Did we think President Obama would not have to endear this? Of course not, these lobbyist groups DON'T CARE.
When President Barack Obama visits Bozeman next week, the local arm of a national group opposing health care reforms before Congress will be there as well, organizing a protest rally.
The rally and tour, complete with a bus featuring a red hand and big lettering that says “Hands off my health care,” is part of a national effort organized by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group with ties to the Republican Party.
In Montana, the effort is being coordinated by Jake Eaton, former executive director of the Montana Republican Party.
“We're organizing people against these (health care) proposals because they're bad for America,” he said Friday. “Montanans are coming out and speaking their mind and making their voices heard.”
The bus tour, formally led by an AFP project called Patients First, is blasting the proposed reforms as a “government takeover” of health care that will lead to “government bureaucrats” making decisions about people's care.
Eaton said AFP officials and some local people will be on the bus, which will stop for rallies in a dozen towns.
Obama is coming to Bozeman next Friday, and is expected to conduct a town hall-style meeting to promote health care reforms that aim to expand coverage to the millions of Americans without health insurance, reform insurance markets, reduce health care costs and gradually overhaul how health care is delivered.
This is coupled with President Obama's town hall meeting in Montana, next week.
The First Family is taking a vacation before their vacation.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday the president, First Lady Michelle and the kids are heading west on Aug. 14 for a long weekend to visit Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National parks. Just days later, the First Family travels to Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts.
Mrs. Obama and her daughters have already made two overseas trips this summer. Gibbs talked about the westward swing - intended to highlight the national parks - at his briefing, where he offered up Obama's week ahead.
On Sunday the president flies to Guadalajara, Mexico, to attend the North American Leaders summit. Tuesday, Obama touches down in Portsmouth, N.H.- an area where he spent a lot of time in advance of the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary in 2008 - for a town hall on health care reform. Obama hosts a reception Aug.12 for his new Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor.
On Friday, Aug. 14, the First Family will visit the Bozeman, Mont., area. On Aug. 15 they will travel to Yellowstone, Wyo., and Grand Junction, Colo. They will then travel to the Grand Canyon and Phoenix, Ariz., on Aug. 16, and return to Washington, D.C., on Monday, Aug. 17. The First Family's visit to the national parks occurs during a free weekend for our national parks.
Obama has been to the parks before, Gibbs said. "I know he's been to Yellowstone, because he tells a story of coming to visit his grandparents that I believe includes both stops at Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon, coming from Hawaii." read more here....
Full video of the swearing in of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. She was sworn by Chief Justice John Roberts at the Supreme Court building, not the White House. This is the FIRST TIME, that this event has been caught on video.
Again, these are organized LOBBYISTS and INSURANCE COMPANIES created violence and chaos at these town hall meetings. Especially, when you have these "people" who don't know that Medicare is a government run program, sheesh.
Again, these town hall meetings are organized by insurance companies and lobbyist groups, period. When you want change that will possibly take away from your bottomline profit, what would you do? OPPOSE IT.
Finally this misinformation about government run health care, BAD FOR YOU. Ask your seniors in your families who are on MEDICARE or anyone on MEDICAID, is that bad for them? Because these are GOVERNMENT RUN programs.
I state this because she was part of the problem during McCain's town hall meetings and she elevated this "we are the real Americans" act that she paraded around this country.
The woman would not know, nor understand diversity if you asked her to spell it or give the definition. She is THAT far removed.
So, she is again trotting herself on out here and giving us her 2 cents on the health care debate. She AGAIN is using her own child, flying him high and proudly, as an example (as she has done REPEATEDLY) for why the supposed health care plan will be detrimental to her son, Trig.
Describing Democratic healthcare plans as "evil," Sarah Palin is warning that the proposals being debated in Washington could threaten the life of Trig, her Down Syndrome infant boy.
Palin, in her first policy statement since resigning as Alaska governor, wrote on her Facebook page Friday afternoon that the sick, elderly and disabled would suffer should healthcare be rationed, as conservatives claim it will with a public option.
"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care," Palin wrote. "Such a system is downright evil."
Downright evil? Do I hear rumblings of a Sarah Palin radio show, the likes of Glenn Beck?
As the health care debate unfolds, one thing is crystal clear, if it continues on the course it is on, someone will get hurt or killed. Then what will the likes of King Rush, Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin say or do? More importantly, where will the Republicans be in the debate?
President Barack Obama calls health insurance reform critical to our nations long-term economic strength and dispels the outlandish rumors being promoted by those who are defending the status-quo. August 8, 2009.
Clip from 8/7/09 Rachel Maddow Show where Rachel interviews Frank Schaeffer, reformed co-founder of the anti-abortion movement, who paints a chilling picture of potential right-wing violence against President Obama and other Democratic elected leaders.
Again, this violence WILL end up with someone getting hurt, then what Republicans?
and Rachel on busting that "I am only a mom", but a GOP operative in Wisconsin...
This is not a slam dunk. It is breaking news at CNN.
This rumor has been out there for a while.
If he does resign, this gives Governor Crist a chance (who is running for Martinez's seat), to appoint himself. This also will help him in a possibly hard primary against a stone cold conservative, Rubio. It is about shoring up a seat to HOLD IT.
