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LOUISVILLE /JEFFERSON COUNTY
DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEWSLETTER
Week of September 26, 2008
The link to this electronic newsletter is being e-mailed to 6,500+
Jefferson County Democrats
We hope you will forward the link to your own e-mail list.
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CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT LIST OF EVENTS
Updated on a regular basis
Bulletin Board:
- The Louisville/Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee meets the 4th Wednesday of every month at 5:00 pm at Democratic Headquarters,
- 640 Barret Avenue .
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- MCCAIN'S PLAN TO DEREGULATE HEALTH CARE:
- McCain's proposal to allow health insurance companies to sell policies across state lines would allow insurers, like the banks before them, to ignore consumer protections and sell bare-bones policies with high out-of-pocket expenses. In fact, by creating a deregulated national marketplace in which insurers no longer have to comply with rules that require they provide cancer screenings, maternity care, mammograms, and emergency services, or abide by rules that "limit the rates that can be charged to higher-cost consumers and that limit who can be excluded for a health plan," insurance companies could sell plans across the country that lack even the most basic consumer protections. Fewer requirements would translate into cheaper but less comprehensive policies which would pull heathier individuals out of larger insurance pools. A recent analysis of McCain's health care proposal from the Center for American Progress Action Fund points out that as healthy individuals vie for cheaper policies across state lines, states with more stringent consumer protections would be left with sicker and more expensive patients, increasing health care costs across the board. A study published in Health Affairs predicts that in McCain's deregulated insurance marketplace, insurance providers would have an incentive to "develop 'bare-bones' insurance policies…however, for most uninsured families, the benefits of such policies in terms of protection from financial risk and access to medical care would likely be very small and take-up would be much lower than if plans were more generous." More alarmingly, the McCain plan could potentially erode solvency requirements -- which vary between states -- that ensure that insurance companies will be able to meet all of their promises to pay medical bills. As the Washington Post's Bob Herbert observed, "you would think that with some of the most venerable houses on Wall Street crumbling like sand castles right before our eyes, we'd be a little wary about spreading this toxic formula even further into the health care system."
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- MCCAIN'S DEREGULATION HYPOCRISY: On some level, McCain recognizes the consequences of deregulation and limited oversight. In fact, the senator has attributed the current financial crisis to "failed regulation, reckless management, and a casino culture on Wall Street," blaming regulators for "falling asleep at the switch" and proposing greater government regulation and more oversight of the Bush administration's $700 billion bail-out plan." Under my reforms, the American people will be protected by comprehensive regulations that will apply the rules and enforce them in full,'' McCain promised. Unfortunately, the senator is not applying the same standards to his health care plan. According to CQ HealthBeat, McCain campaign will not "make changes to their health care proposals in response to the current economic downturn." Without changes, American families can expect to face the same financial crisis America's biggest investment firms. But unfortunately, when American families fall into financial crisis, the American government won't be there to bail them out.
LaBruzzo: Sterilization plan fights poverty
Tying poor women's tubes could help taxpayers, legislator saysWorried that welfare costs are rising as the number of taxpayers declines, state Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, said Tuesday he is studying a plan to pay poor women $1,000 to have their Fallopian tubes tied.
"We're on a train headed to the future and there's a bridge out," LaBruzzo said of what he suspects are dangerous demographic trends. "And nobody wants to talk about it."
LaBruzzo said he worries that people receiving government aid such as food stamps and publicly subsidized housing are reproducing at a faster rate than more affluent, better-educated people who presumably pay more tax revenue to the government. He said he is gathering statistics now. CONTINUE READING
- MCCAIN'S DEREGULATION HYPOCRISY: On some level, McCain recognizes the consequences of deregulation and limited oversight. In fact, the senator has attributed the current financial crisis to "failed regulation, reckless management, and a casino culture on Wall Street," blaming regulators for "falling asleep at the switch" and proposing greater government regulation and more oversight of the Bush administration's $700 billion bail-out plan." Under my reforms, the American people will be protected by comprehensive regulations that will apply the rules and enforce them in full,'' McCain promised. Unfortunately, the senator is not applying the same standards to his health care plan. According to CQ HealthBeat, McCain campaign will not "make changes to their health care proposals in response to the current economic downturn." Without changes, American families can expect to face the same financial crisis America's biggest investment firms. But unfortunately, when American families fall into financial crisis, the American government won't be there to bail them out.
