Friday, March 22, 2013 5:50:47 PM
Bachmann's confusion bubbles over
By Steve Benen
Fri Mar 22, 2013 4:17 PM EDT
Dorsey Shaw noted [ http://www.buzzfeed.com/dorsey/michele-bachmanns-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week ] late yesterday that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has had a "horrible, no good, very bad week." It's true -- even by Bachmann's awful standards, the ignominious congresswoman has had it rough lately.
Her CPAC speech was ridiculous, and left in tatters by fact-checkers. Asked for an explanation, Bachmann literally fled [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=187LhhWremk ] from a reporter confronting her with her own words. Bill O'Reilly invited her on to get back on track, but when Bachmann refused, he turned on her.
This, however, was the moment that arguably mattered most [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAZBDozuRKs (next below, as embedded)].
I'm sure this probably makes some sense to Bachmann, but for those of us living in reality, it's just crazy.
She went on to say, "What [President Obama] demanded and insisted upon is that the government have 100 percent control over health care," Bachmann said. "100 percent control? The American people lose control? What did they get? They get health care -- health insurance, I should say -- that is more expensive than anything they've ever paid for before. And they get less for it. Well what a deal, Mr. President, Mr. Speaker. What a deal."
For anyone with a rudimentary understanding of the issue, this is complete gibberish. Under current law, government doesn't have "100 percent control over health care," but rather, private insurers have a key role providing coverage for tens of millions of people. What's more, consumer costs are lower, not higher, and they more expansive coverage, not less.
It's almost as if Michele Bachmann, after having been caught saying ridiculously untrue things, has no qualms about making matters worse, bringing a new round of shame to her and her constituents.
Of course, she can at least take some comfort in the fact that the House Republican leadership kept her on the House Intelligence Committee, inexplicably giving this deeply strange and unhinged lawmaker access to the nation's most sensitive, highly-classified secrets.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/22/17418952-bachmanns-confusion-bubbles-over
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The 39th time was not the charm on Obamacare repeal
Getty Images
By Steve Benen
Fri Mar 22, 2013 12:29 PM EDT
Remember when the 2012 presidential election ended [ http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/01/23/16660584-on-health-care-the-arc-of-partisan-fever-is-beginning-to-recede ] the debate over repealing the Affordable Care Act? To a degree that is truly comical, congressional Republicans didn't get the memo [ http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/289827-senate-rejects-repeal-of-healthcare-law-again ].
The Senate on Friday rejected another GOP attempt to repeal President Obama's healthcare law.
An amendment to the Senate budget resolution from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) failed on a 45-54 vote on Friday. Cruz's amendment would have repealed the Affordable Care Act and encouraged patient-centered reforms to reduce costs.
Senate Republicans knew Cruz's amendment was pointless, and knew it wouldn't pass, but literally every GOP senator [ http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=113&session=1&vote=00051 ] voted for it anyway -- just because.
At this point, some of you may be wondering, "Exactly how many Obamacare repeal votes are we up to now?" By one estimate, the new total is 39 times.
Ted Cruz pushed a nearly identical measure a week ago, and according to the Washington Post, that was repeal vote #35. Earlier this week, the House voted on a Republican Study Committee budget plan that eliminates the entirety of the Affordable Care Act, which was #36. Yesterday, House Republicans voted for Paul Ryan's budget plan, which also eliminates most of the health care law (#37), and then last night, Senate Republicans voted on the same plan (#38).
That makes this morning's Senate vote the 39th time congressional Republicans have voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, in whole or in part, just over the last two years.
Note, the point here is not to just point and laugh at the nonsensical GOP approach to policymaking -- though I suppose that's part of the fun -- but to appreciate a larger substantive dynamic.
To reiterate what we discussed [ http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/14/17311865-gop-spins-its-wheels-on-health-care ] last week, this new Congress has only been in session for two months. At least in theory, members of both parties should be hard at work at, you know, governing. There are all kinds of problems in need of policymakers' attention, and pointless vanity exercises about repealing a law that isn't going anywhere may make Republicans feel warm inside, but they're clearly not serious.
There is a certain irony underscoring recent events. To listen to Republican rhetoric on Capitol Hill is to hear a series of complaints about President Obama: he's not being "serious" enough about getting things done; he's too focused on electoral considerations; he's not "leading" in a way the far-right finds satisfactory; he's reaching out to his rivals on the other side of the aisle but he doesn't really mean it.
But it's against this backdrop that Republicans vote, over and over again, to repeal a health care law they know won't be repealed. They do so, in part because they have a radicalized base that expects near-constant pandering, in part because some of their leaders have broader ambitions and see these tactics as useful, and in part because these votes just seem to help Republicans feel better about themselves.
We can debate the relative merits of these motivations, but can we also keep this in mind the next time we hear whining about the White House not being "serious" enough about constructive policymaking?
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/22/17416993-the-39th-time-was-not-the-charm-on-obamacare-repeal [with comments]
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(linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=85875258 and preceding and following
By Steve Benen
Fri Mar 22, 2013 4:17 PM EDT
Dorsey Shaw noted [ http://www.buzzfeed.com/dorsey/michele-bachmanns-horrible-no-good-very-bad-week ] late yesterday that Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has had a "horrible, no good, very bad week." It's true -- even by Bachmann's awful standards, the ignominious congresswoman has had it rough lately.
