The truth is out there: Harry Reid has no idea what to do to create jobs.
Via Jim Geraghty
Reid Gives Up on Reconciliation?
Olympia Snowe is Now in Charge
This is significant:
Senate Democrats have abandoned plans to use a fast-track parliamentary strategy to avert a threatened Republican filibuster and pass a health care overhaul — a signal that they are considering major policy concessions to moderates.
The most significant of these could be restructuring or dropping altogether a proposed
government-run insurance plan — the so-called public option — that many liberals consider a necessary part of the overhaul.
One possible fallback is a proposal by Thomas R. Carper, D-Del., to create a government-sanctioned insurance plan that would be available only in states deemed to lack affordable private insurance plans. Under Carper’s plan, the insurance plan would be structured as a private nonprofit entity, run by a board appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate…
KUSI: Boxer’s Kind of Lying About Stimulus Jobs
A News Report that Hits All the Talking Points
If Boxer was frustrated that Brigadier General Walsh failed to shower her the proper respect, how will she react when she sees how she’s being treated by the San Diego media?
Got that Senator Boxer? One job created in San Diego so far - at a time when the unemployment rate in California is 12.2%. You would think San Diego could have created more jobs than that merely putting up signs touting the expenditure of ’stimulus’ dollars - a practice that Boxer supports.
It’s no surprise things are going so badly in California. Chuck DeVore has pointed out that California suffers from the absolute worst business climate in the nation. Carly Fiorina also gets the issue right - calling Boxer ‘a tax and spend liberal, absolutely beholden to the special interests, particularly union interests.’
As long as Californians vote for leaders who try to create jobs by raising taxes and hiring government employees, the state will continue to suffer from sky-high unemployment.
Cross-posted to theconservatives.com
Get Your 2010 Attack Ads, One Year Early
While it was largely lost in the debate over passage of Pelosi-care on Saturday night, it may turn out that the most politically costly vote many Democrats cast was against the Motion to Recommit.
Simply put, the Motion to Recommit gives the minority party one last chance to force a vote on a change to the underlying bill. Here’s a summary sent out by the Republican leadership of the Motion to Recommit on the health care overhaul:
The Republican Motion to Recommit H.R. 3962, Speaker Pelosi’s Government Take-Over of Health Care, would amend the bill to add medical liability reform (savings of $54 billion) and use the savings achieved to create a “Seniors Protection and Medicare Regional Payment Equity Fund.”
The fund would require the Secretary to prioritize funding to protect those seniors hit hardest by the cuts to Medicare under Speaker Pelosi’s bill. Specifically, the purpose of the fund would be to:
- Preserve seniors’ access to Medicare Advantage,
- Protect seniors’ access to medically-necessary care (including seeing doctors and hospitals without waiting in lines, and preventing coverage determinations based on cost), and
- Address payment inequities and geographic variations in Medicare that hurts seniors who live in areas with high-quality, low-cost services.
The Pelosi Government Take-Over of Health Care cuts more than $500 billion from Medicare, leaving seniors with reduced benefits and fewer choices. While at the same time, the Pelosi bill protects trial lawyers by not addressing real medical liability reform, a critical reform that would reduce health care costs for all Americans. The Republican motion to recommit offers Members a choice on who to protect: seniors or trial lawyers.
A Conservative Campaign Built on “Handshakes & Shoe Leather”
New York's Ed Mangano is About to Pull Off a Huge Upset
This morning I spoke with Ed Mangano, the Republican candidate for County Executive in Long Island’s Nassau County. Mangano has already put a tremendous scare into 8-year incumbent Democrat Tom Suozzi, who was expected to stroll to re-election. And while votes are still being counted, it looks like Mangano will pull off the win. Coming in one of America’s largest counties, a victory in such an underdog race would be an important one for conservatives nationwide.
On election night Mangano came within 237 votes of knocking off the incumbent Suozzi, with more than 7,500 absentee ballots yet to be counted. Mangano told me this morning that the County Board of Elections now puts him just 106 votes behind, as the actual machine counts have been reconciled against the unofficial election night tallies. The 7,500 absentee ballots will be opened late this week, but ballots from Republicans outnumber those from Democrats by more than 750.