State by State: Get the Facts on the Election by Seth Michaels
It’s exactly six weeks until Election Day, but in many states, voting is already under way.
More and more states are offering absentee voting
and early voting this year. In 13 states, absentee ballots a
re already available. Most states don’t require
an excuse for using absentee ballots or early voting. And registration
deadlines are approaching quickly—for 23 states, the registration deadline
falls from Oct. 4-7, within two weeks of today.
At Working Families Vote 2008, our state-by-state section includes vital voting information for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. You can register to vote, learn more about the AFL-CIO’s efforts in your state and find out the key dates for absentee voting, early voting and voter registration. Nationally, the AFL-CIO is working to elect Sen. Barack Obama, while many state federations have endorsed candidates in critical races for Senate, House and gubernatorial seats.
There are several ways in which vote by mail is beneficial. Voting by mail increases participation because voters have added flexibility that going to the polls on Election Day does not provide. It also reduces the impact of last minute negative campaigning because voters have their ballots starting Oct. 7, almost a full month before the election.
With competitive contests for the White House, Congress and statewide offices in many states, it’s more important than ever to ensure that everyone gets a chance to cast their vote and that everyone’s vote counts. The AFL-CIO has launched the My Vote, My Right campaign to help educate voters and protect them from potential problems with voting.
No matter where you are, it’s critical to get informed, get involved and vote this year. Check out our state-by-state pages for more information. With early and no-fault absentee voting in many states, it’s easier than ever to cast your vote.
Election Day officially is Nov. 4, but voting already is under way in many states and voter registration deadlines are fast approaching. The AFL-CIO’s Working Families Vote 2008 website includes state-by-state information on early and absentee voting, voter registration—including online registration—and other vital election information for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Check it out here
Conservatives Were For Deregulation Before They Were Against It
Six months ago, the U.S. housing and global credit crises seemed manageable to the Bush administration. So manageable, in fact, that U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson unveiled a widely discussed blueprint for U.S. financial regulatory reform that called for less supervision of Wall Street by the Securities and Exchange Commission, more of the same lax supervision of the financial derivative products at the heart of today’s global market meltdown by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and much more risk to taxpayers to be taken on board courtesy of expanded powers for the Federal Reserve.
Back then, Mr. Paulson said in a speech that the plan detailed the administration’s desire to ease financial regulation. Bush administration spokeswoman Dana Perino seems to have forgotten the details in the plan when she told reporters yesterday that the administration “had a regulatory blueprint for them to follow, and they declined not to”—the “they” being Congress.
Perino was responding to a question from a reporter about whether the ultimate responsibility for today’s massive financial meltdown rests with the deregulatory philosophy of the Bush Administration and Congress, under the leadership of conservatives for more than a decade until two years ago. She gamely tried to deflect the question by blaming the regulators—as if these officials were not proposed by conservatives and in large part confirmed overwhelmingly by a conservative Congress that wanted to know they would do as little supervisory work as possible.
Community Organizers Empower People. So Should Presidents by Tula Connell
Sarah Palin’s denigration of community organizers is the domestic equivalent of her getting a passport for the first time in her 40s—the first demonstrates how out of touch she is with mainstream America, just as the second highlights her unfitness for understanding the global world we live in.
Attempting to dismiss Sen. Barack Obama’s work as a community organizer in Chicago, Palin stated at the Republican National Convention:
"Being
a mayor is kinda like being a community organizer, only you have actual
responsibilities."
