Leftist Hack: “Criticism Of Democrats Or Obama = Journalistic Malpractice”

And tools like this wonder why they are routinely dismissed by the American people:

One question has tugged at my professional conscience throughout the year-long congressional debate over health-care reform, and it has nothing to do with the public option, portability or medical malpractice. It is this: Why haven’t America’s old-school news organizations blown the whistle on Roger Ailes, chief of Fox News, for using the network to conduct a propaganda campaign against the Obama administration — a campaign without precedent in our modern political history?

Through clever use of the Fox News Channel and its cadre of raucous commentators, Ailes has overturned standards of fairness and objectivity that have guided American print and broadcast journalists since World War II.

Catch the shell game? The real complaint has nothing to do with “fairness” or imaginary journalistic “objectivity.” What this fool actually misses is the “good old days” of Democratic party hegemony over the media, itself a deformity of the American political spirit born of the emergence of the Democratic New Deal coalition and its consolidation during the Second World War. It was an era that allowed a self appointed elite to define what was allowable, which they labelled “fair” and/or “objective,” and what wasn’t, which they called “unfair” and “biased.” The real goal, of course, was to marginalize ideas the elite didn’t like. Thus you had the New York Times hide the crimes of Stalin from its readers because, somehow, the truth was deemed to be “unfair” and “biased.”

My appeal to Stalinism is purposeful, because what dishonest hacks like this really want would be modelled more by the old Soviet Pravda than anything else. Only one elite approved view would be allowed.

This truly moronic and perverse view of journalism largely explains why we no longer have a newspaper culture in this country while places like the UK still does. One knows in Britain that you can read papers with differing editorial views. Going to London is always fun for an American because one can buy three or four different papers that provide a riot of contrasting styles, information, ideological visions, and perspectives. In the United States our papers are nothing of the sort. The are bland, homogenized, and, frankly, a mockery of our free speech protections. Why have a First Amendment when all the papers say the same damn thing?

Television news, because it was born at the moment of Democratic hegemony, had always suffered from the same stultifying ideological conformity that dominated the “New York Times” model of newspapers. The rise of Fox News, which offers a different perspective from the old liberal model, presented American viewers with something of the color and diversity we can see in English newspapers, and, for this reason, the reactionary old guard hate it. They long for the days when they acted as the sole arbiter of what the American people could learn about the social and political world. Just think of the hubris involved in the motto of the Times. “All The News That’s Fit to Print” isn’t a promise of public service, it’s a symbol of the repression of democracy by a benighted elite who view themselves in almost Nitzschean terms. They are the overmen who create the values the rest of us inferiors must live by, and as such they put themselves above questioning or criticism. People like Howell Raines, former editor of the Times and the author of the drivel linked to and quoted above, have no respect for honest differences or real diversity of opinion, and when it comes to the tenets of democratic society they are truly amoral beasts.

Cross-posted at The Iconic Midwest

Watery Brew

Glenn Reynolds:

“Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” This is boilerplate American history, and something that Americans — and, in particular, America’s political class — have long taken for granted.

But now things are looking a bit dicey. According to a recent Rasmussen Poll , only 21 percent of American voters believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed. On the other hand, Rasmussen notes, a full 63 percent of the “political class” believe that the government enjoys the consent of the governed.

It’s tempting to stress the disconnect here, and that disconnect is certainly huge. Unsurprisingly, the political class — which talks mostly to itself — thinks that it is far more popular, and legitimate, in the eyes of the country than is in fact the case. In this, as in so many things, America’s political class is out of touch with reality.

But forget the views of America — where, it seems likely, more people believe in alien abductions than in the legitimacy of our rulers — and look just at the more cheerful view of the political class.

Even among the rulers, only 63 percent — triple the fraction of the general populace but still less than two-thirds of the political class — regard the federal government as legitimate by the standards of America’s founding document. The remainder, presumably, are comfortable being tyrants.

I’m guessing that they are not only comfortable with it, they are in favor of it. How many times have you been told that the government is doing this or that for your own good?

Those words should provoke rage. It is not government’s place to dictate what is good for you.

Go read the whole piece. It’s worth your time.