Bill Owens: Move Health Care “As Rapidly As Possible”
Democrat Bill Owens wants to succeed former Congressman John McHugh in New York’s 23rd congressional district. McHugh was a faithful representative of the center-right views of his district; in contrast, Owens is doing his best to earn the support of the extreme Left of the Democrat party.
For example, here’s Owens during his opening statement in last night’s candidate debate:
Congress needs to overhaul the world’s best health care system ‘as rapidly as possible?’
Creigh Deeds: On Message
I Wonder Who Can Repeat More Phrases: Creigh Deeds, or My Daughter's Buzz Lightyear Doll
Remember this? That was embarrassing.
Creigh Deeds needed to find a way to avoid more verbal fumbles. Saying something new revealed a serious weakness for Deeds: he really can’t discuss the substance of an issue without doing fatal damage to his tax-raising campaign. So what’s the solution? Instead of saying anything new, Creigh is just repeating himself:
In a gubernatorial debate that covered little new ground, Virginia Democrat R. Creigh Deeds went to an extreme.
Mr. Deeds, during the candidates’ fourth debate Tuesday night, repeated nearly verbatim the two-minute closing remarks he delivered during their third debate the previous week, even though polls show voters are not identifying with the message…
Inhofe Endorses Rubio
The veneer of inevitability is starting to peel off:
Conservative Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) has endorsed former Florida state House Speaker Marco Rubio (R) in Florida’s open Senate race.
Inhofe’s endorsement means he will oppose the NRSC-back candidate in the race, Gov. Charlie Crist (R).
“Like me, Marco believes that the federal government works best when it returns dollars, decisions and freedom to our local communities and families,” Inhofe said in a statement. “In the Senate, Marco will stand up for America’s taxpayers, not with President Obama and dangerous big government spending.”
The Inhofe endorsement comes a week after Rubio announced raising a strong $1 million in the third quarter. His campaign appears to have new life, as Crist’s standing as the presumptive nominee begins to be called into question.
Rubio is clearly coming on strong. And with Inhofe now backing him - in addition to Senator Jim DeMint - we’re likely to see more endorsements in the weeks ahead.
Rubio is going to win this race. Help show your support by donating here.
Will Obama’s Mob-Friend Protege Open His Books?
I’m sure if he is clean enough to have the support of Barack Obama, Alexi Giannoulias has nothing to hide - right?
Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful David Hoffman late Thursday released copies of his federal income tax returns for the past five years and, with a sharp shot at competitor Alexi Giannoulias, challenged him to do the same…
Mr. Hoffman also repeated his pledge to place his assets in a blind trust if he’s elected to the Senate, and challenged Mr. Giannoulias to match him.
Murtha Lackey About to Settle in at DHS?
The Washington Post reports that Tara O’Toole is poking around at the Department of Homeland Security, and apparently anticipating the Senate will confirm her nomination soon:
The Department of Homeland Security directorate of science and technology is moving office furniture around these days, apparently to fit more folks into available space. Buzz has it that the musical chairs is even going on in the suites on the Vermont Avenue side reserved for the top officials. We’re told that Tara O’Toole, whose nomination to be undersecretary of that operation is being held up in the Senate, has picked out some snappy blond furniture to grace the potential undersecretary’s office.
The Curious Case of New Jersey Job Numbers
Corzine Cooks the Books
Jim Geraghty wonders how the state of New Jersey can so consistently produce a rosy assessment of the state’s unemployment situation, only to be forced to correct themselves later:
As noted for much of the year, the Garden State’s economy is in rough, rough shape, with unemployment high and climbing. But the state has found some surprisingly good data on private-sector job creation, and those numbers were the centerpiece of campaign ads by incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine, particularly July’s estimate of 13,000 new private-sector jobs.
