A majority of Americans say the federal government should guarantee health insurance to every American, especially children, and are willing to pay higher taxes to do it, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

While the war in Iraq remains the overarching issue in the early stages of the 2008 campaign, access to affordable health care is at the top of the public’s domestic agenda, ranked as far more important than immigration, cutting taxes or promoting traditional values. Only 24 percent said they were satisfied with President Bush’s handling of the issue, despite his recent initiatives, and 62 percent said the Democrats — not the Republicans — were more likely to improve the health care system. Read more in The New York Times.

Time Magazine’s latest poll shows results for Democratic and Republican presidential candidates.  Briefly, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani are the two frontrunners for the moment.

First the Republicans; Rudy Giuliani (34%) is crushing John McCain (24%).  As we have noted in earlier stories, John McCain’s candidacy is disolving before his own eyes.  McCain actually led in this race in January.  Since then, it’s been all downhill and breakneck speed.  McCain has lost 18 points in the past thirty days and is currently fourteen percentage points behind Giuliani.  Newt Gingrich who has not announced whether he will run is favored by 11% of Republicans and Mitt Romney is fast disappearing with only 7% of Republicans supporting his candidacy.

All of the Republicans are struggling to support their party’s war policy favoring never-ending wars in Iraq and Afganistan.  With close to 70% of Americans fed up with Iraq, this is becoming a real problem for all the Republican candidates.  Then, there is the Neo-Conservative lock on the party nomination process.  To run for president, one must first win the Republican nomination.  So, the past weeks had featured a parade of McCain and Guiliani marching before Neo-Con groups to denounce Roe v Wade, and appear at “Secondary Virginity” rallys.  McCain and Guiliani have proved that they can flip flop farther and faster than John Kerry ever dreamed of.  All in all, we Democrats should look forward to picking these guys apart.

Now on the Democrat side, matters are only slightly less confused.  Hillary Clinton is preferred by 36% of Democrats over Barack Obama who has 24%.  However, Hillary has lost about seven points of her lead in the last month or so.  Al Gore who won in 2000 but who is apparently not yet running in 2008 is preferred by 13% of Democrats.  John Edwards is awarded 11% of Democratic votes.
So, pick your candidate and volunteer!  Click here to read the Time Magazine poll.

Karen Schickedanz

About 50 women from Legislative District 26 in Northwest Tucson—the most coming from SaddleBrooke—will join hundreds of other Democratic women from around the state March 8 for the fourth annual “Women in Blue” day at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix.

Besides SaddleBrooke, participants from LD26 Democratic clubs in Catalina, Heritage Highlands, Oro Valley, San Manuel and Sun City Vistoso will be on hand.

This year’s theme was “One Arizona” and featured meetings with legislators, attendance at legislative sessions and committee meetings, and a tour of the Capitol. After the morning at the Capitol, the group convened at the Wyndham Hotel for a noon luncheon and a keynote speech by former national Democratic Party chair Terry McAuliffe. He is the campaign manager for Hillary Clinton and the author of this year’s top political book, “What a Party!”

The SaddleBrooke Democrats are selling tickets for a bus and luncheon for $45. Contact Carolyn Badger at (520) 818-1628 for tickets or information.

The Deparment of Justice and it’s leader Alberto Gonzales remain in the congressional spotlight. Republicans are now starting to join the chorus of criticism which is being directed first at the political firing of eight U.S. Attornies. The attornies were fired under a little known provision of the “Patriot Act” apparently because they were conducting active investigations of Republican politicians. For example, here in Arizona, Paul Charlton was fired in the midst of an investigation of Rick Renzi. Click here for more from The Arizona Republic.

Anyway, today’s news is that the Justice Department’s own Inspector General has severely criticized the FBI’s handling of tens of thousands of “National Security Letters” (another “Patriot Act” provision) which amount to subpoenas that are “secret” and not subject to court review. Click here to read more in the New York Times.

Slapped even by GOP allies, the Bush administration is beating an abrupt retreat on eight federal prosecutors it fired and then publicly pilloried. Just hours after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales dismissed the hubbub as an “overblown personnel matter,” a Republican senator Thursday mused into a microphone that Gonzales might soon suffer the same fate as the canned U.S. attorneys. More on this story is available from Yahoo News.

W (worst ever) has been bleating about supporting the troops. The disgraceful stories about Walter Reed Hospital are not however, isolated instances. Let us remember that the Bush Administration and the Republicans have been cutting veteran benefits for years. Not even once or twice; but d___ near every year.

In 2003, the Republican Congress approved sweeping cuts to veterans benefits. Proposed by President Bush as part of his 2004 budget plan, the reductions—estimated at $28 billion—would erode health-care benefits already stretched by other budget shortfalls, raise costs, and decrease veterans’ access to medical care. Click here to “remember” the story.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal (1-25-05), Pentagon official David Chu, in a mockery of the contribution of veterans, defended a new round of cuts by ironically describing funding for programs like veterans’ education and job training, health care, pensions, VA housing and the like as “hurtful” to national security. Click here to “remember” again.

Jan Schakowsky, a Congresswomen from Illinois has a terriffic chart that shows the stark contrast in the support the troops approach of Republicans and Democrats. Click here to see the chart.

Today, the New York Times has an article on veteran’s disability benefits. Click here to read how the this administration treats our young soldiers.