We’re in a rather bad place right now as a nation. We have an utterly out of control government trying to become the dictators of your most personal decisions. We have maniacal spenders throwing money we do not have at problems we would rather they did not try to solve.

It promises to be a rough year, folks.

How To Actually Save Money On Health Care

Look to Indiana:

If you want a textbook example of how to “bend the cost curve down,” I recommend taking a look at the state of Indiana and how it funds health care for its employees. The governor, Mitch Daniels, explained it yesterday in the Wall Street Journal. The state of Indiana puts $2,750 into a medical savings account for every state employee who signs up for this sort of coverage. (When it started five years ago, 4 percent signed up; this year 70 percent signed up.) The employee then pays all medical expenses out of that account. If there is money left over at the end of the year, it’s the employee’s to keep. If expenses exceed that sum, the state shares expenses up to an out-of-pocket maximum of $8,000 and covers all expenses above that sum.

The program has been a huge success, saving millions for both employees and the state. Why? As Governor Daniels explains,

It turns out that, when someone is spending his own money alone for routine expenses, he is far more likely to ask the questions he would ask if purchasing any other good or service: “Is there a generic version of that drug?” “Didn’t I take that same test just recently?” “Where can I get the colonoscopy at the best price?”

My wife and I have a Health Savings Account plan. It works. We watch exactly what the doctors recommend and keep an eye out for less expensive options on every visit. The plans in Washington don’t like those accounts, don’t like Medicare Advantage, don’t like anything that empowers citizens to choose for themselves.

They want you enfeebled and dependent on bureaucrats for your health care.

Reform should be about empowering citizens, not engorging the bureaucracy at public expense.

Substituting Electioneering For Governing

Robert Samuelson:

The common denominator is a triumph of electioneering over governing. Every campaign is an exercise in make-believe. All the good ideas and good people lie on one side. All the “special interests,” barbarians and dangerous ideas lie on the other. There’s no room for the real world’s messy ambiguities, discomforting contradictions and unpopular choices. But to govern successfully, leaders must confront precisely those ambiguities, contradictions and choices.

The make-believe of campaigns now increasingly shapes the process of governing. Whether this reflects cable TV and the Internet — which reward the harsh hostility of extreme partisanship — or the precarious balance between the two parties or something else is hard to say. But the disconnect between policy and the real world is harmful. Proposals tend to be constructed more for their public relations effects than for their capacity to solve actual problems.

Samuelson’s column is essentially a “pox on both houses” slam. Essentially, this is why I suspect that this is shaping up as a “throw the bums out” election. The fact is that we need real fiscal discipline – fast – or we are going to be in real trouble. Does this mean that there will have to be severe cuts in spending? You bet. Does it mean that there will have to be some tax increases? Well, unless you’re willing to endure truly draconian cuts in spending, yes it does.

We cannot continue down the path we are on. We must tie any spending increases to a small percentage of real revenue growth. And we are going to have to radically reduce entitlements. If we do not, we are heading for an economic collapse.

The current crop of Washington politicians need to either grasp this or we are going to have to make some changes, very, very soon. Or we are doomed. More importantly, our children are doomed. We have to stop this.

Buh Bayh

Charles Lane titles his take on Evan Bayh’s surprise announcement that he will not run for reelection in November, “Bayh to Obama: take this job and shove it.” That appears to be exactly what Bayh has just done:

Millions of Americans long to tell their bosses “take this job and shove it.” Hardly any have the power and money to do so, especially in these recessionary times. Sen. Evan Bayh (D) of Indiana, however, is the exception. His stunning retirement from the Senate is essentially a loud and emphatic “screw you” to President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. For months now, Bayh has been screaming at the top of his voice that the party needs to reorient toward a more popular, centrist agenda — one that emphasizes jobs and fiscal responsibility over health care and cap and trade. Neither the White House nor the Senate leadership has given him the response he wanted. Their bungling of what should have been a routine bipartisan jobs bill last week seems to have been the last straw.

Lane speculates – and I suspect – that Bayh is gearing up for a run at the Oval Office as soon as 2012. I have no doubt whatsoever that the Wizard of 0 and his munchkin advisers suspect the exact same thing. And they should be nervous. A man who makes is a point to slam Washington on his way out the door is delivering a mighty slap at the man behind the curtain who pretended that he would change things in the district.

