Friday punditry and some NN coverage.
Paul Krugman:
The truth, however, is that the only problem Republicans ever had with George W. Bush was his low approval rating. They always loved his policies and his governing style — and they want them back. In recent weeks, G.O.P. leaders have come out for a complete return to the Bush agenda, including tax breaks for the rich and financial deregulation. They’ve even resurrected the plan to cut future Social Security benefits.
But they have a problem: how can they embrace President Bush’s policies, given his record?...
You know the answer. There’s now a concerted effort under way to rehabilitate Mr. Bush’s image on at least three fronts: the economy, the deficit and the war.
NY Times:
After nearly a decade of increases in spending, the Pentagon is facing the first serious debate since the terrorist attacks of 2001 about the size and cost of the armed services.
You think that happens under Republicans?
Dennis Rosen:
In the long list of problems affecting the American health care system, the shortage of general practitioners and overabundance of specialists is usually ranked near the top. There is truth to this: only 32 percent of physicians practice primary care medicine. As a result, patients have to wait longer to see their doctors and are more likely to be seen by nurse practitioners and physician assistants instead.
However, pediatrics has the opposite problem: a growing shortage of pediatric subspecialists. There are plenty of general pediatricians in the United States — about 70 per 100,000 children. But according to the American Board of Pediatrics, there are only 751 practicing pediatric pulmonologists in the country: one for every 100,000 children. In four states — Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, where more than 941,000 children live — there are none. Even in Massachusetts, the state with the highest ratio of pediatric pulmonologists to children in the country (2.6 for every 100,000 children), the wait for an appointment is often several months.
CNN on Netroots Nation:
The convention occurs at a time when some in the progressive community are disappointed in the Obama Administration for not pushing harder for more of their agenda. Specifically they point to the exclusion of the public option in the health care overhaul and some of the nation's biggest banks were not broken up in the financial overhaul package just signed by the president. Other attendees however have blamed Congress for blocking some of those actions, especially in the Senate through the use of the filibuster, and say that is why more Democrats need to be elected.
Washington Wire/WSJ Kos interview:
Washington Wire is in Las Vegas for the fifth Netroots Nation, an annual convention of liberal bloggers and activists initially launched under the name YearlyKos by DailyKos founder, Markos Moulitsas, better known as Kos...
Q: What happens in November?
A: I think we’re going to lose some seats.
Q: Do you think Democrats are going to lose majorities?
A: No. Not even close. And I think it’s because the tea party people have given us fantastic candidates to run against.
WaPo:
Markos Moulitsas, founder of the Daily Kos blog and an organizer of the first such annual conference five years ago, said he and his followers are disinclined to help Democratic candidates simply to preserve the party's big majorities.
"There's a lot of Democrats I'll be happy to see go," Moulitsas said in an interview. "I'll celebrate when Blanche Lincoln is out of the Senate. There is a price to be paid for inaction and incompetence. We're not getting much done with 59 [Democratic senators], so if we're down to 54, who cares?"
Moulitsas went on to suggest that a smaller Democratic majority in the House might be better for advancing a more progressive agenda. "If 20 Blue Dogs lost their seats, nobody's going to care," he said. "That's their problem and I'm not going to cry about them. To me, a more cohesive caucus might be a better deal moving forward than one in which the Blue Dogs need to be appeased."
...
Ilyse Hogue, political director of MoveOn.org, said her organization's members helped raise more than $2.5 million to help Halter's campaign.
"That was because we believe in" Halter, she said. "So when the party operatives come back and say to us that was money down the toilet, I say that does not mean we would have handed over $2.5 million to you, because you have got to help us believe in you to rally that support. It is not a transitive property."
Northwest Progressive Institute has some good summaries:
LIVE from Las Vegas: Science, the truth, and the fiction that surrounds it
We live in one of the greatest technological ages in the history of humankind. Even as recently as eighty years ago the things that the average ten-year old can do were inconcievable. Yet, our distrust of science and its finding seems just as high as its every been. Why is that and how do we change it was the fundamental question that this netroots nation panal set out to answer.
Thanks to those who came to the science panel and asked some great questions.
