Month: October 2015

GOP health care plans: Gibberish and snake oil miracle cures

by digby

I wrote about a couple of the GOP presidential candidates’ “health care plans” for Salon today:

Carson was a spokesman for Mannatech, which claimed its “glyconutrients” could treat cancer, autism, multiple sclerosis, and AIDS. “The wonderful thing about a company like Mannatech is that they recognize that when God made us, He gave us the right fuel,” Carson said in a 2013 speech praising the company. On Wednesday, he denied any involvement with Mannatech.

Carson even credited the supplements as being powerful enough that he didn’t need surgery for advanced prostate cancer. Dallas Weekly reported in a 2004 interview that Carson “said his decision to have a medical procedure resulted from his concern for those people who might neglect traditional medical procedures because they had learned of his personal experience with supplements.”

The neurosurgeon told Dallas Weekly that he had his prostate removed to be a role model.

“I knew that other people with my condition might not have been as religious about taking the supplements as I had been,” Carson said.

HUCKABEE: We need to be focusing on what fixes this country. And I’ll tell you one thing that we never talk about — we haven’t talked about it tonight.

Why aren’t we talking about — instead of cutting benefits for old people, cutting benefits for sick people — why don’t we say, “let’s cure the four big cost-driving diseases…

QUICK: Governor?

HUCKABEE: …”diabetes, heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer’s?”

QUICK: Governor, I’m sorry…

HUCKABEE: If you do that, you don’t just change the economy, you transform the lives of millions of hurting Americans.

HUCKABEE: Well, and specifically to Medicare, Becky, because 85 percent of the cost of Medicare is chronic disease. The fact is if we don’t address what’s costing so much, we can’t throw enough money at this. And it’s why I’ve continued to focus on the fact that we need to declare war on the four big cost drivers because 80 percent of all medical costs in this country are chronic disease. We don’t have a health care crisis in America, we have a health crisis.

And until we deal with the health of Americans and do what we did with polio — when I was a little kid, we eradicated it. You know how much money we spent on polio last year in America? We didn’t spend any. We’ve saved billions of dollars.

You want to fix Medicare? Focus on the diseases that are costing us the trillions of dollars. Alzheimers, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Eradicate those and you fix Medicare and you’ve fixed America, its economy and you’ve made people’s lives a heck of a lot better.

There’s more at the link.

Update: Oh my:

Armstrong Williams told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he negotiated the retired neurosurgeon’s contract himself.

Carson said in response to a question at Wednesday night’s Republican presidential debate that it was “total propaganda” to suggest he had a relationship with Mannatech Inc., which claims to cure autism and cancer with its products and settled a $7 million false advertising lawsuit. National Review’s Jim Geraghty, who reported on the candidate’s ties to Mannatech earlier this year, called Carson’s claim that he wasn’t involved with the company a “bald-faced lie.”

The audience loudly booed CNBC moderator Carl Quintanilla when he asked Carson whether his ties to the company “speak to your vetting process or judgement in any way.” “See, they know,” Carson said, implying the question was off-base.

Yet Williams told Tapper on “The Lead” that he thought it was fair for Quintanilla to ask Carson about his ties to the company. He argued that Carson wasn’t involved hammering out the details of his speeches or testimonials for the company, though.

“Nothing is ever what it appears to be,” he said. “What is good about this is that I actually negotiated the contract as his business manager.”

After Tapper played a clip of Carson speaking in a Mannatech promotional video, Williams started talking about an entirely different video that Carson appeared in for the company. He recounted that when Mannatech asked Carson to travel to Arizona to tape a special for PBS, Carson called him to express discomfort with the script the company provided. Carson ultimately ditched that script in favor of saying “what he wants to say,” according to Williams.

“He said ‘I don’t believe this. I’m not going to do it,'” Williams said. “That was showing his integrity. And when that was over he made it clear to me ‘You need to get me out of this, I’m not going to do this again.’ And it was over.”

Not that anyone will ever ask him about this again. It’s a “gotcha” dontcha know. Those are only allowed for Democrats.

