Good afternoon, Daily Kos readers. This is your afternoon open thread to discuss all things Hill-related. Use this thread to praise or bash Congresscritters, share a juicy tip, ask questions, offer critiques and suggestions, or post manifestos. We'll be here all weekend.
We were busy yesterday watching this summit thing. This was actually pretty historic. Someone feel free to correct me, but I can't remember a time when the President had a major sit down with Congress since George HW Bush's budget meeting at Andrews Air Force Base in 1990. The elder Bush was forced to break his "no new taxes" promise. That one was done in secret, by the way.
Anyway, here's the news. But the summit is so yesterday, and I'll get to that eventually.
Rep. Trent Franks (R-Fort Sumter) makes up his own facts, race baits
Trent Franks of Arizona engaged in some good old fashioned race baiting while sticking to his own facts today.
First, via Media Matters, heeeeere's Trent:
FRANK: In this country, we had slavery for God knows how long. And now we look back on it and we say "How brave were they? What was the matter with them? You know, I can't believe, you know, four million slaves. This is incredible." And we're right, we're right. We should look back on that with criticism. It is a crushing mark on America's soul. And yet today, half of all black children are aborted. Half of all black children are aborted. Far more of the African American community is being devastated by the policies of today than were being devastated by the policies of slavery. And I think, What does it take to get us to wake up?
Franks was taking to Mike Stark on camera at the time. Either link will get you to the video clip.
What I find more fascinating is the sentence before the slavery bit.
And yet today, half of all black children are aborted.
He is making shit up to advance his own political agenda. Here are some real numbers from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and reported by MSNBC in 2008.
According to these numbers, there are about 1.2 million abortions in the United States every year. Of those, about 35.3 percent , or 423,600 are performed on African Americans (a troubling percentage to be sure). Still, that number represents one percent of the total African American population. For Franks to be correct, there would have to be only 848,000 pregnancies per year in a population of more than 41 million. For comparison, there are about 820,000 total teen pregnancies every year.
The point is that Frank's numbers just don't add up and he is pushing an anti-abortion agenda, but 78 percent of statistics are made up on the spot to support an otherwise indefensible position.
True Slant, The Washington Independent, and TPM have more on this.
Update I: so does BruinKid and his numbers look cleaner than mine.
Update II: Thanks to Mr. Rick for further clarification. The numbers are still bad, but not nearly as bad as Franks would have us believe.
A Google News search for Trent+Franks shows only a few blogs picking this up.
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Arlen who now?
I will be the first to admit that Arlen Specter is about as inspiring as a bowl of plain oatmeal. Yet he is still leading his primary challenger Rep. Joe Sestak. They are also both trailing Pat Toomey, who was one of the original corporate teabaggers. Guess what, Keystone Progressives. You had better get excited about something or prepare for a senator who might actually be more loathsome than Rick Santorum.
The Democrats’ enthusiasm deficit
This week, pa2010.com reported on a widely-discussed Franklin & Marshall College poll of the Senate race which showed Arlen Specter holding a slightly dwindling, yet still strong 17-point lead over primary challenger Joe Sestak. A second article noted that Republican Pat Toomey holds a significant lead among likely voters in the general election. What it didn’t do is analyze the contrast between the likely voter numbers with those among registered voters—a vast difference that says much about the demoralized state of the body of Democratic voters in Pennsylvania (and which is mirrored in polls across the country).
~snip
In other words, among people who say they are definitely voting in the upcoming election, Toomey enjoys a ten point lead over Specter, and a stunning 18 point lead over Sestak—a far cry from the tight margins among registered voters.
This article also goes after Steve Singiser who wrote on Wednesday:
Among the people F&M considered likely voters, however, Toomey has a double-digit lead over both Specter (44-34) and Sestak (38-20). Now, there is usually some gap between registered voters and likely voters, but this strikes me as more than a little absurd.
The point that both pa2010 and Steve seemed to miss is that there is also a governor's race and that more than the Senate race may pull people out to the polls. Still, the message is loud and clear. We need some energy in my home state. It is a long way to the November general election but the May primary is coming up fast.
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Heath Care summit
Just in case you were doing the political version of living under a rock yesterday, there was a big meeting between President Obama and members of Congress. Obama was essentially giving the Republicans a chance to offer some of their ideas before the majority party actually decides to do what majorities do and pass their favored policy.
