Politics Today: Unusual Allies in Health Reform Debate
Politics Today is CBSNews.com's inside look at the key stories driving the day in Politics, written by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris:
5215995HEALTH CARE: Today, as heated town meetings on health care reform continue around the country, President Obama keeps a low profile at the White House in preparation for two of his own town meetings tomorrow and Saturday. He'll head to Montana tomorrow, where protestors promise to show up – outside the venue, at least.
Politico's Mike Allen reports that pro-health reform groups are hitting back on TV beginning today.
"A new coalition on Thursday is launching $12 million in television ads to support President Barack Obama's health-reform plan, in the opening wave of a planned tens of millions of dollars this fall.
"The new group, funded largely by the pharmaceutical industry, is called Americans for Stable Quality Care. It includes some odd bedfellows: the American Medical Association, FamiliesUSA, the Federation of American Hospitals, PhRMA and SEIU, the service employees' union…
"The debut ad is meant to shore up support among the conservative House Blue Dog Democrats, and to target swing senators. So it's airing in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota and Virginia. The first buy is expected to run for two weeks, with a weekly spend of around $3 million.
"The first ad is called, 'Mean for You,' as in, 'What Reforms Means for You.' The 30-second script, with a soothing male narrator: 'What DOES health insurance reform mean for you? It means you can't be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition, or dropped if you get sick. It means putting health-care decisions in the hands of you and your doctor. It means lower costs, a cap on out-of-pocket expenses, tough new rules to cut waste and red tape, and a focus on PREVENTING illness before it strikes. So what does health insurance reform really mean? Quality, affordable care you can count on.'"
Watch the ad here.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin weighed in on her Facebook page late last night after stirring the pot by accusing the Democrats of pushing a "'death panel' so [Mr. Obama's] bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether [the sick, seniors or the disabled] are worthy of health care."
She changed her language in her most recent post, countering the president's argument that health care won't be "rationed."
"Of course, it's not just this one provision that presents a problem," Palin writes. "My original comments concerned statements made by Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a health policy advisor to President Obama and the brother of the President's chief of staff. Dr. Emanuel has written that some medical services should not be guaranteed to those 'who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens....An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia.' Dr. Emanuel has also advocated basing medical decisions on a system which "produces a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughly 15 and 40 years get the most chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated.'
"President Obama can try to gloss over the effects of government authorized end-of-life consultations, but the views of one of his top health care advisors are clear enough. It's all just more evidence that the Democratic legislative proposals will lead to health care rationing, and more evidence that the top-down plans of government bureaucrats will never result in real health care reform."
Wall Street Journal's Janet Adamy, "End-of-Life Provision Loses Favor"
McClatchy Newspapers' Halimah Abdullah, "How a GOP senator's proposal gave rise to 'death panels'"
Wall Street Journal's Naftali Bendavid, "Emanuel's Brother Becomes a Target"
5058008Meantime, the New York Times reports that although the president likes to present himself as above the fray of the legislative process, he is actually intimately involved with Congress in helping shape this legislation.
"In pursuing his proposed overhaul of the health care system, President Obama has consistently presented himself as aloof from the legislative fray, merely offering broad principles. Prominent among them is the creation of a strong, government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers and press for lower costs.
"Behind the scenes, however, Mr. Obama and his advisers have been quite active, sometimes negotiating deals with a degree of cold-eyed political realism potentially at odds with the president's rhetoric," the Times' David D. Kirkpatrick writes.
"Mr. Obama and his top aides have immersed themselves in the Senate Finance Committee process. The president talks to Mr. Baucus several times a week, people briefed on their conversations say. Mr. Obama has also held a few calls with the panel's ranking Republican, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa…
"Nancy-Ann DeParle, charged with leading the White House health effort, has a standing biweekly meeting with Mr. Baucus, while Peter R. Orszag, the White House budget director, has spent so much time in the senator's office that he helps himself to the Coke Zeros tucked away in Mr. Baucus's personal refrigerator.
"Lobbyists for the drug and hospital industries say that, as early as June, White House officials directed them to work out cost-saving deals with Mr. Baucus's committee. Drug industry lobbyists said they negotiated a deal to contribute $80 billion over 10 years toward the cost of an overhaul with Mr. Baucus, under White House supervision, before taking it to the president for final approval. House lawmakers have said they were caught by surprise when it was announced.
