There was a diary on the Daily Kos rec list earlier today about how Bill Moyers was specific and on point about health care in America. (note: the video was not available at that time)
Moyers was not shy, afraid, scared but he took the Democratic Party to task.
The main issue that stood out for me, Moyers blasting of the money and its influence that is running all through the Democratic Party.
Moyers took Rahm Emmanuel to task, as a corporate Democrat. He explained and exposed that the money Obama will need for re-election is from the very entity that we are fighting against.
If we don't pass meaningful health care reform, don't put Ted Kennedy's name on it. If what we get because of the influence of heavy money in our party a very watered down bill, that is not health care reform. And the ones that voted for Barack Obama and the Democrats will know it.
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
This video says it all, because we do have "two corporate parties, the Republicans and the Democrats". And the money that influence bad legislation in D.C., always tend to win. Let's not let that happen this time.
Cross-posted @ Daily Kos
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Saturday, August 29, 2009
(VIDEO) Bill Moyers on Real Time with Bill Maher, a must see
Kennedy was for health care reform until he DIED, don't get it twisted Republicans
The Republicans have been going around saying, before Ted Kennedy passed, that if "Kennedy was around we would have a deal". Senator Ted Kennedy said this in 1978 about health care:
More than most Americans, I know what it means to have serious illness in the family. My father vas crippled by a stroke and required constant care for years. My son was stricken by cancer, and is well today because of the miracle of American medicine. A decade ago, I myself was hospitalized for several months, my back broken in many places.
Fortunately, our family could afford to pay for all the care we needed. And so the tragedy of serious illness for those we loved was not compounded by the additional tragedy of a heavy financial burden.
Together, we can lift that financial burden from all the families of America. Through national health insurance, we can provide a decent health care system for the benefit of the people of this land. We can make health care a basic right for all, not just an expensive privilege for the few.
But to achieve the reform, we need, we must have genuine leadership by the Democratic Party. We are heirs of a great tradition in American public life. Our party took up the cause of jobs for the unemployed in the Great Depression. Our party took up the cause of civil rights for black and brown Americans, and the cause of equal rights for women in America and the people of the District of Columbia.
In that same tradition of leadership, it is time for the Democratic Party now to take up the cause of health.
Note, we must have LEADERSHIP from the Democratic Party. Well, the Democratic Party has been all over the spectrum for health care, in fact many have taken money and lots of money from the very entity we are fighting with. The final leadership must come from the White House and President Barack Obama must draw his line in the sand. But for the Republicans to just yank Senator Ted Kennedy and his use him for political points is appaling. Ted Kennedy was never on the same page as the likes of Chuck Grassley, John McCain (who really wants to be envisioned as Kennedy Redux, but NOT), and the rest of the gang of GOP. Kennedy was not on their page and for them to even make reference that he was is just outrageous.
It was a letter to the Pope, that was read aloud today that squashed the Republicans noise. It boldly states Kennedy's stand on health care:
I also want you to know that even though I am ill, I'm committed to do everything I can to achieve access to health care for everyone in my country. This has been the political cause of my life.
Health care reform, for damn sure, has not been the cause of the Republican Party or any of its member's lives, the only thing that comes close for them is taking the lobbyist checks and voting their way for blockage of any health care reform.
Let's not get it twisted Republicans, Senator Ted Kennedy has fought for health care for all Americans all his LIFE, for you to try to twist, yank or change his words will be absoulutely the wrong thing to do.
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Memory Lane of Hurricane Katrina (Video)
h/t AMERICAblog, Anderson Cooper going off on Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and it was WARRANTED. Again another politician who is about absolutely NOTHING.
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President Obama's Weekly Address, August 29, 2009 (Video and Transcript)
Lessons and Renewal Out of the Gulf Coast
download .mp3 |download .mp4 (90 MB) | read the transcript | Vimeo
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Friday, August 28, 2009
Dissin' our president and calling him "Hitler" is the norm in the Republican Party
In fact, true racists have become the norm in the Republican Party and its leaders have done NOTHING to change any of this. I agree, whole heartedly with this sentiment:
What's truly shocking is that Republicans are still comparing our president to Hitler, and no one on the left has yet figured out how to capitalize on this. How many times do you think we'd have gotten away with comparing George Bush to Hitler? In fact, the answer is: Zero. MoveOn was perpetually blamed for comparing Bush to Hitler, when in fact MoveOn did nothing of the kind. The Republicans wanted to scare MoveOn, and more importantly, hurt MoveOn's brand among Democrats. And to some degree it worked. And what do Democrats do when Republicans actually, repeatedly, compare our president to Hitler?
[crickets]
Democrats where are your spines? Really, where are your spines? I guess being the majority has had the opposite affect. Sure, it is easy to let this sit out there and the public decide, but where are the voices of the Democratic Party?
If a black or latino person would have bought a gun to a town hall of George W. Bush's, there would be no question that person would be in JAIL. But it is increasingly acceptable that these right winged extremists bring guns to a town hall event on health care and it is just the norm. Something is wrong with this picture. The media is just as responsible for having these nitwits on the air, perpetuating further hysteria. There is something going on out there and it is all about the color of our president's skin, this should be disturbing and frightening to us all.
None of what is going on right now is the norm, none of it.
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Mike Huckabee, "Douchebag"
The Republican Party and their GOP operatives have decided that the truth about health care will not be discussed but to continue on a path of lies, deceit, and scare the shit out of the elderly. To some extent it is working, but the game of voting has not begun in congress and people who want health care reform, across the spectrum are letting their voices be heard.
