TX-32: What Part of Support for Healthcare Reform Doesn't "Taliban Pete" Understand?

When I saw this poll, I was reminded of the fallacy my area's Taliban congressman, Pete Sessions (R-TX-32), and others in his party continue to peddle-- that healthcare reform is not popular with the American people.
Not only is Sessions wrong when he claims that healthcare reform has been "rejected" by the American people, this latest poll, along with a recent CBS News/New York Times survey, show support for reform with a robust public option continues to be strong.
To review, here's what Sessions said in response to President Obama's address on healthcare reform:

“Tonight, President Obama launched another prime time sales pitch for a government-run health care product that the American people have already undeniably rejected."

Actually, contrary to Sessions' claim, healthcare reform support has INCREASED since the summer of screaming, lies, and distortions coming from the Republican party and its allies in the media (most notably right-wing talk radio and the fraud of a "news" channel called Fox), according to a Huffington Post article.
Here's part of what the Huffington Post reported:

The anti-reform town hall anger that dominated the health care reform debate appears to have ebbed. Support for health care reform increased in September after falling over the summer, according to a new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Fifty-seven percent of Americans now believe that tackling health care reform is more important than ever -- up from 53 percent in August. The proportion of Americans who think their families would be better off if health reform passes is up six percentage points (42% versus 36% in August), and the percentage who think that the country would be better off is up eight points (to 53% from 45% in August).

So what part of this don't anti-reform politicians like Sessions understand? Have these guys become so blinded by their own lies that they can't even acknowledge that they have been proven to be wrong?
Yes, Democratic politicians like Max Baucus, Blanche Lincoln, and Kent Conrad must be held accountable for their demonstrated preference for protecting insurance company profits and discretion at the expense of the public interest, but the same must be said for others who have made a living of fanning the lies of insurance company opponents of real healthcare reform.
That list, sadly, includes my area's Taliban congressman, Pete Sessions, and the sooner this nutjob is retired from his current position by voters, the better we all will be.
I hope folks in my district will see a strong opponent rise up to confront Sessions with his "public be damned" attitude when it comes to healthcare reform and a host of other issues.

Heartless GOP Plan Exposed-- "Don't Get Sick And If You Do, Die Quickly."

I couldn't have said it better myself. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) need not apologize to the heartless Republican party who'd rather see folks like me rot and die rather than have real healthcare reform with a robust public option.

TX-Sen, TX-32: Hutchison, Sessions: Out Of Touch and Wrong On Healthcare Reform

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison is the latest Texas Republican who has demonstrated how out of touch she and the rest of her party are when it comes to support for real healthcare reform with a robust public option.
To review, the latest CBS News/New York Times poll shows that 65 percent of the American people support a real public option as part of healthcare reform (including a plurality of REPUBLICANS). That fact seems to have been lost on Hutchison, who's trying to demonstrate her right-wing credentials as part of her campaign for governor in next year's Republican primary against incumbent Rick Perry.
Here's part of the senator's statement that appears on Hutchison's campaign web site:

"I received nearly 1.25 million petitions from Americans including 165,000 Texans who object to a government take over of health care. The President needs to stop and listen. People are sending a powerful message: we want choice, access, and affordability. I hoped that President Obama would have heeded the people’s wishes and announced in his speech that he was willing to wipe the slate clean and abandon the public option. But instead of new ideas the President is repackaging the same bad policies and continuing to promote a government takeover of health care. President Obama’s proposal will increase the size of our government and shrink patients’ choices. It will still drive up taxpayers’ costs and deteriorate our nation’s quality of care. President Obama’s government run health care plan needs to be thrown in the shredder!"

