• Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for September 29th through September 30th

    These are my links for September 29th through September 30th:

    • Why I’m liking Perry better than Romney – With three months remaining in 2011, and the presidential race firming up, I've spent a lot of time recently thnking about the respective candidates, their pros and cons, and who I would feel most comfortable supporting.  The reality is, I think we're going to be looking at a Perry-Romney showdown, when push comes to shove.  And in that context, it's pretty clear at this point to me that I'm in the Perry camp.

      I've had some people ask me why that is recently. I originally became known in the blogosphere for being a squishy moderate/squishy libertarian, and some people seem to see that as consistent with preferring Romney to Perry, if those are the choices.  So on a relatively quiet Friday, I figured I'd take a minute and spell it out, especially since reasons #1 and #2 are topical and in the news today.

    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-09-30 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-09-30 #tcot #catcot
    • Flap’s Links and Comments for September 29th on 09:07 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for September 29th on 09:07 #tcot #catcot
  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for September 29th on 09:07

    These are my links for September 29th from 09:07 to 21:41:

    • Gov. Rick Perry greeted by protestors in Charlotte – Texas Governor Rick Perry made a stop on his fundraising trail in Charlotte on Thursday, but it wasn't his supporters who made the most noise. Protestors took to the streets outside San Antonio’s Mexican Grill at SouthPark.
      It was anything but a southern hospitality welcome.
       
      "Rick Perry is the only candidate that signed in state tuition for illegal immigrants into law, " said William Gheen, President of Americans for Legal Immigration, or ALIPAC.
       
      “The reason that states have to deal with this is because of the failure of federal government," countered Gov. Perry.
       
      Texas signed a version of the Dream Act into law, allowing many undocumented students who grew up and received a high school education in the United States to receive in-state tuition for college, and Perry stood by his support for the issue.
       
      "The federal government demands we give them healthcare, we educate them.  So in Texas we've decided we want them to be part of the work force and not part of the problem," said Gov. Perry.
       
      But Gheen says it doesn't matter how long the kids have been in the U.S.  They shouldn't have the same rights as American students when it comes to education.
    • Rick Perry: My wife prodded me to enter presidential race – Speaking at a fundraising event for campaign donors in Beverly Hills, California on September 8th, Mr Perry praised his wife Anita, stating that "we grow beautiful women in Texas" and it was 45 years since they had first met at a piano recital near his home in Paint Creek, Texas.
      "And actually, the reason I'm standing before you is that, I was quite comfortable and happy being the governor of the state of Texas, and as she shared with me, 'You know, you're reasonably good at it'," he said.
      "But she said, 'You do not have the privilege to stand on the sidelines. Our country is in trouble and you have to do your duty'. And so honey I want to say thank you for prodding me across the line."
      Some of Mr Perry's detractors have said that he was pushed into running for president and that his poor debate performances reflect a lack of motivation. A senior adviser to Mitt Romney, the Texan's main rival, said that Mr Perry had embarked on "a careless candidacy prompted by his wife" and campaign consultants.
    • Why Romney Hasn’t Caught On – The New York Times and Washington Post both take a look at Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and wonder why he hasn't been able to excite Republican primary voters.

      First Read: "Yet here's one reason both articles don't really mention: his past positions on issues… Only six years ago, he supported abortion rights; in 1994, he sent a letter saying he'd be a stronger advocate for gay rights than Ted Kennedy; according to a 2006 article, he supported a path to citizenship for law-abiding illegal immigrants; he has said that his Massachusetts health-care law should be a model for other states; and he said back in June that humans have contributed to the world getting warmer — and that it's important to reduce emissions to combat that. All of those positions are anathema to conservatives. A question: Does this Republican electorate want to 'settle,' gravitate behind the most electable? When they've 'settled in the past, many conservative leaders have regretted it (see McCain or Dole or Bush 41)."

  • Pinboard Links

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

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

    • Liberal group sues FCC, claiming net-neutrality rules unfair to wireless – Free Press, a liberal advocacy group, sued the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday, arguing its recently published net-neutrality rules do not do enough to protect wireless Internet access.

      The rules prevent Internet service providers from discriminating between two similar content providers by slowing down or speeding up access to their sites. Wireless carriers are banned from blocking lawful websites or applications that compete with their services.

      The commission approved the rules last December in a partisan vote, and conservatives have characterized the move as an attempt to regulate the Internet.