If this report is correct, Indiana may very likely fall to the Republicans in November. The calculus is changing rapidly. A red tide that sweeps control of both houses of Congress is becoming more likely.

Funny thing. This article ran just a few days ago describing the all out frontal assault the Democrats had unleashed on Bayh’s Republican challenger, former Indiana Senator Dan Coats. So either the nuking did not work and Bayh was getting nervous after seeing some internal polling or Bayh just decided to try for the presidency – and essentially urinated on the White House help he just got in the political hack job they pulled on Coats.

Either way, Obama and his minions look like they failed.

Again.

The Deaf “Elite”

Larry Kudlow:

Rasmussen also reports that a full 83 percent of Americans blame the deficit on the unwillingness of politicians to cut government spending. And get this: In a whopper of a poll result, The New York Times reports that 75 percent of Americans dislike Congress.

This is why there’s a political revolt out there. Washington just doesn’t get it.

Inside the Beltway, Democrats are sending a profoundly pessimistic message that only government knows best. But out there in the heartland there is an optimistic message that We the People know best. And that heartland optimism will not be stopped.

The future of the U.S. economy — including jobs, growth and the stock market — hangs in the balance. Government-controlled health care, with Senate vote-purchasing and union special-interest loopholes, is not the answer. Nor is a $2 trillion tax hike on banks, multinational corporations, capital gains, inheritance and successful upper-income earners. Nor is a doubling of the publicly held federal debt to $19 trillion, or nearly 80 percent of gross domestic product. Nor is a federal spending ratio of 25 percent of the economy. Nor is a budget deficit at a 10 percent share of GDP for as far as the eye can see.

But the political “elite” in Washington – regardless of party – are not hearing what America is saying. They keep spending money we don’t have on programs and initiatives we do not want – or need. What we need is a growing economy that includes real, private sector jobs. Not government make-work or still more overpaid, under-worked bureaucrats telling us what to do and how to live our lives.

The so-called bipartisan jobs bill that Harry Reid just killed in a very partisan manner is a perfect example of the “elite” not getting it. The bill was a pork-stuffed gift to various special interests which would not create any real jobs.

2010 is shaping up to be a throw the bums out election in a very, very big way. The Republicans have an enormous chance here to regain one or both houses of Congress. But only if they demonstrate that they get the message the voters have been sending – loud and clear.

Less government, less spending, lower taxes, cut the deficit.

That is the message. Those that hear and understand it will thrive. Those who don’t – regardless of party – will be in the fight of their lives. You have no idea how bad this is going to be for the increasingly deaf “elites”.

Ashes

Kimberly Strassel:

No one pushed harder than Mr. Kindler. The CEO made no fewer than five trips to the White House last year. He was the man prodding Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers of America head Billy Tauzin every step. He wrote an op-ed with the SEIU’s Mr. Stern demanding reform. He pressed the industry’s $150 million ad campaign promoting ObamaCare, rolled out with liberal activist groups.

Critics warned the legislation would lead to a government takeover and price controls. They warned Democrats would take the money and double-cross them. None of it fazed the industry, right up until ObamaCare imploded.

Mr. Kindler and Co. are left with the ashes. Having got this far (with Big Pharma’s help), Democrats are more desperate than ever to pass “something.” It won’t include any upside for drug companies. There is talk instead of “popular” stand-alone legislation, including reimportation, Medicare price controls, and slashing the industry’s 12-year exclusivity on biologics.

You really, really have to go read the entire piece. It is an object lesson in how to make a bad bet. A lot of the medical industry made a bad bet on this one. The drug companies – led by Pfizer and Kindler – really made a really bad one. He was never the one.

Free market supporters now have a heaven-sent opportunity to make some real changes – if they are smart, fast and willing to push their ideas. Corporations that supported the won stand a real chance of finding out that they backed the loser instead of the one. Or won, as may be.

Limit lawsuits, allow insurance sales across state lines, allow drug reimportation – allow the free market to work. Will this lead to lower profits for companies like Pfizer who backed a losing horse? Probably. No, certainly.

Gosh, I feel bad about that. Don’t you?

Oh, Mama, Can This Really Be The End?

