links for 2009-07-21

I think the President ought to hit the reset button. I think it is critical that he have the participation, involvement, and support of people on both sides of the aisle, as well as people in various sectors of the health economy. If we are going to have a dramatic shift in the nature of so large a part of our economy then it needs to be something that has been thoroughly vetted and has received great support. Out of a desire to move very quickly, while his support is highest, he has skipped the critical steps of educating, involving, and evolving his own plans to meet the perspectives of the great majority of our citizens.

Best video of the day: Rep. Russ Carnahan meets the government health care takeover resistance.

My favorite parts? Well, all of it. But especially when Carnahan tries to tell the audience that Obamacare will create “efficiencies” and a “surplus” and when constituent Kevin Jackson asks:

“If it’s so good, why doesn’t Congress have to be on it?”

"The resolution of the Trust Fund is not final. I have been working with the investigator regarding supplemental information. The matter is still pending. Whatever you have seen was released in violation of law. There has been no Board finding of an ethics violation and there is a detailed legal process to follow before there is a final resolution."

Thomas Van Flein
Private Attorney for Sarah Palin

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A "leaked" incomplete report which is Wrong on the Facts.

Nice one AP.

The following e-mail from Assembly Republican Leader Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, was sent to Assembly Republican Caucus members Tuesday. Blakeslee indicated Democrats have been back-peddling on an agreement about corrections cuts — and now the entire budget deal may be in peril.

Senate staff is set to brief the media this afternoon on the corrections cuts, and some Assembly Republicans were still hopeful that a deal could be worked out. But if it is not resolved, this issue could threaten the entire budget deal.

Ending weeks of negotiations, the City Council voted today to move the date of the Los Angeles Marathon from Memorial Day in May back to a Sunday in March — the month used in 23 of the last 24 years.

On a 12-0 vote, the council scheduled the marathon for March 21 and agreed to alter the location dramatically, allowing for a “Stadium to the Sea” route that begins at Dodger Stadium and ends at the ocean.

“I’m convinced this is the right date and the right route for the race,” said Russ Pillar, president of the Los Angeles Marathon.

We're still waiting for the details, but the only real question about this budget deal is exactly how short its shelf life will be.

Or to put it another way: Will state leaders be negotiating another budget by the World Series (late October) or by the Super Bowl (early February)?

No one knows. But the economic collapse of California continues. If tax revenues continue their decline (and the decline has outpaced nearly all estimates), we'll need another set of budget "solutions" and soon.

It's already plain that this budget doesn't really balance. There's no political constituency for that kind of honesty. So we get billions in gimmicks – and gimmicks make some sense in a recession; if you're going to do deficit spending in disguise, this is the time. But it would have made more economic sense to limit some revenue cuts (particularly in programs that put cash in the hands of citizens quickly, and thus stimulate the economy) and fill those budget holes with sin taxes.

A president's standing after his first six months in office doesn't forecast whether he'll have a successful four-year term, but it does signal how much political juice he'll have for his second six months in office.

That's the lesson of history.
Barack Obama, who completed six months in office Monday, has a 55% approval rating in the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, putting him 10th among the dozen presidents who have served since World War II at this point in their tenures.

VPOTUS and Yushchenko were seated a table in the back of the pub with their two translators, the mayor and vice mayor of Kiev, and the head of the presidential secretariat….

Yushchenko was talking about Ukrainian churches.

VPOTUS overheard saying: "I cannot believe that a Frenchman visiting Kiev went back home and told his colleagues he discovered something and didn't say he discovered the most beautiful women in the world. That's my observation."

Unclear who Frenchman VPOTUS was referring to.

"It's certain you have so many beautiful women."
Both VPOTUS and Yushchenko drank Cokes; others drank coffee.

The president's decision to appeal for help to the hard-left edge of the blogosphere tells us his health care plans are faltering in the Senate where hopefully risky, radical and increasingly widely unpopular schemes go to die, even when one party has 60 votes.

In another attempt to save his radical attempt to remake American medicine from sinking under the weight of common sense and objections on cost and other grounds, President Obama conducted a conference call with bloggers from the leftosphere. So much for any pretense that the hard-left scheme to move the country to Canada-style single payor has anything to do with common-sense, reasonable reform of aspects of a generally-admirable health care system. The president went to his hard-edged shock troops –a political strategic reserve– and asked them to rush and bully the Hill. No doubt they will, but will Democratic senators and an increasing number of House members looking at a difficult re-election landscape a mere 15 month

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says House Democrats are struggling to reach consensus on overhauling health care, a divide that could delay House approval of a plan beyond lawmakers' scheduled vacation in August.

House leaders have said they wanted to pass a plan before they leave on a monthlong break. But Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday there is still disagreement on proposed tax increases on the wealthy, and whether to establish a government-run insurance program to compete with private plans.
Hoyer said House Democrats will continue to negotiate in private, with the goal of passing a plan next week. He downplayed the idea of keeping lawmakers in session while negotiations continue, but wouldn't rule it out.

Trust in President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies to identify the right solutions to problems facing the country has dropped off significantly since March, according to a new Public Strategies Inc./POLITICO poll.

Just as Obama intensifies his efforts to fulfill a campaign promise and reach an agreement with Congress on health care reform, the number of Americans who say they trust the president has fallen from 66 percent to 54 percent. At the same time, the percentage of those who say they do not trust the president has jumped from 31 to 42.

Another Republican considered a retirement possibility is Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.), who raised only $42,000 for the quarter — a significant dropoff from the $115,000 he raised in the first quarter.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders announced Monday that they had reached a deal to close California's $26.3-billion deficit and begin paying all of the state's bills again, potentially ending months of partisan wrangling and a cash crisis that threatens to push California into insolvency.

Their agreement, which could go before the full Legislature within days, does not include any broad-based tax increases, relying instead on deep cuts in government services, borrowing and accounting maneuvers to wipe out the deficit.
The plan has not been formally released. But as outlined by lawmakers and their staffs, the proposal would reshape some aspects of government in California, significantly scaling back many services that have been offered to residents — particularly the elderly and the poor — for years.

It was interesting to watch the Republican Party lose touch with America. You had a party led by conservative Southerners who neither understood nor sympathized with moderates or representatives from swing districts.
They brought in pollsters to their party conferences to persuade their members that the country was fervently behind them. They were supported by their interest groups and cheered on by their activists and the partisan press. They spent federal money in an effort to buy support but ended up disgusting the country instead.

It’s not that interesting to watch the Democrats lose touch with America. That’s because the plotline is exactly the same. The party is led by insular liberals from big cities and the coasts, who neither understand nor sympathize with moderates. They have their own cherry-picking pollsters, their own media and activist cocoon, their own plans to lavishly spend borrowed money to buy votes.