It is Republicans, like Mike Huckabee, who don't care about the truth, but about continuing to muddy up the waters, continue misinformation and just attempt to scare the public to death about health care reform. Remember, these are people who have SIDED with the insurance companies for no change. Again, if the insurance companies were on the up and up with the American public, we would not even be talking about this.
The 2008 Republican presidential candidate suggested during his radio show, "The Huckabee Report," on Thursday that, under President Obama's health care plan, Kennedy would have been told to "go home to take pain pills and die" during his last year of life.
"[I]t was President Obama himself who suggested that seniors who don't have as long to live might want to consider just taking a pain pill instead of getting an expensive operation to cure them," said Huckabee. "Yet when Sen. Kennedy was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at 77, did he give up on life and go home to take pain pills and die? Of course not. He freely did what most of us would do. He choose an expensive operation and painful follow up treatments. He saw his work as vitally important and so he fought for every minute he could stay on this earth doing it. He would be a very fortunate man if his heroic last few months were what future generations remember him most for."
Listen to the audio, here.
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This picture says it all for dog lovers
Sen. Ted Kennedy and his wife Vicki greet Bo in the Outer Oval Office of the White House April 21, 2009.
Yes, Senator Ted Kennedy is missed.
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Senate Leader Harry Reid, "..bill must contain a public option..." (Update)
Well, it is about time that Reid drew his line in the sand. And I love this pay line quote:
Reid opened a private meeting of health care providers in Las Vegas on Tuesday by saying, according to one attendee who took notes: “We have a problem in America and it’s called the private insurance industry.”
Can I get a witness? An AMEN? for real.
There has been serious hand wringing about this health care insurance reform, or whatever it is called now, and it has been warranted. When you do not have the White House along with the Democratic Party in lock step, in tandem motion people get concerned where this is going.
“We’re energized and we’re also confident that Sen. Reid is on the right side on this issue,” said Michael Ginsburg, a community organizer at the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, who attended the meeting. “That’s something we can take to our supporters and reassure them.”
Reid has been traveling throughout the state talking to constituents about health care and other issues while Congress is on summer recess.
Now, if the Blue Dogs will just get in line. Stay tuned.
[UPDATE]
Well, it is this miscommunication that have the Democrats in bad polling numbers, just read this and then wonder why Obama and the Democrats polling numbers are tanking. Until we get one cohesive message, it will continues as it is, disarray.
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Concerned Troll, Joe Scarborough really believes Americans want a Republican controlled congress (Video)
Um, no they don't. As, I have written Obama's numbers are in decline because of Democrats and Independents due to unclarity of the health care issue, not because of Republicans. Also, note in every poll the Republican Party has not gained anything due to their attacks on Obama. In fact, I believe that the more the public sees many undertones, overtly racist rhetoric from the GOP, people don't want to be bothered with that party. So, while Obama's numbers are in decline, what is the Republican Party offering to the public? NOTHING. The public does not believe anything coming from the Republican Party on health care reform. Believe me, the country knows they don't want it. h/t to FDL.
P.S. when is MSNBC going to take this hack off the air?
Full Diary posted at Daily Kos
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GOP looking for the "Great White Hope" from Keith Olbermann
Again, this is straight up bigotry, racist, and this Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins from Kansas should seriously be replaced. If the GOP looks to regain any strength, they won't with this rhetoric. This only defines and reveals what the Republican Party is about and it ends with the Party of Racists. And Congresswoman Maxine Waters tells it like it is.
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Obama's numbers continue to decline
Several polls out have come to the same conclusion, Obama and the Democrats numbers are in a decline.
Gallup has him at 50 on their daily tracking poll, while Research 2000 at 55.
President Obama's favorabilities dropped the most substantially this week, propelled by another three-point drop in support from Democrats (down to 80%, the lowest of his presidency), as well as a big shift among Independents (from 66% last week to 62% this week).
Much of this is due to the left's anger at a confusing position taken by the White House and Democrats with talk of removing the public option from the health care bill. The independents also, due to non-clarity from the White House and Democrats on health care reform.
Again, we all knew that the GOP operatives would be out in full force against any health care reform, yet the Democrats have been on the slow turtle road in response and rebuke. When you let misinformation just sit out there with no response, people who do not know all the issues, will start to believe it. The Democrats have done a very poor job here, especially when the Republican Party has offered nothing in any form of health care reform, but has pounded so hard that all this negativity has not done much for them in the polling numbers either. The Republicans can bring down the Obama and Democrats numbers, but in the end they must offer something to the public as policy, thus far they are vacant on that front.
Lastly, Nate Sliver over at 538.com wrote a piece that most Americans don't know or understand what the public option is. At this stage, bad.
A new survey by Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates for the AARP reveals widespread uncertainty about the nature of the "public option" -- a government-run health insurance policy that would be offered along with private policies in the newly-created health insurance exchanges. Just 37 percent of the poll's respondents correctly identified the public option from a list of three choices provided to them:
While there is all this anger that many Democrats are receiving due totally to misinformation at these town hall meetings, to have just 37% recognize what the public option is, totally lies at the feet of the Democrats and their poor messaging.
I do believe that once a bill is passed, with the public option and the Democrats can explain it, properly, the numbers will reverse. It is all this miscommunication from the White House and Democratic Leadership that sees us where we are at.
This is definitely an education for Obama White House to not have a Chief of Staff totally dis your supporters, to not stand by like "deer in headlights" hoping all the criticism of your plan will go away, and to have a counter attack ready in the future because if the Republicans are successful, this will happen again.
