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Health care reform is going to be the law of the land when the President signs it in to law tomorrow morning. When that happens, good things happen for individuals, small businesses and senior citizens. You'd think this would be what the media was talking about. But no, as John King demonstrates, what CNN deems important is the GOP threat to repeal health care reform.

KING: "Wall to Wall" tonight, a look at the next chapter in the health care political debate. The Democratic plan will soon be the law of the land. But a majority of Americans tell us they don't like it. And as the president hits the road again to sell it, the big question is whether passage of this landmark proposal gives him a political bounce. There is no doubt, check this out, that he could use one. Let's take a look at the president's approval rating since taking office. We'll go back to the beginning here and watch as this plays out.

In a remarkable exchange with former Clinton press secretary Dee Dee Myers and former Mitt Romney* communications director Kevin Madden, King leads off by pointing to the full 2,074-page bill while holding Michelle Bachmann's newly-introduced measure to repeal the bill. Despite DeeDee Myers' best efforts to focus the discussion on what reform really means to every American, Kevin Madden (with King's assistance) drives the debate back to vague, unsubstantiated lies and right-wing rumors.

No matter how many times Myers tries to tick off benefits of reform, Madden continues to spout the latest Luntz talking points with John King's full blessing. The most remarkable comment comes from Madden at about 3:30, where Myers points out that on Wednesday morning, the majority of Americans will wake up and discover they have the very same health insurance they had last week.

Madden's response? "The American people have been sold a bill of goods...they're going to expect something now."

Well, yes. Exactly. And what will happen when they get it? Who is selling the bill of goods here? As facts turn to reality, and people see benefits like small businesses getting tax credits and senior citizens saving money on prescription drugs, who will they believe sold them that bill of goods?

Please, Republicans, keep selling that repeal message. Sell it hard so we can elect an even bigger Democratic majority in November.

*corrected

Last week, Republican strategist Kevin Madden chastised President Obama for choosing to vacation in a "foreign place" like Hawaii, concluding "it's much different than being in Texas." Rush Limbaugh, it turns out, couldn't disagree more. The right-wing radio host and avid golfer not only visits the islands every year. After his New Year's Eve scare with chest pains, Limbaugh had nothing but praise for the care he received there. And for good reason: while Hawaii ranks second in state health care performance, the Lone Star State is a dismal 46th.

For his part, Limbaugh predictably touted his emergency hospitalization as proof of an unrivaled American health care system which needs no reform:

"I don't think there's one thing wrong with the American health care system," Limbaugh said. "I got no special treatment other than what anybody else that would have called 911 and had been brought in with the same kinds of symptoms."

No different than virtually all Hawaiians, that is.

As the New York Times detailed in October ("In Hawaii's Health System, Lessons for Lawmakers"), Hawaii consistently outperforms almost every other state for health care access, quality and costs. While only about 10% of non-elderly adults are without health insurance in there, Hawaii's premiums and Medicare costs per beneficiary are the lowest in the nation. The Times explained a major reason why:

Since 1974, Hawaii has required all employers to provide relatively generous health care benefits to any employee who works 20 hours a week or more. If health care legislation passes in Congress, the rest of the country may barely catch up.

That system also paid dividends for Rush Limbaugh:

One result of Hawaii's employer mandate and the relatively high number of people with health insurance is that hospital emergency rooms in the state are islands of relative calm. In 2007, the state had 264 outpatient visits to emergency rooms per 1,000 people -- 34 percent lower than the national average of 401.

(That's a far cry from the GOP's "emergency room solution" to the American health care crisis favored by George W. Bush, Tom Delay and Mitch McConnell.)

The result is that Hawaii can be found atop the Commonwealth Fund's scorecard of state health care performance. After finishing first in its 2007 assessment, the Commonwealth Fund ranked Barack Obama's birthplace #2 across 30-plus indicators of health care access, cost containment, quality, equity and prevention.

Along with other recent studies, the Commonwealth Fund also confirmed what by now is a truism of the politics of American health care: health care is worst precisely where Republicans poll best.

Continue reading »

House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) raised a few eyebrows yesterday when she compared the GOP’s behavior on the Hill to the Bush administration’s management of the war. "The war in Iraq and the Republicans in Congress are in disarray," Pelosi said. "They are going to leave a mess as they go out."

Given their rather humiliating record, Republicans probably should have just let this one go, but they couldn't help themselves.

"House Democrats have spent every waking moment of the past Congress obstructing any effort towards progress," said Kevin Madden, spokesman for House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "They have tried to blow up the tracks on immigration reform, tax relief, earmark reform, you name it."

This may be the perfect ending for the last day of 12 years of Republican rule of Congress -- a nonsensical, buck-passing response, rationalizing failure. Pathetic.

Liars

"Media reports that U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay had convinced the state's highest court to hear his appeal were as widely circulated as they were, well, wrong. Justices for the Texas Court Criminal Appeals agreed merely to consider hearing DeLay's money laundering case. They never said they would accept the case, said Edward Marty, the court's general counsel. The erroneous media reports, which the San Antonio Express-News published in a wire story and displayed online, come from DeLay's spokesman, Kevin Madden, in an e-mail sent to reporters Tuesday evening, after courts had closed for the night. ...read on"

Tom Delay Spin Contest

What will the right wing use as spin to help the hammer? Will it be the "evil" democrats that just want to see him fall? (sorry no prizes except mucho props)Will Ronnie Earle will be in their cross-hairs?

Kevin Madden, DeLay's spokesman, dismissed the charge as politically motivated.

"This indictment is nothing more than prosecutorial retribution by a partisan Democrat," Madden said, citing prosecutor Ronnie Earle, a Democrat.