Budget Monitor Says G.O.P. Bill Leaves Many Uninsured

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/budget-monitor-questions-impact-of-gop-health-bill/
Finally, the GOP has a bill.

But let's not celebrate just yet.

The Congressional Budget Office says the bill would have little impact in extending health benefits to the roughly 30 million uninsured Americans, but would reduce average insurance premium costs for people who have coverage.

The bill would do little to change the status quo, but would reduce future federal deficits by $68 billion over 10 years, compared to a reduction of $104 billion by the House Democrats’ legislation.

The nonpartisan budget office predicted savings reflected in the Republican plan would amount to $41 billion over 10 years as a result of provisions to limit costs related to medical malpractice lawsuits.

Assessing the GOP brand

http://www.pollster.com/blogs/assessing_the_gop_brand.php
How weak is the Republican brand right now? This issue came up yesterday when a Media Matters criticized The Hill for failing to mention the GOP's poor polling numbers in a story on the 2010 elections. Similarly, I recently suggested that that the damaged Republican brand might limit the number of seats that the party picks up. But is the party really worse off than previous opposition parties at this point in the election cycle?

As a first cut at the question, I pulled all the relevant polling on approval of the party in Congresss and party favorability from the Roper iPoll database for the periods leading up to the four most recent midterms (1994, 1998, 2002, and 2006). In both cases, the results are consistent, but I'll focus on the favorability questions since Pew and CBS asked comparable questions about party favorables in each cycle.*

The overall finding is simple -- the GOP's standing relative to the Democrats on both measures is worse than any opposition party in the sample. For instance, the Pew data show that the Republicans are currently viewed more negatively than any minority party in the previous four midterms in terms of both net favorables and the difference in net favorables between parties:**

GOP files suit to block Massachusetts senator from taking seat

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27559.html
Another way in which Republicans are trying to delay the health care vote.

GOP gets big bump of donors in August

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-09-24-party-money_N.htm
WASHINGTON — Despite being in the minority in Congress, Republican campaign committees outraised Democrats by $1.7 million in August as they have aggressively collected political cash amid the rancorous debate over health care.
Republicans also held an edge over Democrats in the amount of money available, when counting debts, as both parties set the stage for the 2010 elections, in which more than three dozen competitive House and Senate seats are at stake.

The GOP spike is a departure. In each of the past four years, the party in power — whether Democrat or Republican — raised more than the minority's fundraising committees in August, a USA TODAY review of campaign records shows.

"Republicans have been able to tap into some of the anger against Democrats in power and translate that into fundraising," said Nathan Gonzales of The Rothenberg Political Report. "There are a lot of Republicans who wish the election were this November, not November 2010, because they feel like the momentum is on their side now."

In the Senate, where Republicans are far outnumbered, their fundraising committee collected $3.1 million last month, compared to $2.2 million by the Democratic committee. It was the second month in a row that the Senate GOP committee outperformed Democrats — bringing its fundraising total for the year to $26.5 million, just $1 million less than the Democrats.

Brian Walsh, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the committee has attracted more than 70,000 first-time donors this year as voters grew alarmed by President Obama's policies. "There are a lot of independents who may have voted for Obama who are now saying, 'This type of big government spending is not what we signed up for,' " he said.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) also had a fundraising bump in August, bringing in $1 million more than the Democratic National Committee. Only the House Democratic committee outraised the Republicans in August — by $200,000.

Republican Revives Racist Obama-As-Monkey Campaign Theme

By Megan Carpentier

Former Minority Whip Roy Blunt obviously missed the national consensus last year that comparing Barack Obama (and any other African-American) to a monkey was racist and abhorrent, because he did it Friday at the Values Voter Summit. No wonder people say their "values" increasingly include racism.

Salon's Alex Koppelman reports that Blunt chose the conservative Values Voter Summit to trot out an anecdote about British soldiers and monkeys to illustrate that Republicans have to deal with the issues the President brings to the table. Naturally, in the anecdote, Republicans are British soldiers and the first African-American President of the United States... is a monkey.

Almost from the day the first ball was hit on this golf course something happened they didn't anticipate: monkeys would come running out of the jungle and then grab the golf balls. And if it was in the fairway, they might throw it in the rough. And if it was in the rough, they might throw it -- they might throw it back at you! And I can point to great and long detail about how many things they tried to eliminate the monkey problem, but they never got it done.

So finally for this golf course and this golf course only, they passed a rule and the rule was, you have to play the ball where the monkey throws it. And that is the rule in Washington all the time.

Blunt, who is running to replace Democratic Senator Robin Carnahan in the Senate next year, later told the audience that they should just ignore people calling them racist for criticizing Obama. While few would argue that criticism of Obama is inherently racist in and of itself, Blunt's use of a racially-charged anecdote comparing Obama to a monkey illustrates exactly why it is that so many people think those criticizing the President have less than clean hands (or pure minds) when it comes to racial issues.

Frank Schaeffer: Glenn Beck and The 9/12 Marchers: Subversives From Within

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/glenn-beck-and-the-912-ma_b_284387.html
Who are these people?! Where do they come from?! Ordinary Americans might wonder why anyone would stoop so low as to follow Glenn Beck, Fox News and Dick Armey (and their corporate sponsors masquerading as "FreedomWorks") as they organize their "9/12 March On Washington" to cynically exploit the 9/11 attack.

Patriotic Americans might question the organizer's aim to provide a media forum for dimwitted right wingers to scream "Liar!" "Socialist!" "Antichrist!" "Muslim!" "Death Panels!" "He's not an American!" and so on and on and on about the commander in chief charged with defending us from further attacks. And some people might even cry "shame on you!" to the more mainstream Republicans participating that include Dick Armey of FreedomWorks, as well as GOP Reps. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Pence of Indiana, Tom Price of Georgia, and South Carolina GOP Sen. Jim DeMint.

Ordinary folks from Planet Earth may ask why the Republican Party, right-wing activists and members of the Religious Right seem so unreachable with mere facts let alone decency and decorum. (As the proud father of a US Marine who fought in Afghanistan, I'm particularly outraged that these people would exploit the 9/11 attacks after my son and others were prepared to give their lives in response to our enemies.)

As a former Religious Right leader, who was raised (and home-schooled by my Evangelical-leader parents, Francis and Edith Schaeffer) in the movement, let me explain just why the ordinary rules of decency don't apply to the right these days.

Let me also answer this question: Who are these people?

You have to finish reading this one:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/glenn-beck-and-the-912-ma_b_284387.html

Bush Speechwriter: "Paranoid Delusions" Undermining GOP

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gop-fringe14-2009sep14,0,940651.story
Amid a rebirth of conservative activism that could help Republicans win elections next year, some party insiders now fear that extreme rhetoric and conspiracy theories coming from the angry reaches of the conservative base are undermining the GOP's broader credibility and casting it as the party of the paranoid.

The Republican establishment hopes cooler heads will prevail over strongly anti-Obama parts of the conservative base.

The "Intolerance" Party? GOP Strategists Worry Ideologues Are Bad For The Party's Future

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/02/the-intolerance-party-gop_n_274355.html
A major rift has emerged within the Republican Party. On one side: Ideologues who are inciting the base with wild rhetoric and banking on a "great American awakening" that will sweep conservatives back into power. On the other: Strategists, who see the party's growing intolerance as a prescription for minority status.

So far, the ideologues are winning.

Cheney In 2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/01/cheney-in-2012-some-key-g_n_273470.html
Oh say it ain't so!!!

"A Proud Right-Wing Terrorist"

GOP Representative Wally Herger of California smiles and nods as man decleares himself "a proud, right-wing terrorist."

"Amen, God bless you," Herger told the man, named Bert Stead. "There is a great American."

The GOP's Big Comeback

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-17/the-gops-big-comeback/?cid=hp:mainpromo2
The battle over the public option is just the beginning of the Republicans' resurgence—and Obama doesn't even see it coming.

Meghan McCain: My Message for Michelle Malkin

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-10/my-war-with-michelle-malkin/
More on the GOP's civil war.

The GOP's Civil War

This is a story about how a Texas Showdown is really about a fight over the GOP brand.

Texas Governor Rick Perry is looking for a third term, but he faces some stiff opposition from within his own party in Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is also running. The race is shaping up to be a microcosm of the national debate over the GOP's future, with the ultraconservative Perry taking on the more moderate Hutchison. “This is a civil war,” Perry said in an interview with The New York Times, “brother against brother.” Perry drew jeers from critics for flirting with secessionists this year and Hutchison has argued that the governor has shrunk the state's Republican Party with his antics. “I do not want a governor who is going to narrow our base, make it dwindle,” Hutchison said in a speech this week. “That is what has happened at the national level, and that is not going to happen in Texas.”

Read the whole story in The New York Times.

Sharpton, Gingrich push Obama's school reforms

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jVf6ZQg6sAlQ0H7BspbfOERBwtBAD9A2KQ7O3
Is Gingrich working hard for the GOP 2012 nomination or what????