      But Free Press argues the rules do not go far enough.

      Its lawsuit alleges the rules arbitrarily provide less protection for wireless Internet access, such as through smartphones, than traditional wired Internet access.

      “Our challenge will show that there is no evidence in the record to justify this arbitrary distinction between wired and wireless Internet access," Free Press policy director Matt Wood said in a news release. "The disparity that the FCC's rules create is unjust and unjustified. And it's especially problematic because of the increasing popularity of wireless, along with its increasing importance for younger demographics and diverse populations who rely on mobile devices as their primary means for getting online."

      The petition asks a federal court to find that the rules are "arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion or otherwise contrary to law."

      =======

      Incredible – not enough of a power grab.

    • Social media jobs getting more plentiful – Like many people, Evan Cunningham spends time on Facebook and Twitter while at the office. He sends out party invitations or chats about beer.

      But unlike most people, he gets paid for it. And he gets a title.

      Cunningham's job is one of the newest in corporate America: social media manager. It's also known, depending on the company, as social media wizard, social media ninja, social media diva or just plain online communities manager.

      No matter what they're called, experts in marketing a company's name and wares on social network sites — such as Facebook, Twitter and special interest forums — are in demand.

      "This was the year when companies large and small began to realize the importance of social media, and there has been lots of investment in social media," said Augie Ray, a former Forrester Research analyst who now handles social media for insurance group USAA.

      No one knows exactly how many social media jobs exist, but a quick scan of online recruitment sites shows a bounty of businesses looking to hire.

      "On any given week, we may see hundreds of new social media jobs posted," said Kathy O'Reilly, director of social media relations for job recruitment site Monster.

    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-09-29 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-09-29 #tcot #catcot
    • Superman Vs. Warm Body – In Defense of Rick Perry – One of the problems in trying to select a leader for any large organization or institution is the tendency to start out looking for Superman, passing up many good people who fail to meet that standard, and eventually ending up settling for a warm body.

      Some Republicans seem to be longing for another Ronald Reagan. Good luck on that one, unless you are prepared to wait for several generations. Moreover, even Ronald Reagan himself did not always act like Ronald Reagan.

      The current outbreak of "gotcha" attacks on Texas Governor Rick Perry show one of the other pitfalls for those who are trying to pick a national leader. The three big sound-bite issues used against him during the TV "debates" have involved Social Security, immigration and a vaccine against cervical cancer.

      Where these three issues have been discussed at length, whether in a few media accounts or in Governor Perry's own more extended discussions in an interview on Sean Hannity's program, his position was far more reasonable than it appeared to be in either his opponents' sound bites or even in his own abbreviated accounts during the limited time available in the TV "debate" format.

      On Social Security, Governor Perry was not only right to call it a "Ponzi scheme," but was also right to point out that this did not mean welshing on the government's obligation to continue paying retirees what they had been promised.

      Even those of us who still disagree with particular decisions made by Governor Perry can see some of those decisions as simply the errors of a decent man who realized that he was faced not with a theory but with a situation.

      For example, the ability to save young people from cervical cancer with a stroke of a pen was a temptation that any decent and humane individual would find hard to resist, even if Governor Perry himself now admits to second thoughts about how it was done.

      =====

      Read it all

    • Frontloading HQ: Alaska GOP to Hold March 6 District Conventions – RT @FHQ: Alaska GOP to Hold March 6 District Conventions:
    • President 2012: Herman Cain – “I Couldn’t Support Rick Perry as GOP Nominee Today” | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – President 2012: Herman Cain – “I Couldn’t Support Rick Perry as GOP Nominee Today #tcot #catcot
    • Why Rick Perry should take his immigration problem very seriously | The Daily Caller – Why Rick Perry should take his immigration problem very seriously #tcot #teaparty
    • Flap’s Links and Comments for September 28th on 12:17 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for September 28th on 12:17 #tcot #catcot
  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for September 28th on 12:17

    These are my links for September 28th from 12:17 to 14:18:

    • Rick Perry to Newsmax: I Regret ‘Heartless’ Comment on Immigration – Presidential candidate Rick Perry on Wednesday apologized for saying that anyone who opposed giving tuition breaks to the children of illegal immigrants “did not have a heart.”

      In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV, the Texas governor said he had made a poor choice of words during the Sept. 22 presidential debate, but he stood by his view that the decision in his state to extend tuition breaks was the right one.