What she didn’t count on—because she’s too narrow minded to have grasped it—is that she didn’t just insult Obama. She attacked the integrity of community organizers across the nation. And they’re speaking out. Letters to the editor and op-ed pieces protesting Palin’s remarks in print and online forums from Utah to Florida attest to the difficulties and challenges of community organizing. They also show Palin hit a chord among many people—but not the one she hoped.
I talked with Rick Powell the other night at our phone banks here at the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C. (We’re phoning union members every day, every evening and every weekend, telling them why we support Obama. If you’re in D.C., stop by anytime to make some calls.)
Back in the late 1960s when he was in college in Greensboro, N.C., Powell volunteered as a community organizer, helping low-income tenants join together to improve their conditions. As part of the Greensboro Association for Poor People, Powell helped public housing tenants to create food co-ops so they could save money. He and other volunteers created a tenant committee to fight a slum landlord who wanted to increase rents without making critical improvements, like fixing plumbing or holes in ceilings. His work empowered the residents to challenge the status quo. Their challenge ultimately resulted in local and state legislation that gave some protection to tenants living in residences with massive housing code violations.
The people Powell organized were not aware they had rights—they thought they were powerless. But all that changed after they were organized, Powell says.
We empowered a segment of the population of Greensboro, N.C., that didn’t know they had any rights as tenants. Usually folks who go through that experience, you’re never able to intimidate them again. They are no longer victims and they will never be victims again in their lives.
Powell, now the political and legislative coordinator for the Metropolitan Washington Council, exemplifies real leadership.
In contrast, trashing community organizing is an expedient way out of real leadership responsibilities for the GOP. John Manrique at the Miami Sun-Sentinel hits it on the head when he writes:
By conveniently supporting individual and localized leadership on tough issues such as poverty, homelessness and social inequality, con-reformers like Gov. Palin can shirk responsibility and avoid the difficulties of working toward solutions under a guise of eliminating “big government interference.” So sidestepping the issues with lip service, a laugh and condescending kick to the ribs of community organizers who rise each day to make a difference, Palin and company say, “You’re on your own!”
But the issue is much broader than the power-hungry top politicos. Manrique continues:
While the zingers and one-liners may have been crowd-pleasers, the real joke is what such comments reveal about today’s brand of Republican “compassionate conservatism.”
What does that, and the roaring applause it received, say about the value Palin and Republican leaders have for the tens of thousands of everyday Americans who selflessly work to support their neighbors, improve our communities and put country first? It indicates to me who the real elitists are, and how much their party truly “cares” for those who don’t have the word “executive” in their job title.
Deepak Bhargava at the Center for Community Change sums up why the skills and vision of community organizers are those that should inform any U.S. president.
Any president would do well to adhere to the community values, often rooted in religious faith, that inspire organizers. They believe that problems are best solved through cooperation, that every person is part of the American family and that no individual can do well while others are suffering. A president familiar with community organizing would seek out diverse views to formulate policy rooted in the realities of ordinary life. He would know how to build coalitions to overcome the entrenched interests that block progress.
Most important, a president with community organizing skills might engage ordinary Americans in the practice of democracy every day—not just at election time.
Engaging everyday Americans in the political process—sounds familiar. Like maybe one of the main reasons the founders of this nation declared independence?
Comments:
McCain-Palin? 10 Reasons to Count Me Out
For advocates of improvements in health care, retirement security, and such fairness issues as pay equity, there’s a lot at stake in the November election.
Amidst the worst economic crisis in this nation since the 1930s, the prospect of a John McCain-Sarah Palin administration hardly offers much confidence for the future. Here’s 10 reasons why:
1. Bye-bye employer health benefits.
McCain wants to move people who get health benefits on the job from group employer coverage to the individual private market. He’d get there by taxing current health care benefits. The steep rise in taxes would prompt many younger, healthier employees to give up their coverage. Left with the least healthy, and thus most expensive workers—which wrecks any notion of a risk pool—the current trickle of employers dropping health benefits would become an avalanche. The Dallas Morning News cites analysts warning it could “lead to the death of company-provided health plans.”
