Perry video batters Romney with healthcare
In his latest campaign video, Texas Governor Rick Perry takes direct aim at Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney over healthcare.
The video casts the former Massachusetts governor as a mirror image of President Barack Obama when it comes to the federal healthcare overhaul, which conservatives deride as “Obamacare.”
Obamacare morphs into “Romneycare” in the video, which links the Republican frontrunner to the Democratic president’s plan.
Romney has been a target of frequent criticism for backing the Massachusetts plan, which conservatives see as a precursor to Obama’s healthcare measure.
The Perry video suggests Romney is a “co-author” of the Obama plan. It suggests Romney is not a “true conservative” and accuses him of flip-flopping on “so many issues.”
It also uses Romney’s own words against him like a battering ram (“I like mandates.” … “I didn’t change my mind, I’m running for a different office.” … “There’s a lot of reasons not to elect me.”)
In New Hampshire, Romney fired back accusing Perry of distorting his words, ABC News reported.
Bachmann for president? Tea Party darling blames media
Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann, champion-in-chief of the House Tea Party caucus, blames the media for all the recent chatter about her status as a potential presidential candidate.
“I’m not concerned about my own personal ambition,” she tells NBC News. “Right now, too many people in the media are concerned about who will be the nominee in 2012.”
That’s a wee bit odd given that the speculation began after her office announced a trip to the presidential field of frolic known as Iowa, with guidance that a White House run is not off the table.
Her denial has a putting-the-country-first sort of ring: “What I’m serious about is focusing on the issues.” Those would be unemployment and rising energy costs.
But then that four-digit number pops right back up: “I’m speaking about the issues that I believe will be important for 2012. That’s why I’m going to Iowa.” Important for 2012. That’s why she’s going.
Bachmann, who was born in Iowa, will be keynote speaker at a fundraiser in Des Moines on January 21. Some of those dang media reports have quoted sources close to her as saying she’ll also meet with party elders to seek their advice about the state’s early presidential caucus. On the whole, it sounds like she really is one of more than a dozen Republicans — including rock stars like Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney — who show every sign of chafing at the bit for a chance to contend against President Barack Obama in the next election. And what about those issues again? Well, first up is the repeal of healthcare. Why? Because during last year’s midterm campaign: “That’s the issue that people really reacted against.” In fact, if Obama fails to heed that voter disaffection, she says: “I think we will also see a rollback and a repeal of President Obama in 2012 as well.” There’s that number again. And the debt ceiling? She doesn’t want to close the government, but… “I don’t think it’s good to see the shutdown of government. I don’t think that’s good for anyone. But at the same time, in the last 10 years, we’ve raised the debt ceiling 10 times.” So? “That’s what people asked us to do in this last election: stop the spending because we can’t continue to raise the debt ceiling.” As for spending cuts, she’s identified $450 billion worth that don’t include vote-repelling reductions in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — though defense is a target.
Photo Credits: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
The announcements about her running in 2012 came from the same places that said Palin was running in 2012 – these are ‘facts’ put out by speculators from the left who want to desparage anyone they think might be a threat to the annointed one. Because they say it, it’s a fact and no matter what she says, she’s obviously lying because the ‘facts’ don’t back her up.
How about somebody get some real reporters who will report FACTS based on what actually happens instead of making the stories up and have the targets deny and try to trip them up…we’re kind of sick of this waste of space. Hire some real reports and we’ll be the judge of what you say….
Gibbs is now predicting Dems will hold both chambers of Congress
White House press secretary Roberts Gibbs isn’t offering any more words of possible doom and gloom for fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Three months after riling Democrats by saying they may lose one chamber of Congress in the November 2 election, Gibbs said on Sunday that he expects them to keep both.
“Our candidates have done a remarkably good job in a tough, political environment,” Gibbs said. “I think that come election night, we’ll retain control of both the House and the Senate.”
Gibbs made the comments on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the same program where he angered Democrats last July when he said they faced the prospect of losing the House.