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Thursday, August 27, 2009
This killing of Obama out there with the right wing nuts is REAL
Again, there is no damn reason why anyone should bring a gun to a health care rally. Again, many racists have found COVER of a cause to spout anti-Obama rhetoric. Again, the leaders of the Republican Party have also catered to this heated, rhetoric. Lastly, having a black man at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is driving many racists crazy.
Chris Broughton, the man who brought an assault rifle and a handgun to the Obama event in Arizona last week, attended a fiery anti-Obama sermon the day before the event, in which Pastor Steven Anderson said he was going to ‘pray for Barack Obama to die and go to hell’, Anderson confirmed to TPMmuckraker today.
Source
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Republicans looking for the GREAT WHITE HOPE from Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (Video)
Yes, the Republican Party, a.k.a. the "Racist Party". And this congresswoman is on VIDEO saying this. Not racist much? If the Republican Party is looking to EXPAND, it won't with racial rhetoric as this.
The Topeka Capitol-Journal reports that freshman Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-KS) told a town hall meeting a week ago that the GOP still had to find a "great white hope."
"Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope," said Jenkins. "I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington." As examples, Jenkins mentioned Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Source
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These are the Democratic Senate holdouts for the public option
These are the Democratic Senators that needs to be targeted.
The Waverers
Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) has perhaps more power than any single person in Congress to shape the direction health care reform will take. And though he tells his supporters in Montana that he "wants a public option," he's also been at the helm of negotiations over legislation that will almost certainly not include a public option.
By all accounts, Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) would support a health care bill with a public option--but he's not about to make a big fuss if the final legislation doesn't create one.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), like his Delaware colleague, isn't a public option foe--but nor is he a particularly staunch ally. "I don't need it either way," Tester told the Associated Press today. "I could either support it or not support it. It's all in the design."
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) isn't particularly eager to see a public option--but like so many Senate centrists, he doesn't rule it out. However, Warner, like Tester, enjoyed a lot of electoral support from the progressive grassroots, and so tends to obscure the issue when asked whether he'd support a government run insurance plan.
Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) has a problem. Though a well known pol in Arkansas, she's up for re-election next year and, according to recent polls, she's running in a statistical dead heat with two relatively unknown Republicans. So though she's articulated an openness to a public option in the past, she's also suggested she might just vote against the whole package.
Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR), unlike his Arkansas colleague, is not up for re-election next year, and so says, "A public option plan is something that is still on the table and something [I] could support, but it should be designed in a way that increases and does not eliminate competition."
Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) hasn't said much about the public option lately. Several months ago he insisted he was "agnostic" about it. Progressives are concerned that he'll be influenced by his wife, who sits on the board of Wellpoint--one of the country's largest insurance companies.
The Mysteries
Nobody really knows where Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) will fall on the question of the public option. According to the website Open Left, he told them he's a maybe. But that's not good enough for the DNC's political arm Organizing for America, which recently held events outside his offices around the state of Florida.
Like the other Nelson, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) is an unknown quantity. He has voiced both opposition and support for the public option and has by and large avoided the question since the Senate Finance Commitee began moving away from endorsing one.
Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK): An unknown quantity who's been about as liberal as you can expect for a Democrat from Alaska.
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) is like bad cop to Baucus' good cop. He refuses to announce a personal position on the public option because he views it as "moot"--a measure that doesn't stand a chance in the Senate. So though nobody knows for certain how he'd vote--procedurally or otherwise--on a bill or a conference report with a public option in it, he's been the loudest voice in the Senate in calling for a system of privately run, non-profit health care co-operatives--a compromise House progressives regard as a non-starter.
The Haters
On the day the country mourned the death of health reform giant Ted Kennedy, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) said that there are very few circumstances under which she could support a public option.
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) says he's a no.
Source
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Senator Mary Landrieu, why don't you just join the Republican Party
Really. She is abysmal and I am being very kind here, on her voting. So, it comes at no surprise that she is totally against any public option.
It is these kinds of democrats that will make it tough for the public option. But my question is this, "Mary, you come from a state with some of the worst poverty records in this country and many of your constituents do not have health care? Are you listening to those voices?"
I doubt it.
Asked under what circumstances she would support a public option, Landrieu responded, "[v]ery few, if any. I'd prefer a private market-based approach to any health care reform that would extend coverage," according to the Monroe News Star.
"I'd like to cover everyone -- that would be the moral thing to do -- but it would be immoral to bankrupt the country while doing so," Landrieu said. The public option as currently conceived is expected to be a deficit reducer.
And Landrieu is on the GOP talking point mode that the public option will bankrupt the country, when in fact it will reduce costs across the board, forcing private insurance companies to be competitive.
Landrieu is one of the senators that has taken a big chunk of money from lobbyists, over 2 million in fact. So, again we should not be surprised, but it is Democrats like these that will make health care reform hard, especially the public option even IF she states it is a moral responsibility, in the end she sides with the insurance companies.
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Senator Ted Kennedy's Introduction and Speech to the Democratic National Convention, August 2008 (Video)
Remembering Ted Kennedy.....
Introduction
Senator Ted Kennedy's Speech at the Democratic National Convention, August 2008
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Senator Ted Kennedy's Endorsement for Barack Obama as President of the United States, January 28, 2008 (Video)
This is the endorsements of Senator Ted Kennedy, Congressman Patrick Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy. Senator Ted Kennedy's endorsement was the single most important endorsement that turned the tide for Barack Obama. Memory lane, remembering Ted Kennedy.
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Video found of GOP Congressman Wally Herger (R-CA) praising "right-wing terrorist"
an incident broke out at a town hall at Simpson University in Redding [Northern California] on Tuesday when Herger signaled encouragement to a 67-year-old town hall attendee, Bert Stead, who called himself a "proud right-wing terrorist."