OK. That's all for now.
Per POLITICO, he announced this decision at a staffmeeting.
I really hope no one is shocked, because the disruptions at these town hall meetings are from operatives from the GOP and lobbyists representing the health care industries and insurance companies.
Again, one thing the average person understands is the unemployment rate and the "NO JOBS". Well, the unemployment rate dipped to 9.4%, many expected it to go up and hit around 9.7%. These numbers, if they continue, is a much needed breath that the Obama Administration needs.
Employers throttled back on layoffs in July, cutting just 247,000 jobs, the fewest in a year, and the unemployment ratedipped to 9.4 percent. It was a better than expected showing that offered a strong signal that the recession is finally ending.
The Labor Department's report was better than many analysts were expecting. They were forecasting job losses to slow to around 320,000 and the unemployment rate to tick up to 9.6 percent, from 9.5 percent in June.
If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included the unemployment rate would have been 16.3 percent.
The government reported last week that the economy shrank at a pace of just 1 percent from April-to-June, the strongest signal yet that the recession may be ending.
Many analysts predict the economy could start growing again in the current July-to-September quarter. And, the Fed recently observed that the economy is finally showing signs of stabilizing in some regions of the country — especially in parts of the Northeast and Midwest — bolstering hopes of a broader-based recovery this year.
The good news, bad news picture in the labor market suggests that employers are feeling more comfortable about slowing down firings but still aren't ready to ramp up hirings.
Companies won't kick up hiring until they are confident a recovery will have staying power. And, the anticipated recovery is expected to be slow. Exactly how it unfolds will hinge partly on the behavior of consumers, whose spending accounts for the single-largest slice of economic activity. read more here....
I have said as much as I admire the Obama White House, they still react too slow, as they did during the campaign, at times. We are witnessing, one of these times. Keith Olbermann with Jonathan Alter.
Obama has a lot of work to do, not for convincing the American public but these Democrats to stay the course.
The very same party that has called Judge Sonia Sotomayor every name in the book but the Mother of God?
The very same party that has called our own, President Barack Obama EVERY NAME in the book?
Damn, you have a very narrow scope or vision, Senator DeMint.
But why should he see it any other way?
He is a white male that has had it pretty well and easy his entire life.
But, he is also a man that must face the facts. This country is changing and the minority will be someone like HIM in the next few years down the road. He did NOTHING to help any discourse in the Sotomayor confirmation hearing, in fact he did everything but to help his party bring back the Latino vote they drastically lost in 2008.
As we saw in the video above, DeMint is in leadership role but took NO LEADERSHIP in denouncing the derogatory statements by the likes of Rush Limbaugh or even the idiot, Glenn Beck.
The town hall chaos has many reading about it, in shock and many are alarmed, and they should be. We should be able to go into the library, park, high school gym, sit, muster, collaborate, discuss and disagree all the issues with our state representatives. We should not be exposed to what is going on around this country at primarily DEMOCRATIC town hall meetings, not with these lunatics. It is disgraceful and dangerous.
Finally, Rachel Maddow was in rare form again, tonight she interviewed one of the main persons behind all the chaos we are reading about and seeing on television, Tim Phillips. This man is President of Americans for Prosperity, A.K.A., Lobbyists to keep Corporations Prosperous.
All of this should be an eyeopener and a definite call to action, for each and everyone of us.
St. Louis County police on Thursday arrested at least four people, including a Post-Dispatch reporter, outside a town hall forum held by Rep. Russ Carnahan, said Dawn Majors, a Post-Dispatch photojournalist who witnessed everything unfold.
It happened about 8:30 p.m at Bernard Middle School on Forder Road in Mehlville. Carnahan, D-St. Louis, had drawn a rowdy crowd that overflowed the school gym and left dozens of people outside. Many of those who showed up at what had been billed as a forum on aging carried signs about the national health-care debate.
Dozens of people were kept out because there was no room for them inside. Members of the local Tea Party Coalition, a movement that has emerged to counter President Barack Obama’s policies, had urged their members to attend, which in turn spurred Democrats to establish a strong presence.
The event was winding down when Majors said she saw a police squad car turn its lights on and went to see what was happening. As she approached it, her eyes started to burn.
“And that's when I realized I'd walked through remnants of pepper spray,” Majors said. She turned her attention to taking pictures.
She said she saw a woman in handcuffs who was complaining about the pain of the spray and asking to wash her face and eyes. The response of the officer who was arresting her was, “I warned you,” Majors said.
Majors said the woman had been speaking very loudly and passionately in support of health-care reform earlier in the evening.
“She made herself very visible,” Majors said.
She also saw a man handcuffed and on his stomach. The man kept asking why he was being arrested, Majors said. An officer nearby said she wasn't the arresting officer, but she would let him know later. That response upset the man on the ground, she said.
Another man was sitting on the ground rubbing his knee, but was not handcuffed. Majors said she heard an officer tell him that he would be taken to jail and booked. She also saw Post-Dispatch reporter Jake Wagman, who was reporting on the event and shooting video for stltoday.com. He was standing on a sidewalk, taking video.
As she photographed everything, Majors said she heard Wagman yell her name and say that he was being arrested. She turned and saw he had been handcuffed and was being put in the back of a squad car. The officer said Wagman had been interfering, Majors said.