And then, a month later, the state said, “Whoops, private-sector employment didn’t increase by 13,000 jobs, it increased by 5,600,” a fairly significant revision. That prompted me to look back to the previous releases, where I found that the intial number was revised downward in June, and May, and April, some months by a few hundred, one month by as much as 4,300…
Is Robin Carnahan Running for Senator From ACORN?
As Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan seeks a promotion to the US Senate, she has to expect a few questions about her past dealings with ACORN. After all, the Secretary of State ‘administers all statewide elections for both candidates and issues,’ as well as promulgates rules and guidelines, handles ballots and pollworkers, and generally oversees everything having to do with elections in the state.
When a group like ACORN racks up more than a dozen convictions in the state, and submits tens of thousands of questionable or false voter registration forms, you have to expect that the Secretary of State is going to have the chance to explain what she did to fight corruption.
Despite Ethics Investigation, Mollohan Continues to Enrich Friends
This takes chutzpah:
West Virginia Democrat Rep. Alan Mollohan apparently is undeterred by an ongoing Justice Department investigation of his earmarking practices because his 2010 earmark requests includes a $2 million item for a project that will benefit several of his campaign contributors, and a former staff member who is also a real estate investment partner.
The project is a new National Guard facility in Parkersburg. The lead partner and project manager in the development group on the project is Vandalia Heritage Foundation. Steven Allen Adams of West Virginia Watchdog describes the extensive links between Mollohan and Vandalia:
Did McCain Torpedo JD Hayworth?
UPDATED: Text of 'Blackmail' E-mail Included
Former Congressman JD Hayworth is reportedly considering a primary challenge to John McCain. In explaining his rationale recently, he made a serious allegation about McCain’s loyalty to party:
Hayworth charged that in 2005 Salter tried to “blackmail” him into stopping his public criticism of McCain’s comprehensive immigration-reform bill. Hayworth said his chief of staff got an e-mail from Salter indicating that McCain might retaliate by commenting in the media about Hayworth’s links to the then-unfolding Jack Abramoff lobbyist corruption scandal.
Hayworth further suggested that Salter was responsible for planting false information in the Washington Times that said Hayworth was the “target” of an Abramoff-related Justice Department investigation. The Abramoff scandal helped Democrat Harry Mitchell upset Hayworth in 2006.
Loyal Democrats Endorse Obamacare
Is it News When Obama Donors Endorse Obama Policies?
The White House made a big deal of the support it has garnered from physicians around the country. Yesterday they even held a doctors’ rally - complete with white smocks - to show support. Yet the physicians in attendance weren’t the disinterested crowd President Obama suggested - many were longtime Democrat donors.
Based on the list of attendees provided to Time, it seems that the crowd was full of ringers. Here is a look at the history of political donations by some in attendance. It is not complete, but this is what I was able to find by searching the database at Congressional Quarterly:
ACORN Planned ‘Takeover’ of Oklahoma Government
And Liberals Complain About the Militant Imagery on the Right
I am told by liberal friends and colleagues that conservatives like me vastly overrate the significance of organizations such as ACORN. I wonder what those friends would say if a conservative entity was found to have prepared documents like this one:
A “Power Plan” document begins: “Oklahoma ACORN has been virtually non-existent since its glory days in Tulsa, over 20 years ago. 2007 is Year Zero.”
It continues with a five-year plan to obtain “power”:
“Therefore, the route to power is twofold: First, build powerful city organizations in Oklahoma City and Tulsa that can control these municipalities. Second, become an influential organization by shaping a handful of strategic legislative districts that, by themselves, can change who controls the state legislature.”
“(W)e will be seen as the force that is making Oklahoma a progressive state in the way that it was 100 years ago.”
Tim Pawlenty: Freedom First
Today a number of Red State contributors took the opportunity to participate in a conference call with Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty. A number of other bloggers did too, and if you’re interested in the assessments of other smart people, I encourage you to read Brad Jackson, Jim Geraghty, Ed Morrissey, Jim Antle, Marc Ambinder, and Chip Hanlon.
