No Advice and No Consent

Patient Choice Can Prevent Rationing Abuses
This is the fourth installment in a series on correcting the mistakes in the Democrats Health Reform Bill. Click here to read the rest of the series. Uniting insurers and providers into an integrated Health delivery System would better preserve patient choice, insure quality Care and manage Costs than the Democrats Health Reform Bill. Rising Health Costs could better be managed when insurers provide a Budget and affiliated providers make decisions about Care within that Cost...

The War on the Young
Last week, in an effort to limit the damage to Congressional Democrats in Novembers Elections, President Obama set out in pursuit of the Youth Vote, traveling to several college campuses to rally the Young Activists who were so important to his Presidential Campaign. What I want to do is just to speak to Young People directly and remind them of what I said during the Campaign, he told reporters on Monday.  But rather than listen to the president talk about what he said two years...

The Obamacare Follies
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, aka ObamaCare, turned six months old on September 23. Hardly anybody celebrated the occasion, and it isnt hard to figure out why. Last spring President Obama promised Democrats that supporting the new entitlement would turn out to be a political winner. But, like a lot of Obama promises, this ones turned out to be a bunch of baloney. ObamaCare is less popular than it was on the day it was born, and it wasnt popular then, either....

Emanuel Makes Departure Official
By LAURA MECKLER European Pressphoto Agency Barack Obama hugs Rahm Emanuel after announcing that Mr. Emanuel has resigned as White House Chief of Staff and will be replaced by Pete Rouse. In early 2006, when then-Sen. Barack Obama was denying any interest in running for president, Pete Rouse was quietly writing a plan to guide the campaign.   Rahm Emanuel Departs White House 2:47 Former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel left his post at the White House today to return to Chicago, where...

Obama hails departing Rahm Emanuel, the #$&@)* tough guy who chokes up anyway (SFW)
Rahm Emanuel, the savyy, rough-talking top aide to President Obama , left his White House job today to return to what every Windy City pol regards as the Big Leagues, the nation's No. 3 city where he'll seek to become head of the long-dominant Democratic machine that he once served as a go-fer. He must register his candidacy by Nov. 22. Obama gave his longtime political friend a send-off full of bounteous praise (see full text and video below), and what sounded like a mayoral...

Republican-Haters For The GOP
Tom Jensen identifies the key electoral bloc: Republicans in Congress are incredibly unpopular. And many of the party's Senate nominees across the country are too. Yet the party is still headed for a big Election year. The reason? About 20% of the country is unhappy with both sides- and they're leaning strongly toward the GOP. Our last National Poll found that 19% of voters both disapproved of Barack Obama's job performance and disapproved of the Republicans in Congress. Those folks are...

Where We Went Wrong
Somewhere along the road to a "permanent Majority," the Republican Revolution of 1994 went off track. For several years, we had confidence in our convictions and trusted that the American People would reward our efforts. And they did. But today, my Republican friends in Congress stand on the precipice of an electoral rout. Even the best-case scenarios suggest wafer-thin majorities and a legislative agenda in disarray. With eight days before the Election, House Speaker-in-waiting Nancy...

Democrats hope organizing will counter voters' apathy
Reporting from Las Vegas and San Francisco — On a recent Saturday, Ken Adams and Ronald Ramsey went door-to-door in Las Vegas, canvassing for Harry Reid . They carried a map of Democratic households and a set of poll-tested talking points, including the senator's achievements ("$540 million for a brand new VA Hospital") and jabs at Republican rival Sharron Angle, who spoke of privatizing the Department of Veterans Affairs (on Public Radio in May, if anyone asked). A woman in pajamas...

Congressional Republicans: Lead, follow, or just get out of the way!
The past two years in Congress have seen what seems to be an unprecedented effort by Congressional Republicans to obstruct any and all progress that might be accomplished by President Obama and the Democrats in Congress, as well as to simply grind government to a halt, at least in the US Senate. They seem to be taking their cue from Republican ringleader Rush Limbaugh when he stated unequivocally on his radio program that he wants Obama to fail shortly after his inauguration. Although...

What Are Superdelegates?
With a close Democratic race for the presidential nominee, the role of delegates and super delegates could become increasingly more important leading up to the Democratic National Convention in August. Former Democratic Strategist David Sirota and political legal analyst Stanley Brand explain why superdelegates are important. Copyright © 2008 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required. MICHEL MARTIN, host:...

Polls Set Off Funding Sirens for Feingold
By Peter Wallsten New polls showing Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold trailing his Tea-party opponent are setting off alarm bells in the countrys liberal movement. Sen. Russ Feingold (D., Wis.) acknowledges the crowd after speaking at a rally Tuesday at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) A number of top Activist groups sent frantic fund-raising pleas this week to their members to send money to Feingolds outgunned campaign, raising a total of about $600,000 over a 48-hour...

Towey's Hypocritical Hooey: Bush 'Faith Czar' Complains About Politicization Of White House Faith-Based Office
Under James Towey, the White House faith-based office was used to promote Republican Candidates in tight House and Senate races. James Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush, had an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal recently carping because President Barack Obama has used his administrations faith-based offices to let Americans know about the New Health-care law. Towey says if he had politicized his...