2. Your rapidly shrinking insurance coverage.
To supposedly offset the tax increase, McCain is offering a tax credit to buy private insurance. But the credit is less than half the present national average for family premiums not counting deductibles, co-pays, doctor’s fees, and the 101 other ways the health care industry finds to extract money out of your pocket. The tax credit is also not indexed to inflation, nor does McCain propose to put any limits on how much insurers can charge. Look for even more people to buy junk insurance plans with few covered services that are too expensive to ever use.
3. Getting rid of those pesky consumer protections.
McCain wants to allow insurers to evade all existing state minimum standards on what health services insurance companies must cover. In California alone, for example, that would mean an end to such basic requirements that McCain probably considers frills, as independent medical review of care denials, minimum hospital stays for new moms, access to colorectal, cervical cancer, and prostrate cancer screenings, breast reconstruction, diabetic supplies, direct access to an OB/GYN, and hospice care.
4. What problem of the uninsured?
To conservative health care economists, like John Goodman, a McCain adviser, the problem is apparently not that people don’t have health coverage, it’s the public embarrassment of those unseemly high numbers. “The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American as uninsured,” Goodman told The Dallas Morning News.
They’re really not uninsured, they can always go to the ER for care, said Goodman, ignoring what happens to people’s health when they have to wait to get emergency care. Though the McCain camp tried to distance themselves from the comment, it’s standard fare for Republicans; Goodman was virtually channeling President Bush who used nearly identical words a year ago….
While we’re at it, one blogger recently wrote, “Maybe the way to solve our vexing cancer problem is to just stop calling it cancer.”
5. Social What Security.
McCain has called the financing system of Social Security “a disgrace,” even though that is the way it operated for 80 years, and now he wants to encourage young people to divert their Social Security payments into risky Wall Street investments (meet Lehman Brothers), undermining the financial foundation of our national retirement program. He also says “all options” for Social Security cuts are on the table, including raising the retirement age and cutting benefits. And, of course, he was on board with the Bush privatization fiasco. Good thing we still have those stable and secure 401k plans.
6. Medicare’s promise, slip sliding away.
McCain was absent on the vote to repeal the Bush administration ban on government use of its bulk purchasing power to negotiate lower prices from drug companies for Medicare recipients. He’s been silent on the donut hole, under which seniors must pay 100 percent of the next $3,000 in drug costs after Medicare pays 75 percent of cost for the first $2,700, and mum on insurance industry price gouging in the Medicare Advantage program in which payments to private plans average 113 percent of the cost of care for comparable seniors in regular Medicare.
7. The “fundamentals of our economy are strong,” or maybe not.
On the day Wall Street was imploding Sept. 15, McCain said, “The fundamentals of our economy are strong.” It’s a safe bet the 59 percent of Americans who told pollsters in June they are having a “serious” financial problem struggling with medical bills, mortgage payments, food and gas bills, don’t share that sunny optimism. McCain also recently said, “It’s easy for me to go to Washington and frankly, be somewhat divorced from the day-to-day challenges people have.” That seems evident.
8. What workplace discrimination?
McCain opposes two significant bills in Congress, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Paycheck Fairness Act, intended to end the disparity in pay between men and women. The Ledbetter bill is named for the woman who sued Goodyear Tire & Rubber for paying her less than male co-workers. She won a discrimination lawsuit. Then the case went to the Supreme Court, where it was, surprise, overturned on a technicality, which brings to mind…
9. If you like the Scalia-Thomas-Roberts-Alito court, just wait.
Quizzed about which Supreme Court judges he would not have appointed, McCain came up with the names of the four justices who have been most sympathetic to issues like workplace protections, women’s rights, and civil rights. In addition to the Ledbetter case, there have been numerous decisions by the present court intended to throw working people under the bus. At least two of the judges McCain finds most distasteful are likely to retire during the next administration.