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It looks like they’re just going to keep whining

by digby

Ah decleah Miss Mellie, ah think Ah’ve got the vaaapahs!!!

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on Thursday night railed against the CNBC Republican debate moderators, promising to reassess the primary debates going forward.

“I just can’t tell you how pissed off I am,” he told Fox News’ Sean Hannity about the debate. “It was insanity.”

“Obviously we had assurances that it was going to be straight up finance, which is what they do every day, and what was delivered was just nothing but a crap sandwich,” Priebus continued.

He did note, however, that the debate united the Republican candidates.

The RNC chairman assured Hannity that the party would do its best to make changes to the debates going forward. He said he has already spoken with Ben Carson, who raised concerns about the debate on Thursday, and that the RNC will meet with the other campaigns about their complaints.

“Everything is going to be reevaluated and reset. Every debate on the calendar is going to be reevaluated, reset, look at the format, the moderators, everything,” he said. “We’re going to have meetings with all the candidates. We’re going to make sure that we can do everything possible to make sure last night doesn’t happen again.”

Right. They’ll make sure their precious, delicate flowers never have to face the unpleasantness of rude questions from the press ever again.

In other news, they are all very, very macho dudes who will defeat ISIS with their bare hands.

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Legalize Pot In The Buckeye State! Vote No On Issue 2, Yes On Issue 3


Guest post by Cliff Schecter

Many of you kind folks reading this blog post have probably not even heard about one of the most important elections taking place in four days. On November 3rd, not in New York or Vermont or Maryland, but in Ohio, we are going to be voting in whether to make Ohio the 5th state in the country to legalize pot.

As Joe Biden might say, It’s a big f*in deal.

So we have the chance, not in a liberal state, but more conservative, swing state in the Midwest, to legalize weed. What would this mean for us? Let’s see: 1) As the ACLU–who is on board–has pointed out, 12,000-14,000 arrests for pot possession in Ohio each year would be stopped cold. 2) Police stopping cars because of the “smell of pot,” which has led to African-American males being murdered, would be dumped into the ash bin of history 3) Kids suffering from epilepsy and adults suffering from Alzheimers’, or going through chemo, would have access to medicinal marijuana 4) localities that have been robbed of money so John Kasich could cut taxes and run for President, would get necessary funds for infrastructure because of taxes.

Not shockingly, many right wingers are opposed. But progressives? Yes, some of our own, the “perfect must be the enemy of the good” crowd, have flipped out because the amendment we’re voting on would limit us to 10 pot farms–with investors in the campaign getting the right to run those farms. These ten farms would be competing, but still they yell monopoly (ever try and switch your cell service? I just did. What I’d give for ten choices). Then they yell about rich people getting richer. Well, sure, but in other states if they allow bidding on these licenses, who do you think is getting to the front of the line? The middle class? In states like Minnesota, which is limited to only two medicinal grow facilities, and New York, which only has five, who do you think got those licenses, people with pocket change? I’ll tell you, those with lots of money and connections.

Here is the thing folks. We are at a tipping point. If Ohio passes this, much like gay marriage recently, it will become unstoppable. Ohio is the same size, in terms of population, as Alaska, Oregon and Washington all together, or three of the four states where this is currently legal. It would be the first in the Midwest, and once the tax money starts coming in, look for Pennsylvania and Michigan and Illinois to rethink their stance. It will affect the presidential race, as every candidate who comes here to campaign next year–as they do non-stop for obvious reasons–will have to take a position, and tell Ohioans why we should be stripped of this right, if we have it. The momentum will be unstoppable.

But the more quotidian? How about the four families I know who have to deal with this, for those they love most in their lives, their children:

Does the little girl in the photo look like a criminal? 

Right now, the state of Ohio thinks so. 

And unless Issue 3 passes, that won’t change. 

For those still undecided on Issue 3, I’d like to introduce you to my daughter, Sophia. 

She’s 7 years old and has intractable epilepsy. (To see her whole story, go to www.helpsophia.com). 

But there’s one thing that helps when nothing else will: medical marijuana. I’ve personally witnessed miraculous reductions in seizures with this medicine. 