Could this be the end of the Kennedy political dynasty?

Nearly 6 in 10 registered voters in the First Congressional District would consider another candidate or vote to replace Loughlin’s opponent, U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, according to a WPRI-TV, Channel 12 survey released Thursday night.

The poll offers a snapshot of an abysmal political climate for Democrats that could present serious problems for the eight-term incumbent Kennedy, according to pollster Joseph Fleming.

“It looks like it could be a very competitive race, which we haven’t seen in many years,” Fleming said, noting that Election Day is still nine months away. “I think people, right now, are really looking at who’s in office, and they’re considering somebody else.”

Kennedy’s office declined to respond to the WPRI poll, in which 28 percent of respondents from his district said they’d vote to replace the congressman if the election were held today; 31 percent said they’d consider another candidate; while 35 percent said they’d vote to reelect him.

Does not look good for Kennedy – if – a big if – there is a strong challenger and if things continue from now until election day as they are now.

But the political atmosphere is deathly toxic for Democrats, bordering on lethal. Americans – including a large number of self-identified Democrats – are rejecting the basic economic paradigm that has been a driver for Democrats. Voters are resoundingly anti-Keynesian.

While influential 20th Century economist John Maynard Keynes would say it’s best to increase deficit spending in tough economic times, only 11% of American adults agree and think the nation needs to increase its deficit spending at this time. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 70% disagree and say it would be better to cut the deficit.

In fact, 59% think Keynes had it backwards and that increasing the deficit at this time would hurt the economy rather than help.

To help the economy, most Americans (56%) believe that cutting the deficit is the way to go.

Eighty-three percent (83%) of Americans, in fact, say the size of the federal budget deficit is due more to the unwillingness of politicians to cut government spending than to the reluctance of taxpayers to pay more in taxes.

Maybe the voters have had enough because the only growth sector of the economy is the number of Federal bureaucrats making six figure salaries while the masses face unemployment. Maybe it’s because the Democrat “grown-ups” in charge of taking care of the country fiddle around obsessively with health care “reform” while the economy burns down around America. Maybe it’s because average Americans understand that spending your way out of an economic hole has always been idiotic.

Regardless, the “throw the bums out” election looms, driven by the voter’s rejection of spend and tax and tax and tax policies. Every incumbent is in danger. Only those who get the message are safe. Those who assume they are safe because they are in “safe” seats – or who rely on a family name for protection – might want to think about what the election of Scott Brown really meant.

There are no safe seats.

Run, Pat, Run

‘I’m running like I’m 20 points behind and I’ll continue to run like I’m 20 points behind.” Pat Toomey, running against Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately for Benedict Arlen, Toomey is currently in the lead in that race. By rather a lot.

Campaigning across the state, Toomey says he’s hearing time and again that it’s Washington’s “lurch to the left” that “Pennsylvanians don’t like.” The bailouts and ObamaCare are both flashpoints. The effort to pass the “card-check” bill to ease union organizing is a loser for Specter, too, even in this union-friendly state. Above all, Toomey reports, voters are asking the government, Why aren’t you focused on the economy?

And I think that is going to be the real issue this fall. I will wager that it will be even worse for the Democrats if they succeed in ramming their health care “reform” through. If they have any brains at all, they will begin opposing Obama’s agenda and control their spending urges while trying to get the economy back on track.

Which is why I fully expect a debacle for them in November. I don’t think they can rein in the mad spending. They simply do not get it that the spending and the debt and the lack of interest in turning the economy around is what people are angry about. Americans hate the health care bills passed so far, but they loathe the ruin of the economy.

But the Democrats can’t quit wasting time on Obama’s rotten ideas and idiotic economic theories.

Canary Row

If a whole row of coal mine canaries begin falling like little feathered dominoes, at what point does the message get across that the air is poisonous?

One asks because of low Democratic turnout in Illinois – and very, very strong Republican turnout in the same state where they are badly outnumbered.

Based on the current numbers 885,268 voters were cast in the Democratic primary for Senate compared to 736,137 on the Republican side. Those numbers are awfully close to each other for a state that’s overwhelmingly Democratic.

