Daily MoJo
June 13, 2003
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'Compassionate' Medicare
DeLay's Political Police
California for Sale?
HEALTH
Bush's Compassionate Medicare
After passing his "oops, I didn't mean to cut the kids out" tax cut, Bush finally got down to the business of helping America's seniors by pushing for Medicare reform.
While campaigning on Wednesday, Bush told the Illinois State Medical Society what the rest of us figured out a while ago: out-of-pocket prescription drug prices are too darn high for Americans on fixed incomes.
- "Medicine is changing, Medicare is not [...] As many as one-third of seniors have no drug coverage at all [...] we are creating a health care system that is more expensive and less effective."
Democrats are criticizing the bipartisan Senate bill for its penny-pinching benefits and for its heavy reliance on private insurance companies to provide the drugs. They are also concerned about Bush's general plan to move Medicare beneficiaries into private plans. Both the House and the Senate proposals would impose higher costs on seniors who opted to keep their traditional Medicare.
If Bush manages to nudge the Medicare bill into law it will be a victory for his much-touted "compassionate conservatism." Such a move could help him win key swing states in his re-election bid.
The Medicare maneuver follows last month's tax cut as Bush moves to cut government down to size and privatize more and more public assistance programs. As Farhad Manjoo writes for Salon, Bush's strategy of letting Americans keep more of "your own money" is deeply flawed and is slowly killing Social Security . Manjoo quotes the president's elementary economic analysis:
"[W]hen people have more money, they can spend it on goods and services. And in our society, when they demand an additional good or a service, somebody will produce the good or a service. And when somebody produces that good or a service, it means somebody is more likely to be able to find a job."
Such insights didn't really leave political commentators satisfied. Even Thomas "we should fill the rest of Mexico with sweatshops, those people are happy to have jobs" Friedman had to give his two-cents on the topic. And maybe, just this once, we should listen to Friedman's advice. His wisdom on tax cuts was actually a little bit funny in Wednesday's column, " Read My Lips ." Friedman suggests that we should substitute the word "services" whenever Bush says "taxes."
"That is, when the president says he wants yet another round of reckless 'tax cuts,' which will shift huge burdens to our children, Democrats should simply refer to them as 'service cuts,' because that is the only way these tax cuts will be paid for -- by cuts in services. Indeed, the Democrats' bumper sticker in 2004 should be:
'Read my lips, no new services. Thank you, President Bush.'
Although Friedman might have picked up his irony from columnist Molly Ivins, he went on to tease the Dems instead of following the point to its logical conclusion. Ivins did just that and called for a fair system of taxation in the United States.
"The reason people hate paying taxes is because they know the system isn't fair. We don't have a progressive tax system in this country anymore, and we certainly don't have one in Texas. It is mind-boggling that the Republicans took away child tax credits for low-income working people. It was such a gross distortion in favor of the rich and against working people that it created an immediate backlash and forced the White House to ask Congress to reverse itself."
The Los Angeles Times puts two and two together and asks: How is public health care going to improve with less federal funds to go around?
"With the economy stagnant and new tax cuts taking ever larger chunks out of federal revenue, it's a job that, unfortunately, is likely to be done with smoke and mirrors.Bush has proposed a drug benefit that would encourage Medicare beneficiaries to join private managed-care plans and receive more benefits than those who remain in traditional Medicare. His assumption is that up to 40% of seniors will switch, but independent estimates peg the shift at 2% to 3%. Too many people remember the managed-care debacle of the last decade, when HMOs jumped into the Medicare Plus Choice program and then fled the market, stranding seniors who depended on them."
If seniors are once again left stranded once Bush's proposals go into effect in 2006, they may feel less than compassionate towards conservatives. You never know when the AARP will get nasty at the ballot box.
POLITICS
DeLay's Political Police
With the threat of terrorist attacks still so high, it's comforting to know that the Department of Homeland Security is on the case, using its resources to protect the nation from threats of all kinds.
Threats like, say, Texas Democrats who won't bow to Republican bullying.
That's the latest bit of sleaze to emerge from the scandal that's become known as " Texasgate," in which Texas Republican lawmakers all but called out the National Guard against their Democratic colleagues in an attempt to ram through a partisan power grab. As the days pass, the evidence continues to trickle out, and it looks increasingly likely that Republicans broke the law, and the Department of Homeland Security knowingly aided them.