"Amen, God bless you," Herger reportedly replied to the comment. "There is a great American."
And we are supposed to praise THAT? This is despicable and this congressman should be ASHAMED and REMOVED.
Congressman Herger spends the entire time watching the guy rant with a wry smile. And given the fact that most of the crowd appears to be terrorist sympathizers, there's nothing he can really do without incurring the wrath of his constituency. Just watch as Congressman Herger--who no longer deserves that title, if he ever did--chooses demagoguery over loyalty to American values and ideals.
Read it all here
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Crazy Azzed Right Wingers at Town Hall with Rep. Moran (D-VA) and Governor Howard Dean (Video)
I saw this LIVE on C-Span yesterday and just shook my head. You will too....especially with the crazy azz right winger, Randall Terry, just classic....
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3,900 stimulus checks mailed to prison inmates
Yes, sent to prison inmates. Some warranted, some not.
The federal government sent about 3,900 economic stimulus payments of $250 each this spring to people who were in no position to use the money to help stimulate the economy: prison inmates.
The checks were part of the massive economic recovery package approved by Congress and President Barack Obama in February. About 52 million Social Security recipients, railroad retirees and those receiving Supplemental Security Income were eligible for the one-time checks.
Prison inmates are generally ineligible for federal benefits. However, 2,200 of the inmates who received checks got to keep them because, under the law, they were eligible, said Mark Lassiter, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration. They were eligible because they weren't incarcerated in any of the three months before the recovery package was enacted.
"The law specified that any beneficiary eligible for a Social Security benefit during one of those months was eligible for the recovery payment," Lassiter said.
The other 1,700 checks? That was a mistake.
Source
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South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer asks for Mark Sanford to resign, but he refuses
Lt. Governor Andre Bauer is piling on the pressure from other Republicans for Governor Mark Sanford to resign.
South Carolina's lieutenant governor called on Gov. Mark Sanford to resign Wednesday, promising to put aside his own political ambitions if that convinces fellow Republicans wary of elevating him to urge Sanford to step down.
Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer is now the most prominent state Republican pressing for Sanford's resignation two months after the governor came under fire for sneaking away to a secret rendezvous with his Argentine mistress.
"It is my opinion the best interest of the people of South Carolina can no longer be served by the current administration," Bauer said. "The serious misconduct that has been revealed along with lingering questions and continuing distractions make it virtually impossible for our state to solve the critical problems we're facing without a change in leadership."
But Governor Sanford is stubborn and he is digging his heels in.
"Dear Andre,
Thank you for your letter.
I very much appreciate your offer to step in and serve out the 16 months remaining in my term of office, because at a personal level that would come as a relief. To escape the glare of television cameras and reporters in the midst of a media frenzy would not be far from some form of heaven on earth, but my Dad taught me a long time ago that two wrongs don't make a right.
Let me explain what I mean by that. The original moral failing that I disclosed on June 24th was mine. That human frailty has been more than well reported on, analyzed, and discussed by a chorus of media outlets. In an attempt to be transparent, I have said more on that relationship than I think even the public want to know - but again that moral failing was mine and I own its consequences past, present and future.
What's going on now though is pure politics, and I'm not going to be railroaded out of office by political opponents. This administration has a compelling story to tell about how we have watched out for the taxpayer and saved very large sums of money for taxpayers. We have acted consistently in accord with what we believed to be both the letter and spirit of the law. When measured up against past administrations, the facts show that we have done a better job on this. It is equally true when measured against practices employed by some members of the General Assembly. To allow political opponents to rewrite that reality would be wrong.
So let me be unequivocally clear: while it would be easier to simply move on with life, and not contest the sensational charges against our administration's handling of public funds, it would be wrong. I also believe that give the constitutionally weak state of the governorship in South Carolina, it would be wrong to simply go back to the farm and take refuge given the implications for future governors.
While some political opponents might wish to take advantage of the accusations against our administration, I believe the responsible thing to do is lay out all the facts in response to the very incomplete picture presented in media claims. Once the full set of facts is before the General Assembly, its members can make a judgment, and the public can make its own judgment about my actions and those of others in the political process. Until then, I will aggressively make our case that we have done, and continue to do the right thing by way of the taxpayers of our state. And I will continue to focus on the needs of our state's taxpayers going forward.
My faith is all about the larger notion that none of us are perfect, but that God can still use us - imperfections and all. I am committed to finishing this term that the people of South Carolina charged me with, and it is my hope that working with you and others in the General Assembly we can make it one of our most fruitful.
As a consequence, I will most humbly decline your offer, but thank you for it nonetheless.
Sincerely,
Mark Sanford"
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Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) in trouble
Well, for me, what has Blanche Lincoln stood for? Not much. And it shows in these polling numbers for her in Arkansas.
A new Public Policy Polling survey in Arkansas shows Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) tied with three potential challengers who have essentially non-existent name recognition.
Lincoln gets at 40% against all three of the Republicans. Gilbert Baker (R) and Curtis Coleman (R) lead her with 42% and 41% respectively, while Tom Cotton trails with 39%.
Analsyis: "The numbers of course are more a reflection on Lincoln's standing than that of the Republicans. Her approval rating is now 36%, with 44% of voters in the state disapproving of the job she's doing. That's a 13 point downward shift in her net approval rating, from 45/40 when we measured it in March. That largely tracks the 18 point decline in the President's popularity over that time."
