of these idiots the next time they have a hurricane and need some help from the Federal government.

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Chris Wallace--like the rest of the Fox News world--wants the world set up in easily definable terms: Liberals vs. Conservatives, Patriots vs. Pinheads, Red States vs. Blue States. The Barack Obama presidential campaign is clearly crossing those boundaries and I think that Wallace doesn't know how to cope with that. Obama has taken Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy and shown that Democrats can be competitive in traditionally red states. In fact, so much so that Obama is actually within the margin of error in McCain's home state of Arizona. But for Wallace, it's arrogant of Obama to advertise in states that Republicans have traditionally dominated.

Obama Campaign Manager David Plouffe argues (and I believe correctly) that it is more the arrogance on the part of the McCain campaign to think they didn't need to set up a ground game in these states than it is for Obama to simply believe that there were enough voters seeking change to make these states competitive:

WALLACE: First, let’s talk about the thing I brought up with Rick Davis, the fact that you have decided to make a late push in North Dakota, in Georgia and even in McCain’s home state of Arizona. Is it there a touch of arrogance here? I mean, wouldn’t it make more sense to focus your resources, focus your advertising and everything on the states that you need to lock up 270 electoral votes?

PLOUFFE: Well, Chris, we’re doing everything we can in the core battlegrounds: Ohio, where Sen. Obama will be today; Florida; Virginia; North Carolina; Indiana. All of those states we’re doing everything we think we need to do to try and win. In these three states, we’ve been organizing for some time, the reason Georgia is so competitive right now is all the organizational groundwork we’ve put in, why you’re seeing early vote numbers in such large measures. So, in North Dakota, Georgia, Arizona, we think all three of those are going to be close and there’s benefit to having the playing field to yourself. One of the reasons we’re so strong in states like Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia, even in Florida, is the McCain campaign was arrogant. They were asleep at the switch and thought those states would not be competitive. So we had two-three months headstart, advertising, organizing. So in North Dakota, Georgia and Arizona, we think we have the playing field to ourselves, we think all three will be close, and we’re going to give it a shot to see how…now I think John McCain should be favored in all three of those states, but we think they’re going to be very close and if you look at Georgia, the early vote there—similar to North Carolina – is just striking in terms of its composition. And we think we’re heading to a very close finish there.

Finally, is it me or is the whole term "arrogant" a codeword for "uppity"? How dare that Democrat think he's going to get Georgia or North Dakota? Doesn't he know that those are America-loving red states?