So.  What is a Republican to do?

Launch a fruitless counter-offensive, that will be hindered by the fact that, over time, Americans are becoming more knowledgeable about the subject of health care?

Launch their own campaign to pass an important bill in some other policy area of their choosing?

Join in health care talks, so at least when the bill passes they can try to claim they were involved, and not simply obstructing?

Keep quiet on policy issues, meanwhile starting their campaigns for re-election back in their home states and districts?

No. No. No. Definitely not.

They’ll do what they have found so effective in the past…they’ll try to distract.

AFGHANISTAN: After a brief hiatus, former Vice President Dick Cheney has again emerged…to question President Obama’s “war credentials” and to claim that we are “less safe,” despite all reports and studies to the contrary.  In his latest effort to both criticize and distract, Cheney accused the president of “dithering” and of hurting the troops while helping the enemy: “Make no mistake. Signals of indecision out of Washington hurt our allies and embolden our adversaries.“  Perhaps the former veep is simply unfamiliar and uncomfortable with gathering information from generals and experts, in an attempt to make good decisions based on a thorough understanding of the situation, instead of making quick decisions based only on gut feelings and prayer.  Who better to respond to Cheney’s claims than National Security Network Senior Adviser Gen. Paul Eaton (Ret.): “The record is clear: Dick Cheney and the Bush administration were incompetent war fighters. They ignored Afghanistan for 7 years with a crude approach to counter-insurgency warfare best illustrated by: 1. Deny it.  2.  Ignore it. 3. Bomb it. While our intelligence agencies called the region the greatest threat to America, the Bush White House under-resourced our military efforts, shifted attention to Iraq, and failed to bring to justice the masterminds of September 11.  The only time Cheney and his cabal of foreign policy ‘experts’ have anything to say is when they feel compelled to protect this failed legacy. While President Obama is tasked with cleaning up the considerable mess they left behind, they continue to defend torture or rewrite a legacy of indifference on Afghanistan. Simply put, Mr. Cheney sees history throughout extremely myopic and partisan eyes.“  Cheney’s statements also resulted in a rather entertaining exchange between MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell and Joe Scarborough:

THE ECONOMY: When they’re not claiming that the stimulus has failed, while simultaneously taking credit for its successes (latest example in a growing trend here, courtesy of Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.)), Republicans are either criticizing Obama for failing to impose strict new regulations on banks and Wall Street…or they are criticizing Obama’s efforts to impose strict new regulations on banks and Wall Street.  Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) has proposed an amendment to the House Financial Services Committee’s new Consumer Protection bill…that would allow federal bank regulators (who many have claimed are a bit too friendly with the Wall Street institutions) to “veto” any of the protections in the bill if they thought the protections might threaten the “safety and soundness” of the financial institutions.  Translated into normal people-speak: Hensarling thinks that risky schemes, if they provide a bank/institution’s a lot of money, should be allowed…customer protection be damned.  Hensarling said: “The safety and soundness of the system, taxpayer protection, ought to trump the ability to ban financial products. And let’s face it, I understand the chairman said that this new CFPA would not have the ability to set goals, but if you control the product mix, if you can ban products, if you can modify their terms, of what some have estimated could be as much as 10 to 15 percent of our economy, then yes, I conclude you can adversely impact the safety and soundness of these institutions.”  Again…this distraction is not likely to be successful: the American people are less likely to support a legislator saying we ought to protect banks’ ability to make profit at our expense…and more likely to support a president who is about to bail out small businesses, and to restrict the salaries and compensation of bailed-out CEO’s.

IMMIGRATION: When in doubt, the GOP loves to fall back on an old standard: xenophobia.  It’s perhaps odd that there are some within the Republican Party (hint: her name rhymes with Lishelle Mockman) claiming that the U.S. Census is some insidious attempt for President Obama to gather all of your precious personal data…and there are other Republicans, like Senator David Vitter (R-LA) and Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT), who now want the Census to ask EVEN MORE questions.  Specifically…they want to add questions regarding citizenship and legal residency status.  Opponents claim that this would dramatically reduce participation in the Census…and that THAT is perhaps the true goal of the amendment’s proponents.  Perhaps the GOP thinks that because Obama has taken few steps to address immigration issues, that the issue is ripe for creating distraction and dissent…they are neglecting, of course, that all polls show that “immigration” is pretty low on a lot of Americans’ lists of “political priority,” and that current studies show that the recession has resulted in fewer and fewer people even trying to come into our country.  It’s also ironic…that the GOP would choose Hispanic Heritage Month, when the media is flooded with positive stories about America’s Latino community and their contributions to our country, as the right time to try to play off of some people’s bigotry towards Hispanics.

