Politics or Poppycock A Look From the Left At Politics, Politicians, Policies and Issues of National Concern

Campaign for America’s Future

By Bill Scher

August 11, 2009 – 9:45am ET

The daily Progressive Breakfast serves up what progressive movement members need to know to start their day.

Obama To Mix It Up In NH

Obama to conduct NH town hall at 1 PM ET. W. Post: “[Today] he will talk about people who are denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. On Friday, he will hold a town hall meeting in Bozeman, Mont., to discuss the plight of people dropped from their health insurance plans because of an illness. And at a third session on Saturday, in Grand Junction, Colo., Obama will raise the subject of high out-of-pocket costs, such as co-payments and deductibles.”

Faith groups entering the fray to win health care reform. CBS: “As part of a major new initiative from the faith community, Mr. Obama on Aug. 19 will participate in a call-in and audio Webcast with at least 25 faith leaders — from evangelical Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other religious traditions — to aggressively encourage their congregations to support health care reform … dozens of religious organizations are joining in an effort to emphasize the moral argument for reform. Their 40-day campaign kicks off today< with the launch of an advertisement on national cable networks featuring local evangelical, Catholic, and mainline pastors and people of faith with the message that ‘millions of people of faith are supporting health care reform.’”

Conservatives: “The Goal Is Not Compromise”

HuffPost’s Art Levine relays a first-hand account from a major conservative organizing conference call, revealing their obstructionist goals: “Apparently we on the left aren’t the only ones frustrated with the Senate Finance Committee. Listeners on the call were encouraged to actively protest Senators Grassley, Enzi, and Snowe in order to stop them from negotiating with Democrats. The moderator said, ‘The goal is not compromise, and ANY bill coming out this year would be a failure for us… because the Democrats will turn even a weak bill from the Senate Finance Committee into Canadian-style single-payer through underhanded implementation.’ They called for mass protests in Iowa in order to sway Grassley.”

Sen. Susan Collins defends insurance industry to CQ: “I’m always surprised when I hear some of my colleagues describe the public plan as being needed to keep the insurance companies honest . . . when insurance carriers are regulated in every state in the nation … They are a heavily regulated industry.”

Possible ’12 prez candidate Huckabee tries “up is down” explanation of right-wing town hall mobs. CNN: “At only two of the hundreds of meetings held, have I seen situations get out of control. Both of those incidents were caused not by the average Americans wanting to be heard, but by organized supporters of the Democrats trying to stop the free speech of people opposed to the proposed bill.”

The Walker Report explains the problem with the punditocracy’s favorite bipartisan bill: “The Wyden-Bennett bill would eliminate the tax exempt status of employer-provided health insurance benefits. It would replace this with a standard tax deduction to help buy insurance and additional subsidies for low income wage earners. This all sounds good, but here comes the rub. Neither the tax deduction nor the subsidies to make buying health insurance affordable are indexed to the cost of health insurance … the government provided financial help for people to afford insurance will quickly become worthless … The bill is only cheap because it does a terrible job of providing affordable health insurance in the long term.”

Palin Suffers Fallout From Ludicrous “Death Panels” Comment

“Palin ‘death panel’ claim sets Truth-O-Meter ablaze” concludes Politifact.

The Plum Line reminds “Sarah Palin Has Her Own ‘Death Panel’ Problem: “deaths of elderly patients due to mismanagement and neglect from Alaska state medical programs”

Salon.com’s Mike Madden reminds the death panel are here, they’re called private insurance companies: “The future of healthcare in America, according to Sarah Palin, might look something like this: A sick 17-year-old girl needs a liver transplant. Doctors find an available organ, and they’re ready to operate, but the bureaucracy — or as Palin would put it, the ‘death panel’ — steps in and says it won’t pay for the surgery. Despite protests from the girl’s family and her doctors, the heartless hacks hold their ground for a critical 10 days. Eventually, under massive public pressure, they relent — but the patient dies before the operation can proceed. It certainly sounds scary enough to make you want to go show up at a town hall meeting and yell about how misguided President Obama’s healthcare reform plans are. Except that’s not the future of healthcare — it’s the present … 17-year-old Nataline Sarkisyan, a leukemia patient from Glendale, Calif., died in December 2007, after her parents battled their insurance company, Cigna, over the surgery.”

Ezra Klein interviews GOP supporter of expanding Medicare end-of-life planning coverage, Sen. Johnny Isakson: “I just had a phone call where someone said Sarah Palin’s web site had talked about the House bill having death panels on it where people would be euthanized. How someone could take an end of life directive or a living will as that is nuts. You’re putting the authority in the individual rather than the government. I don’t know how that got so mixed up.”

Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky of the “consequences of misinformation”: “Last Thursday, Mike Sola, whose son has cerebral palsy, disrupted a town hall meeting with Rep. John Dingell (D-MI) by wheeling his son up to Dingell and verbally attacking the Congressman for supporting a bill that would give ‘no care whatsoever’ to Americans with ‘cerebral palsy.’ … In reality, rather than empowering political appointees with the ability to make medical decisions, all of the health bills improve care for Americans with disabilities.”

No Drug Deal?

HuffPost reports both WH and PhRMA lobby back away from reports of secret deal to prevent negotiated reductions of drug prices: “In the latest in a series of conflicting statements, White House officials on Monday insisted that they never entered into a deal with pharmaceutical companies whereby they agreed not to allow the government to negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare … ‘There was no discussion’ of refraining from using the government’s purchasing power to lower prices, said one of those aides … Pressed about the discussions, [PhRMA's Ken] Johnson added, ‘Among honorable people there can be honest differences of opinion…’ Later, he would say that there was no distance between his and the White House’s interpretation of the event. ‘It’s important to point out, there was never any quote-un-quote secret agreement with the White House,’ Johnson said.”

