Quick Hits: Getting back in gear
Kari Chisholm
I don't know about you, but today feels like the first day of the next cycle -- after a week of election aftermath and a week of taking a break from politics. So, let's dive in!
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Freshly empowered as the leader of the US House GOP transition team, Rep. Greg Walden is talking about repealing health care reform - and then, when that fails, defunding it. Whatever happened to "the top three issues are jobs, jobs, and jobs"?
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The Oregon Senate Democrats, who held on to a 16-14 majority, have elected their leaders. Last week, Sen. Richard Devlin announced that he'd rather serve on Ways & Means than as majority leader. So, the Dems elected Sen. Diane Rosenbaum as the new majority leader. Deputy majority leader is Sen. Alan Bates. The majority whips are Sen. Chris Edwards and Sen. Mark Hass. Assistant majority leaders are Sen. Suzanne Bonamici and Sen. Floyd Prozanski. The Senate Dems also announced that they intend to nominate Sen. Peter Courtney for Senate President and Sen. Ginny Burdick as Senate President Pro Tem.
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It's over in the Metro President race. By just about 1000 votes out of some 400,000 cast, Tom Hughes defeated Bob Stacey. Hughes won big in Washington County (where he was previously Hillsboro's mayor) - overcoming Stacey's big win in Multnomah County.
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In an editorial, the Statesman-Journal notes that Oregon is a great place to do business - and argues that "if Oregonians show confidence in their state — not arrogance but self-assurance — it will be palpable to business leaders, the people who make decisions about where, when and how to invest." So, Oregon business leaders, can we cut out the post-66/67 whining now?
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While many of Oregon's politicos were sleeping in last week, that wasn't the plan for Senator Ron Wyden. As he promised on election night, he was back on the 36-county town hall circuit - including one in Coos Bay on Friday that got rave reviews.
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I'll have the punditology results for you later today - and we'll find out which political nerd reigned supreme!
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11:04 a.m.
Nov 15, '10
Greg Walden is doing his usual gas-bag posturing. He also said he's going to pass a Constitutional Amendment to eliminate deficits. From what I understand nearly all of the funding for the health care comes from entitlement funding which can't be fiddled with, so he can't defund health care and repeal is just out of the question unless the GOP has Congress and the presidency. By that time anyone who wants to reinstate the insurance denials of previous condition or their denial of service based on technicalities, denying children based on conditions and cost, and denying young adults access to their parents insurance is going to be laughed at. Now the corporate insurers, who are losing their customers to unemployment are singing a different tune. A CIGNA spokesperson smacked down the GOP recently saying that the talk about repeal should stop, that insurers are adjusting to the new law. So the guys who pay Walden's bills are now even against him. Walden loves to posture for his rabid right base but he's a phony like the rest of his party hacks.
7:41 a.m.
Nov 16, '10
Greg Walden is not a gasbag or a phony, and his base is not the rabid right.
11:10 a.m.
Nov 15, '10
The public may not like the health care bill, but they sure like most if the elements of the bill
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/11/why_repealing_the_health-care.html
12:02 p.m.
Nov 15, '10
Shows the power of soundbite messaging.
12:27 p.m.
Nov 15, '10
It seems that by 2-1 margin, the American people wanted the Health Care Bill to do more, not less. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100925/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_poll
And now that we have what we have, only only 37% actually want it repealed. All GOP of course. A nearly equal number 36% want it expanded. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hxbl77aSRzU2Ovy4KaXkmNZMSQXw?docId=a69db95acac54ef5b57d8656b181506f
2:33 p.m.
Nov 15, '10
The GOP has talked about jobs, but many of them also campaigned on the promise to repeal or defund healthcare. So I don't think anyone should be surprised by Walden's statements.
I know many of you here with disagree, but many within the GOP believe the current healthcare bill will actually cut jobs.
4:46 p.m.
Nov 15, '10
Yes, I know. And many of the GOP believe that our president is not an American citizen and that he is a secret Muslim sent here by Al Qaeda to take over the U.S. Roughly about half of the GOP are birthers. So when the GOP start basing their beliefs in something that is reality based they will have more credibility. In the meantime they simply believe what they want to believe instead of living in a fact based universe.
8:07 p.m.
Nov 15, '10
Bill,
Not really understanding the whole "Muslim/American citizen" issue with Obama. Have you heard Boehner or any of the leading Republicans say that? No. It's typically those on the fringe, and that is NOT the perspective of most in the GOP. Of course, the media does a good job making people believe all Republicans think that way.
And if the GOP never operates on facts, are you suggesting that the huge wins in the house were all based on lies, and that the American people were duped?
9:35 p.m.