In other words, he takes care of his CORPORATE CLIENTS, pretends that he is GRASSROOTS and is all for destroying any chance of health care reform. And here is Rachel's tear down of Tim Phillips and his crew and what they REALLY ARE DOING, here, from last night.
This is a first hand report with photos of what happened at Congressman Dingell's (D-MI) town hall meeting. Including the teabaggers showing up with Obama as Hitler posters, which is totally disrespectful.
I don't know how all this is going to play out, but we all need to be at our congress critters town hall meetings. In fact, a lot of this is getting down right dangerous.
I went to Representative, John Dingell's (D-MI), Town Hall meeting in Romulus, MI this evening. There was so many people that the emcee from the AARP (don't recall his name) said they will have two Town Hall meetings.
Needless to say, the meeting should have been held in a mental institution with Dingell supporters outnumbered by a minimum of 5 to 1.
There was a long line to get into the meeting place. I got a place in the front along with some other Dingell supporters. It didn't matter. Out of approximately 225 people in attendance, at most 40 supported Rep. Dingell.
Also, out of the 225 people in attendance, only 4 were minorities and one was a member of the LaRouche organization.
Full report, with pictures here. Another person's perspective that was at this town hall meeting, here.
Again, this is not surprising. The way things have been going, someone will eventually get hurt. Republicans, do you even care?
Angry protesters and strong supporters are clashing inside and all around a health care reform town hall meeting in Downtown Tampa. The meeting which was scheduled to begin at 6:00 at the Children's Board of Hillsborough County drew hundreds of people who quickly began to overwhelm staff and event organizers at the front entrance.
As the building filled to capacity, angry protesters stuck outside began to scream, yell, and chant. At one point, those trying to get inside began banging on windows as Tampa Police officers quickly spread out guarding all entrances.
10 Connects photojournalist Kevin Carlson, currently inside the meeting reports at least one fist fight breaking out inside. Some other journalists remain outside.
Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor and State Representative Betty Reed were hosting the event.
UPDATE 7:13pm
Police on bullhorns are trying to break-up the crowd outside the building on 1002 E. Palm Ave.
Last week, after Glenn Beck called President Obama a "racist" who has a "deep-seated hatred for white people," we asked ColorOfChange members to call on Beck's advertisers to pull their funding from his show. More than 50,000 people have already joined the call, and today we have great news to report -- advertisers are starting to listen:
Three companies who run ads during Glenn Beck -- NexisLexis-owned Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble and Progressive Insurance -- today distanced themselves from Beck. LexisNexis has pulled its advertising from Beck and says it has no plans to advertise on the program in the future. Both Procter & Gamble and Progressive Insurance called the Beck advertising placements an error that they would correct.
Since we released our statement announcing the news this morning, another company, S.C. Johnson (Pledge, Ziplock, Off!) told us that it was a mistake for their ads to be running on Beck's show, and that they'd make sure it wouldn't happen again in the future. (UPDATE: Our contact at S.C. Johnson wanted us to clarify that they have had no knowledge of their ad running on the Glenn Beck show (they wanted to verify this for themselves), and if it did happen, it was not something they requested.)
This is great progress, and it shows how effective it can be when thousands of people tell advertisers not to support this kind of hateful rhetoric. Now we need to step up the pressure on Beck's other advertisers. While Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble and Progressive Insurance were quick to respond, many others have avoided answering us, or refused to budge. We're currently in conversations with advertisers, and the more people they see joining this campaign, the more reason they'll have to listen.
If you haven't done so already, please sign our petition to Beck's advertisers, and ask your friends and family to do the same. Moving forward, we'll keep you informed about effective ways you can pressure the advertisers to withdraw their support from Beck's show.
Here's what Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble, and Progressive Insurance told us this week:
"Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention," said John Michaels, Senior Communications Manager at LexisNexis in an email to ColorOfChange.org. "We have suspended further advertising during Mr. Beck's program."
"We have no plans to continue advertising on Mr. Beck's show," Michaels continued in another email.
When executives at Procter & Gamble were contacted by ColorOfChange.org, they said that any ads run during Glenn Beck were run by mistake, and that they would correct the problem going forward.
"No P&G ads should have appeared on this program in the first place," said Martha Depenbrock, Brand Building Stakeholder Relations for Procter & Gamble in an email. "To be clear, if any of our advertising appeared on the Glenn Beck show, it was in error and we appreciate you bringing this matter to our attention. We will do what we can to see that it doesn't happen again."
Since we released our statement announcing the news this morning, another company, S.C. Johnson (Pledge, Ziplock, Off!) told us that it was a mistake for their ads to be running on Beck's show, and that they'd make sure it wouldn't happen again in the future.
This is great progress, and it shows how effective it can be when thousands of people tell advertisers not to support this kind of hateful rhetoric. Now we need to step up the pressure on Beck's other advertisers. While Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble and Progressive Insurance were quick to respond, many others have avoided answering us, or refused to budge. We're currently in conversations with advertisers, and the more people they see joining this campaign, the more reason they'll have to listen.
If you haven't done so already, please sign our petition to Beck's advertisers, and ask your friends and family to do the same. Moving forward, we'll keep you informed about effective ways you can pressure the advertisers to withdraw their support from Beck's show.
