Daily Kos, November 4th, 2009

There will be much number-crunching tomorrow, but preliminary numbers (at least in Virginia) show that GOP turnout remained the same as last year, but Democratic turnout collapsed. This is a base problem, and this is what Democrats better take from tonight:

1. If you abandon Democratic principles in a bid for unnecessary “bipartisanship”, you will lose votes.

2. If you water down reform in favor of Blue Dogs and their corporate benefactors, you will lose votes.

3. If you forget why you were elected — health care, financial services, energy policy and immigration reform — you will lose votes.

Tonight proved conclusively that we’re not going to turn out just because you have a (D) next to your name, or because Obama tells us to. We’ll turn out if we feel it’s worth our time and effort to vote, and we’ll work hard to make sure others turn out if you inspire us with bold and decisive action.

The choice is yours. Give us a reason to vote for you, or we sit home. And you aren’t going to make up the margins with conservative voters. They already know exactly who they’re voting for, and it ain’t you. More…

Among the few Republicans to vote for the bill were all three Republican women Senators. All the dissenters were white Republican men.

More…

Events of the past 24 hours seen as boosting chances of real reform.

Washington Post, October 15th, 2009

Now they have an enemy. For months, President Obama and his administration waged their fight for a health-care overhaul without a clear opponent, even courting the industry executives and interest groups that helped kill reform efforts 15 years ago.

But attacks on the leading Democratic reform plan this week by the insurance lobby left little doubt that two of the most powerful institutions involved in the debate — the White House and the nation’s insurance companies — have abandoned any real hope of forging a compromise. What was a tenuous truce has turned quickly into an all-out battle, with both sides ratcheting up the hostilities.

As the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday approved a 10-year, $829 billion bill to remake the health-care system, Obama’s top advisers and the insurers moved into a more intense stage of conflict.

“The insurance industry has decided to lead the charge against health reform, and everyone recognizes their motives: profits,” said White House deputy communications director Dan Pfeiffer. “We are going to make sure they can’t sink this effort at the last minute.”

Pfeiffer castigated the industry for releasing a report Monday that concluded that the finance panel’s bill would increase costs for consumers. “They made themselves a very good foil,” he said.

The insurers, however, showed no sign of being chastened. America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry trade group, opened a fresh line of attack with a multistate advertising campaign warning that senior citizens enrolled in private Medicare plans could lose benefits under the legislation. More…

Washington Post, October 13th, 2009

Unlike other results shows — “Dancing With The Stars” we are looking at you — here at the Fix we get right to the nitty-gritty. Yesterday we asked Fixistas to choose the most overrated Senator in the chamber. After more than 3,000 votes, the winner was Arizona Sen. John McCain with 23 percent. Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) finished second with 18 percent followed by Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) with 17 percent and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (D) with 16 percent. More…

The promise of nuclear disarmament, cooperation on global climate change, and an emphasis on diplomacy were just “too good to ignore.”

Associated Press, Oslo, Norway, October 9th, 2009

OSLO (AP) — The announcement drew gasps of surprise and cries of too much, too soon. Yet President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday because the judges found his promise of disarmament and diplomacy too good to ignore.

The five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee – four of whom spoke to The Associated Press, said awarding Obama the peace prize could be seen as an early vote of confidence intended to build global support for the policies of his young administration.

They lauded the change in global mood wrought by Obama’s calls for peace and cooperation, and praised his pledges to reduce the world stock of nuclear arms, ease U.S. conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthen its role in combating climate change.

“Some people say – and I understand it – ‘Isn’t it premature? Too early?’ Well, I’d say then that it could be too late to respond three years from now,” Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told the AP. “It is now that we have the opportunity to respond – all of us.” More…

Want to sample Republican reaction? Try “American and Proud” or the “Council of Conservative Citizens.”

Franken gets his first amendment passed in roll call Senate vote

Huffington Post, October 7th, 2009

After operating largely under the radar during his first few months in office, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is slowly beginning to make political ripples.

On Tuesday night, the Minnesota Democrat got his first piece of legislation passed by the United States Senate via roll call vote. The amendment stopped federal funding for those defense contractors who used mandatory arbitration clauses to deny victims of assault the right to bring their case to court. It passed by a 68-30 margin with nine Republicans joining each voting Democrat (Note: 30 Republicans voted against). And in the immediate aftermath, Franken was granted the chance to revel, ever so slightly, in his victory.

