Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review discuss the latest Obamacare exchange nightmares, from insurers getting faulty information to the exchanges getting built through outdated programs. They also examine how a year delay of the individual mandate may be inevitable. And they have fun with the news that Arnold Schwarzenegger is trying to change the Constitution so he can run for president.
Archives for October 2013
‘Shooting at their Own’
By all accounts, Republicans came out on the losing end of the final deal to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling, but the leader of one of the most influential conservative organizations says it only happened because establishment Republicans deliberately and publicly undermined their more conservative colleagues.
“The problem from the very beginning of this process is you had a divide within the GOP, between those that were willing to avoid any confrontation on the budget at any cost and those like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and a growing number of Republicans that wanted to fight for something meaningful, wanted to do what they said they were going to do in their last election,” said Freedomworks President and CEO Matt Kibbe. “That was our Achille’s heel from day one because more establishmentarian types like John McCain and John Cornyn started shooting at their own instead of all of us focusing our message on the Democrats and the huge liability that is Obamacare.”
Twenty-seven Senate Republicans voted for the final deal while 18 opposed it. Many long-serving GOP members publicly slammed Cruz and Lee for waging a battle they didn’t have the votes to win. McCain and others repeatedly asserted that Obamacare cannot realistically be addressed until the party controls both chambers of Congress and the White House. Kibbe has no patience for that argument.
“I’ve been in Washington long enough that I’ve noticed this pattern where politicians tell you that we have to wait until after the next election to do what we said we were going to do. There’s always another election and they always it’s too hard to take on entitlements, it’s too hard to take on Obamacare,” said Kibbe, who notes that Cornyn, as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee argued in 2010 that fighting Obamacare was a a losing strategy.
“There’s an upside to fighting. Tip O’Neill, the famous Democratic speaker, proved that when he shut down the government some 12 times to challenge both President Carter and Reagan on his budget priorities. We’ve lost that willingness to fight. It’s not easy reining in government, but the question is if you don’t like the strategy that Lee and Cruz came up with, I didn’t see another one on the table. And not fighting is not an option,” said Kibbe.
On Thursday, Kibbe authored a foxnews.com column entitled, “Establishment Republicans have given up — it’s time for the rest of us to do their job.” The piece is more of a diagnosis than a prescription, but Kibbe says the simplest path to progress is bringing more conservatives to Washington who will fight for the principles they run on.
“We need to look for upgrades in both the Democratic and Republican Party. If you look at the electoral map in 2014, you’re definitely going to see some establishment Republicans challenged like we did in 2012 and 2010. You’re also going to see upgrades in open seats and pickup seats with Democrats,” said Kibbe.
So which GOP members would Kibbe like to see defeated in primaries next year? South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell are at the top of his list.
“I think there’s a real opportunity there,” said Kibbe of the possibility of defeating Sen. Graham. “I think Mitch McConnell’s in trouble, particularly after the last couple of days and this special sweetheart deal that was tucked into the bill and earmarked for Kentucky.”
Kibbe says it’s far too early to determine which primaries Freedomworks might target. He says making sure a solid, grassroots conservative is running and can be competitive are major keys to determining which races to influence.
And while Democrats, some Republicans and the media disparage Sen. Lee and Sen. Cruz, Kibbe says their argument will gain many more supporters as the facts about Obamacare continue to emerge.
“As we see the actual implementation of Obamacare hurt actual people, people that are herded into the exchanges even though they were promised they could keep the health care that they had, young people that will be forced to buy something they can’t afford and others that will see their jobs cut or their premiums increase, all of those real factors are going to prove us right and the Democrats wrong as we head into 2014,” said Kibbe.
Three Martini Lunch 10/17/13
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are glumly relieved that the GOP avoided further horrible polls numbers through the end of the government shutdown. They are unhappy with the election of Cory Booker to the U.S. Senate. Greg is upset with Mitch McConnell’s decision to make it almost impossible for Congress to use the debt ceiling as a way to demand fiscal restraint and abdicate responsibility while Jim sees it as a tactical admission that the debt ceiling is not an effective tool for demanding change. And they discuss the future of House Speaker John Boehner.
Affirmative Action & the Supremes
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday surrounding the constitutionality of a 2006 Michigan law banning racial preferences at universities and other institutions, and a coalition of black conservatives says it’s beyond time for all Americans to realize that showing favoritism to minorities is not the answer to the discrimination of years past or the way to balance opportunity today.
The Project 21 Black Leadership Network also asserts that government is the greatest stumbling block to achieving the goal of a color-blind society.
The case before the Supreme Court, Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action, centers on a 2006 ballot initiative in Michigan to scrap racial preferences at public universities, in hiring for government jobs or awarding government contracts. Voters approved the referendum by a 58-42 percent margin. The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared it unconstitutional.
