Buck Naked Politics

HuffPost Editor Roy Sekoff Rips Into Max Baucus and the Baucus Bill (Paid for by $3 Million in Insurance & Health Industry Donations)

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Insurance Industry Exec/Whistleblower Wendell Potter Calls the Baucus Bill "An Absolute Gift" to Insurance Industry; Says Public Option is Essential

The former Vice President of Communications at Cigna also said that if Congress "fails to create a public insurance option to compete with private insurers, the bill it sends to the president might as well be called the Insurance Industry Profit Protection and Enhancement Act."" (HuffPost)

Astroturfin' USA: Widely Circulated "Ginormous Turnout" Photo Showing DC Mall Packed with Teabaggers Was from 1997?

 by Teh Nutroots |  This, to no one's surprise, from Politifact:

"[S]upporters of Saturday’s “tea party” protests...posted a photograph that showed a gargantuan crowd sprawling from Capitol Hill down the National Mall to the Washington Monument....

"Pete Piringer, public affairs officer for the D.C. Fire and Emergency Department, said the local government no longer provides official crowd estimates because they can become politicized. But the day of the rally, Piringer unofficially told one reporter that he thought between 60,000 and 75,000 people had shown up....

"[A]fter marching down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol, the crowd “only filled the Capitol grounds, maybe up to Third Street,” he said.

"Yet the photograph so widely posted showed the crowd sprawling all the way to the Washington Monument, which is bordered by 15th and and 17th Streets.

"There’s another problem with the photograph: It doesn’t include the National Museum of the American Indian, a building located at the corner of Fourth Street and Independence Avenue that opened on Sept. 14, 2004. (Looking at the photograph, the building should be in the upper right hand corner of the National Mall, next to the Air and Space Museum.) That means the picture was taken before the museum opened exactly five years ago. So clearly the photo doesn’t show the “tea party” crowd from the Sept. 12 protest.

"Also worth noting are the cranes in front of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. According to Randall Kremer, the museum’s director of public affairs, “The last time cranes were in front was in the 1990s when the IMAX theater was being built.”" (emphasis added)

Jon Stewart: Obama Breaks Precedent by Treating Congress as a Co-equal Branch; Gets Heckled by Joe Wilson for his Pains (The Story of Our Health Care Debate)

Oh, Jon Stewart.  Never leave us for three whole weeks ever again.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
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Congressman Anthony Weiner Discusses Obama's Health Care Plan on Countdown

Posted by bartleby the scrivener | Full of win...

Rep. Anthony Weiner (NY) Tells It Like It Is on Health Care, Private Insurance Companies, & Obama's Speech

posted by Damozel |

Joe Wilson's Cry Built Upon a Lie: No Undocumented Aliens Would Benefit from Health Care Reform

by bartleby the scrivener | Eric Boehlert of Media Matters calls out the press for failing to address the fact that Joe Wilson's outburst was in sober fact entirely inaccurate, giving credit where due to Times' Michael Scherer for at least taking time to fact-check the President's Speech.  

"The President's seemingly simple statement that "the reforms I am proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally" is not hard to check. In the Senate Finance Committee's working framework for a health plan, which Obama's speech seemed most to mimic, there is the line, "No illegal immigrants will benefit from the health care tax credits." Similarly, the major health-care-reform bill to pass out of committee in the House, H.R. 3200, contains Section 246, which is called "NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS." ....

"He was claiming something — benefits for illegal immigrants — that is expressly prohibited in the major legislative efforts in both houses of Congress. He was becoming the sideshow the President wanted to spotlight, and as such Wilson handed a great gift to his political enemies, for whom he clearly has little regard."(Time Magazine)

Politico: GOP Leaders Complain that the Party Is Becoming Defined by "Crackpots"; Meanwhile, Progressives Become Progressively Sicker of the Dems' Gutless Response

by Teh Nutroots | Politico's Andie Coller writes that a number of GOP leaders are increasingly worried that their party is being identified with its "fringe element" (so-called).  Here's a small sample culled from her many examples of GOPpers fretting over what's happening to their party. 

[S]ays Republican media consultant Mark McKinnon. “Unfortunately, right now the Democrats generally get defined by President Obama, and Republicans, who have no clear leadership, get defined by crackpots — and then they begin to define the Republican Party in the mind of the general public.”...

Here’s Orly Taitz, insisting that the commander in chief was born in Kenya. There’s a flock of town hall protesters, waving photos of the president in a Hitler moustache. Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin warns darkly that Obama is planning “death panels” for senior citizens. Georgia Rep. Paul Broun equates the president’s plans with “Nazi” policies. Ohio Rep. Jean Schmidt — last heard calling John Murtha a “coward” — tells a birther: “I agree with you, but the courts don’t.”...

One veteran GOP official puts it bluntly: “The image of a bunch of white guys booing an African-American president is about as bad as it gets.” ( More at Politico)

Gee, ya think?

Job Market Drop-Outs, Health Insurance, & Other Casualties of the Recession

by Bartleby the Scrivener |  Happy day-after-Labor-Day-2009. According to The New York Times, the recession is worse than it sounds, even when you look at the rising unemployment rate (9.7%).  Those statistics are misleading.  

"To be included in that measure, which is calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics from a monthly nationwide survey, a worker must have actively looked for a job at some point in the preceding four weeks.

"For an increasing number of people in this country who would prefer to be working, that is not the case.

"It is difficult to assign an exact figure, because of limitations in the data collected by the bureau, but various measures that capture discouragement have swelled in this recession.

"In the most direct measure of job market hopelessness, the bureau has a narrow definition of a group it classifies as “discouraged workers.” These are people who have looked for work at some point in the past year but have not looked in the last four weeks because they believe that no jobs are available or that they would not qualify, among other reasons. In August, there were roughly 758,000 discouraged workers nationally, compared with 349,000 in November 2007, the month before the recession officially began."  (NYT)

A New Big Idea: Wall Street Planning to Make a Bundle from Your Death Via "Life Insurance Bundles"

by bartleby the scrivener | At The New York Times, Jenny Anderson writes:

The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash — $400,000 for a $1 million policy, say, depending on the life expectancy of the insured person. Then they plan to “securitize” these policies, in Wall Street jargon, by packaging hundreds or thousands together into bonds. They will then resell those bonds to investors, like big pension funds, who will receive the payouts when people with the insurance die.

The earlier the policyholder dies, the bigger the return — though if people live longer than expected, investors could get poor returns or even lose money.  (emphasis added)

Um....uh oh.   Peter Cohan at Daily Finance muses:  "I wonder if they'll...hire secret hit squads to assassinate policyholders who live too long."  Death panels, anyone?

Gah. Megan McArdle, Glibertarian, Live at WaPo

by Teh Nutroots | Gah. Whoever offered her a platform at The Washington Post needs to be forced to read her musings every day for the next year as a penance. 

McArdle: "Facts I Did Not Know"

TBogg:  "We're gonna need a bigger internet."  

Even so.  If you want a break from reality, catch McArdle in the process of demonstrating how much her reach-- as TBogg points out (though he's funnier) -- exceeds her grasp.

Update:  TBogg reviews McArdle (First we get rid of all the sick people.  Then we won’t need insurance. Profit!)  "I think, after this, we can officially designate Megan McArdle as the America's Stupidest Blogger™."

Brad at Fire Megan McArdle:  "Note that every single number she came up with to support her argument was hypothetical, and based on willful ignorance of reality..."

Susan of Texas: "A hypothetical is not a statistic. A statistic is a fact that can be verified, not a guess, and McArdle just admitted she made a guess. That guess was the entire basis for her argument against health care reform."

Even More Advertisers Ditch Glenn Beck

by bartleby the scrivener | Stephen Colbert commented last week on Beck's loss of advertising revenue since his ill-advised musing that Obama -- who is half-white and whose administration is filled with white people -- is a "racist" with "a profound hatred of white people."  James Rucker of Color of Change reports that eight more major advertisers have now ceased to support Beck's show:

 "We've confirmed that eight more major advertisers have pulled their support from Glenn Beck's show:...Wal-Mart, Best Buy, CVS, Travelocity, Allergan (maker of Restasis), Ally Bank, Broadview Security, and Re-Bath.

Overall, twenty advertisers have now ended their support of Beck. We're going to keep the pressure on Beck's remaining advertisers this week, and we'll let you know how you can help.

I guess it is possible for wingnuttery to go too far.

Olbermann Comment on Health Care: "Legislators for Sale"

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Obama Pens Health Care Reform Op Ed; Sen. Conrad (D-ND) Declares Public Option Dead in the Water; Sebelius Says Public Option Not an Essential Component of Reform

bartleby the scrivener | Obama has written an op ed for The New York Times setting forth the reasons why we need health care reform, none of which will surprise anyone who supports health care reform. 

There are four main ways the reform we’re proposing will provide more stability and security to every American.

First, if you don’t have health insurance, you will have a choice of high-quality, affordable coverage for yourself and your family — coverage that will stay with you whether you move, change your job or lose your job.

Second, reform will finally bring skyrocketing health care costs under control, which will mean real savings for families, businesses and our government. We’ll cut hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and inefficiency in federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid and in unwarranted subsidies to insurance companies that do nothing to improve care and everything to improve their profits.

Pharma Deal Confirmed?; $12 Million TV Ad Campaign Backing Obama's Proposals Launched; Obama Administration "Pushes Back Against the Misconceptions"

by bartleby the scrivener | Ryan Grim at HuffPost got hold of a memorandum showing that the White House and the pharmaceutical lobbyists made exactly the sort of deal they've been denying ever occurred.   Just so you know, "[r]epresentatives from both the White House and PhRMA, shown the outline, adamantly denied that it reflected reality. PhRMA senior vice president Ken Johnson said that the outline "is simply not accurate." "This memo isn't accurate and does not reflect the agreement with the drug companies," said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin."  (HuffPost)

TPMtv's "The Day in 100 Seconds": "Death Panels"

Deal: Obama & Big Pharma

From Ryan Grimm at HuffPost:

"White House spokesman Reid Cherlin confirmed that despite Thursday's uncertainty the deal outlined in the New York Times still stands."  (Ryan Grimm, HuffPost; emphasis added)

So I guess that's that.  The New York Times reports

Heathcare— Astroturf 'Populist' Uncovered on CNN

By Bill Kavanagh:  Rick Scott, the former chairman of Columbia Hospital Corporation, a for-profit chain of hospitals, is the founder of an organization called “Conservatives for Patients’ Rights.”  CPR (oh so cute, eh?) is now funding protests like the ones we see at health care reform town hall meetings across the country—  at which Congresspeople are being shouted down, scuffles started, and people routinely intimidated by mobs of frightened birther/wingnuts.

CNN Refuses to Run Ad Critical of Health Care Industry (with Video)

bartleby the scrivener | Deb already said it:  one reason you're not hearing a fair exchange on the health care debate is that the media are opposed to letting you hear a fair exchange on the health care debate.

Greg Sargent reports that CNN is refusing to run a health care ad that criticizes the insurance industry, allegedly because it violates their "guidelines."  I'll bet.

The labor-backed Americans United for Change, a top White House ally in the health care wars, tried to book time on CNN and MSNBC for the ad, which hits the insurance industry for wanting to preserve the status quo and levels harsh criticism at insurance giant Cigna’s CEO, Ed Hanway.

“Why do insurance companies and Republicans want to kill health insurance reform? Because they like things the way they are now,” the ad says, and then slams Hanway’s annual salary of over $12 million and golden parachute retirement package of over $70 million.

Frightening Numbers of Unemployed on the Point of Exhausting Unemployment Benefits

by Teh Nutroots  | According to The New York Times, the only thing standing between many Americans and complete ruin is just about to come to an end. 

Over the coming months, as many as 1.5 million jobless Americans will exhaust their unemployment insurance benefits, ending what for some has been a last bulwark against foreclosures and destitution.

Because of emergency extensions already enacted by Congress, laid-off workers in nearly half the states can collect benefits for up to 79 weeks, the longest period since the unemployment insurance program was created in the 1930s. But unemployment in this recession has proved to be especially tenacious, and a wave of job-seekers is using up even this prolonged aid.

Tens of thousands of workers have already used up their benefits, and the numbers are expected to soar in the months to come, reaching half a million by the end of September and 1.5 million by the end of the year, according to new projections by the National Employment Law Project, a private research group.

There's pressure on Congress to allow a further 13-week extension.  (NYT)  Thirteen weeks?