So, for me, voting yes on Issue 3 is an easy answer. 

When you go into the voting booth, ask yourself: If this were your daughter, how would you vote?

Now, of course, with a vote-suppressing Secretary of State (Jon Husted) using this as an issue to position himself for a gubernatorial primary, and our state legislature’s being filled with cretins similar to that of the U.S. Congress, they placed a poison pill, Issue 2, on the ballot. If you vote for that, it cancels your vote for Issue 3, but also it does much more. From a piece I wrote for the Cincinnati Enquirer:

If Issue 2 were to pass, a coalition of Ohioans pushing for any kind of reform could do all the hard work of raising money, organizing supporters and gathering signatures, just to end up before an unsympathetic ballot board of four Legislature appointees and the secretary of state. The whims and passions of these five individuals would rule the day, outweighing the wishes and work of hundreds of thousands of voters in Ohio. 

I can think of many words for this, but democracy isn’t one of them. That is is why good-government groups such as Common Cause and The Move To Amend Ohio Network have come out strongly against Issue 2. They see the potential danger in taking a process currently decided by the people and adding arbitrary bureaucracy and legislative partisanship into the mix. That’s a witch’s brew if there ever was one.

Look folks, nobody is saying Issue 3 is perfect. But how you vote will impact a lot of people in Ohio, as well as the country. Should fathers like Scott Nazzarine have to watch their daughters be criminals, or suffer 30 or 50 or more seizures a day? Should young, disproportionately African-American kids go to prison, tens of thousands of them? Should we build up our infrastructure, and create jobs with the over 1,100 retail shops that will be able to legally sell pot? Should we put a huge dent in the War on Drugs, and lessen state-sanctioned violence, or that of criminals selling on the black market?

So you don’t like the business plan. Fine. Vote for this, and then try and vote to amend it in 2016, or later. But if you think we are getting another chance at this, just know that our state legislature, since 1998, has failed to let medicinal marijuana out of committee. The investors who plunked down $2M each for this campaign won’t be around next time. Who is putting up the millions to get this on the ballot again? I guess your Plan B is vote no, and hopefully redistricting works magic in 2022?

Please folks, think of the many positives this will provide. On Tuesday November 3rd, tell your friends, tell your family, and do it yourself, if you vote in Ohio: Vote No on Issue 2 and Yes on Issue 3.

— Cliff Schecter
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Campus Crusade for Koch
by Tom Sullivan

While some college students are being introduced to Nietzsche, Freud, and organic chemistry, Charles and David Koch want to introduce them to the Kochification Church, bless their hearts. The Koch Brothers (shouldn’t they just stick to cough drops?) are spending more than ever to “evangelize their gospel of economic freedom” on campuses, reports Al Jazeera.

“The [Koch] network is fully integrated,” Kevin Gentry told the annual Koch network meeting last summer. And not only with students, but also in “building state-based capabilities and election capabilities” into a “talent pipeline.” Sounds as if the cult of Ayn Rand has branched out into multi-level marketing. Oh, glory!

We knew their acolytes have been introducing students to the Randian gospel by bribing colleges endowing chairs in economic departments that will agree to teach “Atlas Shrugged” and instill a philosophy of “wealth maximization.” But as Charles ages, he seems to have redoubled his efforts, hoping to see the fruit of his evangelism in his lifetime.

Have you accepted Ayn Rand as your personal savior?

If ensnaring twenty-somethings with GenOpp beer busts was a bust, Koch might have recruited Tom Cruise as a spokesperson or tried renting a Texas stadium for an old-fashioned revival. But instead, Koch’s Prosperity Plan is to spend tens of millions “across 210 college campuses in 46 states and the District of Columbia” on a more discreet Campus Crusade for Koch:

At the College of Charleston in South Carolina, for example, documents show the foundation wanted more than just academic excellence for its money. It wanted information about students it could potentially use for its own benefit — and influence over information officials at the public university disseminated about the Charles Koch Foundation.

It sought, for one, the names and email addresses — “preferably not ending in .edu” — of any student who participated in a Koch-sponsored class, reading group, club or fellowship. The stated purpose: “to notify students of opportunities” through both the Charles Koch Foundation and the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University.