“This is a very common sense concept and this is the reason why in that 58 percent of Michiganders who supported this, there were a significant number of blacks, significant number of Latinos as well as women, all who could be identified as minorities but they recognized that this equality principle is one that’s important for everybody,” said Project 21 Co-Chairman Horace Cooper, a former constitutional law professor.
Cooper says in the 2006 vote, the initiative to ban racial preferences received 50 percent more votes in the heavily Democratic city of Detroit than Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Bouchard.
“Very, very revealing that people understand the equality principle and even if they’re partisans, even if they are people who live in certain enclaves and communities, they get this concept. Equality is what’s important,” he said.
Supporters of affirmative action claim the effect of states like Michigan removing racial components in university admissions can already be seen in declining enrollment numbers for minority applicants.
Cooper says there’s much more to the story.
“It’s been a mixed bag, but the truth is this: there are more schools that have eliminated their race-based admissions programs and have been able to retain significant minority presence than there are schools that have eliminated it and resulted in a drop,” said Cooper, who also says enrollment numbers are not the proper gauge for whether an admissions program is operating impartially.
“It isn’t clear to me that the only test for whether a racially neutral admissions program can operate is that you guarantee x number of people of a certain race are going to come. That’s the exact opposite of a race-neutral program,” said Cooper.
Regardless of the intentions behind affirmative action, Cooper says government-imposed racial preferences are one of the greatest hindrances to a truly color-blind culture.
“The truth of the matter is, government is probably the last place where we still have this kind of mindset that you need to judge people by their skin color rather than their achievements and the content of their character,” said Cooper. “If I discriminated against you, you don’t get to come back and discriminate against me. We don’t defeat racism with more racism. We don’t defeat bigotry with more bigotry.”
Justice Elena Kagan recused herself in this case. Cooper believes Justice Anthony Kennedy will end up writing a majority opinion bolstered by the four conservatives on the court to uphold the 2006 Michigan initiative.
Three Martini Lunch 10/16/13
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review debate the lessons for conservatives as an apparent deal is struck to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling. Geraghty sees the past weeks as a major loss for the right as supporters of defunding Obamacare pushed the envelope without enough votes to win the day and had no concrete back-up plan. Corombos says conservatives should have pursued different tactics but salutes those willing to take a principled stand even without the votes, as opposed to the establishment GOP who just wanted to rubber stamp both issues and move on.
Army Targets Pro-Family Groups
The American Family Association is fighting back after the U.S. Army used taxpayer funds to classify pro-family organizations as “hate groups” and ordered uniformed personnel to avoid any affiliation with them.
The AFA says the government’s hostility is rooted entirely in the groups’ opposition to same-sex marriage and open homosexuality in the military. They also assert that the Obama administration is using the list of “hate groups” compiled by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“The reason we’ve been tagged as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center is that we simply have a disagreement with them over whether homosexual behavior should be normalized. We believe it should not be. We believe there are health risks associated with homosexual behavior for the obvious reasons. We love homosexuals enough to tell them the truth. We don’t hate them. We love them. We want them to live healthy, long lives. We want them to enjoy eternal life. So we love them enough to tell them the truth,” said AFA Issue Analysis Director Bryan Fischer, who also AFA’s Focal Point Radio.
“Disagreement is not hatred. Disagreement is just disagreement. So it’s appalling that they’ve taken this slanderous accusation and are now using it in official military training. We’re in contact with the Pentagon right now through our elected officials to get to the bottom of this and bring this to an end,” said Fischer.
AFA is also furious that the U.S. Army presentation commanding all personnel to avoid affiliation with pro-family groups deliberately linked it with Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church, whose few members routinely picket the funerals of service members and carry placards declaring that God hates gay people. Fischer says the false association is also slanderous and the differences couldn’t be clearer between his organization and Westboro.
“That was particularly offensive that they would link us with Fred Phelps. He protests at the funerals of soldiers. You’re not going to find a stronger supporter of the American military than the American Family Association,” said Fischer, who explained how the two views on homosexuality are worlds apart as well.
“He actually believes that God hates homosexuals…We know that he doesn’t because the Bible says that God loves the whole world. He loved everybody in the world. That’s why he gave his son to die. So we believe that God loves homosexuals, that Christ died for homosexual sinners just like he died for heterosexual sinners, that the offer of forgiveness and eternal life in the person of Jesus Christ. That’s the message that we want to communicate,” said Fischer.
Fischer says he’s also heard from various sources that many Christian members of the military do not plan to re-enlist because of the crackdown on religious freedom by the federal government.