Nov 15, '10
Polling shows about 1/4 of Americans are birthers, and they're all GOP, or and constitute about 50% of the Republican Party membership. So it's not fringe, Jason. It's the base of your party. There's a Missouri GOP legislative leader who is on the record as a birther.
As for the election. the American people voted against the majority of incumbents because they are mad about the economy, even though the approval rating in most polls show the GOP is less popular than the Dem. Polling also shows the American public expects to be disappointed by your party. So I don't think they were duped because your party didn't really have a program. But the voters wanted to "throw the bums out." There wasn't any truth to believe or disbelieve, there were just some talking points.
My point holds true. The GOP is a "faith based" organization that takes on faith whatever your party leader, Rush Limbaugh hands down.
1:01 a.m.
Nov 16, '10
"Have you heard Boehner or any of the leading Republicans say that? No. "
Fox News. All the time.
3:39 p.m.
Nov 15, '10
The Jackson County Elections office announced today that Senator Alan Bates is the unofficial winner of his race by 247 votes. A recount is thought to be unlikely.
Bate's stealth campaign very nearly did him in. Review of the campaign strategy seems likely.
6:58 a.m.
Nov 16, '10
It would be a shame if a campaign as aboveboard as Bates were brought down to the level of so many others. I'm not sure it was his campaign strategy that "very nearly did him in" rather than a strong opponent and all the anti-incumbent sentiments in play this season as well as Oregon's particularly dire financial straits, in Jackson County overall and in Salem.
Bates certainly did not run a low-profile campaign. It was high profile -- and high class.
Dotterer ran a helluva campaign himself. Even when he "attacked" Bates in relatively late-stage mailers it was on the issues.
4:10 p.m.
Nov 15, '10
Regarding the Statesman Journal article about Oregon as a great place to do business you need to remember that complaining about government taxes and regulation of business existed long before M66/67 and will exist long after it is not a factor. Anti-tax, anti-regulatory business people complain about government in every state and always think their state is doing something terrible to them. It just became more acceptable this year in Oregon because of the measures and the media, esp. the Oregonian, trumpeted their complaints with little regard to the facts.
4:43 p.m.
Nov 15, '10
I continue to be amazed at Ron Wyden's work ethic. It helps to explain his electoral success.
6:02 p.m.
Nov 15, '10
I'm a fan of Ron Wyden, even if not one of the overall democrat agenda. On healthcare - if the republicans waste time on health care to the exclusion of jobs they will find the voters switching again in 2012.
Health Care may well not survive the legal challenges and the republicans should focus on debt reduction and continued support of an economic recovery.
10:16 p.m.
Nov 15, '10
Just want to give a big shout out for Lane County, the little county that could. We held our House and Senate seats and have 2 positions in both State House and Senate Democratic leadership and one on the House Republican side. Not bad, not bad at all.
10:23 a.m.
Nov 16, '10
Glad to see you won your election.
7:32 a.m.
Nov 16, '10
The Statesman Journal's editorial is naught but boosterism recommending naught but chatter. Is that what's been lacking?
12:59 p.m.
Nov 16, '10
The GOP has been yammering about how the Affordable Healthcare Act is hammering the deficit, while they hammer the deficit with their insistence on tax breaks for millionaires. I guess Greg Walden really does want the deficit to get worse.
Yesterday the General Accounting Office had this to say about Obamacare:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/11/16/921063/-Obamacare-Causes-Notable-Improvement-to-Debt-Outlook
"The federal government faces long-term fiscal pressures that predate the economic downturn and are driven on the spending side largely by rising health care costs and an aging population. GAO's simulations show continually increasing levels of debt that are unsustainable over the long-term. Under the Alternative simulation, debt held by the public as a share of GDP would exceed the historical high reached in the aftermath of World War II by 2020. Both of these simulations incorporate effects of health care legislation enacted in March 2010, which includes a number of provisions to control the growth of federal health care spending. There is a notable improvement in the long-term outlook under the Baseline Extended simulation, which assumes full implementation and effectiveness of cost control provisions."
2:07 p.m.
Nov 16, '10
The deficit is set to get worse. From the GAO report:
"These long-term simulations show that absent additional policy actions the federal government faces unsustainable growth in debt. Health care legislation enacted earlier this year has the potential to slow the growth of federal health care spending. However, even under the more optimistic Baseline Extended scenario, which assumes the full implementation and effectiveness of cost control provisions, debt grows continuously over the long term indicating that more needs to be done. As policymakers consider both the current economic weakness and any recommendations put forth by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and other policy groups, it is clear that over the long term historical levels of spending and revenue cannot be maintained going forward."