      “I was probably a bit over-passionate by using that word and it was inappropriate,” Perry admitted. “In Texas in 2001 we had 181 members of the legislature – only four voted against this piece of legislation – because it wasn’t about immigration it was about education.”

      During the wide-ranging interview, Perry:

      • Opposed the idea of a fence stretching the entire length of the Mexican border;
      • Repeated his claim that social security is “a Ponzi scheme,” saying it’s so bad it “would make Bernie Madoff blush;”
      • Attacked challenger Mitt Romney as “a flip-flopper;’
      • Accused President Barack Obama of sending government agencies to “go to war” against business, and;
      • Said most voters want their president to be “a person of faith.”

    • Big Tobacco knew radioactive particles in cigarettes posed cancer risk but kept quiet, study suggests – Tobacco companies knew that cigarette smoke contained radioactive alpha particles for more than four decades and developed "deep and intimate" knowledge of these particles' cancer-causing potential, but they deliberately kept their findings from the public, according to a new study by UCLA researchers.
    • Bristol Palin’s Bar Heckler Apologizes After Negative Media Coverage – The dust finally seems to be settling on the epic verbal battle that unraveled between Bristol Palin and heckler Stephen Hanks. Just days after Hanks got into an altercation with Palin, then reiterated his offensive comments, he is now curiously apologetic.

      As you may recall, the 47-year-old attacked Sarah Palin’s oldest daughter last week, calling her mother “evil” and a “whore,” among other unbelievably offensive insults. You can watch the original battle unfold here:

      =======

      Read it all….

      A little late but accepted…..

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for September 28th on 11:46

    These are my links for September 28th from 11:46 to 12:13:

    • Defiant Team Perry’s plan: Hit Harder – Are You Kidding? – Rick Perry’s widely panned debate performances? Just a hiccup. Any major changes in debate prep? None planned. His unexpected and deflating Florida straw poll loss last weekend? Not a big deal.

      Even as some of his supporters grow anxious, the Texas governor’s top aides insist they have no plans for real or even symbolic changes to their campaign. The only pivot they’ll make, they say, is to become more aggressive with Mitt Romney.

      ======

      Probably not a wise move….

    • Hispanic kids the largest group of children living in poverty – More Hispanic children are living in poverty than those of any other race or ethnicity, marking the first time in U.S. history that the largest group of poor children is not white, according to a new research study.

      In a report released Thursday, the Pew Hispanic Center said 6.1 million Hispanic children are poor, compared with 5 million non-Hispanic white children and 4.4 million black children. Pew said Hispanic poverty numbers have soared because of the impact of the recession on the growing number of Latinos in the country.

      Though the number of poor Hispanic children is at a record high, black children have a higher rate of poverty — 39 percent compared with 35 percent for Hispanic children. In contrast, the poverty rate for white children is about 12 percent.

      Nationwide, one in five children of all races and ethnicities is living in poverty, which is set at $22,113 for a family of four.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for September 20th through September 23rd

    These are my links for September 20th through September 23rd:

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for September 15th on 10:33

    These are my links for September 15th from 10:33 to 14:26:

    • Perry debate performances hurt his chances – The modern Republican Party does not want to nominate Mitt Romney. As we've said many times on this site, he's of the wrong religion, the wrong region and he's the author of Romneycare. GOP primary voters and caucus attenders will only nominate him after they've exhausted every other available (and viable) option.

      Perry need only meet two tests to win the nomination. Test #1 is that he has the knowledge and experience to serve effectively as president. Test #2 is that he has an even (or better than even) chance of defeating President Obama next November. All the other pieces of the puzzle are there. He has a very powerful base. He has the money. He has (enough) established political support.

      Perry has so far failed Test #1. He needs to pass it, again and again, in debate after debate, to win. If he continues to fall short in these debates, then he won't be the nominee. He'll be in the discard pile with all the others.

      ======

      Perry needs to step it up in the debates and work on some specific policy recommendations

    • Perry’s Missing His Chance to Build a Big Lead Early – I think the best one can say about Perry’s two debate performances is that they’ve been good enough — he is, after all, still the frontrunner in most polls. I think the worst you can say is that, so far, Perry is deeply disappointing to any Republican who wanted a presidential nominee who could naturally and easily articulate a powerful argument for conservative principles and think on his feet.