“Those that are strong in their faith, strong believers in Christ and in Christianity and in the values that made America great, they are the heart and soul of the American military. If we start losing them, that really is going to weaken our military and that will ultimately be the biggest threat to our national security,” said Fischer.
No Debt Ceiling Hike? No Problem!
A former chief economist for the Joint Economic Committee of Congress says conservative Republicans are smart to fight for less spending and more debt reduction because waiting even longer will be much more painful, and he says not raising the debt ceiling will not be the financial calamity that most lawmakers in both parties suggest.
Brian Wesbury served as chief economist to the Joint Economic Committee from 1995-96, just after Republicans gained control of Congress. He’s now chief economist at First Trust Advisors in Illinois and been repeatedly listed as one of the best economic forecasters in America. He says having this fierce debate over America’s debt now may be ugly, but it’s nothing compared to the crisis awaiting us in about a decade if we do nothing.
“The real problem comes 10-15 years from now. Everyone in Washington knows this. There’s been some members of Congress elected who want to deal with this now. We always call it the ‘third rail’ of politics. Why deal with something if it doesn’t matter for my election in two years. So that’s the whole reason we’re having all this. As a private sector guy, ‘Do we want to jump out of a two-story building today or wait and jump out of a 10-story building 10-15 years from now?'” said Wesbury, who says America has a history of doing temporarily painful things to get back on solid economic footing.
He cites Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker raising interest rates to 20 percent for a few years to combat the brutal impact of inflation. While the combination of high interest rates, lackluster economic output and high unemployment did trigger two recessions, Wesbury says once inflation was tamed and interest rates came back down, the stage was set for the economic recovery of the 1980s and beyond.
As for the looming debt ceiling, Wesbury says while markets might not like the perceived instability if the debt ceiling is reached, there is no chance of an actual default and America can still pay its more important bills.
“I’m very worried about this if there was something to worry about. The United States will not default, and I call a default not paying the interest or principle on debt. We have more than enough tax revenue. In fact, it’s 10-12 times the coverage of our debt. What would happen if we’re not allowed to borrow, we would not be able to pay all of our bills, whether it’s the Department of Agriculture or the Department of Commerce or possibly even a Social Security check or Medicare payment to a hospital. It all depends on how they prioritize payments, what they decide to keep open and what they don’t,” said Wesbury.
“If we put ourselves on a path toward a balanced budget, I think markets would be OK. There would definitely be pain. There would be $600 billion less in government spending, but that would also be $600 billion we would not be borrowing from the private sector, from the Chinese,” he said. “If the Chinese were not buying our Treasury Bonds, they would have to buy corporate bonds or stocks or they would buy oil or they would buy something else from us. So it’s not a net loss completely. It would cause mayhem. There would be orange cones out on the highways that nobody would be there to take down for awhile until they figured it out. But I do not think it would cause a financial catastrophe for the world. I think it’s a red herring. I think it’s propaganda to bring people to the negotiating table.”
Wesbury served on Capitol Hill during the last partial government shutdown. He says there are two main differences that help conservatives this time around. First, he says a much greater number of media outlets helps to balance the coverage.
“The only cable news network at that time was CNN. We now have Fox News that was started in the middle of 1996. There’s also a very big internet presence and Twitter. As a result, the news that gets out is kind of all across the political spectrum rather than focused in one area,” said Wesbury, who says the second big difference is the Tea Party movement which is a thorn in the side of both parties.
“They’re mad at Republicans too. It’s not just Democrats. They’re mad at Republicans because the last time Republicans controlled the House, the Senate and the White House between 2003-2007, they spent. They put in new government programs and they ran up the deficit,” said Wesbury, noting GOP approval of the Medicare expansion for prescription drug coverage, No Child Left Behind and other big government programs.
“All of those things, that’s the reason for the Tea Party. There’s this third group now, which makes this even more complicated,” said Wesbury. “They’re saying, ‘We want to stop this now. This is the time. Let’s do it.’ And that’s how the battle lines are being drawn.”
Three Martini Lunch 10/15/13
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are pleased to see Democratic Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper telling Michael Bloomberg and other gun control advocates to stay out of the state after two of his anti-gun allies were recalled and another might be on their way soon. They also groan as reports show that not only will Obamacare increase health care premiums but deductibles are about to skyrocket for many Americans as well. And they discuss the exposed mythology of Newark Mayor Cory Booker on the eve of his likely win in New Jersey’s U.S. Senate race.
We Had to Stare Down the President
The Million Vets March had to be done to let President Obama know his efforts to block all Americans, including veterans, from America’s national parks and memorials would not be tolerated and that veterans themselves are willing to fight to keep them open, according to the thousand-member strong Special Operations Speaks.
The group is also incensed that CNN characterized the march as a Tea Party event and used one Confederate flag and one controversial comment to define the march.
