Flashback Update: Rush predicted: ""Before it's all over, it'll be called the Ted Kennedy memorial health care bill""

He was scolded for it. And not just by Soros' internet hacks, either.

Does George Soros and the MSM owe Limbaugh a retraction/apology for, you know, being right and everything?

Thanks to Amish Dude.
...

ChappaquiddiCare.

(Hey, if they want to brand the man and use him for politics, it's fair game.)

"In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American," Byrd said.

New amendment: Doctors will be required to examine you with a Chivas Regal in hand and without pants.

Chivas Regal Succession: A more balanced portrait of Kennedy than you'll find in the MSM from Jules Crittendon.

Regarding Kennedy himself, they donÂ’t exactly need to fire up the hagiography. Ted KennedyÂ’s image enhancement has been a life-long project that only requires the bow of a national funeral extravaganza. Served in the Army, 51-53, didnÂ’t go to Korea, overcame a Harvard cheating scandal, slid into his big brotherÂ’s seat, held for him till he was old enough, dodged responsibility in the death of Mary jo Kopechne, though whether he dodged consequences is debatable. ItÂ’s hard to image anyone else holding a Senate seat after that, but he didnÂ’t get to be president.

The Warden tips me that the AP's bio only mentions Mary Jo Kopechne in an an attack on Republicans for being so uncouth to mention criminally negligent homicide.

As the most prominent liberal of his day, Kennedy was long an easy and popular target for Republicans. The automobile accident that resulted in the death of a young Pennsylvania woman, Mary Jo Kopechne, drew snickers both before and after it shadowed his presidential campaign in 1980. Kennedy was driving the car in the accident at Chappaquiddick.

The AP sure is distancing Kennedy from the manslaughter with that passive voice, eh? I can almost make out the line they wanted to use but then deleted as going too far: "In many ways, Ted Kennedy was the true victim of Chappaquiddick..."

Let's Win One for the Zipper: The left, including the wonderful Andy Stern of SEIU, is determined to use Kennedy's death for political advantage.

Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, also issued a statement this morning calling for the passage of health care overhaul. “Let us continue his cause,” Stern said. “Let us take action this year to pass health care reform. And let us continue to build Kennedy’s vision of America.”

And Madame "Palomino" Pelosi, as well:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office sent an email to reporters at around 2:30 a.m. today, just hours after his death, calling for the passage of health care overhaul. “Ted Kennedy’s dream of quality health care for all Americans will be made real this year because of his leadership and his inspiration,” the statement read.

Well, since they're insisting on doing that, I'll run this pic from the Devil's Advocate. I wasn't going to -- thought it was too much and too early -- but if we've gone from death panels to death politicking I guess it's fair game (content warning for taste and macabre imagery).

You Definitely Won't See This in the AP: A very tough look back at Kennedy.

Oh Dear: Chris Matthews proclaims Barack Obama "the last [Kennedy] brother."

To Be Buried at Arlington: Sure, why not. He gave his liver for his country.

All those vets buried there will be comforted to know their bones rest in the company of a true hero.

Posted by: Ace at 07:17 AM | Comments (6)
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The deficit numbers are based on assumptions far less realistic than my plan to win the heart of the lovely Judy Greer*.

Just remember, it's all Bush's fault.

Many of the current budget assumptions are laughably implausible. Both the White House and CBO predict that Congress will hold federal spending at the rate of inflation over the next decade. This is the same Democratic Congress that awarded a 47% increase in domestic discretionary spending in 2009 when counting stimulus funds. And the appropriations bills now speeding through Congress for 2010 serve up an 8% increase in domestic spending after inflation.

Another doozy is that Nancy Pelosi and friends are going to allow a one-third or more reduction in liberal priorities like Head Start, food stamps and child nutrition after 2011 when the stimulus expires. CBO actually has overall spending falling between 2009 and 2012, which is less likely than an asteroid hitting the Earth.

Federal revenues, which will hit a 40-year low of 14.9% of GDP this year, are expected to rise to 19.6% of GDP by 2014 and then 20.2% by 2019—which the CBO concedes is "high by historical standards." This implies some enormous tax increases.

CBO assumes that some 28 million middle-class tax filers will get hit by the alternative minimum tax, something Democrats say they won't let happen. CBO also assumes that all the Bush tax cuts disappear—not merely those for the rich, but those for lower and middle income families as well. So either the deficit is going to be about $1.3 trillion higher than Washington thinks, or out goes Mr. Obama's campaign promise of not taxing those who make less than $250,000.

Normally, economic growth would lead to increased revenues and cut into these numbers but President Awesome and his gang of super genius friends in Congress are only promoting growth killing policies like Cap and Trade, so who is expecting a Reagan like boom from that kind of 'thinking'.

*FTR, my plan consists of occasionally mentioning her name on the blog, having her see it and then show up at my door. What? That's way more realistic than Obama's economic plans and projections.

Posted by: DrewM at 07:10 AM | Add Comment
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The only doctor who made this claim wasn't an oncologist or even a urologist (who might know something about the prostate).

In fact, he might have been directly employed by the Libyans.

The medical report stated that the “less than three months to live” prognosis was: “In the opinion of Megrahi’s (the name or title of the individual was then blanked out] … who has dealt with him prior to, during and following the diagnosis.”

There was also a suggestion that Megrahi might not be as ill as had been claimed. The report said: “Clinicians who have assessed Mr Megrahi have commented on his relative lack of symptoms when considering the severity and stage of underlying disease.”

And suggestions that the doctor who gave the prognosis may have been employed by the Libyan government emerged in the report’s notes. It said that a professor from Libya had been involved in Megrahi’s care and the medical officer who wrote the report had been “working with clinicians from Libya over the past ten months”.