The repeated claim that what President Obama has proposed is "government-run health care" is an outright lie that has been rejected by the American people in poll after poll (with the current CBS News/New York Times survey being the latest). The real question is this: Why are the for-profit insurance companies that have been pushing this canard are so afraid of competition from a not-for-profit government-run entity that will be supported by users' premiums, not taxpayer dollars.
In Texas, public options in post-secondary education (like the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems) sure haven't prevented private institutions like SMU and Rice from providing attractive alternatives that have helped them garner a good number of students.
In the world of package deliveries, the presence of the government-run U.S. Postal Service hasn't prevented two private companies, FedEx and UPS, from gaining large shares of the market with attractive and customer-friendly products that have enabled both to be able to deliver millions of packages daily across the United States and around the world.
If these private education institutions and package delivery companies can do well against public entities, why can't private insurance companies if they offered consumer-friendly and cost-efficient products that don't deny care because of pre-existing conditions or because an insured party gets sick or injured?
Besides being proved totally false when it comes to her claims of public opposition to healthcare reform and what it is (and isn't), Hutchison, like the rest of the Republican gang, is also out of touch when it comes to the facts about the cost of legislation that DOES include a public option.
Reports Congress Daily on House legislation that does include the public option, quoting the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office:

In a bid to wrangle concessions from the Blue Dog Coalition on healthcare reform, House leaders Thursday released CBO estimates for liberals' preferred version of the public option that show $85 billion more in savings than for the version the Blue Dogs prefer.

What part of this statement doesn't Kay Bailey Hutchison understand?
Hutchison may think the teabagging town-hall rabble rousers who tried to disrupt meetings about the issue constitute a majority of the American people, but if this latest CBS News/New York Times survey serves as any indication, Hutchison and fellow Texas Republicans like Rep. Pete Sessions (TX-32) are the ones who are out of touch with the American people and even members of their own party.
Here's Sessions commenting on President Obama's recent healthcare reform speech to Congress:

“Tonight, President Obama launched another prime time sales pitch for a government-run health care product that the American people have already undeniably rejected."

If this is the best job Hutchison and Sessions (who, I am ashamed to say, represents my congressional district) can do in interpreting the will of the American people, they should seek other employment fast. They, and the rest of the Republican cabal, are the ones who are out of touch and are trying to keep in place a system that has failed the American people badly and has denied needed care to those who needed it the most.

Adult In Charge: Obama Speaks On Foreign Policy Issues, Gets Results

This is what an adult sounds like when it comes to discussing foreign policy issues:

And this is the text of a real adult speaking on foreign policy concerns:

This week, I joined leaders from around the world at the United Nations and the G-20 economic summit in Pittsburgh. Today, I can report on what we achieved—a new commitment to meet common challenges, and real progress in advancing America’s national security and economic prosperity.
As I said at the U.N., over the past nine months my administration has renewed American leadership, and pursued a new era of engagement in which we call upon all nations to live up to their responsibilities. This week, our engagement produced tangible results in several areas.
In Pittsburgh, the world’s major economies agreed to continue our effort to spur global demand to put our people back to work. We committed ourselves to economic growth that is balanced and sustained— so that we avoid the booms and busts of the past. We reached an historic agreement to reform the global financial system—to promote responsibility and prevent abuse so that we never face a crisis like this again. And we reformed our international economic architecture, so that we can better coordinate our effort to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
We also established American leadership in the global pursuit of the clean energy of the 21st century. I am proud that the G-20 nations agreed to phase out $300 billion worth of fossil fuel subsidies. This will increase our energy security, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, combat the threat of climate change, and help create the new jobs and industries of the future.
In New York, we advanced the cause of peace and security. I joined the first meeting between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in nearly a year—a meeting that even nine months ago did not seem possible. And we resolved to move forward in the journey toward a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
We also took unprecedented steps to secure loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to seek a world without them. As the first U.S. president to ever chair a meeting of the United Nations Security Council, I was proud that the Council passed an historic and unanimous resolution embracing the comprehensive strategy I outlined this year in Prague.
To prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of terrorists, the Security Council endorsed our global effort to lock down all vulnerable material within four years. We reaffirmed the basic compact of the global nonproliferation regime: all nations have the right to peaceful nuclear energy; nations with nuclear weapons have the responsibility to move toward disarmament; and nations without them have the responsibility to forsake them.
The United States is meeting our responsibilities by pursuing an agreement with Russia to reduce our strategic warheads and launchers. And just as we meet our responsibilities, so must other nations, including Iran and North Korea.
Earlier this year, we imposed tough, new, sanctions on North Korea to stop their efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction. And we will continue to stand with our allies and partners to press North Korea to move in a new direction.
This week, we joined with the United Kingdom and France in presenting evidence that Iran has been building a secret nuclear facility to enrich uranium. This is a serious challenge to the global nonproliferation regime, and continues a disturbing pattern of Iranian evasion. That is why international negotiations with Iran scheduled for October 1st now take on added urgency.
My offer of a serious, meaningful dialogue to resolve this issue remains open. But Iran must now cooperate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and take action to demonstrate its peaceful intentions.
On this, the international community is more united than ever before. Yesterday, I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with our European allies in condemning Iran’s program. In our meetings and public statements, President Medvedev of Russia and I agreed that Iran must pursue a new course or face consequences. All of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and Germany, have made it clear that Iran must fulfill its responsibilities.
Iran’s leaders must now choose – they can live up to their responsibilities and achieve integration with the community of nations. Or they will face increased pressure and isolation, and deny opportunity to their own people.
These are the urgent threats of our time. And the United States is committed to a new chapter of international cooperation to meet them. This new chapter will not be written in one week or even one year. But we have begun. And for the American people and the people of the world, it will mean greater security and prosperity for years to come.