Which is not remotely creepy.

The other day, I bought a new toilet online and was immediately bombarded by sidebar ads for toilets. Instead of stalking students, maybe that’s something Charles Koch might try that if he really wants to reach people with the libertarian gospel of market freedom before he shuffles off to that Howard Roark high-rise in the sky.

Have you tried selling prayer cloths?

“Which of you is more handsome and why?”

by digby

Remember when Ted Cruz said this at the debate last night?

The contrast with the Democratic debate, where every fawning question from the media was, “Which of you is more handsome and why?”

First of all, why would that be a softball question? It actually sounds like the creepiest of gotchas. But setting that aside, take a look at the first question to Hillary Clinton:

COOPER: Thank you, all. It is time to start the debate.

Are you all ready?

(APPLAUSE)

All right. Let’s begin. We’re going to be discussing a lot of the issues, many of the issues, important issues that you have brought up. But I want to begin with concerns that voters have about each of the candidates here on this stage that they have about each of you.

Secretary Clinton, I want to start with you. Plenty of politicians evolve on issues, but even some Democrats believe you change your positions based on political expediency.

You were against same-sex marriage. Now you’re for it. You defended President Obama’s immigration policies. Now you say they’re too harsh. You supported his trade deal dozen of times. You even called it the “gold standard”. Now, suddenly, last week, you’re against it.

Will you say anything to get elected?

Yes, it was a real lovefest.

But for whatever reason the only Democrats who whined like a 2 year old was the conservative Jim Webb who pouted for a few days and then took his ball and went home.

Wingnuts are very sensitive.

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“Sometimes the country needs a man”

by digby

Ann Coulter, ladies and gentlemen:

It took a billionaire living the glamorous New York City life to exhibit real Christian courage by going against every elite group in the nation, every media outlet, every well-heeled donor, to defend America from destruction by immigration.

Baptist leader Russell Moore, desperate for liberal approval, claims that Christian conservatives “must repudiate everything they believe” in order to support Donald Trump, who “incites division, with slurs against Hispanic immigrants and with protectionist jargon that preys on turning economic insecurity into ugly ‘us versus them’ identity politics.” (Please like me, New York Times!)

Moore is especially offended by Trump’s “boisterous confidence” and “waving arms” — as he put it in the Times, journal of respectable liberal opinion. (Do Baptist preachers ever wave their arms? Somebody Google that.)

How would Gen. Douglas MacArthur fare with today’s evangelical leaders? Ronald Reagan was a visibly devout Christian, but Richard Nixon wasn’t. Joe McCarthy wasn’t. MacArthur wasn’t.

Sometimes the country needs a man.

The idea that Christians are supposed to be milquetoasts is liberal propaganda. Ask the money-changers how meek Jesus was. (Not the Clintons; I mean the other money-changers.) God commanded the Israelites to go to certain cities and kill “every living thing.” As I recall, the Crusaders were a little rough around the edges. When Trump attacks, he targets the rich and powerful. When the elites attack, they target the average American and everything he cares about.

When Trump boasts — about his wealth, his family, his intelligence — it’s funny, not mean-spirited. No one feels inferior. In fact, legions of political commentators who’ve never accomplished anything in their entire lives feel immensely superior to Trump.

No doubt, wisdom shall die with them. (Job 12:1 — one of many examples of sarcasm in the Bible, a rhetorical device bossy Christians tell us is un-Christian.)

By contrast, Trump’s personal style is denounced by the Piety Police with smug certitude, to showcase their superior moral understanding.

I’m almost sure the Bible says nothing about arm-waving, but it says quite a bit about the sort of pride that allows a person to presume to speak for God on acceptable speaking styles. God does not mandate personality types and, if He did, I doubt it would be “lisping sycophant.”

It’s not Trump who’s displaying the sin of pride here.

Don’t underestimate this strain in the GOP. It’s strong. Remember this?

And there’s a ton of creepy iconography out there like this which, if I were a believer, would strike me as somewhat sacrilegious. But what do I know?