      It’s not like the idea that Michele Bachmann would go after him was a surprise, nor was the angle of “crony capitalism,” and the heart of Perry’s defense is that he’s offended that someone would accuse him of altering his position for a donation so small.

      Perry has plenty of time, and will have plenty of opportunities to regroup. But it’s fascinating to think that the conventional wisdom around him could change so dramatically in two weeks, and essentially after two key nights . . .

    • Tim Scott’s NLRB bill passes in the House – Rep. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) bill to limit the National Labor Relations Board's powers passed in the house today by a vote of 238 – 186.

      8 Democrats voted in favor of the bill which was largely proposed in response to the NLRB's decision to blog a new Boeing plant in South Carolina.

      Sen. Harry Reid is unlikely bring up the bill in the Senate, but the House is eager to show that they are willing to pass legislation that will add jobs to the American economy.

    • President 2012: Mitt Romney To Be a No Show at California GOP Convention » Flap’s California Blog – President 2012: Mitt Romney To Be a No Show at California GOP Convention
    • CDC: Successful Anti-Smoking Efforts Resulting in Less Lung Cancer? | Smiles For A Lifetime – Temporary (Locum Tenens) Dentistry – CDC: Successful Anti-Smoking Efforts Resulting in Less Lung Cancer?:
    • President 2012 GOP Florida Poll Watch: Rick Perry 29% Vs. Romney 20% | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – :
    • Log In – The New York Times – NY Times Review: Joe McGinniss’s ‘The Rogue,’ on Sarah Palin
    • Flap’s Links and Comments for September 15th on 10:20 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for September 15th on 10:20 #tcot #catcot
  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for September 15th on 10:20

    These are my links for September 15th from 10:20 to 10:31:

    • Big Brother Obama is watching – Attack Watch – e careful, if you dare to criticize Citizen Obama, comrade. The Web is watching. This week, President Obama’s re-election team launched “Attack Watch,” an interactive website that allows the president’s registered supporters to report instances of “attacks” against the commander in chief or his record. Citizen snitches are asked to detail who the attacker is, the type of attack, and whether the offending words were actually heard or passed along as second-hand rumors. The “Attack Files” section provides summary responses to some common smears. For example, the site explains that, “President Obama is a friend to Israel, despite unfounded claims to the contrary.” For critics, it represents a handy list of the issues that most infuriate the White House.

      The look and feel of the site conveys a sense of foreboding. It’s Web design by Orwell. A black background, stark red headers and white text surround the site’s own attacks. Grainy black-and-white photos depict those on the White House hit list, which includes the likes of Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Glenn Beck. The design is so unconsciously theatrical and amateurish it is hard to believe it is not a parody.

      It’s not the first time Mr. Obama has attempted to harness the Internet to create a nation of informants. In August 2009, the White House set up the email address “flag@whitehouse.gov” to gather information during the debate over Obamacare. According to an official press release, people were actually supposed to send a note to the White House “if you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy.” The effort raised serious concern over the appearance that the administration might be compiling an enemies list. As if the privacy implications weren’t bad enough, the address became instant spam bait. After three weeks of withering criticism, the White House abandoned its fishing expedition.

      =====

      Orwellian in the extreme

    • NY Times Review: Joe McGinniss’s ‘The Rogue,’ on Sarah Palin – Mr. McGinniss explains that he was shocked, just shocked, at the angry response his presence in Wasilla provoked. But “The Rogue” makes the Palins’ widely publicized anger understandable, even to readers who might have defended his right to set up shop in their neighborhood and soak up the local color. Although most of “The Rogue” is dated, petty and easily available to anyone with Internet access, Mr. McGinniss used his time in Alaska to chase caustic, unsubstantiated gossip about the Palins, often from unnamed sources like “one resident” and “a friend.”

      And these stories need not be consistent. “The Rogue” suggests that Todd Palin and the young Sarah Heath took drugs. It also says that she lacked boyfriends and was a racist. And it includes this: “A friend says, ‘Sarah and her sisters had a fetish for black guys for a while.’  ” Mr. McGinniss did in 2011 make a phone call to the former N.B.A. basketball player Glen Rice, who is black, and prompted him to acknowledge having fond memories of Sarah Heath. While Mr. Rice avoids specifics and uses the words “respectful” and “a sweetheart,” Mr. McGinniss eggs him on with the kind of flagrantly leading question he seems to have habitually asked. In Mr. Rice’s case: “So you never had the feeling she felt bad about having sex with a black guy?”

