Russian to the Microphones

From TALKING POINTS MEMO:

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) said on the House floor today that by passing health care reform, Democrats “will finally lay the cornerstone of their Socialist utopia on the backs of the American people.”

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Northern Overexposure

From the Canadian Press:

WASHINGTON — Sarah Palin’s weekend admission that her family once travelled to Canada to receive treatment under the public health-care system she’s so often demonized prompted skepticism and ridicule Monday among her critics in the United States.

“My first five years of life we spent in Skagway, Alaska, right there by Whitehorse,” the former Alaska governor said Saturday night during a speech in Calgary.

“Believe it or not – this was in the ’60s – we used to hustle on over the border for health care that we would receive in Whitehorse. I remember my brother, he burned his ankle in some little kid accident thing, and my parents had to put him on a train and rush him over to Whitehorse and I think, isn’t that kind of ironic now. Zooming over the border, getting health care from Canada.”

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The Pro-Stupid Agenda

From THINK PROGRESS:

Today on her radio program, Laura Ingraham interviewed guest Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and asked her about the ideological direction of the Republican Party. The pair discussed recent statements made by retired GOP Senate Majority Leaders Bill Frist (TN) and Bob Dole (KS) in support of some type of comprehensive health reform.

Dole has called for Republicans to become engaged in the process, stating “we’ve got to do something” to solve the current crisis. Frist has endorsed the Senate Finance health reform bill, and has called out “people on the extreme” in his own party for falsely labeling President Obama’s health reform as “socialized medicine.” Clearly incensed by these comments, Ingraham and Bachmann traded barbs trashing the former Republican leaders for daring to veer away from a “pro-freedom agenda”:

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If you’re stupid, and you know it, flap your lips!

From MEDIA MATTERS:

Today, in a long speech on the House floor, Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) laid out his case against health care reform. On top of the usual talk about a “government takeover” and “socialized medicine,” Gingrey stressed his belief that, in the midst of a recession, improving the nation’s ailing health care system shouldn’t be President Obama’s top priority. Gingrey acknowledged that 14,000 Americans are losing their health insurance every day, but literally laughed off the notion that this constitutes a health care crisis. Rather, he said, “14,000 people are losing their health insurance every day NOT because of the cost of health insurance [laughs], they’re losing it because they lost their job!”

Yeah, Phil, that’s just hilarious!!

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Leading the Charge Against Health Care…After He Overcharged for Health Care

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Richard L. Scott is unusual in these tough economic times: a rich, conservative investor willing to spend freely on a political cause.

Mr. Scott is starring in his own rotation of advertisements against the broad outlines of President Obama’s health care plans. (“Imagine waking up one day and all your medical decisions are made by a central, national board,” he warns in a radio spot.) He has dispatched camera crews to other countries to document the perils of socialized medicine.

He visited with lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week, and his new group, Conservatives for Patients’ Rights [CPR], has hired a leading conservative public relations firm, CRC, well known for its work with Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the group that attacked Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, during his presidential campaign.

Mr. Scott’s emergence this spring as the most visible conservative opponent to Mr. Obama’s not-fully-defined health care effort has former friends and foes alike doing double takes, given Mr. Scott’s history.

(More on Scott’s history below)

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