Colbert on Beck and Bachmann's anti-Census race-baiting; Stewart on tea bagger uprising

Mike Pence is horribly, horribly confused by easy math

In it's first ten years, Obamacare will cost $940 billion and save a total of $1.07 trillion. A net savings of $130 billion.

Easy math: $1070 minus 940. Mike Pence is either confused, stupid or deliberately playing dumb because the facts are not what he wishes them to be. My guess is a mix of 2 and 3.

Ezra Klein

"Only in Washington," said Rep. Mike Pence, "can you spend a trillion dollars and say you’re gonna save the taxpayers' money.”

And only in Washington can such willful obtuseness be considered a professional attribute. You can believe that the savings in the Democratic plan will work as CBO thinks they will work, or you can disagree with that. But let's not pretend there's something complicated about the theory of spending money and saving money at the same time.

The CBO numbers are in

via Cesca

Ezra Klein lays it out:

The bill will cost $940 billion over the first 10 years and reduce the deficit by $130 billion during that period. In the second 10 years -- so, 2020 to 2029 -- it will reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion. The legislation will cover 32 million Americans, or 95 percent of the legal population.

This is great, of course. Now it's up to the Democrats to pass the thing and then the very important work of making sure voters know about these praise-worthy details.

Adding... More:

1. CUTS THE DEFICIT Cuts the deficit by $130 billion in the first ten years (2010 – 2019). Cuts the deficit by $1.2 trillion in the second ten years.

2. REINS IN WASTEFUL MEDICARE COSTS AND EXTENDS THE SOLVENCY OF MEDICARE; CLOSES THE PRESCRIPTION DRUG DONUT HOLE Reduces annual growth in Medicare expenditures by 1.4 percentage points per year—while improving benefits and lowering costs for seniors. Extends Medicare’s solvency by at least 9 years.

3. EXPANDS AND IMPROVES HEALTH COVERAGE FOR MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES Expands health insurance coverage to 32 million Americans Helps guarantee that 95 percent of Americans will be covered.

4. IS FULLY PAID FOR Is fully paid for – costs $940 billion over a decade. (Americans spend nearly $2.5 trillion each year on health care now and nearly two-thirds of the bill’s cost is paid for by reducing health care costs).

Republicans have no shame: part five - Mike Pence

Steve Benen

THE WIT AND WISDOM OF MIKE PENCE.... House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.), the #3 official in the House GOP leadership, spoke to The Daily Caller about some of the procedural questions surrounding health care reform.

So, for example, we see this exchange:

The Daily Caller: Yesterday you said the self-executing rule was unconstitutional. Is that correct?

Mike Pence: Well I think it's probably unconstitutional. I know that there are leading legal scholars who believe it is unconstitutional. My background in law and constitutional issues suggests to me it's unconstitutional.

Which was followed soon after by this exchange:

The DC: My question is, though, that Democrats say you voted for self-executing rules yourself on three occasions.

MP: Yeah, sure.

Oh my.

Pence added that if the House approves the Senate bill and a reconciliation budget fix through "deem and pass," then the House will have passed the Senate bill "without ever voting on it" -- suggesting he doesn't really understand what the self-executing rule is.

Pence went on to say that the Senate bill, even if it's signed into law, "cannot be fixed by reconciliation." To bolster this bizarre assertion, he pointed to ... nothing in particular.

As for the constitutionality question, and the fact that Pence has voted for self-executing rules several times, I also enjoyed this exchange:

The DC: It's an issue of the magnitude of the legislation?

MP: I think that's part of it.

I see. The constitutionality of a procedural rule in the House is dependent on whether Mike Pence things the rule is being applied to a "big" bill or not.

Remember, this guy not only went to law school, but is a top member of the Republican leadership and -- I kid you not -- someone openly considering a presidential campaign.

Republicans have no shame: part four - Beck says Sunday vote "an affront to God"

How does ANYONE still support either of these jackasses?

Glenn Beck and Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) expressed harmonized outrage on Beck's radio program Thursday about news that the House might vote on the health care reform package this Sunday. Voting on a Sunday, they said, was offensive and heretical.

"They intend to vote on the Sabbath, during Lent, to take away the liberty that we have right from God," King said.

"Faith has been perverted," Beck responded, then repeated. "They are going to vote for this damn thing on a Sunday, which is the Sabbath, during Lent."

Beck continued:

"Here is a group of people that have so perverted our faith and our hope and our charity, that is a -- this is an affront to God."

Be straight with this. This Glenn Beck defending God is the same one who has been attacking the Christian church for it's promotion of (duh-duh-dah) "Social Justice", calling it a Nazi code word. And this is the same Steve King who pseudo-defended (and never condemned) Joe Stack, the nutjob who crashed his plane into an Austin IRS office in a terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

McConnell's strategy of blocking progress, accomplishing nothing and trashing America for votes

There is an extraordinary piece in the Times where Republicans readily admit their strategy is nothing more than to obstruct, say no, deny Obama any accomplishments and then blast him during the elections as a do-nothing President.