From the Washington Post today:
At health-care summit, Obama tells Republicans he's eager to move ahead
President Obama declared Thursday that the time for debate over health-care reform has come to an end, closing an unusual seven-hour summit with congressional leaders by sending a clear message that Democrats will move forward to pass major legislation with or without Republican support.
Democratic leaders face a heavy lift in reviving their stalled bill, a process that would involve intricate parliamentary maneuvering and carries no guarantee of success. But Obama signaled that if meaningful GOP cooperation does not materialize in the weeks ahead, he is ready to proceed without bipartisan support and risk the political consequences.
Also in the Post, Steve Pearlstein tells it like it is:
At summit, Republicans prove they aren't putting America's health first
I'm not sure what else was accomplished at Thursday's Blair House summit, but surely one result is that we learned what Republican "leaders" really think about health care and health insurance.
The most important thing Republicans think is that if there are Americans who can't afford the insurance policies that private insurers are willing to offer, then that's their problem -- there's nothing the government or the rest of us should do about it.
The Post even gave us a diagram detailing the seating chart. John Barasso sat next to Dick Durbin. I know you absolutely needed to know that.
Other reaction:
The Hill reports that Obama will announce his next move "soon."
The New York Times discusses how Democrats and Republicans are either closely or deeply divided on a centrist bill.
MSNBC has the fact check from yesterday's meeting.
The Kansas City Star says that Senate Minority Leader will be the one erecting the biggest procedural obstacles to reform and thus be the ultimate villain in this whole thing.
NPR's John Nicols, like a lot of us, wonders why single payer is not and has never been a legitimate part of the conversation.
Talking Points Memo explores Republican threats to bottle up reconciliation by offering hundreds of unrelated amendments.
US News and World Report's Mary Kate Cary says the Republicans performed beautifully.
Fox "News" says that Obama got testy. (Go figure)
Finally, the Center for American Progress has an interactive map showing how many jobs the health care bill would create in each state.
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Rangel violated House Rules
Speaker Nancy Pelosi is sticking by Charlie Rangel, the chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. (Ways and Means handles tax policy).
Pelosi sticks with Rangel, notes ethics panel ‘did not take action’
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she’s once again sticking by embattled Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) — at least for now.
Pelosi (D-Calif.) said during a Friday press conference that she had not yet read the full report from the ethics committee, which admonished Rangel, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, for improperly accepting reimbursement for two trips to the Caribbean.
“All I saw was the press release where they said he did not violate the rules of the House,” Pelosi said. “And I think that’s an important statement that they made.”
It's important to keep our elected officials accountable, even if they are on our side on most issues.
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George Will vs. George Will
George Will is an empty suit who will make any argument that serves the interests of the Republican Party. The only consistent positions he holds are "conservatives good" and "liberals bad." That said, this item from Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) is not exactly shocking:
George Will's Perfectly Consistent Filibuster Position
He has been perfectly consistent on the question of minority rule--it depends on who the minority is. Back when Republicans filibustered a Clinton economic stimulus bill in 1993, he cheered them on in a column headlined "The Framers' Intent" (Washington Post, 4/25/93). Will defended "the right of a minority to use extended debate to obstruct Senate action" and praised "the generation that wrote and ratified the Constitution" for properly establishing "the Senate's permissive tradition regarding extended debates."
When the Democratic minority attempted to block a Bush judicial nominee, he was suddenly, without explanation, against the principle that the minority party should have such powers--in a piece headlined "Coup Against the Constitution" (Washington Post, 2/28/03).
Shorter version: only Republicans should filibuster.
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Halaal burger, french fries and a side of racism
Typically, The Most Important News of the Day™ is my chance to highlight something ridiculous. This item is pretty dumb, but it clearly shows the depth of racism all over the world.
WTFatwa: Can I Get Fries With That Racism? S’il Vous Plait.
Here’s the story: Quick, a French fast food company, is testing out an emerging market - halaal meat. In eight of its stores that serve a sizable Muslim population, the company is serving only halaal meats and has removed all pork products from its menu. The company has been conducting this “marketing exercise” since November, and nobody cared until right-wing party leader Marine Le Pen started making a fuss about “halalburgers” being an “Islamic tax” on French consumers, according to an article in the Independent.
~snip
Right-wing French politicians are even claiming that the serving of halaal meat at some Quick locations amounts to “discrimination” against non-Muslim customers. But these customers can still choose from non-halaal options such as beer.
And you thought American Islamophobes were bad. It's things like this that tempt me to revert. So the question for this weekend: Which would irritate the Right Wingers more? Stay an atheist or revert to Islam?