Her CPAC speech was ridiculous, and left in tatters by fact-checkers. Asked for an explanation, Bachmann literally fled [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=187LhhWremk ] from a reporter confronting her with her own words. Bill O'Reilly invited her on to get back on track, but when Bachmann refused, he turned on her.
This, however, was the moment that arguably mattered most [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAZBDozuRKs (next below, as embedded)].
"Let's repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens," Bachmann said on the House floor. "Let's not do that. Let's love people. Let's care about people. Let's repeal it now while we can."
I'm sure this probably makes some sense to Bachmann, but for those of us living in reality, it's just crazy.
She went on to say, "What [President Obama] demanded and insisted upon is that the government have 100 percent control over health care," Bachmann said. "100 percent control? The American people lose control? What did they get? They get health care -- health insurance, I should say -- that is more expensive than anything they've ever paid for before. And they get less for it. Well what a deal, Mr. President, Mr. Speaker. What a deal."
For anyone with a rudimentary understanding of the issue, this is complete gibberish. Under current law, government doesn't have "100 percent control over health care," but rather, private insurers have a key role providing coverage for tens of millions of people. What's more, consumer costs are lower, not higher, and they more expansive coverage, not less.
It's almost as if Michele Bachmann, after having been caught saying ridiculously untrue things, has no qualms about making matters worse, bringing a new round of shame to her and her constituents.
Of course, she can at least take some comfort in the fact that the House Republican leadership kept her on the House Intelligence Committee, inexplicably giving this deeply strange and unhinged lawmaker access to the nation's most sensitive, highly-classified secrets.
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/22/17418952-bachmanns-confusion-bubbles-over
--
The 39th time was not the charm on Obamacare repeal
Getty Images
By Steve Benen
Fri Mar 22, 2013 12:29 PM EDT
Remember when the 2012 presidential election ended [ http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/01/23/16660584-on-health-care-the-arc-of-partisan-fever-is-beginning-to-recede ] the debate over repealing the Affordable Care Act? To a degree that is truly comical, congressional Republicans didn't get the memo [ http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/289827-senate-rejects-repeal-of-healthcare-law-again ].
The Senate on Friday rejected another GOP attempt to repeal President Obama's healthcare law.
An amendment to the Senate budget resolution from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) failed on a 45-54 vote on Friday. Cruz's amendment would have repealed the Affordable Care Act and encouraged patient-centered reforms to reduce costs.
Senate Republicans knew Cruz's amendment was pointless, and knew it wouldn't pass, but literally every GOP senator [ http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=113&session=1&vote=00051 ] voted for it anyway -- just because.
At this point, some of you may be wondering, "Exactly how many Obamacare repeal votes are we up to now?" By one estimate, the new total is 39 times.
Ted Cruz pushed a nearly identical measure a week ago, and according to the Washington Post, that was repeal vote #35. Earlier this week, the House voted on a Republican Study Committee budget plan that eliminates the entirety of the Affordable Care Act, which was #36. Yesterday, House Republicans voted for Paul Ryan's budget plan, which also eliminates most of the health care law (#37), and then last night, Senate Republicans voted on the same plan (#38).
That makes this morning's Senate vote the 39th time congressional Republicans have voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, in whole or in part, just over the last two years.
Note, the point here is not to just point and laugh at the nonsensical GOP approach to policymaking -- though I suppose that's part of the fun -- but to appreciate a larger substantive dynamic.
To reiterate what we discussed [ http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/14/17311865-gop-spins-its-wheels-on-health-care ] last week, this new Congress has only been in session for two months. At least in theory, members of both parties should be hard at work at, you know, governing. There are all kinds of problems in need of policymakers' attention, and pointless vanity exercises about repealing a law that isn't going anywhere may make Republicans feel warm inside, but they're clearly not serious.
There is a certain irony underscoring recent events. To listen to Republican rhetoric on Capitol Hill is to hear a series of complaints about President Obama: he's not being "serious" enough about getting things done; he's too focused on electoral considerations; he's not "leading" in a way the far-right finds satisfactory; he's reaching out to his rivals on the other side of the aisle but he doesn't really mean it.
But it's against this backdrop that Republicans vote, over and over again, to repeal a health care law they know won't be repealed. They do so, in part because they have a radicalized base that expects near-constant pandering, in part because some of their leaders have broader ambitions and see these tactics as useful, and in part because these votes just seem to help Republicans feel better about themselves.
We can debate the relative merits of these motivations, but can we also keep this in mind the next time we hear whining about the White House not being "serious" enough about constructive policymaking?
© 2013 NBCNews.com
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/03/22/17416993-the-39th-time-was-not-the-charm-on-obamacare-repeal [with comments]
--
(linked in) http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=85875258 and preceding and following
Greensburg, KS - 5/4/07
"Eternal vigilance is the price of Liberty."
from John Philpot Curran, Speech
upon the Right of Election, 1790
F6
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