Obama Defends “Buy American” Stimulus Provisions

President urges to keep “Buy American” in “perspective.” Bloomberg: “‘Buy American’ rules that Congress included in the U.S. economic stimulus package don’t endanger free trade with Canada, President Barack Obama said after meeting with the leaders of Canada and Mexico. ‘This has in no way endangered the billions of dollars of trade taking place between our two countries,’ Obama said yesterday … ‘It’s important to keep it in perspective … We have not seen some sweeping steps toward protectionism.’”

W. Post reports Canadians taking similar steps portrays it as “strain” on trade.

OurFuture.org’s Dave Johnson reminds it’s good for every country to invest in itself: “Back in February Paul Krugman wrote about ‘policy externalities,’ pointing out that the only way a stimulus package can work is if it stimulates. In the absence of a coordinated worldwide response to the financial crisis each country has to be responsible for stimulating its own economy. Or not. Since the world’s economy is far too large for just the U.S. to provide adequate stimulus, our stimulus needs to focus on our economy. Other countries need to stimulate their economies.”

OurFuture.org’s Marcy Wheeler reports US unable to enforce labor and enviro trade provisions: “Max Baucus asked GAO to look at four Free Trade Agreements–Jordan, Singapore, Chile, and Morocco–to measure the economic, environmental, and labor benefits of the FTA … our trade partners are making little progress in environmental and labor issues … largely due to the failure of US agencies, particularly the US Trade Representative … there simply isn’t the institutional structure to support efforts to improve labor and environmental conditions.”

Climate Bill Cuts Deficit

USA Today reports new CBO numbers boost House climate bill: “The budget office … found that the House bill would shrink the federal deficit in that 10-year period because it requires businesses to buy permits to emit global-warming pollution. That would add hundreds of billions of dollars to federal coffers.”

ClimateWire explores what it may take to get Indiana senators to back climate bill: “Bayh said ‘getting India and China’ on board with parallel restrictions to the United States would be his top priority for support of a climate bill, followed by ensuring the protection of the economy and electricity consumers … Lugar’s staff will be working during the August recess to draft suggested legislative language on agriculture and coal, two of Indiana’s top industries. Most of the utilities in Indiana felt that the legislation was unfair to them, Lugar said. ‘I’m listening to their suggestions to how things could be made more fair if we are to get into that business of allocation,’ Lugar said, referring to the Waxman-Markey proposal. In an allocation formula that many considered favorable to coal, that bill awards a fat chunk of allowances to utilities reliant on the fossil fuel … One way to dangle a carrot for both senators would be to highlight the potential destruction rising temperatures would wreak on the state, some analysts say. In July, the Union of Concerned Scientists released an Indiana-specific assessment of how rising temperatures could damage crops and change flooding patterns, among other things.”

Coal industry planning big Labor Day rally in WV. Coal Tattoo: “Featured Guests to Include Sean Hannity, Ted Nugent, and Hank Williams Jr … The Friends of America rally is about standing up for our
freedoms, our families and the American way of life.”

Grist’s Kate Sheppard reports jet-setting congresspeople learn nothing about climate: “Despite jetting to New Zealand and the South Pole to observe the impacts of climate change (in some cases, with spouses in tow), the following representatives voted against the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill: Bob Inglis (R-S.C.), Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), Charlie Melancon (D-La.), Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas), Mike Ross (D-Ark.), Adrian Smith (R-Neb.), John Tanner (D-Tenn.)”

Treehuggers reports UN climate chief steps up urgency: “Time is Running Out for Global Climate Deal, UN Leader Says”

Earth2Tech reports Bill Clinton wants cash for clunkers expanded to push electric cars: “Cash for clunkers has worked so well at getting Americans to trade in their old cars for a significant rebate and a more fuel efficient car, why don’t we copy the idea for selling electric vehicles, said Clinton. He didn’t offer any specifics for what such a program would look like, but said the cash for clunkers program ‘proves that Americans will bite if you make it economical enough.’”

Green job creation picking up steam. AP: “Hiring in the alternative energy industry will pick up in the next 12 months, though it will take more time before so-called green-jobs will become a bigger part of the U.S. job market, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said Monday … After a terrible start to the year, there are signs of a rebound for alternative energy, in part because of a push from the Obama administration.”

Stimulus Check

Alan Blinder W. Post oped takes optimistic view of recent data: “…the images of car dealerships and crushed vehicles that have been blanketing newspaper pages and TV screens do not depict real stimulus. What they show is the prelude to stimulus — old cars being scrapped and new cars being sold out of inventory. The stimulus to employment comes only when automakers respond to the higher sales and depleted inventories by boosting production. Everything takes time, and you won’t see the new cars manufactured on TV. So it is with most of the stimulus measures in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The effects are there, but they will take a while to be felt, and they don’t usually lend themselves to photo-ops … what six months ago looked like an economy plunging into an abyss is now an economy on the mend. And the stimulus deserves some of the credit.”

Mark Thoma of Economist’s View responds with more pessimism, more stimulus: “I agree that stimulus deserves some of the credit for where we are, things could be much, much worse. But the economy has a long way to go before this is over, and it can still use all the stimulus help it can get.”

Toxic assets still toxic. NYT: “The Treasury Department’s $700 billion bailout program has stabilized the banking system, but it has done little to prod banks to fully deal with the troubled loans on their books, a Congressional oversight panel said in a report to be released Tuesday … Treasury has never actually used the program to buy assets, in part because it was faster to invest money directly into the nation’s banks and in part because banks have not wanted to sell their problem loans and book the loss in their value.”