A New Level Of Cynicism From Todd Akin

I'm pretty sure there was a time in politics where people at least attempted, to some small degree, to have their claims at least remotely line up with reality and with their previous comments.  This is no longer true of the modern GOP.  For any documented negative consequence of their policies, they will simply spend millions of dollars on ads accusing the Democrats of doing the same thing in hopes of muddying the waters enough that low-information voters will simply shrug their shoulders and look for other reasons to vote for one candidate over the other.

Todd Akin has now taken this strategy to a new low.  Despite the fact that he claims that Medicare is unconstitutional, he's up with new advertisements, he's up with a new ad claiming that he's fighting to "protect and strengthen Medicare" and  claiming that Senator McCaskill is trying to weaken it.  It's the absolute height of cynicism, and shows clearly how little Akin thinks of voters.

On the other hand, Akin at least stood by his comments that offering students loans to go to college is "stage 3 cancer of socialism," saying he was "calling a spade a spade." But of course, in GOP minds, his standing by this comment now doesn't really matter at all.  If they decide this is a bad issue for them, they'll just drop a few million on ads next week claiming that "Akin is working hard to protect student loans, while Claire McCaskill destroys them."  They think Missouri voters are too stupid to know the facts.  I hope we prove them wrong.

Chris Koster Should be Primaried

Chris Koster has announced that he is supporting the Republican lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act:

After months of remaining publicly neutral on the issue, Koster, a Democrat, filed a friend of the court brief Monday in a federal case in Florida where several states have joined together to combat President Barack Obama's health care plan.

The attorney general's move against the health care mandate is sure to raise eyebrows among progressives, some who have been wary of Koster's party credentials since he defected from the GOP a year before running statewide.

Though he technically is not "joining" the lawsuit, but rather filing a "friend of the court" briefing, he is basically undermining the defining piece of legislation of the Democratic administration of the past two year: a change that was fought tooth and nail by greedy insurance companies who maximize profits at the expense of the American public. And Koster is doing so despite the fact that Republicans have made clear that they won't vote for him even if he flip flops.

I don't think the Democratic party should tolerate statewide officials undermining the party. I have no interest in voting for Koster after this pathetic pandering. I hope people who actually believe in the values of the Democratic party can find a good primary challenger who would at least give us a decent candidate to vote for in November 2012.

Phyllis Schlafly Vs. The Facts

Another great post from Hotflash at Show Me Progress about the Ed Martin forum where Martin supporters where outnumbered and outdebated by supporters of the Affordable Care Act. This one is of Phyllis Schlafly's factually-challenged speech about "Obamacare:"

Sean at Fired Up Missouri also had a nice roundup of the coverage of Ed Martin's failed event.

Pregnancy As a Preexisting Condition? Not Under the Affordable Care Act!

Another excellent point recorded by Hotflash at Show Me Progress:

Ed Martin and Bill Hennessy Hide in the Back of Their Own Forum: Schlafly Bolts!

Have you ever been to a panel discussion where two of the panelists stand at the back of the room and the other one bolts? No? Well I guess you've never seen Ed Martin interact with a group of informed citizens before!

As written about earlier about by Bunnie on this blog and by Hotflash at Show Me Progress, Ed Martin, Phyllis Schlafly, and Bill Hennessy put on a forum about "Obamacare," last night. Unfortunately for Martin's gang, not many of their supporters showed up. Even more unfortunately for them, a large crowd (70+) of informed citizens did show up ready to correct their disinformation about the Affordable Care Act.

According to multiple accounts, Phyllis Schlafly took off very early in the night, never to be seen again. And Ed Martin and Bill Hennessy strangely stood at the back of the room for the question and answer period, listening about 1/2 the time and chatting the other half:


Hennessy apparently also took off before the event was over.

Pretty odd way to conduct a "forum" if you ask me.