News Corp. Gives to Business Group
By NEIL KING JR. News Corp. has made another prominent Election-year contribution, this time a $1 million gift to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The contribution comes roughly four months after the company stirred criticism in Democratic circles for giving $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. It was one of the largest corporate donations to the GOP group this Election season. While not an overtly partisan group, the Washington-based Chamber of Commerce is investing millions in...

Movie Star/Actor
Vol. 16, No. 04 The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, aka ObamaCare, turned six months old on September 23. Hardly anybody celebrated the occasion, and it isnt hard to figure out why. Last spring President Obama promised Democrats that supporting the new entitlement would turn out to be a political winner. But, like a lot of Obama promises, this ones turned out to be a bunch of baloney. The War on the Young

Brendan Nyhan: The Fallacy of Insufficient Extremism
With a GOP wave seeming increasingly likely in November, Liberals are already looking to place blame. One of the targets has been Democrats themselves. To date, most have faulted the White House and the party for ineffective communication strategies (an example of what I call the tactical fallacy ). This week, however, Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the Daily Kos website, wrote a column for The Hill arguing that Democrats are actually in trouble for not being liberal enough . Citing polls...

Baucus' Chilling Effect on Speech | NetRight Daily
On September 28th, 2010, Senator Max Baucus, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) urging the agency to investigate 501(c)(4), 501(c)(5), and 501(c)(6) organizations for engaging in political activity, as reported by Politicos Ben Smith . Senator Baucus cited the 501(c) section of the tax code, writing, The law requires that political campaign activity by a 501(c)(4), (c)(5) or (c)(6) entity must not be the primary purpose...

Baucus seeks probe of GOP groups
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) on Wednesday called on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate political activity by Non-profit groups, specifically the GOP-allied groups spending tens of millions of dollars raised from anonymous donations to boost Republican Congressional Candidates headed into the critical Midterm Elections. Recent media reports detailing the activities of big-spending GOP-leaning political groups “have raised serious questions about whether such organizations are...

Sen. Max Baucus Asks IRS to Investigate Tax-Exempt Groups' Political Spending
Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) is calling on the IRS to investigate Advocacy Groups that he says are taking advantage of their Tax-exempt status to push a political agenda. Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, suggested Wednesday that power brokers are working behind the scenes to manipulate Third-party organizations for personal and political gain. "Political campaigns and powerful individuals should not be able to use Tax-exempt organizations as political pawns to serve their own...

Senator Max Baucus Orders IRS To Investigate Political Groups
This is the problem with our Tax code granting Tax-exempt “non profit” status to certain groups. They get Tax Breaks, but they also put themselves at risk of government retribution for saying the wrong things or supporting the wrong causes. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus sent a serious shot across the bows of the growing ranks of groups, most of them on the right, playing aggressively in Elections under Non-profit 501(c)4 and (c)6 status, with a letter asking that the...

Baucus Urges Probe of Fund Raising
By BRODY MULLINS Washington—The Senate's chief Tax writer has called for a Federal investigation into Advocacy Groups that have become increasingly popular vehicles for outside donations. These Groups, known as 501(c)4s after the section of the Tax code that defines them, can raise unlimited donations from individuals, corporations and Labor Unions to spend on political advertisements. View Full Image Associated Press Max Baucus (D., Mont.) has called for a Probe into Advocacy Groups...

Baucus: IRS should investigate outside groups
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus sent a serious shot across the bows of the growing ranks of groups, most of them on the right, playing aggressively in Elections under Non-profit 501(c)4 and (c)6 status, with a letter asking that the IRS commissioner examine them for violations of Tax law. A central, and endlessly complicated, legal question is whether an organization's "primary purpose" is politics, and many find ways to spend 51% of their Money, for instance, on policy...

Baucus to IRS: Start probing political groups
In one sense, this isn’t as outrageous as it first sounds. After all, Political groups use IRS Regulations to receive exemptions on donations, allowing Donors to deduct those donations and to get more money than they otherwise would. On the other hand, though, when the US requires IRS approval to conduct Political Speech, this is the kind of power that one hands government: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus sent a serious shot across the bows of the growing ranks of...

Congress Tackles the Important Legislation of the Day
No, they didn't extend the Bush Tax Cuts, make Medicare and Social Security solvent, eliminate the Deficit, pay off the National Debt, or even pass a Budget for the Fiscal Year that starts today. They regulated TV commercials : Legislation to turn down the volume on those loud TV commercials that send couch potatoes diving for their remote controls looks like it’ll soon become law. The Senate unanimously passed a bill late Wednesday to require Television stations and cable companies to...

Governor, top lawmakers announce budget deal
Reporting from Sacramento — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders said Friday night that they had reached an agreement to end the State's longest-ever Budget stalemate. The announcement came after hours of closed-door meetings in the Governor's office on how to close the State's $19.1-billion Deficit. The new Budget Year began July 1, and the State Government has been operating without a spending plan since then. Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D- Sacramento),...

Senate Bill to Tax Firms that Export Jobs Fails
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 By Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Washington (AP) - The Senate on Tuesday blocked Tax Legislation that would have punished U.S. firms that export Jobs. But the political symbolism of trying to save American Jobs, not passing a Bill, was the Democrats' closing argument on The Economy in the waning weeks of the congressional Elections. Republicans complained that the vote used a serious subject - Economic Recovery - to score points with voters five weeks...