Progressive Insurance said any ads running during Glenn Beck were a mistake by Fox News Channel -- a mistake they have asked the network to fix immediately.
"Our (advertising) order specifies no Glenn Beck," said Linda J. Harris, Media Director at Progressive Insurance in an email to ColorOfChange.org. "We have confirmed with the network that our spots should not be running there," Harris said in a later email.
The decision by these three advertisers to distance themselves from Beck should help increase the pressure on others. The writing is on the wall -- Beck should not have the backing of mainstream advertisers. If we keep the pressure on, we believe we can seriously threaten his platform.
All the nastiness and drama from the Republicans will be remembered.
The Democratic-led Senate has voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor, who is now poised to be sworn in as the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice. According to NBC News, that event is scheduled for Saturday — Chief Justice John Roberts will administer both the constitutional and judicial oaths.
The vote was 68-31 for Sotomayor, President Barack Obama's first high court nominee. She becomes the 111th justice and just the third woman to serve.
Speaking after the vote, Obama said he is "pleased and deeply gratified" with the Senate's action.
Said the president: "With this historic vote, the Senate has affirmed that Justice Sotomayor has the intellect, the temperament, the history, the integrity and the independence of mind to ably serve on our nation's highest court." read more here....
Chief Justice Roberts will swear her in on Saturday.
The nation's largest federation of labor organizations has promised to directly engage with boisterous conservative protesters at Democratic town halls during the August recess.
In a memo sent out on Thursday, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney outlined the blueprint for how the union conglomerate would step up recess activities on health care reform and other topics pertinent to the labor community. The document makes clear that Obama allies view the town hall forums as ground zero of the health care debate. It also uses the specter of the infamous 2000 recount "Brooks Brothers" protest to rally its members to the administration's side.
"The principal battleground in the campaign will be town hall meetings and other gatherings with members of Congress in their home districts," reads the memo. "We want your help to organize major union participation to counter the right-wing "Tea-Party Patriots" who will try to disrupt those meetings, as they've been trying to do to meetings for the last month. ...
And this from AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka:
Every American has the inalienable right to participate in our democratic process. Our politics is passionate, heartfelt and often loud -- as was the founding of our nation. But that is not what the corporate-funded mobs are engaging in when they show up to disrupt town halls held by members of Congress. Major health care reform is closer than ever to passage and it is no secret that special interests want to weaken or block it. These mobs are not there to participate. As their own strategy memo states, they have been sent by their corporate and lobbyist bankrollers to disrupt, heckle and block meaningful debate. This is a desperation move, meant to slow the momentum for change.
Mob rule is not democracy. People have a democratic right to express themselves and our elected leaders have a right to hear from their constituents -- not organized thugs whose sole purpose is to shut down the conversation and attempt to scare our leaders into inaction
We call on the insurance companies, the lobbyists and the Republican leaders who are cheering them on to halt these 'Brooks Brothers Riot' tactics. Health care is a crucial issue and everyone - on all sides of the issue - deserves to be heard.
AMEN. Again, when you have no plan, nothing NEW to offer, you go back to the old play book. America, wake up, don't be fooled by this. And Democrats get this damn bill passed ASAP. Damn.
"At this point in my life, I have never seen my America turned into what it has turned into, and I want my America back," said one woman, on the verge of tears. "And I don't think the Representatives and Senators are gonna be able to do it. I'm scared!"
When Snyder said, "Mike and I do not support a single-payer system, we are not interested in a single-payer system," people began yelling back things like, "That's bull," and "That's what Obama wants." Ross put his head in his hands during the heckling.
And for the record, Obama never campaigned for single payer, yet we continue to see these GOP obstructionists and lies continue to make traction.
OK, if this is true, President Obama will lose some support.
President Obama campaigned about blocking lobbyists in the health care battle and I have to read this?
Pressed by industry lobbyists, White House officials on Wednesday assured drug makers that the administration stood by a behind-the-scenes deal to block any Congressional effort to extract cost savings from them beyond an agreed-upon $80 billion.
Drug industry lobbyists reacted with alarm this week to a House health care overhaul measure that would allow the government to negotiate drug prices and demand additional rebates from drug manufacturers.
In response, the industry successfully demanded that the White House explicitly acknowledge for the first time that it had committed to protect drug makers from bearing further costs in the overhaul. The Obama administration had never spelled out the details of the agreement.
“We were assured: ‘We need somebody to come in first. If you come in first, you will have a rock-solid deal,’ ” Billy Tauzin, the former Republican House member from Louisiana who now leads the pharmaceutical trade group, said Wednesday. “Who is ever going to go into a deal with the White House again if they don’t keep their word? You are just going to duke it out instead.”
A deputy White House chief of staff, Jim Messina, confirmed Mr. Tauzin’s account of the deal in an e-mail message on Wednesday night.
“The president encouraged this approach,” Mr. Messina wrote. “He wanted to bring all the parties to the table to discuss health insurance reform.”
Now this is HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM? Not HEALTH CARE REFORM?
All of this just lost me. Protect the pharmaceutical companies? The very same ones that brokered a deal with the Bush Administration to NEVER negotiate for lower drug costs outside the U.S.? And we are protecting them?