“There’s no doubt there are enough seats in play that could cause Republicans to gain control. There is no doubt about that,” Gibbs said at the time. Gibbs’ remarks in July reflected the findings of a variety of polls. But it still upset Democrats who said he should be promoting their achievements — like passing Obama’s healthcare overhaul — rather than suggesting their possible demise. Despite Gibbs’ upbeat assessment on Sunday, a number of polls show that Democrats;’ position has actually gotten worse in recent months. Republicans now seem headed toward taking the House, and possibly the Senate. Even if Democrats hang on, Republicans are expected to cut deeply into their big majorities in the House and Senate. Senior White House advisor David Axelrod acknowledged this political fact of life on Sunday. “Republicans will have more seats in Congress regardless of whether they have control or not,” Axelrod said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “We’re hoping with that comes a greater sense of responsibility” to work with the White House rather than just opppose it, Axelrod said. “It’s up to us to extend our hand, as we have before. It’s up to them to decide whether they’re going to take it or whether they’re going to do what they’ve done for the last two years,” Axelrod said. This presidential adviser noted: “It takes two to tango.”
For more Reuters political news, click here.
Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (Gibbs at White House briefing)
When Harry Reid met Sharron Angle
Anyone expecting to see a smack-down in the desert would have been disappointed. The first and only debate in the high stakes Senate race between Nevada Democrat Harry Reid and Republican challenger Sharron Angle ended with both candidates still standing.
But there were plenty barbs as the Senate Majority Leader and the Tea Party-backed former state legislator met face-to-face Thursday night in Las Vegas.
In the hour-long debate, Reid called her “extreme.” Angle repeatedly referred to him as “Harry Reid” and portrayed him as a tax-raising, career politician.
They sparred over the healthcare reform law (Angle called it “Obamacare”), Yucca Mountain and nuclear energy, immigration and Social Security, unemployment and how to bring back jobs to Nevada.
“I believe that, with God’s help, we the people have the solutions to our economic problems and they’re as simple as: cut back on the spending; pay back on the debt; and take back our economy by repealing policies like Obamacare,” Angle said in conclusion.
Angle and Reid are running neck and neck in the opinion polls and they’ve been waging a fierce campaign ad war. Their mostly civil encounter was almost over before she appeared to hit a nerve.
“You came from Searchlight to the Senate with very little. Now you’re one of the richest men in the U.S. Senate, on behalf of Nevada taxpayers, I’d like to know, we’d like to know, how did you become so wealthy on a government payroll?” Angle asked her opponent.
Angle is a LOOOOON! How in the world can anyone believe that this woman would be what is best for Nevada and the country? PULLLLLLEASE!
from Summit Notebook:
Dodd Rejects Carter Criticism of Ted Kennedy
U.S. Senator Chris Dodd on Monday came to the defense of his old buddy, the late Senator Edward Kennedy, against new criticism by former President Jimmy Carter.
Dodd rejected Carter's charge that Americans could have begun enjoying the benefits of sweeping healthcare long ago if Kennedy hadn't stopped a plan by Carter in 1979.
Speaking at the Reuters Summit, Dodd declared, "All I can say is that no one cared more about the issue" of healthcare than Kennedy, a fellow Democrat.
Dodd said Kennedy admitted to missed opportunities in his long crusade to provide healthcare to all Americans, but didn't see his failure to back Carter's unsuccessful bid as among them.
"I will take the Kennedy side of that debate," Dodd said in standing up for the liberal icon who died last year of brain cancer. "I think he did the best he could in '79."
President Barack Obama signed into law this year legislation Kennedy helped inspire to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system and provide coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.
Carter, in an interview that aired on Sunday on CBS's "60 Minutes," said such legislation could have become law decades ago if Kennedy hadn't opposed his proposal.
from Summit Notebook:
Shift in power on the horizon in Washington?