      ======

      Read it all

      McGinniss is a sensationalist slime ball.

    • Yes, cancer sucks. But… – I’m glad Rick Perry is pro-life. But public officials cannot govern based on how they feel. They must think.
      Their job is not to mandate life-saving interventions at any cost. Especially if the price is liberty-curtailment. (Listen to further discussion on this point at FreedomWorks radio here.)
      “If it saves just one life” is a fiscally imprudent and morally irresponsible justification for massive government intervention — and antithetical to core Tea Party principles.
      Moreover, the story now making the rounds is clearly an attempt to shift the spotlight from Perry’s Merck ties.
      Just as I criticized Michele Bachmann for unwisely using one mother’s unvetted anecdote to bolster her criticism of Perry, I will repeat the warning against such demagogic tactics as the “erring on the side of life” defense. It’s a path that leads to the kind of heart-tugging Obamacare fables I’ve blasted for the past two years.
      While the personal back story now being disseminated by Team Perry supporters may help explain why he did what he did, it does not in any way excuse it.
      Nor does it bolster confidence that Perry’s bedrock understanding of the proper role of government in health care decisions is much different than Mitt Romney’s or Barack Obama’s.
      That sucks, too.

      ======

      Read it all.

      What concerns me: Will Rick Perry repeat this policy behavior after he is elected President?

      American cannot afford another Obama meddling around with our health care system – crony capitalism notwithstanding.

  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for September 14th through September 15th

    These are my links for September 14th through September 15th:

    • Perry: Mandatory HPV vaccination of girls was wrong – It’s hard to figure out what is going on in Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s mind and in his presidential campaign. In the Florida debate on Monday, he defended his HPV mandatory vaccination on the basis that he would “always err on the side of saving lives.” He did, however, admit that using an executive order was an error. That is a perfectly defensible position, but he was ferociously attacked by rivals Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Rick Santorum. Then, nearly 48 hours after the debate and the ensuing firestorm, he decided the mandatory vaccinations with an opt-out for parents was a mistake. He told a Virginia GOP gathering Wednesday afternoon: “We should have had an opt-in instead of an opt-out.” A Perry spokesman did not respond to a request for an explanation of the about-face.

      To recap, in the 2010 Texas gubernatorial race, Perry vehemently defended the HPV vaccination effort. In the first days of the presidential campaign, he then said it was a “mistake,” but didn’t say why. In the debate he said only that the executive order was wrong. Santorum said to the audience members that they should take note that Perry was defending the merits of the program. Santorum suggested that an opt-in would have been a better plan. After a couple of days, Perry decided that his latest previous position was not tenable.

      Santorum’s communications director, Hogan Gidley, e-mailed me: “I’m glad that Gov. Perry is finally listening to Rick Santorum — and now understands a conservative’s position: that the government take over of a 12 year old girl’s body is a horrible thing….

      ======

      Read it all.

    • A Democrat against labor? Yes, NLRB-Boeing fight hurts N.C. – From David Young, chair of the N.C. Democratic Party from 2007-2009:

      Our neighboring state of South Carolina received some troubling news from the National Labor Relations Board this year when Boeing was denied the opportunity to build a production line in South Carolina. This action, which carried with it a potentially chilling effect on job creation in North Carolina and throughout the nation, needs to be overturned by Congress.

      Boeing manufactures its Dreamliner 787 aircrafts in the Puget Sound region of Seattle. When the production demands on the Pacific Northwest facility were unable to be met by the current workforce – a sadly rare occurrence in this economy – Boeing moved forward with plans to develop a second production line in South Carolina. (North Carolina was also in the running for this new production facility.)

      The NLRB denied this action at the prompting of the labor union representing Boeing workers in Seattle, who alleged that Boeing had engaged in unfair labor practices because, in short, South Carolina is a right-to-work state. In essence, opponents of the S.C. facility say that once a company decides to conduct business in a non-right-to-work state, it cannot choose to expand operations to other states in the future, regardless of the economic conditions.

      As the former chairman of the N.C. Democratic Party, I am not only disinclined to criticize organized labor, but am rather sympathetic to their cause. The bigger question at play, however, is not why one side of this argument pressed hard for job protection, but why the NLRB chose to deny another area's competitive advantage?