Can’t find the exact numbers for what the difference is, but Illinois has been heavily Democratic for a long time. Although things are looking a lot worse for the Democrats this year as their total nationwide has now fallen to another all-time low. As in lowest percentage ever.

Currently, 35.4% of American adults view themselves as Democrats. That’s down from 35.5% a month ago and 36.0 two months ago. Prior to last month, the lowest total ever recorded for Democrats was 35.9%, a figure that was reached twice in 2005. See the History of Party Trends from January 2004 to the present.

(Yes, I know that’s in Rasmussen’s history of tracking these numbers).

The, canaries all in a row, one by one they fall.

Lions And Tigers and Bears Elephants, Oh My

Or when it all falls apart:

Stuart Rothenberg, a political analyst who follows Congressional races, said a report he will release Monday will count 58 Democratic House seats in play, up from 47 in December. The number of Republican seats in play has remained steady at 14 over the same period, he said. At the same time, Democrats expect more of their incumbents to retire, which could put additional seats at risk.

Republicans need a net gain of 40 seats to regain control of the House, a prospect that still seems unlikely, though hardly impossible.

Mr. Rothenberg currently lists seven Democratic Senate seats and four Republican seats in play; that number will not change on Monday, though Mr. Rothenberg recently rated Republicans as likely to take over the seat currently held by Mrs. Lincoln, the Arkansas Democrat.“The Republicans are expanding the playing field, no doubt about that,” Mr. Rothenberg said, describing it as a continuing Democratic deterioration that began late last summer.

If Rothenberg says the seats are in play, pay attention. Pay particular attention to the sharp increase in numbers. I’m guessing that these numbers are low right now and will increase in the coming months – greatly – if Democrats follow the manipulative, mendacious,  myopic muchkins over the cliff with the Wizard of 0 and try to ram ObamaCare down America’s throat.

It promises to be a very, very interesting year.

(Personally, if I were a Democrat in Congress, I would not be taking calls from the Emerald House.)

Last Ditch Effort

In a bid to save Harry Reid from the wrath of the voters in Nevada, Barack Obama, the Wizard of O himself, will make a campaign appearance for Harry next month.

In the wake of Obama’s amazing victories with last minute personal appearance appeals for favored causes such as the great win for Chicago in its bid to host the Olympics, the world shaking climate change agreement forged by the won in Copenhagen and the resounding electoral victory for Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, Harry is a shoo-in.

A shoo-in right into the last ditch on the left. Just call Harry “Fill” from here on.

Seriously, the only way this could be worse for Reid is if the joint appearance was to be held in Copenhagen where the Wizard has a perfect record.

Advice to Democrats: If the won offers to help you with a campaign appearance, run screaming.

(H/T to Jim Hoft)

Catch The Wave

This is a thing of beauty. And we all know that a thing of beauty is a joy forever, right?

Congressional strategists had warned in the closing days of the Massachusetts Senate race that a Coakley defeat had the potential to trigger a series of retirements within the Democratic ranks as members flee a political wave that could wash out dozens in the House and high single digits on the Senate side.

“My message to my clients? Jump ship now,” said one Democratic operative who advises a number of targeted Members of Congress. “Obama can’t help you.” (Emphasis added)

Democratic leaders spent much of Tuesday reaching out to vulnerable Members to convince them that the circumstances that led to Coakley’s demise were unique to her and the state and not indicative of the general political environment in which they will have to run in November.

Try whistling past this graveyard, by all means.

Try ramming ObamaCare down the throats of Americans and be fully prepared for the payback. America does not want what you are selling. That is the message. Fail to read it at your own peril.

Prediction: Reid retires. Pelosi screeches. ObamaCare dies.

If they try to ram it through, all hell breaks loose.

Why The Democrats Hate Scott Rasmussen

Because he tells the truth.

That, they cannot handle.

Buh-Bye

Real Clear Politics reports that the Boston Globe is saying that Martha Coakley has conceded. I cannot get the page to load, however. It may or may not be correct at this point.

But it sure looks like Brown has won.

The New York Times interactive map shows a stunning victory is very, very likely.

Heck, I’ll call it for Brown at this point – by too large a margin to contest or cheat out of.

RCP is calling it at about a 7% win for Brown.

Try whistling past this graveyard.