10. How about that Vice President?
Oh, but Palin offers some reassurance, right. Well, maybe not. On health care, her most visible stance has been to rail against regulation and push to repeal the state’s certificate of need program, which is intended to protect community medical centers from being financially undercut by more profitable businesses such as boutique clinics and high-end surgery centers.
A Palin-McCain administration, as she puts it, might look a lot like the rest of her record in office and her performance on the campaign trail. Her less than forthright statements about earmarks and that infamous Bridge to Nowhere. Her heavy handed use of state executive powers for a personal vendetta. And, the decision of Wasilla, Ala., during Palin’s tenure as mayor, to charge victims of sexual assault for evidence-gathering medical exams.
Palin may provide gender balance in a McCain administration but looks to be in full lockstep with the philosophical and economic train wreck of the past eight years.
A McCain-Palin administration would likely to perpetuate that dismal record. If that’s an advance for women or men, count me out.
DAILY GRILL
"[M]ore and better and earlier communication between us [Congress and the
White House] is always a better thing." -- White House Press Secretary Dana
Perino,
9/18/08
VERSUS
"House Minority Leader John Boehner said his conference was forced to cancel
a meeting Thursday morning after the administration 'refused' to send over a
representative to brief House Republicans on the federal government's
response to the latest financial turmoil." -- Politico,
9/18/08
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"Once a Bushie, always a Bushie." -- White House Press Secretary Dana
Perino,
12/9/07
VERSUS
"I don't think you can take your experience in Washington working with the
Bush administration and emphasize that on your resumé." -- Former Bush
adviser Matthew Dowd,
9/19/08
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"Our institutions, our banks and investment banks, are strong." --
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, 3/08
VERSUS
"The events leading us here began many years ago, starting with bad lending
practices by banks and financial institutions, and by borrowers taking out
mortgages they couldn't afford." -- Paulson,
9/23/08
Quotes of the Day
Here's
John McCain (R)
one year ago:
"Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."
Recent Senate Votes
National Defense Authorization Act - Vote Passed (88-8, 4 Not
Voting)
The Senate passed this bill that authorizes defense spending, including a
3.9% pay raise for those serving in the military.
Sen. Mitch McConnell voted YES
Sen. Jim Bunning voted YES
Recent House Votes
Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act -
Vote Passed (236-189, 9 Not Voting)
The House passed this bill that seeks to reduce foreign oil dependence and
enhance national security through clean and renewable alternative
technologies.
Rep. Ron Lewis voted NO
Rep. John Yarmuth voted YES
National Capital Security and Safety Act - Vote Passed
(266-152, 1 Present, 14 Not Voting)
The House passed this bill to require the District of Columbia Council to
widen the rights of gun ownership to its residents.
Rep. Ron Lewis voted YES
Rep. John Yarmuth voted NO
Commodity Markets Transparency and Accountability Act - Vote
Passed (283-133, 17 Not Voting)
The House passed a bill requiring the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
to subject the overseas trading of US energy and agricultural commodities to
the same regulations and reporting requirements which domestic trades are
subjected.
Rep. Ron Lewis voted YES
Rep. John Yarmuth voted YES
No Child Left Inside Act of 2008 - Vote Passed (293-109, 31
Not Voting)
This bill to improve environmental education programs passed the House on
Thursday.
Rep. Ron Lewis voted NO
Rep. John Yarmuth voted YES
HUMOR
Last week, MSNBC debuted a new prime-time political show hosted by Rachel
Maddow, a progressive radio host on Air America. The debut attracted more
viewers
than both Larry King and Glenn Beck's programs, on CNN and CNN Headline
News, respectively. After one week on air, Maddow's was
MSNBC's highest-rated show on Tuesday, with Keith Olbermann's Countdown
in second place. When Olbermann announced Maddow's new show last month on
the progressive blog Daily Kos, he wrote to its readers, "Yes,
you had something to do with it." Maddow's show is one of the
few success stories of the efforts by progressives to see more progressive
voices on TV. In fact, the day before Maddow's debut, MSNBC
announced it was pulling Olbermann and Chris Matthews from its election
coverage -- a move the New York Times said was a "direct result of tensions
associated with the channel's perceived shift to the political left."