Republicans stand poised to gain substantial influence in Congress, putting at stake billions of dollars in investment as a shift among power brokers throws legislative initiatives old and new into doubt. Reuters Washington Summit will bring together an influential line-up of insiders just weeks before Americans cast their votes, promising a must-read stream of exclusive news on the outlook for Congress and President Barack Obama's agenda. Editors and correspondents from the Reuters Washington bureau are sitting down with senior lawmakers, including GOP heavyweights in line for leadership, and regulators whose implementation of Wall Street and healthcare reform could be complicated by a change in control on Capitol Hill.
The Summit will generate exclusive stories, investable insights, online videos and blog postings, which will be immediately available only to Thomson Reuters clients during the Summit. Key interviews will air live exclusively on Reuters Insider - a new multimedia platform delivering relevant news, analysis and trade ideas presented through a personalized video experience. Visit http://etv.thomsonreuters.com/
Washington Extra
Democrats have been trying to portray Republicans as the “Party of No”. Today Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell visited the Reuters bureau in DC and argued there was no shame in saying no.
Republicans, he said, will be campaigning against many of the policies enacted by President Barack Obama, including healthcare reform, higher spending, bailouts and greater government intervention in the economy, things the party was “proud” to say no to.
“It depends on what you are saying ‘no’ to,” McConnell told Reuters. “If you’re saying ‘no’ to the massive amount of spending and debt and Washington takeovers and things like adding a quarter of a million federal employees with borrowed money like we have in the past year and a half, I think the American people are saying: ‘Please say no to that. We want you to say no to that.’”
McConnell admitted repealing all of the president’s policies would be tough as long as Obama remained in the White House, and added Republicans would be coming up with their own, more constructive ideas by the end of September. In the meantime, if Republicans manage to gain control of one or both houses of Congress, McConnell predicted the president would become a “born-again moderate.” Obama, he said, might end up following in the footsteps of his 1990s Democratic predecessor Bill Clinton, who moved to the center after losing control of Congress. I suspect it is not a comparison the White House would welcome.
While McConnell was busy saying “no”, Obama had his own mini “Mission Accomplished” moment. Seven years after President George W. Bush prematurely declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq, Obama said he was making good on his promise to bring the war to a “responsible end”. He vowed that combat operations would finally come to a halt by the end of August “as promised and on schedule”.
Other highlights today: the first major salvo in what is likely to be a protracted legal battle against healthcare reform, optimistic noises from climate envoy Todd Stern about the administration’s determination to stick to its 2020 emissions goals, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in New York trying to assuage doubts on Wall Street over the impact of financial regulatory reform.
Here are our top stories from today…
Senator McConnell is filibustering the DISCLOSE Act afer years of demanding campaign finance reform. McConnell’s hometown paper, the Lexington-Herald Ledger, pointed out in its editorial yesterday, the Minority Leader wasn’t always against any attempt to force special interests to disclose their campaign financing. The paper recalls that the senator has a long history of co-sponsoring and championing legislation that would expand campaign finance disclosure.
(Lexington-Herald Ledger)
- In 1987, McConnell lauded “post-Watergate disclosure laws” that help “flush out” politicians who “sacrifice duties or principles to get more money.”
- In 1989, McConnell teamed up with current Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to introduce a bill that “would have required disclosure of independent groups or individuals who intended to spend more than $25,000 promoting or attacking a candidate.”
- In 1990, the senator promised to “introduce a bill that would require full disclosure of donors to multi-candidate political-action committees.”
- In 1996, while running for re-election, “McConnell supported public disclosure of all election-related spending, including spending by independent groups and contributions to political parties.”
- In 2007, in a “commentary published by the Herald-Leader, McConnell showed his belief in disclosure was not limited to campaign spending by defending an amendment to an ethics bill because it would require organizations filing complaints before the Senate Ethics Committee to disclose their donors so the public could have more transparency.”
But now McConnell is opposed to any sort of campaign finance disclosure, turning his back on a decades-long history of demanding it. Rather than opposing the DISCLOSE Act on policy grounds, McConnell is doing what he always does — committing himself to opposing whatever the Democratic majority suggests, regardless.