Governor Janet Napolitano has begun to speak out about Iraq. Unfortunately she is somewhat out-of-step with her constitutency. After a whirlwind, two-day visit to Iraq, Gov. Janet Napolitano said U.S. officials are seeing progress in the country and that she is not yet ready to call for a troop withdrawal.

The Arizona Democrat offered a cautiously optimistic assessment of security in the country after “very frank” conversations with troops and briefings with Iraqi and U.S. officials, including Gen. David Petraeus, top U.S. military commander in Iraq. Read some more of this story in the Arizona Republic, a newspaper which endorsed her candidacy.

Her words of encouragement come amid continued violence in the country, simmering U.S. public discontent with the war and debate in Congress about whether and how to bring American troops home.

Twelve U.S. soldiers have died in roadside bombings since Monday. Sectarian violence also has flared up, with 90 people reported killed across Iraq on Wednesday.

As one might expect, Republicans stood up to praise her.  Rep. Jonathan Paton, a Tucson Republican and Army reservist just back from six months in Iraq, said he is glad Napolitano got to see firsthand some of what is happening in the country. For the troops on the ground, though, the string of dignitaries that fly in and out can become a blur.

Karen Schickedanz
About 50 women from Legislative District 26 in Northwest Tucson—the most coming from SaddleBrooke—joined hundreds of other Democratic women from around the state March 8 for the fourth annual “Women in Blue” day at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix.

Besides SaddleBrooke, participants from LD26 represented Democratic clubs in Catalina, Heritage Highlands, Oro Valley, San Manuel and Sun City Vistoso.

This year’s theme was “One Arizona” and featured meetings with legislators, attendance at legislative sessions and committee meetings, and a tour of the Capitol.  After the morning at the Capitol, the group convened at the Wyndham Hotel for a noon luncheon and a keynote speech by former national Democratic Party chair Terry McAuliffe.  He is the campaign manager for Hillary Clinton and the author of this year’s top political book, “What a Party!”

The delegation from LD 26 chartered a bus to attend “Women in Blue” day.  They were greeted by State Senator Charlene Pesquiera and State Representative Lena Saradnik, both of whom were elected in November.

“This event has always been a fun and educational experience, and participation by women from all over Arizona has probably quadrupled since four years ago,” said Carolyn Badger, a SaddleBrooke resident and coordinator of “Women in Blue” in LD 26.  “But we are particularly fortunate this year to have such a strong showing from LD 26 and to be able to meet with two Democratic women representing our district in the legislature.”

Our regular March meeting will be held Saturday, March 10th 2007. Speakers are being arranged, however the topic will be Global Warming. The meeting starts at 3:30 pm following a half hour of social interaction. As normal, the meeting will be held at the Activities Center (HOA #1) at 64518 E Galveston Lane. Following the meeting we will have a pot luck buffet at the home of one of our members. See you there!

We SaddleBrooke Democrats don’t ordinarily quote articles written by Neo-Con Conservative Republicans. But perhaps this is the exception that proves the rule. Jonathan Chait, is a far-right wing columnist for the Los Angeles Times. In the past, he has been in the forefront of those advocating the Iraq War, the elimination of “socal” programs and tax cuts for the very wealthy. Anyway, today’s column from Jonathan Chait is about John McCain.

John McCain goes over to the dark side
March 10, 2007
‘THIS IS NOT Luke Skywalker here,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), discussing his friend and Senate colleague John McCain’s second run for the presidency. “This is a totally different campaign.”

Graham was looking for a way to reassure his fellow conservatives that they no longer had anything to fear from McCain. His choice of metaphor is one of those windows into the fundamental cultural gap that separates hard-core conservatives from the rest of humanity. To most people, who think of Luke Skywalker as a hero battling an evil and immensely powerful empire, Graham’s implication would be seen as an unmitigated insult. In the world of the GOP elite, though, it’s a form of praise: No, no, don’t worry, McCain’s with the empire now.

Seven years ago, of course, McCain was likening himself in public to Luke Skywalker, waving light sabers on stage at rallies and comparing his party’s establishment to the Death Star. He would say such things as, “My party has become captive to special interests.” He would cite a bumper sticker that read “The Christian Right Is Neither.”

And now? Well, let’s just say that if John McCain circa 2007 was campaigning against John McCain circa 2000, he would call him a communist. The old McCain called President Bush’s tax cuts fiscally and socially irresponsible, a giveaway to the rich in a time of rising inequality. The new McCain was recently interviewed by National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru and asked if there were any circumstances, including the guarantee of spending cuts, under which he’d consider repealing the tax cuts he denounced and voted against. He replied: “No. None. None. Tax cuts, starting with Kennedy, as we all know, increase revenues.” Click here to read more.

A new Bush administration rule intended to keep illegal immigrants from receiving Medicaid has instead shut out tens of thousands of United States citizens who have had difficulty complying with requirements to show birth certificates and other documents proving their citizenship, state officials say.Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia have all reported declines in enrollment and traced them to the new federal requirement, which comes just as state officials around the country are striving to expand coverage through Medicaid and other means.

Under a 2006 federal law, the Deficit Reduction Act, most people who say they are United States citizens and want Medicaid must provide “satisfactory documentary evidence of citizenship,” which could include a passport or the combination of a birth certificate and a driver’s license.  Some state officials say the Bush administration went beyond the law in some ways, for example, by requiring people to submit original documents or copies certified by the issuing agency.  Click here to read more.