Political Heat

The conservative movement in America continues to get loonier and loonier. Last week, the Republican National Committee distributed a newsletter that included a push-poll questionnaire -- a method of polling that isn't designed to actually get people's opinions but rather to disseminate negative information about the opposition in order to get people who take the poll to think badly of them. Within this questionnaire it was suggested that the Democratic plan for health care could be used in the future to refuse Republicans health care coverage simply for political reasons. "It has been suggested that the government could use voter registration to determine a person's political affiliation," it says, "prompting fears that GOP voters might be discriminated against for medical treatment in a Democrat-imposed health care rationing system. Does this possibility concern you?" An RNC spokeswoman said that the wording of the question was "inartfully worded...

A town hall meeting was held in Madison last night to discuss the issue of health care reform in the U.S. The event had between one to two thousand in attendance, with most voicing dissatisfaction with the Democratic proposals for reform (though some brave souls did come out to state their support, too). The event was billed as open to all, with an invitation sent to Rep. Tammy Baldwin to make an appearance. Baldwin, however, declined, and its understandable why: the town hall wasn't meant to be a true open forum -- it was designed primarily for people to voice their opposition to the proposals made in Washington, without much room for persuasion among the people in attendance. The event was set up by Americans for Prosperity , a right-wing organization that helped organize the "Tea Party" demonstrations across the country earlier this year. ABC's John Stossel and former Rep. Scott Klug were also on hand, creating a conservative-triumvirate (conservative media, polit...

A new poll by the AARP shows some encouraging trends with regards to health care reform in the United States. More than half of all Americans (56 percent) believe that "it is more important than ever to take on health care reform" right now, versus 32 percent who believe that we cannot afford to take it on right now. Most Americans, however, don't want to pay higher taxes for such reform (64 percent). Despite this finding, there's a silver lining -- under the proposals for reform the Democrats have crafted, only the top two percent of Americans would actually have to pay higher taxes for reform. And if nearly two-thirds don't want to pay higher taxes, nearly three-fourths (74 percent) don't want to pay higher premiums among those who already have private health insurance. 86 percent of all Americans believe that "insurance should be available to everyone regardless of health history" (that is, they want pre-existing conditions to go away), a key sel...

I cannot put into words the important role that Edward Kennedy played in American politics over the past half century. Even as a writer, my words wouldn't do any good in describing the accomplishments this man has done in the name of public service. It'd be enough for some to simply say he was a "Kennedy," and therefore understand that he held a certain place in our hearts. Yet, he was more than just the name, more than just a member of a prestigious family in U.S. politics. Ted Kennedy was a champion of the people. He worked hard for the past 47 years as a Senator to ensure that equality and justice for all was more than just a nice catch phrase. Working on reforms ranging from civil rights to education, immigration to health care, and much, much more, Kennedy was a tireless advocate from the day he assumed office until the day of his death. It is unfortunate that his death must come at a time when emboldened extremists on the right will undoubtedly try to tarnish hi...

JB Van Hollen is not following his job duties. This week, the Republican Attorney General stated that he would not defend the state in a lawsuit involving the legality of the domestic partnership registry law. From the Wisconsin State Journal: "My decision isn't based on a policy disagreement," he said. "As Attorney General, I prosecute and defend laws that I wouldn't have voted for if I were a policymaker. That is what I believe the job entails. "But I will not ignore the Constitution. My oath isn’t to the legislature or the governor. My duty is to the people of the State of Wisconsin and the highest expression of their will — the Constitution of the State of Wisconsin. When the people have spoken by amending our Constitution, I will abide by their command. When policymakers have ignored their words, I will not." In choosing to sit out this legal challenge, Van Hollen also forces the state to seek outside help, costing the taxpayers more money. Not th...

The author sits humbly at his computer desk, thinking of ways he can influence his readers into thinking that health care reform is a good idea. A realization comes to him: just lie! If it works so well for the conservative die-hards in this country, surely the same tactics can work for him and his cause. Fear, after all, is a great motivator, capable of changing public opinion just like that (snaps fingers). He sits down and types his first lie: "Lie" #1: If you don't support health care reform, an insurance company might get between you and your doctor, preventing you from getting the care you might need, all in the name of profit! He sits back and re-reads his "creation." It occurs to him that this lie is actually a lie at all -- it's the truth for millions of Americans who are denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions, or whose medical procedures insurance companies might deem unnecessary due to high costs. "Hmm," he thinks to himself. ...

The Obama administration is signaling it might be ready for compromise on health care reform, and may drop the government-run public option in favor of funding non-profit private health care co-ops using government grants. It could be the biggest blunder of the president's political career. Though he will get some reform passed (such as abolishing the practice of denying coverage based on preexisting conditions), a compromise like this would have minimum effects on those who can't afford insurance coverage anyway. Nearly 46 million Americans go without any type of health coverage whatsoever . Millions more are "underinsured," paying for what they believe is full coverage but in actuality covers very little. Tens of thousands die every year because they fit into one of these two categories. Politically speaking, the move is suicide for Democrats. Though moderates would call it a victory nonetheless, in the eyes of die-hard conservatives like the TEA Party enthusiasts,...

Ordinarily, when an incumbent politician states that he doesn't plan on running for office for another term (when doing so is legal, of course), it can mean trouble for that political party's hold on that office. The incumbency advantage is nothing to laugh about -- in 2002, less than 4.5 percent of all Congresspersons running for re-election lost. In a two party system, the odds of losing an office you already hold go up nearly tenfold if the office-holder decides they aren't running again. When Gov. Jim Doyle announces Monday that he won't seek re-election in 2010, however, it might actually be a good thing for Democrats. Doyle's poll numbers show that his approval rating is only 34 percent, with 60 percent of voters disapproving of his job performance as governor. Meanwhile, disapproval for GOP front runner Scott Walker is near that of Jim Doyle's, at 31 percent. But 37 percent of Wisconsinites don't know what to think of Walker. As a relatively unknown...

Gov. Jim Doyle is set to announce Monday that he will not seek re-election to the governorship, leaving Wisconsin's highest job in the state without an incumbent running for office. Doyle's approval ratings have dipped considerably in recent months, and the governor faced a formidable opponent in Scott Walker (despite his flaws, he is a favorite among the GOP and conservative-leaning independents in Milwaukee County). It's not clear yet who will be the Democratic nominee now that Doyle has stepped out of the race. But there are several names being thrown out there. Among them: current front runner Lieutenant Gov. Barbara Lawton (who has expressed she would run if Doyle didn't), Congressional Rep. Ron Kind, Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk (who had a failed primary run against Doyle when he first became governor), Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and State Sen. Jon Erpenbach. It isn't official yet, but you shouldn't count on Doyle to resign before his term ends, a...

This is an example of how you ask a challenging question on the health care debate. The gentleman -- Randy Rathie -- asks calmly and nicely for Obama to address the issue of taxes with regards to health care. He's skeptical, you see, of how we're going to get the money to pay for all these people who will enter into the public option. It's a reasonable concern over a big issue. And Obama answers it. We ARE going to have to raise taxes -- but Obama and the Democrats will only raise taxes on those making over $250,000 a year. But that wouldn't be the only source of revenue. In fact, as Obama points out himself, "Two-thirds of the money we can obtain just from eliminating waste and inefficiencies. The Congressional Budget Office has agreed with that, this is not just something I'm making up. Republicans don't dispute it. The other third, we would have to find additional revenue, but it wouldn't come on the backs of the middle class." A good question f...

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today stated that the various town hall meetings that have been held recently -- where raucous crowds and inflammatory rhetoric/actions have flared up -- are "not completely indicative" of what's going on in America. "I don't think all the town halls are as you are seeing them on TV," Gibbs said, stating that not every town hall ends in "pushing, shoving, and yelling." For the most part, Gibbs is right; most of the conservative voices that have disrupted town hall meetings in recent days are not how real Americans truly feel about proposals being made by Washington with respect to health care. To be sure, there is a sizable amount of people who do believe that health care reform is bad for America. Their voices are legitimate in the debate, and should be respected as such. There are other voices, on the other hand, that are misinformed on the issues, spreading lies and distorting facts to fit their beliefs, and are dete...

In reading today's Wisconsin State Journal's Opinion page, I was dismayed by one woman's strongly worded letter to the editor regarding the domestic partnership registry that is now law here in Wisconsin. The woman, from the village of Argyle, WI, considered the registry a violation not only of the ban on gay marriage that passed in 2006, but also on her religious convictions : Nowhere in scriptures, our country's Judeo-Christian ethic, does it say that two of the same sex constitutes a legal marriage. In fact, it condemns it in the Old and New Testaments. We should not give illegally-yoked persons another reason to thumb their noses at those of us who believe a marriage is between a man and a woman. They have chosen unorthodox ways to express their sexuality and want society to pick up the tab for legal and medical "rights," among others. There are two things wrong with this woman's statement: first, she wrongly believes that our nation's laws on mor...

Sarah Palin's rising star is fading fast. After publishing a Facebook note post this last weekend discussing the possibilities of "death panels" deciding the fate of the elderly and people with debilitating conditions (using her son Trig as an example), several GOP lawmakers and commentators have called the former Alaskan governor's comments inappropriate, with one senator calling the notion " nuts ." Writes Palin: The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil. Palin's comments are not only nuts...they're completely fabricated. There is no provision for a board of health or governmental officials in deciding who will get health care or not under any health car...

For all that is said about the health care system in Canada, such criticisms are really unwarranted, especially when compared to the American system of health care coverage. In terms of both cost and effectiveness, our neighbors to the north have us beat on both. Such a realization has only come to me in recent months, earlier this year. Like many Americans, I heard the criticism of the Canadian system and thought, “That sounds awful.” Hearing of long lines and unavailable doctors, in addition to the skyrocketing costs that were supposedly bankrupting the country, the Canadian health care system sounded like a well-intentioned but failed exercise in government spending. Being a proponent of universal care, I resolved myself to look elsewhere for a model of government-run health care to tout, and disregarded Canada as an anomaly, a concession I made several times to conservatives I engaged in debate with. That was long before the current debate on health care. When that debate began in ...

The madness needs to come to an end. From the New York Times : ...members of Congress have been shouted down, hanged in effigy and taunted by crowds. In several cities, noisy demonstrations have led to fistfights, arrests and hospitalizations [...] Some [conservative commentators and web sites] urge opponents to be disruptive. "Pack the hall," said a strategy memo circulated by the web site Tea Party Patriots that included instructions to "rock-the-boat early in the Rep's presentation. It added, "Yell out and challenge the Rep's statements early...Get him off his prepared script and agenda...Stand up and shout and sit right back down." Extremists on the right need to come to their senses. It's one thing to oppose the health care reform that Washington desires to pass; if you don't agree with something, it is your right to voice your opinion to your Congressional representative. It's another thing to use violent tactics in order to do so. The...

A recent resolution passed by the American Psychological Association states that "reparative therapy" -- the so-called practice of "curing" or "converting" homosexuals to heterosexuality to satisfy their (or oftentimes someone else's) religious preferences -- is detrimental to the psyche of the patient in question, citing research that has proven such "treatment" can cause severe depression and suicidal tendencies. The resolution passed with near unanimity, by a vote of 125-4. The APA suggests to psychologists who are "treating" patients hoping to remedy their "ailment" seek other alternatives in dealing with their homosexuality, if it conflicts with their religion in a way they find unappealing. The suggestions include seeking a spiritual life of celibacy or finding a church that will accept their sexuality. "Both sides have to educate themselves better," says Judith Glassgold, who chaired a task force o...

Former presidential candidate and current Arizona Sen. John McCain says he plans to oppose the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court when she comes up for vote in the full Senate later this week. "Regardless of one’s success in academics and in government service," McCain said, "an individual who does not appreciate the common sense limitations on judicial power in our democratic system of government ultimately lacks a key qualification for a lifetime appointment to the bench." According to McCain, the politics of a person's heritage should never play a part in a judge's decisions -- which is why he opposed Samuel Alito's confirmation to the High Court in 2006 after Alito divulged he took such considerations into account, citing his Italian background and his parents' lives as immigrants as helpful in forming a judicial decision. Said Alito : "...when a case comes before me involving, let's say, someone who is an immigrant...

Today marks the 274th anniversary of the famous Zenger trial, in which printer/publisher John Peter Zenger was acquitted of charges of libel against then-colonial governor William Cosby of New York. Zenger had published several articles (though not necessarily written by him) critical of Cosby. Despite Cosby's hand-picked panel of judges, the jury ruled in favor of Zenger, through his lawyer's insistence that, though his client was guilty, the law itself was wrong. The case is an historic example of two important aspects of the American legal system: first, the important role that jury nullification plays; and second (what will be discussed in greater detail), of free speech rights in America, a value we have held in high regard for literally hundreds of years. To benefit a democratic society, our founders knew that, through examples like Zenger and others, we required specific freedoms and access to information without restraint. Thus, the ability to speak one's mind beca...