But I’m curious about how Trump is such “a man.” He’s an effete billionaire blowhard.

And I can’t help but be reminded of all the slurs against John Edwards for his attention to his hair, including Coulter herself charmingly calling him a “faggot”. Trump obviously spends hours each day getting his hair dyed and styled. I don’t personally have a problem with that. After all, women in public life are forced to do it whether they like it or not — and even when they do they’re subject to endless attacks for their looks. Still, Trump doesn’t really fit the right wing’s Real Man profile all that well.

This is Coulter so it is, by definition, trolling. But I don’t think her sentiments are any different than most of the Trump fans. They see a rude, obnoxious braggart as the definition of manhood. That’s fine, I guess. But it ain’t Clint Eastwood.

*By the way, I think Coulter is right that Trump reads her stuff. He definitely got the “mexicans are rapists” stuff from her book. And his constant references to McArthur track with her books as well. Interestingly, but perhaps unsurprising, McArthur didn’t have any respect for the notion of civilian control of the military. I get why Coulter would admire this. But why would anyone who’s running to be the Commander in Chief think that’s so great?

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No margin in calling out the crazy

by digby

Funny. It turns out the crazy people don’t care for it.

This poll from Gravis Research, which I understand is a reputable polling firm, did a snap poll of the GOP debate. (Their snap poll of the Democratic debate turned out to track well with the ones that followed, FWIW.)

There are a lot of things to take away from this poll if it turns out to be true. But I think the most important thing the campaigns will take away is that it’s a very bad idea to call the crazy candidates crazy. Kasich proves this once and for all. The audience hated him for it.

Also too, don’t be Jeb Bush.

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Librulmedialibrulmedialibrulmedia

by digby

These GOP candidates are about to have a full blown hissy fit. Check out Carly Fiorina being questions about her totally absurd assertion that 92% of all the jobs lost during the Great Recession were jobs held by women. (Yes, she really said that.)

Here’s CNN’s Allison Camerota this morning:

ALISYN CAMEROTA (HOST): Let’s talk about a moment that you had last night. And it was about what Barack Obama has done for women, you say that unemployment among women has spiked.

[…]

According to The Washington Post Fact Checker, that is a recycled talking point from the Mitt Romney campaign that they’ve deemed as false. They say that you were using a very narrow moment in time when unemployment among women had spiked, but since then, the numbers have changed and it’s a much rosier picture for women. What’s your response?

CARLY FIORINA: Well, first of all, it’s The Washington Post that said I wasn’t a secretary. So from my point of view, they have no credibility, honestly. The statistics are well-known. Here’s another statistic, Alisyn, if you don’t like that one, the extreme poverty rate among women is at the highest level ever recorded. The number of women living in poverty is at the highest level in 20 years. And every single policy that Hillary Clinton is now proposing, demonstrably, we have evidence that suggests it causes women to be fired, not to be hired. The record’s very clear on this.

CAMEROTA: But is there newer data available that makes those numbers obsolete that you shouldn’t have used the old numbers last night?

FIORINA: No, absolutely not. Wow, this is the same conversation we had after the last debate. Everybody came out and said I was using wrong data. No, I’m not using wrong data. The liberal media doesn’t like the data. Perhaps the liberal media doesn’t like the facts. The facts are clear. Women have been hit hardest by his recession and this lackluster economic recovery. That’s just a fact. Women are suffering more than men. And by the way, African-Americans are suffering as well. All the groups that progressives claim to be helping are being hurt in this Barack Obama term. And of course, Hillary Clinton is going to double-down on every single one of these policies. Here’s another fact that maybe The Washington Post won’t like, but it’s also true. Student loan has doubled under Barack Obama. Why? Because Barack Obama has nationalized the student loan industry. African-American unemployment remains almost twice as high as white unemployment. Maybe they don’t like that stat either. But that stat is true.

CAMEROTA: During the last debate what people said was erroneous about what you said were about the Planned Parenthood sting videos, and that what came out afterwards was that there had been portions that had been edited. Do you change your opinion about those now?