It's great to see a mature adult again at the helm in the White House, something that was sadly missing during the eight years before President Obama took the oath of office.

Me to Ed Schultz: Cantor, GOP deserve NO apology

I love how Ed Schultz isn't letting Republicans off the hook when it comes to their opposition to any healthcare reform.
The night before, the MSNBC host lit into Rep. Eric Cantor for his heartless remarks to a woman with a relative battling cancer. While Schultz noted the positive response he got, some Republicans took exception with one group demanding an apology from Schultz.
Schultz didn't give one, and he shouldn't. What Cantor's answer proved a sad fact about Republican governing philosophy-- when it comes to protecting the wallets of big corporations and contributors, Republicans couldn't be better, but when it comes to average folks, the Republicans, well, simply don't care.
Here's Ed's Friday segment:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

ACORN: Victim of GOP, Media Lies, Disinformation

Back when I was studying journalism years ago, I was taught that those who were spreading sensationalistic lies were practicing "yellow journalism" and would be subject to immediate firing.
That doesn't seem the case when it has come to the right-wing campaign against ACORN and those in the mainstream media that have peddled the blatent falsehoods without even an ounce of fact checking.
That is what Rachel Maddow so brilliantly reported on her program last night.
Check this out:

And also check out this well-done Daily Kos diary. Yes, like Rachel said at the end of her story, this report gets me really mad and causes me to demand the undoing of all damages that have been done against ACORN whether it be funding or otherwise and the investigation of the lies and how they have spread.
And journalistic outlets that have spread the disinformation without any real fact checking must begin immediate internal investigations and fire those accountable for producing and approving the reports.

Precisely who DOES John Cornyn represent?

John Cornyn is supposed to be representing all the citizens of Texas in the U.S. Senate, so what gives him the idea that the only folks that matter are for-profit insurance companies that write his campaign checks?
That was a big point raised today by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W. Va) in response to an amendment that Cornyn proposed to the healthcare legislation that the Senate Finance Committee is busy marking up.
Here's what the Huffington Post reported:

Reacting to an amendment proposed by Sen. Jon Cornyn (R-Texas) during the Senate Finance Committee's markup of health care reform legislation on Thursday, committee member Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) called his colleague a pawn of the health insurance industry.
"This is a very, very important amendment and it's a very, very bad amendment," said Rockefeller. "If there's anything which is clear, it's that the insurance industry is not running this markup, but is running certain people in this markup."

Here's a link to the clip of Rockefeller on the Cornyn proposal:
Cornyn isn't the only Republican on the Senate Finance Committee whose work on behalf of for-profit insurance companies has been getting called out. Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts brought the issue to the forefront during his comments:
Reported the Huffington Post:

"The thing I'm trying to point out," said Roberts, "is that we would have at least 72 hours for the people that the providers have hired to keep up with all of the legislation that we pass around here, and the regulations that we pass around here, to say, 'Hey, wait a minute. Have you considered this?' That's all I'm asking for."

Are Roberts and Cornyn so naive that folks won't pick up whose bidding they're doing (or not doing)?
Here's Roberts on his begging for time to help corporate lobbyists display:

It's time Republican gamesmanship be brought to an end so real healthcare reform can pass.