I’ll salute Pawlenty for one thing: we at Red State have done our best to hammer home the point that prospective 2012 candidates had better engage in 2010, and Pawlenty seems to get it. His new Freedom First PAC is clearly and explicitly focused on the elections before 2012. I’m glad to see that Pawlenty’s first real step onto the national scene is set on the right goal - even if there is legitimate question about the effectiveness of these PACs generally.
Pawlenty makes clear that his PAC is all about promoting freedom - first and foremost economic freedom. He spoke about promoting choice in medical care and education, and advocating for limited government. The word ‘freedom’ came up a lot.
AFP Makes it Easy to Call Congress
Americans for Prosperity wants to make it easier for all Americans to call Congress and express their opposition to health care rationing. That’s why they’ve launched Patients First to spread the word about government-run health care. And it’s why they’ve organized Call Congress Day next Tuesday, October 6:
Please consider participating in National Call Congress Day this Tuesday, October 6th sponsored by Patients First, a project of Americans for Prosperity. At joinpatientsfirst.com, you can enter your phone number and you’ll receive a call, connecting you immediately to your legislator with…well, just about the least effort possible. Busy during the day? No worries. If you use this tool after business hours, you will be connected to voicemail. (Imagine an intern telling their supervisor, “Um, we received 400 voicemails overnight… You might want to listen to some of these.”)
Want to do more? Consider blogging or Tweeting about the event. Email your friends and family. Anything you can do to help more people be heard on Capitol Hill will make a difference! It’s critical to make these calls to legislators who may be on the fence about particular elements of the bill, but all Americans should call their legislators no matter what stance their representatives take. Congressmen and senators who are right on this issue need our support and a call to encourage them and say thank you can do as much good, if not more, than calling to express concerns.
Max Baucus Requires Health Care Rationing
And Probably Leads to Something that Rhymes With "Shmeath Ranels"
The Washington Times recently took a look at the forced health care rationing in Chairman Max Baucus’s health care overhaul legislation:
The offending provision is on Pages 80-81 of the unamended Baucus bill, hidden amid a lot of similar legislative mumbo-jumbo about Medicare payments to doctors. The key sentence: “Beginning in 2015, payment would be reduced by five percent if an aggregation of the physician’s resource use is at or above the 90th percentile of national utilization.” Translated into plain English, it means that in any year in which a particular doctor’s average per-patient Medicare costs are in the top 10 percent in the nation, the feds will cut the doctor’s payments by 5 percent.
Forget results. This provision makes no account for the results of care, its quality or even its efficiency. It just says that if a doctor authorizes expensive care, no matter how successfully, the government will punish him by scrimping on what already is a low reimbursement rate for treating Medicare patients. The incentive, therefore, is for the doctor always to provide less care for his patients for fear of having his payments docked. And because no doctor will know who falls in the top 10 percent until year’s end, or what total average costs will break the 10 percent threshold, the pressure will be intense to withhold care, and withhold care again, and then withhold it some more. Or at least to prescribe cheaper care, no matter how much less effective, in order to avoid the penalties.
This is a highly arbitrary and pernicious way to cut medical care for seniors. The Baucus approach penalizes the top ten percent every year. There is no target level of spending, after which the penalties sunset. Further, no provider ever knows if he or she is likely to end the year in the top ten percent. For that reason there is an incentive to cut costs on every patient, every procedure, every expenditure, on every day of the year. And if a doctor finishes the year in the bottom 90 percent, the average level of spending will have been reduced, and there will be a new contest to cut further, to remain in the bottom 90 percent the next year.
Red State on Senate Doctors
As Congress focuses on the critical issue of health care, the US Senate is fortunate to have two actual Medical Doctors among its ranks: doctors Tom Coburn and John Barrasso. As you might imagine, these experts represent a crucial font of knowledge and experience, whom we should look to for guidance on how the health care overhaul will affect patients.
Regrettably, Coburn and Barrasso are both Republicans, so Senator Reid largely ignores their views, and instead pursues a course likely to destroy medical care as we know it. Nevertheless, the Senate Doctors do their best to make sure that the American people and the US Senate know the likely effect of their actions.
At 5:00, I will join the Senate Doctors for their latest episode:
