Herman Cain, a pizza magnate seen as a minor candidate in a crowded field for the GOP nomination, scored an upset victory Saturday in the Republican Party of Florida’s Presidency 5 straw poll, raising questions about the standing of the two front-runners and the bellwether status of the fundraising event.
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Republican Candidates’ Women Problems
Although none of the GOP presidential candidates dares utter the W word — unless it’s part of the phrase “our men and women in uniform” — it’s pretty easy to see what their views are on issues concerning the sex that comprises a majority of voters, argues Martha Burk.
Job-Killing Regulations: Busting the Myths
Job-killing regulations: Partisan myths and exaggerations aside, regulations may kill some jobs while creating others, netting a wash–and a vaster profit in protecting waterways, food, air and general safety.
Obama’s Job Gig: Pin-Up to GOP Voodoo
What jobs program? Obama’s surrender to stimulus by tax cuts is another concession to bully superstitions. Obama has lost credibility. He’s lost respect. He’s losing the nation right along with him.
Federal COBRA Insurance Subsidies End, Aggravating Strains for the Unemployed
Federal COBRA subsidies for laid-off workers covered 65 percent of premium costs for 15 months, as part of the Obama administration’s 2009 stimulus package. GOP lawmakers blocked an extension.
What Barack Obama Can Learn From Rick Scott
With Rick Scott’s poll numbers in the 20s, the governor went for a cosmetology make-over. Barack Obama could do the same, in reverse: he needs to be liked less and to govern more.
When Income Was Taxed at 94%: How FDR Tackled Debt and Reckless Republicans
The last time the nation faced war debts Franklin Roosevelt didn’t hesitate to raise taxes and show up Republicans who stood in the way of fiscal responsibility, argues Sam Pizzigati.
Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin and Tea Parties: The Gipper’s NAACP Warning to Extremists
“You are the ones who are out of step with our society,” Ronald Reagan said of extremists in a 1981 speech to the NAACP, a speech that resonates in tea party America today, Zach Roberts argues.
The Greater Threat: Christian Extremism From Timothy McVeigh to Anders Breivik
Those two men—two right-wing reactionaries, terrorists, anti-government white supremacists, Christians—have plenty in common with the fundamentalist politicians and ideologues among us who pretend to have nothing to do with the demons they inspire.
Debt Ceiling Fallacies: How to Pay Down The Deficit Without Really Trying
The debt limit debate could have some catastrophic consequences for the economy, writes Kyle Russell, but politicians aren’t telling the whole story, and the fix isn’t nearly as bad as it may sound.
Bogus Government Shutdown, Real Anti-Government Senility
The nation could use a government shut down, but a real one–including “essential services”–to give those who think they can do without government a taste of what they claim to want.
Gov. Scott Vows to End “Oxycontin Express,” Yet Legislature Weakens Pill Mill Regulations
Gov. Rick Scott gave no details on his assault on the “Oxycontin Express,” and a Senate committee approved eliminating a ban on doctors dispensing more than a three-day supply of drugs to patients who pay with cash or credit cards.
Despite 4 Million Uninsured, Florida Senate Approves Opt-Out Amendment on Health Law
Senators voted 29-10 to approve the proposed constitutional amendment, which would allow people to opt out of the “individual mandate” requirement that they buy health insurance or face financial penalties.
Enough Nickel and Diming: How to Cut $1.5 Trillion From the Budget Without Really Trying
Voodoo economics is back, this time with Obama sprinkling the wrong salts. His plan to reduce the deficit is irresponsible. Here’s one way to do it now, with everyone contributing. The alternative is French status in 10 years.
End of the Line for Rail Brawl As Supreme Court Ruling Sends $2.4 Billion Elsewhere
The Florida Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Gov. Scott could not be bound to spend $2.4 billion in federal high-speed rail money. That money will now go to New York or California.
Governor and Senators’ High-Speed Rail Brawl Crashes a Skeptical Florida Supreme Court
Judging from Justices’ questions, the legislators’ case to force the governor to accept $2.4 billion in federal funding for the bullet train looked slim after Thursday’s arguments before the high court.
Senators Against “King” Scott Face Off at Florida Supreme Court Over High-Speed Rail
Set for 3 p.m. Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court showdown over $2.4 billion in federal money underscores the divide between Gov. Rick Scott and the Republican-dominated Legislature ahead of next week’s legislative session.
Senators File Supreme Court Challenge To Gov. Scott’s $2.4 Billion Rail Spurn
The central Florida senators–one Republican, one Democrat–say Scott had no authority to cancel an act of the Legislature and cash appropriations former Gov. Crist had already approved for the $2.4 billion Orlando-Tampa high-speed rail link.
Florida’s Drug Database Targeted for Destruction as Lawmakers Swallow Pill Mills
Florida’s drug database, even if caopable of fighting pill mills, is “Big Brother” to Rob Schenck, Republican House Health and Human Services Chairman. Others are joining him to do away with the drug database.
My Favorite Republican: A Look Back at Eisenhower’s Otherworldly Farewell Address
On the 50th anniversary of Eisenhower’s farewell address, what’s striking about the speech today, Donald Kaul argues, is its tone of balance and moderation. It sounds like a speech not merely from another era but from another planet.
Unconstitutional Mandate: Florida Judge Calls for Repeal of Entire Health Care Law
Though Florida Federal District Judge Roger Vinson termed his ruling “reluctant,” he also ruled that the private insurance mandate is so intricately tied to the the law that the entire law must be repealed.
Pill Mill Regulation Price Tag in Florida: $65 Million; Medicine Board Approves New Rules
The $65 million cost of the proposed pill mill rules would be due to urine test requirements on patients and other minor costs that would be spread out among 1,300 pain management clinics and tens of thousands of patients.
Legislators Bash Pill Mill Crackdown Delays They — and Gov. Rick Scott — Provoked
Florida senators are complaining about the state department of health’s slow implementation of pill mill crackdowns. But the Legislature and Gov. Rick Scott are to blame for the delays.
All Eyes on Pensacola Federal Judge Roger Vinson as Health Reform Faces Its Next Bug
Pensacola-based federal District Judge Roger Vinson will be ruling soon on the constitutionality of Obama’s health care reform. He’s likely to rule it unconstitutional, further weakening the law’s legitimacy as it moves toward the U.S. Supreme Court.
Health Care Reform Ruled Unconstitutional; Florida Judge’s Decision Up Next
Monday’s ruling doesn’t stop the roll-out of federal health care reform. Two federal judges have previously ruled the law constitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court will settle the issue by 2012 or 2013.
A Confederacy of Bipartisan Dunces
Obama’s deal with a minority of Republicans over extending tax cuts and adding $900 billion to the national debt is the latest in three decades of bipartisan collusion between Washington and the myth of American power.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 8-hr 38mn Speech on Obama’s Deal With the GOP
On Dec. 10, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent, held the floor of the Senate for eight hours and 38 minutes in a remarkable filibuster-like speech opposing Obama’s tax deal with the GOP. Here’s the full speech.
Turnout Strategy: Florida’s War on Federal Health Care Reform Targets 2012 Ballot
Florida Senate Republicans approved a proposed constitutional amendment that would exempt Floridians from following federal health care reform mandates. The 2012 ballot measure is intended to bring out anti-Obama voters.
Eleanor Roosevelt: If I Were a Republican Today
In a 1950 piece for Cosmopolitan that could have been written today, Eleanor Roosevelt sees through the vacuous sloganeering of the Republican opposition, though she’s not much kinder to Democrats.
From Fringe to Voting Booth, a Machinery of Information Churning Push-Button Citizens
Politicians know that the obsessed, the fearful, the paranoid and the insane are easier to manipulate and outnumber by far than the attentive, Darrell Smith argues in a column. They can push their buttons at will. Tuesday proved it.
Swelled by Supermajority, Florida GOP Signals First Assault Victim: Medicaid
A quick special session in Tallahassee would provide $9.7 million for Gainesville’s Shands teaching hospital and lay down markers on overhauling medicaid, the health care program for the poor. One idea: forcing all beneficiaries to enroll in managed care.
Don’t Celebrate Yet, Republicans:
Between Din and Tea Stains, a Reality Check
Short-attention span politics are here to stay, which is why Tuesday’s results are merely the latest re-casting of the same tiresome play that’s not about to end its run on our second-world stage. Not with allegedly educated voters like us buying tickets.
How Republicans Became America’s Arabs
That’s the strength behind the Republican No, as it is behind the Arab No, the Islamist No in particular: it appeals to some mythical, mass-marketable golden age. No proof necessary.
Opposition to the Mosque “At” Ground Zero Desecrates American Values
Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and other reactionaries’ opposition to a mosque near ground zero offends liberty at the expense of the dead of 9/11.
Socialism, Capitalism, and Other Fallen Stock
We can rail about socialism’s evil and worship capitalism all we like. It won’t get us out of the hole we spent the last 30 years digging. History and Adam Smith are better guides.
The Liberation of Charlie Crist
Charlie Crist, never foreign to transgression, transgressed what’s left of the Republican Party, which has no room for moderates.
McCain Claims He’s No Maverick
John McCain is repudiating the branding he brandished for years on every campaign trail he doddered through.
Taking Back America–from Tea Party Phonies
If Thomas Jefferson had heard Sarah Palin or Marco Rubio, he’d have had to ask how such a smart country would put up with such an obvious phonies and loons.
He Had His Moments, But…
There’s too much reaching for the old magic–which is just the problem: this lunge for “magic,” this desire to make the impossible real, when it should be the other way around.
Barack Obama: State of the Union Address, January 28, 2010
“We don’t quit. I don’t quit. Let’s seize this moment — to start anew, to carry the dream forward, and to strengthen our union once more,” Obama concluded in his first State of the Union speech.
Beck Goes Lecter on Palin’s Glass Eyes
Sarah Palin’s round of Fox News foxholes landed her in Glenn Beck’s hole within obsequious distance of the Statue of Liberty (the Lady had no choice). The chat was vaguely lecherous.
The 10 Most Ridiculous Commandments
In order for any Republican candidate to receive support from the Republican National Committee, they have to sign off on eight out of 10 newly-mandated, government-approved, “conservative” principles.