Our political Quote of the Day comes from Philadelphia Inquirer columnist/blogger Dick Polman on the increasingly tempestuous Town Hall meetings held by Democrats to discuss health care reform and the role of Town Hall meeting protesters and heckers. First, the beginning of his analysis, titled “Goon Power”: I was in college when I first witnessed goon squads in action. Back in those distant days,...

When you read THIS about a protester encouraging others to bring guns and also to get violent you have to ask — isn’t it clear where this is heading? And then there’s THIS threat from an apparent protest saying if things keep up the town hall proponents are going to find out about the second amendment. This is a classic escalation. Can’t we just envision the future headline now? Note...

I wrote my living will yesterday rather than posting my column. It served a myriad of purposes, the least of which gave the gatekeeper a day off fending those slings and arrows from both extremes of the political spectrum picking apart my prose and carrying on about stuff I didn’t write nor intend but rather squabbling among themselves over some intangible twist introduced by gremlins commenting on that...

A lot of bloggers are noticing Steven Pearlstein’s piece in today’s Washington Post in which he quite forcefully takes Republican leaders in Congress to task for the lies they are propagating, both directly and via their operatives in the streets and at political meetings.

Left and right, the ugly turn of American politics this month is provoking conflict about the conflict. Paul Krugman decries “recent town halls, where angry protesters–some of them, with no apparent sense of irony, shouting “This is America!”–have been drowning out, and in some cases threatening, members of Congress trying to talk about health reform.” Across the ideological divide,...

In yesterday’s post I said that I feel that the health care reform proposed as currently proposed will become the Democrat’s Medicare Part D, a boondoggle of enormous proportions, and one that will short circuit true reform. GeorgeSorwell called me out to back up this claim, so here I go. First of all, here is a great tool by Kaiser that shows the key points of different proposals side by side. I...

They’re up, they’re down, and they’re all over the place depending upon who is doing the polling. And sadly they are completely meaningless. They reflect a fickle, highly divided and generally ignorant public that has the attention span of an American Idol Judge. Meaningless poll questions about strongly or slightly disagreeing or agreeing with some pre-formulated simplistic positions, constitute a...

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

We have several posts that look at the increasingly ugly health care town halls amid allegations that they are being spurred on by special interests opposed to health care reform and polarizing talk show hosts and often involve the prevention of discussion rather than spirited discussion or debate. To others, the groups genuinely represent anger and frustration at President Barack Obama and his proposed policies. Here’s...

The latest CNN poll confirms what most of the town hall videos show: the angry demonstrators against Democratic health reform plans are, for the most part, far older than 50. Those older than 50 tend to oppose Democratic health care reform and those under 50 tend to support it. Forget for a moment whether or not these protests are truly organic or astroturf, the one demographic standout is age. (UPDATE: Per...

TMV is simultaneously an outpost from the 24/7 info-entertainment news cycle and yet it is a part of it. Perhaps those who work in the media, politics, mass communications, press, or public advocacy provide their brains with hourly dopamine fixes by constantly seeing and hearing something new, but most people don’t need the constant barrage of pointless facts, rumors, gossip and snippets of opinion that today...

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and some on the left, would have people believe that AstroTurfing (or the popular uprising of the enraged citizenry against the government) is something new and to be feared. If that is the case, then the American Revolution and the Civil Rights Movement are artificial dandelions that rudely infiltrated on the beautiful lawns of the British Empire and racial segregation respectively. Two...

Joe recently wrote a post linking to a memo for anti-Democratic groups to use during the town halls that are taking place around the country to push health care reform. He said it was a sign of lowering the bar on political debate, but I read it and had no problem with the content. It encouraged people to look at voting records and statistics, and confront their representatives when they felt they were being...

So you know how CNN’s medical guru, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is a Big Pharma flack? Well, it looks like, at least when it comes to health-care reform, the whole network is in the pocket of Big Insurance as well. As Greg Sargent reports at The Plum Line, CNN has refused to air an ad from Americans United for Change criticizing “insurance companies and Republicans.” The official excuse is that the ad...

Two new polls are out and neither have good news for President Barack Obama as his Presidency nears the 200 day mark: A CNN poll has him dropping 7 points in a month, to a 56% approval rating while a new Quinnipiac Poll puts him at 50 percent. The big drop? According to CNN the biggest drop and the one that is doing the most damage is amont white male voters — a sign of both the damage Obama inflicted...

Every year members of Congress have a late summer reprieve from the stress of being on the Hill – it’s called the district work period. This is the time of the year where members can go home, attend a few barbecues, have a couple of fundraisers and have most of their yearly photo ops in the district. This year’s district work period has turned into the battle for health care with protesters...

FOR THOSE WHO CAME, BUT COULD NOT STAY While you and I were being born, growing “in the little bread oven”… as it was often said back then… there were other little babies across the world, suddenly thrust into real ovens, and they were not allowed to grow any more. Don’t tell me that that is the past and none of our concern. This is in cellular memory, and we are here to make certain that...

Funding the President’s Healthcare Program: Plans to Increase Middle-Class Taxes? by Michael Reagan In last week’s column, we discussed President Obama and his administration’s dangerous habit of making important policy statements and decisions before having all of the facts available. Well, this week some of President Obama’s top lieutenants, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, have countered...

A suggestion to Democrats and Republicans: why not lighten up on the upcoming healthcare reform townhalls? News reports have already explained what will happen: Democrats will be trying to explain their view of healthcare reform and — in the best tradition of democracy — GOPers will try to pack the meetings and in some cases drown out a detailed discussion so there are some conflict-riddled clips...

A two-year study conducted by the American Psychological Association on the effectiveness of “conversion” therapies in turning gay people straight has concluded what most rational people already knew: It cannot be done (emphasis mine).

Negative narratives about the crippling expense of publicly funded health care coverage are as plentiful as mushrooms after a rain. Most of them have little, if any, merit — and, according to an editorial in today’s Boston Globe, the one about Massachusetts’ plan being a fiscal nightmare is flat-out wrong:

Good for you, Mr. President: “The President discussed how the current tone and culture in Washington made it more difficult than it has been in the past to work in a bipartisan fashion. In particular, he singled out Republican Senators who are trying to work in a bipartisan fashion even in the context of a vocal minority in their party who doubt that the President was born in the US. In this context about...

Linda Douglass, the White House communications director for health care reform, gives the facts in response to the current GOP dirty war against Pres. Obama’s health care reform package.

Why don’t I just copy this first sentence and repaste it every week? But here goes: Just when you thought bar on American early 21st century political “debate” has fallen about as far as it can go, you’re wrong. Read this about where we are in terms of discussing serious issues. There’s even a guide for those who want to drown out the discussion and “polarize” —...

That’s the point being brought up by Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty in a recent op-ed, as brought to us by my radio partner in crime, the Lady Logician. For reasons which we’ll explore below, T-Paw seems to be picking an ideal time to dip a toe into this particular pool, and will be pointing to the health care program which was set up in his home state as a way for the rest of the nation to proceed. In...