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By Diana Senechal
$24.95
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By Michael Dirda
$35
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There’s a whole lot of Baracknophobia going on when it comes to some folks’ worries about health care reform, but how much of it is based on valid concern and how much is, well, stoked by certain media figures hoping to create a flurry of good ol’ American pseudo-events? In other words, turn off the Glenn Beck, people.
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AP / Alex Brandon
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So far, we’ve had the angry protests, the scuffles at suddenly volatile town hall meetings, and no resolution of the health care reform argument from our elected leaders, but President Barack Obama is now embarking on a campaign to try to sway public opinion on the issue using ... a series of town hall meetings across the country. Updated
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tvguide.com
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By Amy Goodman — The 50 people a day who die from inadequate health care might be tempted to call on Jack Bauer—or the grandfather of the man who plays him.
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Media Matters caught CNN’s Erica Hill asking, “What are the real proposals here for public insurance? And why is it so unpopular?” Not sure where she gets her info, since polls here, here, here, here, here and here say a majority of Americans like the idea.
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By Eugene Robinson — The nut jobs and carpetbaggers are outnumbered by confused and concerned Americans who seem genuinely convinced they’re not being told the whole truth about health care reform.
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AP / Hans Pennink
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What is it about chain e-mails that makes potentially reasonable people who might even be wary of believing everything they read—at least when it comes to stories generated by media outlets—so gullible and so willing to latch on to hyperbolic distortions and ideologically driven misinformation campaigns?
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We’re sympathetic to members of the House who find themselves getting yelled at by hecklers with less-than-pure motives, but calling that behavior “un-American” is probably ill-advised when you represent a body of government that famously had a committee by the same name.
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Diplomacy by former President Bill Clinton that brought home two journalists from North Korea offers a moment to reflect on the anniversary of the Hiroshima nuclear attack. Sonia Sotomayor’s been confirmed, but not until after there was a dramatic display of partisan ideology. Plus, is the disruption of health care town halls real or orchestrated?
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Michael Snider, a small business owner from Nebraska, stars in a pro-public option ad currently running in opposition to the stand of “conservaDem” Sen. Ben Nelson on health care reform. Snider tells Rachel Maddow that Nelson called him about the ad, but didn’t change his mind.
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By Ellen Goodman — The screwball industry has ratcheted up from accusing Obama of killing his grandma to accusing him of trying to kill your grandma.
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By Ruth Marcus — Does President Obama care about passing health care reform that truly gets costs under control and getting the nation’s fiscal house in order or does he care more about getting re-elected?
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Does President Obama have it in for senior citizens and Sean Hannity? What’s to become of “high-fructose families” under our socialist president’s alarming new health care system? Stephen Colbert explores all this and more while keeping his enraged forehead remarkably still.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Things are looking up for the Republicans, relatively speaking. There’s just one problem: The country still doesn’t like them.
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AP / Susan Walsh
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The good news, at least for those hoping for progress on the health care reform front, is that the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the latest version of a bill aimed at revamping the nation’s flagging health care system. The bad news: Now that Congress is headed for a monthlong vacation, we’ll have a whole new round of squabbling to look forward to in September.
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By David Sirota — The lawmakers charged with health care reform, hailing mostly from small states and rural areas, together represent only 13 million people, meaning those speaking for just 4 percent of America are maneuvering to impose their health care will on the other 96 percent of us.
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By Joe Conason — Perhaps the time has come, if it isn’t already too late, for President Obama to ask for help from President Clinton.
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By Marie Cocco — Medicare is where political posturing runs headlong into historical truth: It is, along with Social Security, the most successful government program that the United States has ever created.
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gpoaccess.gov
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House Democrats have caved to the rebellious Blue Dogs and agreed to make the health care reform bill friendlier to business at the expense of the poor. Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Lynn Woolsey wasn’t happy: “They can’t possibly be taking us seriously if they’re going to bring this forward.” Above, top dog Mike Ross.
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Sitting in for Keith Olbermann, an unusually stiff Howard Dean picks the brain of a former health insurance foot soldier about the government’s reform plans.
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By Ruth Marcus — If only Democrats and Republicans could get together and produce a health care bill that would expand coverage and control costs. But wait—there is such a proposal. In fact, there are two.
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finance.senate.gov
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Looks like the insurance companies are getting what they’ve paid for in the U.S. Congress. The Senate Finance Committee is closer to a deal with Republicans, which means no public health care option. The Blue Dogs, meanwhile, are still nipping at the heels of House Democrats.
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The Progressive Change Campaign Committee wants to run ads against Democrats, including John Kerry and Dianne Feinstein, who are working against a public health care option. They’re already running this ad against Sen. Max Baucus in his home state of Montana.
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So we won’t have a solution to the health care conundrum before summer’s end—and maybe not before the end of 2009, either—but for millions of Americans, this issue is a top priority. Who’s going to pay? Bob Scheer, Matt Miller and Tony Blankley cast their votes on this week’s show.
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Flickr / jonrawlinson
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By David Sirota — The wealthiest 1 percent’s share of America’s total income is the highest it’s been since 1929, their tax rates are the lowest they’ve faced in two decades and they’ve bought unprecedented protection for themselves on the most pressing issues.