      =======

      The Moderate Democrats will soon be all abandoning the Far Left Ideologue which is President Obama.

    • @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-09-15 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – @Flap Twitter Updates for 2011-09-15 #tcot #catcot
    • Solyndra employee: “Everyone knew the plant wouldn’t work” | The Right Scoop – RT @amandacarpenter: Solyndra employee tells Mark Levin: "Everyone knew the plant wouldn't work."
    • Instagram – RT @PatrickRuffini: Absolutely brutal mail piece in #ny09 from @rjchq
    • Dilbert September 14, 2011 – Unfinished » Flap’s California Blog – Dilbert September 14, 2011 – Unfinished
    • Flap’s Links and Comments for September 14th on 09:07 | Flap’s Blog – FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog – Flap’s Links and Comments for September 14th on 09:07 #tcot #catcot
  • Pinboard Links

    Flap’s Links and Comments for September 14th on 09:07

    These are my links for September 14th from 09:07 to 15:15:

    • The Nevada Special Election: Where the Mediscare Attacks Went to Die? – But in Nevada's special election yesterday, the Medicare attacks failed to drive votes. Republican Mark Amodei defeated Democrat Kate Marshall 58% to 36%. The district gave McCain 49% of the vote in 2008 and 57% to Bush in 2004 (as you may recall, 2004 was a pretty good year for Republicans).

      The attacks also failed, as Mickey Kaus and David Weigel point out, in New York's special election. But NV-2 was a better test case of the Medicare attacks than NY-9. After all, the New York special election was quirky–it was precipitated by a Democratic scandal and a couple of unique factors divided the Democratic party (Weprin's vote for gay marriage and unhappiness in the sizable Jewish community over Obama's Israel policy). Turner would have voted "no" on the Ryan budget.

      On the other hand, Nevada Republican Mark Amodei, while saying he wouldn't have voted for the GOP budget because it didn't cut enough, gave his opponents a lot more grist for their Medicare attack ads:

      Amodei countered the Medicare attacks by pointing out that he wants Medicare reimbursement rates to be higher. That's pretty consistent with the GOP position that Obama's plan to reform Medicare through rationing is bad, and the Republican plan to reform Medicare through choice and competition for future beneficiaries is good.

      It wouldn't be accurate to say that the Nevada election proves Medicare will be a non-issue in 2012. It's always easy to read too much into a special election–that was certainly the case when Democrats heralded the NY-26 race as a "referendum" on GOP Medicare reform.

      What we do know is that in this case, Amodei didn't directly vote for Ryan's Medicare reform, but he did praise it. In the Democrats' minds that should have been enough to sink him in a district that was evenly divided between McCain and Obama in 2008. It didn't work.

    • Obama’s Medicare blunder – Early this year, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) dug a huge hole for the Republican Party by proposing dramatic changes in the Medicare system. True, the changes would extend the life of the program. True, they would not affect current retirees. True, they won’t take effect for 10 years. But no matter. President Obama seized on the Ryan plan as a key element of his 2012 campaign.

      Then the House leadership compounded the problem by passing the Ryan plan with all but four House Republicans in support. All the rest just followed Ryan off the cliff, putting themselves on record in favor of a plan Americans overwhelmingly opposed. Democrats, reeling from the 2010 defeats, were jubilant. The Republicans had just, in their view, given away the 2012 election.

      Well, in Obama’s jobs speech, he gave it right back to the Republicans by embracing his own version of Medicare cuts.

      As I heard Obama blundering, my mind cast back to a conversation I had with George Stephanopoulos in 1995 when he was opposing my suggestion that President Clinton lay out his own plan to balance the federal budget. George was concerned that if we proposed our own budget cuts, we would lose the ability to attack those being pushed by Newt Gingrich and the Republicans.

      I countered that as long as we did not propose to cut Medicare, we would be OK and could still use the Medicare issue against the GOP. We did so with great success.

      Now Obama has run afoul of what would have been George’s advice and has nullified the advantage Ryan’s mistake afforded him. More than any other, this false step on the president’s part was the most important political outcome of the Wednesday jobs speech.

      How the Republicans respond should hinge on the details of Obama’s Medicare cuts. If the president wants to raise premiums or increase deductibles or means-test benefits, the GOP should agree. Obama will face plenty of flak in his own party and probably could only pass such a program in the Senate with Republican votes, but that’s his problem.

