Watergate Amnesia, the 'Nixonian' Slur and Other Big Lies

A very good column by Joe Conason:

Let's state this very simply, so everybody will understand. The notion that Barack Obama is "Nixonian" — or that his administration's recent troubles bear any resemblance to "Watergate" — is the biggest media lie since the phony "Whitewater scandal" crested during the Clinton presidency.

Fraudulent as it is, we have listened repeatedly to versions of this bogus comparison uttered by figures as diverse as former Fox News commentator Dick Morris and Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, alongside a phalanx of Republican politicians, including Senator Lindsey Graham and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — whose latest attack ad directly links Obama with Nixon.

Only in a country afflicted with chronic historical amnesia could they issue such accusations without shame or embarrassment. Only under those circumstances could the Republicans continue their fitful fabrication of a "Democratic Watergate" without fear of being laughed off the stage. It is a project that they will never grow tired of pursuing.

McConnell's weak case to limit campaign financial disclosure

A great editorial in today's Herald-Leader:

McConnell, in an op-ed published last week in The Washington Post, followed admirably circuitous reasoning to use the scandal involving the IRS targeting Tea Party groups as a launching point for an argument that landed on limiting public information about political contributors.

McConnell's target was what he terms "the so-called Disclose Act," a measure that was introduced and died in 2010 as a response to the floodgates of corporate money opened up by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision that same year. Briefly, the act would prohibit corporations with significant foreign ownership from contributing to U.S. campaigns, give the public access to information about corporate and interest-group campaign expenditures, and require large organizations that made political ads to disclose their membership.

...There are (good) reasons for Congress to write laws that ensure we know who is paying for the messages that bombard us. This is a democracy; it's our government. Show us the money that sets it all in motion, and tell us where it comes from.

Collect taxes from online sales

Today's Herald-Leader exposes Thomas Massie's dishonest talking points about the Marketplace Fairness Act:

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Vanceburg, calls (the Marketplace Fairness bill) a "tax mandate," even though the bill has nothing to do with raising, or lowering, taxes, just collecting them. Massie's over-the-top rhetoric against the measure includes charging that it "changes the very constitutional fabric of the United States."

...this bill is about leveling the playing field for retailers who provide services, employ people and pay payroll and real estate taxes in our communities.

And, to the extent that it's about taxes, it would help avoid raising or creating them by collecting those we already have on the books.

Governor Beshear on Medicaid Expansion

Medicaid expansion right for Ky.

From the Herald-Leader:

Gov. Steve Beshear made the right choice — the only choice, really — by expanding Medicaid.

...By next year, for the first time, all Kentuckians could have access to affordable health care. No wonder Beshear choked up making the announcement.

...Republicans in Congress and the legislature will keep sniping and threatening to withhold funding. They also should think of their constituents, Kentuckians who are suffering more and dying sooner than they should have to.

Huge step toward better health

From today's Courier-Journal:

The joy was nearly palpable Thursday as Gov. Steve Beshear stepped forward to make his long-awaited announcement that Kentucky indeed will accept the expansion of Medicaid offered through the Affordable Care Act.

...unlike such antagonists, including Kentucky’s Sen. Mitch McConnell, the leader of Senate Republicans, a virtual army of advocates and experts in Kentucky stand ready to make health care reform work because they understand the desperate need of so many.

They know well the suffering of low-wage workers with no health coverage, older citizens who’ve lost jobs and health benefits, the bills that haunt people forced to seek care for a serious illness but with no way to pay.

Senate Republicans Demanded The Budget Process They Are Now Obstructing

Via ThinkProgress:

Senate Democrats passed a budget for the first time in four years earlier this year, a move that would seemingly please the Republicans who spent the last four years reminding everyone of the fact that the Senate hadn’t done so. But now, with the House and Senate sitting on differing budget proposals, Senate Republicans have blocked four efforts to form a conference committee that would be tasked with forming a compromise budget.

Here are seven times Republicans have chastised Senate Democrats for not passing a budget since September of last year (and assuredly, it’s not a comprehensive list), including two instances in which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blasted them for not moving to the type of bicameral conference committee the Republicans are now blocking...

The reasons why the GOP doesn’t want to go to conference is clear: they don’t want to consider any compromise that may include new revenues (the Senate budget raised $975 billion) or that raises the debt ceiling, which will need to be upped before October at the latest. Previous deals to reduce the deficit have been comprised primarily of spending cuts, and any further deficit reduction would have to be 90 percent revenues to bring balance to the total package of reductions since President Obama took office.

Deadbeat mines, delinquent fines

An editorial in today's Courier-Journal:

...most lawmakers at the state and federal level have shown no regard for worker safety or toughening safety standards to crack down on scofflaw miners.

...Among them are Kentucky Senators Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, Republicans who recently introduced a bill falsely named the Coal Jobs Protection Act, aimed at speeding up approval of mining permits and getting the government off the backs of the industry.

The two senators seem indifferent to the fact that Kentucky leads the nation in delinquent fines owed by mine operators fined for safety violations. Kentucky mines owe $29.2 million of $73.6 million owed nationwide.