Meaning, the Republicans will be GEARED up to battle her. I am sure she will get plenty of insurance lobbyist money, since she came out early against the public option, then was for it, now who knows?
Source
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President Obama orders flags flown at half staff in remembrance of Senator Ted Kennedy
President Obama signed the following proclamation on Wednesday, ordering flags to be flown half-staff.
"Senator Edward M. Kennedy was not only one of the greatest senators of our time, but one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy. Over the past half-century, nearly every major piece of legislation that has advanced the civil rights, health, and economic well-being of the American people bore his name and resulted from his efforts. With his passing, an important chapter in our American story has come to an end.
As a mark of respect for the memory of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset on August 30, 2009. I also direct that the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff until sunset on the day of his interment. I further direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same periods at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military and naval vessels and stations.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.
BARACK OBAMA."
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Senator Ted Kennedy funeral set for Saturday and to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery
This is the same cemetery that President John F. Kennedy is buried, as well as Senator Robert F. Kennedy. A very hard time going forward.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate and haunted bearer of the Camelot torch after two of his brothers fell to assassins' bullets, has died at his home in Hyannis Port after battling a brain tumor. He was 77.
In nearly 50 years in the Senate, Kennedy served alongside 10 presidents — his brother John Fitzgerald Kennedy among them — compiling an impressive list of legislative achievements on health care, civil rights, education, immigration and more.
His only run for the White House ended in defeat in 1980. More than a quarter-century later, he handed then-Sen. Barack Obama an endorsement at a critical point in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, explicitly likening the young contender to President Kennedy.
To the American public, Kennedy — known to friends and foes alike simply as Ted — was best known as the last surviving son of America's most glamorous political family, father figure and, memorably, eulogist of an Irish-American clan plagued again and again by tragedy.
His family announced his death in a brief statement released early Wednesday.
"We've lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever," the statement said. "We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all." read more here....
Senator to be laid to rest at Arlington near his slain brothers
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In the passing of Senator Kennedy, Democrats do you have a steel spine yet?
Many of us knew this was coming, not seeing Senator Kennedy at his sister, Eunice's funeral, the final letter requesting that Massachusetts appoint an interim senator, his absence from receiving the Presidential Medal of Honor and finally the date pushed up for the release of his autobiography in September 2009, instead of early 2010.
All the remembrance, accolades, memories of a fighter that was Senator Edward Kennedy will be warranted for the many days to come, but no fight was harder for Senator Kennedy than the fight for health care reform.
And every single one of the Democrats in the senate, KNOWS THIS.
So, Democrats in the Senate, are you going to put on that steel coat and do the right thing or are you going to become irrelevant, milquetoast individuals who are afraid and tied to one of the most corrupt industries that perform disservice to Americans in this country, the insurance companies?
I have been hard on President Obama and the Democratic congress, but for a reason. We have had no leadership on the health care battle, NONE. We have had to witness the GOP operatives organized and mount the largest MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN that I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. We have had to watch the GOP take a Democratic cause, fought for since President Harry S. Truman and see it being turned into everything like killing the elderly to socialized medicine. It has been tough, rough and heart wrenching for the millions that voted Democrat, for this very issue, health care reform.
And our side? On slow motion drive, with movement not organized until disastrous polling numbers showed that all this chaos and fiasco on television was not helping us, but hurting us. For that, we all have to take blame.
One thing was correct from Senator Orrin Hatch over the weekend, if Senator Ted Kennedy was there in the fight, all of this involving the health care bill it would have been different in the senate. We should have expected what the GOP operatives and lobbyists would do, they let us know they were spending 1.4 million dollars a day, prior to the town hall meetings starting, so we were forewarned, we just ignored it and was not prepared.
The lack of leadership on the health care front has been painfully clear from the Democrats. We have watched President Obama give a few town hall meetings, but only to clear up misinformation, but not drawing any line in the sand on where HE stands. Senate Leader Harry Reid has been practically non-existent in this battle, sure he gives a few sound bites, but is he doing anything? NO. Speaker Pelosi has been one of the many Democrats who has said out right, no public option, no bill.
Now, we have a chance, for the Democrats in the congress to push the reset button on health care reform. These Democrats have a chance to vote what the American public wants, the public option. If these same Democrats can vote for mandates which will make the very insurance companies we are fighting against billions more richer, then they need to draw the line in the sand and firmly stand on it for the public option.
I know there are other things in the bill just as important like removing the pre-existing condition clause, but do you see the insurance companies fighting over that? The insurance companies won't argue that point because it is a lose-lose for them, believe me, they have given that point up. The point they don't want is robust competition against them, forcing them to change their premiums, forcing them to change their coverage, forcing them to challenge the public option. These insurance companies should be afraid, because they have not been right by many Americans for a very long time.
These Democrats, especially in the Senate, need to come to grips with what they are going to do. This is the first time in over 50 years that we are close on a bill and real reform. This is a place in time for the Democratic Party, a time that will be remembered for many years to come by many Americans. This single issue will make or brake the Democrats in congress.
If these Democrats fail the millions that voted for them, and we are talking about many millions that voted for the "D" label because it was suppose to represent change, they will have to pay at the polls. It is simple as that. This can not continue. We can not continue to have members of congress give us lip service but do not deliver on what WE, their constituents want.
We have stood by as President Obama has bailed out the financial/banking industry to much chagrin by millions of Americans; bail out the auto industry; fight against releasing the torture pictures of the Bush regime; go light on FISA; watched as the very industry by the name of AIG an insurance company largely responsible for the housing fiasco pay themselves in the BILLIONS for bonuses while getting bailed out by the American public. I list all this because many have been quiet, though not liking it, but expecting no more negotiations when it comes to health care. Well, we are not sure what we are going to get in this health care bill, but one thing is certainly crystal clear, NO PUBLIC OPTION expect the Democrats to be in trouble 2010 and on. Don't expect people who put faith in the word "change", to keep listening to you when you don't deliver. Simple as that.