RANDOM WINGNUTTERY: Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) thought it wise to insert himself into the merry little war between the White House and FOX News.  For those who’ve not been following this story, it began with a statement from a White House advisor, insisting that FOX News contained no actual “news” and was instead serving as a media outlet for GOP talking points.  This was, of course, an unnecessary point to make, seeing as most people already know this to be true about FOX…and those who don’t, will never accept it as true because they never watch anything EXCEPT FOX.  The gauntlet having been thrown, the debate has resulted in a series of back-and-forth retorts amount to little more that “Yuh-huh!” and “Nuh-uh!“  Anyone with any political savvy or simple good sense would know not to become embroiled in such a fray….enter Senator Alexander.  From the Senate floor, Alexander cautioned the President against forming some sort of “enemies list” containing the names of political opponents, and organizations like FOX News.  Of course…there is absolutely no evidence that the President has any such list, nor that he is intending to formulate such a list…which is why many, such as Nashville journalist and blogger Jeff Woods, did not take long to criticize Alexander’s “advice” to the President.  Instead of rushing to FOX’s defense, Lamar may want to do what the rest of his party is doing…distancing themselves from the network, and other rabidly conservative outlets.  Here’s Lamar’s speech, just for laughs:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y1FU2WGDrM

It’s easy to see why these tactics will prove less effective than in times past:  America’s attention right now is squarely on health care…and the GOP is partly responsible for that. In stirring up the right to believe that the health care issue is a “struggle to save America from communism/fascism/tyranny“…in scaring seniors into believing that “the government is trying to kill you“…in telling recession-weary Americans that regulating/reforming insurance companies will spell “financial doom” for small businesses and families…the Republican Party has convinced the American people of something that Democrats also wished for our citizens to realize:  our nation’s health care system’s problems are INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT.  By not listening to the American people, and not realizing that the overwhelming majority of people think health care reform is absolutely necessary and needs to happen RIGHT NOW, Republicans don’t seem to realize that we are locked into this one, particular battle until it is concluded…and little else will draw our attention away.

Only four categories this week…but lots of links, so let’s get started…

POLITICIANS BEHAVING BADLY:

• We’ve all been witness to the GOP’s recent “enlightenment” regarding the nation’s debt.  For the last eight years, while they held the reins of Congress, the rampant government spending was “absolutely necessary.”  Now: It’s the equivalent of kicking our grandchildren in the teeth.  Or, as Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) recently put it, it’s the equivalent of “waterboarding” them.  Coburn said, “We’re going to waterboard them.  We’re going to flood them with debt.“  Senator Coburn was referring to a program funding the study of political science, which Coburn claims is not necessary…since people can learn all that they need to know about politics from CABLE NEWS.  It’s suddenly quite obvious where HE learned most of what HE knows about it…
• It’s an established fact that Republicans have had some difficulty adjusting to the “internet age“…perhaps best displayed by the fact that most of them don’t seem to realize that if they say something that directly contradicts what they said one year ago, the clip of both statements will be on YouTube before the day is out.  Want to see a slideshow of the “Top Nine Republican Internet Fails?”  Here you go…
• The number one problem with allying oneself with a minority of loud, activist, ignorant, and unreasonable people…is that you suddenly lose the support of the much larger body of normal, moderate, sane folks.  Want to see what happens if you try to win the moderate people back by behaving like a reasonable human being, open to compromise and the good ideas of others?  Watch here as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) finds out what happens when the lunatics figure out that you are not really one of them:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP7nCyqMTsE