Yes, sigh of relief at dodging a bullet with Edwards.
The former mistress of John Edwards has arrived at a federal courthouse in Raleigh where a grand jury is meeting - an appearance that comes as federal investigators examine the two-time presidential candidate's finances.
Rielle Hunter walked into the building Thursday morning. Edwards said last year that he and Hunter had an affair in 2006 while he plotted his second bid for the White House. The former North Carolina senator's political action committee paid Hunter's video production firm $100,000 for work that year.
Edwards has acknowledged a federal investigation into how he handled campaign funds. Grand jury proceedings are secret, and the U.S. attorney's office in Raleigh has declined to confirm or deny an investigation.
ALSO: AP notes in a later write-thru that she entered the building carrying a young child.
When will Edwards fess up that he is that baby's daddy? Pathetic.
Watch Rachel Maddow, below who exposes and lays it on the line about the heavy lobby influence in the health care battle:
Again, we have democrats out there talking about health care with NO DAMN BILL. Meaning, they are just TALKING about wanting health care with no talking points to expound on here.
It sucks, don't it.
These lobbyists groups are doing something they have done for years, stoke anger or faux anger at these town hall meetings of congress critters and make HEADLINES of the ANGER in AMERICA. Well, it is working. But I don't fault the lobbyists for doing this. We knew their deal for years, they are not hiding behind a bush, they are out there and have been for decades. They don't give a damn. I fault the Democrats. Yes, the D.C. Democrats.
When my mother called me and asked me about what is Barack talking about in this health care debate, the call took me for a loop. But the reality is that many don't know what he is talking about, nor do they understand what the Democrats are trying to sell or what it means for THEM, since many have health care that they love or are seniors, thanks to Medicare. And the lobbyists are doing a good job. They are targeting seniors who will NEVER give an inch on Medicare, muddy the waters that Medicare is "not a government program", arm them to these town hall meetings and we hear the ridiculous. During the AARP town hall meeting with President Obama, the Obama Adminstration should have been ALARMED at many repeated calls about taking their Medicare away, the misinformation that many did not know Medicare was a "government program", and the lie that is being repeated that the Democrats want seniors to die. Yes, many are believing that. And why should we be worried? Mid-term elections are coming up and SENIORS VOTE.
For all the great things the Obama Campaign and Administration has done and represented, they have ALWAYS been slow off the mark in REACTING. For some, they react too late, this may be one of the times. I am in agreement with Markos, if the public option of the health care reform plan is stripped or dummied down to nothing, it is up to the progressives to KILL THE BILL and come back in a couple of years (if they can):
Qunnipiac has a new poll out on the health care debate and it is not good.
Do you think President Obama's health care plan would increase the taxes that you pay, decrease the taxes you pay, or not make a difference?
Increase: 66% Decrease: 6%
Do you agree or disagree with the following: Congress should approve a health care overhaul plan even if only Democrats support it.
President Obama has pledged that health insurance reform will not add to our federal budget deficit over the next decade. Do you think that President Obama will be able to keep his promise or do you think any health care plan that Congress passes and President Obama signs will add to the federal budget deficit?
Will Keep Promise: 21% Will Add to Deficit: 72%
American voters, by a 55 - 35 percent margin, are more worried that Congress will spend too much money and add to the deficit than it will not act to overhaul the health care system, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today. By a similar 57 - 37 percent margin, voters say health care reform should be dropped if it adds "significantly" to the deficit.
These numbers are directly related to the Democrats lack of push back, no bill or specifics and letting the Republicans continue their noise that it will RAISE YOUR TAXES, it will INCREASE THE DEFICIT. That concern is warranted and is settling into the minds of many Americans, especially the independents who are the swing voters, here.
We have a lot going on here. We have teabaggers, birthers, whatever you call them out in force to muddy the message and get on television, it is working. We have our congress critters and the Obama Administration talking about health care reform with no specifics or talking points to hold it up. We have polling numbers coming out, Quinnipiac is not the only firm with eroding numbers, on the health care issue with Americans. We have lobbyists performing shadow dancing with the Democrats to erode or totally destroy health care reform for Americans. Finally, we have D.C. Democrats, many who are so tied to lobbyist monies that they are playing along with Republicans to stall any advancement of the argument for health care reform.
To destruct, attempt to destroy democracy and you know they hate Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Time to get fire up and stomp on these idiots, legally and professionally, of course.
Calling Colorado: Malkin’s Teabaggers Targeting Pelosi in Denver
By: Jane Hamsher Wednesday August 5, 2009 5:34 pm
Update: Jeralyn of Talk Left is going to be at the Denver event. Sign up here.
Update II: Zappatero at Square State is spreading the good word.
Update III: ColoradoPols has more.
Frank Kratovil was hung in effigy. Chris Dodd was told to go kill himself. Gerry Connolly says that one Freshman was assaulted, and Brad Miller got death threats.
Nancy Pelosi is showing up to support Diane DeGette and Jared Polis at an event in Denver tomorrow, and the Malkinites are going to be out in force.