      If there is a bipartisan deal over these kinds of Medicare cuts, the Republicans will be off the hook over the Ryan plan. Congress will have acted, and the issue will be off the table in the 2012 election.

      But if Obama outlines cuts along the lines of his ObamaCare program, he will again be raising the rationing issue. Talk of death panels will resurface. In that case, Republicans must not let themselves be maneuvered into backing Obama’s program. To do so would be to break faith with their 2010 majority.

      If Obama wants to control healthcare delivery and prescribe what doctors can and cannot do, Republicans must take him on over the issue. That will set the stage for a rerun of the 2010 election, and we all know how that came out.

      In that case, the GOP will still come out ahead because the Medicare issue du jour won’t be the Ryan plan anymore, but the Obama Medicare cuts, and the Republicans will again be on the right side of the fight.

    • What really terrifies Dems about NY-9 – It’s the possibility that the Democrats favorite issue–Social Security–didn’t work to save them because Obama, too, has embraced cutting Social Security and Medicare in “some undefined ‘everything on the table’ entitlement reform,” as Weigel puts it. Could it be that the differences between Obama’s Medicare cuts and GOP Rep. Paul Ryan’s Medicare cuts–differences that seem so significant to policy analysts in Washington (and to me)–don’t have much salience in the crude argumentation of direct-mail electioneering? Now that’s scary for a Dem. After decades of pledging not to touch the two sacred programs, it’s beginning to look as if Democrats can’t just suddenly agree to pull trillions out of Social Security and Medicare and expect voters to maintain their reflexive loyalties.

      According to the unforgiving traditional Dem appeal, after all, trillions in cuts are trillions in cuts. Dems oppose them because Dems are “fighting” on “your side”! If older voters won”t abandon that crudely combative formula as easy as positioning politicians, that has dire implications for Democrats running in every district in the land, not just those with 40% Jewish electorates. Scaring voters about Paul Ryan and the Tea Partiers’s entitlement cuts was what was going to save Obama’s party from being dragged down even if Obama himself goes the way of Jimmy Carter. Now it looks as if that life preserver won’t float. …

      At the very least, Democrats (starting with Obama) need to do a much better job of explaining why their cuts are so different from Ryan’s cuts. That’s something even Bill Clinton might have difficulty doing, though he’d be better at it than Obama will be. …

      Of course, President Obama may be able to save himself without the entitlement issue (if, for example, he draws a flawed opponent). But it’s hard to see how the Dems retake Congress without it. And without a friendlier Congress, Obama’s second term could look a lot like the past 9 months.

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    • Rick Perry’s kinder, gentler view on illegal immigrants: Will it cost him? – Perry finds himself in the unusual situation of sharing common ground with California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), who is poised to sign a bill that expands his state’s tuition law for illegal immigrant students by allowing them to apply for publicly funded financial aid. The California Assembly voted Friday to send the governor the bill, a companion to a bill Brown signed in July that allows illegal immigrant students access to privately funded college aid.

      California's financial aid incentives for students in the US illegally are the most generous in the US. In states that allow such students to pay the same tuition rates as legal state residents, they must prove they have lived in the state at least three years, received their high school diploma or G.E.D. in the state, and sign an affidavit promising to seek legal status.

      Texas and California were the first states to offer in-state tuition rates to such students. During the past decade, 11 states followed their lead: Utah, New York, Washington, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Connecticut. In 2008, however, Oklahoma revoked its law, which had been on the books for five years.

      Advocates of the legislation say that by offering in-state tuition rates to children who bear no responsibility for the fact that their parents entered the US illegally, states are making higher education more available to young people who cannot afford the higher out-of-state price tags at public colleges. Critics say the allowance is a burden to taxpayers and unfairly takes resources from potential students who are legal residents.

      “These states are recognizing that these are the best of the best – kids who have overcome illegal status and have graduated high school and have gotten into competitive state universities. The states want to hold onto these kids and not have them lost into the underground economy,â€

      But the trend of states granting such tuition benefits to such undocumented students may have peaked, adds DeSipio, especially now that Republican majorities won many statehouses in the 2010 elections and made immigration reform a legislative priority.

      Since its passage in 2001, the Texas legislation has applied to 12,138 students, or 1 percent of all Texas college students, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board reported in 2010.

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