“The story came to my attention of Jamie Leigh Jones who, when she was 19, went to Iraq to work for [defense contractor] KBR and she was put in the barracks with 400 men and was sexually harassed,” Franken told the Huffington Post in a brief interview shortly after the vote. “She complained. But they didn’t do anything about it. She was drugged and gang raped and they locked her up in a shipping container. She tried to sue KBR and they said you have a mandatory arbitration clause in your contract. She tried to fight back and said this is ridiculous. She took it to court and they have been fighting her for three years.” More…

Here is a link to the actual votes on Senate vote #308.

Note to Curious: Four of the nine Republican votes favoring the amendment were women Senators. Further, every woman Senator voted yes, regardless of party.

Arizona leads the way, towards higher rates and less care!

New York Times, September 28th, 2009

ST. PAUL — In more than a dozen statehouses across the country, a small but growing group of lawmakers are pressing for state constitutional amendments that would outlaw a crucial element of the health care plans under discussion in Washington: the requirement that everyone buy insurance or pay a penalty.

Approval of the measures, the lawmakers suggest, would set off a legal battle over the rights of states versus the reach of federal power — an issue that is, for some, central to the current health care debate but also one that has tentacles stretching into a broad range of other matters, including education and drug policy.

Opponents of the measures and some constitutional scholars say the proposals are mostly symbolic, intended to send a message of political protest, and have little chance of succeeding in court over the long run. But they acknowledge the measures could create legal collisions that would be both costly and cause delays to health care changes, and could be a rallying point for opponents in the increasingly tense debate.

In Arizona, with help from Dr. Eric Novack — an orthopedic surgeon who says his intent was not “some grand secessionist plot” but merely a health care overhaul with protections for individuals’ rights — an amendment first went before voters in 2008. The idea lost, but by fewer than 9,000 votes among more than two million cast. This year, Arizona’s Legislature, dominated by Republicans in both chambers, voted to send the question back to the ballot in 2010.More…

For the record: Dr. Novack owns and operates a fairly large surgical center in Phoenix that specializes in elective procedures.

Republicans scream like stuck pigs; Paul Kirk, 71, former DNC Chairman is seen as likely choice.

Well that was quick! Paul Kirk has been named only minutes after I posted this story!

More at Huffington Post

Boston Globe, September 23rd, 2009

The state Senate approved a bill yesterday that would let Governor Deval Patrick appoint an interim successor to Edward M. Kennedy, paving the way for the appointment of a new US senator as early as tomorrow and providing Democrats in Washington the potential 60th vote they have been seeking to pass a health care overhaul.

The state Senate approved the measure by a 24-to-16 vote, just five days after the House had voted 95 to 58 to change Massachusetts election law and allow the appointment of an interim US senator. Both chambers are planning to give a final procedural endorsement to the measure and to send it to the governor’s desk today; the only potential hurdle is that Republicans are contemplating a last-ditch legal challenge in an effort to derail the legislation.

News of the vote reverberated yesterday from Beacon Hill to Washington, where US Senate majority leader Harry Reid, informed of the news when a note was passed to him, pumped his fist into the air and cracked a small smile, according to an aide. More…

His ability to control his committee is under serious question. Democrats and Republicans are equally repulsed.

It is clear that his proposal of last week is DEAD!

Associated Press, September 21st, 2009

WASHINGTON – The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee revised his sweeping health care bill Monday to address serious concerns from fellow Democrats and a key Republican about insurance costs, part of his ongoing struggle to deliver on President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority.

The changes came a day ahead of a committee session beginning Tuesday to amend and vote on the bill, which Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., hopes his panel will approve by the end of the week.

In the days ahead, Baucus faces the difficult task of keeping his 13 committee Democrats on board without moving so far to the left that he alienates Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, the only one of the panel’s 10 Republicans seen as likely to vote for the bill. More…

Huffington Post, September 20th, 2009

WASHINGTON — A straw vote suggests former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is a favorite among religious conservatives to be president in 2012.

That’s according to a vote held Saturday at the annual Values Voter Summit in Washington.

About one-third of the 1,800 registered attendees cast ballots indicating their preference among potential GOP candidates. Huckabee was tops with 28 percent of the vote, which the group calls a straw poll.

Four people tied for second, each with about 12 percent of the vote. They were Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. {Pence, a lawyer and former radio talk-show host, is a Republican congressman from southern Indiana. He calls himself a Christian Conservative.} More…