Washington Post's Karla Adam, "Health-Reform Rhetoric Gets Personal for Britons"
CBSNews.com's Brian Montopoli rounds up yesterday's most interesting town meetings from around the country: "Anger Keeps Coming at Latest Town Halls"
CBS News' Ben Tracy, "Who's Behind the Angry Town Halls?"
House Minority Leader John Boehner's op-ed in USA Today, "Americans aren't going to buy health care spin, Mr. President"
"'It's been a chance for us to bond and be together and share a special time together that we would never have had together had he been taken from us,' said Kennedy, D-R.I. 'That's a big gift. (It) let us have the chance to tell him how much we love him. And him to be there to hear it.'
"Kennedy said he's spent most days this summer with his father sitting on the porch of their oceanside home in Hyannis Port, Mass., sharing old stories about family, friends and politics.
"'In a different sense, it has been a very joyous time because we have had so much more time than any of the doctors had predicted,' Kennedy said."
5035836DICK CHENEY: "In his first few months after leaving office, former vice president Richard B. Cheney threw himself into public combat against the 'far left' agenda of the new commander in chief. More private reflections, as his memoir takes shape in slashing longhand on legal pads, have opened a second front against Cheney's White House partner of eight years, George W. Bush," reports the Washington Post's Barton Gellman.
"Cheney's disappointment with the former president surfaced recently in one of the informal conversations he is holding to discuss the book with authors, diplomats, policy experts and past colleagues. By habit, he listens more than he talks, but Cheney broke form when asked about his regrets.
"'In the second term, he felt Bush was moving away from him,' said a participant in the recent gathering, describing Cheney's reply. 'He said Bush was shackled by the public reaction and the criticism he took. Bush was more malleable to that. The implication was that Bush had gone soft on him, or rather Bush had hardened against Cheney's advice. He'd showed an independence that Cheney didn't see coming. It was clear that Cheney's doctrine was cast-iron strength at all times -- never apologize, never explain -- and Bush moved toward the conciliatory.'"
ALSO TODAY: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who's been talked about as a potential 2012 presidential candidate, speaks at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. Topic: "How to bring real change to the way federal, state and local governments prepare their budgets."
AFGHANISTAN
McClatchy Newspapers' Jonathan S. Landay and Nancy A. Youssef, "U.S. mulls pulling troops from remote Afghan outposts"
Washington Post's Ann Scott Tyson, "In Afghanistan, A Test of Tactics"
Politico's Eamon Javers and Zachary Abrahamson, "Barack Obama's words downplay wars"
FOREIGN POLICY
Wall Street Journal's Will Connors, "Clinton Urges Overhaul of Nigeria Elections"
NY Times' Jeffrey Gettleman, "Clinton's Flash of Pique in Congo"
GITMO DETAINEES
Detroit News' Karen Bouffard, "Standish prison to get fed visit"
NY Times' Susan Saulny, "Michigan Prison Is Considered for Detainees"
STIMULUS
USA Today's Matt Kelley and Brad Heath, "Some states get share of stimulus faster"
KARL ROVE / U.S. ATTORNEYS
Associated Press' Matt Apuzzo, "In attorneys probe, one burning question"
PRESIDENT OBAMA
Bloomberg News' John McCormick and Hans Nichols, "Obama May Risk Prestige to Boost Chicago's Bid to Host Olympics"
Washington Post's Dan Eggen, "Presidential Vacations Carry Heavy Baggage"
GOV. MARK SANFORD
The State's Gina Smith, "Governor says his future not in politics"
FUTURE RACES
2009 NJ Governor: Newark Star-Ledger's Claire Heininger and Josh Margolin, "Chris Christie ranked by Bush administration officials as 'loyal' U.S. Attorney, documents show"
2009 NJ Governor: NY Times' David M. Halbfinger, "Developer's Plea Deal Shadows Christie"
2009 VA Governor: Washington Post's Anita Kumar, "McDonnell Embraces Drug Courts, Lifetime Sex Offender Tracking"
2010 FL Senate: CQ Politics' Greg Giroux, "Precedent For Gov. Crist's Unusual Appointment?"
2010 FL Senate: St. Petersburg Times' Marc Caputo, "Ring, ring. The new conservative Charlie Crist is calling."
2010 NV Senate: Politics Daily's Jill Lawrence, "Nineteen Minutes In a Car With Harry Reid"
2010 PA Senate: Washington Post's Chris Cillizza, "At Town Hall, A Turning Point?"
2012 Presidential: Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, "Santorum on Iowa Trip and 2012 Rumors: 'I'm Very Concerned About America Right Now'"