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Flickr / David Paul Ohmer
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By Mike Elk —
When I heard Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., floating the idea of a tax on health benefits in order to raise revenue for health-care reform, I was baffled; how could this be?
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — Wow, what big and unexpected news! Reforming the health care system is really hard, and Republicans want President Obama to fail. Imagine that.
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DoD / Cherie A. Thurlby
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By Joe Conason — Fiscal conservative is one of those terms used by politicians of all sorts to describe themselves, without any real justification. That phrase is often used to mislead the public about the priorities and policies favored by those who claim to embody budgetary prudence.
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By Marie Cocco — Now that it’s gripped the imaginations of politicians and the media, the politics of the calendar has overtaken the plain truth that Congress already is moving—barely moving, and not necessarily to a triumphal finish—toward reform.
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White House / Pete Souza
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From AP: “President Barack Obama’s administration began holding private meetings with health industry executives at the White House a few weeks after he took office, a visitor list released Wednesday night by the White House shows.” The White House released the list in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.
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The president must have had those blue dogs in mind when he attempted to link health care reform to deficit reduction during his press conference Wednesday. At least one pundit called it a defining moment. We embed, you decide.
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White House / Lawrence Jackson
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President Obama made an appeal Wednesday night for health care reform, complete with this zinger: “This isn’t about me. I have great health insurance, and so does every Member of Congress.” However, his Senate mentor, Dick Durbin, said not to expect a health care vote before the August recess. Excerpts from the president’s speech and video after the jump.
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By Ruth Marcus — If you’re interested in how to get health care costs under control, the case of the F-22 offers an instructive example.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — It was not the soaring rhetoric that is Barack Obama’s signature, but he recently offered the sound bite that may define his presidency: “Don’t bet against us.”
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AP / Charlie Neibergall
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Rep. Dennis Kucinich talks about winning a big victory for health care reform, grilling Hank Paulson over the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch merger, and the battle against crony capitalism.
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AP / Charlie Neibergall
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Rep. Dennis Kucinich talks about winning a big victory for health care reform, grilling Hank Paulson over the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch merger, and the battle against crony capitalism.
Posted on Jul 17, 2009
READ MORE 
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whitehouse.gov/video/
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Despite rumblings from detractors on both sides of the aisle, President Barack Obama held his ground as he held forth about health care reform in a speech at the White House on Friday afternoon, declaring that he was “absolutely convinced” that substantial changes to the system will be made this year.
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This week’s show includes two Republicans filling in for Tony Blankley—Mike Murphy and John Henke—making this episode more like “Left, Right, Right & Center,” if you will. Robert Scheer joins them to weigh in about the Sotomayor hearings, the future of the GOP and what to do about the health care conundrum, among other lively topics.
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By Rep. Dennis Kucinich — In mid-May, President Obama secured a deal with the health insurance companies to trim 1.5 percent of their costs each year for 10 years, saving a total of $2 trillion. Just two days after the announcement at the White House, the insurance companies reneged on the deal that was designed to protect and increase their revenue at least 35 percent.
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speaker.gov
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Nancy Pelosi and her fellow progressive Democrats in the House have opened a can of health care whoop-ass that’s sure to drive Republicans and conservative Democrats nuts. The House bill, unveiled Tuesday, would tax the rich and businesses that skimp on health care coverage, provide a public option and require everybody to be covered.
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By Amy Goodman — Wendell Potter is the health insurance industry’s worst nightmare. He’s a whistle-blower. Potter, the former chief spokesperson for insurance giant CIGNA, recently testified before Congress, “I saw how they confuse their customers and dump the sick—all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors.”
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It’s the Bob and Matt Show! Robert Scheer and Matt Miller discuss the prospects of a public health care system now that the Democrats hold a 60-vote majority in the Senate, and then they move on to examine the impact of unions on education and health care. Tune in to hear Friday’s special summer show of “Left, Right & Center.”
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White House / Pete Souza
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Rahm Emanuel may think his boss is open to alternatives, but the president released a statement Tuesday reaffirming his support for government-run health care. A separate e-mail from Obama’s permanent campaign, Organizing for America, urged supporters to write their local newspapers and lobby for health care reform that includes “the choice of a robust public insurance option.”
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Flickr / Paul Keleher
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President Obama and most Democrats see a government-run health plan that competes with private insurers as vital to real health care reform, but a veto- and filibuster-proof majority just ain’t what it used to be. In the face of a massive lobbying effort, the White House has indicated a willingness to shelve the public option.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — As the president and centrist Democrats in Congress haggle over the deficit, they could usefully recall that the party’s inability to deliver on Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign pledges, particularly on health care, led to a stunning defeat two years later.
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By W. Bruce Cameron —
When it comes to the problem of health care costs, I don’t know why everyone doesn’t just do what I do, which is to have a sister who is a doctor.
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ekgpulse.com
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Let’s see if this one takes. After critics blasted an earlier, more expensive version, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee took another crack at a plan to provide coverage for tens of millions of Americans without health insurance. The latest plan, released Thursday, comes at the lower cost of $611.4 billion, as opposed to the $1 trillion proposal that didn’t go over so well last month.
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Real American Boy: How Our Byzantine Immigration System and Failed Economy May Have Made a Terrorist
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