I Don't Care What You Say, It Was A Great Night for Health Care Reform

Guest post by Bunnie Gronborg:

All of my Omaha sisters are lovers of the Tea Party and Sarah Palin. Whenever I present them with factual information about our good President Obama, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), or virtually anything else, I am met with a misinformed statement prefaced by the phrase, “I don't care what you say....”.

They live in a state of fear, fed by Fox pundits, conservative radio and a strategically continuous tide of emails generated from well-funded right wing blog sites and political action groups. This echo chamber of lies is a comfort zone for them, where even Snopes, FactCheck, Politifact, and any news outlet besides Fox isn't to be trusted.

I was reminded of their reluctance to step outside the echo chamber last night, at the downtown Drury where U.S. Senate candidate Ed Martin hosted an “Obamacare Hearing for Missouri Citizens”. A posting on Facebook announced that this hearing was open to the public, and in addition, asked for attendees to come with their “stories”. At least 70 health care advocates who support the ACA came with stories and comments, vastly outnumbering the TeaParty supporters of Mr. Martin who appeared to be shocked that there were so many real people who respectfully took issue with what the speakers (Ed Martin, Phyllis Schlafly of the old Eagle Forum , Bill Hennessy, founder of the St. Louis Tea Party, and the disembodied voice only of Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder) had to say. By the way, I give credit to Ed Martin's people, who gave everyone who wanted to speak from both sides ample time to do so.

Supporters of the ACA listened quietly to all of the speakers. A few questions from the audience were taken. Dr. Rea Kleeman, who practiced medicine for over 50 years challenged Schlafly, who had claimed that the entire solution to health care issues in this country would be solved by “detaching health care from government” and having only health savings accounts so we can “pay for the minor stuff” out of pocket. Dr. Kleeman stated that her experience in her medical practice proved that health care savings accounts don't work. Schlafly just didn't believe the doctor of medicine, and I could hear the implied “I don't care what you say” in her voice. Seeing the writing on the wall, Schlafly quickly left the building.

No questions were asked of the Voice of Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.

During the break I asked Bill Hennessy about his statement that the ACA is “clearly unconstitutional”. He admitted that he is not a constitutional law expert nor is he an attorney. I pointed out that 12 federal judges have refused to hear the case against the ACA, two have ruled for it and two against. And in an “I don't care” sort of way, his response after the break was, “Whether or not it's a good idea is not the point; it's against the law.” Bill, the only thing that's CLEAR is that the issue will be decided by the Supreme Court, not you. Apparently not wanting to hear the real health care stories of real people, Bill also exited the “hearing”, along with some Tea Party folks, leaving poor Ed Martin and his remaining befuddled supporters to face the music.

It was virtually thrilling last night to see a wave of very energized, courageous and polite health care advocates willing to go outside of their comfort zone and carry truth to the Tea Party. I thought of our mentor, Melanie Shouse, who lost her battle with cancer in January of 2010. She carried her powerful verbal banner of truth to every event, no matter how sick she was, speaking for all of us. Now, together, we are picking up the banner from our fallen hero, and we are carrying the defense of quality, affordable health care for all Americans to all who are willing to hear the truth.

Bunnie Gronborg

(Ed Martin with a case of the sads)

In Defense of McCaskill on Health Care Reform

There's been a lot of criticism of Senator McCaskill's recent statements about health care reform suggesting that she's "moving to the center" or "selling out" by saying that she's looking for alternatives to the invindual mandate. In fact, Rachel Maddow has now promised to mail a cardboard cutout of Blanche Lincoln to McCaskill to remind her of the futility of Democrats trying to pretend they are Republicans.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This is clever and fun, but I actually disagree with Maddow's reading of McCaskill's statements. What Claire has said is that she would look to see if there are other alternatives to the mandate that would accomplish the things she wants accomplished in the health care bill. Here's a specific quote from Politico:

In an interview, McCaskill said she’d “love to” modify the mandate and is “looking at different ways to try to” extend coverage without a mandate.

