Today in the Crazy

(ThinkProgress)
Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states’ rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist the president’s healthcare plan, which he said would be “disastrous” for Texas.

(Bob Cesca)
If he doesn't want government healthcare like the public option, why doesn't he go ahead an invoke the 10th when in comes to Medicare and the VA?

Oh. Right. He won't do that because he's nothing but a grandstanding psychopath who deals in crazy talk.

Call him and ask the question: (512) 463-2000

(Bob Cesca)
We still live in a nation where a black president's remarks condemning racial profiling are painted in the corporate media as more controversial and awful than the actions of a police officer who arrested a black professor in his own house.

I repeat: the officer arrested the man for breaking into his own house.

And somehow white people are outraged by this?

Fire up the anti-logic machine, Igor....

"He produced a Certificate of Live Birth, which you can't even use to get a passport." - G. Gordon Liddy

Obama has a passport and has had one for the last 20 years.

So let's logic this out. How'd he get that passport? What I.D. must he have used? Guesses?

A VALID BIRTH CERTIFICATE.

Jesus. I've wasted too much time on this already, but the lunatic right won't stop.

BTW - is this normally Gordon's nappy time?

Wingnuts on Parade!

Two wars. A financial crisis. 14,000 people a day losing health care. Unemployment.

And what does the GOP choose to talk about?

Lunacy. Utter lunacy. If anyone questions you on Obama's birth certificate, you have my permission to punch them right square in the teeth.

Jon Stewart on birther movement

So the other day I posted a video of Chris Matthews going after a member of Congress who has bought in to the birther movement (CNN's Rick Sanchez also did a nice job). I realize that, as a rational adult who does not engage with the lunatic fringe, you might not know what a "birther" is.

This is a segment of the whack-job right who think that our president is not an American citizen, but instead a citizen of Kenya, who, through a massive government and familial conspiracy, tricked the American people into electing him.

Right.

GOP won't offer health plan, it would "confuse" people

GOP Rep. Roy Blunt, chair of the “House GOP Health Care Solutions Group”, has said the House GOP will indeed not be offering an actual solution.

“Our bill is never going to get to the floor, so why confuse the focus? We clearly have principles; we could have language, but why start diverting attention from this really bad piece of work they’ve got to whatever we’re offering right now?”

That’s a detailed admission that Republicans think it’s better politics to keep the focus on the Democrats. It's not about health care reform, it's about scoring political points and attempting to wound a popular president.

Blunt’s other recent suggestion, that government perhaps shouldn’t have created certain other well-established government health care programs, is making the rounds. He's already said that Medicare and Medicaid were mistakes.

CBO: House health plan will create a SURPLUS

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released estimates this evening confirming for the first time that H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, is deficit neutral over the 10-year budget window – and even produces a $6 billion surplus. CBO estimated more than $550 billion in gross Medicare and Medicaid savings. More importantly, the bill includes a comprehensive array of delivery reforms to set the stage for lowering the future growth in health care costs. - Congressional Budget Office

So what's the next lie they'll come up with?

Obama's numbers on health care

If you listen to the tinfoil-hat-wearing right, Obama is dead in the water. According to TPM:

Obama's overall approval rating is 55%, with 41% disapproval. [...] On the economy, his approval is 47%, with 49% disapproval, down from a 55%-42% rating in May. On health care policy, he is at 44%-50%, another upside-down rating.

In a July 14 Gallup Poll, 86 percent of Americans think it's "extremely important" for healthcare reform to include allowing them to get insurance regardless of employment or medical status. 58 percent support taxing the rich to pay for healthcare. And we all know about the super-majority support for the public option.

In a June Gallup poll, only 34 percent of Americans are confident in the Republicans to make the right decisions on healthcare policy.

So here's what we're sure of.... 1)America doesn't want what the Republicans are offering. 2) there is broad public support for major changes in the healthcare system.

