Month: September 2009

Zero

by

by publius Is the number of Republicans supporting Baucus's bill, which is apparently going to be released today.  The Hill reports that Snowe is now out.  But hey, maybe Baucus can still get Enzi. In all seriousness, I don't think this is the last word on Snowe.  It could be kabuki on her part — … Read more

The Demonstrably Racist Rush Limbaugh

by

by publius Let me echo Andrew Sullivan and Rod Dreher and Conor Friedersdorf in condemning the utterly shameful and race-baiting exploitation of yesterday's school bus incident.  I'm not big on writing posts that start "Rush Limbaugh did outrageous thing X today…", but this is an exception. And it's not just Limbaugh.  It's also Malkin, and … Read more

Premature Evacuation?

by

by Eric Martin James Joyner passes along some rather unremarkable news about India's views on the ongoing US occupation of Afghanistan - unremarkable news given the regional dynamic that pits India (in support of the Karzai government) against Pakistan (who had strongly backed the Taliban as its proxy/ally in Afghanistan): India's new ambassador to the United States, Meera Shankar, … Read more

Are Universities Doomed?

by

by publius This weekend's Post had an interesting take on whether colleges might soon go the way of newspapers.  The basic gist is that the rise of online long-distance learning makes a lot of the traditional college system unnecessary and redundant. While these trends are not promising for the Publius family checkbook, it's easy to … Read more

Let’s Politicize Subsidies Too

by

by publius America's favorite Senate committee seems to be close to an actual bill.  And I have good news and bad news on that front. First, the bad news… Suzy Khimm at TNR is reporting that the Baucus bill isn't going to raise the cap on subsidies.  It's going to remain at 300% of poverty, … Read more

Protesting Against Imaginary Enemies

by

by publius I have mixed feelings about this weekend's protests.  On the one hand, I have a soft spot for marches like these.  Regardless of who sponsors them, lots of people made the effort to join the proud tradition of speaking out on the DC Mall on issues important to them.  That said, the amount … Read more

Oh Kanye

by

by publius Via a Weigel tweet, Kanye interrupts Obama’s address to Congress.  Plus, a Kanye thread.

The Stakes

by

by publius Amanda Marcotte writes that many insurance companies treat domestic violence as a pre-existing condition.  This is one of those "read the whole thing" posts, but I've excerpted a bit below. Other than the obvious grotesqueness of it, I think it shows the dangers of allowing coverage decisions to be made purely by market … Read more

Contractors behaving badly

by

By Lindsay Beyerstein In the wake of the guard scandal at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, a security contractor explains in strikingly frank terms why these large private security contracts in war zones are so predictably mismanaged: The main reason why managing these contracts is so difficult is that it is impossible to stay ahead … Read more

Salon Redeems Itself

by

by publius I'm in the midst of deadlines, etc., but I wanted to note that Salon has published a new essay by Professor Lee Kovarsky, who guest posted here a while back on the Court's most recent habeas decision.  In light of the recent New Yorker article arguing convincingly that Texas executed an innocent man, … Read more

Regarding that speech …..

by

by von We all know that President Obama gives good speech, and I don't think that the fact that Obama gave a good speech last night is going to shift the health care debate in any meaningful way.  But the substance of Obama's speech was ….. well, interesting, at least to this skeptic of the … Read more

The Speech

by

by publius Tonight's speech was one of Obama's very best — and he's delivered some good ones.  I don't have any one overarching theme, but here are my thoughts: First, I'm glad there was such a big focus on benefits to the insured.  The threats to insured people — rising premiums, lack of security — … Read more

Salon Should Demand Better

by

by publius This Camille Paglia column is one of the most rambling incoherent pieces I’ve ever read (for a professional writer). It’s hard to even know where to start. The most obvious problem – the rambling hordes of lost adverbs in mile-long sentences – isn’t even what most bothers me. What most bothers me is … Read more

You Probably Think this War is About You

by

by Eric Martin Despite President Bush's post-9/11, manichean-tinged attempt to categorize other nations as either "with us or against us" with respect to those terrorist groups that the US government considers problematic, and despite an understandable impulse on the part of the US government to put US interests ahead of those of other states (a tendency that spans … Read more

Major Andrew J. Olmsted Scholarship Fund

by

by publius We received this email from Andy Olmsted's father, and I wanted to pass it along to everyone here: We have finally gotten a chance to start the Major Andrew J. Olmsted Scholarship Fund at St. John's High School. The fund should be activated by this Friday, September 4th. . . . Anyone wishing … Read more

Shifting Tides?