If you're in Denver, please show up and support Democrats against the thuggery of the insurance industry-funded GOP astroturfers:
Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi will join Congresswoman Diana DeGette, Vice Chair of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Congressman Jared Polis tomorrow afternoon, August 6, for a tour of the Stout Street Clinic in Denver. The tour will be followed by a press conference to highlight critical investments in health care services made by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the need for health insurance reform.
Stout Street Clinic Tour and Press Conference Thursday at 2pm Mountain Time 2100 Broadway Denver, CO 80205-2526
Again, a very popular program that have folks buying or at least LOOKING at new cars.
The Senate reached a deal late Wednesday on saving the dwindling "cash for clunkers" program, agreeing to vote on a plan that would add $2 billion to the popular rebate program and give car shoppers until Labor Day to trade in their gas-guzzlers for a new ride.
Following lengthy negotiations, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats and Republicans had agreed to vote on the plan Thursday, along with a series of potential changes to the bill, which was passed by the House last week. Reid has said Democrats have enough votes to approve the measure and reject any changes that would cause an interruption in the rebates of up to $4,500.
Reid said the agreement "accomplishes what we need to accomplish." The vote was not expected to happen until after 7 p.m. ET. read more here...
Miller will only meet with constituents ONE at a time, by one-on-one meetings, and Congressman make sure you have a metal detector. The "certifiables" are running rampant right now.
Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) will not be hosting any town hall events this August — instead, he’s making himself available to constituents for one-on-one meetings about health care reform — and at least part of the reason is this: His offices have received threatening phone calls, including at least one direct threat against his life.
‘We had no town hall events scheduled for the August recess anyway, but in light of everything that’s happened — we have received a threatening phone call in the D.C. office, there have been calls to the Raleigh office,’ said Miller communications director LuAnn Canipe, in an interview with TPM. The threatening call in question happened earlier this week.
A federal jury convicted a former Louisiana congressman Wednesday of taking bribes on 11 of 16 counts in a case in which agents found $90,000 in his freezer.
Former Rep. William Jefferson, a Democrat who had represented parts of New Orleans, was accused of accepting more than $400,000 in bribes and seeking millions more in exchange for brokering business deals in Africa.
It took jurors five days to reach a decision after an eight-week trial. Most of the trial was government testimony. The defense wrapped up its case in a matter of hours.
The defense argued that Jefferson was acting as a private business consultant in brokering the deals and that his actions did not constitute bribery under federal law.
I don't have to continue to give you the deal on Max Baucus, Senator of Montana. He is a compromised man right now. He has taken huge money from the insurance and health care lobbyist groups. He is in charge of the health care bill and he is continuing to STALL.
President Barack Obama will be visiting Bozeman next Friday, where he's expected to hold a "town hall" meeting on health-care reform, sources told the Gazette State Bureau today.
The White House declined to confirm the president's plans, and state Democratic Party officials also had nothing to say about it publicly.
However, officials in Bozeman confirmed that Obama plans to visit the area next week.
Mayor Kaaren Jacobsen told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle that the president is coming to town, but had no other details.
The Gazette State Bureau learned that Obama is planning to fly into Bozeman on Aug. 14 and hold a town hall meeting, perhaps at an airport hangar at Gallatin Field Airport.
The president, accompanied by his wife, Michelle, also is expected to stay overnight in the area.
Again, this is dangerous. This is playing with fire. Is this what the Republican Party is about?
As lobbyist-run groups encourage conservative activists to “rattle” members of Congress at local town hall events, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), the president of the freshman Democratic class has revealed that “at least one freshman Democrat” has already been “physically assaulted at a local event.” Connolly warned that conservative groups had taken things to a “dangerous level“:
“When you look at the fervor of some of these people who are all being whipped up by the right-wing talking heads on Fox, to me, you’re crossing a line,’ Connolly said. ‘They’re inciting people to riot with just total distortions of facts. They think we’re going to euthanize Grandma and the government is going to take over.”
This is riot antics given to you by the K Street lobbyists, who are feeding on a frenzy of a very small portion of the population.
What has to happen next? Gun shots fired? Or someone seriously injured? GOP you down for these thug tactics? Again, no answer because they are leaderless.
President Barack Obama brought his latest prescription for recovery Wednesday to this economically ravaged region of northern Indiana, promising to “unleash prosperity for everybody, not just some.”
Obama announced that the federal government will distribute $2.4 billion in 48 taxpayer grants to create electric cars and recreational vehicles. The grants will be divided among 25 states. read more here....
While we are watching these right wing extremists being bused in by lobbyists, "K" Street in D.C.; these organizations are feeding on a underlying racist, hatred from these individuals. This is not only unhealthy but extremely dangerous. Below from Keith Olbermann:
These individuals have been all over television, hell we saw them during the general election campaign. The same types calling Barack Obama a terrorist, "kill him", etc. This type of talk is again, not only dangerous, but a turn off to many Americans, whether you voted for Obama or not.
Now we have these same nut jobs, disrupting health care forums by democrats all over this country, using lobbyist, GOP talking points. I must write, some are so dumb that they are talking about don't take medicare away from me, when medicare is a GOVERNMENT RUN PROGRAM. Hello? Intelligence? Again, does something have to HAPPEN for this to stop?