Of course, the fact that the business of the American people is not getting done, people are dying for lack of health care, the economy is still teetering, jobs are still being lost, financial shenanigans are still going on and people are losing their homes isn't important. Winning elections is, no matter how many Americans have to be hurt in their electoral games.

This is douchebaggery at it's highest level. And there is still no sense of shame.

New York Times

Before the health care fight, before the economic stimulus package, before President Obama even took office, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, had a strategy for his party: use his extensive knowledge of Senate procedure to slow things down, take advantage of the difficulties Democrats would have in governing and deny Democrats any Republican support on big legislation.

...
(He) has come to embody a kind of oppositional politics that critics say has left voters cynical about Washington, the Senate all but dysfunctional and the Republican Party without a positive agenda or message.

...
More fundamentally, Mr. McConnell’s strategy has left Republicans at risk of being tagged as pure obstructionists and a party without a positive agenda.

...
“Their goal,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the Democratic whip, “is to slow down activity to stop legislation from passing in the belief that this will embolden conservatives in the next election and will deny the president a record of accomplishment.”

...
As the year went on, Mr. McConnell spent hours listening to the worries and ideas of Republicans, urging them not to be seduced by the attention-grabbing possibilities of cutting a bipartisan deal

...
“Throwing grenades is easier than catching them,” acknowledged Senator John Thune of South Dakota, a fellow member of the Republican leadership.

Jon Stewart explains regulatory reform

Why does it take Jon Stewart to clear this stuff up? Isn't a comedian doing the job that our own government and media ought to be doing?

It's taken you idiots two years during the worst financial collapse since the Great Depression to compile a list of regulations we should have put into place the next day? Well, better late than never, I guess.

Santorum: Obama "may go to Indonesia and bow to more Muslims"

And this guy wants to be President of the United States? Why do I think the 2012 GOP primaries is going to be the American Idol of who can say the most outrageous, outlandish shit?

Huff Post

I think the Democrats are actually worried he may go to Indonesia and bow to more Muslims. That's sort of the concern that every time he seems to go to these other countries, he comes back or starts some sort of controversy that hits his popularity. I'm serious.

Republicans have no shame: part three

Krugman

As health reform moves to its final, make or break vote — I think it’s going to go through, but I’ll be hanging on by my fingernails all week — Republicans are still denouncing it as a vast, evil government takeover. But they have a problem: Obamacare is very much like the Massachusetts health reform, which was not only implemented by a Republican governor, but by a governor who is a serious contender for the 2012 presidential nomination.

So they insist that the two plans have nothing in common — but the only real difference they can point to is that Massachusetts didn’t fund its plan in part out of Medicare savings.

Of course, it couldn’t. But think about this a bit more: Republicans are saying that what makes Obamacare a socialist takeover, whereas Romneycare wasn’t, is the fact that unlike Romney’s plan, Obama’s plan cuts government spending.

Oh, Kay.

Myths and falsehoods on budget reconciliation

Media Matters

Myth: Reconciliation is the nuclear option

Myth: Reconciliation undermines democracy

Myth: Reconciliation in general is "arcane," abnormal, and rarely used

Myth:Reconciliation is unprecedented for health care

Myth: Using reconciliation will bypass debate affecting "1/6 of our economy"

Myth: Democrats propose passing health care with only 51 votes

Myth: Obama broke a promise not to pass health care with a 50 + 1 vote

Top ten immediate benefits of ObamaCare

Dems.gov

As soon as health care passes, the American people will see immediate benefits. The legislation will:

• Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;
• Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;
• Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;
• Lower seniors prescription drug prices by beginning to close the donut hole;
• Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;
• Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;
• Require plans to cover an enrollee’s dependent children until age 26;
• Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;
• Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;
• Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.

By enacting these provisions right away, and others over time, we will be able to lower costs for everyone and give all Americans and small businesses more control over their health care choices.

CNN's new hire called Justice Souter a "David Souter a goatfucking child molester"

You stay classy, CNN.

Media Matters

CNN announced that RedState.com editor Erick Erickson will join the channel as a political commentator, stating that he is "a perfect fit" for the new show John King, USA. Erickson's long history of incendiary, sexist, and racially charged statements includes asking when voters would "march down" and "beat" lawmakers "to a bloody pulp" and referring to former Supreme Court Justice David Souter as a "goat fucking child molester."

Other great Erikson quotes:

"At what point do the people ... march down to their state legislator's house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp?"

Erickson defends Beck's statement that Obama is "racist" and lashes out at "Obama Brownshirts."

On Obama's Nobel Peace Prize: "I did not realize the Nobel Peace Prize had an affirmative action quota."