To recap: at the behest of House majority leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican, the GOP-controlled Lone Star legislature tried to redraw the state's congressional map last month -- a gerrymandering unheard-of in its audacity, which would result in big Republican electoral gains. Texas Democrats, however, refused to play along. Knowing they'd be outvoted, they split town en masse to hide out in Oklahoma, denying the Republicans a quorum and derailing the bill's passage. The move broke no laws, but it enraged Republicans. They sent out the Texas Rangers to hunt down the runaway Democrats and bring them home (in the process, police tailed Democrats' families and even staked out an intensive care neonatal ward, where two sick infants who happened to belong to a Democratic parent were recuperating). In the end, the Republicans didn't get their men: Texas police couldn't cross state lines to arrest the recalcitrant lawmakers, and Oklahoma's Democratic governor declined to help.
Here's where the story gets really interesting. Some of the recalcitrant Democrats had flown by private plane to their Oklahoma hideout, and in their efforts to find them Republicans called the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security. While the FAA provided Tom DeLay with private information on the getaway aircraft, the Department of Homeland Security used its southern California "air interdiction" center -- intended for tracking terrorists and drugrunners -- to locate the missing Democrats. Initial reports suggested that Homeland Security had been duped into searching for the plane. As the Washington Post's R. Jeffrey Smith reports, though, that no longer appears to be true.
"'There was never any inference that the plane might be down, or something like that,' said Marvin Miller, an airport official in Plainview, Tex. -- near Laney's home -- who said he was contacted by an 'air interdiction' official on the evening of May 12. 'There was never any safety concern, or indication that it was missing or overdue,' Miller said. 'The guy said at the end, "This is just somebody looking for politicians they can't find."'"
Republicans quickly shifted into damage-control mode, destroying documents while Democrats demanded that Homeland Security turn over its records of the affair. All in all, it amounts to a gross misuse of federal power for nakedly political ends, writes the Dallas Morning News' Ruben Navarrette Jr.
"What arrogance. The Republicans turned DPS into their private security force. They tried to involve the Homeland Security Department. Then they wanted to draft the FBI.That's outrageous. Texas Republicans in both Austin and Washington apparently got so caught up reacting to a crisis of their own making that they forgot about the crucial distinction between the public and the political. Public institutions such as police forces, Cabinet agencies and the state attorney general's office exist for the collective good. Entrusted with substantial power and authority, they must be handled with care and restraint. They must also never, ever, be roped into doing the dirty work of advancing narrow political agendas."
The editors of the International Herald Tribune agree. Further, they write, had the positions been reversed -- with Democrats hunting Republicans -- conservative outrage would be limitless.
"This page was a consistent critic of the Clintons' ethics problems, but the former president's defenders should feel free to point out what kind of national outcry we would be hearing from talk show hosts and congressional Republicans if anyone had tried to misuse the government's anti-terrorism machinery this way during the last administration."
POLITICS
California for Sale?
Congressman Darrell Issa seems to think so. In an aggressive campaign that could throw Californa politics into chaos, Issa is spearheading the effort to recall Democratic Governor Gray Davis. So far, Issa -- a shrewd, slightly shady Republican businessman who made his millions selling car alarms -- has funnelled a staggering $645,000 into the campaign in an attempt to secure himself a slot as Governer of California.
The political frenzy that could ensue if the recall effort succeeds is nothing short of frightening -- leaving many Californians wondering what's to become of the world's fifth largest economy. Reuter's Adam Tanner writes:
"And if that question is on the ballot, state law requires that voters be asked at the same time who should replace Davis, a question that could entice a number of high-profile Republicans into the race, including Issa and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger."
Eek! Arnold?
As the San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Marinucci and John Wildermuth point out, if the recall is successful, the race to become Governor will become a free-for-all:
"If it happens, the green flag will start the engines of a political demolition derby never before seen in the state.'It's the wild, wild West,' said GOP consultant Sean Walsh. 'If you're a political junkie, and you liked the last presidential election, you're going to love this gubernatorial election. Anything can happen.'"
However, the anti-recall effort, comprised of various organizations including newly formed Taxpayers Against the Recall, has not been sitting on its thumbs. Teachers, firefighters, and union organizers have banded together to form the anti-recall effort that could put an end to the auction for California. But, the limited margin of time that they have to work with is crucial. The Sacramento Bee's Dan Walters writes:
"That time frame is important because while Costa and other backers have until early September to submit recall petitions, if they're completed in the next month, a special recall election would almost certainly be held in the fall, thus giving the recall its maximum chance of succeeding. If, however, certification of the petitions is delayed until September or October, the recall probably would be combined with the March 2004 primary, and Davis' chances of surviving would improve."
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