Despite Olbermann and Maddow's rating successes, MSNBC and the other
networks still don't seem to be getting the message: Americans want to hear
progressive voices on television.
ANTI-WAR VOICES SHUT OUT: After 9/11,
and particularly in the lead-up to the Iraq war, news programs purged their
ranks of several voices seen as remotely hesitant about President Bush's
foreign policy. After political commenter Bill Maher criticized the war in
Afghanistan, "he was quickly alerted that he had gone beyond the bounds of
acceptable discourse --
even though that's his job. (Remember, his show is called 'Politically
Incorrect.')," David Talbot at Salon.com noted. In fact, then-White House
press secretary Ari Fleischer declared ominously, "Americans need to watch
what they say, watch what they do, and this is not a time for remarks like
that; there never is." At MSNBC, progressive host Phil Donahue was fired in
February 2003 for his anti-war views, despite the fact that his show was the
network's highest-rated program. An internal NBC memo said Donahue presented
a "difficult
public face for NBC in a time of war. ... He seems to delight in
presenting guests who are anti-war, anti-Bush and skeptical of the
administration's motives." The memo outlined a possible nightmare scenario
in which the show would become "a home for the liberal antiwar agenda at the
same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity."
The same week Donahue was fired, the network brought on Jesse Ventura and
right-wing shock jock Michael Savage.
ECONOMY -- BUSH TAX CUTS LOOK EVEN MORE RECKLESS IN LIGHT OF FEDERAL
BAILOUTS: On Tuesday evening, the Federal Reserve announced that it
would
lend troubled insurer AIG $85 billion in return for a 79.9 percent stake
in the company. This move comes on the heels of the bailouts of
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and just months after
the bailout of Bear Stearns. CNBC has put the total tab for the recent
government rescues by the Fed and the Treasury Department at
$900 billion. The rescues, while necessary to prevent a wider financial
meltdown, will cause the already
near-record federal deficit of $407 billion to explode. Before the
bailouts, the projected federal deficit for 2009 was
$546 billion. When President George Bush came to office eight years ago,
it was projected that America would have a
budget surplus next year of $710 billion. So what happened? As an
analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows,
42 percent of the "fiscal deterioration" was due to the Bush tax cuts
enacted in 2001 and 2003. For FY2009, roughly $1 trillion of the $1.3
trillion deterioration in the nation's fiscal finances stems from policy
actions. Tax cuts
account for 42 percent of this $1 trillion deterioration.
IRAQ -- EX-IRAQI INVESTIGATOR REPORTS $13
BILLIION IN U.S. TAXPAYER MONEY WASTED OR STOLEN: The Washington Post
reports that yesterday, a former Iraqi official estimated yesterday that
"more than
$13 billion meant for reconstruction projects in Iraq was wasted or
stolen through elaborate fraud schemes." Salam Adhoob, a former chief
investigator for Iraq's Commission on Public Integrity, told the Senate that
an Iraqi auditing bureau "could not properly account for" the money. In one
example, "Iraqi Defense Ministry officials helped set up two front companies
that were to buy airplanes, armored vehicles, guns and other equipment with
$1.7 billion in U.S. funds. The companies were paid, but in some cases they
delivered only 'a small percentage' of the equipment that had been
ordered." Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), who has
led the charge in uncovering
waste, fraud, and abuse in Iraq, said that "taxpayers have been
bled dry with massive misuse of public dollars." The Progress Report has
rounded up examples of wasted U.S. taxpayer money in Iraq
here.
ENERGY -- T. BOONE PICKENS: I'M HAVING
MORE PROBLEMS WORKING WITH DRILL-ONLY REPUBLICANS THAN DEMOCRATS: Yesterday,
while
speaking at the National Press Club about his "Pickens
Plan," Texas oil-tycoon and alternative energy spokesman T. Boone
Pickens was asked if he's having
trouble working with Democrats to promote his plan, given his past
opposition to progressives. He replied that he is actually having trouble
working with conservatives, because his plan involves more than offshore
oil drilling. "So I am having no problem working with the Democrats," he
said. "Having a little problem working
with the Republicans. They don't like it because
I want to do more than just drill." Pickens added that
conservatives "somehow have gotten it - a lot of them have -- that you can
drill your way out of this. But you can't do it.
There's not enough oil there to do it." Pickens made it clear that,
despite five straight weeks of calls for an "all
of the above" energy strategy, congressional conservatives are
interested in little besides drilling. In fact, last week, when the House
passed an energy bill that included conservatives’ demand for offshore
drilling,
House conservatives opposed it because it would have repealed Big Oil
tax breaks to invest in renewable energy.
Think Fast
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne "pledged yesterday to squelch the 'ethics storm' exposed by investigators who said agency workers rigged bids, accepted gifts, and had sex with energy company officials doing business with the government." Inspector General Earl Devaney told Congress he was disappointed that two now-retired employees were not prosecuted by the DOJ.
Politics took center stage last night’s Emmy awards ceremony. Co-host Howie Mandel began the night by noting that he didn't have an opening monologue: "We are like on Sarah Palin's bridge to nowhere, that's where we are right now. The government can’t even bail us out of this." Comedian Tommy Smothers, who won an honorary Emmy, dedicated his award to "all people who feel compelled to speak out." Jon Stewart, who won an award for The Daily Show, said, "I really look forward to the next administration whoever it is. I have nothing to follow that up with."
Lobbyists are rallying to defeat Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) alternative bailout proposal, with the banking industry particularly up in arms about a provision allowing bankruptcy judges to lower mortgages for distressed homeowners. "We are vigorously opposing that," said Steve Verdier, a lobbyist for the Independent Community Bankers Association (ICBA).
The lobbying firm of William Timmons Sr., who John McCain tapped to run his presidential transition team, "earned more than a quarter of a million dollars this year representing Freddie Mac, one of the companies McCain blames for the nation’s financial crisis." Timmons himself has been personally "registered to lobby for Freddie Mac from 2000 through this month."
The White House said yesterday that it opposed the Credit Card Bill of Rights, a bill currently being debated in the House, "saying it would constrain banks' ability to price risk." The proposal would end double-billing and would force companies to mail bills 25 days before payment is due, rather than the current 14 days. Read more about why the bill is so important here.
Last week, The Rachel Maddow Show was the No. 2 program in cable news in the age 25-54 demographic and in total viewers at 9 p.m. ET, beating CNN's Larry King Live. "On Friday, Maddow's was the #1 show in the demo at 9 p.m. ET topping a 'Hannity-less' Hannity and Colmes."
Comedian Tiny Fey is not happy over Carly Fiorina's allegations that her Saturday Night Live skit portraying Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) was "sexist." "I saw one lady trying to form a thought that it was sexist on the news," Fey said of Fiorina. "But she didn’t really get it together. Probably because she was a lady and she was dumb. [pause] Wait. Is that sexist?" Watch Fey’s response here.
The FBI has opened investigations into Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and AIG, looking into whether "fraud helped cause some of the troubles" at these financial institutions. According to the FBI, these probes “are part of an effort to pursue allegations of higher-level fraud more sweeping than the retail-level infractions that have been at the center of most cases brought so far."
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is the target of a YouTube video made by Senate Democrats, calling him out for objecting to a package of popular legislative items known as the "Coburn Omnibus." In the video, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) brings up popular legislation as Coburn repeatedly objects. Watch it here.
