As President Obama's make-or-break health care speech to Congress approaches, the focus of media tea leaf readers is on what specifically he will say. Will the President overcome his marketing failures to date and commit his political capital to a reform plan? Will he draw a line in the sand on the public option, viewed […]

On Monday, the AP portrayed President Obama's struggle to pass health care reform as the second coming of George W. Bush's unpopular and ultimately disastrous attempt to privatize Social Security. But while man each left the bill crafting to Congress and faced a growing backlash from frightened American seniors, the parallels end there. Democratic health […]

In response to the manufactured outrage over President Obama's planned address Tuesday to America's schoolchildren, the White House as promised has released portions of the text of the speech in advance. Here are excerpts from President Obama's prepared remarks: Preliminary Excerpt of the President's September 8 Address to America's Schoolchildren* For Immediate Release September 6, […]

The Mayo Clinic, the world famous institution cited by all sides in the contentious health care debate, defines schizophrenia as a serious brain disorder "in which reality is interpreted abnormally" resulting in "hallucinations, delusions, and disordered thinking and behavior." Apparently, that affliction is now running rampant among supporters of the Republican Party. As recent polling […]

Back in January, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman presciently warned President Obama about the GOP's bad faith in negotiating the stimulus bill, announcing, "Look, Republicans are not going to come on board." Now Krugman's paper is reporting the White House may finally be learning its lesson and planning to "go it alone" on health […]

Following President Obama's lead, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Sunday announced that a public option is "not the essential element" of the administration's health insurance reform push. Sadly, that development seems to signal that, as with the stimulus package, Obama has again fallen into a trap of his own making. In his […]

After his predictable experience with unified Republican obstructionism on the stimulus bill, President Obama must be high if he thinks there's a glimmer of hope for bipartisan cooperation on health care reform. Not because Sarah Palin is doubling-down on her "death panels" lie or Newt Gingrich is now fear-mongering over end-of-life care for the elderly […]

If nothing else, Republican Senator John Cornyn is an irony producing machine. During the Terri Schiavo affair, the former Texas Supreme Court Justice was at the forefront of the GOP campaign to intimidate and threaten judges. Now after his fierce defense of President Bush's regime of illegal NSA domestic surveillance, Cornyn is comically warning that […]

Seven years ago, President Bush's chief of staff Andy Card famously explained the administration's post-Labor Day campaign for war with Iraq, "'From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August." As cynical and deceitful as the ensuing six month marketing effort was, President Bush at least knew what he was selling. […]

Fresh off revelations he offered disgraced South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford kid glove treatment in exchange for an exclusive interview, ABC's Jake Tapper has once again committed journalistic malpractice. The President's pledge to Americans that under his health care proposals "you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan" isn't literally true, Tapper insists, […]