Flap’s Links and Comments for June 28th through June 29th

These are my links for June 28th through June 29th:

• Michele Bachmann’s Polling Can’t Be Dismissed – You know the Republican presidential race has changed when you start seeing headlines wondering “How To Stop Bachmann.” That was the title of a Jonathan Chait piece in the New Republic yesterday that came only a day after Ed Kilgore wrote on the same site asking whether Bachmann could “Survive Being Taken Seriously?”

  The reason for this hysteria can be found in the poll numbers that demonstrate the Minnesota congresswoman has evolved in the last month from a marginal player in the GOP presidential race to a major contender. The latest such survey came from the liberal-leaning Public Policy Polling that shows Bachmann leading in both Oregon and Montana. While it was possible to rationalize her surge in Iowa, a state where Christian conservative activists have always been highly influential and where she has some roots, it is difficult to dismiss her lead in Oregon.

  The question for the moment is how seriously to take these polls.

  On the one hand, any poll this far in advance of the first votes being cast has to be taken with a shovelful of salt. Four years ago at this time, Hillary Clinton was the certain Democratic nominee, John McCain’s candidacy had crashed and burned and Rudy Giuliani was looking like a strong contender in 2008.

  Like those 2007 surveys, polls at this point in the election cycle say more about name recognition than anything else. That’s why Clinton and Giuliani were doing so well four years ago and why someone like Mitt Romney is considered a frontrunner today. But those arguments don’t tell us much about Bachmann’s surge. Unlike Romney, who has been running for president for more than five years, Bachmann was a relative unknown outside of the Tea Party movement until just a few weeks ago. Her poll numbers are not the product of longstanding name recognition. Rather, they say everything about the way she has burst upon the scene looking and sounding like a confident, smart woman who isn’t afraid to take on either Obama or her Republican rivals. While other candidates, such as Tim Pawlenty, have presented far stronger positions on the economy and foreign policy, there’s no getting around the fact Republicans seem to like Bachmann better so far.

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  Actually, no it cannot be dismisseed…..

• ObamaCare: Divided Sixth Circuit Panel Upholds Individual Mandate – A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Martin, has upheld the individual mandate against a Commerce Clause challenge.  The same panel, in an opinion by Judge Sutton, rejected the argument that the mandate can be sustained as an exercise of the federal government’s taxing power (which means, to date, no court has accepted the taxing power argument).  Senior District Judge Graham, sitting by designation, dissented from the court’s Commerce Clause holding.

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  On to the Supreme Court eventually…..

• Michele Bachmann reponds to Medicaid payout report – Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann responded Wednesday to a report by NBC that the mental health clinic run by her husband has collected annual Medicaid payments totaling over $137,000, while she has criticized the program for swelling the "welfare rolls."
  "Medicaid is a valuable form of insurance for many Americans and it would be discriminatory not to accept Medicaid as a form of payment," Bachmann spokeswoman Alice Stewart told CNN. "As a state-sponsored counseling service, Bachmann and Associates has a responsibility to provide Medicaid and medical assistance, regardless of a patients financial situation."

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  And, she would be criticized if her husband turned away Medicaid patients.

  How do you win with the MSM?

  Answer: As a conservative you don't.

• Flap’s Links and Comments for June 28th on 12:20 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for June 28th on 12:20 #tcot #catcot