INTERESTING
Seems
that Sarah Palin's (R) approval ratings are now largely
confined to Republicans, as she has dropped a stunning
21 points in just one week:
Gov. Sarah Palin's favorable/unfavorable ratings have suffered a stunning 21 point collapse in just one week, according to Research 2000 polling. Last week, 52% approved and 35% disapproved of the GOP vice presidential nominee (+17 net). This week, 42% approved and 46% disapprove (-4 net).
******************
Kentucky Steelworker says even some Republicans are panning Palin,
By BERRY CRAIG
Steelworker Brandon Duncan is wary of polls that say Sarah Palin has fired up the Republican faithful.
He recently flew from Paducah, near Calvert City, to Phoenix, and back. He had to change planes five times.
“Almost every person I sat close to happened to be a Republican,” Duncan remembered. “Every one of them said they were so disenchanted with John McCain for picking Palin they weren’t going to vote for him.”
Palin, the governor of Alaska, is a social and religious conservative. She is getting high marks from the Republican-friendly Religious Right, which had doubted McCain. “But the Republicans I met on the planes don’t like her,” said Duncan, vice president of Steelworkers Local 727 in Calvert City.
The Arizona senator’s choice of Palin as his running mate “has excited Republican voters about his candidacy, which is no small thing in a contest that continues to be so tight,” said the New York Times, citing a recent Times/CBS News poll.
Even so, the survey “suggested that Ms. Palin’s selection has, to date, helped Mr. McCain only among Republican base voters; there was no evidence of significantly increased support for him among women in general.”
Duncan, who also represents his local at the Paducah-based Western Kentucky Area Council, AFL-CIO, isn’t sure Palin is all that popular with the GOP’s base. “All of the people I talked to said they were lifelong Republicans,” he added. “All of them said McCain and Palin don’t stand for what the party used to be.”
He said an Alabama Republican who looked like she was in her sixties complained to him that “the Republican Party is supposed to be about running the country, not focusing on abortion and religion all that. She said that there are a lot of evangelicals in Alabama who like McCain and Palin.
“But she said she won’t be voting Republican this time. She said she couldn’t tell her family. She also said she had to tell somebody, so she told me.”
Duncan, who lives in Paducah and commutes to work, recalled that on another flight, his seatmate, a North Carolina woman “who also seemed like she was in her sixties, said she always voted Republican but wasn’t going to this time because of McCain’s vice presidential pick. She said she and her friends were hoping he would pick somebody like Sen. Biden, Obama’s running mate, who has a lot of experience.
“But the woman said, ‘All McCain did was pick a pretty face and put a woman on the ticket trying to get Hillary’s voters.’”
On another flight, Duncan said he had a conversation with a retired couple from Minneapolis, site of the Republican National Convention. “They were Republicans, too,” Duncan said. “They told me when McCain picked Gov. Palin, he lost a lot of people in Minnesota. They said they weren’t going to vote for him and neither were their friends.”
Duncan said that even in Phoenix, McCain’s hometown, he met local people “totally miffed at the ticket McCain put together.”
Duncan conceded his “poll” wasn’t scientific. “But the people I
met were from all over the country,” he said. “They all said they were sick
and tired of the religious extremists running the Republican Party.”
Buy American Mention of the Week
None this week
GOOD NEWS
"The government plans to substantially increase disability benefits for veterans with mild traumatic brain injuries, acknowledging for the first time that veterans suffering from this less severe version of the Iraq war's signature wound will struggle to make a living."
The House passed the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act yesterday by a vote of 376 to 47. "The legislation will end discrimination against patients seeking treatment for mental illness."
VIDEOS
Bush Backs Unlimited Compensation For Disgraced CEOs: Now Is Not The Time For ‘Punitive Measures’
Treasury’s Bailout Package Should Help Only Wall Street, Not Main Street
Why Newt Gingrich Is Wrong About Capital Gains Taxes
McCain Revealed: The Briefing Book
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