So, Democrats in the House and especially the Senate, what are you going to do? Are you going to dust that steel coat off and put it on? Or are you going to cave because you don't have the heart and guts to vote the right way.
It is up to you.
Cross-posted @ Daily Kos
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Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Pressure mounts for Sanford to resign
Look after you have lied telling your state and staff that you were "hiking in the Appalachian Mountains"; then got cold busted getting off an international flight from Argentina; then have a press conference that will go down in history as the most "political theatrics" ever; then state you are in love with your mistress; then to have those damaging emails disclosed for all to read, including your wife; then have your wife, Jenny Sanford actually BOUNCE from the residence; then find out you have been spent thousands of tax player dollars inappropriately WHILE acting like Mr. Scrooge towards your own constituents of your state, WHAT DO YOU EXPECT?
Impeachment rumors are hot and heavy....
Rep. Nathan Ballentine — a Sanford ally in the legislature — and Rep. Gerry Simrill met with Sanford in the South Carolina state House for about 40 minutes and warned him that unless he steps down, House Republicans are likely to impeach him.
“Barring some swing of momentum in his favor, I told him the writing is on the wall,” Ballentine told CNN. “I thought there could be a change in scenery and he could put an end to it all, but if he doesn’t, members of the House will take things into their hands.”
House Republicans are meeting this weekend in Myrtle Beach for their annual caucus retreat, and the impeachment matter is likely to dominate the agenda, according to those planning to attend.
Sanford has come under a new round of scrutiny after investigations into his travel expenses revealed that he spent thousands of dollars on business and first class airline tickets for overseas flights, and used state aircraft for personal and political travel. Those probes were prompted by Sanford’s disclosure in June that he had an affair with an Argentine woman.
Members of the House Judiciary Committee told CNN there are enough votes on the committee to send an impeachment motion to the floor of the House when the legislative session begins in January.
The man needs to let it go and get his life back....
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Oooooh, la-la, the Obamas out on a date night on Martha's Vineyard
The Obamas at Sweet Life Cafe in Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard August 25, 2009
After two days behind the presidential veil, President Obama finally gave folks on Martha's Vineyard what they had been waiting for: a glimpse of him and his wife.
The Obamas ventured out into Oak Bluffs' little downtown for an evening out at The Sweet Life, a fancy little restaurant.
Rumors flew before he arrived, and a crowd formed quickly, with cameras flashing at every black SUV that ambled down the street.
The Obamas finally arrived in time for 7:30 p.m. reservations at the restaurant. Earlier, he had spent about 90 minutes at the home of his friend and adviser, Valerie Jarrett.
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The Campaign of Misinformation is resonating with the public (Video)
The polls that are continuing to come out is showing that the GOP operatives and the Republican congress are scoring points on the health care debate front. Or in other words they are continuing the "SPINNING LIE MACHINE." The continuous misinformation out there is resonating with the general public. Sure, many of us who follow politics know this is just a bunch of right winged rhetoric bullshit and keep walking, but we are a minority that follow politics, not the majority. The majority is the drive by voter who hears clips on the 30 second teevee beat. Lines are drawn in the sand and I agree with Ed Schultz, it may be the independent voter that makes the final call on the public option. It will be up to President Obama to do a major prime time event and let the public also know, where he stands. Lastly, it is just astonishing to me that a Democratic cause, as health care reform, that we have been fighting for since Harry Truman is twisted and turned into everything else but what it is. That is the Democratic Party's fault for lack of messaging, it is not too late, but the Hail Mary pass to close this, better be STRONG. From the Ed Schultz Show....
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Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) tells woman the government can not help you for health care (Video)
This video is stunning......
*Woman*: Senator Coburn we need help. My husband has traumatic head injury. His insurance will not cover him to eat and drink. And what I need to know is, are you going to help him, where he can eat and drink? We left the nursing home and they told us we're on our own. He left with a feeding tube. I've been working with him, but I'm not a speech pathologist, a professional, that takes six years for a Masters, and I've tried to get him to eat and drink again and it's been so much - (cries)
Coburn: Well I think think personally, yeah we'll help. The first thing we'll do is see what we can do individually to help you, through our office. But the other thing that's missing in this debate is us, as neighbors, helping people that need our help. You know, we've had a - (applause). The idea that the government is a solution to our problems, is an inaccurate, a very inaccurate statement.
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The DLC reinventing themselves....
I am glad that we have some folks on the left that are seeing this health care battle with eyes wide open, crystal clear. Slinkerwink, threw a diary up on Daily Kos about the DLC front, "Third Way."
I can not even start about the DLC and how their influence in Democratic politics have demised the party to nothingness, at one point. We all know that Bill and Hillary Clinton were influenced by the incremental thinking and constant give away to the other side from the DLC, which also did not help Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Democrats have seen this show and we got nothing from it. The DLC was rebuked during Barack Obama's run for the presidency and rightly so. But power is a bitch and when you want to be a player, again, you create these fronts or "think tanks."
As we move into the final make-or-break months of the health care debate, every progressive should, in the James Carville tradition, put a simple warning on the wall: Do not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. While many are fighting passionately for one particular policy proposal, such as a public plan, it would be tragic to allow the inclusion or exclusion of any single element to derail reform.
