Last Call For The Hagan Defense

Hey look, a Democrat who's smart enough to read the polls!

In a flipping of the proverbial script, a Senate Democrat facing a tough re-election race used a confirmation hearing of Sylvia Mathews Burwell, nominated to head the Department of Health and Human Services, to advocate forcefully in favor of Obamacare. 

While Republican senators mostly went through the motions with their anti-Obamacare talking points or outright endorsed Burwell as Kathleen Sebelius's replacement, Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) used her time to trumpet the benefits of Medicaid expansion -- and emphasize the downside of not expanding. 

Left unsaid, but strongly implied, was that her opponent, North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis, who locked up the GOP nomination earlier this week, had been instrumental in stopping the state from expanding Medicaid under the law.

"Last year in North Carolina, our state legislature and governor decided against expanding the state's Medicaid program," Hagan said as she started her questioning, "and as a result, about 500,000 people who would have qualified for coverage through Medicaid are not now able to do so." 

"These are some of the most vulnerable in our society," she said, "who will continue to seek care in emergency rooms and then will leave chronic conditions unmanaged, which we know is detrimental to their health and the economy."

Thom Tillis cost 500,000 North Carolinians health insurance, but somehow Kay Hagan is going to lose by 20 points.  Okay, sure.  That makes sense.  You go with that, Republicans.

Time, Thom, And Toddlers

Meet Thom Tillis, former GOP Speaker of the NC House, who survived his US Senate primary and reached 45%, enough to stave off any runoff nonsense.  He's going after Sen. Kay Hagan's seat, and his first interview after winning the primary Tuesday was with Chuck Todd(ler).  The latest polls had Hagan up by 2 in a prospective race with Tillis.

Didn't go so well for Thom, as Chuck played a clip of Tillis's more ridiculous statements from 2011.



In fact, it went very poorly for him.

The newly-minted Republican contender in what could be one of November’s key Senate races says he regrets using the words “divide and conquer” in a 2011 speech while describing those who are dependent on government assistance.

“Yeah, I do,” North Carolina GOP candidate Thom Tillis said Wednesday on MSNBC’s Daily Rundown when asked by host Chuck Todd if he regrets the use of the word “conquer.”

But Tillis, who secured the GOP nomination in last night’s primary election, also said he was referring to the abuse of public assistance funds by those who do not “desperately need the safety net” – a position he believes is backed by voters in North Carolina.

Tillis's actual words are pretty typical of his Tea Party platform.

The GOP contender is under fire for comments he made in an unearthed 2011 video. “What we have to do is find a way to divide and conquer the people who are on assistance,” he said at the time. “We have to show respect for that woman who has cerebral palsy and had no choice, in her condition, that needs help and that we should help. And we need to get those folks to look down at these people who choose to get into a condition that makes them dependent on the government and say at some point, ‘You’re on your own. We may end up taking care of those babies, but we’re not going to take care of you.’”

Democrats have compared the comments to Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” remarks.

Let them eat cake, he says.  Oh but his pure contempt for the working class got much worse as you can see in the clip when the topic turned to the minimum wage.

On Wednesday, Tillis, who is the state House Speaker of North Carolina, also declined repeatedly to say whether he supports raising the minimum wage in the state.

Asked if he supports a federal hike, he responded that “minimum wage decisions need to be made by the state.”

But he would not say how his home state should address it, calling it “a decision that the legislature needs to make with businesses.”

“We’ve got a president and Kay Hagan that want to create a minimum wage economy,” he said. “What I want to do is create jobs that make minimum wage irrelevant."

That's the most stupid argument against raising the minimum wage I think I've ever heard, mainly because he's choosing to do nothing for the people working minimum wage jobs now.  Wanting to create jobs that pay more than the minimum wage is great, but how does that help the folks earning that today?

Secondly, as speaker of the NC House, Tillis had the ability to introduce and bring up for a vote legislation to create jobs or raise the minimum wage.  He chose instead to implement the most draconian unemployment insurance cuts in the nation, cuts so ridiculous that the state no longer qualifies for any federal unemployment assistance because if you lose your job in the state, your maximum benefit is $350 a week.

Below the poverty line, or about $8.75 a hour.  That'll feed a family, right?

Tillis fumbled for a good two minutes on if raising the minimum wage was something he could support.  And just like that, Tillis is now looking for the bunker to hide in.

Benghazi Forever And Ever, Amen

GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, the newly installed Park Ranger at Orange Julius's Benghazi Land Fun-Time World, gives away that the game is to keep Benghazi-ing all the way through November 2016.

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) said the special committee he'll lead on Benghazi could continue into the 2016 campaign, when Hillary Clinton might be running for the White House. 

Asked about that possibility Wednesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," Gowdy said the length of his work would depend on the administration’s level of cooperation.

“It would be shame on us if we intentionally dragged this out for political expediency,” said Gowdy, the special committee's chairman. “On the other hand, if an administration is slow-walking document production, I can’t end a trial simply because the defense won’t cooperate.” 

Clinton is a core figure in the Benghazi story, since she was the secretary of State when terrorists attacked the U.S. diplomatic annex in Benghazi, Libya. The attack left four Americans dead, including Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens.

Some Democrats suspect Republicans want to keep Benghazi in the news to try to hurt Clinton if she runs for the White House in 2016, as expected.

Gowdy said a memo that came to light last week, in which deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes set out “goals” for the administration’s response, but which was not turned over by the administration earlier, was evidence of a cover-up.

Demand concrete evidence of cover-up from the Obama administration, and when it magically fails to appear because there's no cover-up, state that the lack of evidence is in fact proof the cover-up exists and demand concrete evidence of the cover-up. Repeat infinitely!  Sell tickets.

This is the GOP plan for the next 30 months, so get used to it.  Don't want to get used to it?  Vote the assholes out.  Real simple.

Oh, and this is the cover-up Congress should be investigating: Okahoma GOP Gov. Mary Fallin's role in last week's botched, bungled, cruel, unusual, immoral and unconstitutional execution of Clayton Lockett.

StupidiNews!

• House Republicans voted 231-187 to hold former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress, setting up a possible lengthy court battle over her prosecution by he Department of Justice.
• Scientists have successfully bred a bacteria that can carry artificial, man-made DNA sequences that function as a third set of DNA base pairs.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for a postponement of any independence referendums in eastern Ukraine in a clear sign that Moscow is looking to de-escalate tensions.
• Meanwhile, tensions are rising in the South China Sea as the Philippines and Vietnam are pushing back against China's efforts to take over disputed maritime areas.
• London's police force will be testing 500 cameras to be worn by officers as they interact with citizens, something civil rights advocates is sorely needed to help prevent police brutality.