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   Dan Savage, the brilliant and foul-mouthed sex columnist, has become one of the most important ethicists in America. Are we screwed?
 The federal government is supposed to issue new rules about debt levels for students in for-profit colleges. In the meantime, the states are working on their own regulations.
 There arent nearly enough counterterrorism experts to instruct all of Americas police. So we got these guys instead.
 Last year there wasn�t a single fatal airline accident in the developed world. So why is the U.S. health care system still accidently killing hundreds of thousands? The answer is a lack of transparency.
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June 30, 2010
'ON THEIR SIDE'.... About two weeks ago, hot on the heels of Rep. Joe Barton's (R-Texas) public apology to BP, the DNC unveiled a television ad, urging Republicans to "stop apologizing to Big Oil." Four days later, the DNC released another spot, tying together several Republicans and their collective efforts to put oil companies' interests above the public's. The spots weren't bad, and for ads being thrown together quickly, they got the job done. But the ads weren't especially memorable, either. By late last week, the DNC had a more compelling message, but it was a "web video," not a televised ad. To its credit, the DNC considered public feedback. The result is a video, called "On Their Side," that strikes me as the most compelling to date. As the DNC's Greg Greene said yesterday, "When Republicans in Congress head home during the Fourth of July recess, voters in their districts need to know where they stand: with big oil, health insurers and Wall Street." The spot hammers home one of the stronger themes available to Democrats this year: on the major policy disputes of the day, Republicans are on the wrong side of the fight. On energy, as Barton helped demonstrate, the GOP is on the side of the oil companies. On health care, as Mitt Romney helped demonstrate, the GOP is on the side of the health care companies. On Wall Street reform, as Michael Steele helped demonstrate, the GOP is on the side of the banks and the industry that nearly destroyed the global economy. The ad's tagline: "Republicans: This is how they would govern." It seems like a safe bet you'll be hearing this quite a bit, far more than even the "party of no" line that dominated Democratic rhetoric last year. In the larger context, it's worth noting that a vulnerable incumbent party, facing broad challenges, tends to want to localize elections. Dems this year seem to be doing the opposite, which strikes me as wise -- the more the elections are nationalized, the more local Republican candidates can be connected to the larger trend of the GOP siding with powerful interests over the public good. —Steve Benen 11:25 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (12)
Comments
Of course, the lefties have been saying this for decades... Posted by: Michael7843853 on June 30, 2010 at 11:29 AM | PERMALINK"Of course, the lefties have been saying this for decades..." Right now of course, the party is taking this trend to ever greater extremes and seems to be going out of its way to provide as many sound clips as possible to prove it. Posted by: tanstaafl on June 30, 2010 at 11:40 AM | PERMALINKAlthough I almost never post a response, I visit your website nearly every day and greatly enjoy your insightful commentaries... BUT... You really have to do something about those floating ads that infest your website. They are truly annoying. If it wasn't for the excellent content I find here, I would have discontinued visiting long ago... Posted by: jemerson48 on June 30, 2010 at 11:47 AM | PERMALINKThe DNC also needs to hammer away at the GOPpers for insisting that the banks not pay the taxes for regulation, but that regular Main Street taxpayers instead. Posted by: Dan on June 30, 2010 at 12:01 PM | PERMALINKHey Dan, Do you not realize that Main Street taxpayer is going to pay either way. If you tax the banks they pass on the fees to customers. When are liberals finally going to understand that corporations DO NOT pay taxes. Everything is passed on to consumers which in turn HURTS to poor. But then again, I bet it makes you FEEL good that the banks get taxed. Posted by: Patrick on June 30, 2010 at 12:09 PM | PERMALINK@jemerson48: First, to jemerson -- those ads are annoying and worse here than on most sites, but they make it possible for Steve -- who has no control over them -- to get paid for what is one of the most valuable blogs on the Net. Bear with them, they are momentary annyances -- as is the still unfixed layout and other quirks. Now on the post: This is both a necessary and a sensible tactic, but perhaps it doesn't go far enough. The incredible thing about this election cycle -- and one which Dems should also be exploiting -- is that, as bad as 'establishment Republicans' are, in every case (afaik) when an 'establishment candidate' has been defeated, Republican voters have chosen people more extreme and more crazy. Every Republican candidate for Congress or Governor should be confronted with the insanity being spouted by the Angles, Pauls, and the rest, and asked 'is this the direction you believe the republican party should be heading?" (And one point to the angstmeisters out there -- thanks, Mark K. -- one reason we are going to be doing better than expected is precisely those anti-establishment candidates. Not only do they turn off ordinary voters if they hear the statements, but i don't think they are going to get the establishment support -- with GOTV and other matters -- because the 'establishment' resents them and doesn't trust them. Posted by: Prup (aka Jim Benton) on June 30, 2010 at 12:18 PM | PERMALINK@Patrick on June 30, 2010 at 12:09 PM That's not exactly true. Did you ever take Econ 101? Did it cover tax incidence? Theoretically it all depends on supply and demand curves. Depending on where the market clears, the customer bears some of the tax burden and the corporation (or its stockholders) bears the rest. Posted by: Equal Opportunity Cynic on June 30, 2010 at 12:21 PM | PERMALINKI am from Texas which has been the lab for Republican ideas. We are the textbook example for deregulation by corporations. The result is that we have the highest home owner insurance rates in the country. The highest electric rates in the the country(we use to have one of the lowest). The highest number of uninsured and pretty darn expensive health insurance. The pollution I don't want to talk about. Our school system is the laughing stock of the world. I could go on, but it is too depressing. MKC Posted by: MKCasey on June 30, 2010 at 12:32 PM | PERMALINKThe ad's tagline: "Republicans: This is how they would govern. Again" they should add "again" to hit home that, you know, we tried this already, and look where it got us. Posted by: els on June 30, 2010 at 12:52 PM | PERMALINKThe other benefit to nationalizing this election is to MOTIVATE THE DEMOCRATIC BASE, which is key to the success of, well, the country! Posted by: Drew P on June 30, 2010 at 12:55 PM | PERMALINK
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