Boy, the Republicans are loving this article. What is completely a joke is that "Third Way" actually calls itself "progressive", and I ask WHERE. This health care fight was already compromised by the removal of single payer off the table. Many democrats, independents and republicans accepted that, but want and demand a public option.
Americans have every right to be skeptical of the insurance industry and congress. Why? Because the insurance industry and congress are working in tandem motion, they practically and literally OWE each other. I don't expect not one Republican vote for any health care reform, it is not coming, but I do expect Democrats in congress to do the right thing and vote the public option through.
It is organizations, or fronts, like "Third Way" that makes many on the left fight harder. Why should we compromise, reject, throw away the public option? It is a great idea, a plan already working for federal employees, the very plan that congress enjoys. I have YET, heard a reasonable explanation why the American public should not pool our resources together to get affordable, cost efficient and quality health care. Hell, this is not free, we are PAYING for it, but since it is the public versus the private insurance companies, this is where we see these weak as water politicians trying to explain to the public why we should continue with these private insurance companies and opt out of the public option.
The left is not going to have it, and many who voted across party lines for Barack Obama, who campaigned on this very isssue, is not going to have it. While we are witnessing the largest MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN against health care reform in history, we all know what is at stake.
President Obama will have to draw his line in the sand and he will have to stand on it. Many have concerns about where he stands because of all the bad communication coming from this White House and Democratic surrogates. Right now many are confused, uncertain and not sure which way this health care reform will go. One thing that is perfectly clear, the Republicans are not voting for squat. One thing that is perfectly clear, these negotiations are worthless with the Republicans. And one thing is perfectly clear, if we don't see a solid, robust public option coming out of this health care bill, the Democrats and Obama can kiss 2010 and on goodbye. In fact, it will be the rebirth of the Republican Party, a party that ran on nothing, but was able to wield its minor power into possible majority power again.
And that will be the Democrats fault.
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Concern Troll, Joe Scarborough of morning joe in the tank for protecting terror tactics (Video)
Joe Scarborough has been outspoken about the terror tactics used, in fact he for the illegal terror tactics this country has used during the Bush regime and he really don't give a shit because he approves all that has been done. Now much more is coming out and morning joke is on the GOP talking points. All this happened under the Bush Administration's watch and Republicans are scared, that the investigation will expand and you know what, it should. The Justice Department should not just single out lower level personnel who did what they were told to do, we all know this will go straight back to the BUSH WHITE HOUSE and this is where the Republicans get worried.
Read more from Ministry of Truth over @ Daily Kos.
MSNBC
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Debunk the "Death Book" Bullshyte.... (Video)
Fox News, first off, this channel is NOT NEWS. This channel is nothing but propaganda for the Republicans. Now this death book that they are touting, now 24/7, is just more lies to pile on. When you have 3 presidents, one including Bush, who approved this book or pamphlet from the Veterans Administration on counciling seniors on a living will, how in the hell does it become a death book? Remember, this is about scaring SENIORS and making them put the pressure on killing health care reform. Not only is this just sad but outrageous.
and from Keith Olbermann....
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Monday, August 24, 2009
Obama nominating Bernanke to 2nd term as Fed Chief
Why am I not surprised? Things about Obama lately are turning out to be very predictable.
President Obama plans to nominate Ben S. Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, administration officials said Monday night.
The nomination, while expected, comes after Mr. Bernanke has had perhaps the most tumultuous term of any Fed chairman, helping to steer the economy through its greatest downturn since the 1930’s. Mr. Bernanke is a Republican who was appointed by President George W. Bush. Mr. Obama’s plan was confirmed by Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary.
A top White House official said Mr. Obama had decided to keep Mr. Bernanke at the helm of the Fed because he had been bold and brilliant in his attempts to combat the financial crisis and the current deep economic recession. read more here....
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The RNC Seniors' Health Care Bill of Rights (Video)
Again, the GOP operatives have been good to keep the pressure and SCARE on the seniors. Why? Seniors, VOTE and if you are sniffing around their Medicare and Social Security, believe me, you will hear from them. This Health Care Bill of Rights is full of bullshit. Period. The Republican Party has NEVER cared about any health care reform. Any real reform has always been pushed by the Democratic Party. The Republicans have been trying to cut Medicare for years, they have NO intention nor will they VOTE for any health care reform.
Amazing how lies, when continued to be repeated, takes a life of its own and people actually BELIEVE IT.
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From Real Time With Bill Maher, the Chuck Todd smackdown by Jeremy Scahill (Video)
I watched this live on Friday night and Jeremy Scahill was spot on. And if you have not read his book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army", you should.
And the food fight, after the show.
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Attorney General Eric Holder appointing a special prosecutor to investigate CIA/torture
Now this is Change I Can Believe In...
Attorney General Eric Holder has directed a federal prosecutor to look into possible violations of U.S. law in the CIA's treatment of terrorism detainees overseas, NBC News reported Monday.
Administration officials say he'll give the assignment to a career federal prosecutor in Connecticut, John Durham.
For more than a year, since January 2008, Durham has been investigating whether any laws were broken when CIA officials destroyed audio and video tapes of the interrogations of several terrorism detainees. His work on the tapes issue is not yet completed, though there are indictions that Durham is nearly done with that part of his work.
Source
Washington Post
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These Blue Dog Democrats better get it together for the public option or deal with defeat at the polls (UPDATE)
These blue dog democrats touting from various states and districts are finding out, THE HARD WAY, that their constituents do want a public option as part of the health care reform bill.
Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is the most compromised senator that is currently in the hot seat. Mr. Baucus has taken MILLIONS of insurance, health care lobbyist money and his slow walk and lack of commitment to the public option has enraged folks. Thus the pressure and heat is on Baucus to back a public option. His poll numbers have slipped in Montana, thus making him actually STATE that he is for a public option. But seeing is believing from Mr. Baucus, at this point.
U.S. Senator Max Baucus has finally broken his silence regarding his personal position on including a public option in health care reform legislation. Last Monday night (8/17), in an unprecedented conference call to Montana Democratic central committee chairs, the powerful leader of the Senate Finance Committee told his strongest supporters that he supported a public option. While discussing the obstacles to getting a public option through the Senate, he assured his forty listeners, "I want a public option too!"
The conference call was groundbreaking in that none of the recipients could ever remember this kind of call ever happening before. The teleconference was set up seemingly in reaction to rising discontent among the local Democratic leaders with the Senator's failure to take a clear position on the issue.
The discussion, which became contentious and rancorous at times, also touched upon The wisdom of creating insurance cooperatives as an alternative to a public option. When several of the county chairs objected, commenting that they did not trust the health insurance companies to police themselves and limit their outrageous corporate
profits, Baucus commented, "Neither do I."
This is the sticking point. Why should we trust the insurance companies to do the right thing for the consumer? They have not for years and have benefitted in record profit. The insurance companies are mounting the largest MISINFORMATION campaign in record history against any health care reform. If one industry is doing all this to keep things the SAME, you know that the system is not working to benefit us, the consumer.
Then Blue Dog, Jim Cooper out of Tennessee. This man was instrumental in destroying the Clinton Health Care Reform in the 90s. He is another one who has been slow walking things in the House of Representatives and now a new poll shows that his constituents don't like how he is handling the health care reform bill and they too, want a public option.
Let's be frank here, many of these Blue Dog Democrats are from districts with working class and below poverty folks, these people want a public option in this health care bill. The one thing that Barack Obama did right during his campaign was the continuous pounding of health care reform, the continuous talking of the American public having "health care like congress". That resonated with the public and the public wants it. What is happening now is all about the money, the lobbyist money. It is up to these politicians to either vote their district, state or deal with defeat at the polls.
It is that simple.
It did not take long for Cooper to respond to the poll on his district, read it here.
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UPS drops all advertising from FOX
The Glenn Beck boycott is working and the pressure is on....
Glenn Beck returns to Fox News Channel on Monday after a vacation with fewer companies willing to advertise on his show than when he left, part of the fallout from calling President Barack Obama a racist.
A total of 33 Fox advertisers, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., CVS Caremark, Clorox and Sprint, directed that their commercials not air on Beck's show, according to the companies and ColorofChange.org, a group that promotes political action among blacks and launched a campaign to get advertisers to abandon him. That's more than a dozen more than were identified a week ago.
While it's unclear what effect, if any, this will ultimately have on Fox and Beck, it is already making advertisers skittish about hawking their wares within the most opinionated cable TV shows.
The Clorox Co., a former Beck advertiser, now says that "we do not want to be associated with inflammatory speech used by either liberal or conservative talk show hosts." The maker of bleach and household cleaners said in a statement that it has decided not to advertise on political talk shows.
The shows present a dilemma for advertisers, who usually like a "safe" environment for their messages. The Olbermanns, Hannitys, O'Reillys, Maddows and Becks of the TV world are more likely to say something that will anger a viewer, who might take it out on sponsors.
They also host the most-watched programs on their networks.
"This is a good illustration of that conundrum," said Rich Hallabran, spokesman for UPS Stores, which he said has temporarily halted buying ads on Fox News Channel as a whole. read more here...
Daily Kos
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Sunday, August 23, 2009
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) on the reality tip about Obama and these Republicans (Video)
This continuous bipartianship stuff of the Obama White House is to die for, especially when you are not getting nothing in return. Sure, the public respects attempting to work with the Republicans, but eventually you got to cut these CLOWNS loose. Yes, cut them LOOSE.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said she would refuse to vote for a healthcare reform package that did not include a provision for creating a government-run medical insurance plan that would compete with private insurers -- a statement that drew loud cheers Saturday at a town hall meeting at Los Angeles Southwest College.
The statement appeared to illustrate hardening lines in the battle over healthcare reform in Congress. Waters voiced dismay with comments made by White House officials last week that have been widely perceived as backing down from the so-called public option.
"President Obama has been trying to reach across the aisle" to win a compromise with Republicans, Waters said. "It is not going to happen."
Then Waters made a public appeal to Obama.
"The people of this country elected you and gave you a Democratic majority in the House and the Senate. . . . Yes, we know that you are a nice man, that you want to work with the opposite side of the aisle. But there comes a time when you need to drop that and move forward," Waters said. "We're saying to you, Mr. President, 'Be tough. Use everything that you've got. Do what you have to do. And we have your back.'
Yes, we voted for you and the Democrats for the platform that you RAN ON, not on this utter bullshit that is happening in Washington, D.C. It is time to CUT and RUN on these Republicans.
And memory lane, Congresswoman Waters calling Rahm Emanuel OUT on what is now the health care fiasco. This is what you get with Blue Dog Democrats, not much.
L.A. Times
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With friends like these, no wonder health care reform is confusing from the White House (Video)
President Obama's, BFF, sorry the way he continues to cite Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) as a person working hard for reform, while Grassley continues to stab our President in the back with his "death panels" claim, it is no wonder folks are confused about where the White House really stands. This from Face the Nation, our BFF now recants the "death panel" talk that he REVVED up during his town hall meetings swings:
Read transcript and conversation, here
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