• Liz Cheney is not quite done fighting her father’s battles…no matter how many times she appears on discussion panels and is identified as having the foreign policy knowledge of a teenager.  Now she has formed the “Keep America Safe” organization, whose mission statement claims to support “an unapologetic approach to fighting terrorism around the world, for victory in the wars this country fights, for democracy and human rights, and for a strong American military that is needed in the dangerous world in which we live.“  Ms. Cheney…first of all, even if we look only at the fact that planes have not crashed into buildings this year, President Obama ALREADY has a better track record than your father had, in terms of keeping the country safe.  Secondly, Obama has succeeded in gaining international allies in the struggle against terrorists…allies that your father helped to alienate.  And third, well, I think the DNC put it best in their response: “Last fall, the American people overwhelmingly rejected a radical foreign policy authored by Dick Cheney that alienated our allies, emboldened our enemies, depleted our resources, distracted our focus and made the nation less secure. The Cheneys lost that debate and their approach was deemed a failure. The Cheneys can continue to focus on securing their sullied legacy if they want to. But, the President will continue to focus on securing the country.“  Exactly.
• Retaining his crown as “King of the Bizarre Analogy,” RNC Chariman Michael Steele said in a recent FOX interview that he feels like…well…health care reform is a “train,” and President Obama is the conductor, and Obama is trying to get all the Republicans to get on board, and Steele sees himself as a “cow on the tracks.“  Ok, sure.
• I mentioned in a previous post, one way that you know that the GOP is focused on simply OPPOSING EVERYTHING is when a number of GOP legislators vote against Senator Franken’s first bill:  a bill protecting rape victims, working for companies with government contracts.  Here’s Jon Stewart, who points out what should be an obvious truth: “If, to protect Halliburton, you have to side against rape victims, you might want to rethink your allegiances.“

• It recently came to light, in part because of the work done by the National Women’s Law Center, that in eight states, insurance companies can and do consider being the victim of spousal abuse a “pre-existing condition” that allows them to deny coverage.  State and Federal representatives from most of the eight states expressed immediate embarrassment and outrage over the situation, and most have already taken steps to remedy the matter. But not Senator Richard Burr (R-N.C.).  When the president of the National Women’s Law Center, Marcia Greenberger, appeared before a Senate committee to discuss the issue, Burr thought it appropriate to repeatedly interrupt and otherwise disrespect her:

Greenberger:  If I could get back to your question about the specific examples: they manifest themselves in many different ways. For example, if a woman ends up in an emergency room with cuts, bruises, broken arms, black eyes, typical injuries that result from domestic violence, we know of instances where women are being denied insurance coverage and neither the insurance company…

Burr: My question…

Greenberger: …doesn’t view that…

Burr: …is specifically about North Carolina…

Greenberger: …and I’m trying to answer that…

Burr: …and the insurance commissioner tells me we haven’t had a case. We haven’t had anybody…

Greenberger: Well, I’m trying to explain. First, I think it’s great that he is now explicitly having a rule, which as our report pointed out, didn’t exist before. So that’s really excellent, because of the way insurance companies deal with this issue in particular. They will often deny the coverage of victims and survivors of domestic violence without saying that that’s the reason…

Burr: …I’m just going by your report…

Greenberger: You asked the question about did we follow up and we did.

Burr: Well, I found more information in my one call to North Carolina than I think your report did.

• Again? Representative Bill Otto (R-Kansas) has obviously not been paying attention.  First he puts a video on YouTube titled “Redneck Rap” where he raps (and badly) his various criticisms of President Obama, and about eating opossum, which he calls “the other dark meat.“  This obviously drew allegations of racism (at a minimum it is childish, insensitive, and inane), and eventually the clip was removed from the site.  And now…Otto says he’s going to repost the video, because it was his adult daughters who took the video down, and also because he fears that “People are going to think that this was done by people to shut me up.  I’m getting hate e-mails from Maryland to California, but, hey, that’s part of the game.“  Mr. Otto:  It’s not a game, it’s civil service and YOU are an elected official, jackass.  Next time, listen to your daughters…and try to learn from the lessons of other, like the OTHER Kansas legislator who just recently got in a heap of trouble for saying that the GOP is looking for a “great white hope” to defeat Obama.

THE MEDIA -- PUNDITS, HACKS, AND OTHER INVETERATE LIARS:

• Want the “short version” of the merry war between the White House and FOX News?  Here goes…

WHITE HOUSE: FOX News serves as the propaganda arm of the Republican Party.

BILL O’REILLY: Nuh uh…

MEDIA MATTERS: Umm…it’s pretty obvious, guys…

GLENN BECK: The administration is like the Nazis…and we’re the Jews!