The numbers would seem to indicate that the president on the right track, but not pushing this with enough ferocity.

Super-deluxe chart:

Death by a thousand cuts

(Bob Cesca)
I've been observing for a couple of days the corporate media's very obvious attempt to paint healthcare reform as being impossible, doomed, screwed and so forth. Of course this is because the corporate media, and especially cable news, takes its cues from Drudge and the Republicans, as well as takes much of its ad revenue from the healthcare industry (see endless Lipitor, Flomax and boner pill commercials).

The fact is that the House has a bill with the public option ready for a vote. Many lawmakers have already pledged to forgo their August recess to get this done. The president is stepping up his efforts. Polls are still very strong. The public option is now mandatory. All in all, things are looking much more positive than they did a month ago.

My observations are based solely on observing the crappy MSNBC morning line-up and some scans of the various print press websites. But Media Matters has documented this death by a thousand cuts media vibe here.

• On the July 19 edition of NBC's Meet the Press, host David Gregory stated: "Sunday: it's do or die for the president's massive health care reform."
• On the July 19 edition of CNN Newsroom, host Don Lemon asked: "[I]s President Barack Obama's health care plan dead in the water?"

• CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin asserted of health care reform, "the White House is feeling really nervous right now. I mean, they know that this thing is a mess."

• CNN senior White House correspondent Ed Henry said that Obama's "abrupt" decision to give a speech on health care on July 17 raises "questions about whether his health care push may be unraveling."

• Wolf Blitzer said that Obama was making "a Hail Mary pass on health care. ... He's scrambling to keep his hopes for an overhaul alive as concerns about costs rise."

DRAMA! Jeepers creepers. Do these guys even realize how self-satirical they sound? When they prepare this crap, don't they consider how perfectly it'll fit into a Jon Stewart bit?

Adding... Nate Silver weighs in.

Obama calls out the bastards

The President also responded - though not by name - to what Senator Jim DeMint (R-Douchebag) said:

"Just the other day, one Republican senator said -- and I'm quoting him now -- 'If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him.' Think about that. This isn't about me. This isn't about politics. This is about a health care system that is breaking America's families, breaking America's businesses, and breaking America's economy.

"And we can't afford the politics of delay and defeat when it comes to health care. Not this time. Not now. There are too many lives and livelihoods at stake. There are too many families who will be crushed if insurance premiums continue to rise three times as fast as wages. There are too many businesses that will be forced to shed workers, scale back benefits, or drop coverage unless we get spiraling health care costs under control."

Simply put: The Republicans would gladly bankrupt millions if it means defeating President Obama.

"You're playing to the crazies" - Matthews rips birthers

"What you're doing is appeasing the nutcases. Here's his birth certificate. Mail this to the wacko wing of your party." - Chris Matthews

Tom Arnold schools Sean Hannity.... that's right, TOM ARNOLD!

I'm not trying to disparage Tom Arnold. He's a likable guy and he's carved out a nice career for himself - something like 60 movies.

But he's not what anyone would call a towering intellect. And he still puts Hannity and Republi-bot Brad Blakeman in their places.

People take this asshole seriously?

Glenn Beck went on an epic tirade of crazy today. Nutso voices, air quotes like he's having a seizure, fear-mongering, strawman-making, millionaire-defending asshole crazy.

You should be afraid [because] the President is remaking America. He's just not remaking it the way you thought he would. He's just remaking it into a place that's a whole lot crappier. Kind of a hybrid between France and Venezuela... He's taking the beacon of freedom and turning it into an apologetic, hey, what can you do for me, wannabe European, spread the wealth, socialist wonderland.

Paul back at the Sullivan

Paul McCartney plays a mini-show on top of the marquee of the Ed Sullivan Theater. Doesn't that have a spot in Beatles lore or something?

Songs include: "Coming Up," "Band on the Run," "Let Me Roll It," "Helter Skelter," and "Back in the USSR."