Sarah Palin doesn’t give up spreading false fears about health care reform. First There were her claims of “death panels.” Now she is tweeting about nonexistent problems for military. They will be able to keep their current coverage. There should be no problem grandfathering in the current military plan whether or not specific language on this is included in the final bill. The convoluted logic behind this claim can also be seen at National Review.
Liberal Values Defending Liberty and Enlightened Thought
Democrats Decide Against Using “Deem and Pass”
March 20, 2010 — Ron ChusidThe Democrats have decided against using “deem and pass” with the health care reform legislation and will have separate votes. Assuming we don’t run into a problem such as the Senate bill being passed by the House and then the Senate failing to pass the changes, the end result will be the same. They will vote for the changes to the Senate bill under reconciliation before voting for the Senate bill itself.
The main difference is that this will deny right wingers the use of another bogus talking point based upon the process. The Washington Post notes:
Though the maneuver has been commonly used in the House, including by Republicans to advance their own favored policies, the idea attracted widespread criticism, and prompted Republicans to accuse House Democrats of trying to avoid taking responsibility for the Senate package…
Van Hollen said Democrats still maintain that deeming the Senate bill passed would have been appropriate and perfectly legal. But, he said, “there was no reason to allow the misinformation campaign to continue. Despite the fact that Republicans used it, we wanted to make the process absolutely clear.”
The Web vs. NPR
March 20, 2010 — Ron ChusidThis week my radio listening is being interrupted by pledge breaks on my local NPR station. This points out another way in which the web can do things old media cannot. Often subscribing to a web site will allow you to avoid being interrupted by ads. It is a shame there is no way for members to similarly bypass NPR pledge breaks.