Unfortunately, those not interested in health insurance reform are disrupting public meetings and not allowing concerned constituents to ask questions and express their views. Many of these opponents who are shutting down civil discussion are organized by out-of-district, extremist political groups, and industry-supported lobbying firms.
This is typical gangster, thug style the GOP is playing with. I hope Democrats around this country are enlisting the local police, they will need it.
Two American journalists freed by North Korea returned home to the United States on Wednesday for a jubilant, emotional reunion with family members and friends they hadn't seen in nearly five months.
The jet carrying Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for Al Gore's San Francisco-based Current TV, and former President Bill Clinton arrived at Burbank's Bob Hope Airport at dawn. Clinton met with communist leader Kim Jong Il on Tuesday to secure the women's release.
The journalists were arrested near the North Korean-Chinese border in March while on a reporting trip for Current TV. read more here....
When the Department of Homeland Security was created the Secret Service along with FEMA was thrown into this new department. Along with this came SLASH in budgets. We saw this with the chaos of Hurricane Katrina and FEMA. Now we are hearing and reading this about the Secret Service.
Why is this important? President Bush got about 3000+ threats a year, magnify that by 400% for President Obama. We know much is race related, let's be honest, all this crap going on right now by teabaggers, birthers is a cover for many being racist. The number amount is small, but small can be dangerous.
"Barack Obama clearly said, all you should do is take a painkiller. How come we just don't give Chris Dodd painkillers?" shouted one man. "Like a handful of them at a time! He can wash it down with Ted Kennedy's whiskey -- oh excuse me, scotch!"
"You're lying to me," said "Patriots" ringleader Don Jeror -- who previously organized the area Tea Party back in April, interestingly -- interrupting Hoyer. "Just because I don't have sophisticated language, I can recognize a liar when I see one."
Jeror also declared: "Why would you guys try to stuff a health care bill down our throats in three to four weeks, when the President took six months to pick a dog for his kids?!"
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korean media say leader Kim Jong Il has pardoned two American journalists and ordered their release during the visit of former U.S. President Bill Clinton.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Former President Bill Clinton met Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on the first day of a surprise mission to Pyongyang to negotiate the release of two Americans, holding "exhaustive" talks on a wide range of topics, state-run media said.
Clinton "courteously" conveyed a verbal message from President Barack Obama, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a report from Pyongyang. Kim expressed his thanks, and engaged Clinton in a "wide-ranging exchange of views on matters of common concern," the report said.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, however, denied Clinton went with a message from Obama. "That's not true," he told reporters. read more here....
More Here
North Korea on Tuesday released two jailed American journalists after a visit from former U.S. President Bill Clinton in the highest-level U.S. contact with North Korea since Clinton was president nearly a decade ago.
North Korea's KCNA news agency said North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had issued a special pardon to the two journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling of U.S. media outlet Current TV, which was co-founded by Clinton's vice president Al Gore.
Clinton was the highest-level American to visit North Korea since his secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, went there in 2000.
He was greeted warmly on his arrival and had what North Korea's KCNA news agency described as an "exhaustive conversation" over dinner with ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il and his top aides. read more here....
"President Clinton has safely left North Korea with Laura Ling and Euna Lee. They are en route to Los Angeles where Laura and Euna will be reunited with their families."
The blowback in the current administrations Social Office has been minimal so far. Desirée Rogers has handled many thing really well by virtue of her executive experience, education and foremost her relationship with the first lady. Innovation in White House entertainment is part of the Obama Charm with the Easter Egg Roll, picnic and the Governor's Ball. Desirée has had a jaw-dropping gaping hole in her judgment by even considering having herself photographed in Michelle Obama's Kitchen Garden wearing an Oscar de la Renta ball gown and needed a veto from the West Wing before the idea was fully dropped. As previously fretted about, Desirée Rogers penchant for publicity is a two-edged sword as the role is not at all about her - yet her self-stylized branding is about her being a cultural liaison (do the Obamas need a translator) before she has even put on a full state visit. The ramifications of even thinking of a state dinner in this economic climate would be as loopy as even dreaming of having your picture taken wearing a high-end designer trench coat by Viktor & Rolf and Cartier earrings in the East Room and your not even the first lady.
The recent contretemps in the East Wing With the 4 month on the Job Chief of Staff, Jackie Norris, leaving for a lower profile job with a volunteer organization has some genesis in the friction between her & Rogers. Susan Sher, Norris's replacement, is a great friend of Rogers and senior West Wing official Valerie Jarrett and a former boss of the first lady. A noticeable detail is how much the Social Secretary is photographed with the first lady or the family at events. The Secret Service are probably the best at being omnipresent and positioning themselves out of the frame of certain shots. read it all here...
This is being rallied continuously on right winged radio stations; from the MSNBC resident racist, Pat Buchanan; to even CNN and their Lou Dobbs problem.
The eruptions and interruptions at various town halls across this country even reeks in this. But nothing more astounding than claiming that President Obama is not a citizen. Even though proof has been presented, repeatedly, when you are a racist it is easy to hide behind something that stokes it, as the birther movement.