G0P= Grandstand, Oppose, and Pretend.
Biden’s F-bomb lesson: microphones are mighty sensitive
What were the lessons learned for Vice President Joe Biden on dropping the F-bomb on national television?
Number one: microphones are waaaayyyy more sensitive than you realize.
Number two: the boss has a keen sense of humor.
Number three: it’s still embarrassing.
Biden amid the giddiness of the passage of healthcare reform in March whispered into President Barack Obama’s ear “this is a big f—ing deal.” It was picked up by the microphone and became an online video sensation.
So when Biden was teased about it on ABC’s “The View,” he looked quite sheepish.
“I was just thankful my mother couldn’t hear it,” Biden said of his late mother. “And it was a little embarrassing.”
Number six: Never miss a marketing opportunity… there was a t-shirt being sold on barackobama.com just days after the incident saying “Health Reform is a BFD”. I found it amusing that they turned it around so fast.
Obama chides media for healthcare impatience
President Barack Obama, whom critics often complain gets an easy ride from the so-called liberal media, has pointed the finger of blame at the press for holding him to unrealistic expectations about the benefits of his milestone legislation.
“Every single day since I signed the reform law there’s been another headline that says ‘Nation’s still divided on healthcare reform’, ‘Polls haven’t changed yet.’ Well, yeah. It just happened last week. It’s only been a week.”
“Can you imagine if some of these reporters were working on a farm,” he said to a rally in Portland, Maine. “Planted some seed. they came out the next day and look – nothing’s happened! There is no crop. We’re going to starve…it’s a disaster.”
For more Reuters political news, click here.
Photo credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque (Obama speaks at rally in Portland, Maine)
Who wins on U.S. healthcare reform? Washington’s lobbyists, for starters
While pundits try to figure out whether Republicans or Democrats will benefit most from healthcare reform come November’s congressional elections, what seems mighty clear already is that Washington’s lobbyists are undisputed winners in the epic debate.
The watchdog Center for Public Integrity says lobbyists were paid at least $1.2 billion to work on health issues including healthcare reform in 2009. That giant chunk of change sent an army of more than 4,500 lobbyists scrambling up the slopes of Capitol Hill toward the ramparts of the House and Senate, where 535 elected public officials either braced for the onslaught or hurried out the welcome mat.
It’s possible that a filibuster-proof majority busied themselves with the latter. Lawmakers were, after all, outnumbered by more than 8 to 1.
Exact dimensions of the money trail are problematic. The tangled world of politics and money comes with plenty of caveats. For example, the Center’s analysis can’t say how much money was spent specifically on healthcare reform, because disclosure rules don’t require that degree of detail. Another thing: the numbers show activity in 2009 only, and don’t reflect the magnificent political gyrations that occurred this year, both before and after Republican Scott Brown became a U.S. senator from Massachusetts. More up-to-date lobbying stats, covering 2010′s first quarter, are due out in a few weeks.
“The precise amount that went to health reform remains unknown. But if only 10 percent of that lobby spending went toward health reform, the amount would total $120 million – and that’s likely a record for a single year’s spending on a particular issue,” the Center points out.
The numbers also suggest the healthcare industry might mean more to Washington than to the rest of the country, economically speaking. While healthcare represents about 16 percent of U.S. GDP, that $1.2 billion spent on health-related lobbying is more than one-third of the $3.47 billion spent on lobbying as a whole in 2009. The lobbying total comes from another watchdog group, Center for Responsive Politics.
If hospitals are such big winners, why are so many health workers opposed to this legislation?
The answer: they are afraid medical payments will be capped similar to medicaid and medicare where they are not paid enough for the care they give.
Yep…and he (Romney)not only took out a sentence out of his soft cover book…he took at paragraphs. What did he say to Perry? “Now you are going to tell me what I wrote in my own book”. Deflect…but go check the EVIDENCE.