“We’re running numbers to see how many new people we can get into the pool with something less than a mandate, something that would be more limited enrollment periods with severe financial penalties for not signing up.”

McCaskill added that an alternative “may not be workable; it may be that the mandate is the only way we can do it. But I think we should explore it.”

She also was quoted as follows:

“I’m not worried about the politics of this; I’m worried about the substance of it,” McCaskill said. “My goal has always been pretty simple: affordable, accessible, private-market insurance for people in America who want insurance. The politics of this are hard; it’s just easier to stay focused on the substance because that’s what matters.”

So the real question is, what are the good things about the health care bill that she's trying to protect while "looking into" other options? I think, as she's stated many many times, those good things include expanding insurance coverage to the people who need it and making sure that people with preexisting conditions can get coverage. And remember, the point of the mandate is to have enough people buying insurance that the insurance companies can afford to cover others, including people with preexisting conditions:

Senator McCaskill: Uh, I mean, the mandate obviously is the most unpopular part, but, um, when you ask people if they want to do away with preexisting conditions they say, well of course, that's so unfair. Well, who's gonna buy insurance before they're sick. You can't do away with preexisting conditions unless you set up an environment where everyone has insurance.

So McCaskill has always expressed reservations about the mandate, but has stated that it appears to be necessary for protecting the good parts of the bill that outweigh the negatives of the mandate.

And let's be honest: the mandate does suck when considered by itself. The idea that we have to pay the same greedy insurance companies who screwed us in the first place is pretty disturbing. In fact, it was so disturbing that progressives like Markos Moulitsas and Howard Dean were originally against the health care reform bill that featured a mandate without a public option. But they eventually relented for the same reasons Claire and pretty much everyone else who supports the current bill signed on: the bill, which ultimately is an extremely positive step, would not be able to accomplish the good things without the minor annoyance of the mandate.

So now what is McCaskill saying? She's saying she's looking into ways of accomplishing the good things without the negative of the individual mandate. And if we're being honest, I think many people would agree that if we could have the good things without the mandate, the health care bill would be better overall. However, most of us just question whether it's actually possible to take care of preexisting conditions without the mandate (at least, in this system where there are not public options available). So McCaskill says she's looking into other options, and that there might not actually be any other options to accomplish the good things, and I think she's right. But most of the other criticism on this issue, in my opinion, is simply reading too much into her words.

However, if Maddow would like to mail Claire the Blanche Lincoln cutout because of her spending cap suggestions, I'm all for it!

Is Chris Koster a Democrat or is he Clueless?

Rumors are floating around the Attorney General Chris Koster, as a result of loud noises and repeated foot-stomping by Republicans, is considering wasting Missouri taxpayer money to join on to a hopeless and petty lawsuit against healthcare reform. Hotflash at Show Me Progress points out why this would be ridiculous and very likely lead to Koster losing a Democratic primary. But I think even if Koster won a Democratic primary, he would unquestionably lose the general election. Democrats would have no reason to support him, and Republicans would not trust Koster after his previous switch to the Democratic Party, and they have already stated as much. From the right-wing 24th State Blog:

At any rate, while I would like to see our state officials join the Obamacare lawsuits, I worry that Koster will just flip to the other side after he joins. This is not the sort of person either party should want in government.

No one will support Koster if he flips. The public is not kind to party flip-floppers, as is evidenced by Arlen Specter and Joe Lieberman. Koster needs to talk to the people who elected him and think seriously about performing his job rather than wasting precious state money on political theatre.

You can reach his office at 573-751-3321 or attorney.general@ago.mo.gov to let him know what you think.

Alway Remember Melanie Shouse

One year and one day ago, tireless activist Melanie Shouse passed away after a long and courageous battle with breast cancer. Her dedication to making the world better was an inspiration for activists in St. Louis and across the country. Last year I collected some of the stories that were written in her honor, which can be found here and here. Thanks to Brian Matthews and Bunnie Gronborg for their touching tributes on facebook.