Republicans, GOP are in a tough position. The leadership is afraid to speak up and denounce this crap, which is killing them with independents, moderates and all persons of color. Even retiring Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) called his own party out:
“We got too many Jim DeMints (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburns (R-Ok.). It’s the southerners. They get on TV and go 'errrr, errrrr.' People hear them and say, ‘These people, they’re southerners. The party’s being taken over by southerners. What they hell they got to do with Ohio?’ ”
The Republican Party is just a regional party, now. Even though Barack Obama has major issues on the table, the public support is still there and they trust Obama over the Republican Party.
So, when you are down and out, pull out the old Nixon playbook, the Southern Strategy.
With Republican party leaders so constrained by ideological blinders that none of their positions is likely to produce gains among non-white minorities, especially Hispanics, the GOP is finding it has no real alternative but to revert to a "white voter" strategy.
To some extent, it's working. The party's opposition to President Obama's agenda -- particularly his cap-and-trade energy proposal and health care reform plan -- is resonating strongly with disaffected white Democratic voters. Republican grievances about Obama, combined with race-baiting commentary from the far-right ideologues who have become some of the most dominant voices of the modern GOP, have led to a precipitous drop in the president's approval ratings among whites.
It's all very reminiscent of the party's notorious Southern Strategy, which carried the GOP for decades. But that strategy backfired spectacularly in the 2006 and 2008 elections, and there's no reason to think it will work any better in 2010 -- especially given the ever-growing importance of the minority electorate.
In this respect, even if the GOP picks up a few House and Senate seats in 2010, many of the party's top analysts believe that it will remain mired in minority status through 2012 and beyond. Other analysts say it may even decline to the level of a minor regional party, with its only real strength in the South. read more here....
Again, rally the angry white male. Stoke it with a tinge or racism, continue disinformation about the facts and hope they show up to the polls. That is what is going on from now until November 2010.
The disruptive crap that is happening at mostly democratic town hall meetings is planned and organized. It is getting media eyeballs and coverage. I, personally don't know any person, republican or democrat, that does not want health care reform. These trumped up protests are being organized by the health care industry. This is about KILLING THE HEALTH CARE debate, period. Attend these town hall meetings and let your presence and voice be heard, of course, professionally. Finally, a must read diary over at Daily Kos on how one congressman conducted his health care town hall meeting.
Chris Matthews has been spot on about exposing these crazy birthers. Of course, Buchanan don't want us to keep talking about it, but these folks are part of the Republican Party and they need to deal with them. The more they are exposed, the more moderates and independents STAY AWAY from the Republican Party. And yes, these birthers are racists and those that don't denounce them are HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE.
President Bill Clinton (seated, L) and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il (seated, R) posing for a picture in Pyongyang August 4, 2009.
Former President Bill Clinton met Tuesday with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on the first day of a visit to Pyongyang, holding "exhaustive" talks that covered a wide range of topics, state-run media said.
Clinton "courteously" conveyed a verbal message from President Barack Obama, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a report from Pyongyang. Kim expressed his thanks, and engaged Clinton in a "wide-ranging exchange of views on matters of common concern," the report said.
However, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denied that Clinton had brought a message from Obama. "That's not true," he told reporters when asked about the report. read more here....
Sure, it is a bunch of nuts or really UNINFORMED constituents who are buying into the argument of the NON-ARGUMENT of the Republican Party for health care reform.
The Obama White House needs to get out of the bubble and get real here. We all know that the lobbyists and insurance companies are ARMED TO THE NINES to defeat any health care reform, UNLESS THEY WRITE IT. Since they can not WRITE IT, they will destroy it. Simple as that.
Why is this dangerous?
These folks are ON TELEVISION, getting eyeballs, and making traction. Worried yet? Sure, it may be just a few, but a few can rollerball into many. The Democrats have not sold the health care reform argument because there is no fucking bill by them. Are we shooting the bullets into our feet yet?
At newly crowned Democratic Senator Arlen Specter's event:
I wrote a diary last week that was a call for action. For all of you to find out when your congress critters are meeting their constituents and let them feel the heat. Well, they are not FEELING IT YET and if this continues we might as well just piss this in the wind.
clammyc is right. If we have to DEFEND our argument without clarifying and putting the bullshit to bed, we are LOSING THE ARGUMENT.
Get busy. Get to these meetings of these congress critters and let them know WE ARE THERE.
And lastly, Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) being chased AWAY:
Take your cameras, video cameras and get OUR POSITION OUT THERE!!!
A gripping look inside the 2008 presidential race: we're joined exclusively by Dan Balz & Haynes Johnson, authors of the just published book, "The Battle for America 2008"
I come back from a mini vacation, catching up and read this???
California attorney Orly Taitz, who has filed a number of lawsuits demanding proof of Barack Obama's eligibility to serve as president, has released a copy of what purports to be a Kenyan certification of birth and has filed a new motion in U.S. District Court for its authentication.
The document lists Obama's parents as Barack Hussein Obama and Stanley Ann Obama, formerly Stanley Ann Dunham, the birth date as Aug. 4, 1961, and the hospital of birth as Coast General Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya.
Again, people, don't you think the REPUBLICANS would have outted Obama before he won the election if there was any there, there? Don't you think the STATE DEPARTMENT who has authorized his birth certificate would have? Don't you think the man NEVER would have obtained a passport if he was NOT a U.S. citizen?
This is just more gas on a crazy flame within the Republican Party.
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