by

by publius One reason I'm suddenly feeling better about the chances of reform is that the incentives seem to be aligning in a more constructive way.  And the pressure from the left for both a public option and reconciliation is helping make this happen. Consider the world from the perspective of insurance companies.  Understandably, they're … Read more

In Tatters, Shattered

by

by Eric Martin One of the unfortunate side-effects of the overhyping of the "success" of The Surge in Iraq, and the counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine that supposedly facilitated that success, has been the belief that we can fix what ails our effort in Afghanistan by replicating that approach: applying COIN doctrine coupled with a troop surge.  What gets left out of … Read more

Tea bagger bus company sued over blaze that killed 23 seniors

by

By Lindsay Beyerstein

One of the featured corporate sponsors of the Tea Party Express had to pay millions of dollars to settle lawsuits for its role in a bus fire that killed 23 elderly nursing home residents fleeing Hurricane Rita in 2005.

The BusBank, a Chicago-based charter company, a "Tour Partner" of the Tea Party Express, a rolling protest sponsored by the Our Country Deserves Better PAC under the supervision of former Republican state legislator Howard Kaloogian, now a PR exec for the GOP-linked firm Russo, Marsh & Rogers.

BusBank is also arranging to ferry Tea Baggers to their 9/12 march on Washington to voice their demands for unfettered capitalism. (Update: A Majikthise commenter asked if there's a Dick Armey connection here. There is. Dick Armey's FreedomWorks Foundation is the premiere sponsor of the 9/12 march; and Kaloogian's OCDB PAC is a "Gold Co-Sponsor.")

In 2005, a bus carrying seniors fleeing Hurricane Rita burst into flame outside of Dallas, immolating 23 nursing home residents. Investigators later found that the bus was: driven by an undocumented migrant without a valid U.S. driver's license, lacking adequate fire extinguishers, and not licensed to operate in Texas. When the bus had mechanical problems before the crash, the driver took it to an unqualified mechanic who failed to notice the critical fault–an unlubricated axle that eventually melted and burst into flame.

Read more

#MoreLikeThis

by

by publius Rescission — i.e., canceling coverage when you get sick — is arguably the most outrageous action that health insurance companies take.  So kudos to the Post for putting a rescission story on A1.  There's more to this debate than town halls.  This is what's really at stake in our once-in-a-generation opportunity for reform: … Read more

Our Man in Kabul

by

by publius It's clearly not as important as today's socialist infiltration of our (socialized) schools, but the Afghanistan election keeps getting smellier: Afghans loyal to President Hamid Karzai set up hundreds of fictitious polling sites where no one voted but where hundreds of thousands of ballots were still recorded toward the president’s re-election . . … Read more

More Like This, Please

by

by publius I caught the end of this CNN segment, and Atrios saved me the trouble of tracking it down: ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. How far would you go to get good health insurance? One man who lost his job and medical benefits reenlisted in the Army just to … Read more

It’s Aliiive, Sort Of

by

by publius Max Baucus has finally circulated a health care plan.  That single fact is probably more important than any substantive provision the plan contains.  I just want the frickin' bill reported out of Finance, which has been holding up everything. Some of the highlights include (1) subsidies at 300% of poverty (too low); (2) … Read more

My One and Only Van Jones Post

by

by publius The Blogger Licensing Board informs me that I have to say something about Van Jones.  Scattered thoughts below: First, my take is that he's a guy with some amazing accomplishments who simply never should have signed on in light of his 9/11 comments.  There's just no way you can ask an administration with … Read more

Michael Kinsley mocks fact checkers

by

By Lindsay Beyerstein Michael Kinsley will never live down his latest column, a rant against fact checking: "Fact checking" is a tradition of some publications, mainly magazines, in which one set of employees, called fact checkers, is called upon to reconfirm every fact in an article by another set of employees, called writers, generally by … Read more

The Fruit of Nelsonism

by

by publius As you'll recall, we passed a stimulus bill earlier this year.  The original proposal was already too small.  But then a group of centrist Senators led by Ben Nelson and Susan Collins demanded additional significant cuts to aid for states.  They ultimately cut about $25 billion from the original proposal, most of which … Read more

August Unemployment Data

by

by von The August unemployment rate is up to 9.7%.  Geoff at Innocent Bystanders has produced a new chart (right).  The deviation between what Team Obama thought its policies would do to the unemployment rate and what those policies are actually doing is growing. Could Part 10 of the "Stimulus for Tomorrow" series be far behind?  (Parts 1, 2, Hilzoy's … Read more

A Foolish Surrender

by

by publius To add a more substantive note to my last post, the retreat on the school language is extremely irritating (and a bit depressing).  The reason is that it signals weakness and defensiveness. Look, I understand completely the need for legislative horsetrading and deal-cutting.  We have a failed political institution (the Senate) that makes … Read more

The Real Slim Shady

by

by von

Levi Johnston is in Vanity Fair, again dishing on the Palins.   Up to this point, Johnston — fish out of water, improbable gay icon — has been riding a modest wave of public sympathy.  But the public's sympathy always peters out.  So, right on cue, the backlash against against Johnston begins.  And, with it, the inevitable sympathy for Sarah Palin.  "Sarah Palin didn’t deserve to be vice president," writes Ruth Marcus in the Washington Post, "but she didn’t deserve this either."

Oh, please.  Sarah Palin deserves exactly this.  She is perpetually on the attack against seemingly everyone who crosses her path.  The only reason why Sarah Palin is currently holding her fire against Johnston is that she's saving the bullets for her tell-all book.  Save your tears for someone else, lady.

The media wants to make this a story.  It's not.  Save for one innocent baby at the center, this is a case in which there are no good guys, no sympathetic figures, and no one to root for.  Johnston-Palin has no plot.  It has no themes save self-indulgence and self-pity.  It has no redeeming value.  Move on.

(Except for Tank Jones.  Dude, you're weird enough to be a story.  You can stay.)

Read more

Bold Leadership

by

by publius Jake Tapper, "WH, Dept. of Education Revise Language": In an acknowledgment that the Department of Education provided lesson plans written somewhat inartfully, surrounding the President Obama’s speech to students next Tuesday, the White House today announced that it had rewritten one of the sections in question. NYT, "Obama Aides Aim to Simplify and … Read more

Eric Martin bait

by

by von A brief update on Somalia, which is giving Afghanistan a run for its money as the land of perpetual war.  Ethiopian troops have again crossed the border in support of what remains of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG).  This isn't much of a suprise.  Also unsurprising — to me at least — is that … Read more

Music for Shoplifting

by

by von

As much as I support Jim Jon Henke's attempt to convince the RNC to distance itself from the lunatics at WorldNetDaily – also supported by Megan McArdle — it isn't likely to work that way.  Unless and until WND does something epically idiotic, the RNC will only keep its distance.  It won't disown.  That's because a good portion of WND readers are Republican voters and a party can't afford to insult its supporters — no matter how insane they may be.  [UPDATE:  AARRGHHHH.  It's Jon Henke, not Jim Henke.  If it's any consolation, Jon, I've also called Publius by the wrong (first) name …. and he's my coblogger.]

I realize that's a tough pill to swallow, but a party accepting a degree of insanity in its supporters is sometimes rational.  Insanity is an issue-by-issue occurrence for most people.*  A birther may have quite reasonable views about, say, tax issues or the environment, even if they can't see (or think) straight about President Obama's birthplace.  It's not necessarily all crazy all the time. 

We saw this during the Bush years, when Democrats were down on their luck.  (Not quite a far down on their luck as Republicans are today, but pretty far down.)  For example, McArdle relates an exchange that she had with a liberal correspondent who seemed pretty reasonable …. until he/she revealed his/her fear that President Bush might become "El Presidente" via some (undescribed) coup.  Similarly, in one poll, nearly half of Democrats thought it very likely (22.6%) or somewhat likely (28.2%) that "[p]eople in the federal government either assisted in the 9/11 attacks or took no action to stop the attacks because they wanted the [sic] United States to go to war in the Middle East."  These are all crazy beliefs, and yet the folks who held them probably didn't have equally crazy views about everything.  They were probably well within the Democratic mainstream on most issues — indeed, probably within the mainstream mainstream on most issue. 

None of this is to excuse WND.  It represents everything that I think is wrong with the modern Republican party.  None of this is to excuse the birthers.  They're wrong, and there is more than a whiff of racism emanating from too many of them.**   But I do think that Henke's most recent challenge is unrealistic.  Like the Democrats did with their crazies, the RNC will distance itself from its crazies — but it won't disown them.  (Yet.)

Still, I applaud Henke for keeping the pressure on. The next time WND says or does something nutty — which probably won't be long — he'll have more ammunition to get it out of the tent.  And that would be a good thing for both Republicans and the country.

Read more

Cutting “Costs”

by

by publius I'll admit that this article doesn't make me feel very good about the end product on health coverage reform.  I get the sense that Obama and the leadership are going to give away too much — even beyond the public option. My most immediate fear is simply that the subsidies will get excessively … Read more

Advancing in a different direction

by

by von On the heels of a deeply flawed election in Afghanistan — with a deeply flawed "victor," Mr. Karzai — it's not surprising that lots of folks in the US are questioning our mission there.  It's not even all that surprising that Publius ("Is Afghanistan Worth It?") would crawl into bed with George Will ("Time … Read more