It is beginning to look like the early reports are true -- the UK, once a valuable ally, sprung a terrorist who killed hundreds, more than half Americans, for an oil deal.

"Global test," eh?

Posted by: Ace at 07:08 AM | Add Comment
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Mistakes were made, nothing to see here.

Why would you expect the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to be honest about things like this?

Rangel's amended disclosure statement for 2007 reports new assets worth between $647,000 and $1.38 million. That raises the value of his holdings to between $1.03 million and $2.95 million.

Assets missing from Rangel's original 2007 disclosure, filed in May 2008, include a Congressional Federal Credit Union IRA worth between $250,001 and $500,000; four mutual fund accounts worth between $365,004 and $750,000, and PepsiCo and Yum! Brands stock valued between $16,002 and $65,000.

...A Rangel source said there are "good explanations" for why Rangel didn't report those holdings and "he'll answer those questions in due time" - after the House ethics committee completes its nearly year-long probe of the powerful Democratic Ways and Means Committee chairman.

"The congressman is confident there was no effort to hide anything," the source added.

It's one thing to mess up (yeah, let's be charitable) your House disclosure forms, what about his tax returns?

Don't forget that Rangel is one of the leading figures in writing the health care bill. Clearly we need a guy this on the ball, with this kind of command of detail reorganizing over 15% of the US economy. What could possibly go wrong?

Tim Geithner emails to say: "Charlie and I form a dedicated team to ensuring a fair tax code that all Americans can support. We work diligently to enforce all aspects of the law".

Posted by: DrewM at 06:05 AM | Add Comment
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Wednesday, Wednesday, Wednesday.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:22 AM | Add Comment
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CNN's coverage so far.

press release from the Kennedy family posted on the Senator's official web page.

MORE NETWORK/MSM COVERAGE:

Fox News Channel
MSNBC
BBC
BBC Obit with a fairly lengthy section on Chappaquidick, including a pic of the car in the water.
Boston Globe coverage
Boston Herald coverage

BLOG COVERAGE:

Flashback: Sen. Kennedy guest-blogs at Iowahawk.

More as as updates come in...(NOTE: when the post gets updated the comments may vanish briefly...they're still there; just add a new comment and they'll all reappear.) more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 09:36 PM | Comments (3)
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Is this the meanest movie review ever? An excerpt:

I mean, I should have known from the trailer what I was in for, and really, I kind of did. But how bad it was going to be didn’t quite sink in until the theater started filling with packs of girls and I noticed that none of them were pretty. I wasn’t just at a girl movie. I was at an ugly girl comfort movie – one for them to go and see with their ugly, chubby friends. It was like a fucking STAR WARS retrospective screening, but without all the light sabers and goatees.”

rdbrewer sends along this abomination. If youÂ’d like to deal with him in the comments I might turn my back for a few minutes.
more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:20 PM | Add Comment
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The funny part, if you can handle the 5700th sneer, is that he's mad that Obama just can't stuff it over the goal line, the rest of you idiots be damned.

And I'll admit, I do find this amusing. It takes a special kind of naivete to think winning means forcing your will upon the rest of a nation, even when a majority of Americans have made it clear not just no but hellno.

A week or so ago Jim Geraghty suggested this was a sword the Dems were willing to fall on. They're old, they're ready to take the hit and pass the torch, when would this opportunity come again? I think he's right in the sense that yeah, they could pave another rock road of entitlement voting. It just doesn't seem like they're willing to take the long view.

Or put another way, is Obama worth that?

via Newsbusters

*full disclosure, Maher didn't drive me from HBO. He just made it sooo much easier to cancel.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:47 PM | Add Comment
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51-42, a mere plus 9. AHFF Geoff notes that in their last written update, Gallup wrote:

Obama still enjoys a double-digit gap between his average approval and average disapproval scores -- 11 percentage points for the week of Aug. 17-23.

Not so much anymore. I'd like to see if Gallup notes he's lost his double-digit net approval rate in their next written update, or if they only want to call attention to such things when they break in Obama's favor. Maybe next time they'll tell us "Obama still exceeds the 'Lucky 7' differential in his approve and disapprove rates."

Jay Cost analyzes the Obama's "worst poll number:" approval among seniors.

Yet, Obama's worst poll number here is actually his share among seniors. I'm guessing it relates to the health care debate. The White House should be very concerned, and for one simple reason: seniors vote.

In many swing states, seniors' fraction of the vote dropped off in 2008 due to increased numbers of voters (especially young ones). But in a midterm, it's likely that seniors will once again play kingmakers.

Obama's approval with 65 and older voters is 43%.

Posted by: Ace at 01:09 PM | Add Comment
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The failures of legacy media have been a bit of a theme here today, but this is unadulterated FAIL material. (Link is to the NYTPicker.)

The so-called "Ethicist" writes a blog and column for the NY Times. His most recent effort was about the importance of transparency to the exchange of ideas and the deleterious effect that anonymous participants can have on communication.

But just two sentences later, Cohen put aside transparency concerns in quoting "the writer Katha Pollitt" -- camouflaging the fact that Pollitt happens to be Cohen's ex-wife. Without disclosing their history, Cohen proceeded to devote an entire paragraph to Pollitt's musings on the topic of anonymous commenters, and generously tossed in a hyperlink to her blog.

Cohen's response to the NYTPicker comes with an extra serving of snark:

"I did indeed discuss this with my editor," Cohen told The NYTPicker in an email, "and we felt that the relationship was not germane, but sure, to answer your surprisingly anonymous query, on second thought I should have identified her as you suggest."

Lovely. Click both links, there's plenty more.

Via Hot Air headlines.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 12:40 PM | Add Comment
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