NEW STUDY: Not only is it true, but we found something interesting:  Most of the anti-Obama forces aren’t particularly racist…the only thing they have in common is they all watch FOX News, and because of this…they believe some pretty outlandish sh-t.

• It’s fun picking on CNN’s inability to both perform research and report news.  It’s especially fun…if you’re Jon Stewart of The Daily Show:

• Remember the rather bizarre reactions from some members of the media when Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize?  Well, Rachel Maddow thinks it can all be explained by “Obama Derangement Syndrome:“

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMJuEOaF84o

THE HEALTH CARE CARNIVAL OF DESPAIR:

• By now you’ve heard that the Senate Finance Committee managed to pass the “Baucus Bill.“  You also heard that Republican Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) voted along with the Democrats to send the bill on.  And recently, it may have come to your attention that another Maine Republican, Senator Susan Collins, may also lend her support for the bill.  Well, MoveOn.org, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the AFL-CIO, and the Communications Workers of America would like to remind you:  it’s a CRAPPY bill, that would make a mountain of money for the insurance companies, would change little in the way they do business, and would NOT serve to get all of America’s uninsured the health care coverage that they need.  In fact…any OTHER House and Senate version might just be a better choice.
• Thank you, Captain Obvious: The most ridiculously unnecessary headline in health care reform news comes courtesy of The Washington Post:  “Health Insurers Emerge as Obama’s Top Foe in Reform Effort.” That’s right….”emerging“…as if it weren’t always the case.
• Think only our elected officials are in the pocket of the health insurance industry…but our stalwart media will be there to keep us informed of the truth regarding the health care debate.  Maybe not. CNN contributor, Alex Castellanos…has been revealed to be connected at the hip with America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), the monolithic insurance lobby currently (and ferociously) campaigning to kill reform legislation.
• You don’t generally hear about “progressive faith groups,” but the American Values Network aims to change that.  They are currently releasing ads…emphasizing the moral and religious arguments supporting heath care reform.  It’s not a difficult argument to make, and represents one of the best examples of “fighting fire with fire” that we have seen in a long time.
• Is it obvious that former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has a new book out?  Not only has he been making the usual talk show rounds, but he also managed to inject a little sanity into the health care debate.  Of right-wing assertions that the Obama plan represents “socialized medicine” and warrants comparisons to Britain, Canada, and France, Frist said on C-SPAN, “What the Obama administration is doing is not socialized medicine.  Socialized medicine is where the government owns the hospitals, owns the doctors, and decides how people get paid.“  Yes…thank you…finally…is everybody listening?

MISCELLANY:

• In Lakeville, Massachusetts, someone carved a swastika and the word “Obama” into a golf course green.  The course manager believes that someone used either a cleated golf shoe or some other tool to perform the vandalism.  Strange…one would certainly think that America’s golfers have had some extra time to get used to the idea of having a very popular, half African-American leader.
• NEW HERO: Dylan Ratigan hosts the “Morning Meeting” show on MSNBC, and lately has shown to be a tough, bright host…who knows how to play hardball.  In a recent interview with Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Ratigan responded to Donohue’s attempts to claim that free, unfettered enterprise has the solutions to all problems by saying, “unless the government and people like you that lobby to the exemptions that allow banks to [speculate with taxpayer money] get out of the way, we will never have fair play again in this country and we’ll have job creation by virtue of taxpayer theft, which is ultimately destructive, and I would argue, treasonous to this country.“  When Donohue complained that, in essence, it’s harder to spread economic propaganda when the host asks hard questions, Ratigan responded, “Yes, it is.  Especially when you talk nonsense.“
• Oh no they didn’t: The White House decided to take a play out of the “Sarah Palin Media Strategy” book, when confronted with the mounting criticism in the blogosphere regarding the administration’s failure to achieve civil rights goals for gay citizens.  NBC White House Correspondent John Harwood reported, “For a sign of how seriously the White House does or doesn’t take this opposition, one adviser told me today those bloggers need to take off their pajamas, get dressed and realize that governing a closely-divided country is complicated and difficult.“  Caaaarefullll.  Remember the role bloggers played getting Obama into the White House?  UPDATE: The White House would like to disavow those comments…never happened…nothing to see here.

Now what could we possibly add to all that?  As CNN would say, we’ll “leave it there” for now…and see you back here on Monday.