Missourians to GOP Senate: "Quit playing politics with our health care!"

Captions from Bunnie Gronborg:

"In a stunning show of passionate activism in support of the Affordable Care Act Tuesday, over 60 voters from across Missouri and numerous organizations, packed a Senate hearing room to express opposition to SR 27, a senate bill calling on Attorney General Koster to join a ridiculous lawsuit opposing the health care reform bill passed last year. Over 20 testimonies opposed. Only 1 in favor, Sen. Jane Cunningham, sponsor."

"60 citizens of the state walked to the Supreme Court Bldg. in Jefferson City and requested an unplanned meeting with Attorney General Koster. He met with us for several minutes and we presented him with paper copies of 20 testimonies given before the Senate Rules Committee today in opposition to SR27."

"Stickers we all wore:"

"Katie and her beautiful daughter, who also supports the Affordable Care Act."


Press release:

Over 60 voters and many community groups supporting the Affordable Care Act came to the Missouri Senate today to tell legislators to stop playing politics with health care. The Senate Rules Committee had a hearing at 2:30 PM in the Senate Lounge about a Resolution calling upon Attorney General Koster to sue the federal government over the health reform law.

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act chastised Senators for spending taxpayer money on political stunts. Bob Minor, a member of Jobs with Justice’s leadership team in Kansas City expressed outrage at the Senate Resolution. “We have hundreds of families who are now insuring young adults under age 26 because the law gives us that choice. We have thousands of retirees who are getting free preventive care and annual exams in Medicare. And these Senators are using taxpayer dollars to try to take away these benefits.”

Most of those who testified stressed the benefits of the Affordable Care Act. Bernadette Gronborg of Festus spoke about the new rules that require health insurance companies to spend 80-85% of premiums on medical care. “This will make sure that we consumers get real value and real coverage for our health insurance dollars.” Gronborg said. Gronborg, who is 63, went on to say that her own health insurance premiums went up two times this year, even though she is healthy and has filed no claims.

More than 16 community groups, senior groups, clergy and faith-based organizations came to tell the Senators they support the new health care law.

Barbara Richter of Kirkwood made the trip to Jefferson City to remind Senators that the new law is already helping small businesses and women. “Under the new law, insurance companies will have to offer health care that women need. Before health care reform, some insurance companies refused to cover pregnancy, women who had previously had a C-section, or been a survivor or domestic or sexual violence. Under the new law, health insurance companies won't be able to do this.” “And,” Richter continued, “Insurance companies will not be able to charge women higher premiums than men. These are important changes.”

Supporters of the federal health care law also made hundreds of phone calls and emails to Missouri Senators. From Springfield to St. Louis, Kansas City to Kennett, voters called with their personal stories about why health care reform is needed now.

Those attending include clergy leaders, members of Missouri Health Care for All, Jobs with Justice, Metropolitan Congregations United, Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice, and the AFL-CIO.

Understanding Health Care Reform

On January 16, members of Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice met to hear a presentation by Jen Bersdale, Director of Advocacy and Communications for Central Reform Congregation.

The presentation, “Understanding Health Care Reform: What it Does and What it Means”, lays out the facts of the historic Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010.

Ms. Bersdale, also an advocate with Missouri Health Care for All, pointed out that while the bill is not perfect, it is already providing much needed reforms to the health insurance industry, benefits to the sick, and essential preventative care. She succeeded in giving members of Women's Voices a wealth of information about the effects of the ACA on private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, small businesses, and answering many specific questions related to the Act in those and other areas.

Bersdale said that the legislation is designed to reduce health care costs for both families and the government, make coverage more secure for all Americans, improve Medicare and Medicaid, modernize our health care delivery system, and provide affordable coverage to 32 million Americans who are currently uninsured.

This year Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice has made educating the public about the facts of the ACA a priority. Missouri Health Care for All views education of Missourians about the benefits of the ACA to be essential in their mission of securing quality, affordable health care for all Missourians.

