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   Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gnter Grass still thinks reunification was a bad idea.
 Forty years of writing from Taylor Branch, James Fallows, Katherine Boo, Marjorie Williams, Joshua Micah Marshall, and more.
 With help from Washington, the for-profit college industry is loading up millions of low-income students with debt they'll never pay off.
 The best recent memoir from republican Washington is a hoax. That should tell you something.
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July 24, 2009
THE ON-AGAIN, OFF-AGAIN GOP ALTERNATIVE.... Late Wednesday, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), chairman of the House GOP Health Care Solutions Group, said House Republicans would not release a health care reform alternative. Despite several weeks of promises about a superior plan, Blunt said the minority party's focus was on attacking the Democratic plan, and there was no need to "confuse the focus" or "divert attention." About 24 hours later, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) had a different message.
So, on Wednesday, there is no GOP plan and the party saw no point in releasing one. On Thursday, the GOP plan is nearly finished and may be released after all. Greg Sargent asked a good question: "Did Blunt know about this bill before suggesting Republicans might not release anything, or was a bill nearly completed without the knowledge of the House GOP Health Care Solutions Group's supreme leader?" Either way, whether GOP leaders realize it or not, I still think the release of a Republican alternative is a Democratic trap. After all, the majority is baiting the minority with taunts ("It's easy to attack, but where's the GOP plan?"), precisely because Dems would love to have a new target. It would offer everyone a chance to compare two competing approaches to reform, and Democrats are confident their policy would be better. They're almost certainly right. —Steve Benen 8:40 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (13)Comments
Remember the epic fail of the alternate GOP budget? The GOP will probably release four graphics-intensive pages all about tax cuts and call it a day. That said, the game plan in '93 didn't include an alternate plan, and I doubt the GOP intends to propose anything serious this time around either. Boner's just lying again, in order to convince a credulous press of his party's nonexistent good faith. The party of "all tax cuts all the time and government is the root of all evil" is in no position to offer anything credible on health care. Blunt knew it and was trying to avoid the obvious embarrassment when the 4 page tax cut based health care plan is announced. Blunt was overruled. All Republicans can do is oppose. They just don't have anything to say. Posted by: Ron Byers on July 24, 2009 at 8:55 AM | PERMALINKIt is painful that Democrats finally have solid majorities in the House and Senate, and have a very popular president with over 70% of the public behind him on this particular issue, and yet they still cannot get this done, allowing Republicans to continue breathing (politically speaking. Instead, they continue prancing about as fiscal scolds while they looted our treasures the past eight years. They will stop at nothing less than a feudal system--that is their utopia. Posted by: terraformer on July 24, 2009 at 9:18 AM | PERMALINKDistraction du jour The nation has the attention span of a 9-year-old Limbaugh whose Ritalin has run out. Jon Talton's On the edge of Waterloo, gets it exactly right: The media's role has been nothing less than shameful: the overcoverage of the minority party's opposition with little skeptical treatment of its failed policies and laughable proposals; the fetish over the deficit after ignoring it for eight years, and no insight into the costs of doing nothing to provide universal healthcare, to address global warming, etc. While costs have gained the spotlight, the media have been water-carriers for the well-financed lies of the industry and Republicans. There has been little reporting on the damage the healthcare status quo causes to real people every day; the enormous profits this gamed system generates for the insurance industry; the huge amount big pharma spends on marketing, not research; the truth about the superior healthcare in most other advanced nations, especially Canada. With the nation facing unprecedented challenges, the electronic media frets over the president's birth certificate. However craven, bought or silly, the media have terrified the already spineless Democrats.Posted by: koreyel on July 24, 2009 at 9:18 AM | PERMALINK boy! koreyel, that's some real media fail, fer sure... unless it's really a facade for the corporate twisting of reality to suit corporate profits! you know, the bright shiny stuff and the water-carrying spin... gee, who knew a corporate culture would dominate the news media? esp with high-paid celebrity media bozos? and now that our black president wants us all to have to talk about racism again, we'll never get health care... oh noes! it's his fault... who knew the racism would be bright and shiny and way over there? whatta country! Posted by: neill on July 24, 2009 at 9:32 AM | PERMALINK"continuing to put the finishing touches on the bill". translation - the medical industry lobbyists haven't finished writing it for us and as soon as they're done and we get the next check from them...... Posted by: Beezercal on July 24, 2009 at 9:47 AM | PERMALINKAgain, this is not about any of this. This is about a religious war!!! No, I am not one of them. I used to be. As we speak, they are trying to save the military personnel in Iraq, and some of the Iraqis. Go back to C-Street post that I told you about. The trips, such as, Sanford taking another trip, they are funded by C-Street, but, they claim its official business, and missionary work at the same time. Posted by: annjell on July 24, 2009 at 10:04 AM | PERMALINKI will explain it again. Yes, I know it sounds weird. Remember they were talking about removing anything that resembles slavery in the Capitol. Patsy Buchanan said that the country was built by white people - Rachel Maddow disputed this. Now David Barton, former Texas State Chairman of Republican Party, is rewriting the history now, and will push religion as part of school curriculum. see: www.rightwingwatch.org/category/individuals/david-barton/ www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/22/christianity-religion-texas-history-education
"The Grand Old Party is More Religious Cult Than politican Organization" says President of the Alamo City of Republican Women's Club, 1993 after reading scroll back up and click on the left side "Faith-Based Initiatives" BTW, Rick Santorum is an editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer - rsantorum@phillynews.com
Democrats are ALMOST certainly right that their plan would be better? Posted by: ceenik on July 24, 2009 at 10:41 AM | PERMALINKGive it to the RepuGs - They know how to keep the message simple taking their cue from Clarence Thomas who, usually, writes "Whatever Scalia says". So, Blunt is simply saying "Whatever United Healthcare says". Posted by: berttheclock on July 24, 2009 at 10:53 AM | PERMALINKOn top of that - what if there are areas of agreement? For example, what if the Republicans agree that no insurance company should be able to deny you coverage based on prior medical history or rescind your coverage based on past non-disclosures? What if they agree that insurance companies should be required to price individual insurance at the average of their group premiums (or group premiums average + 10% max). Most individual buyers (a significant chunk of the uninsured) are priced out of the market because of past health history or potential health history. Even being slightly overweight can be cause for an insurance company to deny you coverage. While it would not be an overall reform for health care, it would be a good effort to expand coverage to the uninsured. If the Republicans agree on these points, or any others, then, at minimum, Democrats should be able to move some reforms forward. Posted by: Chris on July 24, 2009 at 12:20 PM | PERMALINKDespite several weeks of promises about a superior plan, Blunt said the minority party's focus was on attacking the Democratic plan 10 bucks says that Blunt really said "the Democrat plan" ... any takers? Posted by: andy on July 24, 2009 at 12:43 PM | PERMALINKPost a comment
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