…popular anger over the federal funding for abortion in the president’s healthcare bill will be critical to the GOP’s success in 2010—and to the prospects for repealing the legislation.It would be easy to dismiss this nonsense as typical wingnuttia if it weren’t for the fact that it is continually allowed to fester unanswered by our corporate stenographers (Media Matters assembled a sorry litany of this stuff here).
Further, the executive order of President Obama noted here after signage of the bill into law specifies that funds “cannot be spent on abortion or abortion-related services except in cases of rape, incest and when the life of the pregnant woman is at risk.”
It bears repeating, by the way, just how sorry the status quo is for women in this country even with health care reform now enacted into law (Obama’s order extends the so-called Hyde Amendment named after a serial philandering Republican politician, now dead, which primarily affects abortion funding under Medicaid and is discriminatory on its face; and contrary to what anyone says, Hyde is not “settled law”).
And just remember that Thiessen is featured prominently on Fred Hiatt’s scribble page at the WaPo, the place where, for the most part, reasoned and informed discourse goes home to die.
Relatively low gas prices have drained away urgency, and the recession has heightened fears of economic dislocation. Republican charges that President Obama favors what they call a “cap and tax” plan that would destroy jobs while limiting carbon emissions have further damaged prospects for comprehensive energy legislation in Congress — just seven months before midterm elections.It would have been nice if Harwood had bothered to point out that the Senate bill sponsored by Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer would create millions of clean energy jobs, as noted here (more details on that will be welcome). Also, I don’t know where Harwood is getting his information on “relatively low gas prices,” but at the Lukkoil down the street from my humble abode, gas prices have started creeping up as they always do in the spring (about $3 a gallon for regular).
And to think, Harwood accused humble blogger types such as yours truly of “taking hallucinogenic drugs.” If he thinks we can maintain our oil dependency forever, then he must be loopy and thus has no right to imply that other people aren’t in their right minds.
With its tales of uplift and pluck, “Real American Stories” trades in the kind of easy sentimentality that provokes eye rolls among those of us who work in media while quickening the pulse and patriotic ardor of almost everyone else. At the beginning of the show, Ms. Palin promised that it would “reaffirm our pioneering spirit and unmatched generosity, here and around the world.”Far be it for me to cast aspersions on the sacrifices of others, so I won’t do so here. Instead, I’ll just link to this post from Jed Lewison at The Daily Kos for “the rest of the story,” as somebody used to say.
And so it did, with two million people tuning in. It featured a young man with cerebral palsy who was inspired to walk by the love of a dog, a millionaire who financed the college educations of legions of underprivileged youngsters, and a soldier who died to save his brothers in arms.
And in conclusion, Carr tells us this…
During the 2008 campaign, she was accused by the staff of Senator John McCain of running her own show and going off message. Then she took their disregard and made a book title out of it. “Going Rogue” is just one more example of how her inability or unwillingness to connect with the establishment leaders gives her credibility elsewhere. That’s a skill that works every bit as well on television as on the stump.Lord knows I am not a fan of John W. and Mrs. McBush (especially in light of this), and the former Cindy Lou Hensley could buy and sell over a lot of people I know many times over, including me, but it should be noted that she has advocated for people suffering from migraines, since she is afflicted with that herself; as noted here, she has attempted to secure more research funding and generally raised awareness about this condition (you could argue that she might not have done any of this unless the matter were personal to her, but that aside, I think she should receive credit simply for doing the right thing).
Last week, she returned to Senator McCain’s side to help in his re-election bid. As she bounded across the stage in Arizona and Cindy McCain struggled to maintain her frozen smile, even people who can’t stand her politics must have laughed.
And that, “frozen smile” and all, automatically puts her a peg above Sarah Palin in my book, who has “raised awareness” about herself, her family, and absolutely no one or nothing else.
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