FIORINA: Wow, Alisyn, I can’t believe we’re having this conversation, honestly. It’s clear now, it’s very clear that Planned Parenthood is harvesting body parts. So clear that they had to announce that that they no longer take compensation for it. Honestly, this has been hashed and rehashed is there no other issue of economic import to the middle class in the United States of America that you’d like to talk about this morning?

CAMEROTA: Well, I think we did just cover women and unemployment, and we did just talk about the numbers. You gave a lot of stats about how you feel women are doing right now. But that was the issue, that afterwards people went back at you about because they did feel as though those sting videos had been edited. And some people, let me go on, even felt that that is why your national poll numbers dipped. So I did want to get you on the record about that.

FIORINA: Oh, well, that’s quite a theory. Well, that’s quite a theory. All of the stats that I just quoted are true. They’re out there. And as I say, it was The Washington Post that said I wasn’t a secretary.

Boo hoo hoo.

It looks as though the GOP is going to have to withdraw to their little gated media communities and soothe each other with happy talk about how great they are so they can feel better.

Video at the link.

No more gotcha (unless it’s Hillary or Bernie, of course)

by digby

Ben Carson is very, very upset about being asked inconvenient questions and he’s enlisting his bros to put a stop to it!

Republican presidential front-runner Ben Carson told reporters Thursday that he was reaching out to every rival campaign to lobby for changes to future debate formats.

“Debates are supposed to be established to help the people get to know the candidate,” Carson said at a news conference before a speech at Colorado Christian University. “What it’s turned into is — gotcha! That’s silly. That’s not helpful to anybody.”

Carson, who got less time at Wednesday night’s CNBC-hosted debate than candidates who were faring worse in polls, was raising the already high-decibel volume of criticism. Shortly after the debate ended, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus tweeted that it had been ruined by “improper and unprofessional” questions from moderators.

“Using it for political purposes just doesn’t make any sense at all,” Carson said. “The first thing we’re looking for is moderators who are actually interested in getting the facts, and not just gotcha questions.”

Asked to define a “gotcha” question, Carson focused on a debate exchange about Mannatech, a nutritional supplements company that the former neurosurgeon had repeatedly endorsed, personally and in paid speeches.

“The questions about Mannatech are definitely gotcha questions,” Carson said. “There’s no truth to them. I know people know how to investigate. They can easily go back and find out I don’t have any formal relations with Mannatech. They can easily find out that any videos I did with them were not paid for, were things I truly believed. That would be easy to do. If they had another agenda, they could investigate and say — see, there’s nothing there! But if they have a gotcha agenda, they conveniently ignore all the facts and try to influence public opinion.”

That’s nice. But endorsement doesn’t necessarily mean he was paid. In fact if he wasn’t it raises the more important question as to whether he believes this snake oil cures diseases like Alzheimers. It sure sounds like he does:

By the way:

In 2009, Texas-based Mannatech Inc. settled charges brought by the state attorney general that alleged the company had used “deceptive” and “illegal” materials claiming its products could cure Down Syndrome, cystic fibrosis, autism and cancer, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Carson’s mother also appeared in a video with H. Reginald McDaniel, who helped develop Mannatech’s original product. “Dr. Reg,” as Carson called him, left Mannatech in 2002. The Texas attorney general’s complaint, according to the WSJ, accused him of involvement in circulating “illegal disease claims” in materials to sales associates.

The 2014 video with McDaniel and Carson’s mother appeared on a separate site called “Hope 4 Alzheimer’s” and promoted the “cognitive/physical gains of Mrs. S Carson after a few months of supplementation.” Carson said he was “shocked, disappointed and disturbed by the presence of such a video” and never gave his approval.

Carson and his fellows are quick to call Obama’s and Clinton’s judgment into question. This seems like a good reason to call Carson’s into question. Does he think this snake oil cures diseases? Or does he just not realize that when a renowned doctor endorses such a product as he does in that video that it might lead people to think so?

Either way, Carson is running as a world renowned surgeon who will bring his superior outside knowledge to Washington. This is an example of his superior outsider knowledge.

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Debate recap. Bring on the smellin’ salts!


by digby

My debate recap at Salon: