Will The Media Ever Notice That Kent Conrad Is Lying?

Senator Kent Conrad appeared on "Face The Nation" this morning to peddle his lame co-op alternative to a public option in health care reform. Now I get that he is a ConservaDem and that he supposedly want to be seen as a big time deficit cutter so he has some ideological objections to health care reform. I have already explained yesterday where I thought he could shove those concerns when it comes to voting for cloture. However there is one thing he said today that he has said several times that nobody has called him out on. Here goes:

CONRAD: Well, I would say this. It is very clear that in the United States Senate, the public option does not have the votes. If we have to get to 60 votes, you cannot get there with public option. That’s why I was asked to come up with an alternative, and the alternative I came up with was this cooperative approach that, as Senator Grassley correctly describes, is not government run or government controlled, it’s controlled by its membership. But it does provide not-for-profit competition to insurance companies, so it has appeal on both sides. It’s the only proposal that has bipartisan support and if we’re going to get 60 votes we’re going to need bipartisan support

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According to Conrad there is bipartisan support for co-ops but that is simply a lie. So far at best a handful Republicans have said that they would "look into" his proposal for co-ops but many of them have already come out and slammed it as just a public option by another name. The RNC fits into that category and Senator John Kyl the Minority Whip has said that no Republicans would vote for a health care reform bill anyway. So where does Conrad get this notion that he has bipartisan support fo co-ops?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Of course if just one journalist would dare ask him WHO in the Republican Party endorses co-ops we might just get the answer to that question. But our mainstream media does not seem to be in the questioning business anymore.

Schism

This morning two prominent Republicans went on Sunday shows and dismissed the small tent philosphy embraced by both Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney. Colin Powell and Tom Ridge, both military veterans, calmly and thoughtfully put forth their case for their visions of the Republican Party going forward. Now seeing as how neither man is in office or running for office they could speak their mind without having to carry water for the wingnut base. Now they didn't present the exact same case, but one thing was for certain with both of them. Neither man believed the Republican Party can make a comeback if they listen to people like Rush Limbaugh. Now here is the thing, Rush Limbaugh is one of the most polarizing people in America let alone inside the Republican Party. But right now the GOP is not just trying to shore up its base, its also trying to reach out to independents and people in the middle. That is a fight that normally they would be fighting against the Democrats but it turns out that it seem clear now that they will also be fighting for them within the party.

I believe that today is a watershed moment. There are now two totally conflicting views of the party and sooner or later people are going to have to chose. The reason for this is that the Rush Limbaugh wing of the party wants to expel the Colin Powell/Tom Ridge wing. But they aren't going anywhere and while they would never say publicly that Rushbo needs to haul his fat ass, I am sure privately they think HE is the one that needs to go. So who will the majority of Republicans back? Who will those independents who lean Republican line up behind? The truth is it doesn't matter what the numbers end up being. What matter is I think what we are seeing now are two irreconcilable wings of one party. So unless there is some kind of miraculous kum by yah moment it would seem that it is now the destiny of the Republican Party to fracture off into at least two separate entities. I don't know how soon the public split will happen but it would seem that the private split is already in play. I do believe that we need at least two viable political parties in this country as a form of checks and balances, but until the Republicans or Republican lites get their shit together, they won't have the capacity to fulfill that role. If I could hazard a guess I am betting when the moderate wing of the Republican Party emerges as something else, Colin Powell may just be their standard bearer.



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There you have it

What would you say if someone asked you whether it would be better politically for the Republicans to follow Rush Limbaugh or Colin Powell?

Who do you think most rational Republicans would choose? Remember I said rational.

I give you one guess as to who former Vice President Dick Cheney chose this morning on "Face The Nation".



I can only pray that the rest of the Republicans follow his advice.

President Obama On Face The Nation

President Obama handled himself very well today on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer but man did it seem like it was an interview for GOPolitico chocked full of right wing talking points. Just a few.

Schieffer: This has really now become your war, hasn't it?

snip

Schieffer: Are you giving our commanders now in Afghanistan a green light to go after these people even if they're in what used to be safe havens in Pakistan?

Schieffer: But you're talking about going after them. Are you talking about with American boots on the ground?

snip

Schieffer: You campaigned on cutting taxes for the middle class.

Schieffer: And yet lately I don't see any middle-class tax cut in the version of the budget that's going through the Senate right now. You have suggested that maybe you'd let the tax cut you put for the middle class in the stimulus bill run out next year. Can you tell us, are you still pushing a middle-class tax cut? I know you said you want the Congress to follow the principles

snip

Schieffer: - a middle-class tax cut. I want to ask you also about the, these bonuses and all that on Wall Street. Congress expressed outrage. You seemed outraged. And then after the Congress, the House passed the bill to get that money back with some kind of taxes on those, on those people, you seemed to throw a little cold water on that.

Schieffer: You said we shouldn't legislate down a banker. Have you now, on reflection, decided that maybe you let that go a little too far?

I guess thats just something we will have to get used to for the next 4 to hopefully 8 years. Anyway here is the video of the interview. Enjoy.


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Peter Orszag Don't Play

I have to admit that when I first saw OMB director Peter Orszag I thought he looked to young to be up to the task much like Tim Geitner. But after hearing the guy speak a few times I am convinced that not only is he up to the task but he doesn't suffer fools much at all. He did something today on "Face The Nation" that I have been waiting for someone to do for the last two weeks. He called the Republicans out on their "alternate plan" and called on them to put forth the details of their plan for all the world to see and criticize just like President Obama's team did. You see Republican Congresspersons on Tee Vee day after day contending that they have a better plan and yet they are never asked to explain it nor defend it and all the while they do nothing but criticize and lie about the President's budget. Hell even uber "centrist" David Brooks described the GOP's call for a spending freeze as quote "insane". It will be interesting to see if the mainstream media starts calling on the GOP to start explaining their supposedly better plan in detail or if they stick to CW that the Republicans are just doing what they feel is right.



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