For the facts about the Affordable Care Act and how it effects you, refer to: www.mohealthcare.org, www.womensvoicesraised.org, www.healthcare.gov.

Bunnie Gronborg

Steering Committee
Missouri Health Care for All

Dana Loesch's Zombie Lie

Via Justin Gibson, I came across an exchange between Dana Loesch and Cornell Belcher on Anderson Cooper 360. Cooper brought up the fact that the GOP was blatantly hypocritical with reports from the Congressional Budget Office, at times acting like the reports were the holy gospel when it supported their arguments and then dismissing it as biased or flawed when the facts (as they so often do) completely contradict the Republic narrative.

Loesch, unsurprisingly, ignored the point about hypocrisy and simply argued for her favorite CBO study:

First of all, the CBO report that was issued which said that the $1 trillion health control law was going to be deficit neutral, within a week of that report being issued, there was a lesser-known report that was also issued that was based upon an inquiry that came from Paul Ryan.

He asked the CBO to consider the costs of the health care law in -- also with the doc fix. That's the -- the infamous Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors and that. And what the CBO discovered was that those two pieces of legislation together actually added to the deficit.

And it's interesting to note, too, that Nancy Pelosi initially had the doc fix in the health care legislation, but it was removed. So, at one point -- it was removed before the CBO scored it. So, at one point, they thought that these two pieces of legislation, that this could be coupled together, that they were related.

But those two things together actually do add to the deficit. And that's the little known thing that nobody's talking about.

This claim by Loesch is an instance of what Paul Krugman has been calling a zombie lie. The costs of reimbursing doctors in Medicare was going to go up anyway, at least if we wanted to continue to have Medicare, but Republicans are insisting that this be included in the "cost of health care reform."
Krugman:

If You Read This Blog Post, You Will Die

Eventually. Of course, if you don’t read it you’ll eventually die, too.

So, would it make sense to consider the fact of your eventual mortality a cost of reading this blog post? Everyone who thinks so, raise your hands.

And yet, Republicans are applying exactly the same logic to health care reform. They’re insisting that the cost of the “doc fix” — the routine increases in Medicare fees that are necessary to avoid making it impossible to get doctors to cover patients — should be counted as part of the cost of the Affordable Care Act. That’s even though the doc fix would have been equally necessary if the Act had never passed.

And yes, we’ve been through this many times. Another day, another zombie lie attacks our brains.

Wagman Doesn't Bother With Getting Quotes

Jake Wagman regurgitated a story yesterday suggesting that Senator McCaskill wants to get rid of the individual mandate component of health care reform. The story had been reported by The Hill and by WillyK at Show Me Progress the day before. Despite possessing the title of "reporter," Wagman apparently did not bother to actually get a quote from the McCaskill campaign about the statement.

On the other hand, Jo Mannies at the Beacon did get a quote about McCaskill's position on mandates, and it was pretty interesting:

McCaskill press secretary Maria Speiser said Thursday that the senator's MSNBC comments, in their entirety, "are not significantly different from what she has said in the past."...

Overall, said Speiser, "Claire believes the bottom line is that the mandate is unpopular, and if there are other ways to stop insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions, it’s worth considering."

Mannies also presented the full quotation from McCaskill that sparked the recent controversy:

I think they don't like the mandate and by a wide margin they voted that way (a reference to Proposition C, which passed handily in Missouri on Aug. 3). I do think we have to look at it to see if there's a different way to make sure to get more people in the pool. What the most popular part of the bill (is, barring) pre-existing conditions, allowing people who have had the nerve to be sick before, allowing them to get insurance, that's the most popular part. That really is what drove the desire for a mandate because you've got to get everybody in the pool. Can you imagine if you could go get car insurance after you had a wreck? Who is going to buy insurance until after they're sick. Maybe there's other ways to get people in a pool other than a mandate -– I hope -– and we need to look at that.

Seems like a pretty interesting facts that add flavor and context to the story, no?