The issue of veterans’ access to memorials arose on the very first day of the partial government shutdown. An Honor Flight of World War II veterans from Mississippi were blocked from seeing the World War II Memorial by the National Park Service (NPS). Barricades were placed in strategic locations and NPS rangers were stationed at key points to block entry, even though no such security measures are in place at open-air memorials during normal government operations.
Similar confrontations followed and veterans were physically removed from other memorials along the National Mall. As a result, organizers declared Sunday as the Million Vets March as an act of civil disobedience to reopen the memorials.
“We had to stare down the president. The President of the United States, for the past five years, really not treated veterans any good, going back to the 2009 (Department of Homeland Security) report where it called returning veterans potential terror threats to trying to take their guns away if they go to see a doctor,” said Special Operations Speaks Political Director Larry Ward. “It was a bad start and it’s gotten worse and worse. To use the government slimdown as a means to punish the American people, to inflict maximum pain, is deplorable. To do so to our American veterans, to our World War II vets is absolutely unacceptable.”
The political debate over government funding and whether and how to raise the debt ceiling have both sides pointing the finger of blame across the political aisle. Ward says his group would spread the blame around it it was warranted, but he says President Obama and the Democrats are responsible for the memorials being shuttered.
“We would have been focusing on the Republicans and the Democrats had the House of Representatives not passed a bill to open all the parks. And the president, what he did was he signed a veto threat for any bill that came to his desk that reopened the parks,” said Ward.
That being said, Ward says the group makes no secret that there is a political element to their involvement in the march and criticism of the president.
“It is a political fight. There’s no question it’s a political fight. The President of the United States is using our veterans as political pawns. We had to make a statement and tell him that’s unacceptable. So we didn’t start the political fight but we stood up for it and we’re going to continue to stand up for it. Those barricades are going to continue to be taken down across the country and our veterans are going to get access to the memorials without having to ask permission from a park ranger to enter,” said Ward.
Ward says crowds started to gather around 7 a.m. Sunday morning and a little more than an hour later the barricades started coming down. He says the vast majority of the people on hand were veterans but they were joined by conservative politicians like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as well as the Tea Party Patriots and Tea Party Express.
After the barricades were removed, a group of veterans carried them a short distance to the southern fence of the White House. Ward says that was a powerful moment.
“This is, in my opinion, one of the most historic and captivating moments in our nation’s history, when our veterans took the initiative (through) civil disobedience brought these barricades, dropped them on Obama’s doorstep. One of them had a sign on it that said, ‘Return to Sender.’ It was a fantastic moment in our history and it made me very proud of these folks who stood up,” said Ward.
It was near the White House that veterans encountered city police forces dressed in riot gear. Ward was not a witness to the confrontation but he says there is plenty of video that will show the veterans acted peacefully and lawfully and the police instigated the tension.
Special Operations Speaks is also lashing out at CNN for what it considers deliberately false reporting on the event, even issuing an open letter in criticism of the coverage. A CNN.com report gave considerable attention to the one Confederate flag at the event and to one speaker, Larry Klayman, who asserted on multiple occasions that President Obama is a practicing Muslim. Ward says to allow those incidents to represent the event and the message is a clear-cut case of journalistic malpractice.
“What CNN tried to do was to mute the national enthusiasm for this event by picking out these one or two isolated incidents and also by trying to say that it was a Tea Party event. Of course, the left has done such a great job of demonizing the Tea Party, not that we’re distancing ourselves from the Tea Party,” said Ward, noting that not a single liberal organization or elected official showed up to support the veterans.
“The make-up of the crowd was 80-90 percent veterans. For them to call it a Tea Party event just because there were some Gadsden flags flying is ridiculous,” said Ward. “I pointed out in the letter that calling it a Tea Party event just because the Tea Party showed is akin to calling CNN a communist news network just because their reporters are so far left-leaning.”
Ward also vows that we haven’t heard the last of efforts to help veterans gain access to their memorials.
“It’s not going to stop. I’ve heard of a number of individual local protests that are going to go out and continue to cut those wires, continue to practice civil disobedience. We are in the era now of civil disobedience and it will not stop. We will peacefully gather. We will peacefully make our protests, but we will not be obedient to these unconstitutional, deplorable acts of barricading our veterans outside of their memorials that are there to honor them,” said Ward.
Three Martini Lunch 10/14/13
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Charlie Cooke of National Review are pleasantly shocked to see Obama apologist & Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein slam the Obamacare exchange rollout. They also rip CNN for focusing on two small bad elements of an otherwise America-honoring rally Sunday on the National Mall. And they sigh as Bob Costas goes on another societal mission – this time to shame Washington into dropping the “Redskins” as its mascot.